The loft also contained an ancient crumbling chimney that had gone long unused and was clogged with debris. Vismund discovered some suspicious looking bricks and began pulling them loose. Disturbing the bricks brought the entire pile down around him, covering him in brick dust and leaving him cut and bruised, but not seriously hurt. Sifting through the wreckage the party gathered together the mercenaries hidden treasure horde which consisted of a bag of various coins, a large jug containing the equivalent of five healing potions, and a quiver of javelins (4 silvered, 3 normal, and 1 javelin of lightning +1).
Further searching of the loft revealed a secret door. Regnor tried to pry it open, triggering a vicious trap, as a pair of spears shot up from the floorboards, piercing him in the ass and thighs. Enraged and embarrassed, Regnor tore the barbs from his body and slouched off to a corner to recover. Mina rigged the trap to fire if anyone came through the door. With the secret door trapped and the stairs alarmed, the party felt comfortable enough to take an extended rest. Vismund performed a brief ritual to summon a wizard's curtain to hide them from casual viewers and the settled in for some rest.
Six hours later the party was fully rested, healed, and ready for more action. Mina disabled the spear traps and opened the secret door. Beyond was a store room, piled with crates and barrels. Glittering eyes of chittering forms crowding the tops of the stores reflected the torch light. Before the swarm of hungry rats could react to the intruders, the party attacked. The rats were dispersed after a brief melee. The store room was filled with moldering foodstuffs and weak wine souring to vinegar. Vismund discovered a small cache of copper coins and a pair of silver earrings someone had hidden there earlier.
One door led from the store room into a larger room. Regnor and Aletha recognized it as the common quarters where they caught up to and killed Arthuro the fence as he tried to flee. His corpse was still lying in the room undisturbed so it did not appear that anyone had come through here in a long time. There were two exits from the common quarters, a set of stairs leading down or a short passage leading to a door. Mina listened to the door and heard a woman's voice chanting in the tiefling tongue. After describing what she overheard, Aletha recognized it as being part of an infernal warlock ritual. The party prepared for a fight and burst through the door.
The chamber behind the door was littered with the remnants of eldritch witchery. Shattered vials, broken canopic jars exposing the viscera inside, bits of bone, and the glowing slime of demon-kin were scattered about the rough wooden floor. The walls of the chamber were covered in bizarre diagrams drawn in chalk and blood, the obvious signs of an infernal witch's lair. In the middle of the room crouched a corpulent tiefling, engrossed in her current ritual. Aletha recognized Mother Zeb'oltha, witch-for-hire, from a description she was given by "The Sisters". With one talon-like finger she pointed at the party and croaked, "Kill them, my eunuch thralls."
A towering, muscled figure cloaked in hooded black robes and swinging a vicious spiked chain stepped between the party and his mistress. His twin moved up to intercept anyone who pushed past the first bodyguard. Regnor engaged the first eunuch, and struck a solid blow and marked his opponent. The bodyguard swung his chain and tripped up the dragonborn, spilling him onto the floor. Aletha placed her fey curse on the witch, but the tiefling resisted the eladrin's eyebite. Mother Zeb'oltha cackled evilly as she retaliated, cursing Aletha and then burning her with the flames of Phlegethos. Aletha was overwhelmed by the attack and collapsed in a flaming heap, nearing death. Jym brought her back with an inspiring word before being forcibly dragged into the room by Zeb'oltha's diabolic grasp spell. This put him in a dangerous position, flanked by the bodyguards. Regnor, Aletha, Vismund, and Mina teamed up on the eunuchs to bring them down and rescue their warlord.
Regnor was first to reach Mother Zeb'oltha, blasting her with acid breath and then reaping her with his axe. She shrieked in pain, pointed her rod topped with a ram skull at him and struck out with a hellish rebuke. Regnor was forced to quaff the dregs of a healing potion to regain his strength. Aletha hit the witch with an eldritch blast which backfired causing Regnor to be burned again so that he was rendered unconscious. Vismund was able to hit him with a healing admixture that brought him back to his feet.
With the bodyguards out of the way the party was able to focus their attacks on the witch. Vismund charged into melee and struck Mother Zeb'oltha with his warhammer which had been itching for the taste of tiefling blood. Aletha finished the witch off with a final blast of eldritch power and then made a trophy of one of her gnarled horns as proof of her death.
Vismund took the witch's skull rod +1 to add to his arsenal. Her sweat-stained cloth armor +1 was rejected and added to the pile to sell. Amongst the trappings chaos of the room the party found a few rare treasures: a pseudodragon egg kept warm on a bed of coals, a glass orb containing a living black dragon eye which watched the party warily until Vismund covered it with a spare cloth and slipped it inside his pack, Regnor discovered a worn unicorn horn, and Aletha found three jars containing a finely sifted powder that could be combined with wine to make effective potions of healing.
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