We find two of our adventurers (Loskid and Melgarin) making their way through the ground floor of the Brass Trumpet. Melgarin chased after Loskid past the crossbow traps, to find 3 thugs initially, while several more kept emerging out of the shadows like novice ninjas. Melgarin quickly dispatches 3 of them, while Loskid luckily kills 1, while Hilde's earth elemental continues to rampage the exterior of the building and a demon that Hilde summoned (while the narrator was clearly not paying attention) continued to stalk through the second floor. Suddenly, an arrow came (apparently) out of nowhere instantly KILLING MELGARIN. With half of the team off to the temple to get Elanor restored, Melgarin going from a meat shield to a squishy and Loskid somewhat caught off guard, Melgarin ends up absolutely DEAD. Thankfully, Loskid prayed to St. Cuthbert and was gifted the spell Revivify, halting Melgarin's soul journey while repairing somewhat the damage to Melgarin's body. Then Loskid heals Melgarin more than he ever had, eliciting great thanks from Melgarin…

Meanwhile, Hilde and Elanor arrive at the temple where they beckon someone with a scroll to join them (and the dead body of Fario). This individual casts lesser restoration on Elanor and restores a whole 2 strength stats to her. Elanor expresses her dissatisfaction (that they didn't cast full restoration), leading to another priest to head over towards her to cast Restore.

Hilde then casts fly on both herself and Elanor and hurry back to the Brass Trumpet where they immediately see just how much damage the earth elemental has wrought on the building. Elanor decides to ask Hilde exactly what the plan is and they decide to go in the front door, looking for Loskid and Melgarin. They join the other half of the party, at which point the battle is joined and all four members of the party start wailing on the two remaining thugs and the two remaining harlequins (though there seems to be another threat in the room no one can see). Hilde starts casting fire spells while simultaneously yelling “We've got the guy, we can get out of here!”. However, the rest of the group, caught up in their bloodlust, continue stabbing at their would-be assailants.

Melgarin goes absolutely nuts and slaughters two thugs and a harlequin while Elanor kills a harlequin. As Loskid attempts to cast Mass Lesser Vigor, he is hit by an arrow out of nowhere (seeing a theme here?) for massive damage that, while it doesn't kill him, he can feel the poison coursing through his veins.

Hilde's demon rushes down the stairs (blowing past Melgarin), where it notices an assassin hiding in a corner. The demon points towards a corner as Elanor follows it down the stairs and realizing that the demon is pointing out the assassin, she rushes over and stabs them with her Rapier. Melgarin rushes over and stabs her really hard with Alakast. Loskid runs away to heal (into a room with 18 inch spikes sticking out of the floor) while Elanor and Melgarin stand firm against the evil looking assassin who suddenly disappears. The team decides to skip searching any of the bodies and get out as Melgarin really didn't like dying and since Loskid had been hit by something similar, it stood to reason that the assassin would try for a third time (burn me once, shame on you. burn me twice…).

Hilde teleports them to the Temple of St. Cuthbert where Loskid casts Raise Dead on Fario. Loskid then elects to heal Fario and the team explains that Meerthan Eliothlorn sent them to rescue him from the Cagewrights. He explains that he was interrogated on what the Striders had been doing in Cauldron. He claims to have resisted the interrogation and gave up nothing to them. The team then elects to take him to the Drunken Morkath. As they're making their way to the Inn, they notice at least one building to the south (the Brass Trumpet) burning. Fario lets them into the Inn, and inside they find Meerthan, Shensen and Filion.

Meerthan thanks the team for their assistance, and offers to train them in how to be a path warden at some point in the future. Loskid is highly tempted, but elects to diplomatically attempt to extract a better reward, to which Meerthan invites Loskid to join the Striders. Fario then explains that he was spying on House Riavadhi. They live in a gigantic house with 4 towers, one of which has an observatory. Members of the town guard have been seen coming and going at all hours of the night, to include half-orc mercenaries, and they have been seen going to house Velantru as well. He proceeds to describe some of the other guests that have been to House Riavadhi as well, to include a sexy half-elf, a group of adventurers, and a group of dwarves. When asked WHY he was spying on House Rivadhi, Fario explains he'd been spying on Velantru due to them seizing power after the mayor disappeared and that led him to House Rivadhi. The striders were unsure if there was any ties to the Cagewrights.

Shackled City Home
Last time: Session 57
Next time: Session 59