Ultorin used a small mirror to peek under the door. From what he saw, he believed it safe to continue. The party went in, Dare bringing up the rear. Before doing so, however, they removed the body from the door and left next to the door. Moving the body revealed a symbol — what looked to be a single finger in front of closed lips. They continued forward into the next room — an entranceway. 

They could tell immediately that a battle took place here. There were gouges in the walls, streaks of blood on the floor, and in one corner, a coil of rope that Mystic found. She called it out to Dare who investigated further. It was frayed at one end. On the other was a long, barbed spike much like the ones that impaled the man to the door.

While Dare was looking at the spike, Ultorin was already getting a peek into the next room. It looked to be a bedroom. And it reeked of blood. 

Lilvari, Droop and Mercarri headed through the archway to the right and found themselves in a dining area. Several small tables and a mix-match of chairs filled the small room. As they searched the room, flickering torchlight could be seen coming from the entranceway. Someone was coming.

Before them stood a topaz dragonborn, black as night. He introduced himself as Nazzeth and told them that he’s hunting for a sapphire dragonborn named Kassdian — his brother. The last he heard, Kassdian fell in with a group of thieves near Leilon. A nobleman named Rogan Breezefield was robbed of quite a sum of gold and of a silver, octogonal ring. The description of one of the thieves matched Kassdian exactly. 

The trail for Kassdian turned cold near Boulder Field, but then he spied several adventurers ducking down through an illusion of a boulder. He followed them to where they all stand now — in the entranceway of a thieves hideout, where a battle of some kind apparently took place. 

They agreed to search the rest of the hideout together.

Ultorin saw no danger in the next room, so they entered. Their noses were immediately assaulted by the sharp rusty tang of blood. It was everywhere — coagulated puddles on the ground, splatters on the wall. A dozen beds, six to a side, for the most part lie in pieces. Of the ones that remain whole, their sheets are soaked a deep red. Whatever happened here seems to have been a slaughter. 

The adventurers search the footlockers that sit at the end of each bed. They manage to find a little coin and a few small items hidden in pockets of the clothes inside the footlockers, but for the most part it seems as if anything of significant worth had already been taken. Each footlocker was locked, but the lock on each one had been broken. 

Ultorin finds a packet of pink powder. Lilvari, fearing it could be more drugs, confiscates it. Ultorin also finds a journal under one of the blood-soaked beds. The journal seems to be of a member of this thieves guild named Mila. Mila describes joining ‘The Whisperers’ and the pride he feels is apparent. He talks about how The Whisperers rob the rich to help feed the poor. He also mentions a few others — the leader, a woman named Tasha Tresendar and a new recruit Kassdian. Of course the adventurers are interested in the name of the leader. Nazzeth is interested in the mention of Kassdian.

As they continue searching, they discuss whether they should add the loot to their party fund or take it individually. An argument about living arrangements ensues and before the end of it, Lilvari, Droop, Mercarri, Dare and Mystic have a new roommate — Ultorin… and perhaps Nazzeth as well, though Mystic has her reservations since Nazzeth’s admission to killing his family. They decide to carry on. The only other exit lies ahead, through a heavy door that seems to have been ripped from the hinges. 

This room has a single bed, and while it’s a pretty large room, there’s not much in the way of furniture. A struggle seems to have taken place here as well, but there’s very little blood. From their investigation, it seems that they’ve found the room of Tash Tresendar. Dare notices a blue tapestry against the far wall. As he’s looking at it, he sees it billow out ever so slightly. He pushes it aside and finds a passage way that leads to another small room — a storage room it seems. In here are more smashed items as well as an empty chest. Most interestingly is the 10 foot hole that leads below. 

Nazzeth casts a spectral hand out of thin air, hands it his torch and commands it to go below. As it does, the party sees that the hole is about 30 feet deep. They head down one at a time — some not as graceful as others. As they reach the bottom and take their first good look around, they see they are standing in a large cavern and that to one side is something like a shoreline. After a 30 foot wide area of muddy ground, water begins. It stretches out to fill the rest of the cavern — another 60 feet or so. 

Ahead and to the right they see a human male hanging from the wall by two barbed spikes — one in each shoulder. He’s still breathing. Mystic heals him before they take him down. He thanks them but tells them ‘they’ will be back. When pressed for answers he explains that his whole group, The Whisperers, were slaughtered while they slept by large fish monsters. The monsters pinned several of his group to the wall next to him, and he is the last one left. 

“Everytime they get hungry, they come back, take another one of us and go that way.” He points across the water. “They took Tasha too, but it was different with her. They brought her first and never hung her up. Maybe it was because they knew she was our leader.”

In his ramblings he mentions that the fish monsters took all their treasures, what little they had, but they weren’t able to steal the most important thing. “I managed to hide it before they got a chance.” 

Nazzeth asks him about Kassdian. He says that Kassdian and another member named Tio had recently gone to Helmshold to scout out a noble’s house. He thinks the real reason they went to Helmshold was to go to that tavern that has the drinking contest. 

Lilvari mentions that they should hide and await the monsters’ return. It proves to be a good idea. It’s not too long before they hear splashing in the water. From their hiding spot, they see the monsters emerge. These creatures are about 10 feet tall and have the body of fish except for their musclar arms that end with clawed hands. They have large mouths filled with teeth, and its all at once apparent what took a bite out of the man hanging from the entrance way door. 

The fish monsters at first seem confused that there’s no man hanging from the wall. Then they seem angry. Before they can turn around, the party unleashes everything at them. There are flurries of blows — Shit Hammer takes to the skies and smashes one of the creatures at the same time Droop casts Shatter. Ultorin throws a blade made of pure psychic energy, which kills one of the creatures where it stands. Dare rushes in and slays another with Talon. Lilvari, wanting to keep one alive to interrogate, quickly knocks the last one out. 

The encounter lasted less than 10 seconds. Team Ramrod is nothing if not lethal.