False Appearances

"False Appearances" is the seventh episode of the Dungeons and Dragons campaign Sword of the Godslayer. It is the second episode of the second chapter, State of Panic and follows episode 6, "A Reunion".

Synopsis
''With Rob and Minos back with the rest of the adventurers, they piece together the dangerous conspiracy brewing inside the city. Tasked with solving the strange disappearances of several children, including Brad's daughter Lisa, they must tread carefully between the people they can trust and those they can't.''

Newcomers
On the other side of the city, an elf and a dragonborn were being smuggled into the port. As they step inside the city, a tall figure materializes in front of them. They walked towards a dark alley and the tall man dragged a gnome out of his house and interrogates him. He asked for his scroll, which he claimed he gave to a group of adventurers who has been arrested by the guards. The tall man orders his two followers to find these adventurers and bring back his scroll. He then decapitated the gnome before vanishing into thin air.

Firroth, the dragonborn, and Auren, the elf, sneaked their way into the guard's headquarters, but they were noticed by two patrolling guards. Auren quickly climbed up a house, Firroth tried to follow but failed misearble. The guard approached Firroth and asked him why he is outside his house way past the curfew set by the state of panic declaration. He claimed that he was locked out. The guard believed him politely offered to escort Firroth towards the guard headquarters while Auren followed behind stealthily.

The guard inside the headquarters offered a seat to Firroth so he can wait out the curfew. After the guard fell asleep, he looked at the guard's log book and found Nicolas' name from the list of those who has been arrested the previous night.

Just as the sun rose, Firroth noticed a shadow creep into the headquarters. He heard metals clanging and realized that the prison doors have been opened. The prisoners started running out of their cells, and so did Inverno, the assassin that the adventurers fought the previous day. When Firroth and Auren tried to confront him, two orcs appeared out of nowhere. One grabbed the assassin and teleported away, while the other, they managed to stop. The two fight off the orc and Auren obliterates his body with a guiding bolt spell.

The Investigation
Meanwhile, Lira, Marley and Azula decided to allow Minos and Rob to recover from their ordeal the previous day and proceeded with their investigation by themselves. The three headed for the guard's headquarters to try and interrogate the assassin that they defeated. However, upon reaching the headquarters, they found it crowded with people, save for an area at the center that had been cordoned off. They discovered that the prisoners have escape, including the Inverno. Marley observed the splatters of blood and viscera in the cleared area, and declared that it had belonged to an orc.

Azula entered the prison's solitary confinement cell and sensed that the assassin - whose arms had both been broken - had been magically healed to aid his escape. Outside, Lira and Marley investigated the battle site. Marley discovered an odd patch of blood that differed from the rest, which he said belonged to neither orc nor human. Lira directed Scout to sniff the blood, and the beast immediately ran toward a nearby street.

After calling for Azula, they hurried after the giant weasel. Some minutes later, they discovered that they had retraced their steps and had returned to their inn. Despite wondering whether her companion had simply wanted to return home, Lira continued to follow him.

Meet Up
As Scout ran up the narrow staircase, Lira, Marley and Azula crowded after him. When they reached the hallway, Lira discovered Firroth attempting to break down the door to their room. Immediately alarmed, she drew her bow and demanded to know what he wanted.

Firroth insisted that he had simply been locked out of "his" room. However, Lira could tell he was lying, and loosed a warning shot near his feet. He then claimed that he was an old friend of Nicolas and had happened to overhear that the paladin was staying in the inn. The group then invited him to the tavern below. Only as they moved back downstairs did they realize that the dragonborn was accompanied by an elf.

After they had sat down, the two introduced themselves. Marley sniffed the dragonborn and subtly told Lira and Azula that the blood they had been following belonged to him. Lira asked Firroth what he had been doing at the prison. He claimed that he had witnessed the prison break, and while he and Auren had fled, they had been attacked by a man with an orc arm. The group shared that they were looking for that assassin as well, and asked for their help to find him, as well as investigate Soliton's missing children.

Investigation
The group traveled to the Burgrave's Palace and were directed to the head investigator of the missing children case. The investigator was a dwarf who kept a small, paper-filled office. They offered their help and showed him the deputy badges granted by Captain Steffan, but the investigator irritably said that he was busy.

Equally annoyed, Firroth lifted the dwarf off the floor and threatened him, but the investigator was not impressed. After the dragonborn had meekly set him back down, Lira called the investigator's attention to how many people had crowded into his office. She casually threatened his paperwork and, after she had knocked over a couple of stacks, the dwarf hastily cooperated.

The group learned that the dozen or so children had all disappeared in the middle of the day without any signs of commotion. One father had even claimed that his ex-wife had been seen leading his daughter away. They noted the names of the missing children, as well as the investigator's list of suspects and other details of the investigation.

The group left the Palace and walked towards the house of one of the missing children's mother. She denied kidnapping her own daughter and claimed that she had not seen her in a long time. After verifying that she was telling the truth, the group began to suspect that someone copied the mother's face. However, the city is filled arcane security lamps that detect the use of magic within an area and the lamps wasn't triggered on any of the incidents that the children disappeared, so they ruled out the use of magic.

As they walked down the street nearing evening, they realized that they were being followed by a half-elf. Lira directed the group around a sharp corner, then waited for their tail right next to the intersection. When the other turned the corner and bumped into her, she grabbed him.

The man surrendered immediately and claimed that he was a guard working for Lieutenant Denise. She had apparently suspected that the adventurers were responsible for the disappearances, and had wanted proof so she ordered him to follow the group. As they convinced the half-elf that they were innocent, Azula remembered Nicolas' unsettled feeling about Captain Steffan. She asked the guard if his boss had been acting strange recently. Somewhat surprised at his own answer, the guard confirmed the suspicion.

The Lieutenant
However, before they could get much information, the lieutenant came up behind them and interrupted him. She dismissed her soldier so she would be alone with them. She then admitted her own suspicion of the her own captain. Steffan, She told them that he had been acting withdrawn for a month now and had started taking night shifts. Bemused, Lira joked that the captain was probably a vampire, and she was surprised when she said she thought the same.

The group decided to confront the captain, though Marley needed to spend a few moments convincing Denise to come with them and face her mentor. However, as they started to leave, Firroth sensed a familiar presence surround them. Remembering their previous encounter with the assassin, Lira and Marley checked the rooftops. As the others left for the keep, the two climbed upward.

Lira climbed up first and as she waited for the half-orc, she began to pace the moonlit roof. However, she soon realized that her shadow was flickering oddly. Every time she moved, there would be a delay before her shadow followed her.

Walking in the Shadow
Alarmed, Lira shot an arrow down into the roof and through her own shadow. A glowing smile opened across the shadow and a black cloud surged up toward her. Engulfed as she was, the elf was forced to abandon her bow and use her less effective shortsword.

As she struggled, Marley finally arrived and tried to defend her with a rapier. Though obviously injured by their weapons, the shadow continued to strangle Lira. Thinking quickly, the half-orc lit a torch and stabbed at the shadow with fire. It finally retreated back to the roof with a hiss. As Lira saw the shadow dart toward Marley, she finally had room to shoot an arrow and kill it.

The two left the roof and ran to find the others. As they caught up with Azula and Auren, they learned that the others had heard Denise cry out from ahead of them, but vanished before they could help her. Firroth had charged into a nearby room to look for her.

However, when the clerics followed, they saw two Firroths fighting each other inside the room. The two managed to subdue them both, but the group stood over the unconscious figures a moment, unsure of what to do.

Godslayer Expedition

 * Auren
 * Azula
 * Firroth
 * Lira
 * Marley
 * Minos (mentioned)
 * Nong-Poi (mentioned)
 * Nicolas (mentioned)
 * Rob (mentioned)

Soliton City Guard

 * Denise Von Schreiber
 * Steffan Hrothgar

Others

 * The Alchemist (unnamed)

Next Episode
"False Appearances" is followed by episode 8, "The Guardian of Soliton".