The party stands outside of Gielda's house on the waterfront, discussing their next plan of action; the storm from earlier has moved in finally. As the day ends a light rain finally begins to fall and the temperature drops slightly.
As Edric e'Teasam and Atholos Kor'gan discuss their plans, Aglaomilia Hithe takes more interest in her hair. Finally Ed makes the decision to transform Shujonk into an Octopus- pulling his spell book out and performing the necessary ritual directly on the waterfront outside of Gielda's house. Once complete, he instructs Shujonk to look for the lair all night and meet the party back at this spot in the morning.
After Shujonk disappears beneath the water, the party walks along the riverfront. The storm picks up slightly as they investigate the site of the sixth victim's death; finding nothing particularly new, they do manage to see some tracks that suggest the Behir is as young as Gielda hypothesized, based on the number of legs it has. Not finding anything new or particularly useful, though, the party then decides to turn in for the night in order to be well rested to continue the investigation tomorrow; they agree to meet back at the waterfront in the morning, then drop each other off at their respective Inns / Taverns one at a time- remembering that they have to keep their papers on them and travel in a group.
Atholos simply turns in for the night with little fanfare. Upon waking he goes into the main hall of his own tavern and orders breakfast. Berta Melik, the barkeep, talks about the gossip going around about the murders he's investigating before bringing it out to him. Atholos eats, then makes his way to the Obsidian District docks.
Purchasing a small sack of Snapper, he goes off to one of the Piers and tries to get the attention of a Dolphin or some sort of Sea Life. With no luck, he's about to leave when a Seagull attempts to steal his fish. Using Speak With Animals he tries to convince the Seagull to scout around for the Behir's Lair with little success, before finally going to the meeting spot.
Echo attempts to find Kana Rakras ("Mama Kana") when she returns to her Inn, but as it's late she's met with an empty tavern (save for the sleeping guests) and so turns in for the night. When she awakes she helps Ubar Rakras reset the tavern room for the new day's business, then helps him prepare breakfast. Before eating her own she speaks to Mama Kana (Ubar's wife) about the investigation. Noticing Mama Kana seems to be sick during their talk, though, she checks her over and promises to bring her back some Herbs later before finally eating her breakfast and leaving for the meeting spot. While waiting, she decides to play her Viol and makes a bit of copper from passersby who enjoy the music (20 CP total).
Aggie discovers Aretina Chloe sleeping in the corner on some pillows when she returns to her room. She writes a few letters at the desk, then tousles the bed and falls asleep in the chair with her dagger. When she wakes, Chloe has already been up for a while. She's instructed to write letters home to her family to start getting things set up for her return, but informs Aggie she can read but was never taught to write. Instead Aggie tells her to deliver the letters she wrote the previous night, along with a few Gifts to other dignitaries, before creating a few Writing samples for her to practice later and then heading down into the main hall of the Inn. There she orders breakfast from Takal e'ta Varloth, the Inn's proprietor, and collects a letter that came for her. She takes the plate of food back up to Chloe and instructs her to complete the writing samples when she's done running errands, before finally leaving for the Immortal Wizard where Edric had been staying.
Edric attempts to forge copies of their City contract, but without any experience with them is unable to produce a viable copy. He turns in for the night and tries again in the morning. He does manage to produce a more viable copy than his last attempt, but it's still not convincing enough to pass inspection and he gives up. Edric eventually dresses and heads into the main room, ordering a pastry from Adrana e'Korosin at the bar before leaving- and encountering Aggie, who had made her way over there to meet her. After a short exchange (and some... Slightly disconcerting flirting maybe?) they leave together for the meeting spot.
The party finally convenes outside of Gielda's house again and waits around for Shujonk. After a bit, Edric realizes he's not coming and re-summons him. Using their telepathic bond, Ed discovers that Shujonk was eaten by a Snapping Turtle he got a little too curious about- but which apparently didn't appreciate his curiosity. After getting him to calm down finally, he sends Ed a telepathic image of what he thinks is the Behir's lair: A drainage or sewage pipe of some sort located by the city wall near the Granite Docks. Atholos, on the other hand, realizes the Seagull is probably not looking for the Behir's lair and is just an asshole.
The party heads that direction- making their way through the Granite District, out of the city walls, through the docks, and back around to the wall near the ocean, to the place Shujonk had shown Edric. Eventually they reach the spot and, looking down the artificial outcropping, find the tunnel. After a bit of deliberation and discussion, they climb down one by one and Ed sends Shujonk in ahead of them to scout around.
In the first room, Shujonk is noticed by a Giant Wolf Spider. The party quickly dispatches it, however, without taking any damage. Aggie investigates the room a bit afterwards, discovering that it's some sort of Workshop; it looks like it may have been used for forging clay artifacts and other objects. Ed tries to pick up the Behir tracks again and sees them leading off into a wall. He looks at it but isn't able to discern anything- until Echo touches it. Her hand passes right through, alerting the party to the fact that it's an illusion, and they continue on with Shujonk scouting ahead again.
They come to a second room in the cavern, where two Giant Bats are tearing at what appears to be a dead body. Dispatching these, too, a quick investigation shows that what remains of the body matches the description of the second victim, a woman by the name of Vucah Nores. Atholos' light glints off of something shiny not far off from the body, revealing a locket. Upon opening it, Echo is met with an illusory projection of Vucah embracing Duyal Gurovic. She pockets the locket and the group agrees to return it to Duyal later, after they've taken care of the Behir.
Deciding to continue on the party comes to a junction where it looks like there should be two paths. The left path, however, ends in an alcove. Expecting it to be another illusion, Echo attempts to place her hand through the wall and discovers it's solid. After a bit, shimmering script appears on the wall reading "We Take What is Offered". The party spends a bit trying to open the door through various means until Aggie succeeds; attempting to make it look as natural as possible, she pricks her finger and places her hand on the door before whispering "We Are the Dawn" to complete the phrase.
The party sees through her attempts to make it look natural and immediately become distrustful. None the less, the door is opened, revealing an office area that has clearly suffered extensive damage during some sort of attack; sifting through the debris, they find several items that suggest the cavern system was once the base of smuggling operations for an organization that Aggie identifies for them as The Dawn of the Fallen Star.
