"The Party Forms"
M rebooted after a short "nap," waking up in front of Thondred's Bank in Xandrar. After waiting a few minutes he noticed that it was not open, and that the front door was ajar. He cautiously stepped inside, and looked around. Seeing that nothing on the first floor was nothing was out of order, he headed upstairs to investigate, and noticed blood pooling from the library on the second floor. Inside the room he saw Thondred slain, and a half-orc assassin standing atop him, drawing a blade from his back. His programming began shouting, "MURDER!" at the top of his metallic lungs.
Kiiba and Tiz, along with Raine, heard the cries from the Bank, and immediately headed inside to find the cause of alarm. They joined up with M and together the three attempted to stop the retreated of the assassin. He threw a tanglefoot bag at the warforged and leapt through the window on the second floor, crashing into the street below. Kiiba followed in suit, landing beside the man and tripping up his attempts at escape. After a couple moments of intense combat, the assailant surrendered, and was escorted to jail by the guards. The three adventurers exchanged pleasantries, and decided to see what information the assassin could yield.
Life on the road was anything but easy for the somewhat portly and short elf, Rhonne Liadon and his stoic, silent, and burly partner Hessth, the shifter barbarian. After a series of shitty, go nowhere jobs, they finally seem to have finally struck it rich. While passing through a shanty on the outskirts of Sharn, they were stopped by a frantic man and his sobbing wife. The couple insisted that Rhonne and Hessth purchase their pair of excellent magebred donkeys and a sturdy, darkwood wagon. They took the deal, and with the donkeys in tow took a job delivering a shipment of grain to the Xandrar. The night before they arrived, they were attacked by a pair of bandits, who they easily fought off, but not before their goods were destroyed. Today, they arrived in town shortly after a scuffle had ended, taking note of Kiiba, Tiz, and M standing triumphantly over a black clad figure. Rhonne especially took note, seeing as how the half-orc was wearing a suit of armor that he wagered would fit quite well upon himself.
A brief interrogation garnished little information, but the captain of the guard assured M that if he and his companions wanted to come over in an hour or so, he might have a job for them. Keeping this in mind, M invited Kiiba and Tiz to breakfast at the nearby diner. During the meal, Hessth and Rhonne joined them from a nearby table, and the five shared traveling stories. Raine took a quaint interest in Hessth, and the two shifters decided to have their own, private, conversation. M recalled the package he was to deliver, and tore it open, revealing a small black box inside. The box appeared to have some sort of combination on the front, but after a few moments in the skilled hands of Tizish, he was able to pop it open. Inside, they found the number of a safety deposit box inside the bank, and the five headed out into the bowels of Thondred's Bank. Inside the bank, they opened the safety box mentioned in the slip of paper and found it to be full of a dark black powder, which seemed to be a "purer" version of the powder Tiz had collected from the Emerald Claw earlier.
Upon returning to the guard with all five, he filled them in on what had been happening around Xandrar in the past few weeks. Mercantile caravans and nearly all transportation carrying children coming or going toward the town have been attacked, and, whenever possible, the children kidnapped. A few of the assailants had been killed, and the captain of the guard appeared sympathetic toward Kiiba and Tiz's plight from the day before. After presenting this evidence, he offered them a reward of 150 gold each to bring an end to this threat — a starting lump sum of 250 gold to the party. After a brief discussion, they agreed, with one stipend: they needed to interrogate the prisoner. Alone.
The five exited the guardhouse after a few minutes, Rhonne wearing a brand new suit of masterwork studded leather armor, painted a mean jet black. After saddling up, the group headed south, toward the location of the Emerald Claw encampment that had been given to them by the assassin, who was left naked in his cell.
Rewards: 500 XP, pure black powder sample, masterwork studded leather, 250 gp.