Bloodsport

At the disappearance of Vincenzo and Lolita Varrid suggested they head for the Raven's Roost to check on Raul and tell him about the Vistani they had just met and his invitation to the Vulpwood.  She was also wanting to get ready to meet with Captain Nathan and attend the Dog Fights.  Arvien continued to question why the group would wish to attend a Dog Fight.

Grunyar suggested that possibly they could learn some additional information about Vistani or how to break their curse at the Dog Fight when a young man approached Drovic and said "Lord Blanchard wished to speak with you."  Drovic asked if he wished to speak to the entire group, which was answered affirmatively.  "What business does Lord Blanchard wish to see us about?" queried Drovic. The young man indicated that he had no idea but the desire to meet was sincere.
The group agreed to meet him and the young man led them to Laughing Maiden, where they were ushered in to see Matton Blanchard.  "I have watched you attending to the wedding party and have a proposal for your group," began Matton.  "My former lover Gabrielle is missing and I believe that she is being held in a manor house around town.  A year or so ago, while in Castle Loupet, a strange caller appeared and hypnotized my love.  As they climbed the stairs to our boudoir I moved to confront the gentleman.  He hurled me to the ground with stunning, superhuman strength.  Gabrielle, meanwhile, overcame her shock and gazed at me with her Evil Eye.  As I lay paralyzed at the bottom of the staircase, they entered her boudoir where she succumbed completely to the strangers fiendish charms."
"Now I believe that she is being kept away from Carnival, her favorite time of year in Karina," he continued.  "I would like to hire you at 5gp a day to locate Gabrielle and then assist in expelling the evil man from her presence.  He might be the Midnight Stalker who commits many atrocities in the Warehouse district."  Arvien immediately negotiated the deal to 5 gp a day per hero and wanted 3 days in advance.  Varrid was against the advance since she did not want to be tied to the stuffy Lord for any length of time.
Meanwhile Baru was surprised that Matton did not seem to recall them party from their encounter on Dead Mans Perch but there was no notice of recognition and Ralom determined his offer seemed sincere.  As the party agreed to his request he added, "I would like you to accompany me to the Dog Fights, as my bodyguards, tonight.  I hope to learn some additional information there."  Arvien quickly negotiated for additional 10 gp for acting as bodyguards.  They agreed to meet at the Laughing Maiden at midnight.
On there way back to the Raven's Roost, Varrid was approached by the cut purse she had previously engaged in conversation with.  He explained that Scar Tabor, leader of his guild, wished to meet with the group at the Pale Rose.  Another request for services wondered Varrid, who inquired as to the location of the Pale Rose.  "It is in The Maze, on the west side of town, which he pointed out on their map," detailed the shadowy figure.  So off the group headed west of Goldfinger into a seedy neighborhood of twisting, shadowed alleys, where they saw ruffians, ladies of the evening, cut purses and beggars.  The alleys were littered with garbage and stunk of human excrement.  Starved animals and other vermin picked through the refuse and wandered aimlessly.  In the distance they heard the howl of a pack of dogs.  Finally arriving at the Pale Rose, a squalid bar beneath a house of ill repute, they were led in to a dark tavern populated with bouncers, sots, and painted ladies conducting business.  Scar Tabor, a gaunt man in his thirties with olive skin, soulless eyes and long black hair woven in a braid sat at a table in the rear.  As the group approached he looked at his retainers who all moved away, taking other patrons out of listening range.
"I have reports of your work in Karina and require a battle tested, secretive band to undertake a caper for me," Scar related.  "I wish to steal the bankroll for the Dog Fights and if you accept my offer I will split the take 50-50 with you."  Baru piped up that their group was certainly recognizable after the fact, how would they not be implicated?  "No authority will wish to investigate a robbery at the Dog Fights, you will be able to leave straight away." replied Scar.  Ralom, ever the cynic, was dubious of this claim, thinking that Dead Men tell no Tales, was the more obvious answer.  But the party listened as Scar outlined the plan.  He would give them the password into the Dog Fight and a map of the building.  There, at his signal, they would steal the bankroll from the backroom and leave through a secret exit.  He says that he has a set of skeleton keys that will help open the chest, and a Flight Powder which would mask their escape.  They would meet back at the Pale Rose.
Varrid asks which night does he wish to pursue this gambit as the party is engaged this evening already.  Scar was disappointed by allows that tomorrow would be fine also as there a 4 days left in Festival.
At this the party leaves, with their guide, who said Scar was not angry, at least not in his judgement.  Varrid queries the fellow about the Midnight Slasher.  The young man reveals that the Midnight Slasher is thought to be an insane escaped criminal from the Citadel.  He seems to roam the Warehouse district, who stalks the slums of West Karina.  He supposedly wears a wide brimmed hat, a scarf across his face and a billowing cloak of a dark fabric that seems to drink up the night.  The locals in the Warehouse district call him the Angel of Darkness. 
Finally back at the Raven's Roost the party updates Raul on the proceedings, he is keenly anxious to find the Vistani but understand that they need to wait until the morrow.  Nikko is looking more healthy as Raul puts him to sleep.  The whole group spends the time up to midnight in planning the protection of their benefactor, whom Varrid hates with a passion.  Varrid wishes to tell the Captain that they will not meet him this evening and Grunyar immediately wonders why she is being so nice to a character that he thinks is a werewolf.  Varrid, having missed the clues during the wolf attack, is shocked to learn of the party's dislike of the good Captain.
Meeting with Blanchard before midnight the party surrounds him on the way to the Dog Fight, which are in the Falkovnian Quarter in West Karina.  As the group passed Tower Street, they noticed a tall, slender figure standing on a street corner a block away, leaning up against a building under a lamp.  He wore a wide- brimmed hat and a billowing cloak of some dark fabric that seemed to drink up the night, making him hard to see. A dark scarf covered the lower half of his face.  Seglun moved toward the figure slowly.  Abruptly the man stepped out of the lamplight and was swallowed silently by darkness.  Where he was standing, a crumpled piece of parchment lay on the cobblestone walk.  Seglun and Grunyar could see the shadowy figure move away from them and he soon disappeared around a turn.  Seglun advanced and picked up the parchment.  She found that it contained a severed human finger, still wearing an iron signet ring carved with a hawk.  The paper is scrawled in blood:
                           The Darkness is mine.
                           The Anger is mine.
                           The Vengeance is mine.
The last verse was still moist.  Matton blanched visibly at the sight of the finger and note and urged the group to hurry to the building on Bog Street.  He warned them that there might be some question of taking their weapons into the Dog Fight,  "You should probably hide any weapons you can, but security is hit or miss," he revealed to Grunyar's dismay.  That longbow was not going to hide anywhere.  At 123 Bog Street a warehouse loomed with an obvious double door entrance large enough to accommodate a horse drawn cart.  To the east was a single door that Matton led them to.  Inside the door were two soldiers, with hawks carved on their foreheads and a war dog.  "What is the password?" they demanded of Seglun as she tried to enter.  Matton moved up and stated "Arkendale Lives."  At this the guards let them into a small foyer with pegs on the walls and a large chest pushed to the rear.  Another door led into the warehouse at large.  With a guttering lamp one of the soldiers led them through the door into a large area stacked with crates, huge casks and barrels of every size.  Stairs led down into  clammy darkness at the bottom of which light seeped around heavy wooden doors.
The basement was a long barrel vaulted chamber, perhaps thirty feet wide and seventy long with a sooty 15 foot high stone ceiling.  The southern part of the hall -- dimly lit by flickering candlelight from iron candelabras and swinging chandeliers -- was dominated by a deep pit built up against the western wall.  The pit was surrounded by a low iron railing.  Charis and tables were strewn around the room many pushed up against the pit.  Along the eastern wall, a wide arch led to a crowded bar.  The dark, northern part of the hall was discretely blocked  off by a heavy black curtain, hanging from a thick iron bar that spanned the width of the chamber.  Matton looked around and spotted Scar Tabor sitting at a table at the rear of the hall.  He indicated that he wished to head that direction but at that moment a square shouldered brute entered the room from a side door with two cages, a dog in each, which he lowered into the pit.  He released a mechanism and the pit was surrounded by spectators, including Ralom to see and hear the harsh guttural growls, barks and yips in staccato bursts of ferocity.  The dogs fought as Matton pushed through the crowd to Scar's table.  Grunyar noted  patrons at the bar, placing wagers with two lovely women in simple dress, their white blouses seductive and revealing.    The large brute approached Matton and growled, "You are no welcome here!"  Matton responded that he would not stay long, and only wanted to speak with Tabor.  The pitmaster allowed them to continue to Tabor's table as the sounds diminished from the pit. 
Arvien moved to the black curtain, peered behind to find two soldiers, like the ones at the entry way, stacked crates and a pile of torn dog corpses.  The pitmaster was hauling a dog carcass up from the pit and he threw it on the pile.  The guards warned Arvien to keep away from the curtain. 
Matton dropped a pouch of gems on the table and asked Tabor where Gabrielle was located.  The two then stated a discussion in a patois that was unknown to any party member.  Baru, Grunyar and Seglun stood with Matton at the table, Varrid watched the pit from a distance, Ralom was next to the pit while Drovic and Arvien stood guard at the rear.  Just then the party saw Captain Nathan enter the chamber, several patrons moved out of the way to let him sit at a prime table next the pit.  The pitmaster led a a terrified young woman from behind the curtain and lowered her screaming into the pit.  Ralom attempted to stop her from being lowered into the pit by pushing the woman next to him in the way but he was repulsed as she suddenly transformed into a hybrid human-wolf form and attacked.  Seglun leapt into the pit and attacked the dog just as it was lunging at the terrified young woman.  Four patrons at the bar turned into hybrid human-wolf forms also and the party realized they were in for a difficult battle.  Arvien cast a web over the center of the room, the pit and two wolves at the bar.  Drovic Lightning Arc at one of the wolves at the bar as they moved to attack.  Baru and Grunyar were under siege from the two wolves, Varrid joined them as Grunyar shouted for Matton to move back into a corner.  Then Matton transformed into a slightly different wolf form and started to sing.  The battle was fierce for some time as Matton moved to attack also, Scar stayed seated at the table with a wry smile on his face.  Through the efforts of all the heroes the wolves were downed, where they reverted to human form.  The two wolves in the web did not try and join the battle and Seglun quickly dispatched the dog in the pit.  She climbed out pulling the stunned young woman with her.  The pitmaster growled at Matton to leave immediately or be torn to pieces.  The party now saw that most of the other patrons, the pitmaster,  and the bar maids were flashing feral smiles and tapping the tables or bar with monstrous claws.  Matton leapt onto the bar, through a door into a storeroom, and out again toward the exit, south of the web.  The party followed apace.  The little group hurried through the streets and alleys back to the Laughing Maiden, Matton reverting to human form along the way.   Matton pulled out pouches of 100 gp each and gave them to the party members.  He said he did not need their help any longer.  The group dragged themselves toward Raven's Roost.

DM's Notes:  The party earned 1000XP for their bravery in rescuing the woman at the Dog Fights and 1028 for the werewolf battle and now have 11992 XP.  They need 2008 additional XP to reach 4th level.