To Catch a Rat

Airday the 8th of Pronus
It is quickly discovered that the Rat Catchers placed the body in the sewers. They took a corpse from the cemetery, mutilated it to look like the Fat Man's work, and then planted it. Unable to talk himself out of it, the guild master agrees to confess his guilt to the church and the law (which are almost the same thing). Additionally he will be fully cooperative with the party from now on, and in return the party will put a good word in the right ear to reduce his punishment. He is taken to Sir MacFlinn and his sins and crimes are laid before him. He is repententant, and gives a private confession to clear his name with God. Additionally, Sir MacFlinn advises that he lead a group of guards to the site where the sewer monster was reported to be, however the area was empty. As the party turn to leave, a deacon arrives asking for Sir MacFlinn. Another "Fat Man" body has been found! They all rush to the crimescene.

The latest victim is a young deacon, who was politically/religiously aligned with the teachings of the late Bishop Belfric. He was killed in his cot as he slept in the usual way; his throat was cut and there is a mess of food leftovers scattered all over the room. This is the freshest crimescene so far, and Xavier meticulously searches the room for any clues while the party question possible witnesses. Together, several interesting discoveries are made.

• The body is still warm.
• The dust under the cot has been disturbed recently. The killer must have waited here for the deacon to fall asleep. The size of the disturbance indicates the person is a human of average height.
• Not quite as much food has been eaten as at previous crimescenes. Mostly it seems to have been torn up and strewn about.
• The deacon's coinpurse has been cut away.
• The gardener said that most of the comings and goings were ordinary. When asked, the only possible strange occurrance around that time was a young man who looked like he was late for something.
  

It is decided that the murderer is probably not the Fat Man but rather a copycat killer capitalising on his presence. Since there is little that can be done here they advise the acting Bishop Helm to have guards present at all times from now. The party leave to investigate the butchery.
Stepping out onto the street the party realise that someone is following them. They try to catch him but he is too elusive. Someone recognises them in the slums district and disappears into the crowd. It becomes clear that something is up as they approach the butchery, as the streets are completely clear. Weapons are drawn. Lyam spots a man sitting on a bench in the park next to the butchery and goes to ask him what's up. The man knows Lyam by name, tells him how much trouble he caused by leading the guard here, and gives him a warning not to interfere with the butchery operations in future. Then he drinks a potion and turns invisible. There is movement in the windows on the fourth floor and poisoned bolts are fired at the party. Five invisible butchers appear from nowhere and start chopping. The man who was on the park bench reappears as he fires a hand-crossbow at Lyam, but fortunately glances off his plate mail. Laen moves to the cover of a tree and begins distributing indiscriminate justice with his magical frost longbow, felling some of the butchers and one of the snipers. Lyam puts a butcher to sleep with a spell (fortunately nobody is around to witness). Thorhal smashes through a window and begins running up the flights of stairs towards the snipers. Fjidor and Xavier engage two butchers, wearing them down blow by blow. The snipers continue harrying available targets with their poisoned bolts.
Then from nowhere, a man in heavy armour charges across the square and lays into the butcher attacking Lyam. Some more butchers are put down, and the sneaky guy with the hand-crossbow is peppered with Laen's arrows. He drinks another potion and disappears again. The stranger chops through one butcher and jump-charges using the park bench as a ramp, bringing the last butcher's world down around him just as Lyam is about to loose his tenderloins. The man from the bench reappears again at Laen's side and sticks his short sword there. Lyam reacts instantly, directing a beam of intense flame at the unfortunate sod, cooking him where he stands.
A smash is heard from above. As everyone cranes their necks to see, the last sniper is expended from the window, arms wind milling wildly, and plummets with plume of dust and a bone-cracking crunch in the street below. As the dust clears, it's visible that he must have landed on his chin, and the angle his neck is at would give any chiropractor nightmares. The man is quite dead. Up on the fourth floor however, standing in the aperture left by the sniper's abrupt exit and yanking a nasty-looking crossbow bolt from between his armour plating, is Thorhal.
It's uncertain whether it was the awe inspiring nature of the visage, the head-rush of a new level, or simply a Large Scorpion Venom overdose however it is at this moment that Fjidor turns pale, his knees buckle, and he crumples in an unshakable comatose to the ground.

GM's Notes:

• Obstacles overcome:
  5x Butchers CR3 => 4000XP@lvl4, 3000XP@lvl6
  2x Snipers CR4 => 2400XP@lvl4, 1800XP@lvl6
  Boss CR6 => 2400XP@lvl4, 1800XP@lvl6
  
  Xavier = 15286XP + 1100XP = 16386XP (lvl6, 23% to lvl7)
  Laén = 16386XP + 1100XP = 17486XP (lvl6, 41% to lvl7)
  Þórhal* = 15224XP+ 1100XP = 16324XP (lvl6, 22% to lvl7)
  Lyam = 8560XP + 1467XP = 10027 (lvl5, 1% to lvl6, new level!)
  Fjidor = 8560XP + 1467XP = 10027 (lvl5, 1% to lvl6, new level!)
  
  * = Cinematic Point!
  
  
• Cinematic Points:
  We're playing an imaginary fantasy game which was designed be cool. You run around with swords, armour, bows and magic. You battle monsters and villains, go on awesome quests, and pilfer loot in mythic proportions. It sounds like an action movie, and should do too. But what about those times when you want to swing across the bar on a chandelier, but you don't have any Use Rope skill, or you're just dying to send that Fireball into the keyhole and listen to your pursuers sizzle but the keyhole would require a perfect shot. In the regular rules it's not possible.
  Well, I've borrowed an existing idea from one of my old GMs (thanks Bev, *yoink*), modified it a bit, and cooked up a solution. Introducing Cinematic Points. I will, at my discretion, award a Cinematic Point when a character performs a suitably awesome act. What's suitably awesome? Just pick any Die Hard stunt, or Legolas riding a shield down a flight of steps and firing arrows, or the Spartans bull-rushing the Persians off a cliff in 300. They would have all received a Cinematic Point from me.
  So what is it good for? Well, it guarantees a natural 20 for a single dice roll when attempting to do something awesome. So you want to shoot the spell component out of the wizard's hand? Bull-rush a frost giant into a volcano? Swing aboard the pirate ship and land on the pirate captain? Sure. Burn a Cinematic Point. Or roll a 20. :)
  Final note; using Cinematic Points won't earn you Cinematic Points. The coolness is its own reward, though you are thoroughly encouraged to keep trying.
  
  
• Point your ankles to the sky, everybody:
  As far as I can see, it's no problem to use a whip to do a whirlwhind attack, and attempt a trip against every opponent in a 15' radius. I also read (in case you missed this) that you don't need the Improved Trip feat to avoid the attacks of opportunity; simply tripping with a weapon is enough.