Zakrieg's Betrayal and Pursuit of the Cult

Zalkrieg was acting suspicious. He insisted that we should go, with him guarding the shield, and we shouldn't search for more prisoners. We collectively agreed that, contrary to Zalkrieg's advice, we should absolutely look for more victims of the cult to Tyrrany.
 
While Makaan and his sister keep an eye on Zalkrieg, Avindir and I stalked the halls for more prisoners. We found a small set of cells near the end of a tunnel guarded by some bearded fiend. Avindir wove a glamour over himself (using the mask) and pretended once more to be Amryn. He talked to the jailor, but we could tell the fiend was not convinced by this magical guise. Quickly, Avindir conjured a thick cloud of fog in the room to escape and to let me hold off the fiend.
 
Now, I never fought solely using my Refusal of the Shadow before, so this was a welcome experiment. On the other hand, I was fighting a very angry fiend with a polearm. While Avindir sent his familiar to get reinforcements and stayed out of the fog, ready to magic any foe who emerged, my job was to keep the fiend occupied.
 
I could sense the lumbering fiend's movements through the mist as if I could see him myself. It is difficult to explain how this sense works -- I am finding my vocabulary lacking. It was almost like how I could feel when a fly landed on my fathers, or how I know where my hand is when I am not looking at it.
 
I proceeded to assault and maneuver around the fiend without their awareness of me. They kept trying to strike a location I was previously in, but I felt each blow coming before it reached me. Without a scratch on my form, I defeated the fiend and it melted into ichor.
 
The reinforcements of Makaan, Therezia, and their ward Zalkrieg arrived, which meant we could investigate who was jailed. We found two prisoners in the cells, one of which (a dark-skinned man) was sent after Zalkrieg. According to this man (Codrad Shay), Zalkrieg was a priest, but abandoned his oaths in favor of some other, unknown power (likely a fiend, if I could guess). The other prisoner was a female noble named Rethi Raprat, who assured us that the insult of being imprisoned wouldn't go unpunished upon the manor.
 
With more people in tow, we sneaked out of the sewers through the secret ladder in the chapel and found ourselves in a stable. Outside, we heard justicars raiding the manor and making arrests. Confident in our innocence and our virtue, we emerged and explained all we witnessed and who we found.
 
A tiefling woman (I've met more tieflings in the last six months than I've ever expected to see in my entire life) named Liliponae Leyhalla, an imperial knight of an imperial theocracy from far away, came with Codrad to claim Zalkrieg. She was a "Magi of the Acolytes of the Arcane Storm", whatever that meant. She provided a scroll (of which Avindir readily grabbed) to "help communicate", then proceeded to claim Zalkrieg. Before she could shackle him, though, a ferocious magic radiating from the shield assaulted our minds. I felt a fear more primal than any I've faced before, and I felt a compulsion to flee. Truly, I was unprepared for the sheer weight of the magical command that was issued by that possessed shield. Makaan managed to power through it (likely due to his experiences with fear in his adventures as a "Merchant") and tackled Zalkrieg to the ground, scattering the shield. The effect ended and I felt embarrassed that, even after all of the meditative training I had in the monastery, I was still overwhelmed by a magical fear.
 
With Zalkrieg handed off to Codrad and Liliponae Leyhalla (who we learned was alerted by our associate the Archivist), we returned to the Comfort Rose and reported back.
 
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So began our monitoring of the other bathhouse and sites around the city for cult activity. While Makaan and Avindir collected the reward for turning in the pirate ship, I saw suspicious people carry out the chests of treasure meant for offerings for the Dark Dreaming cult. I followed them to the eastern gate and then to a porter. I paid a street runner a gold coin to deliver a message post-haste to the Comfort Rose and my allies soon came to me. We saw how the three people I followed (a half-elf or a human, a human or a half elf, and a dwarf) went to Zilri Vav's Equipage and loaded up a few wagons for a caravan.
 
Unexpectedly, a palanquin from the city came through the gate. I saw a glimpse of a black-scaled person in the palanquin communicate with the cult's carts, then return to the city. Suspicious for sure, but we knew that we had to follow. This was our mission. Avindir and Makaan elected to try and be guards. I, being a beautiful and memorable kenku, would not likely get a job in the caravan without being recognized by someone who kept me "prisoner" back in the ravine, so I bought a pony and elected to trail behind the caravan.
 
The entire trip was scheduled to be around four weeks as we headed east along the coast.
 
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While on the road, the caravan stopped to witness a hobgoblin attack on an upturned merchant cart. I came by and investigated, asked a few questions, and tried to assess if I could safely get the merchants out of the crossfire of half a dozen angry hobgoblin archers. Unfortunately, I found no efficient means to save them at the time, so I had to back off.
 
Later, when the assault ended, our caravan passed by and I looked for survivors. Blessed be Aen, Light Lord of Compassion, for I found someone barely alive. I applied medical salves, bandages, and a bit of medicinal spirit to his wounds to bring him to an ambulatory state, and I took him into my small camp.
 
The merchant's name was Idiad Brórd, a half-elf merchant who was traveling with his team. He was the lone survivor, and I saw how it pained him to realize that his wares were lost. I didn't want to probe too deeply into that pain, so I tried comforting him in other ways. I asked about his family, his life, his time in the empire. What was it like to see so much political change?
 
Idiad, much to my wonder, proved to be a lovely conversationalist.
 
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After days of talking with Idiad and learning about his trade, the caravan stopped again. Apparently, there was evidence of a significant spider infestation in the local woods. Silken web draped over trees like canvas tents and the air felt sticky. I, a brave adventurer, rode forth on my pony alongisde the guards Makaan and Avindir. Makaan appeared to be put in charge of two blokes and, much to my delight, it was the same two that kidnapped Avindir around a month ago! I'm glad they are doing well and keeping a more respectable job.
 
We found four spiders and a spider-tick-man (later identified as an ettercap). The fight was rough, and I was encased in a globule of web for an embarrassingly long time. With the aid of the two blokes and our teamwork, though, we turned the fight around and emerged victorious!
 
One of the blokes was pretty hurt, so I administered aid to help him. I think this will be a good chapter in his story.
 
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Another day on the road. Idiad and I have fallen into a comfortable silence for much of the travel. I admit, I think I truly have been spoiled by Avindir's cooking. After all these weeks, I'm finding frequent rations, gruel, currents, curds, and whey to be boring.
 
This morning, my bowl of whey, currents, and curds around our small breakfast fire was interrupted by a blade to my throat. A gnome woman flipped the blade over and claimed a "bone spur" was in my gruel as revealed on the underside of the blade. Frankly, I've been on the streets. I've seen better cons; I was not convinced by her claims, but I played along. She seemed to suggest that the cult's camp tried to assassinate me (they could just, yaknow, stab me in the middle of the night). She wanted to meet with me and my allies Avindir and Makaan.
 
That caught my attention far more.
 
I conveyed a message to Avindir, who would pass it on to Makaan. That night at midnight, we'd meet in Avindir's magic expanding big interior tent.
 
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That night, the gnome met us Avindir and I in the tent. Makaan refused to play her game, which I honestly sympathize with. Makaan isn't the most patient member of our group.
 
The gnome introduced herself as Yohani. She claimed to hate the ideas of the cult and worked against them in a group of like-minded possible allies. It felt very suspicious. She expressed how she also hated how the cult had a relationship with Zodatha.
 
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Two days later, Yohani was gone from the caravan. Coincidentally, a member of the cult's camp was murdered with a sword stab high through the chest. There was one member of the camp (whom I believe I met before; he looked like the drake minder back in the ravine) who immediately accused me. I was searched and they could not find any weapon that could make the wound. His claims I was a spy was then dismissed as manic bias; no one trusted his judgments of me now.
 
I asked if the gnome was still around. People feigned confusion and, frankly, that just seemed to piss Makaan off even more.