Chapter 2, Session 3: Murder in Bloomwilt
General Summary
Well, it makes sense you would choose to judge someone based on factors beyond their control like their race, or beliefs, or dreams...The party finally returned to Bloomwilt after their trials and tribulations in The Wheel. However, things were immediately amiss when The Kaechaek Party were stopped by 3 different groups of The Drifters who asked for identification, reason to visit Bloomwilt, length of stay and whether or not they had any contact with Artur Coric. When the party asked a few more questions they were advised to speak to Kindness who had taken control of the inner ring of Bloomwilt in Coric's stead.
The party immediately went into a game plan of how to deal with this new information, with Hermione reminding the group that they needed funds at the moment and so it would be worth looking into this issue in case there was a reward available. With that, the party split; Peregrine and Mallus went to The Midden Tick to attempt to procure rooms for the party (with Peregrine adamant that she could get the group free rooms to stay in) whilst Sigholdt, Esmerae and Hermione moved to find the Inner Ring headquarters so they could speak to Kindness about the state of Bloomwilt. As they travelled, the party realised that, despite the inner ring being in it's mid-day phase, it was quiet and morbid as a space; very few people were outside of their homes and their was a general misery and quietude that hung throughout the ring.
Peregrine and Mallus visited the Midden Tick and spoke to the owner that day, Calara Mira who, upon the pair of them explaining they could provide a variety of entertainment for free rooms, asked that they try performing for the room and, if they did well, she would give them rooms... though she asked that they keep the performance respectful and sombre as the inner ring were currently in a state of miserable mourning; with Peregrine and Mallus pressing Calara they learned that Coric had been murdered in recent days and the shock of his killing had put the inner ring into a state of shock and grieving. They then learned that The Migration of Bloomwilt had also hit the town hard as many of their Nightmare and Kalashtar population had left recently.
Peregrine and Mallus eventually decided to complete an interpretive dance of a woman being left heartbroken... however, their performance was exceptionally poor and drew a very apathetic response until, in a moment of insightful inspiration, Mallus realised that the patrons of the bar wanted an excuse to laugh and have a moment of joy. In that moment, they resolved to instead become clowns and completed a slapstick comedy routine that ended with Peregrine concussed, bruised but very much earning a free ale and rooms for the party.
Meanwhile, the rest of the party moved to Kindness and her offices where they discovered that there was a 1,500gp bounty out for the recovery and returning to Bloomwilt of Xauna, the daughter of Nashien Calcus as she was the prime suspect of the murder of Artur Coric only three days ago. Kindness claimed that she was spotted by several drifter guards leaving the scene where Coric was found dead before she rejoined The Migration of Bloomwilt and left with the other droves of Nightmares and Kalashtar. During this time, Sigholdt was aggressive and conflict driven with Kindness; expressing that he felt she was judging Xauna for being a Nightmare and generally making little time for her beliefs as he felt adrenaline race through his body when interacting with Kindness. This got to a point where Kindness, in an attempt to pacify Sigholdt, told the party that she had become aware that, in two days time, The Venator will be coming to Bloomwilt to resolve the dreams and nightmares running rampant after recent events and so they would be wise to leave town in that time. But, if the party were willing to accept the bounty, they were welcome to search Coric's offices and check out his body in The Whisper's Temple.
Hermione, Esmerae and Sigholdt continued their investigation and visited Coric's offices behind Kindness, closing the door behind them as they did so... immediately before investigating Hermione rounded on Sigholdt and his lack of diplomacy; agreeing that Kindness was a bitch but that was no reason to be so aggressive with her. Sigholdt acknowledged he wasn't the best diplomat as he was more of a straight forward soldier but that he also knew that Kindness was a Venator as no one is able to tell when a Venator visits a place. With that, the trio began investigating Coric's office (made entirely of stone and carved from the cavern that Coric mined into for the first time) and found a couple of key items:
- A collection of tax, invoice and pay slips for his mining company.
- A crimson cushion addressed to him and hand stitched by Emerald Quick-Wick congratulating Coric on becoming inner ring mayor.
- A fine and ornate +1 dagger inside the cushion with a granite pommel stone.
- A series of payment slips for private investigators (none were named) though four were out of Coric's fear of spies and subterfuge within his business whilst the fifth was an investigation into dissatisfaction in his work force.
- A bag of gold
The investigator trio then moved to The Whisper's Temple and, after speaking to the head whisperer there, Whisperer Kalloch, they were directed to Coric's body and saw that he had necrotic burns in the centre of his body which Sigholdt and Hermione both realised was caused by a single shot of Blight, a high level necromancy spell. Upon inspecting Coric's hands, clenched tight with intention and rigor mortis, Sigholdt gained a vision of Coric's head snapping up in a sudden movement and the eyes opening, in his eyes Sigholdt saw on one side a black and star filled pit and, in the other eye, he saw blue irises and, instead of a pupil, the letter 'C'.
Sigholdt told Hermione what he saw and the two tried to piece together what they had learned so far whilst Hermione learned more about Sigholdt's followers Crumble and Hero, learning that they were former dreams of his that were 'plucked out' and given to him to help him protect and survive in Kaechaek, with Sigholdt also telling Hermione that he was caught in a landslide that gave him terrible nightmares, those nightmares now protect him through the figure of Crumble.
With that, Sigholdt and Esmerae found Peregrine (nursing a head injury) and Mallus in the Midden Tick and they updated eachother on everything they had learned before Peregrine quickly insisted the group go into one of their rooms to talk in private. During that talk, the party put pieces together and realised that they had to deal with the vision of a letter and a star filled eye with the body of a politician that they found in Bloomwilt sewers in their last visit whilst the eyes matched Peregrines. Peregrine, in a moment of frustration, threw a piece of furniture across the room and expressed her rage at the current situation. She has been pressured constantly by her nightmares to move north since the party left Bloomwilt and, in speaking to them they mentioned that she wasn't ready for visiting Inkbowl.
Sigholdt revealed he had lived in Inkbowl settlements for a time and that the layer between dreams and reality was distorted there, making it maddening and dangerous... he then explained that it was likely the nightmares were trying to lead Peregrine to Inkbowl over time... something that the party were not enthused about in the slightest. They then decided to meet Hermione at Emerald Quick-Wick's office as a course of action and a distraction for Peregrine.
During this conversation, Hermione instead visited The Smiling Rock and found it was closed currently, with the door answered by Mariah Calcus who explained that Sabria Lilk had been expecting her.
Hermione moved straight up to the room and passed Sabria's quick quiz before having the next section of Sabria's Book unlocked for her, containing far more pages than last time and far more learning. They then talked for a time and Hermione asked Sabria, as Xauna's teacher, whether she believed Xauna was innocent or guilty... to which Sabria was exceptionally callous, stating that she believed Xauna did as they were the only one capable of casting Blight apart from Sabria themselves and that she no longer regarded Xauna as her student as it was clear that the girl did not have what it took to be a great arcanist. She then explained that, when Hermione left Bloomwilt, there would be a significant gap before their next test and that, during that time, Sabria recommended Hermione visits Garnet so that she could learn about the research taking place in The Warding Sect. Hermione and Sabria seemed to be at an impasse here however as Hermione could not help but express her distaste for the idea of wizards becoming patrons... especially Peridotan ones. Sabria on the other hand believed it was simply more knowledge for an arcanist to use in their accruing of power.
With that, Hermione left the closed tavern and the party met her outside Emerald Quick-Wick's Mayoral Housing before they decided to, as it was night in the middle ring, return to the inner ring mid-day area and try to intercept Coric's Letter to Honour in the hope of being able to read it. The party visited the postal warehouse and enquired about the letter, being told that Coric had become irate with the couriers as they received to deliver the letter immediately as there was a customary wait time for the letter delivery to be organsied for a long trip to Sanctuary but he had eventually agreed and paid for the postage there. Sigholdt, using his channel divinity to make himself more reasonable and charismatic, managed to convince the front desk worker that they were sent to ensure that the letter was quality proofed before being sent... a lie that managed to succeed in getting the party possession of Coric's Letter to Honour. Upon reading the letter, the party were left with even more questions about how Coric had foreseen so many of the recent events that have taken place and why he was killed for it...
Report Date
15 Aug 2023
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