Lost Lore 15: One by One
General Summary
Yes, I will go to the moon with you right now.After our return with the maimed child, Charity, Ospher and I got back to work on securing the class prep for the coming week of schooling. It would be mostly introductions / sorting / basics, to the greater extent, but we still found time to work on personal projects as the week went on. Firstly, the wine casks and mead we found from the ruined farmstead netted us a pretty healthy amount of gold from Sebastian Pay, our sommelier acquaintance. Using that money, we then contracted the Gold Crests, a local reliable scouting company comprised of former Kreastos constabulary members, headed by Diedrich Sauer to continue the search for our stragglers. The Gold Crests were directed to our local areas of high danger, Becklinberg, the swamps near Lake Bask, the troubled areas where the road skirted by the Rylan Woods, in particular. They would eventually report back (after our own investigation) a few found bodies here or there as well as some children locked in cages in Becklinberg that appeared to be magical, slightly glowing runes aplenty adorned them. We deduced these to be magical locks that also shield from scrying, meaning there's something or someone capable taking lead of the cannibals outside the swamp. He mentioned also that the swamplands that he saw dancing lights in the forest, a horse with a horn, and one night it was snowing. Aided by our new Eye of Basul, Ospher used Digby's list over three days and was able to scry upon the remaining 'missing' (unaccounted?) students and was able to determine that a large number of them were not coming, summarizing; of Digby's total roster was 150 of names, 80 had arrived (including Penthaddeus), 40 of them appeared to be living their lives in towns across the continent, and 15 bodies were discovered in his querying, in various states of decay, but the remaining 15 were already on their journey to Frial, with the closest being a week out and furthest being a month out. None of the furthest ones were together, and they more mostly coming from Ghal Pelor and Homestead. Two of them were essentially in the path of the Red Word caravan's route between Frial and Ghal Pelor, so we explained to them to drop our names with Captain Farley and hitch a safer trip to Frial if they're going to come. I used my meagre free time during this search to craft some Gauntlets of Ogre Power as a sort of test run for our workshop using some more Nisaba's Guile we stocked away from Bianca's battery. It has occurred to us that despite the Guile's limited use to my friends and, indeed, to greater Tairos, my ability as a High Priest to convert Manacite's power to something else is very unique and can put us in a fairly cozy position in order to craft magic items while not needing anything beyond what we've already gained access to in our adventures. It seems no matter how hard we run from it, we're likely to turn the Wagner Orphanarium into a sweatshop of some sort or another. We also did some experimentation on spent Manacite, Ospher looking into what possible nutritional benefits one could gain from it. We learned that attempting to recharge it has very unpredictable results, instability and used over long term, that it could have enervating effects, stealing power from a person. We then used the Eye to contact Crisnos Qinbi, he was a bit more hardened looking, a proper trident on his back, holding the reigns of a small cart that covered a sort of body with a tarp covering it that we later discovered to be a Satyr's body. The telepathic communication with the Eye is one directional, so I told him that we were now in charge of the Abbey, we had encountered some some of champion of the The Autumn King and would show him where, and that we had the ability to create magical items here at the Wagner Orphanarium and if we could help him combat this threat, we'd be happy to supply him. He indicated that he would likely return to Frial sometime soon and we left it at that. We spoke with Bianca the next time she was dropping through to look at the gate if she wanted to enroll / help teach at the school. She was slightly apprehensive about the students possibly picking on her, but ultimately found a good middle ground as a teacher-student (as opposed to student-teaching). Since she would only be teaching half the time, we offered her half the rate of that of a rare tutor, which she accepted. She also mentioned that the rubble pile in the lab was some sort of vehicle.
Do you think they would make fun of me?
They're kids, they make fun of everything.
I don't think I could do through that again... but maybe?
Again?
Maybe I could do that but also like whatever's in the middle, ie a student that also helps out with things.
A teacher's assistant?
Yeah, but I think they make fun of that a lot.
Oh they definitely do. I sure would.
Well sure. What does it pay?
Uhhhhh room and board?
I'm game for it, but we'll need to push a bookshelf in front of that door over there, because if someone manages to open it, the room is affected by a cloudkill spell, so that's something to consider.I also took the time on the next day to conduct an experiment based on my newly gained understanding from The Lady that I could hear the prayers of anyone to the Gods. Going to the barely functional Temple to Sandor in the Kreastos building, I learned that I could instinctively hear the amount of devotion in a person's voice when uttering prayers, almost as if the stronger the belief, the greater the volume and timbre of their words. Through this, I learned that Shepherd is definitely a fanatical member of whatever Lockland infiltration group is engaging in. While there, I checked in on Lielt Moonpelt and he expressed interest in working for us at the abbey, assuming the place had been exorcised. I explained that we had been through all of it and it was now an Orphanarium since Digby is missing. He still volunteered to work for us in spite of all that, and the haunting, so I told him I'd get back with him after talking with Charity.
Oh! I've been coming and going as I pleased, I'm glad I didn't think that was a bathroom or something!
If ever you're hiring, I've gotten really good at sweeping, cleaning, running the books. I've you ever need a hired hand...I was then over at the Grand Order of the Lion to meet with Nicholas and put the bug in the management's ear in order to secure more funding for teachers as well as drop off the Scale Mail we found with Nicholas. He was working a desk up front, on Ser's old desk, to be exact, which was very funny. He mentioned, after thanking us graciously for the armor, that they've been busy lately and wouldn't be able to make appointments on a whim with us. He confided that there's been lots of fae sightings and Segravia's folk, and snowfall in the marsh, and I explained we knew of what was going on, and he said they'd want to meet us a lot sooner since we had some inside knowledge of the operation. Due to the sheer volume of work on the three of us as the sole administrators, teachers and staff of the school, Ospher and Charity were run down to exhausted by the final day of the first week. I've had experience in this sort of thing but not at this size, so I'd dealt with it significantly better than they were presently. We had just dragged two students into the admin offices who were fighting in the hallway over lunch break. Salibar, a gnome from Homestead, and a halfling from Tengu Town, Perrin Tallgrass, and the drole subject of their fight was if Perrin was a "bird person spy" here. Ospher explained to me later that their arrival from over the seas, the way they observe other cultures and their willingness to accept a very cut rate for employment is where Salibar's aggression likely came from.
Well since Digby has disappeared, the Abbey has been converted to an Orphanarium...
You got kids there? It's dangerous!
You should look in his backpack, he's got strange Tengu trinkets in there! Probably a listening device!We explained that baseless ethnocentrisim will only sunder Tairos itself and in weilding it, it spreads so, Salibar got the point eventually as I noticed Gwenimil Sunderstond waiting outside the door as another student, Love Birdie started screaming from down the hallway and her hand was growing to gargantuan size. As I swept Gwen into my wake, I noticed Neville coming by for our noon meeting and told him we'd be back shortly and only slightly late. He seemed exasperated, but accepted the delay patiently as Ospher then ran past him to save everyone's lunch from burning. Charity wrapped up Salibar and Perrin's argument and noted it for their respective records.
Can you feel anything in this?As I caught up to Love, she was still shrieking, so I put a piece of genuine manacite in her non-massive hand and directed her towards a place of mental peace. She calmed down and caught her breath and got it back under control. She pulled out a crinkled piece of paper from her knapsack and it appeared to be an Enlarge/Reduce scroll she obtained from somewhere. She explained that she got it from some of Nimoy's people on lunch break for 4 gold piece, which is odd cause I didn't think he'd really be ok in this sort of trafficking. I let her have it back and reminded her that she needs to walk before she runs and to take things in due time.
Liquid?
No manacite?
Is this a test? Am I doing it right?
Yes it's a test, but not a bad one.
I took care of it, they're fine now. There's not gonna be anymore of... whatever was happening. This is a lot! I didn't think it was gonna be this hard.
He never mentioned anything about Teachers before you two came along.Ospher meanwhile had run to the kitchen just in time to save the meal. And just in time for all the students to be fed. We then convened in Charity's office to discuss what Neville had made his appointment for. He explained that of the seven well known, well connected, and well stocked manacite dealers in town, 4 of them had been practically unreachable for a little while. He gave us a list of the ones they knew, and mentioned that Frigi was their supplier and they hadn't heard from him since their last restock about a week and a half ago. Ardus Gallow, a gnomish Homesteadite who oft times makes trips to Rylan, Viola Cudhay, Jasper Halohill, a Ghal Pelori halfling and Frigi Mathesion, a human Frostmerite, were all missing, but Trevor DeWitt, our contact, Adeley Kint, the solicitor Arminias' neice and a human horticulturalist/woodworker, Slevin Thesselwyn, a Melanthran elf who deals in spices, were still in business, as far as the Order knew of.
So things are going ok here? A whole school full of potential order recruits one day?
They may even join opposing magic circles!
We advocate for nothing here, except the pursuit of knowledge.
Magic Circle neutral. Got it, I won't recruit any of them without your permission.
desperately No! No! Please do! No! Please do! If you see one in the hallway you like... Here, Gwenimil Sunderstone, she wants one on one time. If you can help her, yeah! Also you need to sign this form that says you won't discuss individual children outside the premises.
I would be happy to be a tutor if I didn't dislike kids so much.
I was actually hoping that you may be able to help us out with a bit of an issue if you have time... and I assume you do? Right? These kids get two days off, which means you get two days off?He was concerned at the timing of all this, and thinking that something like this requires a neutral party to all the circles bickering and cajoling for power, he thought that our image to the circles would be enough to assure them of being un-aligned enough to solve this without creating havoc or raising suspicion. He made it clear that there's a lot of groups out there thinking similarly that we would not be interfered with to act quickly on this. In response to questioning, he explained there were about a dozen consistently active covens in town, as well as individual actors operating outside of these groups. As far as to reasons why this was happening he offered the following theories, outside tengu suppliers looking to eliminate competition, a rogue circle attempting to deprive other circles of their supplies and thus power, a secretive initiative within the Kreastos looking to clamp down on manacite imports. Finally, Neville explained most of them lived in the nice district on the east side of town, the Flagstaff District.
Religious thing I'm guessing. I don't do religion, I prefer to get my power from here instead of up there.Ospher was able to recall that he had heard about Slvein's manacite since it was fairly unique in that it's high quality meant it would sometimes not consume the charge, though it was likely from the vaults of Melanthris or manufactured with the Autumn Queen's method. We then asked Neville to ask for Nimoy's approval to host meetings with the other circles by the school tomorrow night, and then to arrange meetings with these circles, assuming they agree. He said he'd try to facilitate the meetings to the best of his ability, but if people discovered that one did that, it would be grounds for open war on the streets. He set off to that do and we discussed amongst ourselves, the possibility to make magical items to relieve exhaustion, which Ospher would be able to do with greater ease than me, though not in his current condition.
I can't jduge.
That's why we like ya.
So we're not gonna have a weekend?We called up Tadlo, Lorgan and Ser to meet up after school was done for the day in order to discuss our plans as to how to investigate this. Using the little bit of info we had from Neville and our street info, we figured we could check up first on the persons whose locations we knew of. Bianca was willing to make sure the kids didn't get into trouble over the evening, she also explained that she doesn't normally have a regular manacite supplier. Charity and Ospher would go to visit Slevin's shop, a very high quality store with fresh spices from across the continent, though it's exterior was very low-key, we also know from Tadlo that it was a by appointment only store. After some persistent knocking on this pre-dusk Moradin's Ire evening, the door was answered and they got down to business. He revealed that he wasn't aware of any sort of specific threats on people's lives besides some anger from Adeley for having successfully stolen a potential client of hers, a Circle of Infernal magic practitioners named Circle of the Black Hammer, supposedly they come from money and are able to afford the finest. He had heard rumors of people disappearing but claimed to blame this on the type of clientele that they dealt manacite with. His manacite was also very high quality as rumors indicated and he gave a piece to Ospher as well as some samples for spices in case we wanted to contract either of the goods he deals in. That basil was divine. Charity mentioned that Slevin also had some chocolate tea that she adored. They then set off to meet up with Tadlo and Lorgan who were looking in on Frigi.
If you need a break, you should take a break.
No... this could turn out to be really big and dangerous.
I don't know. When I would see someone engaging in criminal behavior when I was part of the Grand Order, I would just stab them, I wouldn't ask who they were with first. Crime is Crime, doesn't matter who you work for.
We should figure out a way to make them all go to their rooms and then make the doors seal shut.
You're describing a prison.
I agree! It would keep them safe.
It's like a safety door. After seven o'clock its safety time.
I no longer agree with this. I have concerns.
If this is for the Orphanarium, I don't know that I have quantity enough for the size of your organization.
Can you really truly be a mage without having the best manacite to pull from? If anything, manacite should be more expensive to weed out those that shouldn't be weilding such powers.
I don't know how much you know about elves from Melanthris but he was par for the course. He might even been one of the nicest one.Brightshine and I went to the Kreastos building to meet with the Solicitor Uncle Arminias Kint and caught him just as he was about to leave his office. I impressed on him the importance of our meeting and he agreed to sit back down and talk with us. I danced around explaining exactly what she did but impressed on him the worry that had been communicated to me that people who know her hadn't been in touch with her for some time. He explained that she is the daughter of his now deceased brother and he promised to watch after her and while they're not distant, he doesn't see her that frequently or with any regularity. He gave me the address of her greenhouse, explained that she lives directly beside it and the address of his home in order to let him know what we find. We got there, discovered that the place was locked up tight and I made my way onto the roof after explaining a contingency plan to Ser in case there's trouble and wriggled my way down the chimney. It was quiet and smelled sort of musty and slightly metallic, in exploring and looking about I concluded my search at her bedroom where I discovered a scene of some large amount of violence that was at least a week old to two weeks. There was blood on the walls, gouge marks in the bed, old and bits of flesh on the bed as well, and most upsetting, no body to determine what had happened. He and I immediately set off to make sure Trevor was ok since he was the next nearest dealer, we explained to him what was going on, he agreed to take shelter in the College so I sent him there on the broom. Trevor mentioned that Adeley had recently been screwed over by Slevin in dealing with the Circle of Black Hammer, Slevin had owed her money and sent over copper that was temporarily transmogrified into gold which meant she couldn't get her next shipment of manacite paid for in time which ultimately cost her the deal with them, allowing Slevin to win them over. We then went to let Arminias know that his Niece wasn't answering her door and the shop and house looked empty. Kint said he would get the constabulary dispatched immediately. He said that he hadn't spoken with her in about two weeks. He confirmed that she was friendly with Trevor, as he helped build her greenhouse.
Are you customers, do you need plants for the Abbey?
Yes. Exactly.
What kind of danger might she be in?
Other carvers in town have gone missing.
I didn't know there was such an illicit world of gardeners and wood workers.
I was just gonna stand up and accuse him, "We know your daughter is a manacite hoarder! Talk!" and then I would have pulled out my pike.
And that would have really confused him because I don't think he has a daughter.
Wha...
His niece, his niece!
Prove it's you!
No..?
Alright, but I'll be watching!
I'm always happy to see my favorite customer and her bird.
Are you aware of what's happening to the other manacite dealers?
I do my own thing, I don't even know their names. I do. I'm kidding, but what, are they mad at me again?
Well Frigi...
Is he dead?
Not sure yet, he's missing.
Good, I hope he's dead! Let me tell you something about Frigi, he's the scum of Tairos. That man never forgets any slight, no matter how small. He keeps all these ledgers and writes everything down. Every little speck of something, every little ember is fanned into a fire! He hates everyone.
I wish magic still existed to the extent that we could bring him back from the dead just so I could slit his throat. Put that in his little book.Tadlo and Lorgan went to look in on Frigi's house, since they knew where it was since he's a big spender and reported back that the place had looked like no one was in it, it was locked up tight and a sewer grate by the house looked like it had been pried apart so that someone could get into the sewers nearby. It's still small enough where only a halfling or gnome could fit but very odd all the same. Entering the sewers and bidding Charity to remain on the surface, they went down into the sewers to determine what might have done this and if it was then used to enter Frigi's house. Coming up to the connection for the indoor plumbing of his 2 story house, they found some strange ooze-gel substance that was around the small pipe and while he wasn't able to conclusively determine what it came from, but based on the quantity, there was quite a bit of this from the creature. He also observed going up the pipe was more fingerprints like the kind that were left on the bent sewer grating. Ospher then decided to go up the pipe after casing Reduce on himself and gaining access to the house itself. He moved past some recent bowel movements and come straight up into an empty toilet bowl. There was water all over the floor, bloody marks on the walls, towels, bathtub, and the tap to fill the bath was left open and bobbing in the still running water is the tattoo covered dessicated and rockhard corpse of Frigi himself. Looking around from the blood splatters and whatnot, he could tell that Frigi was definitely in the bath when he was killed. Ospher ascertained the scene and noticed that wherever the Frostmerite had touched was also enervated. He heard someone coming and then hid under the corpse in the water.
I was gonna check it out but Lorgan wouldn't let me go through.The person entered and immediately saw Ospher behind the corpse and pointed a hand crossbow and a lantern at him and demanded he get out of the water. He acquiesced and saw that the person was a taller woman, in her 30s with adventuring gear and reddish hair. After some back and forth, they understood that they were both looking into the murder and she explained Frigi was formerly her supplier. She explained that Ardus Gallow was found dead by some of his people, dead in a chair in front of his fireplace. They concluded that whatever was doing these killings has the ability to compress itself down to squeeze through small openings. He referred her to the finger prints the killer left and while she was looking at that he found some spent manacite on the ground that's chipped and in pieces floating in the water, but they looked like they've been worked on and make it hold necromantic energy, like from the regular leylines. This woman was also familiar with Adeley and explained that she knew that Adeley rarely did anything without first consulting Arminias. She was also able to give us some information about the Black Hammer, she knew that they are Locklanders and that they're on a pilgrimage to seek out demons in order to sway them to their cause, and use them to their purposes. It was around this point where I had returned to the school and used the Eye in order to contact Ospher and asked him to meet up back there in order to determine what we could do next to get on the trail of these killings.
You're not going to stick your head into the sewers where something that bends sewer grates is lurking about ready to bite your head off!
Who are you, what did you do here?
Well there's no need to cast any accusations, I could ask the same of you.
You're the one hiding under the corpse!
That's cause I thought whoever did this was coming back!
Ospher are you ok up there?!
Damn it man... Yeah I'm ok, there's somebody else up here.
We heard noises!
He's as neutral as they go, and he doesn't really care what the Black Hammer think of him, racially.
I suppose I can appreciate that level of self-assuredness.
After dusk, nearing eight bells, Ospher, Charity, Tadlo and Lorgan returned to the Abbey and I greeted them out front since they had someone I didn't recognize with them. She eventually introduced herself as Casiopea and explained that she wanted to get her manacite she paid for and didn't want to make friends or get recruited or somesuch. I applaud her frankness here, but she did it in response to asking questions about her connection to Frigi, some people just want to make sure no one wants to talk with them. Her and Ospher explained that they took different routes in, she had been dealing with Frigi for two months now and had never seen him cast a spell. I then probed her for any knowledge of the other dealers, she knew Trevor a little bit and Adeley as well. I went into the Abbey to speak with Trevor to confirm some things she had told me while Ospher attempted to get to know her better and determine if she still wanted to shoot him.
Are you from here? Do you normally pop through and get supplied by him or...
Look, I'm not looking to make friends or answer a thousand questions, I'm trying to solve a mutual issue here.
I found your friend hiding underneath his body in a bathtub.
Yup.
Sounds like a great place to hide, what's wrong with that?
A dead god brings you manacite?
Trevor, I have some questions for you.
I have questions for you! Where did you get this cheese!
I'll ask Ospher about the cheese for you.
You don't think he'll miss it, right? He doesn't count the cheese?
He will, but did you eat all of it or is there more?
I guess enough, for one more sandwich.
If you're implying my only means of defense is my magic, you're not far off. I hate to fight.
I have other talents, my magic is a gift, rather than a study.
We educate children.Returning outside, Cassie mentioned that Ospher found strange rocks in Frigi's bathroom and he was able to explain immediately it was depleted manacite and he recognized it from his examination of the substance recently. He said it was likely reverse engineered for nefarious purposes in order to kill him, and I supposed that it was likely used against him in someway, since a supplier of manacite being slipped a adulterated piece seemed unlikely. We resolved to gather more information on the suppliers from King Nimoy, since these dealers mostly seemed to have opulent lifestyle, we figured our street king would likely have a good idea as to where some of them resided in other districts. We tracked him to an alleyway that had a rather consistent breeze in this warm Moradin's Ire evening, where he, a dumpster fire and his retinue were enjoying the evening. He greeted us warmly and we asked him for help in preventing further deaths, if they were still happening and eliminate the possibility of conspiracies we thought may be in action. He agreed with the condition that we use our magics to clear out the adjacent warehouse of a rat infestation, which we took him up on and dispatched Tadlo, Lorgan and Brightshine to scout out and begin work on if such a thing was going to be a heavy task or not.
Why would you do that?
I don't understand your question, why wouldn't we do that?
Liege, are you familiar with the manacite dealers that live in the other districts?
Most of them yes, they're a rather insidious lot. They keep to themselves, they peddle their magic to anyone who has enough coin to use it, without any regard for what they're going to use it for. I know them.
We keep an eye on them, because they're trouble.
This will make an excellent place for some of the wanderers in my company to hang low when the constabulary comes through, but unfortunately it is infested with a great deal of rats.
Reconnoitering is looking for who to kill, and killing is a Soldier's job!Based on his notes, we set off for Flagstaff, where Nimoy's to determine the status of the next name on our list, Ardus Gallow. On the way there, Charity's examination of the substance Ospher found near the toilet piping was able to yield that it was definitely partially magical and definitely undead. She explained that just because something is returned to unlife, doesn't always stop the normal mortal decay of bones, flesh and fluids leaking from the body. Gallow's house was above a fairly rowdy tavern named The Elegant Bee, a well dressed crowd. We looked the building over and determined that there was no chimney connecting to his flat, though he did have an attic space with a smaller window that could be accessed with minimal view from the street via the rooftop, so after Cassie showed off her Spiderclimbing skills to go up on the side of the building, we rode the broom up to the roof from the alleyway.
Oh that's very cute.
What? It is cute!
A flying broom. People can see that.
Yeah.
It's the sort of thing people talk about.
It's not like the old days where everybody had magic. Now, people would kill for a little spell.
People have killed for a little spell.
So just be cautious what you show off.
Hey I'm kinda half on your side, here, I wouldn't run around doing that either.
You are on the same broom.
turning around What are you talking about?!Entering via the window after Casiopea nimbly kicked it in and I assisted Charity and Ospher swinging in with my enhanced strength, we saw his attic organized very neatly, tight but loaded with boxes and crates, with a single very study chest rent to pieces in a corner across from the door likely leading downstairs. It had been smashed open and other locked trunks in the attic here had been left completely untouched. There were shards of manacite likely damaged in the breaking of this chest, Ospher in gathering these pieces up was able to recognize the same thin long bony fingerprints that were a slimy similarly to how the grate had been damaged before as well as the damage from Adeley's bedroom, and they had been far apart and incredibly strong. Time-wise this was within the last day too meaning we were definitely on the right track. Cassie started working on unlocking the door to the flat stairs, and we noticed a vent above her that had some of the goo that seemed to have been a way in or out for the monster, a dinner plate sized exit. There were torn pieces of clothing that resembled burlap sack left on the venting chute.
I don't think our skulls are a match for it's extreme strength.The stairs led directly into the apartment, whereupon we immediately confronted the remains of Ardus Gallow, floating in mid-air, his body was also very desiccated in mid-air like Frigi's. We determined in his hand a piece of manacite that looked spent, and it looked like he cast Flight shortly before dying. I posited that Frigi must have have cast Control Water based on Ospher's description of the strangness to the quality of it near his time of death, and that Adeley's body may be missing due to her having used an Invisibility spell around the time of her attack. We decided that researching this adulterated manacite that was still intact, unlike the piece found in Frigi's hand was definitely worth checking out, so Charity resolved to head to the Abbey and look into it while we checked on the other "targets". She took the piece from his hand, and Ardus' corpse then began to drift to the ground. Ospher and I deduced that the spell was being powered by the corrupted Leyline itself. Ardus' piece looked to be of a higher quality like Slevein's stock, which sort of spun both of us into introspective thought on the nature of how we draw magical power.
Who do you think had a beef with all these guys?
I have an entirely baseless theory...
Casiopea sighs
We should probably put emergency manacite everywhere. Like how some people keep hidden crossbows around their house.Cassie then came back whilst I was communing with Nisaba in the stairway, and revealed that the creature had also found a bedside box of Manacite as she displayed the smashed box and the now familiar dust. She also mentioned that there were magical items strewn about, enchanted ammunition, potions, Finder's Goggles (which I took), a Wand of Webs (which Ospher took). This ruined our theory of the person doing this for any hint of magical power, and that what had done this really was only going for simple instructions and is possibly instinctual. After some brief debate where we revealed that Trevor is our dealer, we agreed that since these dealers are being targeted, they likely were the ones in on the attacks, and whatever ever was going on, confirming who is dead or alive first and foremost would yield us the most information. The we looked at the names on the list and the addresses given by Nimoy that Viola's house was the next closest. Further, we concluded that the pipe came down to the alleyway we came up. While there one of Nimoy's men who was keeping an eye on the place had observed the creature dressed in rags had skulked about and squished itself into the pipe and eventually came back out that same pipe. He said it smelled foul like a rotted corpse, but the body was rattling with stones inside it. He said it came out just a few hours ago.
We have so many kids that would probably find all of that right now. There would be so many accidents.
See you guys want all this stuff, and you're as desperate for magic as anyone else. Why wouldn't who ever did this take these?
We serve another street king.
he rolls up his sleeve a bit to reveal a die
Yeah ok, we serve the same one. Here's two gold pieces.
If it just left here, maybe we should go to the further house.In my conversation with Nisaba, she said the only means of interacting with the world is Leylines or some other source of magic. Even pre-rebuke, I pointed out, there was some concord of a barrier, where the oath each undertook would prevent direct intervention in Tairos by each of their own power, at Vail's choice. Which made me wonder what sort of incredible action that Malyse must have undertaken in order to come down to Tairos prior to the Leylines snapping under the weight of necromantic energy. I couldn't hear what her reply was at that point, or what had happened. She then said something must have but didn't appear to know. Arriving at Viola's, her house was really on the border of the town itself. There was a very healthy distance between houses and she had well manicured trees surrounding the house. We saw some light upstairs and there didn't appear to be any windows in the attic floor, so with aid of the broom, I peeked into the window and saw that it was a bedroom and there was minimal light and the sheets contained abouttwo shapes. The struggle wasn't violent, so we resolved to sneak in the back and check out the attic, which would likely be the most secure place in the house considering the lack of outdoor access. In the vicinity around the house, I found a lot of foot traffic in the area, but didn't look like sewer gratings in the area had been disturbed. Ospher saw that there was a mailslot in the front that was covered in slime and still fresh, dripping outside the door. Cassie used her thieves' tools to lift the latch on a window into the first floor kitchen, which we entered and saw a bag of spices on the countertop emblazoned with Slevin's shop's sigil. We snuck through the darkness, Cassie also having the power of nightvision, Ospher observing that there was a lot of slime on this side of the door as well and we went upstairs.
Do you think there's a chance we could catch it in the act though?
That's funny. Just the idea that one of them is in the middle of dying and we decided to skip ahead and hunker down and pace about for twenty minutes while it's throttling them.
We gotta move, now! the creature went in the mail slot!On the next floor, we observed that persons in bedroom were engaged in passion. We resolved to check the attic first since we saw no more tracks, until I noticed that there were more smile trails going onto the wall and then the ceiling towards the upper corner of the door in what looked like a corner of the door had been gnawed open by some kind of vermin. As we went to the door, we heard a slight noise, like another box getting broken. With the door locked, I held the knob and cut around it in order to hang onto the mechanism. The room was cluttered with tall boxes, piles of bags, hanging clothes, stored wardrobes and incredibly dark, so I stood near the entrance and let Cassie and Ospher check out the door while I made sure the only exit was vigilantly covered. The smell of the room was very bad, likely due to the creature's recent or as we found, current presence.
looking up from a sewer grate What?
Are we sure it doesn't kill by fucking?
We aren't sure if it kills the people first or just incidentally, no.
I'm impressed that you didn't ride your broom all the way through.Cassie drew a shortsword and started moving about the room to search boxes, Ospher went to check out the hanging clothes on the other side of the room. Next to Cassie, I saw there was a small jewelry box that was snapped apart and she bent to examine it for signs of violence. Ospher went to look through hanging clothes and saw a pair of Boots of the Winterlands and a Cloak of the Manta Ray when something from the pile of bags began to rise up from a formless mass on the ground and grabbed at Ospher's face with a very long fingers of dark black skin and then attempted to drink his soul and it appeared at a distance that someone was tapping Manacite. Due to the sheer volume of clutter and garbage in the attic, I couldn't quietly make my way over before it did the same thing to Ospher again and then attempted to kill him, dessicating him balanced atop one gangly finger as I arrived. I swung Digby's terrible blade at it's arm, forcing it to drop him and his manacite stopped glowing. Cassie let loose a gout of black fire from her hands at the thing, an Eldritch Blast. I then called into power an Aura of Vitality to heal Ospher, and then noticed due to the nature of a contesting aura emanating from the creature their silent anathematic clash in the firmament about us.
Yeah, I considered doing that, ok.
I would prefer to not be discovered here.
Well, then we shouldn't be here.
And Adeley or what remains of her?
I don't have any concern about that, it's all yours if you want it. Your little mascot, she seemed very interested in corpse things. Maybe take it to her.
She's the Headmistress if you'd like to refer to her properly.
Well, I guess mystery, I don't want to say solved, but it won't get worse.
Sorry about your friend.
It's ok, you can't peddle manacite and assume everything will be ok.
Well that didn't work out.
Nope.
Let's take a look around I suppose.
Rewards Granted
We saved Trevor, Slevin, and Adeley. We didn't check in on Jasper but have received reports of his survival.
Character(s) interacted with
Today, the blade was known as Deity Devastator until it was the Celestial Slicer
Arminias Kint- Solicitor Kint didn't recall who I was very well, which I guess bodes well for my desire to not achieve high status with the Kreastos.
The Corpse of Frigi Mathesion- Was found dead in his bathtub, after some struggle with the Bodak. I expect that his final spell was Control Water, but I suppose it could have also been Stoneskin?
The Corpse of Ardus Gallow- Found dead in his flat, with a Fly spell having been the last thing on his lips.
The Corpse of Adeley Kint- The first death in the chain, she was killed by unknown assailants and returned to unlife merged with the spirit of the Bodak. Mayhaps her soul is now at rest, or at least unconsumed by the travail.
Neville Morris - Definitely owes us for having gotten us involved with this madness and making the deal with Nimoy.
Trevor DeWitt - Safe and sound, at least until Ospher finds out he ate all the rest of his Melathris brie. Afterwards, we'll see how casually he raids a pantry.
Slevin Thesselwyn - A very interesting fellow, willing to sell to anyone regardless of their intent. He was also in the act of passion with Viola when we arrived. I wonder how much knowledge of their secret Tryst is worth.
Arminias Kint- Solicitor Kint didn't recall who I was very well, which I guess bodes well for my desire to not achieve high status with the Kreastos.
The Corpse of Frigi Mathesion- Was found dead in his bathtub, after some struggle with the Bodak. I expect that his final spell was Control Water, but I suppose it could have also been Stoneskin?
The Corpse of Ardus Gallow- Found dead in his flat, with a Fly spell having been the last thing on his lips.
The Corpse of Adeley Kint- The first death in the chain, she was killed by unknown assailants and returned to unlife merged with the spirit of the Bodak. Mayhaps her soul is now at rest, or at least unconsumed by the travail.
Neville Morris - Definitely owes us for having gotten us involved with this madness and making the deal with Nimoy.
Trevor DeWitt - Safe and sound, at least until Ospher finds out he ate all the rest of his Melathris brie. Afterwards, we'll see how casually he raids a pantry.
Slevin Thesselwyn - A very interesting fellow, willing to sell to anyone regardless of their intent. He was also in the act of passion with Viola when we arrived. I wonder how much knowledge of their secret Tryst is worth.
