Lost Lore 20: A Very Important Thing to Do
General Summary
Arriving back in Wagner Orphanarium, we laid Crisnos to sleep on a couch in the Dorm wing hallway and I triaged the other persons from the caravan and determined that no one else had been hurt anywhere near as egregiously as Dalyn. The Caravan Leader, Inga, said they had taken on the crippled ranger in Ghal Pelor, and that he was well recommended and their goal would be to get back on the road immediately. She explained that they saw Becklinbergers taking the stolen goods into town if we wanted to go back and strike it rich on looted goods and coin, but with the Frog God free and likely rampaging about, there was going to be a strong chance of someone dying in this endeavor. I went into the infirmary to speak with Dalyn and got some confused reactions that we would take care of him for free, and he wanted to leave and get back to working as soon as possible and was also concerned that we would possibly experiment on him. I posted a few students to watch him until the morning with the direction to come get me if he attempted to leave and then went over to the lab to speak with Bianca.
We need you to agree to stay here, possibly for a couple of weeks, while we work restoration on you.
Why? I've got work, there's a caravan...
The caravaneers are staying here for the time being.
I don't have money to pay for this kind of thing.
There's no money necessary.
Why wouldn't there be, what do you want?
Presently, nothing. In the future, probably nothing.
Welcome to Wagner Abbey, the Orphanarium.
What do you do here?
We're an Orphanage, sir.
Don't get a candlestick or anything?She was studying a glass jar that had some slime in it and explained that it had come from the portal while she was in here and was glad we saved some people too. I tried to convince her to go to bed, but she was pretty set in finishing what she was doing and wanted to discuss the slime too. I said we could talk about it in the morning and left, meeting Charity and Ospher in the front hallway. We discussed the events in Becklinburg, Janka's slight deceit, the possibility of Digby still being alive and the portal. We said our goodnights and went to bed.
Oh no. This man is a trained warrior. You don't want to want to hit him, cause if he hits back, even with everything he's missing...
I'll take first shift then, he's probably groggiest right now.
Yeah, that's likely.
I have so many questions: all these people, did we resuce them, are they staying here, did you save the necromancer's grandma?
Yeah, to all of the above.
Indeed, she existed.
It was 90 percent above board.
Hmm and the 10 percent?
She was there because she was trying to steal manacite from the becklinburgers and Adjenna lifts glowing bucket we have twenty four new pieces of manacite!
That's pretty good, but I knew she was lying about something.
I don't think I've met any necromancers that are using it the right way, and now I don't even think you can use it the right way!
If all the vampires were dead, then it would be fine if all the necromancers were dead.
I mean I dunno about that.
She said some... stuff came through the portal.
We should bury that thing too.
I haven't met a single other adult in this town that I trust with the kids in our magical school.
We're keeping a lot of secrets here and we shouldn't have to. It's not just responsible adults we're looking for, it's responsible adults that can keep a secret AND don't have any ulterior motives.
Brightshine would be perfect if he was 100% different. He doesn't care about secrets, everything else is a problem.
People are complicated that way.
He didn't die with a lot of money on his person, I think he was thinking that money would come in.
I don't believe that statement.
You think he had money, or you thinkg he was gonna pay you?
I think he kept everything he owned on his person minus a few things he was ok with losing.
I think he had multiple items that held large volumes.
So you think its all in his robe?
I think when he went through that portal, everything went with him. That's why I think he might even be still alive there.
I dunno, we should get rid of that portal, once we obligate the whole moon thing.The next morning, I went to the lab to make sure Bianca did in fact sleep and saw that she had not. She was very excited with coffee and again presented the glass jar that held the slime she said came through the portal. However, overnight the volume of it had grown and grown, which I didn't care for in the slightest and against her protestations, I channeled Sacred Flames over and over again at it until it was reduced to nothing but char. She said that wasn't very scientific and I explained that I didn't think anything that could engage this device remotely would be something that we wanted to deal with. Then, I met with Love Birdie at the infirmary and checked in on Dalyn's progress. He claimed to be doing well enough and I helped him transfer to a wheeled-chair and made light small talk with him in the dining room while we waited for Ospher to come make breakfast preparations. Eventually Charity joined me in speaking with the injured man whose mood had significantly improved from yesterday though he was still a bit wary, and after a while the Headmistress and I realized something must be going on because Ospher wasn't in the kitchen and a majority of the students were up.
I agree.
While you guys were out, I was experimenting and the portal blipped for a second and this dropped out.
Then we should throw it back through.
I don't know where it blipped to.
Ohhhhh, I see now. Adjenna then proceeds to burn it to ashes
We didn't learn anything from it!
Have you been up all night? Trick question, it seems like we both have been up all night.
What were you doing?
I wish I knew.
Did your familiar kill someone??
No no, it seems like maybe I did, but unconsciously.
I know a little bit about medicine and a lot about science so I might be able to solve this for you.
That would help a lot.
I have so many tools that should be able to help, my readers, my spirit lenses.
I know we haven't known each other that long, but I know that doesn't sound like me.I hopped into the kitchen to start cooking while Charity barked orders for the students to line up with plates and cutlery and after a little bit of time, we got the meal going without any hiccups. Charity was more than a little put out by the street of managing the children, while I found the cooking experience to be somewhat exhilarating since I hadn't done it since before living on the streets of Ghal Pelor. I agreed to keep doing the dishes while Charity went to find the Eye of Basul to track down our short friend when Crisnos came in and we spoke about his experiences since we'd last seen him. He seemed to be very reticent to talk about it since I found the wanton murder of fae to be as chaotic as he claimed them to be, but I didn't phrase it like that to him since ultimately I don't know what sort of people he's encountering and killing. Or saving, to grant him the benefit of the doubt for that matter.
...no, yeah, no, no you, no, no, no! We should probably put you on one of the tables here and start experimenting. Maybe you have a parasite.
Did know you're NOT supposed to eat garnish? Today is the day I learned that.
I felt much better just being direct with the kids to just shut up and eat.
You were the eldest of your siblings yeah?
Yeah, they wouldn't even sit with me at breakfast.
You alright?
Good enough, I suppose. I'm involved in my own situation, I didn't want to involve you.
That's fair, we were just worried about you.
It's not what the old me would have done, but it's what the new me knows is necessary.
Out of respect for you, I haven't touched them.Charity returned with the Orb and saw Ospher in the lab, mostly undressed, having some sort of unguent applied to him by Bianca on a work table. The two of us exchanged a look and I agreed to manage the children with an idea I'd had recently to keep them engaged in productive tasks for the day while she went to the lab and I would follow up behind her when I could after ensuring the students were not going to make mischief. I got Crisnos to gather up all the children in the grand hall while I got a wheelbarrow from the gardens, loaded up all the books we'd inherited from the abbey libraries, and then met them to explain that today was abbreviated book report day. Each student would be responsible for at the least skimming each book to detail what the contents were in order for us to find books detailing the creation of the abbey and then gain a greater understanding of the building's magical nature in order to expand the protections to the yard and grounds of the school in order for us to break ground in the future on a pool. The promise of a future fun times was sufficient to prevent a miniature riot for the day and Crisnos was willing to keep an eye on Orphanage business and Dalyn while I then went to the lab to learn just what was going on there.
That's all I ask.
And I haven't involved you because I know that for you, that's not such a hard line.
Do you think she went crazy?
I know she was up all night, I talked to her this morning. I know she was really jazzed up on coffee.
What a lightweight! Anyone who goes crazy after one night of not sleeping can definitely not handle it here.
Book report day!
You haven't done this before, have you?
No, we're just kinda throwing things against the wall here. Help me help you throw everything against the wall.
I have so many questions!
I wish I had as many answers to give.
Where have you been, we had to cook for them!
It couldn't have been that bad.
It's a thankless job, and they're all screaming and hungry.
Apparently, I was out last night and I killed a man.
I didn't say I murdered someone, I said I killed them.
Everyone is complaining, but anybody can do science. Science doesn't laud itself over people's heads like all this magic.
The only people I trust are in the abbey. Minus the actual students.
I trust you, I don't trust those clamps.
These are my clamps!
Go ahead and do what you're going to do?I had no sooner walked in the door when I witnessed Charity and Bianca at the controls to the portal (!!!!) with some cabling coming off of the box Bianca and I discussed as the power source for the device connected to Ospher, who sat atop a table, slathered in an oil of some kind and a cascading strobe of lights engulfing Ospher. They had engaged the corridor generator moments before I walked in and after the lights above his head grew and grew, I saw a portal briefly register within the annulus atop the device and as it disappeared, I saw Ospher reduced to a pile of ash at the bench. Angered and horrified, I ignored Charity and Bianca's imminent arguing and walked up to pile of ash and attempted to preserve his remains with Gentle Repose and found that they were not remains of any kind, but more like char after having burned off something, likely the goo that was covering him. The two of them, between Charity's weeping and Bianca's exhaustion-tempered-with-coffee-misfires, they claimed that when Ospher got up that morning, he woke to find himself dressed in his nightclothes in a field in the southwest side of Frial, holding a bloodied shovel in his hands, an older man dead at his feet, and a hole dug partway for the rigor-set cadaver.
In Unison Which one of us?
I'm already holding the clamps, aren't I?
How are you here like this?
A science experiment gone horribly wrong I guess.
Are you dead?
AM I?!
You're warm, you're bright to look at, you're not dead.As he had told it to the two of them, he recalled nothing of the night's events, and after returning to the school riding Servos and carrying the body with to the lab, he couldn't get Olivia to answer his calls at which point Bianca said she wanted to help him with the scientific method. She used a tincture and some spirit lenses to confirm that he was possessed and explained that she thought she could use the portal generator to try and get Olivia to manifest. Charity entered at this point and they couldn't really think of a spell to do the same as what Bianca wanted to do, so they went along with it. I explained in response that I thought this was all very impulsive and while they continued to try to work out the details based on what I told them about the ashes, I went over to cast Speak with Dead on this body to learn and corroborate the details of the prior evening.
- What is your name - Sisto Stamford
- Where did you live - Trentpoole
- Tell me the events you recall leading up to the end of your life - A man came in, screaming that I have to pay, I don't deserve to be alive, and hit me in the head and dragged me out to the woods and hit me more
- Describe this man to me in detail - He described Ospher exactly
- Did the things this man said to remind you of anyone you know, this person may already be deceased - No
Is Charity alright? She was crying and said you needed me?Once the preparations were complete, I told the others to stand back from the generator, as much as one could at the controls, and from the table and set myself ready to intervene in some shitty ghosts' day. She flung the switch and shortly thereafter, following a crack of light, he reappeared atop the table, without being restrained this time, and three greasy spectral entities looming above him, linked by icy chains. I was ready for them and called upon my divine link to Rebuke Undead and immediately break apart into inky embers and faded away.
Yeah, somehow Bianca sent Ospher to the world of the dead.
This is an Orphanage, right?
Why is that I have found the craziest people in this town?
See you didn't need me, this is just simple Orphanage business.Ospher explained that once he disappeared he found himself in a room similar to the lab, but in only shades of gray, and very drab. Where people stood, there were only smudged shadows. He immediately found Olivia who was surprised to see him there since he was beyond the veil of the living, but still alive. She also claimed she wasn't aware of what had happened the previous night, and she didn't think it was her or any other ghost because they wouldn't have bothered with something like this, they would have just devoured his life energy. He found that casting magic in the other side would consume his life energy and that nothing on his person had come with him. She was able to talk with me and told Ospher such and explained that if things came he could fight them since he has his body here, at which point they heard a distant sort of singing that was drawing closer, and she knew they wanted his life force or a way back through. As the song drew closer, it started causing pain so they fled to the main hall, seeing a faint bluish light growing closer with the singing from the back windows. They then fled to the garden where they were ambushed by a trio of blackish spectres covered in chains. Olivia referred to them as The Prisoners and explained that they died in the Abbey dungeons some time ago. They then fled up to the dormitories and ultimately to my sanctum behind the clocktower's face, and felt a strong ringing in their ears from the blue thing that they could now make out as a woman singing a nursery rhyme loud enough to shake the world around them. The banshee's wail was shaking and cracking the world around them, and the Chain Gang was also pursuing them through the halls of the Abbey. They ran faster than the malevolent spirits could keep up with to my consecrated sanctuary, at which point he felt the pull of the activated corridor and raced out ahead of the other ghosts back to the portal. Charity went to resume watching over the children while I explained what my spell had yielded, which didn't set Ospher at ease, and he went to go fix himself some food. I took all the keys which upset Bianca a bit, while I explained that this shouldn't have happened. She was confused as to what happened here and how I drove the spectres away, and I told her that figuring out what I did was her next assignment. She was excitedly writing down some of her data and results and I observed that she was running on just coffee and exhaustion at this point, likely causing the malfunction.
Yeah, just orphanage business.
Welcome back.
I didn't mean for any of this to happen. It shouldn't have happened.
I completely agree. On both regards.
I like learning lessons.I gave Crisnos the Skyriran Shield and Scimitar we found in the lab after clearing the horror and then rounded everyone up for some lunch. After lunch I got Inga and her negotiators to go with me to meet with Barabus Soto and negotiate a price on some new half-plate for me and handed over my lacquered black scale mail to Crisnos. Barabus was able to point me towards a place where he thought I may be able to find some Old Balmoran Half-Plate, since there weren't any sellers for it in town. He said an old battle happened during the end of the Fae war, and it was on the outskirts of the Rylan Woods, and if it needed any restoration he'd be happy to do it. Asking him about the Flail Snail armor/shield, he said he'd never worked with the substance and was willing to give it a shot, but would need a few weeks of practice to familiarize himself with it, and he didn't want to work to sell it himself since that would likely invite trouble. He said for 2000 gold, he would do it, in addition to a favor, where a caravan a year ago had sealed an archeological site and he wanted weapons/armor/shields from there that he wanted to study to determine the technique.
Everyone here should!
We didn't know these were for you, but these are definitely for you.
I don't want to dishonor you by taking these gifts to do what I do.
No you're going to take these gifts to keep one of my friends safe.
Tell your artificer friend to take it easy. This isn't the sort of thing that needs to be involved in Orphanage business.I gave Inga the amount we saved from the deal as well as the wagon we stole from Becklinburg and they would resolved to set out immediately to secure the rest of the supplies they would need to start over. They said they'd come say hi whenever they made it back to Frial and give us some souvenirs of their travels. I asked Crisnos to speak with Dalyn to reassure him of our trustworthiness so he wouldn't make off with my ring and he said he would be happy to do that. I then gathered up some of the more adept students I knew and brought them with me to the lab and explained that the broken vehicle in the lab needed some attention and that Bianca explained it was a vehicle of some sort. They all agreed it was an interesting project and whenever I am in the lab they're welcome to be in the lab as well, but they have to keep quiet about what's going on since we don't have a lot of projects available for everyone yet. We took the book reports from the students and resolved to collate them shortly, and Crisnos told us that he would need to set out soon since there was a creature he had been on the trail of before and it left a lot of bodies in its wake already. Something that could burrow under the ground, and I explained where he could make contact with Rowna, the Oracle of 8th street, and we then facilitated a joining of forces between him and Ser, who hadn't caught up to Rotgut Wren and in fact, had been poisoned by him a bit more than a dozen times now. They resolved to help one another, after getting Crisnos to help stop Rotgut, Brightshine would then help him track this creature. Ospher wanted to speak with the Order of the Basilisk to determine if they had anything they could do to look into Sisto's background and I went along to ask about other things as well. Neville and everyone was still pretty ecstatic about the Rat King having been thwarted and that The Adamantite Order and The Savage would likely one day come calling, since they never do anything for free. Neville knew some people there that would be able to look into it for some money and was willing to check it out as a friendly favor to Ospher. He was curious as to why Ospher was interested and he demurred to the specifics and I helped him weave the lie a bit. I then took this opportunity to discover what it was they had learned of Digby since they specifically didn't talk to him. Tyrom said he never trusted his motivations and that he never really sat right with what he was doing, saying one thing and doing another. He had dealings with the Ebon Orchestra and the Theatre that they witnessed, and rumors that he was frequently interacting with the Black Thorn Society. We resolved to ask Janka what she knew about any of his dealings with her Order.
Things have been pretty ok here for the moment; no major fracas, no pudding king sightings.
Well I can't exactly come breaking your legs. You've got 80 wizards behind you.
Some of them are sorcerers!
He had his hands in a lot of pies, that's no surprising.Dovetailing into another question of mine, Ospher and I knew that Digby had been drinking deeply of all the old books on ancient magics that he could from even Ghal Pelor, since that escort was the primary financier of the caravan we rode to Frial. Tyrom thought that any books that were left in town were definitely only in the hands of collectors in the city but, the fae from the anomaly would likely have brought some books too. Switching topics to Religious Books, which were ignored by the greater populace of scholars, Tyrom in fact had a Metal cast copy of the Clockwork Codex on hand, and I gave him the copy of Songs of Light that I never intended to return to the Sandoran temple. This described their spheres of Order, Forge, Knowledge, and Arcana. After discussing the possibility of the government being able to detect and track manacite, I explained that I could convert divine manacite and regular manacite with some work and that if such an event came to pass we could work together to conceal our respective stores from such attempts.
We're not supposed to charm members of the Kreastos to exert undue influence because then they can make things into their favor in Frial.
We're glad to have you as friends.We have quite the myriad paths ahead of us. It is prudent for us to learn what is going on with Ospher first to prevent any other needless death and end whatever connection has allowed him this vulnerability. It is tragic what happened with Olivia but at this point we cannot resurrect her and if this is the means by which others are trying to discredit Ospher, it is very dangerous. Somehow, I think it appropriate that Crisnos and Ser will work together. They're very different people but both are quite skilled at what they do.
As usual, I appreciate your discretion.
Character(s) interacted with
Crisnos Qinbi - He will set back out into the wilds with Brightshine to hopefully make the world safer for all.
Bianca Loame - She prone to some recklessness when she's reached the end of her stamina. An interesting character trait.
Dalyn - The crippled elf will remain in the abbey until he is healed at which point we'll have a serious conversation with him.
Neville - He has agreed to look into Sisto's past in Trentpoole as a favor for Ospher.
Tyrom Klogheim - He will determine what he can find in his networks of old religious texts for me to plunder.
Charity Sparrow - Charity shows more and more each day that she can do the work necessary to be the Headmistress but continues to shy away from making the peace needed to handle it how she must.
Barabus Soto - Armorer in Frial that is skilled. We've dealt with him before and assuming we can muster the money, he is willing to use our Flail Snail shell to make armor for a reduced amount, assuming we retrieve some items from an abandoned cave for him.
Olivia - The spirit that is currently possessing Ospher, some of the time. Their bond has granted him interesting abilities to partially manifest her.
Inga - Caravan leader of the persons saved, they set back off today to continue seeking their fortunes.
Students
Love Birdie - She wanted a note to have the day off for having an overnight shift of two hours watching Dalyn. Attagirl! She's also on the vehicle assessment / repair group.
Pietro - Older student that is trustworthy enough to watch after Dalyn, part of vehicle group.
Denys - Older student that is trustworthy enough to watch after Dalyn, part of vehicle group.
Panthaydeus Trace - Elven student rescued from an abandoned farmstead while his friends died at the hands of wicked fae.
Bogart - A student from Becklinburg. His eyes are slightly askew.
Perrin Tallgrass - A halfling from Tengu Town. His family was formerly in the smithing business before Tengu offered their services at cut rate.
Salibar - A gnome from Homestead. Has sought with Perrin.
Alicia Colby - Elder girl from House Spurshoe, initially brought the pool desires to our attention.
Chauncey Harmon - Older student, inquired about the students needing weapons to defend themselves in case something gets in.
Rip Henley - Winner of the pool design contest and owner of one piece of manacite.
Rakhili - Half elven student, part of vehicle group.
Bianca Loame - She prone to some recklessness when she's reached the end of her stamina. An interesting character trait.
Dalyn - The crippled elf will remain in the abbey until he is healed at which point we'll have a serious conversation with him.
Neville - He has agreed to look into Sisto's past in Trentpoole as a favor for Ospher.
Tyrom Klogheim - He will determine what he can find in his networks of old religious texts for me to plunder.
Charity Sparrow - Charity shows more and more each day that she can do the work necessary to be the Headmistress but continues to shy away from making the peace needed to handle it how she must.
Barabus Soto - Armorer in Frial that is skilled. We've dealt with him before and assuming we can muster the money, he is willing to use our Flail Snail shell to make armor for a reduced amount, assuming we retrieve some items from an abandoned cave for him.
Olivia - The spirit that is currently possessing Ospher, some of the time. Their bond has granted him interesting abilities to partially manifest her.
Inga - Caravan leader of the persons saved, they set back off today to continue seeking their fortunes.
Students
Love Birdie - She wanted a note to have the day off for having an overnight shift of two hours watching Dalyn. Attagirl! She's also on the vehicle assessment / repair group.
Pietro - Older student that is trustworthy enough to watch after Dalyn, part of vehicle group.
Denys - Older student that is trustworthy enough to watch after Dalyn, part of vehicle group.
Panthaydeus Trace - Elven student rescued from an abandoned farmstead while his friends died at the hands of wicked fae.
Bogart - A student from Becklinburg. His eyes are slightly askew.
Perrin Tallgrass - A halfling from Tengu Town. His family was formerly in the smithing business before Tengu offered their services at cut rate.
Salibar - A gnome from Homestead. Has sought with Perrin.
Alicia Colby - Elder girl from House Spurshoe, initially brought the pool desires to our attention.
Chauncey Harmon - Older student, inquired about the students needing weapons to defend themselves in case something gets in.
Rip Henley - Winner of the pool design contest and owner of one piece of manacite.
Rakhili - Half elven student, part of vehicle group.
