Lost Lore 21: Investigations and Loose Ends
General Summary
The next day after rescuing Ospher from the world of the dead, we got up to discuss what we could do regarding Ospher's blackout and how we could ultimately approach the situation constructively. Due to the Abbey's magics, we concluded that outside intrusion by other ghosts was all but impossible, magics cast from outside without preparation or sneaking into the Abbey would have not worked, which meant we needed to check into persons we've seen within the Abbey (ie Janka, Giancarlo, Marike, Neville) to determine how they got in and what they could have done within the building as well. This would also give a chance to follow up on Ospher's request to look into Sisto's history by Neville on our way to the Ebon Orchesta.
I saw a lot I wish I hadn't seen there, and it's kinda stressing me out.
What if we got her out of you and into an object or some kinda of holding device?
A what?
Like a Djinn's lamp, but for ghosts.
Everyone's always concerned about getting the ghost out of him, I can do that right now if that's what we need.Before leaving, I went to find Ms. Love Birdie to determine what she knew about Janka before I happened upon them entertaining each other in the dining room with Salibar. She was working on digging the pool in the courtyard with a few others, and she confirmed my suspicions that Janka had been to the Abbey prior to our encounter with her on the streets of Frial during their Prelude, a week or so beforehand. After a brief warning about outsiders and the strange nature of magic users in Frial, we set out to Curious Words to see if Neville had any information for us.
In a way that he's comfortable with. We don't want to just blast her out of him.
The other day when I came into the dining room and saw you and Salibar were watching Janka make the mouse skeleton dance?
Yeah, I didn't have anything to do with that.
Ok, how long had shee been here before that?
Well I just kinda saw her walking down the hall and recognized her from the first time she was here.
Sometimes we have the doors open...
Adjenna looks over at Charity for help understanding
There's eighty kids here and three of us!
Did we fail to impress on them that the city of Frial is not a safe place?
Don't dig too deep, you may hit an aqueduct.
Assume that somebody of ill intent tried to sell you something at a steep discount, like you've already bought, and using the item would not only injure yourself but people around you. What do you think?
The renderer gives us discounts on candles...
Is everybody in the city out to get us?!
Charity, can I tell you of a different school besides Necromancy, called Trapmancy?Arriving to the usual closed sign, we were let in by Marike to see that only she, Giancarlo, and Norynor were in the bookshoppe. The Grand Order had asked for the help of Tyrom and Neville on something, evidently the Pudding King situation had rapidly escalated, so Norynor was watching over the two of them while they conducted research back here. Since they were out, I continued my queries into the Wagner security issues and learned from Giancarlo and Marike that the two of them were able to just walk into the building, no students asked them anything and Bianca was in the lab when they went into there and she was focused on the corridor generator and also didn't question them. They then provided information on how to get to the Ebon Orchestra, a short walk from the Frial Arboretum in Schwartzwald District. I stole Giancarlo's parmesan crackers for him making a rude remark to me and shared them with Charity and Marike before we left.
That sounds FAKE.
Can I get next on that pipe?
I need it for when I have to babysit, but I'll share.
You need help, that's a LOT of kids.
If you do do a mission, we've tussled with them before. Well, if that's were you're going, and you need a rescue, we no know where to check on you.
What about me? No pleasantries to exchange?It was nearing the middle of the day as we approached the Ebon Orchestra, a large squarish mausoleum shaped structure where we heard music echoing from inside as different performers practiced their pieces to form a cacophony. The area seemed to draw a varied lot of people as artists sought to catch directors to pitch themselves for performances, and some sought to sell their handmade paintings and jewelry nearby. The front doors open, we stepped into the cold atmosphere and noticed myriad corridors and stairs leading from here along with a gigantic pair of doors likely leading to the observation gallery. We weren't approached for entering, so we went to speak with an older pale faced sallow looking man at the concessions/ticketing booth and introduced ourselves as looking to meet with Janka and he identified himself as Marlowe Siini and after some vague answers to his questions about why we wanted to meet her, he opened the doors to the gallery and directed us inwards and bade us to wait. On stage, Janka was dressed in a long black costume dress with gold and silver head piece and she was singing a song, I'm told, in the language of Halflings about an ancient dragon slayer among their people, Jendrick the Wyrmslayer, a somber tune overall. As she took some notes following the completion of the rehearsal, we mildly surprised her with our presence here and with some light talk about her performance, she nervously offered to speak with us in her private dressing room. We passed by lots of sickly looking and sallow pallor'ed stage hands in the halls on the way to the dressing room. There, she offered an invite to her grandmother's for breakfast one day as thanks for saving her, explaining that she lives in Trentpoole. I couldn't completely eliminate that we could be spied upon in our conversation here in her quarters, though Janka appeared to be honest in explaining that she expected it to be safe enough for any sort of tête-à-tête. I asked her very directly about the time she came to the school before we met her, and she tried to muddle the reply enough initially and then fessed up that the Orchestra had her reconnoiter the area and determine what we were doing. She told them that she surmised we were a new magical circle being founded in the town, which they were not too keen on having as new people and organizations will throw off the current status quo.
Giancarlo, I'm glad you are well.
under his breathCan't say the same about you.
I don't want to sound like I learned it from a book, I want to speak it.
More to the point, it's very rare to meet someone that knows halfling, so I was a little surprised.
It's a beautiful language, you shouldn't have given it up for common.
In the future, we should set up a time and a side entrance for you to come and visit. I wouldn't want any of the other members to know what we're colluding on.
We're not colluding on anything I would hope.
Rarely do any members of any other magical order come here unless it is for serious business.
We're chaff! That should be under the radar, non?
You'd think that, but you would be wrong.
I won't come unannounced anymore.We then invited her to the Abbey to discuss Ospher's problems in the lab there and she gathered up her gear and a few changes of clothes and a disguise kit. She explained to Ospher, whom she seems to consistently focus a lot of her attention on, that the performance will be about a number of different heroes throughout Tairosan history. Her general unease in our company within the Ebon structure had significantly dissipated out of their necromantic company, and we arrived back in the early afternoon and headed to a few couches in the grand hall and Ospher explained to her (while Charity menacingly stood over her out of sight) his and Olivia's situation. Janka was well versed in the consequences of this and was very surprised to learn that he had been over to the Other Side. Her knowledge of the spirits of the unliving was fairly exhaustive and explained that Olivia, if expelled would revert to a shadow of her current self and continue to lose such until she was either nothing or something far more threatening like the banshee Ospher encountered. Au contraire, if she continued to remain within Ospher she would be able to take control if he is sleepy, or lacking focus to oppose and that two minds cannot reside within one body. She further explained it is unlikely to be possessed by more than one spirit, but that Olivia would likely know if there was yet another.
Yes, thank you.
You should do something about your security though.
We know.
All your doors are open.
I know.
So what do you think?
I think she's either an unwitting pawn if she's invovled in this, or exceptionally good.
Are we actually following my plan of luring her back to the building and then Charity makes stabbing and garroting motions
Uhhh, you know we didn't discuss it very well, but I think we can handle whatever we need to do once back in the Abbey.
Ok, so then are we jumping her as soon as we walk in?
No.
Cause I can be ready for that, I brought the dagger.
When we first arrived in the Abbey, the place was crawling with undead, zombies, spirits and the like. One of them, a former student of the Abbey, possessed me. I should say voluntarily.
Interesting, few people ever open themselves up to possession like that. It's dangerous cause you never really know the thing possessing you. Things can... don't let me interrupt, please, go on.
No, please interrupt.
How can I help you, what do you want?
Maybe I could examine Ospher first, if he's comfortable with it.We retired to the empty lab for Janka to examine Ospher, as Bianca was throwing a bit of a tantrum for not having the keys available to her, and she began to play on her Viol and Harp while I explained some of what Ospher had been through to guide her interpretation of the resonances of her spirit and she explained that she was able to determine that he had recently been forced to do things and the spirit in him is tethered very deeply, and that their memories have begun to intertwine. Janka then offered to put him back into a meditative state where he would be able to communicate with Olivia, which he agreed to and she played a new tune on her Viol. Ospher later confirmed what Janka then told me as he would find himself back beyond the veil, but not vulnerable like the last time.
Why not, I've had all sort poke and prod me lately, and I still stand.
I don't need to poke and prod, but if we can go somewhere private, I can play a song and read the resonance of it.
Well, figure of speech, but yeah.
Janka laughsAnyone that is poking and prodding you certainly doesn't need to.
It takes time, but it will snowball and it will become easier for her to do more and more.She then cast a Dissonant Whispers at Olivia to make her come to the forefront and stop hiding. Ospher later explained that he was as sure as he could be that Olivia wasn't involved, though throughout the conversation he had with her, I could tell that Janka was able to hear some of the discussion between the two of them. He was also able to conclude that while she was sure she never noticed any other possessing force, she is still suffering from not having total recollection of herself with staring off into space and losing focus suddenly here and there. After brief discussion with Janka and her casting a second Dissonant Whispers to keep Olivia from hiding, I instead started considering the spells I could use to resuffuse Olivia or Ospher with with energy, Lesser Restoration, Life Transference, and Beacon of Hope seemed to be the best options at my disposal to help them in a pinch.
What are you doing back here?
I want to talk to you.
About what?
Olivia I need to know if you had anything to do with what happened the other night.
No, I told you I didn't.
stressedI didn't do any of this, I don't know know what's happening, but look at all the adventures that you go on, all the enemies that you've made. It's not me!
angrilyThat's besides the point Olivia! My body was used against my will to murder somebody. Whether or not he deserved it is irrelevant! I was being used by something else and I can't let that happen again.As the conversation drew to a close, Janka took that as a sign to end her assistance and slowly stopped playing and Ospher woke up. She came clean immediately to him that she was able to discern much of the conversation and pointed out that while Olivia doesn't seem bad, she is selfish enough to not want to let go and move on, a point we begrudgingly agreed. She mentioned that she heard them discuss a "body" and Ospher explained that situation as well, and Janka seemed to want to help him. We mentioned what we knew about Sisto and that we had already called his spirit back to discuss things with him and it would be eight more days before that was an option again and Janka then suggested instead of waiting around sitting on our hands we could break in to his place in Trentpoole.
She's not completely herself. She likely never would have done something like this before she died. But whatever's left of her isn't something you can trust.
Instead of that, let's just cast Break and Enter, and go to his house. Do we know where he lives?As it turned out, the questions I asked of him were sufficient to track his abode down within the westerly district of Trentpoole. After we entered, Janka and I were able to gather information from persons on the street and it seemed that Sisto was reasonably well known here as a very skilled Jeweler. His two story residence had his shop on the first floor in a neighborhood that was also home to other high end stores so the usual rough and tumble bit of attitude to the district wasn't so looming here. His store was closed with no one inside, and it didn't appear to have anyone blatantly observing the luxury goods displayed in the window on the street or from a window I could observe, which I found a little strange, but we were being observed with persons I assumed as street level contacts for the Lords of Trentpoole. We found a side door to the store in the east alleyway of the store and in the back a ladder leading up to the residence, which I used to scale up to the roof and confirm there was no one watching the building or watching from adjacent buildings. The front door of the building was still intact and locked and the door to the residence appeared to have been Mended and closed, but the lock was broken from prior entry to the place.
I hope it's not a trap.Knocking on the door caused to swing inward gently, so Janka and Ospher went in while Charity and I kept lookout in the back alley. Ospher explained that the modest and well furnished apartment looked completely normal in the main area in spite of it's owner being dead and gone for a few days, but the bedroom area had the bed tussled up and a little bit of blood on the bedsheets and a struggle. He noted a small safe tucked away in a corner of the bedroom and he was open it by transmuting it's material composition once he was sure it wasn't trapped and discovered his coded ledger, enchanted jeweler's tools, and a partially prepared magical gemstones within. Janka's Detect Magic indicated some unfinished Necromancy within the stones. Out on the porch, I heard before I saw them, 4 people cautiously approaching dressed shabbily from the far end of the alleyway. I called over my shoulder towards the ajar door that we have company and started walking down the stairs to meet them, which scared them enough for two of them to produce heavy crossbows from underneath their cloaks. The one upfront, a broad shouldered and tough looking guy decided that they would shake me down for money while I appraised them, besides the three hardened thugs, there was a woman among them towards the back of their group with a pouch of manacite. After explaining that we were trespassing in the district, I managed to wrestle the proper procedure the Lords prefer for people to announce themselves within the district. I moved closer to drag their attention while still holding the gold and waited for Ospher and Janka.
We're not breaking in if the door's open.
This isn't a place for a lady to wander around alone.
Oh, that's good to know. I hadn't been to Trentpoole before.
Information has a price though...
Oh, how much is that?
It's funny you should ask, it's exactly however much you have on you.
So what happens when I hand this over?
You leave and you keep your business where you live.
Fair enough.
When you come here, you announce yourself, otherwise problems start. Bloody problems.
And how exactly do I announce myself? after a few moments of silence Pretend I know nothing.
Do you really not know how anything works?
Chaff!
Pretending to be ignorant gets you stabbed too.
You're welcome to try, but I would like to know how to announce myself.
Go to the market. Find the blacksmith. Let him know and word will move up the proper chain.Ospher grabbed the tools, incomplete works and two ledgers of Sisto's, one legit and the other coded with Janka and joined us. I handed over the pouch and they started backing off down the alley while we started walking off. We saw a lot more eyes watching us until we got back to City Center and once there we could look over the coded ledger freely. It appeared that he was working with magical orders creating stones, which is likely why his store is untouched even after his death, and after leafing through it, Ospher noticed that Sisto had worked with someone we were very familiar with, Digby Sparrow. He had contracted him a couple weeks before we arrived in Frial to make a Magic Jar in a piece of Onyx, and the formulas for the school's wards were listed as well. Surprised, we also saw that the stone was never picked up from the jeweler either.
We're not having guests today, see yourselves out and pay the toll when asked.We headed back to the Abbey with Janka still in tow, not directly against Charity's wishes. Digby's meddling confirmed, there were a few nagging things I now needed to put to rest for my mind, casting Identify on Digby's spear, revealing that it is also an Arcane Focus and that is possessed of limited sentience that allows for different powers to be accessed by the wielder depending on who it is holding the weapon. And likely, Digby made it a promise in order to access more power. Then casting Identify on the Phantom Caress, I learned it was in fact created by Sisto. The incomplete gems were 2 rubies, 4 pieces of jade, and 1 diamond, being prepared to house spells, parts of an order being worked up for the Ebon Orchestra. Based on the ledger's notes one was going be Vampiric Touch as well as Spirit Shroud, but the remaining 5 weren't worked far enough to identify future plans. Going down to the storage cellar, we pulled Professor Rabinger's body out from the crate we put him in while cleaning up the school after the Angel x Portal catastrophe. I cast Speak with Dead on him and asked:
- Are there notes for the powers of the headmaster of the Abbey and any other purpose to the keys stashed anywhere? -They were in his office, so Charity ran to get those notes before we asked the next ones.
- Are there any abilities to the Abbey that are not noted there that you can explain to us? -It functions basically only as an Anti Magic Field preventing spells from without or within to pass through the walls of the building. It is designed only for that.
- Was it ever altered for the addition of the corridor device? -No, in his time there were no alterations.
- We asked for the formula for the wards so that it could be recreated if desired, which he told us and Charity took note of.
- Tell us more about Olivia. -She was a student from Frial who was relatively gifted and she came to him as an orphan and her family had died recently and she was practicing elemental magic and she believed strongly in Sandor. This didn't clear up why she was found there with Sandoran holy water besides taking refuge from the other worldly slaughter.
Maybe we should sleep on it?Resolving to stay up and make sure that Ospher was not the unwitting pawn of more vengeance crimes by Digby, I did not communicate my plan to Ospher to remain up all night in order to prevent further problems by the "ghost" of the deposed Sparrow. Initially, I was convinced that this was caused by the Ebon Orchestra and Janka having given Ospher the Phantom Caress, while only slightly connected, it did nonetheless show its link to the greater tapestry of what is at play here. The weave of destiny continues to hold firm. I'm glad to have cleared Janka of ill intent here as well, she likes Ospher quite a lot and while her amorality doesn't sit well with him or Charity, she brings a lot of skills and experience to the table and she's got a very different perspective on things. These things are definitely of value. I didn't explicitly communicate my plans to Ospher to make sure I can handle this frustrating problem of his, but between everyone swearing this or that can resolve Olivia and so on, I think between the borrow powers of Ssambre's knowledge domain, the Eye of Basul, the Soul Cage manacite piece and the Boomerang, we can temporarily stop this new nightly nonsense. Bianca's petulance will need to be confronted. What better time than an all-nighter?
Most of us, yes.
Are you not gonna sleep?
Adjenna points towards Ospher
Character(s) interacted with
The weapon was known as Creator Deflator today.
I wore the robes of Malyse The Libertine today
Janka - Proved that bards have the ability to use their instruments to generate resonance in a similar manner to how the portal machine works. Bianca may like to know that to find someone who can help fine tune our device.
Love Birdie - I may have scared her while explaining how in danger the children are from exigencies of Frial and it's conflicts. Perhaps that will help her?
Your school is protected from spells coming in or out, but a raccoon could come and go at any time.
Report Date
19 Mar 2021
