Something is Rotten in the State of Ivannia

General Summary

Flashback

While Sih’Teel, Farren, Tidran, and Dante fought the quotien underground, Dariyana kept a secret appointment. Yaz, a Yellow Serpents agent, had contacted Dariyana with a note earlier that day. Dariyana stealthily made her way to the Menagerie in House Champlain.
Yaz was waiting for Dariyana at the ruins of the jiraskar exhibit. The terrifying animal had been temporarily relocated to a different part of the menagerie for the time being.
“Did you come alone?” Yaz asked. The assassin kept a careful grip on the hilt of one of her knives.
“Yes,” Dariyana replied. Her shanu was safely hidden under her cloak while Mikah, her follower, crouched hidden nearby. “I just deciphered your note in time.”
“You forgot about the secret ink? I’m surprised,” Yaz said jestingly. Then her tone turned more serious.
“The Yellow Serpents have a job for you,” Yaz told Dariayana. “They want information about Lady Morganna and Ivannian politics.”
“And is there a profit?” Dariyana asked.
“Three hundred shins,” Yaz replied.
Dariyana considered the offer. She was just about to give her answer when a shadow reared up behind Yaz! Yaz gave a shriek of terror and crumpled to the floor. Dariyana took one, two, and then three shots to kill the shadow. But it was too late for Yaz…

The Present

Three days later, the three remaining shadows were killed by House Bonaparte and the combined Ivannian house guards. Francois, the head of House Estelle, kept mostly to himself as the anger toward his house increased due to the neglect of information. Lady Morganna kept to her chambers.
Over those three days, Ivannia reported thirty casualties from the citizenry. The head of House Arouet was one victim. Soon every noble and retinue attendant received an invitation to attend the funeral.
Farren, Dante, Dariyana, and Sih’Teel decided to attend.
The funeral took place on a dais. In keeping with Ivannian tradition, the body of the former House Arouet leader was laid out on a pyre. His son, Raphael, stood by the pyre. When the house royal saw Sih’Teel, he quickly made his way towards him.
Raphael asked about the health of Lady Morganna. After a small hesitation, the royal also mentioned quietly that he would like Sih’Teel to do some investigation for him.
“I’m not sure my father’s death was by accident…” he said to Sih’Teel. The rogue nodded.
“I’d be glad to look into it for you,” Sih’Teel replied. Raphael gave his thanks and walked back to the funeral dais.
At the signal, Raphael lit the pyre. It rose into the air, burning brightly, and passed through a tiny opening in the shield perimeter. It floated up until it blended in with the stars. A somber hush fell across the crowd. Before everyone dispersed, Sih’Teel relayed Raphael’s suspicions to the rest of the group. They decided to gather information.
Dante found out from the servants that the royal physician had mysteriously disappeared after the Arouet leader’s death. The physician had one tell - the corner of her mouth jerked to the right when she was nervous.
Having gathered that information, the group headed back to their quarters in House Estelle. Dariyana went to bed since the last few days had made her very tired. Sih’Teel, Farren, and Dante decided to keep investigating.

Mysterious Reflections

Every person in Ivannia who looked at their reflection in a mirror that night gave a gasp of horror. Their reflection was intact… except for their eyes. The eyes were replaced by glinting, dark jewels. The group found this out immediately. Dariyana simply covered her mirror and continued with her rest. But Sih’Teel, Farren, and Dante wanted to dig a little further.
Sih’Teel examined the reflection and found that the image itself wasn’t dangerous. He decided to use his vast network of information to discover the source of the problem.
A small report came to the surface. An explorer from House Cousteau had happened upon a ruined desert dweller settlement. The settlement, including the neighboring fungal forest, had been covered entirely with sand. The only thing left was a small, ebony sphere. The explorer had taken it back to Ivannia and given it to the museum for safekeeping. The group decided to head there immediately.
At the museum, the group met with the curator. He showed them the black sphere. It did nothing. The group wondered how it could be a source of their problem? Suddenly a philethis appeared. The being, looking nothing more than a circular, empty black mirror in a long cloak, floated down the corridor back to the lobby. Everyone followed. Farren carried the black sphere with her.
Dante attempted to interact with the philethis. He received enigmatic answers in an eerie, robotic voice. Sih’Teel tried to read its thoughts. Only one thought repeated: We must prepare. The sphere rolled out of Farren’s hands out of its own volition. It carefully broke its shape and extended upward on two tall, slender legs. A large, robotic body curved into the whole of the domed ceiling. Two eyes glinted.
Sih’Teel frantically read its thoughts. The creature’s mind was filled with complex equations, long strings of words, and concepts too big for a human’s mind to comprehend. In its contemplation, it hadn’t yet registered the humans. The group stood still, not even making a sound.
After a moment, the creature folded itself back into a sphere. It rolled voluntarily back to the office where it put itself back in storage. The philethis had disappeared. The curator would have enough information to write a report for a few weeks!
The group was disappointed at the seemingly dead end. They had consulted the source and found nothing. The reflections continued. But no danger seemed to be present.
No robotic danger, that is. Farren had hacked into the Ivannian security system during the evening to retrieve surveillance records. Unfortunately, a few representatives from House Bonaparte had arrived at the museum to escort her in for questioning.
After a lengthy interview, the inspector asked Farren not to hack the systems. His grudging respect for her skill led him to give her a card that would authorize Farren to contact the investigator from House Estelle should she have any more questions.
Farren eventually arrived back at House Estelle. Dante decided to request a visit to House Arouet to ask more questions about the death of their leader. But Sih’Teel was already on the move.

Night Revelations

Sih’Teel, in disguise as a house aid, arrived back at House Arouet. He examined the bedroom where the death occurred and questioned a servant. He found out that the physician had a favorite bakery in House Pesant. And also...
“The Arouet minister… his brain was completely gone!” a frightened servant said, “the shadows must have taken it!”
Sih’Teel frowned. Brain liquification wasn’t a symptom of death by shadows. Perhaps it was caused by something else…
The answers would wait until the morning.

The Strange Encounter

Dante was discouraged by his rejection from House Arouet. He wasn’t allowed to visit unless accompanied by Morganna, who was still indisposed. He decided to stay in his quarters that day. Meanwhile, Sih’Teel and Farren wanted to do more investigation.
They began by tracking the movements of the workers in the restaurant in House Pesant. They were pleased to discover a woman working there with the same nervous tick as the former court physician… but she revealed nothing. Sih’Teel turned invisible and followed her to the back of the restaurant. Farren pickpocketed both her knives stealthily. The woman was eventually joined by a female warrior with a katana.
“Our cover has been blown,” the warrior said. She gestured to the back door. “Let’s go.”
The two women left the restaurant! Sih’Teel and Farren followed.
Eventually they arrived at the clock shop where their “old friend” Lysa stood at the counter, waiting for customers. But when Farren and Sih’Teel entered the shop, there was no one. Quickly, Sih’Teel phased through the basement door and invisibly crept down the stairs. Farren held Lysa in a staring contest as she interrogated her about hiding people.
“I didn’t hide anyone, excuse me,” Lysa said haughtily. She turned her back and walked through a back door, locking it behind her.
Sih’Teel discovered the two women in the basement. He watched as one of the women fumbled with an old tech remote. Soon two new humans appeared right before them. Immediately the newcomers morphed into mirror images of the humans they faced.
“The murders continue?” The woman holding the remote asked.
“Yes,” the creature said. They both laughed.
“Continue the mayhem,” the woman replied. The creatures, still laughing, teleported out of view.
Sih’Teel leapt forward and knocked out one woman with the flat of his blade. He hastily defeated the other one. Taking their weapons, he led them up the stairs and to house guards. The two women were imprisoned immediately. Sih’Teel pocketed the remote.
While Farrren decided to stay to find out more about Lysa, Sih’Teel decided to visit the prisoners. He had a few questions to ask them.

Mirror, Mirror

Sih’Teel arrived at the prison and tried every trick he knew to make the women talk. He found out that they were Yellow Serpents agents and had been sent to cause chaos across Ivannia. Sih’Teel pressed the button on the remote. As before, two humans stood before him. Quickly they morphed into exact versions of him.
It was two against one Sih’Teel. Immediately the creatures began bombarding his mind with blasts of psychic power and painful memories. But Sih’Teel had training. He easily deflected their mental attacks and defeated the creatures. One he killed. The other he kept barely alive. He got some green paint from a nearby closet to make sure the creature and he didn’t get confused. Then he gave the information he learned to the police.
First, the court physician had been a Yellow Serpents agent all along. Her companion helped her control the Neanics, or the morphing creatures that Sih’Teel had defeated. When the shield wall had opened slightly at the Arouet funeral, the Neanics had teleported in.
The Neanics had arrived after the funeral.
But according to the Yellow Serpent agent… a Neanic had killed the Arouet leader by liquifying his brain…
The culprits had been apprehended but the questions remained.
How?

And what was the purpose of the sphere's reflections?
Perhaps they would never know.

Report Date

31 Jul 2020

Primary Location

Ivannia