Session 35 - Honor Among Thieves
General Summary
31 Amberspell
As Ell stood up from his brother's body, he surveyed his friends. Looking around he said, "We should probably take a look at those other bodies and make sure everything is dead. One thing, I know that it was my brother who got us into all of this, but under no circumstances should you trust Grol or his people. It's likely now that we know they will either try to recruit us or kill us."Denye gave Ell a horrified look before saying, "Your family, Ell, has a LOT of interesting friends."
"I'm not sure I would call them friends," replied Ell, "I'm not sure most of my family have friends."
"Fine," said the wizard, "a lot of interesting people. And interesting is the nicest adjective I could think of in the moment. I had several others that came to mind first, I had to go digging for interesting."
Ell chuckled, "That is very kind of you, Denye. Sadly, I would say that many of them are criminals."
Janora huffed, "Well then let's finish looking around and get out of this cave. I do have a proposal for you, Ell, assuming of course that you want to bring your brother's body back. If we don't want to carry him, I can happily make him walk out of here on his own."
Jilken looked up at that, "Now that sounds interesting."
"So what I'm hearing," said Ell with a laugh, "is that you have a new spell you want to try out."
Janora shook their head, "Not a new spell. I've actually had this for a while, but I haven't had a reason to use it." Reaching into their bag, the witch pulled out a small crystal whistle in the shape of a dragonet.
"Well," said Ell thoughtfully, "I would never hear the end of it if Mother found out I had a chance to bring the oaf home and didn't. Sure, let's see this spell." A breath later he added, "Just don't tell any of the family that we did this either."
As Denye chuckled and turned away to search the goblin, Janora brought the whistle to their lips and began to blow. The sound started high, a single note ringing clear, but quickly began to climb in pitch until the sound rose even higher than Denye's keen senses could detect.
As Janora spent the last of their breath and inhaled, so did the corpse of Gorscha. The zombie lifted its arms and sat up, eyes opening to reveal milky white orbs. Pointing at Ell, Janora said, "Do what he tells you. For now, just stand there."
Ell's face had gone white, but he quickly recovered himself and said, "Thank you Janora…this will certainly be easier than carrying him." Turning to Jilken he added, "You said earlier that there was another cave. Did you look inside?" At the elf's shake of her head, the warlock gestured for her to lead the way."
A little disturbed by the display of necromancy, Denye shook out her feathers, and turned her attention back to the small barkskin goblin. Dressed in what appeared to be a feed sack, the only real items of interest on the body were a small bundle of plants tied with woven grasses and a small pouch containing pebbles and shells. Pocketing both, the birdkin wizard turned and followed after her friends.
The cave that Jilken had found was on the far side of the tree from where the team had snuck in and consisted of a short tunnel that opened into a small 30ft round chamber. A stone coffin, half filled with dirt sat in the center of the room, with a matching stone lid on the floor nearby.
Approaching the coffin carefully, Ranunkel looked it over with a keen eye and declared it to be mountain granite and at least 300 y.o. Probably more, but with nothing to erode the stone over time, it was hard to judge. Jilken and Vellikar followed and began combing through the dirt while Ell looked around the room.
Jilken found a strip of fabric, some sort of canvas in the soil. Pulling on it, the elf uncovered a small satchel. Made of the same waxed canvas, it had the words Iron Glacier stamped on the front. The bag contained several pieces of magitech, including a force pistol that was snapped in half.
At the sight of the magitech, Denye got very excited and wanted to look at everything. Jilken chuckled and handed the bag over to the eager wizard saying, "Maybe you can get that force pistol working. I'd love to have one of my own."
"Maybe," replied Denye hopefully, "It will take some time...and probably some tools that I don't have with me."
Ell, who had been making a circuit of the room and looking carefully at the walls, hit something with his foot. Looking down at the metallic chink and swearing slightly at the stubbed toe, he found a set of manacles. The interior of the cuffs were filled with sharp metal spikes that glistened oily in the light of Denye's lantern.
Realizing that everything in this small cave system was dead the party began retracing their steps. The water level of the pool was rising and stretched further into the nearby tunnels, but Ell and Denye quickly froze a path across.
From there it was short work up to the door, which they found locked. Grol's orcish associate was seated outside on a nearby chair and shot up when he saw the party. Coming towards the door he began to unbar the door while saying that Grol had the key and he would be right back.
The orc fell silent as magical darkness filled the small tunnel on both sides of the door. Vellikar caught the sound of a soft hiss coming from the ceiling, but before he had a chance to warn anyone, the entire party found themselves paralyzed. After a minute or so, the darkness dissipated as a key was inserted into the lock on the door.
Grol swung the door open and surveyed the party, shaking his head he said, "I truly do apologize for this. I promise that I mean you no harm, indeed, I am quite grateful to you...assuming that you did put an end it." Moving closer and examining Gorscha, the man mused, "Well friend, I'm sorry the bastards got ya and then had the nerve to make you a zombie." Backing up, he let out a whistle and the sound of footsteps could be heard coming up the hall. Addressing the party once more he said, "This is for both of our protection, truly. I vow that I will return you safely to Cliffside."
Unable to speak or move, the party could only watch as a handful of others, all dressed similar to Grol, came up and started picking them up, two for each. Carrying the team carefully back to the dock, they were deposited on the deck of the small boat. After all seven, including zombie Gorscha were in the boat, Grol threw an oilskin tarp over the group.
A few moments later and the boat was pushed away from the dock and out into the setting sunlight of the Bay. Twenty minutes or so after that and Grol was tying off the boat again. Ducking under the tarp, he tossed a large sack of coins at Ell's feet before saying, "That should prove our gratitude. Please tell Lord Byron that I was very upset to hear about Gorscha’s fate. The Nine are in his debt and I do hope that this does not affect our working relationship."
As Grol dropped the tarp and turned to go, Janora frustrated, commanded the zombie to push him overboard. A grunt of pain from the impact was quickly followed by the splash of a body hitting the water. Grol, to his credit, did not come up spluttering, but he was chuckling as he swam away.
It was about another 20-30 minutes before feeling began returning to the party's limbs. Shaking out his arms, Ell exclaimed, "Wow, that guy is an asshole."
"Yeah he is," agreed Jilken, "We should hunt him down and kill him."
Janora shook their head, "I'm not sure there is any need for that..."
"Really," replied Jilken, cutting off the witch, "He blinded us on the way out there. We did him a favor and then he stole our volition and will. My ability to defend myself." Taking in a deep breath she added, "That cannot stand unchallenged."
Ell stepped between the two and held out both hands in a calming gesture before saying, "I fully agree with taking down Grol. But I'm not sure we have enough information yet. Besides, who knows how many more of those whammies he has left. Let's at least head up to the inn for now. Food and rest. We all need food and rest. And then we should probably see about getting my corpse of a brother back to the family seat."
"Agreed," said Janora, "I would also like to have a pound of flesh from that man, but that doesn't mean we have to rush right back in."
"Fine," growled the Aiel fighter and gestured at the zombie, "What are we gonna do with him? We'll be REAL popular quick if we take him into the Siren."
In the end, the party left Gorscha sitting in a corner of the small stable attached to the inn and made their way inside. Even at dinnertime, the room was only half-full and the innkeeper was more than happy to provide the team with dinner, a lovely clay baked snapper with mashed tubers. Eating quickly, most of the party headed up their rooms to rest and recover from the day's adventure.
Jilken decided to spend some time flirting with a few of the local fishermen and asking some questions. One or two recognized the name Grol Evenoak, but no one could really say where he lived, just that occasionally he or some others who acted the same would come in a boat and have a few drinks. One of the younger men suggested an island a ways of the coast and even offered to take Jilken there, but she suspected looking for criminals wasn't what he had in mind.
Ell took his time over his meal, but once finished made his way over to speak to Gavin Tinkertop. The tinker, who they had met earlier, was speaking with a young woman in Wayfinder green. As Ell approached they both looked up and gave him a smile. The Wayfinder introduced herself as Karli Jaddock and mentioned that this was her first time on this circuit.
Ell asked, "Well good luck and I hope that you don't run into any dangers. So have you heard anything interesting so far on your journeys?"
The Wayfinder shrugged, "Only this plant uprising, attacks, or whatever. Gavin was telling me some of the stories he's picked up from some of the farmers to the west. It sounds quite dreadful. Have you seen such creatures before?"
"Unfortunately yes," replied Ell with a sigh, "Both locally and further north between Port Frost and Wexwood. They seemed to be connected to something called a Gulthias Tree. After we destroyed the first tree we spoke to Wayfinder Majorus Brightfinger at the collegium and the librarian gave us a report on them." At the name, Karli's eyes widened, but she simply nodded as Ell went on, "I'm not really sure if my friends and I be heading to next, probably either Haven or Dreford. Have either of you heard of any bandits or other less savory sorts in the area? It's always good to have a bit of warning, if you know what I mean."
Karli shook her head, "Nothing that hasn't already been dealt with by the guards. I did meet another Wayfinder in Englemarket who mentions some attacks on travelers to the north a few moons ago."
"Good to know," replied Ell with a smile, "One last question and I will leave you to your evening, I heard a name a while back and I was just curious if you had heard of the Nine?"
"The Nine," mused Karli, "Well there are a lot of nines in the world, but no you said it was a name. Ah! I have it. The Nine are the rumored leaders of the Shado, a criminal syndicate run out of Dreford. Heavens know why the Tyrant puts up with them."
"The Tyrant?" asked Ell quizzically.
Karli nodded, "Tyrant Hemlock Veterial, the ruler of Dreford. Even crime is legal in that city...as long as they leave a receipt. Makes no sense to me, but who am I to judge. Why, do you think they are doing something around here?"
"Oh no," replied Ell with a wave of his hand, "Someone mentioned the name some time ago, but I didn't know what it meant and you were the first Wayfinder I've seen since." Flashing a bright smile, Ell changed the subject, "So is there anything else I can tell you about those blights or the Gulthias trees?"
Karli thought for a moment before replying, "You said that you there had to be a tree nearby for these things to exist. Is that why you are here? Do you know where it is?"
"Where it was," corrected Ell, "My friends and I destroyed it a few hours ago."
"Ah, so it wasn't fishing you all were about this afternoon" put in Gavin. At the same time Karli asked, "So it was nearby, could you show me where?"
Giving the tinker a skeptical look, Ell replied, "No not fishing. And sadly I don't have a map, nor did I see all of the details, but it was a cave that opened up into the cliffside to the west maybe 30 minutes or so by boat."
Karli chuckled and pulled a map out of a scroll case and unrolled it on the table. As she did so, Ell sent a telepathic call to Denye and asked her to come back down. Coming into the common room, the wizard found the three bent over a map of the coastline. Joining them, it was clear that this was a very detailed map showing even elevation and seabed depths. After quick introductions, Denye was more than happy to help and with her keen mind and Helenywe's visions she was able to quickly narrow it down to a rough quarter mile of coastline.
"There was an illusion spell over the entrance," added Denye, "if you have a way to detect magic that would be the surest way to find the exact spot."
"Thank you," responded Karli, "I will send word to the Circle in Haven. They should be informed if another tree has been found."
Denye nodded, "If this one follows the same path as the first, the blight attacks should stop in a couple of weeks."
32 Amberspell
The next morning, most of the party gathered for breakfast and began discussing the plan for the day. About halfway through the meal, Janora came in from outside and joined the others.As the witch sat down, Denye asked, "Out early this morning?"
Janora shrugged, "Had a bit more business with Ms Shoalsands. But now that that is finished I'm ready to leave...as soon as I get this breakfast inside me. Ell, you were the one who called us here, what do you want to do?"
"Well I might need some further help," said Ell, "I'm not really sure. Obviously the first thing is to get my brother's corpse back to Duskcairn. But I am growing more and more concerned about the shady dealings that Gorshca and apparently my father are involved in. Maybe we can find some more information that leads us somewhere else, possibly Dreford. But I really don't know what else is going on."
"If your family is in Duskcairn," asked Denye puzzled, "Why would we need to go to Dreford?"
Ell shurgged, "I don't know, but that's where the Nine are supposed to be."
"Ohh," said Denye, "wait, why are we investigating the Nine?"
"Because," replied Ell, "they are the people my family has been dealing with."
Denye cocked her head to the side and said, "So we need to get to Duskcairn to lay your brother to rest. Investigate your family to see what else they are doing while we are there, and then possibly on to Dreford to investigate the Nine. Is that what I'm hearing you say?"
"That seems a reasonable summary," agreed Ell. "I know Jilken is interested in some revenge and it seems like investigating the Nine will take us in that direction."
"Or lead us in the complete opposite direction," muttered Jilken, and this bastard can fade away. He's nearby, we could just go kill him." As Janora started to protest, the Aiel fighter held up a hand, "I know, we need to get the body back first. I'm just saying."
After a moment of awkward silence, Denye broke it by saying, "Well, at least we have some achievable goals."
Pushing away his empty plate, Ell stood and said, "Agreed, let's be about them. If the road is clear we should be in Duskcairn by dark." With that the party polished off the last of their own breakfasts and gathering both the mounts and zombie Gorscha and headed out of town.
The young noble proved to be half right. The road was clear, but it was more than two hours after dark that the party found themselves approaching the gates of the Darnet estate. Before they got too close, Janora released the spell on the corpse so that by the time Ell led the way up to the gates, the body of Gorscha was lying draped over his horse.
The guards on duty were surprised to see Ell and appropriately saddened to hear of Gorscha's passing. Moving quickly to open the gate for the party, Ell led the way along the long winding drive. The road to the house ran for a mile or so and was lined with magnolia trees and the occasional statue or art installation. As the large house on the hill became visible, Ell turned and let them down a side path that swung around to the left.
Arriving at a small marble tower, Ell dismounted and with the help of Vellikar and Ranunkel quickly laid the body of his brother atop the bier. That task accomplished, he led the team up towards the house, but told them to hang back a bit while he found out who all was home.
Coming in the kitchen entrance he quickly found Cook and told her what had happened to Gorscha. Learning that the only family home was a couple of cousins, Ell used the earring again to call the others up. Leaving Cook with an order for supper for himself and his friends, the young man met the party outside and showed them to the stable.
Leading them inside, Ell showed the team into a small dining room. The rich mahogany table glistened with polish and two ornate gold candlesticks. Almost as soon as everyone was seated a servant came bustling in carrying a tray of food.
After he left, Denye looked at Ell in amazement and whispered, "I knew your family was rich...I didn't know they were this rich."
Ell chuckled and said, "Wait till you see the library." As Denye hopped out of her chair, Ell laughed and added, "After we've eaten. It was a long ride and I appreciate your help. I promise, the books aren't going anywhere."
The meal was delicious, rather than a full course it was bits of this and that. Several haunches of meat, half a pigeon pie, two different soups along with fruits, cheeses, and bread. After a surprise dessert and kava service, Ell took the party on a quick tour of his home. True to his word, he ended the tour at the library, throwing open the door with a bit of flair.
While not anywhere near the size of the Wayfinder's Library, it was still a large room, filled with a number of bookshelves, lined with leather bound books. No fireplace lit the room, but there were a number of lamps around the room with large, waterfilled, glass globes.
Denye immediately began scanning through the shelves, looking for books on magical theory as well as any histories of Kelveren's time and the end of the 2nd age. There wasn't a great deal of magical theory, but there was quite a bit of natural philosophy, including an excellent history of the mage storms and their after effects following the Cataclysm.
A few of the others also took advantage of the library as well. Ranunkel found an interesting tome that started out a history of the War of the Mad, but got distracted when the book began discussing a series of stone circles that were built to help the resistance move swiftly across the land for quick strikes. Janora found a few interesting tomes on local plant life and herbalism.
While most of the party was occupied looking through the books, Ell went over and tried the door to Byron's office. As usual, it was locked. Ell quickly pulled out his picks and began to work on the lock. Surprisingly, it seemed that Byron had had new locks installed.
Frustrated, Ell stood up and stared at the door. Denye came over and asked, "Do you want to get in there?"
Ell nodded, "I was hoping to, yeah."
Denye sighed, "Would you like me to open it?"
Ell gave Denye a curious look but said, "Yes, please, if you can open the door, please do so."
Denye nodded sharply, "Gotta get the phrasing right. We are your lackey traveling companions after all."
Ell winced, but Denye stepped toward the door and lifted her claw. Muttering a few arcane words, golden light began to cover the claw and she brought it sharply against the door. With an echoing Knock that spread out into the Hall, the door swung open. With that Denye went back to her book and studiously ignored the open office.
Jilken looked around at the loud sound and said, "We better look quick before someone who heard that comes looking." Leading the way into the office, she began to search the large oak desk. Ell followed quickly and began searching through the table and drawers next to the fireplace.
Jilken found a ledger of shipments from warehouses here in Duskcairn up to warehouses in Haven. What caught her eye is that a number of these that had a lot of blanks, particularly shipper and cargo. Even more interesting, they seemed to happen every 4-6 weeks and look to have started this past Blooming.
Bringing it over to Ell, the young man nodded. "That looks about right. So I'll be honest, it's drugs. My brother was importing drugs under the nose of my father."
"Under his nose or with his blessing?" asked Jilken shrewedly.
"Both probably," replied Ell. "The queen sort of asked me to look into this new drug trade. I traced it back to one of the family warehouses. I wasn't sure, but it seemed likely that Gorscha would be stupid enough to use our shipping resources. That couldn't happen without Father being at least aware of the activity."
"So we are turning your family over to the crown?" asked Jilken.
Ell winced, "Not if we can help it. I'd like to find some other way to bring this to an end. I am concerned however about what kind of leverage the Nine might have on the family." As he was speaking, Ell sorted through a stack of papers. Most were contracts and business statements, but there were a few pieces of correspondence including a pair of notes from the Master of Wares referring the agreement with the Shado.
Pocketing them quickly, Ell suggested that they should leave before someone came looking. Leading the party up to his suite, he showed them to the guest rooms attached to his sitting room. Each were as elegant as the rest of the house, but instead of gold most of the fixtures were brass. Each contained two twin beds, but someone had set up a cot in one of the rooms...taking up most of the open space.
Leaving his friends there, Ell retreated into his own lavishly appointed room and after an hour or two of thought collapsed into his own large featherbed.
33 Amberspell
The next morning the party discussed what they wanted to do next over breakfast. Ell was concerned that this was more of a personal quest, but would welcome the help of his friends. The general consensus was that while there were some other work, most of it could be be held off for a bit.Ell suggested that a few of the party head into the village as ask around. Knowing that it he would catch Denye's attention, he suggested they check out the bookstores in town. This had the expected results and Janora and Denye headed into Duskcairn, with Ranunkel and Vellikar following but stopping at a nearby Grove of Eldath. Jilken decided to take Ironheart out for some exercise and to get a look at the full estate.
Before she left, Denye asked Helenwye to keep an eye on Ell. With that, Denye and Janora collected their mounts and headed down into town. It was market day and the square was filled with stalls and booths of the nearby farmers bringing in the harvest. Asking around they discovered that there were two large bookstores here in town. The Page Turner specializes in fiction of all kinds while the Scholar's Tome carried more historical, natural philosophy, and biographies.
The second seemed more interesting to both and the pair soon found themselves walking into a mid-sized shop built of a dark wood frame, filled with whitewashed mud and wattle. The older half-elf inside welcomed them to look around and then turned back to the dwarf they were helping.
Janora found an interesting work on the Bright Shiners, that discusses the nature of the titans and their individual work in the world prior to the first Great War. Denye, meanwhile, found two books of interest. The first was a description of the various bodies that made up the night sky, including a chapter on the comet Vehacarro which only appeared every 250 years or so. The second was more of a collection of star charts, describing the constellations with more of an astrology bent. Collecting their treasures, the two of them decided to wander through the market for a bit, before ending up at a nearby inn for lunch.
Getting directions from Ell that the Grove was north of the town along the small river, Vellikar and Ranunkel followed shortly after, but on foot so that they could enjoy the countryside. It was a pleasant walk and the pair soon found a small grove of willow trees clustered along both sides of a small river.
A large treehouse was built in the boughs of several of the trees and an older half-elven woman with white hair sat on a small chair on the bank of the river, snapping some vegetables. At their approach, she looked up and smiled, "Well hello travelers, welcome to the shrine. What bring you by on this lovely afternoon?"
Ranunkel chuckled, "Just happy to see the beauty of the land. We are both druids who happened to be in the area for business. How do things fair for you?"
"Well enough," replied the priestess, "I've heard a few reports of strange plant creatures that had been attaching farmers to the southwest. But nothing like that has been seen around here."
Vellikar shuddered, "We are familiar. I think we found the source and stopped it, but it may be a bit of time before the attacks stop."
"Oh my," replied the old woman, "Now that sounds like a tale. Care to sit down for a bit and share it?"
Agreeing happily the two druids sat and told her about their experience with the Gulthias tree and the blights that had brought them to Cliffside. That led into more casual conversation about local weather and the harvest for the year. After spending an hour or so with the woman, the pair took their leave after receiving Eldath's blessings. Heading into town, they met up Denye and Janora at the inn.
Jilken frustrated that Grol was getting away and unsure about getting involved with Ell's family, took Ironheart out to ride around the grounds and get a feel for the estate. The walls encompassed almost two square miles and included a large wood, and a small lake with a lovely little lake house. Two more smaller gates broke the wall, one to the north and another to the east.
There were a few gardeners and others about, but it was quiet and peaceful. While riding through the woods, Jilken spotted a herd of deer and a number of rabbits that scurried away from the warhorses hooves. Criss-crossing the estate Jilken and Ironheart spent a few hours exploring the various paths.
With the house empty, Ell headed back to the hidden entrance to the family vaults. Before he got there he ran into his cousin, Lochehi. She wasn't overly upset to hear about the death of Gorshca, but did ask if any of Ell's friends were a potential catch. He assured her that none of his friends would fit her requirements.
Shaking her off, Ell finally made his his way down the spiral staircase into the vault where the shrine to the Voice and most of the records of the family dealings with said entity. Going directly to the bookcase, Ell began to look through the earliest records. Finding the journal of Hanno Darnet, he learned of the original offer that Voice had made to his ancestor.
While reading, Ell spotted a pair of small dancing lights bobbing within the shrine room itself. Setting the book aside, Ell walked over and pushed open the door. As he stepped inside, the lights bee-lined for the young man and as they slammed into him, one in the chest, the other in his head. They did not seem to cause any harm, but a moment later Ell dropped unconscious and pitched forward onto the plush carpet covering the parquet floor.
