Session 57 - Rubble and Ruin

General Summary

31 Harvest - Contd.

Finishing their short rest, the party began sifting through the rubble looking for evidence, people still alive and in need of aid, or just loot. Denye was the first to get back into the ruined building and began shifting rocks and debris looking for any pieces of the gate that might have survived. Jilken began to help as well and together they managed to uncover several smaller sections of twisted black metal, including a flat plate that might have been the side of one of the bases. Oddly there were a few spots where it looked like something might have been attached, but being at the center of the explosion, there was little left that could be used to reconstruct the magical device or determine what the intended purpose might be.
At the same time, Ell and Tear began digging through the rubble as well, looking for anything that looked shiny or out of place. With Tear's small size he was able to crawl into smaller spaces without having to move all the fallen rock. Between the pair of them, they managed to find half of what appeared to be a shattered globe of smoky quartz marked with the fading remnants of a magical aura. Tear also managed to recover several papers, most of which was obscured by scorch marks from the earlier fireballs and such. But there were still several phrases that were readable; 'orb of undeath,' 'fane of creation,' and 'chains of divine control,' as well as half a page of what appear to be arcane equations of some sort.
Ranunkel, on the other hand, and with the aid of Vellikar, had begun pulling the bodies out of the rubble and laying them all out. Most of the figures wore the long green robes of the Taken, but in addition to finding another one of the armored figures, they also found several smaller folk wearing black leather armor with grayish skin who appeared to be some sort of unknow gnome/elf hybrid. The pair of adventurers also found several baskets and boxes of foodstuffs including more of that varadoo fruit, black beets with pale white stems, and some large mushrooms with purple heads and deep blue gills.
"Hey guys," called Vellikar bringing out a basket of the mushrooms, "We found more food in the pantry, but I am quite sure that nothing like these mushrooms grow in our world."
"Be careful," snapped Janora, "We should take them with us to examine, but for the love of the gods try not to touch them with bare skin until we know what they do."
"You're probably right," agreed Vellikar, "should we take everything that's here or just samples?"
Denye came over to peer at the strange beets, "I might know someone who could tell us what these are. But we should either take everything or destroy what we don't take so that innocent animals or people don't find them."
Jilken, who had moved outward from the explosion and was looking through debris north of the house found half of what looked to be another archway of some sort, this one made of silver. Using the earring, the Aiel called Denye to come look at what she had discovered. Janora and Vellikar came as well and the three spent a few moments examining it with arcane talent. The Corva wizard was the first to recognize that while it wasn't magical in and of itself, the silver held a magical framework almost identical to the gate locus that the party had discovered in the sunken ruins of Fangkeep only a few weeks ago. That raised hackles for several of the party members and Janora began examining it minutely looking for an sign of maker's mark or sigil that could be traced back to an owner/crafter, but unfortunately beyond the crude welding work, there was little sign of it's construction.
The sun had continued it's ascent into the sky as the party worked and shortly after setting aside the broken metal frame, Janora caught the sound of singing coming from farther down the road, heading in the direction of the Sanctum. Warning the others, the party quickly took up ambush positions and waiting for whoever was approaching to draw near.
Janora, hiding outside the walls behind some bushes was the first to see the group of five individuals who crested the hill. All five were wearing the sleeveless version of the green robes of the Taken and singing a praise hymn to the Mistress of Light and Hope. As they came down the road, one of the figures pointed up at the ruined building with a gasp and the singing cut off as the group began talking amongst themselves for several long moments before rushing toward the gates and the ruined sanctum beyond.
As they did, Janora cast Thaumaturgy to amplify their voice and called out, "Stop! Stand fast and state your business."
All five of the individuals stopped in their tracks and looked around wildly for the source of the voice. Seeing no one, one of the humans called out, "We...we're here for the Taking. We are the chosen novitiates of Kosyn. What has befallen the sanctum?" Relaxing a bit, Janora stepped out of the cover of the bushes and began walking toward the group. Seeing the witch, the human looked confused and pointing to the ruined building, "What happened here? Are there any survivors? We should..."
Janora glared at the speaker and commanded, "Stop, just stop speaking for two seconds. Your lives have been saved. There was an evil cult taking over people's minds and operating out of this building."
"Well," said Denye as she stepped up to the gate, "to be fair, I'm not certain that they were taking over people's minds, but they were definitely taking them. If nothing else, the name of the cult was very apt."
"But," began the spokesman only to be cut off by Janora, "No, I told you to shut up. We found a portal to another world, guarded by beings who do not belong here."
"That's ridiculous," growled the dwarven member of the group. In response, Jilken put a crossbow bolt into the dirt between her feet as Denye brandished the paperwork they had recovered, "These are pretty scorched, but they are talking about an Orb of Undeath. Now I don't know exactly what that is, but it doesn't sound very healthy."
One of the other seekers protested, "That doesn't sound like something the Lady Kosyn would be involved with. Perhaps she and her chosen were guarding it, keeping it from harming others. You said there was some sort of gate...surely it led to the Lady's Paradise."
"You were lied too!" snapped Janora before softening their tone, "I am very sorry about that and I understand that this is all confusing, but I really recommend you just go home." As an afterthought, the witch added, "And stop eating that fucking fruit...you were being drugged."
"I was happy," wailed the halfling, "I had some place to belong, people who cared about me. You say go home, I don't have a home...I sit on street corners and beg just enough to get boozed up."
Dropping his WildShape Ranunkel stepped out as well, looking concerned, "If you are in need of aid, go to the Temple of Tak. You are not one of his children, but all people are worthy of his aid. I'm sure they would be able to offer food, and likely a place to sleep and possibly even work...depending on your skills of course.
The dwarven woman, clapped the halfling on the shoulder, "Aye, I know the temple of which he speaks. He might be right, it won't hurt to check and there is nothing here for any of us now." The others, all of whom looked crestfallen, dejected, and confused by what the party had told them turned and began heading back in the direction of Dreford.
As they turned to go, Tear of Midnight Sorrow, called out, "You could pray to Momma Tears, she loves everyone. Can't do much, but she always there to listen." The small goblin turned bright eyes up to look at Ell and the young nobleman looked troubled for a moment before smoothing out his expression and patting Tear on the back, saying, "They certainly could."
The rest of the party looked surprised that Tear had spoken up, but also pleased. In Goblin, Denye said, "You know Tear, I think I might like to talk to Momma Tear sometime. Thank you!"
Janora graced the young goblin with a smile and said, "You know, Tear, if you ever want to go into the priesthood or anything, you just have to tell us and we'll do all we can to help.
Tear looked panicked for a moment before shaking his head wildly in negation. "Tear not priest, Tear squire."
"Did you used to be a priest?" asked Jilken.
"No, no priest," said Tear shaking his head once more, "Headman was priest. I might have been priest when I was made headman. Was supposed to marry Rosewater, but then she called demons, which was bad, and they killed and drove out goblins, which was bad. But then I meet you all, which was good." Shrugging his shoulders, the young goblin added, "Tear not know what future hold now, but Tear having good time, much more exciting that hunting."
"Well," replied Janora soberly, "when you decided what you want to do, let us know."
That seemed to please the goblin and the witch changed the subject saying, "Is there anything else to discover here? Otherwise I feel like we should head back to Dreford...perhaps we will find answers back at the temple."
"Just give me a moment or two to light a couple of fires," replied Jilken, "There are a lot of bodies here and I worry about letting them decay and attracting wild animals."
That seemed like an excellent idea to the others and between the various capabilities of the party to create fire, they soon had several blazes started and as the smoke and flame rose from the building the team began heading back in the direction of the city, following the group of novitiates that they had saved.
As the group walked, Jilken received a Sending from Prince Leafblade k'Sheyena. "Ironheart has returned safely to the palace. Nothing worse than a few scratches. Be at peace, wingsib, she will be well cared for."
Breathing a sigh of relief, Jilken responded, "Thank you very much. She is a part of me and it eases me to know that she is safe with you."

---

The team arrived back in Dreford by mid-afternoon and headed directly for the Temple of Kosyn. As they drew near, Janora pointed out what appeared to be several ropes of yellow and black stripes that crisscross the gateway into the temple as well as a pair of city watchmen keeping an eye on passersby.
Jilken walked up and asked, "So did you all finally catch on that they were messing with people?"
"Whatca mean?" said the taller of the pair, squinting at the Aiel, "What do you know about what's happening here?"
"What, here?" asked Denye, "not really, but there is a place a couple of hours outside of town that seemed to be connected to them."
Catching sight of Janora glaring daggers at the helpful wizard, Vellikar tried to distract and asked, "Officer, can you tell us what is going on here?"
"We're the watch," blustered the man, "we ask the questions...we don't answer them. It seems like you folk do know something about all this, mebbe you should all come down to the watch station and have a few words with my commander."
Jilken folded her arms and asked, "You ever heard of the theory of equivalent exchange?"
"Can't say as I have," replied the watchman, "that one of them wizard type rules?"
Janora shook their head and plastering a smile on their face cast Charm Person on the pair, saying, "We're very sorry, I believe that we may have miscommunicated. We don't want to cause any trouble." The spell managed to wrap itself around the smaller figure, but the speaker resisted the spell. Janora smiled wider and pressed on, "As I said, I apologize for my friends questions. We'll just be going."
Turning, the witch began walking away casually, the others following behind. The guards let them go, but watched the party carefully until they disappeared out of sight around a corner.
Jilken pulled out a flask and handed it to Janora, "I know you need to wash that smile off your face."
"Thank you," said Janora shook their head, "I will take you up on that, but later. Right now I want to keep a level head until we finish exploring that damn building."
Ranunkel looked shocked, "Oh we aren't done trying to get in? I thought we were going back to the inn."
Janora cast Pass Without a Trace on the party, "Not yet, I want to see if there is a back door to that building. We can make this quick, but I will rest easier if we confirm that there isn't anything here to worry about."
Denye blew out a breath, "You are probably right. I'm fairly sure there was a back door when I found the blueprints for this building."
The group snuck around through the alleys and eventually found the back of the temple. There was indeed a back door at the northeast corner of the building and even better there were none of the city guards in evidence. Janora and the others took a few moments to check for any sort of traps but found nothing. The witch took an extra moment to press their ear to the door but heard nothing through the thick door. Straightening, Janora tested the doorknob and found it unlocked and the witch eased the door open a crack. It was a good thing that they did as there was another watchman standing just inside with his back to the door.
Over the link, the witch said, "It looks like the building is full of those damn guards. I don't know that we'll find much of anything now that they've got their grubby hands into things."
"Yeah," said Ell, "if it's full of guards, it seems like we won't have a great time infiltrating at this juncture."
"Hey Vellikar," began Jilken, "what if you changed your shape to look a spider or a mouse and went in to get a look around."
Vellikar pulled at his lower lip and nodded, "I was thinking about that...or maybe disguise myself to look like one of the guards."
Pulling the door closed fully, Janora shook their head, "I'm sure if there was anything worth finding in there, those cops have probably already taken it away."
"I don't know," mused Denye, "I'd still like to take a look inside once they are gone. I'm not sure I trust those watchmen to know what they are looking for when it comes to magic."
"It couldn't hurt," agreed Janora with a shrug. "I'd say, let's go get rooms and if we sleep now, we can come back in the middle of the night and take a look then. Do we want to go back to the Three Bells?"
"That works for me," said Ell with a shrug.
The others seemed to find this a reasonable suggestion, but Jilken looked a little concerned, "If we stay at the same inn, it will make it really easy to track us if those watchmen come looking for us."
Janora snorted in disgust and gave the Aiel a sour look as they said, "You know, I would almost feel sorry for them if they tried such a thing."
Denye nodded, "I wasn't going to say it, but Janora's right."
Jilken held up her hands in surrender, "I was just pointing it out. Besides, it doesn't really matter how strong we are if they have a big enough force to throw at us."
"Well," began Ell, ever the peacemaker, "we haven't done anything yet. If it will make you feel better we can always change inns after our evening's excursion."
"Speaking of the watch," said Janora thoughtfully, "It might actually be a good idea for one or two of us to stop by the watchhouse, probably whoever has the most experience dealing with governments and other such official things. If there was anyone left alive at the temple there is a good chance that they were arrested."
Ell nodded enthusiastically, "You are right, that is probably a very good idea. I've heard that Commander Vine is quite upstanding and trustworthy. Should I head over there now?"
"Maybe it would better to wait," said Janora, "if he's as upstanding as you say, they won't kill any possible prisoners. I figure we head back to the inn, go sneak out to the temple tonight and then tomorrow you could go to the watchhouse....after we sit down and figure out what story you are going to tell." At Denye's squawk of concern the witch added, "It doesn't have to be an outright lie, I'm just thinking that it might be better if we didn't, you know, implicate ourselves in any sort of crimes."
Using the earrings of telepathy the party continued the conversation as they headed back in the direction of the Three Bells. Kif Lonewhirl, the innkeeper, was quite happy to see the party once more and even more happy to rent them the same suite for another two nights. Janora and Ell headed upstairs and fell asleep almost immediately. The others took a bit more time to get food and baths but eventually everyone sought their beds.

32 Harvest

It was a little after midnight when the party began waking and before the town bells chimed 1 am, the team had slipped downstairs and out into the street. While the streets were less crowded in the middle of the night, there were still folk moving about, visible from the light of street lamps that lined the major roads. 
Across from the entrance to the Three Bells, almost directly under one of the those street lamps, a long black carriage was parked. As the party exited the inn, the door to the carriage opened and a tall, thin man with slicked back white hair and close fitting black robes stepped out and planting his cane between his feet, in a soft voice, just loud enough to be heard, called to the team, "Excuse me, but may I have a few moments of your time?"
Over the link, Ell warned, "Shit, that is Tyrant Hemlock Veterial, we should probably go see what it is that he wants." Out loud Ell gave the man a short bow and said, "Lord Veterial, what an unexpected surprise. Of course, of course, how may we be of assistance?"
The Tyrant gave Ell a small nod in return, "Thank you, young Lord Darnet. Would you all care to join me in the carriage? I promise that this shan't take long."
"Is it big enough for all of us?" asked Denye, skeptically.
A small smile chased itself across his face before the Tyrant nodded, "I assure you that it will and comfortably at that."
Janora just crossed their arms and gave Lord Veterial, a stony look before offering, "If you would like to chat in private, you can follow us up to our rooms."
At first the Tyrant looked as if he was about to object, but merely nodded. Over his shoulder he called, "Come Drumknott, let us see what the rooms of this lovely establishment are like." Another figure hopped out of the couch, this one a youngish looking halfling in similar robes, although not nearly as fine as the Tyrants and dusky gray in color.
"After you madam," said Lord Veterial to Janora, gesturing with one hand. The witch spun on their heels and began marching back into the inn and up to their suite, the rest of the party following. As the party entered the private sitting room and took seats, Denye asked, "If I may ask, your grace, you would prefer that this conversation remained private." At the affirmative from the Tyrant, the wizard pulled out her spell book and began casting Arcane Ward.
As the golden matrix sprung up around them, Lord Veterial leaned forward and said, "Well, I have heard quite about your group. It seems you all have been quite busy of late, helping out rulers all over the continent."
Ell smiled graciously, "You do us much honor, your grace. We have simply been in the right place at the right time, we are simply servants of the Queen."
Over the link Denye said confusedly, "But he didn't actually ask a question...oh never mind."
"As I said, I had heard you were in town," began the Tyrant, "and then there was all of that business with people dropping dead this morning. Am I right in assuming that your group had something to do with..." Looking over his shoulder at his secretary, the halfling supplied, "The Taken of Kosyn, your worship." With a smile Lord Veterial went on, "Ah yes, the Taken of Kosyn. I do not wish to accuse anyone of anything, I am simply curious after all."
Ell gave a non-committal shrug, but still smiling broadly acknowledged, "That does seem to be a fairly logical conclusion based on available facts."
"Indeed, indeed," said Lord Veterial leaning back in the chair and steepling his fingers, "I'm sure that you have some of these stories. It seems that quite a few people all over the city, dropped dead at what appears to be almost the same moment, quite early this morning."
"I don't think we had heard that," replied Janora coldly, "we have been rather busy of late."
Lord Veterial nodded thoughtfully, "As you say. What concerns me the most is that more than a dozen of these were members of my own government. Of course the Watch has opened an investigation and spoken with the Guild of Churches, Temples, Sacred Groves, and Big Ominous Rocks but beyond the temple here in the city and a property not far from town, little else is known about the group. Said property, by the way, appears to have suffered some sort of giant explosion that destroyed half of the building and started a wildfire." 
Denye let out a nervous chrip but quickly turned it into a question, "Were there any magical artifacts recovered from the temple? I might be able to take a look and help identify things." 
Rather than answer himself, the Tyrant pointed a long slim finger to his secretary who opened his book and flipped a few pages, "Your grace, the commanders report states that he called in Everoim the Athling to look for magic. Several items with magical properties were found and taken by the mage for further study."
"Well, that is quite an interesting scenario" said Ell, "I'm only postulating here of course, but it does seem like this cult had something strange going on, and were no longer in possession of their agency...or soul, and perhaps linked across distance by some sort of portal to another plane, where perhaps their souls now reside." Ell took a moment to wipe his palms on his legs, "Based on some of the other magical phenomena that we have experienced in our travels, it seems likely that if such a portal had been closed, then it would have cut off that connection and without it the bodies all dropped dead. It is very interesting and unfortunate that several members of government, I hear, may have been a part of this. On the other hand, it is probably best that the government is free of any individuals lacking a soul, free will, or agency."
Lord Veterial's eyes glittered with amusement, "What a fascinating supposition. No free will you say? That would explain how this Speaker Bhalo managed to acquire that abandoned asylum.  All in all, quite a vexing conundrum."
"It is quite vexing for us as well, your worship," replied Ell smoothly, "and I am glad to hear that the magical items are in the hands of a powerful mage. Do you perhaps have a list of what those were...just in case we ever run into such cultists again...not that we have met them before."
The thin man's only reply was a gracefully raised eyebrow, but after giving Drumknott a slight nod, the secretary read out, "The only items that had any real magic to them appear to have been a set of four tapestries. Beyond that there were also several ceremonial incense holders, large candelabra, four ornate silver bowls, half a casket of incense, and several baskets of foodstuffs unknown to either myself or the city watch. These last did not appear to be magical, but Everoim asked if he could study them in the hopes of identifying what it was that this group was pursing."  
Over the link, Janora asked, "Hey Denye, have you ever heard of this wizard, Everoim?"
"Not that I can recall," replied Denye hesitantly, "The name hasn't come up in any of my other conversations with the Obscure Veritas. I do recall hearing something about him when we were in Haven, rumors about a new wizard who had raised a tower near here."
"Hmm," mused Janora, still over the link, "that makes me worry somewhat about his competence."
"Or his allegiance," supplied the wizard.
"I suggest," began Ell over the earrings, "that sounds like something to look into and dicuss later, when we are not in the middle of life or death diplomatic negotiations. That being said, is there anything else we want from this guy?" When no one had anything, Ell refocused on Lord Veterial and said, "Thank you so much for the information, we will be sure to keep our eyes out for any more such cults. Would you mind if we paid a visit to this Everoim? My colleagues and I are always interested in meeting new practicers of the magical arts."
The Tyrant nodded one, "Of course, he is his own man after all." Rising, Lord Veterail nodded once more to the group, "Thank you for the conversation, and your fascinating theories, it has been most illuminating." 
Ell chuckled, "No, no, thank you, your grace. It's not very often that one finds the ruler of such a city waiting outside his inn, I do hope you weren't waiting long. And of course, if there is ever a need or some way that we could be of aid to the city of Dreford, you have only to ask."
Drumknott opened the door and bowed as Lord Veterial swept out and closing the door behind himself followed the ruler down the stairs and out of the inn. As soon as the door was closed, Ell let out a long breath, "Well I don't know about you all, but I'm less interested in trying to break into the temple now."
"Agreed," growled Janora, "but now I am very interested in this wizard. Why haven't you heard of him if he's supposed to be such a powerful wizard."
"I'm not sure," replied Denye, "maybe he's new or I suppose it's possible he just hasn't come up in any of my conversations. I could always ask around? Either way, I think we should definitely pay him a visit, I want to find out where he's getting his knowledge from." 
Ell nodded, "I do recall those stories as well, this Everoim had only come to Dreford recently."
"So he is new on the scene," muttered Janora, "So why didn't that black clad fellow mention that. For that matter, why would he trust this wizard?"
"There are a lot of ways to gain someone's trust," said Denye, "and some of those are in fact magical."
Janora nodded, "So then, what do people think of heading out now, that way we can surprise this person in the early morning. We've already had a solid sleep."
Ell shook his head, "I would prefer that we took tomorrow, or at least part of the day, to ask around and see what folks here in the city think of this Everoim and can gather a bit more information on him before we go charging in. Besides, I'm fairly sure none of us know where his tower even is."
Ranunkel nodded, "That's a good point...I suppose there isn't anyone we could ask at this hour." That seemed to be the general consensus of the group and they all returned to their rooms for more sleep or to pursue other activities for the remaining hours of the night.

Report Date

07 Oct 2022