The Crimson Echo IC - Season Two

[Stelio Kontos]

Aliani returned, a couple of steps behind the queen, with a bemused yet satisfied expression on his face. He stood back at the fringe of the action, content to let the Abadaran take center stage. He found himself thinking wholly inappropriate things to say -- things like true civilization requires you give me a big pile of coins or **** off and suffer, you mean, and at one point he let out a loud sigh as they negotiated precise terms of the payment.

"Oh for heaven's sake, how much is it?" he muttered, beginning the fumble through the increasingly-disorganized pile of coins settling heavily in his pack. Kroft was faster though, and presumably the sword was more than enough to cover. Just as well, and he had to grudgingly admit it was better than he himself could do... or probably afford. Not that that should matter, of course, in a just world it wouldn't matter at all... hey, why is she drawing her sword?

"No, nononono, you can't..." was all he could say, a moment too late and entirely ineffectually, and he put out a hand that wasn't anywhere near the line of potential attack -- and probably would have just gone flying off its wrist into the corner if it had been. He glared after Sabrina, trying to figure out some potential milieu in which he might properly give her the face-slapping awakening she deserved in that moment.

As for the queen? Yes, that memory of the fortune teller popped in just then for no reason. Peacock or cockatrice? A decent soul in a position of utter societal hubris? The answer was clear enough: both, of course. Both.

[PiccadillyPi]

Silas wanted to clasp Violet's hands at each new image. He helplessly watched each new pain she was introduced to. The screaming. The tears. He had never experienced such a thing, though it was promised to him by his father every few times he did not succeed in a task when he was a child. Silas' pantomime ended quickly into the second vision. His lips trembled more and more, and his only curse was to his parentage for he could not cry with her. Instead he put his hands to his face to hide the despair he shared with her - brief as it was compared to that of the maid's.

When Silas stood from his venture into the tortured mind of Violet, his knees shook from a tempered exhaustion. Any jovial features vanished from his face as he trudged out of the room as the doctor arrived. Once placed to speak, he could only give mild details. As he told of the visions witnessed, his voice trembled with anxiety. His hands fluttered between his hips and his heart as they unconsciously calmed him enough to speak.

"There were such terrifying images. She was taken in the night by... Dragged to the sewers... cabbage head? What she has gone through is all too terrible for words!"

He stopped speaking altogether in an effort to collect the visions into a concise story.

"Give me time for the answers I've seen. I don't think she did anything."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Silas leaped back at the field marshall's abrupt entrance into Venster's abode.

"Hardly necessary - though I do not mind the display."

Silas picked through the bookcase as Kroft made her way to the bed. Eyeing the works of Steppen Onesdic, famed romance author, Silas tucked the novel into his arm just as Kroft spoke up about Venster's journal.

"A word on Venster! I believe I viewed the ambassador entering his tower through Violet's eyes. I can't say as to when, but I suspect it was a more recent development. I'm still putting it all together."

He approached her to peer over a shoulder in hopes he might glean some knowledge from her skimming. Just as he thought she might slow down, the end of the story was torn away. Once it was tossed back onto the bed, Silas frowned. He understood her exasperation. Just as he reached out to her, Trinia seemed to announce herself from the window.

The conversation from her entrance flowed around him. He could hardly keep up, only supplying the occasional "hmm" or "uh huh" to an otherwise full discussion.

"Ah! Don't fall! I fear whatever sickness may befall you if you were to touch Venster's floor unprotected - WHERE ARE YOUR SHOES?!"

Barely able to continue the search with that on his mind, he plucked the journal from the bed while doing his very best to not actually touch the bed itself. He of course left with the smut as well.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Once down the steps his mind was more able to adjust to the complex trauma he had witnessed. Without ever finding a moment to properly explain, Violet seemed to become well enough to do so herself. Her explanations were met with nods from Silas as he could confirm the images he saw with her words.

It was the sudden threats and assault that left him shocked since he'd already witnessed the worst of what Violet had to say.

"Cressida!"

He lunged to aide her before hitting the floor, but the impact was truer than his speed. Kneeling down, he put a hand under her head and clasped her arm to help her up. He turned his head back to Sabrina with a sharpened anger. He greatly resisted kicking her squarely between the legs, then spitting on her as she squirmed.

[Inspectre]

Darvin

“Hmph. Well, I suppose one overly generous client with more gold than sense could easily double your business, such as it is.”

Raemus retorted, taking a swipe at the size of your business as predicted. The High Banker does lean back into his chair with a satisfied smirk as he folds his arms across your chest, quietly waiting for you to elucidate on this topic. He seems somewhat satisfied when you drop the latest monthly payment for your loan down onto his desk, but his smugness loses a bit of its edge as you go on to describe your newest client. It’s not to last, however, as Raemus’s surprise is replaced with a scowl as you move the discussion on to your true reason for being here.

“Bah! As I said earlier, it seems you’ve found an overly generous client with more gold than sense. We will see how long the fickle winds of the Royal Court continue to blow your way – as you may yet learn, the higher you go, the further there is to fall. But very well, for now at least it seems your business is solvent and capable of repaying the Bank of Abadar’s trust given time.”

Raemus flips open the ledger on his desk and makes a small notation, presumably noting your payment and approving the continuance of your loan. Without looking up at you he continues.

“As for your warning, well, we have already been alerted by Field Marshall Kroft of this potential threat to the Bank. You can rest assured that while we are taking it seriously, as we do all such threats, we have received little information beyond the bold declaration from this thief that he intends on robbing us. We routinely get informed about such boasts from various criminals, and from time to time even have to thwart serious efforts to actually carry out such threats. Rarer still, such attempts actually succeed – if we’re talking about the minor contents of a teller’s cashbox. The Vaults, however, have never been successfully breached thanks to our confidential security, and so if this Gaedren Lamm wants to swipe a teller’s cashbox and claim that he robbed the Bank of Abadar, well, bravo to him for managing that much. But I will need to see more credible evidence than mere words before I believe in this petty criminal’s threats!”

Dropping his quill back into its holder, Raemus looks up at you pointedly as he snatches up the purse of coins you left on his desk.

“I believe that this concludes our business for today. Unless, of course, you have more rumors and intrigue that you feel compelled to share at this time? If not, then I trust that you can see yourself out.”

And with that, Raemus snaps shut the ledger in front of him, setting it aside in favor of a different book which he flips open and begins to peruse.


PiccadillyPi

Kroft glances at you with a look of concern as you struggle to recover from what you have seen in Violet’s memories. She even briefly raises a hand as if to offer some form of reassuring touch before she reconsiders and lets the hand drop.

“I am sure what she has been through is unpleasant, and I don’t need those particular details. But places she’s been, people she’s met . . . information like that could be crucial in tracking down those responsible for what happened. I don’t know what you saw, but try to focus on those details.”

Kroft offers, although she does not press any further at this point, giving you the time you had requested to sift through the sequence of horrors you had just been exposed to.

********************

Trinia glances down at her bare feet with a bemused smirk at your outburst.

“What? Did you think I was going to climb all the way up here without being able to feel what I was gripping – both hands *and* feet? I do it all the time in the Shingles!”

Her confidence fades a moment later as the reason for your voiced concern suddenly registers, and she hops from one foot to the other with a disgusted expression before abandoning that plan in favor of leaping to the windowsill, hanging off it with her feet braced against the stonework just below it on either side.

“Ew, ew, ew, you’re right! Leaving those shoes behind was a mistake! Who knows what that pervert left lying around the place!”

“Given you just said you regularly climb around in the Shingles, I think you’ll be fine.”

Kroft notes with a hint of amusement creeping into her voice, prompting a not-so-amused glance from Trinia over her shoulder.

“That’s different! Ugh, I think I need to go wash my feet now! Bye!”

Trinia then leverages herself up and smoothly swings out through the window, spinning around to catch the window sill with her hands again and keep her from sailing out away from the tower entirely. She then drops out of sight, rapidly scrambling her way back down the outside of the tower, her progress faintly audible as a periodic stream of “ew, ew, ew!” Kroft leans out the window to follow her visibly for a moment, and then returns her attention to you, shaking her head.

“Miss Sabor is certainly an . . . odd . . . young woman, isn’t she?”

Her amusement only lasts as long as it takes you to mention the memory you sifted out of Violet’s, that of Ambassador Andaisin paying Venster a late-night visit recently.

“Did she, now? Curiouser and curiouser . . . I think I may need to speak with the Ambassador at some point in the near future about her involvement in all this.”

All But Darvin

At Jakkin’s quiet prodding, the would-be thief shrugs and scowls.

“Like she’d miss a handful o’ coin with the way it’s all piled up down there! I’d have gotten away with it, clean, if that damn guard bitch of hers hadn’t given me a pat down! Gotta take advantage of opportunities when they present themselves! But I suppose it’s off to Longacre for me now, isn’t it? Still better than a life on the streets.”

“You were given an opportunity here, and you chose to squander it.”

Queen Ileosa said, having apparently overheard the not-so-quiet rebuttal to Jakkin. After a moment’s pause, the queen sighs and shakes her head.

“But I suppose I am also to blame for placing undue trust in you, and providing you with too great of a temptation. I was willing to offer you employment and shelter, but since you are not satisfied with those then I shall release you to seek your fortunes elsewhere. Take what belongings you have left, along with the pay that you are due, and go.”

“You serious!?”

The thief grunts, blinking in confusion at this sudden reversal of fortunes, and when no follow-up clause seems to be coming, the man shakes his head as he turns to go gathering up his things.

“You damn nobles are all crazy.”

If Queen Ileosa heard that retort, she gives no sign as she has returned her full attention back to Violet, eventually managing to coax the maid back up to her feet as Violet’s sobbing dims to more quiet tears.

“I likewise forgive you as well, Violet. This was all clearly done against your will, and even if not, you have already suffered more than enough punishment for your part in this incident. If you wish to stay on here as a member of the castle staff, you are welcome to do so, although given what has happened to you as a result of working here, I would also understand if you wish to go else – “

Whatever Queen Ileosa was going to say next is cut off by another loud sob from Violet as she lunges forward and attaches herself to the queen again, this time burying her face into the queen’s shoulder as a fresh round of crying starts up.

“Oh thank you, Your Majesty!”

The maid manages to croak out, this time seeming to be crying with relief rather than grief, although it makes little difference to Queen Ileosa’s obvious discomfort. Fortunately, she is given something else to concentrate on as Silas helps Kroft back up onto her feet.

“I suppose Your Majesty would display a similar level of magnanimousness to a complaint filed against her personal bodyguard for assault.”

Kroft grunts, gingerly reaching up to touch the back of her head and wincing. Queen Ileosa sighs and gently frees herself from Violet’s grasp, walking over to the Field Marshall and raising a hand up.

“I am sorry for Sabrina’s behavior today, Field Marshall Kroft. I will talk to her later and ensure that similar incidents don’t happen again. Still, no permanent harm has been done, right?”

The queen intones the words to a spell and extends her hand towards Kroft clearly intending on touching her to expend the magic, only to have her hand caught by the wrist by the Field Marshall. Then, after a moment’s consideration, Kroft sharply lets go of Queen Ileosa’s wrist.

“Not so far, but I think I’d like to keep the reminder to avoid getting in Sabrina’s way next time.”

Kroft explains, and Queen Ileosa accepts this with a frown and a nod, retreating back out of Kroft’s way as she turns her attention to Violet.

“Miss Violet, if you are willing to speak on your experiences to help the Guard catch those responsible, we can do that here and now, or later at Citadel Volyshenek. You just need to ask for me, and I will leave word to show you right up to my office, where we will be able to speak privately.”

Wiping her tears away, the maid nods and responds with, “Yes, I . . . I think I need a bit of time to compose myself, if that’s alright.”

Kroft nods and then regards the group before reaching up to touch the back of her head and wince again.

“In that case, I think I’m done here for the day. With your leave, Your Majesty.”

“Granted.”

Queen Ileosa responds coolly, and the Field Marshall sees herself out. You likewise take your leaves as well, after Silas confirms that Trinia managed to successfully climb back down the side of the tower and was currently washing her feet off in one of the small fountains dotting the gardens. Also in the gardens was Sabrina, practicing with her sword in regimented stances and swings that while more advanced are also clearly based on the basic forms that Vencarlo showed to Aliani the previous night. As the bodyguard goes through the motions, her pace slows and her swings become more precise as her anger melts away. As all of you are moving to leave, she pauses in her practice to call out to you as she sheaths the falchion back in its place across her back.

“She’s going to get herself killed, you know. Whether it’s out there on the streets, or from letting the wrong person get too close. The sick bastard who cut up Violet could have just as easily told her to stick a knife in Her Majesty’s gut one night at dinner. Or Lamm could have sent his bunch of thugs in here all cracked up on Shudder. I’ve only got one job to do, and that’s keeping Her Majesty safe in spite of all that – in spite of her. So if you want to hate me for that, that’s fine, but I don’t have the luxury of treating any threat to Her Majesty gently.”

Sabrina looks like she’s about to add more to her argument, but then just sighs and looks away, concluding with a final admission.

“Even if I am doomed to fail in the end.”

[Darvin]

as you may yet learn, the higher you go, the further there is to fall.

"How many times in my life have you told me that? And when has it ever stopped me?" Dalen smirks.

But I will need to see more credible evidence than mere words before I believe in this petty criminal’s threats!”

"I'd much sooner believe the boast was a completely empty misdirection than a paltry attempt to raid a cashbox. There is no question that the boast was understood by everyone present to be a claim upon the vaults, and that this would only be the beginning," Dalen strokes his chin, wondering just how much he could share - and what would be believed.

"I've seen enough these past days to know Lamm is out of his depth. He's convinced he is fated to die very soon, and acts as if every day will be his last. The man has shadowy financiers providing enormous sums of support, has a necromancer in his employ whose craft far eclipses my own, consorts with a deranged cult that performs reckless magical experimentation. The kinds of people who will cause great devastation in their wake before they destroy themselves. Whatever is coming will be without hesitation or regard for consequences. Even if they're thwarted, there may well be blood on the floor tomorrow. Make sure it's not your's," Dalen nods and sees himself out.

Making a brief detour to purchase a potion of cure light wounds before leaving the bank (better safe than sorry), Dalen sets his sights upon the Goldmarket. He had a number of spells in mind, and hoped they would be useful in the days to come.

Spoiler: OOC

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I presume a 1st level potion is available at standard market rate from the temple of Abadar.

Dalen is on the hunt for spells to learn. Preferably in spellbook form as those are less expensive than scrolls, but I won't hesitate to buy scrolls if they're available. I remind the GM that I maintain a wishlist in the google doc I use for his spellbook and any spell on that list is desirable.

There are three spells in particular I'm most interested in right now:
* Ears of the City
* Stone Shield
* Moment of Greatness
* Resist Energy
* Page-Bound Epiphany

[Inspectre]

Dalen's search for new spellbooks turn up three that may be of interest to him:

Spoiler: Book 1

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A small traveling spellbook that seems to have belonged to an nobleman's idiot child, with a basic focus on Conjuration. In addition to being speckled here and there with food and drink stains, this appears to have been the incompetent mage's first spellbook as all of the beginner cantrips are still present. After a bit of haggling with the shopkeep over the uselessness of purchasing something every single mage of any skill would already know, Dalen manages to get them to charge half-price for the cantrips, which still feels like a rip-off.

Traveling Spellbook (41/50 Pages Used) - 235 GP

All 0th-Level Cantrips (All 30 of them!)

1st:

• Hold Portal (Ab.)
• Expeditious Construction (Con.)
• Glue Seal (Con.)
• Unseen Servant (Con.)
• Ear-Piercing Scream (Evo.)
• Ventriloquism (Illu.)
• Interrogation (Necro.)

2nd

• Retrieve Item (Con.)
• Mirror Image (Illu.)

Spoiler: Book 2

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A standard spellbook that appears to have been well-cared for (save for the blood-stain along one corner), and seems to have been written by a generalist mage of high intellect whose potential was clearly cut short by too much focus on utility.

Standard Spellbook (20/100 Pages Used) - 295 GP

1st Level:

• Alarm (Ab.)
• Protection from Chaos (Ab.)
• Shield (Ab.)
• Air Bubble (Con.)
• Sleep (Enchant.)
• Unprepared Combatant (Enchant.)
• Ear-Piercing Scream (Evo.)
• Floating Disk (Evo.)
• Touch of Combustion (Evo.)
• Color Spray (Illu.)
• Darting Duplicate (Illu.)
• Expeditious Excavation (Trans.)

2nd:

• Communal Endure Elements (Ab.)
• Page-Bound Epiphany (Div.)
• Locate Object (Div.)
• Hideous Laughter (Enchant.)

Spoiler: Book 3

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The third book is a compact spellbook that appears to have been either a lighter traveling book or a back-up spellbook for a higher-level wizard with an eclectic taste in spells, which includes the special surprise of a 4th level spell - Dimension Door!

Compact Spellbook (39/70 Pages Used) - 860 GP

1st:

• Hold Portal (Ab.)
• Invisibility Alarm (Ab.)
• Protection from Chaos (Ab.)
• Stunning Barrier (Ab.)
• Stone Shield (Con.)
• Heightened Awareness (Div.)
• Identify (Div.)
• Mindlink (Div.)
• Bungle (Enchant.)
• Memorize Page (Enchant.)
• Floating Disk (Evo.)
• Disguise Self (Illu.)
• Cause Fear (Necro.)
• Touch of Blindness (Necro.)

2nd:

• Protection from Arrows (Ab.)
• Acid Arrow (Con.)
• Communal Mount (Con.)
• Create Pit (Con.)
• Heckle (Enchant.)
• Shadow Anchor (Illu.)

3rd:

• Protection from Energy (Ab.)
• Pellet Blast (Con.)
• Vampiric Touch (Necro.)

4th:

• Dimension Door (Con.)

[Stelio Kontos]

Aliani listened, and watched, giving a quick signal to the would-be thief to stick around for a moment -- not that he'd be especially inclined.

He observed Sabrina's movements with interest -- supposing that's what the advanced class looked like, something you don't get into until three or four hours in, he chuckled to himself. He listened, and dammit if a brief flash of concern didn't betray his face.

"I don't hate you" he replied impassively, shaking his head. "But you going after the girl -- it's not that she didn't know any better, she couldn't do any different even though she wanted to. Blaming her for it is like breaking a hammer ... no ... like blaming the worm for the fisherman not catching anything for dinner. Neither of them want to be involved, neither had any real say in the matter, and one way or another they're going to get eaten alive by someone with no way to do a thing about it. So perhaps, next time you want to attack someone like her, maybe you can take it out on someone else. Or get a puppy to kick."

"As for Her Majesty... I think Bremelson said it best: 'The bird in the gilded cage, its home lined with the choicest paper and fed the finest of fruits, still wants; above all else, to fly.' You catch the meaning? I understand it's your job, you feel, to keep her alive and the only way to do that is to lock her away. But if you want her to remain herself, let her feel ALIVE, while she still can; locking her in a tower does her no good. The time will come soon enough when the weight of authority begins to grind her down. That's when she's going to need someone to really protect her."

"You think you've got it so bad? Try feeling that way about the whole city."

He actually gave her a chance to rejoinder before signing off, finding his way over to apparently the worst thief in the world and sizing him up. Something didn't seem right.

"So, uh, at the risk of making an ass of myself: what is it makes a man so desperate he nicks a few coins from a place with probably enough magic treasure to blind an Acadamae student learning how to spot magic, and so much finer metal that wouldn't weigh you down? In front of someone that can probably take your head clean off with one blow, even? You don't mind my saying, the risk-reward ratio seems all wrong. So ... what gives? You trying to get thrown in jail?"

[Darvin]

After a lot of haggling and a small amount of accountancy, Dalen purchases all three spellbooks and the scroll of Mad Monkeys.

Spoiler: Accounting

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Lower bound value is equal to the scribing rights cost (5 gp for cantrip, 10 gp for 1st level, 40 gp for 2nd level, 90 gp for 3rd level, 160 gp for 4th level), while upper bound value is equal to the scroll cost (12.5 gp for cantrip, 25 gp for 1st, 150 gp for 2nd, 375 gp for 3rd, and 700 gp for 4th)

Book 1:
Cost: 235 gp, 167.5 gp recouped

2 useful rare cantrips (10-25 gp)
1 useful 1st level spell (10-25 gp)
1 useful 2nd level spell (40-150 gp)

Value of spellbook: 60 gp - 200 gp

Verdict: possible negative value, depending on whether Mirror Image can be obtained later from a source other than a scroll. It's a fairly small loss in that event, so even if this ends up being paying a small premium it's worthwhile to guarantee access to the spell now.

Book 2:
Cost: 295 gp, 147.5 gp recouped

3 useful 1st level spells (30-75 gp)
2 useful 2nd level spells (80-300 gp)

Value of spellbook: 110-375 gp

Verdict: almost certainly positive value; worst case is 37.5 gp loss, which is an acceptable risk to potentially save hundreds of GP. While we do own a scroll of Locate Object, we haven't scribed it yet so using this book effectively saves us the scroll, and it's very unlikely we will have the opportunity to scribe the spell from another spellbook before we bite the bullet and scribe it from the scroll, so picking this up now makes sense.

Book 3:
Cost: 860 gp, 430 recouped

4 useful 1st level spells (40-100 gp)
2 useful 2nd level spells (80-300 gp)
1 useful 3rd level spell (90-375 gp)
1 useful 4th level spell (160-700 gp)

Verdict: this is a long-term investment, the spells contained at 1st and 2nd level are absolutely not worth the price of the book. However, Protection from Energy and Dimension Door are spells Dalen will definitely want to know eventually and this ambitious Wizard acts like the kind of Wizard he wants to be. Which is to say, he's going to bite and buy those spells that are a little bit outside of his current pay grade.

Going to pass on the Scroll of Summon Monster III; already blown the bank on new spells, and actually scribing these new spells will cost an addition 650 gp.

After making his way home, Dalen carefully catalogs all three books, and finds them a safe storage place with the other valuable components the shop keeps. He then pulls out one of the books in particular and spends several hours scribing, hoping that Aliani would be through the door later in the evening to try something. It was unlikely to work - this was not a spell that can ascertain well-guarded secrets - but if this information was known and catalogued somewhere out in the open he just might be able to glean some understanding about that eye. Knowing exactly what kind of entity they were dealing with would be invaluable in the coming battle.

(Dalen spends a total of 1805 gp)

[PiccadillyPi]

Earlier in the tower of Sickly Sticky Sheets & Stones

"If you don't mind my being there. While I am not the wisest, I am smarter than the a-ver-age whore - that might be the worst way I've ever sold myself."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now-ish

Silas allowed the others some distance before speaking with Sabrina at last.

"I do not hate you. If anything darling, I feel I understand you more than perhaps anyone else in the room. I am however INCREDIBLY ****ING ENRAGED by what you've done and are doing. So much so that for a moment I could hardly remember why. I would like to speak with you again when I am not busy. Perhaps in the gardens with blunted swords? I doubt you would be sated by air alone - much like myself. I'd have to charge you for the pleasure of beating me, mind, but I can afford you the 'friends and family' rate."

He laughed a little laugh.

"Without any family, this is a much funnier rate for me than some of the slags I've work with."

[Stelio Kontos]

Upon leaving the castle, it was time for Aliani to go home and have a good, long think about things.

First order of business: whatever was to come, whatever opportunities might present themselves, there was no sense in making it obvious that he was involved in this. To that end, he spent much of the afternoon working on a new disguise -- nothing too outlandish, just a little reddening of the hair here, a little whitening of the skin there, a small scar right on the tip of the chin would do nicely as a focal point. Much like others, the point wasn't to become anyone in particular, just to be ... not himself. He spent hours over it trying to get the details right, redoing the scar a few too many times, but when he looked in the mirror, he was happy with the final creation. It was perhaps a waste, but if it bought a few seconds with the right person, at the right time...

A moment's thought later, the grand devil from that latest production was lost to the winds of time, replaced in his cloak by the newest creation.

Second order of business: figure out a plan. That would require thinking, and walking, and thinking. The walking part, wandering semi-purposefully down the more familiar thoroughfares in the city, seemed to be doing fine, but the thinking part ... there were far too many options. Where would they be coming from? How many? When? Was it all a ruse, a distraction for something even more diabolical? Would they even let us try to get in a position to help in the first place? What would happen if the bank got robbed, and then people came to retrieve their savings only to find nothing there? (That last thought brought a mixture of horror and mild amusement.) And where the hell was I? Evening turned to night, and the endeavor was proving less fruitful than hoped, when he found himself headed back toward home... and passing a block or so from Mr. Rittle's establishment. Surely he'd have some ideas, if it wasn't too late... which, by the glow of the light under the door, it wasn't.

Somewhat tentatively, he gave a few raps on the front door.

Spoiler: OOC

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Taking 360 minutes (rolled in chat) to take 20 on getting a disguise just right ... as per usual, not trying to impersonate anyone in particular. Placing disguise in my quick change cloak.

Not pictured: in the morning I'm spending 180 gp (book value) on 2 each of liquid ice, alchemist fire, acid flask, and smokesticks.

[Darvin]

Upon hearing the rapping at the door Dalen quietly stirs from his work on the spellbook in front of him. He steeled his heart for the possibility of yet another messenger from Kroft or the Queen detailing yet another disaster, but after a brief glance through the peephole and a few words to confirm the identity of the disguised man, Dalen unlocks and unlatches the door and lets him in. After shutting it behind him he invites Aliani into his study.

"I can't say I expected anything else, but the bank of Abadar is characteristically overconfident. Few have any inkling of the depth Lamm has found himself in. We've seen enough to know that there's still more to be found, but I suspect as of tomorrow many will start taking him significantly more seriously... which is both good and bad, good because there will be more allies who will take his threat seriously, and bad because others will be moved to join him," Dalen softly raps his fingers on his desk, "and there's the matter of this 'Rolth', a powerful and pitiless wizard clearly in league with Lamm. Regardless of whether he is the genuine article or not, my magic isn't anywhere nearly as potent as what he is capable of... not yet,"

Dalen gestures towards the spellbooks on his desk, "small steps forward for now; while spells of higher order still elude me despite how close I feel I am, there is much power and knowledge to be had within the realms of my current ability," he holds up his own spellbook, freshly dried ink on the pages, "Divination magic, not of your tradition but I'm sure you can see the subtle hints and patterns that give it away as such. This particular spell casts a surprisingly wide net, drawing upon the nature of libraries and the many minds that peruse them to find information that may be stowed in very far-away places. A touch of hyper-cognition to quickly filter through the relevant information, and this spell can allow us to very quickly find information that would otherwise be unavailable to us. We saw that eye, Aliani, we need to know what we're up against and somewhere out there in the world someone knows something about it,"

"There is one concern I do have, however. Those same magical lines that this spell uses to acquire information can be used to deliver potentially harmful payloads. It's rare, but with the Derro involved I can't rule out that this entity they are affiliated with has laid traps for anyone reaching out for information about them. It I'd like you to provide me with an abjuration, just in case," once properly warded takes a deep breath and prepares to cast Page-Bound Epiphany.

Spoiler: Checks

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Knowledge Arcana: (1d20+19)[26] I'm feeling like pushing my luck tonight.
Fortitude: (1d20+4)[24]
Reflex: (1d20+5)[22]
Will: (1d20+5)[16]

It is statistically likely I will flub at least one of these checks; let's see if it's one that matters.

[Inspectre]

Earlier, All But Dalen

Sabrina sighs and looks away at Aliani's (and Silas's) reassurances, both of which are immediately followed by a statement of their feelings on the matter of punishing Violet.

"I . . . may have a problem with my temper."

Sabrina says simply, in what was perhaps the understatement of the year, although the bodyguard is quick to clarify.

"There are times that I just see red and have to hit something. The training I've had helps but sometimes . . . well, my control of it slips. Hearing what Violet said took me back to that night . . . I'm good, but it's not exactly easily to fight twelve men at once, to prevent even one from slipping past . . . and then the thought that it could have been prevented if Violet had just fought against the Geas, endured the pain, had just asked for help earlier . . ."

Sabrina clenches her gauntleted hands into fists, and then releases them with another explosive sigh.

But you and Her Majesty are right - Violet's already suffered, and it was not by her choice this all happened. Suppose I should apologize to her next time I see her. But if I ever find that twiddle-fingers who did it to her though . . . we're going to have words.

Sabrina lets the empty threat hang in the air with a disturbing little smile, although it disappears just as quickly as she turns her attention to Silas, staring intently at him.

"Are you . . . offering to spar with me? It's been a while since I've had anyone willing to make that offer - only the idiot rookie guardsmen when I first came here as Her Majesty's bodyguard, and they quickly learned their error. Come by the castle anytime, I have a nice set of training swords we can use. And it'll just be sparring."

Sabrina concludes firmly, which just leaves Aliani's final comment about Her Majesty, leading to Sabrina to sigh again.

"I know . . . but just like I only have one job, I only have one thing I'm good at - hurting other people. When Her Majesty first started . . . sending Her Handmaiden out, it was a little amusing, and I figured there was no harm in letting her have some alone time. But it's not safe, not anymore with Lamm and now this Rolth guy wanting her dead. The bird may hate the cage, Mr. Rose, but it's the only thing between it and the mangy alley cat that wants to eat it. And if Her Majesty ends up hating me for it . . . well, at least I protected her for as long as I could."

As the group moves to walk away from the bodyguard, Sabrina calls out for one last time.

"Hey . . . do you think one of you could do me a favor? Do you think . . . next time you see Kroft, you could tell her . . . I'm sorry I shoved her? I don't think she'd believe me if I told her myself, but maybe coming from one of you guys . . . Nevermind."

Sabrina says, turning away as she draws her falchion again and picks up where she left off in her practice. Which just left the would-be thief to chat with, who throws his hands up at Aliani's questioning.

Spoiler: Aliani Only

Show

Maybe it's just the aftereffects of her little temper tantrum, or the exact position of the sun on her face, but you are suddenly able to pick up on the subtle facial expressions of the queen's normally impassive bodyguard. The phrase "Still waters run deep" comes to mind, as beneath that neutral, almost-expressionless façade is a churning maelstrom of conflicting emotions.

That sigh when both you and Silas opened with saying that you didn't hate her was a sigh of relief - it was hardly a confession of fondness, but Sabrina seemed to genuinely think that you all hated her and wanted nothing to do with her now. The thought of why she would think that leads into the next revelation, that she is deeply embarrassed about her temper. There's something else there too - sorrow? regret? - that seems connected to her bouts of blind rage, and that fed into her belief that the loss of her temper just now would lead to you to want nothing to do with her. Indeed, she seems genuinely thrilled at Silas's offering to spar with her, although she is quick to limit Silas's visit to just that, seeming even a bit disgusted with the handsome tiefling. Which, come to think of it, she's always picked on him a bit, but you don't think it's because of Silas's race, because now that you've isolated that subtle glare of disdain you can remember her giving that same look to you, and Dalen, and Jakkin, and . . . oh. Maybe it's not Silas's race after all that's the problem, but his gender.

Even so, she seems excited at the idea of Silas stopping by to spar, and that fits with her comment about her skill set being only fighting. And taking all of those comments together as a whole also paints a picture as to why she is so obsessed with her job as Queen Ileosa’s bodyguard – she doesn’t seem to have any hobbies, no real friends . . . this job *is* the only thing she has. And she seems convinced that she’s going to lose it sooner rather than later, either through Queen Ileosa’s death or perhaps her temper getting her fired.

And circling around to her temper again . . . yeah, Kroft is definitely attached to those regrets over her temper that she has. But there’s definitely a wall there between them that Sabrina truly believes would mean Kroft wouldn’t believe any apology coming from her.

"Hey, I'm not an idiot! That magic stuff could have been cursed or marked or something. But coins? Who's going to bother with trapping a bunch of coins? Figured I could just slip a few of them under my clothes, nobody would miss them, and then I'd be set for a while. Maybe get my own place again somewhere even, a nice place this time, instead of a ****ty hammock in one of those house boats, and just live it up for a little while. I'd have gotten away with it too, if that nosy bitch bodyguard hadn't shown up right as I was tucking the last few coins into my pants. Isn't that a funny thing - if I hadn't have hesitated about stealing in the first place, I'd have been done long before she ever showed up and gotten away with it clean! Story of my life, always getting the short end of the stick."

Spoiler: Aliani Only

Show

This guy is fairly sincere in his belief that he would have gotten away with it if he’d just been a little faster. And seems genuinely to feel that he was entitled to that stolen money, both because Queen Ileosa was stupid enough to trust him and because Life “owed him”. Unfortunately, there didn’t seem to be much depth beyond that to this man who believed himself a perpetual victim.

Dalen & Aliani Only

Later that night, the two of you meet at Dalen’s shop to discuss tomorrow’s events, and in turn what you had seen yesterday in the possession of Lamm’s bizarre allies . . . the menacing, perpetually bleeding eyeball skewered on a spike. There was more to that object than meets the eye, as the saying goes, and despite the risks Dalen had an idea for gathering information on it. Somewhere out there, there had to be writings on it or at least similar magics, and with his newest learned spell Dalen now had a way to reach out and collect that information. Prudently, Dalen wanted some magical protection first, which Aliani was able to provide as a blessing of Protection from Evil.

So warded, Dalen sat down at the workbench, flipping open a blank book in front of him to serve as the repository for his spell. Then he sent out the magic to seek out information on what the Eye was, and started – from Aliani’s perspective – to flip through the blank book. From Dalen’s perspective, however, the next pages were filled with written text and diagrams that appeared as if written there before his eyes.

Curiously, while it turns out there is a wealth of information available, it all appears to come from the exact same source, page after page after page penned by an elegant hand in what appears to be ancient Thassilon runic script. While the magic Dalen used was meant to convey understanding of the text – it would be little use to collect libraries in a foreign tongue that the caster couldn’t understand – here it was unusually easy for him to understand despite the long-dead tongue, as if the text itself wanted to be read. Unfortunately, there was a great deal of text here, the magic did not necessarily account for assembling the information in an easy-to-understand order, and Dalen had precious little time to read through it.

But here again, it seemed there was other magic at work here to enhance his understanding, for the first page that Dalen turned to was a foreword of sorts, and a dire warning penned in that elegant hand.

Theme Music!

I do not know by what magic or time you have come seeking knowledge of The Bleeding Eye, or why. If it be idle curiosity that drives you then I beg you turn away and quest for this knowledge no more, lest you awaken a sleeping Doom upon the whole world. But if you have come seeking answers to a foe that already stalks about in the Darkness, then let this knowledge aid you as best as it can. But know that against this Foe of All, it will not be enough.


The next few pages contain information on Blood magic, with a focus it would appear on using blood as a medium to transfer magical traits. The next few pages after that are incredibly complex diagrams and arcane formulas that despite Dalen’s best efforts to recall all of his Acadamae training go completely over his head. The only thing he can really gleam from them, and this realization sends a shock through him, is that it seems to be an attempt at proving parallel-universe theory.

The final set of pages that Dalen gets to initially appear empty, and for a moment he is confused as the spell shouldn’t be over yet, before words and symbols begin to appear on the page, only soaking through the paper in blood rather than penned in ink. In the center of the page was an immense eye, pierced through by a spike and bleeding. The words swirl around the eye in all directions, forming an image similar to a whirlpool around it. A crimson mist wafts up from the bloody words, solidifying into bloody tendrils that flex and dance in a mesmerizing pattern for a moment before shooting upwards and stabbing into Dalen’s right eye, burrowing into the flesh, seeking his brain. Dalen feels the magical protection Aliani had erected flare against something as his world explodes into pain and a primal, all-consuming fear. Reflexively, Dalen blindly thrusts a hand out, snapping the book shut and breaking the spell, and the illusionary terror with it. Aliani only sees Dalen suddenly reflexively recoil from the book before slamming it shut on the empty page, all color draining from his face. And then Dalen’s right eye begins weeping blood.

The Page

(OOC: Dalen fails his Will save against the illusionary terror, becoming Panicked and breaking the Page-Bound Epiphany spell. Fortunately, this occurs at the end of his spell’s duration, and so he only loses the last +1 he could have gained, making his total a “25”. He passes his fort save with flying colors, and so only takes 1 point of damage total as his right eye bleeds a little for real, but nothing worse happens.

Important information Dalen learns: The Eye is connected to an Evil known even in the time of ancient Thassilon, which they clearly believed was a threat to the entire world. The Eye is connected to blood magic rituals involving the transference of magical traits. And, although it is unclear at this time where this fits in, parallel universes are real and this information was important enough to be included alongside information on the Eye. And finally, the Eye knows what you were doing and doesn’t like it – tread cautiously.

[Captain Jak]

Spoiler: STAT BLOCK

Show

Jakkin Longshanks
HP: 26 | CURRENT: 26 | AC: 20 | TOUCH: 16 | FLAT: 15 | CMD: 16 | FCMD: 11
INITIATIVE: +7 | PERCEPTION: +11 | FORTITUDE: +4 | REFLEX: +11 (Evasion) | WILL: +2
ACTIVE EFFECTS: None.
CONDITIONS: None.

A considering look on his face, Jakkin slips away from the rest and approaches Sabrina where she works out her frustration with her sword. Without hesitating, he steps into her pattern and deftly ensures he’s not in the path of wherever the blade is going to be, gesturing for her to continue.

"I get yer frustration," he tells her, leaning back to avoid the tip of the large blade. "Ye’ve got a near-impossible job t’do of keeping the lady safe, and she don’t seem interested in making it any easier. Yer a force of nature yerself, nobody likely t’get through you to her," he agrees, rapidly side-stepping before darting back again.

"Problem being, they’ll go ‘round you instead," he goes on, gesturing vaguely in the direction of the dismissed servant. "Yer a straightforward kind of woman, and yer great at straightforward stuff. You just don’t have much of a talent for coming at things crabwise," he points out.

"And that’s how—" He breaks off to go over a low swipe from the blade, rolling back to his feet in its wake and continuing his point. "—how most of the true dangers are going t’come. Need those kind of thinkers workin’ for you; policies for no one alone in the Treasury, watches on unusual routes of access, sneaky buggers who can quietly follow the, ah, Handmaiden and keep her out of trouble while not bein’ obvious. Nobody knows better how to protect against a sneaky bugger than another one," he tells her wryly.

"Cause truth; yer security needs t’be smarter, not tougher." He shrugs. "T’were I an assassin, I would put decent chances on yon Queen being dead by now if someone wanted it." Not that he would do such a thing, of course.

To someone he knew and liked.

Spoiler: OOC

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Using Total Defense for an AC of 24 while staying out of the way of a sword in mid-conversation. :P

[Darvin]

After several minutes of heavy breathing to recenter himself, Dalen wipes away the tears of blood, leaving him able to collect his thoughts.

In the grand scheme of the cosmos, it was a simple spell. Only two folds, a relatively small parcel of magical power that could be expressed by a neophyte such as himself, tapping into readily accessible lines of divination that could be accessed and hijacked by more powerful payloads. Payloads like these would be difficult to leave on well-trodden paths; people would have stumbled over them and discharged them years ago. But for things that skirt the boundaries of what is known, such traps can lie undisturbed for centuries or millennia. More likely the latter in this case, the fact that much of the information that came to light was in Thassilonian meant they were dealing with something quite old indeed. And then there was the matter of the warning. Someone else had sought fit to lay a message and to assist in those who needed information about this threat.

"Well then," Dalen speaks at last, "it seems I was correct, whatever we are prying into doesn't appreciate it. And it explains much. Parallel universe theory; this provides some context to our experience of deja vu, and further confirms that you and I and the others are somehow connected to this eye, or the power behind it,"

"We will need to discuss this matter with the queen; not tonight, of course, but perhaps tomorrow after whatever has gone down concludes. Matters go even deeper than I feared. Whatever this is, it is from the time of Thassilon, which bodes quite poorly. Anything that could have survived the earthfall and the eons that have since passed is not to be trifled with. This also means that this 'Rolth' character's fascination with Thassilon is more than just an over-ambitious wizard looking for an easy path to power. He actually is working with magic from that time period,"

"I must retire so I am ready for what comes tomorrow. You are no wizard, and your magic will be granted to you even if you are deprived sleep, but you should still be well-rested for what is to come. And ensure you prepare protections against fire. I was unable to secure such a spell for myself, so it us upon you to be prepared for Odion should we face the beast again,"

Spoiler: Spell Preparation

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Tentatively Dalen will prepare spells as follows:

2nd level:
Hideous Laughter, Invisibility, Glitterdust, Web, Create Pit

1st Level:
Charm Person, Disguise Self, Mage Armor, Mount, Shield, Silent Image

Cantrip:
Acid Splash, Detect Magic, Message, Prestidigitation

[Stelio Kontos]

"Hey . . . do you think one of you could do me a favor? Do you think . . . next time you see Kroft, you could tell her . . . I'm sorry I shoved her? I don't think she'd believe me if I told her myself, but maybe coming from one of you guys . . . Nevermind."

"We'll take care of it."

"Hey, I'm not an idiot! That magic stuff could have been cursed or marked or something. But coins? Who's going to bother with trapping a bunch of coins? Figured I could just slip a few of them under my clothes, nobody would miss them, and then I'd be set for a while. Maybe get my own place again somewhere even, a nice place this time, instead of a ****ty hammock in one of those house boats, and just live it up for a little while. I'd have gotten away with it too, if that nosy bitch bodyguard hadn't shown up right as I was tucking the last few coins into my pants. Isn't that a funny thing - if I hadn't have hesitated about stealing in the first place, I'd have been done long before she ever showed up and gotten away with it clean! Story of my life, always getting the short end of the stick."

"Well, it's your life... but if you do decide you might be up for some gainful employment instead, I'd be glad to help. Look me up."

Aliani only sees Dalen suddenly reflexively recoil from the book before slamming it shut on the empty page, all color draining from his face. And then Dalen’s right eye begins weeping blood.

The Page

"You okay?" he asked reflexively, watching Dalen freak out at whatever it was he'd seen... until it was pretty obvious that he wasn't. "Your eye... is ... um... uh, here." The observation was enough to get him to expend a healing spell... just in case.

"You sure you're all right?" he asked a few minutes later, nodding at the suggestion for spells, which was rather what he'd come for. "Okay" he replied with a satisfied nod, still assessing the wizard to make sure he was more or less himself. "I'll check in with you in the morning. This gives me an idea though, a way to maybe figure out what their plans are. Thanks."

"And Dalen? Don't go poking into that more, at least not without us around in case something happens."

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Head home for the night.

Spells for tomorrow are set.

In the morning, cast Ears of the City to maybe see if I can glean any chatter about the bank getting robbed (in particular, anyone talking about plans for doing that!).

[Darvin]

"And Dalen? Don't go poking into that more, at least not without us around in case something happens."

"I am no fool, Aliani; the precautions we laid tonight were insufficient. When we pry again, we shall bring to bear greater protections. And, for that matter, greater enhancements to delve deeper. The fact that traps have been laid and this unseen enemy painstakingly guarded against such innocuous trespass only serves to indicate that there is information of great value to be gleaned. We take a great risk in drawing its attention, but..." Dalen trails off and sighs as the deck of harrow cards in his pocket feels momentarily heavy, "we're already on a collision course, and averting our eyes will not save us,"

[PiccadillyPi]

Silas split off from the party once they escaped sight of the castle's gate, having retrieved his weapon from . Aliani had his own task to attend to, and Jakkin seemed content without his company. The tiefling had a regular schedule with clientele before these events, but he'd been cancelling more often than not, and it came with some amount of relief. His exploration of criminal justice from a side opposite to what he was used turned out to be quite lucrative compared to his struggle to stay in Southside as a prostitute. He had another date due, and much consideration went into yet another delay as he referred Heward Traps, a wealthy rake and the middle son of a well-respected merchant, to one of the less talented members of Silas' professional fellowship. Mr. Traps would have to be content with half his usually fetish since the understudy was only a tiefling of human heritage.

Once removed from obligation, Silas spent the latter half of his day shopping for whatever clever potion he could be content might contend with the mental toll of dealing with derro. He trusted the others would find their own use of this time to prepare - or relax. It could be said that taking time to relax was its' own method of preparation, and shopping could be considered relaxing, but he just wanted to go home that day. However, he had a need to explore the market for a way to remove a weakness forged through years of drug use and familial manipulation. Really, he just wanted to avoid the embarrassment of his last encounter with the eye if it's to reveal itself once more.

Arriving at a potion master's brewery, Silas placed an order for three potions of Remove Fear. He expected he might pick them up early tomorrow, but all things Korvosa, he couldn't be certain. With that business settled, he left for his house to rest, but not before taking a detour to see to the field marshal's health at her place of work. She had irregular hours and a head injury, so it was a shot in the dark that she would be behind her desk - but any fool that knew Cressida Kroft would take that bet. Silas was fool enough.

[Inspectre]

All But Darvin

Sabrina quirks an eyebrow as Jakkin moves into her reach, but gamely proceeds with her sparring against imaginary foes after he motions for her to continue. The bodyguard silently listens to Jakkin’s sales pitch, although the tension in the bodyguard’s grip, which in turn throws off her pace, tells him all he needs to know about whether or not she agrees with his assessment.

“Believe me, I know! But there’s not a damn thing I can do about it. Which is the biggest argument for keeping you . . . around!”

Punctuating her sentence with an abrupt change in stance, the bodyguard sends a sweeping kick up and around at Jakkin’s head without additional warning. A lifetime of backroom brawls had prepared Jakkin for surprises such as these though, and he manages to get his arms up in time to block the kick from connecting with his head, although the flash of pain from his forearms from the impact of Sabrina’s armored leg definitely stung. The leg is gone and back under the bodyguard before the halfling could attempt a grapple and counterattack, but as he goes back to dodging Sabrina’s sword swings he catches a slight smile and nod of respect. After another minute of practice, Sabrina steps back and slings her falchion back over her shoulder.

“You’re also welcome to come spar sometime if you’d like. I’m not as good with my fists as I am with the sword, but I suppose I could spot you that much to make it interesting.”

Sabrina grins fiercely, but as she turns away the expression fades to a thoughtful frown.

“You know, when I first took this job, I just figured this would be some easy money and something different guarding a spoiled noble brat after . . . well, after I walked away from the Guard. And up until a few weeks ago it had been pretty mind-numbingly easy. But I was wrong about Her Majesty – she can be headstrong and more than a little naïve . . . but she could be the best thing to happen to Korvosa in a long time. And now some low-life idiot wants to kill her because he has some sort of grudge against the nobility. I stomped the direct attempt pretty good, which means yeah the next one will be “crabwise”. I can’t protect her from that, and it’s going to take too long to find someone skilled enough and trustworthy enough even if I can convince Her Majesty that another bodyguard is needed. Which just leaves you. Don’t screw it up.”

Aliani

Waking up the next morning, you go through your necessary oblations and then try out a new blessing that you haven’t used much before. You aren’t entirely sure what to expect, and given what Dalen went through last night you are a little worried something similar might happen here. It seems impossible given you’re just listening to what the word on the street is, rather than delving into the secrets of ancient evil, but the sight of Dalen crying blood without warning is still seared and raw in your mind. Steeling yourself, you close your eyes and cast the spell, listening attentively to the combined voices of Korvosa.

At first, everything is a jumbled, cacophonous mess of voices, but things quickly narrow down to singular conversations, even if you only get a few words from each one. At first, they’re just random rumors related to Lamm – including that he had boasted of robbing the Bank of Abadar today, so it seems word on that has spread from the Underworld Council. But then you get a particularly odd bit of conversation between two gruff voices that could be easily dismissed, were it not for the topics of conversation.

“Ugh, these damn boxes of weapons are heavy. Who the hell thought dragging these things through these damn kiddy tunnels the Derro made was a great idea?”

“Sssh, keep it down you idiot! Right on the other side of the wall is the Deathshead Vaults! You want some guard overhearing your bellyaching and bringing the whole of Longacre down on our heads?”

Before you can hear a reply, however, you spell skips to another conversation, which is another surprise as you clearly identify that it’s Lamm himself who is speaking.

“Alright my dear, time to let you in on what our real target is today. While the Guard’s busy scrambling and crawling all over the Bank of Abadar, we’re going to be discussing the state of this city with its Field Marshall herself. Might even see if we can set Citadel Volyshenek ablaze while we’re there, but that’ll just be a bonus.”


PiccadillyPi

Sure enough, after your little shopping trip you find the Field Marshall behind her desk, scribbling her way through paperwork. She glances up as you knock and enter, and then returns to her work.

“Have you made any progress in sorting through what you saw with Violet? I’m still hoping to interview her now that she’s free of that damn geas, but after Sabrina’s little tantrum I don’t know how open she’ll be about her experiences. Not entirely unlike our friend the Chelish ambassador.”

Kroft sighs heavily and starts to shake her head before she stops abruptly with a wince.

“I’m still not sure how to approach that one. With Venster in the wind she would be the next logical step, but given I suspect that she’s involved in all this I imagine she will simply deny everything. And thanks to her status as ambassador, there is very little pressure I can currently apply to force her to answer. And of course, tomorrow is Lamm’s promised heist so my attention is divided. I could really use a win here.”

Kroft returns her focus yet again to the paperwork, but is interrupted by a rumbling gurgle from beneath her desk, prompting another tired sigh and this time a faint blush on her cheeks.

“And I’ve forgotten to eat dinner again, it seems. I’ve still got a few hours of paperwork here to finish, but I guess I can take a brief break to get something to eat at Bailer’s Retreat down the block. Would you like to join me, so we can talk about what you saw in Violet’s mind? Probably not appetizing conversation, but I could at least give you my full attention instead of feeling like I need to finish drawing up these patrol orders for where to station the guard’s reduced numbers in advance of tomorrow?”

***********************

You are woken from a rather pleasant dream involving a particular Field Marshall of Korvosa by a loud banging at your front door. While you would imagine assassins would be somewhat more circumspect, you nonetheless cautiously peer out a nearby window once downstairs before unlatching the door to reveal Tark the Half-Orc. The thug sneers at you while thrusting a folded scrap of paper at you.

“’Ere, Hornface. This is the last time I’m playing messenger boy, got it!?”

And then without another word he turns and stomps off. Flipping the note open, you immediately note that it is in Vjala’s handwritten, although hastily written. It is short and to the point.

Real target is Citadel Volyshenek. Kidnap or kill Field Marshall during bank heist.

[Captain Jak]

Spoiler: STAT BLOCK

Show

Jakkin Longshanks
HP: 26 | CURRENT: 26 | AC: 20 | TOUCH: 16 | FLAT: 15 | CMD: 16 | FCMD: 11
INITIATIVE: +7 | PERCEPTION: +11 | FORTITUDE: +4 | REFLEX: +11 (Evasion) | WILL: +2
ACTIVE EFFECTS: None.
CONDITIONS: None.

Jakkin’s eyes widen at Sabrina’s words.

"What, me?" he splutters, possibly misunderstanding the specifics of her statement. "I’m no bodyguard, and I’m not planning on sitting and babysitting royalty fer a prolonged period; my interest is in Lamm," he adds with a scowl.

"And yer missing the point; your job is to keep the queen safe, you don’t get her permission to do that. Get those sneaky-minded folk and put them to work an’ don’t worry her about it," he explains. "Listen to what they tell you about holes in security an’ how to fix ‘em, set ‘em on following her – and as for trust?" He shrugs.

"Pay ‘em well, and tell ‘em to come to you with any offer of a bribe an’ you’ll top it. Two, three check system when dealing with sensitive stuff like th’ treasury, obstacles to make sneaking in dangrous, simple stuff but important." It seems obvious to him, at least.

"An’ as for some bare-knucks brawling? Oh, I’ll see you there," he tells her gleefully. He would not in the least want to oppose her on her ground with her skill at weapons. But in his little kingdom? He’d give her a run for her money, and it would be right fun to boot.

[Inspectre]

All But Dalen

“Yeah.”

Sabrina snorts at Jakkin’s assertion that he is nobody’s bodyguard.

“So kill the ****ing bastard already, so we can all get some sleep around here.”


Jakkin

Deciding that it was prudent to let your new . . . friend . . . in on what was happening today, given that you had learned new information since Lamm’s meeting with the Underworld, you step out from Dalen’s house briefly to go leave a message. Thankfully, while you weren’t very familiar with Giotorri’s Toys, you knew that Endrin Avenue was only a few blocks away from Dalen’s own storefront just north of Goldmarket, the center street of Midpoint’s business area. You hurry your way through the throng of merchants starting to set up shop in the Goldmarket square, and soon enough find yourself on the sparsely populated Endrin Avenue. From there, it only takes you a few minutes of searching to find the right street, and you are soon standing outside the dark Giotorri’s Toys storefront, decorated with a fading sign and several plain-faced dolls sitting in the windows.

You had been instructed on hiding some token in the wall across the street from Giotorri’s, as a signal for a later meeting, but it was hard to say whether or not you would have enough time before Lamm struck. After prying up the brick six up from the front and three of the right of the one directly across from the “G” on the store’s sign, you leave your signal to Blackjack (whether a personal token or an actual message is up to Jakkin) and are just about to put the brick back in place when you are interrupted by the sound of soft footfalls coming up behind you. Whirling about, you find yourself confronted by a young blue-eyed girl with shoulder-length brown hair who is only a few inches taller than you.

“Excuse me, sir, but what are you doing to that wall? Are you one of Black Jack’s friends?”

Before you can come up with an answer to this pint-sized interrogator, the front door to the toy shop opens, and a well-dressed young woman with platinum blond hair steps out. She immediately marches over to you and the young girl and protectively puts a hand on the girl’s shoulder, pulling her back away from you.

“Pearl! You know that you are not supposed to wonder outside the shop!”

The young woman’s blue eyes then flick over to you.

“Forgive my little sister’s forwardness, sir. I hope she wasn’t bothering you. I am Garnet Giotorri - our father owns the business across the street.”

The young woman nods at the storefront while offering you a gloved hand.

Spoiler: Jakkin Perception

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There’s something odd about the two sisters that you aren’t immediately able to put a finger on, aside from their behavior. But then you realize that the entire time both of them have been out here, neither girl has blinked. In fact, you don’t think either one of them is breathing, either, as you’ve neither heard the quiet sound of breath nor seen the subtle shift of clothing breathing in and out causes.

Spoiler: Garnet Giotorri

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[Inspectre]

All

Theme Music

Now together again and ready to move against Lamm’s plans, you make your way to the Longacre Building. Hopefully Kroft will be rallying the city guard even now to back you up if this isn’t just another feint by Lamm, as he likely wouldn’t make a move against Korvosa’s most infamous prison without being confident that he could overwhelm the prison’s normal wardens. There were a lot of dangerous criminals housed in the Deathshead Vault beneath Longacre, and it isn’t hard to imagine Lamm would find a plethora of new recruits to his revolution there.

As you enter the small square in front of the Longacre Building, you can see a small crowd of people has gathered on the steps leading up to the squat fortress-like structure. These are normal citizens, not guardsmen, and they seem to be muttering amongst themselves in apparent confusion. As you walk up the first of the stairs in the imposing shadow cast by the giant-sized statue of Jakthion Korvosa, founder and first governor of the city, you can see for yourselves what the source of consternation is – the heavy front doors leading into Longacre’s lobby are currently shut.

While anyone entering the Longacre building is expected to submit to a perfunctory search and questioning by the guards stationed at the front doors, during daylight hours the lobby is generally open to all, as lawyers come in to file appeals and merchants request permits and all the other legal business for Korvosa’s bureaucracy is conducted. While not unheard of for the entire building to be placed on lockdown during sensitive trials, no one in the party or indeed the wider crowd had heard of any such trial being conducted today, although apparently Chief Arbiter Zenobia Zenderholm was supposed to preside over several minor criminal trials today.

[Captain Jak]

Spoiler: STAT BLOCK

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Jakkin Longshanks
HP: 26 | CURRENT: 26 | AC: 20 | TOUCH: 16 | FLAT: 15 | CMD: 16 | FCMD: 11
INITIATIVE: +7 | PERCEPTION: +11 | FORTITUDE: +4 | REFLEX: +11 (Evasion) | WILL: +2
ACTIVE EFFECTS: None.
CONDITIONS: None.

It was supposed to have been a quick trip that hopefully would pay off with some assistance right when it was needed. Jakkin had scrawled a brief note as to the prospective targets on some parchment he had found just lying around in a drawer at Dalen’s store, marking the tightly folded packed with the Tian symbols for ‘rime’ (霧氷) – something he had felt would be evident enough as to his identity, all thing considered.

Being caught out at his message leaving by a youngling close enough to his own size, he hesitates just long enough for the issue to be compounded by the arrival of a much larger one.

Well, that could have gone more smoothly, couldn’t it?

"Well, Miss who isn’t a friend of Blackjack, when you get right down to it?" he replies with a friendly smile. A vague sense of unease creeps just under his skin as the older lass introduces herself, and he actually hesitates a moment before clasping the proffered hand in his own.

"A pleasure t’meet you, Misses Garnet, Pearl," he replies, winking at the younger of the two. "Not a bother at all; it’s the nature of the little ones to be curious, no?" he suggests, as if it’s not mildly ridiculous for him to be calling anyone little.

"I am Master Longshanks, an’ it should be me who’s offering apologies for disturbing your day. I suppose I must look right conspicuous, messin’ about with a wall like that," he jokes self-deprecatingly.

He isn’t at all certain what exactly he’s dealing with here, but he’s not about to get on their bad sides if he can at all help it.

Spoiler: OOC:

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Diplomacy: 21

[Darvin]

"It would appear that nothing has happened yet. Either that or everything has already happened and we are much too late," Dalen says non-nonchalantly as he meanders into the crowd to ask questions.

"How long has it been closed down like this?" "Have there been any announcements?" "What's the wait time like?"

Spoiler: OOC

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Diplomacy check to gather information (1d20+19)[23]

[Stelio Kontos]

Aliani, accoutered in his latest and greatest disguise, did his best to appear to pay little attention to what Dalen was asking. Instead, with the air of a man who expected doors to be open for him, even when they weren't supposed to be, he walked up to the front door and tried to open it, giving it a dissatisfied shake or two and a good fist-pounding when it inevitably didn't open.

"Hey! What's the meaning of this?" he asked of nobody in particular, giving a disgusted wave at the door.

Spoiler: OOC

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We all have our ways of trying to gather information...

(1d20+8)[23]

[PiccadillyPi]

Silas thought to do much of what had already been done, but everyone was all too well for it. Instead, he stood at the door, adjacent the eye slot, and focused his attention on the minds beyond the gate. Magic energy whispered his intent to those that knew how to read such things. Finally, psychic waves centred on the tiefling echoed through the locked portal. The imperceivable rhythmic hymns pinged the various creatures still living inside. It'd only be a matter of time before he could comprehend the nature of this convenient, and most assuredly fictitious lockdown.

Spoiler: OOC

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Detect Thoughts through the wooden door. 60ft cone. DC 14 will save negates.

[Captain Jak]

Spoiler: STAT BLOCK

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Jakkin Longshanks
HP: 26 | CURRENT: 26 | AC: 20 | TOUCH: 16 | FLAT: 15 | CMD: 16 | FCMD: 11
INITIATIVE: +7 | PERCEPTION: +11 | FORTITUDE: +4 | REFLEX: +11 (Evasion) | WILL: +2
ACTIVE EFFECTS: None.
CONDITIONS: None.

While his companions leap into action in their own specialized ways, Jakkin does the same – in his. Slipping down along the side of the building, he finds a likely location with poor visibility and scrambles up the wall, albeit not without difficulty until he reaches the less impregnably-designed upper levels.

Moving quietly, he carefully works his way along until he locates a window he can open or encourage to open before slipping inside and seeing what he can of what’s transpiring inside.

Spoiler: OOC:

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Numerous Climb checks to get to the second story; taking 10 for Climb after that
Stealth: 26

[PiccadillyPi]

Silas grabbed hold of Jakkin's shoulder, choosing to crouch down to his level to whisper the name "Baldrago" and an approximate number of souls still alive behind the main door. As long as it gave him some level of advantage, it didn't matter how they met up again inside the building. As for Aliani and Dalen... he was unsure how they were going to get in. Regardless, he took them aside to utter the same information as such that Dalen's calculating mind might have additional insight.

[Stelio Kontos]

Aliani pressed his eye up against the outside of the peephole in another of the often-exhibited 'acts of a futile individual"=', and gave the door an angry kick. "Oh, this is bull****!" he exclaimed. "You're supposed to announce that ahead of time you know!" He turned and took a step away, giving the door a second angry kick. "You jerks are gonna be hearing from my lawyer!"

He approached the group, whispering to them even as he gesticulated wildly, "One of the guards is manning the door, with a crossbow to his head. We're either too late or just in time. Need to find another way in."

[PiccadillyPi]

Silas thumbed in the direction he last saw Jakkin.

"To the bearded badger?"

[Darvin]

Dalen notices his halfling compatriot has darted away, and is alert by Rhetoric to the diminutive man scaling into the building. He strides to a secluded position, quickly casts a Message cantrip, and points at Jakkin.

"We'll stay in touch and coordinate from the outside," Dalen whispers to Jakkin, and proceeds to relay the information that Aliani and Silas procure.

After stopping to think for a moment, he whispers to Jakkin, "whisper back along this channel when you're in position. I'll knock on the door to give you a distraction so you can get into position. You only need distract them for a few moments so the hostage can open the door for the rest of us to charge through,"

[Inspectre]

Jakkin

Pearl, who up to this point had been content to peek at you from around the side of her big sister’s skirt, finds her courage again and steps out after you mention Korvosa’s most infamous hero.

“You know Blackjack!? Wow!”

“Blackjack is . . . a friend of the family.”

Garnet admits quietly, and seems briefly confused by you clasping her hand – apparently expecting you to do something else with it – before firmly returning the gesture. And my, is she a strong young lady – not quite painful but her firm grasp could definitely leave a mark if she so chose, which certainly doesn’t help with that unease at the back of your head with these two.

“It is a pleasure to meet you, Master Longshanks. Um, next time you have a message for our mutual friend, you can always just leave it with Father instead if you’d rather not mess with those bricks.”

Garnet offers with a seemingly genuine smile, and that expression at least seems more natural than unsettling. Still, you aren’t entirely sure what to make of these two or their “Father”, and you had enough to deal with today that getting further mixed up in whatever was going on here was too much. So you politely excused yourself and headed back out to the main street, feeling the two girls’ unblinking eyes following you the entire way.

All

A quick survey of the crowd by Dalen revealed that no one knew the reason for Longacre being locked down at this hour, but it was damned strange for such a thing to be done with no forewarning.

Aliani and Silas are more direct in their approach, Aliani effectively serving as a distraction while Silas reached out with his mind-seeking powers through the thick front doors. Aliani’s antics are rewarded with a small peep slot built within the right door sliding open, revealing a set of eyes glaring out at him.

“Oi, ya drunkard! Longacre is on lockdown right now! Come back with whatever your business is in a couple hours!”

The guard snarls before sliding the peep hole shut again, but not before Aliani overhears a whispered warning to someone inside – “Not a word or this crossbow bolt is going through your head.”

Silas meanwhile manages to detect just shy of a dozen minds on the other side of the door, six of those minds in considerable distress while the other five are grimly focused. Sensing one of those five minds as familiar, Silas reaches out to that one and discovers he is listening to the thoughts of Baldrago, the disgraced guard who managed to escape capture at All the World’s Meat some days prior. Baldrago’s thoughts confirm that Lamm was already making his move, as he and the other four fake guardsmen had taken control of the lobby and secured the clerks and two guards who should normally be manning this post. Despite their success so far, Baldrago was definitely having some reservations about trying to keep up the appearance that Longacre was on lockdown rather than under attack for very long, and that the *real* city guard would inevitably be drawn here, turning this into a siege.

With the party’s suspicions that something foul was afoot now confirmed, Jakkin took it upon himself to find an alternate route into the building. Going off the assumption that Lamm wasn’t a complete buffoon, the back entrance meant for employees would likely also be guarded, which meant finding a third way into the building. That likely meant a window of some sort, and while Longacre had originally been built as a fortress over the centuries renovations had opened more and more cracks in the armor to let light into the building’s numerous offices.

Unfortunately, as Jakkin discovered once he made the arduous climb up to the second floor, most of these windows were filled with panes of glass, which would mandate literally breaking into the building. Such destruction would not be impossible given it was just glass, but it would be noisy and time consuming to completely remove the glass so it would be safe to climb inside. Jakkin is just figuring out the best way to brace himself against the window sill so he could deliver firm blows with one of his fists/feet against the glass when a dark shadow briefly flits overhead, swinging from a nearby building up to the roof of Longacre.

Suspecting what he would find up there, he clambers the remaining few feet up to the edge of the roof to peer up and over to see Blackjack cautiously examining a large glass sunroof, likely looking down into the main courtroom. The vigilante notices Jakkin in turn a few moments later, and comes stalking over to offer a hand up onto the roof to the halfling would-be burglar.

“Got your message. What’s the situation?”