Rise of the onyx tide [IC]

[Heavenblade]

You have all been called by the leader of the tide, the darksteel jaw.

When you arrive at his chamber, located in a secret cave beneath the docks, he is standing with his back to the entrance - but you know better than to asssume a listener of such power would be unaware of someone approaching his hiding place.

The whispers of the elders accompany you as you approach from the darkened walls of the cave, each one through a different entrance, stepping through small puddles of seawater, trying not to slip on the algae while walking towards the illuminated part of the cave.

There he stands, his calloused fingers slowly moving across the surface of the glowing wall in front of him - a crystalline oceanic rock, filled with bioluminicence that give an eerie flow to the wall. A map of the city is carved into the walls in sharp and ugly lines, and wherever his fingers go they trace a small line of light, that diappeares a moment later.


His booming voice hisses through his locked mouth, echoing through the cave.

The elders ask every one of us to listen, like they do. To hear one's thoughts and desires, so we could unite the world under the needs of the many, made from the needs of the one. And now, my dear listeners, I ask you to do the same. Put yourself in another person's shoes, and tell me - were you an uppper city noble...where would you hide a body?"

[infomatic]

Errol opens his mouth, then shuts it as he realizes the question may be more complicated than he first thought. He knew plenty of good ways to dispose of a corpse, from the expensive (pay somebody with a pet ooze to devour all traces of flesh, pulverize whatever's left) to the budget-conscious (dress the body in rags and dump it in a bad neighborhood where it'd hopefully be ignored, then quietly buried in a pauper's grave.)

But that's what a smart person would do. Some rich idiot who offed their mistress or business rival might panic and try to drop the body off a pier, where it was sure to wash ashore within a day or two unless properly weighed down. Or even worse, order a servant to do it, ensuring both that the job would be botched and they'd be blackmailed within a week.

He clears his throat. "This noble," he begins. "Are they, y'know, good at this?"

[Bansheexero]

Having time to anticipate this meeting, the Clouded Mirror refined the disguise he donned back at the anti-occult group rally. No real reason to change, since they contacted this guise and he does not want to waste effort in giving them some other face to link back to him.

Spoiler: Disguise

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Takes 20 on disguise check beforehand, total is 31

He takes time to analyze the others, the elders, and the speaker, taking them in and looking for tells that might indicate more about them.

Spoiler: Analyzing the Group

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Not sure how many checks you need, so I will do a batch of 10 each, due with them what you will.

First Perception checks for pure physical observations
(1d20+9)[24]
(1d20+9)[15]
(1d20+9)[21]
(1d20+9)[21]
(1d20+9)[19]
(1d20+9)[19]
(1d20+9)[29]
(1d20+9)[22]
(1d20+9)[10]
(1d20+9)[12]

Now for Sense Motive for whatever insights he can determine
(1d20+6)[24]
(1d20+6)[15]
(1d20+6)[16]
(1d20+6)[7]
(1d20+6)[18]
(1d20+6)[11]
(1d20+6)[24]
(1d20+6)[8]
(1d20+6)[23]
(1d20+6)[25]

Hearing the question asked by the speaker and feeling a bit cheeky, the Mirror takes in whatever murmurings the others who gathered made either prior to or after the question and uses his Mockingbird voice to mimic them and project the sound from each of their positions in kind.

Spoiler

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Not sure if a skill check is needed, but if so, here is a Bluff check to hide that he is the source of the sound, as it says he can perfectly mimic already in the deacription's effect.
(1d20+11)[21]

The voices emit in a burst of cacophony, as if they just let it all out.

"Feed it to pigs or an ooze."
"Grind it up and spread it across the water."
"It's a noble? He surely has enemies, frame one of them."
"Burn it and pulverize the bones."
"Disfigure the body and face, and rip of its jaw so it can't be questioned by a necromancer."
"Set it up with illusions and trick another guy into attacking it in public so it looks like he killed it."
"Use magic to disintegrate it and spread the dust to the four winds."

Then, speaking in the false voice he used with this disguise, the Clouded Mirror speaks and says, "Why hide or destroy the body? Use it as a statement of intent."

[Triskavanski]

Jack looked through his book, a number of ideas where shouted out that were also his original thoughts too. "Depends on who the corpse was, but reanimating it with magic or the like would also be an option. Could give a noble a faithful servant after all. "

[infomatic]

Errol grins at the suggestion of animation. “The Merimmi used to use that one. They found a rat-god priest out in a swamp someplace and put him on the payroll, and when they wanted to get rid of somebody for sure he’d turn ‘em into a zombie and order them to just walk outta town and keep walking.”

His gaze looks up and around briefly as the echoes of his and other responses erupt in the otherwise quiet cave before vanishing. Weird, but then these Tide types were always a little off one way or another.

[Triskavanski]

"Though I suppose the easiest way, would to be to lure the person into your wine cellar, giving them something to keep their interest and inebriated as you brick up the alcove they are in. Likely using chains to keep them away from the brick wall till it cures."

[Heavenblade]

The jaw chuckles, his laughter like thw sound of claws scratching against metal.
"Very good, listeners, you know how to think like a nobleman...unfortunately, the poor bastard that messed with us doesnt think like he is supposed to."


He takes a deep breath and turns to look at the four of you, deep purple eyes burning in the dark, his face still in shadow as light blooms from the wall behind him

"Our target, Duke Yannir Elray, isn't the type to murder someone. Our spies confirmed he looks for peace, a moderate voice within the upper city nobles. He claims he wants equality between us, the listeners and the deaf. However, when attempts were made to secretly extend a hand in peace, by our noble 'represntative' - he spits out the last word, and then keeps speaking, the muddy water around him gaining similar colour to that of his eyes, and bubble silently around his feet.

"we managed to make sure the messenger was one of the tide, so we wouldnt be sold to the nobles for a few breadcrumbs when we deserve the whole loaf. Problem is, the deal is never made - our messenger "mysteriously disappeared" after the firsf meeting, never to be seen again.
Representative Alexarin holds us responsible for getting rid of him, and we cannot explain ourselves without revealing connections in the upper city."

"That gives the tide an incentive to find what happened to our spy, even more than before - to clear our name in the eyes of the other listeners.
So we asked our most sensitive listeners, inside thw tide and outside of it - the greystorm oracle, the mudseer, even the goddamn queen of the mice, and they couldnt find a trace of the man."

"And when a body disappeares without a trace, and the elders themselves cannot find the secret, it means something else is going on - something divine."


His eyes now shine like two torches as he steps forward, causing miniature whirlpools and tidal waves of bioluminicent water around him
"and that, my friends, puts the tide in an interesting position - if we manage to find thw body of our fallen comrade, if we manage to prove an ally sent for peace was killed through the magic of he gods by a so called 'moderate'...this might just tip the scales in our favor"

He stops in his tracks, drops of royal purple water floating around him in a circle, and you can hear the metal links stretch as the leader of the onyx tide smiles
"what say you, children of the elders?"

[Bansheexero]

The Mirror steps forward, "Give me a list of the Duke's known associates. I have a friend who has contact with the upper crust - a high end tailor. He can be trusted, I assure you, and may be able to follow those dangling threads to something substantial."

[Heavenblade]

He nods slowly "The list shall be assembled as soon as possible. Any other ideas?"

[Citrakayah]

So they were betrayed. It wasn't too surprising; she'd always know it was only a matter of time until their paths diverged. "I can keep watch on the duke, and search for a scent trail. How long ago did our comrade vanish, and where should I check for scents?"

[infomatic]

"Doesn't have to be the Duke, either," Errol remarks. "You thought he didn't have a murder in him, maybe he don't. This Alexarin one, though, he fingered us right away, eh?"

[Triskavanski]

Jack hummed to himself. "Well, if someone was to create a twist in the story, the person we believe to be killed might not have even existed. Perhaps even the person we're to rid of the world might not even exist either and something else is at foot here."

[Heavenblade]

"Our spy disappeared about...three days ago - and the conference with the deaf upper city nobles is only a week from now!" He clenches his fists "this is our chance to make a difference, after all this time. I give you my permission to investigate whoever you want, however you want, as long as you don't actively hamper our organization- I want results, and fast/ Now go, listeners! go, and bring the murderer who will free us all."

He raises his hand, and a vortex of water envelopes him, leaving you standing alone in the lair. It's not the first time he does that - gives the speech nad disappeares, leaving the details to you. However, there haven't been many times before when the stakes were that high. The map of the city glows in front of you, and the sounds of distant waves above your head clashes with the soft whispers that follow you everywhere in the lair of the onyx tide.

What are you going to do next?


Meta

Spoiler: Mirror

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Your employer, as evident, seems excited and even elated. You can easily see how the opportunity affects him. Despite the big metal contraption on his face, it is not hard to guess he is young, and zealous as only young people can be. The elders. on the other hand, seem almost bored with this - for them, this is just another tide - might reach the sand, and might die and disappear before a mortal eye could see it. The whispers seem less interested in whatever is said in particular, they exho the words that are said and add ltitle variations to each sentence.

[Bansheexero]

The Mirror rolls his eyes at the theatrics of the speaker's. While he implements such strategies against his victims, he finds such trivial displays as rather gauche. Speaking loudly to the elders and others around him, "I do have other business I need to attend to. Am I to receive the list here, or am I to have it delivered? Given you have not contacted me at any set location, am I to meet one of your messengers at a drop off point? If so, details would be helpful."

Spoiler

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While I can appreciate that the Onyx Tide was able to identify and locate the Clouded Mirror while he was disguised and infiltrating potential targets, determining his social identity is a different thing altogether, given it bumps the DC a full 20 points, and he is skilled in basic disguise to begin with. It seems weird to assume they would deliver it to Deran directly, as they would be ignorant of such a connection.

[Heavenblade]

Only silence answers the Mirror's question, but his work with the tidebefore gives him the information needed. In oder to prevent the law enforcers from finding their big rallies, they don't have any real locations for switching information. Instead, they have "Exchange locations", hidden places just under the nose of common people where they place encoded messages and packages.

Spoiler

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Since mirror is connected to the elders, the Onyx tide could have some insight regarding him and who he is - not the actual people. No one KNOWS. but the elders, if they are asked, could provide someone the guidance to put the list exactly in the place you would pass in, for example/

[Triskavanski]

Jack shrugged a bit, opening his book as he began to take down notes in a few loose pages. "Sometimes I wonder..." he remarks with a sigh, "Well lets start taking names and kicking ass. We'll start with the Duke."

[infomatic]

Errol, glancing in the direction the waterspout had taken the speaker, nods at Jack’s suggestion. “Names and asses, sure,” he replies, and begins making his way with the others back out of the damp cavern.

He knew little of this Duke. Nobility and the underworld intermixed, to be sure, but not at his grade; most blue bloods were too careful about their reputations for that.

Most blue bloods. Some were obviously dirty and didn’t care who knew it, so confident were they in their protection. If Elray was one of those, someone in Errol’s circle may have done work for them.

He glances at the others as they exit into the open air. "Any of you drink?"

Spoiler: Ooc

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Planning some gather information (diplomacy) checks related to the Duke — his general reputation and any leads on shady behavior.

(1d20+13)[28] diplomacy
(1d20+8)[19] know (local)

[Bansheexero]

The Mirror decides to join Errol for a drink, as he might as well do something while he waits for the Elders to collect his list. Perhaps this may provide him with more leads.or, at the very least, give him the chance to assess one of his associates on this case. He is already disguised in civilian attire, so no real need to change, he simply makes sure his revolver is holstered and ready should things become . . . interesting.

Spoiler: Mechanics

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He has a lower Diplomacy and Knowledge (Local), as he favors Bluff and Intimidate more, using Stealth to gather info. Still, he is trained in both, so he will use the aid another to add +2 to each of Errol's checks if it helps. Prior to going out to gather said info, he takes time to properly hide his gun, so take 20 if available as a pre-emptive Sleight of Hand for his revolver, which is 25 total. If not, take 10 if possible. Otherwise (1d20+5)[20]

[Heavenblade]

The "seaside inn" has probably one of the least Imaginative names for a tavern in the city - there are about a dozen of tavern by this name in a 3 miles radius. In order to avoid confusion, they quickly got nicknamed according to the easy-to-spot landmarks, statues, buildings, or interestinf shapes of the rocky coastline.


Errol confidently leads you to the patricular Inn known as the "seaside rubble", due to an ancient noble mansion that crumbled from the upper cliffs directly into the coast below - and no one ever bothered to clean it up.

You sit inside the rubble, and with a little persuasion and small amounts of money exchanged, you manage to get a link on the Elrays. A young man wearing dyed wool clothes, probably from a noble upbringing judging by the quality of the material and dye used.

He sits with you, downs a drink, and you can see the glow of the elders glinting in his eyes while he is drinking the entire thing without pausing for a breath.

He puts down the cup and looks at you.
"Sure, I can get to the Elrays. Their youngest daughter is betting on one of the battle-rings I work with. Prooblem is..." He drunkenly points at your direction - clearly not his first cup today, you'd estimate he had about 6 at this point.
"When people start sniffing around my clients it usually means somethin bad is gonna happen to them - and that is bad for buisness and bad for rep. So you could definetly come to the show, have good time, and try to have a chat with that sneaky mouse of a girl...but if you want my help, you need to make this...interesting."

[Bansheexero]

Trying to get a sense of the man sitting before them, the Mirror studies him.

Spoiler: Sense Motive

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Sense Motive (1d20+9)[10]

"What do you have in mind? I am mostly just biding time here myself, but if I find it interesting too, I might join in." Looking at his compatriots, "What about you? Is this what you came here for? Do you believe he can help us?"

[Triskavanski]

Jack sat with the others, reading through his book some, as he pondered. "So you mean to say that if we can earn your daughter money in the fighting pits, that you would be more incline into remembering Elrays."

[infomatic]

"Don't know how flush the Elrays are, but their little girl's probably got more than all of us put together," Errol ventures.

He idly stacks some gold coins on the table. "I don't make a habit on betting on fights — not fair ones, anyhow," he adds with a grin. "But hey, live and learn. How interested you got to be?"

Spoiler: ooc

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My impression is it's the duke's daughter, not this bookie or whatever he is.

(1d20+13)[30] diplomacy

[roll]1d20=8[/roll] sense motive

[Bansheexero]

"If this is the direction things will be going, I'll have to excuse myself. Sorry, I just have my own leads to track down. I wish you luck, but it is not the type of spectacle I can afford to make of myself."

The Mirror bids the group adieu, paying for his end of the meal and leaves, making his way to the nearest drop off point in the hopes that the list of names has been procured.

[Heavenblade]

The mirror cannot get a read on the young man more than what he grasped at first glance, and walks away from the tavern soon thereafter.

Spoiler

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He finds an old leather scrollcase, hanging from the hook of an old fishing rod that dangles from one of the rocks along the beach. There are hundreds of them there, it is said each one is for another fishermen who died in a storm. People use the scroll cases in order to leave letters and blessing to their dead relatives, but this particular fishing rod never belonged to anyone but the tide - and the mirror finds a slightly wet piece of parchment inside, the handwriting (which is almost impossible to read due to the weird way in which the letters were written, slightly covering parts of each other) lists around 20 different nobles. Is there any sort of contact the mirror is looking for in particular?

He nods in response to Jack's question "Kinda. Basically, either you make a bet that'll give her enough profit to want and meet y'all, or...or you can do ME a favor instead. Y'see, the legal people upstairs don't really like the rings" He winks at a random direction and continues "And the people I hire are....expensive. You look like you could scare off a couple of the law-people...and the other guys who try to ruin the fun every now and then. So if you work for me, or if you make sure the girl gets the winning bet, I can arrange the meeting for you"

[Triskavanski]

"So there is a favorite she'll bet on then? If we don't lose the bet then there isn't much of a point there, but if you're needing someone to watch over things, I only require a few things to do so. A tankard, and a few bottles of the cheapest swill we can get on hand." Jack slips his book away, picking up a bone from one of the finished plates of food.

[Bansheexero]

The Mirror takes a moment to copy down the names onto a separate piece of parchment, making sure to burn the original. He does not trust the elders and fears they may try to track him somehow through it.

He then takes a moment to fade from view, drawing power from his ring to do so, and complementing it with his own mundane skill at stealth. He takes his list back to Deran's business, Premier Outfitting, and allows Deran to surface as his identity fades.

Deran . . . Deran. I have work for you. I received this list of names. A nobleman was killed, and these were his known associates. See if you can find anything on him.

Fine, fine. Let me see it. I will see if I have any of them in my ledger.

Deran then takes the list and compares it to his ledger, to see if there are any matches. He runs down the list, looking to see if any have been in recently, possibly to have their clothing repaired or refitted. Possibly even addresses used for delivery.

Spoiler

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So, first I stealth and spend a point of mental focus from my ring to use invisibility in order to slip away.
Stealth (1d20+14)[24] - Invisibility adds +20 to roll if moving or +40 if stationary, but did not add those into my calculation as it feels moot.

Take 20 on Profession (Outfitter) 29 for Deran to search his ledger for names.

If any names seem to jump out, he will look for one that does to spend a lot of money and happened to leave previously worn clothing on more than one occasion to refit or repair.

If found, he will use Psychometry, which is usable once per day, with the Appraise skill. The base DC is 15 to grant one piece of information, with each 10 past that giving an additional piece of information.

Appraise (Psychometry) (1d20+12)[21]

[Heavenblade]

The man laughs "That, could be easily arranged. I take it that you are in?" without waiting for a response, he puts on the table a piece of rotten wood from a shipwreck, with a name scribbled on it with a piece of charcoal - your entrance ticket to his fighting ring.


Deran, in his little shop, manages to get a lead of another sort.

Spoiler

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An old red tie from the suit of an upper city noble, named Darya o'connera, who was an active participant in the city's banking buisness at the under-sea vaults. She was also a known associate of your target, and from the mental echos that radiate out of the old tie, you manage to hear the faint remains of a conversation, regarding a weekly meeeting of some sort, taking place in one of the high-end resteraunts that serve the costumers of the oceanic bank she is a part of.