Obedience, 92 Letum 1999 GR
Zephday, 38
Autumn Colours 204 LE
Gazahi, the Scribe and Revda gather up the bodies of Jirokichi
and Raegar as well as the magic clubs and armour of the ogres and
quickly make their exit. Rather than heading for the Darkmantle,
they go to somewhere their enemies cannot find them: the hovel where
Revda lives in Chapelgate.
The Death Knight's hovel is in an abandoned temple to minor death
god, Mal - the Wandering Imp of Bile, the Rictus King, the Imp of
a Thousand Coughs, Lord of the Unstoppable Squirts and so on. The
temple has (quite rightly) been long abandoned. Inside, they meet
Talia the Death Knight's zombie wife. She is told not to eat any
of the party members. It is quite a nice hovel, and the Death Knight
seems excessively house proud. There is a comfortable chair where
he sits and contemplates the world. As they enter, Clara returns.
She is still having trouble remembering that she is a ghost.
They then open the bag to question Fisk. Only the trouble is that
it isn't Fisk. It is a dark skinned, silver haired human with long
feathery silver wings. Whoever it is, has celestial blood in him.
The newcomer is questioned, and seems very amiable and happy to
tell the party anything. It seems that he was only working with
Fisk to try and get to the bottom of the mystery of who killed the
Grey Minstrel.
The new arrival is called Alarius Gellantara. He arrived in Tharkis
about six weeks ago. He was conned in a game of chance to accept
a red gem. This gem interacted with his bracelet of teleportation
in an unexpected fashion and swapped Alarius with another entity
that had been trapped in the Great Dark. Alarius originally comes
from Hadras, although he travelled widely around the Northern World.
He is trained as a bard and entertainer and certainly seems charming
enough.
After the initial shock of being in Tharkis, he put his skills
to good use. He soon heard the news that the Grey Minstrel was performing
in Tharkis, and went to see his performance. Getting to see the
Minstrel afterward was quite difficult, but after some time working
on the Darkmantle's sea-kin proprietor, Sillander, Alarius were
eventually granted an interview. He was intrigued. Obviously, the
Grey Minstrel was a genius and Alarius knew he could learn a great
deal from him. However, he also suspected that much of his wondrous
ability did not come from his skills as a bard.
Alarius knew the Grey Minstrel was having troubled dreams, but all
artists like to paint themselves as 'tortured'. He didn't know that
the Minstrel and Greta had hired the Scribe and then Gazahi to deal
with Amulkan'set.
As chance would have it, Alarius was not at the performance when
the Grey Minstrel was attacked. He returned during on the afternoon
of the following day (91 Letum 1999) to find the Darkmantle destroyed
and Sillander picking through the remains. Sillander told Alarius
that the party had taken an interest in discovered who had killed
the Grey Minstrel. Sillander also said that their current theory
was that he had been poisoned either by Darmel (which Sillander
didn't believe) or by Fisk (which Sillander found much easier to
believe). Therefore, Alarius knew of the existence of the group
and their current purpose.
Having his own interest in discovering the murderer of the Grey
Minstrel (Alarius owed it to Art) he started your own parallel investigation
to that of the party. He began schmoozing Tharkis for information.
On the morning of 92 Letum 1999 the word on the street was that
Fisk was looking to hire more muscle. Seems as though he had been
threatened by a Death Knight the previous day. As it happened he
was looking for someone with Alarius's talents and therefore the
bard fitted in nicely.
Alarius was briefed that in the evening, he would pose as Fisk if
the water merchant was attacked on the way home. Also in the party
would be Fisk's four ogre bodyguards and a hobbit tainted scholar
called Herdzig Lucifer. Lucifer was odd. He was obviously far too
powerful for the sort of money that Fisk would be paying for protection.
That sort of wizard couldn't be bought at any price. Although it
was never explicitly said to Alarius, he deduced the following things:
1) Fisk is frightened. Probably because he was culpable in the death
of the Grey Minstrel.
2) Fisk is not frightened of the Death Knight.
3) Fisk is being influenced (by promise of money, or threats, or
both) by another group. It was probably this other group that wanted
the Grey Minstrel killed, and used Fisk to make it happen. Now that
the party are stirring up the bee hive, this other group have come
to make sure the truth doesn't get out.
4) You reckon this group would be just as happy putting a sword
through Fisk's shoulder blades, but they want to see what they are
up against. They are using Fisk to draw out the party and discover
the nature of their opponents.
This is all very interesting. However, Alarius don't know who this
group is and can only guess that Herdzig Lucifer is a part of it.
He has been playing long to discover the truth. However, after the
bag incident, he has found himself with the party. He suggests that
he joins them, and uses his skills to aid in their quest.
Reticence, 93 Letum 1999 GR
Caladay, 39
Autumn Colours 204 LE
The party accept this, and suggest that Alarius return to Fisk's
house and ask for his payment. Clara offers to go with him, but
Alarius declines. Alarius goes to Fisk's house where he is met by
a veiled woman. He is shown into the study (noticing someone else
on the stairs), where he meets Herdzig Lucifer. Fisk is slumped
in a chair with his neck broken (obvious the group are clearing
up loose ends). Lucifer doesn't seem to care about Alarius and suggests
he take something of value from the house in lieu of payment (Alarius
takes a clock) and then get out of the building. Alarius thinks
he is going to be murdered, but makes it back alive.
Back at Revda's hovel, Alarius relays what he has discovered. The
group determine to take this to Great, however, when they arrive
Greta's house is on fire. Clara enters the conflagration looking
for survivors but finds none. Eventually the house collapses in
on itself and is destroyed. Alarius works the crowd and discovers
that the barghest and an armoured swordswoman left the burning house
carrying a woman about an hour ago. Alarius follows the trail of
sightings and leads the party back to the Darkmantle.
Once inside, they are greeted by Lycaon. He tells how the house
was attacked by veiled assailants. They didn't seem to want to kill
any one, but they were intent on destroying the house and its contents.
Lycaon killed several of them during his escape. He says that Frederica
can handle a sword better than any housekeeper he has ever seen.
The Scribe thinks that this is so they couldn't 'speak with dead'
on any of the bodies. They relay everything they have discovered
to Greta and Frederica. Revda proposes taking Greta to Fisk's patch
by the river. Now that Fisk is dead, Greta can take over as a water
merchant and probably make more money than she did as the Grey Minstrel's
manager.
However, before they can leave a figure enters. It is powerfully
built veiled man (another member of this mysterious group?). He
gives the party an ultimatum. He says that he has no quarrel with
them yet, but if they continue with their investigations that situation
will change. He warns to cross him as they will not survive the
experience. This threat gets the Death Knight's hackles up.
Clara follows the veiled man, as the others take Great and Frederica
to Fisk's Fourteen Yards. The Death Knight speaks to Captain Cadden
of the Black Watch and Greta swiftly moves in and changes the locks.
Revda considers his duties to Greta discharged and he can continue
pursuing the truth behind the Grey Minstrel's murder (despite the
threats). The other party members seem happy to go along with him.
They rest at Fisk's fortified patch for much of the day, waiting
for payment for their services to Greta (Jirokichi is still unconscious).
Clara follows the veiled man to Fisk's house. When she enters,
she is ambushed by a predator lurking on the ethereal plane. After
a swift fight, Clara is dispersed and her spirit swiftly retreats
to the necklace.
The Scribe returns to his library and performs some powerful divinations
in the afternoon. He casts speak with dead on Raegar's corpse and
asks the following questions:
Q: Tell me how you came in possession of two heads.
A: I was born with them.
Q: Describe in detail, your interest in the Grey Minstrel and Great.
A: I had no interest in the Grey Minstrel or Greta. I was told to
go to theatre on that evening and follow the clues to their logical
conclusion.
Q: Who sent you to do this?
A: Mormegil, cleric of Lolth.
The Scribe casts legend lore on the piece of magical vellum. However,
it is not a legendary item. All the Scribe gets is the name of the
vellum's creator, an elf called Samael Ellaedon.
Then is casts contact other plane for inspiration. He chances a
chat with a god, and actually gets two who circle him asking their
own questions and being generally shifty. He asks three questions,
but he is not guaranteed of receiving truthful answers.
Q: Who was the veiled man who threatened them.
A: Tam.
Q: Where is the Gift of Ysberyl.
A: Gone. But not destroyed. No yet.
Q: Who should I speak to to find more about the events of Dark
Day?
A: Tam.
The Scribe returns to the others. Frederica Rathmore brings 5000
kor to swell the pockets of each party member (all bar Clara and
Alarius). She takes the Death Knight to one side, and asks that
he tell her if he finds out anything more about who killed the Grey
Minstrel. She wants to know who was responsible.
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