__________________
GEHENNA
__________________
Kadok sobs a bit more, before subsiding; and the sorry tale comes out. It's a familiar one, at least for the Shoanti: the Varisian population of Korvosa may be despised, but the Shoanti are feared, and thus hated by a large proportion of the city's residents. Anything bad happens, you can bet they'll be blamed. And the death of the king seems almost natural to pin on them, given that a number of tribes are still (at least technically) at war with Korvosa.
The upshot is, some of the Chelish population embarked on a minor pogrom in the Shoanti quarter of town; Kadok fled, his home burning, his family scattered. He hasn't gone back.
He sniffles a bit more, wiping his nose on his arm; it's a familiar story. They'll recover, mourn their dead, and rebuild. He looks at you with his bright, keen eyes; eager to move the conversation away from its present topic. "Witchy-witch look nice - you dressing up for man-friend?" He frowns. He's seen Takis - and he does NOT like him. "Not that armour-man, Witchy-witch! Tell me you no fall in love with him, have armour-babies!" He looks defiantly at you.
After your various weekends, you assemble as ordered early in the morning at Citadel Volshyenek. The guards are starting to recognise you now, and there's a general sense of approval after the way you dealt with Vancaskerkin and his mob. You are shown to Kroft's office without delay.
Somewhat unusually, however, you are kept waiting in the antechamber; someone is already inside - and the discussion, although conducted in low voices, is clearly heated. Eventually, the door is opened and a tall, middle-aged man with long silver hair strides out. He is still facing the way he came, getting in the last word, and he hasn't noticed you, which perhaps makes his comments more unguarded than they would be otherwise: "And I am telling you, Cressida, it will be poorly received. But then, I'm old enough to remember when you still valued the rule of law..."
Turning on his heel away from her and any reply she might make, he sees you for the first time - and bows, smoothly. "Ah! You must be the companions that Cressida has been telling me about - a stalwart band of adventurers, I hear. Well, this fair city has great need of such at this time."
Politically, he's something of a firebrand: very big on liberty and not so much on oppression. He and the late king had a number of arguments regarding the nature of tyranny, but Orisini's rank (although not titled himself, the Orisini family is old and greatly respected throughout Korvosa) has always protected him from trouble; if not from the dislike of his fellow nobles, whom he has reminded more than once that noblesse oblige.
He bows, fluidly, although his left leg is obviously a little stiff - he walks with a slight limp. "Perhaps I could make your acquaintance a little more, once your meeting with the Field-Marshal is done?"
Her wound still throbbing, the encounter with Ladzlo still fresh on her mind, Juliet's in a foul mood. Then, she's kept waiting while some old guy with really nice hair yells at Kroft.
And then he wants to make all nicey-nicey with them. Ugh, everyone wants my time. Juliet bows back, nonplussed. "I prefer the term 'deputy heroes' to 'adventurers' myself. Anyways, you're still here when we're done meeting with Kroft, sure thing, make our acquaintances."
Old people. Always beating around the bush, never on point. It is like they think they've got all the time in the world.
Pushing past the stranger, Juliet looks to the others. Come on then!
The man bows deeply to Juliet, taking her hand and kissing it. "Indeed, 'deputy heroes' is a far better turn of phrase - perhaps you can tell me, next we meet, if wordsmithing is your profession, as well as-" he looks with keen interest at Juliet's rapier - "as well as fencing?"
Stepping back lightly (or as lightly as his slight limp will permit), his gaze sweeps over the group. "Well, I shan't detain you - that's Cressida's job!" He calls slightly louder than necessary, obviously to ensure that Kroft heard the last part.
Bowing again, he takes his leave "Adieu!"
Kroft's office looks the same as ever: a mess of paperwork and forms, each with its own coded wax seal, each in a different colour. Kroft herself looks more disgruntled than usual, perhaps due to whatever argument she was having with her visitor. "Do come in." She waves a hand at the various seats, covered in paperwork. "Throw the files on the floor, they're not going anywhere; more's the pity. Anyway. You've met Orisini, at least; he comes by for counsel every so often. I was going to introduce you at some point, but I have more important things to worry about right now."
Kroft isn’t alone, as it happens: Orisini clearly interrupted a meeting that was already ongoing. Also present is a tall, rail-thin Shoanti man of at least 60 winters. He leans heavily on a walking stick, the polished femur of some giant beast crowned with a firepelt cougar’s skull. He wears a shirt decorated with countless jangling animal bones, many painstakingly scrawled with dozens of tiny symbols and glyphs. A bearskin cloak is draped about his bony shoulders, and warpaint in the shape of a skull decorates his face.
The Shoanti’s eyes are milky as if he were blind, and a regal red-feathered razor crow perches on his right shoulder.
The man regards you impassively. Kroft makes the introductions "This man is Thousand Bones, a Way-Keeper for the Skoan-Quah, the Clan of the Skull. Thousand Bones, this is the group I was telling you about."
She sighs, heavily. "As you likely know, tensions between Korvosa and the Shoanti have existed as long as the city itself. Recently, a large group of Shoanti - led by Thousand Bones here, a visionary shaman - have been in talks with the Korvosan government, hoping to find a way we can coexist in peace. One of his grandsons, a young warrior named Gaekhen, was murdered over the weekend by a mob using the unrest in Korvosa as a feeble excuse for misplaced vigilantism. Thousand Bones, I - and Korvosa - extend to you again our deepest apologies for your loss. Perhaps you would like to continue the story from here."
The old shaman nods briefly, barely acknowledging the apology, and speaks with a deep voice, his words carefully chosen but delivered with a barely restrained anger. "My people have worked hard to understand yours, yet it seems each day we see new examples of how your people work just as hard to foster old hatreds. My grandson is dead, beaten to death by cowards in your city street. I do not blame you, yet still Gaekhen is dead, and my son and his kin are not so forgiving as I. They wish to return to the Skoan-Quah in the Cinderlands, to join with the Sklar-Quah and rally to war against Korvosa. This would be disastrous, for both our peoples. Amends must be made."
His milky eyes seem to see right through you, without difficulty.
“Our ways are not as yours. If a body does not go whole to the fires of the gods, the smoke of a warrior’s spirit cannot rise to the Great Sky. If I could send Gaekhen’s body to the Great Sky with honor and dignity, his father and brothers would listen to me and stay their wrath — the talks of peace between my people and yours can continue. But he was not just murdered. His body was taken from the scene of his death, sold by a peddler of corpses to a necromancer named Rolth, a criminal to both our people. I have spoken with the spirits, and they have revealed to me that Gaekhen’s body has been taken to a place below your boneyard, a place the spirits call the Dead Warrens. With this knowledge, I could surely lead a group of my finest warriors into your boneyard to retrieve Gaekhen’s body, but this would be seen as an act of aggression by your people."
"No, it falls to you to make amends for what has been done. You must bring me Gaekhen’s body, lest we be forced to recover him ourselves. And although it pains my heart to say it — we will not be gentle if it comes to this.”
Thousand Bones then rises, nods curtly to Cressida, and leaves the room to return to his people.
Kroft apologizes for the man’s behavior, but to a great extent she agrees with his assessment. "Someone tied to Korvosa needs to find Gaekhen's body and return it to his people as a gesture of goodwill, or things will quickly go from bad to worse. Normally, I would contact the Church of Pharasma to organize an expedition into one of the warrens, but they are understaffed and over-busy right now. You have proven capable, and there’s also another 1,000 gp reward in it for you."
She looks at you intently, waiting for your answer. "You don't need me to tell you that we cannot endure a war with the Shoanti."
Evelyn taps her fingers patiently as she listens. She had no real issue with Shaonti, though she would admit surprise at the sheer effort the mob must have gone through to mistreat this one corpse. By the sound of things this was just up her ally. She doubted that she'd need to reiterate her expertise in the situation so instead she sets her mind to work.
Ha. Rolth. You've definitely heard of him; he's one of the main hazards for young (and not so young) people who live/work/scavenge in Grey. A failed Academae student, he's a monster of a man (even by comparison with Lamm) who was expelled after the true nature of his experiments were revealed. He was - allegedly - butchering vagrants, stray animals, and anything else he could get his hands on to try to build some sort of golem from their collected parts. The story goes that the Academae didn’t press charges because it didn’t want to cause a scene— it just quietly expelled him. Of course, he just ran away to become someone else's problem, but the high and mighty don't seem to worry about that sort of thing.
He’s responsible for dozens of killings, each involving mutilation to the body, and some sort of reanimation attempt - mainly undead, but also it's rumoured that he is looking to unlock the secret of creating flesh golems.
In short: a man to be avoided. The Guard's standing instructions, if they are unlucky enough to come across him in the act, are to retreat and seek magical backup.
As for the Dead Warrens, ah, you know them well. Korvosa’s Gray District is riddled with underground chambers, some of them burrowed by ghouls or other monsters, others remnants of ancient Shoanti burial grounds. Some of these warrens are patrolled and kept clear of monsters by the church of Pharasma, yet the Gray District is a large place and the tunnels below are vast and tangled. The Pharasmins focus on containing the problems with undead and necromancers, but as soon as they wipe out one, it always seems as if two are ready to spring up in its place.
The problem’s particularly known in Potter’s Ward, which is where the bodies of the poor and homeless are buried. According to rumour, the Dead Warrens were one of the Shoanti burial vaults, chambers that lie under Potter’s Ward.
Lorick grunts and nods. Not my part of town but if we know where he is then we can go in and get that body back.
"I know the place well" comments Evelyn with a satisfied purr. "I doubt it'll take long to track him down."
Rorlth won't know what hit him. You prolly know all about how to take care of his dead friends.
"Indeed, though the flesh golems could prove a problem should he have any. Speaking of, I imagine there's good chance that we may find our prize less intact then ideal. Something to consider as the Shaonti will need the full corpse for their burial rite."
No time to waste then Lorick cracks his knuckles.
"I am surprised you did not recognize the man," Vaen whispers as an aside to Juliet after Kroft has mentioned the name of the silver-haired man. "Vencarlo Orisini? The fencing master of Old Korvosa? Despite not having a title, he hails from an old and repected family, a fact that has probably provided him with some protection given how many nobles he must have annoyed over the years with his talk of liberty and freedom." He shrugs. "Even though you did not recognize him however, he seems to find you familiar. Or rather not you, but that slender sword of yours."
Having said his piece to the swordswoman, Vaenathis once again directs his attention to the matter at hand.
"No rest for us... deputy heroes then," he quips, using Juliet's preferred title of sorts. "But then who needs rest when the cause is just and sprinkled with coins, yes?"
More old men, this one a horser. In full-on horser getup to boot, down to the bird perched on the guy's shoulder. Great. Juliet can see where this is going - they're going to be asked to help this savage. Tossing some files and taking a seat, the singer crosses her arms and frowns, her mind wandering to Grease-Fingers, totally tuning Kroft out, missing the woman's mention of Orisini. Whatever, the others can deal with the horser...
Vaen snaps Juliet out of her thoughts. Sitting up, Juliet grimaces as the wound on her side twinges. "Wait, what? F**k me sideways with ZK's spiny c**k! Orisini? Spite? F***********************k."
"Ahem. My apologies, please continue."
You're as dense as a castle wall sometimes, girl.
...
..
.
"Yeah, look, gold is great and all, and I'm all for grabbing more of it, but I'm not delving into the Dead Warrens after some more twisted version of the kid here without getting this wound looked at. Vaen's barely on his feet too. You want to stop a war? Don't send us into battle half-dead, Commander. Make with the priests, chinney?"
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Field-Marshal Kroft frowns. It's abundantly clear that she's not accustomed to being addressed like that; a muscle on the left side of her jaw clenches slightly.
And then, as if reminding herself that she is, after all, dealing with adventurers, she nods fractionally. "You are right. I will see to that."
Ringing a bell, she sends for Ishani Dhatri, the Vudran priest of Abadar you encountered previously. He tuts to himself at your wounds, but they disappear quickly at his ministrations.
Kroft raises a sardonic eyebrow at Juliet. "Satisfied?"
"Very. Thank you, Commander. Er, no offense meant. Just want to make sure we do the best job we can. For Korvosa. I'll, ah, let myself out."
__________________
GEHENNA
__________________
Gehenna's eyes seem to glaze over as she attempts and fails to process Kadok's statement. She dismisses it with the shake of a head.
"No, Kadok, these are for me."
That aside, Kadok's presence represented a more pressing concern. Separated from his family as he was, the boy was in need of looking after, but she certainly could not provide it. Not with the situation as it was. Perhaps Kroft would know of somewhere where displaced... refugees of the current unrest could find some level of security and succor.
"It isn't particularly safe here, Kadok," Gehenna says to the child plainly. "Work is... keeping me busy lately. I can't look after you myself or help search for your family right now. For the moment, please stay here and try to keep quiet. I'll speak with Field Marshal Kroft and see if there is somewhere safer you could stay at while I make what inquires... I mean while I do what I can to find your family."
She reflects briefly before continuing, "Don't open the door for anyone but me, okay? Just hide or flee through the back window. I don't think many locals want to mess with "the witch," but if any of Lamm's servants come by it could be trouble. And if armour-man kicks in the door, you tell him that I said he needs to fix it before he leaves, else take you somewhere safe. I know you don't care for him much, but he's a tough one, like you. Between the two of you, I bet any trouble makers would keep their distance."
---
Gehenna listens to Kroft and Thousand Bones pensively, thoughts of displaced Kadok still fresh in her mind. Upon hearing of their proposed task and the words "necromancer" her fists and jaw tighten reflexively. With some effort, she manages to avoid quailing and maintains a front of impassiveness.
"Hmph," she grunts looking away from Kroft an the others. "I'm still in too. Removing one of Rolth's kind from the world is good work. Excuse me."
Gehenna quickly steps out of the room and pursues after Thousand Bones.
Sighting the older man, Gehenna calls out in confident Shoanti.
"Please, Way-Keeper! Hold a moment!"
Catching up, she tilts her head respectfully.
"I am sorry," she continues in Shoanti. "I know you need to return to your people as soon as possible, but I need your help. There is a young Shoanti boy who I am acquainted with that was recently separated from his family by Korvosan... rioters."
Gehenna had nothing to with the hateful acts of violence the Shoanti had endured, and as tiefling she was used to persecution, but even so the awkwardness of petitioning the Way-Keeper for help in the wake of such a tragedy made her cheeks flush.
"His name is Kadok. A boy of about 11 years. I don't know if he was a member of your community, but the boy is adrift and I can't take care of him. Not with jobs like the one you purposed landing at my feet. Is there any room for him among your own? Until he can find his kin?"
As Gehenna chases after the old Shoanti man Lorick says Well I s'pose we should see what the other old guy wants. The one who was kissing your hand and giving your stabstick a nice long eyestroke Princess Lorick crosses his arms and wags his eyebrows at Juliet with a grin.
Juliet's already standing when Lorick speaks. "Yeah we should! That's Vencarlo Orisini! Probably the greatest Korvosan duelist of all time, definitely of my lifetime. I should've recognized him, the limp, the beautiful flowing hair. Ugh, I'm sssoooo dense sometimes. Seriously we just met Vencarlo Orisini! You think he liked-"
All manic energy, waving hands and high-pitched excitement, Juliet's out the door, still talking...
"Good lord, Juliet, stay yourself. You sound like a swooning maiden." Evelyn turns to address Kroft: "You'll have to excuse us, Captain. If there is nothing further we will be on our way."
"Uhh, yeah, that's because I practically am! Swooning, anyways."
You are easily able to catch up with Thousand Bones, who doesn't walk terribly fast. He listens respectfully as you talk to him in his own language. "My thanks to you for looking after one of our own. We will gladly take care of him. I will not forget this, or the other service you are doing for us."
Sadly - alas - for Juliet, Orisini is no longer there; he left a message with one of the guardsmen to apologise to you all, but he's no doubt he'll see you again if you work regularly for Kroft.
...
..
.
__________________
THE DEAD WARRENS
__________________
Korvosa’s vast graveyard, a place known as the Gray District, is a mournful place even by day. Alone in the city, this place is quiet and calm in the face of the civil unrest, yet this calm is an unnatural stillness in the air, almost as if the graveyard were preparing itself for a vast influx of new dead. Certainly, this ominous feeling is nowhere more noticeable than in Potter’s Ward, the final resting ground for Korvosa’s poor and homeless. Mounds of unmarked dirt stretch far and wide, indicating sites of mass graves, while crumbling mausoleums from years ago, abandoned by their families as the Gray District expanded to the west, dot the bleak landscape, forgotten and empty.
Mourners do not visit here, for the dead buried in Potter’s Ward Leave behind few who regret their passing.
No sign of Gaekhen’s body remains in the area.
You spot the presence of a man’s tracks & a wheelbarrow trail heading away. The wheelbarrow tracks are deep - the barrow was laden.
You spot the presence of a man’s tracks & a wheelbarrow trail heading away. The wheelbarrow tracks are deep - the barrow was laden.
You also see a number of very light imprints of bare feet - but with four toes.
Unaccustomed to this area of the city Lorick has no idea how to proceed. When... if.. we get through this, we have to get Lamm caught up on what we're doing. I think we're fine right now but we don't want that man to start asking questions
Cursing quietly at her missed connection, Juliet makes a note to look Orisini up once she has the time. For now though, there was a dead horser to find. Mostly silent on the way to the Grey District, the opera singer follows the kid along street after street after alleyway, well into parts of the city Juliet knows nothing about.
Juliet's thoughts turn to the duelist. Why would he have recognized Spite? It was a gift from Juliet's father - what was he not telling her? Shrugging, she puts the questions aside - no point on dwelling on them now, when they're about to enter the burial grounds of the forgotten.
---------------
Juliet grunts and looks around as Lorick frets. "Yesterday, I did a little snooping around some of Lamm's flophouses. Business is thriving. He's appointed a new lieutenant. Nothing on us. We're off the radar right now."
"And, uh, I bit Grease-Fingers Ladzlo. So you're welcome to pay the spider king a visit, but I'm gonna lay low until he comes calling, chinney?"
Shrugging, Juliet wraps her azure cloak around herself. "Anyways, there's nothing here, kid. Sure you got the right place?"
"Oh, something is here," Vaen interjects, "or, rather, something was." Crouching down for a moment he points to two sets of tracks heading away, one belonging to a man and the other to the wheelbarrow he appears to have been pushing along. "The wheelbarrow tracks are deep, so I am guessing it is not empty."
The half-elf stands back up and starts following the trail. "Coming?"
"Wheelbarrow, gods-damn, Vaen, I'm glad you brought those pretty elvish eyes. Think that barrow's got a dead horser in it?"
Drawing Spite, Juliet follows along behind their scout.
Yeah, that's a good catch Vaen. Lorick says crouching and looking at the tracks. Anyone know what the heck made this track?
To Juliet New Lieutenant huh? Well I passed word along to Lamm about what we're up to. Staying in the Guard's good graces is good enough of an excuse to not get back and pay our respects right away. Still. Sooner rather than Later right? Gotta keep up our appearances until we're ready to make our move.
Relief in Gehenna's heart over her conversation with Thousand Bones mixes with grim trepidation about standing in the middle of the city's largest, death-choked graveyard leaves her feeling somewhat removed and she only vaguely listens in to her comrades' banter.
"Doesn't look like many other people come this way so...perhaps it did carry the, er horser?" she suggests taking peeks at the desolate landscape from underneath her hood.
"We have tracks at least. We follow them and we'll find out what left them, one way or another."
You follow the tracks of the wheelbarrow, which are easy to read in the damp earth; they terminate abruptly at a set of stone stairs which lead down into a mausoleum which looks (at least to your eyes) no different from any of the other entrances you have passed.
Pausing only to light torches, you descend the stairs into the darkness. The stairs end in a large room supported by four wide pillars of stone. The ceiling above arches in a dome nearly twenty feet high. The walls are lined with skeletons caked into the mud — human bones mostly, but here and there smaller bones might be from halfings, or perhaps children. Fifteen-foot-square pits sit to the east and west, each filled with a large heap of hundreds of bones. To the south, your flickering torchlight reveals that a crude hole has been gouged into the wall, providing access to a tunnel.
Evelyn is preoccupied with looking around, but everyone else manages to hear it in time: a scraping of bone against bone, to your right. Half a dozen skeletons slowly reassemble themselves and stand up, their vacant eye sockets glowing with evil malice...
Skeletons are mindless undead, immune to mind-affecting magic and effects. They're immune to cold, bleed attacks, paralysis and poison.
Skeletons are mindless undead, immune to mind-affecting magic and effects. They're immune to cold, bleed attacks, paralysis and poison.
They're also highly resistant to non-bludgeoning attacks.
These aren't any sort of relatives of yours, right O Holy Child? Lorick says as he starts swinging at the one that's a bit behind him trying to keep from being surrounded and also make a space for Vaen to come in.
Full attack
First Round Flurry
Second Round Attack
Third Round Attack
My... god.
Juliet steps quickly to the side, lashing out with Spite as she moves. "Kid, can you talk them down?"
Juliet's attack takes down one of the skeletons before she steps away adroitly. Lorick's fists don't even look like connecting with his opponent.
Evelyn steps forward with an air of command:
"Stand aside wayfarer's. This business is between two practitioners of magic."
Squeezing through the rest of his friends and drawing his curved sword as he does so (making sure he does not give anyone a particularly close shave), Vaenathis brings his blade down on the closest walking skeleton.
Not yet having a sense for the size of this place, or for how long their party might be forced to linger within, Gehenna channels additional energy into her spell. Calling forth the armor of magical force in this way was dangerous, not to mention unpredictable if she failed, but Gehenna succeeds without great effort. This time.
Seeing Evelyn exposed to possible avenues of attack, Gehenna steps up next to Juliet, hoping that the invisible shield of force would adequately defend the both her and the summoner.
As Evelyn attempts to sway the mindless skeletons, Sir deGrey takes the chance to attempt a more direct approach.
The skeletons do not respond to Evelyn's charms. Nor do they suffer from Vaen's swordsmanship. Sir deGrey's sonorous voice sounds: "Child, they are undead. They are not to be reasoned with, even if you had the power. They are to be put down. Like thus."
His huge weapon smashes two of the skeletons to dust, and he uses his final action to step up next to Lorick.
The skeleton nearest to him lashes out, but only one claw is of any danger to the armoured, headless knight. Its companion steps forward and slashes at Evelyn, raking its claws across her face and drawing blood.
The final remaining skeleton steps around the pillar and strikes at Juliet, missing entirely.
Juliet may not know much about necromancy, but her suspicion has been confirmed. Something alive and dead can just be made dead if you stab it enough times. Sliding out of the way of the skeleton's claws, the singer returns the favor, three quick thrusts at the creature's head.
Gritting his teeth as his first swings go wide. Lorick grits his teeth and focuses on the one in front of Evelyn. His second attempt goes only a little better.
Even with the inconvenience of the pillars getting in her way, Juliet elegantly skewers her target at the first time of asking, before pirouetting on the spot and nimbly disposing of the other skeleton adjacent to her.
This leaves Lorick with the task of taking down the last skeleton, which he just about manages.
The flickering of your torchlight reveals two bone pits on your left and right, and a passageway directly in front of you. The passageway is only wide enough for you to go in single file.
Who is brave enough to step into the unknown...?
Evelyn winces in shock as she wipes the blood away from her face. Believe it or not, it was the first time she had been struck since falling in with the group. The tender way she feels around the wound is testament to that, though her eyes betray a indignant outrage.
"Well!? Let's get a move on and find this whoreson!" she snaps angrily, at no one in particular.
Feeling a bit irritated at only one of his swings landing Lorick grunts I'll take the lead
Nodding, Juliet keeps Spite drawn, blade pointed forward and down, and moves behind Lorick...
The complex is vast; the far ends of the chamber behind you are soon lost, disappearing from the reach of your torchlight. You move forward, to find a choice of forking paths: one to the West, and one to the East.
To the East, you can't hear anything. The passageway to the West brings the sound of noise: thumping, chatter, and a high-pitched squeaking and squealing, which is abruptly cut off with a wet squish.
"Get him! Get him! No - he's mine, hands off damn you! My turn! My turn! Hehehehe. Good game of Rat Squish. Let's get another."
Juliet can't help but feel a tightening in her chest as the group moves down the passage, the darkness unfolding before them. Can't believe the kid lives -- Her thoughts interrupted by the squealing to the east, Juliet nudges Lorick in the back with the hilt of her blade, whispering, "Right. Something's down there. Something strange."
Let's head to the sound. Don't want to leave our backsides exposed Lorick whispers back and starts moving in that direction.
Casting shield on myself before we go in this time
As the group proceeds towards the noises, Gehenna primes a message spell and whispers to the group that, if desired, she and the more stealthy members could douse lights and proceed ahead. With Gehenna's preternatural vision, they might be able to size up the source of the sounds before engaging.