Connell Rickard |
The young priest's curiosity is piqued by the head and the strange magics that were used to get it into this state, but not enough to disagree with the renown warrior's opinion.
With a nod of his head Connell steps back to allow Bloodless the room he needs to swing his blade.
Bloodless |
"Good. Our business is bringing goodness, hope, and a sense of right to the world. This thing offends me just by its presence"
Bloodless simply sets to work with his sword, matter-of-factly.
Connell Rickard |
Connell finds his sensibilities more in line with the elven woman as the thing's final fate is decided. He remains silent though - it is such an abomination in this state, and spewing that horrid language out into the air, he finds himself hard pressed to believe that any of their questions could get valuable responses from the creature.
With a nagging sense that they might be missing an opportunity, the priest eases his mind with the knowledge that they are making the most of the opportunity to rid the world of one more bit of infernal evil.
TarkXT |
Bloodless cleaves the thing easily and it in turn crumbles to dust. The small smile it has even as it dissipates is unnerving but at least it's quiet.
"Hopefully it wasn't anything important. But at least I can think." Ailyn muses aloud.
Janiven snaps out of her shock as the sword puts a good slash into the table.
"Ah, yeah, Salm, this is the group, and Ailyn, and group this is Salm. We recruited him to help us figure out how to get rid of the shadowbeasts."
Connell Rickard |
Connell shakes his head in agreement. "This city is being stifled under that yolk, and she needs to be released from it. That's why we are here, yes?"
His hand rises to absently stroke his neatly trimmed goatie as he turns his gaze toward Janiven. "Any thoughts on where these beasts come from? Hopefully that head wasn't to give us our next clue...."
Salm |
"There was no aid that infernal abomination could have given. Every word that spewed forth from it was poisoned. Even the rare truth would be designed to bring ruin rather than aid. Ending its existence was for the best."
Aerieth Deventis |
Aerieth looks at the two new members of the group, recalling how several others had joined and simply not had the fortitude to stay with the fight.
The Shadowbeasts go somewhere during the day. The question is where?
She looks over at Bloodless.
Would you be able to track one? Do you think that we could somehow mark one so that we could follow it?
TarkXT |
Arael raises an eyebrow. "If such a task would bear results we would have long been rid of the things. They hide in the sewers, in basements, in abandoned buildings when the dawn comes."
"However if you recall what I told you a month ago." Ailyn interjects as she leans over the table and opens the silver skeleton box revealing four half burned graw tallow candles and opening up the cover on the large "D" embossed book. "I surmised a connection with the closing down of Delvehaven and the first appearance of the shadowbeasts. There may be something within Delvehaven that is involved. Our brave heroes here shed blood on stage for this opportunity to bypass the wards set both by House Thrune and the fleeing Pathfinders."
Bloodless |
"I tracked and hunted one before, went off by myself to see what the fuss was about. Well there seems to be some reason for fuss, as the thing put up an effort - but it was too far into my trap before it got wise and I was able to slay it. Delvehaven is our best bet"
TarkXT |
Ailyn pulls a loose sheet of paper from the cover of the book and sets it aside as she peruses through it. "Explicitly? It doesn't appear that way. This looks mostly like the journal and notes of one Lord MAyor Dargentu Vheed. Looks like he was ordered to plunder Delvehaven. Judging by the lodge's relative intactness we can only assume he failed. But perhaps there's some leads in these things."
TarkXT |
Aerieth moves over to help Ailyn search the documents:
Perhaps I can help.
Knowledge(not sure what): 1d20
--> Arcana = 20
--> Planes/Religion = 19
--> all others = 18
1. Donatalus Bisby: Leader of Amber Privateers and one of only two survivors of a journey to darkest Mwangi — he has firsthand knowledge of at least one magical artifact that could well serve our needs for control. It would seem Bisby was sealed inside one of Delvehaven’s lower
vaults as the others fled, but I’m unclear if this was a voluntary sacrifice.
2. Ilnerik Sivanshin: Bisby’s chronicler, a half-elf, Sivanshin fled Westcrown a week before Aroden’s Fall. Evidence suggests he fled north, toward Nidal, and with a stolen relic.
3. Coriana Heavenscape: A Westcrown native and, if rumor is to be believed, an aasimar, Coriana remained in Westcrown and organized the Father’s Bulwark, one of many groups of rebels glorious Thrune smashed in the pursuit of establishing order. She was slain and her remains collected by the Sisters of Eiseth—I’ve got them sifting through their
holdings in an attempt to find her.
4. Loremaster Liriam: Delvehaven’s master of lore—no other would know more about the vaults below. Alas, no evidence of his survival has surfaced—like Bisby, his remains might still lie within Delvehaven. I do suspect he was the author of “Cugny’s Wedding,” and if so, your suspicion that it is a cipher may well be correct.
5. Venture-Captain Aiger Ghaelfin: Aiger was certainly the one who ordered the sealing of Delvehaven. My early research indicated that he planned on fleeing Cheliax for Absalom, but further investigation revealed this to be false. He remained in Westcrown and fought
alongside Coriana in the Father’s Bulwark, but was laid low by a Thrune wizard who petrified him and then smashed the resulting statue. Scuttlebutt among the blood bookie circuit is that the remains of the man’s petrified body have been in the possession of one of the lesser noble houses involved in bloodsport, but I’ve not yet determined which
family (I suspect the Luccas). These filthy has-been nobles play well enough when faced with Thrunish agents, but without the direct aid of your allies, master, I’m afraid I won’t be able to learn more…
If you could direct your checks to some specifics above I can answer better. Though Aerieth can easily surmise this plunder was under the direct ordering of House Thrune to no ones surprise.
Connell Rickard |
Connell reads through the note carefully. While the church provided him with some training in preparation for his mission here, this level of Westcrown's history is beyond what he has studies so far. He strokes his chin in an exaggerated, almost comical, gesture of thought.
"While I'm certainly up for a bit of .....pardon the pun, 'delving', this note seems to suggest that there are a lot of clues to be found outside the lodge itself. North in Nidal, the Sisters, this book..... the mayor has been gone for quite some time, yes? Where can we find these Sisters, maybe they learned something more than what's here?"
Connell Rickard |
The priest looks to the party. Salm and I are new to the cause, you three have been fighting this battle longer than we. Based on what you've seen so far, does this coven sound like a solid lead? Or should we waste no time in attempting the lodge?"
Connell is anxious to he under way, his new found purpose fueling his desire for action, but he knows well enough that rash actions without a careful accounting of the facts is the quickest path to Pharasma's acre.
Bloodless |
"Nothing is ever solid, and there's always a trap in things, but so far the forces we rail against are so arrogant they conduct their dirty affairs in the open so the information is rarely wrong - so it's worth chasing this lead"
Aerieth Deventis |
What, if anything do I know of either of these groups? Would our benefactors have books that might help my research.
Knowledge(religion): 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (1) + 9 = 10 <-- Father's Bulkwark
Knowledge(religion): 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (1) + 9 = 10 <-- Sisters of Eiseth
--> Knowledge is +10 for Arcana, +9 for planes/religion, +8 for all others if the above checks are not religion
Ok, edit that, apparently this was not only an area that Aerieth did not study, she actually avoided it as a personal vendetta against the teacher who annoyed her (probably for turning his cat purple).
Connell Rickard |
At the mention of the First Erinyes, Connell's gaze drifts back to the ashen stain where the screaming head was but a moment before, again wondering if the evil thing could have provided clues to their next steps. His musings last only a moment - even if parlay had been an option there would have been little but lies and deceit to be heard from it. As Bloodless said, there are more than enough threads to follow without suffering that thing to .... "live" .... a second longer.
"A valid lead then. How far north is this Nidal?" He looks to the pathfinder across the table. "But the price of that is time: I know the lodge is a priority, can we afford the delay a trip there would cost us?"
Bloodless |
"Depends where in Nidal, as that place shares our borders it could be a shorter journey, but if it's on the far Coast we could be in for a proper bit of travel, but to get to the bottom of what we might be dealing with it is worth it yes?"
TarkXT |
"And probably unnecessary." Ailyn pipes in. "Such a journey takes weeks to find a man who may have died nearly a century ago. LEt's exhaust all the possible leads here first. This poem may be a code, though it's beyond my skill to interpret it. Perhaps someoen with some skill in speaking or poetry? There may be some scions of House Luccas left, perhaps trying to find them may lead to more clues. Though it seems the clues themselves lie within deceased pathfinders. Does the note say how they planned on talking to said dead men?"
Connell Rickard |
Connell gives his head an exaggerated shake. So anxious to be out on the road, so eager to jump in and make an impression, it seems like he may have been looking to the forest but missed the trees completely.
He reaches over and takes the note, reading through it again.
"This Cugny’s Wedding....if it is a cipher, where can we get a copy? I cannot say I am very skilled with ciphers, but given time to prepare I can beseech Abadar to assist someone who is."
"And this mention of Grave tallow.....that's the candles, yes? Not as good as a true speaking spell but those should do the trick...if we can locate the remains of course."
Aerieth Deventis |
Aerieth continues examining things and then looks at the men:
I have studied languages some, and might be able to decipher a cipher, but cannot guaranty it. With some magical assistance, I should be able to figure some of it out.
As far as Nidal goes, no, it is not very far, but it is not a small country and is controlled by an evil shadow government. They predominantly worship Zon Kuthon, who is much worse than Asmodeus. At least with the Dark Lord, one know what to expect and can generally rely on people to keep their word. With those in Nidal, no such reliance can be had.
Bejis Krupt |
After listening without comprehending the talk of high magics and mystic forces, Bejis mutters in response to Janiven, "Shoveling is something I could do easily enough, at least."
"How old is that note, and what are the chances that the author and/or Vheed didn't already find the remains of the Pathfinder."
Connell Rickard |
Being so new to the city, Connell opts to stay back with Aerieth and work on the cipher, using his magics to aid them when he can.
Liberal use of Guidance as they work to give her another +1
Don't have Linguistics for an Aid Another roll, but.....
Perform (oratory): 1d20 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 3 + 1 = 7 another +6 to that if I can use Perf (sing) instead....although with Aerieth's 28 after the Guidance Im not sure its needed....
TarkXT |
Aerieth discovers a poem within a poem after realizing the meters of the original poem is off. It refers to a "wave door" and names a geographical location but she will need to maek a Know. Geography check to find out where that is.
THe others find out from an hour in which they eat at a nice cafe and overhear soem Asmodean acolytes deriding a coven of the aforementioned sisters still operating in the north part of the city within the ruins. They may be what you are looking for.