File Number: 001
Brief Dossier
People of Note:
Sir Sylvath: Knight – of the Clan Seti
Ranking: Chief Warden of the Capital of Praxis
Notes:
Sir Sylvath is most connected to the particulars of this case, as it deals with both criminals and other offenders and potential threats – both foreign and domestic – in the town and nation. More then the simple legal issues – in which he feels it is his duty to assist you – as a Holy Knight of Apsu – he feels it is his duty to prevent anything from effecting people’s free will – he despises slavers – and sees this introduction of a “mind controlling” bug as not only a potential weapon to the nation as a whole – but, more importantly – he sees it as a threat to his entire belief system.
His psychological profile (as prepared by Director Rowan) suggests that Sir Sylvath believes that a creature that controls the mind of another is something is both foul and actually evil. He considers not only his duty to help you – but his profile suggests that he will go to the full extent of the law – and, perhaps – may even go beyond it, if he thinks that he can help against this specific threat.
NOTE: You have no evidence to suggest Sir Sylvath will break the law, or tolerate another breaking the law – only circumstantial evidence that suggests he will fight for this cause very hard – if he believes he is able to; but we won’t slow you down due to an unspecified or vague legal technicality. If he thinks you can do it legally, he'll let you – unless someone formally brings evidence to his attention which suggests you cannot do what you want to. As long as are not doing anything that is outright "evil" he will permit you to proceed with more latitude in this case in particular.
Selendria Grear – Wife (elven) of David Grear (human)
Ranking: Private citizen
Notes:
According to your documents Selendria left her people when she married a human freedom fighter named David. She is very educated on “book smarts” – having studied quite a bit of Alchemy with her people when she was younger. She will be happy to assist you in any way she can regarding this case.
Director Rowan’s Psychological Profile of Selendria indicates that David, her husband – was a freedom fighter out of Galt – and this determination to fight for freedom; specifically against the aristocracy of nobles who tolerated and allowed slavery – was what drew Selendria to him initially. You believe she, too, will go to the full extent of what ability she has to help you.
It should be noted, however – although she has many skills as a student; this knowledge is generally due to her reading a great deal of books. Also, it should be noted that she is not a person who is very experienced with the outside world.
Instead, she behaves more like a human female who is in her early twenties – a young girl who lived in wealth all her life and left it all for “true love”. As such, she is a bit shy around new people – does not enjoy much work with dead bodies or blood (and indeed, does not enjoy much physical labor in general) – and would prefer to surround herself with “pretty things” rather then working in a lab all day.
Therefore - you believe she is a bit flighty at times, but her file does suggest she is not only a good person, and trustworthy.
Her file suggests that she will do everything she can to aid you – but members of your party who are obscene or overly crude may distract her from any great success.
Current Details on Case:
Sir Sylvath have the 7 living “host subjects” quarantined and ready for examination upon your arrival and the examination of your papers to confirm you validity. Further – he also has one living sample of this mind-controlling “vermin”. The sample is contained in a lab that is currently near the Barracks.
You are free to examine, interview, question all “host subjects”.
You are free to conduct what medical tests/experiments you need to on these individuals – provided that you heal them of any injury – and that you take steps to make sure any pain is minimal.
You are free to examine the “vermin” – but all notes and evidence must be reported to both the Council – and to the S.I.D. later.
From the desk of Director Rowan: S.I.D.
Greetings!
As you can see – this is the method of any additions made to this page. It is meant as a quick resource for case files only and should not be used except for details that you feel are specifically important to the case – as this example demonstrates.
Remember – the S.I.D. has limited resources and cannot afford to have this space filled up with issues that don’t pertain to the cases. For the most part – you won’t even need to make any additions here – unless you feel a note is important for the whole group to read over. Consider it as a brief version of “favorites” on other areas – only these issues just deal with cases.
Thank you for your support!
Sir Sylvath
Knight of the Holy Order of the Dragon
Follower of the great god Apsu, Lord of Dragons
High Warden to the Nation of Praxis
Brief notes on the individual so named
While doing my investigation on the newly arrived citizens I was pleased to discover kinfolk like my own among them. Even so – the two chief “leaders” of the newly arrived silver kobolds are both folk that I believe are not to be wholly trusted, though I pray they may, in time, discover the error in the path they are treading and find redemption.
The chief of these individuals is a silver kobold named Grymm. Grymm served on a vessel to the far west, and did much of his work in dangerous waters. He does not admit it freely, but I believe he was a smuggler and pirate. He has a great deal of personal force with his people, and they follow him because he is both bold and moves with alacrity and focus – in whatever mission he sets for himself.
– More can be found on Grymm in his file –
The second individual who leads them has less force, as it were, and says less. But when he speaks, all listen – for his words have great weight with the new silver kobolds. I believe they fear him somewhat, and his power. Though he has not formally given me cause for complaint, I should say I do not trust him.
His name is Orunla Kalfu
Firstly, I should include a brief history of his origins. Orunla Kalfu’s tale starts before he was even born. Each kobold is, of course, born from an egg. The egg of Kalfu was believed to have been sold or sent south by some merchant to a priest or magi in the Mwangi Expanse. This priest purchased the egg, seeking for the chance to use it in some sort of magical or arcane art, but Kalfu hatched before the ritual and was raised by this person.
As such – the priest taught Kalfu much of the ways of the deity Damballah Wedo. Even so, Kalfu instead is a minor priest, among other things, and "reveres", if not outright worships his ancestors; claiming to take the Great Serpent as a totem creature – as well as the dead as a place for his power to stem from.
Kalfu traveled to the coastlands after his mentor died, and managed to secure passage on board a ship – sailors find his “second sight” to be good luck, and indeed – he seems to be gifted in the way of reading signs and telling the future.
The sailors and smugglers traveled the entire western coasts of the world, until they reached the northern areas and found Grymm’s people – how they joined together was a bit of a mystery, it seemed to be fated, and if you question Kalfu – he will confirm such suspicions by claiming it to be true. Namely - he shall say it was Fate that brought them together and to our land.
Kalfu joined with Grymm and the two of them, among others, sailed in the western seas. It was during these voyages that Kalfu lost his leg to a Sahuagin attack on the vessel they served on – during the attack a Dire Shark bit him on the leg – he survived, but the leg was destroyed; mangled beyond repair.
No interest in healing the wound was expressed. It seems that he feels it to be unnecessary – as he believes the wound increases his connection to the spirit world.
Kalfu spends much time conversing with the dead – he does not pray to them – but uses the bodies. It is said he can create zombies – and has done so – and this gives rise to his prestige and power. He says little – and when he speaks his words are often times confusing. No one knows his true purpose – but he believes that fate or destiny brought him to this land. As such – he believes that he is here on a mission; and even the most subtle or polite methods of dealing with him do not always work, as his "destiny" is more important then such methods of conversation.
Be warned – whatever his true intentions are – they are certainly not to be revealed with a simple conversation. Even so – evidence suggests that in this case at least – he will help you.
More notes on this individual to come soon. If you discover any further evidence – feel free to add on those details.
The Case of the Brain-Controlling Bugs
File Number: 001
Addendum to Previous Dossier
People of Note:
Orunla Kalfu, silver kobold, priest and oracle
Ability: Channels Negative Energy (with Selection).
Initial findings:
During the course of the investigation and with the communal aid of the blessed gods, it was found that the parasites or “bugs” attached to the brain could be killed inside the host and their death would not kill the host outright but simply produce a sickness that could in turn be removed by a healer.
Bugs/Parasites:
We looked at the nature of universal healing magic (positive and negative) and its effect – both immediate and long term on the subject.
We mathematically calculated the constitution and stamina of the “bug”, this minor enemy, and determined it was a fairly weak creature and if directly assaulted would stand minimal chance of survival, most probably resulting in the death of said creature.
Negative Healing and Orunla Kalfu:
The act of channeling negative energy (Harming) is a specialized process especially for a priest who has such ability and can harness the power of their divine patron to negatively effect creatures within a certain radius from the priest. If the priest has the added ability/advantage of selecting their targets for heal or harm, then they could control where the energy is directed: either sparring or healing allies or harming enemies. It is concluded that Orunla Kalfu possesses both abilities: the ability to harm enemies in a radius burst and select who does, and does not, suffer the outage of said negative energy. His selection is limited to five allies, however, and this must be noted for future reference.
Result:
The “bugs” inside the brain was mortally affected by the negative energy and were killed with two radius bursts of negative energy. Orunla Kalfu diluted the harm to the seven hosts by rotating/manipulating the concentration of the negative enemy between the hosts. This resulted in all the hosts suffering approximately the same level of damage, which was minimal and producing some disorientation and confusion which could be remedied with a good night’s sleep. If further healing, in the positive form, was required, Agent Longread was on hand to administer it. However, in this case, it was not necessary and within minutes the hosts were lucid enough and standing to be questioned and provided reasonable answers.
There seems to be no sign of sickness evident in the 7 hosts and the only visible sign of the removal of the “bug” is bulky scar tissue within and around the ear canal.
Conclusion:
If a Divine Caster with the ability to harm enemies in a radius burst were to surround him or herself with individuals who were suffering under the will of such “bugs”, they could cast a large burst of damaging energy destroying the bugs inside the heads of the infected and injuring moderately or severely the host allies (providing they possess the ability to select who did, or did not, suffer the outrages of negative energy and eliminate them from the negative energy altogether). In addition, although allies may be injured and the “bug” inside the brain may die and infect the hosts with a disease (even if the priest had the ability to channel their energy selectively), the hosts suffering infection due to the decomposing corpses of the “bugs” inside the skull could be healed with a Cure Disease spell. An infection will not always result, but seems to be a minor setback in order to free the mind of an ally affected and under the will of the “bug”.
|
Orunla Kalfu: Oracle - of the Silver Kobolds
Ranking: Leader (purportedly second in command)
Notes: A bit of a witch-doctor, this "Juju-man" Orunla is a somewhat morally ambiguous character. He is somewhat morally ambiguous, and leaves Sir Sylvath rather uncomfortable, but the knight seems to tolerate Ornula. He used his abilities to channel negative energy to kill the bug-creatures latched to the brains of those controlled by the Osirons. There were no casualties due to his actions, and he followed our directives, but he would not have had any qualms about hurting the infected in the process, as he felt that they followed our enemies, thus deserved punishment as though mercy were a rather foreign concept to him...
See Sylvath's notes for full description of his history
Orunla was hatched in the Mwangi Expance and raised by a shaman there, at which point he traveled, meeting Grymm and the silvers, taking a position of prominence among the silver kobold, likely due to his prophetic abilities and mystical powers.
Faith: Claims to worship "The Great Serpent". Agent Longread concludes that he venerates the idea of serpent-kind as opposed to the evil serpent deity "Ydersius", as he is lacking the evil aura of a priest of an evil god. This sort of shamanistic belief-system is consistant with reports on Mwangi. He also worships the spirit voodoo god Damballah Wedo from whom he derives his powers.
He appears to wield power over the dead, but does not create evil abominations like most undead. It is suspected that he uses a ritual more akin to possession to animate bodies. The creations are not in face Evil per se, but are certainly not good.
Further study may be merited. Need to question Grymm after case
|
|
The Case of the Brain-Controlling Bugs
File Number: 002
Addendum to Previous Dossier
The culminations of numerous disturbances was the beheading and display of two of the cultists. They were killed in a territorial dispute between the cultists and one of the local fixtures on the city. The individual in question demanded control over gambling and prostitution in addition to a portion of narcotics, leaving strong-arm protection rackets as well as most of the black market traffic.”
This individual has skilled and dangerous men at his disposal as well as vast recourses. If intending to pursue action, great care must be taken.
Spreading Chaos
It seems that the cult was responsible for several incidents of Arson, attacked alleged collectors of Grishnak, Bounty-hunters, and a caravan from the DeVille's Casino. These should be announced as to restore confidence in the city's Order.
People of Note:
Vincent DeVille
Owner of a lucrative casino, as well as of several high-end "Escorts". It is likely that he provides a variety of narcotics in his establishment.
[b]Grishnak[b]
Rough and tumble Black-marketeer is suspected to run protection rackets and deal in illicit materials.
Further study is merited on most counts