|
"Why don't you tell me the details of your trip, sweetie?" Ansha says, her tone suddenly taking on a warmth that had not been present a moment before. "Was anyone expecting you? When?"
She shoots Ursahla a look--more 'not yet' than 'no'--and shakes her head almost imperceptibly. The enchantress looks back to her newfound 'friend', and fights monumentally not to let her immense pleasure about charming a trained wizard show on her face.
The mage is happy to discuss the details of his mission, but thanks to Venture-Captain Heidmarch's intelligence gathering and your own discoveries here, it's a story you're already familiar with.
|
|
"Perhaps it would be best if you disappeared for a while," Ansha suggests. She nods her head in the direction of the wagons and their clearly Aspis-themed wheels. "I can't imagine they are going to want you showing up empty-handed now, are they? Especially since you're friends with the bandits who ransacked the caravan. They will think that you were in on it, for sure. So maybe a trip to Riddleport or Korvosa is in your immediate future."
Two hours before the auction is slated to begin, Sheila Heidmarch calls everyone back to the theater for another emergency briefing. She appears greatly agitated and her tenor is one of immediacy.
“My friends, we have little time and much work to do, so I’m going to make this simple. While you were dealing with the Aspis Consortium, my informants in the city investigated the individuals you reported on from last night’s gala. It seems a number of them have sufficient funds to jeopardize our efforts. In what little time remains, I need you to prevent as many of them from participating in the auction as possible. My agents will provide each of your groups with a mission brief. Once you complete the task, return here to inform us of the results, and we shall quickly set you upon another mission. Again, we need you to complete as many missions as you can before the auction starts. But remember to keep your efforts clandestine and try not to kill anyone important. We’re still trying to win the auction somewhat legally.”
Ansha is able to send the Aspis snake on his way, no doubt spurred by his personal knowledge of how vindictive his masters can be towards failure.
I think we got lucky with our merchant friend, Falrig Sneve. He mentioned that he was trying to conserve funds for the auction,so we sent him a invitation to stay at the Haruka House on the grounds of Heidmarch Manor. If you have yet to see it, the Haruka House sits alone on the west side of the main house and is the most luxurious of the four Thassilonian cottages on the property.
As far as I can tell, Sneve suspects us of no foul play. Still, we can't have him mucking up the auction, can we?
Thankfully, you've provided us with some key information that will allow us to proceed in a more civilized manner. Somehow trick him into believing that the Runecarved Key is cursed, and he should withdraw from the auction without any further urging. Ensure no actual harm comes to him, though, as such would reject poorly upon the Society and Heidmarch Manor.
Got it?
|
|
"Good. Just like that," the elf woman said. Her mother, Lady Elizaera Saeralyan. "Do you see how pliable a man's mind is when you offer even the slightest hint of interest?"
Ansha nodded, noting the vacant stare the other elf--the latest of a train of suitors, though she had never bothered remembering his name--was giving her.
"Now, find something creative to do with him. Test just how far you can push him. You know: sex, murder, that sort of thing," Elizaera said, her tone bereft of any sense of humor such that Ansha could not tell just how serious the woman was. Her mother gave her a wave of the hand and departed the sitting room, quite content to leave Ansha to her own devices.
"Hmm," Ansha said, studying her suitor, a handsome, raven-haired elf with blue eyes and the lean physique of an athlete, a runner. She pondered her options, and a smile suddenly lit up her face like a break of sunshine through a wall of clouds. She held out her hand to the man. "Kiss my hand," she ordered. "And then give me a massage. Oh, and call me, 'mistress.'"
"Yes, mistress," the man replied, kissing her hand. She sat in an opulent armchair, and he moved behind her to place his hands on her slender shoulders, slowly kneading out the tension in her delicate frame. He was good at this.
The enchantress woke up with a moan. Blinking, Ansha took a second to reorient herself to her lodgings--this was not her ancestral manorhouse. With a sigh, she sat up and slowly crawled out of bed before finding a servant to draw a hot tub of water and bathe herself. After an interminable period of time during which she reminisced about how she had ended up here, of all places, the elf stood, water running in rivulets down her svelte form, and retrieved a nearby towel. Drying off, she retrieved her spellbook and spent some time poring over the text and comparing it to that of the codex she had confiscated from that charmed Aspis mage. Finally, she dressed, throwing her long mane of platinum-blond hair over her shoulders and heading downstairs.
She arrived at the meeting just a couple of minutes late, as usual. Joining the others of her team, she was unusually quiet, still caught up in the memories of her dream last night.
|
Seren is currently rummaging around one of Shiela's cabinets as the briefing is given, and nearly drops a small statuette when the mention of curses comes up. She puts the valuable back in the wrong spot and wanders over to Rogar. "Don't be so glum, big guy! Connin' is fun, it's just putting on a show and our elfy friend is real good at that. Besides, he's got better thin's to do with his money than waste it on a rock like we are."
The little medium then puffs out her chest as well, setting her hands on her hips "AND with me around, anythin' can be cursed. Chaucer says I'm a walking cat'stropy, which has to be impressive. And I gots ghosts, we can spook'em with those."
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Ansha laughs. "My dear, flattery will get you everywhere," she teases. "Alright, so I suppose we need to invite ourselves in to the Haruka House, first. After that, I will act concerned and give our friend a tale about how one of my companions"--she gestures at Ursahla--"managed to touch the key, and how she has been acting strangely ever since. Ursahla comes stumbling in, looking like she's seen a ghost, and maybe looking like her hand has withered. Seren, you...you do you. That eyes rolling up in your head thing should be a nice touch, as well. So maybe at an appropriate point in the conversation after Ursahla arrives,
you start acting weird and let a ghost possess you or something."
"Sound good? Good." She heads for the door. "Rogar, you're with me--you'll be my straight man."
With that, Ansha takes Rogar's hand and starts leading him toward Haruka House.
She bursts through the door to Haruka House a few minutes later, taking several steps forward before whirling around to address Rogar, who is presumably trailing behind her. "--I'm telling you, that thing is cursed! Did you see what happened after she touched it?" she exclaims, loud enough to be heard in other rooms of the guesthouse.
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Ursahla takes the guise of the servant girl as she had earlier.
'Tis true. I was careless when we were preparing the hall for the gala and touched it. I thought nothing of it. I assumed that the people carrying it in with gloves must have been those odd fellows that touch nothing but, but...
Ursahla does her best to act distressed.
Sneve isn't a credulous man, and looks like he's trying to keep his cool, but clearly is greatly concerned. But, but, I touched the key! What else did you do? A thought seems to strike him, How long ago did you touch it?
|
|
You do you... you do you... I'll do me! Seren is hiding just outside the door, scrunched down into a half crouch and psyching herself up with an internal mantra while shaking her balled fists.
When Ansha gives the queue Seren bursts into the door behind the others, a hand held up accusingly. "I didn't touch nothin'! And even if I did, it was only for a second and only because that bi' old rock was really shin... shiny?" From a rush of activity she suddenly goes quiet, stumbling where she'd been striding before as her eyes roll back and her skin goes ghostly white.
"Release us... feed us..." A new voice rasps out of Seren's throat and she takes two more steps, contorting awkwardly before she simply drops like a dead weight into a heap on the floor. Over the next minute some of her color returns to now clammy skin, but she remains unmoving... except for once or twice where she peeks out of one eye to see what's going on.
By the time Seren collapses to the ground, Sneve is already recoiling as far across the room as he can manage. Get her out of- get out! Everyone who's so much as looked at the damned key get out!
As you leave you can here him frantically inquiring with his servants as to which of his favored exorcists can see him soonest - you get the sense that he won't want to risk further "exposure."
Back at the main house in the manor, another messenger awaits you with a new task:
I need not warn you how much of a threat Lady Kaddren is to our mission—she is wealthy, powerful, a wizard, and, as you have learned, she hates the Society.
Thankfully, after her display with Ms. Ansha, we have focused our efforts, and we seem to have uncovered her weakness: scandal!
It seems the lady has been seen slipping in and out of the tower of the Golemworks’s master wizard, Toth Bhreacher, at unusual hours. If the two of them are involved in an affair, it could imply Lady Kaddren might be showing Toth political favoritism—an illicit act that would also break her family’s long-standing efforts to keep nobility and business separate. Such evidence might stand to ruin her if it fell into the hands of her rivals. I need you to collect, fabricate, or purchase enough hard evidence to be able to blackmail her. While
blackmailing her won’t help ease her opinion of the Pathfinder Society, it is perhaps the only way we can get her to back out of the auction.
|
|
Ansha ushers everyone else out, giving Sneve a glance over her shoulder as she goes. As soon as she is quite sure he is out of earshot, she starts giggling uncontrollaby. "Oh, by the Unquenchable Fire, that was funny. Did you see the expression on his face when he saw you, Seren? I thought his eyes were going to pop out of his head!"
Back at the main house, she sobers when the messenger approaches. "Shame. I was rather hoping to get her into a scandal of my own," she muses wryly when Lady Kaddren and Toth's possible relationship comes up. She looks at the others. "I doubt breaking and entering will get us anywhere. Anyone good with forgery? Maybe some fabricated love letters."
|
|
"We have less than two hours til the auction starts, or I would see about consulting some acquaintances for more details on Zimandi and Toth," Ansha says. "I guess the best place to start is going to be the Golemworks tower, no? Maybe we can get a lead off of a guard outside."
Unless someone else has a better idea, that's precisely where Ansha heads.
|
|
Toth is the master wizard, of the Golemwork's. It's likely that there is something in his hand readily available. Let me pursue that route while you try another angle.
Ursahla dons the guise of her information broker identity and tries to follow some leads on Toth.
Assuming she can find a sample, Ursahla will purchase a forgery kit and get to work creating some incriminating letters of an affair between Toth and Lady Kaddren.
|
|
Ansha gives Ursahla a curious look through narrowed eyes. She nods. "Alright. In the meantime, I suppose I can try to track down some additional leads from Zimandi's end. Why don't the three of you keep me company?" She gestures at Seren, Tess, and Rogar. "I like having an audience anyway."
Ansha will try to track down rumors about Zimandi's involvement with Toth, especially in taverns and restaurants the two have been known to frequent.
You're able to get a sample of Toth's writing from a former student of his who is susceptible to Ansha's... charms. However, the forgery proves to be more difficult than Ursahla is able to quickly master - though the handwriting is a better than fair approximation, you don't feel you've truly managed to capture his style. And since you're blackmailing Lady Kaddren with this, it needs to be something she'll believe is really his.
|
"Looks good to me... but that's not saying much I'm afraid. If we are not satisfied with this "proof" we could try to sneak inside her Ladyship's abode and search her stuff. It could be she kept some mementos of her escapades... Sometimes ladies are surprisingly sentimental after all" Rogar comments after examining the forged papers.
|
|
Sneakin’ seems like a good idea. I don’t think I can help much with all this stuff except maybe be distractin’. I get called that a lot. I could go chat with the guards to keep’em busy?”. Seren is, in fact, currently distracting herself by staring at Tessara and trying to find where her monkey is hiding while whispering to herself.
With a master forger among you, it's not too difficult to put together something that should convince the Lady Kaddren that Toth has been indiscrete about their indiscretions.
Sheila's next task is rather less cerebral:
We’re still a little short on funds and we need to make some quick coin! If you’re daring enough, head over to the Alabaster District and enter a hydra baiting competition at the Serpent’s Run coliseum. The Master of Games, Axetongue Droaeb, has offered a decent sized purse to
adventurers willing to get in the ring with one of his ferocious multi-headed beasts. As always, this event draws a tremendous crowd, one whose coin will more than double the purse he pays to contest participants.
Do remember, this is about giving the crowd a show. So you may be big brave heroes, but try not to kill they hydras too quickly. Of course, if any of you look like you're in mortal peril, Axetongue will call the fight, so do try not to die while you're in there either.
|
|
Ansha is less jubilant about Zimandi Kaddren's circumstances, and she remains subdued as the group returns to their next assignment. Hearing that the Venture-captain now wants them to fight hydras for sport, she arches an eyebrow and turns to give Rogar a sardonic smirk. "So, you've got this one, right? I can just stand and watch from the sidelines?"
Hydras are huge scaled monsters with an abnormal number of heads. They are famously reluctant to die - if you slice off one of their heads it'll even regrow unless you seal the stump with fire or acid!
You have about an hour before the match is scheduled so make any preparations you would like before then