GM Kiora's Wrath of the Righteous

Game Master Kiora Atua

Ehren flies in through the door, past an abandoned receptionist's desk. Behind the desk is a door which leads to a down-wards staircase. Hearing Isilme's taunting coming from that direction, Ehren flies down the staircase and finds himself inside a bathhouse. Patrons wrapped in nothing but towels scream and struggle through the narrow hallway towards the door. Past them, inside the bath-house, Ehren can see two Legionnaires who seem to be running in his direction.

There is a map in Roll20

Unafe heads out of the tavern and into the street. Outside, in Westcrown, it is early morning and the weather is temperate. The streets are cobbled stone, and various people pass by with horses pulling wagons full of goods into market. Given Unafe's distinctive appearance, she catches the attention of pretty much everyone on the street, but people tended to try and avoid her eye contact after that.

Ehren flies down the hallway. Below him, the Legionnaires look up and stare at him, but otherwise continue running down the hallway in the same direction that he is flying.

Ehren flits above the curtains and into the next room, which serves as both a changing room and a sauna, outpacing the running Legionnaires down the hall. Here he finds Isilme, naked save for a towel wrapped around her, and her haversack in one arm.

Isilme sees Ehren fly in, in the form of a tiny redstart. He stands out due to his polymorphic pouch.

Ehren has used 1 move action this round.

Ehren is up!

"I understand that perspective, yes. It was not the perspective that I had, however. He wasn't acting on behalf of divinity, and was following the laws as to what sort of magic was allowed. His intention was the same as yours: To protect people with the knowledge that he has. I don't at all believe that Avi has done anything illegal or even immoral in all of this." Ary says, shaking her head.

"Ah." she says, after Jamal reveals the forked tongue, though doesn't remark on the newfound understanding. Jamal was a person who had chosen their path... but perhaps particularly enjoyed it due to the circumstances of their birth. That means that they likely well understood Xander's predicament if nothing else... though likely did not agree with it any more than she did.

"Yes, I'm aware of that. Back in Drezen, I've done my best to make allowances for such things... but this is not Drezen, nor do I expect my customs to be honored here. I'm not asking forgiveness for my ignorance, only supplying that these things were done from a point of ignorance rather than malice." she says, inclining her head to the inquisitor.

She tilts her head slightly as Jamal speaks, "If he contacts me, which I suspect he won't... given that he will likely view my choice to defend your guards as a betrayal, for which I do not blame him... I will suggest that he does. I don't hold any special power over him, though. I can't surrender him, but I can suggest he surrender himself. Regardless, that is more than fair in my eyes, and better than I should hope for, given the circumstances."

"Honestly... in your opinion," Ary asks, thumb on the spot of her missing ring once more, "is there a way out of this for Xander? What sort of sentencing is he looking at? I... suspect far longer in prison than a hobgoblin has, at best."

The grate in the floor below Ehren moves on its own. It is pushed aside, resting next to the opening.

Isilme is up!

Jahani whispers in message: "Come on! Hurry up!"

Jamal considers Ary's question before answering. "The minimum sentencing is fifteen years in prison. But there also may be a bail posted, depending on how the trial goes."

They smile. "We wouldn't need for Xander to contact you, as we could use magic and have you serve as the messenger. It would put you in a trance until Xander fell asleep, however, so it would make more sense to wait until the evening to arrange for the casting. Until then, I will be sure to let you know if we learn anything of Aravashnial or Isilme's whereabouts."

Jamal gets ready to stand. "Do you have any other pertinent information to share? If not, I have a lot of information to disseminate on to the others right away."

Ehren flies down in through the grates, then Isilme closes the grate behind them. They sneak down through chute into the sewer system beneath Azir. They immediately take off through the sewers, and for several moments it just appears to be Ehren flying after Isilme, but then Jahani appears abruptly in front of them both, Isilme's hand gripped in hers.

Jahani leads them through the sewer system through a winding path for several minutes, before finally coming to a rest. "Okay. I think that's far enough. We can take a break to get dressed, at least. It is very difficult to track through running water."

Her face breaks into a grin as she wraps Isilme into a tight hug, that lingers for many moments. "Shadi! I cannot believe it is you. Have you come to save me, yet again?" She looks up into Isilme's eyes. "It appears my cover has been blown."

She takes a step back, looking up and down at Isilme's body while she starts to put her clothes back on from her pack. "I approve of the disguise," she says with a smirk.

Jahani nods to Ehren. "Well met, Ehren," she says, still smiling. Her smile vanishes when Isilme mentions Aravashnial.

"I did not know you knew Aravashnial!" Jahani exclaims with surprise. She averts her gaze, sighs, and then shares what she knows. "I know where Aravashnial is, but it's not an answer you're going to like," Jahani says with a grimace. "So there's this evil cabal of wizards called the Blackfyre Adepts. They seek the destruction of civilization using terrible outsiders. They're not nice people, and about a month ago, I helped some new friends of mine oppose them. Two of us infiltrated their secret base, they were masquerading as slavers, and we thought they killed all of them... but it turns out we may have not been thorough enough."

"Well, they got their revenge, capturing my friends just yesterday morning, and getting Aravashnial caught up in the process. I've been biding my time, trying to figure out a way to break them out, but today my intel indicates that the increased Legionnaire activity around the city's entrance points has got the Blackfyres spooked. From what I've been able to gather, the Blackfyre Adepts are planning on moving on to greener pastures -- which could mean practically anywhere other than Rahadoum -- and they've been making the most of their remaining time in Azir by interrogating their captives rather ruthlessly. It seems that they Blackfyre Adepts just can't pass up a good opportunity to gloat over their revenge, but they're sure to tire of it soon and just execute the lot of them. Last I heard, the slavers are departing on a caravan the morning after tomorrow, and you can bet our friends will be dead before then."

"We will conclude cataloguing your belongings once I am done with my report. I feel that time is of the essence, after all."

Jamal shakes their head. "You will need to spend at least one evening in the cell, I'm afraid. I will return later. Thank you very much for your cooperation."

Jamal then leaves, and Ary is escorted back to her cell to wait.

Once back to her cell, Ary moves back to her cot and leans against the wall, concentrating for a moment. She needed to know whether or not she could trust Jamal... and tieflings of their particular origin tended to delight in the suffering of people like... well, her entire group. It wasn't their fault, really, just the same as she wouldn't blame the tieflings back home.

She had taken time to study the various types of native outsiders, those planetouched within Golarion... mostly as a matter of the sheer amount of their enemies being the downtrodden amongst them... but even still, she had garnered a bit of information on specific individuals...

Ary will spend 2 MP to use Knowledge (Planes) Exploit, Legend Lore, with Jamal Toulali as the target.

Finally, she huffs and draws her legs up against her body, ready to settle in for a bit once more. Is the whistler still whistling?

Xander then takes off down the street, asking around if anyone knows an inn with large rooms or any parks with nice fields for them to relax and regroup in.

Jahani shakes her head. "No, I don't know how many of them are left. It's not like everyone who works in the compound is a Blackfyre Adept."

She scratches her chin. "Well, a month ago, after my friends raided the slaver compound the whole place was closed down for a bit, but the owner, Lady Sophini, opened the place back up again two weeks ago. I'm pretty sure they're there... I know a guard in the slaver compound who is fond of a particular barkeep friend of mine. I purchased the freedom of her brother and she's quite persuasive. I'm very certain of my information."

"But as for getting them out, I'm at a loss. I'm not much of a fighter, and I didn't participate much in the initial raid. But this is my idea: there must be more than one way into that compound, other than the front doors, of course. Maybe you can sneak over the walls into the center courtyard. But also... I know that the slavers are looking to pick up and leave, meaning they're probably interested in selling off as much of their inventory as possible to lighten the load, if you catch what I'm saying."

Jamal Toulali was born in Manaket to a father who serves as a high-ranking public servant in the Rahadoumi government. Legend has it, that Jamal was highest ranked in their class, all throughout their educational career. They quickly rose in ranks within the Pure Legion, coming to rest in their current position as investigator and chief interrogator in Azir, a title that comes with much prestige.

Due to their fiendish heritage, Jamal is much older than they appear. They live with their second wife and have five grown children, all of whom have attained various levels of merit and honor. Jamal's youngest child, Nourreddine, has already attained a small fortune as employed by the Aspis Consortium.

Jamal is well known for being notoriously hard on crime, particularly acts of divine terrorism or smuggling. They've eliminated the emergence of several cults within the walls of Azir, including hidden worshippers of Iomedae, Desna, Shelyn, and Nethys.

"The compound - Sophini's Servants - is in Keatb Park, close to the river," she responds. She shrugs at the next question. "Like, connected to the barracks? No, probably not. Not unless a prisoner dug a tunnel, or something like that.... or maybe they hired a really moronic architect to design the place?"

She leans back. "Now that my cover is blown I really need to get out of Rahadoum as soon as possible. What are you going to do?"

Xander is pointed to a nearby inn, nestled next to a monolithic statue of a devil, lined with runes. Inside, an elven man sits at a desk to greet them. When Xander asks for a room, the elf gives the hobgoblin one long look before sneering, "No, we don't have any rooms for your kind."

Jahani grins. "Well, I could certainly get us close to the barracks, but, that's the best I can do for you. I don't know anything about that place, and I plan to never have to find out! Do you want to head that way now?"

So the plan is 'go to the barracks and try to get gear back'? If you're ready to go then say so.

Ready to proceed.

"Alright... well, let's get a move-on, then," Jahani says, then takes off down a tunnel. She leads Ehren and Isilme through the sewers beneath Azir for an hour. Eventually, she comes to a stop. She points upwards to a grate 12' above them. Sunlight streams through it. There isn't a ladder to climb to reach the grate.

"This one will let you out about halfway down the street from the barracks. But... it'll probably be within eye-shot of any guards they have posted. This whole district is really busy in general until later at night. Lots of people out on the streets."

Perception(No Crown): 1d20 + 26 - 3 ⇒ (4) + 26 - 3 = 27

Jahani leans against the sewer wall and waits while Isilme paces around the tunnels, looking for an entryway from the sewers into the barracks. She only finds other grates in the ceiling that lead directly up into the streets. There are occasional small drainage pipes, large enough to maybe wedge your shoulder into, that empty human waste into the sewers, but Isilme has no way of knowing which buildings these pipes are attached to.

Isilme moves through the sewers until she thinks she could reasonably be beneath the barracks, but she isn't completely certain, as her vision of the street above is not clear. She then casts locate object on Cygnus, and walks around until she can tell it is almost directly above her.

Once he receives Isilme's invisibility spell, Ehren effortlessly scales the wall, gliding through the stone as though it were water. Disappearing into the ceiling, he then carefully ascends to the surface, aware that he might well be entering a well-guarded facility.

Stealth (Small, Invisible): 1d20 + 2 + 4 + 20 ⇒ (16) + 2 + 4 + 20 = 42

Too little, too late Ary realized that no matter how forthcoming and helpful Ary was... she had likely wound up with the worst possible investigator in terms of their 'crimes'. Jamal had fallen, apparently happily, into his heritage. The strange realization of it all, was that there were only good 'cults' - or at worst, neutral - amongst those they had ferreted out, suggesting that they were either corrupt, targeting good deities, or that the good cults tended to do as Ary did, and assume a misunderstanding could be explained away. Or, perhaps, the evil cultists fought to the death rather than be brought in.

On the bright side, if anyone was willing to go after a doomsday cult, she had likely chosen well in that regard. Everything else was particularly unfortunate, though. She quietly draws her legs up against her, and gets what rest she can.

Ary had been left to sit in her cell, listening to the whistler down the hall for a few hours. At that point, she had been escorted back to the interrogation room. The guard explained that they would need her assistance with cataloguing the divine contraband they discovered. Afterwards, she would be brought dinner, and then they could begin with reaching out to Xander so that Ary could ask him to turn himself in.

When Ehren emerges, invisible and tiny, through the stone floor, he finds himself in a window-less interrogation room. There is a decorated Pure Legionnaire sitting across from Ary Bishop, who is unarmored and unarmed. She has an iron collar around her neck and manacles that bind her arms together. On either side of her are two more armed legionnaires.

The Pure Legionnaire across from Ary, who is an androgynous Garundi person, has six bags laid out on the table in front of them. Ehren can identify that three of them were extradimensional bags that Ary typically carried, while one is Lann's backpack, and another is the messenger bag that Ehren had picked out for Hinagiku. The other is probably Valais' bag, based on the ink stains.

Outside of the bag, laid on the table between the Legionnaire and Ary, are all of the weapons that had been taken out. Cygnus, Radiance, and Faith stand out amongst the more mundane weaponry.

The Pure Legionnaire has a piece of parchment affixed to a slab, on which they are taking notes. "And whose is this?" they ask, showing a simple ring with a holy symbol of Irori on it. It appears to be the ring that Hinagiku usually wears.

Jamal Perception: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (9) + 16 = 25
Guard #1: 1d20 + 18 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 18 + 2 = 23
Guard #2: 1d20 + 18 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 18 + 2 = 34

DC 42 perception for Ary to notice Ehren.

Ary is leaning heavily on the table, head tilted to the side, though without her hands supporting it. "I can't be positive... but I believe it would belong to Daisy. It's the right aesthetic, but... I've honestly never noticed the ring before." Ary replies, looking completely bored at this point with cataloguing everything. "Is it magical in some way, or just jewelry? I... don't really notice nonmagical things most of the time."

"Everyone's bags and weapons are in the room," Ehren reports when he reenters the sewer, still hanging from the ceiling. "There are three Legionnaires, and they have Ary in there. It looks like they are having her determine which magical items belong to whom. The room is torchlit. One door, no windows."

Ehren pauses for a moment before asking, "If you have a way up, do you have a way to bring Ary back down?"

"No hole as far as I could tell. If you think you can deflect their suspicions, then whatever tricks you can pull off are worth it."

Eyeing the ground, Ehren looks for a small piece of debris to enact their plan on. From Isilme's perspective the piece of stone appears to float off the ground, held in the elemental's invisible, outstretched hand. After a second, a field of inky darkness spreads out from the rock, engulfing the sewer around them. She would then feel a rough, stony hand brush against her own - for a time her eyes would be able to pierce the darkness like they once did.

"Alright, let's get started."

Stealth (Small, Invisible): 1d20 + 2 + 4 + 20 ⇒ (13) + 2 + 4 + 20 = 39

Ehren spends 1 MP to use deeper darkness on the rock as a spell-like ability. Once Isilme has cast silence on the rock, Ehren will grant her cavesight for 1 minute and then head back up.