Unafe nods. "I of course hope we can still help Isilme and the rest of our companions...but of course if that becomes impossible, I agree. I have duties to the Demetae.
"What do you mean by preparations? Would you be able to teleport us back there?"
"It is enchanted with Iroran magic. It assists with squirming out of bonds, among other things," Jamal says, with disinterest. They tag the ring, write out the tag, and then complete the corresponding paperwork. It is a fairly tedious process.
"We're almost finished," Jamal says apologetically, noticing Ary's boredom. They place the ring back into Hinagiku's messenger bag.
"Next, whose is this?" Jamal lifts Isilme's celestial armor, which was forged in Janderhoff.
At that moment, the room goes dark, but not so dark that the heroes were unable to see. The room also goes silent - Ary can see Jamal's lips moving, their eyes wide with surprise - but no voice comes out. Unseen to all of them, Ehren has come up through the floor, invisible, and Isilme has teleported in right behind him, appearing in the corner behind Jamal.
Isilme and Ehren are up!
"The big recent attack took place at Sophini's Servants," says the physician, gravely. "Whole place was closed down for a couple of weeks, but I heard they recently reopened. Rumor is that the terrorists are Desnan, but others swear they must be Caydenites..."
Stepping forward towards the side of the table nearest to Ary, Isilme snatches the silvery rapier from the table, feeling the strong connection she had to her goddess expand into a raging torrent of divine power. Within an instant she has regained her full set of powers and prepares to lunge for Faith next.
Ary's eyes widen as everything goes dark... and she soon discovers, quiet, as she says not-quite-aloud "Babau?"
Xander pauses for a few moments to contemplate as they walk, weighing the benefits of certain options against others. "I'm certainly capable of returning us to Rahadoum, or teleporting us closer to Mendev," he says. "However, I cannot transport us quite as far as Ehren, and using teleportation is extremely tiring. I can only do it every few days, which means it could take multiple stops for us to get back to Mendev. It may be faster to simply take a ship."
He withdraws a scroll from his pack. "I have one scroll of sending left, and that experience nearly having all of my belongings confiscated left me with the desire to use all of them." He takes the scroll in his hands and looks at it, frowning lightly. "When do you think we should use it? The last time I contacted, I got no information."
Jamal's eyes shoot up as they notice the rapier float up into mid air and become jerked away from the table, along with one of Ary's bags. They scowl and yell something but it goes unheard.
Behind Ary, the two other guards are obviously completely unable to see in the darkness. They grope around blindly. The one on her left brushes against Ary and then reaches out, trying to grab hold of her arm.
Isilme and Ehren are up!
Jamal stands up, pulling a small vial from inside of their robes in one fluid motion. They open the vial, raise it to their nose, and inhale. When they open their eyes, they're staring directly at Isilme with narrowed eyes, then darting to Ehren. Cygnus floats visibly at Isilme's waist, and so does Radiance in midair in her left hand. Another bag of holding floats in midair in front of Ehren. Jamal draws their rapier, their face set in a stoic expression.
Ary is up!
Ary starts to resist, seeing everything cast into darkness and worried for the guards' safety. She presses her hand against the guard's, gently pressing it away, but then bites her lip and presses her hands on the table firmly. But then, when she sees Cygnus rise into the air, she pushes up from the table and tries to get out of the grip of the guard. One of two things was true: Either her friends' gear was being stolen by cultists, or her friends were stealing their gear back. She had a trick to possibly know the difference. She would normally automatically assume the former... but Cygnus had been selected first... and she hadn't been personally attacked yet.
Jamal has an aura of see invisibility.
The Legionnaire who has ahold of Ary maintains his iron grip. He maneuvers so that he can pin her against the table. The other legionnaire stumbles backwards, feeling for the door, and cracks it open.
Isilme and Ehren are up!
With that done, Ehren grabs the last of Ary's bags before slowly sinking into the floor, just as he did before.
Jamal lunges forwards with their rapier, lancing it straight through Isilme's thigh. Their eyes dart to the floor as Ehren vanishes straight through it. They scowl.
Ary is up!
Isilme deftly dodges each of Jamal's expert blows, after calling out once to cast a spell, loud enough for Ary to hear her from her position of being pinned against the table.
Ary is up!
When Xander mentions he can only teleport every few days, Unafe asks, "Oh! Well, it is surely very powerful magic. You mention a scroll of sending. Do you have any scrolls to enable you to teleport? Or do you think there might be some here in Westcrown?
"I mostly want to get to bed and rest off my injuries, and keep from drawing the attention of these devil worshippers...but if a scroll could help us return to aid our allies, we should see if there's one for sale here.
"Do you know where one would look for such a thing here? If not, I can ask my ancestors. They have a way of learning from the spirits that dwell nearby."
As soon as Ary hears Isilme's voice, she stops struggling against the guard.
One of the blinded Legionnaires stumbles out of the door and into the hall, out of sight. The other maintains their grip on Ary, keeping her still.
Isilme and Ehren are up!
Jamal scowls, taking a step back as Isilme and Ehren and all of their gear disappear in an instant. They leave the room, closing the door behind them. The door closed again, the Legionnaire relaxes his grip on Ary and allows her to sit back upright.
Several moments later, Jamal returns. They make no effort to mask the irritation in their face. "A half-orc woman with raven-black hair, and an earth elemental. Isilme and Ehren."
Sitting across from Ary, they clear their throat, and ask, simply,"Was that a coordinated attack? It is highly conspicuous that only your belongings were taken by them."
Narrowing their eyes, they ask directly, "Isilme is a Crusader, correct? You are Lord-Commander of Drezen. That makes her your subordinate. Was she working under your orders just now?"
Isilme reappears in the sewers, where Jahani and Ehren are waiting for her. Jahani greets her with a hug. "I can't believe you actually pulled that off!" She takes a step back. "We should get moving. But where should we go?"
Jahani thinks for a moment. "Sure. Honestly, if you think you can disguise yourself, probably the best place for us to hide is at some random inn. Perhaps we could pose as sisters? I think we should get out of the sewers as soon as possible."
Isilme clears her mind of the various thoughts about the situation and begins gathering the little bit of divine power she has left to draw upon. First she traces out the divine rune 'बेडौल' in the air before her, building its glowing form stroke by stroke. She then enchants herself with it, regaining her ability to change her shape at will. Focusing on an appearance similar to Jahani, Isilme's half-orcen form shifts slowly until she takes on the appearance of a tall Mauxi woman, slightly older than Jahani.
She then holds up Cygnus before her, tracing out another glowing rune in the air, this time 'धोखे', the divine symbol representing deception. As she enchants Cygnus with it, its form seems to shift into that of a relatively plain looking longsword with a used but well-cared-for scabbard. She then hangs the 'longsword' back on her waist and digs out her sleeves of many garments, using them to change up her outfit to be something more appropriate to a traveler visiting the city.
"I'll need you to hold my bag," he says to Isilme, pulling on the backpack and nodding to the polymorphic pouch. "I can only change back and forth so many times, and the mirror I use for scrying is in there... not to mention how conspicuous a bird with a backpack is." Ehren then eyes Ary's shield and grimaces, not particularly fond of what he has in mind. "I can carry Faith, for the time being. It'll meld with me when I transform again, so it won't stand out."
For lack of a better way to store it, Ehren reluctantly straps the shield onto his left arm. The act alone just feels wrong, and not just because he hasn't used a shield in years. It is not just a piece of gear, but a physical representation of the Bishop family legacy. A legacy he most certainly isn't a part of. The only thing that could make it feel worse is if he also took up Radiance and started swinging it around.
I'm sorry, Ary. I'll make sure this gets back to you in one piece, he promises as he shrinks down again, taking on the form of a colorful songbird.
"Alright. We need to get to a quieter part of the city before we try to get back out on the streets," says Jahani. "Let's move quickly. I can wait until we emerge on the streets"
Jahani leads the way, and the three take off down the sewers. They move for about 45 minutes, sticking to the water so that they don't leave any tracks.
There is a scrying sensor hovering over Isilme.
Isilme flips the bird to the scrying sensor hovering above. "Stuff it Jerribeth, I'm not in the mood right now."
Jahani notices Isilme stop. She turns around and heads back to her. "What's going on?"
Unafe, together with Xander and Valais, look for an out of the way place to sit for a minute.
"Keep a watch, please. I can't hear or see much other than the Ancestors when I do this."
Unafe sits crosslegged on the ground and starts to call out in Hallit to the ancestors. As she does, she lets the sacred saurians and her own ancestors open her to the whispering of the local spirits, and all they overhear.
Ehren had hitched a ride on Isilme's shoulder, more out of pragmatism than laziness. Seeing Isilme speak and gesture to someone unseen, the thrush tilts its head, recognizing the telltale shimmer of an invisible scrying sensor. Evidently, they would have to accelerate things even more than they already have.
Familiar with the workings of the spell from his own extensive use of it, Ehren takes flight down the sewer, beyond the range of the sensor's sight. His beady little eyes glow as he draws on ambient ley energy, tapping through the stone sewer to the closest line his senses can find. Reaching out with his will, he then attempts to unravel the magic composing the spell.
The scrying sensor winks out of existence, unraveled by the archdruid's magic.
While it was absolutely brazen enough for something Isilme would go for... hearing herself be called Commander Bishop - not her rank - by a friend - someone whom she had explicitly requested to just call her Ary, tripped several alarms in Ary's head. Why would Isilme refer to her as her commanding officer in this... except to implicate her? She turns her head and tests the silence once more, now that she could hear, maybe she could speak. "Are they still..?" she begins, but then watches as Jamal disappears into the hallway.
That left her with still enough time to remember what was said. While the intonation had sounded like her friend, the spoken words... hadn't. Calling upon Desna was something Isilme would absolutely do, but not actually calling her Desna. She only did that when she was explaining her faith to a newcomer... otherwise she always used titles.
Once again too late to realize her mistake, as the guard relinquishes his grip on her, she simply keeps her head pressed to the table. "Isilme is going to kill me. How did they find us?" Having turned herself in had essentially lead to the vast majority of their belongings disappearing, perhaps forever.
Who knew they were here? Her friends, of course. The head spy of the Crusades. Sosiel, but not that she was specifically here. She couldn't imagine that any of those were leaks... which meant that someone here was a leak? But that they were directly tied to people who would directly target her and her people was...
Ary stays put until Jamal re-enters the room, whereupon her dark study was broken. She doesn't doesn't quite lift her head to meet the interrogator's gaze.
"No. It was not a coordinated attack and I did not give orders. That was not Isilme. It sounded like her at first, but then it was... off. My friends don't call me by my rank or my last name, unless I'm being teased. Isilme wouldn't make such a silly mistake as to make it clear who she was, either. She wouldn't give you certainty when there could still be doubt." She says with a huff. "And I don't think I've ever heard her refer to Desna as Desna except when she'd just met someone."
"She's going to kill me, I've lost her sword and her spellbook..." she pauses, looking even more defeated, "Faith and Radiance..." she says, closing her eyes for a moment and taking a deeper breath. "Only a tool." she says, though it doesn't sound as though she's quite certain of that.
Eyes still closed, she asks, "Have you seen any scrying censers? Would you be able to detect them in here? You... don't have to answer that last part." she says, fingers moving to the bridge of her nose as she pinches and tries to think. She opens her eyes after a moment, "There's a powerful demonic cultist who has been watching us... if you don't have some sort of leak here, and I can't imagine many Worldwound cults would keep contacts here..." she pauses for a moment, before shaking her head, "That's the only thing that makes sense. Jerribeth. We know she can travel quickly, she can cast scrying magic... She's a cultist of Baphomet, too..." her head droops. "This is exactly their MO. Gods, she must be delighted in the discord she's sewn here." she finishes, despondently.
Jamal's demeanor softens somewhat. "You've been very cooperative so far, Bishop, so forgive me for doubting you." They bridge their fingers together. "We will be moving you to a more secure location immediately. Now, you'll understand I have much to do. We will meet again when we proceed with our attempt to contact Xander."
The Legionnaires seem to take Ary's previous requests for privacy with much more seriousness this time around. Ary is transported, manacled with her arms behind her back, in the back of a horse-drawn carriage. These horses were the first Ary had seen in Rahadoum, and they were beautiful, with silvery manes and pure white fur.
The carriage has drapes drawn to ensure privacy, which also obstructs Ary's view of where they are going in the city. By the time the carriage doors open, they have come into the keep of an enormous castle carved out of red and white stone. She is lead into a tower, where she scales many levels before coming to a cell that is just off the tower. Inside, the inner walls are made of wood, onto which an elaborate mosaic magical circle has been inlaid on the ceiling. There is a small bed, a small toilet (enchanted with prestidigitation), and a bench.
When Ary enters the cell, her form immediately shifts back to that of a half-elf, causing her guard escorting her to become visibly surprised. She doesn't do anything else, though, simply locking the heavy door behind her - it was barred closed on the other end.
Soon later, Ary is brought a tray with utensils, and dinner. There is a flask of water and a slice of savory pie baked with pigeons, called a bastila. It was better prepared than her lunch was.
Lann is given no explanation to why he was being moved. He is moved in a darkened carriage, alone, across the city to an enormous castle carved out of red and white stone. He is lead into a tower, where he scales many levels before coming to a cell that is just off the tower. Inside, the inner walls are made of wood, onto which an elaborate mosaic magical circle has been inlaid on the ceiling. There is a small bed, a small toilet (enchanted with prestidigitation), and a bench.
Soon later, Lann is brought a tray with utensils, and dinner. There is a flask of water and a slice of savory pie baked with pigeons, called a bastila. It was better prepared than his lunch was.
Jahani pulls Isilme into one last hug. "If you insist. Please, be careful, take care of yourselves." She points down one of the sewer tunnels. "This big tunnel will eventually lead out into the river, far outside of the city.... but the ducts are fenced off with iron grates. Your friend Ehren could get through easily being so small, but you won't be able to squeeze through. Or, you can take this tunnel, it opens into an exit that's large enough for a person to go through... but it leads straight into a very busy area of the river, as it is a loading and un-loading area for goods that come into Azir. That area will be less busy later at night, at least...."
She pauses, and gives one final word of advice. "Be discrete. As disgusting as it is, slavery is legal in Rahadoum, and Sophini's is an establishment that pays its taxes. If the Adepts find out you're in the compound, it won't be long before they call for the Pure Legion in to surround the place and back them up. Act decisively."
She then takes off in the opposite direction, trudging through the sewers.
Turning to Ehren, Isilme mulls over their options. "Lets head out of the city. I think I should be able to get through the grates without much effort using magic."
"I concur. We probably shouldn't reenter the city until we are ready to strike."
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Unafe determines that:
- Most upper-class commerce takes place in the Parego Spera. The Rego Pena, which is where Unafe is right now, is a large shopping district. The Rego Pena largely caters to the needs of the Chelish nobility in Westcrown. The Rego Sacero, a few blocks northeast, is the religious centre of the city. There are many temples to gods such as Iomedae, Shelyn, Erastil, and Abadar.
- Veronica's Bed and Breakfast is a cozy little inn a few blocks away. She is well known for her hospitality, and famous for her poached eggs. The inn is rather expensive, however - 3 gold pieces a night!
- Unafe should try Chelish eggplant parmiggiana arrabiata, served with the Chelish black bread to sop up the sauce: much like classic eggplant parmiggiana, but with the addition of VERY spicy devil pepper flakes, extra onions/garlic, and a dose of asafetida imported from Vudra.
- Unafe hears no news of the Blackfyre Adepts.
- There are wanted posters along the harbours indicating that Azir is paying a large ransom towards information that could lead to capture of two female gnome terrorists, who are found guilty of conducting a violent raid in Azir a month prior which resulted in multiple deaths.
- The Chelish generally think they're better than any Rahadoumi (but the Chelish generally think they're better than anyone). Tensions between Rahadoum have been strained due to the fact that Cheliax conquered the Rahadoumi territory of Kharijite 600 years prior, after a failed attempt to conquer Absalom. Despite that, trade has opened up between Rahadoum and Cheliax - largely in slaves, and Rahadoumi mariners are popular choices for sailing the Inner Sea out of Cheliax to provide protection against roving pirates and privateers.
- There is a nearby bakery famous for its Chelish stacked-leaf pastry: Inspired by Iblydan baklava, this pastry is made by rolling a thin dough brushed with olive oil into a log and then cutting disks from the end. The disks are then shaped to form pockets, and filled with orange-flavored ricotta and black garlic, almond-horseradish paste, or candied devil chili peppers. The pastry is baked until the layers separate, forming its characteristic ridges.
- There are no dinosaurs in Cheliax. Chelish people associate dinosaurs with the Mwangi Expanse, and therefore view them as exotic and interesting. It would be a status symbol to have a pet dinosaur.
Isilme and Ehren follow Jahani's instructions, following what appears to be the main body of the sewer network from their vantage point in the city, all the way out of the city and far beyond its walls. The sewers empty their contents out into the river downstream from Azir so as to avoid contaminating the farmlands to the north.
The sewer exits are lined with iron bars to prevent human entry into the sewers. They criss-cross into small squares that are too small for a human head to squeeze through. Outside, the coast appears to be clear - there is no one hanging out near a sewage exit in the late evening. The sun is setting in the distance.
"I feel like I've just gone full circle," he remarks with just a tinge of humor. Apart from its composition, the earthen bolthole was virtually identical to the last one. Hopefully, their stay in this one would be less disastrous. "If we have anything even resembling luck left over, we should be able to get some rest. But before that, it is about time that I attempt a scrying spell of my own."