"That song was lovely, and incredibly sad. It'm brings to mind people I've lost." she responds to the gnomes clear sadness.
Isabel looks toward the other table for a long moment noticing the defeated looking men, "I think I can be a distraction. It looks like today was not a good day. That might be why my acquaintance asked me to come meet you." She weaves her way to the table, and introduces herself to the gentlemen.
"I'm Isabel Sadaus. Velika said you needed a distraction. May I take a seat? I've been sent by a mutual friend to help you with your cause. Today looks like a bad day for you all."
Tilver looks up and sits back when the stranger speaks to them. "A friend told you to come?" He motions for Isabel to sit.
"Now, you've gotten one thing right already. Today was not a good day. So, who might this friend be?" The former gladiator reaches down to the pommel of his gladius. He preferred to keep threats at bay with his spear, but with her this close, the butcher's blade would do. He watches her movements closely.
Dain lowers his head and shakes it slowly when Tilver says that it had not been a good day. Then he takes a good look at the distracting woman. He seems about to say something when Magill suddenly pulls herself up onto his chair. The raccoon peers over the edge of the table to get her own look at the woman, then looks over her shoulder at Dain.
"Hmmm? Errr...yes. This is Magill, and...ummm...I'm Dain.
Isabel takes a seat. She gives Magill a smile. "It's my pleasure to meet you all. My friend's name is Jerrick. I realize you have no idea who he is. He's a man who knows things as a member of the Inverted Pyramid. He suggested that you might need my help. I used to be an adventurer, but family obligations caused me to take a leave of absence for a couple of years."
She gives Tilver a look as he studies her, "What happened today if you don't mind me asking? Why would Jerrick think I could help you?" She waves for a round of drinks for the table.
"The Inverted Pyramid?" Tilver scoffs at the name of the group. He leans closer to Isabel and speaks in a flat tone. "Careful bandying that name around at this table, miss. It's clear that they aren't the all-knowing, all-powerful group they claim to be. Either Vicki sent us in unprepared or she isn't as smart as she likes to pretend."
He points a finger at her face. "I don't know what game you're playing, but maybe we sit this one out." Tilver stands abruptly and walks away from the table. He heads to the bar to order another drink, leaving Dain and Velika at the table with the woman.
Dain watches Tilver stalk off, then, abashedly, turns back to Isabel. "Uhhh...sorry...about that. About Tilver. It wasn't your fault that he...ummm...Holys...our friend...was killed today." He looks at Isabel silently for a moment. He leans towards Isabel and lowers his voice to avoid being overheard. "We were doing some...mmm...work...for the Inverted Pyramid. So I guess that's why...uhhh...your friend thought you could help us."
Magill chitters as she hops off the chair and under the table. Dain shakes his head, then pushes stray strands of hair away from his face. "I don't know, wizards know stuff?"
Isabel looks stunned at Tilver's sudden departure, and watches him cross the room. "Well that didn't go as planned. I had no idea you were grieving a great loss today." She turns back toward Dain. "You are right wizards know stuff, but not everything. I'm sorry for the loss of your friend. It's not easy to loose a companion like that." She looks at almost a loss as to what to say next, and then relieved as the next round of drinks arrives.
After an uncomfortable stretch of silence, Dain says, "You say you were a...ummm...adventurer?" He looks over her outfit and gear. "You don't look like a warrior. Are you a wizard as well?"
Tilver walks back over with a round of drinks. He sets one down in front of Isabel. "Maybe everyone needs a drink today." He sits and takes a long sip of ale. "So Vicki sends us in to do a job and then you show up? Does she know you're here? Maybe she and Jerrick need to know what each other are doing?"
"I don't know if Jevicca knows I'm here. I've never met her. I doubt she knows I exist. My friend Jerrick has been trying to get me away from bar tending and back into work that better uses my natural abilities. I'm not a wizard. I have natural magical affinity. No spell book or familiar needed." she gives Magill a quick smile.
"I have no idea whether Jerrick wants to know what Jevvica is doing. They are members of the Inverted Pyramid. All their members are by definition convoluted."
Dain nods in agreement to Isabel's assessment of the members of the Inverted Pyramid. "Mmmm. Ok, a...errr...affinity for magic.
Which spirits are your kindred? Holys is...was...all about fire." A single loud chirp comes from under the table. "Uhhh, ok, yes, and acid," he adds quickly.
Whether or not Isabel choses to discuss her talents, Dain asks,"Did...ummm...Jerrick...tell you what we were doing? Or why?"
"I have an affinity for shadows. No he didn't. He said you might need help. That was it. I know it's hard to talk about this with your recent loss. I'd like to hear what you've been doing."
Tilver pulls out the playing card. "Maybe we should give Vicki a call. It seems the Inverted Pyramid likes playing with people. Come on, let's see if this thing still works." He gets up and heads upstairs, seemingly expecting the others to follow.
The group repairs to the small rented room on the third floor of the Ghostly Minstrel. It has a single bed, a small table and an armoire containing Silas's few possessions.
Once there, Tilver produces a playing card that bears the image of a striking young woman with red hair and a shiny red right arm. She is clad in a green robe and regards the viewer straight on. As Tilver concentrates on the card, it becomes cold. The figure seems to animate and move, and suddenly Tilver (and anyone touching him) can see the powerful wizard clearly.
"Hello, Mister Arnholm. Are you alright?"
Silas wanders into the bar and waves for a drink before taking it and heading up to his room when he does not see his allies around.
Tilver stares at Jevicca's image for a long moment. The sound of Silas entering the room seems to break the spell. "No. No, we're not alright. Are you playing a game with us, Vicki? Dain was killed right before our eyes, nothing even left of him for his family to mourn. And then this one mysteriously finds us?" He turns the card and grabs Isabel's arm.
"Did you send her? What exactly are you trying to do?"
The archmage narrows her eyes and stares levelly at Tilver. "Mr. Arnholm, please release Miss Sadaus. No, I did not know that Holys had died. I caused Miss Sadaus to be sent because my divinations revealed that you could use the help. I have explained to you that the help I can give is limited."
Tilver releases Isabel. "So you did influence her coming to us." He turns to Isabel. "Sorry for the harsh reception. Not only is our memory of Holys a bit raw, but I also was skeptical about who sent you."
He takes a deep breath and turns back to the card image. "We might need some time to recover from Holys' death. Isabel, do you know our mission?"
Isabel is surprised when Tilver grabs her arm and she sees Jevicca. She starts to pull back, but is interested in what the mage says to them so she waits.
She nods in agreement when the mage confirms her story of being sent. "I don't. I was asked to help, and you would tell me what I needed to know."
Velika has been watching all of this with narrowed eyes, honestly enjoying letting Tilver vent the frustration all of them are feeling. When he grabs Isabel's arm, she jumps a little and makes a small move in that direction.
But Isabel seems capable of handling herself and Velika is impressed with her control. Velika probably would have punched him.
Finally she gives a sigh. Enough.
"I say we trust her and tell her what she's asking. Sure, we don't know her, but she's a fan of mine which speaks to her taste and I'm inclined to like her. What do the rest of you vote?"
Dain looks from Velika to Isabel. "She says she is friends with shadow spirits." His gaze flicks to Magill then back. "We like shadow spirits. Let's tell her what....mmmm...we are doing...and see if she still wants to help."
"I am for whatever help we can get. You should know that we have encountered some strange dangers down in the vault, not to mention the chaos that led us into this. As long as you know what your getting into, at least as much as we do, then I say welcome aboard. I am holding out some hope that we find Holys alive yet. The fact nothing remained makes me wonder if he was teleported away or absconded in some other fashion...but it seems like a shallow hope." Silas offers his opinion after listening to some of the conversation.
Tilver nods, then tells Isabel. "We're being asked to delve into the Banewarrens, a vault holding all the most evil items and creatures every found. Someone has found a way to open it. We're going to close it. Some things have already escaped into the city. It's our hope that we can stop anything else from leaving."
"Just know that facing all of these is what brought the Dread One down. Let's hope we can get in and out without facing too many of the banes. So we could literally be saving the world, but we're also facing the things that created the world's most evil creature."
Isabel listens to Tilver's explanation and she grows paler as the story continues. She looks ill and stays silent for several minutes, then she nods and speaks.
"Of course nothing would ever go wrong if you gather all the evil things in the world in one place. What a stupid idea. I have family here, young children of my sister, that I want to live. I'll help you with this though it make take our lives and souls if what you've told me is true."
"OK then." Velika tries on a smile but it doesn't quite fit.
She pulls out her gun, "This is Alakabam, my best friend in a fight." She pauses a bit so Isabel can admire it then suggests, "How about we go back down to the bar and I buy us all a round of drinks. Let Isabel decide what we're having." Her smile becomes more genuine. "Put your skills to immediate use. Speaking of which, you said you have an innate talent for shadow magic. What does that mean, exactly? ... You won't be vanishing suddenly or anything because ... I don't think we'll handle that well right now without advanced warning."
After forty minutes or so in the Ghostly Minstrel's main room, the team is starting to unwind, though the raw loss of Holys is unspoken wound between them. The Noon sun outside is still dazzlingly bright whenever anyone comes in, so it takes you a moment to recognize the latest person to enter through the big front door. It's your friend Brother Fabitor.
He, too, lets his eyes adjust to the light and then begins looking for someone. Before long, he spots Velika and then Silas, Tilver and Dain. He walks over, looking pensive. With a glance at Isabel, he lowers his voice.
"I, uh, I need to speak with you," he says to Dain. "To, uh, all of you, I mean. It might be important."
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When you have agreed to speak with him, Fabitor talks in low tones.
"You know Kalerecent, or you've heard of him, I'll warrant."
He's, uh, well, that is, he's gone missing. No one's seen him since he visited St. Gustav's just a few days ago. And I've been doing some inquiries...well, some divinations, truth be told. And all signs point to his involvement somehow with you. And to that strange set of incidents in Oldtown. Do you know where he's gone? Have you seen him?"
"Because my divinations also suggest that he is alive but in some sort of serious trouble."
"...so that's happening on top of the whole 'vault of evil' thing. Don't think we haven't realized that the two could be linked. I mean, a famous paladin would be one of the first champions to fight off evil, so if whoever is opening the vault wanted to ensure no one would stop it, removing Kalerecent from the picture would be a smart move."
Dain appears to be completely caught up in Tilver's recap of events.
"That's true. Maybe if we can find Kalerecent, he could help us in the...uhhh...vault?"
"Are you so sure that he is not involved with the group we have ran into down there? It is possible he see's the vault as a terrible danger to the city that should be destroyed and joined up with the wrong group to do it." Silas tosses out.
Isabel speaks from the corner of the room. "Either way it sounds like we need to find him. What happened in Oldtown? Was that the last place he was seen?"
"Something is happening in the vaults now. I think we should focus on them. If Kalerecent is involved in the vaults then he is just as likely to be there as anywhere else, and it would be good to stop whoever is trying to bore into the area before they let more dangers out." Silas suggests.
"We are heading to the vaults in the morning then or do you need more time? Where should I meet you all? I need to head home for the evening."
Before turning in for the evening, Dain spends some time spreading the word that Dain Slumsaint is looking for Kalerecent, and anyone who has seen the paladin in the last few days (since the day Brother Fabitor saw him in St Gustav's) should bring word to Dain. Using his extensive knowledge of the city (Knowledge(local) +12) and the Warrens (Lore(the Warrens) +5), he will focus on those he knows collect rumors.
Sadly, no one Dain knows has seen Kalerecent more recently than his visit to St. Gustav's on Delver's Square.
"Lots of people disappear on Delver's Square. They go down t'the dungeon and get kilt!"
"My uncle says there's a maze of mirrors down there. I'll bet he's lost lookin' at himself."
"No, I didn't see him. But I did see a simply amazing deal on Kemish shivel. I know where you can get 10 for 50, mister. I don't even get a cut of the deal."
Dain smiles and quietly thanks people for their attempts to help (while silently wondering if 5 thrones a shivel is really that good a deal). He makes sure the rumormongers know that he is interested in any info they find about Kalrecent's current whereabouts, or anywhere he was sighted in the past few days. Then he returns to his shack to sleep.
The next morning he heads back to the Ghostly Minstrel to meet the others.
Silas, Dain, Tilver and Velika return to the Banewarrens, now with Isabel in tow. A deep sadness pervades the group, conscious of the recent horrific loss of their gentle friend Holys.
The abandoned manor remains abandoned and the tunnels carved by the strange bug-creature echo in stillness. The great machine to the west hums slightly. The bodies of the minotaur, lamia and goblins have begun to attract flies and they smell bad. There is much you haven't explored.
Silas turns down the path that led to the strange swarm creatures and continues down it to see what they were guarding.