"So, to summarize, he spent some time with a young woman nobody knows or recognized, they went up to his room, and somebody (presumably her) used a small blade to slice his throat open from behind him, leaving all of his possessions in place and unmolested, other than from the blood. The only thing she seems to have left behind is the smell of a perfume, and nobody admitted to seeing her leave. Anybody think of anything I left out?"
After the group comes to a consensus on their observations . . ..
"We should post a guard on the room for now, but I don't think coming back will help, really. More for the display. Anybody have any other ideas before we report back our meager findings?"
Johanna gives her report of finding nothing new.
"I never noticed a girl, could of been after I left. We will have to see how this plays out among the citizens."
"Fenrir and I will try to follow the lone lead we have at the moment.[/i] Freya says, leading the wolf out of the room.
[b]"Alright, my friend, hopefully, you can lead us to this woman..."
Fenrir sniffs at the air and then the ground, trying to catch the scent.
Fenrir is unable to track the scent, he loses it when the woman entered the tap room again, the mix of other scents overwhelms the one he is following.
As promised, Lisl sets up her necromantic ceremony in the green outside of the town hall. Gregori’s corpse is clean, dressed, and lying in state on a table with a cloth, a small garland of flowers arranged tastefully about.
She raises her key and holy book and intones the spell, then touches the key to Gregori’s forehead and asks:
Who was in the room when you were killed?
and
Why do you think they murdered you?
Grigori's mouth opens and his voice rasps outs. "A local girl named Jenny." To the second question he responds "I don't know."
The gathered crowd is silent as this takes place, but there is a murmur when the name Jenny is spoken. Several people, mainly respectable local wives, can tell you that Jenny is a local girl know for her string of lovers.
She works at at local laundress close to the walls and lives at the same address.
What are you doing now?
Listening to the corpse speak was a bit unsettling, more so than the reveal of the one it claims performed the act.
”Lord Orlovsky. Please go and bring Miss Jenny in for questioning. Lady Morozov, do you have the spells prepared to identify if her answers are truthful or not?”
"I am prepared."
"Of course." Josef turns and leaves, heading for the barracks.
Once there . . .. "I need a detail of 10 men, full livery, carrying both real and TRAINING weapons. Have the training weapons in hand. Our goal is to capture a murder suspect and bring her in for questioning. It is important that we do everything we can to bring her back alive. I'll tell you more about the suspect as we walk."
"Our suspect is a young woman named 'Jenny', whose reputation suggests that some of you may know her pretty well. She both lives and works at the laundry up this street. The little information we have suggests she killed a man, but I don't know if she did it or was in the wrong room at the wrong time. That's one of the reasons we need to capture her instead of kill her. She might not have done it. Any questions? Training weapons ready?"
The laundry is deserted, very recently in fact going by the many articles of clothing that have been left half washed.
Josef can find no trace of anyone who should be working here.
What are you doing now?
Josef stand sin the main room of the now deserted building and hangs his head for a minute. Picking it back up and looking towards his detail, he speaks. "Okay, so not really surprised SHE's not here, but I'm surprised nobody else is. Fan out and ask the neighbors what they know about where these people went and when. We may be expanding into search teams outside the walls here pretty quickly, unless the Baron says otherwise. I'll wait here." After they go to start their questioning, Josef pokes around the room a little more, trying to see if anything jumps out at him.
Josef you quickly get told that Jenny returned several hours ago and hasn't been seen leaving the building since. Nor has Old Letty who runs the place with a ever changing collection of girls.
What are you doing now?
Nobody saw them leave, but there's no sign they are here. He kicks at one of the was basins as he thinks. No indication of magic use in the stories told, except for that inherent in being a woman. Either they are hiding here, or they had an escape tunnel I'm not bright enough to find. Well, then . . ..
"Sergeant? Pick your fastest man, he's going to run a message back to the Baron while the rest of us stand watch here. No, I don't think they're coming back, but we don't need anybody getting curious and making the rest of this job harder, so we'll keep them out. Now, let me write the message . . .."
The note is not signed, but bears a drawing of a single, stylized wing.
"Okay, get this to the Baron as quickly as you can, and be ready to lead whomever he assigns back here. We'll be waiting and, I hope, getting more bored by the minute. Any questions? Didn't think so. The quicker you are, the bigger the ale I'll owe you."
After the runner is on his way. "So, Sergeant? A couple men on a rotating walk while the rest of us wait out here by the front door? I'll even take a turn in your rotation."
After the arrival of Josef's note, Freya and her animal entourage head for the laundry to lend a hand in the investigation.
When the message arrives and it’s contents shared, Darian heads out as well to meet up with Lord Orlovsky. ”So...she skipped town, then?” he asks when he meets up with him.
Looking very sheepish, the young man turns to the baroness. "The entire business seems to have skipped out, but no one saw them leave. Tolarian, here, just found this trap door. I'm guessing they went that way. The question is did they actually go and get, or are they hiding? I'm betting go and get, but I needed help to find the path, so I sent the note, and then about when you got here . . .."
He's having trouble keeping eye contact with the Baroness, too.
Opening the trap door thankfully doesn't set off any traps. A ladder leads down to a roughly excavated passage under the building. A faint light can be seen from the end of the passage.
Who is going first and how are you doing it?
Darian will move alongside Josef through the tunnel, but if it becomes too narrow at any point, he lets Josef go first. As they move, he mutters to his comrade in arms ”So...ummmm...what exactly did we just stumble across?”
"Something that someone didn't want us to find," says Lisl simply. "Will you need magical light?"
"A conspiracy that seems designed to have the people overthrow you. At least one of the washerwomen seems to have been a skilled assassin, so if they are up ahead, this could be tougher than you might expect. I would expect them to be gone, though, honestly."
"Yes lets make our way forward."
The tunnel is barely 5' tall, and poorly supported, it runs for barely 10' before opening into a wider, larger chamber. One where four women in tattered blacks rags and cloaks are talking around a small mound of stones.
Gyronna.
Domains Chaos, Destruction, Evil, Madness
Favored Weapon dagger
The goddess Gyronna is also known as The Angry Hag, and for good reason. She is not a popular deity as many fear her and her clergy, which is entirely female These are usually the throwaways of society: disfigured prostitutes, wives caught in adultery, pregnant teenagers disowned by their parents, and so forth. Priestesses are renowned for their ability to foster hatred and turn friend against friend. Her priestesses are also known to swap young babies for hideous monstrous creatures birthed from their own womb.[1]
The priesthood itself has no canon or book of scripture, or temples; instead, they favor small shrines of simple piled stones. Some of these piles have stones of cats-eye, from which (it is rumored) the hags of Gyronna peer.[2]
The Black Sisters of Gyronna are blamed for causing the downfall of Heibarr, in the River Kingdoms. The ruins of the town are now a site of pilgrimage for some priestesses. [3]
The symbol of Gyronna is a single Bloodshot eye
What are you doing now?
Josef steps through the opening into a space next to two of the women, and attempts to subdue the one on his left.
Having left Fenrir up at the top of the ladder, Freya and Muninn follow along the path until the four women are noticed. Reaching into her pouch for bit of ground mica, she casts a spell over the cultists.
"Cult of Gyronna," whispers Lisl just before the silence falls.
Waiting on Darian and Johanna.
Darian moves to block the advance of any of these cultists, simultaneously pushing his magic out to bolster his friends.
Blue flails around blinded.
Green & Red scramble out of the silenced area.
Green, Red & Yellow all cast spells.
Shield of faith.
Johanna moves into the room and is ready to attack.
The party may now act.
"They've cast defensive spells that shield them with their faith, make sure your strikes are true." Freya says, getting into position to cast her own spell.
Once in position, flames pour from the Ulfen woman's hands, washing over the cultists clad in green and yellow.
Round 1
Having moved in weapons ready Johanna attacks the cultist beside her.(yellow)
Non Lethal
Non Lethal
Stepping into a more advantageous position, Josef tries to subdue the one in green.
The fight is confusing in the cramped area, but you finally overwhelm the four women. Rendering them unconscious and binding them. All bear the the unholy symbol of Gyronna.
What are you doing now
Treasure:
MW dagger. (4)
Unholy symbol of Gyronna (4)
|
Isabel dismisses her spell as the last cultist falls.
"We need to separate them. Take three to the cells and lock them up, make sure they are searched thoroughly - no materials and definitely no pets!"
She glances at Darian, "The fourth we take somewhere else and we question her thoroughly. Perhaps the youngest? Whoever will be easiest to convince. If she doesn't confess we can try the others by turns." Her mouth twists downwards as she says this, the thought process is too reminiscent of Kintargo and the fates she knows some of their fellow rebels suffered.
Johanna follows the plan and assist on taking the women in.
Darian sheathes his sword, turning to his wife and shaking his head as he mutters to her privately, "I...I don't know. This whole affair is tied to that loud mouth's accusations against our leadership anyway. And with Lisl's ability to make it obvious if one is lieing, shouldn't we question them publicly under the command to allow that spell to be placed upon them, with resistance to the spell equaling a confession of guilt?"
He rubs his brow as he looks to the women, wondering what their group had done to drive these girls to such lengths...
|
|
"Public questioning might work, but I still think it has to be done one at a time." Isabel responds. "If this really is a coven then they're going to draw strength from being together, whether that's spiritual or physical. Better to take them one at a time and ensure that they don't know what the others have or haven't done."
As the women are lead away Isabel steps up to husband and quietly voices the thought in both their minds. "How did this happen?"
Darian nods, and follows along behind the others alongside Isabel. He places an arm around her shoulder and mutters back "I don't know..."
__________
Darian makes his way to his bedchambers after the long days stresses. He unbuckled his sword belt and propped the blade up beside the bed on his side and stepped over to the fireplace, leaning against the mantle and staring into the embers of the flames.
When Isabel makes her way there, he doesn't even look up as he says "I...I just don't get it, Issy. I don't understand why we keep running into these issues of the people becoming so angered at us that they turn to murder. Have we been unjust and blind to it?"
|
|
When Isabel makes her way there, he doesn't even look up as he says "I...I just don't get it, Issy. I don't understand why we keep running into these issues of the people becoming so angered at us that they turn to murder. Have we been unjust and blind to it?"
Isabel approaches Darian from behind and wraps her arms around his taller frame. "I don't know my love. I do know that you are no tyrant." Her arms tighten. "You're a good husband, a wonderful father and a kind man. Whatever is happening here - its not your fault!"
She gives him a final squeeze and retreats to the bed. "Now come here husband, your wife needs you to look after her!"
Darian smirks a devious smile before crawling into bed himself...
__________
Darian makes his way through the castle alongside Isabel, handling minor matters of state on the move as he made his way for the gates and towards the Town Hall. He sent for runners to gather the various other town leaders to meet him there for the one by one questioning and trial for these possible cultists and murderers.
When Lisl arrives, he nods to her and says ”I apologize for the inconvenience of asking you to go through this truth telling ritual yet again, but for now it seems the fairest and most certain way we have of ascertaining their guilt or innocence.”
As the prisoners are presented, one at a time, Darian looks to them and says ”You are here to be asked some questions regarding the murder of a guest in our lands. A spell will be cast upon you to confirm if the words you speak are true or not. If you choose to resist the spell, then that will be taken as an admission of guilt. Do you understand?”