Haedrik listens intently to Taras and Taemin banter. Before the group disperses, he speaks out. "Perhaps, we should go back to the Zellara's house this evening. We ran into her, or something resembling her, there once before. Maybe it would be worth are while to try and contact her. The cards are hers after all."
Are you begging for a mugging by going outside? No. Is it a higher than normal risk? Yes. Travelling in groups, or obviously armed, is pretty safe, though.
Detect magic shows a moderate divination aura.
Detect magic shows a moderate divination aura.
Taras looks over the cards a few times... Divinatory magic typically, to his knowledge, included nothing like magical traps, but they still weren't wholly safe until he had some answers about it. He gathered the cards up and resigned himself to a few more hours with spellbook and examiner's loupe, taking one last look outside.
After a few minutes, he snapped his fingers, hitting upon an idea. He turned and looked for the nearest acolyte or cleric of the temple of Abadar.
"Perhaps, we should go back to the Zellara's house this evening. We ran into her, or something resembling her, there once before."
"Good idea Haedrik - whoever impersonated her seemed to have her interests at heart," Taemin pauses, "Though the seeming may be misleading considering the danger we were put through."
After a few minutes, he snapped his fingers, hitting upon an idea. He turned and looked for the nearest acolyte or cleric of the temple of Abadar.
There isn't really a standard procedure when Identify fails. What would you like to ask the temple priests?
"Good idea Haedrik - whoever impersonated her seemed to have her interests at heart," Taemin pauses, "Though the seeming may be misleading considering the danger we were put through."
"True enough, but I still think we should check it out. We can swing buy tonight, see what's what -- then in we can discuss how we want to handle our meeting with the queen. We can visit the her first thing in the morning."
There isn't really a standard procedure when Identify fails. What would you like to ask the temple priests?
Ross:
"True enough, but I still think we should check it out. We can swing buy tonight, see what's what -- then in we can discuss how we want to handle our meeting with the queen. We can visit the her first thing in the morning."
Taras pauses as he moves toward the central temple nave, looking back at Haedrik with a grin. "You don't just make a point of business of visiting royalty, Haedrik. We'll need to send word - especially now, with such animosity towards her that it boils in the streets. She'll be expecting every visitor to be an assassin. No, there are certain ways one must go about this."
Taras can certainly send the pendant and a message with one of the Guard messengers.
Taras can certainly send the pendant and a message with one of the Guard messengers.
Ross:
The message will read,
"Ambassador, I bid you greetings from the other side of the city, and hope that this message and it's parcel find you well. I am trapped by the recent events with a collection of trustworthy souls in the care and service of both the temple of Abadar and a few private concerns. Rivas' fate is not definitively known, but the worst is to be feared - he was taken by a man named Gadrinn Lamm, whose name is poison on the lips of my compatriots. He is known for stealing children from marketplaces, and I suspect that is where Rivas met his fate.
The pendant this messenger bears is most certainly of Rivas' ownership, and while it grieves me to let it leave my hands, I must see this matter through and cannot risk that harm should come my way without it's finding Rivas' family. I regret to say that I hold little hope of a bright ending for the boy, though I beg you to spare his family my bluntness.
There is an intrigue at play here, Ambassador, which I do not fully understand. We have routed Lamm's thugs and brought him to justice for his crimes, and have taken a small fortune in what are very probably stolen jewels - one of which is the Queen's, and which you no doubt recall she has demanded be returned to her personally, in no one else's trust, and so this group has decided to return it directly in the next few days.
Sir, if communication with the Mierani envoys of the court can be established, it might do our cause good to have a quick word sent in advance of our coming, to soften the blow of my compatriots' common bearing. Though they are all of worth and seem of good comportment overall, I fear they know little of what it is to be before royalty, and I would hate by my own presence with them to damage the Mierani cause.
Lastly, an object of curiosity has come into my possession - an enchanted Harrow deck. I know little about it, except that the magic surrounding it is divinatory in nature. At first I dismissed it as the work of a charlatan or cardsharp, but the enchantment is somewhat more potent than would be needed to cheat another man's eyes, and resists further attempts to reveal it's secrets. It is either warded somehow, or is of a potency that a mere first-circle revelatory spell will not do. I seek your advice, if you have any, on what to do to determine it's purpose - or at the very least, whether it is dangerous to my company.
I remain, though separated, in your direct and capable service,
Taras Morwain"
Half an hour later, Taras sends a sealed letter with a squire of Abadar, sending the boy out on what looks like a messenger's errand. A glint of silver passes between the two as he's on his way out, along with a white-wrapped parcel. Taras watches, looking forlorn, as the boy heads out into the bustling city.
The elf shakes his head and turns back, looking at the relative stronghold that is the temple of Abadar, and at those of his company who have remained in the area.
"...what now?"
After saying his morning prayers, Verronax rejoins the group. "Meeting at Zellara's tonight sounds like a good plan. And I believe we should discuss our meeting with the Queen, if it comes to that. Does anyone know what actually happened last night?"
"As for what to do during the day, I plan on going to Gray District to lay Zellara's remains to rest. Any of you are welcome to join me."
Verronax, you accompany a group of Guardsmen (who are burying their own dead) to the Gray District. There, you turn over Zellara's head to Pharasma's clergy for internment.
Returning to the Bank, you round up the remainder of the party, to investigate Zellara's home. (It is now about mid-to-late afternoon).
Arriving at number three Lancet Street, you can see that the building is visibily in worse repair than it was last night. However, none of the wear or damage looks particularly recent. The door is closed.
Verronax, you accompany a group of Guardsmen (who are burying their own dead) to the Gray District. There, you turn over Zellara's head to Pharasma's clergy for internment.
Returning to the Bank, you round up the remainder of the party, to investigate Zellara's home. (It is now about mid-to-late afternoon).
Arriving at number three Lancet Street, you can see that the building is visibily in worse repair than it was last night. However, none of the wear or damage looks particularly recent. The door is closed.
Taras immediately scowls at the place distrustfully as they come down the street. "...it didn't look like this yesterday... but then, it wasn't Zellara in there yesterday, either. An illusion, the whole thing?"
Taras walks up to touch one particularly worn and dilapidated board of the house, seemingly to assure himself that what they now see is real.
Taemin, still in his temple guard uniform, does similarly, touching the door hesitantly, "It is quite strange... do we still have Lamm's keys? Perhaps one would work... or perhaps..."
He lightly presses on the door handle, trying the lock.
Haedrik stands his hand inching towards his rapier, more from nerves than fear, and likely more from another outburst of street violence than any concerns of illusions, dead fortune tellers, or the like.
The door pushes open easily. Inside, the room looks nothing like it did last night. The wall hanging are gone, as are the incense sconces on the walls and the rugs. The furniture is still present, but it is broken and scattered about the floor.
Taking a deep breath, Taemin ducks inside, nerves tingling.
Taking a deep breath, Taemin ducks inside, nerves tingling.
Taras steps in, though in no particular hurry. "...tread lightly," he says, whispering even though there seems to be nothing to disturb. "...let us try and find something of import to Zellara. Divinations... may reveal something more useful than we've found so far."
"This is indeed strange. Last night we talked with her, in this very room. Then we found her remains, and now her house looks like this. Is she alive or dead? Or somewhere between the two?"
With the tapestries removed, a small doorway is not visible in the back of the room (it has no door). Through the opening, part of a straw pallet and a cupboard are visible.
Taemin steps very slowly in, searching carefully along his path , moving into the back room.
"Let's take a look around, shall we?"
Verronax heads into the back room, looking for any clues or information that might explain the mystery of Zellara.
You have unlimited cantrips as long as you re-prepare them, so he can certainly work on casting Detect Magic. It will take five minutes (so we'll see what the other party members do with that time before you'll find out what you Detect.
You have unlimited cantrips as long as you re-prepare them, so he can certainly work on casting Detect Magic. It will take five minutes (so we'll see what the other party members do with that time before you'll find out what you Detect.
Taras sighs, picking up the disconcertingly worn and damaged cushion of a destroyed stool, turning it right-side-up and sitting down on it in the center of the dilapidated room, producing his spellbook and thumbing through it. He was distracted by the slightly eerie presence of the place, no matter that the open door looked out at a sunlit street in early evening in one of the safest - normally, at least - cities in the world.
"I've little to add to the investigation with my own eyes, fellows, but with a few minutes' study I'll be glad to see what magic can tell. If I seem to mumble, forgive me."
The back room simply appears to be living quarters. As you move inside, you can see that there are two straw pallets inside. Neither appears recently used.
The cupboard is barren, save for a wooden box, perhaps a foot on a side.
Haedrik nods at the wooden box as he follows Verronax around. "V, when you mentioned 'in-between death and life' are you saying that she may have been a phantom?" Haedrik tries to hide his discomfort behind incredulous and raised eyebrows.
"Or perhaps a prophetic Vision," whispers Taemin as he finishes searching the foyer, beginning in the rambles of the next. "The guiding hand of Abadar at work perhaps."
"Or perhaps a prophetic Vision," whispers Taemin as he finishes searching the foyer, beginning in the rambles of the next. "The guiding hand of Abadar at work perhaps."
Taras, absorbed in his spellbook, gives a quiet snort at this, though he makes no comment or rebuke and goes on making occasional gestures in the air.
Taemin does his best to ignore the other room, looking up, and asking, "What have we found?"
Haedrik will kneel before the box and examine it. Barring any lock, he will open it.
Haedrik
Haedrik turns his head in disgust. "By all the imps in the city!" Haedrik will quickly snatch the note and unfold it, all while stepping back from the box.
Haedrik
"My Dear Zellara,
"It is Zellara, isn't it? Your son attempted to meddle in my business. It's a real shame what happened to him. I return him to you. Call it a peace offering.
"My business is my business, and yours is yours. See that it stays that way.
"Respectfully,
"Gaedren Lamm"
"V, when you mentioned 'in-between death and life' are you saying that she may have been a phantom?"
"Something like that, yes. Neither live nor dead, but...undead. Of some kind. Though I never got a sense of that from her."
Verronax watches closely as Haedrik opens the box.
"What do you have there, Haedrik?"
"What do you have there, Haedrik?"
Haedrik hands the note out to him. "Zellara's true motive."
Taemin peeks over Verronax's shoulder to read the note. "Well, she did tell us he had killed her son... I don't see a date on the note to tell us when this was. This is still such a mystery."
"More body parts," Verronax says in disgust. "Lamm was truly a monster, and his death was just, indeed." He closes his eyes and whispers a short prayer to Abadar. "At least her remains have been disposed of properly now."
As you discuss the note, the box, and its contents, a thin, colorful mist begins to pour from one of Taras's pockets. It slowly fills the home room, restoring the appearance of the former decor (save that the furniture remains broken.)
Another clump of the mist begins resolving into a vague humanoid shape.
Startled at first by the mist, then by the obvious beginnings of enchantments upon the place, Taras lurches to his feet and rifles his pockets for the source of the mist, even as he produces the wand of magic missiles and levels it at the forming creature.
"Everyone in here! Something's happening!" he shouts.
Taemin looks around at the restored furnishings, and rushes into the ante room with Taras.
Verronax follows right behind Taemin, halberd at the ready.
"What is it, Taras? What's happening?"
Before long, the misty figure resolves into a fully solid appearance. Specifically, Zellara's appearance.
"Zellara" Taemin gasps. "You're alive!"
"Zellara" Taemin gasps. "You're alive!"
Taras lays a quieting hand on Taemin's shoulder, producing the Harrow deck from a pocket in his garments. "I would not think so," he says, stepping forward toward 'Zellara' and letting go his grip on the other elf. "An illusion, I would guess - we know Zellara to have been slain. There remains, perhaps..." he said, holding up the deck. "...something of her spirit, but I doubt she is risen."
"I have never witnessed anything like this before," Verronax whispers, staring at the apparition. He grasps the silver key of Abadar that hangs from his neck, ready to purge the house of undead taint should Zellara reveal herself as the living dead. For now, however, he stays his hand.
Verronax steps bravely forwards and clears his throat nervously. "Zellara? Is that you? Speak now if you have anything to say."
Zellara blinks a few times, as if refocusing her eyes.
"I am not sure if 'alive' is the right term anymore, Mister Swallowtail."
She looks down at the broken furniture, and waves a hand. The broken shard rise, then appear whole again. She takes a seat at the newly 'repaired' table.
"I am also fairly certain that I am not 'unliving' either. Please, have a seat. I have the feeling that we have things to discuss."
Taemin sits down quietly, ears twitching in confusion.
Verronax sits, still clutching his holy symbol, still unsure of what to make of Zellara.
Haedrik does his best to keep calm, but allows the apparition to speak.