The man makes another mystic gesture, then he also leaps into the sky - and his speed is uncanny. He appears to be flying almost twice as fast as you are, and he is rapidly pulling away.
Prashant stops pressing through the crowd as he notes the figure rise above the roofline and disappear into the sky. He watches Tania, knowing there's no way he can follow if she continues after the archer.
Gradually, Breccia comes to a stop much in the way a rolling boulder would. Once he finally arrests his momentum, the oread looks up to the sky, then ahead to the others who passed him by. Frowning, the stone-armored warrior begins walking to join back up with his companions, disheartened that their attacker was able to escape.
As she does, she reappears in the sky.
Tania reappears in the air just as she completes a spell.
There seems to be no effect from Tania's spell.
Feeling the strength of his enemy, Tania pouts and lets the assassin flee, weary of being so far away from her companion. She caresses her companion's pelt as she turns him around, flying back to find her companions.
As Tania flies back to the rest of the group, the adrenalin rush of the confrontation subsides, and she is once again reminded that there is an arrow embedded in her shoulder. This time, though, she also notices that there is a note tied to the arrow shaft with a bright silk ribbon.
When Breccia finally catches up to the others, the enormous oread comes to a plodding halt and exhales a ragged breath. Sheathing his katar, the stony warrior looks up into the sky with narrowed, hematite eyes, then back down to his companions.
"You are injured," is his greeting to Tania, brows furrowed and lips downturned to a frown. There is, however, little he can do for the injury.
"Yes... Thanks... He at least left a not for us." offers Tania as she hands the ribbon.
"Well, at least we're getting to them," Prashant says as he clasps his healing wand in hand. "They wouldn't send an assassin after us if we weren't getting closer to them. I think the sooner we find that earring's twin, the sooner we can actually strike at the Cult." He lays the wand over Tania's wound, and a soft blue light warms her and urges her injury to heal.
Nesipho reads over the note delivered to Tania, studying it carefully for several minutes.
"Whoever he was, he had mastery of the arcane arts and resisted my nastiest incantation and saw through my glamers. An expert... I wonder how his arrow didn't slay me..?"
"Killing you wasn't his goal," Prashant says as he stows his wand. "Delivering this warning is. Don't worry, they'll try to kill us soon enough." He delivers this line deadpan, making it hard to know whether it was intentionally supposed to be funny or not.
"" Breccia states flatly, then with an incline of his head translates it as best as he can as, "Kill our spirits, and killing our flesh becomes simpler." The oread's brows furrow at that sentiment, and he looks back in the direction they ran from to give chase with momentary suspicion.
Then, turning back to the others he asks, "What is the next step?"
_____
Break the foundation and the building falls.
"Let's find them. Soon."
"Same plan as before. Locate the match of the earring."
You seek out Lord Raheem at the palace once more. He listens carefully to your request, but he is already nodding by the time you reach the point of asking him about paying for a divination or two. "Yes, yes," he says at once. "Your investigations have already borne more fruit than the previous ones." He reaches for pen and ink, and after a few moments his personal seal adorns a basic promissory note. "Have the spellmonger you select indicate the spells and prices here, sign it yourselves and have the merchant return it to the palace. Your expenses will be covered for this matter."
"Ok, so let's find a spellmonger then. Where?"
Tania jumps on Ashaka, after hearing a few names from Prashant: "All right then. Ahahah! This arrow in my side has given me wings. Let's find one of these seers in Grand Chronicler's Circle shall we?"
With a smile, she nudges Ashaka forward and the great feline rolls his shoulders as he sets into motion.
That foe's strength was great. He'll be hard to catch. I must be prepared and not give him time...
Adisabah the Seer cheerfully accepts Lord Raheem's marker, casting the spell and providing you with the scrolls as required. The divination leads you to the corner of two dusty streets in the Sukraport Quarter, and from there locate object takes you to a derelict warehouse a few hundred feet away. The spell leads you to a cesspit beneath the warehouse floor, and it is there among the rotting garbage that you find Vitusa's head, its mouth and eyes burned by acid. The other earring is still attached to her ear.
"Burning out her eyes with acid seems a bit unnecessary when the plan was to simply kill her anyway." Nesipho mutters.
"It's not quite where I'd hoped we might be led, but we should take the time to look for any other signs or clues here. Why this warehouse or this location to dispose of the head?"
Starting at the door of the warehouse and slowly working his way inward Nesipho begins a careful search of the place.
"Oh dear..." shivers Tania as she catches sight of the desecrated head.
"You're right Nesipho. Why here? I know some priests claim they can talk to the dead. Can anyone of us make that claim?"
Tania will help looking around for clues.
Nesipho's search uncovers two clues. The first is a set of tracks in the mud surrounding the cesspit. They do not appear to be humanoid, but rather something human-sized with clawed feet or talons. Looking more closely, Nesipho makes the somewhat surprising discovery that the individual who made the tracks was apparently walking backwards the entire time.
The second clue is a large, well-made falchion with a broken blade that has been cast aside into the cesspit's refuse. It is rather out of place among the rest of the trash, clearly having once been a masterwork item. As he turns it over in his hands, the magus recognizes a smith's mark on the hilt, just beneath the cross-guard.
"There are tracks here. Not human though. A demon maybe?" Nesipho looks closer. "This is really odd, whatever it was was walking backwards. Dragging something heavy maybe?" The mwangi crouches down to take a closer look at the mud.
"I don't know. Maybe not. I don't see any evidence of something having been dragged through the mud here." He ponders, "Or to keep an eye on Vitusa? But why not follow behind her in that case?"
As he continues his search he notices the glint of metal in the cesspit and fishes it out. "What could have broken such a finely made blade?" Nesipho gives a low chuckle, "Unless they tried to use it against our friend Breccia here." He gives the Oread a grin before turning back to the blade. "There is a smith's mark here though."
Tania frowns: "Mmh... Or may be they drew a circle..."
Nesipho's jovial remark elicits a single raised brow fromwithin Breccia's helm. The oread drops down from the warehouse into the cesspit with a splash and slap of armored feet in the mud. Ducking low enough to maneuver beyond the opening, Breccia notices the tracks Nesipho had discovered, then the broken blade. Emotionless eyes of glossy black stare at the sword, then up and around at the structure of the cesspit. Silent in his inspection, Breccia soon takes a knee in the mud and examines the tracks not for intention, but origin.
__________
"Is the man walking backwards?", Prashant asked. "Or are his feet on the wrong way?"
The tracks do not belong to any species Breccia or Prashant recognize, and the massive oread's examination of the cesspit and the stonework that comprises it reveals nothing out of the ordinary.
Tania's divination detects only the magic auras associated with the items in the group's possession.
Nesipho stows the broken blade in his haversack then takes a moment to examine the grotesque head for any additional clues.
"We should find the maker of this blade and question them. See if they recall who they sold it to."
Nesipho's assessment is that the woman's throat was cut by a sharp blade, and then the head severed from the neck along almost the exact same line. Again, the implication is of a skilled, trained killer.
"Ok, let's find him. But what about the head? We should at least bring it back. And as I said, perhaps we can still connect with her spirit through her skull..?"
"I'm not familiar necromantic magics." there is no disdain in Nesipho's voice, just a statement of fact. "But she deserves a proper burial if nothing else."
Not wanting to carry the decaying flesh in his hands, or place it in his bags he looks around for something to wrap it in.
Pragmatic as always, Breccia simply kneels down and picks up the severed head in one large hand. Though, as the oread frowns subtly, it's clear he would like to not parade the remains around town.
Nesipho's notion of a sack is a safer one.
There is a serviceable sack among the rubbish in the pit, so you are able to carry Vitusa's head out with you in a decorous fashion. Once you have delivered it back to Nabeeka at her shop for burial, Tania makes quick use of the merchant contacts she has already developed in the city to track down the bladesmith who forged the falchion. The man's name is Lohakar, and it turns out he keeps excellent sales records; not only does he recognize the blade, after a brief consultation with his files he cheerfully tells you he sold it to a high-caste merchant named Lankesh, who also returned it on several occasions for sharpening. The records also supply you with a location for this "Lankesh:" a modest house in the Commerce District, easily located with some simple directions from the locals.
"Mmmmh..." says Tania as they head out of the shop. "They've been so careful so far... Could it be that they slipped, or is this a trap?"
"Master Lankesh, it seems odd to me such a well made blade was broken. Can you tell by examining it what might might of caused the break?"
"Maybe, but at the time of Vitusa's murder there was no one on their trail, so there would have been no reason to care about the broken blade." Nesipho pauses for a moment, "Its always possible they placed the blade there after the fact though."
Lohakar can't tell, unfortunately - the damage that would likely give him a clue is on the broken top half, which you did not find. The best he can offer is that it was likely broken in a single swing, not bent or hammered over time.
"If it's a trap, I hope we can find a way to spring it back on them. Let's stay cautious, right?
I'll put up a shield of faith and activate my armor just before we enter.
"I'd like to take a look around first if the rest of you don't mind hanging back for a few minutes?"
Nesipho looks to Tania, "Can you turn me invisible?"
Nesipho moves up to the house, peering in through in any windows near the front door, then taking a moment to listen at the door itself.
The house is a single story, with a modest garden and short privacy wall around the grounds. A gate bars entry, but does not appear to be locked. A smaller gate, obviously intended for access by those of lower caste or importance, is at the rear of the house, connecting it to a narrow residential alley. There is no sign of a basement or lower story, but there are multiple windows on every wall, clear glass beneath and brightly-colored tinted glass around the top.
"I'd like to take a look around first if the rest of you don't mind hanging back for a few minutes?"
Nesipho looks to Tania, "Can you turn me invisible?"
"With pleasure!" laughs Tania as she moves her fingers deftly, then with a swift stroke of her arm, seems to wipe away the magus.