Lady Z comes to the others and follows as they take the body.
"I have done my scout and not found anything more, so I shall come with you, I may be able to help"
"Good to have you with us, Lady Zal. You're a collector of knowledge; in particular knowledge that people like to keep close to themselves. I wonder if you recognize the silhouette in this ring. If you activate it with this mechanism it's clearly showing some sort of animal, but I can't place any meaning with it. It must mean something important to someone though, as this must be more than a fancy stone set in gold."
Lady Z took the ring and gave it a good look over.
Kn (Arcana)
Kn (Dungeoneering)
Kn (Engineering)
Kn (Geography)
Kn (History)
Kn (Local)
Kn (Nature)
Kn (Nobility)
Kn (Planes)
Kn (Religion)
While Lady Zal is inspecting the ring and testing all her wealth of knowledge against it (successfully, have a look into both spoilers), a young boy comes running towards Gosor.
"Heyha, mister!
Are you the Pharaossi Proudhoof?
Bet you are. Never saw anyone like you in town.
Here, I got a letter for you from a friend of yours.
He said you'd pay for my service and hurried off."
The boy is good, but not good enough.
As he told you that the sender told him you would pay, he didn't quite look you in the eyes.
Obviously, he tries to get a few coins out of you despite being paid beforehand.
Remember underworld boss Zuliman Arktos?
Kelksiomedes and Quercus took operations down a few years ago.
He swore vengeance.
Had help of unknown black-skinned mage. Maybe the same man that leshys saw this morning?
Will investigate further.
A
Talking with the other members of the Pharaossi Gosor pays little attention to what the boy says, and drops a couple silver into his outstretched hand before taking the letter.
No, white-skinned.
He looks like he origins from Iblydos in fact.
But face and hands show remainders of ink.
Coupled with the dark armor and cloak ...
Gosor frowns at the letter as he reads it, and then looks at the body slung over his shoulder. "From what Astrapios is sending, and what you're saying about the ring, Zal-Azra, we've got a potential lead here to track down. If this is the black skinned mage, which would apparently have been a disguise, then it makes sense that Zuliman Arktos might have been involved in the plot assuming that his organization either was or is the Red Mantis. This would be a good move towards vengeance on Quercus.
"There's something more happening though. If our enemies plans were proceeding as expected there should have been no reason to kill this man and dump him in the sea. The most obvious explanation would seem to me to be that the woman involved, whoever that might have been, is double crossing this mage in particular, or Zuliman and the Red Mantis more generally. That would indicate that they didn't approve of whatever was to happen next somehow. If the seed is a source of power then perhaps it was a grab for that power on the woman's part.
"For now we need to see about getting to a priest to get answers from this one, and potentially trying to track down Zuliman Arktos if we can find him. We should also try to find Astrapios and share this confirmation with him as well as see if he's got other roads to pursue. Lady Zal, you seem the most likely to be able to find a lead on Zuliman. Ethana, with your mobility you might be able to track down Astrapios. Ktinos, you're welcome to continue to accompany me if you like, though if you've got a way to sort out any of this that I don't know about you should do so."
The taurian looks at the group to see if there are any suggestions for other courses of action, and then, assuming no one suggests otherwise, continues to move towards whatever location he thinks will give the best chance of quickly getting someone able to speak to the dead on the case with the body he's carrying.
It takes Gosor and company a full hour to carry the body from the harbour all the way up to the shrines build atop the various plateaus overlooking the town.
After bringing forth their request they are soon guided into a small, secluded chamber in the basement of Kelksiomedes great monument and are told to wait.
After five minutes, an oracle is led in.
The age-less woman, clad in a light, full-body, nearly translucent tunica smells of hallucinogenic herbs and incense.
She bows deeply over the body, caresses his cheeks and forehead in a nearly dance-like way (which, under different circumstances would have been quite erotic) - then suddenly, she turns towards you!
With an otherworldly, carried away voice, she says:
"He ... is ... here now.
Ask ... what you have come ... to ask.
Nowwwww...."
The last, is merely a whisper.
Ktinos had followed Gosor, still feeling more comfortable in the company of someone else who was large and furred than the rest of these 'Pharaossi'. Not that he felt comfortable with the minotaur, really, he just felt... less uncomfortable.
He never really felt comfortable around anyone, not with the Beasts ever whispering and raging within him.
The catfolk waited a moment after the oracle's spell, then, figuring he might as well begin, asked, "Were you part of the attack upon the Garden of the Thousandborn this morning?"
"It's the sign of the red mantis, an underground organisation of professional thieves, murderers, cutthroats and the odd rogue-spellcasters.
The Red are suspected of being responsible for a lot of illegal activities in the past but their professional organization is difficult to uncove. they are well protected and well hidden, they would be the ones to deal with if you wanted to do something like this"
She sayes.
Gosor waits for the answer to the first question before asking a string of them himself.
"Who was it that betrayed you and threw you into the sea?"
"Where have they taken the seed now and what will they do with it?"
"Does Zuliman Arktom know that you were betrayed? Did he have a hand in it?"
"Where can we find Arktom now to avenge you/seek his help avenging you?"
Calling the voice of the dead man creepy would be an understatement.
He is gurgling on every word, like he is still in the midst of the process of drowning while talking to you from the grave.
"I ... was assigned to ... retrieve an object from that garden."
"I ... cannot remember being betrayed.
I ... think I slept in after the escape ... and then ... nothing."
"I ... do not know that man."
I assume you head back to your ... let's call it office/base ... to read up on the Mantids?
Most of the major red mantids activity is from the last ten years, growing in severity and frequency ever since - still, all reports are labelled 'suspected' or 'likely' being linked with the Red Mantids. Nothing really solid anywhere. If they are behind all these ... their members are really adept at covering up their traces.
Correlating the reports with the lead of Astrapios, it seems the Mantids were already building up in the shadow of the much larger organisation of Zuliman Arktos and after the disbanding of the larger competitor has risen to a much greater power and influence, maybe even taking in some of its members and connections.
"Who was the woman you were working with?"
"You were killed shortly after the object was retrieved. Most likely by the woman you were with. Where would she take the object, and what was to be done with it? Given that she killed you, it's safe to assume that she double crossed you and will use it for her own ends. Without knowing this we cannot avenge you."
"What alchemical concoction were you carrying with you and what was it's purpose?"
"She ... was ... the client."
"Whaa...rglll. Curse her trice. She will pay.
The contract ... was fulfilled.
I ... brought her the specified object.
I ... cannot guess why she did what she did nor where she goes or what she plans.
But ... my people will get her for that.
The contract ... specified she would help me escape."
"Healing and invisibility potions.
Alchemistic fire and acid to instrument my escape."
"Who are your people?"
"What was the name of your client?"
"My ... people ... are none of your business."
No need to roll ... he does not want to answer that.
"I ... do not know her name."
Not unlikely. Would you sound your name if you are hiring professional murderers and thieves?
The oracle is sweating heavily, causing the already near-translucent tunica to reveal even more of her ascetic, naked body.
Her whispers are barely audible between the gurgling talk of the drowned man.
"I am loosing him.
Hurry up."
"Did the woman who hired you have any identifying signs we might use to track her down and avenge your betrayal? Markings on her skin, distinctive scents, an unusual voice or anything else."
"Where was the woman supposed to safely deliver you after the job was done?"
"What magical abilities or powers other than flight will we need to expect from the woman if we are to find her and avenge your betrayal?"
"She smelled ... like a dark, damp wood.
She wore ... an amulet ... made of wood, bones ... held together by black strings.
Her face ... is tattooed a lot.
Her skin ... is bleached-white."
"Outside the town, behind the northern peak."
"How ... should I know?
She killed me ... without me *gurgle* even noticing!"
And with that, the seance ends.
A final, awfully long gurgling, during which the body actually coughs up some seawater from its lungs, and the man lies still again.
The oracle is panting heavily and is soon led out of the room by two priests and you are left alone with the drowned body of one of the attackers before you.
Soon, the Pharaosi meet up in one of the strictly functional rooms in one of Lady Zals safe houses, not far from the market district.
Lady Z opens the back door and lest them in. The house is non dispirit.
"Come in, I have food and drink"
She showed them as in and then put out snacks. Once ready she outlined what she had found out.
"The Red Mantids, well most of the major red mantids activity is from the last ten years, growing in severity and frequency ever since - still, I have all reports in my files labelled 'suspected' or 'likely' being linked with the Red Mantids gang. Nothing really solid anywhere. If they are behind all these ... their members are really adept at covering up their traces."
She was reading off from a note book.
"So correlating the reports with the lead we got from Astrapios, it seems the Mantids were already building up in the shadow of the much larger organisation of Zuliman Arktos and after the disbanding of the larger competitor has risen to a much greater power and influence, maybe even taking in some of its members and connections. In other words they have the size and scope to do something like this. They also have the scope to hide what they did"
Sometime in the afternoon, Astrapios arrived at the save house. He seemed breathing heavily as if he has been running for a while. Indeed he did not like the local trishaw service as it kept being stuck in traffic. And he knew the short cuts anyway.
After Lady Zal and Guruthos had filled him in on their findings he added his own conclusions.
"So we can cannot clearly say, whether Zuliman Arktos is behind everything, or is used as a false lead. Nevertheless, the red mantis is what we need to find. I also heard that a group of shadowy thieves cleared out a secret and long forgotton stash of alchemical items made by none less than the supposedly executed Juri Alexandros. Whether he's really dead is of another matter. Could be that the red mantis is behind this and used his stuff. You did find some quite powerful alchemicals, didn't you, Lady Zal?"
I heard another interesting theory this morning. It's about a powerful scorn woman named Arachnia. She hold quite a grudge towards Kelksiomedes when she disappeared. But how she'd be connected to Quercus is beyond my findings."
After a few moments of discussing the matter, Astrapios suggested two possible ways of action:
"We could go hunt the red mantis league, or we could use this spell here to try to find the sappling directly. With Quercus as the conduit it should work. My knowledge of the arcane is however limited in that regard."
Ktinos folds his arms and frowns. "I am better suited for hunting beasts than men. But perhaps there might be evidence at this stash, if we know where it was?"
Gosor frowns at the information that they have to work with. "I see no reason not to try your scroll. We suspect that the seed is still in the possession of of the woman who the man was working with. Bleached white skin, a smell of damp wood and a tattooed face probably aren't enough to find her directly, so focusing on the seed seems the wiser course.
"It seems to me that if Zuliman is involved it is likely that he wasn't the planner, but one willing to work with the woman and provide her the people she needed to pull of the heist. If that's the case though, he might have the contract that they signed which could provide some evidence of something, though if the woman broke it I suppose it's not clear how useful it would be.
"We might also try to identify what sort of alchemical concoction is in this vial. The thief was concealing something about what tools he had brought, so it's possible that knowing what this would do will help give us a clue as to what was happening. Analyzing the components used might even give us leads to try to track down it's source, and that could lead us to who knows what? The Red Mantis League? Arachnia? Someone else entirely?"
Gosor looks around at the group before him. "I propose we start with the scroll and see where it leads us, if anywhere. If that fails to provide a more obvious course of action, then I'm inclined to see if we can learn anything of the contents of this vial. I'm no alchemist. If any of you are up to the task we could try to analyze it to see what it is and where the components might have come from. If none here have the skill set then we should take it to an alchemist who can give us those answers."
She nods when asked about the powerful alchemicals.
"yes I did, and if they came from a batch of Juri Alexandros work, well its best if I study the vile."
She says in response.
"With the Scroll, there is also a resin to use the scroll, if the Scrying is blocked its means the know others would try to unearth their plans, and so preparation. Which makes me think they have a greater plan than just stealing a seed. The Red Mantis as a group can't be tracked down. They are to large, the grass roots killers and thieves are known as the Crimson Dawn, with the Red Mantis as a council of leaders heading up cells so as to have cut outs in the organisation. If we could get our hands on a Red Mantis leader we could have a chance. I would work on them to get the information we need. But it may be limited. They are only told what they need to know."
She gets up and gets another drink.
"But this Arachnia interests me, a single player in the great game, has far more change of making mistakes. She my not be directly involved but she may know a thing or too. I think I will visit my under world contacts and see what the word is."
Gosor hands the vial of alchemical substance over to Lady Zal. "Do what you can with it and let us know where we should look next. It might be nothing more than a modified alchemist's fire, but it might be much more. Hopefully your analysis can tell us what it is and where the components originate from."
Having exchanged what you learned, Aramyos heads over to the Thousandborns place to use his scroll, accompanied by some of you.
Lady Zal meanwhile makes good speed to meet a couple of her own informants.
With daylight, the destruction wrecked upon Quercus garden appears even more depressing.
Burned down husks of once proud trees, muddy brown flower beds and small groups of Leshys walking around in a shell-shocked manner, trying to tend to what is left.
You hurry past them (some seem to flee at the sight of Gosor) and into the manson.
From below you can hear chanting in a language no one recognizes - but you would bet it to be druidic. It sounds like wind in the leaves, shaking trees and the breaking of waves against cliffs.
Going downstairs you find Quercus back in the underground room where you found him, surrounded by a couple of his fellow Ghorans and your Lord: Kelksiomedes.
At your arrival he greets you without turning.
"Welcome, my children. Did you found a trace yet?"
+++ After some RP +++
Aramyos steps forward until he is inside the circle of Ghorans and right beside Quercus' quivering, shriveled body. He is only the size of a small gnome now and even while you look, he looses a couple of leafs and a handful of bark pieces.
Starting the ritual according to the scroll, you can nearly immediately feel the connection building up and your senses fly far off...
It is dark here.
Not the star-shined night.
It is a deeper, more primal darkness.
Yet, the magic allows you to clearly 'see' Quercus' seed resting.
It is moving. At a slow pace, probably walking speed, and the magic sensor can easily follow.
Concentrating on the surrounding, you notice that the seed is indeed in a dark leather bag carried by a hooded figure in a dark coat.
You hear bones and shells clinging dully against another and the breath of the carrier. It comes in short, ragged gasps. Either the figure is short breathed because he or she had run before, or he/she is frightened.
Then, he hooded figure is looking over her shoulder, obviously nervous and you can see her face.
White skin, dark violet tattoos that bristle with magic energies and green eyes that are filled with a growing madness... This must be the woman the dead Mantis described!
You know that your time is ticking so you hurriedly focus on the surrounding of the woman, trying to pierce the darkness.
There! This shadowy form must be a tree.
A towering, massive black tree.
And there, another one!
And what is that …?
Something immeasurable dark is hiding between the trees, obviously observing the woman.
She does appear as if she noticed the black thing yet – but she seems to know that she is watched.
Then, the moment you feel your magic failing, you can hear the woman shout into the darkness with a high pitched voice filled with terror.
"I have it! I have it!
Tell your mistress that I have it!
Leave me alone – I have done as I was ordered to!"
Then, the spell ends.
"I'm sorry for the interruption, my lord. Please go on with your ritual to keep our Quercus alive. I hope the information I sensed will be helpful. I believe, we are narrowing in on the perpetrators." He said this while leaving the circle backwards and bowing formly.
In the next room he consultet with the others what he saw.
"I think I saw the woman that your dead victim described. She was in a hurry to bring the seed to her employer. She was also just a link in a chain and she seemed quite afraid of whoever ordered the seed-napping. It's also a woman by the way. The location of the delivery was quite strange. There were some massive black trees. Don't know if they were alive or just the scenerey, scrying can be blurry at times. But I'm sure I'd recognize the spot if I saw it again. Maybe someone of you has an idea who or where this could be. So....Since one of our prime suspects is also a woman, Arachnia, we need to follow in that direction, I guess."
You recall that there is deep, dangerous forest to the north, one or two day travels away from the cities borders.
Centuries ago, when trade was rich between the city states of Iblydos, before the wrath of the leviathan, a major trade route crossed the Tenebris forest.
Even back then, travellers far and wide knew that sticking to the road was a very good idea, for a variety of monsters nested in its depths.
Simple Intelligence Test DC 15:
Recalling the discussion about the lost Ghorans, you recall that one of them went to clear out monsters towards the north. Maybe he went into those woods during his hunt never to come back out ...?
Gosor thinks back to the tales that he's heard on the high seas to see if he can help point to any locations that might match the description Astrapios has provided.
Ktinos frowns and scratches at his wild mane slightly. For a moment he thought he'd felt a glimmer of recognition at the description, but it was gone.
After Ethana has had a chance to think some and explained the forest to the north, including reminding everyone of the possible connection with the Ghoran, Gosor's eyes light up.
"This is something concrete we can work with! Whether we continue to investigate the alchemy leads here or not we should send a party to the woods to see what we can learn. If the trees that Astrapios saw while scrying are the ones from this forest then that would be where the seed is now. I would be of more use there than here in the city, so I'll head that way. Any who would care to join me are welcome, and should anyone have a way to shorten our trip it would be helpful."
The taurian looks ready to go immediately despite the time, a run through the night to get to the forest not daunting him in the least.
"Indeed we should hurry there. While I could conjure a horse, it would only carry me, so I guess we run or get some real horses. How do you feel about riding, Gosor? I can have a few here in half an hour."
"Although my travel has mostly been aboard ships I can ride should you have a mount that will carry me. Half an hour should hopefully give everyone who will join us time to prepare whatever they need for the trip. Come! We go to save our comrade!"
"You have seen how I can travel," Kitnos says, glad for an excuse to get out of the city.
Having decided on a course of action, the assembled members (plus one potential new member) hurries of into the dawn of the day, mere ten hours after the attack on Quercus' estate.
It is a travel of 32 miles to the edge of the forest over streets that have not yet fully forgotten a time when heavily loaded trade carts were passing over them frequently.
As promised, Astrapios returns with a fine selection of heavy riding horses. "These horses are borrowed, I expect to return them in good shape."
What nobody knew was that he simply took them out of his own stable from his alter ego's manor. Or his father's to be precise, but the old man didn't leave the house often these days.
Works all night to get something more from the Toxin
When she finds things out she comes tell the others,
Then she packs ready for the trip.
This dangerous poison seems to be an alchemistically enhanced version of a rather nasty spider poison found on several hosts on the island.
It directly attacks the mind of any victim, causing it to succumb to terror and its vision to become clouded and distorted.
You can only guess what this enhanced version is able to do.
Most likely it will greatly enhance the already horrible effect of the poison but it may also bear additional effects you are not aware of.
The group assembles at two hours to dusk at the north gate of town and mounts the colourful selection of fine-bred riding horses Astrapios provided and set off along the old trade path at a fast pace.