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"Oh. That's-"
It's hard to tell what adjective Litsy has in mind. What follows is a bit of a commotion punctuated with shrieks, as the girl uselessly swats away at innocuous (and immaterial) flies.
"HOLY F~~+-" A pause when a fly goes right through her like a ghost. "I don't like it, I don't like them, nope nope" she retreats in a corner of the room, as far away from the luminescent bugs as she can. "Eeeew... "
Can we recover the body? If we can identify them, we can find the parents and give them closure.
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Since Pollux already provided his version of dancing lights VRiel kept his active to follow Borgan. He does give Pollux a look and nod towards Litsy. You may want to recast that as Litsy doesn’t like flying insects. Otherwise good call.
Tiny, those are not real bugs just lights. They can’t hurt you.
With that Variel accompanies Borgan so no one is isolated from the others. Plus his protective shield spell was still up for a other minute and he might as well put it to good use.
Some inspections of the tavern indicate that there's no good way to get inside it outside of the small hole Litsy managed to squeeze herself through.
"Oh...Things get worse...then things get worse again."
The brightly glowing flies promptly burst into flame. There is no crackle or pop or tiny screams as the four lights consolidate to two and drift slowly towards Listy.
"Yes Opera is right. We should disturb the body and remove it from its resting place so the other folks can burn it later. Castor says it is more tidy that way.."
I have heard tales that it is possible to speak to the spirit of the departed and glean information from them. Perhaps we can find an agreeable priest and find the parents of this child.
Borgan comes back around after checking the surrounding outside of the tavern.
"Nothing to see at the outside, no easy entrances besides the one Litsy went in."
After learning that there is a desiccated body of a small tiefling child down there with all the teeth removed, Borgan grimaces, the his lips and jaw begin to twitch as he hears about the shackles.
"Somebody left the girl here on purpose for these creatures to kill her. Offering or plain cruelty."
Borgan's grip on his weapon tightens and his knuckles become a lighter tone as he does so. He inhales deeply, then exhales as he tries to calm down.
"This tiefling community seems very tight-knit. I would assume they would know who the family is. We should also tell them what we fought and found."
Unable to find anything further inside the faeries den Litsy drags the gruesome package through the hole and after a few moments, herself as well.
In the light, the body looks much worse. Unwrapping the body reveals shackles of cold iron binding the childs arms and legs, not that it seemed to be needed as all four limbs have been broken.
Beorn is very disturbed by the state of the body. Should we let the parents see the child? To have their last memory of them to appear like this would be horrible. Perhaps having a family friend see.
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Returning from searching the perimeter with Borgan, Variel is sadden at the sight of Litsy retrieving the small dead body. The emotion is short lived though as it runs to anger at the sight of the cold iron shackles on the arms and legs.
know planar
Variel covers his mouth with his free hand as he gets a full realization of what happened. Whoever did this is a disturbed and twisted individual. They tortured this poor child in the hopes of calling forth the teeth stealers. The person we will be looking for will have a profound knowledge of planar rituals.
heal check
Litsy, stop touching the 'rope'. It is actually the sinew from a tiefling that is binding her. Variel gives a shudder in horror at the thought.
"Oh, jeez!" Litsy quickly withdraws her hand as if the rope had burned her. "So we've got two victims instead of one?" She scrunches her face in disgust. "That's f@*&ed up. That's really f%#~ed up."
She joins the group in silently staring down at the small cadaver for a while.
It isn't the first time she's seen a dead child, not with spending most of her life on the streets, not with the bad winters, the rampant coughing disease that claimed, the dilapidated buildings they took shelter in, the shivs handled by more or less expert hands. It's not as if she hasn't seen death claim some people, but whatever this is is something much different.
Worse.
"You know what?" she rummages through her pocket, and takes out a golden tooth, that she presses in Variel's hand. "I've found this inside. Take it. I don't want it." It could have belonged to the tiefling someone took a sinew from after all, and- yeah. No. She'd find something else to sell.
"So we..." she clears her throat. "Drop this kid somewhere, then move along to find a mage guy? Right?"
She rakes her memory to think of somewhere they can move on with the investigation. Magic school, magic shop... In all likelihood, Ritual Guy doesn't come from the Devil's Nursery, but only hunts there. Where the heck could he have learned something like that?
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Its ok Litsy. It’s not going to harm you. Variel unclasps his cloak while talking. However we should cover her and bring her back to the tieflings. After that though you are right. If they don’t have any leads then we need to keep our eyes open for a mage with a sadistic streak and a penchant for torturing kids.
Variel takes the tooth that she offers him, Thanks Litsy. Was this from the girl or someone else? It is possible we could use this to identify her or one of the other victims. More questions for the tieflings and not any closer to any real answers. If the others don’t have any additional thoughts Variel will gently wrap the child in his cloak and carry it back to the tiefling group.
"You seen many kids with gold teeth?" Litsy shakes her head. "No idea who it used to belong to, it was in the f+*@ing wall. But it's probably someone else's."
Beorn helps carry the body, clearly troubled and thoughtful at the magnitude of evil that would do this to a child.
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No Litsy I haven't but I wasn't sure until I asked. I had hoped that it could be a clue or at least a means to provide closure to others. I guess without anything else to go on we are left to the hope that the tieflings are able to identify the child and the gold tooth. Even if we can't provide that type of closure then at the least, we were able to help these people and prevent further deaths. Our actions today may be the beginnings of bridging a relationship with these people that have been downtrodden for far too long.
Clearly distracted by something invisibly important Pollux pays little attention to the fortunate child.
The stranger quietly whistles a bit of a popular tune as they walk
"Careful with that Opera. Children can be sticky."
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Beorn is starting to have doubts on the sanity of their new member.
... to keep our eyes open for a mage with a sadistic streak and a penchant for torturing kids.
Stopping the whistle mid note Pollux speaks in a calm and reasonable voice. "Not necessarily a mage. The offering of the bound body implies tribute. The caster is asking for something and offering a price up front.
Whoever did this sees themselves as less than the power they are beseeching. It is a rare mage that acknowledges that powers greater than they exist."Pollux's voice begins to waver..."They may bargain with Thrones and Principalities but always from an attitude of temporary weakness. I treat with you only because I do not yet have the power to command you."
Their voice now fully returned to the familiar sing-song cadence "We are looking for someone in pain, someone little. Bigger than us obviously as that calling took something, but still someone who believes they are little."
No not like you Castor. You do not believe you are little. No not like Shelyn either. Closer to Mr. Hands if you must."
The calm voice returns suddenly: "Given the place and time and politics we will find this little person in the shadow of the Mayor. Though who is the puppet and who the master is unclear."
Calm voice gone: "Unless they are mad. Madness is always ..."
The unfinished sentence fades into soft whistling.
Borgan inspects the small bundle of remains of the poor tiefling child, shaking his head and clenching his fists. He nods as Variel mentions it being a tiefling's sinew and holds up a hand as the group wants to move on.
"Hold on! There seems to be something written on these 'bindings' themselves. Is this part of the ritual perhaps?"
Borgan looks to see if he can read it, but otherwise offers to Variel to take another closer look at it.
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Variel had completely missed the potential writings on the sinew. Good catch Borgan. I wonder what this may be. Is it ritualistic or a way of passing a message on to whomever may discover it. I have heard that some spies would have rope wrapped around their waists. They would then write a message on the rope and remove it. Anyone who saw the uncoiled rope would not know what the markings were. Only once you placed it around a similar sized column could you read the secret message and know what the spy discovered. Perhaps the same is true here.
Pollux you seem to have given this much thought. I admit I did not consider a diabolist scholar as an option.
It might be Infernal, I know some. Beorn looks at the writings.
With none of you being able to decipher the writings carved into the flesh bindings of the child's corpse you are left with little choice but to take your meager treasures and bitter trauma back to the tiefling gathering in time to see the roaring blaze that was the fairies latest, and perhaps final, victim.
The solemn, blank faced expressions of the tieflings at the burning is almost as emotionally breaking as the discovery of the body itself. It occurs to you that this level of cruelty is not at all unfamiliar amongst their kind and it brings to question the many propaganda pieces that float through Kintargo about the threat of infernal taint in the blood. Faced with such levels of casual torture and social deprivation as is faced in the Devil's Nursery daily, it is hardly a wonder that such a people might turn towards a side of the law far more welcoming to outsiders and those dissatisfied with a life with a boot on their throat. Often this takes on the form of crime or an embrace of that darker nature that is perhaps far more human than even they would be willing to admit. However, such energy is not impossible to channel to a more constructive cause.
None of the tieflings at the gathering are able to identify who the child was or to whom they even belonged to and they mention it's just as likely they were abandoned here in the nursery as part of some other family's secret shame. Damned as it were to eke out a living, if it could be called that, among the inhabitants of the nursery.
Beyond that the list of suspects is thin. None as anyone can tell in the nursery are mad enough, let alone skilled enough, to call such carnage down on their own. Even those that would are quickly cast out, either on their behind or on their belly down the river.
With nothing left to say or do the child is simply added to the fire. The beginning and the end of the madness poetically burning as one.
Few of the tieflings meander about and most return to their homes. A few others stay to ensure the fire keeps burning even as it begins to rain in earnest. The spring rains would be beginning soon, making most days soggy until the middle of summer. For now, you are alone with your thoughts and your strange assistant.
Beorn is very depressed, the sort of depressed that would drive someone to sit in dark bars and recite poetry while being clad all in black and silver.
Shall we retire for the moment? We no doubt have more to discuss.
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If possible Variel will keep the sinew and the writing for future investigation. Its possible with a bit of magic we can figure these out and then have a lead to follow up on. Otherwise, I am at a loss for what to do next. Looking around at the tieflings leaving. I can't imagine what life is like here. At least I had the chance for happiness before. Here, there is nothing. We need to fix this is we are ever to have any chance of uniting the people and actually doing some good. What could we do though that will have real significance and give them a chance to prosper? While helping provide for the necessities is a start I am talking about real change. Who do we know that needs workers so they can earn a living? Who can we get to teach them much as I envisioned someone teaching Litsy.
"'Fix'?" Litsy pats Variel on the arm. "This is probably going to take more than goodwill and six people to 'fix' this, you know. And I doubt anyone would offer them a job, if only because it's too risky. Besides, they must have already looked for one."
She pauses to think. "Of course, since we've been roping random people into our highly risky rebellion lately, I think that maybe some of them can be persuaded to join us. But we've seen what might happen to them if they're caught, and I think I've had enough of one dead child for today. Probably forever."
"It may not be the right time now, to ask these people the question of helping us out. Though it will be in their best interest if they want to see a change as much as we want to."
"When we do come back though, I think they will remember that we've solved the random murders happening around here. We've already spared children losing their lives out here, losing their parents or siblings. We've done some good already to prevent loss of life here Litsy. Let us not forget that."
Borgan contemplates his own words as much as the words of Variel.
"Of course their situation needs improvement, if we can help them to do so, even better. But providing security first so they feel safe going to any work they might get, already goes a long way."
"...dead children...forever"*
Pollux shakes their head as if awaking and smiles.
"Roping random risky rebellion. You number alliteration among your admirable abilities Shelyn. But then I would expect no less from one so divine."
Pollux continues to no one in particular. "The salt mines need workers. The ones who didn't want to leave were thrown out and the ones who want to leave have to stay. Castor says this is capitalism but I think there might be something to be done about that."
"I used to be fluent in sinew. With a bit of gold for a scroll-seller I could be again. Gold is a strange thing but Castor says it does not taste as good as rabbit glue."
We should let them mourn for a while before approaching them. Best for us not to look like we are trying to take advantage of them.
Pollux looks from one to the other of you. Large blank eyes asking you what you are doing next and does it involve a shuffleboard?
Through some ill fortune, bloodshed, and another encounter with small things with nasty habits you managed to bring to an end the series of murders that was plaguing the devil's nursery.
Laria of course has reservations about your new "friend" but her protests are relatively meek and the most she does is put out extra rat poison in her coffeehouse over the next week.
The rest of the week progresses without too many issues. The city is still reeling from the attempted assassination on the Lord Mayor and it seems your group is not the only one making attempts at building a larger organization. The Chelish citizens group is growing larger by the day, taking in the disaffected, the brutally patriotic, or the infernally pious into their own ranks. Having the implicit blessing of the Lord Mayor means they can operate out in the open whilst you must fear the hangmans noose each and every day.
The sisters and Rexus have been noticing strange happenings in the Wasp's nest, furniture moved without explanation, mad scribblings and crude drawings made on the walls mocking the inhabitants, or on some nights when Rexus is working alone sad pipe music playing as if from some distance. It's mostly being played off as some trick or harmless haunting.
Speaking of Rexus he's managed to translate the first portion of the writings you've recovered.
Fencing the gold tooth nets you 250gp for the group. It's fate is somewhat dubious but gold is gold.
With the first week completely done and going into week 2 Pollux can benefit from the extra skill point per level based on his association Rexus is delighted to work with another spellcaster as strange as he might be. He presents the translation of the work to you in the hopes it'll provide some inspiration if not useful facts.
"Each day I step into the rose garden I pray that the roses are white, that this has all been a terrible nightmare, that the diabolists are not spreading their foul influence across the lands to the west. But they are black each and every time. He is truly dead and his priests are truly lost. That just leaves us. I have talked it over with the others and we all agree that it's time for the silver ravens to take a more active role in the city's defense. The human's god may be dead but that is no reason for the living to simply roll over and let unrest and devils roll us over.
With Malgar missing you are currently without a demagogue and Pollux currently has no role.
Korva and her younger sisters have acclimated well enough to the city to begin their seedy work in earnest. This has given you a new special team (maxing out your teams consequently who need a manager) they grant the Earn Gold and Gather Information actions.
Laria and Rexus more actively begin to support you naturally falling into specific things they can do becoming your natural allies.
Laria Longroad: Laria’s work with the Bellflower Network has given her an excellent reputation among Kintargo’s downtrodden. As long as Laria remains an ally of the Silver Ravens, all Loyalty checks to take the Recruit Supporters action gain a +2 bonus.
Rexus Victocora: Although Rexus was never officially a part of the Sacred Order of Archivists, he learned a fair amount about how to lie low from his mother. As long as Rexus remains an ally of the Silver Ravens, the rebellion’s Notoriety score is reduced by 1 (to a minimum score of 1) at the start of every Upkeep phase.
How do we wan to handle the role changes??
GM:
So it's been literally MONTHS (downside of playing online), but shouldn't Litsy have found some intel as to her friend's whereabouts?
(Posts between December 18 2021- January 6th 2022)
Litsy's very much fine with covering the team's tracks to ensure discretion.
Beorn has a feeling that letting Pollux do pep talks is a bad idea.
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Variel was disappointed that the golden tooth was not able to lead them to anyone but at least it sold enough to buy a scroll to follow up on the sinew writings. Arriving back at the coffeehouse VAriel is glad that Pollux seems to be accepted somewhat by both Laria and Rexus. The idiosyncrasies of the man were peculiar but so far not overly threatening, unless you count dancing light spells in the shapes of insects. Still, it would work out for the better once everyone had their role to fulfill in the liberation and salvation of Kintargo. What that next step though was to be decided. Pollux was right that there are some shenanigans at the salt mines. We may want to look into that or do we invistigate the sounds further at the Wasp's Nest?
If something is lurking in our basement, we had best investigate. Last time we checked out a cellar, we got attacked by a giant crow.
"And an alligator if my memory serves me right. I think Beorn has the right idea, first let's see to it that our current base and allies are safe. afterwards we should look into those salt mines as well."
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It was a strange few days for the stranger. So fitting really.
Pollux and Laria got off to a bad start which soured the mood for a bit.
Things improved soon after though when Pollux discovered that she was leaving gifts for Castor.
Sometime when Liria is otherwise occupied...
Whispered "Really? She is?...
Castor leads Pollux to some of the poison. "You are sure it is for you? She didn't just drop it?"
". . ."
"Yes .... I can see it was deliberately placed....and hidden. She must feel bad for the mean looks and the things she said about you so she is giving you a gift to apologize."
". . ."
"And she is hiding it because she is too embarrassed to say anything. Do you think she likes us like lady at the opera? Pity what happened to her..."
". . . "
"Yes it was quick, so there is that. But enough of arching memories, what should we do about now?"
"Giving gifts is complicated. Too big or too small a gift is an insult. We need to find something exactly as valuable as the poison she is giving us."
"Poison is valuable Castor and unfortunately we are rather poor. We will have to think about how to thank her. You never know she might die suddenly and solve the problem for us" Pollux smiles.
"But until then we can't let this gift go to waste. You scout around at night and find where she is hiding these gifts. Then you can alert me and we can gather everything up. We need to be quick, quiet, and careful because this place has mice and they will try to eat anything."
". . . "
"No you can't gather the gifts yourself. Your thumbs don't work that well and you are bad with poison, remember the spiders?"
"We will gather up these offerings together and then we will decide how to reward Miss Liria....."
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When not searching for Miss Liria's hidden gifts Pollux assists Rexus with the translations. Working steadily on the code Pollux feels frustrated and searches for a quicker solution.
Otherwise Pollux wanders about managing to stay nearly out of the way and proving occasionally helpful.
Finally, when not otherwise occupied, Castor begins his campaign to eradicate or rule the local rodent population. Miss Liria's gifts, carefully employed should help in managing regime change.
"And an alligator if my memory serves me right. I think Beorn has the right idea, first let's see to it that our current base and allies are safe. afterwards we should look into those salt mines as well."
Pollux walks by whistling
"I do not think I have ever seen an alligator. But yes, Other Shelyn has it right. Mr Rexus is quite frustrated by the graffiti and the constant whistling. it is very nearly no longer entertaining, we should help him. Do you think we have another alligator? "
"'Shenanigans' is one way to put it," Litsy scowls. "'Actual crimes is another."
Even for her typical sarcastic self, she' s been particularly acerbic lately. Also, Maria's pastries have been disappearing at a much faster pace since everyone came back from the Devil's Nursery. It's entirely possible that a lot of them ended up in the stomachs of some urchins, but that doesn't explain why Litsy's sleeves have been so often sticky with sugar lately.
er gaze rests on the latest woever reads ths is a eejit" scribbled on the wall, and sighs. "On the other hand, that little ghost situation' s been a real pain in the arse. At least our crocodile didn't play the f&&!ing bagpipes every night."
Addressing these one at a time before week 3 actions. Will post the rest when i get home from work. Ill let pollux and varielt,r
Whatever mysterious power, entiry, or practical joker is affecting the wasps nest it is as elusive as it is mysterious. Various theories abound as to the source from fey involvement, to chough's vengeful spirit, to the ghost of the smuggler. Laria suggested that the things brought from the old silver raven stash have something to do with it. A theory that Rexus sincerely doubts as he spends most of his day pouring over them and outside of some eye strain have proven no more supernatural. For now it seems to be relatively harmless.
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Castor's rise to dominance is fast, but rapidly stifled as a larger rat who makes their nest somewhere in the sewers below the coffeehouse bullies and beats up Castor whenever he is caught out alone. This rat is particularly malicious and you suspect their might be a bit more to it than the natural world would allow.
Looks like it is just 1 skill rank. Not 1 per level.
As word of your deeds spread throughout the nursery some tieflings have approached you quietly offering support for the cause. They don't know whether or not what you promise will ever come true. But at the very least they can repay your kindness.
Unfortunately some of Beorn's newcoming supporters have already moved on to other things. One simply decided to focus on his newfound faith and joined the church of Shelyn in earnest pretending to have never met you. The other two found wealthy patrons in other cities and simply don't want to ruin their chances by participating in sedition.
You have 2 rebellion actions you can take.
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Oh the humanity! The fickleness of the heart and how passion ebbs and flows with time! Beorn weeps into his beard and writes bad poetry that involves dressing in black clothes and round dark tinted glasses.
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Variel helped search the hideout again looking for any signs of haunts or magical interference. However, nothing was found in spite their efforts. Finally calling it quits Variel focused on other areas that needed their attention, namely the efforts of the Silver Ravens. It seemed that there were fewer supporters though this week than last week. The fickleness of trying to start a rebellion was quite apparent as those that wanted a different course left. At least 2 of the tieflings joined their cause after their efforts in the Devil's Nursery. I think we should head back there and see if more of them want to join our cause. The 2 that joined are great additions, but I am sure that more will join our cause once we spend more time with them. We need to continue to increase our numbers or we will never have the full support of the city behind us. We will wallow in obscurity and only accomplish little. We must increase our numbers till Thrune is overthrown.
Perhaps we can investigate the saltworks.
Hmm....Well besides salt of course let me think..
Well, they do have a delightful lace salt that goes well sprinkled on chocolate.
"It's terrible, and you don't want to be one of the poor f&!$ers exploited there?" Litsy suggests.
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Do we know what to expect for resistance if we try to liberate the salt works from Thrune? Is it run by devils or people and do we have anyone that we know of that is sympathetic to change that could run the salt mine?
Regardless I agree we need to check it out and see for ourselves what is going on. I just don’t like to be surprised or unprepared if I can help it.