As agents of the Red Mantis, you know that the Vernai dwell not in Ilizmagorti but in the lavish upper chambers of the Crimson Citadel, which perches atop the highest jungle-covered peak on Mediogalti Isle. Most Red Mantis assassins and very few of the group’s agents and mercenaries are ever allowed to visit the Crimson Citadel, but you are among those who were granted permission to visit and even train in its upper halls in the past, a benefit granted to them by virtue of being in Blood Mistress Jakalyn’s good graces.
As such, you knows both the best routes to the Crimson Citadel and that it is the duty of any Red Mantis assassin to report treachery among the ranks to the agents of the Vernai, if not directly to the Vernai itself.
The trek to the mountaintop fortress is, by design, a journey through trackless jungle. Ancient wards cloak the sight of the fortress with mist and foliage, obscuring it from those who approach until they reach the mountain, at which point the fortress is visible in all its glory. Likewise, the view out over Mediogalti from within the Crimson Citadel is unobscured except by natural weather conditions.
Those who don’t know the Crimson Citadel’s location might wander lost and aimless for days, even weeks, through the dangerous jungle, but you know the route. If you decide to travel there on foot, it’s approximately a 100-mile journey from Ilizmagorti through dense jungle under thick cover. With no complications, the journey would take around 10 days.
You hustle your way through the market. Though the disruption you caused at the tea house certainly has people on edge, it turns out the the brothers were probably the primary people watching the marketplace.
Your sending spell to Vatumledor reaches the dragon successfully, and he responses: "With the evidence you have gathered, the Vernai must respond. Demand an audience at the Citadel. You must surrender your weapons for an audience."[/b]
Your sending to Jakalyn receives no response.
The night before they teleport in to the Cathedral Yuki takes some time to reach out into the dream world and attempts to give Saviya some really bad dreams.
"Let me see if i can nudge things in our favor."
Yuki casts Nightmare. DC 37
"I was in Galt one time, for some low-level assassination -- typical Galtan thing, a concubine was upset that her lover's wife was reading some sort of treatise on philosphy or something. Anyway, I go in and there's this monkey, just sitting there eating cheese. I look at it, it looks at me. And I think it's probably going to defend the woman who's just sitting there with her book of philosophy in her lap looking stunned that I've arrived to murder her. So I get ready to fit it. And it just puts down its cheese and scampers away. Stupid cheese-eating surrender monkey. Anyway, I killed the wife and stabbed the philosophy book for good measure. But my point is, if you just lay down your arms, you're going to end up dead. So, no, I don't think I'll be surrendering my weapons."
Dianora thinks for a moment.
"Though maybe we want to see if we can hide our weapons, just in case the dragon isn't joking."
Preparations made, and rested up, you teleport yourselves into a little-used storeroom within the Crimson Citadel. Venturing into the hallway, you're soon confronted by a sentinel--it's Golrain, an assassin that you recognize from training and a few briefings.
"You! Well, that's a surprise to see you in the Citadel. I heard you had turned rogue," the young man human comments. "I hope you aren't trying to cut your way through this place...I'm sure others will notice my absence and track you down fairly quickly."
"I'd rather not fight; could I escort you to the Chamber of the Vernai?"
Yuki thinks for a moment about this Golrain individual.
”Well I for one wouldn’t mind getting there without a fight. We do have information of note to share. And our Mistress will appreciate your support. Tell me, what have you heard?”
Kimmich never considered Golrain a threat and thus completely fails to remember him as well. The orc has taken the time today to paint his mask upon his face, the red lines standing stark against his green skin. "Those who tell of our rogue-ish-ness are potentially rogues themselves. Watch yourself, Mantis - such naive acceptance of rumors as facts can be deadly to a assassin." The orc follows their guide stoically after his warning.
"Who of the Vernai are here?" Dianora asks. "And more importantly, who's lying about our loyalty to Achaekek? I think they'll find such accusations can turn around to bite their heads off."
"I heard that you assassinated a legitimate ruler and then killed the team that was sent to take you in," the guard offers. "I imagine the full weekly council of 13 will be in attendance. You're the talk of the Citadel."
You follow the guard to an antechamber where you are relieved of your obvious weapons.
The guards believe in your non-violent intent and ask you to wait while the council is summoned. In about 10 minutes, you are ushered into the room.
The walls of this twenty-foot-wide, fourteen-sided stone chamber are of polished crimson porphyry, as is the floor below. Above, the interior of the hollow hundred-foot-high minaret rises to a crimson dome. A total of fourteen separate balconies encircle the room at a height of ten feet. Thirteen of these have a single stone chair draped with red silks and cushions, while the fourteenth, looming above the single door that provides entrance and exit, displays a statue of Achaekek, his claws appearing to drip with blood that flows in rivulets down supporting pillars to narrow grates in the floor. The room’s acoustics are unsettling, and the dripping of this blood sounds almost as if it were right next to the ear. A beam of red light shines down from above, illuminating the windowless room in its radiance.
A few moments after you take these sights in, seated figures manifest silently from red mist in each of the 13 chairs. Each is clad in the signature Red Mantis armor, and each wears a greater mask of the mantis that obscures their faces. One of the figures calls down to the party in a soft voice, but the room’s unique acoustic features carry her voice easily so that her every word is audible.
"Agents of righteous death, you stand before this council for judgment, accused of unlawful murder rather than sacred and contracted assassination. Moreover, you are accused of murdering of a rightful ruler: General Ordulf Bladecaller, an Ulfen warlord who had conquered a small part of the Land of the Linnorm Kings.
“The penalty for this is execution, so that your souls may be judged to stand before He Who Walks in Blood for absolution or destruction, but before this sentence is carried out, we stop to listen, as we understand there are complications and angles that have yet to be brought to our attention. We will ask three questions of you and are eager to hear in your own words justification for your blasphemy.”
Dianora nods her head in assent. "We will prove our innocence in this matter, and then execute judgment on those who've lied and brought us to this point."
The Vernai lead with their first question: “Did General Ordulf Bladecaller deserve to die?"
Dianora shrugs. "Since when do we care if someone deserves to die? We're hired to assassinate, and do so in fulfillment of Achaekek's will," she replies. "He was a powerful cleric, certainly, but a rightful ruler? Only in his own mind, and if we went by people who think they're rulers, well, who wouldn't measure up, in that case? We might as well go out of business and theology."
Crystal sighs and shrugs her shoulders. "Well you'd have to tell me. As a loyal Red Mantis I usually expect the Vernai to vet any job or contract given to me. It's not my job to know what rulers are rightful and what aren't, that's the job of those whose contracts I enact. Certainly our contracts are anonymous so we cannot check the bias of who gave it but we did not act of our own selection when we killed him, so certainly if he deserved to die someone at one of your own tables that thought so. I can only tell you what I was told at the time, which was that he was an unlawful usurper."
Yuki stands straight and looks at each vernai as she presents her case.
”The social contract we follow is one where we trust the contract we are given to be true. But more importantly, we succeeded in the mission, and succeeded in defending our very lives from those who were lied to about us. And, they did not seem interested in taking us in. More importantly, He Who Walks in Blood guided our hands or we would not have been successful.”
”But I wander and stray into theology. Would a rightful ruler have been betrayed by his allies at the point he needed them most. Some of them were powerful and could easily have turned the tide in his favor! The tribes that came to beat their drums in war as he fell did not see him as their ruler.”
"I am the blade that is thrown. I do not turn. I do not stop. I strike where I am sent. We were ordered to kill Ordulf. He was no rightful ruler, and his death was, I presume, paid for. I served as my god demands." Kimmich stands stoic, hands crossed in front of him, confident and unperturbed.
The Vernai silently consider your responses. Behind their masks, it is impossible to read the expressions on their faces.
“We have heard you believe yourselves to be the victims of a conspiracy—why do you make these claims?”
"I believe in a lot of things," Dianora rambles. "Well, I believe in the soul, the small of a man's back, the hangin' starknife, high fiber, good scotch, that the masterwork of the Mad Poet Abdul Alhazred is self-indulgent over-rated crap. I believe Jaclyn acted alone. I believe there ought to be a deific anathema outlawing difficult terrain and amateur assassins. I believe in the sweet spot, soft core mangos, opening your presents Mantismas morning rather than Mantismas Eve, and I believe in long, slow, deep, soft, wet kisses that last three days.
"But I do not believe that we are victims of a conspiracy. I know this to be true, mostly because we've determined it in the only way a true Red Mantis assassin does -- in blood. Take this letter we found in the back of a ledger. We broke the cypher -- easily! -- and it alone seems incontrovertible."
Yuki smiles at the good Sister's comments. "Is there a conspiracy, yes. Has it affected us, yes. But, it would be unbecoming of us to play the victim card in all of this. That is not our way way. Our way to persevere, adapt, overcome, and get the job done. We trust in our traditions to see us through. Someone is violating those traditions, an attempt to become, Unrightfully, a leader."
"Would the Mantis Speaker have agreed to speak on our behalf if we were in the wrong? They have received several requests which when reviewed together present an interesting situation. One that proves something odd is going on."
Crystal thinks for a long moment.
"I find it hard to add more where my two fellows have already done so, so I'll reiterate that yes we have found multiple sources of proof that a conspiracy has taken place. Our organization makes some things very clear, that we assassinate and take contracts and we do not kill on mindless want of violence. I do my killing for two reasons, business and protection of myself. And every life I've taken of my fellow mantises lately is for one reason alone, that someone has told them of a faulty contract which brought me to risk my own life confronting them over it. Given that I know the four of us accepted a contract why, ultimately should have been heard about and spread so easily among our fellows? Unless that contract was clearly meant to be used against us. Almost as if someone was ready for it. For how else did our fellow assassins arrive almost immediately upon our mark's death? They were sent to confront us before it even happened. Only someone in the Vernai would even know we had gone out for it before the death even took place, if someone informed the Citadel it could have only taken place after the assassination, thus giving us at least a day or two before they arrived."
"And, Kimmich says, standing proud and unbowed with his companions before the council of Vernai, "we have faced these conspirators with the full powers of Achaekek behind our actions. Our warpriest Dianora retains her full abilities. Achaekek's blessing still rests upon me. There is nothing that shows us to have betrayed the edicts of He Who Walks In Blood... which is, or should be, the true purpose of this organization and all who serve within it. If conspirators have betrayed that trust, it is not us."
"You have solid evidence that this conspiracy exists. We are inclined to believe you, and even nullify your sentence. What do you think is the goal of this conspiracy, and why have they singled you out as their targets?” The Vernai asks.
"They seek to replace Blood Mistress Jakalyn with one of their own, and so they seek to deprive her of her strongest allies so they would not need to face us," Kimmich states simply. "We have overcome everything they have thrown at us. I look forward to facing them and overcoming them as well."
Dianora shrugs and nods as Kimmich said. "That's pretty much it. We're targets because they're scared of us. Honestly, they're probably pissing themselves right now, which is an unfortunate thing that happens to little children and people who know they're about to die. Maybe look around to see whose pants are clean? As for why they want control of the Red Mantises, well, we haven't figured that out yet. But probably not for any good reason."
Yuki nods. "We tried to be discreet and were following our leads on this conspiracy and were lead to The Brothers. They answered our attempt at Diplomacy with violence. They tried to kill us without even a valid contract just a promise of favors from the leader of this conspiracy. That's pretty damning evidence."
Crystal pulls out the note from Sister Maeri's office and waves it up in the air at the Vernai.
"In fact, we're well aware that this conspiracy targets the Blood Mistress. As you can see here the Sisters of Serenity were given instruction to follow up on taking out Jakalyn and keeping an eye on us because of our closeness to her. They do fear us, yes but because we are allies to the Blood Mistress herself, and if you wish to stage a coup then you have to remove all supporters of the leader. Yes, that's right. I said a coup. That is the goal of this conspiracy, to become the new seat of power unlawfully!"
The Vernai carefully consider your argument, as least you assume they do, as their is an extended period of silent communion after you finish presenting your case.
"We acknowledge your innocence, reinstate your status as Red Mantis agents and rescind all calls for your capture.
"We suspect, and much of your information confirms that the conspiracy is led by one of our number, Saviya, high priest of Achaekek. She and several of her accomplices recently left their posts here to 'research a matter of dire importance to us all' down in the Sarzari deep below."
"Traditionally, entrance into the Grand Library is limited to the acting blood mistress and those to whom she grants personal permission to enter. Saviya’s decision to enter either suggests she’s secured private permission from Blood Mistress Jakalyn to do so and never bothered to inform the other members of the Vernai, or (as we now strongly suspect) that she’s engaged in some sort of conspiracy or coup attempt.
"In either case, we must remain in Odalis to continue performing our duties, and none of us are comfortable entering Sarzari without Jakalyn’s permission. As several of you are Jakalyn's favored agents, and as a consequence of your reputations being on the line due to the conspirators’ actions, we are prepared to exempt you from the restrictions on Sarzari access.
"We would like you to investigate Saviya's activities. You’ll surely face dangerous wards and defenders in Sarzari beyond the threats represented by the conspirators, but if they are righteous in their convictions, then you will surely prevail! We would prefer you capture Saviya alive and escort her back to this council to account for her actions. However, if she is slain, the dead can be made to reveal their secrets, as you all doubtlessly know. In such an event, return with as many of Saviya’s remains as you can."
As they explain your mission, they also offer you certain information about your target--assassins are always prepared--and a reward for getting to the bottom of the conspiracy.
capable of casting powerful spells, is armed with gear that grants her supernatural strength, antimagic, and flight, and bears sabers that inflict spiritual and electrical damage in addition to deep bleeding wounds.
• Saviya is served by a powerful astradaemon bodyguard named Zivnivoss.
• Saviya commands the loyalty of a large number of Red Mantis assassins and agents, but no one knows the exact number of her loyal conspirator followers. Soon after Saviya left for Sarzari, several dozen Red Mantis assassins went missing as well—the Vernai suspect these constitute the majority of her conspirators, and while most of these are relatively low-ranking assassins, several are higher-ranking foes similar to the conspirators you faced during your time in the city.
Rewards
Each choose one of the following: 3,000 gp in common consumables of 15th level or less, a searing blade that’s a sawtooth saber rather than a longsword, a spacious pouch IV, or a 6th-rank wand of bone flense, crimson breath, mantis's grasp, mark of blood, or[/i] sawtooth terrain[/i].
Also each choose one of: a set of assassin’s bracers II, a bloody fang, a crimson bluff, or a 7th-rank wand containing bone flense, crimson breath, mantis's grasp, mark of blood, or sawtooth terrain
Yuki takes a moment to think about astradaemons.
Yuki Thinks about what spells or items might assist them:
1st Item:
3000 in consumables:
Talisman Reflected Moonlight Fulu
Scroll Haste at 7
Scroll Slow at 6
Scroll Telepathy at 4
Scroll Deathward x 4
(this lasts 10 min so Dianora and Yuki can cast them right before we go into the Library) I figure it could be prudent since she is a cleric and probably likes death effects.
Scroll Heal at 6 x 2
Scroll Heal at 4 x 1
2nd Item:
Wand at 7: Mantis' Grasp
(who doesn't like a little battlefield control)
Astradaemons represent death by direct assault against a soul or life-force. Rarely seen in the mortal Universe, astradaemons spend most of their time hunting the pathways between the living world and the afterlife. There, they capture migrating souls, snatching them from their rightful rewards or punishments and dragging them to Abaddon as tribute to their undying masters. These horrifying predators of the dead can also be found stalking the banks of the River of Souls in the Astral Plane, where they constantly hunt for new victims.
They have a weakness for holy damage and an ability that bends light around them, making it as if they are always hidden, even when you can see them. (DC 11 Flat Check to target.)
Dianora takes a pair of wands of bone flense, knowing she can cast them ahead of time before her hands are occupied by her twin sabers.
Instead of the Heal scrolls and the telepathy scroll Yuki will grab 3 true sight scrolls to cast on everyone
”I do not expect her to come quietly. sister Dianora, would you mind warding us against death while I cast true sight upon us?”
"I don't know that I know how to mindward, and I've heard deaths are incredibly overpowered, but you may see it differently," Dianora replies, taking the scrolls from Yuki.
After you secure supplies, the Vernai tell you that while there are many paths to Sarzari, including several physical routes that traverse other
portions of the citadel below, you should take the same route Saviya took to enter the forbidden chambers: via a meditation mirror that serves as a direct portal to a specific wing of Sarzari believed to hold tomes focused
on the hidden history and innumerable secrets of Achaekek.
"None of us have ever used the meditation mirror to travel to Sarzari, but we do know it’s protected by a powerful agent of Achaekek. As such, they recommend that you approach as dutiful worshippers of the Mantis God. "
The Vernai have no advice to give them about the halls and chambers beyond the mirror portal and are not interested in the specifics of what you find
beyond, as this information is not for their ears.
Directions to the Meditation Mirror are provided to you. The Vernai won’t escort you, but the directions are specific enough to guide you through the maze of hallways, chambers, and stairs that honeycomb the citadel. You delve ever downward as you go, and, after passing through a few secret doors, you find yourselves in an area of the fortress that you are unfamiliar with.
The directions end at a long, ten-foot-wide hallway that passes through this broad room. Ancient wooden tables stand to either side against the north and south walls, both covered in dozens of half-melted candles. On the eastern wall, a twenty-five-foot-wide silver mirror with an ostentatious golden frame draws the eye—a line of runes has been carved into the middle of the frame’s upper portion. In the center of the room, a fifteen-foot-diameter circle has been engraved in the floor.
When you come within twenty feet of the mirror, its surface begins to ripple and shudder. A strangely sonorous voice, "In whose name do you approach?"
"We come in the name of He Who Walks in Blood," Dianora replies, fully vested in her armor and mantis mask, with her twin sawtooth sabres -- the Mantis God's favored weapon -- in her hands.
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Crystal fidgets nervously, one of the very rare times she has ever been witnessed to lose her clearly vain demeanor. "Are we... sure the best way is through the mirror portal. What if it... won't let me back here again?"
She stares nervously across the room at it. "Would the mirror dimension swallow me up and lock me in? Like some kind of cosmic correction of the world? No... the other one isn't here anymore there'd be nothing to correct anyway. Do not be consumed by fear, the enemy feeds on fear."
She shakes off the moment and follows very closely behind Dianora, comfortable to let her lead the interrogation. Who better to represent their loyalty to the Mantis god than the great priestess herself. And this way she can keep her eyes away from staring into the mirror and second guessing following through with this mission.
As Sister Dianora answers, it is as if a pebble was thrown into the center of the mirror. Ripples radiate outward from its center, then the mirror swirls, drawing itself to the sides. Where the reflective surface was, a portal swirls in the center of the frame.
"You others," the sonorous voice booms. "Whom do you serve?"
”I serve He Who Walks in Blood, and have since I was called into his service as a child.” Yuki states proudly.
"I serve He Who Walks In Blood, as the red dream of my people foretold," Kimmich says, his face painted red in the unique mantis totem he discovered for himself in the blood of his former tribe.
Crystal swallows the lump in her throat and pulls out one of her own small mirrors, flipping it back and forth in her hand.
"Fine. For years I have served the Mantis god, and I intend to continue so still, so I will be taking back my reputation and taking down this ridiculous conspiracy then returning back to do my duty. I certainly won't let you get in the way of that, mirror."
Yuki recognizes that the "mirror" is no mirror at all. It is a divine servant of Achaekek called Silver Saber. At rest, the construct appears like a mirror, but it can spring into battle to protect the order's secrets, taking the form of a praying mantis made of polished, almost liquid silver with a blank humanoid face.
At your professions of faith, the Silver Saber withdraws to become a thin, shimmering ring around interior of the ornate frame, leaving a glowing portal open at the center of the frame.
"Pass, and serve He Who Walks in Blood."
"Long and bloody may his blades be," Kimmich says piously says as he draws his two sabers and steps through the center of the frame.
Yuki steps through the portal.
"Let death be final, for we are not the keepers of graves," Sister Dianora says piously quoting one of the deity's aphorisms as she passes his servant, sabers drawn.
Crystal swallows the lump in her throat, pulls both sawtooth sabers and hefts them in her hands for comfort, and leaps into the portal after the other three.
You step through the portal and arrive in a vast chamber that seems to stretch on forever in all directions and is eerily quiet. To the west (just behind you), a glowing portal seems to hover in midair, while to the east, a gleaming white door stands alone, apparently fixed in space. In all other directions, the countless stars of the sky twinkle—there is no indication of a floor below or ceiling above.
You catch a mere flash of the run, when suddenly you are in the Ilizmagorti city bazaar appears, complete with a cloudless blue sky above. The crowd surrounding you is dense, and the smells and sights and sounds are almost overwhelming in their sudden appearance. The crowd is giving you some space as they mill about.
~+~Round 1~+~
Crystal
Yuki
Kimmich
Hazard
Sister Dianora
Crystal looks around, realizing this must be some level of illusion and starts tapping away with a chisel. **"No one else move, the source is under our feet..."**
Yuki closes her eyes, and feels the magic. She takes a deep breath feeling the presence of He Who Walks in Blood with her as he was the night she met the Blood Mistress.
”Perhaps I can help us get past the trap Saviya has laid for us.”