"Finally!" Ann exclaims, leaping off the parapet onto the rooftop below and dashes over to pummel the prone spellcaster.
"Hey. Sorry I'm late to the party. What'd I miss?" She casually asks.
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Ann lands and runs towards the cleric
Sien strikes Red, who shrieks in pain
Ketsu responds to that attack and strikes down assassin.
The last two people standing, the cleric and the other assassin.
With brutal effectivness, and little mercy, the last two enemies are dealt with, the assassin was way over their head, while the cleric gave up a fight but was not real treat to you at any point. Surgically made strikes let the two bodies on the ground.
When you search Sister Maeri’s (the cleric name) body, uncover a folded letter in one of her pockets. This letter is from no one else but Mantis Keeper and notes that the writer of the letter will send word if they or their “watchful eyes” spot you entering the city by land. Well you met Mantis Keeper so it all fall into pieces.
Beyond the letter from Mantis Keeper youfind the slender tome bound in red leather and embossed in gold with the title Sisters in Serenity. This folio, written in Common, lays out the tenets of the Sisterhood she runs. A casual inspection of the book makes it seem like the Sisterhood of Serenity is a benevolent organization of healers, but for Moonlight who is an expert on religions it is clear that the entire organization is a front for Achaekek’s worshippers to keep an eye on Ilizmagorti’s citizens.
You note unusual indentations in the book’s margins.
A critical success suggests these indentations are in fact faint marks left behind by a quill used to scribe additional glosses to the text in alchemically invisible ink
Ketsu-kiba picks up the book and quickly thumbs through it. "Something weird has pressed the margains here, but I'm not sure what it was..."
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"Only a fool dies with unspent capacity"
Moonlight gives another lookover of the book.
You work at a pace born from longevity that enhances your thoroughness. You can voluntarily spend twice as much time as normal on a Perception check or skill check that takes 1 action or longer. If you do, you gain a +2 circumstance bonus to the check and don't automatically reduce your degree of success on a natural 1 (you get a critical failure only if your result is 10 lower than the DC). For example, you could get these benefits if you spent 2 actions to Seek, which normally takes 1 action. You can get these benefits during exploration by taking twice as long exploring as normal, or in downtime by spending twice as much downtime.
The GM might determine a situation doesn't grant you a benefit if a delay would be directly counterproductive to your success, such as a tense negotiation with an impatient creature.
Do his elven eyes spy what his colleagues cannot?
"Huh. Indentations, you say? Can I see that?"
"Huh..."
Ann believes that the note was written before you met Mantis Keeper.
"Alchemy. Not poisonous, though."
Sien is dying to see what someone wanted to hide.
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Sien creates the solvent and makes the ink revealed, he reads the margins and learns about Sister Maeri’s extensive plans to gain power in the city and notes that a secret patron has promised her she’ll be awarded the role of high priestess of Ilizmagorti’s Pagoda of the Mantis once “Jakalyn’s time is up,” with the defeat of the “traitors” (that would be you ;)) being one of the “final steps” in to complete their plans
You also find an almost casually written “to-do” list on a slip of paper tucked into Maeri’s copy of Sisters in Serenity that enumerates changes to leadership and policy at the Pagoda of the Mantis once High Priest Saviya is able to vacate the role and step into the position of blood mistress.
"Ah, how helpful. Thanks, Sister Maeri," Ann smirks. "So, looks like we'll have to pay her a visit soon."
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Stirring in the dark, Hammid removes his mask. He contemplates his journey so far, climbing the ranks of the organization, all the meanwhile re-securing his broken networks that have taken half of his elvish lifetime to consolidate. With the clergy of the sisterhood wiped out entirely, he makes plots and scemes to deploy his own subordinates to assemble into the power void left behind, and clench his iron gauntlet into the web of information that the fallen priestesshood used to occupy from the shadows. Each strand in planned, until he emerges the next morning refreshed, and prepared to vindicate his name once more.
The following spells prepared into Slots:
Vernai in Training
Cantrips (□□) @ Figment, Shield
Rank One (□□) @ Sure Strike x2
Rank Two (□□) @ Invisibility x2
Rank Three (□□) @ Clairaudience, Illusory Disguise
Rank Four (□□) @ Translocate x2
Rank Five (□) @ Darkvision (daily)
Rank Six (□) @ Mislead
☠☠☠ ☠☠☠ ☠☠☠
☀️ (□□□) @ Scholarly Recollection, Achaekek's Grasp, Know the Enemy
☠☠☠ ☠☠☠ ☠☠☠
The following spells prepared into a Collection:
The Gauntlet (2 blasting spells)
Cantrips @ Divine Lance, Void Warp
Rank Four (□) @ Divine Wrath [4+]
Rank Five (□) @ Divine Immolation [5+]
Mysterious Mercy (5 healing spells)
Rank Two (□□□□) @ Cleanse Affliction [2/3/4], Clear Mind [2/4/6/8], Sound Body [2/4/8], Sure Footing [2/4/6/8]
Rank Seven (□) @ Regenerate [7/9]
Divine Font (□□□□□□) @ Heal
Strange Insight (2 knowledge spells)
Cantrips (□□□□□) @ Detect Magic, Know the Way, Read Aura
Rank Two (□) @ See the Unseen [2/5]
Rank Three (□) @ Organsight [3+]
Cursed Fortune (5 hexing spells)
Rank One (□□) @ Command [1/5], Malediction
Rank Three (□) @ Vampiric Feast [3+]
Rank Six (□) @ Dominate [6+]
Rank Seven (□) @ Tempest of Shades
Obscured Travel (2 stealth spells)
Rank One (□) @ Vanishing Tracks [1/2/4]
Rank Two (□) @ Invisibility [2/4]
= Collection of 16 Spells
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You retreat and hide for few days, to reflect, gather resources and decide on what to do.
In the past week from getting in Ilizmagorti, you avoided the chase by guards and found out who were the players set to catch you. Some were misguided, some were paid or tricked into following, but most wanted to do their job dutifully. First you approached Mantis Keeper, who was interested in hearing your side of the story, you believe to save his loyalty if you would like to fight to clear your name. Torvald Kemp, was a slippery fish, but you manage to steal his ledger and learn from it, what you could the information should work in your favor as well. The Riot Twins you left dead in their tea house, you learned from them or their books names of low ranked agents that are standing behind the treason.
But it was actually sister Maeri who had the name behind it all, Saviya. You know her being one of the Vernai, but that is pretty much it for now. You know that there is a coup happening, and you were marked as targets to not interfere with it, as favorite pets of current Blood Mistress.
You know that you could present your case to Vernai council, and let them clear your name, or kill you if you fail to convince them... would you follow that path?
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After meditating, our shady hero consults his long memory, and tries to re-assemble everything he knows about the entire Red Mantis inner circles of leadership:
Expert Longevity: Vernai Lore (**) +24
Hammid activates his Underground Network with two subjects:
Saviya
Q) Where can we find her?
Q) Who are her associates?
Q) What is her next move?
Vernai Council
Q) How likely are they to believe us?
Q) Or be in on Saviya's plots?
Arcana (*) +22
Lore: Architecture (*) +22
Lore: Assassin (*) +22
Lore: Ilizmagorti (***) +26
Lore: Vernai (**) +24 w/ Expert Longevity
Medicine (**) +25 w/ Robust Recovery
Nature (*) +23
Occultism (*) +22
Religion (***) +27 w/ Consult the Spirits
Society (****``) +30 w/ Biographical Eye (Surmise Class), Courtly Graces (Impress Noble), Eyes of the City (Urban Tracking), Humbug Pocket (item), Legendary Codebreaker, Leverage Connections (Request Thieves' Guild), Streetwise (Gather Info), Underground Network (Discreet Gather Info)
Survival (*) +23
Untrained Improvisation (~) +16 plus ability mod
The Vernai, also known as the High Killers, are the ruling council of the Red Mantis assassins, second in authority only to Blood Mistress Jakalyn herself. They live in the Odalis section of the Crimson Citadel on Mediogalti Island.12
Members of the Vernai are almost invariably female, although there is no absolute prohibition against male members. Although they address each other by name, they keep their identities a secret to any outside of their circle—to non-Vernai they are known only by their titles.
When it comes to Saviya you know very little, you know that she was a cleric and a pirate on a ship Storm Shark. She was not keen with the captian, so she asked red mantis assassins to let them kill the captain and join their ranks.
Saviya could have claimed the Storm Shark as her own and served as a captain, but instead she offered the entire crew a choice—they could be marooned on an island far from any shipping lane and take their chances, or they could return with her to Ilizmagorti as servants of He Who Walks in Blood. Many of the crew chose to become marooned, only to learn (much to their horror) that this simply changed the venue and method of their offering to Achaekek, for the island Saviya had chosen was infested with immense deadly mantises who made quick work of the doomed crew.
Saviya served He Who Walks in Blood dutifully for the next several decades, starting by converting those of the Storm Shark crew who accepted her offer. Eventually, she was asked to join the priesthood at the Pagoda of the Mantis in Ilizmagorti. Over the next several decades, she rose in the ranks and became the current high priest.
When you probed you learn that she did not show in Pagoda of the Mantis for few weeks. You suspect that she will be in Crimson Citadel.
Ketsu-kiba ponders and wiggles her fingers as she tries to decide what might be a good next step.
"Maybe we can start by digging into Saviya's backgound with the Storm Sharks. Looks for skeletons in the closet so to speak."
"Good call. I wonder how far the Storm Sharks have advanced since then, and how many are left. ... We could also dig into the Pagoda of the Mantis. Since she spent decades there, surely she made some frenemies who'd be willing to talk...with the right incentive," Ann muses, fingering her sawtooth saber's handle.
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Hammid does some digging...
Vernai
Q) True identity of one of the Vernai?
Q) Location in Odalis of their home?
Storm Sharks
Q) Are there any defectors / traitors to Saviya in their midst?
Q) Where can we find one?
Pagoda of the Mantis
Q) Did Saviya make any (fr)enemies during her posting there?
Q) Where can we find one?
Arcana (*) +22
Lore: Architecture (*) +22
Lore: Assassin (*) +22
Lore: Ilizmagorti (***) +26
Lore: Vernai (**) +24 w/ Expert Longevity
Medicine (**) +25 w/ Robust Recovery
Nature (*) +23
Occultism (*) +22
Religion (***) +27 w/ Consult the Spirits
Society (****``) +30 w/ Biographical Eye (Surmise Class), Courtly Graces (Impress Noble), Eyes of the City (Urban Tracking), Humbug Pocket (item), Legendary Codebreaker, Leverage Connections (Request Thieves' Guild), Streetwise (Gather Info), Underground Network (Discreet Gather Info)
Survival (*) +23
Untrained Improvisation (~) +16 plus ability mod
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Moonlight is on a lookout to find someone who knows Saviya's doings on the ship. He locate an elf, an old elf that served with Saviaya on Storm Shark. And you learn ...
Saviya’s association with the Red Mantis began during her days as a mate on the pirate ship Storm Shark over 100 years ago. The infamous, cruel commander of the ship was a man named Captain Dargi—as notorious a pirate as ever prowled the Shackles. As a member of the crew, Saviya followed Captain Dargi’s commands to loot, pillage, and sink many ships of the Chelaxian Navy, all while worshipping Besmara, the Pirate Goddess as a faithful priest. The Storm Shark was very successful and very brutal; they took pride in leaving none alive after their raids, and Saviya came to delight in the dread she inspired when name-dropping the ship.
Like many far-ranging pirate captains of the Shackles, Captain Dargi kept a berth in Ilizmagorti. Whenever the Storm Shark visited this port, the crew always abided by the laws of the Red Mantis, even if doing so was a challenge for a bloodthirsty pirate like Captain Dargi, who (while at sea) often derided the assassins and made bold claims of some day pillaging Ilizmagorti and making the city his own. Saviya initially found the captain’s bravado intimidating, even a bit inspiring. But each time they sailed into Ilizmagorti and she saw the power, respect, and fear afforded to the Red Mantis among the city’s citizens, her respect and fear of her blowhard captain dwindled, replaced by derision. She knew better than to voice her growing dissatisfaction with Captain Dargi, of course, but as her interest in the Red Mantis assassins grew, she increasingly kept an eye out for an opportunity to make her move.
One day, Captain Dargi met with a Rahadoum cruiser to fence stolen booty, as he had done many times in the past. Saviya happened to overhear the captain and the fence discussing their wares: secrets about Mediogalti Island’s defenses. Saviya knew this betrayal would certainly be discovered and lethally punished the next time their ship sailed into Ilizmagorti, so when the Storm Shark arrived there a few months later, Saviya swiftly but secretly reported her captain’s misdeeds to the Red Mantis and begged to be allowed to help with his assassination. The Red Mantis agents were impressed and agreed, with one requirement: they insisted that if she came along, she would be the one to kill Captain Dargi. Saviya eagerly accepted, and for several days she met in secret with her assassin contacts to learn their ways as best she could in preparation for her big chance. When the moment came, Saviya relished the kill, striking at her captain with the sawtooth saber she’d smuggled aboard, and then using her magic to break every bone in Dargi’s body so that when death finally came, it did in glorious agony. From that day forward Saviya was a faithful devotee of Achaekek instead of Besmara.
Saviya could have claimed the Storm Shark as her own and served as a captain, but instead she offered the entire crew a choice—they could be marooned on an island far from any shipping lane and take their chances, or they could return with her to Ilizmagorti as servants of He Who Walks in Blood. Many of the crew chose to become marooned, only to learn (much to their horror) that this simply changed the venue and method of their offering to Achaekek, for the island Saviya had chosen was infested with immense deadly mantises who made quick work of the doomed crew.
Saviya served He Who Walks in Blood dutifully for the next several decades, starting by converting those of the Storm Shark crew who accepted her offer. Eventually, she was asked to join the priesthood at the Pagoda of the Mantis in Ilizmagorti. Over the next several decades, she rose in the ranks and became the current high priest. She’s been a member of the Vernai for the past two decades—which, as it turns out, is plenty of time for her to revert to her old ways of plotting her commander’s downfall.