Drosil's page

Drosil gives Heff a glare that says Don't be a dick and responds in his raspy voice. "No. Limited magic, need it to keep conquered giant clans in check. Also too far, no teleportation magic."

Heff and Krokar stand, but Drosil makes a beeline strait for Heff, getting right next to him and causing him to arc a brow and take a step back. "You're an idiot. They're not made for subtlety and manipulation. They're made for lighting the forge and striking the iron while it's hot. Put them-" Drosil breaks into another coughing fit, doubling over and ruining the intimidating effect of his confrontation. The rest of the council looks concerned and Krokar reaches out a reassuring hand but Drosil straitens back up. "Put them under Krokar. They like him more anyways." His voice sounds like a scratched glass panel on the verge of shattering into a thousand pieces as he slumps into his chair, falling silent.

Rilka contacts Drosil, who spares little time in coming to meet with the party. As the quiet fetchling slips in the door he peers around at the party with a faint sense of relief. "So you survived. Good. We didn't know what that explosion was."

"The Forge is locked down, it's not allowing anybody inside. We're not sure what happened."

"Regardless, clearly Villichi's rule is over. Alziver's men have been surprisingly quick in taking back control of the underground. You've done more than your-" Drosil breaks into a coughing fit as his voice cracks, doubling over and covering his mouth. After a moment he forces down a swig from his waterskin, seething as he continues. "Let me know when you want to return."

"She can handle it. I'll get a team and get down there."

"Good work."

More to come.

Drosil fills Toramin in on what Bjorkus told him. "I'm not sure what else happened."

"Well done. We're almost done as well."

"Alia can hold him." He says simply.

At the mention of somebody pulling Calios's strings, Drosil lapses into silence for a moment. "That...is concerning."

Bjorkus goes outside and taps into the earring, and hears Drosil come in. "Hold on." Judging by the noise, he's in the middle of combat. A few seconds later the sound of bones breaking is heard, and Drosil comes back on. "What?"

There's a long pause. "Good plan. Rilka will be your in to manipulate Villichi. Also see if she can sabotage him. I will get the rest of the Aestherics ready to take out Villichi's lieutenants when you strike. You cut the head off, we'll burn the body."

Bjorkus, arrows are reserved for mental communication. The earring basically function as a radio.

"Yes, it works. Stop shouting."

Drosil coughs a few times. "Come back to the inn when you can. I'll have your earring adjusted so you can talk to Rilka."

"Not shame. Acknowledgement."

"The Egg is evil, with only one purpose. The Forge is different."

There is a long pause. "Perhaps Yana. The entire Council will decide. Until then, silence."

"Unless you believe that only the five of you can decide what is best for all."

"Snide comments are beneath you. Especially the same one."

"As for the consensus of the Voices, are you saying you have seen or heard witness of their reception of Vorn's proclamation of their decisions?"

"Heard."

"You are blindly idealistic if you think all their choices have complete consensus."

"That very oath is the reason you will remain silent."

"Years ago Älia visited the Skymetal Forge to learn more of it. She spends months studying it. What she learned is that on any given day, any given hour, any given minute, the power it holds can by good or evil or both or neither. The Skymetal Forge is in a state of flux due to the opposing divine holds on it. It has been known to call both dwarves and duergar to its side before it was locked away in the underground of Grastle Hollow. It has helped and hindered both races, killed and empowered both. Its purpose seems to flick between furthering Torag or furthering Droskar."

"Älia has a theory: When Toraged cursed Droskar to no longer be able to create an original work, Droskar was furious an in his anger did corrupted Torag's personal forge. If he could no longer create, instead he would twist and pervert what Torag created."

"The dwarves learning of this would be disastrous. Some will want it revered, some destroyed, some studied, some buried. The disagreements will sow chaos and death among the dwarves. That's not even considering what would happen if the duergar learned of it. The gnomes see it as nothing but a furnace of power for creation. The dwarves see it as a sacred site that demands action. Your own passion proves that."

"Right now the secret is only known to us and some of the highest ranking government officials within Grastle Hollow. And apparently Sveng and Calios as well, which is a matter serious enough that I will be talking to the Council about having their minds wiped. If the dwarves learned of what it was there would be blood over what is to be done in it."

"Absolute consensus is a lie of dwarven politics. You have talked to the Voices personally about difficult matters. Did you not see some of them grumble and shift eyes as Vorn announced their decision? The dwarven people are one of the oldest and wisest races, but they are not above fault."

"Say nothing to the dwarves. This fulfills your oath to us, but more importantly to them."

Drosil clears his throat; Toramin has learned that long bouts of talking can be heard on him. "I have time now to keep talking, but it may be better to bring this to the entire Council once your business in Grastle Hollow is done. I know of the Forge because I studied Grastle Hollow before launching a mission there, but Älia is the expert on it. For now, say nothing. Your mission at hand is of more importance." There's a brief pause followed by a husky rasping. "And Jasper says that if you die before getting back the problem is resolved either way."

Maybe, maybe not. It's a bit of a mystery at the moment ;)

Ah yes, now I remember that little bit.

"Not an optimistic. Realistic. Even for positive results. And I trust in Rilka's infiltration ability. I know your group is particularly bad at it so Rilka seems like an expert, but even among our members she is very skilled."

"That is still a distinct possibility. Sveng could be more powerful than he's letting on."

"I'm not an expert on artifacts or dwarven history. Älia should know more."

"And Toramin, I know this artifact holds special meaning to you, but the dwarves cannot learn about it. It's conflicting nature could start the clan wars again."

"I thought Rilka might be able to twist the situation to our advantage, but this is even better than I expected. I advise being cautious around Sveng, I'm sure he has more goals in mind than just usurping Villichi. This must help him somehow."

"I will let Ianna's stand-in know of the danger. For now I will have him lay low until a plan is figured out."

"The skymetal forge is no myth. It is an artifact tied to both Torag and Droskar, and one of the gnome's most closely guarded secrets. Whatever Villichi wants with it can't be good, especially considering how much adamantium he has been hoarding. He must be building something."

"I wasn't aware of Villichi's obsession with knowledge."

And I don't remember that either, could you link me to the relevant post?

"My understanding is that Rilka was mistaken as this legendary assassin. I'll keep an ear to the ground about that, I suggest you do too."

"Keep trying to contact her. From a dark room, far away from where you sleep."

"I have no orders, only advice."

"What we know of Villichi suggests he doesn't keep prisoners for long. Rilka is either dead or in." He says coldly.

"Best case scenario is Rilka used this opportunity to get deep into Villichi's business. We can learn everything and set up a trap instead of going in like hot-heated youths."

"I thought we were giving Rilka time to work the situation."

"Three hours. Body was still warm." There's a brief pause. "If she was captured by Calios, that sounds like the kind of presence he would have. Stronger than before though."

"Alziver does come to mind. The River King isn't the kind to get so heavily involved. The skull-faced gnome was found dead in an alley. A few alleys. It looks like some creature ripped his limbs off and caved his head in. Nothing left on the body."

"Doesn't sound like what we know of Alziver. It's possible though. Maybe the bomber gave us that info, knowing it was a trap. He was...a hard man to break."

Even after reading the letter three times, Toramin is not happy with it. He contacts Drosil immediately to fill him in on the intelligence that Bjorkus and Ianna brought to them -- especially the letter.

"Thoughts? What do you know about the River King? Does my sister's suspicions ring true?"

"I see you're making progress. Norgorber's followers are a fickle lot. Some are adamant, some shifting. I'd see if the cultist could be talked to."

"I know of the River King, haven't met him. Heff says he's the kind of man he could go in circles with all day. Yix likes him, says he does good business. I'd treat him like a rickety bridge; one wrong step and you'll plunge, but tread carefully and you might get somewhere you couldn't have gotten before."

"Agreed. You can't do anything if you're too exhausted to move."

"Anti-scrying magic is common enough, but only the very powerful kinds are perfect. Dalton could work around it." Implying that Dalton would make a caster level check to overcome a nondetection spell.

Drosil asks a few clarifications, then lapses into silence for a few minutes before responding. "This isn't a setback, it's an opportunity. We've been chasing our tail in circles for weeks, and now Calios has brought your most experienced member right to him. Why they think she's some fabled assassin I don't know, but we should make the most of this."

"As far as finding her, it's incredibly hard to track teleportation. We would have to call in Alia for that. But scrying is much easier. I suggest Dalton protects himself from retaliation magic against scrying and then try to locate her and send her a message. But give it some time first, she is surely either still unconscious or with other people right now."

"I will get his details sent to you, and I'll have some agents protect him in the meantime."

"The missions are dangerous but not always exciting. Important missions are full of failures. Do not give up." Rilka hears the sounds of Drosil taking a drink. "You may not seem closer to taking down Calios, but you have stymied his adamantine monopoly and put him on edge and rallied the people against him."

"I'll keep you updated on my progress with the distribution and if anything dramatic happens. Keep tabs on your leads, you never know when an opportunity will arise. Do you need anything else from me right now?"

"That is an option. Always good to know more, just don't delay too long."

"If it was that easy to get into the underground the government wouldn't need our help. A lot of the work you are doing is helping, but it won't get you personally closer to Calios unless he gets angry enough to make a public appearance."

With their message to Drosil complete, the party packs up and heads back to Grastle Hollow. They are about an hour outside of town when Rilka is contacted again by the quiet fetchling.

"I found a name you could use. Hermit writer, barely leaves his house. Still actively writes for a lot of papers and plays. I'll get it distributed. What are your plans after that?"

"A gnome that has passed into a quiet retirement. A lot harder than you'd think to find. I'll see if I can find one of another race though. Not something I know off the top of my head, but I'm sure some digging will turn something up."

Drosil takes a moment to cough; clearly all of this talking is straining his voice. "Perhaps leave out the bit about Calios. The name is not known and would only distract from the main point of the message." There's a brief pause. "It's very good though."

"Papers. There's three or four major news divisions in the city. For emergencies the government has magical speakers set up across the city."

There's a brief pause. The party imagines they probably missed some sort of facial expression from Drosil. "What artifact do you have in mind? That is a difficult ruse to pull off, but very strong bait if it works."

"Panrick is a worm but he does not want his people to suffer."

"I would consider the attacks on the smiths you sold the adamantine to an attack on your business, even if they did not burn your building down. Why he decided to attack them instead of you, I'm unsure. Perhaps it was simply easier. Perhaps he did not want to trifle with some competition he did not fully understand yet. He is known to be cunning in his madness."

"The only third party I'm aware of is us, and I doubt a rebellion against Calios would go unnoticed by me. I'll dig around all the same. Perhaps you should ask to investigate the scene. See if any clues can be found in the museum or on the body that was found."

"Heard of it, haven't seen it myself. Thought it was just art, didn't know about other uses. I could ask the Council though."

"Not bait, just as extra muscle. You're clever enough to make a trap without using living bait."

"Cloud giants are very formidable. Perhaps you can put this new ally to the test when baiting Villichi."

Rilka listens intently to Drosils voice, finding it even hoarser than usual. After a moment she realizes they must have woken him up, despite contacting him in the early afternoon. He must be getting his work done at night.

"Good finds. A valid concern, I'll see if I can push them towards Villichi instead. Or at least what is his. Finding him might be as easy as stopping the adamantine and waiting for him to check it out himself." Drosil suggests.

After about a ten second silence, Drosils hoarse voice speaks into Rilka's ear. "What is it?"

"Rilka's earring has limited range, but I will be within the city and well within the contact range of it."

"I will be in charge of this operation, so if you get in over your heads contact me."

Drosil's voice is back to it's hoarse quietness. "We have a few suspicions of clusters of murders in some small towns in a travel path, as if he just kills for fun wherever he passes through. This has been happening mostly in southwestern Xilres."

Grastle Hollow was previously a secret location. I have now added it on the map.

Drosil gives a grim nod. "Yes, the very same."

"Quite possibly. You will have the full cooperation of the government, so I'm sure if such technology exists and you ask about it, they will supply it."

"That is one of your primary goals to find out."

Alia waves her hand to cast a spell as Drosil stands, addressing the council as well as the party and other attending Aestherics. His voice still sounds low and hoarse, but is magically augmented to be loud enough for all to hear. As he speaks Heff waves a spell and makes a massive image of a city appear from bird's eye view. "The gnome city of Grastle Hollow. A center of technology that rivals that of the dwarves, and the largest gnome city in existence. It's location is kept secret from the public to protect the gnomes as well as their rapidly advancing technology."

"We have reason to believe that a person of interest is there. An aasimar antipaladin by the name of Calios who was working with the captured lich Acera. His crimes are countless and the deaths of hundreds were by his hand, including over a dozen Aestherics. Right now our reports say he has taken over the underground crime scene in Grastle Hollow and he is using the united power to cause death and chaos in the city. We are sure he has some goal beyond just death and destruction, and we need to learn what it is."

"The mission is simple in objective, but complex in execution. This group is to infiltrate the underground crime scene (with the support of the government of Grastle Hollow, who believes they are hiring help from an independent team of specialists) and investigate what is going on. If they encounter Calios, they are to capture and interrogate him if possible, or slay him if not. Only capture him if it doesn't put you or others at risk; learning information would be good, but he's such an unpredictable threat that having him dead would be no issue at all."

"We have enough work on this plane. Perhaps when our organization increases a hundred fold."