The bothersome woman turns to the musician in the corner who has stopped playing after the disturbance of the falling vase. "Kito, did you hear anything?"
"A falling vase, oh withered rose," the Garundi musician quips.
"No, besides that."
"Your wheezing breath."
The woman looks suspiciously at the door again. "I think the mistress is back." She raises a trembling hand to knock at the door, but hesitates. "Mistress?"
Kzrira bunches a carpet at the woman's heels. Across the room, another of the women gathers the pieces of the broken vase and tosses them out the door grumbling, "Not worth the cost of a mending spell."
The "rose" turns at the sound of the front door opening and trips over the carpet falling heavily.
*******
Meanwhile across the river, Faelar passes Karethas who waits under a tree by the bridge with the mounts and Zataran's corpse.
Maybe the second one?
Kito snickers as the woman falls. "Oh blighted rose, has the syphilis finally reached its advanced stages or is it alcoholism that causes your hands to tremble?"
Another whore helps the woman stand. "Shut up, Kito! You are hired to play not talk."
The garundi man rechecks his tuning, "This is true, oh scabrous one. Though if you had seen the red-headed gnome as I advised perhaps he would have been able to remedy you before you spread your disease throughout the community."
Kzrira feels almost ill hearing how those in the brothel are talking. As the door is not particularly accessible at this point, she will continue to count the minutes so that she and Amir can escape before the invisibility wears off. She also watches to make sure that the old hag stays away from the office door if at all possible.
Giving a shriek, the old whore throws herself at the musician and the other whore soon joins the brawl. This unexpectedly provides a good opportunity for Kzrira and Amir to sneak out of the brothel just in time. The spell fades as they cross the bridge and Karethas easily spots their approach.
As Kzrira gets back with the others, she grins. I was unable to get in with Amir to search the office, so I had to create distractions. I think that I was successful, by the time we left, there was an all out brawl involving several scary looking ladies of the night and one of the least talented musicians I have ever seen. As she finishes, she is almost laughing.
She then looks to Amir:
What did you find? Anything interesting?
Indeed I did find one thing of note though I had little time to examine it thoroughly... Amir reaches into his sack and produces what "appears to be an onyx disk in the form of a pendant on a gold chain. A thin sliver of the edge of one side is a pale gray color."
Amir raises his eyebrows at the others as though to invite comment.
Kzrira looks at the pendant, but has no clue what it is.
Karethas frowns, "I was hoping for something more directly relevant to the problem of Undra, but let's see what this item is." Karethas carefully takes the disc from Amir's hand. He studies it intently for markings before twisting his ring and casting Identify. He studies any aura he perceives carefully, trying to discern if it is magical and what purpose it might serve.
I look at the item in question, while Karethas is trying to find out what it is.
"It is magical, but it's nature alludes me. Perhaps with more time I might be able to tell you more, but shouldn't we return it so as to not 'tip our hand' to Undra?" While speaking, Karethas uses his thumbnail to press on the thin gray sliver, seeing if the pendant has a more physical secret.
Karethas finds nothing else of interest.
I look from the pendant to everyone else, "This tells us more of Undra than you may think. It is actually a pendant of Ahriman, the div demigod of oblivion. Most of the Usij; the followers of the deity, were hunted down by the priests of Sarenrae over the millennia, however it is not unheard of that a cult can reappear. I think we will have to act fast on this, she could be corrupting Her Highness even more."
I look back at the pendant with dusgust and then back to my friends quickly, "Oh and on that note, I have had a meeting with her Highness, she was reluctant to speak at first, but I think I have convinced her that I am a friend. She has invited me to dance at a ceremony once Garavel returns and the buildings finished. That could be a good time for you to quietly dispose of Undra?"
"That is very interesting Faelar, very interesting indeed. The question though, is whether this amulet is enough proof to convince the Sayeda that Undra is a threat to her. It seems to me that she does not have the moral make up to reject Undra for just worshiping a evil god."
Why would she have this in a bubbling pot of muck rather than on her person? Amir furrows his brow as he thinks on the situation, I'm not sure we should give this back to her, if it is a focus she is more powerful with it in her possession?
"More the question how will we be able to prove it belongs to Undra, without telling her that we broke into her chambers and stole it? I doubt her Highness would be happy about that. I think in terms of how we will separate Undra and her Highness, should be left up to you. I have no idea's that will be able to help us out on this front."
After listening to the others:
Perhaps we should reverse the question. Rather than proving to the princess that Undra is evil. is there a way for us to reveal Undra's evil nature? How is she concealing herself? Is she using magic or is it some other power?
Kzrira turns and looks to Karethas:
Would you be able to get close enough, invisible perhaps, to see whether Undra us under some spell, or more likely using some spell to conceal her true nature? Or to detect magic on the princess?
It is possible the Undra is simply a crazed human worshipper of this div thing. However, what if she is actually one of these creatures? We have already fought several of them. The strange sand creature when we first arrived and the fiery head inside the arena.
If she is using magic to conceal her form, or perhaps magic to control the princess, do you have the skill to dispel this magic?
"Some magic can detect evil persons, but that proves nothing to the princess. Undra is obviously a harpie, but that proves nothing to the princess. She has not hidden her physical nature, just her intentions. If we can make her state her intentions and the Sayeda see's it, then that is something. Forcing someone to say what you want through magic is not goin to prove anything to Sayeda."
Kzrira looks confused: A harpie? Can they take the form of a human? How would we make her tell the truth?
"I merely meant the woman makes no pretense at hiding the darker nature of her magical talents. Perhaps we can trick her into revealing her true intentions. Challenge her when she thinks the princess is not watching. We have a potion of Clairvoyance that we could use..."
"Then my performance for Her Highness would be the ideal time for you to all see if you can get the truth out of Undra. No doubt Her Highness will be watching my performance ad if you were to get her attention just before Undra reveals her secrets, then that should be perfect, yes?"
Amir nods hesitantly unsure of the plan but having little to offer in contrast.
Kzrira looks to Amir:
I think that we should keep an eye on the former supposed slave. I never trusted her, but at this point she seems to be operating in such an open and corrupt manner, that she would probably never even see us if we were standing right in front of her.
Karethas thinks for a moment, "Another plan: We do have Zataran's body. There are spells that allow one to speak to the dead. We take his body to the Princess and use one of these spells. The answers would probably implicate Undra. If she was present, we might be able to trick her into revealing her hand. Our first step there would need to be finding a power enough caster to cast the spell or locating a scroll. Alternately, we could just combine those two plans: We separate Undra and the Princess, give the princess the Clairvoyance potion, bluff to Undra that we know she is behind Zataran's death, and then goad her into revealing her intentions."
Kzrira looks from one spell caster to the other. You both know that I tend to be a little direct in my approach to social situations. If someone is going to be talking to the Princess and Undra, it should be one of you, or perhaps Amir.
Looking to Karethas: Can you make the dead talk? It would be most interesting to know who, or what killed Zataran. I would be very surprised if it was a random attack, the claw marks and leaving the body seem to be someone who simply wanted him dead. And then tossing the body into the woods shows someone who wanted to hide the evil deed, but simultaneously show someone, or something quite lazy.
"Alas, I can not cast the spell, but as far as Undra knows we could have a scroll or oil of the appropriate spell."
I am not of the mind that Undara will fall to ruses unless they are complex in nature and executed with skill I doubt we have. She strikes me as clever and so we do well to formulate any such plan with this in mind.
Amir paces as he speaks
We would need a cleric to cast the magics to speak to the dead but perhaps that is an effort worth going through. Revealing the thing that killed one who came to speak to us may give us more to work with in either confronting Undara or finding another clue. At the very least we would discover that Zataran's death is in fact random and porrly timed. We also should see after his stall. There may be more in his possessions that may aid us.
Kzrira shakes her head in confusion: This is when that little dragon would be mighty useful. He could simply follow Undra wherever she went.
We can use invisibility some more, but that only gives us a few minutes to track her. Perhaps there are others in the town who know about Undara. Someone who has watched her and knows her patterns and habits.
Kzrira shakes her head in confusion: This is when that little dragon would be mighty useful. He could simply follow Undra wherever she went.
It occurs to me that Garavel is to return with an Abadaran for the temple. That might give us the resources we need to commune with the dead. In the mean time I advocate for checking after Zataran's personal effects, in the process we may discover friends he has made who may be similarly sympathetic to our interests or concerns.
Kzrira nods in agreement.
That sounds good. Let me know if I can assist with anything. I just hope that the Abadaran does not require too steep a contribution to determine the murderer of one of his own flock.
"We need to be careful. If we have his body and are caught looking through his possessions, then WE may be the ones accused of killing him. Waiting for Garavel is a good idea though, he could make a potent ally."
Returning to the monastery, Zataran's body is interred in the crypt below. It is cool and dry there and likely decay will be somewhat slowed which is helpful as Garavel's caravan is not expected for a few days more.
I would like to help keep an eye on Undra. I will find a place in one of the guard towers and keep an eye on the comings and goings of Undra.