"it's possible... This kind of tactic isn't uncommon, false flag and all, but they have no motive for city control..." Vilus mutters in response but leaves it at that.
As he questions the soldiers, Joren expands his understanding of their regular operation. And it seems more and more from passing comments that having guards in the room during a council meeting is unusual. It is also passing strange that no one saw them after the incident, nor can they place who the guards were. Joren shares his observations with the group out of earshot soon after.
Malachi nods at Joren’s findings “I suspected as much when I heard they were nowhere to be found. But who do they work for, the cult or someone else? Maybe Marigold can tell us more, or maybe we return to the map in the tunnels to see if we can spot the golden lights of other cultists or the invasion fleet. Something here stinks like day-old fish in the market, but I can’t figure out what.” He shakes his head, at a loss for now.
As different things come to light, Ashley stays pretty quiet, not one to really think things through very well. But she finds it odd that the guards that typically aren't in a council room were and now they were missing? Definitely a mystery to solve. "I forgot about the map... should we head there next? Marigold probably needs a bit more time to uh... bloom."
"we shouldn't forget about the cleric too..." Vilus mutters not wanting to add yet more paranoid speculation to the situation, "where to first? Underground? the market? Or the councillors?"
"Personally, I would like to take a look at that map. Perhaps we can find a hint as to our next step there." Samir sighs, idly scratching at the spot where his glasses rest against his nose. "The rest can wait, I think. We need information and a moment to plan. Action instead of reaction."
"Being hard to understand, all of this. Since it is seeming that no guards were stationed with the council to start with, perhaps the assassins were taking the face of guards coming from outside, and only smashing at the exterior of the door afterwards on their way out, having done the deed. Their accomplices, these poisoned cultists, may have let them in to start with and then taken the toxin, making it appear as if they were the killers and had been dealt with by guards. This might be explaining why few in the room are seeming to have reacted at all to the smashing of the door by getting up."
Joren sighs heavily and shakes his head, his shoulders remaining tense. Being a solider, I, no detective...
"Part of me is wanting to go around with Samir's medallion and interview everyone who is working here, guards, clerks, councilors and assistants. Watching for a flash of yellow. Yet, I will follow wherever the rest of you are choosing. If it is finding the map, then so be it."
With their course decided, Joren, Ashley, Vilus, Samir, and Malachi head out, nodding to the guards on the way. Vilus leads them to a sewer entrance he knows will take them close to the lair, and down they go.
Samir activates a device that baths the damp walls in a soft light, and Joren's echo walks before him as Vilus points out the way. It doesn't take them long to reach the entrance to the hideout, a trapdoor in the ceiling of a deadend in the sewer tunnels. Vilus hoists himself up, scanning for traps. He notices one that had already been triggered, and it seems no one has reset it. Joren flickers and echo-swaps up beside Vilus, where the two of them start helping the others climb up.
Still using Samir's light, they creep through the eerily silent halls on their way to the room where they fought Andra. Figuring that if the entrance trap hadn't been reset, the path they took last time should also still be clear.
Vilus with no need of a disguise, looks like his usual Goliath form as they enter the sewers, once into the lair itself he begins leading the group down a very specific path, "follow me, keep quiet" those who remember where the path towards Andra's demise is, would recognise that virus isn't exactly heading in the right direction but he moves with purpose and certainty.
If nothing stops the group on the way, meeting an errant cultist or such like, Vilus eventually leads the group to a door and opens it up, within is a storage space.
With a specially timed knock from Vilus, the door swing silently open on its hinges. From the other side of the door, the runes carved into it to respond to the knock are apparent. Inside the storeroom, shelves are stuffed with various items and piles of clothing and jewelery. The items and clothing styles are eclectic, far removed from the uniform cloaks the cultists are typically seen wearing.
Malachi’s eyes light up with interest as Vilus pushes open the door and he gets a glimpse inside. He slips into the room behind Vilus, circling the shelves while examining and mentally categorizing the jewelry and items for anything of value or interest. “Well, well, what do we have here? You have been holding out Vilus, no wonder we didn’t go straight to the map. Are these all items pillaged by the cultists?”
"yup, I just wanted to make sure there wasn't anything useful left here, last time I was in a bit of a rush and had a pronounced limp" the last bit comes out a little more sarcastic than vilus intended but there is a humour in his voice as the group begin searching the storage room thoroughly.
On the walk to the sewers, Ashley keeps an eye out to see if anyone is noticing them, following them or any of the like. She breathes a sigh of relief when she sees that they are not being taken notice of.
Her eyes grow as she steps across the threshold of the storage room, noting the runes, she asks, "How did you know the knock to get in here? And man... what would have happened if you mis-knocked?"
"ah... you uh, probably don't want to know what would have happened..." Vilus says pointing to the back of the door where several of the Godtongue runes are carved in a circle, an obvious trap unseen from the outside.
"Check around, anything could be useful. I'm not sure there's much in the way of magical items but this stuff was either collected from the cultists themselves, or from those with magic that they brought here to kill... perhaps both. There's somewhere else that I need to go when we're done here."
Vilus helps the others look around, (offer of help action should anyone want to roll investigation with advantage)
Among the clothes are a couple of simple wands ands pendants that had likely been used as arcane foci by the owners before they were captured. Samir notices a jangle from one stack of clothes that sounds like coins. And when he shifts the top shirt to get a better look, his hand brushes against the boots. They leave a distinctive tingle of magic against his skin. He finds the coins next, sewn into a secret pocket inside the waistband of the trousers.
Though a bit impatient to get to the purpose of their being in the underground, Samir nevertheless does a thorough search of the small room, going through things methodically. Alerted first by the faint jingle of coin, the artificer manages to extract a not insignificant number of coins from a hidden pocket. Showing the others with a nod, he then slips them into his satchel for the time being before examine the boots.
"Some enchantment on these. I'll look them over later when we have time, could be useful." With that the boots follow the coins into his bag for safekeeping.
Ashley is going through the stuff, but her heart isn't really in it. With the situation with the councilors, Razmus having disappeared.. and a few other things on her mind, she doesn't come up with anything.
But as Joren mentions recent activity, her alert raises and she steps out of the storage room. "I'm going to keep watch out here while you all finish up, last thing we need is to be locked up in there."
Malachi is rifling through the clothes and items left behind and looks up at Joren’s warning. “Someone has been here recently? Are they still around?” He looks nervously around the shadows of the room, expecting something to jump out of them at any second. He glances over at Samir and Vilus “I think we are almost wrapped up here anyway. Unless you think there is more to find, Samir. Where else did you say you needed to go, Vilus?” Malachi grabs a fine looking pendant and looks at it briefly before sliding it in an inside pocket of his jacket and preparing to go.
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"it's possible... This kind of tactic isn't uncommon, false flag and all, but they have no motive for city control..." Vilus mutters in response but leaves it at that.
As he questions the soldiers, Joren expands his understanding of their regular operation. And it seems more and more from passing comments that having guards in the room during a council meeting is unusual. It is also passing strange that no one saw them after the incident, nor can they place who the guards were. Joren shares his observations with the group out of earshot soon after.
Malachi nods at Joren’s findings “I suspected as much when I heard they were nowhere to be found. But who do they work for, the cult or someone else? Maybe Marigold can tell us more, or maybe we return to the map in the tunnels to see if we can spot the golden lights of other cultists or the invasion fleet. Something here stinks like day-old fish in the market, but I can’t figure out what.” He shakes his head, at a loss for now.
As different things come to light, Ashley stays pretty quiet, not one to really think things through very well. But she finds it odd that the guards that typically aren't in a council room were and now they were missing? Definitely a mystery to solve. "I forgot about the map... should we head there next? Marigold probably needs a bit more time to uh... bloom."
"we shouldn't forget about the cleric too..." Vilus mutters not wanting to add yet more paranoid speculation to the situation, "where to first? Underground? the market? Or the councillors?"
"Personally, I would like to take a look at that map. Perhaps we can find a hint as to our next step there." Samir sighs, idly scratching at the spot where his glasses rest against his nose. "The rest can wait, I think. We need information and a moment to plan. Action instead of reaction."
"Being hard to understand, all of this. Since it is seeming that no guards were stationed with the council to start with, perhaps the assassins were taking the face of guards coming from outside, and only smashing at the exterior of the door afterwards on their way out, having done the deed. Their accomplices, these poisoned cultists, may have let them in to start with and then taken the toxin, making it appear as if they were the killers and had been dealt with by guards. This might be explaining why few in the room are seeming to have reacted at all to the smashing of the door by getting up."
Joren sighs heavily and shakes his head, his shoulders remaining tense. Being a solider, I, no detective...
"Part of me is wanting to go around with Samir's medallion and interview everyone who is working here, guards, clerks, councilors and assistants. Watching for a flash of yellow. Yet, I will follow wherever the rest of you are choosing. If it is finding the map, then so be it."
Tanis(Ranger1): Shiverquill's Tempest City | Xarian(Fighter2): NioNSwiper's Tyranny of Dragons
Dyson/Eleo(TwilightCleric4): Vos' Beyond the Veil | Soren(ShepherdDruid5): Bartjeebus' Ravenloft | Ophelia(WildMagicSorcerer4): Ashen_Age's Risen from the Sands
Joren(EchoKnightFighter6): NotDrizzt's Simple Request | Sabetha(MercyMonk3): Bedlymn's Murder Court | Seri(NatureCleric3/DivineSoulSorcerer1): Bartjeebus' Greyhawk
With their course decided, Joren, Ashley, Vilus, Samir, and Malachi head out, nodding to the guards on the way. Vilus leads them to a sewer entrance he knows will take them close to the lair, and down they go.
Samir activates a device that baths the damp walls in a soft light, and Joren's echo walks before him as Vilus points out the way. It doesn't take them long to reach the entrance to the hideout, a trapdoor in the ceiling of a deadend in the sewer tunnels. Vilus hoists himself up, scanning for traps. He notices one that had already been triggered, and it seems no one has reset it. Joren flickers and echo-swaps up beside Vilus, where the two of them start helping the others climb up.
Still using Samir's light, they creep through the eerily silent halls on their way to the room where they fought Andra. Figuring that if the entrance trap hadn't been reset, the path they took last time should also still be clear.
Vilus with no need of a disguise, looks like his usual Goliath form as they enter the sewers, once into the lair itself he begins leading the group down a very specific path, "follow me, keep quiet" those who remember where the path towards Andra's demise is, would recognise that virus isn't exactly heading in the right direction but he moves with purpose and certainty.
If nothing stops the group on the way, meeting an errant cultist or such like, Vilus eventually leads the group to a door and opens it up, within is a storage space.
With a specially timed knock from Vilus, the door swing silently open on its hinges. From the other side of the door, the runes carved into it to respond to the knock are apparent. Inside the storeroom, shelves are stuffed with various items and piles of clothing and jewelery. The items and clothing styles are eclectic, far removed from the uniform cloaks the cultists are typically seen wearing.
Malachi’s eyes light up with interest as Vilus pushes open the door and he gets a glimpse inside. He slips into the room behind Vilus, circling the shelves while examining and mentally categorizing the jewelry and items for anything of value or interest. “Well, well, what do we have here? You have been holding out Vilus, no wonder we didn’t go straight to the map. Are these all items pillaged by the cultists?”
Joren grunts noncommittally as the strangely-stocked storeroom comes into view.
He and his echo each take up a watch positions while the others investigate.
Passive Perception: 15
Tanis(Ranger1): Shiverquill's Tempest City | Xarian(Fighter2): NioNSwiper's Tyranny of Dragons
Dyson/Eleo(TwilightCleric4): Vos' Beyond the Veil | Soren(ShepherdDruid5): Bartjeebus' Ravenloft | Ophelia(WildMagicSorcerer4): Ashen_Age's Risen from the Sands
Joren(EchoKnightFighter6): NotDrizzt's Simple Request | Sabetha(MercyMonk3): Bedlymn's Murder Court | Seri(NatureCleric3/DivineSoulSorcerer1): Bartjeebus' Greyhawk
"yup, I just wanted to make sure there wasn't anything useful left here, last time I was in a bit of a rush and had a pronounced limp" the last bit comes out a little more sarcastic than vilus intended but there is a humour in his voice as the group begin searching the storage room thoroughly.
On the walk to the sewers, Ashley keeps an eye out to see if anyone is noticing them, following them or any of the like. She breathes a sigh of relief when she sees that they are not being taken notice of.
Her eyes grow as she steps across the threshold of the storage room, noting the runes, she asks, "How did you know the knock to get in here? And man... what would have happened if you mis-knocked?"
"ah... you uh, probably don't want to know what would have happened..." Vilus says pointing to the back of the door where several of the Godtongue runes are carved in a circle, an obvious trap unseen from the outside.
"Check around, anything could be useful. I'm not sure there's much in the way of magical items but this stuff was either collected from the cultists themselves, or from those with magic that they brought here to kill... perhaps both. There's somewhere else that I need to go when we're done here."
Vilus helps the others look around, (offer of help action should anyone want to roll investigation with advantage)
Among the clothes are a couple of simple wands ands pendants that had likely been used as arcane foci by the owners before they were captured. Samir notices a jangle from one stack of clothes that sounds like coins. And when he shifts the top shirt to get a better look, his hand brushes against the boots. They leave a distinctive tingle of magic against his skin. He finds the coins next, sewn into a secret pocket inside the waistband of the trousers.
(Roll 5d 20 for the amount of gold you find)
"Sensing something else in this room," Joren growls suddenly, turning his head and breathing deeply through his nose with neither savor nor distaste.
"Smelling of stale sweat, being only a few days old. Much too recent to be from the clothes we are seeing here. Having been here, someone."
Tanis(Ranger1): Shiverquill's Tempest City | Xarian(Fighter2): NioNSwiper's Tyranny of Dragons
Dyson/Eleo(TwilightCleric4): Vos' Beyond the Veil | Soren(ShepherdDruid5): Bartjeebus' Ravenloft | Ophelia(WildMagicSorcerer4): Ashen_Age's Risen from the Sands
Joren(EchoKnightFighter6): NotDrizzt's Simple Request | Sabetha(MercyMonk3): Bedlymn's Murder Court | Seri(NatureCleric3/DivineSoulSorcerer1): Bartjeebus' Greyhawk
Though a bit impatient to get to the purpose of their being in the underground, Samir nevertheless does a thorough search of the small room, going through things methodically. Alerted first by the faint jingle of coin, the artificer manages to extract a not insignificant number of coins from a hidden pocket. Showing the others with a nod, he then slips them into his satchel for the time being before examine the boots.
"Some enchantment on these. I'll look them over later when we have time, could be useful." With that the boots follow the coins into his bag for safekeeping.
Ashley is going through the stuff, but her heart isn't really in it. With the situation with the councilors, Razmus having disappeared.. and a few other things on her mind, she doesn't come up with anything.
But as Joren mentions recent activity, her alert raises and she steps out of the storage room. "I'm going to keep watch out here while you all finish up, last thing we need is to be locked up in there."
Malachi is rifling through the clothes and items left behind and looks up at Joren’s warning. “Someone has been here recently? Are they still around?” He looks nervously around the shadows of the room, expecting something to jump out of them at any second. He glances over at Samir and Vilus “I think we are almost wrapped up here anyway. Unless you think there is more to find, Samir. Where else did you say you needed to go, Vilus?” Malachi grabs a fine looking pendant and looks at it briefly before sliding it in an inside pocket of his jacket and preparing to go.