The Summit Road Campaign Thread

Taran fidgets and looks away, "I-I-I'm j-j-just gl-glad I c-could be of help. I-I d-d-didn't ex-expect to b-be able to con-contribute. I-I-I'm..."

Taran takes a breath, focusing and relaying the next stage, mentally stepping back into his 'doctor' voice "Considering the nature of shapeshifters, we looked over the report of Pilgrims and Prospectives as Mister Druhdaar suggested. Of the seven I feel confident we can put minor priority on Shaliin, Vikashtai, Siira and Onavai. They arrived in pairs, making it less likely that a single shapeshifter replaced one of them without the other noticing. Shaliin is additionally risky, due to staying with his brother. The other two prospectives are Inshana and Ulinaar. Inshana is relatively local, coming from a nearby village. She has friends in the Monastery, but is renting a room, talking with them about any oddities might lead to us confirming or dismissing her as a subject, though her being local makes her a prime candidate that the killer might have stalked to infiltrate the Monastery. Ulinaar is from Kasshta keep and is staying alone in a room instead of a dorm. The final individual is Tirani, a pilgrim. He is from a village near the Korrander Peak, so is far enough away and small enough that it is unlikely a shapeshifter would encounter anyone who knows him well. He is staying with his cousin Tishana, but the two seem to have not met many times, and a civilian could be fooled if our target is as skilled as they seem. Ulinaar seems the easiest mark, and therefore first suspect. Inshana next, followed by Tirani. The other three in equal standing with Shaliin as least likely, though being least likely could also make them a prime choice, if our killer got lucky early on."

Taran looks over at Mister Druhdaar, and bites his lip. "W-We, um, M-Mister Dr-Druhdaar w-wants to tail them a-as a c-cat, br-break into th-their qu-quarters t-to search f-for cl-clues, I-I-I, well, I-I wo-wouldn't b-b-e th-the b-best ch-choice for inter-interrogating s-someone, s-so we w-w-were l-looking for oth-others."

Shen frowns. "Sorry, I'm going to need you to back up to the part where you break into the quarters of people who are here on pilgrimage or in hopes of joining the order. These people all passed the detect thoughts inspection. Now, I understand why you still consider them primary suspects, and I agree that they need to be further investigated, but a lot of people won't be happy about the idea of having their quarters broken into, especially if they turn out to be innocent." He crosses his arms. "And with our culprit being a shapechanger, we don't know who they might have replaced, so we'll want to keep them guessing to our methods as much as possible. Obviously you'll tell the other two in your group, Vishal and Kaori. Who else do you feel is absolutely necessary to tell about this particular strategy?"

Taran shrinks at Shen's admonishment, "I-I-I d-d-don't kn-know, I-I'm s-sure Es-Esteemed Soravai heard us b-b-b-but I-I d-d-don't kn-know wh-who we w-w-would t-t-tell out-outside of our t-t-team." Taran looks to Mister Druhdaar for answers. 

" Prettyface here is right... " Druhdaar nods towards Shen, " ... the less people know, the better. " He looks at the others, obviously ill-at ease to speak up in front of more than a few listeners.

" So, turns out that murderin' whoreson ain't the only one that can shapeshift: I have a few tricks, too. And as far as breaking in, that won't be necessary. " he looks back towards Taran.

" I say we divide into teams again. One or two of us will do the door-to-door interviews, while the others will come into play later, when we decide who the prime suspects are. Then the stealth team can stake the suspects' places out, as discreetly as they can. Keep an eye on their comings and goings, especially at night. Sooner or later the bastard will reveal itself. " His expression grows somber: " If it killed three times already, it's probably got a sweet tooth for it by now. "

Caelius frowns,

Akuma nods and tilts her head. "We found a couple of footprints. One animalistic in nature, obviously from the shape changing. However, the other was human. I can produce an image of it if and when it is needed. If we can narrow down the suspects, we could compare it to their prints."

Taran starts translating as Caelius's hands move, "M-Mister C-Caelius h-has a g-g-good point, wh-why would th-the sh-shapechanger st-stay as a p-pilgrim? Th-Though, M-Mister Caelius, i-if a p-pilgrim d-d-did s-s-suddenly v-vanish, it w-w-would h-have re-revealed th-the n-n-nature of th-the killer." Taran turns to Mister Druhdaar, "Th-They f-f-found ev-evidence th-that the k-killer c-can also teleport, an-and M-Miss Akuma th-those i-i-images w-w-would be v-very us-useful."

Shen nods. "However, we don't keep track of pilgrims beyond when they pass the scans. If the killer could fool the scan, it could've shifted immediately thereafter and just never shown up to wherever the pilgrim was supposed to be staying. Those people assume they decided not to travel or something happened on the journey, and nobody's the wiser. Which makes this even more vital." He frowns. "Dinner's starting any minute. They won't be in their rooms then, but if you want to break in, this'd be the best chance we're going to get today. And if we don't catch this guy tonight, someone else is dying by morning."

Taran swallows heavily, feeling the weight of Esteemed Shen's last statement, "I-I-I kn-know, b-b-but I d-d-don't kn-know wh-what else to d-d-d-do. T-Teleporting, Sh-shapechanging, a-a-able to f-f-fool psychic sc-scans... e-e-even i-if w-w-we f-f-find it, I-I d-d-don't kn-know if w-w-we can k-k-kill it b-b-before it es-escapes... and th-the p-pilgrims are o-our b-b-best leads."

At this moment, Bhimaani, Kaori, and Vishal return. Bhimaani's face is serious, and she barely pauses by the group. "Shen, I need to attend to making changes to our measures, in light of the new information. Keshana is pulling together the psychics to help with scans. We might have to scan the whole damn monastery, if we can't come up with something more efficient. Can you handle helping them here and then join me?"

Shen nods. "Sure. Go, we'll be fine here."

Bhimaani nods and hurries into the security station, voice ringing out as she begins giving orders.

Kaori is shaking like a leaf and holding Vishal's hand as they return, cowering behind her shield.

As soon as they’re in view Vishal telepathically asks every member of the group, except Kaori as she’s been with him the entire time, the same question “What have I made and gifted you?” 

Taran responds mentally, blushing a little

Out loud, he asks, "D-D-did you a-a-all f-f-find an-any s-solid leads?"

Druhd is a little taken aback but then simply walks over to Vishal and gives the sword-dancer a resounding slap on the bottom. 

" For good luck, Dancer ! And I doubt any shapeshifter would ever guess this was your favorite style of blessing, either. "

The big man's face is rock-still, but Vishal can tell there's a faint smile creeping under the druid's beard. It vanishes as it came. " Okay, to business. Sounds like we're up against more than a handful here. Tell me you got good news. "

Vishal couldn’t help but smile and chuckle at Druhdaars response saying, “Thats the spirit there, and we got information.” He chuckles some more and turns towards those that haven’t answered yet. 

Caelius blinks and responses,

Akuma is quiet, glancing over at Vishal. 

Vishal nods before saying, “I have confirmed that you are all who you say you are. We can’t be too cautious now. We’re dealing with a disciple of Aevioth, the individual who manipulated Kaori. They also go by Nirdaya and are skilled in hunting down Kalashtar. However they aren’t as powerful as they’re making themselves to be. It’s not nightmares people are having but rather psychic attacks. Trying to mentally destroy you before physically doing so. They cannot get to you via your dreams, especially Kalashtar. The killer isn’t Nirdaya themselves but rather a disciple of them, they do not have a quori in them but they behave very similarly to them and uses the exact same style and hopefully the same weakness.”

Taran nods, giving Kaori a worried look, "H-H-how d-d-did we d-d-determine this? Fr-From th-the Quori? W-Were th-they ab-able to g-g-give an-any id-identifying d-d-details of the k-killer?"

Taran thinks, "I-If th-they h-had p-powers s-s-similiar to K-Kaori's, th-that c-c-could ex-explain the t-t-teleportation an-and sh-shapechanging. B-But, K-Kaori... d-d-does th-this m-mean y-you kn-know th-their we-weaknesses? Or how to tr-track them?" 

Kaori shakes her head, though it's hard to tell with all the trembling, and looks at the ground.

"Just ... basics ... Useless bird..."