The Summit Road Campaign Thread

Kaori reluctantly pulls herself away from her corner to stand close to Vishal, actively trying to make herself smaller and simultaneously looking like she wants to keep looking around but also like she wants to hang her head in shame. She continues to say nothing beyond the occasional coo.

"Mind if I tag along to breakfast?" Khova asks.

If there are no objections, she does, and the seven of you make your way to one of the smaller dining halls, where you quickly get plates of breakfast and sit down.

As soon as breakfast is served, Druhdaar makes a beeline for the bread rolls and starts eating with desperate intent.

Taran leaves his alchemy kit bubbling with some material in the vials.

He grabs a light breakfast, anxiously nibbling as he waits for a way to communicate his information secretly.

Kaori pokes at her breakfast but isn't actually eating anything, her eyes still darting around as if looking for something or someone.

Vishal sighs and is eating his breakfast as he tells everyone one by one telepathically (assuming Kaori lets him in), “Eat up. We need our strength. We can use the mind scape to talk freely later.” 

Druhdaar's answer to Vishal is a mixture of irritation and curiosity:

" Stop prodding my brain when I'm having rolls, Dancer, that mind thing of yers gives me heartburn. But wait... did you have that dream too ? Is that what you wanna discuss ? "

Vishal smiles and resends with telepathy, "No. But we're trying to be subtle. Or did you forget he can be literally anyone, or invisible and floating right above you."

Akuma quietly gets her breakfast and sits at the table with the others, eating it slowly in thought with a subtle nod to Vishal. 

Caelius enjoys his breakfast, watching Taran with concern. He responds to Vishal with, Alright.

The seven of you finish your breakfast and head to a small room where you can enter a mindscape. (Assuming that Vishal makes the requisite check after a try or two).

You end up in the mindscape within a few minutes. Khova clears her throat. "Should Shen be here, or are we filling him in afterwards, or...?"

Taran immediately shakes his head, "Sh-Shen is a s-s-suspect, pr-practically th-the on-only one-" he stops, taking a deep breath and drawing out names on the ground in front of him. He speaks slowly, diving into his own head to make sure there is no confusion.

"Our enemy appeared in my dreams, naming himself Tariiq, we argued in my dreams. He had demands of us, but at the very end I think he made a mistake and slipped up. He commented on my stuttering, since I wasn't stuttering in the dream." Taran looks up at the group with a triumphant smirk. "I have only talked in front of six people from the Monastery since we arrived."

He gestures to the list in front of him.
G1
G2
Tashana
Soravai
Bhimaani
Shen

He immediately crosses out the two G's. "The first two were the guards from the front of the Monastery. They are possible suspects, but unlikely. Tariiq would want to be more centrally located and have more free reign within the monastery. Spending multi-hour shifts outside of it would be poor. We can also clear Tashana of suspicion, according to Esteemed Khova the depth of their connection makes it impossible."

G1
G2
Tashana
Soravai
Bhimaani
Shen

Taran points to Soravai's name. "Soravai was the Kalashatar who myself and Mister Druhdaar spoke to. He demonstrated the physiological signs of using Kalashtar Telepathy. I do not believe that such signs are replicated by magic, and to my knowledge he knew nothing about the trap for the killer. Possible, but unlikely." Taran makes a mark next to the name and moves on.

"Bhimaani is one of the Hazaritan. I did not see anything that could eliminate her as a suspect, but she also did not have knowledge of the trap to my knowledge. Additionally, there was something odd, which involves Shen. When we discovered that the killer was a shapeshifter, she was the one calling out orders and changing patrol schedules in response. Shen merely congratulated us, but he is the head of security."

Taran circles Shen's name, "There are other oddities. In addition to being the only one other than ourselves we know knew about the trap, Shen was also the one to discover the body last night. It was a member of the security team whose name he didn't know, but the body was also in one of the empty training rooms. Perhaps he was opening the door to every room as he passed, but patrolling alone and finding the body within a few minutes of them being killed? That is suspicious." Taran starts making tally marks next to Shen's name, "And the third victim worked closely with Shen, she could have noticed he was acting oddly, confronted him. He says she was killed on patrol, how would they know that? And if Shen's room is locked, how did the Oni get in to dump the body? If they were using mist they wouldn't be able to carry the body. But, if they had the key..."

Taran looks over at Vishal, "We know that the man we met last night was the same man we met every time since we arrived because of your spell. But, Shen was the one who went to investigate the portal disturbance. The one that likely was Tariiq arriving. Shen might have been captured then, and placed near the portal. That could be why he wants to lure us to the portal, and why he said we needed to hurry and save Shen. Because Shen truly is in danger."

Taran takes a deep breath, looking down at the names, "I-I m-might n-n-not be r-r-right, b-but I c-c-can make pl-plaster. Seal u-up the cr-cracks in a room, bl-block the d-d-door. Get these three i-in f-f-for a m-meeting. C-Confront them, an-and w-w-we c-c-can ei-either pr-prove their innocence or...."

"Wait...so you're suggesting that the oni has been impersonating Shen this entire time. And Shen is really the oni. And you want us to get them all together in a room and say, 'Prove you're not the oni or we're going to kill you' And we're assuming it doesn't know you stutter. When we know if can be invisible and spying on us." Vishal asks, trying to make sure he is keeping up with him. 

Caelius nods along with Taran's info dump, black and green shadows curling like smoke around him. Caelius raises a finger and speaks without moving his mouth, "I am almost certain that Shen is not the murderer. My instincts have been wrong before but I am confident he was asleep when Tariiq placed the body in his room. This could mean we're dealing with a spirit divorced from any body. And what certainty do we have that Tariiq is not listening in us currently? I was visited by him, as was Taran, could he still be with one of us."

Akuma is quiet for a long moment before looking to Taran, dark shadows flicking from her tattoos. "That ******* claims that if we sacrifice ourselves, the killings will stop. But that is a lot of faith to put towards a murderer. Tariiq claims he's working for his divine god. That the Adarans angered his "god" and go against the "good of Riedra". He... considers this as "matching the rules of engagements". Our lives will not stop a war. Not this easily. Especially not after we pissed him and his "god" off. I was assured there would not be a killing tonight. We have to work fast, whatever we are doing." 

Taran shakes his head at Vishal, "N-Not k-k-kill. I-I-I c-c-could be wr-wrong, b-but m-maybe w-w-we c-c-can use m-magic to pr-prove th-their innocence. T-Tariiq was c-commenting th-that I d-d-didn't stutter in m-my dr-dreams, it h-h-has t-t-to be s-someone wh-who heard m-me sp-speak in th-the w-waking world. Or, h-h-he h-h-has b-been in-invisibly f-f-following us th-this entire t-t-time, an-and ch-choosing n-not to k-k-kill us."

"C-Could h-he l-listen here, un-uninvited?" Taran asks Mister Caelius, body suddenly jerking to face him. With his focus scattering again his body returning to the jerk, stop-motion state it usually adopted in the dream space, " A-And i-if w-w-we h-have ev-evidence th-that ex-exonerates Sh-Shen, i-it c-c-could st-still be Bhimaani."

Taran jerkily nods towards Akuma, "H-He s-s-said m-much th-the same t-to me. Th-Th-that h-he w-w-would w-w-wait b-by the p-portal f-for us to s-s-surrender and th-that th m-monastery w-w-would be s-safe. H-He cl-claimed that N-Nirdaya s-s-sent him af-after us s-specifically, b-but th-that they w-w-wanted K-Kaori and Ak-Akuma a-alive, al-along w-w-with myself. H-He cl-claimed th-that i-it t-took t-to m-much en-energy to s-send him h-here and N-Nirdaya w-w-wouldn't re-repeat it a-again. I-I th-think th-that is p-partially tr-true. I-I th-think the p-p-portal m-made it p-possible, s-s-so th-this monastery i-is the only o-one h-he c-could r-reach, b-but if h-h-he c-c-can't be sc-scanned then h-he is t-too v-valuable t-to u-use hunting  d-dissidents l-like h-he cl-claimed."

Taran blurs to his feet pacing, "H-He is a l-liar, th-the p-portal h-has t-to be a tr-trap, w-whether t-to l-lure us away wh-while h-he k-kills, or t-t-to d-do s-something else. Th-The q-question i-isn't wh-whether w-w-we s-s-surrender b-but if w-w-we c-c-can t-turn th-that tr-trap ag-against him. O-Or if w-w-we c-can c-catch h-him b-before that..." Taran flashes, suddenly whirling and blurring to face Caelius.

"Wh-What if w-w-we are b-b-b-both right?" He belts out in a rapid fire, "W-What if Sh-Shen's body w-w-was as-asleep, and th-the sp-spirit is po-possessing him d-d-during the day? H-He's an Elan, b-but i-if c-c-caught o-off-guard fr-from near th-the portal, m-maybe Nirdaya and Tariiq w-were able to d-do to him wh-what they t-tried to d-d-do to Esteemed Khova. P-Pull the sp-spirit b-back into Dal-Quor and re-replace it with T-Tariiq." Taran shakes his head moving even more rapidly, "Th-That'd be in-insane though, i-it'd b-b-be e-easier to re-replace h-him wh-whole cl-cloth, but it c-c-could be w-why the k-killer on-only c-comes out at n-night, cl-closer to the time of dr-dreams."

Caelius frowns and shakes his head, "I don't think he is lying to us. Killing people one by one is to create fear, it is to push us to rash action and to make any solution seem palatable. Not to be self aggrandizing, but we are worth more than Tariiq's killings. We have killed their hosts, freed their servants," Caelius gestures to both Khova and Kaori, "'Stolen'  their 'property' and will likely continue to be a thorn in their side. And if I'm not mistaken Kaori offered our souls to Nirdaya, they seem eager to collect."

"I offered them to... to the Devourer... n-not Nirdaya..." Kaori says very quietly from where she'd been standing to remain out of sight. "T-Tariiq came to me last night, too... H-He was perched with m-me in my tree... He said that speaking with you guys almost convinced him that what he's fighting for is wrong..." She then looks straight down. "A-And I messed it all up... Now more people are gonna die because of me..."

Caelius shakes his head, "No one will die tonight. If someone does, he will have reneged on our deal and the only definitive solution is his death."

Vishal nods as he listens around as he says, "Perhaps I can make a ploy to Nirdaya at some point. Apparently him and my own quori Vakri use to be friends. Until Nirdaya betrayed the cycle and tried to attack Vakri at a cathedral."