Slice of Glaive

We have a couple of days to wait while we wait for the Regent Mother to recover enough to want to call for us to talk about what happened in the Lord Marshall’s office. Jarlyn wants to go to the Skyfather’s temple and we decide to join him. On the way, we decide to head over to where ‘Bob’ and ‘Chad’ live. There is a large and easy padlock that I pick to get into the gate. This time there is no voice telling me what a bad girl I am. We walk into the garden and see no one. When we glance inside the house, it appears that no one lives there at all; the furniture is covered with clothes. Kross looks around for tracks and finds us. When he takes longer to look, he finds many old tracks belonging to ‘Bob’ and ‘Chad’. They are obviously not here, so we head out. I lock the padlock on the gate behind us. We continue on to the temple.

We get through the gates and see a great number of loiterers inside the temple grounds, especially women with multiple children. We remember all of the families who were disappearing. We are approached by a young initiate who does not recognize us and does not want to let us into see Aldus Mannus. Then a slightly older man comes over and asks what we required. We once again introduce ourselves and request to see Aldus Mannus. He will see what he can do. When he returns he asks us to wait for a bit until we can be seen. In a couple of minutes Matthias comes over to escort us to where Aldus Mannus is. We inquire about his health, which is recovering although he is still quite tired. We ask if anything ishas been learned about the disappearances. Since not much time has passed, not much is known, but he gives us a parchment that should allow us to join in the guards’ investigation of the newest family to have gone missing. We thank him and take our leave.

We arrive at the guard station and hand our parchment to the clerk at the desk. She takes it off to the back of the building and returns with a rugged guard captain and a wet-behind-the-ears guardsman. The older man states that we can go as long as we don’t take anything, especially her he states as he looks directly at me. Guardsman Smith leads us over to the latest incident, a merchant family. I check the door for tampering while Jarlyn prays for the ability to detect evil and Perrol looks for magic. There appears to be no evidence of lockpicking. Inside, I do not see any evidence that the windows have been jimmied. Perrol appears to be investigating a small bag that was wedged behind the headboard. He calls to Ghoral and Jarlyn who are near him. They manage to use our military hand signals to signal Kross and I by Guardsman Smith what is going on. I signal back decoy and start picking up items to keep Smith’s interest away from what they are doing over there. Eventually, I find an item or two that are not from this area. One of them appears to be very interesting and of Ulronai connection. When Smith wanders over to the others, I take the opportunity to lift the Ulronai curio. When he comes back over, he glances over me but does not see where I have concealed the curio. He watches me for a while more and then heads over to Kross. Perrol flags him down and presents him with the money and ledger that was discovered. We have found all that there is to find there. As we head outside, Smith requests that we accompany him back to the station as he is not comfortable with the money he is carrying. He looks so nervous that the former street urchin and thief in me can only think of him as an easy mark. We get him back to the station safely as all potential thieves were not willing to risk fighting us. Perrol shares with the group that that money as well as the ledger he found was hidden behind a stone brick that didn’t match the others exactly. He also says that from the ledger, the only recent info of note was about locks. We decide to go back to the scene so that Kross can track the drag marks he saw. There were claw marks in those drags so Perrol is gung-ho for Orcs. They ask me if I found anything interesting. I say that I found something, but it is likely only of interest to me. It was a set of five blocks with Ulronai writing on the sides, a children’s toy. Kross follows the tracks deeper into the merchant district. We reach the establishment of Gnorm the Gnome who is a well-respected locksmith although not a master. We walk into the locksmith. There is a voice from the back telling us that he’ll be right out. Out from the back comes a gnome on stilts that make him of approximately average height. He takes us to the back room and we see floor to ceiling locks of all different shapes and sizes. As I examine them more closely, I notice that they are flawed. Gnorm comments when Perrol picks up a lock that these are examples that failed during the manufacturing process and are now fit for nothing but show examples. Jarlyn asks what is upstairs and the reply is that only Gnorm’s apprentice lives upstairs. Jarlyn hand signals us that there is evil upstairs. Upon asking why the apprentice is not helping out in the store, we all learn that the apprentice is out of town. Perrol suddenly tells Gnorm that he should stay calm, not move, and we will take care of this. He seems cowed by all of this. I get out my stiletto and signal for Kross to get Ghoral and get in here. Kross then yells for Ghoral who ka-chunks as far as the dividing curtain. All of a sudden there is a blur that appears to be a slenderer version of Ghoral’s frame that flings itself over the stair railing at tries to crash down on Jarlyn with a weapon.

Segment 12
Half move to get next to the attacker
Attack=Strashuri with DCV 11 for 7 body to the chest, this was a lung shot that basically would have stopped him from recovering
Attack=Strashuri with DCV 12 for 9 body in the vitals, hitting the kidneys and dropping him
Perrol attempts to hold the gnome at swordpoint. Kross runs up the stairs to protect from that side. Gnorm pisses himself in fear.

End Combat

Jarlyn asks for permission and then gets a healing potion down the Regent Mother’s throat. She is not yet awake. Perrol and Jarlyn walk over to the door to examine the bookshelf. Apparently, some of the books contain magic but Jarlyn does not perceive evil. As they are discussing what to do about this, the guard who is now determined to be in the lead since the Captain is dead comes over and wants to know what we/they are in discussion about. He asks that we refrain from examining the books or pressing the button until the Lady is out of the room. After she and the body of the Captain of the Guard are gone, we have Ghoral push the button. He feels a slight reverberation to the left but otherwise nothing really appears to have happened. Perrol tries to move the leftmost of the three books to the side, but it refuses to budge. He ends up pulling all three books out at once. It now appears that the button released the clasp holding the books to the shelf. When we open up the books/box, several smaller boxes with a hinge are inside. They contain more listening dots like the one we discovered and left at our inn. Eventually, Julienne along with two minions in black enter the room. We tell her our story including what I noticed before the darkness came that heralded the attack of the shadow creature.

We head back to the inn. One of the guards from earlier walks us back to the inn and buys us a drink as thanks for saving their lives. We stay in the common room after he leaves to discuss what we are going to do about the listening device in our room. We decide to remove it and bury it. As Ghoral removes it, an idea appears to occur between Jarlyn and Perrol. Jarlyn glances out the window. They motion me out into the hall and hand signal Kross and Ghoral to stay in the room. It had occurred to them that this is a close range listening device and that the person must be nearby. When Jarlyn looked out the window, he saw another man on the porch who was looking at our window and whose hand was to his ear. The three of us will casually stroll by and grab him. We communicate this to Kross as well. Once we get outside, we see that he is moving from his place on the porch to get a better view of the window. When he sees us he takes off in the opposite direction. We give chase and I yell to Kross and Ghoral that he’s taking off. Kross shoots two arrows from the window of the room and does hit him, but it is only enough to cause a stumble. I’m the first to reach him and try a flying tackle. I do grab him, but I’m not strong enough to pull him to the ground. Perrol catches up next and misses when he tries to grab him. Kross then fires another two shots and this time takes him down with a well-placed shot to the base of the head. Jarlyn does a paramedics check to bandage up the man. He and I drag the man into the alley. Kross and Ghoral come out of the inn and join us. We want to investigate the house on which porch he was. Kross uses his TwinkleToes power to get to the roof across the street. Perrol and Jarlyn approach the door to the house and talk to the man of the house. They come back and report that the homeowners were under the impression that the man on their porch was a city guard who was scouting/staking out an area. We discuss it and decide that Kross and Jarlyn will go to the palace to bring back a way to get rid of and then interrogate this suspicious character. Perrol notices a man across the street keeping an eye on me. They return with one of Julienne’s minions and a cart. We also confirm that the man across the street is another of Julienne’s minions.

The doors open to reveal the Regent Mother walking out with Julienne by her side. The guards go down on one knee. Then all of them are ordered to leave, with the exception of the captain. We ask how the Regent Mother is feeling. To which she replies that she feels fine but was a bit disconcerted to wake up in a room absent of guards with Julienne unconscious in the corner. We ask how Julienne got into the room and she says that there are ways. She want to know more about ‘Bob’ and I say that his is the only one who can reveal more about himself and that if he wishes to talk to you then he will find you. We are asked why we have come to the castle and we tell how the palace guards came to fetch us and then we were met by the captain of the guard just now. It comes to light that those guards were likely sympathetic to the Lord Marshall. The Mother Regent is going to go visit the Lord Marshall and we will tag along. We all wait for fifteen minutes and make small talk as Julienne secures the Heir.

We head out following the Regent Mother and her honor guard of guard. Nearing the edge of the royal wing of the palace, we see a familiar face among the maids, Julienne. She nods to the Regent Mother and then fades from sight. At the door to the Lord Marshall’s office/study, the Captain of the Guard just pushes it open with no notice at all and walks through it. We hear, “Captain, what is the meaning–My Lady! How may I help you?” The rest of the party walks in, with us picking up the rear, except for two guards staying outside the door. When asked what she is doing here, the lady replies that she merely wanted to visit and perhaps ask a couple of questions. He seems, in a moment of thought, to be moving him lips nearly imperceptibly. I whisper this to Jarlyn who is standing next to me. He zones for a moment and then leans over and whispers back to me that not only is the Lord Marshall is evil but there is an evil about 10 feet below him as well. I walk toward the nearest guard…And darkness falls.

Segment 12
I draw my stiletto, rather stealthily since I do not want to startle the guard I am now near. Then I hear a male scream from the center of the room. Suddenly Jarlyn’s holy symbol creates light that fills the room. I make a half move to be right behind the dark shadow looking at the Regent Mother. It appears to be the same as the shadow that the Necromancer turned the mercenary into in Wickshine.
Attack=Orushidaila with DCV 12 for 6 damage on the thighs. My blade goes through but has a trail of smoke in its wake as it pulls through the shadow. It screeches. The others move in close. The Regent Mother moves to the wall near Jarlyn and one of the guards. She says quite clearly that all of those with magical weapons should aim for the center and all others should string up the Lord Marshall

Segment 3
The shadow attacks me, but misses.
Attack=Orunatiya with DCV 12 for 5 damage in the chest
Attack=Orunatiya with DCV 7 and miss
Ghoral swings but misses as well. Near the end of the turn, the Lord Marshall says something in a foreign tongue and points at Jarlyn. However, nothing happens.

Segment 4

Segment 6
The shadow tries to attack my groupmates but misses the first one of them. I see the Lord Marshall ducked under his desk.
Attack=Orunatiya with DCV 7 and hit the shoulders for 2 damage
Attack=Orunatiya with DCV 11 in the legs for 2 damage
All that I get from my attack was some sparkles. I appear to have done no damage. Ghoral attacks and detaches a piece of shadow, for all intents and purposes, and causes the shadow to wail.

Segment 8
Jarlyn scores one bad hit and one great one. The others all attack as well.

Segment 9
The Shadow moves through people to get over to the Regent Mother. Its claws reach out for her head. There is a nimbus that forms around her, but it only slows the claws. Those claws dig deep into her face and she drops to the ground.
Half Move to get behind the shadow again.
Attack=Orunatiya with DCV 6 for 3 damage in the shoulder
Attack=Orunatiya with DCV 8 for 8 damage in the legs
It is streaming shadow from many insubstantial moves.
Ghoral moves up and attacks as well, but he misses.

Segment 12
Attack=Oruskormaeli with DCV 7 for 7 damage in the shoulders
It shrieks and shrinks down until only the body of the necromancer’s mercenary is visible. We all focus our efforts on the Lord Marshall under the desk now.

Segment 3
I move over to the door in hopes of finding an unlocking mechanism for the door. Ghoral tries to smash apart the desk but to no avail.

Segment 4
Most everyone is confounded by the desk.

Segment 6
Glaive rolls for security systems and discover a but out of place on the bookshelf. Glaive uses some strength to tilt it out and hear a click. She can assume that the door is now unlocked. The black curtain that was blocking all attacks at the Lord Marshall under the desk disappates. He is GONE!

Segment 8
The others manage to tip over the desk.

Jarlyn is kind enough to heal those of the blackguards in severe shape. We decide to take the leader to ‘Bob’ and ‘Chad’s place so that we can interrogate him in peace. We tie him up and start to walk. As we are walking, we start to talk with the leader and discover that he does not know who has set the price on our heads, but was 50gp. He knew that he would be paid because the money was in escrow. It is being held by the Upright Man. The name sounds familiar to me, but until Perrol mentions the word Don do I realize that the Upright man is the head on the mafia in this area, or at least the equivalent to the mafia. We get to the mansion, but the doors are locked. When I attempt to lockpick I hear ‘Bob’s voice warning against that course of action. After another attempt, I give up with fear of my hands. We take him to a park nearby and search him. He expresses his dismay when we ask him is he knows anything about the disappearance of Julienne. We leave Ghoral guarding him while the rest of us go to the side to discuss this. After more interrogation, we decide to let him go since he has no inclination to go after us. We resume our trip to where the day laborers are to get information about Julienne’s absence. As we leave the park, we see some men with bows watching the park. When Vinny the leader leaves, they start to leave as well.

We arrive where the day laborers are waiting for possible jobs. The father and son that we’ve talked to before approach us. They are unable to tell us more about the price on our heads, and they do not know Julienne. I ask who they may be able to refer us to who may know more about those who have put the price on our heads as well as more about people who may have gone missing recently. “How do you know about that?” he says. We mention that we know some; I’m thinking about Julienne, but it turns out that there are entire families missing. They are from the poorer sections of town, so it wasn’t thought that anyone important would bother with them. We learn that the Upright Man’s people would be the people to talk to. We wash up a bit before eating some seafood, I like seafood. Then we head to the main front for the Organization. One man dives under the table when we enter the room. The other looks uneasy, and the third and oldest asks us about our business. We have a discussion with him about Julienne. He knew nothing about it previously. We would like a reciprocal amount of information and make a deal to be in our inn in another two hours to meet with this gentleman’s boss. We decide to head to the Skyfather’s Temple to try and get more information on the missing families. We learn that there is an increase in the number of families who are dropping their children off at the orphanages and then reclaiming them later. We don’t learn anything more about Julienne. We head back to the inn to make our rendez-vous with whomsoever we were supposed to meet at our inn, we are 45 minutes early. When we get there, the atmosphere appears to be rather tense and quiet. There is a man in the corner drinking ale. We head over to the bar and Perrol asks the barmistress who the man in the corner is. She replies that he is Mr. Miggins, who Perrol knows to be one of the lieutenants of the Upright Man. We sit down a table over and he waves us over. We proceed to share information. He says that we no longer have to worry about the contract on our lives. It is mentioned that Vinny was the one who attacked us earlier. Mr. Miggins admits that he was the one who took out the contract on us. It was a way to flush out some dissidents/dishonorable people within the Organization. He assumed that we would be able to protect ourselves. Perrol and Jarlyn are outraged to have been used as bait. Perrol will consider this whole thing water under the bridge if he could tell us about the contract on him alone. It turns out that the Lord Marshall was the one who put out the Red Dagger contract on Perrol. It also comes out that he has met ‘Bob’ and/or ‘Chad’ at some point in the past and that chaos tends to follow in their wake. We learn that while the Regent Mother is out of commission, the Lord Marshall is in charge. This leads to bad times for the Organization. I then ask him about the secret police. He responds that they are a pain in his ass. They are really the Lord Marshall’s henchmen and thugs. After he takes his leave, I search my memory for someone who might have seen Julienne last night. I remember that there is an old man, a porch sitter, who is often out at night. I head on over with Jarlyn and Perrol trailing behind to ask him some questions. After I describe Julienne, he mentions that he might have seen something, which causes me to pay him a half silver. He tells me that he saw her entering the inn, but refuses to say more until I pay him another half silver. He then pats his lap. I retaliate by leaning forward and surreptitiously press my stiletto to his neck as I lean over to talk in his ear. “Tell me what you know, Old Man,” I say in his ear. He finally divulges that he saw her leave and take off in the direction of the palace going at a fast clip. My last question is whether or not there were any people following her, to which he replies in the negative. We all head up to the room to discuss our future plans. In the middle of talking about how to approach the Lord Marshall to kill him, we remember to have Perrol detect magic. There is a device on the windowsill. We talk in the hall to try and make a plan. However, the first thing we decide to do is head on out to the mage academy and investigate the device. When the mages go to get the paperwork on who might have purchased this, they find that the papers are all gone. We return to the inn to eat last meal. We are nearly ready to head up to our room, when four city guards enter the tavern room. They request our presence at the palace. We all troupe off with the guards leading the way. When we enter the palace grounds another four guards show up to flank us. Our weapons are at the ready if not being held obviously. We get close to the palace proper and another seven guards approach us. They turn out to be six of the Duchess’ guards led by their captain. When the palace guard escort we currently had looks confused the Duchess’ guards says that they’ll take it from here. We are led up to the waiting room right before the Regent Mother’s chambers. The door opens and we see the Regent Mother with Julienne at her side.