Blaze of Glory (Exalted)
- Thread starter Guancyto
- Start date
- Fantasy
- Pronouns
- They/Them
[X] - This is the one time there's enough free water in Gem that you can maybe stem a fire. You'll have to draw attention to yourself so there's a good chance it'll get you noticed by the departing Feathers, but organize a bucket chain immediately.
- Location
- St. Petersburg
I'd be very grateful if you could continue noting down the number of dice we roll. Because I didn't realize we got 7 successes on 6 dice.
God damn it, Ten Feathers is scary. Would make for an incredibly tense scene... if we didn't know the outcome from the rolls beforehand. Not sure how I feel about that, but I guess the rolls are spoilered for a reason. As it is, I was more afraid for the cat that I figured we'd use to ward off the suspicion.
Also, what did the Antiquarian ever do to you, Feathers? He can't have been involved in any of it, can he? Is it just to prevent him from telling us something important? Nah, I don't think Sharell is notable enough yet as to warrant such a drastic action... or is she? Ten Feathers were late to the murder scene that got burned to the ground, so they might have reasons to suspect we got our hands on a few clues... a few clues they needed. So they might be making things difficult for us on purpose. We burn everything in our wake (although not entirely on purpose), and so do they.
Makes me want to attract their attention even less. We have a job to do, anyway.
[x] - Books! It's a terrible tragedy but you've still got a job to do and not everyone makes it to the end of the line. Search for books that might be relevant to your investigation. Take only what you can carry.
I am not sure what we'd get out of putting out a fire, except some browny points with the poor folk living here. If there is anything valuable left relevant to the investigation, and Feathers notices, they are unlikely to let us have it. And they have proven extremely ruthless, so I am not sure how much better off we'd be even with a crowd of witnesses around us...
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Yeah sometimes exploding tens can really help out! Sure Guan will add the numbers in later, Ten Feathers roll was actually also really good for the dice she had.
I do feel the rolls beforehand can spoil the scene but it seems a pretty solid convention and some quests don't even spoiler tag it. I personally when reading don't look at rolls but I do realise doing it this way gives it a very Tabletop gaming feel where usually you do roll and know what the result is before you describe what happens. But I'm wierd and don't even read vote tallies and go in totally blind.
I think for this scene moving the rolls further down into the description wouldn't have hurt it and let the tension build a bit better. Will put more thought into where they go in future.
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- Location
- St. Petersburg
There are several ways of doing that - rolls before the scene, rolls after the scene, rolls after the update (you read the entire chapter first and then get mechanical clarifications for how things unfolded). I don't mind either, even though I commented on it - and things might get messy if they are moved elswhere during a scene with intensive rolling like the one with the Merchant last update.
I'd probably sneak a peak at the next scene anyway if the tension gets too much.
It's just... we scraped by the skin of our teeth, and the update reflected that. I am definitely more wary of Feathers now than I was before if such a thing is possible. They are a cool rival... at least I hope it's a rival and not an adversary yet.
I'd probably sneak a peak at the next scene anyway if the tension gets too much.
It's just... we scraped by the skin of our teeth, and the update reflected that. I am definitely more wary of Feathers now than I was before if such a thing is possible. They are a cool rival... at least I hope it's a rival and not an adversary yet.
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Night 2.2: Pour On Water
- Location
- In Your DNA
Fight Fire 3
Save Necessary Books 2
Save All Books 1
Save Necessary Books 2
Save All Books 1
You can't come up with any reason that would justify burning away a man's legacy, but for an awful moment you contemplate letting it happen anyway. You'd bitten your tongue to avoid a brush with death and now you're afraid to throw away the safety you'd bought yourself and do the right thing.
No. No! Screw this lady! Or man! Or whatever they are with that irritatingly attractive walk! Not on your watch. That cocky tone is still ringing in your ears and you're sure they had a smug sneer to go with it, so you're going to wipe it off one way or another. You'll save the crime scene, the house and the damn cat too.
The Antiquarian might be dead but you can at least save what he cared about.
The heat beating at your back you run to the door frame and peek out, willing Ten Feathers to hurry up and get clear. You're aware every moment waiting is something lost to the flames, but if you're going to gamble it all you're going to wait for a good hand. Ten Feathers reaches the end of the street and turns back to look at their work and you duck behind the doorpost, back pressed to the wall. The fire is starting to build up its rage now, you can hear the cracking of timbers and the low roar of half-finished paintings being lost to time. Indignation fuels your brave attempt to take another peek so soon and you see Feathers has already swept around to leave.
You dash out of the house immediately, tucking your coat into a ball around your arm and vaulting the house's garden wall. "Fire! Fire! Bring water, now!" you cry into the night, catching the ears of a few people still filling containers of water to store away for later, determined to not let a drop of this rainfall go to waste. Bless their greedy hearts. You glance at the retreating investigator and oh shit they're looking right back at you, easily visible against the red fire glow starting to spill out of the Antiquarian's house. You see a glint of satisfaction in their eyes but nothing that looks like recognition. Has nobody told them what you look like?
Sharell: Manipulation 3 + Stealth 3 = 2 successes
Ten Feathers: Perception 2 + Awareness 3 -1 Expecting Someone Taller -1 Expecting Someone Prettier = 1 success.
You got away with it! They don't clock you.
Ten Feathers: Perception 2 + Awareness 3 -1 Expecting Someone Taller -1 Expecting Someone Prettier = 1 success.
You got away with it! They don't clock you.
With a little shrug Ten Feathers kicks on their heels and walks off, a spring in their step that you're quite sure wouldn't be there if they knew just what they'd missed.
Charisma 2 + Performance 0 = 3 successes. DAYUM. Spent a Willpower for an extra success in anticipation of failing, so it's 4.
Organising the water gatherers is a hassle, their minds were firm set on taking water for themselves and now a young lady insisting they give it up is a tough sell. But your luck is in as a rambunctious group coming back from a very late night at the bar stumbles into the scene and you're quite happy to take advantage of their state to get them on your side. Faced with a rather determined woman and a pack of mostly confused but nonetheless eager to participate drunks the rest of the street eventually gives in and begin to turn those containers to something a little more selfless. A bucket chain staffed by drunks and people who don't even want to be there is not the height of efficiency, but it's amazing what the power of yelling really loudly and confidently can do and quantity has a quality all its own. You take your spot at the end of the haphazard chain of water filled containers, hoping to keep people's eyes out of the crime scene for as long as you can. A dull thudding against the wall from outside tells you that they've also started extinguishing any flames that pop up outside.
Intelligence + Investigation = 1 success. Didn't get the clue.
It turns out you didn't need to worry, the grisly scene you'd walked in on has changed a lot by the time you're sloshing out the last of the flames. A murder has been replaced by an unfortunate death from an accidental fire that must have gotten out of control somehow. Certainly nobody wants to inspect the blackened corpse too closely to see anything different.
You were pretty confident that the main library was going to make it (if only because of the sheer amount of vengeance in store if it hadn't), but as your eyes sweep the backroom and you cough something truly foul out of your lungs, you see that a surprising amount has survived the flames. Even the poor corpse of the Antiquarian was doused before it was completely charred to a crisp, although the clothes are quite thoroughly charcoal. If you had been less quick or if your helpers had been less effective the crime scene might have been a lost cause, but you've managed to save nearly everything.
You know the Antiquarian was a hospitable fellow from your time with him and you're sure he won't really mind if you distribute some of the contents of his larder to your fortuitous benefactors to much back-slapping and cheering. Thankfully they're willing to accept meat as a thanks and mainly ignore the treasures around them, unaware of what they're leaving behind for you. A few things do disappear into pockets as you herd the crowd towards the exit, but it's a small price to pay as you push the last of them out of the door and watch them go, some singing drunken songs of heroism and some just a little confused as to what just happened.
You take a moment in the garden to collapse among the sharp smell of greenery. No one will notice you behind the hedge and you can take a breather. Leviathan jumps on top of you and kneads his paws into your back before settling down to sleep. Maybe you can just rest your eyes a little, you've earned it right? As you start to fade your tired muscles are warmed by the thrill of the moment.
Take that, you featherbrained firebug.
Aching from a quick dirt nap, you drag yourself into the half burnt house and check the larder for anything not dust covered for Leviathan to eat. The lucky cat is getting the last bit of cream it'll have for quite some time from a sealed jar, as everything else looks just a bit too blackened to be really safe to give them.
Leaving a happy purr behind you, you return to the backroom and the grisly scene that Ten Feathers left behind. The fire has claimed most of the back wall and the easels nearby but the rest of the room only soaked in water - barely even damaged at all. The fire thankfully hadn't gotten across the room to the stacks of books, they're mainly made of homemade vellum and not the cheap paper the northerners sell but they really aren't any less flammable for it.
The charred body of the Antiquarian makes a sad figure and the smell is gut wrenching, but you've learned your lesson about laying a body to rest and so you work to cut it free of the bone display rigging and lay it out on the marble floor. You don't know any good prayers yourself, so you just stumble through a general thanks for being a seemingly kind and thoughtful soul in a city that desperately needs more of them.
Perception 3 + Awareness 3 = 1 success. A bit too distracted to notice much.
You move some white painter's cloths over to act as a shroud and carefully tuck the body in. Something nags at your mind about the body, but though it floats on the tip of your tongue you just can't get the thought out. The burnt body has some cracks in the char that confuse you, are they cuts?
Intelligence 4 + Medicine 0 = 1 success. Fire damage makes this a little out of our league.
You shake your head. Morbid to think about and it's not like you'd even know what to look for to really prove it. You busy yourself wrapping him up good and tight instead, you're not sure what you'll do with the body but at the very least you can make it look like it's ready to move on.
Leviathan joins you as you work and you ruffle the cat's head as it pads around the body. Poor thing is mewing as if to try to get him to stir, you'll have to find a good place for that cat, if not for his timely intervention there might have been two corpses for the fire and no one left to put it out.
You spirit away as much of the house's goods as you can before someone comes to investigate, but there's a few things to do before you can really dig in to everything.
One of your actions will be dedicated to extensively using the Antiquarian's books and files to research the Chest and Key, so treat this as an investigation turn with a bit of social mixed in. If you pick the same person twice it'll be an extended scene with them.
Who do you ask to help you take care of the Antiquarian's body?
[ ] - Wave Crashes Against the Rocks. This isn't Guild business that you can see yet, but you can certainly argue that it is anyway.
[ ] - Niall. It's not a noble way to be laid to rest, but you know he's a good soul and he'd see it done right.
[ ] - Your scholar friend in House Iblan. He can direct you through the proper legal channels to get him buried, determine if he has a last will of any kind, and you can maybe work out just what Ten Feathers' legal status is exactly.
[ ] - Steals Kisses and your friends in the Marketplace. Friends will help you move, true friends will help you move a body. They wouldn't talk about a chest, now they can redeem themselves!
[ ] - All by yourself. Taking it out to the desert alone will be a little awkward, but he's got a hand cart. You can find some ruins to bury him at. He'd no doubt like being made a part of history.
Who do you try to pass Leviathan on to while you further your investigation?
[ ] - Raicho. You've got questions for her and she looked like a cat person. Well a Jackal person but you're not a cat expert, maybe Jackals like cats.
[ ] - Wave Crashes Against the Rocks. It probably won't cost you that favour and she might have an idea of what happened here.
[ ] - Niall. It's probably a spectacularly bad idea to give a Rat Priest a cat, but the irony of it is also hard to resist.
[ ] - Steals Kisses. She didn't answer your questions despite owing you, so she gets to look after the cat now and also explain why.
[ ] - Yourself. You got a warm fire and a bit of money. Hopefully he won't eat all your furniture and it'll give you time to go through some of the Antiquarian's books.
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- Location
- Vermont
[X] - Steals Kisses and your friends in the Marketplace. Friends will help you move, true friends will help you move a body. They wouldn't talk about a chest, now they can redeem themselves!
[X] - Yourself. You got a warm fire and a bit of money. Hopefully he won't eat all your furniture and it'll give you time to go through some of the Antiquarian's books.
First off? Steals Kisses sounds way too interesting to pass up. I want to meet this person. Second? You can get this cat away from me literally never.
[X] - Yourself. You got a warm fire and a bit of money. Hopefully he won't eat all your furniture and it'll give you time to go through some of the Antiquarian's books.
First off? Steals Kisses sounds way too interesting to pass up. I want to meet this person. Second? You can get this cat away from me literally never.
- Location
- St. Petersburg
Whew, we are on a roll today! Although perhaps the situation is a little different from what we assumed at first.
Alright, so the Antiquarian was dead before Ten Feathers got here, and they just burned down the house and the crime scene with it... as payback, I assume. I could see that happening as opposed to them murdering the poor guy in cold blood for no reason at all.
What could the murderer want, though? Assuming Ten Feathers isn't one, of course. Didn't they get the Chest? Or did they realize they don't have the key and came back to, ah, pointedly ask the Antiquarian if anyone with a strange-looking key didn't drop by.
[x] - Your scholar friend in House Iblan. He can direct you through the proper legal channels to get him buried, determine if he has a last will of any kind, and you can maybe work out just what Ten Feathers' legal status is exactly.
[x] - Yourself. You got a warm fire and a bit of money. Hopefully he won't eat all your furniture and it'll give you time to go through some of the Antiquarian's books.
...I hope we don't make a habit out of taking in the pets of people murdered in the course of our investigation, or we will end up with a zoo.
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PurpleProse
Squishy Purple Unicorn
[X] - Your scholar friend in House Iblan. He can direct you through the proper legal channels to get him buried, determine if he has a last will of any kind, and you can maybe work out just what Ten Feathers' legal status is exactly.
Nothing to really say here.
[X] - Yourself. You got a warm fire and a bit of money. Hopefully he won't eat all your furniture and it'll give you time to go through some of the Antiquarian's books.
Kitty friend!
Nothing to really say here.
[X] - Yourself. You got a warm fire and a bit of money. Hopefully he won't eat all your furniture and it'll give you time to go through some of the Antiquarian's books.
Kitty friend!
- Location
- Bed
[X] - Your scholar friend in House Iblan. He can direct you through the proper legal channels to get him buried, determine if he has a last will of any kind, and you can maybe work out just what Ten Feathers' legal status is exactly.
[X] - Yourself. You got a warm fire and a bit of money. Hopefully he won't eat all your furniture and it'll give you time to go through some of the Antiquarian's books.
- In the not-unlikely scenario that we end up dead, at least our cat could show up for later adventures. And isn't that all we can really ask for out of life?
- Also, if the Antiquarian was murdered before Ten Feathers got there, the will might contain a clue as to why, and perhaps even who did it. Also, info on Ten Feathers is a plus.
[X] - Yourself. You got a warm fire and a bit of money. Hopefully he won't eat all your furniture and it'll give you time to go through some of the Antiquarian's books.
- In the not-unlikely scenario that we end up dead, at least our cat could show up for later adventures. And isn't that all we can really ask for out of life?
- Also, if the Antiquarian was murdered before Ten Feathers got there, the will might contain a clue as to why, and perhaps even who did it. Also, info on Ten Feathers is a plus.
- Location
- Earth
[X] - Steals Kisses and your friends in the Marketplace. Friends will help you move, true friends will help you move a body. They wouldn't talk about a chest, now they can redeem themselves!
[X] - Yourself. You got a warm fire and a bit of money. Hopefully he won't eat all your furniture and it'll give you time to go through some of the Antiquarian's books.
[X] - Yourself. You got a warm fire and a bit of money. Hopefully he won't eat all your furniture and it'll give you time to go through some of the Antiquarian's books.
[x] - Your scholar friend in House Iblan. He can direct you through the proper legal channels to get him buried, determine if he has a last will of any kind, and you can maybe work out just what Ten Feathers' legal status is exactly.
[x] - Yourself. You got a warm fire and a bit of money. Hopefully he won't eat all your furniture and it'll give you time to go through some of the Antiquarian's books.
[x] - Yourself. You got a warm fire and a bit of money. Hopefully he won't eat all your furniture and it'll give you time to go through some of the Antiquarian's books.
[x] - Your scholar friend in House Iblan. He can direct you through the proper legal channels to get him buried, determine if he has a last will of any kind, and you can maybe work out just what Ten Feathers' legal status is exactly.
[x] - Yourself. You got a warm fire and a bit of money. Hopefully he won't eat all your furniture and it'll give you time to go through some of the Antiquarian's books
We're taking (some) of the antiquarian's stuff to help us out. We really should see to it hat the rest goes to their next of kin and is properly handled. Also maybe there's some hints on what we're dealing with there.
We can always find another place for the cat later, right now we need to go through those books.
Also hello, just spent some time reading through all of this and had a blast with it. Characters are fun, Sharell learning to read by sheer stubborness is one of my favourite moments. But you got a good roster of characters here that I would all like to know more of so I'm motivated to be involved in the sleuthing.
[x] - Yourself. You got a warm fire and a bit of money. Hopefully he won't eat all your furniture and it'll give you time to go through some of the Antiquarian's books
We're taking (some) of the antiquarian's stuff to help us out. We really should see to it hat the rest goes to their next of kin and is properly handled. Also maybe there's some hints on what we're dealing with there.
We can always find another place for the cat later, right now we need to go through those books.
Also hello, just spent some time reading through all of this and had a blast with it. Characters are fun, Sharell learning to read by sheer stubborness is one of my favourite moments. But you got a good roster of characters here that I would all like to know more of so I'm motivated to be involved in the sleuthing.
Day 3: Full Stack Development
- Location
- In Your DNA
DAY 3
Most of the Grand Houses of Gem have tastefully architectured palaces built by some of the finest craftsmen Creation have to offer. They wear this grandeur as a cloak to show their wealth and class, hiding the blood that has been spilled to get there. Not so House Iblan, as the youngest of the Grand Houses the firedust merchants have something to prove. The sprawling mansion is like something from a fireside tale. Far too large to be reasonable, it has been crammed to bursting with everything the wealthy can ever need and plenty more they don't.
A training ground with strange moving machines, a baths with water heated with steam all the way from the smoldering heart of the sleeping Gem volcano and even rumours of a zoo with creatures from the furthest poles? You haven't seen any of that and have your suspicions some of it doesn't exist and is merely bragging, but it's impossible to rule out. The mansion of House Iblan is a village in itself and you really could lose a zoo in it.
You've visited enough that the mercenaries are happy to wave you through towards the Stacks, a building with towers of paperwork taller than several men and a library fitted around it that is constantly being curated by aspiring scholars. In their red and black robes you stick out like a sore thumb and you lean up against a bookcase and wait for the scandalized whispers to grow loud enough that eventually they summon who you're here for.
A gangly young man with a mop of brown hair that he's once again trying to tie back into a bun and failing quite badly, Samet Adivar always seems to be a hurry. Which really tickles you because he could not find a more cosy job if he tried.
"Sharell," he says, breathless, "did you just get here?" He must have run over to get to you before Head Scholar Aegis found you first and began lecturing about the many things a young woman should be doing that didn't involve being in her library. You can wait for the old lady to run out of steam no problem, but Samet is the one who has to put up with her for the rest of the day.
"Been here hours," you lie just to see him splutter. "I told Aegis we're dating to get her off my back."
The shade of red he immediately goes makes you take pity and reach out to tug at his robe's sleeve to shake him back to reality.
"Relax, Samet, I just got here. I actually have business with you today."
"Business?" he says, going from flustered shock to flustered confusion. You usually only come to swap a few home-rolled cheroots for a book loan.
"Mmm!" you nod, "But same payment, if you want to get us a room?"
Relief washes over him and he slumps with a relaxed sigh. "Yes, yes of course. Come on through, we're not busy."
"Are you ever busy?" you ask, falling into step behind him as he heads to one of the sorting rooms. He knocks on the door and checks for the Secret Signs; you're not the only ones who value privacy and after the first couple of times interrupting Samet's coworkers fooling around you've learned to give a little warning.
"Of course! Sometimes someone important will come down and ask a legal question and it'll be total chaos as we go through the stacks to find a precedent," he says, opening a thin wooden door and waving you into a room that's mainly paper with a desk and a few chairs floating in the mess. There's barely a pathway for the pair of you to cut through and a mild bump does cause a cascade of papers to drop to the floor, but Samet doesn't even blink at that.
"You know I've always wondered what all this paper was for," you say as you fish the chair out and take a seat, pulling out the cheroots and a few matches. This is possibly the biggest fire trap in the city, but it's a tradition by now. No one will ever expect to find two people in here, let alone find them smoking.
Samet looks at the cheroots greedily, until you wave a hand for him to take one himself and there's a frantic bit of motion as he lights up and takes a deep breath. It's like a magic spell cast over him, all that nervous energy dissipating into the air in moments as the smoke curls off the end of his smoke. He's careful to cup his hands around it though just in case an ember tries to make a break for it. Better to be a little burned than a lot.
"This?" he says once he's better centered. "Well this is the words of Rankar the Third, out of fashion now. Rankar the Fourth started fresh and the current Rankar only grandfathered in the Fourth's words, but we keep them just in case he ever decides he wants to extend that."
"Words?" you say, eyebrow raised. You're passing on the smoke yourself, you're allowed to have them where you like and it's no fun having to be so careful with them. "Like his laws? Isn't this a bit much for that?"
"Ah, well, there's accompanying texts too. What a Rankar says can be short, but the implications of what it means can be awfully long," Samet says, leaning back and blowing smoke into the air. "You had a case yourself a while ago didn't you? I heard your name come up, restitution for injury inflicted to a friend?"
"Not how I'd put it," you sigh, "but yes a friend was killed and I got a bit of justice for a change."
"Exactly. Exactly!" he nods enthusiastically, "and now the implications of that ripple out through law. Others can argue that since Sharell Zenteno got restitution for a close associate with standing legal will, they should also get the same treatment. We weight that case up against past words and eventually settled law emerges."
"But Rankar did it as a joke," you say, leaning on the table. You hadn't even considered that this was a possibility, "he just found it amusing I'd gone to such lengths to argue the case. Doesn't that make it a one off?"
"It's the words of the Despot. Nothing is a one off. What he says is law, until he says it's not," Samet says. "That's why we're paid to keep track of everything they've ever said and find a precedent whenever the House runs into trouble. Or someone pays us to represent them."
You look at the vast stacks of paper in this room, just a thin slice of the amount outside being tended to by dozens of students and sigh.
"And with all these rulings, I'm sure you can always find one that goes your way."
"It's not like that," he says, suddenly hissing as a bit of ash burns his fingers. Sucking on the finger he mumbles his words a little. "We're a Great House, we can generally do what we like anyway, it's only when we disagree with other Great Houses that it really becomes a problem."
"That's not better Samet. That's .. that's so much worse."
"Well I don't disagree, but it's well out of our hands," he says with a shrug. "Best I can do is make sure I'm kind to those who deserve it. Speaking of which, what does the bearer of my one bit of relaxation need today?"
You look at him flat for a moment, but Samet doesn't really seem to have got where he's going wrong here. Samet's a smart lad in a lot of ways but matters of basic fairness really aren't one of them. The dangers of a legal mind.
You describe the issue with the Antiquarian, leaving out the whole near death experience and he listens attentively. Then he puts out the cheroot on the lip of your tobacco pouch and goes out to fetch something, returning with a rather cheap looking bone scroll case with a vaguely familiar name written painted down the length that he knocks out onto the table and unrolls, weighing down the edges with stacks of loose paper.
"The good news is that he has left a will," he says, "the bad is it's a bit of an awkward one. No immediate family that he cares to mention, instead he's leaving his home and collection to one of suitable mind and temperament to continue his work."
"Would I qualify?" you ask immediately, willing to give it a shot.
"No, sorry," Samet says, shaking his head," there's a rather detailed list of what is required, experience with archaeological methods and proper preservation of history. A background in certain texts, finding someone suitable will be expensive and time consuming. He's got the money put aside for it, but it'll take time."
"And the fire damage?"
"Easily repaired, whoever replaces him won't be short of money. Almost wish I could apply."
"After what happened to him I don't think you'd be so eager. That's why I'm here really, is there something about how he'd like his body dealt with?"
Samet checks, "yes. He wants to go to Sijan."
"The City of the Dead? Isn't that a really long way off?"
"You know of it?" Samet says, clearly impressed, "so you do actually read those books I give you."
You kick him under the table.
"What did you think I was using them for?" you huff.
"The mysteries of Sharell Zenteno are beyond the minds of a simple scholar."
"Very simple," you say, nodding in agreement.
"Hey! ... Okay so maybe I deserved that. But yes, Sijan, City of the Dead and a bit of a living legend. I can see why someone so interested in curiosities would want to be interred there."
"So do I need to do anything?" you ask, "he's got a cat and a lot of things that aren't going to last long in a house that's got a wall half burnt through."
"Are you willing to look after them? His will seems rather dependent on his house being intact, but there's precedent that someone holding the belongings of another is blameless of any crime as long as it was always intended to be returned when needed."
"One of Rankar's rulings?"
"Yes and one with a lot of loopholes, it's been a bit of a bother. He'll no doubt tidy it up eventually when he kills someone who was pushing their luck with it, until then would you want to hold onto it all? I can't see any reason a selfless act like this would cause any trouble."
Fitting it all into your room is going to be a nightmare, but the idea of all those books being left to the mercy of his neighbours doesn't sit right in your stomach so you nod. There's a form to fill out for it, but he walks you through it in no time at all and now you've got a little bit of legal protection if anyone wonders why half your room has the contents of a museum packed into it.
"I'm going to have to get back before Aegis notices we're gone. Thanks for the break though, it's always nice to see you Sharell!"
"Wait!" you say, getting up before him and putting a hand on his sleeve. "Ten Feathers, do you know them?"
"Personally?" he says, looking shocked at the accusation.
"No, you idiot, I mean in general. They're involved in all this somehow, who are they?"
"Well I've never seen them, but they do turn up in Rankar's words now and then. I believe she's a part of Rankar's will. Not like..." he waves at his hand at the unfurled Will on the desk. "I mean they're tasked with executing his will. The Despot's words are the law after all, but if people could just ignore them then they'd have no bite to them. So you have those who execute his will, with a relatively free hand in how they go about it."
"So they're like law enforcers?" you say, queasy at the idea of someone like Ten Feathers bearing that particular title.
"Not really no, that'd be up to Rankar's House Guards," Samet says, "It's more like prophecy. The Despot can never be wrong after all, so if Rankar says it will rain tomorrow then they'd have to get a lot of people together with fans and blow those rainclouds back this way."
"And they can do whatever they like?"
"If they get results then any laws they've broken along the way are generally excused, unless they're particularly egregious offences. It's an incredibly dangerous profession, failure isn't tolerated for a task that serious but pushing their luck to achieve it can be just as fatal. Very exciting characters though!"
You grimace. "I could do without that kind of excitement."
"Oh?" he laughs "You're thinking of becoming a scholar? I can guarantee a complete lack of excitement."
"I'd love to," you smile, "but then who'd sneak us in smokes?"
"The sacrifices you make for me," he says, giving a dopey attempt at a fancy bow, "honoured as always Sharell."
"You sure are," you say, giving his hair a ruffle while it's being offered up. Getting rid of that bad attempt at a topknot is a kindness to him and the world.
Once you've seen the Antiquarian off on his last and grandest journey yet, you're thankful that Samet has found the funds to get you a proper cart to get his things moved over to your home. Fitting them in is a challenge that starts off fun and gets annoying fast. You're down to using the rib cages of exotic animals as book storage in the end but you've made it all fit. More or less. Leviathan seems to be a little stressed about all this excitement so the addition of some fuzzy wool blankets to a quiet corner has him curled up and taking a catnap.
The trouble with the Antiquarian's library isn't that he doesn't have the information you need. As you set down with another kettle of tea and some mashed beets that you hope the cat will eat instead of gnawing on your boots, you're completely certain the answers to your questions are among all the books and relics somewhere, if only for the staggeringly high likelihood that he's been killed for what he knows. The trouble is that without the massive shortcut that is having the man himself handy there's too much here for any human to read in their entire lifetime and you have to resort to a lot of educated guesswork, and educated guesswork takes hours.
Metallurgical Principles of a Third Age turns out to have a lot about gold but nothing good about gold chests. On the Splendorous Properties of Chests turns out to be a very intriguing read but has absolutely nothing about the type of chest you're looking for. SEVEN GATES, SEVEN KEYS is thoroughly spooky but doesn't have the sort of keys you're looking for, although if you're ever in a situation where you need to summon up some terrible gribbly from the dawn of time now you'll be able to give it a good shot. You snap that one shut and thump your head down against your desk. You can probably go from now until the Cows Come Home (you've been assured that's a long time) skimming books that might be relevant and not find the right one.
From your sidelong position, however, you notice that Fall-Era Inheritance Practices of Deep Southern Horselords is missing a lot of pages in the middle. Nearly falling out of your chair you slide it over and open it up and examine the torn edges in the light - no wear on the tear at all. This has been done not just recently but recently recently. No wonder Feathers had such a casual attitude to the rest of the library, you think with a twinge of annoyance - they mutilated a poor book and already had what they thought they needed.
You set down this poor victim of book crimes, telling it that everything will be okay. A less inquisitive mind might be stopped dead by this and dedicate themselves to tracking down the missing pages. But you've learned an eldritch secret of scholarship. After you learned to read you didn't have a lot of people you could ask, "hey, where can I find more like this?" so you found that a certain type of book contains something else that very few people ever bother reading: a sprawling treasure map of other books that it's referenced. Once you had found that treasure map, you found that such books tended to become massive spiderwebs of reference as every scholar competed to be the one with the most citations without getting knocked out of the competition for having a citation that wasn't relevant, or at least that's how it worked in your head. You flip to the end and sure enough, its author had been an avid competitor in that most dangerous of games.
Your work of citation-webbing gets you such titles as Austrech: Mutations in Aviquestrine Physiology (you didn't think you could make a dull book about something so wonderful, but this is so dry that you take a few minutes to imagine riding across the dunes on your own ten-foot-tall horse-bird), Maid Impossible: Domestic Usage of Animated Objects (this one is a bit more fun, but putting a maid outfit on a construct that looks near-human and making it clean sounds like a serious waste of time and effort), Sensuously Covered in Roses (no wait, that one's yours, piling all the books on top of your old ones was probably a bad idea on reflection), The Last Breath (a gruesome yet fascinatingly detailed description of what happens to a body after it dies and how to prevent it) and What Lies Beyond the Shadows (a fantastical story about a world like your own, but where only the ghosts of the dead live carrying on their lives in hundreds of monotonous ways. It's quite fanciful).
Of all things, on this long sprawling trawl it's Collected Poetry of the Avana Lineage that does it. You know you're in for a bit of a ride when the introduction is just,
"Once, there was a maiden…
…and before her came all the peoples of Creation,
and knelt.
They set aside their petty squabbles in her name.
They acclaimed her with many shouts.
They prayed for her safety and her weal.
Not one of them struck free her chains.
'To know the world…'
'…is to own it,' she said."
With a note scrawled in the margin that simply reads "Spheres?" Helpfully to punctuate hundreds of verses about ruling and lording power over other people, the Antiquarian has made a lot of footnotes and some are even helpful. From these you piece together that there were a bunch of kings with power over the "killing frost" and "heartless ice." After a brief detour to see that Leviathan has thoroughly devoured the mash and go look up what "frost" and "ice" are, you figure that a lineage of kings that had that kind of strength at their command were probably not human. The amount of time dedicated to water-related metaphors and their legions of children makes you think they were probably Dragons - men and women with the strengths of the world's elements in their blood, who could pass on their gifts to their children. Tended to form themselves into dynasties big and small and be incredibly arrogant bastards, so a lineage of Ice Queens is particularly in their wheelhouse. Or maybe it was just one faerie who was really into the ice thing and kept giving itself different names, but you are not in the mood to think about faeries today. You cast a quick baleful glance at the playing card that you'd ended up purchasing, the dizzying designs on the back of the card trapping your gaze until you can catch your senses and shake your head clear. No, if this is to do with fae you are out and damn the consequences.
The Key is described as a powerful penetrative force and a symbol of great authority - the poems directly about it are particularly embarrassing for exactly the reason you're dreading. The chests - chests, plural - contain things that the dynasty has been tasked with hiding away - there's a lot of verses about sealing, protecting, sacred duty, that sort of thing. It looks like they can be destroyed, but that doing so isn't particularly helpful for getting what's inside - there's a comedic (tragic? You can never tell what they're going for when they're flowery like that) saga of a thief smashing one open by dropping it off a cliff, only to find it empty at the bottom. The Key, it says, doesn't so much open the chests as cause what's inside to return to being here, albeit in pregnancy-related metaphors that make the tips of your ears start to smoulder. Nevertheless, it sounds like a pretty perfect bulwark against a lockpick. That means that whoever has the chest now absolutely needs your key since a crowbar won't do it. Unless they're some secret lost heir that just has to secret it away and make classy-sounding yet incredibly bawdy poems for the rest of their life? You can hope, anyway.
It is poetry, and thus frustratingly unhelpful in giving clues to how to find it, or what's inside (apparently being stupid cryptic was part of their sacred duties too). But… something super old that even ancient Dragons wouldn't touch and that needs to be actively disconnected from reality for fear someone will steal it.
And that's even assuming that what's supposed to be inside isn't itself the cause of all your problems. How very promising.
You've spent a lot of time today with your nose in a book searching for answers instead of going out and having terrifying near death experiences. It's paid off a little! Aside from what furthered your investigation, what did you get distracted by?
[ ] Metallurgical Principles gave you some interesting ideas on how to build stronger, more reliable nail bombs. (+Craft)
[ ] Maid Impossible got you thinking about how wide the world is and how much there is in it. Also you might want one of those, just a little bit. (+Lore)
[ ] Austretch wasn't as exciting as it rightly should have been but it did have a lot of notions on how to stay in the saddle, even on a giant bird. (+Ride)
[ ] The Last Breath was a little morbid but an absolute smorgasbord of medical knowledge. (+Medicine)
[ ] SEVEN KEYS was sort of an outside bet but its focus on rituals and the stars being right did have a lot of interesting magical nonsense in it. (+Occult)
[ ] You'll never admit it to anyone else, but you did spend some time with your heart aflutter rereading Sensuously Covered in Roses. (+Linguistics)
A little more quiet round after our very eventful night. As always, pick two investigation targets! You can do as many activities within a target as you like unless it says otherwise.
[ ] DIAMOND IN YOUR KNAPSACK
-[ ] The Guild is at war with itself? You've trader friends, find out how a mercantile war would be fought.
-[ ] Diamond in your Knapsack and Cheshago had a deal, confront him about it and shake something loose.
-[ ] Diamond in your Knapsack wants a war with Wave Crashes Against the Rocks. Pretend to be on his side, find out what you can.
-[ ] Diamond in your Knapsack wants a war with Wave Crashes Against the Rocks. See what you can get for actually switching sides.
-[ ] Blackmail him. You have dirt on him, maybe you can force him to cooperate with you fully.
-[ ] What is with that name anyway? Find out the story.
[ ] MIDNIGHT TALES
-[ ] Raicho killed the ghost! Go thank her for saving your skin.
-[ ] Go back and yell at the guy who locked you in. A lot. Then get him to talk.
-[ ] Investigate them legally. Ask contacts around the city about them. Gather rumour.
-[ ] Investigate them illegally. Break into offices, find out what you can.
-[ ] Press them to tell you about The Vault. You've no leverage, but you can bluff.
-[ ] Press them to tell you about The Golden Chest. You know what it is now, maybe you can get them to let slip some more details.
-[ ] Get them to tell you about the Words that Would Open the Way. You've no leverage, but you can bluff.
[ ] THE GILDED CHEST AND THE GOLD LION KEY
PICK ONE
-[ ] You've got a special key that unlocks a very specific chest. Take it for a walk, maybe it can sniff it out?
-[ ] Avana what now? You've never heard of them. You can't think of a way you'd get to ask an actual Dragon about a lineage of Ice Kings, but they must have their enthusiasts, right?
[ ] LOST SOUL AT THE SUN MARKET
The Sun Market is where the majority of Gem's illegal activity happens, completely in the open. It's also a good place to find most of your useful contacts.
-[ ] Something serious went down at the Sun Market and you think you might know what, now. Go pay Steals Kisses and the rest of your friends a visit and make sure they're all right.
-[ ] The Handsome Merchant is such a charming fellow. You need another crack at his goods if you're going to survive this. But this time you're bringing iron and asking pointed questions to make sure you know what you're getting and what you're paying for it.
[ ] OLD BROTHERS
-[ ] Letting their dogs run wild and free notwithstanding, these guys are suspicious as hell. Find out more about them - discreetly. Ask around. Find out what you're really dealing with.
-[ ] Use diplomacy. They look like they could use a hand up in the world - help them out, build bridges, make friends so they'll let you in on their secrets.
-[ ] Sneak into their camp at night and see what you can turn up.
-[ ] Suspicious. As. Hell. Get Waves to hire some mercenaries to harass their camp, while you take advantage of the distraction to find what you can find.
-[ ] J'accuse! They are clearly the murderers. Get Waves to bribe some of the Despot's men to ransack their camp and drive them out of Gem. (This will override other Brothers-targeted actions.)
[ ] THE DESPOT
-[ ] You got proof the Guild is surely going beyond what he'd find acceptable. Present your findings and let him bring fire and blood.
[ ] THE VAULT
-[ ] The Old Brothers found the gold chest at a dig outside the city. Could that be where the Vault is also? Hire a cheap horse and go poke around.
[ ] TEN FEATHERS
PICK ONE
-[ ] That was a hell of an encounter. You know who they are and some notion of what they're about, but you need more information in case you run into them again. Keep a low profile and ask around.
-[ ] They have information you need about this case. Stalk them, find out what they're up to and where they're going.
-[ ] They have information you need about this case. Find out where they live, break in and toss the place.
-[ ] Cut the bullshit. You know they're heavily involved in this, and even what their status is - go find them and ask them directly what they're playing at.
-[ ] No, seriously, cut the bullshit. Ask Waves Crashes Upon the Rocks to see that they meet with an accident. (This will use your Guild Favor)
BURNING THE MIDNIGHT OIL-
[ ] - Sleep. You've caught too many naps outside your bed.
[ ] - Stay Up. Too many books, not enough time.
Most of the Grand Houses of Gem have tastefully architectured palaces built by some of the finest craftsmen Creation have to offer. They wear this grandeur as a cloak to show their wealth and class, hiding the blood that has been spilled to get there. Not so House Iblan, as the youngest of the Grand Houses the firedust merchants have something to prove. The sprawling mansion is like something from a fireside tale. Far too large to be reasonable, it has been crammed to bursting with everything the wealthy can ever need and plenty more they don't.
A training ground with strange moving machines, a baths with water heated with steam all the way from the smoldering heart of the sleeping Gem volcano and even rumours of a zoo with creatures from the furthest poles? You haven't seen any of that and have your suspicions some of it doesn't exist and is merely bragging, but it's impossible to rule out. The mansion of House Iblan is a village in itself and you really could lose a zoo in it.
You've visited enough that the mercenaries are happy to wave you through towards the Stacks, a building with towers of paperwork taller than several men and a library fitted around it that is constantly being curated by aspiring scholars. In their red and black robes you stick out like a sore thumb and you lean up against a bookcase and wait for the scandalized whispers to grow loud enough that eventually they summon who you're here for.
A gangly young man with a mop of brown hair that he's once again trying to tie back into a bun and failing quite badly, Samet Adivar always seems to be a hurry. Which really tickles you because he could not find a more cosy job if he tried.
"Sharell," he says, breathless, "did you just get here?" He must have run over to get to you before Head Scholar Aegis found you first and began lecturing about the many things a young woman should be doing that didn't involve being in her library. You can wait for the old lady to run out of steam no problem, but Samet is the one who has to put up with her for the rest of the day.
"Been here hours," you lie just to see him splutter. "I told Aegis we're dating to get her off my back."
The shade of red he immediately goes makes you take pity and reach out to tug at his robe's sleeve to shake him back to reality.
"Relax, Samet, I just got here. I actually have business with you today."
"Business?" he says, going from flustered shock to flustered confusion. You usually only come to swap a few home-rolled cheroots for a book loan.
"Mmm!" you nod, "But same payment, if you want to get us a room?"
Relief washes over him and he slumps with a relaxed sigh. "Yes, yes of course. Come on through, we're not busy."
"Are you ever busy?" you ask, falling into step behind him as he heads to one of the sorting rooms. He knocks on the door and checks for the Secret Signs; you're not the only ones who value privacy and after the first couple of times interrupting Samet's coworkers fooling around you've learned to give a little warning.
"Of course! Sometimes someone important will come down and ask a legal question and it'll be total chaos as we go through the stacks to find a precedent," he says, opening a thin wooden door and waving you into a room that's mainly paper with a desk and a few chairs floating in the mess. There's barely a pathway for the pair of you to cut through and a mild bump does cause a cascade of papers to drop to the floor, but Samet doesn't even blink at that.
"You know I've always wondered what all this paper was for," you say as you fish the chair out and take a seat, pulling out the cheroots and a few matches. This is possibly the biggest fire trap in the city, but it's a tradition by now. No one will ever expect to find two people in here, let alone find them smoking.
Samet looks at the cheroots greedily, until you wave a hand for him to take one himself and there's a frantic bit of motion as he lights up and takes a deep breath. It's like a magic spell cast over him, all that nervous energy dissipating into the air in moments as the smoke curls off the end of his smoke. He's careful to cup his hands around it though just in case an ember tries to make a break for it. Better to be a little burned than a lot.
"This?" he says once he's better centered. "Well this is the words of Rankar the Third, out of fashion now. Rankar the Fourth started fresh and the current Rankar only grandfathered in the Fourth's words, but we keep them just in case he ever decides he wants to extend that."
"Words?" you say, eyebrow raised. You're passing on the smoke yourself, you're allowed to have them where you like and it's no fun having to be so careful with them. "Like his laws? Isn't this a bit much for that?"
"Ah, well, there's accompanying texts too. What a Rankar says can be short, but the implications of what it means can be awfully long," Samet says, leaning back and blowing smoke into the air. "You had a case yourself a while ago didn't you? I heard your name come up, restitution for injury inflicted to a friend?"
"Not how I'd put it," you sigh, "but yes a friend was killed and I got a bit of justice for a change."
"Exactly. Exactly!" he nods enthusiastically, "and now the implications of that ripple out through law. Others can argue that since Sharell Zenteno got restitution for a close associate with standing legal will, they should also get the same treatment. We weight that case up against past words and eventually settled law emerges."
"But Rankar did it as a joke," you say, leaning on the table. You hadn't even considered that this was a possibility, "he just found it amusing I'd gone to such lengths to argue the case. Doesn't that make it a one off?"
"It's the words of the Despot. Nothing is a one off. What he says is law, until he says it's not," Samet says. "That's why we're paid to keep track of everything they've ever said and find a precedent whenever the House runs into trouble. Or someone pays us to represent them."
You look at the vast stacks of paper in this room, just a thin slice of the amount outside being tended to by dozens of students and sigh.
"And with all these rulings, I'm sure you can always find one that goes your way."
"It's not like that," he says, suddenly hissing as a bit of ash burns his fingers. Sucking on the finger he mumbles his words a little. "We're a Great House, we can generally do what we like anyway, it's only when we disagree with other Great Houses that it really becomes a problem."
"That's not better Samet. That's .. that's so much worse."
"Well I don't disagree, but it's well out of our hands," he says with a shrug. "Best I can do is make sure I'm kind to those who deserve it. Speaking of which, what does the bearer of my one bit of relaxation need today?"
You look at him flat for a moment, but Samet doesn't really seem to have got where he's going wrong here. Samet's a smart lad in a lot of ways but matters of basic fairness really aren't one of them. The dangers of a legal mind.
You describe the issue with the Antiquarian, leaving out the whole near death experience and he listens attentively. Then he puts out the cheroot on the lip of your tobacco pouch and goes out to fetch something, returning with a rather cheap looking bone scroll case with a vaguely familiar name written painted down the length that he knocks out onto the table and unrolls, weighing down the edges with stacks of loose paper.
"The good news is that he has left a will," he says, "the bad is it's a bit of an awkward one. No immediate family that he cares to mention, instead he's leaving his home and collection to one of suitable mind and temperament to continue his work."
"Would I qualify?" you ask immediately, willing to give it a shot.
"No, sorry," Samet says, shaking his head," there's a rather detailed list of what is required, experience with archaeological methods and proper preservation of history. A background in certain texts, finding someone suitable will be expensive and time consuming. He's got the money put aside for it, but it'll take time."
"And the fire damage?"
"Easily repaired, whoever replaces him won't be short of money. Almost wish I could apply."
"After what happened to him I don't think you'd be so eager. That's why I'm here really, is there something about how he'd like his body dealt with?"
Samet checks, "yes. He wants to go to Sijan."
Int 4 + Lore 3 = 3 successes. You know a weird city when you hear it
"The City of the Dead? Isn't that a really long way off?"
"You know of it?" Samet says, clearly impressed, "so you do actually read those books I give you."
You kick him under the table.
"What did you think I was using them for?" you huff.
"The mysteries of Sharell Zenteno are beyond the minds of a simple scholar."
"Very simple," you say, nodding in agreement.
"Hey! ... Okay so maybe I deserved that. But yes, Sijan, City of the Dead and a bit of a living legend. I can see why someone so interested in curiosities would want to be interred there."
"So do I need to do anything?" you ask, "he's got a cat and a lot of things that aren't going to last long in a house that's got a wall half burnt through."
"Are you willing to look after them? His will seems rather dependent on his house being intact, but there's precedent that someone holding the belongings of another is blameless of any crime as long as it was always intended to be returned when needed."
"One of Rankar's rulings?"
"Yes and one with a lot of loopholes, it's been a bit of a bother. He'll no doubt tidy it up eventually when he kills someone who was pushing their luck with it, until then would you want to hold onto it all? I can't see any reason a selfless act like this would cause any trouble."
Fitting it all into your room is going to be a nightmare, but the idea of all those books being left to the mercy of his neighbours doesn't sit right in your stomach so you nod. There's a form to fill out for it, but he walks you through it in no time at all and now you've got a little bit of legal protection if anyone wonders why half your room has the contents of a museum packed into it.
"I'm going to have to get back before Aegis notices we're gone. Thanks for the break though, it's always nice to see you Sharell!"
"Wait!" you say, getting up before him and putting a hand on his sleeve. "Ten Feathers, do you know them?"
"Personally?" he says, looking shocked at the accusation.
"No, you idiot, I mean in general. They're involved in all this somehow, who are they?"
"Well I've never seen them, but they do turn up in Rankar's words now and then. I believe she's a part of Rankar's will. Not like..." he waves at his hand at the unfurled Will on the desk. "I mean they're tasked with executing his will. The Despot's words are the law after all, but if people could just ignore them then they'd have no bite to them. So you have those who execute his will, with a relatively free hand in how they go about it."
"So they're like law enforcers?" you say, queasy at the idea of someone like Ten Feathers bearing that particular title.
"Not really no, that'd be up to Rankar's House Guards," Samet says, "It's more like prophecy. The Despot can never be wrong after all, so if Rankar says it will rain tomorrow then they'd have to get a lot of people together with fans and blow those rainclouds back this way."
"And they can do whatever they like?"
"If they get results then any laws they've broken along the way are generally excused, unless they're particularly egregious offences. It's an incredibly dangerous profession, failure isn't tolerated for a task that serious but pushing their luck to achieve it can be just as fatal. Very exciting characters though!"
You grimace. "I could do without that kind of excitement."
"Oh?" he laughs "You're thinking of becoming a scholar? I can guarantee a complete lack of excitement."
"I'd love to," you smile, "but then who'd sneak us in smokes?"
"The sacrifices you make for me," he says, giving a dopey attempt at a fancy bow, "honoured as always Sharell."
"You sure are," you say, giving his hair a ruffle while it's being offered up. Getting rid of that bad attempt at a topknot is a kindness to him and the world.
Once you've seen the Antiquarian off on his last and grandest journey yet, you're thankful that Samet has found the funds to get you a proper cart to get his things moved over to your home. Fitting them in is a challenge that starts off fun and gets annoying fast. You're down to using the rib cages of exotic animals as book storage in the end but you've made it all fit. More or less. Leviathan seems to be a little stressed about all this excitement so the addition of some fuzzy wool blankets to a quiet corner has him curled up and taking a catnap.
The trouble with the Antiquarian's library isn't that he doesn't have the information you need. As you set down with another kettle of tea and some mashed beets that you hope the cat will eat instead of gnawing on your boots, you're completely certain the answers to your questions are among all the books and relics somewhere, if only for the staggeringly high likelihood that he's been killed for what he knows. The trouble is that without the massive shortcut that is having the man himself handy there's too much here for any human to read in their entire lifetime and you have to resort to a lot of educated guesswork, and educated guesswork takes hours.
Metallurgical Principles of a Third Age turns out to have a lot about gold but nothing good about gold chests. On the Splendorous Properties of Chests turns out to be a very intriguing read but has absolutely nothing about the type of chest you're looking for. SEVEN GATES, SEVEN KEYS is thoroughly spooky but doesn't have the sort of keys you're looking for, although if you're ever in a situation where you need to summon up some terrible gribbly from the dawn of time now you'll be able to give it a good shot. You snap that one shut and thump your head down against your desk. You can probably go from now until the Cows Come Home (you've been assured that's a long time) skimming books that might be relevant and not find the right one.
From your sidelong position, however, you notice that Fall-Era Inheritance Practices of Deep Southern Horselords is missing a lot of pages in the middle. Nearly falling out of your chair you slide it over and open it up and examine the torn edges in the light - no wear on the tear at all. This has been done not just recently but recently recently. No wonder Feathers had such a casual attitude to the rest of the library, you think with a twinge of annoyance - they mutilated a poor book and already had what they thought they needed.
Intelligence 4 + Lore 3 = 4 successes. That'll do it!
You set down this poor victim of book crimes, telling it that everything will be okay. A less inquisitive mind might be stopped dead by this and dedicate themselves to tracking down the missing pages. But you've learned an eldritch secret of scholarship. After you learned to read you didn't have a lot of people you could ask, "hey, where can I find more like this?" so you found that a certain type of book contains something else that very few people ever bother reading: a sprawling treasure map of other books that it's referenced. Once you had found that treasure map, you found that such books tended to become massive spiderwebs of reference as every scholar competed to be the one with the most citations without getting knocked out of the competition for having a citation that wasn't relevant, or at least that's how it worked in your head. You flip to the end and sure enough, its author had been an avid competitor in that most dangerous of games.
Your work of citation-webbing gets you such titles as Austrech: Mutations in Aviquestrine Physiology (you didn't think you could make a dull book about something so wonderful, but this is so dry that you take a few minutes to imagine riding across the dunes on your own ten-foot-tall horse-bird), Maid Impossible: Domestic Usage of Animated Objects (this one is a bit more fun, but putting a maid outfit on a construct that looks near-human and making it clean sounds like a serious waste of time and effort), Sensuously Covered in Roses (no wait, that one's yours, piling all the books on top of your old ones was probably a bad idea on reflection), The Last Breath (a gruesome yet fascinatingly detailed description of what happens to a body after it dies and how to prevent it) and What Lies Beyond the Shadows (a fantastical story about a world like your own, but where only the ghosts of the dead live carrying on their lives in hundreds of monotonous ways. It's quite fanciful).
Of all things, on this long sprawling trawl it's Collected Poetry of the Avana Lineage that does it. You know you're in for a bit of a ride when the introduction is just,
"Once, there was a maiden…
…and before her came all the peoples of Creation,
and knelt.
They set aside their petty squabbles in her name.
They acclaimed her with many shouts.
They prayed for her safety and her weal.
Not one of them struck free her chains.
'To know the world…'
'…is to own it,' she said."
With a note scrawled in the margin that simply reads "Spheres?" Helpfully to punctuate hundreds of verses about ruling and lording power over other people, the Antiquarian has made a lot of footnotes and some are even helpful. From these you piece together that there were a bunch of kings with power over the "killing frost" and "heartless ice." After a brief detour to see that Leviathan has thoroughly devoured the mash and go look up what "frost" and "ice" are, you figure that a lineage of kings that had that kind of strength at their command were probably not human. The amount of time dedicated to water-related metaphors and their legions of children makes you think they were probably Dragons - men and women with the strengths of the world's elements in their blood, who could pass on their gifts to their children. Tended to form themselves into dynasties big and small and be incredibly arrogant bastards, so a lineage of Ice Queens is particularly in their wheelhouse. Or maybe it was just one faerie who was really into the ice thing and kept giving itself different names, but you are not in the mood to think about faeries today. You cast a quick baleful glance at the playing card that you'd ended up purchasing, the dizzying designs on the back of the card trapping your gaze until you can catch your senses and shake your head clear. No, if this is to do with fae you are out and damn the consequences.
The Key is described as a powerful penetrative force and a symbol of great authority - the poems directly about it are particularly embarrassing for exactly the reason you're dreading. The chests - chests, plural - contain things that the dynasty has been tasked with hiding away - there's a lot of verses about sealing, protecting, sacred duty, that sort of thing. It looks like they can be destroyed, but that doing so isn't particularly helpful for getting what's inside - there's a comedic (tragic? You can never tell what they're going for when they're flowery like that) saga of a thief smashing one open by dropping it off a cliff, only to find it empty at the bottom. The Key, it says, doesn't so much open the chests as cause what's inside to return to being here, albeit in pregnancy-related metaphors that make the tips of your ears start to smoulder. Nevertheless, it sounds like a pretty perfect bulwark against a lockpick. That means that whoever has the chest now absolutely needs your key since a crowbar won't do it. Unless they're some secret lost heir that just has to secret it away and make classy-sounding yet incredibly bawdy poems for the rest of their life? You can hope, anyway.
It is poetry, and thus frustratingly unhelpful in giving clues to how to find it, or what's inside (apparently being stupid cryptic was part of their sacred duties too). But… something super old that even ancient Dragons wouldn't touch and that needs to be actively disconnected from reality for fear someone will steal it.
And that's even assuming that what's supposed to be inside isn't itself the cause of all your problems. How very promising.
You've spent a lot of time today with your nose in a book searching for answers instead of going out and having terrifying near death experiences. It's paid off a little! Aside from what furthered your investigation, what did you get distracted by?
[ ] Metallurgical Principles gave you some interesting ideas on how to build stronger, more reliable nail bombs. (+Craft)
[ ] Maid Impossible got you thinking about how wide the world is and how much there is in it. Also you might want one of those, just a little bit. (+Lore)
[ ] Austretch wasn't as exciting as it rightly should have been but it did have a lot of notions on how to stay in the saddle, even on a giant bird. (+Ride)
[ ] The Last Breath was a little morbid but an absolute smorgasbord of medical knowledge. (+Medicine)
[ ] SEVEN KEYS was sort of an outside bet but its focus on rituals and the stars being right did have a lot of interesting magical nonsense in it. (+Occult)
[ ] You'll never admit it to anyone else, but you did spend some time with your heart aflutter rereading Sensuously Covered in Roses. (+Linguistics)
A little more quiet round after our very eventful night. As always, pick two investigation targets! You can do as many activities within a target as you like unless it says otherwise.
[ ] DIAMOND IN YOUR KNAPSACK
-[ ] The Guild is at war with itself? You've trader friends, find out how a mercantile war would be fought.
-[ ] Diamond in your Knapsack and Cheshago had a deal, confront him about it and shake something loose.
-[ ] Diamond in your Knapsack wants a war with Wave Crashes Against the Rocks. Pretend to be on his side, find out what you can.
-[ ] Diamond in your Knapsack wants a war with Wave Crashes Against the Rocks. See what you can get for actually switching sides.
-[ ] Blackmail him. You have dirt on him, maybe you can force him to cooperate with you fully.
-[ ] What is with that name anyway? Find out the story.
[ ] MIDNIGHT TALES
-[ ] Raicho killed the ghost! Go thank her for saving your skin.
-[ ] Go back and yell at the guy who locked you in. A lot. Then get him to talk.
-[ ] Investigate them legally. Ask contacts around the city about them. Gather rumour.
-[ ] Investigate them illegally. Break into offices, find out what you can.
-[ ] Press them to tell you about The Vault. You've no leverage, but you can bluff.
-[ ] Press them to tell you about The Golden Chest. You know what it is now, maybe you can get them to let slip some more details.
-[ ] Get them to tell you about the Words that Would Open the Way. You've no leverage, but you can bluff.
[ ] THE GILDED CHEST AND THE GOLD LION KEY
PICK ONE
-[ ] You've got a special key that unlocks a very specific chest. Take it for a walk, maybe it can sniff it out?
-[ ] Avana what now? You've never heard of them. You can't think of a way you'd get to ask an actual Dragon about a lineage of Ice Kings, but they must have their enthusiasts, right?
[ ] LOST SOUL AT THE SUN MARKET
The Sun Market is where the majority of Gem's illegal activity happens, completely in the open. It's also a good place to find most of your useful contacts.
-[ ] Something serious went down at the Sun Market and you think you might know what, now. Go pay Steals Kisses and the rest of your friends a visit and make sure they're all right.
-[ ] The Handsome Merchant is such a charming fellow. You need another crack at his goods if you're going to survive this. But this time you're bringing iron and asking pointed questions to make sure you know what you're getting and what you're paying for it.
[ ] OLD BROTHERS
-[ ] Letting their dogs run wild and free notwithstanding, these guys are suspicious as hell. Find out more about them - discreetly. Ask around. Find out what you're really dealing with.
-[ ] Use diplomacy. They look like they could use a hand up in the world - help them out, build bridges, make friends so they'll let you in on their secrets.
-[ ] Sneak into their camp at night and see what you can turn up.
-[ ] Suspicious. As. Hell. Get Waves to hire some mercenaries to harass their camp, while you take advantage of the distraction to find what you can find.
-[ ] J'accuse! They are clearly the murderers. Get Waves to bribe some of the Despot's men to ransack their camp and drive them out of Gem. (This will override other Brothers-targeted actions.)
[ ] THE DESPOT
-[ ] You got proof the Guild is surely going beyond what he'd find acceptable. Present your findings and let him bring fire and blood.
[ ] THE VAULT
-[ ] The Old Brothers found the gold chest at a dig outside the city. Could that be where the Vault is also? Hire a cheap horse and go poke around.
[ ] TEN FEATHERS
PICK ONE
-[ ] That was a hell of an encounter. You know who they are and some notion of what they're about, but you need more information in case you run into them again. Keep a low profile and ask around.
-[ ] They have information you need about this case. Stalk them, find out what they're up to and where they're going.
-[ ] They have information you need about this case. Find out where they live, break in and toss the place.
-[ ] Cut the bullshit. You know they're heavily involved in this, and even what their status is - go find them and ask them directly what they're playing at.
-[ ] No, seriously, cut the bullshit. Ask Waves Crashes Upon the Rocks to see that they meet with an accident. (This will use your Guild Favor)
BURNING THE MIDNIGHT OIL-
[ ] - Sleep. You've caught too many naps outside your bed.
[ ] - Stay Up. Too many books, not enough time.
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- Location
- Bed
Oh fuck oh fuck sidereal poems and sijan oh jeez oh whillickers we are in way too deep.
Okay, maybe I'm overreacting, but alarm bells are ringing indeed.
[X] SEVEN KEYS was sort of an outside bet but its focus on rituals and the stars being right did have a lot of interesting magical nonsense in it. (+Occult)
[X] TEN FEATHERS
-[X] They have information you need about this case. Stalk them, find out what they're up to and where they're going.
[X] THE GILDED CHEST AND THE GOLD LION KEY
-[X] You've got a special key that unlocks a very specific chest. Take it for a walk, maybe it can sniff it out?
Okay, maybe I'm overreacting, but alarm bells are ringing indeed.
[X] SEVEN KEYS was sort of an outside bet but its focus on rituals and the stars being right did have a lot of interesting magical nonsense in it. (+Occult)
[X] TEN FEATHERS
-[X] They have information you need about this case. Stalk them, find out what they're up to and where they're going.
[X] THE GILDED CHEST AND THE GOLD LION KEY
-[X] You've got a special key that unlocks a very specific chest. Take it for a walk, maybe it can sniff it out?
- Location
- Vermont
[X] The Last Breath was a little morbid but an absolute smorgasbord of medical knowledge. (+Medicine)
[X] MIDNIGHT TALES
-[X] Raicho killed the ghost! Go thank her for saving your skin.
-[X] Go back and yell at the guy who locked you in. A lot. Then get him to talk.
-[X] Investigate them legally. Ask contacts around the city about them. Gather rumour.
-[X] Investigate them illegally. Break into offices, find out what you can.
-[X] Press them to tell you about The Vault. You've no leverage, but you can bluff.
-[X] Press them to tell you about The Golden Chest. You know what it is now, maybe you can get them to let slip some more details.
-[X] Get them to tell you about the Words that Would Open the Way. You've no leverage, but you can bluff.
[X] DIAMOND IN YOUR KNAPSACK
-[X] The Guild is at war with itself? You've trader friends, find out how a mercantile war would be fought.
-[X] What is with that name anyway? Find out the story.
[X] MIDNIGHT TALES
-[X] Raicho killed the ghost! Go thank her for saving your skin.
-[X] Go back and yell at the guy who locked you in. A lot. Then get him to talk.
-[X] Investigate them legally. Ask contacts around the city about them. Gather rumour.
-[X] Investigate them illegally. Break into offices, find out what you can.
-[X] Press them to tell you about The Vault. You've no leverage, but you can bluff.
-[X] Press them to tell you about The Golden Chest. You know what it is now, maybe you can get them to let slip some more details.
-[X] Get them to tell you about the Words that Would Open the Way. You've no leverage, but you can bluff.
[X] DIAMOND IN YOUR KNAPSACK
-[X] The Guild is at war with itself? You've trader friends, find out how a mercantile war would be fought.
-[X] What is with that name anyway? Find out the story.
[X] Maid Impossible got you thinking about how wide the world is and how much there is in it. Also you might want one of those, just a little bit. (+Lore)
[X] THE GILDED CHEST AND THE GOLD LION KEY
-[X] You've got a special key that unlocks a very specific chest. Take it for a walk, maybe it can sniff it out?
[X] OLD BROTHERS
-[X] Letting their dogs run wild and free notwithstanding, these guys are suspicious as hell. Find out more about them - discreetly. Ask around. Find out what you're really dealing with.
-[X] Sneak into their camp at night and see what you can turn up.
[X] THE GILDED CHEST AND THE GOLD LION KEY
-[X] You've got a special key that unlocks a very specific chest. Take it for a walk, maybe it can sniff it out?
[X] OLD BROTHERS
-[X] Letting their dogs run wild and free notwithstanding, these guys are suspicious as hell. Find out more about them - discreetly. Ask around. Find out what you're really dealing with.
-[X] Sneak into their camp at night and see what you can turn up.
PurpleProse
Squishy Purple Unicorn
Nothing good ever comes from anything that starts with 'Once, there was a Maiden...' Ever.
[X] SEVEN KEYS was sort of an outside bet but its focus on rituals and the stars being right did have a lot of interesting magical nonsense in it. (+Occult)
Let's get the Occult knowledge up.
[X] MIDNIGHT TALES
-[X] Raicho killed the ghost! Go thank her for saving your skin.
-[X] Go back and yell at the guy who locked you in. A lot. Then get him to talk.
-[X] Investigate them legally. Ask contacts around the city about them. Gather rumour.
-[X] Investigate them illegally. Break into offices, find out what you can.
-[X] Press them to tell you about The Vault. You've no leverage, but you can bluff.
-[X] Press them to tell you about The Golden Chest. You know what it is now, maybe you can get them to let slip some more details.
-[X] Get them to tell you about the Words that Would Open the Way. You've no leverage, but you can bluff.
Filthy assistants, move yourselves! We're going MONSTERING!
[X] LOST SOUL AT THE SUN MARKET
-[X] Something serious went down at the Sun Market and you think you might know what, now. Go pay Steals Kisses and the rest of your friends a visit and make sure they're all right.
It's the art of abusing people. Of ambushing them with questions, following them with questions, hounding them to their fucking graves with questions. It's sort of like being a photographer, except we've never yet killed any royalty doing it.
Yet. Good things come to those who wait...
BURNING THE MIDNIGHT OIL-
[X] - Stay Up. Too many books, not enough time.
Time is against us, and too many players are on the board. We can't risk napping through a crucial move.
[X] SEVEN KEYS was sort of an outside bet but its focus on rituals and the stars being right did have a lot of interesting magical nonsense in it. (+Occult)
Let's get the Occult knowledge up.
[X] MIDNIGHT TALES
-[X] Raicho killed the ghost! Go thank her for saving your skin.
-[X] Go back and yell at the guy who locked you in. A lot. Then get him to talk.
-[X] Investigate them legally. Ask contacts around the city about them. Gather rumour.
-[X] Investigate them illegally. Break into offices, find out what you can.
-[X] Press them to tell you about The Vault. You've no leverage, but you can bluff.
-[X] Press them to tell you about The Golden Chest. You know what it is now, maybe you can get them to let slip some more details.
-[X] Get them to tell you about the Words that Would Open the Way. You've no leverage, but you can bluff.
Filthy assistants, move yourselves! We're going MONSTERING!
[X] LOST SOUL AT THE SUN MARKET
-[X] Something serious went down at the Sun Market and you think you might know what, now. Go pay Steals Kisses and the rest of your friends a visit and make sure they're all right.
It's the art of abusing people. Of ambushing them with questions, following them with questions, hounding them to their fucking graves with questions. It's sort of like being a photographer, except we've never yet killed any royalty doing it.
Yet. Good things come to those who wait...
BURNING THE MIDNIGHT OIL-
[X] - Stay Up. Too many books, not enough time.
Time is against us, and too many players are on the board. We can't risk napping through a crucial move.
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- Location
- St. Petersburg
Help! I can't get the mental image out of my head, what do I do?
...how old is Sharell, anyway?
[x] SEVEN KEYS was sort of an outside bet but its focus on rituals and the stars being right did have a lot of interesting magical nonsense in it. (+Occult)
I think we might need this more.
No. No, no, nonono. NO!
...maybe?
I feel like the window of opportunity to investigate the Midnight Tales might be closing. Whatever was there has been thoroughly picked through by Ten Feathers, with a possible reminder to report any new developments to them on fear of something unpleasant.
I suppose it might be worth a shot to ask them about it anyway... but maybe we should do it after learning a thing or two? Like, say, from Old Brothers?
I so do hope they don't catch us red-handed. These guys give me some weird vibes.
[x] OLD BROTHERS
-[x] Letting their dogs run wild and free notwithstanding, these guys are suspicious as hell. Find out more about them - discreetly. Ask around. Find out what you're really dealing with.
-[x] Sneak into their camp at night and see what you can turn up.
[ ] TEN FEATHERS
-[ ] They have information you need about this case. Stalk them, find out what they're up to and where they're going.
I need someone to convince me this is worth doing, because I very much do not want to get noticed by them with the Key in our possession, now that we know how valuable it is.
[x] - Stay Up. Too many books, not enough time.
If we are sneaking in people's camps in the night I don't think we have much time left for sleep.
Last edited:
EternalObserver
eYe Gaze baCk
- Location
- The Void
[X] Maid Impossible got you thinking about how wide the world is and how much there is in it. Also you might want one of those, just a little bit. (+Lore)
[X] THE GILDED CHEST AND THE GOLD LION KEY
-[X] You've got a special key that unlocks a very specific chest. Take it for a walk, maybe it can sniff it out?
[X] OLD BROTHERS
-[X] Letting their dogs run wild and free notwithstanding, these guys are suspicious as hell. Find out more about them - discreetly. Ask around. Find out what you're really dealing with.
-[X] Sneak into their camp at night and see what you can turn up.
[X] THE GILDED CHEST AND THE GOLD LION KEY
-[X] You've got a special key that unlocks a very specific chest. Take it for a walk, maybe it can sniff it out?
[X] OLD BROTHERS
-[X] Letting their dogs run wild and free notwithstanding, these guys are suspicious as hell. Find out more about them - discreetly. Ask around. Find out what you're really dealing with.
-[X] Sneak into their camp at night and see what you can turn up.
We've never been explicit about it but I think somewhere in her twenties. It's even harder to say what her age would be in game because Creation has a really weird Calendar, 425 days long (A day 25 hours long) with five different seasons affected by the five elements of the world (Air, Earth, Fire Water and Wood). Five days in the year is a special sixth season where the moon and stars disappear completely, leading to five long days where the sun never leaves the sky and that's only the start of how completely bonkers things get during that time.
It's generally considered the year starts after the five days of strangeness. The year begins with something akin to our Autumn, rolls into a harsh Winter and then breaks into a special monsoon season that we don't really have (We're also in this one for the game). After that it becomes perfect growing season for quite a long time, making food rather easier to farm than our world, before ending with the final season where instead of it getting too cold to farm it gets way, way too hot. Then we're into the five days of utter strangeness, which is usually treated like a feasting holiday because absolutely nobody wants to be outside while it's going on. Then cycle begins again with Autumn.
I guess everyone in Creation is just used to the weather being occasionally absolutely awful.
[X] SEVEN KEYS was sort of an outside bet but its focus on rituals and the stars being right did have a lot of interesting magical nonsense in it. (+Occult)
All the books are interesting but there's to much spooky stuff going on here. Even if the idea of an animated broom or armour in a maid outfit sounds amusing.
[X] DIAMOND IN YOUR KNAPSACK
-[X] What is with that name anyway? Find out the story.
[X] MIDNIGHT TALES
-[X] Raicho killed the ghost! Go thank her for saving your skin.
-[X] Go back and yell at the guy who locked you in. A lot. Then get him to talk.
-[X] Investigate them legally. Ask contacts around the city about them. Gather rumour.
-[X] Press them to tell you about The Vault. You've no leverage, but you can bluff.
-[X] Press them to tell you about The Golden Chest. You know what it is now, maybe you can get them to let slip some more details.
BURNING THE MIDNIGHT OIL-
[X] - Stay Up. Too many books, not enough time.
Look, all this chest business is fascinating but also really dangerous. We were hired to get dirt on Diamond in your Knapsack so he can be taken out. Lets refocus on that, it's probably better than diving too deep in all this occult stuff. I'm not sure we're good enough to lie to his face about joining him or scary enough to confront him directly.
All the books are interesting but there's to much spooky stuff going on here. Even if the idea of an animated broom or armour in a maid outfit sounds amusing.
[X] DIAMOND IN YOUR KNAPSACK
-[X] What is with that name anyway? Find out the story.
[X] MIDNIGHT TALES
-[X] Raicho killed the ghost! Go thank her for saving your skin.
-[X] Go back and yell at the guy who locked you in. A lot. Then get him to talk.
-[X] Investigate them legally. Ask contacts around the city about them. Gather rumour.
-[X] Press them to tell you about The Vault. You've no leverage, but you can bluff.
-[X] Press them to tell you about The Golden Chest. You know what it is now, maybe you can get them to let slip some more details.
BURNING THE MIDNIGHT OIL-
[X] - Stay Up. Too many books, not enough time.
Look, all this chest business is fascinating but also really dangerous. We were hired to get dirt on Diamond in your Knapsack so he can be taken out. Lets refocus on that, it's probably better than diving too deep in all this occult stuff. I'm not sure we're good enough to lie to his face about joining him or scary enough to confront him directly.
Night 3: Persistence is Key
- Location
- In Your DNA
SEVEN KEYS 4
Maid Impossible 2
Last Breath 1
Sneaky Old Brothers 3
We Try Things, Sometimes They Even Work Key 3
Aggressive and Illegal Tales 2
Aggressive but Legal Tales 1 - Aggregated tiebreaker - Loses the roll-off anyway so no need for a sudden death round. Shame, wanted to see how it went.
Circumspect Diamond 2
Soul Market Friendship 1
Stalk Ten Feathers 1
Don't Sleep 3
Maid Impossible 2
Last Breath 1
Sneaky Old Brothers 3
We Try Things, Sometimes They Even Work Key 3
Aggressive and Illegal Tales 2
Aggressive but Legal Tales 1 - Aggregated tiebreaker - Loses the roll-off anyway so no need for a sudden death round. Shame, wanted to see how it went.
Circumspect Diamond 2
Soul Market Friendship 1
Stalk Ten Feathers 1
Don't Sleep 3
It's so easy to get lost in your new library, the Collected Poetry of the Avana Lineage is just vague enough that you can go off down hundreds of different rabbit holes trying to puzzle out just what each stanza truly means. Eventually though you settle on pairing cryptic with crazy. SEVEN GATES, SEVEN KEYS is no less difficult to parse than the poetry but that means any similarities really leap out at you. Rituals spin into story and back out again, fleeting glimpses of a thread of truth that weaves between the two books gives rise to the suspicion that maybe it isn't quite as full of colourful nonsense as you'd first believed. It's just written by someone who'd clearly reached the end of their studies with their mind not fully intact, a lifetime of practical knowledge run through a messy filter of paranoia, panic and madness.
You are somewhat wiser in the ways of the Secret World. Occult skill increased!
SEVEN GATES, SEVEN KEYS is very clear about one thing though, if there is a key then there will be a lock. Two parts of the same working and so they connect even in absence of each other. Or at least, that's what you think it's trying to say. Reading it for so long is beginning to give you headaches.
Leviathan scratching at the door to be let out eventually drags you away from your work; you make the cat wait a little while you prepare yourself and then push the door open a crack to let them out. A sweet smell that hits your nose rushes any lingering tiredness right out of your body. The rain has sunk into the ground finally and the city has responded by coming alive.
Int 4 + Lore 3 = One Success. Enough for the basics!
Bright blue flowers are absolutely everywhere, swamping the roads and dotting roofs and you have to laugh at how confusing this is going to be for the rest of the city. You've never seen a superbloom before but you've heard about them, how seeds get blown into Gem's crater and spend years waiting for just the right conditions to suddenly burst out all together in one mass growth. The soaking rain must have gone in deep and been just enough to make the life beneath their feet stir. Looking to Leviathan you give them a little wave and turn to climb up your own house. You absolutely have to see this from above.
Dex 3 + Athletics 3 + Urban Traversal 1 = 3 Successes. No problem!
You scale the wall better than the cat could have; the smooth wall doesn't leave much to hold onto but all you need is a window sill to kick off and you can vault yourself up high enough to grab onto the edge of the slightly sloped roof and then pull yourself up. Leviathan gives you a deadpan stare from the ground and then hops up onto the window sill to lurk. Staring down at the flowers, your new housemate enjoys a nice warm spot in the sun.
Essence 1 = One success. Small progress.
Finding a spot a little out of the way on the roofs of the nearby neighbourhood, you make sure no one else is roof hopping for the day and then take the key out of your pocket, once again cursing at how the end of it sticks to the leather every damn time. The gold of the lion key glints in the late day sun and it has a warmth to the metal that's soothing to turn over in your fingers. You try pressing at the gemstones to see if they serve some kind of function but that doesn't seem to do anything and waving it about like a dowsing rod just makes you feel silly. Something does feel subtly strange when you hold the key up to the sun but it's a fleeting feeling, like catching the sound of a faint whisper in another room.
You settle for moving about and checking on it occasionally, hoping that feeling gets stronger or some idea comes to you. The riot of blue flowers in the streets below has completely fouled up the usual flow of carts. As they grind their way through endless fields of flowers an oily smear slowly builds on their wheels and you can see more than one frustrated looking horse driver scraping the stuff off with the sides of their boots. You can sympathize, there was no work for all but the most determined while the flooding was on and now this? Nature is being cruel.
Nature should leave it to the experts, she still has a lot to learn about cruelty. As you crawl along a fancy sloped and tiled roof, testing each one cautiously before putting your weight on it, you're in the perfect spot to see a wagon bearing the Guild's sigil on the canvas coverings roll slowly up a side street that you know for sure doesn't have a way back out. You're just about to yell a warning and save them a rather annoying few hours of trying to back up two trapped horses when the snapping of a string beats you to it. There's a thump as a crossbow bolt punches through the canvas, while the driver and his assistant hop down and run for the end of the alley.
Three people come out of the buildings, two men and one woman, quickly surrounding the wagon. They're dressed in simple clothes that wouldn't have looked out of place on any street, each bearing a rather finely made and heavy as hell looking crossbow that absolutely would turn heads. Taking it in turns to pump bolt after bolt into the canvas, the grinding crank of the crossbows reloading is the perfect cover for sound to let you move slowly back up and behind the lip of the roof. You'd love to help but it is simply too far off for you to throw anything that'd land even close to where this was happening. Worse yet, the crossbows they were using might not have the same trouble crossing that range; a Guild guard jumps out of the back between shots, no doubt hoping to get a chance to at least flee and catches a bolt to the chest that punches through his breastplate with ease. There's some frightful power behind those things.
It only takes a few minutes but eventually they either run out of shots or are satisfied that whatever is inside is thoroughly disposed of. The two drivers cowering at the end of the alley straighten up and there's a quick discussion between them and the taller of the men in plain clothes. Some small bags of money change hands and the driver and assistant run for it. It's a hell of a distance but you do your best to try and catch what everyone looks like as they unload a few crates off the back of the carts and take them away into the surrounding houses, then come back to light the rest of it on fire.
You take that as your cue to get out of there, sliding down the roof edge away from them and catching yourself on the edge. You've seen a few robberies in your time and that was anything but the usual mad chaotic rush of people drunk on adrenaline and the ideas of riches. They'd known what they were doing and gone through it all with a disturbing quiet professionalism, Wave had said the Guild was having troubles but once again she'd really downplayed just how bad it was. It'd be great if she'd stop doing that.
You don't want to completely give up on the key, but whatever feeling you were getting from it is being pushed out by what you've just seen. You've narrowed down the area some if this is actually working, but it's still a huge area to search. Sitting on the edge of the tallest roof nearby, you look away from the plume of black smoke sent up by the burning wagon and scan across a city now plagued with flowers for a familiar sight. Your eyes settle on a collection of tents and patched-up hovels. The Old Brothers are in this part of the city and with a pretty good motive to want the chest back, they'll make a sensible next stop for you.
Maybe you can try this whole key thing again when you've settled your head, or at least decided it's not sun stroke.
Something about the Old Brothers really didn't sit right with you when you spoke with them. Yes, a gathering of hard-bitten refugee soldiers is never going to look respectable but something about the way they moved, something about the way they looked at you… no, those are excuses. It's their leader Mishri's absolute hatred for Guild Prince Cheshago and his too-quick insistence that none of his people could have done the dastardly deed. You can't see how they'd have had the means or opportunity of knocking off someone like Cheshago but they certainly had ample motive. And you are devastatingly familiar with arranging things so that people will underestimate you. By all appearances the Old Brothers are poor as dirt and ragged to the bone, but their weapons are suspiciously good quality and the combat experience they have between them can easily give any gang a run for their money. So some due diligence is in order, and luckily for you that due diligence can mostly be done in taverns and marketplaces and squares.
The beer flows freely and you get some light shopping done and take a moment to admire not only the blue flowers everywhere (many being gathered by lovers who see their one chance to really make an impression), but a patch of yellow and red flowers vining their way through cracks in hard black rock - life finds a way to flourish no matter how harsh the environment. By the time evening is giving way to night you've done a lot of due diligence.
Intelligence 4 + Investigation 4 = 7 successes. Absolutely crushed it.
And it turns out they're a name on a surprising number of lips. They've only been in Gem a couple of years but they've resisted attempts to push them out from four street gangs and one actual mercenary group. They've avoided the attention of the powers-that-be mostly by keeping to themselves and not bothering anyone, but any hand that approaches them in hostility seems to get decisively cut off.
There are a lot of theories on why that is. Talk of dark magic and witches dancing naked in the moonlight. (Admittedly witches dancing naked in the moonlight is a popular explanation for anything strange but with so much weirdness happening around you, you give it a little more credence now.) Talk of how they have the run of a secret undercity under Gem, completely separate from the one that everyone already knows about. Some of the more informed rumors talk about their bonds - about the scars that each fully-fledged Old Brother has on their wrist, where they've cut themselves and let their blood flow and mix with that of their brothers. You had assumed that it was just a term of fellowship, but it may well be that each of them is a blood-brother or blood-sister.
You get in on a game of darts with an old soldier, left arm cut clean off just above the elbow and the flesh scarred over to leave a grisly stub, who claims he'd wanted to join their ranks until he found out that he'd be expected to tithe to the fallen. Actual wealth if he had it, craftwork and prayers if he didn't, and in a low voice he tells you his own personal theory on those scars - that the Brothers give blood to their dead. He's a lot fuzzier on what that actually means or does but he's unjustifiably certain that it can't mean anything good. While he's happy to talk your ear off about his wild speculations for as long as you're willing to keep buying drinks the more drinks you put into him the wilder the ideas come out and eventually you decide you've poisoned this well for the day and flee while you can.
You've heard a thing or two about ghost ghosts - not the hungry sort that you've recently had trouble with. Mostly stories, but there are some commonalities. The jokes about mothers-in-law coming back to the dead to hassle people are near-universal and it's possible that at one time they were even funny, but they also had a grain of truth to them. If being a relative is actually important to ghosts somehow, then it's possible the Old Brothers isn't just a name but some kind of trick they're using to actually become a family in the eyes of whatever makes ghosts work they way they do. So, poor and ragged because life is hard, but also because they're giving of what little they have to the dead.
Your theory is still taking shape and it's far from hard evidence of guilt, but assuming even a hundredth of ghost stories you've heard are true then you've already got motive and this is a pretty solid avenue for establishing means.
Forewarned is forearmed, but if you're going to get real proof of any misdeeds you're going to have to dig deeper, and that means paying a visit.
…
Dexterity 3 + Stealth 3 = 1 success vs Perception 2 + Awareness 2 = 2 successes. Spotted!
It starts off badly. There are fires burning in their encampment now and other people seem to steer clear of the place at night, which means one of their sentries notices you creeping up immediately. Fortunately he doesn't seem inclined to immediate violence, only sternly asking you who you are and why you're here, a perfectly reasonable question backed by a perfectly reasonable amount of spear.
Manipulation 3 + Presence 1 = 2 successes, exploiting a Major Intimacy results in success.
"Oh! I'm just here for the funeral," you think fast and hit upon just about the only friendly reason you could possibly be here, willing your face to stay straight and not give away your nervousness, willing your eyes to stay on his face and not on his spear-point. "For little Hasa's father? I never got his name but I helped carve a clay warrior for him and I wanted to see it sent off. Is that tonight?"
His stiff manner visibly relaxes, he rolls his shoulders and raises his spear.
"You're the one who was talking with Mishri. He made an impression, yes?"
"He absolutely did do that," you say, and you don't even have to lie now.
"Keep to the path," he thumbs over his shoulder, "make sure not to get lost."
Under his watchful eye there's no chance to get lost - you'll have to wait for a better opportunity to sneak off and have a look later.
Either you're secretly a sorcerer or you've really lucked out because there is a gathering in the encampment. You notice Hasa in something resembling a place of honour. Your terracotta warrior is up front and center - or at least you assume it is, because there's a legitimate company of them laid out, together with horses and there's a larger and more elaborate clay horse at the head of the formation, presumably for the deceased. There's what looks like fruit, an abundance of blue petals arranged into a wreath and a lot of bits and bobs you can't identify from your angle. Even from this distance the smell of incense tickles your nostrils and threatens to make you sneeze. It might not be expensive Sijani funeral priests but they must have really liked this guy because he is getting a hell of a send-off.
There's no solemn ceremony here, instead the Old Brothers are drinking and swapping tales of the deceased among each other in a noisy din that you find yourself easily lost in. You pick up that the name of the man who died was Hayran and that the Guild striking him down is still a very sore spot. You've your suspicions that Cheshago hasn't been working for the Guild's interests for some time, but this certainly isn't the place to bring that up so you nod along and listen. They're all more than happy to do all the talking.
Together up front with Mishri there are several men you haven't seen before. That's not news by itself, the set of people you didn't meet in the encampment is pretty close to "all of them" but the bald one on the far left has a deathly pallor to his skin and as you wind your way through the crowd to get closer you see him sniff the air. It's such a deliberate action that you stop moving closer and find a group to hide in where you can surreptitiously keep an eye on them instead. He leans in to speak to Mishri and you try to tune out a far too long and rambling story about a night out drinking with Hayran and try to listen in on Mishri's group instead.
Perception 3 + Awareness 3 = 3 successes. Thoroughly adequate!
"I smell his killer's blood," the pallid one says to Mishri, "Cheshago's blood. Just a trace. Near."
"How is that possible? They told me his body was burned to ash," Mishri replies, brow furrowed.
"Merchants? Lying? To you?" the man says in mock horror, "I can't imagine they would ever tell you something just to be rid of you. Or maybe rumors of his death have been… greatly exaggerated."
Mishri makes a sour face as if to tell him to knock it off. "Look into it."
Intelligence 4 + Occult 2 = 4 successes. Yeah, there's a problem.
There's definitely something wrong with this situation - and with this individual. First the pallor, but lots of people don't enjoy going outside in this city. Second, and more importantly, as you look more closely and edge around to get a better angle, you realize that Mishri and everyone else nearby casts two shadows but this person has only one - while the firelight seems to affect him normally, in the moonlight he has no shadow.
Seems the rumors of the Old Brothers' dead coming back to help them aren't just hot air.
Also on the list of things wrong with this situation - "look into it" sounds properly ominous but a little more pressing is that the only person here you're aware of that has even been in the same room with Cheshago's blood recently is you. The hell kind of thing is that guy if he can smell two-day-old traces of blood, traces which spent hours getting rained on afterward? Well, a ghost, obviously, but not the slathering kind that Cheshago had turned into. One that can still think for itself, which just makes it all the more dangerous.
Time to go, you turn to make your way out and everyone goes silent. Flinching, you're immensely relieved to see it isn't because of you and instead everyone is lining up into rows. You take your spot so you can quickly catch your breath.
Mishri is at the front of the ceremony now, his hands spread out wide.
"Brothers," he says, "if I might have just a moment of your time."
You can see the pallid man isn't playing along with this though, moving along the lines of people as everyone gets ready for a sermon. Carefully looking around at the mass of lines, you're glad Hayran was so damn popular. Now you just have to make sure you don't end up joining him.
What do you do?
[ ] - Play it cool. You can wait a sermon out and then get clear. The sweet smell of the blue flowers will hopefully disguise the smell long enough.
[ ] - Deal with the smell. You can try to sniff the blood out first and cut the offending part out of your coat. It's going to be hard to do subtly, but it's a lot less obvious than leaving the rows.
[ ] - Time to go. Try to sneak off when the pallid man isn't looking. It's not going to be easy to make a quiet exit without people noticing, but hopefully no one will try to stop you.
[ ] - Time to go, just RUN. You've just seen a ghost! This is the time for running.
[ ] - Other (Write-in)
If things don't go to plan, do you tap a helping card?
[ ] - Don't use The Spire. You have smoke and nail bombs and you are very good at running, you don't need faerie magic to make this escape.
[ ] - The Spire. Speed. Outrun the guards and the ghost, hope it lasts long enough to see you clear of both.
[ ] - The Spire. Barrier. Block it off and hope your way is clear out of there.
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- Location
- Bed
[X] - Deal with the smell. You can try to sniff the blood out first and cut the offending part out of your coat. It's going to be hard to do subtly, but it's a lot less obvious than leaving the rows.
[X] - The Spire. Speed. Outrun the guards and the ghost, hope it lasts long enough to see you clear of both.
[X] - The Spire. Speed. Outrun the guards and the ghost, hope it lasts long enough to see you clear of both.