Session 6

Fact Sheet: all the bodies hit the floor

Date: 31-08-22

Date in-universe: an unspecified Friday

Players present: Ecchima, Marty, Meinhart, Vinnie. Tuur had to leave after the first 45 min. Dins was our DM.

Major developments:

Notes

Early on Friday morning, Fyllion stares at the swoops and swirls of his name on the bloodied letter. With an exhausted sigh, he decides to hide the letter & keep it all a secret from the rest of the crew.

When Storm wakes up to find Ezra playing with their sand storm, they both notice Enza isn't in the room anymore. While heading to breakfast, we see her coming out of Skourja's office: she was looking for a job, not because she urgently wants to leave us, but just to know her options.

Eldrin is eager to pick up their sword and heads to Manzur on their own. When they step into the blacksmithy, they're accosted by a furious Manzur: the sword is a foul item that Eldrin never should have brought into this workshop! It's a sentient sword that Manzur couldn't repair even if he wanted. Eldrin confirms they know about this, they've heard the voice calling out to him. Manzur finds this a horrible omen, but Eldrin mentions the sword only wants to help. Manzur spits that reforging alone isn't enough, you need to at least know the sword's name & it's master's name.

Manzur wants Eldrin to leave, accepting the 10 gold just to get them to go. Manzur's chipper energy has turned frazzled, like just being around the sword drained him somehow. When Eldrin leaves the shop, they observe that the sword looks repaired, but the blade appears bitten by insects and gives off an oppressive aura.

Storm picks up the augmented armour.

Wandering through town, we happen across Sabor, who makes meaningful eye contact with Eldrin & gives them a kindly nod.

While Storm and Eldrin grump that the magical store isn't open yet, Hali and Ezra decide to act on Fyllion's uncharacteristic quiet. Fyllion mentions the message he found written on his body in his own handwriting & we discuss this for a moment:

• no one knows who Skara is, though we're aware that Fyllion is a fey prince
• Hali can't find anything relevant in her Compendium
• Fyllion speculates he might have been aware he'd forget his memories

Inspired by this last speculation, we reveal we didn't notice anything during our baths. We decide to check each other's back for tattoos, Ezra sheltering us with their coat and the magic sand!

.

By 8 a.m. we head to Akram, to witness Saatia's magical interrogation at the hands of the town wizard Mi’Kal, and we notice there's a lot of commotion among the guards. One shutter on the top floor of the HQ is open.

The guard at the door ushers us immediately towards Akram. A young elvish man is tending to an unconscious Basri and 2 unconscious guards. There's a residue of gas or mist in the room.

Akram appears startled to see us alive:

• during the attack, all 5 guards were knocked out & then paralysed
• Saatia was killed
• before she died, Saatia had told Akram that Simeon Ibn Seif was travelling with us before she even met us.

Akram is quite suspicious of us, but

• Fyllion mentions his shapeshifting abilities & with Ezra and Storm's back-up, we're able to mostly convince him we'd deceived Saatia
• Hali offers her help the the young elf, Mi'Kal the town wizard to treat the guards and Basri. They seem okay & Mi'Kal mentions they were probably paralysed by an injection of black snake venom. That poison is somewhat of a calling card for the Sable Serpent...

Akram trusts us a little less, but remains dependent on our help.

Eldrin wants to know if anyone is helping Saatia? Can she be healed, or revived? The coroner hasn't arrived yet, so officially she's not pronounced dead yet, but it doesn't look good... and no one in Koh'Shar is powerful enough for resurrection magic, not even Sabor, the esteemed religious leader... Moving into her cell to view Saatia's body, we notice

• she was sitting close to the bars & doesn't appear to have fought or struggled
• she only has one wound: a slash on the artery of her neck, with a lot of blood, indicating that she died very quickly
• both her earrings are missing

Ezra mentions we gathered from travelling with Saatia, that she was expecting to be killed as soon as we turned her in, either by the guard for her crimes or by her colleagues as a means to keep their secrets...

.

Despite the tense situation, we decide to split the party!

• Eldrin wants to implore Sabor to help & Storm tags along
• Hali and Ezra decide to check up on Frei for us (since Akram apparently thought Saatia wouldn't have been the only target in the night)
• Fyllion picks up a guard and goes back to the inn to get some more rest

.

Winding his way back to the Moonflower, Fyllion notices something purple fluttering between some buildings, like a scarf maybe...? He just keeps trudging on, blinking against the exhaustion he's feeling.

On the stairs towards his room, Fyllion feels a sting in the neck. As an hour-long paralysis takes over his body, he's vaguely aware of a brunette woman with a purple scarf... As she deposits him on a random bench in some corridor, the woman's voice shifts towards a male register:

Why do you keep meddling? I've told you before that my targets have it coming, no matter if I go after them for coin or for fun. That means Saatia's blood is on your hands, you know. Usually I enjoy taking my time with a filet mignon like you (artistic licence, but I couldn't resist) but right now I have business to attend to. So just sit here, paralysed and out of the way.

Fyllion notices a fading glow around a tattoo on Simeon's arm: it's a masquerade tattoo allowing shape shifting. Soon Fyllion is alone in the corridor, dumped on the bench. The tiny luggage settles on his lap & together they prepare to wait out the effects of the injection (editor's note: this is when Tuur had to leave us).

.

Hali and Ezra head to Frei's mom's place, a small but neat house. The inhabitants appear at breakfast. When they knock, Yorla a blonde half-elvish woman opens the door. When they introduce themselves & ask after Frei, she calls LUNAFREIA over!

Frei looks a lot better, in clean clothes, bathed and rested. Her mom fusses at her that she shouldn't rush off with these armoured friends, she only just got back, why is she already galivanting around with all sorts of mysteries and adventures?! But Frei notices we're nervous, like a teenager going on a first date, and goes to pick up her armour.

Trying to make small talk with Yorla while waiting & with Frei while walking,

• Hali invites Yorla & Frei to the Moonflower to hear a performance
• we learn Yorla is an educator & doesn't have the budget for the moonflower
• we hear Frei explains her full name was an invitation for Lunaire to give her the same powers her grandmother (a full tiefling) had

Frei is embarrassed by all this small talk, so Ezra & Hali give her a status update:

• Saatia is dead (Frei doesn't really care, since the reward and the prestige have already been awarded)
• Simeon is presumably in town (Frei is worried, since she caught him)
• the coroner appears missing

.

At the same time, Eldrin & Storm enter the wealthy temple dedicated to Soliman. Amid all the gold and white marble, an older man appears to be waiting. He's clearly a man of true faith: fatherly, friendly, welcoming... it's the man who'd been watching & nodding at Eldrin both yesterday and this morning. From his position, it's clear this is Shepherd of the Faithful Sabor, the religious leader of Koh'Shar.

With a polite bow, Eldrin implores his excellence Sabor to intervene on Saatia's behalf, but alas... Sabor is more Soliman's spokesperson and a confidant for the populous than a true vessel of divine power:

• healing someone who's been dead for an hour is not something he can help with
• resurrecting someone is far beyond his purvey
• for Saatia's afterlife he can only offer a comforting prayer and the reassurance that the gods are just and even kind to all us mortals...

Sabor mentions he feels the hand of more than one god on Eldrin's shoulders, but Eldrin immediately rejoins they only believe in one true god, Soliman the god of life and light and hope, since Soliman had endowed them with powers, even though they're not an actual priest. Eldrin casts minor illusion to create Soliman’s halo around Storm as proof.

Sabor smiles he doesn't need Eldrin to prove their powers. He's merely surprised Eldrin believes in only one god, because Sabor can clearly feel more influences on them. Eldrin gets a little angry about Sabor's insistence there's something more reaching out to Eldrin. Storm tries to encourage Eldrin to hear Sabor out (by mentioning Frei had called Eluviel a follower of Lunaire), but Eldrin refuses Sabor's offer to reveal these revelations.

Sabor looks up at the name Eluviel and mentions the full name/title Eluviel Harsada. He doesn't know much beyond the name, since "starlight" is the essence of Lunaire. He nods towards the phrase carved over the door "Elu ve l'ahar sada", reminding us of the phrase Eluviel used to end his letter to Ghorann, though the first word is different. Probably Soliman's blessing doesn't refer to starlight...

In the context of the beautiful carving & the beautiful temple in general, Sabor confirms that he believes Soliman was behind the circle event 2 years ago.

• Soliman blessed Koh'Shar with all that water, to bring new prosperity
• Soliman sent the people who travelled with the island and the water, in his opinion they're envoys were sent by Soliman
• that's why Koh'Shar built a statue of Leith. She was Soliman’s priestess travelling with the envoys. She had powers of healing and communication and consacrated the market with the blessing that everyone is able to understand everyone else