Sapphire:Sessions:20160924
Of the eight people that attacked our group, the purple-clad woman, two of the fighters, and a crossbowman are left alive. Sung recognizes the male mage, though she doesn't know his name; he wore a signet ring from the Mallow Bay mage guild.
Chalker resets the woman's jaw. She gives her name, Sybonne. She is originally from Siliban, a small market city on the Isle of Myretrus, though she has not been there in some fifteen years. In Mallow Bay she is the Proctor at a school for the "gifted" (mages). She specializes in Divination. "It takes effort to search the future." No one hired her; she simply wants the artifacts. "Viewing them triggered visions for me... They are a window to information... potential anchor points."
Chalker: "Tell you what -- I don't kill you now, and you owe each of us a favor." Invoking Solash, Sybonne swears a binding oath to that effect. She knows that there are thirteen artifacts, one of them destroyed. She has had visions of a man searching for them. Chalker checks her aura: Greedy; intense; "brushes" with dark forces and with Roo; not a good person.
Ahn-Lee suggests to Chalker to have Sybonne tell them more about his artifact, the green sword. She says it is "a doorway to a world where things are dumped," a power focus, and that "with the right ritual one could draw power to travel to different worlds."
Chalker has Ahn-Lee put Sybonne to sleep with a drugged needle. Sung carries Sybonne through the portal back to the Dolyenan Embassy. Chalker instructs Jeeves to keep Sybonne under guard.
One of the two remaining idols is known to be in Ordon. Shawna sends a message via courier to Lady Thire to inquire about the situation there. The Grand Duke of Ordon is touring the other duchies; some Dark Elf activity is being investigated by elves; a delegation from a tribe of Winged Folk are negotiating a treaty with the empire.
At Shawna's suggestion, Chalker visits the Temple of Solash. Immediately he is met by a priest, who Chalker asks about "an old servant of yours," a two-faced being. The priest claims to be "a voice of Solash" and says the being is called Janus and oversees travelers and "doorways to otherwhere and otherwhen." Janus is being drawn back into the world by the activation of Venettian portals and other doorways. Solash does not think it wise to draw the attention of the other First Chosen to Janus' presence.
The person sought in Ordon is a woman in her early 30s with light red hair and a pleasant face, wearing worker's garb and a well-worn cloak. The yellow scarecrow icon is sewn into a pocket of her blouse.
When he and Sung step through the Venettian portal to Ordon, Chalker immediately realizes that the gateway isn't where he expected it to be. It's in a large room, apparently a secret gambling den, where several men are playing a dice game and another is seated at a table, writing. All are dressed in workmen's clothes, but all are armed with knives and swords. However, none of the men notice the group exiting into an alley.
Ahn-Lee, with his sense of direction, quickly refigures the route. The house they approach appears "brighter" magically and spiritually. Shawna sends Ahn-Lee and Sung to case the joint, and very soon Ahn-Lee reports a large mound of bones in the alley. They are not human bones, nor those of any animal Ahn-Lee recognizes.
Chalker peers through the wall. Inside the house are two women eating supper. The elder appears to be in her 60s while the other is perhaps fifteen. Chalker knocks at the door and speaks to the older woman, Zena Bobbin, saying that he wishes to hire the red-haired woman to negotiate with a certain merchant. She explains that her daughter Agnes has gone out to the Red Raider tavern with a couple of friends. She mentions that Agnes has been under a lot of stress lately. Chalker tells Zena his name and gives her a silver piece, repeating that he's looking to hire Agnes.
At the tavern, the group recognizes Agnes easily because of her hair and her resemblance to her mother. Also at her table are a woman with dirty-brown hair armed with at least ten throwing knives, and a male dwarf with a leather bag containing metalworking tools. None are carrying any money, but they are eating and drinking a lot. As Chalker peers at the yellow scarecrow icon in Agnes' pocket, Agnes pauses in mid-drink and looks around the room, but she doesn't zero in on Chalker.
Shawna walks over to the performer's stage, picks up a lute, and begins to tune it. Chalker, Ahn-Lee, and Sung get a table, and the waitresses rush over to take their orders. Chalker pays for a round to be sent to Agnes' table.
Chalker's metal sense detects an amulet on a chain around Agnes' neck. To him the metal feels "wet" though not slippery like dark mithril. Agnes gives a sudden jerk and something pulses through the room (Shawna recognizes it as a Seek spell that returned no result). Agnes has a crazy glint in her eye that indicates she is "walking toward Aaoo." Agnes removes the amulet and the other woman abruptly drives a dagger through the chain, pinning it to the table.
Chalker "hooks" the dagger, which is made of high-quality steel, manages (with difficulty) to pull it out of the table, and moves it toward Ahn-Lee. The room goes silent and the bouncers each begin to move. Chalker, feigning astonishment, exclaims, "That's a fine knife!" Ahn-Lee takes hold of the knife and agrees, "This is a fine knife." The brown-haired woman stands up and strides over to the table, growling "That's my knife." (Another pulse goes out through the room.) The woman makes a hand signal which Ahn-Lee recognizes as an assassin's sign; he in turn fast-draws a dagger and drives it into the table. The brown-haired woman's name is Nora Evans, and the dwarf is a jeweler named Rogugah.
As Nora returns to Agnes' table, Chalker exclaims, "Sung! Did you bring the yellow thing?" Sung: "No! It must have been left outside!" Agnes extends her arms into the air and makes a pulling motion; suddenly in each hand is a snarling catlike creature with quills and fangs, and she throws them at Chalker's table. Chalker pulls Nora's knife and stabs Agnes in the butt.
Ahn-Lee pulls his dagger out of the table, fast-draws another knife, and stabs at the cats. Cat1 dodges but Cat2 is critically hit, and acidic ichor spurts from its body. Shawna casts Paralysis on Agnes but it slides off. Chalker stands, fast-draws his sword, and pushes the dagger deeper into Agnes' behind. Cat1 claws at Chalker but misses badly. Cat2 crouches; its ichor spurts at Ahn-Lee who dodges back, and the ichor splashes onto the table and begins eating away at the wood. Agnes screams and slaps away Shawna's spell, but her scream is more of pleasure than of pain. Nora fast-draws two knives; one hits a chair and the other flies past Chalker's shoulder. Rogugah the dwarf points and shouts, "Villains!"
Cat1 leaps at Chalker's head; his parry slices into it and some ichor splashes on his clothes. Cat2 seems to try to direct its stream of ichor at Ahn-Lee, but then it bursts. Shawna sets the lute on the floor and casts a choking spell on Agnes. Ahn-Lee cries out "Not him, me!" as he critically stabs Nora in the vitals. Nora crumples to the floor, dying. Chalker flicks Cat1 at Rogugah; the cat splatters on the dwarf's torso and he screams in fright. Agnes, choking, again reaches into thin air and pulls forward two six-foot-tall humanoid lions.
Lion1 swipes at Ahn-Lee, growling, and barely misses. Lion2 attacks Sung and rips open a deep gash in her torso. Shawna tackles Agnes, knocking her to the floor and breaking her arm. Chalker strikes Lion2 in the neck; its skin is as tough as heavy chainmail, but the acidic ichor on his sword burns into its flesh. Agnes tries and fails to levitate Shawna off of her. Ahn-Lee drops one of his knives and fast-draws a knock-out needle; he tries a combo to open a wound in Lion1 and follow up with the needle, but Lion1 dodges the knife and Ahn-Lee misses its eye.
Ahn-Lee tries again, hitting with the knife this time, but he accidentally drops the needle. Roaring, Lion1 claws at Ahn-Lee, who dodges. Lion2 misses Chalker, but Chalker strikes it hard in the torso. Sung also hits Lion2. Shawna senses that Agnes is forming a gateway beneath her, a yellow shimmer rising to the ceiling.
Lion2 claws Sung and misses Chalker. Ahn-Lee fast-draws another needle and drives it into Lion1, which drops. Agnes' eyes go opaque, and Shawna resists being dropped through the gateway. Chalker pulls the knife out of Agnes' butt and knocks her in the head. Shawna snaps Agnes' neck; the gate closes and the lions vanish.
Shawna slits open Agnes' pocket and retrieves the scarecrow. Chalker approaches the bartender and begins counting out silver coins to pay for the damages. "Let me know when you forget about us." The bartender, finally recovering his wits, agrees to be vague in his report to the authorities and to verify that Chalker's group's actions were self-defense. He asks Chalker to pay 4g to buy a round for the house. Chalker: "Let them know that if anyone chases us, I'll kill them."
Shawna picks up Agnes' body and goes out the tavern's back door. Ahn-Lee collects his winnings (he had earlier placed bets with another table) and tips the waitress. Chalker bandages Sung.
In the alley behind the tavern, Shawna communes with Damarot. Agnes was not yet connected with Aaoo, but she would have been "soon." Shawna disintegrates Agnes' corpse and prays for her spirit to be at peace. She makes contact with certain elves in Ordon and arranges for Zena Bobbin and her younger daughter to be taken care of financially. "Also, have the house watched and note any visitors."
Meanwhile, Chalker and Ahn-Lee return to the gambling den and participate in the games. They learn that the owner, Torsen Depar, had bought the gate and had it moved here "from some ruins north of here." The regulars call it "Mr. Depar's door to nowhere." Chalker: "Would he sell it?" "Don't know, but he is greedy, so he might. "I like this building." Depar's office is in another building in downtown Ordon. Chalker pays Dan, the overseer of the games, to forget that he and his group were here, keeping his thumb on the silver piece until Shawna arrives and walks through the gate.
Chalker takes Sung to the Temple of Zeph and pays for her medical care. He learns that his ship, Spirit of Many, is due in Sapphire any day now.
Shawna visits Lady Thire, and they spend over two hours "deactivating" the scarecrow icon.
At the embassy, Sybonne is still unconscious. Chalker removes her blindfold and gag, wakes her, and sits beside her. He shows her the amulet he took from Agnes. It appears to be made of a dark wood like mahogany, and on its face is a crudely-carved symbol of Aaoo. He suggests that he might have her perform some divinations.