Session 42 - Gathering the Pieces

18/06/5-10

Lucas looked down at Borrik and said "Only Annam can judge him now.". Valeyo told him that Annam can judge him, but his testimony can be used to help the party's case. After thinking for a bit, the giant send a message to Valeyo "Then act quickly.". The Boyar pulled the group aside and told them they would like to question Rune before he is taken away, but the main reason he wanted to speak to them was that their investigation was reaching its end. They had gathered the documents and the corpses from below, including the beholder. They had spoken with the priest and he confirmed he had been slayed by the Emisar. Borrik was confident that they were in their right to slay the Emisar, as he was an awful person. That being said, he lacked the authority to grant leniency, so he would send for an investigator from the capital. He suggested that they don't leave until he is clear and their trial is complete. He is confident that the evidence would hold, but they should have wait all the same, to be sure.

With that they considered how they would find Rune Olsen, but Otto simply send a message, telling him that one of his clan was there to collect him and he should come to the temple. The vampire said he would be there shortly and after about a quarter of an hour, a moving cloak was spotted down the street. No part of the person was visible, only the boots, as the figure was covered from head to toe in fabric. Borrik pulled him aside for a conversation and the party went down into the temple to gather their gold. While waiting for one of the staff to bring the blue gemstone down, The party told Vincent of the Emisar. After the gemstone was slotted into the dais, they entered the temple and gathered the gold.

Once outside, Lucas was gone, only a faint scorch mark left where he had stood. The group went into the Golden Road to leave their gold pieces and as they did one patron come up to them and thanked Miss Atanasoff for hiring them to deal with the Emisar. Following that, they went to the Town Mansion. On arrival, they noticed that the front door was open, as someone was carrying a small crate to the front of the house. The man wore a sort of uniform and on the side of his wagon was a symbol of WORLDWARES SHIPPING Logo. A second after, Joanna appeared and asked if they were there for the missus. They were lead to the drawing room and Joanna headed to the map room and a short while later Diane appeared. She ran up to Vincent and gave him a hug and told him it has been so long. The group told the group of what the First Boyar had mentioned about the investigator. She said it would likely be Dr. Stanov, one of the Knyazshtit and their top investigator. A very pragmatic man and a gifted mage, he prefers to be addressed as Doctor and not Kingsguard. Valeyo asked her about Lazlo and anything weird, but she said he never smiles but other than that, not much else. Before they left, she asked if they wanted to take a look at the parcel she got from Skalenvru. Inside was a golden set of scales with the symbol of Waukeen. Using it, one can ascertain the value and effects of magic items. There are only a few sets of them and she got this one from Penance and Co. Penance and Co were known to some of the party, as an auction house present in Almanat, Skalenvru and Covenport. They only started in the last 10 years, but are a highly acclaimed auctioneer of prized magical items. Valeyo asked her if she could check something and gave her the Emisar's ring. She called a Ring of the Taina, along with being able to create seals, it had the ability to disguise the wearer.

Before leaving Valeyo asked her about the Garden of Delights and after thinking about it, she grabbed a book off the bookshelf and handed it to them. They returned to the Golden Road, where Milivoj and Cassini took a look at the book of the Violet Flame. The symbols and words looked like gibberish to Cassini, but Milivoj was able to make something out. From the start of the book, he could gather that it described a ritual used to contact or receive something from and entity known as the Violet Flame. A ritual to commune or receive the entity itself. The Garden of Delights was a story book about a garden in the Feywild filled with wonderful pixies and faeries. Halfway through the story, written in the margins were notes. They spoke of the door, the window leading to hell. Further, there were more notes, saying the garden was in Malbolge in the Nine Hells, the it spoke of the Garden Belonging to Glasya. All of this was written in the same hand, the writing of Diane. The group started talking about the investigator, the sending stone and everything else. Otto pointed out that they had a short window of opportunity to pretend to be the Emisar on the sending stone, before the Boyar sends word to Dragomir. Valeyo began practicing his impression, while Shiek send a message through the hungry twin with the Squiggly line symbol asking what it was. Valeyo nailed the accent and they waited for the Hungry Twin to spit something out. Valeyo also pointed out that they could talk to Worldware Shipping about who send the vampire notes to the Emisar. Shiek asked about the vampire hunts in Velinde, saying that retreating to Ikoval would make sense for a surviving vampire. Soon after the Hungry Twin spat out a message and it said "I don't know it, but I can look, for the knife bearer.".

Following that, they went up to their room to speak to the people on the other side of the sending stone. They went over some of the questions they could ask and Valeyo spoke into the stone, saying we needed to talk. A deep voice came from the other side. Valeyo asked for help with the half-vampire, asking for more of the servants. The accent seemed to be of the tribes, but whoever it was trying to make it more generic. They couldn't get much from him, but the man agreed to send help.

Valeyo decided to head to Worldwares shipping to look into the Emisar' shipment, while Sapphira looked for a bank of sorts. At Worldwares Valeyo and Miilivoj pressured a dragonborn man called Maxim to get information about his shipment. The transaction was signed off by his uncle who owns Worldwares Shipping. They are only distantly related and he isn't sure where his uncle is right now. Him signing off, means that the contents are dangerous or the goods are sent from restricted locations. If a parcel was to contain Scrolls of Fireball it would need to be signed off my an upper ranking member of the company. The man who had signed for it was Yorhaza Klapul. The company is based in Skalenvru. The man said it is unusual for him to sign for things directly, but he would certainly have known of its contents.

After leaving the shipping company, the group headed to the vendor, where Milivoj had previously seen the Amulet of Health. Valeyo managed to convince the vendor to knock 10% off the price and right as he was handing Milivoj his new purchase he saw someone approach from behind the knight and ask where the rest of their group was. It was a six foot two, dark-skinned man in his mid-thirties. He had a slender frame and wore his curly hair tied at the back. His presence exuded an air of authority and he bore a mark distinguishing him as a member of the Kingshtit - Dr Stanov.