Session 43 - The Start of Something New

18/06/5-10

Dr Stanov insisted he needed to speak with the party immediately and introduced himself, as the man there to investigate the death of an Emisar. When Valeyo referred to him as doctor he gave a curious look, but them his face became unreadable again. He told them to meet him in front of the temple in 20 minutes and stormed off, before answering any questions. Valeyo asked Milivoj if he knew anything about the man, but he hadn't heard much besides that he is the King's own investigator. They arrived back at the Golden Circle and gathered the rest of the party, filling them in on the events in the market. As they approached the temple, Valeyo, who had used see invisibility, saw a door stood freely in the space near the temple. Otto noticed this man appear in the area, as if stepping from out of nowhere, but Valeyo could see the door opening and the Kingshtit stepping into the open. He looked across them all and told them to follow. As he did, this previously invisible door was revealed to the rest of them and he stepped inside.

The group followed and found themselves in a large central hall, with winding stairs and overlooking balconies, resembling the foyer of a mansion. The Doctor walked up to one door on the side and opened it gesturing for them to enter. Looking at the man now, he lacked any obvious weapons, carrying only a bag over his shoulder. The room they were lead to was a library, where a circle of cushioned chair was setup in the middle. Parvan Stanov, sat in one of the chair and visibly relaxed, introducing himself for the others. He asked if they killed the Emisar and Valeyo said they killed someone who was claiming to be an Emisar. He made it clear that they had come on his radar following their involvement with the train plot in Konskirav. In a now, much more friendly demeanor, he asked for the research they had seized. Looking over it he laughed noting this to be Tilda's work and saying it would be destroyed. Putting it away, he asked why they thought he was a fake. He confirmed that an Emisar called Danil was sent here 3 years ago. He clarified that while Emisars are seen as administrators, they are trained and powerful in their own right. Valeyo mentioned the Violet Flame and the doctor said they had fallen down the rabbit hole. The Violet Flame were a cult they had been dealing with for a while, who were becoming unwieldy. He explained that most Kingshtit are below the Emisars in influence except a select few including himself, but he tried not to deal with them.

He wanted them to pass a message to the I.C.M. The crown is aware of them and would like to come to an arrangement to prevent future bombings. As a concession, they would allow Stendolin to have an elected leader loyal to the crown. Valeyo asked about the squiggly line symbol and the doctor asked if the Emisar had that symbol. Valeyo said he did and the doctor got up and paced around, clearly irritated. He revealed this as the symbol of the Dragotaina, a secret society in the upper echelon of Dragomir, who work to "protect" the kingdom. He was unhappy with them, saying that they had prevented the Kingdom from thriving. He was concerned at the idea of the Violet Flame infiltrating them.

Valeyo asked how he knew Tilda and he said the was a student when the war happened and was reading on the subject live, as it was happening. Valeyo asked if he was affiliated with the Conclave, but the man said he had left due to political differences. He said that his family had served the crown since the Uniter's time. Valeyo said that he couldn't imagine the Dragotaina leaving them alone and the doctor agreed. They don't officially exist, but every time they lost a member, he would be called to investigate. Saying that if they were looking at creating a dhampir force, they would like to get them out of the way. As for the enthralled knights, they were unknown to him. He did have questions about the vault underneath the temple. He noticed it when he was there last night and asked if it was of the depicted, which they confirmed. He had also heard a report from of them having smuggled a dragon, from a hired hunter. They denied it, but he told them to be careful, since the hunter was on a divine path in his hunt. Valeyo asked why they are being offered warnings and not protection, but the doctor said their treaties with the giants make things complicated. Finally he wondered about their inquiries into Worldwares and they told him what had happened.

At the end of this Valeyo asked about troubles with fiends in the country.  The doctor asked if he meant demonic and Valeyo said yes, but wondered why he even asked. The doctor sighed and said that this country is rife with devils, but many of them are crown sanctioned. Valeyo had a violent reaction to the news, of which the man approved, saying he wished they were rid of him. As for the demons, it was Marta who was tasked with dealing with that and she has been recruiting help.

Finally he brought out a large box with a hole in it. He said it was an unpleasant request, but he wished for a sample of them. Valeyo immediately declined, but after thinking about he decided that the man likely could get a sample anyways, so might as well get something for it. Sapphira asked about the Baron of the Deep and the Doctor started explaining. The Baron was not a vampire or even a dhampir, as he is unable to walk in the sun. He used to be a spy for Tilda and is now a criminal mastermind up in Skalenvru. In addition to that they asked for a bag of holding and a writ that shows them as agents working for him. He agreed, but told them not to abuse it. With that, Otto gave him his blood, which the doctor stored in a vial. Satisfied, he told them he would deal with their pardon tonight and make the announcement in the next couple of days together with giving them their requests. Before they left, Valeyo asked why he was called Doctor. He explained that he studied in the University of Dragomir and focused on Maths, Politics and Religion. He knew professor Krissa and noticed Valeyo's leg. Valeyo suggested that he looked into Professor Berkinsail and hopefully save him before too late.

After departing from the tower, the group explained what happened to Axi and discussed the meeting. They said they had liked the Doctor more than expected. He had seemed critical of his people' dealing with devils and less of a sycophant that one would assume of a Dragoshtit.

Valeyo headed to the Underhill and the house where he had last seen Blazh. After a few minutes him and Simona were there. Valeyo explained about the Doctor and the offer and urged them to agree to his demands. He made it clear to Blazh that further attacks with explosives would not only escalate the conflict with the Crown, but also with Valeyo. Simona suggested he talked to the people in charge, including Thalia. They were in the Atanasoff lake house north-west of here and would be for at least a week more. Finally told them of their meeting with Glasya's underlings. He asked how they came up with the explosions, something having influenced them. After thinking they told him that Tomo got word from Diane that Vincent was an inventor and they should look into his creation and their use as weapons. Since it came from Tomo, they recommended he spoke to him. They were concerned with them being influenced. Before leaving, Valeyo asked her if she could have taken Dr Stanov in her prime and she said she could, but is now weaker, since her oath has been broken. Her new deal has helped, but not fully. Valeyo told her to abandon those devilish deals, as nothing good can come of it and then headed back.

Meanwhile in the tavern, Milivoj was looking through the Violet Flame book. This time, he managed to connect a few dots. The ritual talked of a circle of blood, which reminded him of what Shiek had shared about the torture room. Valeyo returned and told them of his encounter with Simona. He proposed that they head to Otusta and take a ship to Skalenvru from there, stopping at the Atanasoff lakehouse first and they agreed. They drank and celebrated their pardon, talking of the possible coming elections. At some point, Milivoj mentioned what he had read about the blood circle in the temple. He suggested that they check it out and Valeyo agreed. Just before they left, they heard a town crier say that there will be an official address by the Kingshtit soon. People started gathering and the group headed to the temple. As they did, Valeyo suggested that maybe the Emisars truly were trying to recruit Milivoj's brother, seeing as they needed Emisars to be powerful warriors, as well. Cassini noticed that Dr Stanov was sitting at the edge of the roof of the dome looking below. They strode into the temple and saw the old priestess from before, who waved at them. Shiek let the others go into the west storage room and he followed her to the northern storage room. From there she brought out a box, which she handed to him. She told him it was on behalf of the summer sky that she wished to thanked him for getting rid of the sickness infesting the temple. She said it was chaos in the temple and Shiek asked about who will be the next high priest. She said it takes someone skilled enough, the last one being from Highplatt. Shiek asked if there were any signs from her god that the Emisar was bad news. She mentioned that the dome can open and let the true sun in, but upon his arrival, the Emisar had them shut, which they are working on reversing now. She thanked him again, but when he asked for the name, she was reluctant to give it, simply smiling.

He returned to the party and let them know, as they entered the western storage room. There was some rope put around to prevent people from tampering with the room and a note from Dr Stanov saying not to touch things. Milivoj flicked through his book to see if the circle was featured and found that it matched the communion/connection circle described in the ritual he had read about. This sounded familiar to Otto, it serving as a Communal Anchor that can allow one to reach the Violet Flame or whatever it was linked to. Having seen enough, they headed out and saw that the First Boyar had appeared and brought a retinue with them. Diane, Tomo and Joanna were present up front and after a minute or so the magically amplified voice of the Kingshtit pierced the noise. Not wielding a tightly coiled black staff, which split into three branches at the top, each ending in a silver ball. He introduced himself as Kingshti Parvan Stanov and after thorough investigation determined that the Emisar Danil, acted against the Crown and was thus a wanted felon. Therefore the group that slayed him did so for the service if the kingdom and are to be thanked and not accosted. To make up for the tyranny they had suffered, the King in his wisdom had allowed them to elect a person to represent them. The Kingshtit would oversee the process, which would begin in a week, while he works out the details of it. He would answer any questions at the temple. Until then, he had other things to attend to, but would ensure the city had a good and fair leader. He them stepped off the roof of the building, before his staff glowed and he vanished.

Cheers erupted and they started swarming towards the group. After a bit of revelry, they made their way towards Diane, noticing the people surround and thank her for hiring the group. Joanna was working double time as a bodyguard and she spoke to the group saying them they had done a good job. While Valeyo spoke to Joanna, Otto noticed that Joanna had the same scent as the servants at the house. Diane greeted them and told them she was never in doubt they would be pronounced innocent. She offered they speak somewhere quieter. Tomo was happy about the election and Valeyo suggested that they prevent Ruben from running and Diane said it was unlikely.

They reached the house and the party spoke with Vincent. He was happy to discover that it was not his friends who had been behind the plot on his life. On the group's suggestion he agreed to stay in Stendolin, where both the I.C.M and his own family had interest in keeping his safe. He told the group that he would send word should he make any other breakthroughs when it came to Sky Stone, but Valeyo urged him not to do so via mundane means, which can be intercepted. Afterwards, they spoke to Tomo and asked how to enter the lake house. Tomo handed him a piece of paper that they should give to the perimeter guard. Before leaving, Valeyo asked where the idea of weaponizing Vincent's research came from and he said that it appeared after he sent Ignacy to look into it. The rest of the night was spend celebrating, before they eventually headed back to the Golden Road. As they did Otto mentioned that Joanna had the same scent as the fieldish workers at Ruben's. They made fun of him, for the way he found out, but took heed of his warning. Before they headed to ben, Shiek opened the chest that the priestess had given him. It contained a small blue silk bag tied at the top, 2 vials of holy water and 2 spell scrolls. In the bag was powdered silver(100gp). The first scroll was one of Magic Circle, the second of Revivify. Following that, the party headed to bed.