09/09/5-10

The party prepared for their tasks. Cassini, Valeyo and Sapphira would look for Simona, while the others go to the keep to investigate the demons. In preparation Valeyo gave Shiek his specter's amulet. Dubrovnik mentioned that he would be able to detect any more demonic moss near them, while in the keep. Conversation turned to what to do with Simona and the natural first step was to scry on her.

Cassini cast scrying on Simona and his vision moved to a smaller, but still wealthy tent. There, currently eating breakfast was Simona Valova. Her appearance, however, was much changed. She lacked horns and looked the way she did when the party first met her. Next to a table was a set of plane, different to the dark set she had worn when they first met her, as well as a longsword and shield. The helmet next to the armour was one with a full facial covering, to hide her appearance. Cassini shared this with the party, particularly her more human form. He let the party know and Valeyo was pleasantly surprised by how easy it seemed.

Milivoj and the others prepared to leave, but before they did, Valeyo gave Shiek a gold coin that he had cast Magic Mouth on. Towards the keep, Milivoj approached with his armour on, but helm off and faced little resistance despite the high number of guards around. He did draw a lot of attention however and was stopped by one of the guards once he approached the keep proper. The man looked at him apologetically. Before addressing him as Mr Milivoj and telling him that he was not allowed within. Milivoj was outraged, saying that this was his family home, but the guard just got close and spoke quietly, saying that the Khert's orders were to not let him in and simply talk to him as a "Mr" Milivoj. Milivoj argued with him for a bit, and the guard made it clear that unless he was overruled by someone, he couldn't let him in, so Milivoj said to send for his sister. The guard was hurriedly ran up the ramp towards the hill on which the keep stood.

A few minutes later he returned, not with Milivoj's sister, but with his mother, before announcing that the Lady Tatiana requested his presence. Milivoj walked past the guard, as Shiek and Dubrovnik followed. As they approached the top of the ramp, they got a better look at Milivoj's mother who looked stoic and simply said "Follow me" before walking off. The woman herself looked obviously more southern Dragomir, with a smooth black hair and an elegant silk dress. Milivoj muttered that there wasn't even a hello, but quietly followed. Once inside, a guard closed the door behind them and once inside, her façade cracked as she walked over and gave Milivoj a hug, before saying that she didn't know he was there. Milivoj remarked that he had been there for a week already and she asked why he didn't come sooner. Millivoj said that it was because his father was still out on the hunt. She scoffed asking if this was about the silly thing he signed, if that was why he was avoiding his father. Milivoj said that he wasn't avoiding him, they had met a month ago in Skalenvru. She said she had heard about that weird angel man from overseas who started attacking people. Milivoj explained that wasn't quite right, but that didn't matter. He then introduced his friends to her, and she offered for them to stay the night, or at least for lunch, as his father would not be around today. She said she would be happy to host them and was happy to let the staff know they were having a special guest. Shiek asked if they could keep it secret from Milivoj's father, but she said she was going to tell him and then hit him for not telling her he had encountered Milivoj. Milivoj also added that she should hit him for barring him from the keep, which surprised her and she muttered that he will be staying in the stables for that. A subtle grin hung on Milivoj's face at that. His mother said that she would be off and asked if possible for him to hide from his siblings, she wanted to surprise them. She trusted that he would "take care" of his friends, indicating that she was not too happy about him bringing stranger in, but it was his responsibility for them to behave. Shiek commented on the fact that Milivoj's mother seemed much more reasonable than her husband. Milivoj told him that behind every great man is a great woman, or in this case behind a man who facies himself great.

Back in camp, Cassini lead Valeyo and Sapphira as he was using Locate Creature to find Simona. Sapphira was keeping an eye out for anyone following them, as the group was making their way towards the edges of the camp. As Cassini walked past a small tent, the direction of his spell reversed, revealing that Simona was inside. Valeyo cast message, telling Simona they were about to enter, before doing so. The entered to find her with one hand out and one behind her back, with her armour still to the side. She looked at them and asked why they were there. Valeyo said he had the same question, as he though she had given up on her revenge. She said she had so she was trying something more diplomatic - to fight and reveal herself and tell the story. She had entered under two names, one to generate attention and one to find under. Valeyo asked what she had been doing since Skalenvru, he asked if she found her sister. She looked down and said she had not, she had talked with Sazrar instead, intending to belittle the king instead of kill him as a way to bring down the kingdom. They talked for a bit longer, with Valeyo soon realizing that he had no real reason to stop her. He tried asking about Zelik Chernov, but Simona wasn't very familiar with him, saying she had trained many people in her time. She seemed to think that the party might help her, but Valeyo dispelled any such hopes, saying that he told her what he thought about her working with the devils, but wouldn't stand in her way. As they were leaving Sapphira noticed a local guard keeping an eye on them. Valeyo informed Simona with a message spell, to which she didn't react. On the way back, the group talked about what happened, with Cassini worrying that if Dr Stanov learnt that they knew where Simona was and kept quiet they could be in trouble. Valeyo shrugged and said that he didn't get the impression that Stanov and Zelik were very close, so he thought Stanov would overlook this. He suggested that they could kill some time walking around the arena and looking for new arrivals or betting pools.

Back in the keep, Milivoj was giving the others a tour of the keep, leading them towards a large storeroom. Inside were many boxes, barrels and wine racks and Dubrovnik used his divine sense. It filled him with a profound sense of unease, as one of the boxes gave him a feeling of fiend, of the abyssal nature. He pointed it out to Milivoj and approached it. The box was a shipping crate, marked with the sigil of the Royal Crown of Dragomir branded on it and wax seals along the lips and some on top as stamps. Some of the one on top of the box were of a different house that Milivoj recognized, as that of the personal one of King Dragomir III. The final thing Dubrovnik did, was cast detect magic to check for any wards on the box. While none were there, whatever was inside had a strong aura of Conjuration. Milivoj said they were best of taking it and put it in the bag of holding. They decided to continue a tour to keep up appearances. Walking down a hallway, Milivoj heard the familiar steps of one Mr Novak. Dubrovnik detected a number of magical auras from him. An evocation item under his coat, and abjuration aura from a ring and a necklace. He was currently walking away from the group, seemingly just having left his office. Seizing the opportunity, Shiek prepared to sneak into the office, while the other looked around the hallway, under the pretense of looking at art and decorations.

Now in front of the office door, Shiek found it locked, but the lock was no match for his skills. Once inside he relocked the door. Inside was an impressive desk with candles. On one end of the room was an impressive bookshelf covered top to bottom and on the other a shelf with glass display cases. There was no obvious strong box at first glance, but once investigating further, he saw an incredibly ornate scroll case in one of the cabinets, which was actually an illusion hiding a flute made from a material that Shiek didn't recognize. On one end was some cord on which were wrapped a couple of feathers, one orange and black and one gold and green. Shiek decided to leave it be and start looking through the desk. In the side of one of the drawers, he found a key in a side panel, which went to drop to the bottom, but Shiek caught it. In the loop of the key was a small glass vial filled with white powder, which would have broken had he not caught it. The key had a floral design and didn't look like it would fit the door and Shiek didn't see anything that would need a key around. Shiek decided to try taking an impression of the key by using some of the sealing way around. He did an alright job and put the key back where he found it. He then unlocked the door and left, relocking it and the three of them headed to banquet hall.

Back in Novograd, the other were going to the centre of town. The guard was still following them, as far as Sapphira could see. In town, there were more combatants. Some from the south, including a minotaur man, in some rather simple armour who was laughing and looking at the arena. Around the back of it was the most unsubtle, off the grid betting booth, where a man sat on a table with a board of names behind him was taking people's wagers and writing stuff down. As Sapphira approached he smiled and asked if she was looking to get in on the action. She agreed and he said that today was grand bets only - betting on the overall winners. Specific bouts would have bets on the day. She put a bet on Valeyo for 1000gp, but would only get a payout of 1.5x as he was paired with a Knyazshtit. Valeyo went to bet on the joust and asked for the favorites. The bookie looked at the list and said it was probably the Khert or Knyazshtit INSERT NAME or a local boyar. When asked about Milivoj, the bookie said that it was the Khert's son, so he was probably pretty good. Valeyo asked why they had different names, and the bookie said that he is only concerned with betting odds not family drama. He then looked Valeyo up and down and realized that he recognized him. He asked if that girl form before was with him and they were trying to bet on each other. Vlaeyo feigned ignorance, but the bookie insisted that was the case, though he mentioned that it wasn't forbidden anyways. Conversation turned to the single bouts and Valeyo wanted to know the favourite odds. It seemed that the Khert, or Megan, from the Order of the Brown Dragon, with her concussive punches. Perhaps the Primordial Giant people, but nobody knew much about them. The bookie also joked that if Simona Valova was here she would, but she is dead so no way. Valey wanted to know her odds and was told 1000/1, so he bet 5gp.

In the keep, the group had lunch with Milivoj and his siblings and mother. The siblings were surprised to see him and were all happy to see him and they had a nice lunch before heading out.

Shiek called Valeyo on the sending stone and said they needed to meet. As the group reunited, Valeyo explained the bets they had placed and what they had learned about the participants. Shiek filled them in on what happened in the keep and said they had to get to Dr Stanov, fast. Valeyo asked why they were in such a hurry and Milivoj said they needed to go to Stanov and they would explain. Inside the mansion it was empty, and they waited for him to arrive. As he did he asked what they had for him this time. Milivoj pulled out the box and Dr Stanov's face went serious asking why they had this. Milivoj went to open it, but the doctor put his hand on it saying that he needed more information. Milivoj insisted that the information would be inside the box, but Stanov shook his head. He claimed that even opening the box and braking the royal seal was tantamount to treason. Valeyo pointed out that it is a bit late for him to worry about treason and Milivoj went even further, saying that whoever is behind the demon incursions was a traitor themselves. This seemed to affect Dr Stanov, as he just stood there staring off into the distance. Seeing this reaction, Valeyo suggested that the Dr leave so he didn't get implicated, but Stanov insisted that if anything was happening with the box, he had to be there. Content with this answer Milivoj broke the seal and opened the box.

Inside was a leather bound tome laying on a bed of straw. The opening of the book was clasped shut, by a clasps in the shape of human hands. Valeyo was outraged, saying that this was not what they wanted to see, even if it was bad magic, it was likely not illegal. Milivoj picked up the book and found it quite heavy, he tried the clasps and saw that they were stuck in place, but realized that they were real human hands. Valeyo urged Dr Stanov to identify it, saying that he needed to do this. There were too many questions to answer: Why was it there? Why did the king have it? Where is it being sent to or coming from? It took the knyazshtit a minute to think before he responded, but ultimately he said he agreed. Before he would do it however, he would take precautions. First off, he handed Valeyo his staff, asking him to use it to banish him, should anything go wrong. Secondly, he had Dubrovnik cast a magic circle to contain him while the identification went on.

With both of those complete, Dr Stanov cast identify on the book and a large eye opened on the front cover of the book.