The Blue and Silver Book

Log Info

• Title: The Blue and Silver Book
• Emitter: Delilah
• Characters: Delilah, Donna, Ashes, Elyanna
• Place: On the Road to Mahuikaa's cottage
• Time: Monday, October 04, 2021, 8:48 PM
• Summary: After the call from the Alexandrian Mages has ended, the Valethor gang rides on, with Lerethil contemplating her crimes in silence. Reading the record of Veren's crimes is raised, and the gang takes turns doing so. The book turns out to be very graphic, shockingly detailed, and quite full. A lot has to be skimmed. They research the actual crime, the setup for the crime, possible motives and co-conspirators as well as the sorts of defenses she undertakes. The book is quite the achillies heel, detailing how Veren cheated at cards, was hired to eliminate Bethany and Delilah to the benefit of a money grubbing turd, uh noble, and how she strives to kill 'loose' ends. Also, that Bethany's sister is at risk, her time may be limited to her pregnancy term. There is further discussion about guilt in coerced actions, and the formation of plans to return to Alexandria.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=  Appearing  -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Donna        5'4"     106 Lb     Human             Female    A black-haired human girl in black robes.
Delilah      5'4"     106 Lb     Human             Female    A golden haired human girl in white robes.
Merek        5'10"    215 Lb     Human             Male      A black-haired, dusky male with golden eyes.
Ashes        5'11"    177 Lb     Hobgoblin         Female    A somber arvec in grey clothes with a skull face
Elyanna      5'11"    153 Lb     Half-Orc          Female    A grim, Arvek-blooded woman in raven feathers. 
-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=  All the Ghosts  =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Tessa                            Human             Female    A redheaded Psychopomp, bearer of Bethany's soul, deceased.
-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=  As the GM =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Delilah      5'4"     106 Lb     Human             Female    A golden haired human girl in white robes.
-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=

The countryside; somewhere out on the road. A merchant's caravan plods along at a leisurely rate; for once, it feels like a weight has lifted and everyone has all the time in the world. At the front of the lead wagon, Lerethil is uncommonly quiet and pensive; what's going through her mind is anyone's guess, but it's probably not hard to make it an educated one.

Towards the back, the party either rides the back of the rear cart, or follow on horses; and all in all, it's a pleasant ride. The air is crisp, the sun is shining through light clouds after some night time rains, leaving the surrounding forests smelling sweet and clean, and even Delilah has perked up after a full night's rest.

There remains, of course, just one important matter for the moment; the blue tome, that promises a full catalog of the life of Veren, the wizard.

Ashes rides quietly along on her horse, occasionally brushing at the mane. The blue tome, the book of secrets, the key to Veren's crimes. It must be read. Although she is not big on reading aloud, it is her suggestion. "We could go day by day, or year by year. So we don't have to each read it and take four times as long." The sun is shining.

The flowers are blooming.

Donna is brooding.

Two out of three still make for a pretty decent day, all told.

Between the probably-final death of an inhuman necromancer, and the revelation that the group may be called upon to straight up fight a demon lord, Donna has had a lot on her mind. But in the main, she's *terrible* with words, at least as far as she judges her ability. Which is why when she plunks herself down in the front bench for an hour or two next to Lerethil, she doesn't start conversation. She just sits in companionable silence, letting the merchant decide whether or not to have the first word.

When Ashes brings up the idea of reading the book aloud, the brawler nods slowly. "Sounds like a good idea... Though, might be worth skimmin' before readin' out loud, just in case all she's doin' that day's a shopping trip."

The Keeper has been relatively quiet since the odd conversation, earlier, given to periods of introspection when she hasn't answered the call to chew up a few miles in song to while the time away faster. Always, though, it seemed the halfbreed would be consumed by her thoughts in time.

She starts out of her latest reverie as Ashes speaks and looks the Mourner's way in time to catch the gist of it.

Hmmm...

"We can start the night of the murder, if it indicates that she expects outside help, it will give us more time to plan contingencies for our return."

"Well, I mean, we need to read it sooner or later," Delilah muses. "But, Donna's right, we should skim over things so we aren't bothering to read about stuff like Veren going shopping, or how many times she snored in a night, or when she--"

The sorceress stops, and looks sideways at the book. "I mean, I do wonder just... *how* much detail it's going into? Judging by how little regard Ectra had for humans, I'm going to bet it... spares no detail."

The sorceress shrugs. "Alright, who wants to read out loud? Or should I?"

"We could play a drinking game. No wait." Ashlee says, shaking her head, "Make bets, how many ones, how many twos, how many times she makes herself feel better. Closest to the actual number at the end wins..."

What? Utter embarrassment? What else might they guesstimate on but from personal experience. "No that's a bad idea."

"I agree with skimming." She rocks in the saddle a little bit, "It's nice to know Merek was thinking of us, and that someone considered me a powerful witch. You can start Delilah."

"Thinkin' as we should also trade off. One, mebbe two entries, to save voices. I know *I* ain't gonna be able to speak aloud for very long, some'a the vile shit I know's gonna be in there," Donna says, peering distrustfully at the tome in her sister's hands. It may not be trapped, but *nothing* in that house was free from horror, and given what was done to the *statuary* in that forsaken manse, there will be passages like to make the skin crawl under a passing rock.

"One of us should take notes." Ashes interjects.

"I don't think of you as a witch, Ashlee." Elyanna notes softly, "Witches in Bludgun are hateful skags like Ectra... they drive the culture that I grew into" Otilla from." <goblin-talk>

She glances about as the discussion bounces around trading off on the book, and she nods, though she comments, "What was done to Merek concerns me."

"Okay, so..." Delilah cracks the book open slowly. "So help me, if this book has pictures..." She pauses, pursing her lips and then just goes ahead and flips the book open. "Alright, so..." She pauses, and coughs, "Okay, don't read that page ever again..." she flips forwards a few pages. "Alright, important to note, the dates are written in big, bold letters, so just look for those until you find the day you're looking for, right? Then you limit seeing what you... don't... want to see."

The golden sorceress flips a few more pages, and spends a minute skimming a couple of paragraphs. "Alright, so... the night of the murder, right?" She pauses, and clears her throat.

"Once Veren was certain that Delilah was good and occupied with the whore, Ella, she made straightaway for the Gilded Seahorse. Her employer's specifications held that Bethany Alenthor was to be killed with prejudice, and they had agreed that it must be made to appear as though Delilah had done it. Veren accomplished the task of luring her target outside into the alley beside the club with a message, tailored to appear to be from Bethany's sister, her most trusted acquaintance; she used illusion magic to disguise herself as Delilah, while she waited for--"

"That absolute... AUGH!" Delilah interjects.

"--waited for Bethany. When the noblewoman arrived in the alleyway, Veren tapped on the window of the neighboring tavern, to make sure someone would be watching, and then cast magic missile to lay the noblewoman low. Then she stood over her, and fired a pistol into her chest, reloading quickly to fire a second shot, into Bethany's face, shattering her skull and--"

"We can gloss over that bit," Delilah mumbles.

"With her task complete, Bethany fled quickly enough to be convincing but still ensuring she was seen, to ensure that Delilah would receive immediate blame for the murder."

"Okay so that's the 'how,'" Donna says, frowning in thought, "but there's a lotta 'why' an' 'who for' that we ain't got yet... Can I see that, D? Wanna flip back an' see if I can't find who *set* the target..."

"This matches our autopsy." Ashlee looks over at Elyanna. There was a lot of climbing. "That would be a lot further back. Before that encounter in the Fernwood, nearly a year before. With the first set of losses?"

Elyanna frowns a bit and nods, "It seems reasonably concise, though proving this is not of our hand will take doing." taking the particulars of the murder with aplomb. As Ashes said, it matches roughly what they had suspected.

With Donna flipping through the book now, and Ashes's suggestion, she considers things, but, doesn't have a solid enough alternative, so she remains mum at the moment.

Delilah thumbs over a couple of pages, and her lips curls upwards in distaste. "This woman is awful," she pronounces. "And she has no respect for people. I wasn't the only one disposable to her by far, Ella was just a tool, Bethany wasn't really even a person in her eyes, just judging from these couple of..." She shakes her head, and holds the book sideways for Donna to take. "Please, have at. Let me know when it's my turn to go back in, I'll be saving my lunch for afterwards."

Upon being handed the book, Donna takes a long, bracing draw of breath, and begins to flip backward. In order to keep her gorge in place, the first trick is to try to look only at the month, then try to bend her brain to see only Delilah's name. Both are only partial successes, stippling the brawler's search with 'did *not* need to know that' and 'lady takin' you off the skin o' this world'll be a mercy for *everyone.*' and no small amount of 'that just ain't *right.*'

"...Hang on," Donna says, flipping back and forth a few times. "....Think I got it, and *you hogfucker.* Ahem;"

"By now, Lord Garret Darion was deep in his cups, focusing further and further on the 'architect' of his troubles. Bethany was the heir to the Alenthor house fortune, and marrying her would gain him access to all of that money. Of course, there was the small matter of Bethany not being willing to marry -- at least, not to any *male* who sought to court her -- which denied him his 'rightful' fortune. Seeking to make the best of a bad situation, the Lord settled for marrying Bethany's younger sister, Evelyn, but the prize was far meaner than he could be content with. He *deserved* that money, certainly more than some empty-headed girl who wouldn't even look at a 'proper man' when she had an idiot gambler-wench to dally with! But he still had a path to what was rightfully his."

"Bethany had to die, and her idiot paramour would take the blame."

Donna sits back, staring at the pages as though wishing to set them alight by pure hate. "Fuck me, I was right. It *was* greedy noble bullshit."

Ashes nods simply, her suspicions confirmed. Manipulative greed, with the 'lord' engineering things to get as much as he can, damn the consequences. She watches Delilah, Donna's reactions. The book is vile, Veren is a monster.

Perhaps, monsters should read that book. Someone, needs to go through it and catalogue Veren's other sins, the other murders if only to provide closure to the families she's wronged, and ghosts that might linger in anger and frustration.

This isn't something she wants to do. Alone. Her head turns slightly, a small glance in Elyanna's direction. It doesn't have to happen now. But...

"The proof, if the idiotic magistrates will allow enough functional magic in the courtroom, will be them able to read their own stupid words appear on the blank pages as they lecture Veren." The Mourner does not have a good opinion on the authorities.

"Skagslakin' Zazzlesplat!" Elyanna snaps, looking back toward Donna as she gets to a certain point in her recitation, "I knew it!"

Skaglaking Zazzlesplat, to those gifted in the finer mysteries of the goblin tongue, is the sort of profane remark that teeters on the brink of outright being sacrilegious merely for the.... color it adds to the already barely conscionable 'Zazzlesplat' Mark I.

It does, however, lack focus, so the target(s) of her outburst could be one or legion.

Ahem.

Shaking her head, the Keeper sighs, "That was unworthy. Pardon me."

She looks to the Mourner in time to catch her look, not entirely certain of it's meaning, but imagines she will be soon.

As it is, "The sister will have an accident, soon." she says in a sort of simmering disdain.

"Death during childbirth is uncommon but not unbelievable." The stillborn Mourner would know.

"So wait, wait, hold up a darn mud-trudgin' minute," Delilah snaps, sitting bolt upright. "So, seriously? You're tell me the whole thing was over *money*? Bethany and I were both supposed to die -- and Bethany DID die -- so this, this..." She sucks in a breath, and points at Elyanna with a snap of the fingers, "What she said, could live his rich fantasy, as if being a NOBLE to begin with wasn't good enough?!"

The golden sorceress rubs the front of her throat, and is about to say something else, when she turns a bit pale.

"Oh, goodness, *Evelyn*." She sits bolt upright, "She's going to be in for it too, you're right. We've got to get back and save her. Should we just... Should we go back *now*? They'll throw me in jail and you'll probably have to talk real fast to convince them not to make me a foot shorter on the spot, but I mean, we *have* to make them listen!"

"...But *can* we?" Donna answers quietly, looking distressed -- also furious, but that's not unusual -- at the thought. "I mean *I* could get into town, probably, an' if I just walked into the Guard barracks I'd get arrested, but I'd have the chance... But who knows if they'd even listen?"

"We could teleport." Ashes suggests, looking at Donna, "We should have asked the mages about that."

Of course, that was before they knew what was in the book. Chippen taps the Mourner's head. "I might have a spell. Tomorrow. To ask them."

"Magistrate Ironsides seemed to have some wits." She suggests, then, "Oh, anything about Knight-Captain Norrington in that book?"

Elyanna plays with the reins to bring her mount alongside the wagon, reaching for the book, "Perhaps we can send a message to Sir Pedaryn. Or the others, though with the Silver Guard's standing, he may be able to get actual movement to protect Lady Alenthor."

She looks to Ashes on her question, "That is a good question. We should also determine if Veren plans to move on the sister for him. They may be able to lay a trap, which would save us a step, would it not?"

Delilah watches the book change hands to Elyanna, and sighs, leaning back in her seat. "Look, I know I'm being foolhardy," she admits. "But if you're all going to go back, you need to give them something to convince them to listen. I'm perfectly used to jail, knowing that you have proof to keep me from getting my head chopped off for real this time makes a big difference, and I... I..." she sighs, and blushes softly.

"I owe it to Bethany too save her sister. When we were talking I promised her I'd look out for her little sis and her kid. So I gotta do whatever I can, right?" She pauses, and looks sideways at her sister. "Trying to contact Sir Pedaryn isn't a bad idea... we *know* he'd listen."

The Hobkin considers the book for a moment or two as it's foisted over to her. She sighs, realizing from the sisters' reaction that she is probably the best braced against the monstrosity of Veren's life. With her resolve set, she starts to flip back to the date in question, then back another twenty and starts to scan pages while her horse continues to follow everyone's lead.

"She knows Norrington from multiple encounters..." she confirms, "He saw her true face once, at a Golden Plum. He had arrived with Bethany and court documents."

She arches an eyebrow and looks to the sisters, "She had beaten you at cards."

A Beat.

"She kept an ace up her sleeve until the final hand." her head cocks, "I know that is a human phrase, but this book strikes me more... literally transcribed."

A pause, a moment of uncertainty as what she thinks she needs to do isn't something she is absolutely sure she has the skills for. After all, her attempts at comforting Donna before their trip to the Black Diamond was hardly a shining endorsement of her nurturing skills. Still, she tries, "Everything will be alright." leading with the big guns.

"SON OF A CARACOROTHAN *WHORE,*" Donna roars, heedless of how likely her outrage is to startle any of the horses. Almost immediately, however, she clamps down on the rest of her top-volume utterances, takes a long, deep breath, and lets it out in a rage-quivering sigh. "...Thanks, Elyanna," she croaks. "Just... fuckin'... *That was her real face.* Godsdammit, I'm *so stupid.*"

"You forgot 'there, there'." Ashlee says in monotone. "It sometimes helps."

Not much though, as she has discovered. She watches Donna, uncertain what to do, expressionless with dark eyes staring out of her skull face. "Are you good to keep reading Elyanna?"

"That... That *whole time* that was not only her, but she was cheating?!" Delilah just about bounces to her feet, "That... I mean alright, I know she's done far worse than relieve me of a hundred gold by cheating at a card game, and she's done far worse than that both to me personally, my sister, the two of you, Bethany, Evelyn, and *more*, but SERIOUSLY?! She couldn't even beat me at cards honestly?"

Delilah puffs up, and sucks in a deep breath, and for a moment it looks like she might even utter a particularly rude word. But, in the end, it seems that such language is solely Donna's territory. The golden twin sits back down, and touches a finger to her forehead. "How do we beat her?"

Elyanna blinks with a vaguely conflicted smirk quirking one side of her mouth, "A liar, conspirator and murderess, and you are surprised she crossed -that- boundary?' the hobkin asks.

She sighs and shakes her head, looking to Ashes, "I can if the rest of you would rather not."

She drums her fingers along the face of the book and wonders, "Ashlee, if this book is tied so intimately to her life, would it be a worthy scrying focus?"

Her attention returns to the Valethor sisters and she softly remarks, "It is easy to overlook an enemy you do not realize is one."

"If you would." Ashlee answers, although she has some suggestions, "Look at the back. See if she knows the Manse is destroyed and we're reading about her."

"And it might."

"No we get it, just..." Donna flops back in the cart, pressing the heels of her palms to her forehead. "It's just hindsight. It's impossible, but seriously if we knew then what we knew now, we coulda headed the whole thing right off an' none o' this woulda been necessary, y'know? Just... rrrrrrrrgh."

Letting her hands fall, she looks up to the clouds. "How d'we beat her? We outplay her, an' Ash's got the right of it; we know where she is *now,* what she's doin' *now,* an' we don't even need t'scry on her for it."

Delilah sighs heavily. "Maybe I'm being too optimistic, but I would seriously like to see *her* in front of a magistrate, explaining herself and her actions." She pauses. "*AND* that complete, that... that...!!" She sucks in a breath, "That BASTARD that married Evelyn and *murdered* Bethany for her money." With that word out past her lips, Delilah looks up at Elyanna, and nods, "Yeah, maybe knowing her precise whereabouts now would be good?" She pauses. "And what Ashes said. Knowing if she knows we're on to her or not might be good too."

"If she is somewhere the mages have never been. Would it not be better that the scry her location, first, so they can teleport there accurately?" Elyanna replies before she looks down and starts at the date they erased Ectra's legacy and claimed their new biographical talisman. Any sign of awareness the event occurred, before she checks the last page for the up to the minute.

"'S true," Donna replies, nodding. "But the thing about scryin' is, there's ways t'block it. An' Veren strikes me as the kinda sneaky jerkass as lives under most o' the ways t'do that. *But,*" she notes, "If we know where she is at any point, we can make the mages' jobs easier that way. An' maybe find a way around whatever defenses she's got without alertin' her..."

"Does it say when she casts spells." Ashlee asks, then explains her concept, "it would be possible to see what her defenses are. Read back far enough, know her magic item purchases."

She stares, at Elyanna, at the book, "See if she lost any. In addition to everyone she murdered or misused. She'll want it and anyone that knows about it dead. It completely finishes her."

Another thought crosses the Mourner's mind, "writing 'the End' might kill her too. Or break the book."

"Veren is...." the red woman starts, scanning the page, "Ignorant of what we have done. What we have. She hated the lair of the mollusc."

With some page turning, and a glance up to see that her horse is, indeed, going the right way, the Keeper dives back into the book, the very back of the book. She arches an eyebrow, "I am curious how the book chooses descriptors...." she muses almost absently, then scans the text more earnestly.

"She meets with Lord Garret Darrion even now, and are deeply at odds."

She looks toward Delilah, "That you are still rampant discomfits him beyond measure, and he is insisting Veren hut you down, personally, and perhaps collect the bounty as a bonus. She is for taking a more considered, less hasty approach, though she has not yet spoken of what that is, she wants a better view the situation before rushing to a solution."

Her eyes swing toward Ashlee and the halfblood nods, "I like your thought, I have not been looking for such things, but I can, now."

A shrug, "I can see the appeal of trying to end her, now, but such a thing would only confirm we are willing to kill, not that Delilah was innocent of killing Bethany."

That said, she starts to read back to the start of the day, seeing if, like certain types of casters, she has to prepare a certain repertoire of spells on a given day.

Delilah sighs audibly, and flops over backwards, laying down atop the boxes on the back of the cart. "Y'know," she grouses, "It's going to make a huge improvement to my mood, when I no longer have to worry about the fact that there are magistrates, city guards, mercenaries, nobles, and a necromancer's apprentice, who all want to make Donna into an only child. And when that day comes, I'm going to buy a lot of drinks, and I'm going to buy some for all of you." She pauses, "You too Lerethil, if you happen to be there, alright? I don't blame you for pushing me through that mirror, you weren't... yourself."

"Maybe, but I still *did it*," Lerethil replies, just audibly enough to be heard. "And I'm going to be working on that for a long time. But... thanks."

Delilah nods, and folds her hands behind her head. "Does it at least feel to all of you, like we're... I dunno, 'getting there'?"

"Gettin' close, that's for sure," Donna says. "Now all we need's a way in, an' we're set." The brawler lets her head loll back, turning to regard Lerethil. "There's gonna be a *lot* of drinkin' at our celebration, I expect. An' you're *definitely* gonna get an invite, Lerethil. Also some introductions, I know some shopkeeps who could throw some business your way."

"Sorry about the wasps." Ashlee says again, sounding like she isn't. Of course, it's hard to get emotive content from her monotone phrasing. A guilty glance at Elyanna and Donna suggests it wasn't a single target apology. She made the team take one for the team.

Although it was good strategy.

"I like red wine." The Mourner says, also in a bland and unconvincing way. She guides her horse a little closer to Elyanna's in order to keep it on the track, and see if she can spot anything interesting on the pages.

"Spells, anyone she cares about. Did she poison Magistrate Ironsides?"

Elyanna continues to scan through the book, hmmming, then starts to rattle off a number of spells she probably isn't familiar with in a somewhat curious tone. Death magic, offense, defense, and a significant majority of illusions.

"That is what has has for today." Elyanna specifies, then looks to her sisters in arms, and fellow renegades, "Perhaps, but I will keep my optimism in check for now"

Lerethil's remark prompts a slight shake of her head, then, "Some of us have known having outside influence on our minds, we.... understand."

That said, her eyes lower a moment, then she looks over toward Ashes, "I was weak... I let the slug influence me and I almost... I almost took your head, Ashlee, I'm... I'm sorry." <goblin-talk>

"It's ok." Ashlee says, focusing on the red hobkin, shaking her head, "It was a spell, not you. She was a strong caster but we defeated her. I wouldn't have without you." <goblin-talk>

"Thanks."