Ready, Break!

Log Info

• Title: Ready! Break.
• Emitter: Solar Flare
• Characters: Delilah, Donna, Ashes, Elyanna, Seldan
• Place: A16: Nobility District - Court Buildings
• Time: Monday, November 29, 2021, 9:00 PM
• Summary: The Valethor gang, and Seldan and Norrington, continue to persue the Book of Veren look for clues. Where is her hideout, where did she go, why? What happened at the Black Diamond. They discover upsetting news. Her hideout is in the Temple District, deep underneath them in the sewers. Veren is in Charn, to get a powerful artifact. She was also at the Black Diamond when Ashes and Elyanna were there, and likely sussed out her confrontation with Vallia. They decide the best thing to do is split up. Seldan, Merek and a secret trustworthy third will go to Charn to confront Veren; Norrington will go with the others into the sewers and splash around.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=  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.
Seldan       5'11"    187 Lb     Human             Male      Ginger-blonde human in armor wearing Eluna's symbol.
-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=  NPCs of Note  =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Knight Captain Norrington        Human             Male      One of Alexandria's finest, and not very fine.
-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=

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

Norrington, for his part, is patient while Elyanna brings Seldan up to speed. He spends most of his time half listening, and half paying attention to the book when Ashes isn't doing likewise.

"I think," he observes, "It should be noted that the book only records Veren's actions, not her intent. It says that she has teleported to Charn and that she is in the markets there, but does not say why. If you examine the passage wherein she murdered Lady Bethany, you'll find it states that she is casting a spell, and describes how she goes about casting it, but doesn't explicitly state what spell it *is*."

The Knight Captain taps one fingertip on the table. "I expect you will find the same to be true for her hideout. I don't doubt that we will gain clues from the book, but it will take some searching -- I warn you, Ser Pedaryn, this tome is *vile* in the extreme -- but it is likely to only give us clues, not a precise location."

"Sometimes it is obvious." Ashlee says, looking at Norrington then back at the book. Her own spells are blatantly direct, Elyanna's a little more obscure but still possible to determine. The Mourner searches for a passage describing one of her casts.

"Far enough back, the Illithid would explain the spell to teach it, but there's a lot to look through." How the book has enough pages, she has no idea. She has a suspicion it's like her satchel, there are more pages than actually appear, and flipping through the physical form is more representative of how big a jump from what is currently displayed, than actually correlating.

Ashlee jumps to where the book is writing out Veren's day. "We could see when she comes back, be ready to scry where in Alexandria or teleport if it names a place, and try to capture her. The anti-magic shackles would be helpful."

"While she's away, try to locate Alvin and where he is being held, and free him first." The Mourner suggests, "Have a guard watching the writing, with telepathy, while we're rescuing?"

Merek nods a bit when Seldan comes about, though he doesn't offer a lot, he does look between people, "I am thinking about trying to look into things with scrying. I apologize, there's a lot upon my mind, and I don't really have a lot to offer as the plans are with."

Ashes can sneak into just about anywhere. Getting others in with her is the problem, hence why maybe teleporting is a solution. Even if scrying Alvin doesn't show where he is, some communication spells can be cast. "we could simply ask him 'where are you' or 'how many guards, how are they arranged around you."

Scry does show one hundred and fifty feet around a subject also, so unless he's in a completely dark dome underground, there might be something, and seeing a place through scrying does allow for accurate teleports - assuming it isn't shielded.

"The dimensional anchor is of paramount importance, does she teleport. I can protect the child. Leave that to me." Seldan puts in, having listened to the conversation swirling around him.

"Knight-Captain, it is true that I am a servant of the Dreamer, but by Her grace, I am also a mage of some consequence. She does not forbid us the pursuit of Her arts, and indeed is such exploration viewed as a form of worship." A very small, very faint smile for Donna as she speaks. "Hunting a mere criminal is a refreshing change. But, I digress. Would you have me locate the boy?"

"When this is over." Elyanna concurs, but her eyes turn to the discussion with the book, citing certain of the markers in place for specific events, though her personal expertise in mystical bypass, though she does mention once more that the book lists the spells Veren prepares on a given day."

"By all means, please do attempt to scry the location of the child," Norrington affirms, "But remember; just prior to the court date I believe your people already tried to do exactly that, and found the child to be in Charn. Which, I imagine, is false." He pauses, and shrugs his shoulders. "Hopefully it is false. I have no jurisdiction in Charn, I can't go there and expect to return with a rescued child and a prisoner. I don't know if the book gives you any better information, I haven't read more than a few paragraphs."

"I will have several sets of the anti-magic manacles brought up, so more than one of us will have a set on our person, just in case," The Knight Captain adds. "Personally, I don't know how your teleportation magic works, so I don't want to attempt to teleport in after her, if we can avoid it. I suppose it really depends on where her hideout is."

"I can't make someone invisible." Ashlee says, her head turning towards the Seer. She'll let him volunteer that, or not. "I have charms, and disguise spells."

To make up for her social awkwardness and appearance.

She pulls the book towards herself, and looks through it, seeking Veren's encounter with Alvin, who she might have turned him over to. "Teleport has a good range. It's very accurate when you can see the location. Like with scrying."

"Say rather that it may well be that she has moved," Seldan points out diffidently. "Believe you that the criminal is somewhere in Alexandria, even now? What does the book suggest of her current location?"

"I get the jurisdiction," Donna muses. "But, like... She's wanted for arrest now, right? So, say she showed up on th' steps of the Magistrate's Hall, trussed up like a roastin' bird. You'd be able to arrest her then, right?"

"She needs to be alive and able to speak, yes?" Elyanna asks for clarity's sake, her tone one of detachment. The red woman drifts back toward the book and Mourner, "She may have employed sturges to kidnap the boy. She likely would protect herself from detection, but may not put such thought toward underlings."

"Teaching her handsign might take too long." Ashes observes, as comment on the requirements. She looks between Norrington and Seldan, then back to the book, "I haven't seen anything about her using detect scrying. I can cast that, but not teleport."

The book is functionally enormous. Specific events that are known, they are able to more or less reliably find. Norrington discovered that she still has the boy by flipping to the end and noticing a mention. It's an enormous tome that has more pages than appear, it's massive. The Mourner was correct on it's nature. Trying to find a specific event is entirely doable, even if when it took place is unknown it just takes time. Lots of time. Given enough time, to do it on the spot, they'd have to be lucky.

"How she grabbed the boy, I have no idea," Norrington replies. "But the bit I just read at the end, suggests to me that the boy is still here in Alexandria, somewhere, and she is likely coming back. Exactly where her hideout is, it doesn't say. At least not in the brief bit I read." The Knight Captain shrugs his shoulders, as he turns his gaze towards Donna.

"I have jurisdiction in Alexandria, and I care about crimes committed in Alexandria. If Veren arrives here, I will happily arrest her, and gloat about it while I'm doing it. If you happen to break some laws in Charn to get her here..." He shrugs his shoulders. "I don't have jurisdiction there."

Norrington pauses, and glances towards Elyanna. "That's also possible," he acknowledges, "But it's also possible that if she used hirelings to kidnap the child, she may have killed them afterwards. I believe she has demonstrated that she likes killing. Or at least, she isn't shy about it."

"...So I have a dumb idea," Donna says after a moment's thought. "Ash, could you look through that book an' see if there's any talk about, like, landmarks *near* where she took the kid? Somewhere she got lunch, or paid to kick a puppy, or whateverthehell they do in Charn? Cos if you can scry the spots around the place, you should be able to get a handle on where you *can't* look, an' that'll narrow things down?"

"Does the book belong to her? Is it a thing that she oft handled, or that is familiar to her?" Seldan looks from face to face. "Scrying needs but a possession of the target's, or a thing with which she is familiar. Tell me of this book."

"It belongs to the slug. She made it. Veren is unaware." Ashlee states, then nods to Donna's suggestion. Landmarks or where Veren had lunch, something to triangulate off of. A thought strikes. "It might have a piece of her in here, to maintain the connection."

Elyanna nods to Ashes's assertion about the slug, but doesn't chime in on a matter on which she has no real expertise.

Instead, she looks to Donna, "That is a novel idea."

Ashes takes the book, and searches for landmarks near Alvin that Veren passed. Triangulation is possible!

Veren's hideout is well hidden. While there is no mention in the book that she explicitly knows she's being tracked, but she behaves like she is, and takes great care to avoid giving away too many details on her hideouts. It seems likely that she keeps one in Alexandria, as well as one in Charn, one in Rune, and probably a couple other places. The one in Alexandria is the one that most concerns the group, though; and it's hard to pin down, but one landmark that is clearly available is the disused cistern in the old sewers underneath the Temple grounds. Her hideout is somewhere underneath that. It's a warren of tunnels down there though, teleporting in without intimate knowledge of the area would be extremely risky.

The Mourner flips through the book. Backwards, forwards. Seeking clues, with random walks and instinct more than particular insight. What she is after could be anywhere. She's quiet. Chippen comes out to help her look at the book.

Her lizard, Carbuncle emerges and goes looking for food. She'll have to track him down later. He usualy doesn't leave the room. Usually.

"Oh." She says, no expression in her voice or on her face. "This complicates it."

A grey finger with skeletal tattoos rests on the page. The identifiable landmark, is the dis-used cistern in the old sewers.

Under the temples.

"I'm not a sewer witch." Ashlee states, "and the Temples aren't allowing access to this area."

"A teleport without intimate knowledge would be risky." Ashes looks at the others, "how often have you been down?"

Seldan takes the blue and silver book. He seeks Veren's most recent change of location.

It is hard to tell which discomfits Seldan more - the knowledge of the place that Ashlee describes, or what he himself found. His frown goes serious, his bearing impassive, like that alabaster pillar. "The sewers beneath the temples are known to me," he answers flatly.

His frown deepens further still as he pages through the book. "She has returned to Charn, to the company of a Charneth noble with whom she appears to be intimately acquainted. The lady of the house desires eternal life, and to preserve her youth. We should locate the boy swiftly, that he not become the blood sacrifice she seeks."

Donna wants to know why.

"Swifter," Donna says, the muscles at her jaw flexing. "The noble's promisin' an artifact or somethin'. Somethin' she *really* wants, like 'mere mortals can't comprehend' bullshit." Leaning back in her chair, she scrapes at her face. "...Captain, y'want my advice? We ain't got time t'wait until she gets back, an' I ain't dumb enough t'think as I can go toe to toe with that bitch. I'm thinkin' as we oughta split up. Merek an' Seldan go to Charn an' handle Veren, an' anyone as Seldan can trust t'help. We see if we can get a pass into th'sewers, an' get the boy."

Elyanna takes the book from Donna. She wants to know what happened at the Black Diamond. Why did their allies fail.

In time, after a number of repeats of her vaguely disconcerting melody that she keeps whistling at the door, as it becomes her time with the book, Elyanna takes to pacing the room whilst flipping pages, making a number of orbits about the room until she finds something that seems to align with her queries.

Her bootfalls slow, but don't stop... not for another couple of pages.

"She was there that night...." she growls cryptically, glancing toward Ashes, "One of the high elf whores there."

She spends some time going back through a handful of pages and nods, "Her name was Chessalee. Veren knowingly chose a particular cistern to dispose of the body. The local creatures appreciated the meat."

The red woman looks back to the group as a whole and goes on to the page where her thumb had held her place, "Chessalee was chosen as a link to both Ella and the Madame. Veren had intended to use some tragic lie to steer the Madame into finding Alvin.... then plying for more sullied testimony in court. She withdrew after we had showed up at the Black Diamond."

Her steel eyes pivot toward Donna as she makes her recommendation, "We would be wise to bring a tamer with us. The creatures there have bee taught the taste of our flesh, and will be doubly dangerous for it."

"What are the local creatures?" Ashlee asks.

"If you ain't been on a sewer job before," Donna rejoins, "then thank your Lady for it. Otyughs mostly, an' anything else as feels at home in the dark, hot, wet shit."

"Then that's what we'll do." Norrington sits up straight, and rises from his seat. "Ser Seldan, you will take Merek and go directly to Charn to apprehend this... Veren. You should perhaps take the book with you, for guidance in your task." He nods, "I will take Donna, Ashes, and Elyanna, and we will go into the sewers to get Alvin and bring him back safely."

Norrington picks his sword up off the table, and returns it to the scabbard on his back. "Ser Seldan; remember. *Alive*. She must remain that way to testify." He glances towards Elyanna, and his eyes narrow. "And if she's as prolific a killer as that, I've no doubt she'll be given the same three days to prepare for her execution as Delilah was. Perhaps someone should let the Speaker know that her services may soon be... required, once more."

Ashlee makes a slow glance at Norrington. It moves on to Donna, then Elyanna. "I'll prepare some spells."

Silence and invisibility.

"As you will, Knight-Captain." Seldan seems unperturbed by the order, rising himself and looking around at the others, one by one. "She shall be returned alive. I would have a set of the anti-magic manacles for each of us. Be aware, Knight-Captain, that that cistern may not be sound. Do not trust it." He pauses a moment. "I shall take one other with me, whose discretion may be assured, and whose skills will be needful in this endeavor."

Ashlee puts a small alabastar horse on the table. Chippen immediately finds it interesting and wraps around it. With her familiar occupied, the Mourner goes in search of her lizard.

She locates him on a sideboard near the door. She scoops him up and slips him into her pocket. She returns to the table. She nods, belatedly, to the things Seldan said, "Ok."

"Seldan?" Donna says, uncoiling from her chair, and digging her gauntlets out of storage to put them on, and settle the fit to her liking. "Gotta warn ya; she's an illusionist. I know I'm tellin' a master blacksmith how straight t'make a sword here, but *be careful.* I don't want neither of you t'come to grief now, when all th'hardship's gone through."

"It doesn't say." Elyanna replies to the Mourner. She closes the book, then steps over to offer it into Ser Seldan's keeping, citing certain of the bookmarks to refer to certain points of interest before stepping back, "Good hunting." she adds.

Seldan's eyebrows lift in interest, and he turns to Donna, but not in anger, nor in condescension. No, his bearing is open, quietly reserved, but listening. "Not idly are your words taken, Donna. I would hear what you have to tell of my quarry, that I might best prepare for her." He takes a seat again, leaning forward in interest.

Seldan's eyebrows lift in interest, and he turns to Donna, but not in anger, nor in condescension. No, his bearing is open, quietly reserved, but listening. "Not idly are your words taken, Donna. I would hear what you have to tell of my quarry, that I might best prepare for her." He takes a seat again, taking the book from Elyanna and leafing through it. He makes note of the various bookmarks, nodding slowly, but then leans forward in interest.

"Most of it's in that book Elyanna gave you," Donna says, nodding to the enchanted tome. "All's I can really add is this; not only do she got the temperament to survive bein' a mind-flayer's apprentice in magic, she thrived enough to murder her master once she was done learnin'. An' I think that says a *lot.*"

"She likes convoluted, elaborate plans." Ashlee adds. "She thinks she's smarter than everyone else. She met Norrington, saw us, before we even knew she existed."