Tulbas' Vignette

[JadedDM]

"What for?" asks the guard. "Some kind of emergency? Is it the Seekers?"

[BishGada]

"No, No" Tulbas breathes heavily, "Nora gave us an assignment to get someone and now her house is being looted as we speak. We don't want that, first not to draw the Seekers attention and second since there might be valuables to us and more information that Nora can find useful. Now PLEASE hurry. Or if it's faster you can come with me."

[JadedDM]

The guards give each other and look, and one shrugs to the other. "Fine, go inside," says one.

Once in the warehouse, Tulbas makes a beeline to Nora's office, where she, Biggs and Wedge still are. After explaining the situation to them, Nora frowns. "Why did you return to that house? What if the owner had been there and you were captured? You could have been turned over to the Seekers and then our entire operation would have been in danger."

"Valuables?" Biggs asks. "That place was a dump. Whoever lives there is probably dirt poor anyway. If they weren't, they wouldn't live in the harbor district, that's for sure."

"Forget about it, kid. It's a lost cause," Wedge says. "Just stay away from that place."

[BishGada]

"It was on my way home, and then when I saw the looters I thought maybe the girl hid some of her belonging there. But if you don't think it worth the effort I will leave the matter."

[JadedDM]

"We aren't interested in her belongings, just her," Nora explains. "That's all her father is interested in. Don't worry about it," she assures him.

[BishGada]

Tulbas returns home. He is tired, troubled and confused. When he arrives he seeks his uncle Raetmal.
"Hello uncle," he says somewhat distracted. "I just wanted to reassure you that I'm fine. Do you need any help in the store before we can speak for a while?" he asks politely. After helping cleaning and ordering the store Tulbas goes to the kitchen to heat some leftovers and prepare tea for him and his uncle. He eats some food and then starts the conversation.
"Uncle, I'm very troubled. I can't shake the feeling I made wrong I can't correct.
I've learned a lot today and there are a few things I need to discuss with you.
So... I succeed with the mission I was tasked to do. We found the woman. Here, your wand helped me in the task. I used but one charge." Tulbas hands back the wand to his uncle.

"Anyway, I had not the chance to hear the woman speak for herself, even that I tried more than once to force my presence in her interrogation. She didn't put a fight when we got her. But having the task done made the group leader trust me, and I could find some details about Darewind and the supposedly god the are following.
Darewind started recruiting his followers at least one year ago. His second in command met him one year ago as she was a highwaymen and tried to kill him. He healed himself, but didn't heal his comrades. I didn't get a straight answer for my question, but during all this year, it seems he never healed anyone but himself, which is very suspicious. Still, he got a lot of followers and their numbers increase by the day. Another issue that troubles me is the 'true' name of the god 'The Master'. His true name is Fistandantilus..." Tulbas looks carefully at his uncle reaction to the name. "I think I heard this name before but I can't recall exactly in what connection. I don't think he was a god... anyway, they say he was a human that turned into god, and now they worship him. They also call him The Dark One, even that they say it's an old nickname from the time he was a human.
Now on my way home I saw the place we found the woman in being looted, and since then I feel that maybe that was an mistake. Maybe the woman's father is not actually her father and I just put her in a danger...
So, first I wanted to know if you heard about Fistandantilus and what do you make of it. Second, last night you told me about Julian who followed the false god Belzor and was exposed by a magician. Can you elaborate how was he exposed? If Darewind will be exposed, his followers would diminish and the riots calm down. And third I'd like your opinion regarding all of it, and maybe if you have an idea how to make sure I didn't got the woman into grave trouble.
What about this black robed mage that visited the store this morning. Do you think he has anything to do with it? The woman was hiding from something... and Fistandantilus The Dark One, I'm almost sure he was a powerful evil mage... am I correct?"

[JadedDM]

Raetmal listens closely to what Tulbas says. He keeps a stoic face throughout, until Tulbas mentions the name Fistandantilus; then his eyes flash with surprise.

"This is very disturbing news, indeed," he says. "You are correct, nephew. Fistandantilus was a wizard, part of the Order of High Sorcerers. He lived hundreds of years ago, in the city of Istar, before it was destroyed in the Cataclysm. They say that Fistandantilus, known as the Dark One, was one of the most powerful, and most evil of wizards."

Raetmal leans back in his chair. "They say that his specialty was the art of necromancy. Many have speculated that he somehow extended his own life through necromancy. I am not sure what became of him. Stories say he was at the Dwarfgate Wars, 40 years after the Cataclysm. But there is no record of what became of him after that. I sincerely doubt he became a god, though. And if he did, he would be a terrible, evil god."

He takes another sip of tea. "Yes, Belzor...the renegade who ran the cult used magic to fool people into believing. She would use charm spells to make snakes obey, and illusions to create an appearance of Belzor. The mage in question used his own illusion to make a kender appear as tall as a giant. This was such a ridiculous sight, that people wouldn't believe it. It shattered the illusion, and consequently, shattered the illusions of the cultist, as well. Illusions hold no power over those who do not believe in them."

He finishes his tea. "Tell me more about this woman. Do you know her name or have any way of identifying who she is?"

[BishGada]

"Necromancer you say... Maybe Darewind uses necromancy to grow his hands back after cutting them. Or maybe it is indeed and illusion as you say. He never healed anyone as far as I know. Now I really hope it's not real when you say Fistandantilus would become a terrible god...

Unfortunately I don't know her name. She is red headed half-elven, blue eyes, some frekles on her nose. She is a mage. She is low rank noble daughter and I was told she ran away from home and her rich father is looking for her. But now I'm not sure... I always suspected she might run away from something else, or even that she had a good reason to run from her father, but never had the chance to find that information." Suddenly Tulbas open his eyes widely... "Wait, I have her backpack. I meant to check if there are some useful spells in her spellbook, but maybe there will be more clues as to her background in the backpack."

Tulbas being so disturbed completely forgot about the pack and now retrieves it from his robes and searches it's contents.

[JadedDM]

There isn't much in the pack; mostly clothes (rather nice ones, at that), a hairbrush, some rations, a mirror, and a bit of jewelry. The most significant thing is her spellbook, which is bound with a white leather cover and has the name Daxia Cheroneau engraved on it.

[BishGada]

"Got it!" Tulbas says happily to Raetmal. "Her name is Daxia Cheroneau. Have you heard it before? What about the mage that was here in the morning? Do you think he has anything to do with Fistandantilus followers or Daxia?"

[JadedDM]

"Daxia Cheroneau? I know that name," Raetmal says. "When Silvanesti was invaded, many of our people fled to Ergoth. I keep in touch with some of them still, by letter. Or I did; their letters stopped arriving a couple of months ago. But in any case, one of them mentioned a nobleman named Cheroneau who had a half-elven bastard daughter named Daxia. He died of a sickness, but first named Daxia his heir. As you might imagine, this caused quite a ruckus. The only thing the Ergothian nobility looks down upon more than women and bastards are half-breeds. And this poor thing was all three."

He continues, "Reports say that Cheroneau's brother seized the lands and castle and ordered Daxia to be executed, as she was a threat to his claim. Somehow, she escaped and has been on the run since. It's possible she somehow made her way this far south, to Haven. If this woman is indeed Daxia Cheroneau, then once the cult hands her over to her uncle's men, they will likely return her to Ergoth and kill her."

He frowns. "I cannot say what the black robed man's agenda is, or who he might be affiliated with. I had never seen him before that day. He said he was new in town, and had a lot of questions about the Seekers and the refugees, but mostly he just wanted new components."

[BishGada]

Tulbas holds his head with his two hands in despair, "What have I done! I must find a way to rescue her, but Nora might not listen. And even if she will believe me, she might say something like war requires sacrifices..."
Tulbas thinks for a moment and continues. "If I wait for tomorrow I might be more capable of helping, since now I'm exhausted, but by tomorrow they might secure her much more tightly then today. Another course of action that I thought of is to find the owner of the house she was hiding in, explain what happened and ask for his help. But he might just attack me..."
Tulbas ponders on the subject for another minute and then says, "Well, I must find a way to prevent this from happening. The Ergothian contact men already know the cult has Daxia, but Nora said it will take few days.
Uncle, what do you think is the best course of action? Try to convince Nora she was deceived by the Ergothians? Or try to lure her out of the room by some false report about the Seekers and then free Daxia and hope that together we will manage to escape?"

[JadedDM]

Raetmal considers the situation carefully. "I think first, we should return to the house you found her. If the looters are still present, I can take care of them easily enough with a simple sleep spell." He stands up. "I'll close up the shop early today. It may still be possible to find some kind of clue there."

[BishGada]

"OK, thanks. I thought about 'Sleep' or 'Charm Person' to deal with the cult but didn't wanted to wait for tomorrow." Tulbas stands up, cleans the table quickly, and goes to the door. "It's on Riverway 12... But if the owner is there... well it will be difficult to get his cooperation."

[JadedDM]

Raetmal closes up shop and he and Tulbas make their way down to the harbor district. Tulbas leads the way to 12 River Way.

When they arrive, they find that the door is still wide open and there are people inside. But they are not looters.

Three are human. One is a tall, muscular man with brown hair and a white scar on his forehead. He wears blue brigadine armor and carries an axe in one hand, and has a chest tucked under the other. Another is a woman with long blonde hair, wearing studded leather and is all bandaged up, as if she was in a bad fight. The third one is a handsome man dressed in greens and browns with a number of swords cluttered up on his belt; he, too is all bandaged up as if in a bad fight. All three appear to be in their late teens or early twenties.

Another one is a dwarf with a frizzy beard and he looks the worst of the bunch; he is bandaged up even more than the others and is leaning heavily on a walking stick.

The last one is a small creature that Tulbas recognizes only from his books, as he has never seen one before--a gnome. They are a rare sight in this area. He is even shorter than than dwarf and wears strange clothes and has a white beard.

The man in blue armor shakes his head and asks aloud, "Who could have done this?"

Raetmal steps inside with Tulbas. Removing his hood, Raetmal says, "I believe I may know the answer to that."

=============

End Vignette.

XP is as follows:

Tulbas Erogund (Mage)
Participation: 100 XP
Chat with Raetmal: 25 XP
Chat with Keira: 25 XP
Casting Charm Person: 50 XP
Discover cause of riot: 100 XP
Chat with Nora: 25 XP
Chat with Biggs: 25 XP
Chat with Wedge: 25 XP
Capture Daxia: 100 XP
Infiltrate Cult of the Master: 100 XP
Discover the name of the Master: 250 XP
Bonus 10%
TOTAL: 908 XP