Session 25 – Falling Tension?
Campaign I, session 25. Previous: Session 24. Next: Session 26.
While the injured party members spent time in recovery, Metri (hench Dwarven Rhetor) takes some of their items to the Tower of Knowledge for identification. Fortune is with them this time, and all three research throws pass: the party learns the command word for the ring of plant control (“enda”, the elvish word for “heart”), as well as identifying a wand of magic discernment (12 charges) and the bracers of eldritch revelation. After much discussion, the party decides to sell the wand and a +1 dagger for some cash and XP. Meanwhile, Pashlatine Levonday (PC Venturer) disposes of the “obviously fake” version of the will that had named Luli (her NPC sister) as the heir.
While this is going on, Pash and Dreyfuss (PC Sakkalin Watch-hound) visit the Levonday estate to interview the servants there and review diaries and journals in an effort to determine if the Levonday parents had any known enemies. They come up mostly empty-handed; the diaries have appropriate levels of mourning over the loss of their son Vason and their unhappiness with Pashlatine, but no real clues. They return to Vedycaer and arrange to take possession of the parents’ bodies from Lucius Furlan (NPC head of “The Family” syndicate).
Since having his mortal wounds restored, Gorthak the Blooded (Hench Orcblooded Savage) has gained the ability to speak with dead once per week. Dreyfuss enters his mind palace in an effort to determine a good line of questioning for its use. The main factors that Dreyfuss fixates on are the lack of signs of struggle where the Levonday carriage was found, and the fact that Lucius must not be afraid that these corpses will implicate him in any important way. Additionally, Dreyfuss recalls that they have not seen or heard from the driver of the carriage at all, though there are many possible reasons why this might be the case. Finally, Dreyfuss concludes there is a very real possibility that the parents will blame Pashlatine if either they are uncertain about who ordered their deaths or if changelings are responsible.
Singil (PC Orcblooded Shaman) inspects the bodies and reveals that they had been bound for some time and underfed before finally being strangled to death, most likely with a rope. They also have many other minor injuries as if having been aggressively interrogated before death.
After some discussion, Gorthak ultimately asks Mama Levonday “Against whom should we seek vengeance for your inglorious death?”
The response comes back in a raspy voice, Against the faceless ones who took Vason from us!
At this, Pash becomes confident enough to hire an Attendant of Talavosh to speak with her father, asking him three questions:
“Why did your captors keep you alive before killing you?”
They wanted to know us as we know each other
“Where were you killed?”
We were moved while unconscious. Somewhere below the city.
“Pashlatine has taken over the Levonday estates and is now planning to grow their potential. What advice would you give her about how best to do this?”
What happened to Luli…?
The party concludes that, as they had begun to suspect, this “Brotherhood of Knives” must be using changelings to replace people. They are still uncertain why the Levondays were targeted, nor why they ultimately were not replaced. With no solid leads at the moment on how to find the Brotherhood, they agree that, for now, the group will continue to pursue the magical pool rumored to exist in the Shadowmount Forest. Pashlatine has learned of a roadside shrine near the Shadowmount Forest (along the old “lightning tracks”) whose pilgrims have complained about being robbed and raided by elfblooded and human brigands.