Murdoch, meanwhile, finds that the death tolls are still being counted up, but a number of nobles, diplomats, and a number of Hidden Lords have been killed. Perhaps up to two dozen worthies and civilians into the hundreds. It will take a while to sort out who the dead ones are. A variety of attackers struck a variety of places. At least twenty Kossuth Cultists are confirmed dead. Some victims were killed in their locked homes, possibly by Kurin's assassins. Four of them are reported slain. Other violence is attributed to organized crime and humanoid-dominated street gangs. Murdoch's sources, interestingly enough, tie some of these criminal elements to some of Aiden Zarun's labor allies, specifically the Brotherhood of Maritime Support Engineers (dockworkers, longshoresman, seacooks, etc.) and the Union of Transportation Engineers (road workers, carriage drivers, etc.).
As Murdoch walks down a back alley, having visited a contact, he sees a tall, middle-aged Uthgardt man in a grey robe with a fox-fur hat, with ears. He hears the man speak in his mind, but the man himself lets out no sound as he moves his lips.
"I am known as the Deceiver of Deceivers, a mighty illusionist who bet his life with Loki himself in return for immortality and a portion of his power. Trapped in a maze for centuries, I finally prevailed, and in my victory, I honed my skills at illusion, and became undeceivable myself. But of course, as Loki is wont to do, I was in a sense deceived nonetheless, my immunity came in the form of paranoia, developed through living so long in his world.
So when I entered Cormyr with my companions from the Great Desert, I left a simulacrum to sleep in the keep that guards the pass. At night, the gaurds tured into cat creatures and slew my compaions in their sleep. Then, some of them assumed their forms and traveled on. I escaped, and came to Waterdeep to inform those who could do something about this.
There is no telling how many people have been replaced with these cats. Somehow, the cats managed to also infiltrate the Sembian diplomatic corps as well. They were responsable for a number of the deaths last night.
When I came to warn you, however, Laeral must have intercepted my communications. She met my simulacrum right before Shando and destroyed it, then left, using magic to dry off her wet clothes. Please, destroy these monsters that killed my companions and who knows how many more."
