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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Iron Chef BBQ" data-source="post: 822820" data-attributes="member: 1844">The Vigils of Vesh (run of 02-11-03)When last we left our intrepid band of adventurers they were scattered about an unfamiliar neighborhood of Vesh.Deke’s location is unknown.  According to his double, he is being held captive somewhere.  DoppleDeke, dressed as a peasant woman, is being dragged unconscious through the streets by Lucre to the Church of Enkili, but they are lost and appear to be following an owl, Kalina who is trying to ascertain their location from above.  Kel is being arrested.  Fang is running at Marja’s heels as she high-tails it after Lucre and Borin.  Kenyan is casually making his own way across the city while Borin is at his place in the casino.In custody Kel of course tells the truth to the authorities about everything.  Well, not everything.  He has the sense to keep their undercover assignment under wraps, and doesn’t say anything that would embarrass the Temple of Enhili.  His tale of doppelgangers and an underworld syndicate called the Eyes doesn’t play well with The Veshian Boys in Blue.  “Cast a truth spell on me,” Kel pleads, but that’s a big no go.  Since the Titan War average people are very wary of magic.  Fortunately, the police find a strange-looking body dead in the tavern.  This seems to add some credence to Kel’s story, and they at least agree to take him to the Temple of Enkili to continue the questioning.Finally, Kalina guides the party to the temple, changes shape and runs to fetch Borin.  Borin goes off to find Rossiter.  While the others wait, Marja confronts Lucre about his glowing eyes and asks if he has a blood spot.  Psionic powers are considered signs of Titan spawn.  Most children who exhibit these powers are left in the wilderness to die.  Somehow Lucre escaped this fate, but Marja continues to hold him in suspicion until he comes clean and admits his powers.  The admission seems to also smooth some of the constant tensions the flow between Marja and Lucre.  “After all,” thinks Marja, “sorcerers and psions are both magical freaks of nature.”  Rossiter and Borin quickly rush into the room.  They wake the doppelganger who promptly changes shape again into a well-dressed dignitary and produces an official scroll that introduces her as Ankrieg, an envoy from the Calastian Empire.  Borin publicly fires Lucre to separate the temple from a political scandal.  Rossiter prepares a “proper” excort for her back to her embassy while Lucre runs to the casino to locate Deke.  A quick search finds a bedraggled Deke, bound and gagged under a desk, but none the worse for wear.  Lucre and Deke return to the temple as a frustrated sergeant is leaving.  Since this matter seems to involve Calastia, he is robbed of his opportunity to press charges against our band.  The temple decides to temporarily close the casino.  Free from work, Lucre and Kenyan spend the night gathering information.  In the morning they report that indentured servitude is a common practice in Vesh for debtors unable to pay.  It seems that several of the names on the list they found in the casino are people who were bankrupted while gambling.  They were legally claimed as indentured servants, but they have disappeared.  The party suspects they are being taken to Calastia as slaves.At breakfast the next morning everyone seems relieved to have Deke back and seems much more trusting of Lucre.  They all, however, wear a weary appearance of concern.  An official-looking scroll arrives.  Geoffrey, Marquis of Beltray, “asks us to tea pursuant to the events of last evening,” Deke reads.  It seems the party has attracted some attention.  Kenyan recalls that the Beltrays are an old, not extremely wealthy family with some scandal.  They once served on the Vigil Council, a group trained to gather information, kill Titan spawn, and help those in need.  He’s not sure exactly what the scandal was. Before heading to tea, Borin checks out the casino.  The second set of books and the hidden gold are gone.  He vows to Enkili to get the money back.The Beltray mansion is elegant, if understated.  Geoffrey is a small, older man, thin with gray hair and blue eyes.  He too is dressed in elegant, if understated, gray velvet.  He serves them a lovely tea with too little beer for the dwarves taste, but Kel seems to find it quite appetizing.  Geoffrey tells them that the Eyes are a group of Calastian spies.  The Calastians have been gathering slaves by bankrupting people in the casino and taking them out of Vesh.  The travel is arranged through a merchant, Grim Edgar.  He knows that two men named Lanscomb and Grover are still in the city, but should leave on their indentured servitude in four days.  He feels strongly that the caravan taking them to Calastia should meet with an “accident.”He has a proposal for our adventurers.  The Vigils have eleven cohorts.  Each reports to a separate compiler of information.  Once there was a twelfth cohort, but it was disbanded when Geoffrey’s great grandfather “went to the bad.”  He wants to reopen the twelfth cohort, and wants this group to be its members. He can supply them with a warehouse in Cooper Alley where they can stay and fix up as they please if they are interested in committing a year to the Vigils.The group talks it over.  Temporarily, their work for the Temple of Enkili is on hold, and following the Calastians seems to be the best lead to finding out what was going on there anyway.  As long as they keep their focus on the Temple, Borin is willing.  Deke is beside himself with the notion of living in a real home, not a hotel, and not the street.  He has already pilfered paper and pencil and is designing the inside of a large rectangular warehouse into living spaces.  He’s in.  Marja and Lucre and in if Borin is in.  Kalina will follow if it might lead her out of this wretched city and into the country for a while, and Kel finds the stories of the Vigils to be noble and righteous and is anxious to join.  That leaves Kenyan.  Borin tells him he’s out of a job at the casino when it reopens if he doesn’t tag along.  Ok, he’s in.</blockquote>

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