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Message: <blockquote data-quote="amethal" data-source="post: 3919104" data-attributes="member: 22784">January 30thIt is raining again.Our heroes head to the Lyceum to see Simeon, the magic college’s headmaster. He is a busy man, as he’s the de facto leader of the town during the current crisis, but the heroes have the letter of introduction from Lee the druid and are able to get an appointment to see him.When they arrive, a familiar figure is just leaving his office. Its Katrina, the fire mage they rescued from the swamp. She smiles at them, and says to Simeon, “These are the guys I was talking about. They are very good at troubleshooting. If you get any problems, you would be well advised to call upon their expertise.”“I see you know Katrina,” says Simeon. “She’s becoming something of a local celebrity, due to her successes in the spell duel competitions. Are any of you interested in competing?”The party decide that they aren’t, and bring out the case and explain its provenance.Simeon is intrigued by the case, and confirms it is heavily warded. He calls upon the assistance of his deputy, a dwarf called Kiernan who specialised in defensive magic. Between the two of them, they are able to get the case open safely, and its contents are revealed to be a sturdy, leather bound notebook.“It appears to be written in the infernal tongue used by the devils of Shavarath,” says Simeon. “I can normally read such writing, but it appears to be in code. It’s going to require some powerful divination magic to find out more. Fortunately that is my speciality, but it might take an hour or so.”“We’d like to find out the contents of the case,” says Solsus. “Would you mind if we came back in an hour, when you are done?”“No problem,” says Simeon. “Feel free to wander around the campus while you wait.”“I am interested in magical healing,” says Jonathan. “Do you know of anyone who might have such items for sale?”“The college professors are a pretty eccentric bunch, myself included,” says Simeon. “Some of us make magical tools from time to time to aid in our scholarly pursuits, but I’m not sure we’d have anything that was much use for a party of adventurers such as yourselves. I think your best bet for healing would be to visit Ogoth Who-Wears-No-Mask, one of our consultant lecturers.”Ogoth turns out to be an orc. As advertised, he isn’t wearing a mask. He is somewhat surprised to see the party. Jonathan’s staff catches his eye, topped as it is by the skull of the unknown orc inquisitor they killed at Haddin’s farm.“What’s that skull on your staff?” he asks gruffly.“It’s a symbol of my healing order,” replies Jonathan. “We all carry them to show we are healers.”“Where did you get it?”“I bought it in a curio shop,” says Jonathan glibly. “I was wondering if you had any healing items I could buy to magically augment my own healing skills.”He inspects Ogoth’s wares, and eventually purchases a magical belt. The rest of the group also pick up a few magical trinkets. Then they return to Simeon’s office.“I have used various spells,” says Simeon, “but with mixed results. “The information in this notebook is very well protected, which perhaps explains why the security in place to prevent its physical theft was so lax.“The author is Kreven, second in command of the Inquisitors. I know a fair bit about them, because Ogoth used to be a member.”Jonathan is glad he didn’t reveal the true provenance of the skull on his staff.“The contents were read and approved by another person, who has thus far been completely immune to my best attempts to divine anything about them. From this I conclude that it was most probably Leska herself, the head of the Inquisitors.“It concerns the Scourge, the Ragesians’ attempt to capture ‘disloyal’ spell casters. As you know, we in Seaquen are completely opposed to the Scourge, which has given rise to our current refugee problems. However, I get the feeling that the term also means something else. Have you come across any such different meaning in your travels?”The party shake their heads.“Also, I have come across references to legends of something called a Trillith. I am not familiar with the term.”Solsus thinks for a moment. “While we were travelling through the Fire Forest we found it was somehow possessed by a creature which might have been called ‘a child of Trilla’. We met a unicorn which had heard that term in its dreams.”“I had an idea that Trilla is the name of a dragon,” says Jonathan, “but I can’t recall any more details.”“Right, I’d like to keep the case, if I may,” says Simeon, “and see if I can find out any further information. I will be having a council meeting in a few days, and I’d like you all to attend. I have a feeling there’s a mission coming up which is suited to your talents. I’ll let you know the exact date once I’ve checked with the other attendees.”That’s fine with the party, who are pleased to be shot of the case. They have finally completed the mission given to them by Torrent, and are now at something of a loose end until the council meeting. However, there is one mystery they haven’t yet followed up. “I think we should check out that lady who was looking for us,” says Agatha. “her name was Jess, and she was staying with some merchant family or other.”“The Auyangs,” says Ambar. “Let’s see what she wants.”Scene 10 – Auyang Residence and elsewhereJanuary 30thThe Auyang residence is easy enough for Judson, the party’s guide, to find. It is a moderately large house, set in its own grounds in the better part of town. A quick visit to the neighbours does not reveal any obvious skeletons in the family cupboard. The Auyangs are respectable merchants, and their houseguest Jess is “a very nice lady”.Solsus turns invisible and flies around the house looking in windows. Excluding the servants, there are three women in residence. Tow of them appear to be mother and daughter, whilst the third is young and blonde haired, matching the vague descriptions they have had of Jess.For the want of a better plan, the Solsus hangs back in the garden whilst the rest of the party knocks on the front door. It is opened by a middle aged servant woman with a sour expression.“Can I help you?”“We are here to see Jess,” says Jonathan. “I understand she has been looking for us.”The woman’s expression softens at the mention of Jess, and she looks at the party carefully for the first time. “Of course,” she says. “Please come into the parlour and I will tell her you are here. I would ask you to leave your weapons in the hallway.”After the party have divested themselves of their more obvious weapons, the servant shows them into the parlour. It is clearly a room designed for visitors, and contains those ornaments, furniture and decorations which the house owners like least. The maid heads upstairs to get Jess.Gribron moves over to the window, to let in Solsus. The window is actually locked, but that poses no problem for Gribron the Sneaky. Solsus flies in and perches in a corner.The maid returns with a blonde haired woman. The maid looks at the unlocked window in puzzlement. “I’m sure I locked that,” she says to herself, then recovers and says, “the lady Jess.”“Thank you Maggie,” says Jess, and the maid leaves.Jess is a young, short, pretty, blonde haired woman, dressed as a minor noble. “I am pleased to see the four of you,” she says in a melodious voice, with possibly a slight emphasis on the word four. “Are Caryk and Solsus not with you?”“They are engaged about their own affairs,” says Jonathan. “We are at a disadvantage, madam. You seem to know us, but I do not believe we know you.”“My name is Jess, “ says Jess, “and for the purposes of our business that is all you need to know. I seek to recover a certain case, and its contents, which I believe you are in possession of.”“We don’t have it with us,” says Gribron, “but we can get it. How much are you offering for it?”“The case is not yours,” says Jess. “It belongs to my employers, who are not very forgiving people. However, if you co-operate now and return it to me they will overlook your transgressions to date.”“We have no proof it’s yours either,” says Gribron. “There’s no way we are letting you have it for free.”“Very well,” says Jess. “My employers have given me a certain store of funds with which to pay incidental expenses. I will add you to the list. I can offer you one thousand pieces of gold in return for the case.”“Make that two thousand, and you have a deal,” says Gribron.“Two thousand it is, and it is up to you whether or not you choose to split the money with your absent colleagues. However, there remain other elements of the deal to agree. I do so despise those who try and rely on the spirit of an agreement, don’t you? This will need to be spelt out to the letter.”After a fair amount of negotiation, it is agreed that the party will return the following morning with the case and its contents and receive the gold. The party claim not have opened the case or seen the contents, so cannot be held responsible if they are not what is expected, but Jess reserves the right to void the agreement if they have clearly acted in bad faith on this point. Neither side will try any violence or aggressive acts.“Phew,” says Gribron after the party have left. “She loves attention to detail. That reminded me a bit of negotiating in the Fire Forest with that devil. There might be a clue there as to what we are dealing with ….”The party head back to the Lyceum, and explain the situation to Simeon. Unfortunately, he does not have any books written in code in infernal which they can use as a substitute. He can, however supply them with an authentic looking blank notebook. Jonathan spends the next ten hours writing convincing looking gibberish in infernal. The book is then put back in the case, and Simeon and Kiernan ward the case with their most impressive-looking spells.“Are you sure you don’t need any help in dealing with this Jess woman?” asks Simeon.“No,” replies Solsus, “but it would be helpful if you had someone who could follow her to see where she went. I’m not completely convinced she is unable to see me when I am invisible. Perhaps we could ask Lee, the druid?”“Good idea,” says Simeon. “He’s able to take the form of an animal, and could follow her without being spotted. I’ll arrange for him to be there when you hand over the case. With any luck, she’ll lead us to the rest of the Ragesian agents in Seaquen.”January 31stIt is raining. It has rained every day since the party left the boat at Vidor.The party return to the Auyang residence. The maid, Maggie, lets them into the parlour. Again, they have to leave their weapons in the hall, and again Gribron lets Solsus in through the window once the maid has left to get Jess.Neither side trusts the other, but the exchange is carried out smoothly. The party leaves the house, and Solsus spots a bedraggled looking osprey perched on the roof of a nearby building.“I know he’s a druid with an affinity for water and the sea,” thinks Solsus, “but he could have chosen something a bit less conspicuous. I hope Jess doesn’t know that ospreys don’t live in towns.”Our heroes amuse themselves in town for the rest of the day, and receive a message in the evening to see Simeon at the Lyceum.“Lee has reported back to me,” says Simeon once they get there. “He’d be here himself, but apparently he needs to go for a swim after all that flying.“Surprisingly, Jess headed out of town with the case. Into the swamp, in fact. Lee followed her for a number of miles, and then she stopped and started exploring the area she was in. Seemed like a perfectly random bit of swamp to Lee. Anyway, once she was satisfied she knew the area she vanished in a ball of flame. Teleported away, by the looks of it. If she doesn’t have some kind of protection from heat she’ll have arrived at the other end extremely the worse for wear.“If you ask me, she was scouting the area in case she needed to teleport back in the future. It helps her if she knows where she is going, and this way we don’t have any one particular spot we can guard.“What is puzzling me is, if she is able to teleport then why bother going out to the swamp to do so?”“I suppose it would be an inconspicuous place to do it from,” says Solsus.“Not as inconspicuous as from her room,” says Gribron. “And if for some reason she preferred to pretend to leave town in the normal way, why go so far into the swamp? A few hundred yards would have been secluded enough.”“There’s some factor here we don’t know about,” says Simeon.****The party go to bed. In view of recent developments, they have decided to set up watches. Agatha is on watch when there is a knock on the door of Vett’s house.“Its always when I’m on watch,” she says to herself, and then kicks the others until they wake up. The knocking continues, but she doesn’t open the door until the group are somewhat prepared. After all, its not they who are having the emergency.Outside is a teenage boy, carrying a lantern. Unsurprisingly, it is raining, and he is wet.He is not very coherent. “The warehouse. Trouble at the warehouse. You have to come to the warehouse.” He is unable or unwilling to give any more information, and the party can either follow him or go back to bed.Heroes that they are, they head out into the night.</blockquote>

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