Post by Markas Virnala on Dec 1, 2019 12:23:26 GMT
"Double Agents"
22nd Entry in the journal of Markas Virnala
BOGG IS BACK!!! I can't believe he's Been in the sewers under Port Ffirst all this time!?
I was sitting in the Ettin in Daring waiting for whoever else had signed up for this mission and met with Sheryl again, sitting with one of her acquaintances, a woman called Augustine (she had a really complicated name I cannot remember now). She had a kind of 'natural' look to her, with a vine and tree motif going on. She seems quite level headed and nice but she has an accent I have never heard before! Every time she talks I find myself copying it without realising....
Then Bogg strolled in! After a quick greeting, he went straight into complaining about Baine, leaving him in the sewers calling him out with a letter then disappearing off somewhere without him.... he was really not happy! It was nice to catch up with him again though so we asked if he wanted to join us since Baine had left him behind.
Finally, another new face: Halvard. A tall human with a big beard, chain armour sporting a shield with a cross. He seems nice enough but I think it would be good to spend more time with him, maybe after this is finished we can grab a drink while I catch up with Bogg too.
We are sent by teleportation to Zot Goran as normal and are met by Girelle, our contact in K'ul Goran who begins guiding us back and forth through the winding hallways like he always does when we come here. Only this time, we seemed to be walking for much longer. Normally within a minute or two we are out on the street. Instead, Girelle finally ushered us into a round room with a few chairs and a table. It was only here he began to talk to us.
Previously, whenever recruiting from the Dawnlands, Girelle sent us off to the front lines of the war. This time, he explained, we would be staying in Zot Goran. He would also be hiring us directly, rather than the people of K'ul Goran. He had some concerns about one of the Senators in the city, a Djinni called Haljira. She was one of the few Djinni in K'ul Goran, coming directly from the plan of air and Girelle was concerned she may be selling secrets to the Giants. Why or how, where a mystery, one he wanted us to solve. Rather than joining the fighting, ours would be an espionage mission: break into Haljira's residence, spy on a meeting she would having today and collect any evidence she has been selling secrets and report back to Girelle. The only stipulations being:
-
We are always odd faces in K'ul Goran. If anything were to happen and people had seen us: elves, humans and halflings, it would not be hard to assume we were to blame... and being the ambassador to the Dawnlands, Girelle would quickly come under scrutiny. He made it clear he would deny all knowledge and any trouble we landed I would be our own. Still, if Haljira is selling secrets that would put people at risk, we needed to stop it
To help us, Girelle provided a few potions of disguise so we could walk the streets unseen, and might keep our identities hidden at least briefly if caught. However, he only had enough for four of us and they only last for 1hr. The house is about 10 minutes from here meaning, with a return trip, we only have about 40 minutes to do what we have to do. He does manage to sketch us out a rough map of the house and how to get there, and tells us that the house should be relatively empty for this meeting but the specifics of how to get in and out would be up to us.
Sheryl decided to use her own disguise kit on Bogg to make him look like a Tabaxi and, I ha e to say she did an amazing job. The only was Bogg over acting being a cat! Still, due to his size, I think people assumed he was just a kid. As for the rest of us, we each drank our potions on took o different forms
We followed the map and found the house pretty easily. It stood out from everything around it with blue, intricately patterned walls and a golden roof! As we stood outside, Augustine trotted off to one side and knelt down talking to a small grey cat, that honestly looked a little mean (I don't even know how it managed it, but it did)
And we watched as she meowed back and forth with this cat, held up a coin, then four. She turned to ask us what we wanted to ask the cat about the house and after firing off a few questions, she returned to meow with it again before it ran off. She asked us to wait, so we did and after a few minutes it came back! Some more awkward meowing later (I say awkward, Augustine seemed quite happy. The rest of us looked pretty odd watching an Air Genasi meow in the street with what looked like stray cat.)
, Augustine gave the cat a small pouch of coins around its neck and it ran off down the street.
The odd exchange over, Augustine finally clues us in: the cat was sent in to scope the place for us. Besides the front door and the back door we knew of (from Girelle's map) there were no other entry points on the ground floor. The big windy woman (we assumed was Haljira) was on the roof talking to a smaller windy person and, otherwise, there was only one person in the house. The back door was open but the Windy woman on the roof was looking out over the back and would see us coming.
Honestly I'm impressed at the cats performance. Even more impressed it managed to haggle 5gp for out of Augustine. I can't help but wonder what it's going to spend it on though....
(Now I think about it, Faye and Igrainne were talking about a talking cat in Port Ffirst... maybe it was something like this? Either way, cats seem to be way more intelligent than I'd given them credit for.... excluding Paw that is, but she isn't really a cat I guess)
After some quick discussion we decided to send Bogg round back alone, to get into the house and let us in the front door. I offered my Invisibility potion but he seemed pretty confident without it and, sure enough, a minute or two later, the door slowly opened and we stepped inside. From here, things just started to go wrong for us.
Bogg pointed out that there were no stairs on the ground floor and there was a cleaner or butler in one of the nearby rooms. We started whispering to each other about how to proceed, whether we knock out the butler or try to just climb up to the second floor without them noticing. We obviously got way too into the discussion as it was suddenly broken by the sound of the door opening and the Butler staring right at us.
One knocked out and tied up Butler in the cupboard later, having already been seen, we made our way through the house to a large Ballroom. Bogg was inspecting some gratings on the ceiling on the way that we assume Haljira uses to get around (Being a Djinni). In the ballroom, we could see a balcony on the first floor over-looking us, with two sweeping stair cases on that went up to the roof. One of the doors to the roof was slightly ajar and we could just about make out voices. (Actually now I think about it, there were stairs up stairs…. But no stairs to get upstairs?)
Sheryl was getting impatient with all the talking and trying to work out what to do so she just climbed up one of the curtains to the balcony and lowered some ropes for the rest of us. WE tried to be quiet but must not have managed it as we all heard the door at the top of the stairs creak open just as we climbed onto the balcony. Turning as one (Except for Bogg who now decided to drink the Invisibility potion), to see the face of an Air Genasi, wearing a loose blue vest, staring right at us. Frozen in panic, we saw him smile then disappear back through the door.
It felt like a long time but must have only been seconds before the door flew open again to reveal Haljira coming down the stairs and glaring at us demanding to know what we were doing there, the Air Genasi just behind. Before even one of us could start to make some sort of excuse for our intrusion, the Air Genasi chimed into the conversation, saying this was actually a good thing… and then Stabbed the Senator!
In a heartbeat, I was tearing up the stairs, sword in hand and slashing at the Genasi, only to hear metal ring as my sword scrapped across his bare chest. With a mocking look, he continued to stab Haljira and say "I can't believe you're killing the senator!" before dropping her bloody body and sprinting up the stairs. I gave chase, hearing Augustine calling the Senators name just behind me. The Genasi, obviously in disguise like us reached the top of the stairs and slammed the door shut as they passed. I was about ready to try and break it down when it suddenly opened and I heard Bogg shout "He's jumped off the roof!". Bogg must've given chase as well. Out on the roof, the wind immediately hit me like a wall but I was determined to catch him. Not seeing Bogg, I ran for the nearest edge and jumped.
Luckily the building wasn't too high or even my training wouldn't have stopped the fall from hurting. S it was though, I managed to land pretty easily on my feet. The Genasi, however, looked like he had hurt his leg in the fall. I seized the opportunity and continued my attack, trying to find any Ki point I could to stop him but the disguise was throwing me off. Wherever I thought I might find one I only encountered more armour. Finally, now beginning to look a little panicked, he looked me in the eye and tried to control me, suggesting I let him go and attack my friends but I managed to shake him out of my head. Seeing it didn't work, the panic on his face increased as I took another swing, just as a bright flash of light slammed into the wall next to us, but he had already started to run again, this time leathery Red wings erupting from his back and his began to fly off, low to the ground.
Whatever armour he was wearing must've been slowing him down because at full sprint I managed to catch up before he could reach the street and try one last time to put him down. As I came up alongside him, another flash passing us by, I lashed out, first with the sword, then with a hand, finally feeling skin under the disguise as I connected with his neck, slamming him into the ground.
The disguise now dropped, I could see it was actually a red Tiefling-like creature with Wings in black and red armour. The knife he had used to stab Haljira was actually a black spear with twisted nightmarish look to it. He wasn't like the other tieflings I've come across though. One of the books in Hoops room had a picture that looked like him: A Cambion. I took one look at him, gasping for breath before dealing one last punch to knock him out.
With him finally caught, I looked up to see Halvard (Still in Genasi form) catching up, giving chase after jumping from the balcony too, as Augustine (also in Genasi form), with her own wings(!?) was turning back to land on the roof. Halvard and I tied up the now unconscious Cambion and dragged it back into the house, dumping him in the ballroom. Haljira was brought down too and tied up next to him. Seems Augustine was able to save her life before giving chase too but felt, given we were intruders in her house, it might be wise to keep her restrained at least until this mess was sorted out. While all this had been going on, it turns out, Sheryl, later joined by Bogg, had been rooting around upstairs for evidence. They had found something but with the attack on the senator, Sheryl volunteered to go and get Girelle. This whole thing had spiralled away from us but maybe he knew what to do next.
While I searched the Cambion, taking the spear for Hoop. Looking at him now, it looked like all the attacks I had been making were catching him after all, as he was covered in cuts and bruises but fighting someone in disguise like that had really thrown me off. Augustine was checking out Haljira for any more evidence. Seems her jewellery was evidence too! Just as we started this though, Bogg and Halvard noticed the front door was open again…. And the cupboard the Butler was in was empty. They decided to look for him before he brought any more trouble.
About 30 minutes later, just as our Disguises were wearing off, Sheryl returned with Girelle. We woke the Senator who was immediately furious with us, wind beginning to spiral around us but as we explained what happened, she calmed down. Then simply stood up out of the ties Augustine had put her in. Seems it is harder to restrain a Djinni than we originally thought…
Girelle is the ambassador for us and seemed better with words, so we left him to talk it out with Haljira. Seems the Cambion has been feeding her information and she was considering selling secrets to enable more Djinni to come through from the plane of Air, something about breaking the veil between us? Listening to her though, I didn't fully trust her but in any case, the plot was exposed so that should hopefully be an end to that at least. If nothing else, she will know people are watching.
Halvard and Bogg turned up again in a rush, saying they found the butler but he was on his way with a group of guards. We looked to Haljira and reluctantly agreed to deal with them while we slipped out the back. Now out of disguise (except for Bogg, still prancing around like a cat), Girelle guided us back to his place, taking a series of short turns and alleyways to avoid being seen.
Back in the safety of his apartment, Girelle finally turned to us and congratulated us for our sort of successful efforts. We did uncover what he wanted I guess, just in a bit a messy fashion than envisioned. Still, he seemed happy, especially with some odd Jars that Sheryl had found and delivered to him. Apparently as Djinni are mostly comprised of air, they can store their conversations in jars like that. The ones Sheryl had collected were blackmail Haljira had on different notable people, Blackmail Girelle now had on Haljira. In any case, he paid us and also presented us with a sword from his collection that he called Endurance, before leading us back to the portal to be sent back to Daring. As most of the gathering were not really Martial types, I took the sword and forewent the coin. It really is a nice weapon!
22nd Entry in the journal of Markas Virnala
BOGG IS BACK!!! I can't believe he's Been in the sewers under Port Ffirst all this time!?
I was sitting in the Ettin in Daring waiting for whoever else had signed up for this mission and met with Sheryl again, sitting with one of her acquaintances, a woman called Augustine (she had a really complicated name I cannot remember now). She had a kind of 'natural' look to her, with a vine and tree motif going on. She seems quite level headed and nice but she has an accent I have never heard before! Every time she talks I find myself copying it without realising....
Then Bogg strolled in! After a quick greeting, he went straight into complaining about Baine, leaving him in the sewers calling him out with a letter then disappearing off somewhere without him.... he was really not happy! It was nice to catch up with him again though so we asked if he wanted to join us since Baine had left him behind.
Finally, another new face: Halvard. A tall human with a big beard, chain armour sporting a shield with a cross. He seems nice enough but I think it would be good to spend more time with him, maybe after this is finished we can grab a drink while I catch up with Bogg too.
We are sent by teleportation to Zot Goran as normal and are met by Girelle, our contact in K'ul Goran who begins guiding us back and forth through the winding hallways like he always does when we come here. Only this time, we seemed to be walking for much longer. Normally within a minute or two we are out on the street. Instead, Girelle finally ushered us into a round room with a few chairs and a table. It was only here he began to talk to us.
Previously, whenever recruiting from the Dawnlands, Girelle sent us off to the front lines of the war. This time, he explained, we would be staying in Zot Goran. He would also be hiring us directly, rather than the people of K'ul Goran. He had some concerns about one of the Senators in the city, a Djinni called Haljira. She was one of the few Djinni in K'ul Goran, coming directly from the plan of air and Girelle was concerned she may be selling secrets to the Giants. Why or how, where a mystery, one he wanted us to solve. Rather than joining the fighting, ours would be an espionage mission: break into Haljira's residence, spy on a meeting she would having today and collect any evidence she has been selling secrets and report back to Girelle. The only stipulations being:
-
- We must not be seen by anyone in K'ul Goran
- We must not be caught in the act
- No one can be killed
- We can leave no trace bringing it back to Girelle
We are always odd faces in K'ul Goran. If anything were to happen and people had seen us: elves, humans and halflings, it would not be hard to assume we were to blame... and being the ambassador to the Dawnlands, Girelle would quickly come under scrutiny. He made it clear he would deny all knowledge and any trouble we landed I would be our own. Still, if Haljira is selling secrets that would put people at risk, we needed to stop it
To help us, Girelle provided a few potions of disguise so we could walk the streets unseen, and might keep our identities hidden at least briefly if caught. However, he only had enough for four of us and they only last for 1hr. The house is about 10 minutes from here meaning, with a return trip, we only have about 40 minutes to do what we have to do. He does manage to sketch us out a rough map of the house and how to get there, and tells us that the house should be relatively empty for this meeting but the specifics of how to get in and out would be up to us.
Sheryl decided to use her own disguise kit on Bogg to make him look like a Tabaxi and, I ha e to say she did an amazing job. The only was Bogg over acting being a cat! Still, due to his size, I think people assumed he was just a kid. As for the rest of us, we each drank our potions on took o different forms
- Augustine and Halvard both became Air Genasi
- Sheryl became an aerator
- I became a minotaur, though still much slimmer than their normal build and, even in this form, all my hair (fur?) Was grey!
We followed the map and found the house pretty easily. It stood out from everything around it with blue, intricately patterned walls and a golden roof! As we stood outside, Augustine trotted off to one side and knelt down talking to a small grey cat, that honestly looked a little mean (I don't even know how it managed it, but it did)
And we watched as she meowed back and forth with this cat, held up a coin, then four. She turned to ask us what we wanted to ask the cat about the house and after firing off a few questions, she returned to meow with it again before it ran off. She asked us to wait, so we did and after a few minutes it came back! Some more awkward meowing later (I say awkward, Augustine seemed quite happy. The rest of us looked pretty odd watching an Air Genasi meow in the street with what looked like stray cat.)
, Augustine gave the cat a small pouch of coins around its neck and it ran off down the street.
The odd exchange over, Augustine finally clues us in: the cat was sent in to scope the place for us. Besides the front door and the back door we knew of (from Girelle's map) there were no other entry points on the ground floor. The big windy woman (we assumed was Haljira) was on the roof talking to a smaller windy person and, otherwise, there was only one person in the house. The back door was open but the Windy woman on the roof was looking out over the back and would see us coming.
Honestly I'm impressed at the cats performance. Even more impressed it managed to haggle 5gp for out of Augustine. I can't help but wonder what it's going to spend it on though....
(Now I think about it, Faye and Igrainne were talking about a talking cat in Port Ffirst... maybe it was something like this? Either way, cats seem to be way more intelligent than I'd given them credit for.... excluding Paw that is, but she isn't really a cat I guess)
After some quick discussion we decided to send Bogg round back alone, to get into the house and let us in the front door. I offered my Invisibility potion but he seemed pretty confident without it and, sure enough, a minute or two later, the door slowly opened and we stepped inside. From here, things just started to go wrong for us.
Bogg pointed out that there were no stairs on the ground floor and there was a cleaner or butler in one of the nearby rooms. We started whispering to each other about how to proceed, whether we knock out the butler or try to just climb up to the second floor without them noticing. We obviously got way too into the discussion as it was suddenly broken by the sound of the door opening and the Butler staring right at us.
One knocked out and tied up Butler in the cupboard later, having already been seen, we made our way through the house to a large Ballroom. Bogg was inspecting some gratings on the ceiling on the way that we assume Haljira uses to get around (Being a Djinni). In the ballroom, we could see a balcony on the first floor over-looking us, with two sweeping stair cases on that went up to the roof. One of the doors to the roof was slightly ajar and we could just about make out voices. (Actually now I think about it, there were stairs up stairs…. But no stairs to get upstairs?)
Sheryl was getting impatient with all the talking and trying to work out what to do so she just climbed up one of the curtains to the balcony and lowered some ropes for the rest of us. WE tried to be quiet but must not have managed it as we all heard the door at the top of the stairs creak open just as we climbed onto the balcony. Turning as one (Except for Bogg who now decided to drink the Invisibility potion), to see the face of an Air Genasi, wearing a loose blue vest, staring right at us. Frozen in panic, we saw him smile then disappear back through the door.
It felt like a long time but must have only been seconds before the door flew open again to reveal Haljira coming down the stairs and glaring at us demanding to know what we were doing there, the Air Genasi just behind. Before even one of us could start to make some sort of excuse for our intrusion, the Air Genasi chimed into the conversation, saying this was actually a good thing… and then Stabbed the Senator!
In a heartbeat, I was tearing up the stairs, sword in hand and slashing at the Genasi, only to hear metal ring as my sword scrapped across his bare chest. With a mocking look, he continued to stab Haljira and say "I can't believe you're killing the senator!" before dropping her bloody body and sprinting up the stairs. I gave chase, hearing Augustine calling the Senators name just behind me. The Genasi, obviously in disguise like us reached the top of the stairs and slammed the door shut as they passed. I was about ready to try and break it down when it suddenly opened and I heard Bogg shout "He's jumped off the roof!". Bogg must've given chase as well. Out on the roof, the wind immediately hit me like a wall but I was determined to catch him. Not seeing Bogg, I ran for the nearest edge and jumped.
Luckily the building wasn't too high or even my training wouldn't have stopped the fall from hurting. S it was though, I managed to land pretty easily on my feet. The Genasi, however, looked like he had hurt his leg in the fall. I seized the opportunity and continued my attack, trying to find any Ki point I could to stop him but the disguise was throwing me off. Wherever I thought I might find one I only encountered more armour. Finally, now beginning to look a little panicked, he looked me in the eye and tried to control me, suggesting I let him go and attack my friends but I managed to shake him out of my head. Seeing it didn't work, the panic on his face increased as I took another swing, just as a bright flash of light slammed into the wall next to us, but he had already started to run again, this time leathery Red wings erupting from his back and his began to fly off, low to the ground.
Whatever armour he was wearing must've been slowing him down because at full sprint I managed to catch up before he could reach the street and try one last time to put him down. As I came up alongside him, another flash passing us by, I lashed out, first with the sword, then with a hand, finally feeling skin under the disguise as I connected with his neck, slamming him into the ground.
The disguise now dropped, I could see it was actually a red Tiefling-like creature with Wings in black and red armour. The knife he had used to stab Haljira was actually a black spear with twisted nightmarish look to it. He wasn't like the other tieflings I've come across though. One of the books in Hoops room had a picture that looked like him: A Cambion. I took one look at him, gasping for breath before dealing one last punch to knock him out.
With him finally caught, I looked up to see Halvard (Still in Genasi form) catching up, giving chase after jumping from the balcony too, as Augustine (also in Genasi form), with her own wings(!?) was turning back to land on the roof. Halvard and I tied up the now unconscious Cambion and dragged it back into the house, dumping him in the ballroom. Haljira was brought down too and tied up next to him. Seems Augustine was able to save her life before giving chase too but felt, given we were intruders in her house, it might be wise to keep her restrained at least until this mess was sorted out. While all this had been going on, it turns out, Sheryl, later joined by Bogg, had been rooting around upstairs for evidence. They had found something but with the attack on the senator, Sheryl volunteered to go and get Girelle. This whole thing had spiralled away from us but maybe he knew what to do next.
While I searched the Cambion, taking the spear for Hoop. Looking at him now, it looked like all the attacks I had been making were catching him after all, as he was covered in cuts and bruises but fighting someone in disguise like that had really thrown me off. Augustine was checking out Haljira for any more evidence. Seems her jewellery was evidence too! Just as we started this though, Bogg and Halvard noticed the front door was open again…. And the cupboard the Butler was in was empty. They decided to look for him before he brought any more trouble.
About 30 minutes later, just as our Disguises were wearing off, Sheryl returned with Girelle. We woke the Senator who was immediately furious with us, wind beginning to spiral around us but as we explained what happened, she calmed down. Then simply stood up out of the ties Augustine had put her in. Seems it is harder to restrain a Djinni than we originally thought…
Girelle is the ambassador for us and seemed better with words, so we left him to talk it out with Haljira. Seems the Cambion has been feeding her information and she was considering selling secrets to enable more Djinni to come through from the plane of Air, something about breaking the veil between us? Listening to her though, I didn't fully trust her but in any case, the plot was exposed so that should hopefully be an end to that at least. If nothing else, she will know people are watching.
Halvard and Bogg turned up again in a rush, saying they found the butler but he was on his way with a group of guards. We looked to Haljira and reluctantly agreed to deal with them while we slipped out the back. Now out of disguise (except for Bogg, still prancing around like a cat), Girelle guided us back to his place, taking a series of short turns and alleyways to avoid being seen.
Back in the safety of his apartment, Girelle finally turned to us and congratulated us for our sort of successful efforts. We did uncover what he wanted I guess, just in a bit a messy fashion than envisioned. Still, he seemed happy, especially with some odd Jars that Sheryl had found and delivered to him. Apparently as Djinni are mostly comprised of air, they can store their conversations in jars like that. The ones Sheryl had collected were blackmail Haljira had on different notable people, Blackmail Girelle now had on Haljira. In any case, he paid us and also presented us with a sword from his collection that he called Endurance, before leading us back to the portal to be sent back to Daring. As most of the gathering were not really Martial types, I took the sword and forewent the coin. It really is a nice weapon!
