Investigate Daystar Perpetrators

Breakfast in the back of Freelancers Tavern was a subdued affair, but not too subdued.  Arnari had bolted down her breakfast and left for Church of Storms with Nohea.  Valan was more tense than usual.

The Freelancers had three new recruits: Kairos, a bald, beardless Holder dwarf from Gemhallow; Aranel, a half-elf noble from Sullimany who'd most recently been in Ripa Daneo; and Dominic, a human Cartographer from Ripa Daneo.  The three were a well-dressed group and had rolled in the day before, straight from the docks.  They'd discussed joining with Tomtom; he'd seemed friendly and open, albeit preoccupied, but he'd welcomed them into Freelancers, and issued them badges.  They'd noticed a group of Freelancers sleeping off injuries when they'd gone to claim bunks in the barracks.  All three had been bemused by barracks, but took their time to get settled and learn the local area.  By the time they'd returned, the group that'd been sleeping were gone.

Now it was morning and Kairos, Aranel, and Dominic were breaking fast with Murai, a quiet Wind sagani in plain armour with an amazingly ostentatious bird pendant, and Timmy, a Djogeon halfling who seemed disappointed with much of the world.  Dominic could relate to that.

Subdued as it was, the tavern was rife with speculation.  Two very high-powered individuals had just walked into the back of the powerful Church of Storms, cast some spells which unleashed mayhem, then broke out the prisoners Gillian, Petersen, and Ethan of the Daystar cult.  All five were on the run, and a party of Freelancers had been dispatched to pursue.  Kairos and Aranel were shocked.

Kairos:  people worship the Daystar?!
Dominic:  of course people fucking worship the Daystar.
Arnael:  why "of course"?
Dominic:  because people fucking suck!

Timmy rolled his eyes in agreement.  Aranel, used to Dominic from the airship trip here from Ripa Daneo, started tuning her new shamisen so she could play with it more.  The others quickly suggested going upstairs to see if there was a suitable mission.

With Arnari at the Church of Storms, the 5 Freelancers went to Tomtom to find out what to do.  Tomtom was at his desk studying a piece of paper, a large mastiff laying nearby.  The group looked around.  Tomtom had ornamental weapons on his walls, as well as maps of Cliffshadow, Stormhaven, and Hindmarsh.  On some shelves were small rocks, labelled with the names of various skyliths.  He looked up as they came in and waved them into chairs.  Everyone sat but Dominic, who was studying the maps with interest.

Tomtom sighed, then snapped the paper with a finger and put it down.  "Do what research you can to find out about the people who attacked Church of Storms," he started. "Where did they come from?  Where did they stay?  How did they know where the dungeon was?  How did they know –" He stopped, realizing the new Freelancers lacked context.

"They attacked at just the right time to steal Bright Thunder," he explained, "That's where the other Freelancers are."  He frowned, then continued, "Hope they have an opportunity to kill some of those.  Arnari is assisting with rituals to raise the dead."  His face cleared.  "This will pay 100gp each."

Dominic:  do you have any ideas where we should look?
Tomtom:  all I know is Church of Storms, then gone
Aranel:  shouldn't we ask the Dockmaster?
Tomtom:  it's hard to ask, because you don't know when they came in; also could have come from Hindmarsh.  What I know from a quick chat is that they escaped – boarded an airship, then were gone.
Kairos:  so, is arranged.
Murai:  so we could ask the Dockmaster about who owns the airship.
Tomtom:  they sailed on Grigor'ev, an air elemental airship that makes a regular run to Waypoint Whim.  They weren't the only passengers. But appeared to pay extra to wait.

Dominic nodded and walked out the door, presumably going towards the Church of Storms.  As the others also left, Aranel asked, "Where is the Church of Storms here, anyhow?"  But Dominic had been studying the map, so he knew where to go.

The five Freelancers entered the front hallway of the Church of Storms and were greeted by an acolyte.  Murai said, "Hi, we've been sent here from Freelancers."  The acolyte's demeanor changed and they quickly led the Freelancers past the central area to the courtyard in back.

The courtyard was pretty big; it had a low building to the north with an arch in it, and 20-25' walls to the east and south.  A small building was in the southeast that looked like storage, next to it, in the east wall, was a gate.  Near that building, a circle of ground was scorched.  Some people were moving about on business; others, trying to clean up either the scorch, or blood.  Lots of blood.

The acolyte directed the Freelancers to a group trying to clean the scorch mark.  They were being supervised by a human man with auburn hair and green eyes.  He was medium height, and wearing a shimmering grey robe, with lightning patterns worked in with gold and silver.  Occasionally, he was casting prestidigitation.  His robe was somewhat torn and scorched, and he looked tired and a bit bruised.

"You'll want Adrian Bryant, that is he," the acolyte said, then bowed and went back to the front hall.  The Freelancers went to Adrian; Timmy eyed the gate, and noted it was frequently used.

Kairos:  what can you tell us about the two that busted through here?
Aranel <talking over Kairos>:  we were given very little info!
Adrian:  very tan, do not know names.  Man was tall, pretty burly, carried a glaive.  It's probably…
<Adrian stopped as his eyes fell upon Murai's pendant.>
Adrian:  …the second blingiest thing you ever see:  a glaive gold-chased, with rubies and sunstones.
<Murai had been looking around, but this got their full attention.>
Adrian:  human woman also very tall.  5'8" bleached-blonde hair, bright green eyes
<Somehow, without moving, Aranel caught Adrian's gaze on her eyes like emerald chips.>
Adrian:  not like yours, human green eyes!  She was in studded leather and had a scimitar … looked like a standard Daystar scimitar, but extra Daystar.
Aranel:  what does that mean?
Adrian:  sunburst etched on the blade, gold-chased hilt
Timmy:  were they wearing a belt, or anything with insignia?
Adrian:  apart from what I saw, and tan-ness, no insignia.  I've seen them <Daystar leaders> wearing knee-length vests with sequins to lead ceremonies, but not these two.
Murai:  really seems like they knew their way around the place.  Anyone acting suspicious?
Adrian:  been questioning people.  As far as I can tell, nobody currently working here told them where to go.  But, we've had janitors and such.  We've held these a while, and managed to rehabilitate some.
Kairos:  was the fact you were holding these a secret, or … ?
Adrian:  we don't publish lists, but we weren't gagging people
Kairos:  but how many people knew prisoner identities?
Adrian:  I don't think anyone would have talked about it.  But, it wasn't a huge secret.
Dominic:  are the dungeons warded against scrying?
Adrian:  no
Aranel:  you said you checked people, did they have gaps in memory?
Adrian:  no, that was part of what we checked for
Aranel:  you said dungeons were not warded against scrying, what about sending?
Adrian:  actually, not
Murai:  Church of Storms, as far as I'm aware… why now?  Some of these people have been here for eighths?
<Narrator voice:  the GM made everyone roll to determine Adrian's answer.>
Adrian:  we suspect enough people had been captured, to get to critical mass.  There were 4 spells cast in the courtyard:  first, mass suggestion, then mass suggestion from a scroll, third, psychic scream - some people died, the Typhoon was injured, fourth, mage hand to grab Bright Thunder.
Aranel <sternly>:  not answering the question.
Adrian <patiently>:  the scroll.  It takes a while to craft.
Timmy:  when you had these in the dungeon, we assumed Church of Storms was taking care of it.  How were you keeping them, next to each other?!
Adrian:  they were all in one wing, isolated from others.  Ethan, Gillian, Petersen, the Rain sagani Sola, and Siress, the liontaur.  The liontaur and the Wind sagani appeared to have given up their lives to become Daystar elementals.
Dominic:  were there any witnesses left alive?
Adrian:  did not want others down there to be converted.

At this, Dominic looked around the yard, but the dominant interesting thing was that blast mark.  He started inspecting it.

Adrian:  the woman did raise her hand, exclaiming about the "glory of the Daystar" and then a while later there was that blast.
<Dominic points out the shadows of people, faintly outlined within the blast.>
Aranel:  how much time was that delay?
Adrian:  about 3 winks.  <Narrator voice:  of the Cat's Eye, i.e. 3 rounds>
Aranel:  did she cast it, or call for it from another?
Adrian:  she cast it.
Murai:  can we talk to the guard?
Adrian:  that would be Bachtell.

Adrian called over one of the guards.

Bachtell was a human of indeterminate gender, in plate and very burly.  They appeared to have taken a recent lesson in unconfident.

Bachtell:  I'll be happy to answer whatever questions you have.
Murai:  what happened, from your perspective?
Bachtell:  was doin' the guard duty, outside back entrance <gestured at gate>.  Saw this couple, very tan, very well-dressed; was a bit suspicious of the tan-ness.  But as far as I can tell, they cast suggestion on me, because I thought it was a good idea to let them in and try to kill the Typhoon.
Murai:  which direction did they come from?
Bachtell:  the north.
Timmy <aside>:  Dominic – what's to the north?
Dominic <shrugged>:  stuff
Murai:  had you seen these people before?
Bachtell:  no
Dominic:  how often do you guard the gate?
Bachtell:  it was my duty this prime, but we rotate

Dominic went out the gate and walked north, looking for anything of interest.  <Narrator voice:  and Matt rolled a natural 1 on perception.>  But he was confused, looking at footsteps that led through the courtyard wall?  He looked at the alley again… it had been longer than a day.

Timmy and Kairos had followed Dominic to the alley.  Timmy looked around and almost imperceptibly shrugged.  It was an alleyway with cobblestones.  Kairos started poking at the various rubbish with the end of his walking stick that we only discovered he had right then.  He turned to Bachtell, who was standing next to the onduty guard, with a similar expression.

Kairos:  which direction did they turn into the alley?
Bachtell <thought a moment>: turned in from the west, off Mimosa Boulevard.
Kairos:  not much we can check
Aranel:  could check for inn, or flyers
Dominic:  will be disappointed, if there's flyers.
Murai <amused>:  would you also be disappointed, if there's not?

Dominic scowled at Murai, and then the Freelancers headed along where Bachtell had indicated.  Bachtell waited at the gate.  They turned onto Mimosa Boulevard and looked around, for flyers, for anything that seemed like it would yield information.

A lady walked by, with a nice torque necklace sporting many sapphires.  Murai watched her go, perhaps scheming how to acquire such a thing.  Kairos looked around, the Daystar shining on his bald head, thinking Cliffshadow was a big city.  The other three Freelancers saw, not terribly far away, a couple teenagers hanging out, who had probably ditched their lessons, but then again we still haven't addressed how education of the young is done in Skyway.

They looked up suspiciously at the Freelancers, and it was not lost on anyone that the two teenagers were casing the Freelancers for valuables.  When the Freelancers mentioned "very tan people", the two reacted.

Kids:  we saw their fancy weapons and followed them to see if we could steal their shit, but decided that was an unhealthy idea.
Aranel:  by "follow for a while" where did you start following them?
Kids:  the Parkside District!  We picked them up outside The Swan
<This meant nothing to Aranel, but the others all glanced at each other.  The Swan was famous for providing rooms for honeymooners.>
Timmy:  when they left, did they seem like a typical newlywed couple, or did they have a mission?
Kids:  start out that way, <voices mimicking>  "honey…" "mwah mwah mwah"  but once past Pegasus Square, they were gonna Fuck Shit Up
Timmy:  noticed?
Kids:  don't think so
Kairos:  any names?
Kids <mimicking again>:  "o Sweetie"  "o Honeybuns"
Timmy:  when they left, did they have anything like luggage?
Kids:  armour, weapons. The man had a shoulder bag
Aranel:  thanks so much!  

Aranel handed the two teenagers each a gold piece, taking care to hide her abundance of coin.  They took off.

Dominic:  let's go to the House Of Good Repute
Timmy:  are we done here, then?
Dominic:  actually, I wanted to look at the dungeon

The Freelancers headed back to the alley.

When they asked to see the dungeon, Bachtell checked in with Adrian first, and he waved his hand.  "By all means, show them," the tired human said.  So Bachtell led them through the arch in the low building down several flights of stairs.

The stone stairs eventually ended in a T-junction, and Bachtell led the Freelancers to the right.  There were cells along the walls.  Bachtell pointed out the closest cells, noting they'd cleaned up the incinerated corpses of the liontaur and Rain sagani.  The Freelancers noticed the scorches centered on where the Daystar elementals had been.

Bachtell then pointed out the cells the broken-out prisoners had been in.  The cell doors had obviously had their locks picked open.  The cells had no windows since it was so far underground, but there were ventilation shafts.  Nothing was there to see; nothing had been left behind.  Everyone was a little quiet.

Kairos:  a rehabilitation place.
Dominic:  not a prison
Timmy:  how many other prisoners have been here?
Bachtell <hesitated>:  we don't take criminals, we take people who have religious crime or heresy.  <paused>  so, not that many?  These aren't the first, and it's weird how widespread this heresy is.
Aranel:  was Church of Storms the only institution holding Daystar worshippers?
<Aranel managed to hesitate only slightly at the phrase "Daystar worshippers".>
Bachtell:  yes, Church of Ua was helping, but they are not holding Daystar.  <snorted>  They got their own problems.
Kairos:  doesn't look like we'll find much else here.  Time to go to The Swan?

Bachtell, unaware of their conversation with the street kids, was startled, and gave the Freelancers a strange look.  Murai, without changing expression, pulled out a coin and flipped it.  "Dominic and Kairos," they announced, "Congratulations on your recent marriage!"

The other Freelancers all laughed, and Bachtell put obvious effort into controlling their face.  But it was clear they were confused, and finally concluded they could be grateful to be done escorting the Freelancers.

"I'll escort you out," they said.

As the Freelancers walked to the north end of Cliffshadow, Aranel realized that Murai had said that just for humor, but the proposed ruse might have merit.  So she took it seriously.

Aranel:  the rest of the plan?  Timmy as majordomo?
Kairos:  I don't know, we just need to show Freelancer badges and talk to the front desk.
Aranel:  we don't want to show Freelancer badges.
Timmy:  we don't know they're not in cahoots.
Aranel:  the kids did say, they were hamming it up.

After about 45 minutes, they were in front of a very well-appointed building, with a sign showing two swans in the shape of a heart in front.  Aranel nudged Dominic with her elbow and hissed, "Act like newlyweds!"  Dominic, without changing his expression, reached out an arm and put it around Kairos.

The Freelancers went in to see the place was really pretty.  Very clean, spotless, well appointed with motifs of the Swan of Love.  This inn's rooms would run ten times the cost of an ordinary traveller's inn.  Kairos relaxed slightly and murmured, "Yes, this is what it should be like."  Aranel wondered at this comment.  

They looked around some more.  One end of the room had a mosaic mural of two swans doing the heart shape.  Fresh-cut flowers were everywhere.  A small bar was nearby, and the concierge was watching them, a tall, dark-skinned human.

Aranel glanced at the others, eyebrow raises.  "Continue our ruse?" she asked quietly.  "...to be discreet."  Dominic replied, exasperated, "It's The Swan, everything is discreet."  So, Aranel, Murai, and Timmy walked up to the concierge, whose name was Malak, while Dominic and Kairos tried to look like they were just checking out the place.

Murai:  I'm not charming, but I am a Freelancer
Timmy <held up his badge>:  we need some information on some recent guests.
<Aranel was too appalled to say anything.>
Malak:  always happy to help Freelancers.  What information did you need?
Murai:  two very tan people, bleached hair, the man had a very fancy glaive and a shoulder bag.  They caused some serious trouble.
Timmy:  when did they arrive, and if or when did they check out?  What is the room service that they used?  Did they have luggage?  Want to know about them.

Malak pulled out a ledger and looked through it.  He stopped, repeated the description as a question, and at Aranel's nod, said, "Mr and Mrs Ambrulavage were having a second honeymoon, and had the rooms paid ahead for a prime; they arrived at Okeanostag for the Harvest Holiday.  They are due to check out Fysitag."

Aranel:  are you aware that they're here now?
Malak:  for various privacy reasons…  …no room service for the last couple days.
Aranel <leaned in>:  our understanding is they are not on the skylith anymore
Malak <taken aback>:  why would they pay?!
Aranel:  perhaps that's why we're here.

Malak gave Murai a key, and Aranel waved Dominic and Kairos over.  Dominic asked, "Did they ask for this room specifically?"  Malak shook his head.  "No; they just asked for the best."

The Freelancers mounted the carpeted stairs to the third floor, their steps unusually quiet.  Once at the room, Dominic checked the door for traps, with Kairos' help.  The sound of a fire in the fireplace could be heard faintly through the door, and the light under the door was changing.  Dominic pointed it out.

Murai put their hands on the door, and invoked their divine sense, which revealed nothing.  The door was not particularly warm.  They unlocked the door and opened it, everyone else peering around them to see.  Within, the Freelancers saw a lavishly appointed bedroom, with a divider; a breakfast nook by the balcony; possibly another bedroom; small and tiny creatures,

Wait, mini Daystar elementals?  Three of them were the size of large melons, and one was the size of Timmy, pacing back and forth before the balcony.  They all turned towards Murai, and the Timmy-sized one appeared to take a breath.

Dominic said quickly, "Let's not be in a line," and shut the door.  "We're not being paid to fight that stuff."

• Murai locked the door and declared "That no man shall go on land till th'airship is off the ground, and in readiness to put to sky."  They pulled out their boathook.
  • Dominic:  am perfectly willing to fight these things but I want to be paid.
    Aranel:  should one of us talk to the concierge?
• Timmy peered through the keyhole, and invoked his elemental attunement in an attempt to put one of the elementals "out".  It seemed dimmer?
  • Dominic:  people might hear sounds and make the wrong assumption!
    Aranel:  true
• Aranel ran to the edge of the stairs.
  • Aranel:  oh Malak!  We have Trouble with the suite!
    Malak:  very well madame, will be there in just a moment
    Aranel:  the room needs a little bit of clean up!
    Malak:  very well, be right there
• The little Daystar elementals were not impeded by the door at all, and easily exited the room under the door.
  • Murai smacked the first one with their boathook, and it disappeared into sparkles.
  • Kairos stabbied the second one with his daggar, and it disappeared into sparkles.
  • The third one smacked Kairos with an arm of light, burning him.
  • The Timmy-sized elemental emerged and sort of burped a cone of sunburning light, which missed Kairos but caught the rest of the Freelancers.  Dominic and Aranel were looking right at it, and started seeing spots.
• Malak, coming up the stairs, saw the flash of light, as well as a disco-ball effect from Murai's ridiculous pendant.  He made a face, and hurried.

Dominic looked at his club, looked at the elementals, and readied to dodge.

• Murai rolled their eyes at Dominic, and then whacked the Timmy-sized elemental with their boathook, which was far less effective than they were expecting.
• Timmy struck the same elemental with his daggar, and experienced the same disappointment.
• Aranel drew her rapier.  She's trained in it, but never used it in a real fight.  She stuck it in the buckler-sized elemental, and it dissipated into sparkles.  She stepped back from the other one.
• Kairos also struck the remaining elemental with his daggar, and was as disappointed as Timmy.
• The elemental swiped at Murai with an arm of light, burning them with the radiance of the Daystar.
• Malak was still mounting the stairs.

Dominic threw a daggar at the elemental, missing.  The daggar clattered off the wall noisily, no doubt upsetting Malak.

• Murai struck the elemental with the boathook again, with the same disappointing result; but the little piece of the Daystar was looking tattered around the edges.
• Timmy drew his short sword, which looked long compared to his overall size.  He thrust it at the elemental, missing.
• Aranel prepared to dodge.
• Kairos struck the elemental again with his dagger.
• The elemental swiped at Murai again, but missed.
• Malak called out, "What are all these bright lights?!"

Dominic pulled his quarterstaff off his back, and struck at the elemental with a two-handed overhand strike.  The elemental dodged it with a flash of light, and the whack of the quarterstaff into the floor was uncomfortable loud in the well-appointed hallway.

• Murai's boathook arc'd through the elemental, which scattered into all colours of the rainbow, the light bouncing off the magpie pendant and lighting up the hallway with the reflections, just as Malak reached the top of the stairs.

Malak composed himself, despite what he saw.  "What seems to be the trouble with the room?"

Dominic:  was occupied.
Kairos:  an infestation; we've dealt with it.
Malak:  was it these… bright things?
Murai:  some kind of minor Daystar elemental
Malak:  is the room okay now?  Can we look.
Murai:  maybe one is inside.
Malak:  you lead.

Murai opened the door again, everyone else peering around them to see, tall Malak peering over.  The room was devoid of elementals, so they went in.  A bowl of fruit was set out, and both Aranel and Timmy discovered they were hungry, and were distracted by it..  Murai was casing the room for shiny valuables, but sadly found none other than inlays.

Dominic and Kairos noticed papers in the fireplace that had not been fully burned; what showed were obviously sketches of the layout of the Church of Storms.  Dominic saw it was recently drawn.

Aranel:  so:  someone is suborned.
<Aranel and Dominic looked, saw the gate, arrow saying "morning practice".>
Malak:  what is going on here?  What is these… light elementals?  Is my inn in trouble
<Aranel assessed his attitude; he cared about his inn.>
Murai:  they were left behind by the previous guests
Aranel:  we were here looking for previous guests, who have caused trouble for the Church of Storms
Malak:  grateful for Freelancers, for taking care of this.
Dominic:  how grateful, like is there a value here?
Aranel:  you have use of the room early
Malak:  certainly, you will have a discount if you choose to make use of our facility

The Freelancers did not press him, but took their leave and returned to the Church of Storms with their findings.  Adrian paid them 100gp each, reminding them, since they were new, to give 10% of it to Tomtom.

• Aranel → lvl1 bard!
• Kairos → lvl1 ranger!
• Dominic → lvl1 druid!