Part 2: The meeting of paths

Happily taking the heavy pouch of gold Akiran nods and says "Well I almost didn't mention this, since it could easily amount to nothing. But we have reason to believe that  Duar'ken, may have had a demonic contact in The Crossroads. We could investigate further if you wish."  Leaving unsaid that they would need to be hired to do so. And that his allies had already begun.    A favored phrase of the Legion was to never let a friend work for free. He and the rest may not be friends but the meaning still held true. Thezra will complain but even she can't deny that a few extra coins could make their lives much easier.

Trask looks intently at Akiran. "What proof do you have of this?"

Lilliana wrinkles her nose at the strange request from this 'Sable' fellow, but says nothing as he drinks from a decanter that Katrin hands over to him. Instead she turns to Katrin and Thezra and leans in to speak quietly enough that Sable would have a difficult time hearing.  "From what I can gather, there appears to be no immediate doors that would likely lead down, so I assume it will be in the cellar, behind the door leading to the kitchens. You both already know that I can make myself invisible, so I could sneak down into the cellar to confirm our suspicions that it leads below. What say you both?"

"Is that...possible? To be talking to him. The real him."  Ascian doesn't have a word for the feeling that thought sparks - some pale kaleidoscope of horror and confusion and hope. It's been a long, long time since he's allowed himself to think about the dawn he doesn't remember, but feels like he ought. His parents had spoken of it once and only once, and everything else had been pieced together over a lifetime of knowing it should have been the other way around. She mentions Marianne and his listless eyes lift to hers, thinking he should correct her - say he's a project, not a friend. Instead he just asks,  "Where's the cave. I'll find it." 

She hands across a map of the area complete with hand-drawn directions to the cave and a drawing of a Red Amanita mushroom. "Not far, but I wouldn't recommend going alone. The area is generally safe, but it can be dangerous for the lone traveler . Even if that traveler has a wolf." She looks at Ember, who pants quietly, looking back and forth between the cleric and rogue. 

Katrin raises an eye, shrugging as she looks at Thezra. "Perhaps. It may be worthwhile to speak to the proprietor first, perhaps they've seen something that pertains to our search. Gather as much information as possible before venturing below?"

Sable leans in comfortably with everybody else to listen to the plan, a congenial smile plastered across his face. "That sounds wise, Katrin," the wizard agrees. "Perhaps your new friend and I should go together? Get to know one another?"

Lilliana glares at Sable before turning her attention back to Katrin. "I worry that the owner is likely in on it, we may tip our hand before we get a chance to find more information. If we start snooping and he is in on it, he will shut the entire thing down quickly." She then turns her attention back to Sable with that sickly sweet smile once again.  "I'm not doing anything with you, until I know your name. Mine is Lilliana. I would say it's a pleasure, but it isn't."

"I'll bring others." Ascian rolls the map into a tight scroll and stows it, turning back to look at Ember and the newly-clear grey eyes. "Thanks. For helping him. Where I'm from, people in the city don't do that."

Sable rolls his eyes at Lilliana's posturing. "It's all mine then. So much the better. Katrin, I'm not of a mind to waste my time. You know what I'm capable of. My help is yours if you want it." The wizard then leans back in his chair, closes his eyes and soon begins to snore.

Anastasia nods with a knowing chuckle. "I know how that is. I'm from Bresselvick. Most people there barely have enough to help themselves."

Katrin rubs her temples as Sable leans away from the table. "Lilli," she says, her voice timged with weariness. "I realize that trust is a hard thing to give. Especially to those you've never seen before. But Sable has proven himself to be reliable in the past. I see no reason why he shouldn't be this time."

Lilliana grins as Sable pulls away from her and sits back. 'Good. That'll push him away, keep him from getting too close.'  She turns to Katrin with an earnest look, eyebrows rising, then slowly turning inward and down into a frown. "Well, if you said he is trustworthy, then I suppose that is good enough for me." She kicks the leg of his chair underneath the table.  "Come then, old man. Let's find somewhere quiet to disappear and then go snooping."

Thrandimir has one eye open and watching Lilliana before she has even finished her sentence. He flashes the girl a wink and springs to his feet just a touch too spritely for a man of his age. "By all means, after you," he tells her graciously, gesturing for the sorceress to take the lead.

"You know what it is then. I was born in the Cape." He gestures with his head for Ember and watches as the wolf jumps to the floor. "Nothing like here."

"Good. Thezra and I can see what we learn up here." Katrin smiles at Thezra, her face holding more warmth than it has up to this point. If she was going to be of any help to the Half-Orc, perhaps it was time to shed some of her misgivings. "Let's get a drink, shall we?"

"You know what it is then. I was born in the Cape." He gestures with his head for Ember and watches as the wolf jumps to the floor. "Nothing like here." "Nothing indeed," Anastasia says, an air of quiet reflection descending over her. "Nothing indeed...anyway, good luck Ascian. Come find me with as many mushrooms as possible."

Lilliana gives Katrin a look of skepticism as she stands.  "You have any way to contact Katrin or Thezra by chance once we are are invisible? I have heard about simple spells that allow one to whisper to others at a distance."

Sable blinks at Lilliana for a moment as he processes the question before answering. "...such a spell would break most conventional invisibility charms. Are you capable of more powerful illusions?" He probes, cautiously.

Zachary H. said: Trask looks intently at Akiran. "What proof do you have of this?" "Very little I'm afraid. As I mention this could easily amount to nothing, but I would have held myself responsible if I said nothing and something terrible happened. After Duar'ken was slain we found a piece of paper in his pocket. The note was written in code and sadly lost during the chaos of the battle. But smarter minds than mine believed that it referenced   Duar'ken meeting his  patron here in the Crossroads." Shrugging "It could be nothing, but I have always had a cautious nature. Better to look for trouble and find nothing than close your eyes and let trouble find you. Right?"

Trask's brow furrows even more deeply as Akiran explains the situation. "If you do discover a demonic presence within the city, root it out and bring back proof. We'll make sure you're adequately compensated," she says. She turns to Dredan. "Say...500 gold pieces? What say you, quartermaster?" Dredan nods, albeit seemingly reluctantly. "Yes, ma'am. We have at least that much in our dispensary fund at the moment." He pulls a pen from an inkwell and drafts a quick promissory note before passing the parchment over to Akiran, along with the pen. "Sign this," he says. "You'll be paid 50 gold pieces for your time should no demonic presence present itself."

Akiran eyes widen as he he hears her offer, that is more than a bit of gold. The negotiator in him wants to haggle but in the end decides it's better to have friends in high places than a few extra coins. Especially when they have been so generous already. Holding out his armored hand he says "You have a deal! My friends and I will look into this matter and I will report back with any information we find." Walking to the door his pouch quite a bit heavier than before he turns and says "Don't forget about Captain Beshk and Private Jenkins. They handled themselves well, the Heartlands needs good soldiers like them." And a few more friends in higher places wouldn't hurt.

“Some spirits to boost the spirits to hunt some false spirits,” Thezra pushes back from the table with a chuckle and stands to her full height, her eyes flitting around the hall, “To the bar then? I hear the ones who work them are often quite knowledgeable. If we ask, you think this one might have any… recommendations? ”  As she starts to walk, she does a quick spin around to the two at-odds with each other, “Ah one more thing: don’t kill each other until you’ve learned something,” she zeroes her gaze in on Liliana, “got it?”

Katrin chuckles, pushing back from the table in unison with Thezra. "Lead the way," she gestures to her much taller companion. Who knew that when I left Hol I'd no longer be considered tall, she muses to herself, an amused smile on her face. 

Lilliana looks at Sable blankly for a moment before what he was saying dawned upon her and she lets out an embarrassed laugh. "Oh yes, of course! How silly of me. Well then, shall we?" She immediately heads towards the door and out into the streets beyond, looking for a dark and quiet alley. Like a professional, Lilliana slips into an alley and quickly casts her spell, speaking beneath her breath. Meanwhile, Sable, barely slips into the same alley before someone looks over in their direction. 'Why did I agree to bring an old man again?'  Now both invisible, they both easily make their way back into the common room of the hall and move cautiously towards the door leading into the backroom, waiting for their companions to distract the bartender. 

Maneuvering their way through the hall, the two head on over to the bar, where Thezra promptly leans over the counter and looks down to the human running the joint. Signaling for a couple pints, she scouts out the rest of the bar while they wait, trying to take note of the individuals around the room. As the man brings them their drinks, she gives an acknowledging nod, "My thanks, barman. I'll admit,"  she says as she downs a first swig,   " I'm unaccustomed to human ale. First time in a city like this, actually." Her demeanor is relaxed and disarming, as she turns to the side, resting an elbow on the counter for balance. "If I had to guess, I might be the first orc you've seen come through here, aren't I?" 

The human bartender frowns down at the glass he is cleaning and then looks back up at Thezra. "A few half-orcs, here and there. But no full-blooded orcs,' he says. "They just don't seem to come out this way. Probably something to do with that war a couple hundred years back." It's clear he's making a joke, and has forgotten his audience. He looks up with a slightly shocked frown. "Er...um...no offence."

Katrin raises an eye at the man. Seems honest enough. She takes a sip from her glass. "Do you get a lot of strange characters through here? Or just your usual crowd?" 

"Place like this?"  she adds on, "Could only imagine all manner have at least passed through."  After another sip, she grins down to the man,  "And no offense taken, probably more to do with the quality of the swill being served than anything else, anyway."  she gives a low laugh, to ensure it was clear she was also joking.

The bartender also laughs, a low guffaw that rises from his chest. "Ha! Oh yeah, we get all kinds coming through here, what with being next to the market and all. Why do you ask?"

Katrin takes another drink. "Looking for a friend of ours. Last we heard, they might've been seen around here."

"Your friend is an orc?" The bartender chuckles under his breath. "Try the Baervale hills. You might have more luck there." With the bartender distracted, the pair of casters sneak behind the bar and ease open the door to the back. The door opens and closes with nary a sound, and Lilliana and Sable find themselves in a large kitchen. One being, a dwarf, chops lazily at a spread of vegetables and does not seem to notice their entrance. A hatch in the floor promises entrance to the underground, but it is directly in the dwarf's line of vision. A whisper to Sable sends him over to the trapdoor, and Lilliana moves over to the table behind the dwarf. She takes a bottle of cooking oil and splashes it all over the stove. The oil immediately ignites with a roar of flame. The dwarf whirls, his eyes wide with panic. A repetitive line of dwarven curses roll out of his mouth as he grabs a cup of water and splashes it over the fire. Of course, it only spreads the oil around, making the fire roar even more. The line of curses evens out into a single repeated fuck fuck fuck fuck  as he scrambles to put the flames out.  In the confusion, Lilliana and Sable easily slip into the cellar. It's dark and dank, but a easily lit lantern illuminates the cellar. One wall is lined with three-foot-diameter kegs on shelves. The other three walls are lined with shelves that are packed with various foodstuffs. No other exit from the room is visible aside from the short wooden staircase they came down. Back in the taproom, a muffled string of curses can be heard flying from the kitchens. "Wonder what's going on back there..." the bartender says, turning toward the kitchen.

Sable glances about what appears to be the mead hall's cellar. "This can't be everything," he mutters. "Come on. Let's take a look around." The pair of mages set about searching the cellar for a hidden compartment, exit, or false wall of some kind. At first it seems hopeless, but then Sable sighs in frustration and lets his back fall against one of the kegs with a dull thud that doesn't sound hollow at all. Intrigued, he turns to the container and begins to play with the tap. Nothing comes out, but, when the wizard turns it off again, one of the walls on the opposite side of the cellar shifts. The wall and shelves open up, hinging on one side to reveal a staircase descending down into darkness. "After you," Sable whispers to the raven-haired sorceress.

Katrin side-eyes the kitchen door as the barkeep turns towards the source of the noise. "We searched the hills. Unfortunately, he wasn't there. Heard he might've traveled here, so we thought we'd check it out just to make sure," the words almost seem to tumble out of her mouth before she can even properly think them through, in an attempt to turn the man's attention back to herself and Thezra. "Rumor was he was heading to a meeting, but we haven't heard from him in awhile. Anything like that happen around here recently? We're very worried that something might've happened to him."

Lilliana invisibly scoffs at Sable's cowardice, muttering something about chivalry, but proceeds towards the stairwell. Just as she's above to step through the threshold, she pauses and looks about to ensure there were no obvious traps or tripwires. She doesn't spot anything immediately and heads off into the darkness beyond.

Lilliana and Sable continue down the stairs, descending 30 or so feet into an open room that appears to be a renovated sewer junction, based on its similarity to the rooms that Lilliana saw when the party fought the goblins the night before. Aside from the tunnel that stretches out of the room ahead, there is no evidence that this ever carried water. The floor is a dark, polished tile and the air smells not of dank, stagnant water, but of ozone and the essence of old, acrid smoke. The tunnel ahead looks to continue past the lantern's light. Just beyond the light, something shifts noisily. The sound of something wet sliding across stone echoes into the room. A tendril slides its way out of the darkness in the center of the tunnel, a greenish, fleshy appendage that ends in five truncated digits. Between these stubby fingers, a wide, grinning mouth smiles fiendishly from the tendril's palm.

His eyes widening at the sight of what he can only assume is some kind of demon, Sable quickly snuffs out the light.

Lilli squints in the darkness, her eyes picking up the sight of something moving just beyond her vision as some strange snake-like creature... She didn't even realize that she'd stopped moving... no... stopped breathing  until she felt it hit here like a bucket of ice water. She was at least thankful that she couldn't scream as she spotted the grinning mouth slithering towards her. The room plunges into darkness once more as the entire creature comes into her view and suddenly she stumbles as the fear breaks and she bites down on her lip hard enough to draw blood to prevent herself from retching as an aversion towards this disgusting creature churns her stomach. 'This is what I feared all my life!'  She takes one, two, three steps backwards and then immediately breaks into a quiet run as she rushes towards the stairwell as quickly as she can... Hoping that Sable follows suit, but not stopping to check... 

As soon as the creature comes into view, Sable turns and makes for entrance as quickly and quietly as possible. When he reaches the cellar, it seems that the monster has not followed and the wizard quickly twists the tap to close the door.

As Lilliana bursts back into the cellar, she rushes over into a corner and crouches down, panting in fear of what she witnessed in the tunnels below. Her thoughts raced and jumbled from the sudden shock of fear and revulsion she felt. 'Is this what it was always warning me of? Is that what they wish to give me over to?! I won't... They will have to kill me first! Gods...'  Silent tears stream down her invisible face as she fights to regain control of herself and her composure just as she spots the tap-handle pull again and the door begin to close. Thank goodness for Sable...

Meanwhile... Ascian leaves the church and takes in the vast expanse of the Amber Market. The Amber Meadhall is on the opposite side of the open space, and so the pale man begins to move around the outside of the place in order to not be in the way of too many beings. As he passes the alley a few buildings down from the temple, a voice interrupts his train of thought.  "You went into the temple with that look on your face, and now you've got it on your way out," the voice says. It is low and mellow, with deep timbre that seems to rise up from the ground before touching the speaker's vocal chords. "Religion not help you very much?" Ascian turns to see the speaker, a tall, thick-framed half-elf with bronzed skin. He wears a light tunic under bound leathers, with a dagger and rapier hanging from his belt.

Ascian pauses at the mouth of the alley, almost as surprised to be stopped as he is that it's with a genuine question. His thoughts had been steeped in rainy windowsills and Kaed's retreating back and grey-tinged dreams; the world around him arbitrary. It should be relieving, he supposes, to be grounded back – but there's too many questions and not enough answers and even when he has unlimited time to think these days, it somehow still is both too much and not enough.  "I don't know yet. It's brought more questions than answers."   His brow furrows faintly, taking in the dagger and rapier with careful note. His hand clenches into Ember's scruff lest the wolf sense the threat before he does.  "Did it not help you."

"I find that religion only helps those that want an easy answer to all the world's problems," he says. "Or at least, easier answers. I find my help in other, more worldly things. And if a god made those, well, let that be sufficient."  He steps forward, not exactly out of the alley, but not exactly staying hidden in it either. "The name's Barnes. What's yours?" He presents a hand to shake, the gesture nonthreatening enough that Ember has no reaction to it.

"Ascian," he responds vaguely as he shakes Barnes' hand, his grip light and delicate. Easy answers.  If there is one thing his questions have taught him, it's that no such thing exists – yet it's seemingly exactly what he'd seemed to find behind Pelor's doors; a ritual that might solve all his problems. Is he wrong, then, perhaps, to be going to Anastasia? Is it possible she's using him like so many others had, promising answers she doesn't have for as long as he can give things in return? The thought troubles him, and he looks back at the temple over his shoulder before back to Barnes.  "This is Ember. What do you mean. What worldly things." 

"That depends on what your troubles are," Barnes says. "I know of things that can help with lots of ailments. Everything from chronic pain to hangovers. If you sleep in too often or can't sleep enough -- something for everything."

Ascian looks at him for a long, unsettling moment, scouring the half-elf's features.  "What if you can't sleep at all."

Barnes returns the long, unsettling look. "You don't sleep at all? That's...strange, to say the least."  He pulls a brace of five small bottles filled with a black tincture. "I've never encountered someone with a problem quite like yours, but this should  help you sleep the night away and dream most vividly." He pulls one vial free of the brace and holds it out to Ascian. "Take this tonight before you would sleep. If it works, you can find me around the market for more. If it doesn't, no harm, no foul."

Barnes is pulling out a vial and Ascian is already turning to leave, having met a hundred of his ilk in the Cape, when the promise sinks in fully and he pauses. Dream most vividly.  He'd gone to Shadowfell before, under duress; his or Ember's. But before that, it had always been in dreams. Or rather, it had always  been  his dreams. It seems, like Anastasia's, almost too good to be true. But what if she was right? What if it was his brother over there, and he was able to make contact? Real contact; knowing contact. Contact that didn't have anything to do with falling off a tower or saving a wolf. What if his brother had been waiting all this time in a world of grey malaise for Ascian's acknowledgement, Ascian's understanding, Ascian's apology ? Twenty-one years of waiting to be called to a realm he only barely had a word for. And here, finally, at last, maybe a chance to be the one calling. He looks from the vial, to Barnes, and back to the vial. There's a cool voice in the back of his head that feels vaguely like Kaed's that tells him to keep walking, and then one he doesn't have a name for that forcefully splinters the ice.  "How much."

Barnes smiles, a gentle expression. "For now, nothing," he says.  "I'm hardly going to charge you for something that may not work." He holds the vial out for Ascian to take. "But if it works, you'll want more. And we'll work out a price then."

"Thanks."  Ascian takes it gingerly, then pockets it before Barnes can change his mind. "I'll let you know."  He looks at the half-elf a beat longer before asking what he likely should have to start.  "What's in it."