RPG Recap: Alar, 2012-01-07
Year 28 of the 7th Imperator, 4rd of Declarations.
When last we saw the gang, they were in the middle of trying to recover a stolen 12” obsidian figure of Lanas for Aranaius, a priest of Lanas. It had been stolen (or purchased, or something; it was a matter of some contention) by Mariava, an antiquities dealer of ill repute. Ignatius had met Kossix Senth, who had an unknown axe to grind with Mariava, and arranged for the party to meet with him and have a talk.
Kossix showed up at the Dirty Red Table with a few guards, who stayed at a distance. Kossix was eager to share what he knew about Mariava – clearly, Kossix said, the man was a necromancer. He cited evidence: Mariava had dealings with the Icarian “scholar” Xook, who is far and wide suspected of various unwholesome things; he had been seen more than one accompanying a friend to the great temple of Lanas, but not entering it; the candles lit in his windows at night would dance in sync, a well known sign of a necromancer’s home! The party was less than convinced. Kossix insisted that Mariava was behind the strange new sickness infecting some of the neighborhood’s beggars and indigents, having poisoned the water “or something like that.”
He suggested that his new friends could sneak into Mariava’s house and gather evidence. Redorus was a bit wary of yet more advice to break into this guy’s house, but Kossix said he would provide the party with a magic book that would record anything happening around it, and that they could plant it to gather information. There was general grumbling of disbelief until Kossix produced the item and demonstrated its function. When asked where he’d gotten it, Kossix explained that his idiot brother-in-law, when a student at a lesser academy of daemonology, had produced the thing to write novels for him, only to learn that real life made for poor fiction.
The gang agreed to meet Kossix after dark and do the deed.
Calliope decided to head in alone, while everyone else took up positions around the neighborhood – some nearby, some a few doors down. She clambered onto the rear balcony and easily defeated the lock on the door and pushed her way into a small, bare room. Lighting her way with a candle, she moved through a curtain into the next room, a larger open area crowded with statues, display cases, and other bric-a-brac. Also, in the room was a 12” metal cage containing a small blue imp, who quickly saw Calliope and asked what she was doing there.
After a bit of negotiation, the imp (who would later give his name as the Meek Servant of All) agreed to keep his mouth shut and report nothing, if Calliope would agree to get him out of the magic cage within five days. She agreed, and got to work figuring out where to hide Kossix’s magical codex. She decided to slip it under the base of a man-sized gladiator statue. The imp cried out for her not to touch it, but it was too late. The statue lurched forward from its stand, and brought up its sword. In a panic, Calliope ran for the balcony, taking the book with her, as well as the imp and whatever else she could grab on her way out – a dagger and another codex. The statue caught her with a terrible blow that could easily have been fatal if not deflected by the unbreakable metal cage she’d held up as a shield. Badly injured, she lept to the street and was dragged away by Redorus.
One of Kossix’s guards met the regrouping party and got the story. Worried about possible repercussions, he was on his way quickly and said they’d be in touch. Tilton laid hands on Calliope and sealed her wounds. Helga found a sack and shoved the cage, codex, and dagger into them to take back home. Everyone else went directly to Aranaius to return the statue. He paid up the agreed-upon 180 silver, but was unhappy to hear that he might still hear from Mariava. “I may be in touch again,” he suggested.
Helga became quickly enamored of the dagger, once she learned the wielding caused her to turn a bold blue. Upon Calliope’s return, the two haggled for some time over what price Helga would pay for it. Ayla spent some time inspecting the codex. It was marked as property of the Imperial Bureau of Census and Taxation, and the pages were filled with names, grouped by the names of cities or towns. Some names appeared or disappeared as they read, and some sections were badly smeared and entirely illegible.
Faced with the prospect of freeing the imp, the gang discussed just tossing him in the oven or a bucket of water, but he pleaded that this wouldn’t be helpful for anyone and suggested that he still might be able to tell Mariava what had happened. Calliope, wishing to keep her word to the imp, said she would take responsibility for it, for the time being.
Everyone retired to sleep after the busy day.