The Confrontation

At the apartment complex, the guy pulls out a sealed letter for Veil. His boss wanted to give it to her. He doesn’t seem like he’s lying, per say, but rather omitting information. The party learns through conversation that this is likely a trap, and the guy is part of it. After all, who sends so many people just to deliver a letter? The girl with them is named Clarise. By listening in to thoughts and paying close attention the party picks up on their small behaviors, and that the guy behind the girl is into Clarise. The last man is odd. His mind is blank, as if he’s specifically blanking his mind.

Veil steps out of the shadows and takes the letter. The two behind Raziel take a step back. Veil goes to read the letter, and takes it into her apartment. Violet goes with her. It’s an inivtation to a memorial for the High Priest of Naugrix that was recently killed, for close friends and associates.

The memorial will take place at the home of Faelar zi’Valfaren. Veil knows who this is. He’s a people’s noble, a politician who is involved in the day-to-day affair of the average person. He appears to be an upstanding gentleman, and he aided Veil in acquiring access to the building she currently lives in. In the letter he mentions that he’s been keeping eyes out to see if she has returned. There is no official RSVP. The party responds that they will be there, and ask them to be less cultish the next time they want to show up at the apartment uninvited, for their benefit. They learn that the vigil is tomorrow night.

They leave, returning to the apartment. Rowan is at the table, eating and throwing cherries at the raven. They write down letters for the bird to spell its name, and the bird spells Luna. It’s a name she gave herself. Rowan begins discussing the information he found and gives the party a list of names – nine are crossed off, and only one is left. It’s Shepherd. The other nine were the only other nine members of the Void that existed when he left, and they’re all dead now, sacrificed and hung publicly. The group explains the plane tearing to him, and he thinks the only way into and out of their hideout is through the Gloom.

Visiting the Newspaper

The party arrives to see Elmon, the journalist, and the secretary is surprised because not many people see him. He’s older, late 50s and a human, wearing clothes that tells the party he is busy and doesn’t take time off. He has grease on his undershirt and bags under his eyes. His office is that of someone with many things on their mind.

He says that the town guard normally stays away from this type of thing, because of its religious nature. They talk about gangs. There are nine that are small time, and one large. A year and a half ago four or so large gangs were lost, and only one remains. They covered the dissolution of various criminal organizations as well as the inter-gang conflict. Veil’s gang was dissolved as well. About six months later the Blue Ravens went through a civil war of sorts that spilled onto the streets of Dragonheart. They were important to Veil in the past due to their ties to Uryll. The Blue Ravens became the new largest gang and their leader renamed the organization the Void. The leader was never named.

The party tells Elmon that his article on the Wyrmfather temple was inaccurate, and they discuss the massacre for a while. He asks what happened, and Raziel and Hove explain that they were all killed, and bodies were interred in the walls. The Vathis Sentinels wouldn’t let Elmon in, so his story was not entirely correctly. Elmon suspects that the Void is running most operations in the city. He’s been trying to link the group together, but having difficulties. He stopped looking into it heavily about four months ago. Technically, he does have a contact.

Elmon throws a small package at Veil. Inside there’s a pinky, and underneath is a small scrap of paper. The box keeps the pinky intact. It belongs to his son, Terrod, who was studying at the Pillars. The party learns that his wife was a captain of a fishing ship who was lost in a storm. The group begins telling him what they know, and he writes it all down, planning on releasing it in the future. They discuss the series of people who’ve taken over the city, beginning with Edgar Bohemn, the Vantus, who showed up a couple of years ago. He got his start in silver mining. He has a wife and children who seem to exist, but may not in all actuality. Edgar spends most of his time getting the city people to fall in love with him. For the most part he gives aid to those in need, but he has yet to win over the Kurzar family.

They discuss the list of people possessing rings, pooling together their resources and information. One member of the Kurzar family, Aren Kurzar, is on the list. This person disappeared from the public eye about a year ago. After comparing information, the group plans on leaving, and tells Elmon they will follow up with him in the future if need be.

Uncle’s Journals

By looking at her uncle’s journals, Ana learns that he was working on an alchemical method of early warning for Kurzen’s Beckoning. Ana gets an alchemy bag that grants her a +2 on alchemy craft checks, and allows her to create alchemical items in half the time. Her bombs created at this location have damage dice increased to d8s. She finds a bandolier of bombing in his bag as well, which will allow her the use of two additional bombs per day. Luna is helping her by arranging flasks in order of largest to smallest.

His novella’s go from early years to later years. There is a code inside – the 15th word in every line spells out something weird. As Ana reads through them she finds an explanation of what he was asked to do. It turns out that he was asked to recreate a property belonging to a series of rings in order to link them to the scepter. At the end of the series he mentions that his first thought was to send Ana away and leave, but he was threatened with her death if he refused to assist, which is why she was never personally hunted or followed. She then goes to listen to his revoicer.

After a few seconds she hears the sound of a fire raging and combat outside, as if people are fighting for their lives. She then hears her uncle’s voice say, “Ana, I’m sorry for the following months that you’ll be distraught for my disappearance.  I’m forced to perform these actions to save you. I am being forced against my will to take my research in a different direction. I was approached by a gentleman by the name of Edgar, he resides in Dragonheart and he has an issue with our friend. She will probably be removed shortly. You will most likely return to find the shop gone as well as myself. It is all merely a stage for those who would look for me. I believe he is taking me to Eternity.”

Loot:

• Alchemy bag (+2 on Alchemy craft checks), Bandolier of Bombing (Ana)