HLoM: The Firebird, Chapter 1

[Nathan of the FoS]

"I-I-I am," Richard agreed, perfectly amiable to this, although he seemed to rub his fingers uncomfortably together at speaking so openly of it. "I-I-I do not doubt you, Landsherr, but I-I-I... we rarely speak of such things, in Mordent, for-for fear of calling their attention. The dead, and the past, rest lightly there. To visit a-a place with none at all is very strange to me."

"The past lies heavy on us in some ways," Yarek says, "but not in that one. Not here, at least. Some say that those who die here have their souls haled down to Hell immediately. Which is nonsense, but there's some reason to it. You can't speak with a departed shade if the person died here, or return the dead to life." He shrugs eloquently, then seems to realize something. "The hounds--I told them to find Agata and they're leading us back toward the baths. If we go much farther we'll be there, actually. Maybe she found her own way out?"

[Nathan of the FoS]

The two inquisitors assigned to Vasili give him skeptical looks, but any further interrogation is cut short by the baying of hounds, distant but clear.

"The hellhounds!" Renhalt says. "Quickly, to the kennels!"

Suiting deeds to words, he sets off at a rapid pace, drawing the inquisitors (including Vasili's erstwhile companions, but excepting Marcellus Abtor, still escorting Helja) after him and leaving the Borcan alone.

[NeoTiamat]

"Jacqueline Montarri, of the Red Vardo Traders," Horst repeats. If he recognizes the name, he does a good job of not showing it. "I'll go immediately. As for your other request--it would take a great deal of time, and under the circumstances I think you're better off not knowing. Perhaps I can arrange...something...after my return."

Standing and bowing, Horst says, "Thank you again, Baroness. I hope to see you again."

Lena wrinkled her nose. It wasn't quite what she was hoping for, but it was better than nothing. She'd have to send Vasili (the Barovian one, not the Borco-Hazlani one) a message soon explaining why he was getting a cultist hand-delivered to him by the Red Vardo Traders. Ah the life of the diplomat.

"How very mysterious. Something." Lena said, then smiled. "So be it. Good luck, Horst, and I imagine I will be in touch. Take care."

Lena did not offer him the blessings of the Morninglord. She was at best imperfectly pious, but there were limits even for her. She watched the man go, tapping a slender finger against her chin as she thought. Well, that was that. There might be trouble if Horst was captured along the way, but the man seemed competent. So were Montarri and von Holtz, they would manage things from here.

"What do you think, Ushka? Not bad for being in Hazlan not quite twenty four hours. An entire Great House turned to our side, wrapped up with a little heretical bow." Lena said, glancing at her familiar, who sneezed at her. "Yes, yes, Inquisition, I know. But I did too help. Anyway, speaking of earning your keep, let's see if we can tie up any other loose ends. Now where did Agata go..."

Ushka is off to track Agata, or failing that, any other miscellaneous cultists of the preferably non-twitching variety. Perception +20
[dice]0[/dice]
Total: 39

[DeepShadow of FoS]

Suiting deeds to words, he sets off at a rapid pace, drawing the inquisitors (including Vasili's erstwhile companions, but excepting Marcellus Abtor, still escorting Helja) after him and leaving the Borcan alone.

After casting the spell and sharing his parting words with Renhalt, Vasili heads off after the caves himself. He makes as much haste as he can without appearing to be in any undue hurry--he doesn't want to draw any more attention to himself. Along the way, his mind is with Leila as she talks with Horst, and he briefly shares her senses as she follows the pack into the caves, the better to find his way there swiftly himself.

[Nathan of the FoS]

Richard and Yarek's conversation is cut short by the sound of voices just ahead of them in the tunnel--familiar voices.*



Lena and Ushka's return to the tunnels is punctuated by their falling in with Vasili, himself hurrying down to where Leila has informed him the rest of the group now is, just where the baths for the tunnels. Just a little way along the passage they come across a young Rashemani girl dressed in a white shift wandering toward them. Even a moment's glance shows her to be inebriated or possibly under some stronger influence; she keeps one hand on the tunnel wall and her eyes on the ground, and hardly seems aware of the approach of fox and summoner.

*Assuming Vasili and Lena speak, which seems likely. This is indeed Agata.

[Nathan of the FoS]

"Yes, please go find Agata. She should not be running loose right now, for her own sake, if not for anyone else's. But before you leave us to our work here, does someone have the means to repair the death wound on our corpse? It's really hard to make that appear self-inflicted. Master Marcel? Vasili could do it when he arrives, but I'd prefer it be someone with skill in healing."

"I am familiar with the healing arts," Marcel replies, "but I don't have any way of altering the body…for better or worse." He himself doesn't seem overly enamored of Leila's plan, but then, very little about this night has really pleased him, it seems. "If Freiherr Isfahani can supply the magical mending, I'll do my best to point out the changes that will be necessary. Shall we, Freiherr?"

[NeoTiamat]

"Ah, Vasili." Lena said with perfect aplomb when she and her fox came across the young Borcan. Ushka looked... a little less cute and cuddly in the shadows. Her crimson fur was luminous in the darkness, and her eyes were uncannily bright and intelligent, watching Vasili as if he were a particularly choice mouse. Lena smiled at him, a distinctly triangular, vulpine smile of her own. "What a pleasant and hair-raising surprise."

Then Lena's attentions turned to the Rashemani girl. She murmured a soft spell under her breath and moved her hand just so, and a moment later Ushka vanished into the tunnels, scampering as only a fox can. Lena watched the girl (Agata, one presumed) for a moment, then stepped forward. "Miss Agata?" She called gently, then stepped towards the girl.

Turning on Detect Magic. Anything currently enchanting Agata, or other magical effects I should know of?

[Nathan of the FoS]

Agata shivers, then lifts her face in response to Lena's call. Her face is expressionless; her pupils have constricted to pinpoints and her mouth hangs slightly open, a line of saliva dangling from one corner of her lips. She does not make any reply, and she does not even look either Lena or Vasili in the face, but she stops moving forward and…waits.

No magical aura detected. Vasili, could I get a skill check please? Heal, knowledge (nature) or knowledge (arcana)?

[NeoTiamat]

"Opium intoxication." Lena wrinkled her nose. Ah, the Hazlani and their tendency to drug everything and everyone in a three mile radius. Poor Agata. "Vasili, you would be more familiar than I with what to do. Is there a doctor in Helholt, or someplace we can leave her to sleep it off under supervision?"

[DeepShadow of FoS]

"Ah, Vasili." Lena said with perfect aplomb when she and her fox came across the young Borcan. Ushka looked... a little less cute and cuddly in the shadows. Her crimson fur was luminous in the darkness, and her eyes were uncannily bright and intelligent, watching Vasili as if he were a particularly choice mouse. Lena smiled at him, a distinctly triangular, vulpine smile of her own. "What a pleasant and hair-raising surprise."

Vasili looks back and forth between Lena and the fox, momentarily taken by surprise. "I can't imagine how something could be pleasant and hair-raising," he said bemusedly, "but I'll try to be more the former than the latter." Biting back another comment, he shook his head. Whatever was now between them, this was not the time. He set his jaw and nodded for Lena to continue. As she divined for magical auras around Agata, Vasili did the same.

Casting detect magic; Heal is untrained
Heal +4
[dice]0[/dice]
K (nature) +10
[dice]1[/dice]
K (arcana) +11
[dice]2[/dice]

[NeoTiamat]

"Clearly, you need to exercise your imagination more, Vaskya." Lena said with a swift and mercurial smile. Having determined that Agata was unlikely to be some kind of arcane boobytrap, the Barovian woman moved forward, speaking softly, soothingly, as though to a wounded animal. Lena did not feel comfortable in this role, but she could make some educated guesses as to what had happened to Agata. My first night as a spy and I've already sent my moral compass spinning. How lovely Lena thought. "Sssh, it's all over. The nightmare is passed, everything will be okay now. We'll take you home..." Then softly, Lena began to sing.

"Take my hand
and I will close my eyes
guide me home
and as a child
I will eagerly fantasize

home is at the end of war
home is in the peaceful sun
home is in the mornings breeze
home is where it all began"

Assuming that Agata didn't bolt, Lena took her gently by the hand and turned back towards the surface, guiding the Rashemani woman.

Perform: Singing +13
[dice]0[/dice]
Total: 31

[DeepShadow of FoS]

"Sssh, it's all over. The nightmare is passed, everything will be okay now. We'll take you home..."

Vasili watches Agata's response to Lena with a long groan that seems to start in his toes. "Lena, she doesn't remember her nightmare. This isn't normal opium, it's wedding veil--enchanted opium that blocks memory. Perfect for the kind of horrors they had planned. But worse, they've given her an overdose. She needs a healer--or antitoxin--or death will seal her memory shut, such that even her ghost will not recall what was done to her."

He turns to Elena, his eyes fierce with determination. "I need to get to the caves, to finish what Leila has started. It's up to you. Get her to Richard, Marcel, or Avram. Find some antitoxin. Keep her out of sight. If you can pull her through this, the drug may grant her a small measure of mercy in her amnesia. If she takes a bad turn..."

He takes a deep breath. "If we fear losing her, I have a possible solution I dare not speak of at the moment. Do what you can for her. I must go."

With that, Vasili is off, slowing only a moment to reconnect with Lena via whisper-magic. If she has more to say, that should give her just enough time to time to say it before the distance between them gets too great.

Casting Message as a standard action while moving away.

[Isabella]

Richard and Yarek's conversation is cut short by the sound of voices just ahead of them in the tunnel--familiar voices.*

Richard was silent as he listened to the conversation, his hand on the cavern wall as he waited out of view. He glanced at Yarek a few times during it - once Vasili had spoken and left, however, Richard called down the hallway. "Baroness? Is-is it safe?"

He looked back at Yarek once more, and nodded his head toward where the voices were coming from, for the young man to follow... so long as it was, indeed, safe.

"I-I-I do not think we can linger long," he said, sounding very weary, "but I-I-I have scroll upon me that would, would cease the flow of poison through her veins, for a number of hours - long, long enough for her to be out of danger, if we can-can but find a healer. Lansherr, would there be such a person in the Hellholt?"

Heal +6 to look her over
[dice]0[/dice]
I may not have a physical use, but at least I carry items that do.

[NeoTiamat]

Lena didn't say a word as Vasili left, though the hardening of her eyes said all that was necessary. What a lovely country this is. She also didn't seem so terribly surprised by Richard and Yarek's arrival a moment later -- either Ushka was about, or more likely, Lena was just past the point of being surprised by anything tonight.

"As safe as it ever is, Richard. Good evening Landsherr." Lena said, eyeing Yarek. "I know that Helja studied at the White Academy, she would know about healing if anyone does here."

[Nathan of the FoS]

Yarek nods in response Lena's greeting, his eyes on Agata. Shuddering slightly, he says in a low voice, "Maybe you should take her up, Baroness. I'm not sure...I think I'd better turn back. I'm sure Helja will be able to help her."