Crate Expectations

With the Aranea's death, I became aware of my Spire Pendant again; perhaps she had cast nondetection on it, and that expired with her, or perhaps it was coincidence or contingency. In any case, we rushed across town, tracking it. Surprisingly, Durthen emerged from his room accompanied by a sorceress he called "Woe" (or perhaps "Whoa"; I'm pretty sure it wasn't "Ho" but you never know with Durthen). There wasn't a lot of time for explanations, but apparently she's from the Arak Spire. I don't recall running into her, but he seemed to trust her, and she was willing enough to follow him into adventure and happenstance (strange, that!).

In a dark alley near the building containing my pendant, I cast clairvoyance to preview the scene. In doing so, I set off some kind of magical alarm, and alerted a man in a loft apartment who hurriedly gathered some items and rushed towards the rooftop. I called out to my companions to join me and Livia for a short dimension door up to confront him, and a complex chase ensued. Our quarry was nimble and well-suited to running the roofs, and we had great difficulty pinning him down. Even a twenty-five foot wall of iron could not stop him, as he leapt and scrambled to the top, leave Durthen to chop his way through in signature destructive style. Eventually, however, the seven of us proved too much for him, and he surrendered to us.

Finn (we didn't bother to learn his name, but later heard it from another) didn't know how he came to possess my pendant, and was busy forging papers for the transport of wine and food aboard the pirate transport The Black Lightning. I curtailed his haphazard interrogation with the locally illicit but ultimately effective probe thoughts (note to self: this Dythanus character crafted a most excellent grimoire, despite his predilection for the dark arts). We left to deliver his forged papers in his stead, after the usual minor squabbles about the appropriate ordering and dependencies between "pillage" and "burn".

Although we suspected that the pendant may have been planted to point us towards the pirate ship, we saw no better alternative than to go there to investigate. Livia borrowed Malakar's hat of disguise and posed as Finn, delivering his papers to the Votaur captain of the varag-crewed vessel, and receiving some gold in reward. She attempted to bribe some of the crew for more details of the cargo, but they only knew the cover story of wine and food.

Malakar suggested sending Borrow in to scout in gaseous form, and Borrow agreed, so I called the spell (fortunately the pendant remained attuned) and he proceeded to explore. He discovered that one of the crates of wine appeared different than the others, with slightly ill-fitting labels, and reported his findings to us via telepathic bond. It was decided the I would fly into the hold under cover of invisibility and shrink item the crate to remove it.

While I knew that removing the crate would make a noise, I didn't account for the magical protections covering the hold. As soon as I crossed the threshold of the open hatch, the captain burst from his quarters and announced the presence of an invisible intruder. I proceeded downward, shrinking the crate and barely maintaining my hold on it, even as the sailors slammed shut the hatches. A moment later I teleported out as our new companion Woe distracted the sailors with a ghost sound, and waiting for the others back at our suite.

I was amazed that our little plan worked out! We didn't have long to wait, though, before the captain showed up at our inn, accompanied by five of his soldiers. After a while he sent his bodyguard away, and we agreed to parlay with him, Durthen and Malakar showing themselves and meeting him in the common room. Through conversation (remarkably reasonsable), seasoned with detect thoughts, we learned that he was taking these magical potions (perhaps poisoned, or perhaps some were poisons?) to a city in the north. He was commissioned to take this cargo by the Basc organization (a rather poor choice of pseudonym by the cultists, I presume, but that's what you get for worshipping a mad god). He didn't think much of us, but deigned not to attack, and we decided to give the cargo back rather than risk pointless open conflict.

It's clear that somebody is moving pieces around the board, but we still don't know who and for what purpose. My best hypothesis is that there are cultists of Bascaron about, and that another group opposed to the cultists is leading us in their direction. If I'm right, the Aranea was involved with the cultists and the beautiful stranger with their antagonists. However, it could be that there are all in league, and are just drawing us into a deeper plot; it's difficult to say with so many wheels turning, and so much evil and conspiracy at work. How this all connects to our search for Jartik (or whether it connects at all) I cannot begin to guess.

Our next obvious investigation will be the offices of this "Basc" group. I hope that we have crossed over from those facts which we were meant to see to those which we were not meant to see, and that soon we will be foiling the plots of those who would ensnare us. I wouldn't bet on it, though.

Today there was some comment on the change in my behavior, I think perhaps Malakar started it; a certain tendency towards expedience and even deliberate unpredictability. I appreciate and acknowledge that change: our often bitter and precipitous experiences have taught me that if you don't know what to do, it may be best to do something dire, to maximize the chances of disrupting our opponent's control of the situation. My long education in patience and full understanding simply doesn't hold up to the reality of a world mired in conspiratorial evil. There may be an accounting some day, and I may be held wanting by the standards of the world that I once believed existed, if such should come to exist again. Until then I shall go on to my doom knowing that I strenuously avoided the snares of organized evil, and tried to do more good than harm.

Time is not on our side. We can only trust that fate may yet be, and follow our instincts when our principles and plans falter. If you can't go by the book, at least veer wildly from the hook!