Taking Care of
Business
Zarnian sent some of her guards to return Sericles’ tokens
to him, per his request. This decision was almost immediately called into
question by Aein when she asked him to find the Lord of Thorns, and he was
worried about being picked up to work the brickyards, but still agreed to find
the gladiator for Zarnian.
In the Lion’s Den
Ohzon went to the Elven Market and purchased some Urikite
delicacies that looked at least edible. Then he went to see the Urikites. The
door to their trader’s offices were guarded by a black bearded guard that did
not speak much Tyrian. Still, Ohzon was accepted inside. Once inside, Ohzon
politely but firmly called them out on being templars of Urik, telling them he
saw them using the Lion’s symbol in their magic. They surrounded him to show
force, but the Sky Father countered that the House had information that the ziggurat
is a defilement siphon, which might suck all the life out of Tyr. With that
said, the templars said they would be interested if Ohzon could get them
inside, they would give him more information that they currently had. With
that, the Halfling left for the House.
Gathering Friends
Back at the House, everyone tried to come up with ways to
get inside the heavily guarded ziggurat. C’aro suggested delivering jugs of wine with
the colossus’ seal as a bribe, but after some planning, everyone started doing
their own thing. Cael told her friend Polanna that things were going to get bad
and dangerous and she needed to possibly get out. Polanna agreed to do so. A
messenger came from the house of Esticles to tell Bay that the lady of the
house would be at the market between the noble and caravan districts this
afternoon, then he left. Meanwhile, the kids were running around the loft. When
Barok went to check on them, he noticed that little Sorin was talking to
himself. He asked Timmuth who reported that Sorin talks to himself a lot. Barok
asked him to keep an eye on the kid. Ohzon sent Searchion a message to come in
with the other Sky Followers. He agreed. C’aro left to see Maribel, to warn her
of the danger, and Ohzon started a training montage with the Sky Followers
currently in town at the Salt House. Zarnian talked to Trakas and the two
quickly repaired their friendship. Though he would not tell her who he was
working for, or why she had to risk her life, he promised to take her to who he
worked for if they got out of this.
Blood, Sand, and Massages
Barok went to the Great Gladiatorial School. The owner, Possio,
was an older, retired gladiator. He is known for being a task master and not
lenient but he rewards his champions well. He also is known for not throwing
fights. He is, however, a bit of a bootlicker with the higher templars of the
games. He was very happy to see Barok and ordered water to be brought for him,
and showed him around. There were about 60 people out practicing. He offered
assistants and money for Barok to fight for him, and he even has his own metal
smith on staff to work on Barok’s sword. Barok offered to spar with 4 of his
fighters, but beat them all. Possio put them on gruel and water for their
punishment and several slaves came over to offer him a message. He sat next to
Deverin, who Barok knew. He says that Possio treats him well because together,
they both make money. Barok tried to create interest in an alliance when the
storm comes but was not openly successful. After that he went to a independent
school with free gladiators and worked with them to try and create an alliance
with them.
Different Hats
Bay dressed up in his fine clothing, and wore a scarf to
cover his newly shaved face. He even wore his new cologne. He went to the
market at the designated time and did some light window shopping, when he saw
his ex-wife there with her guard (the same one that came to the house earlier).
She had blue stained lips and dull eyes. She is showing her years with graying
hair and crow’s feet. The guard points Bay out and she went to the hat stall,
where he was and pretended to browse as well. She admitted that she did not
expect to see him again, and they traded false compliments. Then they carefully
asked how the years had been for the other. Finally, Bay wanted to know what
happened to his daughter Calitha. Annali said that she was in a safe place and
she wanted him to stay away from her children. He bought her a hat from her
favorite designer, left it in the empty space between them and walked away. After
their encounter, Bay went to the noble cabal where he spoke to Mormot Kancles
and asked the Cabal to help him find Calitha. After that, he went to see Lord
Hericles, who is selling his chariot. Hericles also has a guard for a new
butler, and he assumed Bay was a noble. However, not long after arriving, Bay
discovered that the chariot had just been sold to Drugar Esticles. Bay left.
Gilded Chariot
When Bay returned, the group headed to the Gilded Chariot,
which was named that because before the city became crowded, they used to race
chariots there. It is a wine bar, and a very exclusive wine bar. Everyone got
dressed to go, including Cael who wore her 1 gold dress and Zarnian who dressed
to show off her assets. When the group arrived there was a very nice chariot
outside, then Drugar walked out with a guy on one arm and a girl on the other.
He got in the chariot and banged it up as he left. Then everyone entered the
bar. There was both public seating and private seating. While Cael and Bay got
a private booth, Zarnian went to the bar and ordered a glass of Asticles wine
and paid a hefty bribe to the bartender to tell Aegis that she wanted to talk
to him. Meanwhile, Lord Inicles greeted his friend Lord Damocles. The two
talked about politics and philosophy. Then Lord Inicles wanted to know why
Varius chose this time to reappear. He said he reappeared because times were
dangerous, that Kalak posed danger to them all. That if Kalak no longer wanted
to be a king, he would no longer need a city. He will consume it rather than
letting them go free. The two tried to figure out even a starting place on
stopping a god, then Inicles suggested Esticles. Meanwhile, Aegis called
Zarnian over to his private booth. After a few words they decided to have a
more private meeting at his estate the next day.
Under the Ziggurat
Later that night (it was a busy night) the group readied
themselves to go to Under Tyr to try and find a way into the ziggurat. Haser
the wise was a man who owed Cael a huge favor, and knew under tyr well, so he begrudgingly
offered to act as a guide. He warned her though that other presences were
heavily at work there. He took everyone to a well known entrance where there
were squatters and addicts, but beyond that there was a small opening to
another set of tunnels that felt like a graveyard, and then they arrived at
catacombs. Many had drawings of plants on them, and the people depicted were
human like. Some of the graves had been disturbed. A presence that was
horrible, nasty, and malicious sensed the group and knew they were there. Then,
there was tunnel after tunnel of caves with the same date on them, the date
that Kalak took over the city. The presence tried to invade everyone’s minds.
Bay felt the terror of a caged animal being tortured, and Zarnian felt the
terror it suffered. The catacombs then opened up into a pit, with a ton of
bones about 100 years old, which is when the ziggurat began construction. They
were all in slave worker clothing, and they were piled up to the ceiling. The
ghostly form of a worker slave appeared and said that this was not a place for
the living, that they could not get to the ziggurat from there. He also said
Kalak and Astinicus knew the way in. But, in exchange for that information, he wanted
to see one more sunrise, so Zarnian agreed to allow him to use her body. The
presence got jealous and started trying to chase them out. The group escaped
the thing, but since it was still curfew they could not go up into the streets,
so they all hung out and talked to the entity. He was a slave who did not want
to be remembered. He also said that Kalak has perfect obsidian orbs inside his
tomb and two severed heads that he keeps alive as a punishment. He said
Astinicus would know secret ways inside. After sunlight came, he stepped into the
light, enjoyed it for an hour, then left into the gray.
The Show
When everyone was leaving, there was a huge commotion on the
steps of the ziggurat, where everyone was in attendance, including Kalak.
Sericles was with a man who was beaten beyond recognition, tortured, and barely
alive. Sericles introduced the man as the tunnel lord, and said this was his
gift to the city. Then he slit the man’s throat and tossed his body down to the
mob, who tore it apart.
Veiled Telegrams
Cael went to the market to make the symbol for the Veiled
Alliance to contact her, since she now had much more information.
Aegis
The next day, Cael and Zarnian went to talk to Aegis at his
estate outside the city. His crops had fallen to disrepair since no one was
there to tend them. There were only a few guards. To cement their trust,
Zarnian allowed Aegis free access to her mind to view the battle against
Ardoth, and just after that, Kalak’s oracle appeared and said that on the day
of the great games she saw many deaths, including her own. She wanted everyone
to gather at Aegis’ estate at midnight to determine their next set of plans.
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