Session 39: The Merchant and the Boogieman Report
General Summary
The party leaves the warehouse, as delinquents and degenerates scatter as quickly as they can. A few people passing by the party as they leave shouting out, "Quick! Before the guards get here!" They hear people shout as more than a few handfulls of drugs are thrown into the water along the docks.
Ayame quickly grabs a few of the drugs before they hit the water using telekinesis, quickly hiding it in her hoard gulletl, Ragia doing the same using teleportation as Eleanor, pulling Nahemah along catches up to them.
Ayame looks to Eleanor with a gulp. "There is a really fucked up corpse in the bathroom." Ayame says.
"Time to scram~" Ragia says. "Don't want to explain to the guards why we're the only ones on the scene."
Eleanor nods to Ragia's suggestion, but looks to Ayame. "What kind of fucked up?"
"Uhm... Physically stitched... or sewn to the wall, with a note saying, 'its a good day to die.'" She says as the party starts to leave, at the fearful pushing of nahemah.
"Thats a special kind of fucked up... Ya don't think its that bitch we encountered in the forest do you?"
Nahemah shudders at the thought. "Unlikely, that creature was aggressive, yes, but only defending its territory. It SHOULD stick where it was."
Ayame shakes her head. "No way it would be ablel to sneak into a party like that and into the bathroom, do it, and then leave unseen."
Eleanor rubs her head as the party leaves the docks. "Eer... Iunno, it did some pretty wild magic seemin shit out the box so maybe it used some of that? I mean I live in cities and you saw what I can look like sometimes." She mutters. "But I'm not the magic expert here, so if y'all think not then alright."
"Its a good idea," Nahemah says, "Just unlikely Eleanor. If that was our culprit things would be way more dire."
Eleanor gives a nod. "Right... well nevermind that, lets find a place to bunk for the night."
Yara flutters up and lands on Ragia's shoulder, addressing the party. "They can transform into mist."
"And they do like fear." Ragia says with a nod.
Ayame frowns and nods. "Well, we can discuss this in a local inn... Lets find one." She says looking about, spotting one in the distance as nahemah thinks about the creature they fought from the forest.
They find an inn near the docks, a shady looking place frequented by dockworkerrs and sailors. There is no food or drink here, but the inn is managed by a normal looking human who looks absolutely normal in every way. Brown hair, brown eyes, normal looking clothing. It is simultaneously the most boring looking person you have ever met, but also the most interesting given how crazy all your other bartenders and innkeepers have been so far. The inn itself is called "Normal Dans Sleep House."
Ragia jumps up to the counter, looking at the man. "Hey man, nice place you got, have something for a dragon in the making?" She says, puffing her chest out proudly.
He looks to Ragia and shakes his head. "Sorry, I can't fit something as large as a dragon, I only have one room available."
Ayame blinks. "One room?"
He gives a nod. "Yeah, a few ships are in port and I happened to have a room or two available... Most people want to sleep at "Sleezy Ritas" not "Normal Dans." He says with a sigh.
Ayame shrugs. "Normal Dans will do for us. How much for the rooms?" She says pulling out some coin.
"Just the one. Five silver, but I can get a cot put in if its all of you."
Ragia huffs quietly. "I'm the dragon in the making, im just not dragon sized yet."
Ayame hands him the silver and they get a key to the room. The room itself is fairly run down, but it has a roof and a bed. The man brings a couple of cots up for the party sleep separately if they desire.
Eleanor mutters to themself, bewildered at the sight. "Its like the white bread of taverns..." She says looking around. "Do we wanna discuss our plans now or in the morning when we aren't drunk?"
"Ah... Maybe in the morning would be best!" Ayame says with a nod. Eleanor nodding and flopping onto the nearest cot. Ayame curls up in Sebastians lap, summoning another undead minion to work on a special project for the night, wrapping herself and sebastian in her tails, the party sleeping for the night in their own cots.
DATE: Vamendour 15/625
The next morning, the party awakens, with only the skittering around of Ayames new smithing companion, who tries to keep things as quiet as possible.
Nahemah awakens and, now sober, does her best to think about this hag that they fought in the forests, while Ragia yawns as she wakes up. "at least the inn is true to its name." She says rubbing her eyes while snuggling yara.
Eleanor gets up, rubbing her eyes as well. "This place sucks. It was so quiet last night, I slept TERRIBLY!"
Ayame gets up and stretches, looking to her new companion, who hands her a staff. A long black one seemingly shattered in numerous pieces all held together by a lattice of black and purple arcane energies, with an orb, similarly shattered, floating slightly above its tip appearing as if it had exploded. A mote of dark energy in the center of the exploding orb holds the pieces together via more strands of the same arcane energy. Those who look would find a foggy wind is trapped inside the shards of the orb, floating in and out of the shards and between them with no regard for the gaps. "Well what do you all think? Made it myself! Well... me and my little friend here." She says patting the yet unnamed skeleton.
"Neat, what does it do?" Ragia says as she gets out of her cot.
"Makes my control over wind and air stronger, and allows me to project my powers much much father... But thank you!" Ayame says with a smile.
"So, I did some thinking about the creature." Nahemah says, gathering the party around. "These creatures are... dangerous... especially for a town this big. It's going to grow too strong, and if it decides to reproduce the entire surrounding area is fucked."
"I'll just need to get yara's breath all over the city, can't make it stronger if no one can be scared~" Ragia says before pausing and thinking. "Side effects not withstanding."
Eleanor raises her brow looking to Nahemah. "That thing can procreate?"
"Well... sort of. The Vita are sort of varied in their capabilities. There's a lot of academic papers pointing to their ability to sef-procreate without the need of other vita, but also papers pointing to the otherwise. Either way, I don't want to risk it." Nahemah says, tapping her finger on her lip as she thinks. "Now that I put some thought into it, my theory is that if she gets enough 'energy' from fear, she could spawn in more of her kind. Weither its via splitting into two from one, or otherwise... it just makes sense given that there are usually more than one in a given area."
"So are we huntin this thing down then?" Eleanor says. "Or are we leavin this to the officials? This'd be an unpaid job which ain't really my M.O. but we are a group. A murderous monster that feeds off fear don't really sit well with me either."
"Well... we did kind of release it..." Ayame says with a sigh and a frown. "It is probably best if we fix it."
"Plus it followed us here. Who knows if it won't follow us again once its done?" Ragia says.
"Not that I'm familiar with things like that... but er- somethin tells me we're not its priority if it just feeds on fear. Regular townfolk are better for that. Not whatever." Eleanor says, gesturing to the party. "This is... Unless it holds a grudge."
"We did beat the shit out of it before it ran." Ayame says with a nod.
"Either way, if it uses this city as a home base it will be a problem for us eventually. We should nip it in the bud."
Ayame nods. "Any ideas on how to find it? Or we could try to summon it again."
Nahemah shakes her head. "No, its in the material with us now. Summoning wouldn't work."
"I'm on team no more summonin anythin but skeletons considerin last time we brought that thing here." Eleanor says.
"It can turn to mist or fog. So it could be anywhere." Nahemah says with a sigh. "We need to look for a place with a high concentration of fear. Or any place where it's left bodies."
Eleanor rubs her chin. "Well there is that fucked up cult thing we saw the other day."
Ayame gives a nod. "We could try and cause some fear outselves... or yeah that is that cult."
Eleanor looks to Ayame. "I'd rather not cause fear, are we even sure that'll draw them? It came to the club last night and there wasn't any fear there until it caused it. If it wants to cause fear more than just feedin on it isn't it just as likely for it to go to a big event of sorts or somethin then?"
"Are you saying we should go to the next big party?" Nahemah says.
Ayame squints. "Yeah... but no drinking!"
"Sounds good to me!" Ragia says, "but don't worry yI got something better~"
"Or drugs!" Ayame says with a hrumph to Ragia. "If you do, I will personally make sure the bad thing eats you." She says menacingly.
Eleanor, already having been reaching for her flask of whiskey, "W-wha-why not?!"
"Because fighitng a giant monster that sews people into walls and each other isn't the time to be drunk."
"Yeah that's right Eleanor, no drinking~"
Eleanor squints, looking down to her bottle, then up in the air, looking like she's remembering something. "It isn't?"
Nahemah chuckles while Ayame nods and responds. "It isn't."
Eleanor rolls her eyes and puts the flask back into her bag. "Yal've truely been livin different lives. But fine."
"Eleanor PLEASE!" Nahemah says with a sarcastic sigh. "We can drink AFTER we kill the giant evil vita."
"I'll just use Yara's breath to limit who is scared." Ragia says confidently.
"Anyway," Nahemah says. "We should make some headway into figuring out where to start looking."
"We could ask... Normal dan." Ayame says.
"...Who?" Nahemah says, looking at Ayame, confused.
"The guy we are renting the room from." Ayame says, looking serious.
"his name is fucking normal dan?" Nahemah says in disbelief.
Ayame giggles. "Well no, but he calls this place 'Normal Dan's', or he did while we were talking."
"Well, if we are in fact doin this then... any start is better than sittin around." Eleanor says, stretching and making her way to the door.
"L-lets just get looking." Nahemah says, confused on everything.
Grabbing everything, and pushing the skeleton back to from whence it came. The party makes their way downstairs where they discover a gruesom sight. More horrific than anything they previously encountered before.
At the front desk, 'Normal Dan' is eating cereal grain, in a bowl with ketchup instead of milk. He gives a nod to the party. "Good morning, everything fine?" He says taking a spoon filled bite.
Ayame looks at this with a confused blink, looking to Dan's breakfast than back to him. "Y-yup! U-uhm... Are you doin fine?" She says while even Eleanor looks completely confused by the image.
Dan looks at Ayame with a nod. "Yeah, just eating breakfast, same as always."
"is... is that tomato sauce?" Nahemah says.
"Its kind of like tomato sauce, but its got some hints of vinegar and stuff." He says eating another spoonful.
"Huh, well.. as long as you enjoy it." Ayame says with a forced smile. "Hey just out of curiosity, do you know of any large events or parties happening anywhere around here?"
Dan shrugs. "I don't usually get out much. People think I'm wierd, so I'm never told about parties."
Ayame gives a nod. "Well fair enough. Thank you for your hopitality!" She says with a smile, to which Dan gives a ketchupy spoon salute before continuing to eat. Ayame just... giving a nod in response and heads outside.
"Normal Dan, you should try some milk with cereal sometime." Nahemah offers.
"Milk bothers my gut, otherwise I would." Dan say, taking another bite.
"I-I..." Nahemah says, without a word walking out the door, as the rest of the party follows them. Dan giving them a wave, pulling out a poorly labled bottle from behind the counter with the lable, 'Rabbit Juice,' And taking a drink from it before putting it back and continuing to eat.
Eleanor grumbles, looking to the party in the light of day outside the tavern. "Any other folks we know in town that we could ask?"
"That other inn... the sleezy place?" Ayame says.
"Right... forgot about that place. Well we've got a long day ahead of us so might as well get started. Lets get a bite to eat too." Eleanor says.
Dan, from inside the inn calls out to the party. "I have more if you want. I eat this every day!"
"Maybe next time dan!" Ayame calls back out to him before quietly whispering to the party. "Lets get going to sleezy ritas."
The party starts walking away, as Nahemah looks like she died inside by the sight. "W-what the fuck..."
After a small bit of searching, the party finds "Sleezy ritas" Another inn on the other side of the ports. The outside looks almost exactly like a brothel, with flashy signs and a red curtain covering the front door instead of a normal door.
"Thats my kinda Place." ragia says as the party starts to enter.
The party walks in, and after getting past the exterior 'Sleezy Ritas' looks to be the most generic inn they have seen in their life. In fact, it appears to be a carbon copy of 'Normal Dans' but instead there is a plain looking brown haired girl with brown eyes that looks very similar to Dan. She looks to the party, looking tired in her boring, normal looking clothing. "Do you need a place to sleep for the day?"
Ayame squints, poking her head outside the curtain then back inside. "It doesn't looks leezy to me."
"Well would you rather get a place to sleep at sleezy rita's or one named Normal Dans?" Rita says with a yawn.
"I need a drink. I just saw Dan eat ketchup with Cereal." Nahemah says, still horrified by the thought.
"Ahh yeah, you slept at his place last night then... Yeah my brother is a fucking wierdo, sorry you had to see that. I don't have food or booze but... I do have some water and there are a few food carts on the pier."
Ayame shrugs. "Weird, but he seems nice enough."
"Super nice guy yeah but..." Rita continues. "he has some of the wierdest fucking tastes in food and stuff. Get past that and he could be your best friend... and you would be his only friend because most people can't take the other stuff."
"Sad..." Ayame says. "But anyway... Do you have any idea bout parties or anything happening tonight?"
"It's VERY important we know of an event like that." Nahemah says sternly ywith a nod.
"Oh, I heard about the party last night at warehouse three where someone died. The guards are keeping it pretty much on the hush side of things. After a straight up murder, I don't think there will be a party for at least a few days, maybe a memorial service for the person that was killed if they release their name or whatever."
Nahemah sighs and mutters to herself. "Fuck." She says before looking to her companions. "We might have to go to the authorities. We don't have the time to wait."
"Ah..." Ayame says. "I don't think thats the best idea, it probably won't strike again until the next event."
"So you want to deal with this OURSELVES?" Nahemah nearly shouts. "We could barely stand our own last time!"
"Well... It's not like a local guardsman will be of much help." Ayame says, her ears folding slightly.
Eleanor clicks her tongue in frustration and sighs. "Fuck, why's this gotta be such a mess. I'd rather not try to ask the authorities either, what about that cult?"
"I vote for just telling the guards." Ragia says. "They're religious, maybe they got anti pagan monster squads."
"Ugh..." Says Naomi. "But they'll ask how we know huh."
Ayame gives a nod. "thats my worry."
Eleanor looks to Rita. "Hey, out of curiosity, is there like a job board a guild or the city guards put up somewhere here?"
Rita thinks to herself for a few moments. "Usually the guards will put up bounties outside the churhces, but also if you listen to the town criers they have additional information on large scale work, but anything related to the defense of the town goes through the guards, or the priests."
Eleanor nods to Rita. "That's probably the most useful info we've gotten all day, thank ya kindly."
"If you ever need cleric work Rita, let me know. As a uhh, thank you for the info."
"Should we go look at the boards? If they have posted any details about the killing we could... inform them and tell them that we have divined what killed the girl by our wealth of arcane knowledge about how it kills." Ayame says.
"Lets... yeah its the best we get to doing SOMETHING." Nahemah says with an exasperated sigh.
After a short time searching, the party heads to the soft glade, a park with a temple to Vivere on its eastern border, to look at the notice board outside the church. The notice board itself is lavish, with gorgeous crafstmanship of woven sticks throughout the borders of the board. Several are placed upon it, including one for someone asking to help remove rats from their basement, one asking for help getting their family into Baal due to some legal issues regarding transport, and an address for a safe haven to elves should they be pushed upon by the predominantly human society of Baaal. Looking through, they find nothing specific to the murder the night before, but there is a note on the bottom that says to speak to preacher Nathan if they require assistance, between dawn and dusk. The party look beyond the notice board to the church, a simplistic building made of some strange wood and stone mixed material, forming a modestly sized gazebo type structure and gardens throughout the park.
"What a gorgeous building... should we head inside?" Ayame says looking to her companions.
"Might as well." Nahemah says.
Eleanor follows the rest of them. "Yeah that board not real helpful, at the very least we can ask about stuff."
Inside the gazebo, small type church, the simplistic nature of the building reveals its gorgeous interior, with simplistic decoration. The building itself imade of the strange material they noticed from the outside. It grey and solid as stone, but looks to be as alive as a plant.
Several chairs are set up around the room, with some tea set up in the center on a small table with a small platter of assorted food. A human is watering a few plants in little cubbies, and on their own side tables throughout the church. He looks to the party, his holy symbol emblazoned proudly upon his chest, an upright palm holding a leaf. He gives the party a soft smile. "The winds bless me with visitors today, and for once, a variety of people. I am Preacher Nathan. How may I assist you today?"
Nahameh takes a step in front of the group and places her hands together in front of her, lowering her head in respect "Greetings Preacher Nathan. I am Cleric Nahemah, of the Rhamnasian faith. We have some questions to ask of you."
He chuckles and pours a cup of tea, leaving it on the table and motioning to it. "Well, feel free to ask, and I shall answer to the best of my abilities... Ahh, but if you aren't aware, being a follower of Rhamnasia, it is tradition to ask questions while drinking tea." He says sitting down in a chair.
Eleanor finds a cranny not too far away, but out of the way of the two religious figures conversing, eyeballing a plant with blue veins with feined interest, feeling out of place.
"Of course, I did not wish to overstep any boundaries by asking prior. It would seem rude to some I suppos~?" Nahemah says with a slight giggle, taking a seat opposite of him and taking the tea. "After all, I know followers of my goddess can be a bit... brusque with others. I wouldn't want you to think poorly of me, but I digress." She says before taking a sniff of the tea and taking a sip, before setting the cup down. "Have you heard of a vita that feeds off of the fear of mortals?"
Nathan leans back in his chair, thinking on her words for a few long moments. "This is no normal question you ask... As a cleric of Rhamnasia, this falls way outside of your sope... But... to answer your question, there are fey that feed on all sorts of emotions. Love, Hate, Fear... even greed and sadness. I know all of them as it was Vivere who created them when the world was first formed, to better give life to the land, so it may protect itself from other life. It lead to the creation of elves as the fey themselves worked to bring mortal form to the air, made in Vivere's image. I shall assume that you require hunting such a creature?"
Nahemah takes another sip of her tea. "It would appear you know what my people do to creatures like those that make their way into our world. Yes, we have reliable information that said creature is within this city. The murder from last night was its first victim here, we think."
Ayame pouts a bit in the background.
"Hmm.. As the religious leader of Vivere within this city, that does concern me. how do you know that it came within the city and it was not just a serial killer on the lose from the south?" Nathan stays standing up and grabbing another cup for himself, pouring himself some tea this time.
"We know it came here because we encountered this creature on our way to the city. There's a huge chance it followed us in. And well... it could be a serial killer, yes, but either way we'll take care of it." Nahemah says, taking another small sip.
Nathan thinks for a long few moments before taking a sip of his own tea. "So... what do you need from me? I can ensure payment for slaying such a dangerous creature within our borders."
"Well..." Ayame speaks up. "An idea on where it might strike next, or where it might stay once it has fed would be nice... or an idea of what would be most effecive to defeat it."
Nathan shakes his head with a sigh. "When it comes to that sort of... monster... you have to think like a monster. What it needs more than anything else, if what you say is true, is to feed, and if it needs to feed, it needs a lot of food. Though killing people is its first priority that is not actually feeding it... What does feed it, is the ideas that can quickly run rampant throughout a city... No, what it needs is to kill over and over again, to make people more afraid... Then... once it is full enough, it takes captives, and hides out somewhere both extremely public, and private. Public, so they can feel the fear, and eat it, but private, so that they can turn their captives into more of themselves."
Eleanor pipes pu. "well... Thinkin like a monster... Suppose it would need to be somewhere with a lot of people to spread the word, but also vulnerable enough to get away with it."
"Somewhere like a large party." Nathan says, pointing an approving finger towards Eleanor and wagging it with a nod. "Where everyone has their eyes turned to a stage, but not a bathroom."
Eleanor nods. "Sadly, we weren't even aware of it bein in the city when that happened. I assume no gatherins like that will be happening again anytime soon since the last one was ruined too, which is good since no one's in danger yet, but bad for us."
"Would it come out to fight if another strong fey entered the city? like..to protect its territory?" Ayame says.
Nathan shakes his head. "Well, thats the thing, this sort of creature doesn't need to create its own fear, but it will feed off of others. The fey can't sense one another either.. if there was competition, at best they might try and fight one another until they realize that they aren't competing for resources very much, and simply separate to different parts of, or even entirely different cities."
Ayame pouts but sighs. "Fair enough I guess."
Nathan shrugs. "Given the situation at the border, I would assume it would be at least near a town crier..."
Eleanor snaps her fingers, "Ahah! There's a lead. That was on our list anyways but even better if it might be around there, earlier we cut this monster down the better."
Nathan thinks for a few long moments. "Ill tell you what... IF the information you have given is true, I have something that could help." He says standing up and moving to a wall, knocking on it twice before whispering something. The wall opens up, revealing a glowing emerald ring. "Ahh... There is one nearby... but if im not afraid than its not the one you are looking for." He says picking up the ring. "This ring will glow when a vita is within a hundred feet of you. It could make quick work of locating the one you seek so long as there are no other vita nearby." He says offering over the ring. "No charge, but it must be returned with a confirmed kill to get payment." He holds out the ring, It will glow blue for two days when a vita dies within its range."
"Well... I guess I'll stay here then... you guys tell me when ya find him." She says sadly, slumping into a chair with a sigh.
Eleanor looks between her partymembers, then to Nahemah. "Well I'm certainly not the one qualified to hold onto church stuff so I suppose naomi here will use it. We appreciate the help."
Nahemah takes the ring, placing it on her finger.
Nathan smiles and nods to Nahemah before looking to Ayame. "So you are the fey creature. It makes perfect sense, you are the picture of perfection, only worthy of being created by Vivere my lady."
Ayame blushes a deep red, hiding her face behind her tails bashfully. "A-A-uhm... Thank you!"
"If something happens to me, immediately seek out the head priestess of the Seconvale Division of the Rhamnasian Church. Someone will be sent to help." Nahemah says.
nathan gives a nod to Nahemah. "I will do what I can. Thank you." He says before looking to Ayame. "With that sort of reaction, it looks like you are new to the world of men, I'm sorry about that."
Eleanor looks to Ayame and Nathan. "OH- well... huh." She pauses for a moment to think, "Well with that thing on the loose I don't exactly feel comfortable leavin one of our own alone, especially since we've directly confronted it once before."
"I'll be fine!" Ayame says. "I have Sebastian and Nathan with me!" She twirls her hand, summoning her smithing companion skeleton. "Take this one with you, when you find the monster, send him to fetch me. He will find me, and I will find you as well."
"Interesting..." Says Nathan.
"Oh if you think thats interesting, just wait till I show you some of my other spells~" She says while everyone but Ragia departs, who is playing with Yara in the plants.
It doesn't take long for the party yto search around for a town crier, one only a few blocks away from the church as they are calling out the news for the day at the town square.
"A murder has taken place on the docks, and as such, a request for any information has been brought forth by the town guards. This took place in a warehouse party late into the night and the suspect is still at large. Today the state acknowledges the death of several cultists that took place yesterday afternoon from a dragon cult within the city, and the cult has been confirmed to be vacated from baal itself. Border skirmishes have taken place between Baal and Cinerosa throughout the forest in what the kingdom of baal maintains is an act of aggression on the part of Cinerosa, but they have refused to take claim for their actions along the border, claiming that no military personell are along their northern border due to a recent attack from Anguish. Finally, the guards are seeking THIS MAN" He says holding up a picture to the crowd. "For potential crimes of treason, selling and distributing of state secrets, murder, and selling weapons to enemies of the state. He has a six thousand gold bounty on his head, to be brought back alive for questioning and a trial before the clergy of Baal."
The town criers picture, both Nahmemah and Eleanor notice looks very familiar. One of a merchant they only the night before shared dinner with. Ornable Frobisher.
Meanwhile, far from the prying eyes of the city, his eyes on the forest on the horizon, Ornable pulls out a notepad and pen, crossing out another item from his list towards the back of his book.
Rewards Granted
The party was given an emerald ring of Vita detection, to help find the strange fey creature within the city.
Character(s) interacted with
Preacher Nathan
