Session 42: Tabaxi's out of the Bag!
General Summary
9-10th Horisal 836PD Simeon picked up his silver dagger with a cold rune in the morning. Jareth and the Pale Guard knocked on the door of the Unbroken’s room at the Last Woodpecker, asking if they had seen Sabali or knew where he was? As Lord Percy de Rolo was attacked again by an assailant in darkness not long after the Unbroken left Whitestone Castle. Sabali is the suspect due to Lord Percy recognising his voice as the assassin. Unbroken disturbed by the accusation thought this a case of mistaken identity in earlier case, or that Sabali had gone wild with a poison mishap. They told Jareth the likely places to find could be the Gold Anvil or the Bad Troubled Donkey. 2 Guards were left outside the Unbroken’s door. Zeni used sending to contact Sabali, stating that the guards are looking for him, she is worried, where is he and is it true? Sabali replied that he was sorry, that he had an order to fulfil, confirming the attack, he was badly injured and hiding at the Troubled Donkey. Look out for Dancing Monkey fruit. Zeni relayed to the Unbroken that “the jury is out” on whether it was Sabali did the attack, but Orlando, Ceridwen and Raphael saw through her deception and gathered that Sabali made the assassination attempt. The party debated about how to resolve the issue with Sabali, if he did the attack under his own free will or had been poisoned, coerced, controlled someway. If the party should go to him, or get him to come to us. How much should they cooperate with the guards and authorities or should they help Sabali to escape and even run away themselves as a group? The party decided to head to the Troubled Donkey to find Sabali and try to get some time with him to find out more about what happened. A guard named Thompson(?) accompanied the Unbroken, and by the time they had reached the Troubled Donkey, Jareth was already there. The party asked Jareth if they could have time to go into the pub to find Sabali, and talk him into handing himself into the authorities. Ceridwen persuaded that this would help avoid any more risk of violence, and Jareth granted them 5 minutes to find him. The party entered the pub but Sabali was nowhere to be seen. Zeni used ‘detect thoughts’ to find Sabali, and could hear his thoughts on how wounded he was, concerned about the guards and a bit incredulous that no-one had seen the Dancing Monkey fruit that was hanging from the tree he was hiding in outside. 7 mins had passed inside the pub, and quickly quaffed his ale to head out with the party. They asked for more time to find him and talk, but Jareth’s patience was running out and Zeni’s detect thoughts still up caused a heated exchange in the Commander of the Pale Guard. In the intensity of the exchange, Zeni called out to Sabali to get out of the tree. Sabali dropped his weapons from the tree, and Simeon used his Radiant Soul ability to fly up and pull Sabali out of the tree. Also providing some healing with his Healing Hands. The riflemen’s guns were readied and pointed at the tree. Ceridwen cast Protection from Evil and Good on Sabali, to discern if he had been charmed or possessed but it didn’t seem that was the case. Sabali was taken into custody, Zeni voluntarily submitted herself as well to join with him. Ceridwen and Raphael were allowed to accompany the guards whilst the rest of the party waited in another room. Sabali and Zeni were in an anti-magic cell, with bars made of cobalt. Sabali made the unorthodox request to speak with Lord and Lady de Rolo, to explain his actions. Sabali was feeling remorse, but also seemed to be struggling with the incident, as if he was having his doubts about his orders. With Lord and Lady de Rolo present, and the Unbroken, Sabali confirmed that he received an order from his organisation, the Shade Temple. But was now struggling as he believed that the Temple only targets those who are ‘evil’, but he had heard tales of the goodness and righteous of Lord de Rolo. The Keeper of the Divine Virtue and Palmer Cooke, Master of Information for Tal’Dorei Council, were sent for to hear and a validate Sabali’s testimony with a Zone of Truth spell. Under the spell’s effects Sabali confirmed that he was the second attacker, recruited after the first attack failed by another operative of the Shade Temple. They use letters with coded language to issue hits. Sabali revealed that his first kill for the order was Kursk in Westruun. He received an order to kill Kursk for his corruption and Sabali sent the letter to Wind requesting her to go to Kursk’s house to break in and find evidence. When Wind didn’t follow the letter, Sabali broke in and killed Kursk before then finding the evidence. The Clasp symbol was an attempted scapegoat for the murder. Further details about Sabali’s backstory being a young slave tabaxi sold to a wealthy family that allowed him to travel, and how he was recruited as street performer by Master Kenji, a blind kenku of the Shade Temple. The temple gave the young boy a home, but also trained him to be an assassin for the order. He was only a child at the time. The Shade Temple was known to Master Cooke as a quasi-religious order, not affiliated with any Government or authority. Usually targeting crime lords, but their methods can cause more harm than good. Lore background of the Shade Temple was that it was founded by Master Feng Li, who was saved from a form of undeath by the Raven Queen and became one of her champions. With Sabali’s confession, a fuller understanding of his circumstances with the temple, and the new doubt and realisation growing in Sabali of whether the temple is acting true to its code. Lord de Rolo granted Sabali’s release to Unbroken on the condition that they investigate the Shade Temple and find out why Percy was targeted, and if it was a legitimate order that could have targeted an innocent. Lord de Rolo would help the Unbroken procure a boat to sail along the Moreen river to Drynna for the Unbroken as part of their journey to the Shade Temple based in Stilben. Orlando and Percy had a private chat, asking about the story of Percy making a pact with a Shadow Demon and if this was connected with the Shadow magic of the Shade Temple. Percy confirmed the story was true but over 20 years old, so couldn’t be a valid reason for the temple to target him. Percy saw potential in the Unbroken, a group of people in the right place in the right time, much like himself and Vox Machina. But these revelations could either make or break the Unbroken. Linked Journals
