Session(s): Oct. 29th/30th, 2023

My mind is whirling as I write this. So many details to get down, so many connections being made.
 
I know how Ahzek got me. Kind of. I know how he first found me anyway. I saw the memory. When I first met him, he was posing as a doting grandfather taking his sick granddaughter to a healer, on his way to Wolfshire. That's where I was going at the time, and of course, that was the one thing he could have said to me that I wouldn't have insighted. After a run in with some mercenaries from Safe Haven while in the town of Gloomwilde, it turned out he was actually a vampire hunter, and he was using the girl to lure them out so he could kill them. At the time, I thought that had solved the mystery, and he offered me a ride to continue to Wolfshire, and I accepted. It was only at the end of the memory when I asked his name, and he replied Ahzek. It would have meant nothing to me at the time, but it means everything to me now. He completely hoodwinked me. And I don't know how he actually managed to take control of me, or if he revealed his true nature at some point. But now I know at least how we met.
 
Also concerning in that memory: I met a cleric named Lyrin, who was a cleric for The Order of the Lock Keepers. He informed me that their entire order is dedicated to stopping people who would do things with souls, things with dark necromancy. When I asked about where he stood on things like spells or artifacts (thinking in my head of the spell Soul Cage), he responded that there was a weapon they were aware of that held souls, but that he wouldn't talk of it. I can only assume he was referencing Mortalis. That means there's an entire Order of clerics out there, in the human lands, who would love to see Mortalis destroyed. As if I needed more people to be worried about. It's hard too, because they would probably be very interested in stopping people like Dan'or'avil or Ahzek, since they seem to deal in a great deal of meddling in necromantic things they shouldn't, but there's no good way to tell them about our enemies without also getting questioned ourselves. Sigh.
 
Memories aside, we decided to ask Malzod to a meeting, which he surprisingly accepted. We also asked the Inquisitor when Ny'ell was set to be executed, and she said the trial was in two days, but if she was found guilty, she'd be executed immediately. That's not exactly encouraging.
 
The only truly good moment of my day was Rayen popping in to ask me to take a walk in the gardens with him. He's so wholesome. A little awkward, but so genuine. The gardens brought me back to learning from Father when we lived at home. He was always so passionate about plants and appreciating their beauty. I was able to educate Rayen on an entire variety of flowers, which was the first time I've just had some genuine time to mostly be myself and not be worried about betrayal around every corner. He makes me feel safe. I really, really, really hope that's the case and this isn't just setting me up for heartbreak. Because, I'll be honest, I think I actually like him. He's so refreshing compared to the men we normally meet. It's been a long time since I've felt the need to protect someone besides my father this strongly.
 
Someone who is the exact opposite of Rayen though, is Carlin, and the meeting with him was very interesting. He essentially asked us to take out Cor'nan, not on Payten's grounds, in exchange for 60,000gp. He wouldn't tell us who his employer was, told us to think about it.
 
We did, as we headed to meet Malzod at The Immortal Lion, before the fight club started at The Exalted Bastion. Nothing conclusive at the time. But then the meeting with Malzod happened.
 
Right off the bat, things were weird. Malzod's guard, a half-orc, was none other than Galvid, the exact same half-orc we had just heard the Warden and Mud gushing over that morning at the royal prison. I couldn't contain my surprise at realizing who he was, which immediately caused both him AND Malzod to panic a little. Malzod sent him outside, and said he was originally going to ask for info on Mud for our little info exchange, but he now wanted to know everything we knew about Galvid. I felt a little bad selling Galvid out, realizing it was entirely possible that Galvid had intended to murder Malzod, or simply didn't know who Malzod was. Malzod also made it clear that Galvid's life was very possibly on the line. BUT I made sure to warn Galvid with a subtle Sending, and luckily, he was already long gone.
 
Malzod then informed us that it was Cor'nan WHO TOLD HIM ABOUT NY'ELL MURDERING TARIA. Apparently she let slip to him one night, not remembering she'd done so, and since Malzod and Cor'nan had had previous contract dealings, he offered the information up to Malzod. Malzod then got Ny'ell sent to prison to be executed, and Cor'nan was set to garner fame and fortune and a springboarded career off of her death. But he'd had someone take something important from Malzod, and Malzod wanted it back. He of course wouldn't tell me what the item was. But he gave us an information packet about Cor'nan, and said he wanted Cor'nan dead so he could speak with the body and find his item again. Which also means that Malzod is the one employing Carlin. He said they ALSO had done a fair bit of contract work together.
 
I tried to ask how he knew Courmivoun, but he said he'd want info on Mud's exact location right now, which would require a new deal. As I debated, he rescinded the offer, stating that would be a different meeting, and he had to go and deal with Galvid. I got to throw one jibe in at the end, which he didn't really seem to care about, but I was definitely not at the top of my game, what with all this information swimming through my head.
 
Now the question is: do we kill Cor'nan? We have to read the packet first, but it certainly sounds like he's a terrible person. Someone I wouldn't feel particularly bad about killing. And it means we'd make 60,000gp while doing it. BUT it means we'd be helping both Crazy Carlin AND Malzod, a thought that makes me shudder. It also means Malzod, someone who JUST outed a person for murder, would know the exact details about US murdering someone AND where the body was located. I don't know that there's anything to stop him from just selling us out after he's asked his questions to the corpse. Perhaps the answer is to just kill Cor'nan, and NOT tell Malzod or Carlin about it...we'd lose the money, but Malzod would lose Cor'nan. Perhaps that's our compromise. Sigh. This really bodes a long discussion.