OttC Session 5: Investigations Collide

General Summary

Talking to Jane

• Yona and Cyrci go to The Window to talk to Jane 
• Jane is stacking books.  Cyrci startles her from behind and promptly ends up with a dagger to her neck.  After realizing who it is Jane is immediately apologetic
• Both Bhaal and Tiamat were from the same plane, Gehenna.  They were known to cooperate from time to time "out of mutual fear" but did not get along well.
• Yona rolls a 25 to convince Jane that this question was merely idle curiosity based on recent events
• Jane shows them a "graveyard" of sorts which she keeps for deceased gods.  It features shrines and murals for a wide variety of deceased gods.
• There is an empty space that was once dedicated to Mazu, a goddess once thought dead that turned out to be alive.
• Cyrci notices that some of the glyphs for Bhaal are ever-so-slightly different from the vase found in the Chapel of Chains.  Jane theorizes that the vase was either poorly made or a forgery.
• The room contains nothing that resembles the Ouroboros Pendant.
• Jane is visibly nervous.  She claims that people who see this room often ask her if there is any truth to rumors she used to work for Vecna.  The rumors are accurate but irrelevant since Vecna is now dead.

Back to the Chapel of Chains

• Krisi, Jennevieve Lancaster, and Zgathor Scalescribe return to the Chapel of Chains to retrieve the Ouroboros Pendant that Zgathor Scalescribe left there.
• None of the magic used to detect entry had gone off, but the amulet moved. It was inside a vase with ritual markings related to Bhaal, underneath a rotten severed pigs head.
• There is much concern that it may be infected with Moon Plague.  No conclusive determination is reached.
• Krisi locates and interrogates a rat.  It describes a human woman magically appearing in the room, moving the Ouroboros Pendant, and placing the pigs head over it.
• The rat's description is vague, but it could be talking about Jane.
• Zgathor Scalescribe casts skywrite to ask anybody who has lost a pig to come to The Window.
• Casting Identify on the vase produces strange results.  It is clearly magical, with a necromantic aura, but it does not appear to be channeled into doing anything.  It is as though the vase were magical simply to be magical.
• The amulet is cleaned off and then retrieved.
• As the party is discussing, a soft thud is heard from around the corner.  As Zgathor Scalescribe asks who is there, a popping sound comes from the same vicinity.
• When the party investigates, nobody is there.  It seems they already teleported away.  A search is conducted but no further clues are found.
• The vase is also kept, and carried back to Cyrci's Junk and Shit.

Team Meeting

• The party regroups at Cyrci's Junk and Shit to discuss findings.
• There is a lot of catching up and debating
• The person hiding in the Chapel of Chains could not possibly have been Jane, because she was talking to Cyrci and Yona at the same time
• They eventually conclude that if Jane is the supposed mole, then she would already know she is under investigation.  The party is nervous, but decides to question Jane about her involvement directly
• Zgathor Scalescribe decides to lead the questioning.  By casting detect thoughts ahead of time, Zgathor hopes that they will be able to confirm whether or not Jane is lying.  Jennevieve Lancaster will assist
• Zgathor Scalescribe asks if they can observe Yona and Cyrci mate "for academic purposes".  This request is promptly refused, but Yona does recommend hiring prostitutes to watch instead.
• Cyrci gifts Krisi with a burgundy colored sword.

Interrogating Jane

• Zgathor Scalescribe and Jennevieve Lancaster return to The Window to interrogate Jane. 
• Zgathor Scalescribe casts detect thoughts ahead of time, but it seems to have no effect
• Zgathor Scalescribe asks whether or not Jane was at the Chapel of Chains in the last couple of days.  She deflects, saying she was at The Window all day and had multiple witnesses.
• Zgathor Scalescribe pushes further.  One very lucky persuasion roll later Jane does admit to having been there "to investigate for herself" after being questioned about the chapel by the party.
• Zgathor Scalescribe asks why she would not mention this earlier, and Jane says she "prefers her personal business remain personal".  She gives the same response when questioned about why detect thoughts failed on her.
• Jennevieve Lancaster explains that someone was hiding in the Chapel of Chains.  Jane does not respond to this but is clearly in deep thought
• Zgathor Scalescribe casts detect magic and finds lots of abjuration magic on Jane, including an amulet, a ring, and her body armor.
• Zgathor Scalescribe explains the testimony Krisi received from the rat.  They mention the Ouroboros Pendant in their description, and Jane interrupts the conversation to ask questions about it.  "You tripped that?"
• Jane seems to know what the pendant in question is, and asks to see it.  She will not answer further questions without seeing the amulet.

Consulting with Krisi

• Zgathor Scalescribe falls back to consult with Krisi.
• Zgathor Scalescribe theorizes that multiple spells have been cast on the Ouroboros Pendant, and that it was being used by Jane as a trap to lure someone in.  The goal being to disguise itself as something else and cause anybody who wears it to return to the Chapel of Chains.
• Zgathor Scalescribe is convinced Jane is not the perpetrator of these crimes, and is actually conducting her own investigation into the same issue.  They recommend presenting the amulet to Jane and trying to coordinate with her.

Presenting the Amulet

• Krisi and Yona go to show the Ouroboros Pendant to Jane.  She immediately closes the door to the library and locks it.
• There are two amulets, and Jane wants to see it in order to tell which one the party has.
• With further pressing, Jane says she needs to know if the party is looking for the same thing she is or if they are the people she was trying to catch.
• Yona invokes her conduit as Krisi presents the amulet.  The roll is low, but she still gets Show Spoiler
  I need to know if they're dangerous
• Jane examines the amulet and says it is a fake of her own creation.
• Jane is conducting an investigation into some unknown organization that uses that ouroboros as their symbol.  She has yet to see them do anything illegal, but she has spotted multiple people with that symbol sniffing around her office, the treasury, and other places throughout The Window.  It looks like they are "scoping the place".
• Jane does not know if Pixo is involved.  She does not know if they are targeting her or plotting something against The Window or even Sigil itself.
• Krisi repeatedly asks her about her motivations, but Jane will not say whether she is investigating in an official capacity or just for her own selfish reasons.  She claims she is still just trying to identify the potential threat.  
• The culprit(s) must either be internal to The Window or very good at breaking into places.  For a while, Jane was concerned that the party themselves might be the ones she is after.
• Jane hesitantly agrees to cooperate.  Jane is told to contact them at The Drunken Mongoose.

Report Date

20 Nov 2020