This post has the following content warnings:
View Flat HTML
View Metadata
Search Post
An adventuring party recruited from Osirion teleports into Azir on the 8th of Desnus. Rahadoum's recruiting contact in Osirion wrote ahead to note they were expected. Couple of guys he's known a long time - a wizard, a ranger - and a new guy, sorcerer, probably to replace the cleric they usually travel with. They spend two days in Azir getting oriented and head out to the front. The ranger wears an unusually high quality amulet of Nondetection; the sorcerer wears a headband for intelligence, which is a bit unusual as sorcerers usually don't need it to cast, but some variants do; they are otherwise unremarkable. Chaotic Good, Lawful Neutral, no reading, which could mean neutral or 'hiding it'. They work quickly and effectively, manage resources reasonably well, get recommended to higher-ups for a closer look on that account.
Excavation of Chelish military supply caches from captured documentation about them.
Vanyel gets the location from Taver. It's within his Mindspeech range, if he pushes it, but he has to concentrate hard for a while until he can manage it.
:Fazil?:
:I - I just found out...: It's stupidly hard to make himself say it. :Leareth's dead:
:I don't know. Can you - just - come meet me here: He takes a shuddering breath, still slumped against Yfandes. :Starwind and Moondance assassinated him. In the winter palace. Weapon they got from Urtho's Tower on our trip there:
"Yes," Vanyel says out loud, shaking a little. "I - the pharaoh killed them, right away, but - I guess, too late..."
:Sounds like approximately? Aroden met with the pharaoh and got an explanation - he's in Osirion now, investigating - Parmida came to tell us. Er, she didn't want it spread around, it'd cause a panic. She thinks the pharaoh will raise him tomorrow. Has to be a True Resurrection, there wasn't a body left from whatever they did to him - he didn't prepare it today and Nefreti hasn't showed up but first thing tomorrow:
"What was the Star-Eyed even aiming at - sorry, Van, we don't have to talk about this right now -"
Then they can restrain their gossiping to 'a little bit, with hand signals' and let him grieve in peace and quiet.
The pharaoh treats his headache, Plane Shifts back to Sothis, confers with advisors in the Dome, and then heads over to meet Aroden in the winter palace.
Aroden is back at the palace after his unsuccessful scrying attempt, and a trip to the Worldwound to make sure the remaining Tayledras are still there and not fled back to Velgarth. They are. He suspects they don't know anything; he should question them anyway, probably, but it's going to be contentious and very irritating.
"I scried inside the Work Room. It is full of what I believe are summoned Velgarth Abyssal demons. They should probably fade out within a week and I suggest leaving the room until then. I could not sense anything direct about the weapon. I used Speak with Dead on the corpses and confirmed that it was on the orders of the Star-Eyed, they denied having other accomplices, and they denied any additional plans not yet carried out. We attempted to raise them but it failed. I have also not been able to scry them. I could scry Leareth - well, at least the river of souls."
"The Star-Eyed took them back. Abadar is angry; there was an agreement about this, which she appears to have just decided to ignore. She wanted Leareth, too, but does not seem to have had a strong enough claim to fish him out."
"What." Aroden just stares at him for a moment; the distant, not-quite-human haunted look is back in his eyes. "That - She tried to take Leareth..." She didn't succeed, he has to remind himself. "What now. What is Abadar going to do."
"Abadar wants to take Her stuff. Well, Urtho's superweapons. He thinks that with enough of them working together the Golarion gods can guarantee your safety even in Velgarth, even directly in the Star-Eyed's territory, for long enough for you to take the weapons and leave. This is somewhat delicate, because the other Golarion gods are mostly inclined to intervene in any unilateral attempt to take hold of them, none of them want anyone else to have them. He is coming up with some agreements among them and has a proposal for you but it can wait until we get Leareth back.
She was willing to give Starwind and Moondance's souls back if we promise they won't end up in an evil afterlife. I don't think any of us actually want them to end up in an evil afterlife but Abadar was unwilling to make Her promises to that effect because He, uh, feels that promises are exchanged between entities capable of keeping them."