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He should have fallen on his sword. That would have been the sensible thing to do.
Punched his ticket for Elysium right away, no waiting around.
He thought they'd only kill him.
Why did he think that? How stupid was he? Why in the world did he think that?
And now instead of his next great adventure he's flubbed a save against dominate person.
Togomor chuckles to himself as he opens the door and enters his cliffside bolthole.
That went rather well, he thinks.
It's even colder inside; his breath steams like a kettle. In the corner there's a dented iron bucket full of black marbles.
He drops another in for the collection.
It makes a satisfying clinking sound.
The bucket's looking pretty full. He should probably dump it out on the ethereal plane.
As a child growing up, Ileosa Arvanxi looked up to her teenage neighbor, Lady Kayltanya Vyeron. They abruptly fell out of contact when the adults of House Arvanxi hired the Red Mantis assassins to murder the Veryon daughters, and Kayltanya survived only by joining that elusive organization.
But the two friends reconnected last year. Ileosa, then eighteen and ten months married into House Arabasti, found herself curious and able to act on it. She began by hiring a cleric to send "Kayltanya Vyeron", which to her mild surprise just worked.
Kayltanya had, in the meantime, risen high in the Red Mantis hierarchy. When the two met and traded tales of woe, Kayltanya floated the idea to Ileosa that Ileosa just kill her husband. The Red Mantis don't assassinate those they see as legitimate rulers, but Kayltanya had no compunctions against supplying Ileosa with poison to do it herself, nor connecting her with the mercenary wizard Togomor who would keep Eodred from ressurecting.
Ileosa demurred, unready to take that step. But if Eodred died by accident, perhaps then Togomor could work his arts?
In the early hours of the 14th of Neth, King Eodred was killed by a shadow. Kayltanya somehow learned of this - not too surprising, the Mantis have ears among the Pathfinders - and paid Togomor to bind the man's soul. Eodred was, after all, no longer a king, and no longer safe against Mantis blades.
Because that's what friends do.
This sequence of events fully explains Togomor's presence in the city.
Togomor is greedy, as is his secret master Sermignatto the Belier.
Korovsa is an unguarded trove of treasure.
That will fully explain Togomor's decision to stay in the area.
It's entirely plausible.
Few are the gods who watch all events closely, but there are Outside eyes on Korvosa now, and They are but little distracted by events in Westcrown.
Observations and inferences percolate upwards through Heaven and downwards through Hell.
The verdict?
Togomor and Sermignatto visiting Korvosa is 1.1 times as likely in worlds where one called Volshyenek the Eternal is still active in Korvosa.
How seriously you take that depends on your prior odds that he survived his death, and how deeply you would care if he did.
It's a bigger risk than he likes to take.
Volshyenek has very little control over events, now, unless he wishes to further tip his hand.
But Togomor has an existing rivalry with Toff Ornelos. His hemotheurgy makes the bloatmage unstable, and puts pressure on his brain.
Sermignatto is an asset.
They won't need Volshyenek's direction to work to his advantage.
Unless, of course, this misadventure ends with two eighth-circle wizards harboring grudges against him.
As is possible, though not likely.
The odds of that and other bad outcomes are factored into the "1.1 times as likely."
And the dawn breaks over a shattered city.
For all the darkness of the night, it shines out the clearer.
In the Vault below, the unseen sun is still welcomed by clerics praying and wizards at their books.
Dean of Evocation Salgar Irevotnin (LN male human evoker 10 11): Dean Irevotnin has a reputation for ending arcane duels with deadly force, and uses this fact to maintain order in the classroom, threatening disobedient students with a single round of combat if they don't behave.
His mind afire, Salgar Irevotnin prepares sixth-circle contingency and repulsion.
Every hour since the stroke of midnight has marked the new lowest point in the Dean of Evocation's life, but this, this does put a smile if briefly on his face.
Dean of Necromancy Orianna Delmore (LN NE female human necromancer 10 11): Rumors attribute Dean Delmore's constant foul mood to failed attempts to attain lichdom.
"Salgar Irevotnin," crows Delmore, closing her book with a flourish. "Mighty evoker that you be. Which pathetic 5th-circle spells did you elect to prepare today in your pathetic 5th-circle slots?"
"I see you also made 6th-circle." He sounds none too happy of it.
"Not even your predictable homiletics can ruin my good mood. But you're welcome to lay them on me!"
Salgar states his case levelly and simply, to better serve the ears of a fool. "Not once in any history known to me has a lich resurrected sought to replace their phylactery. Not a once."
"In five thousand years," the giddy Necromancer laughs, "my memory of this conversation will be all that is left of you. Say something fiery, Salgar, leave me one glowing coal. Or else vanish, your fire spent."
He won't rise to it. "My legacy is secure. I have children."
"Do you, though? Do you still?"
Salgar snaps. "Yes, I do still. If you seek eternity you'd be wise to watch your mouth; I very nearly murdered you."
"Good for you, papa. My mother had a daughter. She tried to raise me right. The results are as you see. But surely you'll do better, and all your sons' sons and daughters for a hundred hundred years."
"Duel me. Cancel your raise dead policy and duel me. I'll allow you the first spell."
"You missed your calling as a circus clown, funny man. I'll cherish this moment forever, Salgar."
He turns his back and strides away.
Orianna calls after him: "You were working on contingency; can I prepare it from your book? You can prepare age resistance out of mine, today or whenever you have a slot free."
....
Yeah, alright, he'll take that trade.
The people of Korvosa are in higher spirits now.
Not high spirits, but higher. Watching the wizards at their books and hearing the clerics at their prayers was good for morale, and so was the Vault's subsequent stone shaping.
And somewhere up above them the shining sun drives the darkness away.
With their mages juiced up on all the right magic spells, is there anything they can't do?
Disaster in Westcrown. A hundred thousand dead.
The world will not rally around Korvosa, every person and nation fears for itself.
Aram Zey will be here and there playing taxi, but the bulk of the Pathfinders are returning to Absalom or their homes elsewhere for the foreseeable future.
Oh, I see now.
It's an end of the world scenario.
This "Westcrown" place won't be the last.
The resplendent and dignified Archbanker of Abadar helps to calm the crowd.
He'll light some incense and play thirteen questions with Abadar.
No sense in anyone fretting before he's even done that.
There is a silence in the Vault. Korvosa waits with bated breath.
Tuttle lowers himself to sit on the stone floor in the most stately fashion. Rearranges his robes. Closes his eyes.
Grasps his holy symbol - it's a key, he's old fashioned - and prays.
Was there another shadow attack with greater than 500 causalities last night on Golarion, besides the simultaneous attacks in Korvosa and Westcrown?
Yes.
More than five such attacks?
Yes.
More than a hundred?
No.
More than fifty?
Unclear.
Will the shadow-related deaths last night appear as a clear outlier compared to other nights, a month from now?
No.
Were these attacks precipitated by the action of a god?
...No?
Would the attacks cease upon the death of an entity or destruction of a faction, within the powers of the Worldwound Alliance to kill or destroy?
No.
Darb Tuttle's face crumples and tears leak from his eyes. He rocks back and forth and emits a low anguished groan.
Is it a good idea for me to travel to Sothis and seek audience with the Pharoah?
Yes.
Should I invest in 'Portfolio A', as described on the parchment folded in my breast pocket, as contrasted to other enumerated options on selfsame parchment?
No.
Portfolio B?
Yes.
Portfolio B1?
No.
Portfolio B4?
Yes.
Should I spend another commune on investment questions?
No.
Tuttle's got to go talk to the Pharaoh in Sothis.
He'll tell Ornher Reebs which questions he asked in case Reebs wants to follow them up with Asmodeus.
Greater teleport.
Archbishop Reebs' mouth feels quite dry. He'll light the incense.
Korvosa and Westcrown, two Chellish cities, makes for a suspicious pattern.
Are the forces of Good responsible for this and does it advantage You to tell me?
No.
He wants to collapse in relief. Not that you could ever tell it by looking.
Switching to the other branch of the decision tree:
Are Rovagug or one of his spawn involved, and does it advantage You to tell me?
Yes.
He wants to collapse in horror.[1] There's a slight frown on his face.
Is the Rough Beast, Rovagug the Worldbreaker, directly responsible, and does it advantage You to tell me?
Yes.
Are there any other gods working with Rovagug, and does it advantage You to tell me?
Yes.
Are You?
No.
He's not supposed to feel relieved at that.
Is it a Good god and now in Your advantage to tell me so?
Yes.
Fuck.
Is it Iomedae?
No.
Is a Chaotic Good deity?
Yes.
Is it Milani?
Yes.
Is it in your interest that I share this information?
Yes.
Should I think on Your answers and ask another commune?
Yes.
-
1. If you think this is an astonishingly useful inference to pluck from thin air, so did I. These questions are mostly from QTesserect, and a few from Eva_. ↩
Fifteen minutes to prepare the spell into an empty fifth-circle slot, another ten to cast it.
The whole time people scream questions at him and the whole time Reebs ignores them.
Is Milani the only significant deity working with Rovagug, and is it to Your advantage to tell me this?
No.
Are there Lawful deities working with Rovagug, if that's in Your advantage to say?
Yes.
Zon-Kuthon, then.
Are there any non-Evil Lawful deities, if that is in Your advantage to say?
Yes.
Is it worth me trying to narrow down which other deities, if any, are involved?
No.
Will the attacks continue to chiefly be shadows, and is it in your advantage to tell me this?
Unclear.
Is it to your advantage that your clerics oppose Rovagug in this, rather than secure ourselves from harm?
Yes.
Should I leave Korvosa to work with Your church in Cheliax more closely?
No.
Is it to your advantage that I request resources of Hell to be spent on Korvosa's security and prosperity?
Yes.
Is it to your advantage that I cooperate with Lawful churches and Lawful governments in combating the shadows or Rovagug?
Yes.
Is it to your advantage that I share the answers you've given to me at my discretion?
Yes.
Is it worth another commune to ask further questions?
No.
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