Damn shame I already have an RP I'm Gming else I'd be up to help out on this and even support it on my own of need be. That said, I'm open to helping out where needed, whether that be in plot-brainstorming or as one Co-Gm.
Would be nice for there to be a true Warhammer Fantasy RP for once.
“I am many things, I have been many things. Young and strong, old and gray, devastated and dying. Now I am alive again, but I fear my new children imitate the old ones. Some claim prowess in battle or sorcery; others seek strength in the darkness. They begin to mistrust and prepare for war.
Still… I love them as only a mother can.. and now I fear for them. I feel the winds of change begin to blow, and this time it may be an all-out storm. I hope that my children will be able to weather this tempest.
...for nothing is immortal...and one day, they may have to survive without me."
The vilespawn at the center of the cave dreamed of blood, death, and war, civilizations torn down and entire populations glutted upon by the children of the Ancient Ones. Flames and the coming of the Long Night consumed it's every thought-- the order of the Eastlands overturned and the rule of the gods from The Beyond absolute. It's massive; bent form shifted position, it's clawed webbed feet undulating the rock as though it sat upon glistening mud. Spiked curling horns sprouted from the sides of its gray skull, protruding from a ripped and stained metal and bone mask that hid most of its entire face covering its many bulbous eyes. Dark midnight metal encased most of the vile creature's body save its long sinewy arms, and a circle of bleached white skulls hung from its waist like macabre decorations.
The monster clutched a gnarled, twisted iron staff-- the head of which had adorned upon it twin bladed prongs.-- Which it clutched in one pale fist, its substance slithering with a dark mist that was seemingly insubstantial, as though the beast's flesh merged with the jet black iron. It traced patterns and lines in the fluid matter of the cavern floor, ever more disordered and irregular as they overlapped and spiraled.
Clouds of clawing vapor gusted from its lipless mouth and exposed skin, twisting and rolling in the air before being absorbed by the walls. The rock glistened with a wet dew of moisture, dancing visions of war and death burning in its depths, reflections of the twisted perceptions of the Vilespawn that drooled thick ropes of greenish saliva. The men of the Westlands called it The Despoiler, while the Antediluvians had known it as Nguarsk and in the Empire, it was called the name of Rorretog, the Sower of Fear.
The fires of war burned in its mind and it could feel the approach of its kindred, the real inheritors of Ethica. The children of the Ancient Ones that would replace all that remained of the Architects creations. It could sense the breath of entropy within them, the boon of corruption and mutation that identified them out as the chosen of the Ancient Ones. Three came, the mightiest vilespawn of their tribes, fierce and proud, filled with power and drawn towards this dark, cold cave to seek approval from the Ancient Ones from Beyond that theirs was the right to rule this gathering of vilespawn.
It turned a lazy head towards the cave mouth as the weak spring light was blocked off by the three supplicants. It saw they were towering and broad, with high, corded muscles beneath dark, twisted scales, each the master of a great vileswarm. All three carried crude weapons: heavy bronze battle-axes or numerous, blade-studded clubs, though in truth anyone of them could fight as well with horn, maw, or claw. One stood on thick, goat-like legs, its shaggy head crowned with a mass of bronze-tipped antlers and a thick mane of bright orange fur.
Another stamped iron-tipped talons, its rump elongated like that of a horse, though with scaled flesh and bronze like an enormous reptile. Dark spikes grew from its back and an extra set of arms sprouted from beneath its armpits. But most fearsome of all the vilespawn heralds was a massive, iron horned creature with dark, bloodstained metal covered muscles, its iron hide scarred by decades of killing and battle. Thick, hooked chains looped across its metal chest plate, and it wore spiked shoulder guards crudely fashioned to resemble jutting spine like quills. It carried a large, double-headed ax, its blades rusted, but with a strong mystic aura surrounding them. The vile Archspawn in the cave let out a single growl, guttural and wet, and the three supplicants advanced towards it, their steps halting and unsure, though none wished to show weakness before the others. To do so would be to invite death.
The Despoiler felt the breath of the Ancient Ones channeling through its body in a flood of power and exhaled it as a toxic cloud of dark, writhing mist. The mist pulsed with the essence of the Disjunction, growing and surging outwards to envelop the three who had come to stand in its presence. The great cloud carried within it a married of twisting aspects that cast anguished faces.
Instantaneously, the creature with bronzed antlers collapsed, roaring in agony as its body became host to many dark spirits from Beyond. The countless new souls within it were suddenly fighting for dominance resulting in a sudden change that caused thrashing limbs and grasping thorned pseudopods to erupt from its thick flesh. Eye stalks seemed to melt from its head and hide randomly as it gained to much power for it to hold. The other two backed away from the howling creature spawned from The Despoiler's gifts and awaited their fate at the hands of the tainted magical mist.
Both became enveloped by the miasmic cloud of sorcerous power, and The Despoiler felt their will and ambition war with the power of numerous new spirits that seared through their veins. The bronze-scaled centaur creature reared up on its hind claws, the dark spines on its back mutating into rippling tentacles with snapping jaws, as eyes peeked through the needle sharp fangs. It lunged towards The Despoiler with a shriek of savage fury, but a massive, clawed hand dragged it back by its tail, the gigantic ironclad monster slashing its ax through the twisting creature’s midsection. Dark ichor sprayed from the wound, hot and stinking, and the vilespawn herald hissed in anger as its exposed dark flesh burned where the blood spattered then ran in rivulets down its fanged, masked features, scarring dark grooves on its face.
Its flesh paled, taking on the gray hue of The Despoiler it had just killed for, and its breath smoked with the heat of a furnace. It let out a mighty roar, the very walls of the cave cracking at its cry, and The Despoiler nodded in acceptance as the writhing black mist dispersed and faded from sight. The large vilespawn let out a great, grunting breath, its exposed hide now gray and scaled, its horned head beneath its metal mask was scarred and burnt, but a flickering, multi-colored glow beneath its veil shone with power. It raised its ax in a brief salute to the bent, horned creature at the center of the cave and ripped one of the chains from its armor, plunging a barbed hook into the screaming flesh of the thrashing creature that had first succumbed to The Despoiler's magic.
It then turned to the mouth of the cave and marched forward with lumbering, meaningful steps dragging the twisted creature behind it. Into the light it walked, stepping onto a mound of stone that rose forward like a horn of rock. Upon this overlooking position, it came into full few of the gathered vilespawn below. The gnawing, biting, and fighting below ceased for a moment as the horde took note of the emerging vilespawn lord.
The vilespawn took in the vast gathering that easily counted in the tens of thousands and apprehended its purpose as it felt the stirring will of the Ancient Ones. The Djaam had finally been laid low, their eyes forced to look elsewhere. Now was the time of Azueral's choosing,
They would march north then east and reap the fertile and weak lands of the eastern realms. A storm was brewing.
The last vestiges of daylight had already begun to fade, the fingers of Kammeth's light becoming an aura of orange blood red in the gaps among the clouds above. It was late evening, too early for the light of Azueral's Eye to be visible but late enough that already the street lamps were being lit for the upcoming night. Having spent the day looking through old records and searching up all that could be found out about the warehouse address they had learned of the previous day Jahard was feeling unusually tired.
Aleena could see that much though her brother hid his fatigue well. Ever since they had arrived in this cesspool of a city, it seemed he had bent every waking moment to unraveling the mystery of this Shades death. She knew her brother to be the sort of man to tackle any problem or obstacle with his every effort. Yet, even so, it seemed he had gone out of his way more than was usual to seek the answers that plagued this case. She could only guess at why that was, but she did not give it much thought. Aleena was simply glad to finally have a mission to fulfill after nearly two moons of inactivity in Thulthar.
At this moment both her and Jahard waited in an intersection of pathways off the main street just a single building away from the pier dock they wanted. Leaning against a rather large crate Aleena busied herself with sharpening one of her daggers to pass the time. Meanwhile, Jahard had his bow free from its usual sheath and was testing the string. Neither knew what awaited them at the warehouse, for all they knew it was full of ordinary innocent dock workers. Or at worse was the turf of a typical street gang.
Yet, if this had been the place a Shade had visited shortly before meeting his end, it was worth taking every precaution. Annoyed with her current task, Aleena switched to tossing one of her knives into the air and catching it with practiced ease.
Jahard glanced up at his sister for a moment before returning his attention back to his bowstringing, "have patience sister, she will be here any moment I'm sure."
"Right, though I don't see why we don't just go ahead without her. She'll get in the way more likely than not."
He had heard these complaints before, and in truth, he was getting tired of them, he sighed and said, "It's like I've told you w-"
Aleena raised her hand at that moment calling for silence as she cocked her head to one side. Turning the corner a figure appeared, at that moment a blur of motion flashed before the figures face ending with a loud 'thunk' as something struck wood. A short throwing dagger appeared shaking violently after sinking into the hard wood of a crate stacked near the corners edge just within inches from Lilika's head.
Lilka jerked back as the dagger impacted the wood, hands raised to her face to stop splinters from flying into her eyes. After a moment of confusion, she sheepishly waved to the two Justicars and made her way, rather cautiously, towards them. Once she was near enough to be heard, she spoke uncertainly, “Justicars, I uh, I should have called out before I surprised you. My apologies.”
"Ops," Aleena's announced in a neutral voice.
Jahard sighed once he saw that their visitor was none other than their guide. "Moon's silver light Aleena, you have to learn a better form of hello," He rose to his feet from his sitting position atop an overturned barrel, "sorry about that, Aleena can be rather... short strung."
Aleena made a face at him and stalked forward to pry her dagger free. "In my defense, she could have been anyone; this isn't exactly the nicest of neighborhoods."
"In any case..." Jarhard began. "Is everything in place?"
Lilika directed a concerned glance to Aleena as she removed the dagger, her eyes lingering on the female Justicar for a moment before she managed to return her attention to Jahard. Taking a breath to regain her composure, she almost sounded confident when she answered, “As to the matter at hand, I've made all the necessary arrangements. We’ve surrounded the warehouse with some forty men I was able to gather. Nilos is with them as well, and I've instructed them to wait out of sight; at least until they receive my signal. I have little doubt this will go smoothly. At least, smoothly from here on.”
Jahard nodded, "right, we'll move in first and see what we're dealing with. We've done a few passes and saw a few guards positioned about the warehouse. The owner was marked under the name Basimus Sesentanus. But no record of him exists in any official documents that I have found."
"In other words," Aleena grunted and pulled her knife free before adding. "A half ass alias by all accounts. And I'd wager they have something more valuable to hide than fresh grain given all the swords hired on."
"We shall soon see for ourselves," he looked to Lilika. "We can handle a quick peek on our own. Unless you are still of a mind to follow."
With a nod, Lilika spoke, more confident now, “I am, though if you’re concerned I might be a hindrance don’t hesitate to say so.”
"Oh trust me," Aleena said as she started walking ahead of them, "you'll be the first to know."
Jahard only shrugged and followed on after his sister, the group making their way through a crisscrossing maze of alleyways and backway paths. Having scooped the warehouse for some time, the Justicars had discovered one way into the warehouse that was out of sight from the main street. An apparently abandoned building sat flanking their objective. Much of the structure was worn down, but the rear dockyard was aligned with the adjacent warehouses. It was a simple case of scaling over a worn down embankment into the over saturated backyard of the warehouse they wanted.
The grounds rear of the warehouse were filled with containers and wooden boxes. Aleena considered this to be fortuitous for them, as the crates offered ample places to hide on their approach to the rear entrance of the building. Upon reaching the door, the trio stopped and considered their options. The door was an old reddish metal gate, which showed signs of significant rust, to the point a keen eye could spot several red flour beetles skittering across the surface of the portal.
Jahard tested the chains on the gates lock and furrowed his brow. "Would seem they dislike unexpected guest."
"I would think that painfully obvious brother," Aleena said drily. "I don't suppose you could take an ax to those chains."
"Not without alerting any and everyone inside to our intent, if we did that we may as well allowed the guards to barge in."
“We won’t be needing an ax Justicar.” Lilka grinned at Aleena and took a step forward to place her hand on the chain. She whispered an all but inaudible phrase and gripped the nearest link, which seemed to whine and groan as it frosted over. In mere seconds the air felt colder, and with a ‘ping’ the chain broke where Lilka’s hand had gripped it, the ice on its surface lingering after the magic had gone.
"Well done," Jahard voiced, seemingly impressed.
"Looks like she has her uses after all," Aleena said with a shrug.
Jahard gripped the bar attached to the iron gate and gingerly pulled the portal open. The door made a small moaning screech as it was pried open. The door opened up into a dark passage into the building. It was a small square room, with walls cut off from the center of the warehouse. From the look of it, it must have served as a backroom storage department. However, at that moment the room seemed to be mostly empty, save a few wooden lids and scattered tools such as a crowbar leaning against a wall.
Jahard led the way inside, unhooking one of his axes just in case. Lilka followed with Aleena bringing up the rear. Jahard walked to the far side of the room and looked through an indoor window that gave a look further into the warehouse. The glass was filthy, forcing him to clean it of some dust and grime to be able to see anything through it. The other side, of course, remained covered in dust, but what he was able to see only confirmed his suspicions.
"This place is empty," he said in a high whisper, his voice deep enough that it sounded almost as loud as most people's speaking voices.
"Could they have been tipped off?" Aleena voiced.
"No..." he said rubbing his dirtied hand against his thigh. "this place looks to have been mostly unused for weeks, maybe months now. Which puts it out of use during the time our shade should have been here..."
“If the warehouse was empty,” mused, “Why would they post a guard? Let alone several?”
Bending down she ran her hand over the dusty floor, just long enough to confirm the direction of the floorboards. With a frown she blew the muck off her fingers and began surveying the floor, eventually coming to a stop. With a few taps of her foot, she called out to the Justicars, “The floorboards are off here, they don’t line up with the others. From the sound of it, there’s something under here.”
Aleena walked over toward Lilika and tapped her feet on the wooden floorboards noting a change of sound over one particular spot. As she knelt to one knee Jahard walked over, his interest peaked.
"What do you think?" He asked.
Aleena unsheathed a dagger and slid the tip of its point across the dusted floor. "I think... as cliche as it might be..." Aleena's blade found a gap as it slipped into an open space. She pushed the discarded lid of a barrel and beneath revealed a latch.
"Huh," she exclaimed.
She pulled the latch opening a cleverly hidden trapdoor and with it a gush of cold, stale air that brought with it the smell of blood and oil. Aleena turned her face and grimaced as it hit her full force.
"Ah, foul, what is that smell?"
"Hard to say, but this may very well be what they- whoever they are- were seeking to keep this hidden. Perhaps the guard's were merely to discourage," Jahard looked down into the dark gloom noting a tattered looking ladder. "I'll head down first,"
Jahard belted his ax and made his way down the trapdoors ladder with slow and cautious movements. The track down took longer than Jahard expected, the decent into the darkness seeming to go on forever as the smell of copper and rot grew stronger. Soon he touched down in a square room with a single lantern atop a barrel. The room was empty and somewhat sparse save for a few pieces of trash here and there.
When Aleena and Lilika came down shortly after, Jahard walked toward the only door of the room placing his ear close to it. Aleena walked up beside him, having drawn one of her stilettos, and gave him a questioning look. He raised a hand with a gesture that Aleena responded to with a nod in understanding.
Bemused by the unspoken communication Lilka quietly waited in ready behind the two, having gleaned enough from the interaction to know there might be danger on the other side. Whatever was behind the door she didn’t like the smell of it, if nothing else. Jahard edged the door open into a narrow passageway that by all accounts looked to have been recently excavated; lanterns periodically left on hooks the halls only source of light. The trio moved down the corridor, the water dripping down from the ceiling with the quiet clatter of their feet the only sounds to they could hear.
Soon the noise of a distant voice cut into the quiet half way down the passage, "the Renegade said tomorrow needs to be when we make our move. Just one more day of pig stink and shit."
"Barolo better have the pitch in place by then. I won't want to be the one to tell the mask we failed."
The three reached the end of the tunnel where bisected into two pathways. To the right seemed to be the origin of the voices, the shadows dancing beneath the wooden door making that guess an easy one. Jahard raised a hand for them to stop short and gestured for them to draw closer.
When they did, he whispered, "we should go back the way we came, call in the guard and flus-"
"And announce our arrival? They could have a dozen holes these rats could fly to, and we'll have nothing. Grab hold of your cock man; I count three breaths, four at most, we can take them by surprise."
Jahard rolled his eyes but thought on it. It was too risky to go in on their own, but his sister did have a point. A troop of guards would offer their quarries a chance to escape before their full weight could be brought to bear. Before he could suggest a plan, Aleena interrupted him, "the voices echo from a passage further back, two ways in from our side. Give me a moment to circle around."
With that, she faded back the way they came, her cloak making it difficult to see her precise movements. Jahard fought the urge to curse under his breath, he trusted in his sister's skill but not in her patience. It looked like they would have to handle the issue themselves. It would hardly be the first time.
He looked to Lilka, "right then.. we'll draw their attention and give Aleena a chance to come up behind them. Ready?"
hushed her voice, “One-moment Justicar, I have something that should make this a bit easier.”
She whispered a spell, the words foreign to the ears of most, and the damp passage began to fill with a fog that thickened by the second. With a nod to Jahard, she steeled herself and prepared for whatever they would encounter. Jahard nodded and stood until he was next to the doorway that led into the room with voices. Raising his voice suddenly to gain their attention he shouted, "this is Justicar Jahard, you are all under arrest by the authority of Mother Night!"
There was the sound of cursing and surprise from within the room, and the panic only increased when the fog began to enter the chamber beyond. The response given was as quick in coming as it was predictable as a quarrel from a crossbow slammed into the wooden doorframe close to Jahard.
"How about that for a response, you shit!"
"They never want to make it easy," Jahard sighed in annoyance.
There came the sound of things being shifted and moved; Jahard took that moment to push through the doorway. The room was a long rectangular chamber with three long tables stretching from one end to the next. Dozens of jars lined the tables with buckets of something positioned along the walls. Jahard ignored these details for the time being despite his curiosity. The closest man was a skinny fellow with dark eyes, a butcher's knife in his right hand. The far side of the room stood the man with the crossbow, who was currently fumbling with pulling back of his weapons string.
Jahard had no time to retrieve his bow, not to mention the fog was growing stronger making that choice of arms unappealing, so reared back his right arm and threw his hand ax in an overhead throw. It sailed forward in a deadly spin before it smacked wetly into the chest of the crossbow wielder. The man grimaced and fell back with a pained shout as he crumpled to the floor. Jahard pulled free his other ax with his left hand, charging toward the closest man with a butcher knife.
The man's eyes widened in surprise, momentarily caught off guard he clumsily pushed forward with a lung aimed at Jarhard's stomach. The Justicar had predicted this, however, and swept his weapon across to parry the knife away so that it nearly missed him. This allowed him to ram his left shoulder into the smaller man physically knocking him back violently so that his back smacked hard against the edge of a table, which consequently caused one of the pots to fall over. Jahard then grabbed the man's collar and headbutted the man violently with such force that it broke the man's nose while Jahard's free right hand twisted the man's hand forcing him to drop his improvised weapon.
Jahard heard a cry of pain from further in the room alerting him to the fact Aleen had made use of their distraction. He kicked the dropped butcher knife away and twisted the arm of the man he was currently holding and forcing him face first onto to the tables face. To his far left, he heard a shouted challenge as another of the occupants of the room charged him with what looked to be a short sword.
At that moment the swirling fog that had engulfed much of the chamber seemed to rapidly gather above as it condensed. The mist formed into solid form as it became a dozen icicles that fell down with deadly force. The thug jerked to a halt as his body suddenly spurted several icicle spears, and with that decisive move, the room was secured. Aleena appeared a moment later from the other side of the room, blood wet on both her blades revealing that she had found no little resistance on her end.
As Aleena neared she shrugged, "that was easy."
The bold move to storm the chamber had been more successful than Jahard could have dared to hope for he had to admit. They had even managed to capture a prisoner. Jahard tightened his grip on the man he'd taken hold of as he felt him struggle.
"I'd not move if I were you," Jahard warned the man.
"Void take you Justicar! Even if you've stopped us here, it's already too late for your empire."
"And what's that's supposed to mean," Aleena said with a snare as she stepped next to Jahard.
"Ha, look around bitch, what do you think we were doing here?"
Jahard looked up and as the fog cleared it was able to fully take in the chamber around them. The overturned jar seemed to be filled with the remains of a dead pig, fat and pitch alike. Pig fat... and pitch...
Jahard could not imagine what uses such things could be put toward...except.
Ruin Spook: An Antediluvian ruin is disturbed by a group of adventures south of Lonassa. The group of treasure hunters has vanished, but rumors speak of something having been awakened after being distributed. The region is now considered to be dangerous.
Fire Attacks: Several cities along the coast, such as Thulthar, Doma and port cities in Sheol have been subject to fire attacks on the harbors destroying several piers, boats, and primarily docked warships. The perpetrators seem to be random induvial under the effects of a potent spell of hypnosis and cannot recall anything after the spell is broken. Worse still fishermen off the coast have spoken of seeing a fleet of ships sailing in from the south. They are estimated to be heading toward Ardaza or New Galenave.
Animus: Vilespawn have begun appearing in large war parties from the southern mountains. The current Horde has been dubbed a vileswarm and is currently reeking havoc across the southern countryside.
Port City of Ardaza, Heartlands Act II I Pit of Vipers
”The Disjunction released not only raw, tainted magic onto Ethica, but it also opened up our world to the spirit realms of the Ancient Ones. This was not the opening of some rift... but rather the loosening of the bindings that separate our world from many, many others ruled by beings of truly alien minds and powers. And although the Disjunction was brief, there was time for all manner of spiritkind to come into our world. The greatest of such beings were the Ancient Ones such as Degolacha, N'oiboth or the infamous Azueral. The lesser spiritkind born of this mighty titans soon discovered they had no essence of their own and were forced into either parasitic or symbiotic relationships with what they found around them. Spirits merged with the multitude of different things, from rocks and rivers to the trees, birds, beasts, and men. Many if these spirits lacked sentience, while others were incredibly intelligent. Some were benign or helpful, while others grew like tumors within the bodies they possessed and such malevolent spirits that took shape into these living creatures that rejected them transformed and became some of the first vilespawn. All things on the face of the planet were affected by this. Few and far between are the examples of things that remained untouched.
The changes are too numerous to mention in this brief account but recognize that some terrain became twisted and evil, such as the Shattered Wastes, while real terrors never before imagined began walking Ethica... and new races of men came into being. Some 500 years later, at the time of this writing, there are four documented and at least partially civilized species of men.”
The morning found Jahard to be in a rather optimistic mood, as he rested on the hard cot of his inn room. A yawn and stretch later he was wiping to sleep from his eyes as he rose to a sitting position on his bed. The cot on the other side of the small room was empty. Jahard guessed his sister had awakened up before him. In the time it took him to get dressed, restring his bow, and splash some water on his face, Aleena had returned their room. Still kneeling over the water basin, Jahard shook his hands dry and shook his head.
“Where were you?” He asked without turning his head.
“Out,” came the simple response.
Aleena kicked the door closed behind her as she entered the room, a bag hung over her shoulder. Still knelt Jahard clutched the open petal amulet fashioned like a rose he wore around his neck. He mouthed a silent, quick prayer to Mother Night before rising to his feet. Stretching the muscles of his left arm and rotating the shoulder joint. He had slept poorly the night before, and he blamed the bed for the stiffness in his neck. The innkeeper had assured them of the quality of their room the night before, and Jahard remained skeptical. Top quality his arse. It seemed the title of justiciar held little reverence here. Unsurprising.
“So I suppose we’ll be heading to the spot the guards said the shade was killed?” Aleena asked.
“Yes, but first we wait for the guide Manuel promised,” Jarhard responded as he reached for his longbow, placing it in a leather sheath at his waist.
Aleena sighed as she rolled her eyes, “yes, of course, the guide. Why did you even ask for one? They’ll be more a hindrance than any help.”
“It allows us a degree reciprocity with the cities Exarch. We might be able to open more doors with a representative of the Exarch with us...and know what doors Manuel would prefer remained closed." Jahard belted his twin axes before adorning the shoulder cape that possessed the symbol of the justiciar and raised an eyebrow at the bag Aleena carried. "Anything I should know about?"
Aleena only shrugged, "just some early shopping, nothing fancy." She nonchalantly tossed the bag onto the bed, which produced the distinct sound of metal on metal. "Let go meet this guide then and hope they're not every bit as useless as I expect them to be."
The pair exited their rented room and made their way downstairs to the main hall of the inn. The innkeeper was already behind his desk, sitting on a stool and apparently playing a game of cards with himself. He looked up and gave the two justiciars barely more than a nod before turning his attention back to the line of cards before him. Messaging a sore spot on the left side of his neck Jahard hoped they'd not have to wait long. He sensed today would lead to at least some of the answers they needed, so his patience was more strained than usual.
Scarcely a minute passed before a lithe woman made her way into the inn donning the uniform of the Exarch's Guild, the Order of the Unseeing Eye. Briefly scanning the room before approaching the pair the woman smiled warmly and proffered her hand, “Justicars, I'm Lilika Sisinis. I’ll be at your disposal for however long your investigation requires.”
Jahard took the hand offered and gave a single nod, "Jahard Nhazum, and my sister," he added with a gesture of his chin, "Aleena. I take it you're aware of our current purpose here in your city."
“Of course,” Lilika's smile faded as she spoke almost apologetically, “My guild works closely with the city guard, though I was only recently briefed by the Exarch. It's hard to believe though, if not for your presence I would have had doubts.”
With a glance, Lilika pulled a few loosely bound pages of bleached parchment out of the bag on her hip and continued, “I have the document you asked for here. A record of unexpected arrivals at the docks, correct? The Captain had it done up last night, but I can't say it's the most complete list, the Guard’s records are far from perfect.”
Jahard took the parchment with a nod, "excellent this could prove to be very insightful. Once we know where to look," Jahard carefully placed the documents into a large pouch at the small of his back.
"Hmph, I hope you don't expect me to read through all that," Aleena yawned, "Alright now that's out of the way we should get to it."
"Agreed," Jahard looked to Lilika. "We'll head to the sight the victim was found if you might please lead the way."
“Certainly Justicar, it’s not a long walk.” With that Lilka turned and strode out the door, her blue eyes looking back only for a moment to ensure the pair followed.
Jahard followed Lilka's lead with Aleena not falling far behind. As Lilka had said, it was not an overly long march through the already crowded streets. The sun was already rising high in the sky when they reached the location mentioned by the guards. The alley was no different from any other, with a few pieces of strewn garbage and broken crates littering the length of the pathway.
Jahard, however, could see the echoes of what might have been a struggle still evident. A barrel overturned, its contents scattered and the water within it having since long dried up, leaving the markings of what was once a puddle with the odd fish bones laying over the faded marking of it. Dark splotches could be seen mostly upon one side wall, mostly faded but just visible.
Aleena stepped lightly into the alley first, eyes roaming up and down as if looking for something specific. He knew the followers of the Bloody Handed God were adept in finding trace magic, so he left her to her own devices. He lifted a hand to one wall, over a dark patch and looked closely, it was was dried blood to be sure, however, without hemomancy, it was impossible to tell who it belonged too.
"Did the guards mentioned anything else out of the ordinary when they found the body?" He asked Lilka without looking directly at her.
Lilika ran her hand along the building beside her as she approached Jahard, stopping to investigate the grime on her fingertips before she replied, “I was told the shade’s body was found headless. It’s not unheard of, especially since the body had been marked by one of the local gangs. Nevertheless, it did warrant some attention. As I understand it there was a brief search, although nothing particularly notable was uncovered.”
Lilika took a small cloth from her bag and cleaned off her fingers with a grimace before continuing, “The head was either disposed of somewhere far away, or it was taken as a macabre token. That aside, I’m not surprised there’s so little evidence here. Even if the killer bled our shade dry, there’s enough filth in this ally that it’d only serve to add to the mix. The docks have always been a disgusting place.”
Jahard nodded, his face stoic and unreadable. He turned his attention back to the alley itself and tried to envision what might have transpired. However, with so little to go on, he was coming up short. Jahard could scarcely believe common thugs had done this, at least not alone. A possible means of throwing them off the trail of the real killer? Possible. Anyone bold enough to kill a shade would still wish to remain anonymous. No sane man wanted to earn the ire of the Shade Enclave, or worse the Archon of Shadow's attention. Of course, it could be possible they were unaware of the identity and allegiance of the murder victim. Merely coming across someone snooping into the someone's else's business was enough to earn you a knife in the back. The idea of a shade being that careless seemed inconceivable to Jahard, however, but he could not rule anything out this early.
"Does this...gang? Have a name?" Jahard asked.
Lilika pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed, “I was hoping you weren’t going to ask that. They call themselves the uh… The Stabbers. I’m not kidding. So far as anyone can tell they think it’s intimidating. The guard has a habit of making examples of them when they surface, something that came about after they rather miserably failed to commandeer a ship, but they’ve never warranted a serious response. To think they killed a shade is… To be frank? Ridiculous.”
"Huh," Jahard scanned the ground as he added, "I agree, though one might think a native of this city would have chosen a better scapegoat to..."
Suddenly Jahard paused as something caught his attention. He knelt to one knee and took hold of the lid of a barrel and lifted it. He brushed aside some dirt and lifted up what looked to be a strip of dark cloth. He eyed it carefully, even as he watched it closely he could scarcely discern the nature of the fabric, as it seemed to fade in and out of the light. It was icy cold the touch, and even as he held it his fingers were fast becoming numb. So much so he was forced to trade hands as he examined it.
"What in seven suns..." Jahard whispered under his breath.
Watching Jahard juggle the fabric from behind Lilka reached out to touch the dangling piece of fabric herself. It had merely brushed against her hand before she recoiled and scowled, “Dark magic Justicar, unpleasant isn’t it? It’s the sort of unprincipled spellcraft one might find in Sheol, a repulsive magic for a repulsive place. I’m loathe to think its practitioners are migrating here.”
Jahard eyed the fabric with new eyes and a grimace of disgust as if the thing had started leaking pus, "and loathsome implications follow if this hints to what I fear."
Jahard retrieved a small leather pouch from a satchel tied to his belt and stored the fabric away within for later investigation. Preferably with spells of divination; despite his misgivings, it merited closer observation under the proper conditions.
At that point, Aleena hissed from further down the alley, "psst, brother I've found something."
Jahard rose to his feet at his sister's prompting seeing that she was eyeing a section of wall with narrowed eyes of suspicion. He walked over asking, "what is it. What have you found."
"...something," was all she responded with as she pulled a dagger free of the sheath bounded to her left leg. She used its sharp point to prick the index finger of her right hand. She mouthed something under her breath and raised her hand over a seemingly random spot on the alley wall. Several tense seconds pass before what looked like black ink melted off that section of the wall and ran down the face of it like a living shadow.
The unsettling touch of sorcery could be felt for just a moment and then it was gone, leaving the feeling one felt in their stomach after they had fallen from a high place.
"Someone used a rather potent spell of illusion to hide something here. I don't know any people outside the Enclave of Shades able to use shadow magic this powerful.... if the maker had taken their time on it I doubt anyone but a Shade could have managed to break it. Lucky for us our shade didn't have that much time by the looks of it."
Jahard bent forward quickly intrigued, "seems even in death Shades can keep secrets! Luckily the killer was either unaware of this or was too inept in sorcery to find it. What does it say."
Aleena frowned at the letter and numbers, "...I'm not sure, I don't recognize these symbols."
Peeking over Jahards shoulder Lilka eyed the scrawled writing and pursed her lips in thought a moment before she spoke, “It’s a pier designation Justicar, and a warehouse address under that. I can assemble a contingent of guardsmen if you wish to move on the building, given the lack of information.”
"Hmm, a mustering of the guard might tip our hand," Aleena thought out loud.
"That may be a risk we may need to take, we know not what awaits us," Jarhard cautioned. "Still, I'd rather we were the first to the scene." Rising to his feet, he looked to Lilka, "send word to the guard to be ready move on that pier, I and my sister will go ahead to stake out this location. You're free to come along if you wish."
Straightening up and dusting off her clothes, as if the very air of the alley had sullied them, Lilka nodded, “I shall inform the guard and meet you there Justicars.” With that said Lilka took her leave, leaving Jahard and Aleena to the scene.
