Caelan had a fight on his hands as soon as he woke up – something was pounding on the inside of his head with the force of an angry blood-ape. Thankfully, he’d had some practice at dealing with hangovers and emerged relatively unscathed. Song and Olvir were warming themselves by the central campfire with bowls of rice porridge and dumplings and planning the day. There were the children to move into the Academy and missing bodies to investigate.
We headed to the coliseum first, wanting to check things out before any more time went by and were shown to the room in question by one of the coliseum attendants who’d evidently been primed to expect us. We had a look around – definitely no bodies, but the walls were covered in arcane script which Song recognised as a thaumaturgical rite from the school of necromancy. Reassuring Olvir that necromancy wasn’t in this case anything to fear, she explained its purpose – to preserve and quiet those recently dead.
She activated her essence sight to take a second look around the room. The thaumaturgical sigils on the walls took on an ethereal glow and she realised the spell was particularly powerful – and old. It also didn’t raise any concern as it was doing exactly what it should do – preserving the dead and granting a little more time for rites to be performed to prevent their husks from rising again, animated by the lower soul which could linger after death.
She went to speak to the attendant outside and asked if he’d been on duty when the bodies disappeared. He hadn’t but he went to fetch those who were, so in the meantime she took on the form of a rat and sniffed around, looking for scents and clues. The attendant returned while she was busy and asked Olvir and Caelan where she was... as rat-shaped Song slipped quickly out of the door behind his back and resumed her human form in time to re-enter the room to explain how she’d just been checking something elsewhere - thus saving Olvir and Caelan from making improbable excuses. He had the disturbing news that the two people working when the bodies disappeared had also gone missing. They’d not returned home after work and their families were worried.
It was time for a little more investigation. Olvir had suggested trained dogs or bloodhounds might be able to track the bodies better than we could and we knew there were beast-trainers in the marketplace. We went via the homes of the missing first to meet their worried families, and explaining we were investigating, were able to borrow items from the disappeared which we hoped the dogs might be able to use to track with.
At the market we found a breeder from a couple of towns away who was selling fine looking hunting dogs. Caelan’s Sun-gifted powers enabled him to pick out the best of the pack, while Olvir simply barked at them to get their attention and ask them which the best tracker was. Song tried to keep the stallholder from raising his eyebrows too much at Olvir’s strange technique as we bought and walked away with two beautiful beasts. We’d barely left the market before Caelan extracted the promise from both Lunars that they weren’t going to hunt them down for their forms. No, there were better plans for the dogs and when we returned to the coliseum they soon picked up the scents of the missing people and tracked them until the trails suddenly stopped, as if they’d vanished into thin air. Neither of the missing people had been in the room holding the bodies – but they had been in rooms above and close by when the scent trails stopped dead.
Stopped dead... that made Song think. It was dead bodies that had been stolen and the only way she knew that a person would suddenly vanish without trace was if they’d moved from one realm to another – could a rite have been conducted to move the bodies into the Shadowlands? Such a ritual might catch those nearby from wherever they stood and move them, unwillingly, as well. It was a strange notion but the best we had and went to ask the one person in Moonspire who’d be able to confirm or deny the idea – the head of the Academy and expert in such things, Master Iaki of Crossing’s Point.
We approached the situation carefully. We weren’t sure if Iaki himself could have been him responsible – after all, he knew about such things - but he seemed as concerned as we were when we told him what we suspected and truthful when he told us he didn’t know how to perform such a rite. However it was possible and if carried out would move all living beings – and what they carried (dead bodies for example) into the Shadowlands. A ritual could do it, as could several ancient artifacts he’d researched over the years – none of which he knew of being anywhere near the city.
As for why the bodies had been stolen he couldn’t give a definite answer but theorised on necromantic engines, explaining to our confused ears about pseudo-machines built of the bodies of the dead and animated to do the bidding of their creators. The bodies of dead Essence users would be most prized for such things – if they weren’t used for something even more nefarious, of course.
Master Iaki explained how the Underworld was a dangerous place, full of those with strong wills or desires which tied them to Creation. With two (hopefully still living) people stranded in the underworld Caelan was worried. How much danger would they be in, and were they at risk of being built into a necromantic engine as well? We couldn’t simply go there and mount a spontaneous rescue mission – the nearest Shadowland was in Crossing’s Point. Caelan asked the Master of the Academy if he could divine their safety or even be able to help them until we could help them ourselves.
Iaki considered matters briefly before agreeing to check with his contacts (we didn’t ask exactly who) in return for a favour traded with Song. She nodded in agreement as Caelan and Olvir wondered just how we could mount a rescue and Iaki told us to return in a day or so when he hoped to have good news for us.
From there we returned to camp where we readied ourselves to meet the Prince that evening. We weren’t in any hurry to demand a decision from Prince Telenka straight away and spent an enjoyable evening, Olvir trading stories with Telenka about his training with Kashlyk. It was the coliseum god who’d suggested Telenka travelled and following his suggestion he’d gone South where he found and fought a lizardman from a tribe of beastmen. It was also while travelling that he’d found his signature weapon – the club – in a long-lost set of ruins.
As we sat back from dinner however the conversation inevitably turned to the Moonspire. Telenka seemed uncomfortable. He explained cautiously how he’d spoken to the Daughter of the Amber Moon about her offer and her deception, how he’d gone on to tell her that her ‘offer’ wasn’t accepted – and how she’d had a few choice words to say on the matter. She’d become quite direct with him and made it clear that whatever he thought, she regarded the tower as hers and while she offered to route trade through the city in return for ensuring he granted no-one else access, left him with the notion it was less of an offer and more of a demand.
Perhaps feeling a little trapped between Celestial Exalts and a Directional Censor the Prince explained what she’d said to us ruefully but could not offer any immediate solutions – instead, leaving that to us. It wasn’t the outcome we might have hoped for, but we nevertheless enjoyed Telenka’s hospitality for the remainder of the evening, sharing our stories when he asked about how Olvir and Caelan became Exalted. He didn’t ask Song – perhaps still unsure as to her nature - and she didn’t volunteer her tale.
The morning found us continuing with our plan and meeting with the merchant god Steinthr in a tea house where he seemed on easy familiarity with the owners – or perhaps that was simply his nature. When Song mentioned we had matters of business to discuss and hinted what they were, he motioned for us to move to a private back room where we could explain in less oblique terms what we wanted and how he could help. Coming out in defiance of the Censor would be dangerous for him and despite what we offered – the return of what was taken from him as well as increased trade and the alliance of three Celestial Exalted, he remained extremely cautious and would commit to nothing without knowing who our contacts were and who else would testify against the Censor Adiubande.
We were unwilling to reveal our hand as well – especially since our plan was as-yet still part formed, needing the commitment of various gods first. Caelan tried to persuade him using a little Celestially reinforced emphasis but he remained reluctant, explaining there were few if any who’d move against her since all knew of her reputation directly or indirectly. He did confirm what we suspected however, revealing that some years ago he’d negotiated with a god in the South over a yasal crystal trade and Adiubande told him to stop. He hadn’t, it being his domain, but she’d taken affront and meted out punishment nonetheless.
He asked what the specific trading opportunity was we’d mentioned to him in our first prayer and Song explained about the ironwood. He said had a trader who might well be interested – but we didn’t go into details. We wanted his alliance first and foremost and without any firm deals done, we parted ways – Caelan back to camp for some recently-neglected training, Olvir assuming his dog-shape to snuffle about town and Song returning to her wagon where she had potions to brew.
She was carefully tending to a simmering pot of salve when a quiet but confident knock at her wagon door announced the arrival of Azeri of the Grey Mind. Song had mixed a fine blend of tea for such an occasion, and drawing water to boil the two sat and talked. Song explained in a similar manner what she’d said to Steinthr earlier as she poured tea. Azeri seemed to have similar concerns though was, as ever, seemingly reluctant to talk on such matters – but she said we should seek out a daughter of hers, Tamari Yellowstone, who lived a couple of days travel from Moonspire. She was a storyteller and would, she promised, be more illuminating.
Tamari wouldn’t necessarily be a god-blooded daughter of Azeri, Song realised. Azeri’s children were not necessarily those of blood – but those who’d embraced her philosophy and been adopted as well. Wisdom passed down through generations didn’t rely solely on blood relatives, after all, although Azeri looked fondly on the ancient tome of Song’s – she had created the first of its kind and was pleased to see the artifact so well treasured. Departing, she left us with one more avenue to pursue.
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