RP:The Hunt Is Back On
Part of the Agitation Arc
Summary: Linn, troubled by the summoning of the Shade Nightmare, decides to look into the Order of the Shade. He sets out in search of Josleen for more information. She points him in the right direction.
The Jester's Gambit
In these dark days Josleen’s natural talent for storytelling and music proves a better balm for the people of Xalious’s frayed nerves than her second-rate set of political skills. Today she performs at The Jester’s Gambit, the halfling’s favorite watering hole. She sings an epic poem of heroic triumphs in Xalious and Enchantment (the village’s south-eastern neighbor) in the days when Arrecation’s evil darkened the skies. Ultimately good won out then, and this tale inspires hope that the light will vanquish the dark once again.
Linn needed to ask around the town a bit to get directed to wherever Josleen was, though eventually some of the people leaving The Jester’s Gambit directed him back there. Conspicuous as ever in his mithril armor he ducked his way through the door to sit at an oh-so conveniently empty table and wait for the bard to finish her performance. While he made no haste, his gaze fixed itself on her as he idly ordered a glass of cider, whatever he was looking to talk about seeming important.
Josleen greets Linn with her eyes as she performs without breaking her song. This set just started so Linn has to wait. The tale of Arrecation shifts to one about lovers separated by war who find each other decades later. Then there is a song about a plagued town that is saved when a child with an immunity is born and he learns to bless others with his immunity. Tales of hope, nothing else will do. She finishes her set and welcomes to the stage the same comedian halfling who was performing the day Linn and Josleen met. The halfling walks onto the stage delivering a one liner “I just ordered the club sandwich and I’m not even a member. I don’t know how I keep getting away with it.” Josleen erupts in a body-shaking peal of laughter. She thinks this man is just brilliant. She joins Linn’s table still recovering from her laughter with little feminine exhales. “Isn’t he brilliant?” By the time her butt hits the seat the smile is gone. It is possible to find moments of levity, but they are brief and quickly smothered by the heavy mantle of doom that has settled over the village.
Linn was left with a thoughtful gaze as Josleen continued her songs of hope, trying to find the means that he will make his own to deal with what was shaping up to be a bigger threat than he had ever seen. The halfling’s joke prompted a soft grin and a chuckle, finding some humor for the enchanter. When she finally set down next to him he nodded with a deep sigh. “I’ve been… thinking? More like having nightmares, about what happened back on the election day. For some reason I just have that feeling that… that –thing- isn’t gone. I remember way back when it was still just the necromancers you said something about them possibly being connected with this Order of the Shade. I don’t know how much knowing more about this order is going to do to help us with… everything, but it’s worth a shot. So… is there anything you might know that we might be able to use?” Whether Josleen had actually seen the shade nightmare or not in its full form was lost to him, finding that thing big enough such that EVERYONE had to have seen it.
Josleen shakes her head in agreement. “No, it isn’t gone. These lulls between storms are beginning to feel like a pattern, not an end: a harbinger of something worse than what we’ve experienced before.” She shudders as she recalls the beast and is glad he moves on to what comes next. Action is easier than reflection. He goes on about the Order of the shade and she nods several times like a parishioner in a church during a sermon.”I think the Order is key. Everything points back in time, to the Order. Lady Larewen Dragana of Vailkrin was helping me with this, but I recently lost contact with her. I can try to call upon her again. She is an experienced necromancer. Legend has it five items said to possess magic enchanted by the founders of the Order. A crown, a whip, a ring, a pair of boots, and a brooch.” She glances furtively side to side then leans in to whisper so low that Linn will have to read her lips too. “I can confirm the legend. I know who has the brooch.”
Linn nodded slowly in tentative agreement. Though to him the evolving patterns held no importance if he was incapable of acting on them. When Josleen began speaking about the Order again his attention fixed itself on her, picking apart every word to find some useful information. “Artifacts…” he mused as his mind began to drift away before quickly snapping back to attention. The fragments of her statement on her brooch were enough for him to realize the meaning, causing his eyes to widen, quickly glancing sideways before leaning in himself, “Who would that be?” he asked incredulously.
Josleen wrings her hands. She hesitates to answer even as she leans in to tell him. “There are evil necromancers out there who would kill to get their hands on these artifacts and use them against the planet. This information is sensitive. I trust you, but I worry about spies.” Indeed she’s already revealed herself as knowing where one artifact is, and thus putting herself in danger if any spies have overheard them now by physical or magical means. “Come.” She leads him out the front door, down the street, up an alley, to a small tomato patch behind a halfling home where few would think to lay down magical spy equipment. On the off chance the spycraft has been placed on her, she pulls paper and graphite from her purse (now a genuine Kreekitaka bag) and without looking at the paper herself writes the name ‘Krice.’ Her hand cups around it for Linn to peer over the top and read the name. Once she sees in his face confirmation that he has read the name, she pulls a matchbook from her purse and burns the piece of paper. “Precautions,” she says by way of explanation for her paranoia.
Linn nodded before following Josleen so that the information could be shared. While he somewhat welcomed the necromancers to make an attempt on him for such an artifact, he understood that putting someone else at risk was out of the question. Seeing the name drawn on the paper he stared at it, his brows furrowing as he tried to recall the name. The recollection was hazy at best, eventually he pulled on a strand of hair to indicate it and pointed to the silvery metal he covered himself in. “Metal’s a bit bright but, like that?” He sighed and nodded. “Well, if there are several… that at least means we can possibly find another. They may have some kind of connection to that creature or other things surrounding it that may give us a fighting chance. There’s no way we’d be able to fight it ourselves right now, which means… we have to do a bit of hunting to find a way to do so.”
Josleen nods and says a slow “Yeee-uupp.” Silver-haired Krice it is. “One of the artifacts, the ring, is enchanted to help the wearer find other magical items, including the other four Order of the Shade artifacts. I am not sure of any of the other have such powers, but it’s possible. Lady Larewen has an book the describes the set of artifacts. The crown creates an illusion of a black cowl that obscures the face completely. The brooch makes the wearer look undead and have no heat signature. The whip, which is really a riding crop for lizard mounts — the drow ride giant lizards the way we ride horses — the whip commands the undead. It is said that all five items when worn together grant the wearer the ability to transform into a wraith at will.”
Linn nodded as the memories reassembled themselves at Josleen’s confirmation. A name, both written and said, and a face. Listening to the descriptions of each one he nodded slightly, looking a little dismayed as she finished. “Well, we don’t have the ring. So that complicates things. Then again if we had the ring it might just be all we need…” he shrugged with a sigh. “So it looks like there is a lot of digging to be done. We’ll have to see if she knows any more about the order and the artifacts, see if that can give us a good start on where to begin. And see what he knows as well, given what he has already.” Fortunately, there was only one other male and one female that they were talking about, making mixing up the purposefully vague pronouns much more difficult. Cracking a grin he released a lighthearted chuckle. “So, back to treasure hunting it is for me… No doubt which will lead to infinite amounts of trouble…”
Josleen shakes her head and shrugs. “I know he doesn’t know much. I had arranged a meeting between him and Lady Dragana, and she agreed, but shortly after that I lost touch with her. He chanced upon the item, if I recall correctly, though you’d have a more accurate picture if you got the story directly from him.” She grins at his chuckle over treasure hunting. Having recently returned from a quest with Krice to hunt and procure a life-saving reagent, she’s has her fill of adventure for now. Linn, in his mithril suit, looks more than capable without her. “Let me know how else I can be of help.”
Linn couldn’t help another shrug in return. Really, they were in the dark here, fumbling to open up a door or window –somewhere- to let a bit of light in and break this whole case wide open. “Well, I’ll see what I can do to catch either of them. Stuff like this has its own stories as well, but we’ll just have to see.” He began to drift away into his own thoughts and plans on just who to find, how, and what to do with those meetings before Josleen spoke up again, bringing another nod, “Yeah. I’ll see what I can do first. Here’s to hoping we make something of this.” He reached his hand out for a shake on figuring out this whole shade-nightmare deal before departing with a wave and a “See you later!”
Josleen shakes Linn’s hand and sees him off with a wave. She waits half a minute before emerging out of the alleyway behind him. Back in The Jester’s Gambit she returns to her work in keeping spirits high.