Session Date: 10/6/2023
The Baron is incredibly resistant to the idea of his own children and bastards being on the suspect list but given the circumstances he will make sure that the chairs at dinner will set up in such a way that everyone will be within Sarras’s divine sense radius. When brandy and dessert are called down then they will mingle and she will be able to use her divine sense to check on things. When Sarras does so, she discovers that more people than she would expect have at least a whiff of the unholy.
List of people who aren’t 6 or 4 that are good suspects:
- Iago — Tiefling, 16 y/o bastard son
- Iolande — Human, 13 y/o bastard daughter
- Raoul — Human (heir), 18 — only marginally short
- Amalric — Elven — steward — only marginally thin
- Agnes — Elven — bailiff
- Sibylla — Half-Elf — reeve
- Does not have the authority to tell the guards to let someone in.
- Tyrenic — Elven — herald — only marginally short
- Gwendolyn recognizes, they both attended the college together.
Hugh and Shivabell give off very faint aroma of evil — it is not unhallowed objects, but they have both been in contact with such objects. There are heavy traces on the second illegitimate son (Iago) but he is a tiefling, and he shows up as fiendish just by his bloodline. Iolande shows up with fewer traces than the others but also it is not none. Raoul absolutely reeks of evil. There is a lingering bit of evil clinging to Theobald the baron’s butler. The rest show up clean.
Iago and Raoul are the two strongest sources of unholy present, but Iago may be just because he’s a tiefling.
There are quiet conversations around the table. Shivabell and Hugh are explaining to the baron why they didn’t tell him, Iago is talking to the jeweler about jewelry, Iolande is teasing Iago about his reading, Tyrenic is telling stories.
Sarras asks Tyrenic about stories regarding the defeat of Sochet or his followers, and he begins: a story halfway across the world when the cult tried to invade the nation Sarcolet (mispronounced because he’s drunk) where there was a queen of crows that drove him back out. Everyone pays attention to the point that even the baron does, and everyone seems to be paying attention. Gwendolyn starts to use detect thoughts to see if anyone is giving up information that they’re a cultist.
Detect thoughts:
- Raoul is thinking about if the queen of crows was hot. What’s the smallest number of feathers along a neckline and still be safe enough to wear out.
- Iago is engaged in thinking about how nice it would be if a tile worked its way loose from the ceiling and dropped down on his little sister’s head and killed her.
- Iolande is thinking about nothing — she is so devoted to giving Iago shit about what a big puffy dummy he is that there are no thoughts in her head. Literally, no thoughts, head empty.
- Amalric is currently wondering about how the fact that it looks like the hunt is cancelled is going to affect the kitchen budget this month.
- Agnes is currently wondering who in the room might be a cultist. She suspects pretty much everybody except Sibylla and another servant. She has very uncomplimentary opinions on the personal integrity of everyone. The fact that she doesn’t really know the party means she doesn’t trust any of us either, and she is also thinking how convenient it is that after we catch a few church clerks in the middle of a scam, that the one survivor of a shipwreck is a church clerk. Her suspect #1 is Gwendolyn.
- Sibylla is terrified she is going to be a suspect. She’s not worried because she’s guilty, she’s worried because she has a stammer and it’s worse when she’s afraid, and she’s afraid of everyone ranked higher than her. She’s afraid she won’t be able to defend herself if accused.
- Tyrenic is trying very hard to recall details on this story and he’s really mad he said queen of crows twice when he meant Ravenqueen. He’s hoping nobody has noticed and nobody knows how much he’s had to drink (we all know how much he’s had to drink).
- The Ravenqueen had a sword that drank souls and could tell who was and wasn’t guilty. The implication is she killed a TON of innocent people.
- Schiabelle is worried about her daughter, and is wondering why Bastianna lied to protect her.
- Deeper thoughts: Believes that Bastianna protected her with regards that while it is true her daughter was kidnapped and she and her husband were blackmailed by the cult, it was because when they figured out there was a cult present, they approached them to see if the cult would be useful in their plans to kill the baron. Bastianna was present for these conversations, but did neglected to elaborate on this murder plot.
- She has no clue why Bastianna covered for her like this.
- Hugh is grateful for the story because he doesn’t have to listen to any more of his father’s sympathies. He couldn’t take another sentence from that sniveling half senile gas bag without throttling him.
Notes — Hugh is a better candidate for Raoul because he has children, and he’s already served in the military. He would be a good recommendation for the barony if we don’t want Raoul to get it.
Brandy and dessert is about over and we all begin to split up. The baron beckons Sarras over to him and demands to know what she found out about children. Before she goes to talk we agree not to explicitly state we used detect thoughts on people, but we should warn the baron that given the evil that Sarras did see, he should increase his personal guard to stay protected. She explains that she felt a strong sense of evil from Iago but warns that she strongly feels it is because he is a tiefling, and that the strongest sense of evil was coming from Raoul. She admits that she doesn’t know what that means at this time but it is possible that he may be harboring or working with someone who is or closely related to the priestess, but she doesn’t have enough evidence or information to work on it.
The baron hopes that we can find enough through investigation with the guards we can exonerate Raoul and find something else. Sarras offers to help the guards, and that Gwendolyn has a unique skillset that can help as well. The baron offers to leave us to mind the castle while he goes out with Theobald, Aldenald, and Philcan, to see how many cultists from the henge they can locate. He will use the dogs to help, since he promised the pups a hunt. Sarras recommends keeping the guards around him up and well-rested — the baron agrees on this, and offers one further: he knows that Ser Bertram (Ships it’s Ships) was looking forward to the hunt, so he will take him with him. Sarras again reminds that the priestess is a shapeshifter and the baron agrees he won’t be alone with anyone. Sarras is incredibly gracious and understands we are strangers, and the baron says he knows that we were sent by Petra and he is too wise to fight with the marquis.
Ships will be riding on a horse named Waffles, who is an 11 year old bay mare that is the most vicious in the stable who is only placated with an offering of waffles. We will adopt.
It is night and we are checking out Raoul to see if he’s wacky nuts or not.
Kerran is using pass without a trace and polymorphing into a cat, while Gwendolyn will be turning invisible to sneak around. Sarras will be patrolling in the evening to stay vaguely nearby Gwendolyn, though trying not to make it obvious she’s tailing Raoul. The guards show Sarras where everyone’s rooms are. The Marquis, Ducal, and Royal suites are reserved if any of the appropriate people come to visit.
Raoul gets some off duty guards and goes to the game room to play games. After playing cards for about half an hour or so, Raoul is getting sufficiently tipsy to the point he’s starting to lose every hand, but not so tipsy he doesn’t realize this. He calls the game and heads to his room to go to bed. The lights in his room go out right away and listening at the door leads to his snoring — he definitely does sleep.
Gwendolyn and Kerran sneak in once he’s good and asleep to search for the ritual book, or any other proof that he’s a cultist. They have not found anything notable in his room except for a fair amount of money and jewelry, wine, pornographic wood cuts, his collection of spices. They quickly evacuate the room to see what the commotion is.
Sarras is watching and keeping and eye open and is 2/3 down hall before she sees, peeking around the corner for a moment, in a hooded cloak and carrying a bundle of things in his arms, Raoul, who was confirmed to just go to sleep in his bed. He sees Sarras, his eyes widen, and he ducks back down the hallway. Sarras strides quickly back toward the hallway he went down and Sarras heard two doors slam shut before she rounds that corner. She gets the impression that the two rooms are across from each other.
Calthel clearly sees Raoul wearing a cloak carrying two bundles of things in his arms open my door, skid a book across the floor into the room, look up, see that I’m here, eyes wide, then slam the door closed. Calthel kicks the book under his bed and casts mage armor on himself and peeks his head out of the doorway to see where Raoul went. Sarras asks what’s up and Calthel explains that Raoul had peeked into his room and slid a book in, then was surprised and left.
Sarras bangs on the door of Iago asking if he’s fine, he opens the door promptly and is in a dress robe with a candle in one hand, still wearing his spectacles. He was definitely not asleep — he had apparently been reading, likely. Sarras suggests Iago check on the baron as there is danger.
Calthel hears a faint rustle of cloth — the fact that I can hear it means it’s probably not that faint. He bangs on her door and wakes her, and she asks who it is. Sarras explains that there was danger, and with detect magic Sarras can see a faint ring of conjuration near the bed.
Iago goes to check on Marie as Sarras pulls Calthel back to make sure Iolande does not try to dash as she enters the room to search the bed. As she looks over the things around and in Iolande’s bed, she doesn’t see anything that doesn’t obvious belong there. There’s an aura coming off the head of the bed where all of these things are and they’re jumbled enough that it’s not obvious which item it is. Whatever the item is it’s been there a while, so it’s kind of rubbed off on other things as well. Sarras picks up the doll and can tell that the aura moves with it. The doll headbutts Sarras in a way that should be impossible for ceramic, and it feels cold and wet.
Calthel is struck by the notion that something about this splashing was familiar to him but he doesn’t place why quite yet.
Sarras tries to suplex the doll onto the ground and it basically splashes and rolls away. Iolande shrieks that you are hurting her doll and she tries to stab Sarras, but Calthel uses hold person on her to freeze her in place. Calthel calls for Iago, but he grabs Marie and runs toward the Baron’s room.
Sarras asks if Calthel has anything to put this thing in and he says no, but he sees Gwendolyn and cat-Kerran and asks them to peek into his room for a container to shove the creature in. Kerran sees the book, drops his cat shape, and takes the book from under Calthel’s bed. Gwendolyn has a chest that she was traveling with and she gets it ready to capture the doll. Iolande frees herself from the hold person and starts to just shriek. The doll attacks Sarras and loses its doll form and it’s an oblex spawn.
Iolande cast thunder wave on us, and hisses in frustration when it doesn’t work (a much more mature response than we expect) and it seems very much that she is possibly the cult leader. Gwendolyn captures the oblex spawn in the chest. Eventually, Gwendolyn makes a suggestion that we stop fighting and talk things out so we can understand things better. Iolande pouts massively and sits down.