Rogroc met Omimajish, was blinded by the Cuthbert, and returned to the party. To him, it's all just another of life's mysteries.
Yves had to make system shock when he was exposed to the Cuthbert. Omimajish told Yves that his soul was fractured and he'd discuss the matter further with Yves' priest (i.e., Silvana).
Omimajish informed Beeel that "we" were proud of Beeel's performance during the Dustplane mission. Beeel told Omimajish of his concerns regarding Frankel's recent behavior.
- Beeel:
- "Rather than confronting him, I sent spies to trail him and secretly find out what he was up to."
- Omimajish:
- "Naturally. There is no shame in spying. Has he been possessed or charmed?"
- Beeel:
- "Apparently he was charmed by some friendly priestesses. Excessively friendly priestesses. But I doubt that is connected to his strange behavior."
- Omimajish:
- "Excessively friendly priestesses are often accountable for strange behavior. Never underestimate them."
- Gita:
- "Hmph!"
Beeel filled in what he knew of Frankel's doings, and Omimajish said he'd get to the bottom of things.
Frankel was first approached by Jothra, Derdriu's former mentor in the Belhor Temple. Jothra was hoping that he and Pepper would be willing to train a group of warhorses who'd just made a level. Frankel agreed and asked Jothra for information about Tiger. She believed that he was reponsible for the theft of some of Rogtymark's horses and said she'd be happy to help Frankel bring him to justice. She was also glad that Frankel and Pepper were involved in the war; she sees it as fundamentally a struggle between Good and Evil rather than a simple fight between humans.
Frankel was then brought before Omimajish, where he confessed some of his sins (as recounted in previous summaries). He also mentioned that he'd lied to the arbitrator about his identity and his role in the party, and expressed regret for opposing further efforts to locate the lost centaur tribe (because of his anger at one centaur apparently driving the others on their march).
- Omimajish:
- "Thank you for your honesty. I shall keep this information in confidence. Every lie creates a bead of sin, and it is not for me to weigh you down further. Strive to follow the true path, Frankel."
(For that one moment, Omimajish almost seemed like a decent human being...but let's not get carried away.)
This conversation occurred offstage, as it were, but Silvana did learn more about what befell Rogtubbins in Banzeel. Tubbins had been captured in the sewers while meeting with the revolutionaries, and he'd been held at the Insanity Temple (as the party expected). Nomistrus was able to track him down, and though he couldn't effect a rescue, he was able to kill him before anything could be done to his soul. The Hollerith Temple is now growing a clone from a tissue sample Tubbins left before going to Banzeel. Unfortunately, the Westerners don't know who took Tubbins' body, or if whoever it was is twisted enough to try making a clone of their own.
While the party was sitting around between interrogation shifts, they met Lorcan Saxe-Marek, a wealthy-looking half-elven priest/mage from Auramkil who's been observing the siege (on his own, not on behalf of any Auramkil faction) and assisting a group of gnomish siege engineers with their experiments. His mother was an Elite Guard member from the Marek Clan, and his father was Lord Saxe, a human with influence at court. (When he was growing up, Ganeth knew the Saxes by reputation: minor human nobility, fairly rich, somewhat scheming -- about average for Auramkil, I suppose.) The story is that Lorcan's parents met at court and fell in love; one could also read an alliance with human nobility as a last-ditch attempt by the Mareks to hold on to whatever was left of their position and influence in Auramkil (especially after the Barshen Clan went down for the count).
According to Fraxiz, the chief gnomish inventor and a former student of Krovac's, Lorcan has been a patron of inventors for some time; he even hosted a convention at his home in Auramkil. While this is strange, even stranger is that Lorcan is an open, full-time worshipper of Nuket. He also plays a discordant-sounding instrument similar to bagpipes, possibly of gnomish design.
During these discussions, Lorcan brokered deals for Yves to learn Orcish (with native accent and everything) from Fraxiz' translator skull while Fraxiz learned tumbling from Stealth, and for Yves to utilize some gnomish superglue to repair Rogroc's armor after its immersion in the Banzeel sewers. He also volunteered to teach G Eastern Common during the latter's mage training.
Silvator/Elbleem and Gorakheel briefly encountered each other but didn't get much of a chance to discuss merchant affairs.
That evening, Silvana, Ganeth, and Lorcan started discussing Auramkil around the campfire. Silvana mentioned that she'd heard the entire area was somehow sealed off from extraplanar influence. When Ganeth mentioned the growing anti-elf sentiment in the city, Lorcan said that the movement was being led a group of "so-called holy men" claiming that elves have been stealing from the city. He also noted that religion in general has become less popular over the years and that Auramkil isn't particularly interested in the war except as "just another foreign adventure."
Lorcan mentioned that he hadn't been to court since an incident involving fireworks, and the campfire exploded in a burst of sparks, blinding Beeel, Frankel, and Pepper for a round.
- Fraxiz:
- "Just wanted to liven up the story. No harm done. This is why Lorcan is no longer welcome at court. By the way, they are available for sale."
Silvana and Stealth took a quick look around to see if anyone had snuck in during the commotion and spotted an old man in rags about 40' away. Silvana approached him while Yves circled around behind, but the man vanished (leaving the rags behind). Fraxiz offered to send up a flare rocket to illuminate the area, but its tripod tipped over just before launch and the rocket flew right into Fraxiz' chest. The gnome took damage, he, Lorcan, and Ganeth were blinded, and Pepper's danger sense kicked in.
- Lorcan:
- "Obviously needs a sturdier tripod."
- Fraxiz:
- "Obviously. By the way, is that healing still available?"
- Lorcan:
- "Yes. Where are you?"
- [Fraxiz screams for several seconds.]
- Fraxiz:
- "Did that help you locate me? Just head for the blind spot on your retina. I'm right below it, mortally wounded."
Yves poked around the robes with a stick, and an odd-looking snake spat vemon at his eyes and tried to slither away. More snakes appeared (the vine equivalent of sticks to snakes), combat ensued, and the strange snake entwined with two other snakes, forcing called shots to its distinctive head (a -8 shot) in addition to the problem of its stoneskins.
- Gorakheel:
- "I have an easy solution to this problem."
- Rogroc:
- "Fight?"
Gorakheel's solution was actually to spew burning hands on them, but this plan was foiled by their insistence on moving every round. Lorcan managed to heal Fraxiz, and the blind got their vision back. Ganeth started detecting illusions and found one around Fraxiz.
- Fraxiz:
- "Look, pal. I may be a wanted criminal, but I'm not behind this stupid attack. I was just having fun with the fireworks."
- Ganeth:
- "Wanted by who for what?"
- Fraxiz:
- "Wanted by various people for various accidents. I have nothing against you guys anymore."
- Ganeth:
- "Any more?"
- Fraxiz:
- "We were once on opposite sides of a coin."
Fraxiz, Ganeth, and Lorcan basically stood around staring at each other for the rest of the combat. Gorakheel finally won init and got his burning hands off while everyone pounded on snakes, and eventually the weird snake surrendered (speaking Eastern Common) and reverted to yuan-ti form (with a saddle blanket to cover itself with).
- Yuan-ti:
- "I am Issssssss, priest of Sisssilisss."
- Beeel:
- "Sisyphus?"
- Frankel:
- "Sisilis."
- Beeel:
- "Sithilith?"
- Yves:
- "Syphilis?"
- Issss:
- "Ssssstop making fun of thissssss."
- Frankel:
- "Getttttting to the pointttt?"
Lorcan had heard of Sisssilisss before: It's a CE reptilian god who likes human sacrifices, its worshippers/cultists often turn into snake-like beings, and its priests are rumored to be extremely intelligent.
Issss recognized Silvana and Ganeth ("the high elf called G") and assumed the others were Westerners. It said that it was a revolutionary from Banzeel, was spying before making contact with the party (after its agents in the swamp reported seeing them go through), had read "The Connection of the Ketronel", was interested in seeing the Marakeel Empire fall, and was willing to humor Silvana's request to handcuff it (not realizing that these were magical cuffs of shapechange-hosing).
- Issss:
- "I may be Evil, but I want to help. I want to casssst off the ssshacklesss of the Empire."
- Beeel: [snorting disgustedly]
- "Frankel, you said you wanted to scout?"
- Frankel:
- "Yes. Let's go off a cliff somewhere."
Silvana was willing to accept Issss' help, but only after it had spoken to some of the Truth priests. Issss recognized Gorakheel and claimed to know where his spellbooks were; Gorakheel was interested but didn't learn anything more. A few rounds later, Rogwaxene showed up with some guards and carted Issss away; Silvana and Gorakheel went along to make sure that the yuan-ti wasn't unduly harmed, but Omimajish wanted to interrogate the prisoner alone.
- Silvana:
- "I want my cuffs back at some point, please."
- Omimajish:
- "I will return them when the prisoner no longer needs them."
Issss survived the interrogation, though he ended up weekly (and still cuffed).
Back at camp, Fraxiz recalled the days when he did trap work for Kanugal Ashlord and worked indirectly for the Shade Lord. (Ashy was apparently quite sore about the party's role in the Ketronel connection and widespread destruction of level-draining undead.) He was then convinced to drop his illusion for a moment, revealing another gnomish face.
- Fraxiz:
- "Don't you recognize me? I know you -- why don't you know me? Look, guys. I was the guy who burnt down the Pit in Silverton. Remember that?"
- Silvana:
- "I remember doing a raid on the Pit..."
- Fraxiz:
- "I was also in Auramkil and blew up the Shorin Clan's basement. Didn't you ever hear of that?"
- Ganeth:
- "Didn't hear about that one, but good for you."
- Fraxiz:
- "I accidentally killed the Emperor of Auramkil! Still no recollection? Come on, guys! I faked my own death and came back as Fraxiz. But I thought tales of my deeds would still be around..."
- Beeel:
- "How many months ago was that?"
- Ganeth:
- "About fifteen years."
- Beeel:
- "Well, that's not much time for legends to form."
- Lorcan:
- "I never noticed. I must try to get out more."
As Fraxiz tells it, he was at the Imperial Court when the undead launched their major offensive in AK 579. Vampires had infiltrated the court, and Fraxiz tried to use a Major Myriad ("a device that tries to read your mind and changes into different things depending on the situation") to fight them off, but the Emperor was caught in the resulting meteor swarm and died. The Myriad burned out, and Fraxiz later told whoever was still alive that the vampires had done it.
- Silvana:
- "Unfortunately, we can't let Fraxiz go completely. We will notify the other gnomes of his true identity, but not the humans. It will be up to them to decide whether to honor him or do something else with him."
- Fraxiz:
- "You can't tell the gnomes! They know me. I haven't done anything wrong. If it wasn't for snoopy old Ganeth, I'd be fine."
- Lorcan:
- "Fraxiz hasn't deliberately done anything against us. I don't think we should spoil things for him."
- Silvana:
- "He'll be fine. Unless he's been sacrificing gnomish children...that's the one crime they don't seem to forgive."
It turned out the gnomes didn't remember Fraxiz or his criminal exploits either, so after a few days of deliberation, they decided he was just insane, which was fine by everyone.
The party started training, and a week later, Nomistrus reached the encampment. First he talked Omimajish out of having Ganeth irradiated, and then he met with G.
His first question was whether Ganeth had been losing experience since his return. Apparently Rogash has been losing 50% of his xp since he landed in the body designed for Lord Eagle, and nobody knows where it's going. (The body doesn't age and has 18/00 strength, but that's not enough for a 50% xp tax.)
Nomistrus examined Ganeth under true seeing and was shocked by what he saw: absolutely nothing unusual. Apart from being purely Prime Material (and thus probably immune to anti-plant magics), there was nothing to detect. He couldn't even sense the chaos source as more than a vague impression, though that could be partially due to whatever the mystery Whitemoon extraplanars did to keep it from interacting with the body.
- Nomistrus:
- "Whoever has made this body has cloaked your problems with great skill. I dislike sudden pleasant surprises, don't you?"
It's possible that the cloaking effect will degrade over time, so Nomistrus recommended regular checkups at the Hollerith Temple. The body might also be set to trigger on some event; death is a popular choice, though in G's case middle age is another contender.
- Ganeth:
- "So the plan is not to die...otherwise we get an evil backlash instead of a chaotic one."
- Nomistrus:
- "Not that survival is a particularly unpalatable goal for you."
Nomistrus also wanted G's opinion about Elbleem and Silvator; Ganeth replied that Silvator has always seemed basically trustworthy, but Elbleem has generally seemed not.
- Nomistrus:
- "It is fishy that Silvator would risk so much and take Elbleem into his body. The chances of insanity or worse are very high. This is an extremely unstable configuration. Souls are not designed for such proximity -- the weaker could get forced out."
- Ganeth:
- "Any idea which one is weaker?"
- Nomistrus:
- "Normally, I would place odds on Silvator being stronger, but given the Cthul-Ra amulet, I cannot tell."
Nomistrus had heard of the Grey Mage, or at least of a powerful wizard who'd defected to the East after the Emperor's death. He'd heard that the mage was an alteration specialist; he'd also heard he was dead. He was surprised to learn that there was a Glurf in the sewers of Banzeel (especially one sent to help Rogtubbins) and even more surprised to learn that Kharnzeel might have come from the desert -- he hopes to get some mileage out of that lead.
Finally, Nomistrus mentioned that he was planning a trip to C-Ra to work on improving their perceptions of the war effort. He noted that C-Ra is much more interesting than it first appears, particularly with its rakshasa and githyanki connections. (Nomistrus suspects that the religion of C-Ra might involve pacts with rakshasa, and the Council amulets could have been made by rakshasa. Raks are mentioned in some of the forbidden tomes in the Library's possession. The ruins under C-Ra may indicate an old All-Mother worshipping cult in the area, and some people have speculated that the human ancestors of the githyanki might have come from the city.)
- Nomistrus:
- "This war is going to take a little more maneuvering than High Priest Omimajish realizes, if we are to have a chance..."
Training continued, and the party started thinking about what they should do once fifth-level mage spells were safely part of the arsenal. Assaulting the Temple of Death during the next battle was on the table, and in the meantime, there were several suggestions:
- Sarkanist and his owlbear constructs were known to have a base in the hills nearby that could be located and stomped on.
- Stone giants have been heading toward Banzeel. These could be intercepted, or an attempt could be made to retrieve the item that's been controlling them from the Temple of the Earth Worm.
- The party could try to track down the centaur tribe and find out why the Thin Man (if it was him in the crystal ball) is so interested in them, their demon, or whatever they're carrying.
- They could try to assist in setting up a three-day "Pax of Helibane" to allow more Banzeelites to leave the city (leaving less fodder for the anticipated Death quest spell, and incidentally saving some of Banzeel's poor from starvation).
- They could attempt to intercept Eastern operative teams currently active in the desert and prevent them from gathering material components for the quest spells.
- Or they could help Gorakheel try to get the resistance in touch with the Westerners.
Meanwhile, the bad guys were busy.