Rolled 20 (1d20)

>>48094202
>inspect room

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>>48094311
>my first nat 20 in this quest
>first roll of the day
>mfw

Chem?

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>20

You scan the room, looking for something that might give a hint as to... well anything really. On the left you can see the schola nitor members combing through the myraid of devises and papers on the shelves lining the side veles is pointing at. Along the other you can see the line of dust marking where something massive was moved towards the portal.

Its the dust that catches your attention. They may have been here a few months, but the dust seems rather thick. Moving over to the outline, you trace a finger through the dust, rubbing it between thumb and forefinger until you realize what it really is. "Veles." You call out to him. "Blood isn't the only substance you can use as a catalyst. Is it?"

"Well no, not exactly. Its probably the most potent. I never had much time to tinker with anything else. Prefer metallic conduits myself." He says, producing his blade as an example.

"What about entire bodies?" You say, as you flick the ash, not dust, from your fingers.

"I... suppose. Why?"

You gesture to the ash outline and the two piles of 'dust' on either side. "I whatever you were powering here used entire bodies."

"But they were using blood, we saw that." Veles, says hurrying over to you along with the magos.

"Stand back a minute." The man says as he casts some sort of incantation on one of the dust piles, causing it to flutter. Covering your faces, Veles and you look over to the magos who half coughs and retches following his incantation. "Yes... Yes these are incinerated human remains." The magos looks over to you. "Sorry."

>I wouldn't have put it past them.
>Doesn't make sense, if they were bleeding Zhou's people. Not to mention dumping the bodies.
>Other?

>>48095470
>It doesn't make sense. . .

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You back away from the fluttering ash with Veles, noting the muttered complaints from the schola staff about their leader causing a dust storm and not bothering to correct them. The less they know.

Waiting as the 'dust' settles, you eventually hazard opening your mouth. "It doesn't make sense."

The ash covered magos looks over to you and Veles. "What makes you figure that?" He says, brushing the remains off his coat.

"They were bleeding Zhou's people. Using that as their fuel. How many people does it take to make that much ash?"

"More than I'd care to count." The magos admits.

"Plus, I saw them dumping bodies, reported it to Keel and everything. Why dump them if they use them this way?"

You look at the magos in silence as Veles copies your earlier investigation of the ash before picking up a handful and sifting through it.

"Need." He says after a time.

"Pardon?" The Magos says, looking to you for an explanation you don't have.

"Look how the ash scatters, even now with very little to disturb it." Veles says pointing to piles, diminishing and scattering at the merest waft of a passing . "They've been rendered so fine so as to be thought of as dust. And not a trace of life to the remains."

"And that means... what exactly?" You ask.

"The dead here were harvested. Not used as a catalyst to fuel someone elses magic, but as the power itself. A great amount of power for a very short time. Probably shortly after we broke into their rear. Probably still while they were alive."

>Who'd they harvest? McCain got everyone out I thought.
>How'd they do it?
>Keel needs to know about this immediately.
>Other?

>>48096324
>How'd they do it, and for what? The portal?

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"How'd they do it, and for what? The portal?"

Veles frowns, "The portal, yes. It was probably activated shortly after we made our entrance," He says, tilting his head towards the general direction of the opening you burned into the back of the cave. "As for the how? I couldn't possibly say."

"I can probably help there." a schola nitor member standing near the line of tables says before glaring at the magos behind you. "Oh piss off Val, you've got your disciplines, I've got mine."

You turn to look at the magos who has his face set in a curious form of neutral-anger you can't quite place. "As you wish Horatio. If you don't mind me, I'll be investigating the portal." He walks a short distance and makes a great show of peering at the lines

Shaking his head the other nitor holds out a grease covered hand. "Horatio Vanderbilt. Chief artificier for this little expedition, and the southern continent for that matter. Oh apologies." He says hastily rubbing his hands on a handkerchief before offering it to you again.

"Sasha Masterson." You say, taking the offered hand and giving it a quick shake.

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>>48097362

"Anyway, thaumic energy resonators. Or something to that effect probably. We've been trying to work on something similar for ley lines for a while now, but we've only managed to gather energy at intersections. Useful, but highly limited on geography. With the ley lines you can use a charged lodestone tempered at the location to act as an energy gathering device. Particularly strong at intersecting leylines. We put most of our schola outposts at such crossings for just that reason." A cough from the Magos at the wall. "Oh bugger off, its not like its a secret Val. As for how the pheen's did it? Draining the life from something is a known but forbidden sorcery, but like all energy theft it doesn't last long without a place to store it. No idea what they are using as such a repository. Probably whatever left the outline. Also prolly why they tossed it through the portal. Couldn't let us find it out." He says in veritable torrent of speech.

>?

>>48097385
Hmm, what wold they have needed such a storage device here in the first place? Do you think it was for something at their lower destination?

>>48097581
*why would

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"Hmm, why would they have needed such a storage device here in the first place? Do you think it was for something at their lower destination?"

"No idea, still translating these documents. Most of it is ciphered phoenix script so it makes absolutely no sense." The archivist says before adding, "We'll let you know if we find anything."

That seems to be that, you make for the exit slithering up the ramp to the main cavern. You grimace as you dust yourself off, trying not to think about it as you hear a rustling behind you. Looking you catch sight of Veles lumbering up towards you.

"They don't need you anymore?"

He remains impassive whispering out in the snake cant <My curiosity is satisfied. Also the one called Val and the other called Horatio are having quiet shouting match.>

<Anything you find out you don't want to tell them.> You fire back.

He actually laughs. <Not in as many words, but I am more interested in their barrier. I helped because they asked, but it seems the magics of the barrier might hold some clue as to what happened to my sire. She had the barrier along the entire mountain. Mayhaps I can learn of her fate through this one.>

You make to apologize for bringing her up, but the old snake is already slipping into the waters of the lagoon heading to where the archivists are clustered around the edge of the barrier on the far shore. You shiver reflexively thinking of how cold it is back home compared to the tropics of the coast.


>Follow Veles to the barrier.
>Go find Keel
>Head back through the portal.
>Other?

>>48098565
>Go to Keel and give him a sit-rep.

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Leaving Veles to his toys you trace your way through the shores of the cavern to the rear exit, popping out just below the nitor camp. Inside you find Keel pouring over some documents. "Something wrong?" He asks, concern clear on his face.

"We've figured out how they moved so many out of that cavern so fast. They killed a lot of people and used their energy to power that big gateway." You say, "Veles, Val, and Horatio seem to agree on that. Desination is somewhere South and underground Veles thinks."

"They've killed a lot more. We've got archivists transcribing like mad here. Got a series of logbooks that date back centuries. All the same hand, too." Noting your confusion. "Could be scribeslaves or something forced to write the same way. Not too sure, our translation team aren't handwriting masters. Will have to send it back to the mainland for confirmation. Ended up finding the potion list and a cross reference to a logbook from twenty years ago." He says, shifting through the papers. "First Wood operations. Translator wasn't too familiar with the events, but they seem to match what McCain told us. Phoenix plot caused the destablization. Your foreman's all but exonerated. At least he would be if the fake one were caught."

"That's good then."

"Very. You'll excuse us for not making a bigger deal out it. The quieter it can be kept the better, no need to a public lynching of an innocent man, for a given value of innocent anyway. What's more interesting is the stuff right prior and why they ended up destablizing first wood. Venom testing. Specifically leviathin-spawn. Lamia specifically. We've got the toxins secured but from what we can gather the did live testing on people, including slipping it to those unawares and seeing what happens."

"Horrible." You say, fighting a nagging feeling in the back of your mind.

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>>48099350
"Description of the elixer says that it wears down the antitoxin organ of the subject, causing them to lose immunity to their own toxins. No need to cater to each individuals toxin, since those are all slightly different, just makes them vulnerable to their own body. Apparently something similar happens after childbirth. I think the snakefolk call it the withering or something to that effect. Anyway, the reason I mention it is because this new kingfisher, or whatever also had a list of test subjects. Those captured and the 'live' targets."

"And?"

"Celes Masterson was one of them."

"So your saying thats the reason my Mom died?"

"I'm sorry. I thought you'd want to know."

>?

>>48099371
I did.
If I ever find the Kingfisher, I'm going to skin them alive and tie them to a post for the carrion eaters.

>>48099466
Actually; if we know what AIDS is, then say that we'll give the Kingfisher AIDS. MUCH more appropriately horrible for them.

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"I did." You pause, trying and failing to keep your voice even, "If I ever find the Kingfisher, I'm going to skin them alive and tie them to a post for the carrion eaters."

Keel, for his part, just nods and hands you the translated paper. Its easy enough to decipher. They slipped the agent to your mother some time before your were born to see what would happen, you see a note that the writer felt some frustration that your mother, The Target as they called her, managed to carry and almost come to term with you before she expired. You suppress a gag as they outline how the experiment was a failure and that it would ideally be used as a cleansing agent after a conquest as opposed to a high profile assasination vector.

Having read enough you hand the file back to Keel, looking at the stack of translated papers next to him. "Are those all people they killed?"

"Not all. Day to day workings. Plots. The like. As I said, it verifies McCain's end of things. I've kept a lid on it to the southern continent and the schola archivists for now. With this I could prolly get him reinstated once we get his fake. He'd be an asset for sure."

"Well, at least one good thing came of it." You spit, venom in your words.

"That's one way to look at it." Keel says tactfully. "The latest works are encrypted with a new cipher we aren't privy too unfortunately. Will take a while to make sense of it."

Leaving him to his work you turn away feeling the churning bile in your gut as you process the full gravity of the situation.

>What now?

>>48100357
>Go back home
>go to the roost
>play with daisy
Playing with pets is great for relieving stress, and we don't give her enough attention.
If any of the hands asks about our bad mood, tell them. Don't be shitty with them though. It's not their fault.

>>48100796
The house gateway is still currently bound to the phoenix cavern.

>>48100834
Then we go back and practice our marksmanship in the woods, or something. Maybe try using some Ice magic. That shit's terrifying, though, so if we do ice magic, we should be careful.

>>48100877
Alright. I'll open up with unwinding in the next thread. Getting late and I've been volunteered for a thing. As always thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed it.
I've been sitting on that plot point since the very goddamn beginning of this quest. Glad to finally have the conditions to pop it come out.

>>48101007
Thanks for running. It's too bad that I was the only one here, but at least the quest wasn't ignored completely.
Also, there is apparently now a board for quest threads, so we should probably go on there from now on. /qst/