Murder Most Foul

[*rapsam2003]

After speaking Sesol Kan in Cookies, the Cambion Raiml'vrull, better known to most in Sigil as "Athaon Morthos", headed towards the House of Healing, in the Hive.
It's usually never a bad assumption to think that a tanar'ri is less interested in the death of a mortal, one now a petitioner no less, than in the possible power to be acquired. And that was the case here. A few questions rumbled through the Cambion's mind.
"Is this an attack by some deity, or a force attached to a deity?"
"Is there power to be gained by harnessing this 'Chronomancy' that the human Drake spoke of?"

Raiml'vrull was always interested in greater power and in fighting deities, for racial and personal reasons.


When he arrived near the House of Healing, the Tanar'ri ducked into an alley. Several minutes later, he came out of the alley, much different in appearance, looking as an elf, and augmented by the Eldritch energies of the Abyss. His sight now allowed him to see the magically invisible*, arrows would now be deflected and no trail nor scent left*, and he could teleport himself in short distance* bursts. Using wands and his own skills in arcana, the temporarily transformed Cambion sought out any remains of magic and any temporal distortions. Granted, he was hardly an expert, but Raiml'vrull checked anyway.

*((See PnP abilities here:http://www.realmshelps.net/magic/warlock-inv.shtml ))

[*Peculiar Presence]

There were many residues of various types of magic both recently and not as recently used in the vicinity searched. So much so that there was an overwhelming amount of information, certainly not one that could be used to pinpoint a practitioner or a spell, nor any that could be used to reconstruct a specific recent event. Detected were recent Abjuration, Transmutation, Divination, Necromancy, Evocation, and Illusion (the one notable exception was Conjuration, which was not readily obvious). This was Sigil, after all.

Those more expertly attuned to the magic of time would detect a split flow of time around multiple areas - perhaps close to a dozen - between the House of Healing and the Hall of Information. However, these areas had significantly reduced turbulence than one would normally expect from a temporal disturbance. They were faint, and the most noticeable ones numbered to about a dozen though there could be many more. In fact, they were so faint that they would not be noticed except perhaps to the most well informed of practitioners of chronomancy.

ItÂ’s almost as if they were intentionally hidden.

[*rapsam2003]

The fiend can't pick up a whole lot which is useful to him. Raiml'vrull suspects there might have been Chronomancy used, but he has no proof. Nothing concrete...!
"Did that bubber soulbag, Drake, do something stupid with Chronomancy? Aye, I encouraged the berk, but now... no trace?" the Cambion mutters.
Frustrated by the derth of useful clues, he walks deeper into the Hive and ducks into an alley again. Several minutes later, out walks the "ever respectable" Athaon Morthos. "Maybe some Signer's 'Wishful Thinking' went afoul with this incident?", he muses silently, smirking as he does so. Determined to get to the bottom of this, the Cambion makes a mental note to do some research in the Shattered Temple. For now, Morthos heads back to Sesol Kan.


Several hours later, Athaon Morthos bullies some Namers at the Shattered Temple into helping with his research. The Cambion directs them to help him find books on Chronomancy and Chronomantic rituals. Chant is, this pet project of his is important.

[*Lucadia]

About a cycle later when he finishes talking with Sesol Kan, the Silvanesti resumes his preliminary search in the Clerks ward. Typhical of the flamboyant magi, he has typhical wards of a mage of his caliber. None to usualy, the elf has far to many incidents of being attacked inside the Cage.

Hes taking note of his surroundings, turning this way and that. A gold like object in palm of his hands, of that looks to be a hybrid of a compass and gyroscope, slowly ticking. A turbulence detector worked similar to detect anomoly spell but this get him closer to the nearest disturbances. He been working in a widening arc of a circle from his home premise, less then a block away from the House of Healing.

Should he find something to catch his attention he persure more indepth annalysis. The mage was more then aware of "Conceal temporal anomly" His own home radiated in chronomacy magic from simple stuff of accelerate plant growth, preservations. A storm bell he kept his ear open too.

Ah the elf hadnt got that far though in his theories. It was not uncommon for novice practicioners to get lost or killed quickly in their studies. He considered his patient may of been drunk and decided to do something foolish while still inside the Cage. That made him even more wary for any shadows.

[*Peculiar Presence]

The bustle of the Cage Faded as Morthos approached the Shattered Temple. There were some destitutes around the building gathering up loose stones, perhaps chasing apples to strike it rich with some discarded treasure that perpetually seemed to elude them. However, even they were scant as one got close. The structure came into view, towering above the surrounding area like the skeleton of a massive, once majestic beast. Though the building was in absolute disrepair, there was a certain charm and character to it. All in all it was not an unattractive edifice.

Two guards bearing the insignia of the Athar nodded at the Cambion as he approached. They seemed somewhat surprised that there would be a visitor, but then recovered to put their hands on their weapons and asked for his specific business. When stated, one of them took out a little reed pipe, and signaled with a shrill line of notes. Within a few moments, a lad with intense dark eyes, thin face, and a grin that accorded strangely with his lethal, wiry frame approached. He introduced himself as Caylean.

The first thing noticed about him was his enthusiastic, tearful demeanor which was in contrast to most of the Athar. The tiefling sported some loose fitting leather armor. He ushered the Cambion over and cheerily started to show him the inside of the Faction Headquarters. As they entered the massive edifice, it was easy to see the expanse of rough grasses humped by mole tunnels and pocked with thistle and dock. It wouldÂ’ve been easy to loose footing on the uneven walkways that led from the outbuildings toward the central aspect of the building. Despite the disrepair, there seemed to be a well oiled operation of guards patrolling the grounds. There was some degree of organization, a method to the madness as it were. They passed one of many scriptoriums and stepped into an anteroom mind by ornate buttresses past a massive entrance arch- the Library. A quick look into the large, ancient chamber revealed nothing but a maze of falling down shelves holding boxes of papers and piles of ledgers with various cutters wading through piles of books. There was so much clutter here, that it actually seemed to fit well with the disrepair of the entire structure at large.

They approached a Githzerai sitting on the floor flipping through pages of a tome. The guide introduced this individual as Factotum Hobard. Where Caylean was cheery and affable, Hobard was a grouch. He spared a moment and appeared to grumble at Morthos and got straight to the point: “What’ll it be? Ye lookin t’ join?”

***

Argent did notice a human female multiple times throughout his sweeps of the Ward. Interestingly, she was at three of the dozen sites of minor turbulence he identified, however she was also seen wandering the area of interest in the Clerks Ward. Initially he didnÂ’t think much of her, as she seemed to blend in quite well with the surroundings wearing a nondescript brown robe, while keeping her head down with slow movements. However, after a certain point it started to seem more than a coincidence that she kept showing up at the right places. At times she would already be in close proximity to a place of a temporal disturbance. At other times, Argent would be investigating an area with the gold object in hand, and she would just seem to pass by.

She never lingered too long, and someone who had only seen her once, or who had not noticed her would not at all be perturbed by her presence. It certainly did cross ArgentÂ’s mind to go speak to her, however, as her movements were not entirely suspicious she didnÂ’t even seem to linger in one place for too long and kept moving. He was certain that she was aware of his presence.

[*Lucadia]

His curiosity was piqued. The silver haired elf flexed his fingers on the detector but rarely let his gaze wander to actually make eye contact, just taking note of the movements.

If the Signer ever thought about it, he would had dozens of thought bubbles at the purpose of this.

He discarded she was bystander though. Someone went through a lot trouble to cover their tracks and that in its self can attract others seeking int particular manner.

Part of his sweeps was cataloging differentials for sequence to figure if there was patern to this and how often. Though it was also concerning if something that has a severed lifeline can make its self not leave tracks or appear in more then one instance at a time. Time snares? Something hes considered doing on a few of his more "disliked" contemporaies in the arcane circles.

He had mentally shake the thought out to leave for another time, wanting to sever his own to assure his life was safe from any meddling.

So many rapid disturbances could weaken the wall in temporal prime, unraveling pieces of reality. Oh no, dont think about that Argent. Focus~~

His imagination ticked at him though, leaping the train tracks to get back. Was he to follow or was it bait.

Belief and faith it is. Good or ill, this was something to lead him on the track.

Next time he caught sight of her, he make it to follow her at a distance to not give appearances away but just enough let her know he was onto her.

In a moment inbetween he left a silent sending message to his mate he was going investigate a person. He then kept a glance on surroundings making calculations for escape routes as he started to trek.

In the event he finds hes being lured, he put away his device and find a more casual look as a non descript elf with alter self when rounding a corner. Some creatures really did enjoy their secrets and who was he to expose them?

[*rapsam2003]

Athaon Morthos clear his throat and then stares at Athaon Hobard a moment. The Fiend seems to be evaluating Hobard for a moment. "Hobard, I know that I left for the Abyss half-a-turn back, but did ye fail to recognize me?"

It had been quite some time since the Cambion had visited the Shattered Temple. "Look, ye old sod," Morthos says with a chuckle. "I need to do some research. Do we have any hapless Namers that can assist? I need to research a ritual of chronomancy, one which allow me to detect the hints of such erratic dazzle in a certain area..."

With that, Morthos nods and proceeds to head back to the library area. The Cambion bullies two or three Namers into assisting him by finding various books or scrolls. Occasionally, you see one of these hapless Namers running into the record rooms. Any who would observe the Athaon would find him fully engaged in his research and might note that he only stops to eat meat, drink, and engage in restive meditation - before diving back into the stacks of books and scrolls.

[*Peculiar Presence]

((Sorry, I have been busy these last few days, but I shall have a post up soon! :D ))

[*Peculiar Presence]

Argent did not have to wait long for the elf to return, and this time he did not actually even have to follow her as she was standing perfectly still at a street corner busy with numerous harmonium officers and pedestrians in the thoroughfare. She appeared to be busy flipping through a small leather diary. She did not seem to make eye contact either, and seemed utterly unaware of what was around her. Argent was sure that was not the case. He could take this opportunity to approach her.

A better look at her revealed that she was wearing sturdy appearing leather boots underneath the long, burlap colored robe. Her auburn tresses gently cascaded down her face, and there was incongruity between how well her hair was done and how average her robe was. ItÂ’s almost as if she was intentionally dressing down.

****

Hobard immediately recognized Morthos, and made a cranky comment about how his vision was failing and how useless his body had become. Needless to say, the Cambion got the peons he needed in order to begin conducting his research. The overflowing reserves of the Athar had numerous books of various ages scattered throughout. Though there was some degree of organization, it was also difficult to find certain tomes which made Morthos slightly more impatient, and his underlings more nervous. There were three Namers assigned to assist him with this endeavor. Two young human males – Alexi and Vander, and a burly tiefling named Razzaq. Alexi seemed to be the most experienced of the group, and he definitely knew where most of the tomes could be quickly accessed. However as expected, the more esoteric tomes with the more valuable and less or no knowledge were difficult to find. It took him a while but eventually a system not going where Alexi would bring in the books from the various parts of different libraries in the complex, Vander would organize the books into different pertinent categories, and Razzaq would serve as dictation, taking notes for the Cambion, and also bringing in refreshments as needed. After about one hour of activity, a small list had been compiled into three broad categories that would each take some time to read through and explore.

1) History and general information relating to Chronomancy
2) Suspected rituals pertaining to Chronomancy
3) Guardians associated with time magic

This list was compiled after cutting out a lot of extra “fluff” that was not quite pertinent to the task at hand.

[*rapsam2003]

After a full cycle, which mostly entailed searching through guardians associated with time magic, Athaon Morthos sent the humans Alexi and Vander to get him the books dealing with rituals pertaining to Chronomancy. The Cambion looked determined, as he had just awoken from four hours of meditation. Unfortunately for the Namers' sleep patterns, he had just roused them and set them to the books again.
"I need rituals which make a body peery of Chronomancy in a specific area, and I need rituals which control Chronomancy. The first is more important. We need to bring these time-dazzlers to the circle, to neutralize them. Such power is not something the Athar can ignore!..."

With this speech, Morthos barked at the two hapless humans to hurry up. A gesture to Razzaq and another gesture to a pen indicated that he wanted the tiefling to start taking notes alongside him. Painstakingly so, the Athaon and Razzaq went through book after book, sending Alexi and Vander whenever another book was needed. Twenty hours later, the Cambion finally called a recess for the night in a grim tone. "Return here at first light! Now... go to thy Kips, drink some bub and eat some food."