Dust To Dust

[*Selebius]

After hearing from the demise of some Vampire Hasclaan decides to look into this matter as well.

Consulting the data the Triad has shared with his Faction gives him a few clues already.

Whoever does this knows his/her/its prey- so he assumes that person has had some kind of training or at least had fought those undead creatures before. and defeated them.

He is quite familiar with vampires for personal reasons so he knows how resilient they are, how dangerous they are when angry.

Smiling at something he probably will never share he walks down to the archives.
Approaching an aide there he requests whatever the Faction has about licenses for hunters who are affiliated with religions or cults sworn to powers of the Sun or Nature. He will especially look for requests not older than a tenday.

He writes a politely worded request for aid to the Fated, asking for whatever they have about cults or religious groups dedicated to Pelor, Obad Hai and similar powers- as well as powers known to move against Undead like, for example, Kelemvor.

Again he will look for recent additions.


Last but not least he will dig through the records of the courts- looking for cases that involved people killed by a Vampire here in Sigil.
He will look for survivors who have been close to those victims and have either the training ot a faith that would help or encourage hunting those nightly predators down.

Of course if he finds a case of someone surviving an attack himself he will look in those as well.

Then, after all data is collected the search for patterns will start, the cross referencing.

He sits down, pours himself a cup of tea and waits for the records to arrive, requests two aides to help him with the flood of paperwork he is expecting.

[*Miraie]

Going through the records is arduous work, but it is likely something Hasclaan is used to doing in any case. He finds out that there have been no recent licenses for hunters who are affiliated with Powers of Sun or Nature. Furthermore, the Fated deliver a timely response with a log on recently established (and taxed) religious groups. There are a few new names here, but in-depth research reveals that their numbers are far too small and benign to be concerned with yet - consisting of three to ten members. Should he send aides or other investigators to check these groups, however, he will find nothing condemning. They have even paid their taxes in due time. Their licenses are in order. Things seems normal on this front.

As his research progresses, Hasclaan will notice that there have been no recent or unsolved cases of people killed by vampires. He might ask a vampire why that is the case for some theories. Based on records alone, however, revenge killings do not seem to be the motive. At least not recent ones.

The governing pattern this research seems to establish is that the suspects of the murder case do not seem to have left much of a legal trail yet. Indeed, the only reliable documents related to the case are the ones Hasclaan obtained from Harmonium. Considering the effort he's put in, it seems possible that the group might not be native to Sigil. At least, the man can make this statement based on his research. Few proactive people escape notice in Sigil if they stay for long. Indeed, some entities have records longer than entire mortal lifespans.

[*Selebius]

Brewing himself another cup of tea Hasclaan is thinking about what he has learned.

If they are not based in Sigil they will need to use the portals to leave and enter. And the portals are what his Faction is watching, is keeping records on.

Indeed one of his own research projects is about gathering data about several of those portals.

Heading down to his labs he requests the documents of the portal beacons that are active already- and he tries to cross reference portal activations to those murders.

((the portals are Baator, Brux, Plane of Earth, Abyss. Details in this thread: CLICKME! ))

It is not much but two of those portals are close to the Festhall- perhaps he gets lucky.

[*Miraie]

Hasclaan's diligent research yields some results. The specific portals he is paying attention to do not suggest any large spikes of activity beyond the occasional planewalker (the Abyss portal in particular might be a little busy, though). The same pattern seems to repeat with all the portal data he has access to: recently, there have been no large spikes of activity where an entire group of people repeatedly enters and exists one portal. Similarly, he might be able to find out that the amount of temporal portals being used and utilized by Sigil's more savvy denizens have not seen an undue amount of activity either. He might even be able to send someone to the Infinite Staircase to ask some questions and they would report nothing linked to a crossbow-wielding murder squad. Eh. Or vampire hunters. Ordinary planewalkers are still a thing at the landing. If a planewalker is ever ordinary.

The group has definitely entered Sigil via a portal, but he cannot really say which one, or from where. In addition, it seems like they are not using portals to get around in Sigil. At least, not as a large group or in a regular fashion.

[*Selebius]

He sends a note of what he has found so far to the Harmonium and Dustmen.

((posting there...

...and something here:))


No cult, no vigilantes- yet somebody is still hunting down the.... wait...hunting.

Hasclaan goes back to work, returns to the dusty tomes and scrolls- and now he trying to find out if there are any known groups of hunters around- hunters specializing to bring down the most dangerous of preys- be it for reward, fame or the thrill of the hunt.

[*Miraie]

His research seems to confirm that the hunters are not based on Sigil. The groups he is able to contact have solid alibis and the groups who are sympathetic to vampire hunters do not seem to be making a show of it. Many groups seem to joke about tracks, for some reason. Hasclaan records at least eight separate "hard to track" jokes.

[*Selebius]

Having made contact to some people who seem to know something about tracking and the ways to avoid getting tracked he is getting curious.

"So it is possible to avoid being tracked completely by conventional means? I heard about nature priests who have this talets but only out in the wild.

How would you...", he looks at the hunters. ".... hunt such an elusive prey?

Setting a trap perhaps?"

[*Miraie]

The latest group Hasclaan is speaking to stops mid-laughter. One of them nods. "A trap seems sensible." The others nod as well. When the pray is too much for you to chase, have the prey come to you. The hunters like this idea. Many of them have different theories about the trackless part, starting from blessings of nature deities to simple experience in certain environments. Some of them suggest that there is prey to be hunted in cities, too. Vampires go where there is blood, after all..

[*Selebius]

He takes his leave, nodding politely before returning to the courts again.


After meeting Measure Cryptbane we sends the locations of several less known portals to the Harmonium so they can better coordinate their patrols to catch the Hunters.

[*Selebius]

When he hears about someone asking about informations about vampires in the Bottle and Jug Hasclaan allows himself one of his rare small smiles.

This is perhaps exactly what he needed. Quickly he pens a note to his superiours- as a Guvner he of course has to report all his steps taken- such are the rules of his Faction.

My Lady, Sir,

a new opportunity presents itself in the case of the violent assaults targetting Vampires in Sigil.

Somebody is looking for information to expose vampires who might live among us and hide their true identities.

Chances are good that whoever looks for this information is connected to whoever hunts the vampires.

As the Dustmen accepted the offer to help protecting the undead of Sigil and their rights I will coordinate my next actions with them.

I am planning to spread information about a target- a vampire volunteer to act as a bait in a trap to capture one of those mysterious hunters.

Hasclaan Guunt, A8

Next he contacts the Dusties. (( message to be posted there))