Sigil: City of Doors

wrote:
Earlier, a SIGIS editor by named of Calwin requested a few of us to investigate the apperant dissapearance of a section of the Hive's population. Once we arrived at the indicated sector, we found several Harmonium officers and three apperant witnesses, as well as various ghostly figures in the distance  and a Dustman who had come to investigate.

The three witnesses were Cecile, her brother Amir and a another co-worker of his. Cecile was borderline hysterical, reporting that she was woken up by something that pulled her into a black mist, within which she smelled "rotting flesh" and heard the anguished cries of her kin. She described the experience as a  "nightmare" and could not give too many clear details. Before we could go any further, I felt a buildup of Negative  energy in the area. Once it coaleced, a  portal opened, and out of it walked a large, spindly creature. It gestured, and the ghosts in the distance began to gather towards it and enter the portal. As this occured, a voiced called out, demanding Amir's presence by name and saying that he was "the betrayer, destined to remove the Veil". I tried to shut down the gate, and while successful I could not stop the spirits from leaving.

Closing the gate enraged the creature, which proceded to attack us with powerful magic of its own. We were unable to slay the beast, but it seems that closing the portal cut short its time,  and some time into the battle it vanished.

Once it was gone, we resolved to finding Amir in the hopes of learning more, but when we reached the witnesses again, we discovered that a "Ghostly woman" had abducted him. We attempted to track them down, but the trail ran cold. All we could discern was that this "ghost" had dimention jumped some distance from the abduction spot, run across the ward, and then used an Ethearlness spell of some kind, making any hope of tracking her impossible.

I suggest accquiring a personal item of Amir's that can be used for scrying, as we may be able to find him.

The Harmonium were cooperative through this incident. They complied when I asked that they send reinforcements and a mage to the portal site, and warned them about its properties (that it was activated by negative energy, but required a constant flow to stay open).  Currently a Notary mage is stationed there, along with several troops.
'

Note: We went back to Calwin and informed him of the situation, after which he attempted to make us sign a blood pact to record senses for him to start a "visual news" collection. When pressed over whether or not he had a license for making Blood Pacts, he panicked and hurried away. We should either keep an eye on him ourselves or let the Harmonium know before he actually gets people to do so without this warrant.

wrote:
The Harmonium reached out to me earlier today, hoping to follow up on the case involving the negative energy portal. Notary III Katell of the Harmonium informed me that they had found some leads regarding Ceciley's family (specifically, they found her sister). Apperantly the sister- Alana Cornish- took her younger sister in after the "death" of Amir, their brother whom I mentioned in my last report. Notary Iezabel was sent to bring me all the details they uncovered, and informed me that Alana is a Sensate. Furthermore, she was hosting a party in the clerks ward.

We decided to go and speak with her. Iezabel and Notary Roland both arranged for a squad of Harmonium to be on standby outside the building incase the matter escalated like last time, but only Notary Roland came in with me and the three freelancers (an ogre warlock named Malfias, a genasi named Neerpha and a human named Khari).

We spoke with the two sisters, and the first thing that became apparent was that Cecily had not been completely forthcoming with Alana, repentantly having led her to believe that Amir suffered some other fate instead of being kidnapped. Before we could go further, the negative energy portals began to open in the building, exactly like last time. We ushered out as many of the civilians present as we could, but unfortunately lost ten of them to the attack.

Eventually, two specters like the one in the Hive attack apepared, escorting a ghostly woman whom I suspect was the one who captured Amir. As with many people who have power over beings like these, she spent a few minutes trying to intimidate us before going back into her portal and setting the fiends loose into battle. We managed to defeat them this town however, and close down the portal again.

Currently, the Harmonium have the two sisters in protective custody, and in keeping with our cooperation over this case, have kept access to them open for questioning. I intend to interview them in the near future, and hope to have more information on the matter.

The following is a copy of the original letter the Harmonium sent me.

wrote:
Dear Justice Andor,

I pray this letter finds you well. From our reports, you have more first-hand experience than most, in the disappearance of Hivers. It is a case I wish to get to the bottom of -- so I offer my aid. We have found a lead you may be interested in: the only living relative of Cecily, who seems to be the only survivor remaining from the disappearing Hivers case.

Unfortunately, other matters call away my attention, this day. I will send Notary I Iezabel and ask for your cooperation. Hopefully, the two of you can work together to find some answers.

Sincerely,
Notary III Katell of the Harmonium

Sincerely,

Justice Dace Andor