MargardKazuki/SessionTwentyThree
The scene picks up from where the last event left off, barely into the month of Ascending fire, where Crow has just revealed to the class that one of the Satrap's four advisors was assassinated the previous night by a summoned second-circle demon. There is, at most, 28 days before the class graduates. Crow decides to move in to the Palace of Len Occam to help guard the students during their last month at the college. She also reiterates that Mizugami and Kira should, more than ever, stay with Kazuki, for mutual protection.
Ranka asks why Tegrat in particular was targeted. Crow is not certain, other than as an act to disrupt Cherak's political bureaucracy. Ferem Amosa herself would have had a good chance to defend against the attack, so one of her advisors would be a good secondary target. Ranka volunteers to assist in the investigation.
Judas asks Morning Frost Willow if she would be able to determine infernal residue inside objects that may have once been possessed. She says that it is possible, though she is not sure she would be able to detect it. Judas decides to participate in the investigation.
Ranka easily sways Kira to go, which by default, ropes Kazuki in, and as the odd person out, Jahahna also participates. Mizugami is busy helping the wheels of bureaucracy turn to cover for the missing Advisor; Crow accompanies him. Virtuous Cloud joins the rest of the group as they head towards the Tagrat's residence.
En route, Jahama wants to try to find out from the city watch if there have been unusual occurrences in the city that could indicate the demon's route into the city, but there is nothing on record that fits the bill.
At the estate, multiple Fangs of soldiers are about; many are from Tiger of the Heavens' own Scale. There have been hundreds of footprints through the area outside and around the estate. Inside, there are far fewer people about. The group is led in by one of the household servants who has obviously not slept since the incident. Kira realizes that the servant was likely Tegrat's favored servant, as her hands have been treated with rare and expensive magic.
Morning Frost Willow uses her Aura Reading Technique and discovers that the little old servant that is leading the group has even more Essence than even Virtuous Cloud, and is basically off-the-charts.
Far fewer people have tromped through the estate interior, as there has been real effort to keep the place as undisturbed as possible. There are a few areas where circles have been drawn in red chalk. Jhana and Ranka notice that minuscule details, such as the sweat (saliva, according to Ranka) off the palm of something that paused to look around, or a scuff on the carpet where a blade had touched down.
Realizing that it was saliva on the wall, Ranka recognizes the creature to be Lucien, the Guardian of Sleep. His quarry tends to include rebellious or usurious servants who wish to go against their master, and if he was specifically summoned, it would have been easiest for the summoner if the target was someone he would have gone after normally.
Morning Frost Willow stops Virtuous Cloud, Ranka, and Jahanna and holds her back as the rest of the group moves forward.
When the group reaches Tegrat's room, there are a pair of Legionnaire's guarding the closed door, and one of them is Tiger of the Heavens. He welcomes the group, but he has been tasked with keeping as many people out of the room as possible. There is a sorcerer and an investigator at work inside -- and he shows obvious signs of disrespect for the investigator -- and they want to be left undisturbed. Kira asks to be allowed into the room, as well as Ranka and Morning Frost Willow, when they return.
Inside the room is the sorcerer, Ferem Albrecht, and Unrepentant Jade is the investigator. Unrepentant Jade welcomes Kira and begins to consult her for advice. He has figured out most of the mechanical details -- the nature of the attack, the length of the swords used, etc -- but has not yet determined the nature of the attacker.
Meanwhile, downstairs, Morning Frost Willow lets Virtuous Cloud know about what she discovered about the servant. They plan on attempting to find out more about her using Fugue of Truth after they have investigated Tegrat's room.
Kira, Albrecht, and Unrepentant Jade discuss their findings after Kira shares her knowledge of Lucien and as the others return, they discuss some possibilities as to why Tegrat was targeted and why Lucien was used in particular.
Later, as they trace Lucien's footsteps back to where he entered the estate, Ranka informs the rest of the group of Morning Frost Willow's findings.
Ranka and Virtuous Cloud ask to be taken to a private room in order to meditate in preparation for the Fugue of Truth. Jhanana and Kazuki both remain in the room to guard them while Kira and Judas speak with the servant to buy time and to learn basic information. Unrepentant Jade goes to look around the house for any paperwork or files that will give him an idea of what's been going on.
The servant identifies herself as Hsimperlick, and she had been Tegrat's major domo for 50 years. Today would have been an unusual schedule for the advisor as he had meetings with five Dragonblooded, all of House Ferem, and tomorrow he had a meeting with Abbott Takgana for an all-day meeting, and finally he would be attending a presentation with the Deliberative in two days, all are unusual events.
As Ranka and Virtuous Cloud finish their meditation and they approach the room where Judas is questioning Hsimperlick, she transforms into something -- rather than an old woman, she transforms into a creature wrapped in strips of green, warty flesh -- a decanthrope. These are 40-foot long tapeworm-like creatures that can control up to 10 hosts.
With that, Virtuous kindly asks Jaahaanaa if she can kill that thing and battle begins.
As the group begins drawing weapons and bracing for combat, Virtuous Cloud adds the suggestion that only Kira and Jaana be the only ones to engage the demon. Judas activates his defensive abilities, Kira and Jajana draw their weapons, and Ranka and Kazuki drop into guard stances.
Kira and Jahanaaaaa's combined attacks take the old lady down, but Ranka calls out that it is still active, and Virtuous Cloud recommends that Kazuki step back. Kazuki backflips out of the way while Juhana's blades utterly destroy what remains of the demon.
As combat comes to an end, Virtuous Cloud explains that a decanthrope could easily attack any melee combatant that kills its host, and she was confident that Kira and J'ahana could take it down.
Ranka asks if the advisor had any consorts, and the household staff confirms that there are twelve. A Legionnaire volunteers to collect them, and after about an hour, the 12 women are brought to the estate. Eleven are relatively plain given the twelfth comes wearing a Jade buff jacket and carrying a daiklaive.
As they question the group, they learn that the mortal consorts have no idea of anything whatsoever -- their memories were affected such that they do not remember anything that Tegrat may have ever said. However, the Dragonblooded woman remembers Tegrat speaking of being concerned that there is a conspiracy in Cherak to secede from the Realm and join the Bull of the North. He also implicated members of the Margard family, including Kazuki, Trevail, Saiki, and others.
There were few people that Tegrat trusted, which did not include the Satrap, and he was even at odds with the other Advisors. But ultimately, his loyalties lie with Cherak and the Realm.
After finishing their questioning of the Dragonblooded consort, Ranka wishes to speak with the people that Tegrat was scheduled to meet with today, including Albrecht. Ranka still has her spell active, and Unrepentant Jade asks Ranka if it can be used to detect lies. Ranka, after considering the implication of his questions, responds affirmatively. Unrepentant Jade flat out asks Albrecht if he is responsible for Tegrat's death, and he denies any involvement.
After some questioning, Albrecht reveals that he had wanted to speak with Tegrat about regulating the drugs that the Guild was bringing into the city. They are transporting more than just opium, and he believes that more supernatural drugs were being trafficked that sap mortals of what little Essence they have.
Judas detects that he is not telling the whole story, and attempts to intimidate him into revealing more information. Rather than getting the story he was looking for, Judas exchanges information about the groups in the city who operate in the drug trade, some under the auspices of the Golden Firefly Association and Funeleo. However, Albrecht does not have any proof of criminal actions.
Albrecht names the drug as Dreams of Heaven and has also seen members of the Deliberative partaking of it in a smokehouse outside of the Glittering Smoke District. Albrecht also admits to have smoked it as well. That's when Unrepentant Jade suddenly looks over at Kazuki with a confused look on his face.
Albrecht knows that Margard Nastani also partakes of Dreams of Heaven, but he doesn't know of any other high-ranking members within the city who might be.
The group tries to think of some ways that might help Albrecht kick his addiction, but there is no known method.
Their next appointment is with the Satrap. They are able to get in to visit her within one hour of their arrival. They tell the Satrap about the decanthrope, and the Satrap gives Ranka full authority to investigate her staff to find out if there are any others compromised similarly.
They share what they know of Tegrat's theory that House Margard was conspiring against the city to secede from the Realm. Amosa believes that Kazuki would make a prime target of someone who might want to sway his allegiance, but also does not believe that the rumors to be true.
As a show of Amosa's trust of the group and in appreciation for her "allies in Lookshy setting up an embassy in Cherak," she hands Judas a soapstone that, when crushed, will alert the Satrap that something is awry. She wouldn't know what is happening, but she could react to send people to investigate.
Ranka checks the rest of Amosa's staff -- those that are present are clean. However, the head of her household staff had suddenly announced that he had to leave, at about the same time that the group destroyed the decanthrope back at Tegrat's estate. She sends her best tracker after him. She also asks Ranka to check out staff at Brilliant Tooth's estate, who is a mortal merchant that Amosa is close with. His household is clean.
Ranka realizes that Mizugami was also a potential target and investigated his staff. She discovers that one of his bodyguards has also gone AWOL. The other mortal companions appear to be safe.
As graduation approaches, each of the characters are contacted by their respective families, or other important adults in their lives, where secrets of the Realm are revealed to them as they near their coming-of-age.
