Ossified Bona Fides
Nade City, Nade
With the memories of Enelach as a guide, the party finds the Alshekal House on Nade without much trouble. The Anvardi Hotelier Clan representative who hands over the keys lets the new inhabitants know that they also provide meal service, delivered or cooked in the house, and messaging service in Nade City. A "butler" will drop by at the same time every day to check on their needs. The three story secure house includes a receiving parlor, office, dining room, kitchens, sleeping quarters, an armory/sparring space, a library, a mage's workshop, what seems like a meeting room or planning room, and a massive vault on the second floor (see the end of the Nade Island entry for longer descriptions and a map).
The vault contains miscellaneous gold and off-cast magical items; two traveler cloaks (permanent endure elements), a bell of Alarm that once per day covers the entire house and pings anyone within a few feet of its activation, and six "message" stones that allow whispered communication among whoever holds them under their tongues.
In a room that was clearly once Nyana's, the party finds an arcanely warded Zelixan Tile Puzzle Box, marked with a rune that indicates it will destroy its own contents if forced open or moved from the room. Ramach begins trying to puzzle it out, with occasional help from the others.
A day later, Mote walks into the Nade House, smiles and says he got away from Wisp, and then collapses unconscious on the receiving room floor. A transparent apparition of an older man appears, and it is evident that he looks like an older, matured Mote. He introduces himself as a kind of Spirit of Intellect and says:
"You must have many questions and I will answer them as best I can. However, the longer I appear, the less this one," with a gesture at Mote drooling on the carpet, "will remember or even be able to function. I'd like him to be able to walk out on his own. His time with you is done, and he has other places to be."
"Welcome to the Alshekal, officially. I have been along on your journeys to observe, and with a few minor moral quibbles," with a glance at Ramach and Koros, "I feel you as worthy as your predecessors thought you were. You have certainly retrieved a cache of bones that your predecessors never managed to get off Wisp."
"First - what are you? For everyday purposes you can be exactly as described, an adventuring and relic-hunting collective.
"But know this - the Arcanists derive their power from inhuman sources. Although they connect humanity to each other, as each grows more powerful their aims are not altogether human. Some of them engage in sorceries that are dangerous to humanity. We watch them. We keep secrets and objects out of their hands. And when necessary we quietly oppose them.
"You are not alone. We are many small groups kept ignorant of each other, so that we may not be chased down and obliterated should one group fun afoul of the more powerful Arcanists. Even the name "Alshekal" is specific to your group. Each group that survives has a lineage, each choosing its inheritors. Yours has a long and rich history, and the secrets of your predecessors are to be found among their estates and belongings.
"You will not be asked to work solely to our purposes. We will come to you with tasks, things that need investigating or doing, and we will try to fit them to your abilities. Until such a time, chase your own interests, grow rich on relics and adventure, but sell nothing to the Arcanists and do nothing that would reveal the true nature of the Alshekal.
"At each task, you may also choose to walk away. We will take the memory of this time, and your group will decide how much of your coin and possessions you will keep."
The party then asks a few questions.
P: “What and/or who are you?"
M: "A Spirit of Intellect, like you have already met, save that my vessel is in this young one's head and functions a little differently. I was an originator of our watch on the Arcanists."
A: ""If Mote's time with us is done, we will not need him or his Alshekal coin in the future for any tests or locks set up by the Alshekal?"
M: "That is true. The coins are important, and you should endeavor to keep them with you at all times. They have started to bond to you, and will begin glowing soon. They are keys, as you have seen, but also protection from the prying eyes of scrying and divinations."
A: "You say we can walk away, but you will take our memories. Memories of the Alshekal, or of all our experiences related to the Alshekal since we were given the coins, or all memories in total since then, or just knowledge of the uncompleted task we rejected?"
M: "You would wake safely on an Island of your choice, with vague recollections of adventure and travel thought the Gates, but no memory of being given a coin, meeting at the Gellersway, or anything that came after."
P: “Do you know where the missing Arcanist went?"
M: "Yesu," if a spirit could sigh, this one does now. "Quite dead. Not by my hand. I can say no more about him."
O: "Is Dar Aslan in league with your cause or is he the foe that we have judged him to be?"
M: "We had never heard of him before the Gellersway. He is a new element. Who he is in league with, if anyone, we would like to know."
R: "Tell us more about 'inhuman sources.' What are they, and why are they dangerous?"
M: "We have no more than guesses as to their origins. But certainly entities left over from a time before humans, powerful but in a state we might know as sleeping and dreaming. They are dangerous because whatever it is that they want pays no heed to human survival. Think of how much attention you give an insect under your foot while walking down a path."
A: "Why use corrupted creatures, aka the dry beetle?"
M: "Your predecessors set up that Vault. I'm sure they didn't prefer to use creatures like that, but they sometimes have their uses."
A: "How does your SOI vessel differ from those we have met before?"
M: "I truly do not have time to delve into it. Some differences are that I hold many more memories that the ones you have met, that I can travel through Gates because the vessel is within a living creature. I can manifest and control this one," points at young drooling Mote, "but at his cost. I absorb more of his memory each time."
A: "How does this memory thing work? Who can perform it? How do we even know we are real? How can we trust you, or your cause?"
M: "I perform it, and can teach others as they are able and as materials are available. Other than leaving the Alshekal, all extraction of memories is voluntary, and your memories and soul are your own. As for trust, your predecessors chose you for their own reasons, and their trust in us will need to be enough. You can of course choose to leave at any time."
After a few more questions, the older Mote vanishes, the younger Mote picks himself off the floor, looks at the party in a baffled manner, and leaves, much as he has vanished from every fight thus far.
The party then wastes no time in following up on another tip from Enelach's memories, and gets in touch with a Mehujaeli fence on Nade named Miksaji Palmach. After a series of meetings with intermediaries, during which the careful Palmach checks their bona fides, the party tells him what they have to sell, Ancient Race bones. Palmach's representative's eyes widen, and he says it is then even more important that the party cement their new relationship with action, getting their hands dirty a little bit. Palmach would like the party to retrieve a bejeweled vest stolen from an Iradeli Baron by a den of rogues calling themselves the Harvesters.
Ramach finds their hideout with locate object, and Koros asks around to find that they are a "second story" guild led by a rogue named Yorika. The party approaches with the intention of a front door distraction and a back door stealthy robbery, but on mention of being from the Iradeli Baron, the thieves retreat into the house and the party storms the place. Notable vignettes include:
Ramach using a Crown of Madness spell on several of the guild, causing them to attack each other.
Orosh pulling himself straight up into a balcony to take out two cross-bow wielding rogues.
Akissi ignoring the fighting, and Yorika's unkind attentions, to search for the vest at the exclusion of all else.
Paetro making a good showing of his battle master skills, riposting and returning attacks to good advantage.
A chase to the roof, where Koros confronted a cornered Yorika and intiidaged him to give up all his loot, not just the vest.
Akissi ensures that none of the beaten foes are dead on the way out, and the party returns the vest to Palmach. He accepts their favor, and the larger Ancient Race bones are offered, inspected, and accepted. The fence is up front with the party about his inability to pay what they are likely worth, but, per his reputation, he is happy to pay in information. The party settles for 7,000gp and information on the whereabouts and doings of their foe Dar Aslan.