Persistence and Patience
Nade City, Nade
While the party waits for Palmach to dig up information on Dar Alsan, they anticipate tracking him down for all the harm he's done and inflicting revenge on the meddlesome trickster, up to and including his death. He has persistently messed with the party, and now the party will be persistent in tracking him down.
In the meantime they explore Nade House and Nade City.
They also make a trip through the Gate to Morayel and the Hanging Village to meet with Chull, another contact and buyer on Enelach's list. Chull is a high-up at the Collegium but meets in secret with the party in the back room of an inn. He is much less suspicious of the party than Palmach, and seemingly accepts them on the basis of their possession of the coins. He outlines the deal he had with the Alshekal predecessors: he will take interesting magical objects and materials, and pay in what limited coin he has. No questions asked, none answered. The party asks him if they, being a new group, might change the deal. They ask if it's possible to be paid in spare magical objects, rather than coin. Chull seems bemused by the idea, and tells them to come back in a week or so.
When the party returns, the old man meets the party in the same back room and says that he had been collecting certain items to gift to the Alshekal predecessors. He does not specify what the gifts were for or when he was to give them. He offers them to the party in payment for the bone fragments.
- He was to give to Morran metal armbands stamped in an Empyrean style. They confer an added physical strength (+ 2 str).
- He was to give to Enelach a Ring made of some rare metal from the Ang, worked to store spells for later release. (5 spell slots worth of spells).
- He was to give to Chaywa a small carved chest that when use correctly summons an actual small chest and then sends it elsewhere (see spell Leomund's Secret Chest).
- He was to give to Thalina a stylized crossbow that somehow summons extra bolts when used (allows a second ranged attack up to 3 times per day, counts as magical weapon for those attacks).
- He was to give to Nyana three doses of a concoction distilled from surface plants that causes visions about a desired person or subject. He cautions to not use two doses on the same person or object.
In lieu of all or any of these items, he can offer gold, or a higher amount of credit against future items the party may want from him. He is open to taking requests, but for trade only, he won't accept gold. The party accepts the items as payment, and their account with Chull is neutral.
Soon after, Palmach invites the party to yet another location (he does not meet with the party in any location more than once). This meet is in a grove at the center of a small orchard on the Market Fields edge of the city. The party sees several generic guards while walking through the orchard, each silently looks at them and waves them on.
Palmach sits at a rough table with a pile of cut fruit and fresh bread. He offers food and a strong ale he claims is from Balmach - only accessible to Core Island buyers once every 11 years. Supposedly good and expensive stuff, and extra special this day, he says with a grin.
After small talk and quick pleasantries, he gets to the business at hand. Palmach says:
"Your friend is a slippery ghost, difficult to find and hard to track. But I've been at this longer than he has, and he's not very careful in the friends he keeps. And he leaves a lot of enemies. And disgruntled hirelings."
"He's a relic hunter, same as you all. He's been around for a decade, doing smaller work, but has started to make a reputation for himself in the last few years. He tracks down difficult to find items with a single minded persistence that often leaves messes in his wake. He prefers to discredit and deceive his adversaries rather than fight them directly, but when he does fight it is typically by cheating, stealth, and unfair odds."
"He never sells, and purportedly only buys what he can't swindle or steal away. He has a single patron to whom all of his finds are sent. We could not find out for certain who this is, but he has been spotted in and out of Arcanist compounds on at least three Islands."
"He works alone, and hires help as he needs it with what are rumored to be very deep pockets. He works from a few Core Islands, namely Jemerah, Barakeel, and Anvard. We think he's likely from Jamerah originally, despite his Baraki looks. These past few days we've only been able to check Anvard of course, but he is almost certainly there."
"Dar Aslan himself has not been seen. My people could not find where he lives, or how he moves about. But he has favorites, people he goes to and works with repeatedly, and these we found. On Anvard they are:
- A small tribe of exiled Barakis from whom he often hires small teams - I'm told you all may have already tangled with them at some estate he rented?
- A magi for hire named Kander, short stout fellow with a limp from some previous misadventure with Dar, who works with disguises and illusions.
- Another magi named Kersp, a tall evoker who still pays his dues to the Collegium, barely, despite being culled from the Anvardi Magi Clan for being a little too bloodthirsty.
- An old Grovan Clan brute named Lorca who was a trainer in his day, and now hires out as a solo bodyguard.
"All these more common hirelings were not difficult to find in part because for the last few weeks they are all gearing up together, which is unusual for Dar."
"Ever since he returned from some kind of dust-up on Vaaris, he's been hot on a new project. There is something big in the works, and he's spending a fortune to get a lot of people moving and ready for it. He is also hiring Clanless laborers, a group of scholars specializing in Ancient Race materials, and a well regarded Gatesman name of Foric (a sort of caravan master for a world without caravans - takes materials and goods through the Gate network for merchants and others with cargo to move). "
"Now with such short notice we could not find our what he's after, just that it's some kind of potent Ancient Race artifact, and (*another grin*), that it's on Balmach. Drink up, my new friends (with a gesture at the Balmachan ale), Balmach approaches, and the Core will re-stock on this rarity within the year."
"The next opening to Balmach that Dar Aslan and any of his team can take is on day 236 from Mehujael (*player note, it is day 68, so this is 168 days from now*). The strange thing is, that Gate will only be open for three days, so he's either planning some kind of quick in and out or he's paying a _real_ fortune to set up an operation on Balmach for 11 years."
"But here's the fun part. There are only two routes to get there from Anvard, and both of them require coming though here, Nade, in the next few days. Assuming he came through today, his two possible routes are..." (*Palmach takes out a scrap bit of paper on which he has written*)
- Route 1 (w delay times): Anvard - Nade (4 days) - Jemerah (164) - Mehujael (0) - Balmach
- Route 2 (w delay times): Anvard - Nade (0) - Wisp (68 days) - Mehujael (100 days) - Balmach
"The Gate to Wisp closes in 2 days, so if he hasn't moved over by then, he's not taking that route. We've checked, and there's no one there but the locals as of this morning. I've got an eye on that Gate and will let you know if we see anyone headed out. Why would you ever intentionally get stuck on Wisp?" <shudder>
"It makes a lot more sense for him to ride it out on Jamerah, from which he sometimes operates. If he is indeed from Jamerah, he probably has deep resources there. The Gate to Anvard closes in 3 days, and the Gate to Jamerah opens in 4, so if he leaves it until the last minute he'll only have to wait on Nade one day to make the transfer to Jamerah."
"I'm not sure how you'd find your man Aslan, but some of his team are already here. The two magi, a group of Baraki, and the Gatesman are here already, holed up in a Traverton inn called the Shaparat."
"More than that I can't tell you. Frankly, given the effort involved, I'm not sure the information was worth the exchange you made, and I feel professionally obliged to offer you another ask, at your convenience."
"This Balmach ale is really quite something. Please, drink up. The price is dropping rapidly."
The same morning, Koros disguises himself as merchant and talks to Dar's hired gatesman, Foric, in front of Kander (who does not see through the disguise) in the Shaparat's tavern room. Koros confirms their route through Jamerah then Mehujael by asking Foric to transport a small box to Mehujael. He also confirms that Kander, and the rest of Dar's hired crew, seem to have Foric on a tight leash. After much discussion, the party believes that Dar Aslan is embarking on the wild goose chase that the SOI Enelach promised to send him on.
Collectively, and with reluctance on the part of some, they decide to let Dar Aslan pass through Nade unhindered, on his way to Balmach and whatever false trail Enelach has laid for him. On day 71, the party hears from Palmach that Dar has crossed over for his one day on Nade before going to Jamerah. The party sticks by their decision to let him go, and to exercise patience in their revenge.
Thus the party ends their first 71 days of full acquaintance in the year 500, in a stronghold house in Nade City on the Island of Nade, accepted as the Alshekal and having made contact with two of Enelach's trusted buyers/informants. They are richer than any of them have ever hoped to be, and have enemies both made and inherited.