Arcturus' journal part 1
Due to the chaotic nature of the past few hours I feel the need to commit them to paper in order to make sense of them.
After the destruction of the first prototype of project Eather heart, the Azorius arrived and arrested me for damaging to public property. This persisted despite my attempts to explain to them that Ivan was in fact responsible for his failure to first add proper shielding and second cease the transfusion of power to the heart when prompted.
Shortly after the arrest I was taken to an Azorius courthouse where they were trying people for precrimes. I then attempted to explain that the incident was not my fault and that my crime had already occurred and thus was not a precrime I was convicted.
However, rather than being sent to prison I was taken to a room with several other recent convicts. There we were introduced to a Vadalken named Dalid, who explained that the Azorius was in a rather difficult position at the moment. From his explanation and what I could put together it seems that the Azorius have a rather pressing need for information on certain crimes committed by the Orzhov. However, they have as of yet been unable to prove any wrong doing and as such can not progress with an official investigation. Because of this the Azorius want to use a group who they can deny any connection to acquire evidence of the crimes that would enable them to preform a proper investigation.
However, rather than being sent to prison I was taken to a room with several other recent convicts. There we were introduced to a Vadalken named Dalid, who explained that the Azorius was in a rather difficult position at the moment. From his explanation and what I could put together it seems that the Azorius have a rather pressing need for information on certain crimes committed by the Orzhov. However, they have as of yet been unable to prove any wrong doing and as such can not progress with an official investigation. Because of this the Azorius want to use a group who they can deny any connection to acquire evidence of the crimes that would enable them to preform a proper investigation.
The proposed group was to be made up of the people in the room, excluding Dalid of course. That left 5 people Me, a Goblin from the Cult of Rakdos named Bucklechops, a Devcarin of the swarm called Varus, a Loxodon from the conclave whos name I failed to hear, and a Goblin from one of the Grul clans. In exchange for "running errands" for the Azorius our sentences would be reduced and after some time doped all together. We all agreed to the terms as the only other option was a rather lengthy stay in prison.
I have serious concerns about Bucklechops, even more so than could normaly be expected from a member of the Rakdos Cult he seems reckless, he confessed to several crimes in front of Dalid seemingly without knowing it. I can only hope that after this is all done the Azorius can contrive some reason to keep him locked up.
I have serious concerns about Bucklechops, even more so than could normaly be expected from a member of the Rakdos Cult he seems reckless, he confessed to several crimes in front of Dalid seemingly without knowing it. I can only hope that after this is all done the Azorius can contrive some reason to keep him locked up.
Our first task assigned by Dalid was to be to acquire the ledger from an Orzhov basilica run by Izolda Vilenko. The group agreed to meet at the transguild promenade at 5:00 PM after getting ready. To prepare I perched a set of black robes as to better fit in with the worshipers at the temple and then went to the Izzet archives and found the floor plan of the basilica so we could more easily find the rooms where the documents would be. Despite the length of time they had my new companions had to prepare they seemed to only have collected weaponry and no tools that would be useful to acquire the objective of our mission without violence.
Once we were all at the promenade we quickly made our way to the first precinct to scout out the church. while we were in an ally discussing our entry strategy the loxodon was hit in the shoulder with a spiked chain. A little devil had managed to sneak up on us while we were talking. Sticker shouted to attract the guards and I bolted into the church. The guards took their time getting to the fight and by the time they were there our Loxodon had managed to get the devil to cease its attack. Though I find it hard to believe he convinced the devil to leave amicably.
By the time the guards returned to their posts I was inside the temple hiding among the worshipers. As the rest of them came in the guards confiscated almost all their weapons, the only exception were varus' short bow which he had managed to hide and Sticker's weapons as he was very resistant to parting with them and the guards were unwilling to argue with him. As Buclechops tried to enter the guards flat our denied him entry, unsurprisingly however he didn't seem to perturbed by this and started making a racket with his flute.
While I was looking for any possible hazards Varus quickly went to the back of the church and slipped through a door leading to the basement. As he moved passed the fountain in the center however two of the statues came to life and stepped of their pedestals. One of the gargoyles noticed the door closing and went to investigate, there it found a Devcarin with his back to it trying to pick a lock. Through the open door I saw the gargoyle's claws cut deep into Varus' back and leave him sprawled on the floor.
It left him there to return to its post. The other gargoyle was still looking around when sticker ran up and stabbed it with a short sword. This quickly got both of their attentions and the one he had attacked slashed at him with its claws. Then Bucklechops burst past the guards still playing his flute and began madly dancing in the center of the church. With the gargoyles distracted I felt safe to go to Varus, he was hurt badly and it was clear that with out magic or proper medical treatment he would die shortly. Hesitantly I drew out a Healing potion that had taken me nearly two months salary to buy and administered it to him. As he gained conciseness I informed him of the debt he now owed me.
We quickly went downstairs trying to get away from the fight. We encountered another locked door and Varus began to pick it. From above us I heard a shout of "I AM THE STICKER" followed by the sound of crumbling rocks. I thought that was it, they had beaten the first and would deal with the second in short order. Then the remaining gargoyle came down the stairs. Panicked I fired a Chaos Bolt at it and it clutched its head shrieking in pain. Varus tried to shoot it, but at such close range he bungled his shot hitting the ceiling. The stone creature swung at Varus but this time he managed to dodge. I cast Frost Bite and ice crystals began to form in the cracks caused by my previous attack causing half its head to break off.
It staggered around briefly before collapsing at the foot of the steps. Then, Sticker sprung from the top of the stairs and began stabbing it.
I slumped against the wall, exhausted from the unexpected fight. It was clear that negotiating was no longer an option, we would just need to avoid being seen by any other guards.
I went upstairs to see what had happened. All the normal people had fled the church. Varus was the only one who had been significantly hurt, we took a moment to recuperate and bar the door. The others seemed to think it was a good idea to "STEAL FROM THE ORZHOV" and started taking everything that wasn't nailed down. Meanwhile I took the time to make it look like a the Rakdos were solely responsible, painting the walls with Prestidigitation, so nothing could be tracked back to me.
We went back downstairs, I didn't want another fight and so just around the corner from the guards room I spread a sack of ball bearings a few pints of oil so we would have more time to escape if they were called.
We crept towards the crypt expecting it to find the ledger there when we came to Izolda's office. I conjured a set of black robes for the others, hoping that if we moved quickly and looked like we belonged she would just amuse we were supposed to be there. That failed immediately in many ways.
First Izolda commanded us to stop moving.
Then she saw my face, Imidatly knowing I wasn't part of the Orzhov.
And lastly while I tried to explain our reason for being there Bucklechops drew his bow and tried to shoot her.
One of the thralls attending her jumped in front of the shot and ran to attack him. Panicked I cast sleep and the thralls dropped to the ground. Sticker begain some rant about Izolda cheating the Obzedat while jumping onto her desk. She summoned some ghosts to protect her and shouted for the guards. Sticker, assaulted by ghosts slashed Izolda across the chest and left the room staggering, slamming the door as he left
Fearing for my life I ran around the corner to see three guards having fallen in the oil, with a bit of hesitation I ignited the oil using a Firebolt and two of the guards burned to death right there. I didnt have time to contemplate the fact that I had just killed two people because the remaining guard crawled from the fire and shot Bucklechops. Varus came back around the corner and killed the last guard, before shaking bucklechops awake.
Running now we tried to search the crypt for the ledger. Varus opened a door and found nothing but corpses, I suggested we try the main chamber but Bucklechops kept shouting about how he new it was here. Varus checked the door for traps and insisted it was fine. Then a jet of flame and two ghosts came came out of the door. The I took a moment to get some distance from them when Izolda ronded the corner and a radiant blade pierced my chest.
Im not to clear what was happening while I was bleeding out but when I woke up Izolda was fighting sticker, the ghosts were gone, and the Loxodon was healing me. I frantically reached out and cast sleep on Izolda and she passed out.
Finally with everyone trying to kill us either unconscious or dead I had a minute to think. We looked in the door Bucklechops had insisted we open and shockingly it actually had the ledger in it. Sticker very angrily tied up Izolda and shoved her in the now empty room. After that we left as quickly as possble, with only a brief stop to look into Izolda's office. Buckelchops just stole every piece of paper in the place but Sticker actually found a magic dagger.
As we made our way upstairs we heard the Boros trying to breakdown the front door. I sugested we leave via a window in the back. The Loxodon smashed it with his maul and we all jumped out making haste to the transguild promenade.
I stayed the night there out of fear of retribution. In the morning we left to meet with Dalid back in Azorius territory. After reprimanding us for a varity of minor violations he told us our work was satisfactory and he would call upon us in about a week.
I need to get out of this, I can probably get the guild to pay my legal fees if I can get Project Eather Heart back on track but otherwise it seems my only options are dying on another one of these suicide missions or spending years in prison. I far prefer the latter option but hope it doesn't come to that.
By the time the guards returned to their posts I was inside the temple hiding among the worshipers. As the rest of them came in the guards confiscated almost all their weapons, the only exception were varus' short bow which he had managed to hide and Sticker's weapons as he was very resistant to parting with them and the guards were unwilling to argue with him. As Buclechops tried to enter the guards flat our denied him entry, unsurprisingly however he didn't seem to perturbed by this and started making a racket with his flute.
While I was looking for any possible hazards Varus quickly went to the back of the church and slipped through a door leading to the basement. As he moved passed the fountain in the center however two of the statues came to life and stepped of their pedestals. One of the gargoyles noticed the door closing and went to investigate, there it found a Devcarin with his back to it trying to pick a lock. Through the open door I saw the gargoyle's claws cut deep into Varus' back and leave him sprawled on the floor.
It left him there to return to its post. The other gargoyle was still looking around when sticker ran up and stabbed it with a short sword. This quickly got both of their attentions and the one he had attacked slashed at him with its claws. Then Bucklechops burst past the guards still playing his flute and began madly dancing in the center of the church. With the gargoyles distracted I felt safe to go to Varus, he was hurt badly and it was clear that with out magic or proper medical treatment he would die shortly. Hesitantly I drew out a Healing potion that had taken me nearly two months salary to buy and administered it to him. As he gained conciseness I informed him of the debt he now owed me.
We quickly went downstairs trying to get away from the fight. We encountered another locked door and Varus began to pick it. From above us I heard a shout of "I AM THE STICKER" followed by the sound of crumbling rocks. I thought that was it, they had beaten the first and would deal with the second in short order. Then the remaining gargoyle came down the stairs. Panicked I fired a Chaos Bolt at it and it clutched its head shrieking in pain. Varus tried to shoot it, but at such close range he bungled his shot hitting the ceiling. The stone creature swung at Varus but this time he managed to dodge. I cast Frost Bite and ice crystals began to form in the cracks caused by my previous attack causing half its head to break off.
It staggered around briefly before collapsing at the foot of the steps. Then, Sticker sprung from the top of the stairs and began stabbing it.
I slumped against the wall, exhausted from the unexpected fight. It was clear that negotiating was no longer an option, we would just need to avoid being seen by any other guards.
I went upstairs to see what had happened. All the normal people had fled the church. Varus was the only one who had been significantly hurt, we took a moment to recuperate and bar the door. The others seemed to think it was a good idea to "STEAL FROM THE ORZHOV" and started taking everything that wasn't nailed down. Meanwhile I took the time to make it look like a the Rakdos were solely responsible, painting the walls with Prestidigitation, so nothing could be tracked back to me.
We went back downstairs, I didn't want another fight and so just around the corner from the guards room I spread a sack of ball bearings a few pints of oil so we would have more time to escape if they were called.
We crept towards the crypt expecting it to find the ledger there when we came to Izolda's office. I conjured a set of black robes for the others, hoping that if we moved quickly and looked like we belonged she would just amuse we were supposed to be there. That failed immediately in many ways.
First Izolda commanded us to stop moving.
Then she saw my face, Imidatly knowing I wasn't part of the Orzhov.
And lastly while I tried to explain our reason for being there Bucklechops drew his bow and tried to shoot her.
One of the thralls attending her jumped in front of the shot and ran to attack him. Panicked I cast sleep and the thralls dropped to the ground. Sticker begain some rant about Izolda cheating the Obzedat while jumping onto her desk. She summoned some ghosts to protect her and shouted for the guards. Sticker, assaulted by ghosts slashed Izolda across the chest and left the room staggering, slamming the door as he left
Fearing for my life I ran around the corner to see three guards having fallen in the oil, with a bit of hesitation I ignited the oil using a Firebolt and two of the guards burned to death right there. I didnt have time to contemplate the fact that I had just killed two people because the remaining guard crawled from the fire and shot Bucklechops. Varus came back around the corner and killed the last guard, before shaking bucklechops awake.
Running now we tried to search the crypt for the ledger. Varus opened a door and found nothing but corpses, I suggested we try the main chamber but Bucklechops kept shouting about how he new it was here. Varus checked the door for traps and insisted it was fine. Then a jet of flame and two ghosts came came out of the door. The I took a moment to get some distance from them when Izolda ronded the corner and a radiant blade pierced my chest.
Im not to clear what was happening while I was bleeding out but when I woke up Izolda was fighting sticker, the ghosts were gone, and the Loxodon was healing me. I frantically reached out and cast sleep on Izolda and she passed out.
Finally with everyone trying to kill us either unconscious or dead I had a minute to think. We looked in the door Bucklechops had insisted we open and shockingly it actually had the ledger in it. Sticker very angrily tied up Izolda and shoved her in the now empty room. After that we left as quickly as possble, with only a brief stop to look into Izolda's office. Buckelchops just stole every piece of paper in the place but Sticker actually found a magic dagger.
As we made our way upstairs we heard the Boros trying to breakdown the front door. I sugested we leave via a window in the back. The Loxodon smashed it with his maul and we all jumped out making haste to the transguild promenade.
I stayed the night there out of fear of retribution. In the morning we left to meet with Dalid back in Azorius territory. After reprimanding us for a varity of minor violations he told us our work was satisfactory and he would call upon us in about a week.
I need to get out of this, I can probably get the guild to pay my legal fees if I can get Project Eather Heart back on track but otherwise it seems my only options are dying on another one of these suicide missions or spending years in prison. I far prefer the latter option but hope it doesn't come to that.
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