Niriscia and Pete, rested and re-energized from the evening's sermons, took their midnight prayers in the harsh black and white lighting of Mulmaster's temple. They rested and mulled over the prospects before them--a meeting with the Highblade was imminent the next evening, Cyrus had the Githyanki sword, and who in the Nine Hells knew just what Drath was up to?

The next morning they went shopping--resupplying their exotic incense and crushed gem stores--Bane's blessings didn't come cheaply. They were rejoined by Cyrus, he and Snipe marking their discreet recognitions with their usual scrupulousness. Amidst a break in their perusal of goods, a breather for the polio afflicted Pete at a blank alcove, they remarked casually to each other what they intended to say to Cyrus. He nodded, understanding and slipped away, keeping his post beyond notice. Cyrus set immediately to losing any who may--just may--have seen him. Double-backs, blind turns, stall crawls...and eventually found his way into the protected area of the high-end of town. He cased the High Blade's residence, watching, perusing, learning, waiting. This is work he, if not enjoys, finds comfortable. Or, rather, would have if not for the weighty bastard sword painting an inter planar bulls eye on him. If he would be a target, he would be a moving target. He dove again through the night from vantage to vantage, shadow to shadow, always beyond sight, ever ready with fingers twitching over the grips to his kukri.

As the day slipped by, Drath busied himself pawning his treasures to other magi within the Tower of Arcane Might. His fortune was growing. He hatched plan after plan, in his mind only, each less fleshed than the last. All his plans ended in the same thing, however: immense profits and vast power. Loathe to lose any of his wealth in the process, he dared not risk any yet. Such are the misfortunes of the extremely avarice. He shrugged and nearly sighed. Self-pity is not an emotion that rests easily on Drath's bony shoulders. He shrugged it off quickly with a command to three of his skeletons. They throttled each other for his amusement. Drath sneered and his eyes twitched in cool delight.

Nir and Pete, followed by Snipe, arrived in official regalia at the High Blade's residence that evening. Typical for Moonsea regents, although more richly appointed from Mulmaster's uninterrupted prosperity, it met all sensibilities in the right way. It was a fine, solid, singular structure. It made no excuse for its existence, stood proudly, if not showy, and spoke of strength and wealth in a glaring tone. Pete approved. Niriscia found fault in the lack of Banite regalia. Pete smiled. Nir nodded. Snipe, as always, kept quiet. They entered.

There was hoopla in store from the guards' request that no weapons be brought inside the Tower of the Wyvern. A short aside with Niriscia, and an assurance that Pete had the situation in hand, allowed her to retain her armaments so long as they lay sequestered in an extra-dimensional sack sealed by the state magi. Grudgingly, she relented. Snipe stored his weaponry in the sack as well.

Inside they found a menagerie of the high and mighty of Mulmaster. Heads of Clerical orders, prominent Cloaks, Blades, and old-money merchants. Snipe, acting as porter, kept watch with his profound senses, soaking in and gathering as much data as he could possibly contain. Niriscia exercised her immense willpower, holding her tongue in check. She spat pleasantries between precisely cut morsels of food. Pete was completely within his comfort zone--orchestrating parries and thrusts of verbiage at the center of the political maelstrom.

Dinner concluded and all were freed to mill and mix. Pete and Nir retired with Sylfaril and Tallwand to private chambers, leaving Snipe to smile with his perceptions, and on the way there Niriscia glared at the high priestess of Cyric who had been chumming it quite visibly with the Highblade all dinner thus far. A quick scan of the room presented thin sheets of lead within the walls, doors, hinges--the room was secured tightly from external intrusion via spells. The Highblade was a man who valued his privacy, apparently. The Banites approved.

Pete and Niriscia were ushered into the private chambers of Selfaril, Snipe waiting in the main hall expectedly. The antechamber was cosy rather than opulent, but the presence of the High Cloak and the already-etched wards on the chamber ensured the privacy needed in such situations. The High Blade trusted as few people as the Banites did, and them about as much, but political manouvering was a more delicate process about keeping balance and importantly to Selfaril and the trade of Mulmaster -- the peace.

"Welcome, esteemed brethren of the Black Lord, welcome."

A curt nod from Niriscia was as good as you could hope for, Pete taking over the formalities.

Pete's divine senses tingled in this room, he was on edge though his face showed barely anything save a calm and polite exterior. His gift of foresight was muted in this secure room, any advantage offered by his patron was gone, he was reduced to his own mortal ken. Thankfully, this in itself was considerably quite developed.

Selfaril and Pete exchanged banter back and forth, the nub of the matter ending in a promise to meet with the leader of the Thayan Enclave here in Mulmaster, Conjuremaster Ahryn Firefinger, about the transition of a new slave pact to Zhentil Keep. Pete and especially Niriscia were noticeably unimpressed but a meagre offering of consideration was enough to placate Selfaril. He wanted peace, and if the two factions of Thay and the Zhentarim were on some semblance of peace, all the better.

A few more verbal feints from Pete were tested, mainly about securing ore and minerals from the South Road, and questions about Hillsfar relations rebutting in The High Blade's insistance that he was only interested in affairs regarding Mulmaster directly. Pete and Niriscia took their cue to leave and consider his words. They had business back in their own temple to attend to, Bane was not one to be kept waiting.

The group returned to the Swamp Temple and nearly tripped over the unexpected presence of a corpse in the doorway. It was a stranger, the only evident tracks were his, and a dagger protruded from his back. For a group as paranoid as they were, this was a bad thing. Someone with the means to hire an assassin, someone competent enough to find them, had sent a message. Maybe.

It took only a glance to tell it was, on the surface, the work of the Golden Skulls. They were a new arrival on the hero-for-hire scene in Mulmaster but were quickly making big, big waves for their bravado. The group was said to be comprised of three members: Inash, their leader, and his two subordinates Jarith and Deleira. They were pure capitalists--no loyalties to anyone or anything save large quantities of coin.

"Shit." muttered Pete. They went into action, with Niriscia setting about the task of reclaiming the temple for Bane's purpose, Cyrus and the monks scouted around the grounds for any lingering intruders, Snipe and DeXXXie keeping watch, Drath raising the temple grounds to Pete's contracted height, and Pete casting divinations and delvings over the corpse and about the group itself. Their dagger had been poisoned, a contact venom, applied to the handle of the weapon. It was meant to fell whomsoever tried to remove it. This was a slap in the face of the Banites.

The man was a messenger sent by the chief undercover Zhentarim agent in Mulmaster. He'd been sent with a warning that the Thayans were planning a takeover of the city, or at least the slave trade there in. Inash had been identified as the man responsible for the killing and although the Zhentarim were frequently linked in executions and assassinations they held a very firm zero tolerance policy on the transactions running in their own direction. The Church of Bane had been offended as well. Banites, as a rule, forgave with their fists.

Immediately upon completing their rituals the group met and a decision was made--Drath would depart, with DeXXXie, breaking off his relationship with the Inquisition. His involvement had proven detrimental to both parties as his flippancy was unbecoming of a member of an Inquisitior's retinue and his association with such boldly partisan folk disrupted his status within the Tower of Arcane Might. As farewells go, this was a clean break. They needn't remind each other of the sensitivity of their individual situations--nor of the inevitably massive retribution should either side find betrayal of tempting profit.

Knowing the building the Golden Skulls were said to frequent gave them a target and, upon arrival in Mulmaster via the clouds, they descended through dock dwelling mists to find a temporary vantage atop a building two away from their focus. Pete's senses expanded and fired dousings into the structure--he quickly identified an unoccupied room adjacent to the one in which Inash, to match his dexcription to the man he saw, was speaking with another man. Snipe and Cyrus flew to the building and flowed through the window, coalescing quietly and immediately scouring the room for any entrapments. Pete and Niriscia watched briefly longer and, both of them sliding into the embrace of the ethereal plane, glided into the structure themselves.

The friction of battle reared its head quickly and the unnamed fellow had departed, heading down a hallway away from Inash. Inash had paused, scanning his room and directly missing the planarly distanced Niriscia and Pete, before taking his leave from the room as well. He moved down the hall and rummaged through his pockets for a key, pausing before the door to the room in which hid Snipe and Cyrus. Pete slid through the wall and waved his arms frantically at the Naug-orls, pointing to the door and taking up a position directly in front of it at about fifteen paces against the outside wall. Niriscia crept behind him, waiting.

As he opened the door, the four of them unleashed hell upon his crumpling brow. He fell in a pulpy heap, battered down, severed, punctured and sliding through a great clenched fist. They turned, ready to set further retribution upon this stirring household. They expected resistance in the form of defenders--they didn't expect them to have 11 eyes and float. Two beholders rose over the banister from the large living space below and bobbed menacingly beneath the vaulted ceiling. Niriscia reacted quickly and decisively, rushing down the hall and spinning her star into the tyrant within her great reach. Snipe followed behind her and opened fire upon the same one to little effect.

The beholders responded with their own terrible salvos. All of their beams struck true, three upon each, and all were resisted save the one that endeared Snipe to the beholder he was just instants prior attacking. His new friend bellowed, "Restrain the large female--she seeks my undoing!" Pete sighed. Good help was exceedingly difficult to find, and Snipe was a despicably good accomplice. Checking that his own wards were still up, he stepped out and brushed away the spell compelling Snipe. Cyrus slid down the hall and into the cover of the room once occupied by Inash and his now missing ally.

The beholder under attack by the group abandoned its assault upon them and sought to neutralize them with its magical negation cone. The weave parted as a pliant wench's thighs and left those within its path just as exposed. Nir was once again normal sized and not nearly as powerful without her buttressing spells. The other beholder, finding the single target of Pete too tempting to pass up, turned his attentions to blasting the frail human through the wall. The first ray bounced directly back on the surprised beholder, the second fizzled did as well, and the beholder scrambled against his own power for a few instants before the third breached Pete's defenses--but just. Pete smiled over his shoulder, thinking his move both bold and effective.

Niriscia grunted a curse and stormed past Snipe. She knew when she had left the influence of the antimagic cone when she once again towered nine feet in height. Sneering in hatred, she pointed to the beholder that had attacked Pete, the one undefended by its negating gaze, and uttered words of power from Bane. Green light shot from her finger in a line to the beholder. In an instant, it was naught but motes in the breeze. It's wounded ally roared in rage and dropped its negating gaze, ready to fire ray after devastating ray upon the assembled enemies before it. Cyrus had other plans.

He lurched into action and hopped sidelong onto the railing of the balcony, gathered himself with a skittering hop and flung himself at the hovering ball of death. Eleven eyes widened in astonishment as three feet of halfling carved mercilessly into the top of its head, sending chunks of beholder flesh flying as chaffe from a flaying wheat farmer. It fired in rage upon the halfing, rarely scoring a hit and more often than not narrowly missing itself. Its confident roars and snarls curdled into warbling, guttural intonations of despair and fear. Pete and Nir nodded in appreciation of the assassin's handiwork.

Snipe began sensing for the missing ally of Inash as Nir took point on the balcony. Pete slid past her and into Inash's room for cover and, as he passed, waved his hand towards the beholder and Cyrus. His forceful fist of bane flew outward and gripped the struggling eyeball tightly, holding it fast. Cyrus grinned at the stationary platform and stood proudly over the spherical beast as he finished it with two thrusts into its brain. The hand held the two of them in the air.

Snipe leaped past Niriscia and stood quietly before her, firing three arrows quickly down the hallway at a shadowed figure creeping along the balcony. It was the other person Inash had been speaking with and, his opportunity ruined, he sought some suicidal vengeance against his attackers. He charged forwards, attacking Snipe and striking a few hits against the scout. Niriscia snarled and, as is usually the case when attackers are foolish enough to stand within her reach, she attempted to enpaste him. He sought discretion as the higher form of his valor and left via the same room the group entered, streaking towards a window and busting through it in full stride. Glass exploded into the quiet night outside as he landed amidst a startled dock walking crowd.

Niriscia gave chase, her armor slowing her down but her greater stride making up some of the loss. She perched at the window, ready to leap out into the night just as Pete stuck his head out the window of the office adjacent to her. "Fall! Fall that your prostrations please the Black Hand!" Every person on the street obeyed his commanding tone, including Jarith (as they soon discovered he was called). Niriscia nodded and leaped from the window sill and dropped the full nine hundred pounds of her bulk upon Jarith's back. The crowd, awestruck and terrified, wore faces rigid in fear and splattered in Jarith's gore before they were released from Pete's control.

As Niriscia carried Jarith's corpse upstairs, Pete let them go. "Thank you for your cooperation--this has been an unfortunate necessity, and your assistance will not go unnoticed. Have a nice day." He stepped aside as Niriscia hurled the corpse back into the 2nd story window and leaped up, climbing through herself.

Pete's forceful hand pulled the beholder's corpse through the air to the balcony, depositing both it and Cyrus there upon. "There should be a third." They all thought it, and Snipe scoured the gloom below for further signs. He spotted two figures, large and skeletal, hiding at the far corner as Nir and Cyrus stacked the corpses and sorted through their belongings, respectively. Pete looked to his aid and waited for a signal. Snipe fired into the far corner, creeping along the wall with his magical slippers. The shadows flickered and dispersed, but it was still unclear to Niriscia and Pete what lay beneath them. Cyrus was fairly certain that it was undead, and as he saw that beyond the reach of his contractual obligations, kept to the task of looting the bodies.

Niriscia and Pete moved into their form of tag team action: she jumped from the balcony, near the corner, as Pete's hand slammed into the corner open and grasping. The skeletal beast, dislodged from its hiding spot, was known to them now as a devourer. Pete's hand had run its course and vanished, but Nir's wrath was short and readied. She uttered prayers to Bane's glory and the devourer, and its still hidden compatriot, cowered quietly within the house. In a few short, crunching moments, she'd dispatched them.

They searched the rest of the compound and found another corpse in an ice chilled freezer but the only sign of the missing Deliria was a secret door not fully closed on an outside wall. They encamped in the kitchen, preparing for another hunt. The next day brought them quick and bitter satisfaction as they forced the fleeing Deliria to submit to their satisfaction. A quick parade through the streets and sermons of Bane's Will passed before they made their way--sans a carnally involved halfling--back to the Swamp Temple.

Pete spent the next few days pondering the new mysteries within a tome gifted to him by Niriscia whilst the rest of the group sold gear, acquired further supplies, and reconnoitered the surrounding areas of the swamp. They inquired of the corpses and learned much:

1) the beholders had worked of their own accord in defending the assassins' lair as payment for using the lair for their own ends--those ends being a surface strong point for a tunneling operation from the underdark.

2) the devourers were supplied by Tallwand as payment for eliminating a rival. The rival was a newcomer, and was terminated at the docks upon his arrival.

3) the Golden Skulls had been contracted to eliminate the messenger by none other than Firefinger of Thay, the emissary Pete was to meet with regarding the slave trade.

The Skulls kept no written records, at least none they could find. The group assembled and headed to Mulmaster. Pete would speak with the Thayans this day.

///ps: if I'm missing anything, lemme know and I'll add it in or just post something supplementary to it.

They touched down in the misty expanse of a rich merchant's tannery--pungent fumes, smoke, and boiled off mist covering their entrance and exit well. Pete, Nir, and Snipe milled about the piazza while Cyrus slipped away and ahead of them. After a respectable delay they continued after him, pausing at the grandiose facade of the Thayan compound. The nondescript halfling sauntered in and began amicably perusing wares, displaying a respectable coin purse when observed too stringently by a rightfully circumspect merchant. Their wares were expensive, even after their heavily marked up duties were considered, and halflings weren't known for shrewd consumerism nearly so much as for sticky fingers. Their assurances sated, the guards only gave him as much pass as they did anyone else within the compound's walls.

Anyone else, other than the nine foot tall conglomeration of blue scaled bovinity named Aposcese. Aposcese grinned in satisfaction, stepping lively in his newly purchased boots as the Thayan merchant counted the last of his payed coin. His boots were a combination of armor, footwear, and livery shodding--all the while balancing the necessities of his claws. His feet were his biological curiosities in microcosm. Humanoid, bipedal thighs gave way quickly to the arched and rigid joints of quadrupeds. His hips, higher up on his thighs, jutted out at the extents of the hips as would a lizards'. His feet, if they could be called that, resembled something close to a hoof with claws extending fore and aft in extensions of draconic flamboyance. For the cobbler to have put it all together was a kind of magic in and of itself.

Pete, Niriscia, and Snipe stood at the outer walls of the compound and took a short breath before heading in. Niriscia was plainly agitated by the prospect of entering enemy ground, under their law, with little plan besides "talking," but she'd even more apprehensions about letting Pete do it unaided. Snipe swept up the rear, senses stretched as deeply as they could delve about him. Pete strode through the archway to the market place and stood momentarily, marking his entrance in a tableaux for those important enough to matter--their seeing him enter here may be historic and Pete would hate to lose such tidbit footnotes in the histories written of his magnificence.

(met with aposcese, met with a guard, then with a mage, mage went out and came back, firefinger out of town in Thay and his subordinate was not taking visitors, pete reprimanded the mage as a fool and got his name from another nearby, they left and met with aposcese, joining him at the docks in the Sleeping Serpent for lunch. met with Scelerya and Casivar, interogated Lyetta and old tongueless dude about thayan slaves with tattoos of tiny pink triangles on neck napes, killed and burned old dude, left with Lyetta upstairs to join with others, nir went outside first and old dude appeared in the room "you gotta help me", followed by four black dressed dudes through a portal chasing him with lightning bolts, fired rays at near random against those in the room including aposcese and cyrus when he went running by them, pete dispelled the four and the old guy, aposcese lurched ahead and crushed a dude 8/9ths dead, cyrus chopped another dude's neck open, nir buffed and ran back into the building, one of the cultists ran for the old guy, the old guy broke for a back room from behind the table snipe turned over, pete gripped the cultist with a bane hand, ape-cyrus-nir ghettostomped the 3 left out there, all ran in to speak with old dude who was Gulgath and said grave shit about the tears of selune was gonna go down, someone uttered "Shit just got real.")