friday game stuff (after Rook)

Rat being questioned by Kologhan. The rat seemed cooperative, answered basic questions. When pushed deeper, he mentioned something about a cocoon in Nezum before starting to convulse, the voice of Ink-Eyes came from within the twisted body of the rat, expressing disappointment and disgust with his failure. There was a sickening crunch as his body tensed before he went slack, dead.

College looking into black potion. The potion seems to be nothing more than an exceptionally strong poison.

Journey to Lindall's:
	through the desert, scorpion encounter.
	along the roads.
		via numandor's nest, amphibious creature's attack town?
		via nazepu, prince florian thanks the party again for their assistance. mentions travelers have said the roads along the coast around Lindall's are dangerous, people have been attacked and robbed, some killed.

Talis meets the party in Lindall's Cospe. Lindall's is a sort of road-side attraction, a brackish, gross looking pond. The origin of which is supposedly the repeated spitting of a man named Lindall. Talis says that he and Kaelora parted ways. The last time they spoke she mentioned something about her duty to Ilyrie making it hard to work with him. Talis did investigate the elven necropolis after the party contacted him. The orc caretaker there did not take kindly to his presence. Once he had been dealt with, he met with the Strigoi confined within the crypts. It inhabits the body of Aliriel, a legendary ranger-general of the elves, and has adopted her name. The caretaker kept her imprisoned there. Aliriel has a wealth of arcane and occult knowledge, having dedicated her unlife to the study of life, death, and the transformation of souls in the outer planes. She is a skilled necromancer, roughly on par with Talis. She could be a useful ally, but her desires and goals are unclear. She is currently still imprisoned within the necropolis, though unguarded.

Talis knows Ink-Eyes is raising the members of the Eru'Salor for some purpose. For Ash, it seemed to be primarily to try and extract information about the Doomwake from him. When his memories weren't intact, he served little purpose. Getting more information on Ink-Eyes' goal seems key. This seems difficult when Ink-Eyes members are willing to off themselves to keep secrets, or even worse that Ink-Eyes seems to have some sort of remote kill-switch for its members if they try to say something they shouldn't. Finding more probably requires getting closer to Ink-Eyes and investigating things first hand- tracking down high ranking members and finding their correspondence, documents, etc. to piece together the bigger picture.

ways forward: trovain, sevarine, and az tor have raided hideouts and collected various documents, etc. that could provide clues

trovain: information on a network of hideouts and safehouses between trovain and hzjrkrgrndr, mostly along the north coast, mentioning the flow of various blackmarket goods, materials, weapons, etc. it mentions a Priest of Black Fingers by name, Aemon Grett, who seems to be the one in charge of this operation. other records indicate the main goal of this group is to move difficult to obtain materials from this region to hzjrkrgrndr and then move finished products back- various weapons, armors, etc. made from these materials which are then sold on the black market or used to outfit ink-eyes agents. documents also mention Brogg as a point of contact in hzjrkrgrndr. A name olin would recognize from his youth as the owner of several companies- a bit of a business tycoon. He currently runs a brewing company, a foundry which makes brewing equipment, a foundry that makes steam engine equipment, and has a large stake in a mining company based in Rog's Hole. Brogg himself is a goblin, but employs many hobgoblins, orc, goblins, etc. of note is that Brogg now owns the brewery olin's mother worked at. the blacksmith's guild is struggling as Brogg has positioned himself to cut out guild-associated smiths.

sevarine/az tor: information on operations in setja's watch and cetsul which ship materials to hzjrkrgrndr for processing before those finished goods are moved elsewhere. this operation is headed by the Priest of Black Fingers Sarminod Cos. this operation also connects with Brogg, and several of the documents mention protocols around transporting various dangerous materials, particularly materials with the potential to explode or ignite, which it seems have already caused incidents and losses due to carelessness.

going to nezum itself will prove difficult. the island itself is shrouded in an unnatural fog, only the tops of buildings and walls that surround the capital are visible through it. everywhere outside of the capital is poor farming communities, their fields are wet and muddy, constant rain flooding them. their harvests have already come in months ago, they're surviving off stores but still need to send taxes/offerings to the capital. the people seem to be struggling, most on the verge of starvation, just barely sustaining themselves.

the farmers are paranoid, they say that the empress is always watching and it isn't safe for the outsiders to be here. if the party insists to stay and question them they'll try to quickly get them into a building. they'll explain their situation- Nezum is at war with the outside world. they live and work here, give offering to the empress, pay taxes as demanded by her men, and send their sons and daughters to work in the capital, typically to join the military for the men and to hopefully find work as a servant for the women for the sake of their nation. things used to be better, but recently the capital has demanded more of their people, bigger tithes and offerings. there is little news from the capital and they rarely, if ever, see their loved ones sent to the capital anymore.

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Some sort of fish or frog looking things?

Sea Devils harassing the coast East of Trovain. They don't normally kill or injure but threaten those who live along the water into giving them fish, steal various things like nets, oars, etc.

The party rescued a couple of fishers on the coast. They're far enough away to be unaffected by the Siren's song. They say just up the coast a ways is a village, maybe 50 people?

Some villagers have gone missing, but people don't realize it. A siren with false-hydra type powers has moved into the area and is taking people to a sea-cave lair. She has Sea Devils under her thrall, ghosts of former victims, and several villagers she hasn't yet eaten. The cave appears as grand, with carved marble walls, piles of gold and treasure. Upon her death or the silencing of her song the illusion fades and reveals the natural cave filled with human bones.

When the party arrives in the village they find many of the houses empty, maybe 25 people remain. The villagers don't see anything as wrong. "Those houses are abandoned", they say. A man named Randell Arsting is suspicious of them and will lead them through the village. But closer inspection reveals the houses seem recently lived in. If the party stays the night, Randell goes missing. If they watch during the night, they can follow him being lured to the cave.

25 buildings
18 hours
8 are dark