February 20, 118
The party awake later than usual after their previous late night; it's nearly noon by the time everyone is up and moving. They decide to split up and have everyone handle separate tasks. Kaplan continues to stay in hiding, and Dark Star stays with him, continuing to read through the book he purchased from Demon's Gift. Back at Aralakk's temple, Calanon questions Aralakk about the Guild of the Twinborn, but the priest doesn't know anything about them. The rest of the group head into the city. Ash-Daughter starts making the rounds of her contacts, trying to discover if they know anything about the Guild of the Twinborn.
Ellyanna asks around to find where the biggest libraries are in Vornheim. She learns that they are the library of Zorlac, the library at the Reliquary of Vorn, and the library at the College of Celestial Thaumaturgy (an association of mages). She decides not to bother Zorlac, for the same reason they didn't look for him before - he is known to be extremely jealous of his knowledge and never lets outsiders in. She also decides against going to the Reliquary, as the party will probably be going there later once Aralakk gets them an appointment with one of Sahril's sub-prelates. Thus, she heads for the College. However, once she's there, she finds out that access is only for members of the College. She can become an associate member if she shares with them some new and interesting lore, but as the College focuses on Divination magic, and Ellyanna specializes in Evocation magic, she has nothing of interest to them.
Finally, Elvish and Grrrr Yip decide to head to the location of the Guild of the Twinborn's hideout, which they learned from Sadrith. They arrive at a busy commercial district, and find that the location corresponds to a bakery called the Decadence Cupcakery. Casing out the building, they determine that it is two stories, with a large storefront in the front, narrow alleyways on the side, and a small door in the back. Except for the large windows of the storefront, the only windows are on the second floor.
They decide to split up and watch the two doors. Elvish blends into the crowd near the front and watches the main entrance, looking for any usual customers or patterns. Grrrr Yip shapeshifts into a rat, skitters into the alleyway, and takes up position near the back door.
About an hour passes, during which time Elvish doesn't notice anything unusual, until someone arrives at the back door, coming from the opposite alleyway. He knocks, then whispers the passphrase "the chimera turns", at which point a man on the other side of the door opens it up. Seeing her chance, Grrrr Yip skitters through the opening in rat form.
However, the doorman sees the rat coming in and stomps on it. This does enough damage to knock Grrrr Yip back into her Lizardborn form, and the two men are shocked by her sudden appearance. They start shouting cries of alarm and draw their daggers, and Grrrr Yip decides to make a run for it. She takes several wounds as she flees past the two men, and as she runs out the door, one of the two men chases after her, while the other stays to guard the door.
The commotion catches Elvish's attention, but Grrrr Yip flees in the opposite direction from where he's waiting, and his short halfling legs make him a slower runner. As Grrrr Yip and her pursuer emerge onto the street, bystanders see the chase and start calling for the guards. Before Elvish can catch up, the man catches Grrrr Yip and stabs her in the back, dropping her the ground, badly wounded.
Elvish finally arrives, and he attempts to use a Suggestion spell to force the man to flee, but he resists. However, he independently decides the idea is a good one - seeing the commotion around him, he decides to flee anyway. Elvish reaches Grrrr Yip and heals her, and they decide to wait for the guards to arrive.
A squadron of a half-dozen guards arrives after about 10 minutes, and demands to know what's going on. Elvish convinces them that they were attacked by a man who came from the bakery - which is true, although he leaves out the part where they were staking out the place. He convinces the guards to let him and Grrrr Yip join them as they investigate the building.
At the bakery, the guards enter and declare that everyone inside is under arrest, and start rounding up the bakery workers. While they're doing this, Elvish and Grrrr Yip make their way to the second floor and look around. There's no one there, but they find many signs that it has been hastily vacated. The only sign of the Guild they find is a closet full of dark red robes. Acting quickly, Elvish plants a fake note in one of the robes, which reads as follows:
"Dear Sadrith,
The plan is working. The archprelate is dead and they believe Kaplan did it. We just need to tie up the loose ends and kill Kaplan before they figure out we're behind it. Take five brothers to the Undercity and take care of it."
He includes the name "Guild of the Twinborn" at the top and invents a sigil containing two daggers. His intention is that this fake note will lead the city guard to start investigating the Guild, possibly solving the problem for them.
Before they leave, the guards demand to know where they can contact the two of them in case their testimony is needed. They tell that they are staying at the Evening Shade Inn (which is actually where the elf Vaelac is staying).
Everyone regroups at the Greasy Thatcher, where Calanon informs them that Aralakk has managed to secure them an audience with Prelate Severn himself in the evening. Thus, they have only a few hours before they need to go.
Once again, the party take this time to accomplish separate goals. Kaplan and Dark Star remain at the inn as before, and Grrrr Yip joins them, recovering from her earlier ordeal. Ash-Daughter continues asking around about the Guild of the Twinborn but uncovers no new information. Calanon spends the time cleaning up and preparing himself for the audience.
Elvish and Ellyanna, however, head back into the city, hoping to find a member of the College of Celestial Thamauturgy and get a glimpse of his or her membership credentials so Elvish can forge credentials for Ellyanna. They eventually track down a member at a tavern in the New City. Striking up a conversation, they steer it towards the topic of the College, and get her to show them her proof of membership. She explains that each member who joins picks a contellation to represent himself or herself, and is given an enchanted card that is essentially a magical window that points at the constellation in question. Unfortunately, it's impossible for Elvish make a forgery of an enchanted card, so their quest ends in failure.
As the time approaches, the party once again regroup and prepare to meet with Prelate Severn.
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