February 26, 118
Calanon and Elvish arrive at the Merry Bowman, which is a small but well-appointed establishment. It's the afternoon, so there's only a few customers around, along with a bartender and a barmaid. Approaching the bartender, they learn that he is actually the owner of the tavern.
They start by asking him if he ever rents out the building, to which he replies that he does, for a price. They discuss the terms and conditions, but as they talk they try to steer the conversation towards the last time he rented the tavern. He explains that the last renter had desired a private evening, so he and his staff left the building for the duration of the rental.
Eventually, Calanon and Elvish cut to the chase and explain that a man was last seen entering his tavern a few weeks ago, and has not been seen since. The owner explains that, when a private rental occurs, he does tend to stay nearby to keep an eye on things, and he did see Therian enter, and never saw him leave. However, he had assumed that he simply didn't see Therian's departure, or perhaps he left by the back door. He gives the two adventurers a short tour of the entire establishment, in order to prove to them that Therian is not here, and therefore he must have left.
While the owner's story mostly just corroborates Emmerson's story, he does let slip one new piece of information. When renting his building out, he requires a reliable reference vouching for the client. In Malegar's case, this reference was provided by a priest of Vorn named Abbar.
Calanon and Elvish are convinced of the owner's sincerity, and figure that, since Malegar is a wizard, he must have somehow magically spirited Therian away. Elvish returns to the Greasy Thatcher with the rest of the party, while Calanon returns to Aralakk's temple in order to ask about Abbar. There, he learns that Abbar is one of Gorith's sub-prelates.
February 27, 118
The next day, the party continue their investigations. Dark Star returns to the Eminent Cathedral in order to update Severn on their progress again. Elvish and Calanon also head to the Cathedral to see if they can learn anything about Abbar. Ellyanna asks around the various magical and alchemical shops in the city to see if anyone knows anything about Malegar. Finally, Ash-Daughter asks around her criminal contacts to see if any of them know anything about Malegar.
Ellyanna and Ash-Daughter are unsuccessful, learning nothing of value about the wizard. Calanon and Elvish arrive at Gorith's headquarters, but they find that his staff are much less helpful than those of Severn or Sahril, possibly because they don't have Aralakk greasing the wheels for them this time. The best they are able to do is securing a short meeting with Abbar in three days' time.
The only person who has any real success in the morning is Dark Star. Severn has apparently become resigned to the fact that the party are going to keep investigating even if he tells them not to, and agrees to share what he's learned. Severn tells him that his agents have also been investigating Malegar and have been more successful than the party. He's learned that Malegar is apparently a wizard for hire, who specializes in Conjuration magic. He has a home in the New City, but in the last month or so, he hasn't been seen in the area; instead, he's mostly been seen in and around Gorith's mansion in the Old City.
The party regroup at noon as usual, where they find a message from Zorlac waiting for them, informing them that he has finished transferring minds between the two Kaplans. They head to the Cathedral to pick up Severn, then return to Zorlac's tower to see the results.
Back down in Zorlac's laboratory, he shows them the two Kaplans, who look the same as when they last saw them, but Zorlac assures them that the minds have indeed been switched. Talking to the two men, they both continue to protest their innocence, and in the end the party are still not able to decide which one to trust.
They have an idea that could finally pinpoint the real Kaplan with certainty. Zorlac previously explained to them that, during the process where the Kaplans switched bodies, the fake managed to copy the real Kaplan's memories, which allows him to lie with perfect accuracy. They ask him whether he could reverse this process, essentially excising the copied memories.
Zorlac considers this proposal, before telling them that he thinks it could be done, but he doesn't know how long it will take, because he's never done anything like this before. It could be a matter of days, but it also could be a matter of weeks or even longer. They ask him to try. Severn agrees to this delay, as this will give them more time to rescue Sahril's son and break Gorith's hold over her. His plan requires her to be free of Gorith's influence once the Arch-Prelate's murderer is returned to them.
For the rest of the day, the party continue investigating different leads. Elvish heads to Gorith's mansion to case the area out, although in such a short time he isn't able to learn much. Calanon and Ellyanna ask around the vicinity of the mansion about Malegar, and confirm Severn's information - the wizard has frequently been seen in this area recently. Finally, Ash-Daughter prowls the streets near the mansion, hoping to run into Malegar, but cannot find him.
Dark Star, rather than joining the rest of the party, returns to Demon's Gift's shop, hoping to patch up their relationship after the fight with Corsica caused so much damage to the shop. He presents his minotaur skull helmet as gift and offers his apologies. Demon's Gift accepts both, and Dark Star spends the rest of the day reading in the shop.
February 28, 118
On the last day of February, Dark Star and Ellyanna continue their respective readings, while the rest of the party head to Gorith's manor and casing out the building. Ash-Daughter, an experienced thief, is particularly successful here, and after spending the morning observing the building, she is able to provide them most of the details they'll need - number of guards and their locations, guard shifts, entrances and exits, and a rough floorplan of the building. With this information in hand, the party begin preparing to break in and find Therian.
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