Lady's Grace, cutters!

 

„Die and let die“

faction philosophy of the Dustmen

 

 

First Market Day of Retributus, 126 HR

They had sat in the Black Sails for a while, playing cards and keeping an eye on Eliath. Then Kiyoshi had returned from the Barracks. He had been given instructions to pursue the matter with Toranna and he explained that a message had been sent to the Mortuary, asking for cooperation as quickly as possible. Although evening was already falling, they decided to try their luck again with the Dustmen due to the urgency of the matter. However, as they did not want to let Eliath out of their sight, they split up: Naghûl and Jana stayed in the Black Sails, while Kiyoshi, Lereia and Sgillin made their way back to the Hive. By the time they left the tavern, the Last Light had given way to a rapidly deepening twilight. The nearby Foundry District was still bustling at this late hour. Many of the chimneys were smoking and in the darkness the glowing sparks of ash escaping from the forges looked like countless fireflies. At the New Market most of the stalls were closed though. Unlike the Night Market, no more business was conducted here after dark. They had to pass through the Central District, which was much quieter than the area around the Foundry. Then, they entered the Hive again and Lereia sighed inwardly. She had known, of course, that they would have to return here, but she had hoped it would be the next morning and in daylight. They stayed close together, Kiyoshi and herself still dressed in the dark, rough cowls they had been given by Jana and later Toozer. The Gray District surrounding the Mortuary was quieter than other corners of the Hive, as if the Dustmen’s headquarters were pouring their strange aura of gloom and melancholy over the whole area. The bone golems standing at the gate of the Mortuary gave Lereia another slight shudder. And as they entered, that aroma again: the incense, the wilted flowers, the strong antiseptic embalming fluids of the Dustmen and underneath it all, the smell of the undead. Her scent, even in this form much keener than that of ordinary humans, simply could not ignore how many skeletons and zombies were out and about here. Kiyoshi approached one of the Dustmen in the entrance hall and made his request. The man explained that he had no authority to comply with his wishes, but wanted to get someone who would - a certain adlate Zamakis. So, for the second time that day, they stood in the Mortuary and waited. Then a woman with long, black hair, obviously an elf, approached them with measured movements: pointy-eared, pale, very beautiful and of rather small frame. She was elegantly dressed in a frock coat of dark blue brocade.

Kiyoshi bowed in greeting. "May the kami bless you. You are the honorable adlate Zamakis-bucho?"

She nodded as she looked at the group calmly but scrutinizingly. Her eyes had a reddish gleam. "Ashes to ashes. Yes, that's me."

The Harmonium soldier got straight to the point. "Since you surely know why we are here, honorable adlate Zamakis-bucho, would you kindly show us where Toranna has been working?"

The elf's gaze wandered briefly to Sgillin and Lereia before focusing on Kiyoshi. "Am I right in assuming that you are acting in official capacity?"

Kiyoshi nodded. "That's true, honorable adlate Zamakis-bucho."

The tiniest hint of a smile played around her lips, but it did not reach her eyes. "Without wishing to be rude: Would it be presumptuous to ask for your badge?"

"Forgive my ignorance," Kiyoshi replied in his own inimitable way. "But I am not aware of any presumption, honorable adlate Zamakis-bucho. Do you want to see it?"

Lereia could see Sgillin rubbing his temples beside her. Zamakis raised one of her perfectly shaped brows almost imperceptibly. "Yes, I request it, dear sir."

Kiyoshi nodded, pulled out his badge and showed it to the adlate. She glanced at it, more than fleetingly, but not long enough to show obvious suspicion.

"Thank you," she then replied. "Forgive me, it wasn't meant as an affront. It's just that people have apparently found access here recently who would have been better off not doing so."

Sgillin raised his eyebrows. "Oh, really?"

The elf turned to look at him for a second. "Yes, really."

Her demeanor seemed altogether too distant to appear friendly, yet too polite to be dismissive. And now that she'd been standing next to her for a while, Lereia also realized that the smell of undeath she detected among all the incense and antiseptic wasn't just coming from the nearby skeletons, no ... from her, too.

After giving Sgillin her attention for a blink, the adlate turned back to Kiyoshi. "It's related to your case. But please come, not here."

She turned away and led the group purposefully deeper into the Mortuary without looking back, probably assuming that they would follow her in any case. They reached the central hall, even larger than the entrance area, lit by four huge fire bowls. On the floor was a large mosaic depicting the faction symbol of the Dustmen. Then the adlate turned right into another large room, in which there were several stone tables for laying out the deceased. On two of them lay corpses covered with white shrouds, as Lereia noticed with a slight feeling of dismay. Even though death was a part of life, it was not a particularly uplifting feeling if it was within one's grasp. In this respect, she appreciated that there was a faction that took on the sad but undoubtedly necessary task of caring for the deceased. However, she would have appreciated it even more if they didn't turn bought corpses into undead workers. She hurried to follow Zamakis, who now led them into an outbuilding and down a long corridor from which several doors opened. She stopped in front of one of them.

"This is Toranna's office - was, I should add. I have instructions to grant you access. Factor Trevant and Legate Shar himself have agreed on this."

Legate Shar was a high-ranking member of the Harmonium, Lereia remembered from the conversation in the Slumbering Lamb. And Factor Trevant was probably one of the highest-ranking members of the Dustmen.

Sgillin glanced at the door. "Has anyone been in there before us?"

"Yes, me," the adlate replied matter-of-factly. "But I left everything as it was and didn't remove anything."

"Did you notice anything unusual?" Kiyoshi inquired.

"Anything unusual? Absolutely. Before you go in, I'd like to tell you something."

"We're all ears," Sgillin stated.

"Toranna was part of our faction," Zamakis explained. "That much is true. But what we didn't know is that she was working undercover for someone else. The attempt to arrest a factotum in her own headquarters was not exactly proper." She glanced briefly at

Kiyoshi, but showed no emotion. "But in this case it redounded to our advantage. Otherwise, we might not have noticed her machinations."

Kiyoshi bowed his head slightly. "I must apologize profusely. I was unaware of this. Be sure that it won't happen again."

Zamakis nodded curtly. "I accept your apology. I also see that you were only doing your duty, or were willing to do so."

"Who was she working for?" Sgillin intervened again.

"I'm not sure about that. Perhaps you can make sense of it. Wait, I'll let you in." She pulled a bunch of keys out of her pocket and looked for the right one. Then she opened the door, but didn't enter herself, merely pointing into the room. "Here you are. If you have any questions after the examination, I'll wait in the refectory."

"Where, please?" Sgillin asked, frowning.

Lereia smiled. She knew from her past that the refectory was the dining hall of a monastery. So this was obviously a larger room where faction members could gather to eat. Although she very much hoped that Zamakis would only wait there, not eat something ... In response to Sgillin's question, she just pointed down the corridor in front of her and then to the left.

"Thank you very much. See you later," Lereia said goodbye to Zamakis and then entered Toranna's office behind Kiyoshi.

It was a small, simply, even sparsely furnished room: a high shelf with lots of books on the far wall, a chest with a candle on it next to the door and a simple wooden table and chair in the middle of the room. There were some books and parchments on the table, and next to them an inkwell with a black feather, perhaps that of a raven.

Sgillin looked after Zamakis for a moment before closing the door. "By all the gods ... what a reserved icicle."

He shook his head, but Lereia did not respond to his remark. There were more important things at the moment, so she quickly waved the two men closer. "I couldn't detect a soul signature on her," she explained in a hushed voice. "Just like the four of you. And like the medusa who was with Eliath. But her odor was all the more distinct ... She smells of undeath."

Sgillin grimaced. "That means she could be one of the Chosen. Great ... One who can turn us all to stone and now a vampire."

Kiyoshi, on the other hand, shrugged his shoulders and looked at the objects spread out on the table. His indifferent reaction confused Lereia. "How can you not care, Kiyoshi? She may be one of us."

"Forgive me, honorable Lereia-san," the young man replied. "But I know nothing of such supernatural things. On the other hand ... has this ability ever worked on another undead before?"

He was right. For claiming to know nothing about it, he had uncovered an interesting question. "A good point," Lereia agreed. "I'll test that later. Well, let's have a look around, shall we?"

Kiyoshi nodded and pulled out two books from a shelf under the desk - thick tomes on funeral rituals, as Lereia could see from the titles. She approached the shelf at the wall and examined it carefully to see if any books stood out or were less dusty than the rest. There were many works on embalming, death gods and death cults, but nothing seemed particularly striking.

Sgillin went to the chest next to the door, opened it and rummaged around a little. "Aha!" he exclaimed after a short while.

Kiyoshi looked up. "What did you find, honorable Sgillin-san?"

"A letter, a list and a note." Sgillin took some papers from the chest and held them up. "What shall we read first?"

Lereia turned to him and lifted her shoulders to indicate she didn't care.

"In that order, honorable Sgillin-san," Kiyoshi suggested.

"Good." Sgillin sat down on the chair and opened the letter while Lereia took out her small notebook to write down important information right away. She had made a habit of doing this since all these mysterious events had started and had not regretted it so far.

Sgillin unfolded the paper and read aloud: "Dear Toranna, I congratulate you on your successful entry into the faction of the Dustmen and your timely promotion to factotum. You have made very good progress. As we have already discussed, the 'Eternal Boundary' plan is now underway. Look for a mark behind the right ear on unknown and unidentified corpses. Make sure they are sent to the Plane of Fire for incineration through the appropriate portal. Make sure everything happens quickly, because after about ten hours the selected people ... " Sgillin paused for a moment. " ... will awaken again. That would be inconvenient. With my best wishes. Marvent "

Lereia felt her heart sink in shock. She could hardly believe what she had just heard.

Sgillin's horror was also clear to see as he looked up from the letter. "That madwoman burned people alive!"

Lereia shook her head slightly, trying to calm her racing thoughts. Something wasn't right … "But why aren't they killed right away?" she asked. "Why make someone seemingly dead if they're going to be burned anyway?"

Sgillin nodded in agreement. "That sounds like some kind of wizard or incantation stuff. Our black-haired half-elf is definitely involved." He took the next piece of paper and shouted triumphantly: "Ha, indeed! Here it is! Meeting with the Shadowknave in the Blood Pit. Four hours before anti-peak. "

"I wonder if this Shadowknave is the half-elf?" Lereia pondered. "It would at least be obvious. What's on the list?"

Sgillin unrolled the third paper. "Names ... lots of names. Including Eliath's name." He handed the list to Lereia. "I assume this is the list of victims."

She took the paper, held it so that Kiyoshi could also look at it, and studied the names written on it. "Hm, it doesn't say Verden," she remarked. "That was the name of the other dead man the collectors had found. But ..." She swallowed. "There's someone from the Godsmen, too. Here ... Zena. We met her when we were following the zebra."

Sgillin nodded. "That's right, the ranger." He stood up and looked at the names again. "Oh ... Rianna. That's the name of my informant regarding the murders. I hope it's not her ..."

Lereia nodded worriedly and pointed to another name she recognized. "Da'nanin. That's Erin's consort, isn't he?"

Kiyoshi pointed to another name. "Wip Wildfang. A decurio whose name I already heard in the Barracks. But they're all people who are still alive. I thought the list included people who were to be cremated."

Another name caught Lereia's eye. "Quake! That's the woman from the Xaositects. Naghûl said she was a high-up with them. Her signature was fresh lavender, I remember."

Sgillin nodded. "Yes, that's right ... The one who wanted to paint the Barracks. Didn't she own some bar in the Hive?"

Kiyoshi nodded in confirmation and Lereia lowered the paper. "This list doesn't sound like mad people without names. To me, it sounds more like influential people, at least in part. Not factols, but related to them or other important people."

"We really need to find Toranna," Sgillin said, taking the list she handed back to him and stowing it in his pocket with the other two pieces of paper.

Lereia nodded in agreement. "Yes, and about that list: We should tell the factols before we go looking for people on our own. We don't know what we should or should not tell them. They can decide whether they want to warn those people. And I'm sure they know more of the names listed."

"Warning the venerable factols seems like a wise decision, honorable Lereia-san," Kiyoshi agreed with her.

They took one last look at the shelf and the desk, but apart from many books, a map of the Mortuary and writing utensils, there was nothing else of note.

"Let's go back to our reserved, possibly chosen undead," Sgillin suggested.

"Good," said Lereia. "And on the way there, I'll test my ability on other undead, in case we come across any. Maybe Kiyoshi is right and the lack of a signature is related to their condition."

They were lucky, because on the way to the refectory they passed a skeleton carrying a silver-plated urn. All the bones were very clean and polished, and the number 23 was painted in black on the skull. Lereia got her hackles up once again. By now, she understood Naghûl's aversion to this place all too well. She had assumed that the Mortuary was simply a building where the deceased were laid out for burial. Sad, certainly, but a normal part of life. But she hadn't expected to meet skeletons and zombies, bone golems and vampires here. And even though she had realized by now that the Dustmen were not evil in themselves, because many things were very different in Sigil than in her home world, the faction and its macabre headquarters still made her shudder. She would certainly have to live in Sigil for quite a while before she could get used to such things. If ever ... But she pulled herself together and concentrated on the skeletal worker's signature as she walked past. Nothing ... A few steps further on, she stopped.

"I couldn't actually sense anything from the skeleton," she explained. "The living Dustman below, on the other hand, had the signature of a strange fruit, I don't know."

Sgillin nodded. "Then Zamakis is most likely not a Chosen, but simply dead."

Lereia felt a sense of relief. Even if Zamakis had been very correct and polite, the idea of having to work with a vampire would not have appealed to her at all. They set off again, following the direction the adlate had pointed them in earlier. They actually arrived in a room with several long tables and many chairs, probably a dining room and thus the refectory Zamakis had mentioned. She was indeed sitting there at one of the tables, reading a book. As they approached her, she closed it and stood up.

"You have finished your investigations?"

Kiyoshi nodded. "That's right, honorable adlate Zamakis-bucho. But we still have a few questions for you, if you would be so good as to find the time to answer them. Provided it doesn't cause you any trouble."

"Go ahead and ask," she replied. "I've been instructed to support your research." The way she spoke, her whole demeanor, was a strange mixture of cool detachment and noble elegance, combined with that strange attraction that was common to all vampires.

"We are extremely grateful, honorable adlate Zamakis-bucho," Kiyoshi explained. "First of all, you mentioned something about unauthorized intruders. Could you elaborate on that?"

She arched one of her dark brows. "Well, for one thing, I meant that a woman gained access to our faction, apparently committing treason and working for another organization. On the other hand, it can't be ruled out that she may have smuggled in one or two helpers unnoticed."

"I see." Kiyoshi nodded. "Do you have any suspicions?"

"Nothing concrete, I'm afraid. Perhaps a guard or a collector. But we will investigate, as factor Trevant assured me."

"Is there anyone in particular she was in contact with?" Lereia inquired. "Even outside the faction?"

"No," the adlate replied. "She was rather withdrawn - even for one of our own."

The next question came from Sgillin. "Does the name Marvent mean anything to you?"

"Ah, the signatory of the letter. No, I am sorry. Neither here in Sigil nor on the planes where we have influence have I come across a known person by that name."

Sgillin frowned thoughtfully. "And the 'Eternal Boundary' plan probably doesn't mean anything to you either?"

"No. Although the Eternal Boundary probably doesn't mean True Death."

At this remark, Lereia thought she heard a vestige of disapproval in her voice. This True Death seemed to be something she valued. Perhaps part of the faction philosophy. She was glad that Kiyoshi's next question led away from that topic again.

"Excuse me, but how many portals to the Plane of Fire do you have?" the young soldier wanted to know.

"I only know of one," the vampire replied, pointing upwards.

"Then it must be the one mentioned," Lereia pondered aloud. "Toranna worked here and had access to it."

Zamakis nodded. "Yes, she did."

"May I ask," Kiyoshi followed up on his previous question, "who receives the bodies destined for incineration on the Plane of Fire?"

"The flames?" Lereia speculated, and Sgillin next to her laughed.

Zamakis looked at her and a brief smile appeared on her lips, one might almost call it a smirk. "Well said."

Lereia actually relaxed a little at this tiny spark of mirth in the midst of a sea of gloom that flooded this place. She had one last question. "Do you think the people were really dead or just seemingly dead?"

The adlate lifted her shoulders indecisively. "The letter suggests that they weren't really dead. But I wonder why one would go through all this trouble just to burn them. Then what was this ominous plan all about? No, there must be more to it than that."

"Yes, I think so too," Lereia agreed.

"Are your faction comrades investigating the dead for this mark?" Sgillin inquired.

"By now, yes," Zamakis confirmed. "But since Toranna was unmasked, no corpses with this mark have been delivered to us."

The half-elf sighed. "Be that as it may, Toranna is the only one who can answer these questions. We have to find her ... Everything else is pure speculation."

"That would also suit my faction," the adlate declared.

"Of course." Lereia nodded. "Thank you for your help."

"Nothing to thank for," Zamakis replied. "It is also in our interest that this story is cleared up and ends."

"If something new comes up, perhaps we'll hear from each other," Lereia said kindly.

The adlate nodded. "I'll let the Harmonium know if we learn anything."

And thus, they said goodbye to Zamakis and prepared to return to the Black Sails.

 

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(played March 29, 2012)

The fact that the three clueless went back through the Hive to the Mortuary, while the two who had been living in Sigil for a while stayed in the tavern, was of course due to the fact that the players of Jana and Naghûl were not there that evening. There's no really reasonable explanation for this in-game, which is why it wasn't even attempted.