Three days since the incident, Eadwald, Hevaeck and Priernuss headed out from the Scrupulous Phaerun as they continued their hunt for the culprit behind the attack. His whole body still sored from the sculpting and weird as he still not get used to the short height of the dwarves, though he still fared better than Hevaeck who now resembled a gaunt orkh, a tall one at that. Priernuss himself chose to go with a Szeakhrin’s appearance, with long dark mane and coral like extensions akin to horns growing from the side of his head.
Though whilst Eadwald desired to venture down into the sewers, he held back at the realization that getting a map of the vast labyrinthian system proved harder than he thought first. First, they headed for the aevhen patricii who settled here centuries ago, and aided in the construction of the fortress that grew into a full-blown city, then capital of the north.
Through them, they learnt that the sewer system was constructed many decades after the city itself came to be as the legionariir tended to just take care of their waste through arkhaine means instead of recycling it into nature or transmute it for agricultural purposes. Because of this their investigation derailed as they began to single out the other patricii of different kindred starting with dwarves believing one to be responsible and maybe still possessing the drafts.
But to their surprise, the sewer system was actually built by the family of immigrants coming from the east, particularly from a Xirong, the human tribe who settled on the eastern islands now ruled by the Niuvhei family of patricii and consulos. A family which initially aided the nixhei rebellion and after their fall and exile, they revoked their rights and were banished to the North.
After a day of questioning, the trio managed to learn and locate all three Xirong families living in Vhoragos, and decided to visit the first who now operate the vast archives of the city containing mostly tomes of local folklore, history and travel guides for adventurers, wandering merchants and vagrants including detailed description on the inhabitants of the northern wilds, their weaknesses. Besides those they also proudly own grimoires brought from all over the world, though as they learnt from another bookstore owner, those are mostly just low-grade grimoires covering spells to heat your food or pot.
Eadwald and Priernuss for a moment felt suspicious regarding the shop owner as the bookstore owner also pointed out him seeing numerous victims of the disappearances visiting the place, though the custodiir chalked it up that Da Yun’s – the owners’ business – brought thrice as many customer than the Ursion’s. Hevaeck himself said the same after they left, believing that it would be foolish of Da Yun to kidnap and possibly kill those who were seen entering his shop.
The two somewhat agreed, but still decided to at least focus on the Xirong bookstore owner before dropping him. “Just keep still and the nausea will go away Hevaeck.” Priernuss said as he placed his hand on the broad shoulder of the now orkhin resembling Hevaeck, pouring iuboron matter to soothe the after effects of flesh sculpting. “I feel like I’m too old for this clandestine endeavors.”
“Give it a few seconds and it will go away.” Priernuss said with half a chuckle. “You said that yesterday and I threw up at least twice. Well, at least it wasn’t as painful as you indicated it.”
Eadwald feeling a bit bad walked up and aided in the soothing of the arkhaine ailment assailing Hevaeck, with what little knowledge Mirdbruil passed onto him, making him promise to heal Ulrich whenever he would get lost in the heat of battle. “Thanks son. Now, let’s depart as the day sadly won’t wait for us.” The two lifted their hands off and set out on the sloping streets, heading for the bookstore in the outermost district.
**
“It is so strange.” Azugh murmured whilst they walked through the crowd as he scissored his webbed pale webbed fingers. Gna and Ashnan followed after him, sculpted into an aevhe and a faun with snow white fur and a dusky complexion.
Whilst Eadwald’s group headed to look around and investigate their lead on the bookstore owner where most of the vagrants flocked for maps and information, Aelfsigior and Saugh made another round questioning the merchants who were attacked, the trio headed for the second outer district where the families of the stationed legionaries settled and lived for the past centuries.
Their aim was to question the few legionaries who lived there since the establishment of the city, and even participated in the battle when the horrors poured forth from the Veinways stretching below the city, hoping to learn and gain information on those who were taken on that fateful night. “It is probably late to bring this up, but shouldn’t we have brought Priernuss to save some time?”
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“What do you mean by that?” Gna asked as he led through the crowd, barely maneuvering through the thick flock filling the wide space of the street. “Well, the aevhei have great memory, so if he draws them, we may have an easier time finding the culprit.” Azugh bumped into him as Gna halted while looking pensive.
“You’re right, but at this point let’s just find those who remember the events and the people taken.” With that they continued down the sloping street in the shadows of the oblong, angular edifices showing no sign of their age.
The illius’s mauve, cerulean and amber sundry lights grew dimmer as they navigated through the vast maze like streets while reading the notes compiled by missing predecessor of the Regent who accompanied Gnaeuth to his ill-fated expedition. They stopped at a few edifices only to learn that many of the old legionaries followed their liege, though they forego documenting it as they believed the expedition would bore fruit quite summarily as all the Damned Lords of the Woodland’s courts were located by the few survivors who stumbled upon them and achieved escape from the clutches of doom.
The few who did not take off with Gnaeuth on the other hand either were distant from those taken, barely knowing how they looked, the only thing they remembered were their names as Gnaeuth’s 19th Legion even back then numbered in the thousands. There were only a handful who could give them descriptions of the victims, describing most who were taken as humans of the central tribes subjugated early into the First Age and one niuvhe who fought in the civil war of the eastern archipelago.
The group halted before the edifice with pointed roof, banners of the Empire and the eastern colony hanging between the few windows and the protrusion facing the window. Ashnan led and knocked on the door, and showed their brooch identifying them as members of the custodes before they began their questioning of the old niuvhen man called Uchitemar whose silvery white epidermis glistened as the soft shadows of the interior parted from his handsome visage when the triumvirate of daylight fell onto it.
He invited them inside, into the vast and warm belly of his home as he began to recall the events of the night. Gna and Azugh eyes focused on the peculiar eastern dress draping over his wiry aevhen body effortlessly, bearing a deep hue of red while the trims and the overlapping lapels bore a pristine shade of white melding in with his skin while the smooth and dull linen surface bore the Niun Runes of his kindred across the back and the loose cuffed sleeves, giving him an air of a wise and erudite veneficiar whilst he stroked his long chin beard braided together in a northern style with thick, leathery beads.
“Yes, I remember that night. It was terrible, I remember my dearest trembling with fear as those bizarre undead broke through the earth. I still remember their screaming growing distant as they were dragged into those dark apertures.” Uchitemar, the elderly niuvhe said after he invited the trio inside his home. A quite spacious edifice with a long hallway adorned with eastern memorabilia including statues of the archipelago’s spirits including one hewn from silver resembling a large fox with a terrifying visage and nine swirling tails frozen in time which picked Azugh’s and Gna’s interest a little as they walked past it into the living area.
A large room with an angular and windowed corner facing the wide entrance door, staring out at still busy street in the early hours of dusk where the sky began the process of darkening. A large carpet stretched across the floor of shifting birch, in the center two leather bound futons faced each other with a low height oblong table stood between them beset with a silken sheet of crimson and frilled white trims, a few cups and a large eastern jug steaming, filling the room with a nicely bitter scent with a caustic hint of the heated tea.
“Do you remember any of their faces?” Ashnan asked a bit awkwardly after he accepted the tea from the old niuvhe.
“Sadly yes, though I haven’t recalled them in a long time now. They bring much pain to me as many grew into proper adulthood before my eyes and under my tutelage in Joreid’s case.” He said with a solemn expression. “Though may I ask why question about them now? Is it related to the attack?” Gna and Ashnan looked at each other while Azugh nodded lightly out of a strange reflex as the tea soothed his mind and he felt a bit tired after the long day of tracking across the city – he thought.
“How could they be related to it? Unless the attackers were “them”?” He said as he tucked both arms under the imposing and loose cuffs of his robe. “Well they weren’t the attackers, but we believe the culprit may have been a descendant of theirs.”
“Right. If that is the case…” Then as he began, he stood up and headed through the door behind him and brought out a slab or at least a wooden object resembling a plaque filled with white sand against the dark wood casing. With his eyes closed, palm held over the smoothened sand, the air blurred in the space between the two and a dune resembling the face of a mesmerizing young maiden rose from it bearing even the scar running across the left blind eye lacking in accentuation. All three looked it and whilst Ashnan managed to etch the image into his mind, the disguised orkh pair failed as all thoughts in their mind could not manifest for more than a few seconds as an invisible weight pushed upon them.
“It is a shame really,” Uchitemar said with a sinister low inflexion in his smooth voice. Then he stopped and watched the tired expressions with confusion and curiosity as Azugh collapsed back into his seating in tandem with Gna. As Ashnan remained awake with a dreadfully surprised expression, he leapt up and channeled his mana, though not in time as he found his body encased by a cloak of pure mana ruthlessly tightening around his faux form.
“The tea almost got cold by the time you guys got here.” Uchitemar said with a menacing tone as he sipped the poisoned tea and sighed a relief. “And now because of you, we must act in haste.”