--- Galanys ---
While the guards were still getting witness statements, crime scene investigators arrived to check out the summoning circle and determine what happened.
Balron left at that point, saying that he had urgent business to discuss with the chief. Galanys was pretty sure he did not actually have the authority to just excuse himself from an ongoing investigation, but the guards took one look at his facial expression and decided they did not want to gainsay him.
An interesting way to get out of trouble, Galanys thought, and added it to her mental repertoire. She resolved to practice making scary faces in front of a mirror some time, idly wondering if the right combination of illusions, enchantment, and biomancy could enhance the effect further. She had managed to mentally scar her volunteer assistant entirely by accident earlier today, so doing it on purpose ought to give fascinating results.
Atrog talked to the crime scene investigators, and offered to assist them. As a paladin he was not suited to the work himself, but both Galanys and Rania would be able to contribute. Galanys had no issue with this. Even if she did not know very much about this kind of work, it would be a great learning experience for her. Of course, if she admitted that then they would not let her help in the first place, so she could not make that obvious.
"I will be happy to help. I have read several books on the subject." She said. It was not even technically a lie. Galanys just neglected to mention that the books in question were murder mysteries she read for fun, and not technical books.
"Galanys has an excellent memory and she was right here while the portal was still open." Atrog added. "It couldn't hurt to let her help."
Galanys had not exactly had the time to take a look at the spell matrix while the portal was open and demons were actively trying to murder her, but admitting as much would hardly help her case. So she just put on her Convincing Smile Number Four and gave a professional nod.
The investigators did not look convinced. She had to admit, given her current looks as a stage magician, she wouldn't trust herself either. Fortunately, having a paladin of Edur vouching for her counted for a lot, so they gave their assent.
"And Rania, that's the elf talking to a rock over there" Atrog continued, pointing at Rania, "is a shaman. She is a bit weird and I don't think she is trained for that, but you know how shamans are."
The investigators were actually more receptive to the idea of getting Rania's help and gladly accepted the offer. After all, arcane magic was standardized. There was likely nothing relevant that Galanys could do that a professional investigator couldn't do better. But shamanism was more art than science and was highly unpredictable. Not to mention, it was much rarer.
Arcane magic could be taught and trained reliably, and Oruk had institutionalized its teaching in its public schools and universities. They had tried to do the same with shamanism, but it did not work very well. Shamans were still rare, and the greatest of them often came from random backwater villages and never had any formal education, but were simply born lucky.
Despite their rarity, the investigators did in fact have a shaman with them. The woman was delighted to meet a fellow practitioner and welcomed Rania's help.
She was an older orc. She wore dirty and cheap clothing, even though her job most likely paid enough that she could afford much better, in Galanys' estimation. Her skin was adorned with many tattoos, some of which she recognized as tribal markings from history books.
Strange, as use of these markings had been discouraged, though not declared illegal, ever since the unification of the tribes and the establishment of Oruk as a nation. Many of the old tribes had ancient feuds between them, so identifying with a single tribe was discouraged as it only led to unnecessary bloodshed and disunity.
Oruk, that was to say the orc woman who founded the nation, not the nation of the same name, had been one of the smartest people in history. Her knowledge of social dynamics had been second to none, and she had systematically changed multiple cultures through both force of arms and subtle manipulations in order to create her vision of a perfect society. The woman had been undeniably ruthless in her actions, not to mention incredibly arrogant to name the country after herself. Yet the results spoke for themselves, as Oruk had been the most prosperous country on Hyd until the Cataclysm. Most citizens still held the founder in reverence, even if it was generally agreed that some of her actions had been ethically questionable at best.
Oruk was perhaps the only country on the planet whose culture was almost entirely engineered instead of arising organically. They even had a Ministry of Culture, whose job it was to monitor changes in cultural norms and selectively encourage or discourage them depending on what was most useful to society. For example, they had replaced the local customs of hand shakes with the bows more common in Eastern nations. This reduced the spread of disease that could be transmitted via skin contact, and probably saved thousands of lives.
Many foreigners viewed this institution with concern, but in Galanys' opinion it was almost entirely beneficial. The idea of using science to understand people, and to use that knowledge to improve their lives, deeply appealed to her. Sure, they occasionally made mistakes, but who didn't? So long as you learned from your mistakes and didn't repeat them, it was going to be worth it in the long run. Additionally, the usual risk of government corruption was much lower in Oruk than in other countries, due to the many checks and balances put in place by their founder. If she had been more risk averse, less willing to become an adventurer, Galanys might have sought employment with the Ministry of Culture herself.
Given that the ministry discouraged it, it was odd to see the shaman in front of her tattooed with ancient tribal markings. But then again, being odd was par for the course for shamans. Maybe their historical significance somehow made the spirits more receptive to her. She was looking forward to the orc's discussion with Rania. Shamans had such fascinating ways of thinking, it was interesting for her to study.
"The moon shines in delight!" The shaman greeted Rania while making strange and elaborate hand gestures and bowing politely. "Ithang of the Blood Wolf tribe greets you!"
"It's nice to meet you, too!" Rania answered, speaking like a completely normal person for once.
The shaman looked at her with visible confusion. Galanys suspected that she had expected Rania to complete the greeting in some ritual manner.
"I see that you do not hold true to the ancient compacts." The orc said in disappointment, confirming Galanys' suspicion.
"Oh, I'm sorry!" Rania responded. "I'm not sure which compacts you refer to."
A few seconds later she pulled Pebble out of her pocket, held him up in her outstretched hand, and continued.
"But Pebble here wants you to know that the sun is in harmony with the stars. He also says that he recognizes the Blood Wolf tribe and that the Compact of the Leaves will be honored. So I guess that was the compact you meant? He also says you are really cool." She paused for a few seconds while looking at Pebble, then continued. "Ok, fine. You didn't say 'cool'. But it's really hard to translate into Common! I don't know how else to say it." She pouted.
The shaman looked slack-jawed. "How did you know these things? Can you talk to it? Can you actually, really speak to the spirit of this rock?" She then turned her eyes to the rock in Rania's hand and addressed it directly. "Oh ancient spirit! I am humbled to be in your presence! Please, convey more of your wisdom to me!"
Ithang stared at Pebble for many seconds in clear concentration, before abruptly exclaiming "It is no use! I can not hear him!"
"She is laying it on a bit thick, isn't she?" Atrog whispered to one of the guards.
"You haven't heard half of it, yet. She is always like this. Shamans, man." The dwarf whispered back.
"Child," the shaman addressed Rania, "how do you do it? How can you hear the wisdom of the spirits so clearly? You must be truly gifted by the mother earth!"
"Um, I don't really know about any gifts from the earth." Rania responded a bit hesitantly. "Also the earth isn't my mom. My mother was a Perfectly Normal mortal person. Mostly I just talk to spirits, and sometimes they talk back. And if we vibe, then we become friends?"
"If you 'vibe'?" The orc asked, clear disbelief in her voice.
"Yeah. Sometimes I get along really well with the spirits I meet." Rania continued. "And then we keep talking. Sometimes that's really sad because I have to leave again and the spirits mostly don't move, so I have to leave them behind. But Pebble here is small enough to fit into my pocket, and he agreed that going on an adventure sounded much more fun than staying on the road where I found him."
"I see." Ithang responded. "I must meditate on the wisdom of your words."
Galanys was watching the show in silent amusement. She mentally moved Rania several rungs up in "competence" and several rungs down in "common sense". She exchanged glances with Atrog, who seemed to have similar thoughts.
"Oh no." Rania suddenly said, in a very sad voice that was completely uncharacteristic of the normally upbeat elf.
"This is bad. I'm so sorry." She continued. "Pebble says he wants you to know about Iggil."
"My daughter!" The shaman cried out in shock. "She went missing when she was just a young woman, during her trials! I have not heard of her since." She stared at Rania in utter shock. "Please, tell me what you know."
"Um." Rania said, clearly uncomfortable. "Pebble said that she succeeded at her trials. She did really well, too. But then she got lost on the way back because of the Cataclysm residue in the Iron Forest. So she walked deeper into the containment area by accident."
Galanys knew where this was going, and she felt her heart drop. She did not know the young woman Rania was talking about, but she could imagine the pain that her mother must be feeling right now.
"Pebble says that she fought well, and that you should be proud of her." Rania continued. "Oh, and he says that her bones are at uh. Uhm. Pebble, can you like give me coordinates? I think it's a bit ambiguous where 'the raven watches the crop'. Look, I get that you are trying to help, and I appreciate it. It's just not super specific, is all I'm saying." Rania looked at Pebble intensely for a few seconds.
"Oh, that makes sense. I get it now." Rania continued. "So what Pebble meant to say was that Iggil's remains are near the farm of a family who also bred ravens as messenger birds. Sorry, I can't be more specific than that. It's inside the Cataclysm Containment Zone near the Iron Forest though, so you would have to be super careful if you want to get them."
Galanys was absolutely stunned. That was so much more specific than shamans were supposed to be. She looked around the room, and found everyone else looking equally shocked. Everyone except for Ithang the shaman, that was.
The old orc looked close to tears.
Galanys liked to understand how people thought. She liked to play games with people's heads, just to see what made them tick. But she knew that there was a time and a place for everything, and this situation did not call for her usual antics.
So Galanys silently wrapped the old orc up in a hug, and let her cry on her shoulder. She did not know her, and did not know her daughter, but right now this was clearly the right thing to do.
After a few seconds, Rania joined in awkwardly, wrapping an arm around the shaking and sobbing woman. Galanys knew that Rania's social skills needed work, to put it mildly, but she was positively surprised that the elf understood the emotional significance of the situation and for once did not interrupt with some inane comment about adventure.
Atrog, the guards, and the investigators looked on in silence.
After a long moment, the three women separated. The shaman excused herself, and left the room.
"So. That happened." One of the investigators spoke up. "Is it only me or is that girl a much more competent shaman than Ithang?"
Tactfulness was clearly not this woman's strength. But then again, the investigator did have a point.
"That was pretty impressive." Galanys agreed. "Rania, how did you know all that? Shamanism isn't normally this precise, is it?"
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"But I didn't know anything." Rania disagreed. "Pebble did. I just repeated what Pebble told me. And he spent a long time lying on a road. You know how gossipy the paving stones of a road can get. He heard all sorts of things from them."
Galanys did not in fact know that paving stones were gossips. But from what she had read, the spirits did often reflect the objects they inhabited in some way. If a road was built to speed along the transports of goods and of messages, then she supposed it made sense that the spirits of the road would be gossips.
"How is it that you understand Pebble so clearly?" Galanys inquired further. "Ithang couldn't hear him at all, but you seemed to hold an entire conversation with him. I thought shamans had to spend time and effort to communicate and decipher the meaning of the spirits. Not just talk to them like a person."
"Well, then maybe you are wrong!" Rania replied, suddenly very defensive. "I did perfectly normal shaman things, like a normal person does all the time. If you understand shamanism so well, then maybe you talk to the spirits next time!"
She then locked her arms in front of her chest and stared at her, as if challenging Galanys to refute her. Galanys knew from experience that there was no use trying to get any more information out of her when she got like this. It was maddening, but nothing could be done about it without pointlessly angering the young elf, so Galanys decided to drop the topic.
There were a few more inquiries by the investigators, but Atrog and Galanys soon convinced them to stop it. Shamans were weird, and they should leave it at that.
After this exciting conversation, the actual investigation that followed almost felt like an afterthought to Galanys. She joined the professionals when they looked at the spell matrix left behind after the ritual, but as expected she had little useful to contribute. She did come up with a few creative ideas for what could have caused the incident and received some appreciative nods for her suggestions, but none of her ideas actually led anywhere.
To everyone's disappointment, Rania's shamanism also proved insufficient to the task. She spent a short time entering a trance, then spoke to the spirits in the room for several minutes. They could hear only one side of the conversation as usual, and Galanys found it quite comical. According to Rania, the spirits were being mean and unnecessarily disruptive and just didn't want to cooperate.
Rania even tried to bribe them, but that didn't work either. Galanys did take careful note of the weird and unusual items and even concepts that Rania apparently considered appropriate for bribing a spirit. What use could a spirit possibly have for booze? And why specifically cheap booze, of all things? Why the fish? Shamans were so weird. Their discussion seemed to get heated, and after a quarter hour Rania was outright insulting the spirits and calling them names.
"Fine! Be that way! Pebble is so much cooler than you guys!" Rania said towards the end of her seance. "Oh. Oh, now you say something. Oooo, ominous. Yeah, that's believable. You are totally not saying that just to mess with me. You are such drama queens."
"Good news everybody!" Rania addressed the room after her seance was over. "The end times are upon us!"
There was some shock at that pronouncement, but Rania just kept talking.
"Because the spirits in a random classroom would totally know about that, of course. It's not like they would get a kick out of messing with me by saying stupid things, after all." She shot an annoyed look at nobody in particular, her gaze centered somewhere in the middle of the room. "In unrelated news, I think you should totally seal this classroom and build a new one really far away from here. It's because the place has bad vibes, and not because I personally hate the spirits here for being colossal dicks."
Galanys was impressed. She hadn't known that Rania was capable of sarcasm. She had never seen the elf so angry before, either. Even when she fought and killed, Rania usually looked cheerful and excited, but never angry.
Ithang had rejoined the group by then, and she looked like she was on the verge of having a heart attack when she witnessed Rania's behavior. She tried a seance of her own shortly afterwards, which used a lot of incense and chanting and even a little ritual dance. Nobody was surprised when that did not yield any useful results, either.
In the end, the investigation was inconclusive, and a larger investigation with expensive equipment would need to be requested. This would take days. By then, they should already be on their way to the facility that House Erundir had hired them to investigate.
The guards thanked Galanys, Rania and Atrog for their help. Ithang spoke to Rania in private, still visibly shaken up by her revelations earlier.
They left the building, and noticed from the dimming of the mage lights that simulated the sun outside the underground city that it was already late afternoon. Before Balron left, they had agreed on a time and place to meet, and so they made their way there.
As was tradition for adventurers everywhere, they would meet in a bar.
Galanys used the few hours left before they met up again to fix her looks. Her current appearance with purple skin, silver hair and golden eyes was fun for drawing attention during her work as a stage magician, but it was absolutely not suitable for regular life. It would draw far too much attention, and not the useful kind either. So she switched back to more normal looks.
That meant a practical skin tone that struck the right balance between "ability to metabolize vitamin D" and "resistance to sunburn". Given Oruk's distance to the equator, that was a light shade of brown. She chose green for her eye color on a whim, and switched her hair to black. Galanys was distantly aware that the people in some other countries would throw a fit over these changes she made to herself with her biomancy.
In contrast, Oruk's culture had been quite literally designed to focus on practicality over everything else, so this was just considered the sensible thing to do. For anyone with access to biomancy, one's physical appearance was as easy to change as their clothing, and one did not want to leave a bad impression by going to a public outing with looks that were out of fashion, or unfit for the occasion.
When Galanys entered the bar at the agreed upon time, she found her skills of presentation and fashion once again confirmed. There were many biomancers who were far more skilled than her, and therefore more attractive when they wished to be, but Galanys had studied psychology extensively and knew how to hold a presence that drew everyone's attention.
It's not like she actually gained anything from it in this case, since she was only here for a private conversation. But it was a hard earned skill and a matter of pride to her, and so she did it without thinking. When she entered the bar, she did it with such style and bearing that it drew the gazes of half the male patrons, and some of the female ones as well. Quite impressive actually, given that few of the patrons were humans and most species had quite different criteria for attractiveness.
She soon spotted Rania sitting at a table and moved to join her.
Rania explained that Atrog was going to run late because the church of Duna had asked him to run a small errand. While Atrog did not pray to Duna, the goddess of death, entropy and inevitability, their priesthood as usual absolutely did not care and just wanted someone to get the job done. They paid quite well, and Atrog was not above working for a goddess he did not quite agree with, so long as she was not actually repugnant to him.
Duna was an odd goddess. Even though her portfolio looked abhorrent at first glance, she gave access to healing magic. According to her priesthood, all things were going to die eventually, and Duna was eternal and not in a hurry. So in order to maximize death, one did not need to kill, but to heal. The total number of deaths depended on the birth rate, not on bloodshed, and so the goddess of entropy somehow ended up acting more like a fertility goddess than anything else. The government declared her legal to pray to, though they also officially warned against trying to rise in her priesthood, as her followers tended to have rather strange ways of looking at the world that were not considered mentally healthy.
Balron meanwhile had sent a message ahead explaining that he would only be joining them later, as his discussions with the chief turned out to be lengthier than expected. Galanys was quite disappointed. She had been looking forward to getting to know the experienced old adventurer.
As Galanys made small talk with Rania, trying to get her to open up about what happened earlier, she was not at all surprised when the two women were suddenly approached by a young human man, who wasted no time in hitting on both of them.
It was actually impressive. His pick up line had been so terrible, she felt a part of herself die. Despite her flawless memory, she felt like she would be unable to repeat it even if she tried, because her subconscious mind would shy away from the sentence, unwilling to repeat the traumatic experience. She idly wondered if it was possible to use this, maybe to weaponize terrible pickup lines in some way as a memetic attack. Could one disable a mind reader by keeping a list of pick-up lines of this caliber in one's head, sort of like a mental minefield?
But that was a thought experiment for later. For now, she needed a way to get the man to leave them alone.
Not as easy as it seemed, as his fancy clothing and the symbol on his sleeves indicated that he was a minor noble. While the nobility in Oruk did not technically have more rights than any other citizen, the reality of the situation often was that the rich and powerful could get away with a lot more than anyone else.
Of course, the fact that the government of Oruk had not existed as a unified entity ever since the Cataclysm three hundred years ago did not help. Nowadays the country consisted of many isolated factions, though it was not nearly as bad as an outsider would have expected. Oruk, that was to say the founder of the country, not the country itself, had been so effective at constructing the government, and put so many safeguards in place, that even the highest nobility was to this day paranoid of just taking over. If they tried, they might just get assassinated by yet another hidden order that the founder had given thousands of years ago.
So the country largely continued to run as it had before the Cataclysm. The last king had been in the capital when the Cataclysm hit and his lineage was presumed to have died out, but nobody was willing to take over just yet. Not until they recovered the records from the capital and determined what exactly they were supposed to be doing. Most nobles thought that it was better to rule in point of fact if not in name, than to rule in name as well and risk getting assassinated. A few nobles had tried to take over anyway, but the major houses had refused to acknowledge them and declared them traitors to the crown, and so they were crushed and wiped out.
Oruk was probably the only country in the world with a crown so strong that it stayed in power three hundred years after having died out.
Galanys was still thinking of the best way to get the noble to leave, when she witnessed something glorious.
"I can show you a good time." The noble said to Rania suggestively.
"Are you talking about sex? I think you are talking about sex." Rania responded flatly. "No thanks. I'm only interested in adventures and adventure-related activities. Not sex."
"Oh, but sex can be quite adventurous." The noble responded. It was like he was trying to be as sleazy as humanly possible, Galanys thought. Did he practice this?
"Oh no. That's so sad to hear." Rania responded.
"Wait, what? Why?" The noble said, clearly confused.
"Adventures are all about risking your life." Rania said earnestly. "It's about being in great danger. About fighting the odds, and winning against all adversity. It's not a real adventure if there is no risk of dying."
The man looked confused, unsure of where she was going with this.
"So that means that if you think that sex with you is an adventure, then you must be really, really, really bad at sex." Rania concluded.
"What." He responded flatly.
"It's true." Rania said. "Sex is supposed to be nice, and not dangerous. And if there is a chance of death then you are very definitely doing it wrong.
"You should probably stop having sex altogether. And maybe get some help?" She added helpfully.
Galanys could not believe her ears. It was the most glorious put-down she had ever witnessed. And Rania sounded so completely sincere about it. Like she was genuinely trying to give useful advice.
"You have to promise me not to have any more sex until you have sought out professional help." Rania added. "Otherwise you would be putting other people in danger. That would be totally irresponsible."
The man was completely at a loss for words. Galanys could barely hold in her laughter.
"Actually, I think we should probably go warn people about how bad you are at sex." Rania added after a few seconds. "That would be the responsible thing for us to do, right Galanys? Otherwise people could get hurt."
Galanys could not hold it in anymore. She broke down laughing and crying on the table. By now, most of the surrounding tables were listening in on the conversation, and many of them were having similar reactions.
"You crazy bitch!" The man yelled at Rania. He seemed to be looking for choice words to follow up with, but came up short. When he noticed the large number of people staring at him in derision, he abruptly turned and left.
"That was beautiful!" Galanys told Rania once she had collected herself.
"Hm?" Rania responded. "Why? I thought it was terrible. Do you think we should go to the guards and warn them? Or is that someone else? Who is the authority you need to warn when somebody is lethally bad at sex? Is there someone for that?"
"You are kidding right?" Galanys replied, still laughing. "Gods, your poker face is amazing."
Rania looked confused for a bit. "Right. That was my poker face because I was playing a prank. Which is a normal thing that people do when they hear that other people's lives are in danger."
Galanys filed this away under 'weird reverse-psychology shaman shenanigans' but could not help but be doubtful about it. Could Rania actually be that dense? Did she say all that on purpose, and was now playing a prank on Galanys as well? Or was all of that an accident? What was up with that woman?
She thought about a good way to address the topic and subtly squeeze the truth out of the young elf, but then she saw how Rania's expression suddenly changed from her usual cheerful smile to a morose look.
"Are you ok?" She asked.
"I don't know." Rania responded. "I was just thinking about adventure, and then I started thinking about Iggil."
The shaman's daughter, who had gone missing and died in a Cataclysm Containment Zone, Galanys recalled. A terrible fate.
"She died, and that made her mother really sad." Rania said. "I was just hoping that maybe she at least had a good time when she was adventuring, before she died."
"Really?" Galanys responded. "I hate to tell you this, Rania, but I think she probably did not have a very good time. Most people don't enjoy fighting for their lives. I think only you do that. I am an adventurer because it makes me stronger, and because it pays well. I wouldn't do it if there was a safer way to get the same. Atrog is the same way. Except he is such a goody two-shoes he would probably continue being an adventurer to help people, even if he didn't need to."
Rania looked very sad to hear this. Her eyes started tearing up. Not for the first time Galanys thought that the young woman had no control over her facial features at all. Her emotions were always plain for everyone to see. Either that, or she was so perfect at hiding her true thoughts that it was just a habit to pretend to be bad at it? Galanys' confidence in her "reverse-psychology" theory kept dropping with every conversation she had with Rania. But what exactly was the alternative? That she was actually not an elf?
A group of adventurers being infiltrated by a supernatural creature. It sounded interesting. It happened a lot in fiction. But it was just too absurd to take seriously in real life. Atrog's theory that Rania was a cultist of Tonos, the god of stories, held more weight. Maybe that was true after all? Maybe she just happened to be a cultist of Tonos and also happened to be an incredibly powerful shaman, and the two things were unrelated? Not everything had to be connected after all, and Galanys knew that she did have a habit of making things more complicated than they needed to be.
Galanys put her arm around Rania's shoulder and said. "Come on, cheer up. It's not your fault that the girl died. I think you made her mother very happy by telling her what happened. Sure, she was sad when you told her the news, but it must be much better than to live with the uncertainty. At least now she can have closure." This only made Rania cry harder.
Galanys spent the next few minutes consoling and trying to cheer up her friend. She just couldn't stop thinking about how weird it was that the distraught girl was the same Rania who had cheerfully killed half a dozen bandits to save their lives. She had looked excited and alive, a sharp contrast to the emotional wreck that was now in front of her.
By the time Atrog arrived, Galanys had gotten Rania laughing again, and she was soon back to her usual inane commentary. Balron arrived soon after, and with all of them together it was time for them to discuss their plans in earnest.