Chapter 7: Murders and Shady Deals

From the Chronicles of Brother Jacques:

22/5 I awoke with a hangover. Soro (S) came to see me about something that, I believe, he had learned from Norman (N).
It seems that, over the last 6 weeks or so, 6 bodies have been found in Senacran, apparently dead from strangulation.

We decided to investigate.
It seems that Darmon Samoyer the Shoemaker brought a body to Barram (the cheapest undertaker in town). The corpse was of Jerris, a man with known (but fairly petty) underworld connections. I examined the body, and am pretty sure that he was deliberately strangled by some sort of fine fabric (not hands, nor a cord or wire). Jerris had been a fairly tough man, but there was little sign that he had put up a struggle (only that the knees of his trousers had been scuffed, which proves nothing).
This resembles a Thuggee ritual killing, as practiced by the Cult of Kali. I'll check this out. Jerris had been drinking before he died, but there was no sign of poison.

I prayed to SEE SPIRITS, to see if Jerris' Soul was still hanging around.
If he had merely been murdered, one would expect that his Soul would remain near his body for a while (until either being sent on it's way with a suitable religious ceremony, or finding it's own way / dispersing after several days, or becoming a Ghost near the site of his murder).
If he was sacrificed to Kali, his Soul would have been either partly or wholly removed (likewise after NECROMANTIC energy theft).
His Soul was present, so Jerris had not been sacrificed to Kali. This was an attempt to put investigators onto a false trail.
Jerris' Soul could see me, and appeared to want to tell me something.
I RECOGNISED EVIL; very strong evil, from an object that had been within one of Jerris' smuggling pockets. The object was no longer present, but had left a physical impression; something with a sharp corner pressing downwards (so not a book).
I've never experienced this before, so whatever the object was, it is something highly significant.
I performed the rite to put Jerris to rest, and his Soul departed (note that I cannot SPEAK WITH DEAD, although with sufficient prayer I could probably manage).

Only someone familiar with the Kali Cult (and possibly someone who wants to specifically implicate the Kali Cult) could have faked the technique so closely, which strongly suggests an Igorian connection (Kali has/had a minor following in Igor).
Another bit of background is that several dozen people have moved from Igor to Senacran since the Barony of Vrakir entered the Kingdom of Reshall. Life was (by all accounts) pretty unpleasant in Igor before, although better more recently.

Soro and I went to an Inn to get breakfast.
I was a little anxious that I had exposed my interest (as a foreigner) in such affairs... and I noticed that we were being followed by an unsavoury man. I hadn't noticed when he started following us.
We met Eldonn in the bar. He was the young man who inherited Calverry's business, and he had also been exiled to Valon, and debriefed. Being fairly unnoticable, he had made his way back to Reshall, and is (I assume) somehow roped into some sort of intelligence service. He was hard to recognise.
Eldonn has some sort of Ki ability that allows himself to SEE MAGIC. He tried this, and somehow got it wrong (I think that he may be able to learn how to SEE AURA).
I have a suspicion that Soro worked some of his more tainted magic, something like STEALTHED DEEP ESP. Anyway, the shabby man was a low level agent of... Norman; set to trail (and possibly to protect) me.

In Senacran: The 3 of us continued with an inn crawl (eventually changing tails). Eldonn knew the whereabouts of some of the Igorian emigrés, and we went to the Cavalier's Arms, run by Anaral. He is a physically powerful man who used to be the highest priest of Cult of Kali in Igor.
He did not recognise Eldonn, until Eldonn (effectively, and in the nicest possible way) suggested that he cooperate and answer some questions. He denied that he had ritually killed anyone lately, but that one of his contacts might have slipped. He would check it out.

Eldonn also checked out the Shoemaker.

Later, we (very discretely) talked with N (Norman).

23/5 From Norman (and his agents, and likely Eldonn):
Anaral's enthusiastic friend ritually sacrificed victims 2 and 4, but none of the others (so murders 1, 3, 5 and 6 were fakes).
Jerris was, amongst other things, a fence and courier.
The evil object is a knife.
Marissa (a sort of underworld dealer) had offered the knife to another shady figure called Alabar, based in Ravens Bluff. Jerris was the courier.
The knife is for sale, with 3 interested parties (including Norman's agents).

The knife is supposed to be the Knife of Sirdalle, 400 years old and capable of (at least) draining Souls. See: Demonic Plots. My RECOGNISE EVIL would certainly suggest that this is possible.

Furthermore Norman had aquired such a knife; curved, nasty carvings, jewels for eyes, etc.
Soro checked it first; it is MAGIC.
I checked it out with RECOGNISE EVIL, but I didn't tell the others what I'd prayed for; that if this knife was genuine, that the GOD destroy it.
It was a fake, that Norman's agent (presumably) replaced where he'd found it.

Soro and I (suitably disguised, and myself keeping my mouth shut to conceal my accent), went to negotiate with Marissa.
First we met with Laris at The Hammock (a sailors' drinking den), were invited past various heavies to a back room, sent on to a knittwear shop, another back room, and eventually to Marissa.
She claimed not to have the knife, but expected to recover it soon. I believe that she had bitten off more than she could chew, and wanted to sell the knife on as soon as possible.
There were 3 bids (around 1 000 GP). We bid 1 500 GP (this is a huge sum, but there is no way she'll get it and sell it to us, but Soro gave her contact information that would get to Norman).
We traded more information (Soro told her that the knife is highly detectable by some). She told us how to contact Alabar, via Orin the Dwarf in Ravens Bluff.

Later, we checked out that the knife had never got to Darmon the Shoemaker (who is Anaral's friend).
A bit of a mystery here; didn't he notice that Jerris looked like a Kali victim, and if so, why did he hand the corpse over?

We don't know if (an agent of) Alabar mugged Jerris, or murdered him after the deal, or whether Jerris was murdered by pure coincidence.
Myself, I think that the knife has it's own agenda and incited someone fairly minor, to steel the knife (and probably the same person, who has some sort of Igorian connection, to kill him).
The knife is still in Senacran.
Although it is highly detectable at close range, it is impossible to notice at any distance, and that it doesn't leave a trail.

We intend to go to Igor with Keruna in a few days.
Norman is watching local traders heading by land for Igor / Ravens Bluff, but cannot even think about the shipping leaving Senacran.