Faz #1

[Charlotte]

Date: Olarune the 4^th, 998 YK

Location: Sharn

Dawn broke over the City of Towers, and Faz found himself looking out his window to watch the sun rise.

The sun sent shadows dancing through the spires and walkways of Sharn, the light all but flowing around its corners in a by-now familiar pattern. He wondered, not for the first time, what it would be like to live in the upper levels, where one would find themselves looking down on the sun as it rose in the morning. His current quarters were nowhere near as fancy, but they were out of the undercity, at the least. Not as high as Lionel, not as low as Monochrome, Inc.

Turpin was living on his own now, as was Thumper, and as was Hamish. Of the three of them, Faz say Turpin the most, and Thumper not nearly as much as he wanted to. Only Zarra was around frequently, and Faz was starting to realize he had no notion of what it meant to slowly grow away from other people. The thought if it was a little disturbing. People just choosing to not be friends any more? Why would they do that?

The door opened, and Zarra – a changeling, pale skin never shifting, because that went against Zarra's philosophy of seeking truth in form as well as function – let herself in. She looked lost in thought. She bid hello to Faz, paused a long moment, then spoke.

"Faz? We need to gather the crew. I can't tell you why just yet – but it's important."

 

 

 

[Necronaut]

Faz's face face was nearly featureless and pale like Zarra's. Despite their muted appearance, changelings were far from identical. Among their kind Faz rated as quite handsome. The absence of distinct features didn't prevent him from sporting a winning smile which he turned on his friend and mentor.

"The whole crew, like old times? That's great!" His smile fell slightly, "I guess it would have to be important. Everyone's gotten so busy lately, it's not likely we could pull together again for a social call."

He began to pace, rubbing his face with the tips of his fingers.
"Of course, just because it's important doesn't mean we couldn't have a party on the side." He cleared his throat and refocused on Zarra, "I've been in touch with Turpin. I've been auditing one of his classes actually. He's having fun terrorizing his students. I'm not sure where Thumper is right now. Do we have a location? A deadline? Can you tell me why you can't tell me? Do we have... uninvited ears... we need to be keeping an eye out for?"

[Charlotte]

Zarra's stern mood melted slightly under the barrage of questions from Faz, but the changeling shook her head. "No, Faz, I don't think there will be time for a party."

"So in reverse order: we might have uninvited ears, we might not. I can tell you that that's one of the reasons why I'm being tight lipped. I've contacted the others, and we're all going to meet at the Burning Hands in a few hours. The hands at the Burning Hands aren't literally burning, it's named after the owner's favorite spell from their time in the military. Everyone who's still around will be there, even Thumper – he's out of the repair shop after that riot down in the lower levels." She shook her head. "Hope they catch whoever did that to them."

"What else… oh yes, this is a changeling friendly establishment. I picked it for that reason. But they'll still panic if we do any shapeshifting, so stay true." Faz knew what Zarra meant by the phrase – "stay true" meant "make sure you are visibly a changeling." It was part of the reality seeker philosophy, which Zarra adhered to quite firmly.

[Necronaut]

"Oh, you know me. Changeling all the way. I still haven't improved on this." He jerked a thumb sideways toward his face, briefly staring seriously into the near distance as if posing for a portrait. Faz respected Zarra's philosophy, but even though he preferred his changeling face for 'everyday wear' he was not a truth seeker by any stretch of the imagination.

"Good to hear Thumper is out of the shop. I didn't realize he had been hurt in that mess. I've been doing some minor poking around down there. Nothing solid to report so far." His smile faded. "You have everyone lined up already eh? Saving me for last... This really is important. Do you want me to go in early? Check the place out?" He nodded at her and tapped the side of his head meaningfully, but then continued apparently as an afterthought. "Will anyone from the gatekeepers be joining us, or is it not their kind of serious?"

[Charlotte]

"We'll go in together. Sweep the place. Back when we would case the front halls of rich pricks during the war. In fact, we can get started now."

In short order, the two of them had entered the Burning Hands, sweeping practiced eyes over the territory. The more unusual races of Eberron were common enough in the bar that no one paid mind. The most unusual patrons were a pair of female night elves, their dress indicating they were travelers from Xen'Drik, and their manner somewhat displeased as they told an enthusiastic bard that they had never heard of this "drider-man."

Satisfied that things were safe, Faz and Zarra staked out a table, and waited for their party to show.

The first was Dr. K, the half-elf godsman of the Silver Flame. He wore his silver arrowhead, and looked tired. "Friends. It's so good to see you again. Charity keeps me busy – hopefully with some relief soon, from the rumors I hear - but you always have my ear."

Next came Thumper, with a mismatched "loaner" leg that made him limp slightly. "Dumb damn toymaking gnomish asshole (no offense.) Couldn't even shave the foot down a little, he said. It's from an older schema, he said. I'd like to not waddle like a duck, says I. Hi."

Lionel came last. He looked grumpy. "I have about a hundred papers to grade by the end of the week, Zarra. This better be important."

"It's about Trill," said Zarra simply.

"I'll get my assistant to grade them," is all Lionel said in response.

[Necronaut]

Faz snacked on a basket of something cheap and crunchy as the rest of the crew began to arrive. They were the closest thing he had ever known to family. Faz was acutely aware they were more of a family than many children had ever known during the war. He had a smile and a kind word for all of them as they filtered in.

"Good to see you Dr. K. You know if you ever reconsider your policy on accepting 'surprise-donations' I keep a list of deserving donors at the ready."

"Thumper! We need to talk about that riot after we wrap up here. Not unlike your torso, I don't think things were on the level down there."

"Professor." He nodded politely. As an almost-student he felt impelled to cater to Lionel's expectation of deference from his pupils... and pretty much everyone else.

Faz grew still and his expression serious as Zarra began to speak, almost as if he knew what was coming. Trill was the one member of his 'family' he had never met, but her influence on his life had been as great as any of the others. Maybe greater.

[Charlotte]

"Thank you all for coming," said Zarra, helping herself to one of the breadsticks from Faz's order. "So as I said, it's about Trill. I've been digging around, trying to figure out how she died. Tried contacting her spirit in Dolurrh – "

"Bad idea," said Dr. K. "Especially this year, since it's due to come into coterminous orbit any month now."

"Regardless, I did it. No such luck, her spirit had already passed through the plane and to wherever spirits go. I checked the usual suspects – bandits, any military units in the area, all those people we ran into on the other side of the shifting lines of battle. All of them innocent. Even Monochrome, Inc."

"Funny that you'd be distrustful of them, Zarra," inquired Thumper.

"They may be dopplegangers, but I have nothing in common with them. Their path is not mine. I even checked the other druidic circles of the Wardens of the Wood, once I found out that Trill was done in by an arrow poisoned with a very rare plant extract. But the answer was right under our noses. It was another group of Gatekeepers."

There was dead silence at the table, broken only by the sound of laughter from elsewhere in the inn. Lionel shook his head. "Impossible. Trill was one of them!"

"The Gatekeepers have a loose enough structure that the druids were most likely a rogue element. I have the arrow with me." She patted her bag. "It's of orcish make, and judging by its length and plumage, it corresponds to the whereabouts of the ranger Tordek the Fleet, and his druidic circle is within the Eldeen Reaches. If we hop on the lightning rail tomorrow we can be there within days."

"But why did they do it?" asked Dr. K, shaking his head. "Why?"

Zarra was silent.

[Necronaut]

Faz sat back during this exchange, doing his best to hide the intensity with which he hung on Zara's words. Could this be it, at last? Against all odds a chance for... He wasn't sure what he even wanted. Revenge didn't seem right. Satisfying his curiosity? Maybe a little. But no, this was more important than answering questions. It was for Trill, not for him. She was long gone, at peace he hoped, but it still felt like she needed something from them. It wasn't fair that she wasn't around to say so. Justice... That was it.

Faz spoke up with a cheerful casualness that had just a hint of a dangerous edge to it. He had been practicing this delivery and was glad to have the chance to test it out on the crew. "Let's go ask them, shall we?"

[Charlotte]

There were still questions, and some disagreement, but in the end, the group agreed that justice for Trill was the way forward.

The team spent the night making sure that travel papers were in order, including the special papers that Faz and Zarra required to ensure that they were who they claimed to be. Come morning, they boarded the train, headed into Aundair to make the switchover to the ferry at Passage, crossing Lake Gallifar into the Eldeen Reaches proper.

Faz found himself sharing a bunk with Lionel, and when the two weren't admiring the scenery, they were playing the dwarven game of Ironfield, which Lionel was good at and that Faz was getting better at. They sat, regarding the board, and Lionel made his move, sliding one of his pieces into position. "Faz, what do you think about this mission?"

[Necronaut]

Faz was more than content to sit back and watch as the others hashed out their travel plans. Even after all these years watching them interact was fascinating. In the old days, individually they had done their best to teach him what they knew, or at least what they thought he needed to know. But it had always been the things they didn't know they were teaching him that he found most useful; the things they taught him when they didn't even know he was there. Thumper threw out his thoughts like punches, completely without subtlety and honest to a fault. The result was the respect of most and the trust of all who knew him well. Zarra was quiet and mysterious in a way that had been calculated to help her survive her tumultuous youth and had grown from an affectation to a habit that nearly drowned out the fascinating glimmers of who she had been before. Dr. K sacrificed pushing his own agendas in favor of dampening conflict and promoting compromise. On those rare occasions he did want something he set up his 'suggestion' as a moral choice so obvious everyone else thought it was their own idea. And then there was The Professor, who used words like scalpels and made everything into a test. His professional pursuits of terrifying students and keeping his academic rivals at bay had, as he might say, honed his wits into a razor-like instrument of rhetorical dissection.

Faz had never known exactly what to do with religion but he was certainly grateful to something that he had grown up among such interesting people. He had always wondered what Trill would have taught him.

He was uncharacteristically quiet during the first hours of the journey. Not somber or pensive by any means but restraining his usual gab. The Professor's question came as something of a surprise, but he didn't hesitate in his response. "I'm glad that there is a mission again. I've been working more or less on my own for a while now, you know. I realize the good old days weren't exactly 'good' in a conventional sense, but I miss the team effort side of things." he cleared his throat and added more quietly, "I rather feel it's in my nature to work alone. So I've made a point of not getting to enjoy it."

He returned Lionel's level gaze with a sheepish grin. "Of course, since you were clearly referring to my feelings on this specific operation, I should say... I'm excited. I know it didn't hurt me as bad or in the same way as it did you, but any chance to see an accounting for what happened to Trill is important. To me. I guess I'm also a little nervous. Hm, no, not nervous.. it's more like dread, but softer? A very specific, horrible thought, that may not be true." He didn't betray anything like worry or dread as he spoke. He could almost have been talking about someone else. "If she was killed by other gatekeepers they must have had a reason. What could she have been doing to make anyone, even a rogue cell, want to hurt her? We both know what the mission was when she was killed. What if..." His bright countenance didn't fade as he trailed off, surprised at his unwillingness to give voice to his 'soft dread'. 

[Charlotte]

"Are you worried that it was because of you?"

Lionel sat back in his chair, pondering a move. "Well, we don't know that for certain. An arrow is not a motive. But – assuming it was. Faz, where we found you is not you.

"I don't talk much about where I came from, because it's not something I like to talk about. It's who I am now, and what I do with all that I've learnt, that defines me. I see so many in this world who refuse to see that the capacity for divine grace and heart-stopping sin exists in every living soul. So many in the Church of the Silver Flame that think all our crusades were justified, the entire weight of history notwithstanding. The troubles poor Thumber runs into daily from people who see him as a weapon of war that's outlived its purpose.

"There may be worlds out there where one is born good or bad, but that's not this world. I know you, and your heart is true and worthy and good, and however it got there: it's there now. If these people that this Tordek the Fleet has fallen in with refuse to see that, understand: that is their sin, and not yours."

Lionel moved a piece on the board. "Now, I believe that's your leftmost watchtower taken."

[Necronaut]

"Yes, yes. True enough. And I feel like I've got a fair preliminary definition of myself coming together at this point, thanks in no small part to your efforts. But responsibility is a tricky thing." He glanced down and thumped his watchtower to the side, righting it with his other hand before it rolled off the table entirely. "I suppose it's not so much a matter of my sin, but my debt. Being rescued by someone taking a walk in the park isn't quite the same as being rescued by someone being stalked by their former allies for undertaking the rescue."

He took his next move. It was a bad move and he knew it. He was going to lose this game... but he had seen others make the same mistake and wanted to see how Lionel would take advantage of it.

[Charlotte]

"Tch. That's a terrible move. You've weakened the duke's side. Hmf. Unless..."

Lionel took the time to ponder his next move, wondering if Faz was playing at an unseen strategy with him. Faz in turn, took the time to admire the countryside out the side of the lightning rail.

He could feel the static lightning in the air, residual discharge from the lightning elemental force that drove the rail along the path of conductor stones, and occasionally he could see a flicker of the Traveler's Fire crawling along the outside of the craft. It was a nice way to travel – the Eldeen Reaches in days! It made the world seem larger and smaller all at once.

Faz did lose the game, but he got a better sense of Lionel from it, Lionel being uncertain what to do when the rhyme or reason of his opponent's strategy eluded him. Not long after, the crew disembarked, and boarded the ferry – while Faz would have loved to fly on an elemental skyship, the cost and risk were too high and a more mundane mode of transport sufficed just as well.

They disembarked, and prepared with their usual practiced efficiency, and the next day, they set off into the forest, topped off with provisions and uncertain of what awaited.

[Necronaut]

Faz used the opportunity to catch up with the rest of the crew, taking care not to distract anyone from the business at hand. He made sure they were well away from the ferry terminal before approaching Zarra. "Have you heard anything about the druid circles operating in this area? I was thinking I might go half-orc for this leg of our trip, just in case that buys us some goodwill with the locals. "

[Charlotte]

Faz could read the momentary distaste on Zarra's face, but nodded in agreement. "If you think shifting your shape is wise, then do it. Half-orc or orc is probably the safest shape to assume around here."

As they proceeded, Lionel grew more displeased with something, until he bade the group to stop and did a quick divination with some Silverwood and a campfire. Whatever he saw in the flames and embers, he didn't share much of. Only that "things were uncertain." In light of this, he urged the group to try and take Tordek the Fleet alive, which would be difficult if he lived up to his name. Dr. K seemed to agree with the findings, but seemed less certain about a nonlethal approach. Thumper had wordlessly screwed his stunning bolts into his arm-mounted crossbow without further argument. Zarra conceded that there were techniques they could try and it wasn't like they hadn't done this before.

A couple of days passed, and after a lengthly march, they found fresh signs of a campfire, and not long after that, a group of Gatekeepers. Pleasantries were made, bread was broken, and after a few discreet enquiries, the druid let it slip that Tordek the Fleet hadn't been an active member of the Gatekeepers in years. That he'd formally retired around the time that Trill had been killed. They brought him in for special cases, but no more.

The Gatekeepers asked their questions, and satisfied that the team were respecting the ways of the forests, goodbyes were uttered and they departed, looking for rumors of an underdark monstrosity that had crawled out of a cave. The team gave them five minutes of distance, then Dr. K spoke.

"Zarra, are you sure that Tordek is our man? You say he's the target, yet you bring back inaccurate intel."

"He was a member of the Gatekeepers." Zarra stood firm in the conviction. "News travels in fits and starts among the druids, however. They have their own private means of communication. Tracking message traffic through House Sivis doesn't always work." The changeling looked tired. "Faz, what do you think?"

[Necronaut]

Faz looked up from idly picking his gnarled, claw-like fingernails. He was working hard to appear disinterested in the conversation, even though he knew none of the crew would fall for it. His orcish guise was striking, but not in the broadly appealing way his changeling face was striking, nor even in a way any half or full-blooded orc would consider calling handsome. His scarred greenish face bespoke indiscriminately violent intent even in its most placid state. He was rather proud of it.

"Dropping out of the Gatekeepers is significant. Something happened that shook him up. Feels like regret to me... or maybe fear." Though he relished the opportunity to practice his orcish accent, Faz retained his usual voice and mannerisms when talking among the crew, mostly for Zarra's benefit. "I think we'd best approach this one with an open mind. Even if we are able to confirm that he let the arrow fly, we want to be sure there there wasn't someone else pulling the strings who also requires our attention. I was thinking it might be fun to try some infiltration and subterfuge before the direct approach. We could hang on to 'bop and interrogate' as a backup plan."

The enthusiasm drained from his tone slightly, "If we do establish that he did it, or when we do find those responsible, are we aiming to execute in the field? I was assuming we'd go through the circle's process for handling murderers, but I can see how that could get complicated. I just want to be sure this goes down in a way Trill would be okay with." 

[Charlotte]

“Open mind is good. Agreed.” Thumper nodded. “I also would prefer a nonlethal attack. Enough vitae has been spilled.”

“It’s blood. The red stuff in us is blood. And I vote nonlethal as well.” Dr. K nodded along.

Zarra thought for a moment, then nodded. “Okay. But we can’t let him escape. If he did any research on Trill, he’ll know who we are.”

The group resumed their inquiries. A hermit who knew of the standard hunting grounds of an orc with a bow pointed them in the right direction, and a hastily constructed lean-to with fishing wire and a few fish skeletons pointed in the direction of the local river. The group crept along, and soon enough, they caught a glimpse of their target, fishing by the river.

They fanned out, covering the avenues of escape, and once they were satisfied and once Thumper’s position had been secured and he had Tordek covered, Trill and Faz moved in.

I'll need a Stealth roll. Invisible Castle is no more, sadly. If you have a replacement, I'm open to suggestions.

[Necronaut]

Faz did his best to move quietly, but also to not look suspicious while doing so. There were plenty of legitimate, non-murder-investigation-related reasons for a half orc to be wandering around in this patch of wilderness. Hunting small game was the cover he had fixed in his mind.

Quote

I sent my roll (8 total) via https://www.rpglibrary.org/software/securedice/ With rolls like that I'm having second thoughts about using it.

 

[Charlotte]

Faz was distracted by his thoughts and felt, more than heard, the twig snap loudly underfoot. Tordek paused in mid-sip of some juice, and then Faz heard the rustle of everyone getting ready for a fight.

Tordek turned around. He was pale for a half-orc, and his hair was the rare slat-and-pepper combination of grey hairs and white that few half-orcs lived to. He regarded Faz cooly.

“Tordek the Fleet. We are here to see you answer for the murder of the Gatekeeper druid, Trill.” Zarra had her knives in hand, one balanced and ready to throw. “Do you have anything to say in your defense?”

Tordek just looked at Faz. “Yes. Tell me why you think I killed her.”

“We have one of your arrows, with poison on it – “

“That is not a reason, is it? That is not a why. Ask me why.”

[Necronaut]

Faz resisted the temptation to look toward Trill, surprised by the sudden escalation almost as much as by his failure to sneak. He elected to blame his big orcish feet for the misstep.

"It seems to me you thought it was your duty." Faz replied to Tordek. His tone was tired, but edged with sympathy. He wasn't sure how sincere the sympathy was. "Yes, tell us why she had to die."

And with that he was sure. It took an effort not to spit the words out with bitter sarcasm. For a brief moment, the very idea of pretending to lend a sympathetic ear to this man's justification for murder disgusted him. But that was the job, for now.

[Charlotte]

“It’s like this,” said Tordek carefully. “Trill was a Gatekeeper, and I never truly was. I only joined the order of the Gatekeepers to get close to her, and I quit once my job was done and before suspicions could start to gather.” His hands were at his side, and he was calm. Unnervingly so.

“You were paid for this?” asked Zarra.

“No. No coin. It was still my duty to do it. You see: no one quits the Children of Winter and lives.”

There was dead silence, save for the flow of the river and the whispers of the wind. Faz stole a glance at Zarra and saw that her hand was gripping her knife’s handle so hard, he could see the veins in her wrist.

“Trill wasn’t – she would never – “

“She did. She had a change of heart. She turned away from an embrace of nature’s decay and death and chose to interfere, via the Gatekeepers – keeping ‘aberrant things’ out of Eberron, as if that were desirable or possible. We say: let them come. It is the way of nature for the weak to perish and the bold to survive. That is nature, that is life, and that is all that happened when I struck that weak, weak traitor down – “

Zarra’s arm flipped up, ready to throw the knife, and within a second it would be out of her palm and through Tordek’s skull.

[Necronaut]

Faz offered Zarra one meaningful glance and then, raising his empty hands in the air in a show of friendship, started toward Tordek. He moved forward, swiftly putting himself between the murderer and Zarra's blade. His winning smile beamed through his craggy face as he spoke, "And all this time I thought we were tracking down some spineless hired shiv. Duty! That's the important thing. Why, had we known a traitor to such a fundamental cause was in our midst, we might have saved you the trouble. Too bad you didn't hang around long enough to see what we were really trying to do..."

Faz did his best to put Tordek at ease as he approached, hoping his insipid patter would confuse, if not fool, the loathsome individual long enough for him to close just a little more distance. If he was lucky he could move in, strike and capture him alive without anyone needing to break a sweat. Then the work of avenging Trill might begin in earnest.

[Charlotte]

Tordek wavered just a little bit at the unexpected turn of events. "Stay back. I warn you... I know little of what your band does. You mean to tell me that if you had known it was a choice between us and her, you would choose us?" He chuckled. "What do you know of the call of winter? The end above all?"

Faz, give me a Bluff check or a related skill you think is applicable. If you succeed, you'll get in close enough to launch a sneak attack.

[Necronaut]

"You never saw what we were doing. We did choose winter." Faz continued inching forward, calculating his body language to appear as non threatening as possible, even as he prepared to strike. "You think we would do all that hunting? All that trekking around just to destroy the instruments of power we found? You saw what we needed those fools back in Sharn to see."

He almost pressed the ruse further, but as much as he thought his mark would like to hear gratitude for ending the 'traitor' Trill... he couldn't make himself go quite that far. At least not with Zarra watching.

Quote

SecureDice gave my deception roll a total of 20.

[Charlotte]

Tordek’s body language became less defensive at Faz’s soothing words. “You see it coming too, then? How the Last War was anything but a taste of what will come, of what has to come? How… but then why did you destroy what you destroyed? … what did you destroy?”

Now Faz was mere feet away.

The Deception worked; you may sneak-attack at your leisure.

[Necronaut]

"You shouldn't be asking what we destroyed." The scarred orc said quietly. "You should be asking what we kept."  He leaned in as if about to explain further... and then attempted to plant his fist in the middle of Tordek's face at a high rate of velocity, even as he reached forward with his other arm in an attempt to initiate a chokehold.

 

Spoiler

1d20+8, rolled once.

Roll set 1
Die rolls: 9 + 8
Roll subtotal: 17
Roll total: 17

DC 19. Not sure what my sneak attack adds on to this. Using fast grab to attempt go get him grabbed.

 

[Charlotte]

That is a hit, and Tordek is damaged due to Fast Grab...

Tordek Toughness Check (DC19): 1D20+8 = [17]+8 = 25

Which he resists.

Tordek was taken by surprised, and grabbed - but the grip was not total, and he tried to pry Faz's hand free with one hand while he fished in a pouch for something else.

"Faz! I can't get a shot! I don't know what he's going for!"

This is a resisted check: his Dodge vs. Faz's Strength.

Tordek Dodge Check: 1D20+8 = [2]+8 = 10

If he succeeds, he will grab whatever's in there; if he fails by less than five he is Restrained, and if he fails by more than five he is Bound.

[Necronaut]

Faz did his best to wrench himself and his foe around, hoping the arrow wouldn't be necessary but not wanting to risk blocking the shot. At the same time he made a fist and slammed his hand toward the pouch, attempting to rip it, along with whatever the deranged assassin was reaching for, off of his person.

Spoiler

1d20+8, rolled once.

Roll set 1
Die rolls: 17 + 8
Roll subtotal: 25
Roll total: 25

 

[Charlotte]

The Deception worked; you may sneak-attack at your leisure.

Tordek Strength Check: 1D20+5 = [15]+5 = 20

That’s a win for Faz. He has the item.

Faz was quick, and wrenched the item out of Tordek’s hands… and then paused.

It was a pine cone, but Faz could immediately feel that it was no ordinary pine cone. It was the color of bleached bones, and it was shooting shoots into his hand. At this, Tordek laughed.

“It’s a blood seed, you bastard. I was going to let it feast on my blood to make a treant to smash you all into paste. Thank you for taking my place.”

There was a flurry of activity around him, as his companions moved in against Tordek, but Faz wasn’t fully aware of it. This thing was trying to suck his blood dry, and if Faz was anyone else, he’d be on his way to his death. But it was hesitating, and Faz knew why – and that might be enough to save him…

Moving to private messages.

[Necronaut]

Faz fell to his knees and doubled over in apparent agony. He didn't cry out so much as gurgle as the roots fought for purchase in his flesh. For a long, painful minute hie groaned twitched, generally giving the impression of an unfortunate soul that would momentarily erupt in a fountain of gore to unleash an irate aberrant treant on the world. But that isn't what happened. Instead, with a sudden paroxysm that brought him back to his feet, he retched massively, disgorging a hideous, smoking, bubbling mass of roots and stems... apparently the remnants of the parasitic infection that had started in his hand.

"Lets..." he paused to spit and wipe his mouth on his sleeve. "Let's never do that again."

Coming to his senses he quickly cast about for Tordek, who he had lost track of during his episode.

[Charlotte]

Faz regained his sense of place, and saw that Tordek had been beaten to within an inch of his life, and Zarra had a knife at his throat ready to steal away that last inch. "Three."

"You're counting for no reason."

"Four."

"Your friend is already - " Tordek's eyes widened as Faz coughed the seed up. "That's... that's impossible."

[Necronaut]

"Ah, good!" Faz brightened as he caught sight of Tordek. He grinned, an expression not well suited to his current face. "Unpleasant, yeah. Painful, sure. But not.." he stopped and coughed up another, smaller, mass of pale, slimy stems and leaves, "...not impossible. I subscribe to a diet and exercise program that makes me quite unsuitable for most kinds of plant life. You should have seen what happened to the shambling mound that tried to eat me that one time." He looked up at the sky wistfully, but then refocused on Zarra, seemingly forgetting that Tordek was there. "A good first step, I think! Let's get somewhere more comfortable and see if we can extract some worth-while bait for a bigger fish, eh?"

[Charlotte]

"That's not normal. How did you do that? What are you?"

"Just another tricky shapeshifting changeling, like yours truly. Now shut up and get to walking." Zarra dragged Tordek to his feet, and frogmarched him off.

Lionel regarded Faz, as soon as the orc was out of earshot. "A diet program," he said, with flat bemusement.

 

[Necronaut]

Faz nodded seriously at Lionel, "Technically true. Sort of. Vaguely. Not really." His serious ruse cracked and he continued lightly, "We're going to have a chance to ply our new friend for information before he is passed along to more official authorities than ourselves, I trust? For all that he did the deed, and needs to pay, I'd sort of like to see the extended network of individuals that brought him to it stacked up beside him when all is said and done."  The lightness in his voice had passed by the time he finished speaking.

[Charlotte]

"Smart. You have a good head on your shoulders. Okay then, we'll make sure he doesn't have any more surprises like that and then we'll take him back to civilization to face justice. Anything you want to say to him before we start in on all that?"

[Necronaut]

"Say to him? Not really." He quickened his pace slightly and raised his voice, just to be sure the murderer could hear him without making it obvious this was his intent, "These mad cultists are all the same. A cell or two of peons scraping about for some frothing nutter who managed to convince them they were important. Assuming we can keep this jerk from chewing his own wrists open in the meantime, I think we should wrap him up quickly so we can move on to..." he lowered his voice again and whispered conspiratorially to Lionel, "...you-know-who, metaphorically speaking."

[Charlotte]

Tordek's visage was emotionless, as the group marched back to civilization. Then, as they approached the outpost they planned to catch the ferry from, Tordek met Faz's gaze, and nodded in sudden understanding.

"Now I recognize where I saw that. The acid on the seed."

"The prisoner will be quiet," intoned Thumper.

"Do you know what that thing is? Has it told you? It's going to turn on you."

[Necronaut]

"Ah look, he's figured me out." Faz exclaimed with mock disappointment. He reverted to his typical changeling form with a flourish. "I keep meaning to turn on them but you wouldn't believe the benefits package that comes with this gig. Now, keep your trap shut or my metallic associate will show you all the things you can have broken without actually dying. It's more than you think!"

[Charlotte]

Tordek shook his head, smiling quietly, as he was led towards the outpost. "When the time comes, you idiots: you are going to wish you'd listened."

"Pff," said Zarra. "Life as a changeling. 'Turn on you' this, 'impersonating you' that." Once Tordek was out of earshot, Zarra leaned closer. "You okay?"

[Necronaut]

Faz nodded slowly and replied through his teeth. "Yeah, I'm good. That must have been what indigestion feels like. If indigestion was trying to eat your guts and claw its way out of your body to step on your friends. I've eaten worse." He paused. "No. Not totally good. I knew this was going to be tougher than finding a guy and bonking him on the head. But I'm starting to get a picture of what it's really going to take. These guys are awful. And it's not like the war... this is going to turn into genuine elective troubleshooting. If any of you were to get hurt trying to find justice for the one of us that was already hurt, I might get actual indigestion."