SPOILER: Click to show

Something Stinks- Reward = 1 Renown (Mage's Guild Exclusive Quest)

Someone has snuck in to the Arcane Academy and has removed several caskets from the catacombs, stealing many very important bodies of scholars, researchers and former guild leaders. We have no idea who stole the bodies or why, but rumor is they are trying to sell them off on the black market, with several buyers across Charon trying to get their hands on these for their collection. We need to recover these bodies as soon as possible.

Quest Name: Highest Bidder
Chapter: One
Description: Underground black market auction houses across Charon are known for selling illegal and stolen goods, and is the best place to locate something of this rarity. We need you to attend one of these auctions, determine if the body is being sold there, recover it anyway possible and return it to the Academy.

Requirements:
- Requires at least two people (All participants must be in the Mage's guild)
- You must make at least 6 post to complete the mission with each post being at least 200 words
- Locate a stolen body and recover it any way possible
- Auctions are guarded by 6 guards, each with a imp in their control
- Once you complete this mission you have completed this quest chain and may turn in the mission.

Cirice had never been to the Arcane Academy before. It had always seemed like such a distant and mystical place, an institution of learning that she had never had the opportunity to join. She had never had much need for books and instruction since her magic was granted to her directly from Mother Moon, but still she had always enjoyed the theory of magic and read whatever books on the subject she could get her hands on. It was somewhat surreal that her first visit to these hallowed halls is on official Mage’s Guild business. Not only that but she had been granted the extra special opportunity to see what even most Academy students never saw, the crypts below the school where the most well-known and well-respected students had been interred after their mortal demises. The catacombs they stood in now were as ancient as Capitol Landing itself, carved out of the island’s rock with earth magic and care.

Unfortunately this was not a sightseeing mission, they were here for a job. She straightens her back, trying to look professional and not starstruck as she looks over the plaques that name the former occupants of the defiled graves. That anyone was so depraved to pilfer these magical masters from their eternal rest angered her, and soon they would find these despicable graverobbers and bring them to justice. That was their task and their charge, their mission as members of the Mage’s Guild.

She looks to her strange companion, a colorful woman that she was told was quite interesting and powerful. “It looks like the bodies of Archmage Sylvester Silestra and Guildmaster Magtheria were the most recent to be taken, from the look of it maybe in the last couple of days. They couldn’t have gotten too far carrying bodies, even if they’re dried out and mostly skeletal… What do you think?”

The irony was almost comedic. Tsarra had gained entry into the Mage's Guild by graverobbin-- specifically having found a unique book that was all cozy in a stone casket in a submerged crypt of some old ruins the Luna Sea had swallowed whole ages ago-- yet here she was responding to a call for aid from the Arcane Academy who had just had someone graverob them! She had to try and not laugh her ass off when she was asked to assist in reclaiming the stolen remains. 

Guess in the world of crime, the Arcane Academy didn't believe in crime-backs.

Normally, something like this wouldn't be of any interest to the fish woman. She didn't care about honoring the dead or returning things that were taken. Keeping dead bodies in buildings seemed like a waste of resources and far too much trouble. Wouldn't have any trouble with graverobbers if you didn't bother to make graves to rob. It was simple logic. What's more is that it was irritating the hypocrisy of what is considered theft and what isn't. The Arcane Academy had plenty of artifacts and other things that clearly were taken from somewhere else. Hell, she'd smuggled goods for the Mage's Guild before she even became a member. For as upstanding as they try to come off as, all these 'legal' operations were dealing under the table just as much as the 'illegal' ones from her perspective. 

And maybe it's because of her perspective that she was asked to join Cirice on this task. Tsarra hasn't kept her smuggling ties particularly secret from the other members of the Mage's Guild. On her first day she actually boasted about it loudly to anyone paying any attention. She wasn't ashamed. It was a job like being a sailor or a baker. People needed stuff to be moved from place to place. That's all.

Regardless, she had experience and knowledge of how things got from the hands of thieves into the hands of fences and then eventually to potential buyers. In this situation, that was useful experience not many other members had. 

Logically, she should have been arrested for her criminal ties already, but instead she was given a chance to prove herself once again that she could be an asset to a group. While she's apathetic at best about the issue at hand, she has nothing better to do with her crew having left her high and dry a few weeks back.

The triton woman yawns as Cirice comments on which dusty old magic man was missing. The moon elf girl was like some sort of nobleman's daughter or something based on how she was dressed and how she acted. She almost sparkled like those princesses from bedtime stories parents would read their kids at night. A perfectly peppy and pretty lady. Just the type that Tsarra and her crew would hold for randsom every few months.

Luckily for Cirice, Tsarra wasn't in any position to play kidnapper any time soon. It was hard to put someone in the hold when you didn't have access to a ship with a hold to begin with. So instead, Tsarra would play nice and try to focus on helping recover the missing bodies, even if it wasn't nearly as fun. 

"Don't hafta go far, just gotta get down to the water then load 'em up on the water. From there, who knows where they coulda been takin'." While that was true, she had a good idea.

Bodies were not something just anyone was interested in, especially high profile bodies like these. Only those with a lot of connections and specific uses for the bodies would be interested in taking such a huge risk of getting not only the Mage's Guild after them, but the Crown itself given the good relationship between the Arcane Academy and the current king. This was sneaky and underhanded in a way that ruled out the Lunar Rebels, the Mud Worms, and many of the other bandit groups roaming around the wilds of King's Valley, Frost Gale, and Dragon's Cradle.

Nah, this was necromancy shit. That meant that the bodies would have to be taken somewhere with necromancers. Zeinav. Which meant that whoever did this probably had connections to the shady underbelly of Darkveil City. This was the kind of work that was right up their alley.

Tsarra might not know a lot or make good decisions, but this was exactly the kind of shit she actually knew a thing or two about.

"I swear on Salina, if it turns out that ashy tiefling is responsible I'm gonna shove an urchin down his throat," she mutters under her breath before huffing and looking at Cirice. "We should start at the docks or look fer any hidden coves 'round the island."

“Ashy tiefling? Who are you talking about?” Cirice asks, looking at her confused. “The docks and coves sound like a good idea, let us start there.” She looks around to see if there are any exits directly from the catacombs out to the beach. Not finding any other notable exits she nods and they leave the way they came.



“It would have been hard to smuggle out a body through this area.” She notes to Tsarra as they exit beside the small chapel near to the main thoroughfare of the Academy. There are lots of people about, walking between the buildings and milling about in groups. She notes some lanterns that are likely lit at night. “Even at night I would imagine there would be plenty of people around here. They have classes at all hours and the library and everything.” Looking around for another viable avenue for escape that would attract less attention she notices a hedge maze behind the chapel. “Maybe they went through there so they were less visible! Let’s start there and see if we can find any clues. This is an island, so there should be beaches on the other side of that. What do you think?”

"Ugh, this jerk who hired the crew I used to run around with every now and then," she huffs as she puts her hands on her hips. "Real hot shot rich boy who thinks he's smarter than everyone else. He sent me and this half-dwarf kid on a wild goose chase all the way up to the Arid Mesa where some freaky cultists were doing something crazy with some artifact thing."

Despite being RIGHT THERE, the triton didn't exactly get the whole memo about there having been some big fight against a god in that temple. She had charged ahead despite fellow adventurers, Leni-Aura and Astrid, taking the stealthy route and sneaking into the temple. Being separated, she had to fend for herself, and to her credit she had done pretty well, but in the end she had to make a break for it across the dusty landscape in order to survive the encounter. As such, she never made it to the Sol Stone and never got to learn the truth for herself. She instead heard the news from some superstitious sailors which didn't exactly sell the story to her given their drunken stupor. 

Something about it did sound familiar though. Many of her kind believed in Salina, but there were others that believed in some other entity that was said to be sealed away ages ago. It seemed like crazy talk, but maybe there was something to it. If only she paid more attention she might actually have details, but she tends to avoid her fellow triton due to the drama between them and surface dwellers. 

She just wasn't interested in all that complicated historical bullshit. The past can't be changed so why worry about it. Better to live in the moment. 

"I think startin' anywhere is a good start."

She nods and heads towards the hedge maze. Taking a look around, it doesn't take long for the triton to get frustrated with finding every single dead end. What even was this thing supposed to be? Why are the plants are angular? Did they grow that way? Weird. The surface is weird. 

Scratching her head as she gets turned around and has no idea how to even find her way out, she takes out a bottle from her bag and dumps the contents out on the ground. A small colony of hermit crabs scuttle around and she kneels next to them.^[1] "Aye, listen up. Look for clues to where the sneaks took the body."

With her command given, the hermit crabs all make their way under the hedges and start searching the area for any drag marks or pieces of torn fabric which might have gotten left behind or snagged on the bushes. 

---

[1] Bottle of Crablings (Snowlings)

“Are you talking about… Zarius? And Astrid…?” Cirice doesn’t know any other half-dwarves or ashy tieflings, and by this point she’s pretty much decided all adventurers either know each other or have at least heard of one another. How far of a long-shot can it really be?

“Wait you were there for the Sol Stone shattering and the fight with Ziev??” Cirice blinks, confused, “I don’t remember seeing you there… But… The memories around all of that are a little fuzzy…”

The two mages wander through the hedge maze for a few minutes before the triton appears to get frustrated. CIrice was excited about the aspect of finding the secrets of the maze and intrigued by the artistry of growing plants and making such a complex maze from living things. Tsarra didn’t seem so enthused. Cirice watches as she takes out a small jar of crabs and gives them orders and they scuttle away to look for clues. Perhaps this is taking too long…

“Well if you want to get through the maze faster… I might have a way.” Cirice suggests, standing next to a dead end in the maze. She steps up to the plants and the runes beneath her gloves begin to glow softly as she reaches towards the wall of bushes. As her hands get near the plants start withering away from her touch, creating a hole for them to more easily move through¹. In this manner Cirice keeps moving, cutting them a path towards the beach with more ease.

“That’s a bit faster, right? Did you… Crabs find anything? Oh if they’re hiding Kevin can look too!” She shakes a bracelet off her arm that appears to be made from the skeleton of a small snake². She kisses the top of its head and it moves to look at her. “Go and see if there is anyone hiding around here, okay?”

The snake nods once and drops from her palm, burrowing into the earth and away from them.

---

1 Corrupting Touch
2 Baby Bone Naga Kevin

"Aye! Those two jerks. Kid totally ditched me with a bunch o' angry cultists in the middle o' the desert."

The triton woman huffs. It was still a sore spot for her. 

"Aye, yeah the whole 'fight against a god'. I didn't see anythin' because I was fleeing for my life thanks to the kid and the rabbit lady abandonin' me. Sounds like a bunch of crazy talk. Ain't no way anyone can fight off one of a real god." 

It takes her a minute to connect the dots that Cirice was there. 

"Wait a minute, you were there???"

She swears she hadn't seen Cirice at all before this mission. And how could anyone hide in the barren wasteland so well that she wouldn't have seen them? She's got GREAT eyesight! Surely she would have seen Cirice there. 

But wait, maybe she did see Cirice there. Maybe Cirice...was one of those jackass cultists!

She looks at Cirice, eyeing her up and down suspiciously. 

...

Nah. No way she's a cultist. 

Tsarra huffs again. It sucks that she seemed to have missed out on something, but there was little she could do about it now. Other than continue to harbor a grudge against Astrid and Leni for being jerks. 

She watches as Cirice uses a spell to cut a swath through the maze. 

"Aye, that makes things easier! Yer a really powerful mage, huh?"

Tsarra checks in with her little crabs which have made very slow progress in scouring the ground for any clues. One got distracted by a lost glass bottle that was really shiny and looked like a perfect replacement shell. A few others got themselves stuck in the hedge. 

She wanders around a bit while the crabs continue to search, eventually coming across some drag marks. 

"Hey! Take a look at this!" She calls back to Cirice. 

“Yeah I was there. I didn’t know you knew Astrid and Zarius, wow all adventurers really do know each other! I’m sorry that you were left behind… I don’t know a rabbit lady.” Cirice responds, thinking aloud, “We did fight a god though. It was a whole lot of us, people I’ve met from all over and people I’ve never seen before. I went in with Iryla and Ulrich but fought with Veliky and Kvasir… It was really weird.”

She blushes a little as Tsarra calls her a powerful mage, “I um well… Mother Moon grants me incredible power in exchange for my service, I’m only as powerful as my goddess allows me to be.”

Once they’re free of the maze Tsarra calls her attention to the drag marks and they’re indeed leading towards the beach. “Nice job!” She smiles at her new fishy friend, “Look it definitely looks like they went towards the water.” Together they follow the trail of drag marks down towards the water, but just as the marks hit the sand they disappear, washed away by the previous tides.

“Hmmm… Where might they have gone from here?” As she looks around she notices Kevin burrowing back towards them. Poking his head out of the dirt to indicate towards something hidden nearby. “Oh look! Kevin found something!”

Following after the bone snake, they find a small slope thats covered in long grasses in the sand, parting them they find an entrance to a small cave concealed at the water’s edge.

"You think a boat could fit in there?"

"Aye, I know 'em. Don't much like them right now after all they did ta screw me over."

All the names Cirice mentions go right over the triton's head. She doesn't know many of these other people. 

"Mother Moon? Ye mean Lunala?"

Admittedly, Tsarra didn't know much about the gods, even Salina who she probably should know a bit more about. Religion just never really stuck with the fish. She preferred things more tangible, but if folk really did fight a god then that meant the others must be tangible too right?

"S'nothin'," she replies a bit mumbled.

The praise from Cirice hits Tsarra a little more than she would ever admit. It wasn't often someone told her she did well. It wasn't often someone was so pleasant to her either. The triton turns away from Cirice to hide any emotion that might show on her face. She crouches down and gathers up her little hermit crabs before Cirice can say anything about her odd behavior. 

Making their way to the hidden alcove that the creepy little bone snake found, Tsarra peers over the grass and contemplates the question Cirice asked. The cave wasn't particularly wide or tall, but with the high tide the water could be deep enough for a small boat to traverse without getting stuck on the rocks. At low tide this cave was likely high and dry, meaning that no one would think someone would be actively using it for a quick get away. It was a perfectly suitable hiding spot due to that fact. 

"Not one with a mast, but a row boat, aye. They might 'ave launched from 'ere and then rowed out ta deeper waters where a larger vessel could pick 'em up. Or they might still be down there. Only one way ta find out."

“Let’s go in!” Cirice says with glee, sliding down the little embankment towards the cave and nearly faceplanting into some large rocks that are near the entrance. “Can you see in the dark? If not I can help you!” She waits for Tsarra to join her then touches her arm gently, the runes under her gloves glowing brightly along with the runes on her face, granting them both the ability to see in the dark¹. She winks at her fish companion and draws her sword, following the burrowing Kevin into the mouth of the cave.

Together they wander deep into the dark cave, looking for signs of smugglers. There isn’t a boat to be seen, but where the cave’s water is deepest they find a small dock with ropes still damp from being hauled out of the water. It seems there were smugglers here, and recently no doubt.

“Damn… It seems we just missed them!” She looks around for any sign of where they might have gone. The cave keeps going deeper in but ends in a dead-end with nothing else of interest to really be found. Cirice scoops Kevin up and returns him to her wrist before sprinting out the way they came and scanning the shoreline. There, from the vantage point of the cave she spies a small dot on the horizon. “That might be them! If we’re fast we can catch them!”

---

1 Night Sight

"Nah, can't see shite in the dark," Tsarra replies before Cirice touches her arm and suddenly the darkness of the cavern lessens. 

"Oy, that is brilliant!" She exclaims, forgetting that they probably should be keeping quiet as they sneak into the cave. 

Following Cirice's lead, the triton woman walks along behind her, keeping an eye out for any trouble as they delve deeper into the alcove. 

"Shit, it'll be real hard to track them over water." She scratches at the fins under her hat then looks at where Cirice points as she spots the culprits. 

"I can get us there! Here, so ye don't drown." The triton taps Cirice on the top of the head as she casts a spell which would enable the moon elf to breath under water.^[1]

She then reaches back under her shirt and touches the tattoo on her back of a giant elaborate sea turtle. The tattoo glows the same bright blue hue that her stripes are and a spectral turtle manifests from the tattoo before becoming physical in the water. The turtle is large enough for them both to ride. 

"Climb aboard! If we go underwater we can sneak up on 'em." Tsarra hops in the water and grabs a hold onto the turtle's shell. 

Once Cirice has grabbed a hold, the turtle pulls them along under the surface of the water, making the journey a lot smoother than sailing across the breaking waves as they crash against the shore. Tsarra's gills flare from her neck as she breathes water, easily more comfortable in the water than on land.^[3] She scoops her webbed hands and manipulates the water around them to create a current that helps them easily catch up to the row boat.^[4,5]

That is, until the row boat suddenly disappears from sight. 

"The hell? Where'd it go??"

The triton, having a good idea for once, clicks her tongue and listens for the echo of the sound waves hitting anything solid near the surface.^[6] Sure enough, there is a large unseen mass sitting right where the row boat disappeared. 

"Oy! I think there's a big ol' galleon up there! But it's invisible!"

---

[1] Breath Water
[2] Turtle Tattoo
[3] Gills
[4] Webbed Digits
[5] Shape Water
[6] Echolocation

Tsarra is just full of surprises. As she bonks her head Cirice begins to feel short of breath and then the triton summons a large turtle and tells her to get on and she does, clinging tight to her fishy friend as they dive below the waves. She’s entranced by the fact that she can breathe, Tsarra’s magic, and how fast they’re able to move beneath the waves. So entranced she nearly misses when the rowboat disappears.

“What?” She asks in surprise, her words bubbling up from her throat strangely warbled. “Whoa… An Invisible boat? That’s absolutely where they took the bodies! Let’s get up there and get them back! Then we can get out of here!”


Unable to see the ship itself they just have to feel around until they can find the hull. Following the hull’s side by feel eventually they find the carved out rungs of a ladder and start climbing blindly up onto the deck. As they reach the top of the deck the enchantment falls away and Cirice can see a few sailors milling about in their stations. They eye her and Tsarra up and down suspiciously.


"Oh, hello," Cirice says with a smile, magic weaving through her words¹, "We're here for the... Merchandise. We're interested buyers."


The sailors look at one another and then at the two of them,  "Yew new or sumfin? Auction's down below. If ye want tem goods ye go down and buy em there. Go on." He shoos them away dismissively, cursing under his breath , "damned newbies."

---

1 Smooth Talking

Tsarra follows along and actually behaves for once. Cirice is just a little sweetie and this is important, so the triton lets her take the lead and just provides support. She was actually pretty comfortable aboard the ship and gently tugs at Cirice's elbow to direct her subtly to where to go. There's only one big place in a ship where stuff would be stored, and that's the hold of the ship. The smuggler's experience working on ships comes in handy here with her knowing where to go and how to get there without them looking out of place. 

As they descend the stairs into the hold, there's a surprising number of cloaked people down there all looking over display tables full of items. This wasn't just any smuggling ship, this is a full on floating auction hall and pawn store! There's also a significant number of armed goons keeping an eye on the goods and the guests.

Tsarra makes sure to stick close to Cirice. They were essentially a pair of guppies in a pond full of piranha. At any moment, if their cover got blown, they would be swarmed instantly and likely would be sold off in pieces themselves. This was veeeeeeery tricky. 

"Okay, okay, so just gotta find the thing, grab the thing, get out. I can get us out so long as we can get ta the side of the ship, so we gotta stick close."

Tsarra's whispers are drowned out by the booming voice of an announcer from a raised platform near the center of the hold. A dapper dressed Aven with an eyepatch waves a wing to draw the audience's attention to him. 

"Thank you all for waiting, our intermission has come to a close and we shall resume the bidding! Up next, we have a beautiful jewel encrusted vase from the estate of an eccentric collector of fine antiquities up in the Pale City. Rest his soul. This exquisite piece is guaranteed authentic and will make an excellent feature piece for any room. Let's start the bidding at 1,000 solars!"

The crowd quickly becomes engrossed in the excitement of bidding on the item and after a flurry of back and forth, the item is declared sold.

This was going to be tricky. Tsarra helps Cirice find their way down into the right spot so they look like they know what they’re doing. She’s grateful for the triton's help as she’s not familiar with this style of ship. As they get down into the hold and see just how many people there are she’s caught off guard, not expecting such a crowd.

During the first auction she tries to watch the guards and the auctioneer to try to determine where the bodies might be held. The next auction starts, this time an ornate shield with the head of a lion roaring from its front. Bidding begins and Cirice starts edging herself and Tsarra away from the center and the crowd to peruse the tables that were choked with items. She smiles at the goons who eye her suspiciously and they wonder slowly until finally, at the last table she sees some things that look vaguely body-shaped. She tries to naturally breeze that direction without calling too much attention to themselves, but the mages stand out quite a bit.

Getting to the far table, Cirice peels back the canvas bag over the object to indeed find a desiccated and dried out corpse staring up at her with empty eye sockets. She pulls back in surprise and revulsion. Well they’ve certainly found the bodies. Now to get out of here with them. Now they need a distraction.

She thinks for a moment and then the runes on her arms start to glow as the bidding for another item begins and suddenly the hold is filling with thick dark, fog.

Tsarra has NO CLUE WHAT IS GOING ON! They found bodies, confirmed they're definitely bodies, but now everything is dark and there are shouts of alarm from the guards, guests, and the auctioneer. What the hell?? How are they supposed to steal something stolen when they can't see?!

"Keep calm! Please everyone just stay calm while we figure out what is going on!" The auctioneer shouts over the panicking crowd.

The guards are muscling their way to protect the items on display and Tsarra feels someone bump into her as they're shouldered out of the way. 

"Oof! Watch it!" Tsarra shouts and pushes the person back who responds with an disgruntled grunt.

Oh wait. She knows how to fix this! She can just blow the fog away! That's the smart thing to do right now!

She gathers wind around an arm and sends it out in a burst which definitely knocks over several people while also pushing herself back against the table with the corpse.^[1] The display table skrrrrts across the wooden floor boards loudly before catching on the edge of a crate and tipping over, depositing the corpse unceremoniously on the floor near the wall of the hull. 

"Oh, oops. Well, we just need ta bring back all the pieces right?" She says to Cirice. 

"HEY! STOP THERE!" One of the guards rushes towards them with a sword drawn. He's only slightly slowed down by the cloaked guests sprawled on the floor. 

"Aaaaah, time ta go." She draws her own scimitar and gets ready to buy Cirice some time to collect the body off the floor.

---

[1] Gust Thrust

Cirice wasn’t expecting that at all and she nearly falls when the wind cuts a swathe clear through her fog. She scrambles to scoop the body up and into her bag, the magic of the bag being the only reason she could transport it at all¹. Pieces of body have spread across the floor and she works hard to try to make sure she leaves no pieces behind. As she’s on the ground one of the guards comes out of the fog, looming over her with sword drawn and brings it down towards her. With a squeak of fear she catches the blade between her palms before it can hit her². She throws her hands up with the blade between then, throwing the man off balance before she sets both palms on his chest and gives him a push away from her, leaving bloody handprints behind. Runes along her arms flare to violet light and the man blinks in confusion a moment before rage fills his features. He catches his balance and starts attacking the nearest person to him in the crowd as Cirice covers herself in shadows and runs over to Tsarra^{3, 4}.

“I got it, let’s go!” She grabs the triton’s empty hand and summons her sword into her free hand, ready to defend alongside Tsarra, “You make the exit, I’ll keep them away!”

---

1 Bag of the Infinite
2 Steel Catch
3 Infuriate
4 Cloak of Shadows