Asher's Story S1E6

 

Tempus Fugit and The Eye of Ulgroth

  Our heroes, thinking they have a lead, start making their way to Element Park to observed Erynn Elquest's midnight meeting with someone named Sterik Senti. She is supposed to be bringing, what the email called, The Eye. Or at least a copy of it. And even though the it is raining, with the incoming storm starting to bear down on Æther City, the duo decided to walk to City Center since they have time to kill.

Young Prewitt is given the task of staying on top of news about the storm.

The city, no matter which district the pair is in, is buzzing, even panicking. From what the heroes can see is that the Æther City engineers and mages are reinforcing the river barriers, and the news also mentions that a person called Mother is using their resources to do much the same to The Skid even as many of it inhabitants are fleeing fearing the worse for the tunnels.

 Because they have so much time before the meeting, Asher and his assistant spend time at multiple coffee houses doing research on Senti and monitoring the storm. Prewitt even drops her phone, breaking it. A new, business phone is bought by Asher for the gnome and the two eventually make it to the fire section of Element Park to get themselves situated.

 While in hiding, the pair see Elquest show up with a bag. Asher triggers a charge of the Pass Without Trace gadget that Prewitt was able to buy and the two wait for this Senti to show. Erynn paces...

 After a long wait, showing up late to the meeting, Senti, a tall, lithe man in a guilded mask, bracers and a white robe, appears and begins to speak in a deep voice.

 The two discuss the "accidents" Elquest's assistance have met with, leave Erynn the only person that knows about the copy of The Eye that is given to Sterik in a wrapped cloth. 

Going on impulse, and warning Prewitt, telling her to meet him back at the Common Grounds, Asher uses the Tempus Fugit Watch, stealing the wrapped Eye from the robed man. A shriek is later heard as the bounty hunter dashes off with the prize.

Raining harder now, the two heroes take separate cabs to their coffee house and, meeting there, decide to reach out to Elsan of The Veil Society to see if the necklace would be important to the mission.

 Asher and Prewitt make their way to Elsan's townhouse, even at the late hour, and are let in by the dour devlin Lona. Elsan is in his study with a gaunt, sickly looking elf who is introduced as Ghilalophrin. The bard does a ritual of knowledge (a modified Legend Lore spell) to see if the group can figure out who this Sterik Senti is and just what this necklace is for... 

The information gleamed from the spell is troubling. It seems that Senti is from a sect of The Order of the Undying Answer called the Hand of Ilsaid that is determined to control a summoned demon named Ulgroth. There is an ancient temple that was used to summon the demon beneath the Divine Temple that Senti is guarding (posing as a cleric of Morag). Could the presence of this demon in Feyar be tied to the once in a millennium storm?

With wards up, the group adjourns for the night to rest while Nix is contacted and tasked with digging up more information if he can.