Elementary, My Dear Inspector

After the events of Totentanz, our heroes return to Haven, only to discover that things have not been quiet in their absence. Five children are missing from the Chapel of the Mind, and one is dead.

Proceeding to House al'Hamzah, the Companions are greeted eagerly by the Godmother, Na'seem al'Hamzah (played in this episode by Dame Judi Dench). She quickly asks them to act as the House's representative in the ongoing investigation. She also asks them to attend a dinner at House Stenmark, the following evening, as the representative of House al'Hamzah.

At the Chapel of the Mind

The Companions then proceed to the Chapel, where they are informed of a great deal of House politics. It seems that House Stenmark, headed by Jurgen Stenmark, has assumed control of the investigation and is preventing any of the other Houses and the Grey Guard from entering the Inner Chamber of the Advanced Wing of the School.

After a long discussion of the relative positions of the house, and their relation to the school, Regina and Jericho negotiate entrance to the Inner Chamber with Inspector Firehammer, a gnomish detective working for the Palace of Smoke. They offer to split the questions granted by a speak with dead spell with the inspector, and he agrees to allow them to inspect the scene and the body.

He summarily ejects both House Stenmark and the Grey Guards from the scene, then begins his investigation. Baelwren makes a point of being seen as Jurgen Stenmark exits, to remind him of her presence.

The only known fatality in the kidnapping was the child Jaren, whose severely battered and broken body was found in the middle of the chamber. He had been sponsored by House Nolan.

Questioning of the 2 instructors who reside in the wing leads to them asking for immunity. They reveal that THEY opened the secure doors to the wing, apparently under compulsion, and then fell unconscious until after the kidnappers left. Baelwren pointed out that their confident statement--that Jaren was the one to detonate a major explosion--contradicts their claim to have been unconscious throughout the ordeal.

Jericho casts the spell, and the group asks their questions. The four questions, and their answers, are:

(Inspector Firehammer) - Describe in detail your attackers

I only saw one, a short, stout man with a beard. He was on fire.

(Ins. F) - Tell me of the other students

They were my classmates, they were spellcasters.

(Companions) - Tell us of your powers

I make things do what I want. I make people do what I want. Sometimes, I make the world do what I want.

(Companions, after much discussion) - Tell us how you have used your powers in the last week

It was all normal. Then, I woke up. The voice in my head was telling me to open the door, but it wasn't my voice. I went to look anyway, and it was already open. Then the red man came in, and tried to grab me. I shoved him against the wall, and lashed out. Next thing I know, I was here. Dead.

From this, the Companions deduce that the fallen child is a mentalist, a spirit-mage, of tremendous potential. The instructors seemingly downplay his abilities, but the fact that he was a student in the Advanced Wing suggests that he had much more potential than they claim, and leads the Companions to suspect that the instructors themselves either don't know of his potential, or have (more likely) been "instructed" to forget. They also deduce that either the "red man" or another working with him is a mentalist of some great power, and also much more in control of his/her powers than the fallen child. A strong possibility is that Jaren was the only child to fight back because the others were all mentally compelled to cooperate while his powers made him resistant to such compulsion.

Damage to the children's rooms indicates that they were destructively searched. All of the tools and devices used to contain and control their powers are missing.

Further questioning of the instructors gleans information regarding the other, missing children. There are five, and each of the children is sponsored by one of the major houses. They are also children of high potential, and they are each focused on one of the classic elements - fire, air, earth and water.

Raining Cats and Dogs

On the way back from the Chapel to the al'Hamzah Manor, the Companions encounter a curious cat. Though it behaves in some ways just like a normal cat, its physical appearance is very watery. Baelwren's familiar reacts quite negatively to its presence, which is extremely out of character. Further, the cat hisses at Nigel. It is then chased off by a dog that, for lack of a better term, was on fire. The cat ran, and then jumped into a storm drain. The dog, approachable only by Nigel, eventually ran and dove into the wood-fire oven of a baker, and disappeared.

Making a Scene

The dinner at House Stenmark is the following evening, and the Companions elect to all attend. Jericho, Baelwren, and Phantos attend as guests, with Kimo and Nigel attending as bodyguards, and Regina and Perrin attending as lady-in-waiting and footman, respectively.

Having learned that Jurgen Stenmark is prone to railing against the Church in public, and advocating the return of the Jade Tower, the Companions attend the dinner with the express purpose of agitating Jurgen Stenmark into making an ass of himself in front of the other major Houses. Accordingly, Jericho wears his ceremonial robes, Nigel dresses in full plate mail, and Kimo in his monk robes, all with the holy symbol of Pelor prominently displayed. Baelwren dresses in a deep green gown, and displays the holy symbol of Mehana, goddess of arcane magic, and makes a point of walking in arm-in-arm with Jericho, both of their halos flaring. Jericho even goes so far as to spend the evening introducing himself as Jericho, Radiant Servant of Pelor.

Dinner was opened with grace, sung by Jericho and Baelwren, whose performance was no less than stunning. Even Nigel chimed in from his watchful position in the balcony, at the end, with a resounding chant of "Amen", which echoed throughout the hall, seemingly without source.

Dinner conversation quickly turns to debate, an apparently unusual event for one of these dinners, as most of the time the other aristocrats are content to let Jurgen bluster himself out without engaging. He proves to be an able arguer, though his point is perhaps not well received with some of the other Houses, and certainly Jericho and Baelwren manage to score some points. The outcome of the event remains to be seen, though the night ended abruptly, as an attack by air and earth elementals sent most of the dinner guests fleeing.

Aided by some of the more stalwart Chamberlains of the major Houses, and a largely ineffective House Stenmark Guard, the Companions soon rout the elementals, sending them back to their home planes with extreme prejudice. Interestingly, the air elementals, though causing general chaos and windiness, seem to not effect Kimo at all.

The Garden of Good and Evil

During the fight, 2 elite guards in Stenmark livery briefly appeared at the door of the hall but were shooed away by Jurgen. Regina, have already followed another guest out of the hall, followed and confronted them. Each exhibited strong elemental influence, one of earth and the other of water. Regina wore the Amulet of Gos prominently when approaching them, but neither reacted to it. Their elemental nature led her to conclude that they were Genasi; significantly, this marked the first known appearance of Genasi in the adventures of the Companions. It also suggested to Regina that perhaps the flaming "red man" among the kidnappers was a fire Genasi. It also seems noteworthy that so far as we know, only House Stenmark has Genasi in its employ. These 2 apparently trained the house guard and took a very pragmatic, mercenary attitude about their employment by House Stenmark.

In the confused aftermath of the elemental attack, when the guests were being dismissed home, Regina took advantage of the situation to raid Jurgen Stenmark's personal "office." She bypassed an elaborate trap on one desk drawer and took the papers found there. In their place she left a small mound of dirt and her own trap--an Acid Splash and a Ghost Sound of mocking laughter.