00;00;00;00 - 00;00;20;22 Before we begin. This episode contains references to cults, self-harm, mass suicide, domestic violence, coercion, theft, grooming, murder, and family annihilation. Listener discretion is requested. 00;00;20;24 - 00;00;43;16 Dear brothers and sisters, and those in betwixt and those not at all, dear beloveds. And soon to be friends. And all those who hear their names and know a little secret in their hearts. Dear you, you fragile bit of ether, who, though nearly breaking every hour, forces the day to shine and the night to glow, I know how tired you are. 00;00;43;19 - 00;01;14;08 I know what you've already given. I know you there is, I promise, a place for you to remake yourself. There is a place to learn. To break through the brittle and temporary shells which stand between you and everything else. I was once where you are. I stood at the abyss. And before all things could fade from my perception, I saw it. 00;01;14;09 - 00;01;54;10 I saw you there. I would like to tell you about my vision. You. With your hand outstretched, lifting another to stand with us, and then another, and then another frail as we were. Strong as we become. No longer decorations, not ornaments, but that which is to be bred and to be adorned. And. And so I ask you today to join me, to come with me to a place of magical purpose, far from the fickle and unjust whim of the unruly and the ignorant. 00;01;54;13 - 00;02;26;13 There is a place of restoration for you Little Love. Travel with me to the Valley Igrula. And live and work and worship in peace and freedom and purpose built with me something incredible. The joy of you, not as you are, but as you will become. So welcomes the church of the Ornamental Order. 00;02;26;16 - 00;02;55;09 This prose comes to us by way of Vosgarith The Gifted in a public revival he gave 16 years ago in the court city of Drossus. In a large tent, surrounded by his would be congregants, the tall and burly Vosgarith leapt with fervor and clamor, his beard swept and swayed. He bayed at the crowd with confidence and charisma, promising them better futures, promising it to perhaps those who were most vulnerable. 00;02;55;11 - 00;03;16;24 And who wouldn't want to hear that? Who wouldn't want to hear that the hard work we have done is enough? Who wouldn't want to join such an inviting piper, leading poor souls to a place where they could feel anchored to something greater? Some nine short months later, many of those in attendance in Drossus would be found dead in the commune that 00;03;16;26 - 00;03;45;11 Vosgarith constructed. His church of the Ornamental Order, would make one final offering, bathing in blood, the site of their final resting place. It is a small treeless grove deep in the Igrula outland. On the wind, the place carries a song which seems louder today than it was yesterday. More enticing, more structured. Recruiting voices to recruit voices on its behalf. 00;03;45;13 - 00;03;58;15 You and I, investigator, know this place by a different name. An older name. This is the Crimson Mission. 00;03;58;17 - 00;04;30;17 This time on Alchemy Investigations, we conclude our exploration begun in the previous episode, finishing the tale of the Crimson Mission of the Igrula Valley in the modern era, from a pair of errand thieves who gained infamy and notoriety in a tragic betrayal and disappearance, to a step by step reconstruction of the ornamental Order's final days. Join us as we come to appreciate just how dangerous the gift of purpose can be to those who visit the Crimson Mission. 00;04;30;19 - 00;05;03;08 Greetings, investigators. With you again is Ichabod M. Groster, lead dispatch for Alchemy Investigations. The realm's foremost private investigatory body. Before we can begin in earnest tonight, I must offer a reminder. What you are about to hear is part two of The Crimson Mission's long and sad tale. If you have not yet listened to our findings from the first episode, which consists of the tragic fate of the good ship Gloria moss, and the frankly very upsetting context surrounding Starsi Jophenda’s, the Crimson Lady of the Valley painting. 00;05;03;08 - 00;05;29;04 Now is the moment to return to your feed and find that episode entitled Abandoned Mission one. Without it, you will be ill prepared for the upcoming investigation. And given the proven lethality of the mission itself, I would hate to see that. Additionally, and while we are on the subject, this particular episode describes social manipulation and self-harm on such a scale that if you are sensitive to such matters, now would very much be the time to depart. 00;05;29;07 - 00;06;01;00 No investigation is worth your well-being, but if you are still here, prepare yourself. What awaits for us in the abandoned Crimson mission does not want to be alone and if we are not careful, we may join it forever, as did Tobias Arnam, a thief and a con artist of some renowned who disappeared into the Igrula jungle, leaving behind an increasingly disturbing series of songs, the bloody fingers of his missing wife, and a grim legend which persists to this day. 00;06;01;02 - 00;06;22;09 This story comes to us by way of several sources, not the least of which being Arnam’s songs themselves. However, some of the most forthright reporting and record keeping on this case was done by the Coveray Mercantile, a general store on the main street of Coveray -- a small settlement which abuts the Igrula jungle, though both Corveray and Igrula go by other names in other tongues. 00;06;22;11 - 00;06;59;03 Corveray Mercantile holds a unique claim to fame with regard to this case, and while I personally find their use of the Arnam events as a type of ghastly trademark distasteful, I cannot fault their archival sense. Their story, complete as it is, begins long before the Arnams stumbled into the mercantile looking for a room. It started in Prosser’s Lake, a long time past, many years ago, when your parents were but children themselves, two thieves, a dashing, mustachioed con man named Tobias and a deadly pickpocket named Amaya met while casing the same party in Prosser’s Lake, a small city to the south. 00;06;59;06 - 00;07;25;15 As the story goes, they were both independently angling for the Countess's emerald necklace, and when Tobias had charmed his way into the lower vaults under some flimsy pretense, he caught Amaya already there, absconding through a magical portal with jewels already in hand. Tobias drove through, not knowing where the portal would leave him, and the two became inseparable. Now, at this time in Prosser’s Lake, it wasn't enough to just be a rogue or thief. 00;07;25;15 - 00;07;49;16 Everyone of note had a gimmick. Some became known as feared murderers who left nobody alive. Some were known as ghosts who would infiltrate a stronghold and leave nothing but whispers in their wake. But Amaya and Tobias had a flair for the dramatic, and they seemed to live for the public spotlight. They would plan these grand, loud, bombastic capers, stealing magical totems and family heirlooms from landed gentry. 00;07;49;23 - 00;08;09;05 They would always give some of their ill gotten gains back to the area poor. And they would lay in wait on highways to intercept tax collectors on their way to remote villages. They were real thieves of the people. And if you'll permit the saying they stole a few hearts along the way. If you've ever heard the provincial tune A Fine Price to Pay, that's about them. 00;08;09;05 - 00;08;38;19 I particularly like the line the richer you are, the harder you fall. Once the Arnams have paid their call. Catchy. But as with all good things, this reign of regional anti-capitalist terror would be stymied when the Arnams picked a prize just a little too big for their talents. In what would turn out to be their last real caper, the Arnams redirected a shipment of medicinal herbs from the Duke of Wellshore’s storehouses to a mining village in desperate need of Verdile root. 00;08;38;21 - 00;08;58;22 The Duke did not like this. He dispatched some of his private mercenaries and hired the famed bounty huntress Lucia Haze. If you've ever heard that name, you'd know how serious the Duke must have been. Haze went to her grave as a very old, very wealthy woman, and I know a lot of great bounty hunters, and I know a lot of old bounty hunters. 00;08;58;22 - 00;09;30;13 But there aren't many great old bounty hunters. Haze was unique. So with Lucia Haze on the scent of the Arnams the two thieves knew they had to disappear. They had to find a place that was so wickedly inhospitable that Haze wouldn't track them through it. And as the legend would relay, they found an old map to a thick and angry jungle and decided that that place, Igrula -- would be nasty enough to keep the Duke's hunters at bay. 00;09;30;16 - 00;09;54;01 And while they were right about the hunters, they may have underestimated just how dangerous the Igrula jungle itself would be. Now, the story I've just shared with you comes by way of the Corveray mercantile. They have a small gift shop and some branded merchandise about the Arnams. Given what happens to them, I still think this is in bad taste, but I never really understood tourism anyway. 00;09;54;03 - 00;10;20;12 Nobody knows exactly what happened to the Arnams when they walked through the Igrula jungle to escape Lucia Haze. There's no official record, but what we do know is that six weeks into the harvest season, Tobias and Amaya Arnam arrived in Corveray, having walked through the jungle in its entirety. They limped out of the greenery and took a room under a false name in the mercantile’s boarding floor. 00;10;20;15 - 00;10;42;20 There is a lot that the mercantile narrative glosses over the way they tell it. The famed rakish con man Tobias Arnam had such a silver tongue that he would sell a lump of iron as if it were a ruby. But of course, you and I, dear investigator, know better. Tobias Arnam left the jungle coming to Corveray, and it would seem that he left the man. 00;10;42;20 - 00;11;03;17 He was in that thick, dense forest. The story from the mercantile is not wholly incorrect. According to record, the morning after he escaped the Igrula jungle, Tobias marched straight into the front desk at the store and told the merchant that he had a precious stone in his possession and that he would sell it if the price was right. 00;11;03;19 - 00;11;30;08 He said that it was a valuable ruby that he stole from some old church in the middle of nowhere. Now the merchant, who had grown up hearing stories about the Crimson Mission, stood wide eyed, staring at the thief in disbelief. Stealing from the mission would only bring pain and suffering at best, so it was almost a relief to him to see Tobias pull from his pack with great care a lump of simple pig iron, placing it gently on the counter. 00;11;30;11 - 00;11;53;14 The merchant must have thought Tobias was pulling his leg. A bad joke for sure, but a bad joke is so much better than actually stealing from a haunted churchyard. When the merchant informed Tobias that, in fact, he did not need any iron today, according to the most sanitized narrative, Tobias slunk away. His ruse made plain. But that's when the songs started. 00;11;53;16 - 00;12;16;14 And quite honestly, I genuinely think that Tobias thought what he had was a Ruby. But I think that Ruby was only for him. He wouldn't be able to sell it. Not to the mercantile, not to anybody. We will come to learn that while traveling through the Igrula jungle. Tobias and Amaya Arnam took shelter in the abandoned Crimson Mission. 00;12;16;16 - 00;12;41;07 Whether they found it organically, or were called there, I cannot be sure. And being a thief by trade, I think Tobias helped himself to one of the ruby red stones which comprised and still comprise many of the structures in the mission. When he offered that to the merchant, I really do think he was trying to sell something priceless. And in a way he was right. 00;12;41;10 - 00;13;02;11 Tobias Arnam was not by any training a musician. Everyone plays the lute at parties, I suppose, but Tobias didn't seem to have that gift or at least it wasn't recorded. But what we know of his and Amaya’s last days, we know in part because of a small book of songs or poems he left in his room, where the sheriff found blood and the signs of struggle. 00;13;02;11 - 00;13;30;15 More on that in a bit. Some investigators have called this document a diary, but that term would indicate a misleading level of coherence. Tobias’, his songs offer some clue into his rapidly deteriorating mindset. Now I am not a singer and I will spare you all an attempt at a musical rendition. But if you ever find yourself in Corveray, at the Mercantile, the house band will on occasion perform some of these, especially if some copper is slipped to them. 00;13;30;17 - 00;13;56;17 The first songs aren't really made to rhyme. In fact, they serve almost like Ll’Agastinian tone poetry, which just highlight words or phrases over and over again so that they intentionally lose meaning: Foot, four foot, four foot, four foot. We walk back, but four foot four foot by foot at night. We walk back at night. We cannot be caught. 00;13;56;17 - 00;14;26;14 We cannot be stop foot for foot by foot or fire, rose sunset, blood, fire. Rose. Sunset. Blood foot four foot, four foot, four foot. We walk back at night to put to place. The following page contains a piece labeled The Merchant at dawn. Take me back, take me back, take me back, take me back, take me back. Place me on the stack. 00;14;26;16 - 00;14;59;08 Take me back, take me back. Be true. They malign you. She hides from you. To say a ruby is iron. Won't do. Take me back, take me back. Little lies just not true. Take me back, take me back. You, you, you. There is also some public record here. Apparently, Amaya had taken Tobias to the local sawbones to get him looked at. 00;14;59;15 - 00;15;16;19 She said he wasn't acting himself when they got to Corveray, and she was afraid he had been bitten by something in the jungle that was affecting his mind. Tobias received a clean bill of health, but the next morning he was found fully nude, screaming at the top of his lungs, just on the edge of the jungle. At dawn. 00;15;16;19 - 00;15;39;19 The local sheriff was called to put him in the drunk tank, assuming that was the cause of the commotion. It is at this time that Amaya writes a letter sending it out of court. Vera to her brother in Prosser’s Lake. But we will not have access to the contents of that letter until it arrives. For the moment, we just know that something is very, very wrong with Tobias Arnam. 00;15;39;21 - 00;16;00;24 But the sheriff didn't see it at first. Tobias was released from the drunk tank, assuming enough time had passed to sober him up. However, this would prove a fatal miscalculation on the part of the sheriff and Coveray in general. Tobias wasn't inebriated in the first place, or at least he wasn't in the way we understand it. His mind was just elsewhere. 00;16;00;26 - 00;16;24;16 He was answering a call to return something he should not have taken in the first place. Just after darkness fell on the fourth night of the Arnam’s stay in Coveray -- the good people of the mercantile, heard a blood curdling scream coming from their inn's rooms, rushing out to see what was the matter. They found blood covering the floor, three severed fingers, and an open window. 00;16;24;16 - 00;16;53;24 Tobias had taken Amaya into the jungle as her screams broke the nights calm until they faded into silence. The fingers were positioned in such a way as to suggest that Amaya was clinging to the window frame with such force that Tobias had to cut at her hand to release them into the night. The sheriff rounding up six able bodied volunteers, rode into the jungle to rescue Amaya, and bring Tobias to justice. 00;16;53;26 - 00;17;20;25 None of them were ever seen again. Eventually, Lucia Haze made her way to Corveray and when she tried to round up a posse to go into the jungle and find the Arnams, as well as the sheriff, she found no volunteers. None of the bodies were ever recovered. Not the Arnam, not the sheriff, nobody. And four weeks later, a letter would arrive at the doorstep of Jose Purtell, Amaya's brother. 00;17;20;28 - 00;17;42;19 The letter she happened to write the night before she would be taken. Well, it was originally written in a type of regional thieves patois. It has been translated for posterity by the owners of the Corveray mercantile. I present it to you here in the common tongue, in its grim entirety. Jose -- We have made a grave error, which I fear will cost us dearly. 00;17;42;27 - 00;18;04;12 While evading Haze and our goons. We have made the Igrula Basin and pushed our way towards a part of the map that we thought to be an abandoned missionary encampment. After several grueling days on foot, we made our way to a clearing adorned with these red stone ruins, outlines of structures now long gone. There was shelter and peace. 00;18;04;12 - 00;18;27;23 We could breathe. We thought this place would be a respite from the chase, but I'm afraid it has led us to another hunt altogether. Our first night here, I had the most wonderful dream. I saw Tobias and I on golden thrones with Scepters in a faraway place. We were lauded and sang and we were made to be heroes. 00;18;27;23 - 00;18;51;21 We held no pain and no weariness. And it was and felt beautiful. Jose -- I swear to you, you were there. And Vikram and Mama and Poppy. I woke up feeling better than I had in years. The sunburn I had accrued was gone, and Tobias, it would seem, felt the same way. We rested that way for days, regaining our strength and vigor. 00;18;51;24 - 00;19;13;24 And it would seem that the encampment provided little critters would wander into our camp and near jump into the campfire to be cooked. One morning it rained, and the leaves on the outskirts kept the dew so we could drink our fill. We could have stayed there forever Jose. And we should have. We made a mistake in coming, but we made a bigger mistake in leaving. 00;19;13;27 - 00;19;38;16 But as the time came to move on, Tobias began to act oddly. He would sleep late, well into the day. He would stay up long after I'd fallen asleep and the fire had gone out for the night. I thought he was keeping watch, and in a way, perhaps he was. When we left, I knew something was wrong, but we had to make it for the other side of the jungle. 00;19;38;18 - 00;20;03;03 And it wasn't until we reached Corveray, that I saw what he had done with his pry bar. He had loosened one of the bright ruby stones from the structures in the clearing, and he had taken it from that place. Stupid, stupid. He tried to sell it. The git. When the shopkeeper told Tobias that the stone was just a lump of iron, I think it broke him. 00;20;03;06 - 00;20;25;09 He came back to the room muttering something about liars, little lies and scoundrels. He kept repeating little lies over and over and over again. That first night I woke to him, leaving the rooms we rented. I thought he was going to the privy, but he was gone for such a long time. Almost until sunup, and he returned to me with these scratches and bruises and dirt about the feet and fingernails. 00;20;25;11 - 00;20;53;25 He keeps singing these tunes that I have never heard before. Something is very wrong, and I don't know where to go. Back to the clearing, back into the jungle, back home. And risk the Duke's forces. Or continue on with this man. I no longer know. People are starting to notice. Tobias spent the night in jail, and I am here contemplating whether or not to leave him. 00;20;53;27 - 00;21;22;21 Maybe I should. Ichabod here. She should have. She absolutely should have. I understand why she would be conflicted about this. And I'm not trying to blame her for her choice to stay. But if any of you ever find yourself in a similar situation, the time to leave and seek professional safety would be well. Well before this. I fear the man he will be when he returns, and I fear what that person will do. 00;21;22;23 - 00;21;41;06 When he first showed me the stone, I saw the redness of it, the crystal and the shining gleam. It was a ruby. I saw it through and through. But now when he shows it to me, which he does nearly every hour, I can only see a lump of iron. I smile back, saying, of course I see the ruby. 00;21;41;06 - 00;22;03;21 Of course I see it. But I think he knows I'm lying. Perhaps he swapped it out. Or maybe it changed, or transmuted or oxidized. Or maybe he's crazy. Or maybe I am. I don't mean to be traumatic, Jose -- I don't mean to make a big scene. You know I don't like that. But I needed you to know about this in case anything happens to him or to me. 00;22;03;23 - 00;22;28;23 And should this continue, I may very well need your help as you helped cousin Hope a few years ago. Should it come to that, I will send word. In the meantime, all my love, and say a prayer for me. There. I will need it. It is highly likely that Tobias, who seems to have been sleepwalking into the jungle, attacked and kidnaped Amaya, dragging her back to the mission. 00;22;28;26 - 00;22;48;14 How he was able to fend off the sheriff and his men. I will never know. By all accounts, Tobias was growing weaker and less coherent with every day in Corveray. The only explanation I can really posit is that his strength returned as he moved closer to the abandoned church. The Corveray Mercantile likes this story. 00;22;48;14 - 00;23;14;18 Despite how absolutely grim it is, Tobias has become a sort of mascot for their brand as a semi supernatural frontier legend, and they will surely be willing to sell you some branded items which reinforce this tale of madness and murder and intrigue. I'm not sure what about this sort of dark tale draws people in, but it is perhaps the same propensity for the macabre that keeps you investigating. 00;23;14;18 - 00;23;19;15 And me at the dispatch. 00;23;19;17 - 00;23;44;11 There is an odd phenomena of murder ballads, which I never fully understood in this musical genre. A songwriter will write a tune from the perspective of a killer, trying to explain just why they had to kill their victim. It narrativizes the horrendous crime. When I was younger, I thought that these songs were wholly disgusting and part of me still does. 00;23;44;14 - 00;24;11;11 They give more glory to murderers, adding to their mystique. But then, at a lecture by the infamous bard Ehlla Ra -- I learned that for many people, especially those that are perhaps most vulnerable, these ballads serve as actual practical warnings in a time where such matters were not so readily talked about. They taught people what to look for in the moments before ones life was truly in danger. 00;24;11;13 - 00;24;37;23 Of course, Tobias and Amaya Arnam have a song like this. It's called Not Comfortingly, Three Fingers Left. It's a local ghost story, and I would be surprised if the mercantile didn't commission the song themselves. They even use some of the lines from Tobias as musical ramblings. But the riff that always stuck with me was this: Baby, our love is one that won't fade away and not like Ruby. 00;24;37;23 - 00;25;04;00 And to rot. They'll never find us deep in that wood. They can't take back what we got. Like I've said, it's a ghost story. Now. But every ghost story started out as a warning to someone who was in danger. And however the mercantile wants to spin or sell it, Tobias Arnam went into the Igrula jungle and lost part of himself to get it back. 00;25;04;03 - 00;25;35;17 Poor Amaya would have to pay that price troublingly enough. They would not be the last people to make the ultimate offering to the Crimson Mission. When we return, we will reconstruct the now infamous final days of the Ornamental Order sect and pose the question if all of the members are said to have died on the site of the Crimson Mission, giving their blood to a higher purpose, why was the body of their leader, Vosgarith, found in nowhere among them? 00;25;35;20 - 00;25;43;13 That and more. After a break. 00;25;43;15 - 00;26;04;02 This episode of Alchemy Investigations is brought to you by Alistair Bastion presents the biannual Big Bad Bard Battle of the bands. This year's open call side stage lineup has a few spots left. Are you an elven prog rock band? Are you an Orc with a theremin and a dream? Sign up with Alistair Bastion for your chance at this year's battle of the bands Grand Prize. 00;26;04;02 - 00;26;30;00 And if you, like me, don't have a musical bone in your body. But just like a good time, book your travel now. This year's festival promises to be bigger, better and BARDER than ever. Once again, that's Alistair Bastion presents the biannual Big Bad Bard battle of the bands on Holliver Island, just north of the Imgrassa Bay. And now back to our episode. 00;26;30;03 - 00;26;55;02 Everybody who tells this story starts with Vosgarith The Gifted. He was the leader and head signet for the Ornamental Order at the time of its dissolution, and its members ritual deaths. He takes a lot of the spotlight, which is not surprising as he was charismatic and welcoming and outwardly charming. The things you need to be if you are going to convince nearly 100 people to take their own lives, we will speak of Vosgarith in time. 00;26;55;02 - 00;27;30;22 But I would like to highlight this story from a different perspective. It's challenging to put a face on this kind of victimhood, especially when it's as tragic in large scale as it is, but we feel that that is worth the effort. So if you will permit borrowing from news reports, crime scene investigation, personal journals, abjurative testimony and family story, the following is an educated guess at the final year of a person named Tia Tasi's life as they were inducted into the Ornamental Order, came to live at the commune on the Crimson Mission, and spent their final day on the winter solstice. 00;27;30;29 - 00;27;52;14 Almost 15 years ago, Tia Tasi was born under a good sign to a well-to-do merchant in Gosfer, near the Dusk Flats. It's not a story of immediate woe or dissolution. Their life was untouched by death nor famine. They seemingly had a very happy childhood and came to work in their family's grain shop, where they were eventually set to take over the family business. 00;27;52;16 - 00;28;21;13 But when Tia came of age, they kindly told their parents that they did not want to sell grain nor manage those who do, Tia instead attempted several jobs in town blacksmiths, apprentice, bakers, apprentice. Cobblers. Apprentice. Nothing really panned out. They were accepted to a local bardic academy, but didn't stay. The reason cited in the paperwork was that Tia quote, wanted to be a singer much more than they were a singer, which I think is a pretty hard truth to know. 00;28;21;16 - 00;28;46;24 And around this time Tia was made aware of a rally coming to Gosfer. It was billed as a spiritual calling and awakening offered by the uplifted voices of the Ornamental Order. The order is or was, your standard mid-level merchant quasi religious sect. They promoted a loving invitation to peace and purpose. That is not my generalization. That is quite literally from their literature. 00;28;46;26 - 00;29;16;19 The order was led by the beguiling and attractive Brother Vosgarith The Gifted, and was at the time presenting a series of revivals, rallies, concerts and dances all throughout the greater Igrula lowland area. Tia, coming into their adulthood, was a wanderer in many ways. They had yet to find a calling. Their mother wrote after the events of the mission that it wasn't that Tia didn't belong, they just wanted to belong to more than themselves. 00;29;16;21 - 00;29;49;09 So it's not at all surprising that when Vosgarith came to Gosfer and spoke in a meaningful way, with pauses and eye contact, surrounded by the positivity and admiration of his followers, the Tia would see something there. That's the problem with callings. You can never be sure who's on the other end. So it would be that when the ornamental order left town and moved on with their well-wishing, tour, Tia Tasi would go with them as one of Brother Vosgarith’s “Little Loves”, or so he would call his followers. 00;29;49;11 - 00;30;18;21 In hindsight, he would end up with quite the collection of little loves as 91 bodies were eventually pulled from the cairns in the Igrula jungle. Around this time, the ornamental order saw a boom in membership, but it also came under some relevant scrutiny from the likes of Ville De Renais and Wellshore. Specifically, accusations around brother Vosgarith were levied in connection with disappearances and a rash of assaults, which coincided with stops on the ornamental Order 00;30;18;21 - 00;30;55;19 ‘s most recent goodwill tour. What made it particularly challenging with regard to investigating the disappearances, was that the order insisted that its members take up new names. Upon joining properly, Tia became Child Lux, given their small stature and bright smile, or at least that's what was written down in the ledger. Normally I would respect a name change, but Tia's family have asked that publications refrain from using the order's name, and I want to appreciate their position, as several of them are still alive and have been quite helpful in putting together this narrative. 00;30;55;22 - 00;31;27;24 Despite the Order's teaching of a purpose driven manifestation of peace, it would seem that a tide was turning in the region. Having garnered so many followers, brother Vosgarith was perhaps making too many waves, culminating in a dramatic rescue of one of his followers by her grandmother, a well-connected Duchess. Apparently, the Duchess's agents came to rescue a young woman who had been newly inducted into the order, and brother Vosgarith, upon realizing that he could not charm the hired muscle, had his cohort attack the interlopers. 00;31;27;27 - 00;31;54;25 One of the Duchess's men was maimed in the attack, and two of the Ornamental Order followers, young men, one named Moon Veil and the other named Visser’s Lute, were killed. This prompted public outcry on both sides, some in the lowland saying that the order were violent strangers who are kidnaping young and impressionable children, and some claiming that this was just another example of the rich attacking poor commoners for their religious practices. 00;31;54;27 - 00;32;19;13 Looking back now, I have to believe that this controversy was part of Vosgarith's plan all along. This kerfuffle would mark the first of two times the Tia would send word back to their family. It was a short letter where they tried to explain that the order wasn't violent, and that they were merely trying to defend their right to peace and prosperity and progress. 00;32;19;15 - 00;32;45;27 Given that several similar letters found their way out into the world at this exact time, I have to believe that fast. Vosgarith coordinated a letter writing campaign to sow goodwill and help improve the order's public appearance at a time when it desperately needed that. But ultimately, as with many cults, the tide of public opinion had turned. The order wasn't as welcome in towns and settlements as they had once been, and their ability to travel had become limited. 00;32;45;29 - 00;33;09;08 They were out of fashion and their fair season was coming to an end. With options dwindling, it would seem that time was up for Vosgarith. But then he had a vision, as prophets are want to do, to speak on this. He arranged one last big revival, calling in what I would imagine to be all of the favors that he had left. 00;33;09;11 - 00;33;40;16 Taking the stage that night and Drossus -- he spoke about a place of purpose, a place in the jungle where his people could be free, a place that came to him in a dream while he bathed in the lakes near Corveray. You've heard these words before. I know you have. They started off our episode, but it would seem that just in time to escape the consequences of his mortal actions, Vosgarith would move his followers deep into one of the most unforgiving jungles. 00;33;40;16 - 00;34;06;27 This plane has to offer, building their a commune on the site of an old church from belief gone by. There, his followers, his little loves would practice the purposeful peace that they promised. He called out to each and every one of them to do great works and Tia, while they followed along, they went with the others to the Igrula valley. 00;34;06;27 - 00;34;33;15 Vosgarith would build a place of refuge there. He would call it a commune, but we would come to know it as a stage for something terrible to come. And then nobody heard from the order or any of its members for eight months. We will get to how the members of the order were found, but based on divination and occult forensics, we can draw some loose conclusions about the eight month period of silence. 00;34;33;17 - 00;34;56;10 Now, I would love to say that we live in a world where commune based death cults are too rare to develop any notable patterns, but that is sadly not the truth. The typical pattern is this A charismatic person recruits a number of well-meaning, influenciable people. The charismatic person brings them into confidence and eventually the organization will cause friction with the surrounding social structure. 00;34;56;14 - 00;35;20;19 To escape that tension, the organization will move to geographic fringes and set up communal living spaces without any real infrastructure. This is where the ornamental order departs from the narrative typically logistical shortfalls, infighting and a lack of any real long form plan caused the organization to crumble from within as the leader's influence wanes against the crushing reality of a painful, lived experience. 00;35;20;22 - 00;35;41;00 But it would seem that the order thrived in the jungle. They rebuilt the old structures there, they planted gardens. They were tanning and curing meats. Wards and circles of protection were cast and remain still. I hate to say it because of what will come to happen, but the ornamental order when set atop the Crimson Mission was provided for. 00;35;41;04 - 00;36;03;19 I know that the tendency is for these groups to brashly elect to live in independent squalor, all the while claiming that they have everything they need. But in this one particular case, it would seem that they actually did. And I have to imagine that for Tia, those eight months were actually okay. Or at least that's what I want to believe. 00;36;03;21 - 00;36;23;20 And then on the winter solstice, 15 years ago, things changed or culminated. The night before Tia Tasi wrote a letter along with many others to friends and family. Unlike the messages before the move to Igrula, this one seemed far less coached, which makes the contents all the more mournful. 00;36;23;22 - 00;36;57;01 Dear mother and father and everyone I knew before, something beautiful has taken hold of my heart. I'm in love. Your child is in love. And I and all of my friends here are following that love. We're going away because this world is far too scared of our passion to witness it properly. We need to bear it elsewhere. I'm not dying. 00;36;57;04 - 00;37;27;24 I'm not dying. I'm not dying. I cannot express that to you more. I am not dying in the jungle. I have been shown a visitor. And that visitor has asked me to prove myself not to it, but to the me of my future. And you raised a brave person. But I could only show it here. You raised me to be brave. 00;37;27;24 - 00;37;57;25 Never forget that. Do not mourn me. Do not mourn this body. Do not come here and see the shell I leave behind. Know that I made this choice of my own free loving will. Know that I will leave this jungle on a vessel of love. Reaching back up into the sky. From whence I came. Love always and purpose. 00;37;57;25 - 00;38;04;17 Your child Lux. 00;38;04;20 - 00;38;28;24 A member of the order was sent to Corveray to mail the goodbyes, and by the time they came back to the Crimson Mission on the night of the solstice, all of the members of the order had taken up their positions, some in the burial cairns some in the bed like rocks which line the walls, some in the boarding house, some I would imagine, those of import in the church itself. 00;38;28;26 - 00;38;59;19 They made outlines of their bodies in red clay like demarcations of protection. Ironically enough, it made the scene investigation a lot more orderly. 90 and two outlines, 91 followers, one leader. Apparently, the order had discovered that a mixture of pulverized ruby crystals taken from the mission itself and simple fennel would make a tea that caused near-instant and incredible hemorrhaging. 00;38;59;21 - 00;39;30;06 And as the sun set on the solstice and the last light faded, the ornamental order drank their brew and began to bleed. They bled onto the red stone of the Crimson Mission. At least we can say it was most likely over quickly. Tia Tasi died in one of the cairns. Their body was contorted into a rigor of anguish and froze like that, along with so many little loves. 00;39;30;09 - 00;39;56;06 The letters eventually brought questions, and a messenger who found the grisly scene. Boz Dylan was just a teenager then and should be commended. He ran all the way back to Corveray and summoned the authorities. He never spoke about what he saw in great detail. He would only ever say all those poor people looked hurt. The ornamental order did a very good job in sanitizing any concrete record of their final days. 00;39;56;08 - 00;40;24;07 No paper nor spell contained very much except in the church. Investigators found a carved tablet magically etched out of the same material of the church itself. The church Maerbell built all those years ago. It was written presumably by Brother Vosgarith, on what I think was the night of the solstice, it read. I didn't want this. The purpose wants this. 00;40;24;10 - 00;40;54;03 The purpose did not make me a liar. I have always been a liar and a fraud. But now the words come off my tongue as if they were notes of the perfect song. These little loves the way they see me. They will believe in the strangest of things. And some are just too good for this place, and some, sadly, are not good enough for the next. 00;40;54;03 - 00;41;17;21 I did not want this. But the purpose wants this. And now the purpose has led me to it. And that which I want does not matter. I did not want this. I do want this now. 00;41;17;23 - 00;41;45;04 It was deemed the sunset sermon by a reporter from Tosley and the name stuck. I suppose there really is no zealot like a convert. And when the droves of investigators and grieving families and clerics and helpers arrived in the Igrula jungle at the Crimson Mission, the sight that they found was so impossibly gruesome, whole swaths of the jungle were cordoned off, in part because those that lost their lives in the Crimson Mission deserve some amount of dignity. 00;41;45;04 - 00;42;12;18 As they were removed and their bodies returned to their families, and in part because of the 92 person shaped outlines left in red stone, only 91 were occupied. Brother Vosgarith’s body was never recovered and he was never found in the surrounding area, despite weeks of searching with man and beast Tia Tasi, he along with nine others, were buried at the Crimson Mission site. 00;42;12;19 - 00;42;41;02 Their families lobbied the local authorities that despite the horror, despite the deceit, they wanted to respect the final wishes of their now departed children, which I have to say is commendable. For the past near 15 years, the mission has sat empty once again, sated, some say what was an outright ban on visitors has relaxed a bit, and people come and go from the site from time to time, with some arranging with morbid traveler and ghostly tourism. 00;42;41;02 - 00;43;05;28 From Coveray the path to the Crimson Mission is still technically off limits, but only lightly patrolled. In the interest of public safety, I'm sure that a guide will be swift and discreet if you elect to go and find out what purpose sounds like, as it calls your name in the dark. And I only bring that up because late last year Boz Dylan, the barely teenage messenger boy, now all grown up and settled in. 00;43;05;29 - 00;43;39;03 Tosley disappeared in the jungle with his wife and two children. They told the neighbors that they were just going on a picnic near a small stream on the edge of the wilds. But when Boz’ sister let herself into the family house, as they had been gone for far too long for comfort, she found scrawled all over the walls in red clay, one phrase repeating all those poor people looked hurt. 00;43;39;05 - 00;44;10;07 So, dear investigator, if you find yourself near Corveray and are willing to explore a perhaps more open ended supernatural investigation, I would offer these words of advice. Do not underestimate the Crimson Mission. Do not always respond when your name is called. And if you have taken to occasionally humming a song under your breath without fully realizing it, something stuck in the back of your mind, well, it's best to keep your lips pursed and your wit keen. 00;44;10;10 - 00;44;35;26 And of course, good luck. Investigator. You may need it. Thank you for listening to tonight's episode of Alchemy Investigations Part two of a two part edition. In this second half, we have looked into the sad disappearances of Tobias and Amaya Arnam. Tobias, a petty con man from Prosser’s Lake who became corrupted by the Crimson Mission when he stole one of its stones. 00;44;35;28 - 00;45;00;19 And we have recounted the desperate tale of Tia Tasi and their self-inflicted murder at the hands of Brother Vosgarith and his ornamental order. Tasi died seeking purpose, along with 90 others, in the famed solstice mass suicide 15 years ago. As you make your way to Igrula, though, it may be wise to avoid it. You should ask yourself what purpose might corrupt you. 00;45;00;21 - 00;45;26;07 And what does it sound like when that corruption takes hold? For now, this has been Ichabod m. Groster for Alchemy Investigations. Farewell, investigators. And beware. 00;45;26;09 - 00;45;51;24 Alchemy investigations is produced at Else Break Labs and is hosted by Ichabod M Groster. This episode and its related materials are released with absolutely no warranty nor support, and are distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution noncommercial share alike 4.0 international license. If you are interested in learning more about tonight's mystery or want to explore others, please click the link in the description or visit us at our website. 00;45;51;26 - 00;46;18;25 alchemyinvestigations.com. There, Ichabod will explain the resolution of this particular scenario and offer tips on how it might be run as a tabletop role playing game, one shot, or as part of a larger campaign in your next game night. Tonight's story all names, characters, and incidents therein are works of fiction. No identification with actual persons, living or deceased places, structures, ideals, and or products is intended, nor should be inferred. 00;46;18;27 - 00;46;50;17 Alchemy investigations is supremely thankful to our wide network of correspondents correspondents like TimboHow the record keeper for the Kaypoh legal archive in Gulfspite We would also like to extend a sincere thanks to the Tasi family of Gosfer specifically Mary and Corinne Tasi for their help. And of course, thanks to you, dear investigators. Stay well and stay curious. This transcript may contain small inconsistencies. If you encounter one and would like to report it to be corrected in subsequent updates, please contact us at ichabodmgroster@gmail.com Alchemy Investigation and its related materials are offered with absolutely no warranty nor support and are distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution - NonCommercial - ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).