You make your way to 3 Lancet Street, home of the fortune teller Zellara, a quiet townhouse with shuttered windows. The front door is dark-stained wood, the door handle polished from years of use. Carved with pale blue-painted butterflies, and "Zellara's" written in a faded gold script, it appears to be locked close.
As you approach the townhouse, you see a figure in a nearby alleyway, cloaked and dirty, watching the surroundings.
Midland isn't your normal area of duty, so you don't know a whole lot about its more colorful residents, and Zellara doesn't seem to be one one of those. Most fortune tellers in your experience are little more than hucksters trying to get a gold sail or two out of wide-eyed yokels and spoiled aristocratic youths, but there are a few here and there that are the real deal.
The address indicated on the card resides in Midland, near the tavern Bailer's Retreat, and is the home of Zellara, a Varisian fortune teller.
The Cricket represents speed - of mind and body - and is commonly associated with travel. The peach he sits by represents a treasure at the end of your journeys, but sometimes that treasure can be lost and the journey difficult.
Drawing from your personal Harrow deck, which seems like a cheap imitation next to the beautiful gold and blue illuminated card you have. You pull the Rabbit Prince from the deck, a quirky fellow dressed in rakish garb and holding a broken sword. Capricious and battle personified, the Prince's broken sword tells you that any combatant can be felled, no matter how brave or skilled.
As you have the Harrowed feat, you have a basic understanding of the cards and what they mean and will give you a little bit of a bonus when using them. Also, at any point for the rest of the day (that is, 'til midnight in-game), you may choose to add a one-time bonus of +2 to any Dexterity-based roll for drawing the Rabbit Prince. I'll post some more details on how to Harrow in the Discussion thread.
With your disguise in place, which has removed any visible sign of your affiliation with the Korvosan Guard, you make your way to Lancet Street through the diverse Pillar Hill ward. The usually crowd of freshly released prisoners from Citadel Volshyenek's jails and off-duty guardsmen congregate outside Bailer's Retreat, and you manage to avoid a scuffle between a drunk and two guardsmen.
Zellara's is a typical townhouse, which normally has the living space on the second floor, and the business on the bottom. All the windows are shuttered close, there is a front entrance and a back entrance. The front door is carved with pale blue-painted butterflies, and "Zellara's" in faded gold. The rear entrance appears to be where the kitchen is - a half-full trash barrel sits near the back door.
I'll need another Stealth check for staying in your hidey-hole.
Dunzeltoff:
Spoiler:
Trefoil-shaped is three circles arranged in a triangle, but the circles don't overlap. I'll post a layout of Three Rings shortly.
"Thanks Toff," Kenot says. "I know you mean well, and I know Kal's death wasn't your fault...but it's easy to get angry, you know?" He looks grateful at your offer of assistance. "Any help you can get for Father...but I don't know how long - " He stop himself before going any further. "I'm leaving again for Janderhoff next Moonday, so I've got a few days."
You finish your meal with Kenot in shared memories of Kaltarra and return to the Sanctuary. The rest of your afternoon passes without incidence, and you study the book that His Radiance Lusillo gave you earlier.
Until you rest for the evening, you gain a +2 competence bonus on Knowledge (religion) checks.
With dusk rapidly approaching, you head out to Lancet Street for your rendezvous.
As you go through your mail, a blue-backed card falls out between the two envelopes. Gold-gilt edges and backing catch your attention, but the message that appears on the certainly grabs your attention.
"I know what Gaedren has done to you. He has wronged me as well. I know where he dwells, yet cannot strike at him. Come to my home at 3 Lancet Street at sunset. Others like you will be there. Gaedren must face his fate, and justice must be done."
The writing slowly fades from view, and the opposite side of the card shows the image of a well-dressed cricket with a grinning face, a stack of cards in hand, and leaning up against a peach.
Make a Knowledge (local) check to determine more information about the location. You may make a Wisdom check to learn more about the Harrow card.
Jericho:
Garregan leans closer to you, and says in a low voice, "I heard he's been seen in Midland, but that's all I got." He turns away and goes to start serving other customers in the stall.
Dunzeltoff:
"Yeah, I could use a pint and some grub," Kenot says. "There's a good place not too far from here, the Three Rings, quiet, good place to talk." He nods at his fellows, who look suspiciously at you as you walk away with Kenot.
The two of you walk south down Sunrise Boulevard to the Three Rings Tavern, a mere five hundred feet from the Bank. Kenot pushes open the door to a trefoil-shaped common room, with a semicircular bar across from the entrance. Warm burnished wood covers the floor and the tables and chairs are worn smooth with use. You walk over to one of the smaller booths in a corner and a halfling waitress, a lass with inky black hair, blue eyes, and a russet-colored dress and apron, hops down from a barstool and walks over to the both of you.
Kenot orders two pints of the house special for the both of you, and the waitress brings back two mugs with foaming heads, along with a sizzling basket. The basket is filled with sweet fried bread, drizzled with honey and sprinkled with cinnamon. Kenot grabs a handful, then tosses it back with a pull from his tankard.
"Father has not been doing well...he caught some sort of infection when coming back from Magnimar. His face is covered in pustules and his skin comes off in sheets. It's all the healers can do to keep the rest of us from getting infected," frowning as he describes the symptoms.
Heal result: It doesn't sound like any poison that you know of, it sounds more like a disease. Curative spells would only delay the disease for a little while, but might make it more comfortable.
"I want to help you find Lamm...but I can't. Not even for Kal. Father's sickness has put the Runegild business in my hands, and I can't abandon that duty..." He bites his lip and takes another drink. "I came into Korvosa from Janderhoff to sell the silver we mined, and Father's still laid up there. I was hoping the Bank would be able to send somebody more experienced, but they won't without a 'donation.' Damn Abadarans. Can't even get a splinter out of your finger without wanting a copper pinch." He pauses, and his eyes go distant.
"You promise you find this Lamm, and when you do, you give him a swift kick in his jewels for me...No, not for me. For Kal?"
Jericho:
The distinctive odor of lemons, tea and thileu bark waft towards your nose, and the strong concoction warms you down to your toes on the chilly morning.
Garregan snorts at your comment. "Lamm is a cockroach. The only reason he's still around is because he's too small that the guards don't go after him, but too big for common folk like us to take out, and not quite big enough fish for Blackjack. They probably don't want to say anything because they're scared of him, or the gods forbid, he's got some blackmail on 'em, or even one of their kids as hostage. Tough break," he finishes, and turns away from the black look on your face.
He pours himself a mug of the hot tea and sips it, tearing a loaf of bread in half and giving you the bigger one. "Here, looks like you could use this. As far as this place, nothing new, but that's expected. Same as always, people sleeping off the drink from last night, fishermen trying to head out to catch what they can. However, I got a piece of news you might want to hear."
Dunzeltoff:
Kenot is distraught, not from drinking or drugs, but from grief. He turns to you, and the pain in his eyes fills you with a shared anguish. He nods at your words and he lifts his head and shoulders up, taking a shuddering intake of breath.
"Lamm? I've heard that name around, trying to pawn off junk as being from our kin in Janderhoff, but I hear he's slippery as an eel, that one. You think he's the one that got Kal all messed up on that poison?"
He listens to your words about Shelyn and nods. "You may be right, but I'm not ready to let her go yet...and Father is just not the same. He was already in poor health, and losing Kal..." He catches his breath. "Well, he spends a lot of time bedridden."
You'd need to get some more details out of Kenot before you could make a Heal check to determine what Elder Palgrim Runegild suffers from.
Ah yes, the Knowledge (local) check.
The address belongs to Zellara's, a fortune teller's shop, in Midland.
Kenot does not seem to notice your arrival. You manage to catch snippets of his conversation, and he seems to be concerned for his father's ill health, which has taken a steady downhill turn since Kaltarra's death. He wishes to consult with a Banker for curative balms for his father.
The other Janderhoff dwarves do notice your approach, however, and they bristle. Word appears to have spread through the dwarven community of the scandalous end of Runegild's daughter.
"Kenot, it seems your sister's killer is here," one of them says. His arms are thick and his skin and beard are covered in fine black dust, and he curls his lip at you. Even though your name was cleared, it doesn't appear that all agree with the magistrate's decision.
Kenot turns to you, his beard-rings clinking against each other. His eyes are bloodshot and red-rimmed. You know he was close to his sister, and her loss seems to have hit him just as hard.
A sleepless night, interspersed with the fitful dreams of the gray and purple-robed Pharasmic cleric intoning a prayer for your brother's soul did nothing to soothe the loss of your brother. Only a week since his death and you can still smell the grave dirt from the Potter's Ward in your nostrils. Long days of your herald duties leave you little time to hunt down Lamm, but you have found out that Monterro was not the only one affected.
Drug use has always been a problem in the poorer sections of Korvosa, but the insidious hallucinogenic dreams caused by the drug called shiver offer an escape from their poverty. This was the poison that Monterro used to escape his guilt, and his sudden end was caused by a bad batch of the milky substance. After pulling a week of duty with no days off, and the grueling duty during the King's Birthday celebrations last night, you have earned a free day, a day which you intend to find Lamm.
The barracks are clean and orderly, as demanded under the keen eyes of your father, and personal mail is delivered early morning. Two pieces of wax-sealed letters sit on top of the sturdy wood and leather chest at the foot of your cot.
Yeah, not so good on that Dance roll. :P I'll answer the Touch of Luck q in the Discussion thread.
With your attempt at recreating the Glaive Dance unsuccessful and your thoughts turning to the movements of the dancers, you realize that it's already nearing lunchtime. As you leave the Sanctuary, you leave a note with Anshe, the old clerk, letting the Sanctuary know of your whereabouts. The Bank of Abadar is the closest to the Sanctuary, and you head there first.
The Bank of Abadar has few adherents at this time of day, but you notice the Janderhoff Arms flying from a nearby wagon, and you recognize a grief-stricken face belonging to Kenot, Kaltarra's brother.
If you want to hide from Kenot, make a Stealth check.
Jericho:
The smell of fish in various stages of freshness are an ever-present smell in Old Korvosa, and the narrow streets of Old Dock are no different. Regardless, you head over to the Market and to your favorite food stall in it, Garregan's.
Garregan doesn't speak much and respects his patron's privacy in his open air eatery. He's a tall human with a shaved head and multiple perfectly circular scarring on his head and right shoulder. Dark brown eyes accompany a lined, weather-beaten face and he nods at you, bringing over a steaming mug. He's never asked for your name, and certainly isn't in the habit of being generous, but he does know that you've been looking for someone.
"How goes the search?" he says, nodding at your looseleaf notes.
Make a Perception roll if you wish to determine the drink, as well as any other rolls you wish to make.
Dunzeltoff:
It is indeed a Harrow card, but it is of a much higher quality than other decks you've seen. You surmise that it might be a family heirloom of some sort. In a Harrow deck, the Midwife represents the arrival of something (or someone) new. As you examine the card, the script on the back begins to fade and disappear into the geometric design on the back. The card was stuck between two pages of a long sonnet discussing the importance of true beauty coming from within.
After consuming the excellent breakfast that Lusillo shared with you, you go out to the courtyard, where there is just enough room to practice with the glaive.
Make a Perform (dance) check to see how well you did.
Finished Gevtodt's background story. Sorry it's so long...
I'd rather have your story too long that too short. :)
For Dunzeltoff and Jericho, I seem to have misinterpreted the Spell Point rules ever so slightly (d'oh) for those that prepare spells. As both of you still prepare your spells, you still prepare an extra spell due to your ability scores, as well as receive bonus spell points. Both of you prepare an additional first level spell (bringing your total up to two first level spells).
GentleGiant, whenever you can finish up your background after the pain meds wear off. :)
The free cheap wine from the King's Birthday celebrations last night left a foul taste on your tongue and a dull headache between your ears. The cheap Old Dock tenement flat you've become accustomed to as home is not the best that Old Korvosa had to offer, but the price was right and as far away from East Shore's Theomanexus College as you could get. Your notes on your investigation of Gaedren Lamm are spread out on the floor, the burnt out stub of a candle lying in a pool of wax near your backpack and spellbook.
Your first month of searching for your sister has proved fruitless, and the inkling of doubt is starting to sneak into your mind. As you attempt to get back to sleep with your headache, the paper-thin walls of the flat let you know that your neighbor with the chronic cough is awake as well, hacking and wheezing his way through his wakeup, a process that you've estimated takes him at least an hour. Everyday, without fail.
However, the time of morning is right for a quick jaunt down to Reefclaw Run Market for the freshest catch of the day and a right fine breakfast and a cup of coffee to clear out the bad taste of old wine.
Hey DM Lilith, Why did Gevtodt lose his Renown feat?
PS My apology in advance for not keeping up with all the PRPG releases.
Oh, he didn't. I'm sorry. I sometimes cross off feats on a character sheet that have already been applied elsewhere. My bad! And no worries on keeping up. It's been busy 'round these parts!
Edit: Also, if you could finish fleshing out your background, that would be sweet.
Lusillo laughs at your small joke. "That is fitting, perhaps. I shall be sure to pass on your compliments to Madame Nakaskya."
His face frowns slightly at the subject of Lamm. "Everything I've found out about that rat is that he's annoying enough to the Korvosan Guard that they know who he is, but not enough of a big fish to have them devote any time to finding him. No talk about you, Dunzeltoff, and even if there was, it would be idle rumor. I shall be sure to let you know if I do hear anything."
He leaves the atrium, closing the door lightly behind him. As you eat your excellent meal and read the Sonnets, a blue and gold playing card falls out of the next page onto your plate face up. On the face, you see a buxom halfling lass in a bloody dress, with her right hand glowing blue and holding a crying red-skinned and devil-horned baby in her left. In silver gilt is a starbust at the top center of the card. As you flip over the card, the blue and gold pattern twists ever so, and you can read the following script:
Spoiler:
I know what Gaedren has done to you. He has wronged me as well. I know where he dwells, yet cannot strike at him. Come to my home at 3 Lancet Street at sunset. Others like you will be there. Gaedren must face his fate and justice must be done.
You may make a Gather Information or Knowledge (local) check to learn more about the location.
"Do not beat yourself up too much, Dunzeltoff - you have yet a chance to make things right by finding her poisoner. The bird sings a song of renewal, but the song is unfinished - Shelyn can't do everything after all. Your dark thoughts are understandable, but you must come to terms with them before you can truly continue with your life." He gives you a small smile, then gives you the slim red-bound book laying on the table.
"Here, this a copy of the Sonnets, our holy book that guides us. Shelyn entreats us to create something beautiful each day, but I think finding this vile Lamm character and bringing him to justice would accomplish that," he says, wiping his mouth with a linen napkin. He stands up from the table, setting down the napkin. "Please, take your time and finish breakfast while you read. I must go try and find where I misplaced something during last night's revelries."
Results:Sense Motive: Something is definitely disturbing the High Priest. You notice that his symbol of office is conspicuously absent, and Lusillo's hand rubs his neck frequently.
Knowledge (local): You know little about Lusillo's background, but you understand that he is a Korvosan native and of mixed Chelaxian-Varisian heritage. The Sanctuary of Shelyn is the smallest but most beautiful temple in Korvosa.
"Ah, I'm glad you enjoyed the Glaive Dance, a Varisian troupe travels from Ilsurian every year to perform on the King's Birthday. Madame Nakaskya is a good friend of mine, I'll be having lunch with her later."
"The Eternal Rose blooms to remind us that grace and beauty can be found everywhere, if you know where to look. Generosity of spirit and of assistance is but one of her creeds, and I can only hope that staying here will help you through your loss and healing. But Shelyn seems to be trying to tell you something - what was your dream-bird doing? Singing? Watching?"
Hethra opens the door, and His Radiance Yanus Lusillo, ordained High Priest of Shelyn for the City of Korvosa, rises to greet you. A handsome clean-shaved human of thirty years with dark brown hair, light caramel-colored eyes and a tanned complexion, he is dressed a pale blue doublet and charcoal grey trous and knee-high boots.
The atrium is situated on the eastern wall of the Sanctuary, with high arched glass windows capturing the morning sun. Numerous orchids and flowering vines unknown in Varisian lands twine up several trellises. The western wall of the atrium is glass with rose vines etched into the glass, and a small wrought iron and glass door opens up into the interior courtyard of the Sanctuary.
High Priest Lusillo has set out a repast of reefclaw pasties, a bowl of dried fruit, and a pitcher of herb-scented water. A small book bound in red leather sits next to a half-eaten pasty.
"Dunzeltoff, thank you for coming," he says, clasping your arms in greeting. He gestures for you to sit at the table, turning to Hethra. "Thank you Hethra, that will be all."
You have only met Lusillo twice before, once when asking him for a place to stay and last Sunday during services, but despite that, something seems amiss.
Fireday 17 Calistril, 4708 AR
The city guard of Korvosa breathes a sigh of relief as the festivities finally wind down. The celebration of King Eodred's birthday last night has drawn out the dregs of society, people who normally mock the lascivious king and his beautiful Chelaxian wife, Ileosa. Free wine has a way of silencing acerbic and critical tongues, as well as a chance to watch the beautiful Varisian dancing girls and a troupe of exotic Vudran veiled beauties. With the moon waning and sinking into the western seas, a spectacular dawn sunrise of pastel hues and radiant pinks bring a warmth to the crisp morning air. The early calls of fishermen sailing out to hunt reefclaw and the sounds of wagon wheels rolling over cobblestones are all part of the awakening city's commerce.
Dunzeltoff:
Spoiler:
Your small room at the Sanctuary of Shelyn in North Point is lightly furnished with a desk, table, and chest, all of which are elegantly made in their simplicity. Your room looks out into the lush garden courtyard, and the early morning releases a brilliant aroma of climbing roses and flowers. A pleasant dream of the scent of rose petals and lavender, the scent of your beloved Kaltarra, is broken by the light knocking at your door. After a moment of silence, it quietly opens and you see Hethra, a fellow acoltye in training at the Sanctuary. Hethra's appearance is somewhat drawn and she has dark circles under her vivid green eyes.
"His Radiance Lusillo wishes to break fast with you and requests you meet him in the courtyard."
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