“Are there witnesses to the crimes of the Four Hoods? Or some other evidence? Andoran must have a good reason if they’re still concerned with them even though they’ve left the country.”
Gusairne shrugs. "I'm sure they do. You have all the information I do. My job isn't to question orders, but to enforce them."
"Fair enough. We will investigate and find out what we can about these Four Hoods."
Gusairne nods. "Very good. Is there anything else, or can I get back to my work?"
"Please let us know if you get anymore leads on the Night Swan. Sounds like someone we could all benefit from unmasking."
Katria agrees with the others' thoughts as they return home to Stachys, frustrated that Gusairne seemed so ... hide-bound.
"Gurta did acknowledge that she'd been accused of murder, if you think about it, which I think would be unlikely had she actually committed such an act, though some people certainly have no shame," she says, deep in thought. "I think seeing what answers we can get from Andoran would be good. In the meantime, we can certainly spend time on improving Stachys, and maybe see if we can make any further progress on the Night Swan."
You return to Stachys and send a letter off to Andoran for more information about the Four Hoods' alleged crimes. While you wait for a response, you have time to focus on downtime activities.
Katria returns to Stachys, immediately setting her mind to work to try to figure out some of the mysteries.
During one break for a meal with the others, she expresses frustration.
"There's not too much we can do about the Four Hoods until we get more information, I think. Perhaps we should concentrate on the Night Swan in the meantime?"
"I wonder if we should go try to see if we can find out anything more in Lotheedar," she says. "Though we may not want to let Bartelby know we're there if we do that. Of course, if he discovers we're there, then it seems odder if we try to go incognito..."
"It's possible that one of them is the Night Swan, despite the distance. I think we need to tread carefully. If it is at all possible to turn Gul Gusairne against Bartelby, we should do so.
Are there higher laws that a Count must follow in his own lands? Such as laws passed by the Senate of Taldor? Those laws would still be in effect. Surely there is some evidence of Bartelby breaking such laws. There wouldn't be much point to a Senate if each noble had absolute authority in their own land. Lady Martella might know of an angle we could pursue."
Without much to do for a bit, Maya decides she should get to know the good people of Stachys better. What better way than to host a party?
The party goes off without a hitch and Maya's fairly certain she's obtained a few more admirers in the process. She's not too bad at this socializing thing.
If she has any spare time, Maya pulls out her copy of Parables of Erastil and skims a few pages. It's several minutes before she fully realizes what she's doing. Curiosity is one thing, but actively studying Erastil's teachings? Scandalous.
The bard puts away the book and tries to keep herself distracted by practicing her satire. That's something she has no qualms about teaching herself.
A few mornings after your downtime begins, you wake up to discover that a few of the paintings on display in your foyer are missing, along with the bust of Dame Crabbe. An ominous note is pinned to the wall with a dagger:
Parasites, BEGONE! This land has run out of teats from which your piggish lot may suckle! I bear this warning before I bear arms, for I am generous—LEAVE the county of Meratt, and take as many of your noble swine with you as you would see saved from slaughter. My next message comes on a spear's point.
The only signature is a drawing of a swan.
Maya shakes her head when they discover the note. "Dame Crabbe's not going to be happy her bust's gone missing.
"On a more serious note... perhaps we should expedite our trip to Lotheedar? I thought maybe this Swan person could be reasoned with, but it seems they are determined to be at odds with us."
"And you would think striving to raise Stachys from the ashes since our first day here would make them admire our dedication to the people, make them see we're not your usual parasitic nobles. Heck, except for some honorary titles from the Princess and Dame Crabbe, we aren't actually nobles!," Bernal rants as he inspects the surroundings of the missing décor for clues the intruder may have left, though his hopes aren't high.
"I was wrong about the Night Swan. I was expecting one of the romanticized hero-of-the-people types, one that could acknowledge us and our altruistic actions. But no, seems like we're dealing with your usual mislead zealot who hates the nobility for the sake of hating the nobility."
"Well, some of us are, Bernal," replies Liam, "but that just means I feel obligated to not be what this note accuses me of being."
He reads it over again. "It reads like something from Galt. Let's find a way to get the Alarm spell."
A thought crosses his mind. "What if it were Titus? The last person we'd expect. Don't know how we'd get a sample of his handwriting."
"Honestly? I think this might just be a standard burglary. Look at what's missing. I wouldn't be surprised if someone is pretending to be the Night Swan just to throw us off their trail." Doritan notes.
"That's certainly possible," Katria agrees, noting that she's also from a noble family.
She uses her object reading on the paper and dagger to try to get any impressions.
She also looks for any sign of bloodshed, as that could also provide a clue.
The dagger is of mundane craftsmanship with no distinguishing marks. Katria can only pick up a sensation of smug confidence from the person who last used it. The pyschic impressions on the letter, though, grant her a vision of gloved hands putting ink to the parchment. The hands are definitely feminine.
There's no blood anywhere at the scene of the crime. Searching around the manor, you discover one of the windows leading into the foyer from the garden porch was jimmied open. Scuff marks indicate that a crowbar was likely used, rather than the more delicate tools associated with a thief's kit. Nothing else appears to be broken or missing within the manor. It's likely the culprit was in and out in a relatively short amount of time.
Liam's morning lectures from Insightful Advice:
Maya: Diplomacy, auto-aid.
Katria, Doritan:
Bernal:
"I can prepare the spell Locate Object, though it doesn't reach very far. About a tenth of mile. Still, I can walk around while the spell lasts to extend the radius a bit. The paintings and bust might have been too bulky to move all at once, and some could have been stashed nearby."
“Titus would certainly be surprising. If the Swan was willing to accost us in our own mansion, I suspect it’s someone we’ve met before, but that underestimated us. Makes you wonder…”
Maya briefly goes through in her head all the people they’ve met since arriving in Meratt County. Which ones have ulterior motives to justify being the Swan? And which ones have the physical prowess to be the Swan?
“Perhaps we should check with Onora to make sure things are in order in the town, then make our way to Lotheedar first thing tomorrow? If there’s a trail leading back to the Swan, it’s probably growing colder by the minute. We also need to consider the possibility that the Swan knows we’re looking for him or her, and take the necessary precautions for such a possibility.”
"Let's find Wink, Blunk, and Nodd and ask if they saw anything."
Wink, Blunk, and Nodd yawn sleepily as the half-elf rouses them from their rest. "Sorry, Lord Liam, we didn't be seeing anything," Wink says.
"We be finding some wine, and maybe we be having a touch too much of it," Nodd mutters, holding his pounding head.
Katria shares that she saw feminine hands on the letter, but got few other details.
"Which means it could still be almost half of our populace," she says. "It may be someone underestimating us, but it could just as easily be someone who hasn't met us, who wouldn't have any reason to make any estimation of our abilities.
"We should make sure the manor is locked down when we're here, especially now that we've had this warning," she continues, thinking over the ramifications.
"In the meantime, I think continuing our plans to go to Lotheedar might help. Maybe I can find something there to help in our investigation..."
"Also maybe trying to make it clear we're here to help and not suckle at the teat?"
With a far-off look in her eye, she retreats to her quarters to begin writing, eventually producing a treatise on how nobles and commoners should work in support of each other, not live in some sort of parasitic relationship.
Liam will prepare Locate Object instead of Dispel Magic this morning, and try to find one of the paintings.
He casts the spell and walks around the manor for five minutes.
Over the past few days, he's also been drafting some policies for dispute resolution, including adjudicating conflicting land claims. He then tries to convince the populace of the merit of his draft policies. This is boring but necessary stuff, and his rhetoric makes it at least halfway interesting.
Liam does not detect the painting anywhere nearby. It's definitely not in Stachys any more.
“Whoever it is, the sooner we find out, the better. Unless we have something pressing to do, I suggest we head out on the morrow.”
Doritan spends some time trying to learn about the Night Swan, and possibly discredit her.
The next morning, you depart Stachys in your carriage and head north towards Lotheedar. As you are traveling along the highway, a woman suddenly emerges from a copse of trees beside the road. Tall and regal, the woman is clad in a long cloak of pristine white swan feathers and silvery armor with a winged helm.
"Come to finish the deed, have you? I shall not be slain so easily! First, I will make you pay for your crimes!" She raises her bow menacingly.
"Woah, woah, woah. Hold on! Could you please explain first? I'm sorry if you think we've attacked you, but I', afraid I don't think we have. Could we talk about this?" Doritan intervenes, trying to calm down the woman.
"You know exactly what you have done! Befouled the lake! Despoiled the purity of nature! All in an attempt to kill me!"
She fires an arrow that grazes Doritan's arm.
"What lake?" Katria asks, using her powers to get a better sense of the woman as she edges herself behind Doritan. "Please, we don't know what you're talking about?"
HP 38/38
AC 15, touch 12, flat-footed 13, CMD 13
Fort +6, Ref +3, Will +5 (+2 to all for resonant powers)
Speed: 30 feet
Inspiration (Knowledge/Linguistics/Spellcraft checks): 0/4
Mental Focus: 11; Abjuration [3/3]; Divination [3/4]; Enchantment [4/4]
Resonant powers (+1 saves; +2 Perception, low-light vision; +1 Charisma
checks)
Spells/day: 1st [][][][]; 2nd [][][]
Effects:
You are able to read a person's surface thoughts and take cues from the person's appearance, body language, and manner of speech to infer a great deal of information about the person, even if that person is in disguise (including polymorph effects). When casting the spell, attempt a DC 20 Sense Motive check with a bonus equal to your caster level. A successful skill check reveals to you one of the following pieces of information of your choice, plus one additional piece of information for every 5 points by which your check result exceeds 20: age, alignment, class, feats, gender, native language, place of origin, race or ethnicity, racial traits, religion, sexual orientation, or training in a Craft, Perform, or Profession skill. For items marked with a cross (†), if the target has more than one of these features, each one you discover counts as a piece of information.
There's a 70% chance that all information you receive is correct. This roll is made secretly. Otherwise, on a roll of 71–80, you receive one false piece of information, on a roll of 81–90 you receive two, and on a roll of 91–100 you receive three. You can't get more false information than the total number of pieces of information you discover.
"Wait, are you one of the fey? I'm sorry if we've hurt you, it wasn't intentional. Could you please elaborate? Can we help you?" Doritan asks, ignoring the pain in his arm.
And I just finished mending this shirt, too.
"Take your poisonous lies back to your treacherous count!" she shouts, nocking another arrow.
Doritan looks around, making sure nobody is nearby, then says in a lower voice, "We don't like him either. We're here to sabotage him. But we can't do that if we're dead, so if we could just talk about this, we might be able to form some kind of alliance. Could we do that? Look, we'll put down our weapons if you put down yours, that way we can all talk peacefully. Does that sound agreeable?"
The woman responds by driving an arrow deep into Doritan's chest!
"Okay, that's it. KNOCK IT OFF." he states forcefully, leaving no room for other interpretation, "We do NOT want to fight you. Keep shooting me, and we just might."
The woman takes a few steps back, shaken by Doritan's sudden fury. "Very well. Explain your presence here." She lowers her bow but does not drop it.
"It's as Doritan said," Katria replies. "Our quarrel is not with the First World, but with those who would make this realm a worse place. If the Count has harmed your lake, tell us how and what we can do to fix it."
"It's as Doritan said," Katria replies. "We are here to oppose the count, and will work with those of the First World or any others who will help us. We want to make this world a better place. If he has harmed your lake, tell us how -- and how to fix it -- and we'll see what we can do. Maybe we can help each other!"
Liam moves up and heals Doritan.
Then he addresses what he believes to be a fey.
"I am a friend of the children of the First World. My grandparents are Feysworn to Shyka the Many. I am a lover of freedom and compassion. Please let us help you."
Maya, apparently daydreaming while the swan-feather-cloaked woman drives a pair of arrows into Doritan, finally comes to her senses and decides a smoother tongue may be necessary to get anywhere with the mysterious woman.
"I'm sure Doritan here will consider your injuring of him to be just a flesh wound if you're willing to work with us now. If you oppose the count, then we have a common enemy.
"Furthermore, we house a few First Worlders in our estate, so at least some of your kind already tolerate us. Please tell us what's on your mind - not what's in your quiver - and I'm sure we can come to an arrangement."
"Very well. My name is Atratus. Long ago, Lauchlein Lake was the home to a fey court, but they retreated in the wake of your people's encroachment. I remained behind to preserve this as a wild place. You mortals have no respect for the natural order, but the rulers of this land provided yearly gifts to appease my wrath. But your new count decided to ignore that tradition, and worse, released a horrible ooze into the lake in an attempt to eliminate me! My once resplendent waters are now a polluted mess, and the ooze gorges itself on my birds and fish! If you truly are friends to the First World, you will slay this ooze."