"Let us not overstay our welcome," says Melianthe. She follows Segang to the door.
As you make to leave, Jann replies. "Thanks for the news, and we'll keep an eye out for this Yargin fellow. Again, if you need to fence any of those valuables you picked off of Lamm, come see me."
*
The street situation remains tense. Backtracking along your previous route, and working in a few new cuts to avoid trouble, you make it back into Midland and to the High Bridge ward without significant problems. You find the orphanage, a large, nondescript square building, completely locked up. It takes you a few minutes of banging on the door before a woman's voice finally responds from the other side.
"Go away!" it says.
"One must respectfully refuse," Absinthe shouts back. "We have children in need of succor. They have been rescued from a vile man who kept them in bondage and are in need of good care, good food, and good people who may help them reunite with their families."
Absinthe approaches Rosa and plucks at her sleeve. "Might one beg a moment of your time?" she whispers. "This is in regards to your rather generous offer of visiting retribution upon the house where one was born. One was at a loss for words at your generosity, and has been... considering."
The tiefling gives Rosa an earnest look. "One has no reason to want you to die that way," she says.
"Yes, these children used to be in the care of Lamm as it were. Please let us in."
Rosa blinks, then shrugs. "Well, if you won't say anything it will have to be two letters then. The risk is a touch higher but it has to be done."
"One can tell you the name," Absinthe whispers, "but first, let one tell you some things. The mistress of the house is one's birth mother. This is not the reason why one hesitates to tell you what you wish to know; there is no love between this humble one and her mother. But being of her blood, no matter how unwanted one was, allowed one to catch glimpses of her true power before one was sold and came to Avistan."
Absinthe puts her arm through Rosa's and pulls her close, as if to share confidences between friends. "She is mighty. One saw her animate the dead to serve as toys for depraved people. Once, one saw her conjure she who is her mother and this humble one's grandmother, to serve someone who was consumed by his lust to the point of insanity. But this is not the only power she possesses. She who is this one's birth mother is cunning. The rich and supposedly noble come to her, and she remembers. If she is crossed, she can take revenge on a terrible scale. She has access to wealth and allies from one end of Goka to another.
Rosa, one has no desire to see you die. One fears for you if you seek to cross she who is this one's mother. She is cruelty incarnate when crossed, and one has no desire to see her power demonstrated in Korvosa. One has come a long way to be away from her."
"We aren't here for ourselves," says Melianthe. "We are here to help out these children. Just open the door and take a look. We beseech you."
Seren will wander around the building looking for alternate entrances or ways to look in.
Rosa looks at Absinthe for a few moments, wondering what she's trying to get at, before she suddenly laughs. "Oh, what? Did you seriously think my missive would be some kind of a direct challenge letter? Nononono." Rosa waves that off with a smile. "I don't have nearly the resources to make something like that stick, even if I thought I could win in any sort of a straight fight. I just needed to know who not to send the letter to."
Seren finds the side entrances to be equally secure, and the windows on the second and third stories are barred.
The woman calls back, after a pause, "If you're honest, then step back. Leave the children on the steps and back off."
"Lambs, up the steps quick now. We'll keep a watch at a few paces to make sure you are safe." Melianthe intones with a mix of tenderness and authority, her black mask hiding her expressions.
"We will do as you wish," she calls up to the woman.
"No other way in, not even for a second-story type like myself. Let's leave the kids,back up aways and see if they get taken in. Assuming you all want to be here?" Seren turns and addresses the children with this last bit.
"Clarice, it's Rosa," She finally speaks up. "We'll back away, but you know I wouldn't be here if it wasn't."
"Okay then," the woman says.
Kester replies to Seren, "Better lot than we had yesterday. We'll make do wit'it." As you clear to the far side of the street, you hear the door bars being thrown back, and a heavy-built man opens the door. He glances out suspiciously, nods in your direction, then steps aside. You hear the woman's voice again, calling them inside.
As the children file in, Kester waits until last. He turns back to wave at you, then ducks inside. The heavy door shuts, and you hear the bars being quickly replaced.
"We can check in on them once things settle down," Melianthe offers, her voice sounding uncertain.
"Now where? Zellara's? A church? I still need rest. And there isn't enough smoke to block the sun. I'd offer my place, but I doubt you'd enjoy a perpetually dark hole under the Narrows."
"I tell you again that she is cunning," Absinthe says, "and she is well-conected. She will try to trace an attack back to its source and have her vengeance. Much of her life has been dedicated to it and this humble one... I fear her. One day, it would have to come to a battle between she an I, that seems more than likely, but I am not ready yet.
Do you still wish to pursue this course?"
Rosa thinks for a moment, or at least pantomimes it given what follows. "Let's see....you've just revealed to me that someone is blaspheming at least semi-openly in the name of Our Lady of Joy. As cunning as you claim she is, she's at a number of huge disadvantages that would make distant retaliation . . . relatively easy compared to a direct confrontation, and she has no idea I exist." A very long pause follows. "YesIwanttodothis!"
"She has no idea yet," Absinthe says. "One has warned you; one's mother has the power to summon and bind creatures to do her bidding, and she can ask for help from the Beyond. Do not blame this unworthy one if bad things happen because of this."
Absinthe draws a deep breath and closes her eyes, composing herself. When she speaks, it sounds as if she is reciting:
"One has come to be named Absinthe, by the kindness of the gang of the Dead Fish. One has been named Mooneyes, by the kindness of the sailors one learned from during one's first great sea voyage.
One was born in Goka, greatest city of Tian Xia, to the half-succubus known as the Scarlet Wing, and a man whose identity one has never learned, wail ye all with me.
The Scarlet Wing was born to a succubus temptress whose name one has never been privy to and a fallen Samurai from Dtang Mai, whose name has been stricken from the records due to his failure to die when his Daimyo did, and his shame in falling to the temptress' wiles. Of further ancestors, one knows naught, wail ye all with me.
This is one's name and family record, may the angels weep and shelter us from harm."
Rosa nods, obviously interested in hearing more about Absinthe. But when the poem stops, she just pauses. "Hmm...Yes, this should be doable. I don't quite know enough to do it properly, but we get some Tien sailors in port now and again. These are relatively trivial secrets, almost any sage would be able to look it up in a book I'd wager. I can probably set something on her in a year or so."
"The bigger problem is just how properly paranoid to be. I don't speak the language, so another hand would have to write the letter in any event. It might be best to never touch the parchment with bare skin at all, and to even avoid the use of gloves. Avoid signing it, or better find a signature that would be trusted without being verified....might be tricky. Specific phrasing would be another key point. The actual truth is presumably known by few, but a lie that is close enough...Our Lady hardly has track with demonic powers, even though I can understand where a layperson might get the idea...have to think about it..."
"Don't happen to know the other major temple in the city, do you?" she asks, seeming almost off-handed.
"Well at least the children are relatively safe. Going to a church wouldn't be a bad idea. At the very least, the temple of the Inheritor will well defended."
Kids are safe. We have some coin and loot to divide. I say we head for the gate and get out of town. I have no preference in the two sides that have formed up here, and no way to know which will come out on top. Best not to choose a side if we can help it.
"If there is disease, I feel an obligation to stay. I would purchase a full doctor's outfit and some leeches and other items, and I intend to spiral around the castle to see if anything is spreading."
"This is my home, Segang. Perhaps your nomadic roots make you want to up and leave bit I won't abandon the people, the streets, the schools to the whims of the nobles. I don't know anything about the King or the Queen, but I know Korvosans. We just took down a major problem to people we cared about. Revenge. Maybe now we can engage before there's a need for revenge and see how we can prevent others from filling the void. I say we stay and learn what's happening in our city. See if there's a niche for us to help or gain advantage for the working class."
"What Seren said. I'm not going to abandon my home. We should stay and try to help where we can."
This town has only taken from me. I owe it nothing. The barbarian's face softens some and he adds But I do have friends here. Friends who helped me put down Lamm. If you want my help in this crazy quest, you shall have it.
"With a touch of chaos happening, maybe we can at least capitalize by liquidating some of our assets and seeing if we can get an investment going. Can't win the big fight without some resources. And then, I suppose we should find out what's going on ... really. Other than the hollering on the streets, we don't rightly know what's happened. Some good old-fashioned rumor hunting may be a start."
"Segang, I appreciate that you will stay. I, too, yearn for the wilds, but I have been here for so long that I am a Korvosan first." Melianthe pauses, then takes off her mask, revealing features full of resolve, and puts a hand on his muscled arm.
She squints in the daylight and peers at the group with eyes unaccustomed to sun. "We can gather information via networks we have; additionally, we need a place to stay. I am not afraid of heading straight towards the Palace, where the most action must be. ...Although we should figure put our hiding hole before that, and a plan for how to draw back if necessary."
"One's apprenticeship is here,"Absinthe says, simply. [b]"Provided one's master wil still have her after this shocking lateness. Also, one is of Korvosa; this city has been a haven of sorts. Its people deserve a restoration to balance."
[/ooc]
"Agreed, this is when the city needs us the most. But where to go..."
"We locked up Zellara's. That is good enough, since there are no Lambs in tow anymore. Let's go gather information in the meantime. Perhaps now is not a good time to purchase things; prices will be inflated with the panic." She rubs a tired eye and puts her mask back on.
I meant sell vs buy.
You spend the next few days holed up at Zellara's, making small forays out into the streets to gather news and look into selling the valuables. Absinthe swings by her patron's shop, finding it closed and boarded up, a pretty common sight among of the shops and businesses in Korvosa.
The information you collect, sifting facts from rumors and obvious fabrications, confirms that King Eodred II has indeed died, and Queen Ileosa has taken the Crimson Throne. The true cause of death is uncertain, though it is well known that Eodred was old and sickly. Some rumors claim natural causes, while others claim supernatural disease, murder, and of course, the curse of the Crimson Throne. Fueling the more extreme conspiracies is that the castle seneschal is missing, though some say he was killed when the initial riots broke out when Eodred's death was proclaimed.
Learning the source of the riots is difficult, and stories conflict. What you derive is that a collection of desperate citizens, dock workers, smiths and all manner of tradesmen, already stifled by Eodred's spendthrift reign, balked at the thought of Ileosa on the throne. From such a spark, the fires of chaos took hold. The gates are locked up and the port traffic effectively ceases with no dock workers, quickly causing food shortages, which lead to further riots of sacks of grain and scarce meats.
It takes the city guard, supported by Sable Company knights and Hellknight augments, three days to quell the unrest. The streets return to a semblance of normality, but it is clear a lot of damage has been caused, and many blocks remain perched on another outbreak of violence.
You are able to pawn some of the valuables to shopkeepers desperate for business, but the bejeweled brooch becomes a small problem: none will take it for fear of being arrested. They tell you it belongs to Queen Ileosa herself, stolen several weeks ago from the jeweler contracted to repair it. However, you learn that there is a reward posted for its return.
- a narrow teak cigar case inlaid with bits of jade {25 gpv}
- a 2-pound gold ingot bearing the Cheliax coat of arms {100 gpv}
- a miniature gold crown {350 gpv}
- a fist-sized scrimshaw carving of a kraken with garnets for eyes {200 gpv}
- a silver ring bearing the inscription "For Emma - the light of my nights" {150 gpv}
- a highly realistic and highly scandalous ivory figurine of two entwined succubi {450 gpv}
- a masterwork shuriken
- an adamantine arrowhead
- an abalone-shell holy symbol of Shelyn {300 gpv}
- a tiny glass tube
- an obsidian wand
- a crystalline vial
"Abby, do you know where this jeweler is so we can return it? And this is the first I've heard about any Curse of the Crimson Throne. Anyone know anything?"
Segang shows interest in the Keen Edge oil but understands if the group wants to sell it. He can also use the shuriken if no one else can. I believe it can be recovered after use, correct?
"Is it the jeweler posting the reward or the Queen's people? Either way, we should turn it in and get the reward."
The reward for the brooch was to return it to the castle.
"I agree with your assessment of what to keep and what to sell, Demitri. I'm not well versed in the Curse myself." Melianthe flicks the wand around idly.
"One does like the look of this arrowhead," Absinthe says as she turns the piece of weaponry over and over between her fingers. "Perhaps it could be re-forged into a weapon we might better use?"
The statuette never fails to make the tiefling... smirk. "One is now fairly certain that one's grandmother modelled for this," she says, as she lightly taps one of the succubi's heads. It is, indeed, possible to see something of a family resemblance if one is willing to look closely.
"Hm? Return the brooch? Yes... But one would recommend a cautious and well-considered approach, so we are not mistaken for the thieves, ourselves. And... might we inform at the High Bridge orphanage as to the fate of the children? Maybe some of their families have been found?"
"Here's a crazy idea, we could tell the truth. It's probably the easiest story we can all collaborate. I'm up for checking on the children."