Korvosa, the Jewel of Varisia, has long sparkled on Varisia’s southern shore. Established 300 years ago by Cheliax at the height of that empire’s expansion, the city now commands its own destiny. A line of Korvosan kings and queens emerged to rule the city, establishing an infamous seat power—the Crimson Throne. Rulers have sat upon the Crimson Throne for more than a century, and the city has flourished. Yet the monarchy always seems on the brink of disaster. The Crimson Throne is not a prize to be won—it is a curse. No monarch of Korvosa has died of old age, and none have produced an heir while ruling. Even though King Eodred II controls Korvosa more fully than any previous monarch, that control remains tenuous, and many secretly count the days until their latest king falls to what they call the Curse of the Crimson Throne.
The curse has acted once again - the king is dying, and all seem powerless to stop the sickness that has gripped him. The young queen, his wife, is spoken of in spits and crude epithets, and many fear that his death and her rise will spell the misfortune of many. It is the castle's worst-kept secret that Queen Ileosa despises "this backwater colony," and Korvosa returns her hatred ounce for ounce
But for many, there is one who is the subject of far greater hatred: Gaedren Lamm, a king of a worse sort. He rules a tin kingdom built upon the ruin and misfortune of others. Many of Korvosa's lower classes have felt the pain he brings. Some were orphans under his care, but many more are parents or family of those who've gone missing only to be found dead in some alley or those who gave in to the effects of Shiver and other vices the crooked man peddles.
But his widespread terror and pain may be nearing an end as fate - or some other force - tries to bring five strangers together to put an end to the tyranny.
It's been four months - to the day - since your brother's execution. The sadness you feel has dulled slightly, replaced by much stronger feelings of anger, frustration and growing hopelessness. All leads have lead nowhere. All inquiries have been shut down. All you have for all of your investigations is a name: Gaedran Lamm. It is a name infamous and feared, but for all his renown, no one seems to know - or to be willing to - disclose his whereabouts.
As you go about getting ready for the day, you spot something wrong your Harrow Deck - it's not drastic, but something looks a little off from what you're used to seeing. Looking closer, you clearly see that the top card is not from your deck. Picking it up, you see a message scrawled on the back of the card - it is The Joke card.
Peering around your room you see no sign of entry or intruders; there seems no explanation for how the card arrived there.
It is late afternoon and you've found yourself in your usual haunt, Jeggare’s Jug, or as the locals call it, Jeggy's Jug. It's a small pub, but it's near your flat and is far less unruly than the Sticky Mermaid - you haven't feared for your life even once while drinking here.
The tavern is relatively empty as you arrive, and as you approach the bar, a portly woman greets you. "Welcome back, Gyl," she says, smiling warmly. This is Emma Eckhart, she owns the tavern with her husband Jason. "You're a bit early, aren't ya? Got a shot here ready for ya - don't know how you drink that pepper whiskey. Too prickly for my taste." She pours your customary drink and slides it across the bar to you.
You take a seat at the bar, but before you're able to even take a sip you fell a small tug on your cloak. Turning, you see a small child - no older than 10 - peering up at with wide green eyes. Her arm is extended and it seems she wants you take something from it.
As soon as you take it, she turns and runs off without a word. Looking at the object, you see that it is a harrowing card - the Big Sky card. Turning it over, you see a message scrawled on the card.
You awake in the back room of the bowyer's shop, your hand instinctively reaching for your throat. It's been four years, but you still remember the pain. You dream of it. You wake with it. But the pain isn't alone - it is accompanied by a name: Lamm. It is a constant whisper, a prayer almost. He nearly killed you and his own painful death can't come soon enough.
As you begin to dress for the day, you notice a card folded in half around the string of one of your bows. You suppose the bowyer left you a note, but when you look at it, you see that it is a Harrowing card - The Avalanche. Flipping it over, you see a scrawled message.
It has been a long, tedious day at the locksmith's shop. Your master, eager to hand more work off to you, has been grilling you for weeks, giving you challenges and tests to prove your abilities. Your fingers are tight and curled in pain. You just need a drink.
And so you head into The Sticky Mermaid in Old Korvosa. It's an unwholesome place with terribly unruly patrons, but if you keep your head down you can usually be left well enough alone. Plus, it's been shut down for a couple of weeks now (the guards often grow weary of breaking up the bar fights and have it shut down) - usually when the place reopens, there are free rounds for the tavern's faithful.
When you walk in, the bar is already growing crowded - it seems the rumored promise of free alcohol was spreading. You find your way to a corner of the bar and manage to get the barmaid's attention. The busty, incredibly unattractive woman approaches with a bottle of the house spirits and an acceptably clean mug. She pours a fair amount in and slides it over with a curt "On the house. One only." She looks at you closer for a moment before saying, "Hey, ain't you that Mitchell fella? 'Sposed to hand you this when you came in." She reaches into her bodice and fiddles for a minute before retrieving a small envelope, which she throws onto the bar before heading to care for another patron.
Opening the envelope you find a single object inside, a harrowing card - The Rabbit Prince - with a message scrawled on the back.
You wake on the floor of your sister's room. Her arm dangling over your head brings a smile to your face. You may be sore from sleeping on the hard floor, but at least she didn't go out last night for her fix.
Sitting up, you rub your eyes and stretch. You look at your sister - she is sleeping peacefully, and naturally - before standing to get your boots and head down for some breakfast. As you reach down for your boots, you notice a small, white something in your left one. Reaching in to draw it out you discover that it is a Harrowing card - the Unicorn - with a message scrawled on the back.
The Message
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.
Driven by the promise of knowledge of Lamm's location, Arianna wastes little time in making her way to Lancet Street.
Arriving at the home of the mysterious messenger, Arianna knocks on the door. "Hello? Is anyone home?"
Fingers cocks an eyebrow at the waitress but remains silent as she delivers his drink. He takes the card and with some difficulty reads the message it contains. "The Rabbit Prince, eh? Wonder what that's all about. I know there are con artists who read futures with cards like these, but never gone in for that sort of foolishness myself."
He looks around at the growing crowd in the dingy tavern and sighs. Seems the promise of free drinks was going to stop at one. His desire for revenge against Lamm driving him, he flips a copper pinch to the barmaid, downs his drink, and walks into the evening air. "Just enough time to get to Lancet Street before sunset if I'm lucky," he thought laughing. "Luck was something I've never been acquainted with; well bad luck maybe.Perhaps that'd change tonight?"
He arrives at the address and sees a female (Ariana above) knocking on the door. "Maybe she's my hostess, or maybe there are others who got the same invitation. Wise to take a moment and see what comes about, no sense being first to arrive.".
Fingers stands back trying to remain unobtrusive, not hiding per se, but subtly watching to see if she enters, or if others gather in the same place.
As Arianna knocks on the door, it opens slightly. No one responds, but it seems as if the occupant intended for his or her guests to come in.
The cozy chamber within this small home is filled with a fragrant haze of flowers and strong spice. The haze comes from several sticks of incense smoldering in wall-mounted burners that look like butterfly-winged elves. The smoke itself seems to soften edges and gives the room a dream-like feel. The walls are draped with brocaded tapestries, one showing a black-skulled beast juggling men’s hearts, another showing a pair of angels dancing atop a snow-blasted mountain. A third tapestry on the far wall depicts a tall hooded figure shrouded in mist, a flaming sword held in a skeletal hand. Several brightly-colored rugs cover the floor, but the room’s only furnishings are a wooden table covered by a bright red throw cloth and several elegant tall-backed chairs. A basket covered by blue cloth sits under the table.
As Arianna moves further into the home and closer to the table, she sees a simple note that reads: Thank you for coming. I had to step out for a bit, but shall return shortly. Please, have a seat while you wait. The basket under the table contains bread and drink for you.
Arianna eyes the note given to Corso, scrawled across a Harrow card, just as the note she had been given had been, shaking her head and smiling at the tall, young gentleman.
"I would love to discuss the nature of the note, but I am not the note's sender, though I am no stranger to the Harrow."
Entering the room, the young woman eyes the note and the refreshments on the table. She takes a seat quickly partaking of the the bread and drink before answering Corso's next question.
"Indeed, I have received a similar misive." she says producing the note written on yet another Harrow card.
"You must be one of the others our mysterious host had mentioned in the note, Corso. My name is Arianna, a pleasure to meet you. Hopefully this will all end poorly for Gaedren Lamm."
Durriken frowns at the note suspiciously. Did Lamm know he wasn't dead? Nobody who knew him here knew the whole story of his past. Still, even if Lamm was out to finish what he started, the note provided some promise of picking up Lamm's long cold trail. Even hired killers could be persuaded to talk.
The work day passes slowly, until dusk finally began to settle over the city. Putting away his tools, Durriken retires to his small chamber, untying a small roll of cloth and donning the weapons held inside. Satisfied that he is ready to face whatever Lamm might have planned, he slips out into the fading sunlight. Navigating the crowd with practiced ease, Durriken makes his way to the address, passing it once on the far side of the street before settling into the shadows opposite to observe a young man and woman exchange words and enter the building when it opens at the woman's touch. His frown deepens. No assassins, those. What exactly is going on here?
Moving quickly, he crosses the street to the door, letting himself inside the still open portal. The smell of food reaches his nose and he realizes he has yet to eat, but his eyes fix on the two individuals who proceeded him into the chamber, hearing only Ariana's last sentence. When he speaks, his voice is low and rough. "And what is Lamm to you, exactly?"
Gyllan greets Emma warmly and thanks her for the drink, saying, "Early? Most folk show up at work much earlier than this! I like to think of the Jug here as my office, so you could say I'm quite late to work indeed!"
He's about to down his peppery shot and head to his usual table in the corner to see what opportunity presents this evening when he's interrupted by a young child, who hands him a Harrow card and vanishes out the door and into the waning afternoon light.
His still-untouched whisky in one hand, Gyllan looks at the note card held in the other, thinking, Now that's an odd way for someone to get in touch me with about business. What can it be about?
He flips the card and reads the back of it. Lamm! After all this time, finally a lead on the man! Though I'd better be careful. From what I hear about him, he could have heard I've been asking after Ella and laid a trap for me. But I can't pass up the chance to find out something.
He downs his shot and calls out "Gotta run, Emma, put that on my tab!"
As he makes his way to Lancet Street, greeting his many friends and business acquaintances along the way, he thinks about what he knows about the neighborhood and the address.
Arriving at the block where the house should be, Gyllan slows his approach and casually studies the people around him. This gives him the opportunity to observe and odd little parade of people arriving at the door - a lovely, dark-haired woman with an exotic air about her, a tallish young man with the look of a Chelish noble, and then a Varisian man wearing a collection of weapons. Looking about, Gyllan notes he's not the only one studying the scene - there's a guttersnipe nearby watching, though he doesn't have the feral look he'd expect from one of Lamm's agents.
Ah, well. If I don't try, I'll curse myself for it later, he says to himself. He heads for the door and steps through just in time to overhear the Varisian man ask the woman about Lamm, and the young noble upbraid him for his manners.
"Well, it sounds like I'm in the right place. I'm Gyllan Dow, and it sounds like I'm not the only one who got a strange message about Gaedren Lamm today."
Durriken tenses the muscles in his wrist when the young man reaches for his sword, but something in Corso's bluster causes him to pause. He's too jumpy to have been here waiting for me. A humorless smile touches Durriken's lips as the young man continues to talk. When he is finished, Durriken reaches into his pouch and produces a folded card.
"Very well." He moves past the young man towards the table, handing him the card, inclining his head in greeting to the woman who spoke earlier, revealing a ragged scar to the two of them. He tenses again when a second man enters the room, but immediately dismisses the threat. Another? Was this invitation genuine?
"Durriken. I suppose you could say I'm a former lackey." Ripping off a piece of bread, he sits across the table from the other two. "As far as 'polite society' goes, those rules stop somewhat shy of murder, do they not?"
Gyllan laughs quietly at Corso's remark about poison, then says, "It is odd to have been invited to a party where the host isn't around. And it all seems to center on Lamm. How can our host have known we all had some connection to him, or reason to hate him, more like?"
Turning to the dark-haired woman, he asks, "Care e numele tău? Și ce te aduce aici?"
"This seems too subtle for Lamm. If he wanted us dead, he would have his thugs attack us alone, not gather us in one location."
Arianna smiles, hearing her native tongue and responds in kind.
"O plăcere să te cunosc, Gyllan. Sunt Arianna Sirmikova. În ceea ce eu sunt aici, destul de evident, același lucru care aduce restul dintre noi aici, o ura Buring de Gaedrean Lamm și o dorință de a-l mort."
Gyllan smiles and bows his head graciously as he responds, "Da, că de mult a fost de clar. Mă întreb dacă ai dansa pe muzica din patria noastră ca frumos ca să dansezi în jurul întrebarea mea. M-am întrebat ce Lamm prejudiciul a făcut pentru tine, dar poate voi afla cu timpul. În orice caz, plăcerea de a reuniunii noastre este a mea."
Once the Varisian enters, Fingers sees no more folks coming and decides to proceed inside. He slips quietly into the room, hearing the Varisian and the lady talking in some foreign tongue.
"Quite a crew we got here. You all get one o' these too?" He holds up his card, The Rabbit Prince. "I ain't no rabbit, and sure as hell ain't no prince. Anyone o' you sent this, mind tellin' me what it means? I ain't in fer any o' that con game fortun' tellin'. I only came cuz a Lamm."
He looks around and at each one of the gathered group. "I ain't seein' him, so I reckon one a you done brought us 'ere. No what's the story, eh?"
Fingers is a short wiry fellow with long sandy blond hair and cold blue eyes. He is a little unkempt. His voice is low and gravelly and his speech is rough and uneducated.
"Our host has not arrived as of yet. The Rabbit Prince you say?" Arianna asks cocking her head slightly.
"Traditionally, The Rabbit Prince is a quirky fellow who represents the vagaries of hand-to-hand combat. The Prince is battle personified and nothing if not capricious. As his broken sword symbolizes, any combatant can fall in battle, no matter how brave or skilled. This card sometimes stands for younger members of royalty or other powerful households. Without performing an actual reading for you, I really can not tell you much more."
Turning her attention to the others in the room, "If any of the rest of you are interested in knowing the traditional meanings of the cards you were given, I would be happy to tell you."
Gyllan listens to Arianna's answer about the Harrow card, obviously much impressed. "I would like to hear more about the card I was given. I've no idea who gave it to me or how they could know anything about me - but they somehow know I seek Gaedren Lamm, and your knowledge of the Harrow clearly runs deep."
He pulls the Big Sky card from his pocket and shows it to Arianna.
"As I mentioned with the Rabbit Prince, without performing a reading for you, I can tell you little more than the traditional meaning of the card." she says with a soft smile.
"The Big Sky shows an epic moment as the slaves of a nation are freed. The slaves' freedom specifies momentous and powerful change, as old shackles are cast of in the light of day. If misaligned, those castoff shackles might be replaced with worse ones. Do you happen to remember if the image was right side up or upside down when you first saw it?"
Arianna turns her attention to Corso, somewhat embarassed that she has become such a focus while the group gathered awaits their host.
"A full reading could certainly be arranged, Corso. As with the Big Sky, the Unicorn may be misaligned, so the nature of the card's orientation when you found it could alter its meaning. The most common interpretation of the Unicorn is that of a card that generously offers that which the subject seeks, just as the charger in the picture offers up its fruit. When misaligned, the card means betrayal, poisoning, or a false friend."
"Hmm, powerful change, but for better or worse. Life can certainly go that way, can't it? Let me think, the little one handed me the card,, I had whiskey in my left hand so I reached for it with my right, and as I recall, the card was..."
Mitchell smirks as the lady tries to interpret meaning behind the men's cards. "Jus' a bunch a damn pictures. Purty to look at, but that's it. Ain't no special meanin' b'hin' any a' it. Rest is jus' a lot o' solly slop, an' a purty little moth tryin' to part ya from yer silver shields. Ain't tha' right lady? Tell the truth now."
Arianna raises an eyebrow and smirks at Mitchell. "While it is true there are those who would use the Harrow for games of chance, such as Towers, like my brother was quite fond of, and there are also those who would seek to swindle folk out of their coin with false readings, there are also practioners of the art who's clairvoyance is something truly supernatural. My grandmother was one of the latter. My own abilities? That remains to be fully seen, though I have been right far more often than I have been wrong."
Gyllan looks down on Mitchell from his greater height and says, "I'd hate for our host to arrive and find us already come to blows, but you'd do well to watch your tongue. You've not only insulted the lovely lady here and her gift, but my mother's people as well. I'll be charitable and guess that you've been duped by a false reading or two in the past, when the riches and power predicted didn't come your way. But my charity only extends so far."
Finishing with as stern a look as his young face can muster, he turns to the rest of the group and says, "If it's not too much to ask, I'm curious to hear what everyone's connection to Lamm is. For my part, I believe he kidnapped my niece, Ella. If she still lives, I hate to think what sort of work he's forced her into doing. I want to find her, and kill Lamm for what he's done to my family, and a sweet little girl."
"It's all fine an' interestin' but where's our host, eh? I came here to hear 'bout Lamm, not discuss a grift or play at cards. Anyone know when this show begins?"
He looks about for any sign of what brought them here today. Failing to see anything interesting, he'll lean in the corner for a while.
Very quietly, the door to the home opens and you see a slight, smiling woman enter as Arianna is speaking. "Plus, those 'pretty pictures' had enough power to bring five strangers to my home," she says, closing the door behind her. "Welcome, everyone, to my home. I am Zellara. I apologize for not being here as you arrived, but I hope you all availed yourself of the refreshments."
As she steps into the light, you see that she is an attractive middle-aged Varisian woman
with long dark hair. She takes a seat at the table and begins shuffling her Harrow Deck - it doesn't seem as if she's preparing to do a reading, but almost as if the action is just a natural thing for her to do. Her skill with the deck is obvious - the cards seem to float and dance over her hands and the table. With a nod of her head, she indicates that anyone still standing should sit at her table. Conveniently, there are exactly enough chairs for everyone. Once all are seated, she speaks in a soft but clear voice.
“Thank you for coming, my friends, and for putting up with my unconventional method of contacting you. I have reason to remain hidden, you see—a terrible man would see great harm done to me if he knew I was reaching out for help. This is a man you know, for he has done something terrible to each of you as well. I speak, of course, of Gaedren Lamm, a man whose cruelty and capacity to destroy the lives of those he touches are matched only by his gift for avoiding reprisal. You see, a year ago, his thieves stole this, my Harrow deck, from me. It is important to me, an heirloom passed down through a dozen generations, and also my sole means of support. When pickpockets stole it, my son, Eran, tracked them down. The thieves were in the employ of Gaedren Lamm, and in reward for finding them, Gaedren murdered my son." She pauses for a moment to compose herself before continuing.
“I sought help from the Guard, but they turned me away. And so I asked around. I paid bribes. I consulted my Harrow deck for advice. And recently, I was rewarded - I found out where Gaedren dwells. He can be found in an old fishery north of here at Westpier 17, where he trains his abducted children to be pickpockets and counts his stolen treasures.
“And now, I need your help. I cannot hope to face this man on my own, and the Guard moves so slowly that if I were to go to them, Gaedren would certainly know of their coming well in advance. Even if they did arrest him, what guarantee would I have he would be punished? This criminal has evaded the law for decades. But you know of these frustrations as well, for word on the street has it that Gaedren has wronged each of you, too. So there we are. It is time for him to pay.”
She goes silent to allow you to respond.
Arianna stands and with a small curtsey says to the woman"A pleasure to meet a fellow practioner, Zellara."
"You are sure of this location? I have tried to find him many times myself, but have failed. If this is truly where the bastard is, perhaps my brother's soul will soon have a bit of peace."
Durriken eyes Zellara suspiciously. "And how did you come by this information? I have been looking for some time, and have not come nearly this close to him."
"My deck grants me insight that not many have. When my son was murdered, I spent hours with my deck to try and uncover Lamm's whereabouts. I was granted the information. And I am dead certain that it is accurate." She speaks with earnest and sincerity.
"Very well. When do we leave?" Arianna asks the others.
Another one who believes in these cards. Still she found me, so this bears investigating. His eyes narrow. "And your plan is for the six of us to just go in there and kill him, then? I am not opposed to such a course, but are all of you prepared to do what must be done?"
"Oh, I cannot accompany you. I would be of little aid, anyway. No, my purpose was to find and bring you together." Zellara says. "I encourage you to act quickly - I have located Lamm, but I am uncertain how long he will be there."
"Well, I've looked just about everywhere else in Korvosa for that monster, makes sense he'd be there. I'm happy to put an end to him, but I'll have to put some questions to him first."
As the woman spills her story, Fingers looks more and more interested. He thinks back, trying to remember the place on the docks she describes.
"I can't 'member that partickilar place, but there's a hunnert old empty buildin's along them piers these days, times bein' what they are. Reckon ol' Lamm'll have it locked up tight, as much ta keep strangers out as ta keep them Lambs in. Bet they ain't got a lock I cain't get open though."
"Let's go creep the place and see what's what."
He shoulders his pack and makes ready to leave unless the woman Zellara has more to say.
If she doesn't or along the way, he introduces himself. "Mitchell's the name, some folks call me "Fingers", stick aroun' an' you'll fin' out why." he smirks again. "Was one a' Lamm's Lamb's myself not long ago, I have special feelin' 'bout that man, makes me wanna gut 'im, you best be fast wit' any questions, boyo"
Another Lamm? I do not recognize him, he must have come...later.
Durriken stands and moves towards the door. "No sense in waiting, if indeed he is where you claim, and if there are no more questions. I would not have him slip away again."
Zellara is clearly pleased that you've taken up her request. Before you leave she adds, "I'm certain I need not tell you all, but Lamm is dangerous. He will do anything to stay alive. You must be equally as determined to ensure that he does not. Now, though I cannot accompany you, I would like to perform a Harrowing before you depart. Though some of you may doubt," she glances at Fingers with a slight smile, "there is power and guidance in these cards." She shuffles the card and with a flick of her wrist withdraws 9 cards. She then shuffles the smaller stack and says, "First, we must do the choosing." She extends the cards to you, clearly intending that you take a card.
Arianna - The Dance
"Fingers" - The Locksmith
Corso - The Avalanche
Durriken - The Cricket
Gyllan - The Rabbit Prince
She seems to make note of the card that you've drawn before taking them back and fluidly shuffling them back into the deck. She then lays down nine cards on the table in 3 rows of 3.
= LG
= NG
= CG
= LN
= N
= CN
= LE
= NE
= CE
The cards are spread out in front of you. In the top row you see The Owl, The Teamster and The Courtesan. In the middle row you see The Dance, The Marriage and the Cyclone. In the bottom row you see the Paladin, The Betrayal and the Queen Mother.
"Yes. It is as I have seen," Zellara says, staring intently at the cards. She speaks in a slightly distant, mystical voice. "You five will be bound together through pain and suffering. You will push together, working to complete your goals no matter what. There is a great and powerful woman who is shaping events and her influence will not leave you untouched. Our city is a fragile universe, held together by a strict set of rules - there are those who are attempting to step out of line, and so doing, cause great change. But this change will bring people together, creating new powers. These powers will both be a force that tear through all who attempt to stand against them - including one another. Those who are expected to stand for good will do nothing. Envy will twist spirits and lead to destruction. And lastly, the poor and the powerless shall be the greatest victims of this struggle."
The reading finished, Zellara stands. " The fishery is less than a mile from my home, up Warehouse Way. I wish you great speed and success in your task."
After a short 20-minute walk, you arrive at the pier without incident.
As you travel, you notice that there is a significant number of people out for this time of day. You don't think much of it, perhaps blaming the fact that you even noticed it on heightened nerves or anticipation of your upcoming task.
You hear the sounds of shouts and breaking glass to the west. You can't decipher anything specific or threatening about the noise, but it's certainly noticeable.
The reek of brine and the stink of week-dead fish hang thickly in the air here. The old double doors in the side of this weathered building are tightly closed, with a drooping signpost hanging above. The sign it once displayed is long gone, leaving behind only a single short length of rusted chain.
A fifteen-foot-wide loading dock abuts the side of the building here. A few carts sit nearby, partially loaded with large tar-caked barrels marked with a fish-shaped splotch of red paint on the side. Double doors to the immediate south of the loading dock’s ramp provide access to the building’s interior, while a rickety flight of stairs descends nearly to the river’s surface to the east, where a second door provides a secondary entrance.
A slippery boardwalk clings to the side of the fishery, held together by barnacle-thick pilings that have been worn halfway through their thickness at the waterline.
Gyllan listens to Zellara's reading with great interest, and growing trepidation, studying the card he's drawn and wondering what it means in his case. This sounds a lot bigger than whether we manage to finish off Lamm, or even whether I find Ella. What have I gotten myself into this time?
Gyllan looks around carefully as he and his new companions approach the rotten old structure. Studying the scene a bit, he comments, "Seems like there are a lot of people out and about for this area at this time of day. I wonder what's..." He interrupts himself to say, "What was that?! Did anyone else hear shouts, and glass breaking? Makes me a little nervous, knowing what we know about the person who's supposed to be here."
Arianna watches as Zellara lays out the Harrow spread, taking careful note of the cards and their alignment. Listening to Zellara's interreptation of the spread, she finds herself confused but none-the-less in agreement with the more experienced Harrower's commentary.
"Thank you for the reading, Zellara. Hopefully we will meet again very soon to celebrate the death of Gaedren Lamm."
Hearing Gyllan's comment, but obviously distracted by the small, silver-furred fox weaving its way around the young woman's feet as she walks, Arianna says, "Hmmm? I hadn't really noticed. Shouts? Glass breaking? From where?"
Durriken takes the proffered card hesitantly, glances at it, and hands it back with a noncommital grunt, though he nods approvingly at Arriana's statement. When the group heads to the fishery, he is quiet, walking a few steps separate from the rest, clenching and opening his fists in a fairly steady rhythm throughout the walk.
He nods at Gyllan's observation. "I hear it. It does not seem to concern us though. If anything, it will draw the eyes of the watch away from our task. We should focus on what is in front of us."
Fingers frowns at the idea of a read, but takes his card nonetheless, not wanting to miss out in case there is something to this mumbo-jumbo. When he draws The Locksmith he actually grins for a moment wondering what the trick is?
As Zellara expounds on a complex storyline, Mitchell eyes her. I ain't plannin' to change the worl', sister. Just fin' me ol' Lamm and we'll see wha' happens from there, ok?"
On the walk, he approaches Zellara. "What's a pretty Moth like you doin' mixed up with a skel like Lamm, eh?"
As the group arrives a the pier, Fingers is too caught up in his thoughts about Lamm to hear any sounds. AS the others describe sounds of a struggle, he snaps back to attention.
"I can case the joint, if ya like, boss. Take a quick peek 'roun' the outside and see what's what? Or do ya prefer the kickin' in the doors approach?"
Gyllan looks off towards the distant sounds a few moments longer, then says, "I don't like when there's big happenings in Korvosa and I don't know what it's about. Bad for business. But it's a long way off, and we've a job to do right here at hand."[b]
Turning his attention to the old fishery, he says, [b]"I've no wish to wait any longer, our quarry's probably more active at night than day, in any case. I'll come with you, Fingers, and take a look around. Let's take a look at the doors on the north side, there. I'm especially curious about that little door down below. Maybe the rest of you can keep an eye out for anyone going in or out?"