|
Korvosa, the Jewel of Varisia, has long sparkled on the shore of Conqueror’s Bay. Established just over 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 of 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 university life you once knew, where studies of magic and art was a daily practice, have been ripped from you forever. Record of theft, reckless endangerment, and manslaughter were enough to get you removed. Fifteen sailors lay at the bottom of the sea, and a fisherman claimed that one intoxicated student named Andreas Isidore stole the boat for a joyride.
To your good fortune, some years later, the charges were dropped. The fisherman's tale proved to have too many flaws, and it seemed abundantly clear he was a paid witness to make you take a fall. Before he could return to testify correctly, however, the fisherman was murdered. His body was found in the ocean, full of stab wounds and bite marks.
While all may have been lost, you had one moment of good fortune. Long ago, a brother you lost when but a young boy, has returned to your life as you found him inside a dark cathedral of black stone and sharp points. Giacomo brings with the name of the man who has damned you to a life of being a suspected criminal.
Gaedren Lamm.
Together, you two now have a singular purpose. Make him pay, and pay dearly.
The trail has proven dry until recently. A card of some kind has come to your possession as a book mark in your spellbook. How it got there, you don't know, but it resembles a man who carries a book of many unkempt pages and wears heavy iron chains. On the bottom it reads Inquisitor.
On the back of the card it has some handwritten note.
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 had a life in what could have been a luxurious style. A family of respectable status that would have gotten you to a fine education at the university. It is a shame that fate had its own decisions to make. You were torn away from your family at the youthful age of five, when a greasy man broke into your home through the window. With a knife at your throat, you were swept away into the night.
Every day you had to grind fish into a paste to make a terrible smelling snack cake. Many children, who were also abducted, were either turned into pick pocket thieves or were never seen again. Stories among the oldest of the kids said that those who fell behind were fed to an alligator. All this while under the watchful wicked eye of a cruel and sinister monster.
Gaedren Lamm.
One fateful day you were sent as a pickpocket, but after many hours you found yourself about to return empty handed, and as a meal to Lamm's pet. It was when the strangest of beings showed, with a face of tentacles that formed a beard. It offered you a chance for vengeance, a chance to return to a life that was stolen from you. All you had to do was follow it.
With little else as option, this devil led you to a church of black stone and sharp points. It was here you lived for many years, and here you studied a dark art of magic. Perhaps by the will of your benefactor and savior that a man named Andreas crossed paths, and the sensation confirmed to you that he is indeed your brother.
Now you two have a united goal; to destroy Gaedren Lamm's operation and bring and end to the old sinner. Destiny has proven kindness once again as well, as you find a card of a man who carries a book of wicked pages and chains of iron. On its bottom is labelled Inquisitor.
On the back of the card it has some handwritten note.
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.
Sweet, sweet, shiver. It was almost the end of you. Spiders and vivid dreams were what haunted you day and night. There was a time before the shiver, but it seems irrelevant. Shiver nearly destroyed you.
Nearly, but it was not enough. A dark presence always loomed in the background, and it kept edging its way closer to the forefront of your mind. A hungering and dark abyssal sensation that crept ever closer. It was what you could cling to when you wanted to forget the shiver.
This sensation does not seek to comfort you, but instead it fills you with a destructive sensation. Destroy! Destroy! Destroy! You want to destroy the shiver! Destroy the manufacturer! Destroy the man!
Gaedren Lamm.
He made the shiver. He must be destroyed. It would honor the hungering abyss! It would bring honor to the devouring sensation! Let all know the devourer, as it comes to snuff out light!
One day, a card comes to you. It shows of a burning fires and angry men. It is labelled as The Uprising.
On the back of the card it has some handwritten note.
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 work of the church has always been one of just reward, if not hard at times. The little orphan you have looked after all this time, Gorvy, is something like a brother to you now. Together you have been performing the work of your faith diligently. Until the fateful day it all fell apart.
In the market with young Gorvy, you were finishing up some much needed supply shopping, but it only takes a moment to lose sight of what is important. Turning around, you find that Gorvy has vanished. You spent hours searching, called for his name, and asked the local guards for help. It was all to no avail.
Days of searching turned into weeks, turned into months, and it was a passing rumor that you heard of a boogie-man who would abduct children and use them as his slaves and thieves.
Gaedren Lamm.
The next thing you knew, a card ended up in your pocket. Which is odd, as you don't know how it ever got there or where it is from. It depicts a cyclops creature indulging in hard alcohol. On the bottom it is labelled The Publican.
On the back of the card it has some handwritten note.
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.
Honor. Family. What does it all mean anymore? Now is the life of the scoundrel, and that means needing money. You found work, through a connection, that could lead to a decent pay day. A crime lord who has a large area of control over the pickpockets and cheap food labor markets. If anything, this guy has plenty of money. Best you thought you could do, if it didn't work out, was sneak off with some coin.
And did that ever prove wrong. Beaten to a pulp by his thugs, and left to rot for a crime spree of stolen jewelry from a noble estate that was marked to make you the culprit. You were not even on the scene of the crime, but the trail led right back to you, beaten and bloody in a pile of refuse with some cheap imitation jewels on your person. What hurt the most is his mocking words. "Looks like I am more clever than a fox."
Damn that Gaedren Lamm.
You got lucky though. No witnesses were able to come forth and testify against you. Perhaps his thugs got too thirsty for blood and left one-too-many servants dead. With no true conviction able to pin you down, the case was dropped. Now your pride is sore, your body is recovered, and your thirst for vengeance all the more ravenous. When you find that old bastard, you will make him pay.
One day, you are wandering the streets. A swift picking of an apple cart gets you breakfast for the day, but also something more. A card that was taken too, even though you didn't know it was there. It appears to have a rabbit in a noble outfit, and who wields a broken sword. It is labelled The Rabbit Prince.
On the back of the card it has some handwritten note.
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 all are gathered inside a small yet humble home. It consists of a cozy chamber filled with a fragrant haze of flowers and strong spice. The aroma comes from several sticks of incense smoldering in wall-mounted burners with butterfly winged elves for design, which adds to the dreamy feeling of this house.
The walls are draped with brocaded tapestries, one showing a black-skulled beast juggling human hearts, and 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, holding a flaming sword 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.
Seren knocks on the door and, as it swings open, steps gingerly inside, ”Hello, err, is this...? She holds the card in her hand.
Looking about, she is relieved to see Desnan symbols on the floor, along with imagery familiar to her Varisian sensibilities.
[b]”Hello? Anyone there?”
|
As the last person is walking in and having just closed the door, the door is immediately thrown open, "Hi everybody! I hear we got stuff to do and a people kill. I'm Kip by the way. so who sent the cardnote?" The kitsune saying this has red fur, a squint, smiling wide, wearing a feathery breastplate, carrying a hammer and shield, and wearing a strange religious symbol on his neck.
In the corner stands a noblewoman-- or perhaps she was a noblewoman, at some point. Her clothes were fine several seasons ago but have clearly been worn too long without repair. Her fingers are interwoven atop the post of one of the chairs, and she affixes each of her fellow "guests" with an appraising look as they enter.
On her hips rest a pair of weapons-- a rapier and a curious weapon some particularly well-traveled persons might recognize as a flintlock pistol.
"A fox chasing a rabbit," she says with some amusement as Kip enters. "There is a jest there, perhaps. Or a children's rhyme." She tilts her head playfully, as if to toss the idea between her ears.
Seren looks around doubtfully, ”Um, did any of you?”
She holds up the card.
”Ah, a separate card for us each, then,” says the noblewoman, displaying her own briefly: The Rabbit Prince, it says, with a depiction of the same. ”I fear my fox and rabbit analogue may have presumed otherwise.”
Seren looks at her card, "The Publican. I don't know why I got that one?"
She looks around the room again, "Is the card correct? Gaedren Lamm?"
Seren’s eyes widen, ”He’s got Gorvy, or knows where he is. You can’t just kill him: I need to find my ward!”
She fiddles nervously with her card, ”And, I mean, once we know the truth, perhaps the guard, or the Sable Company...”
Seren stares at the card, unwilling to meet anyone’s gaze, Did I come here to kill a man?
"It appears that my brother and I have received the same card." says Andreas. "Gaedren Lamm does have much to answer for. The real question, though, is who summoned us here, and how."
"Who are these others... and why should we trust them?"
”It is not as if the guard has never seen the man,” offers Vulpina. ”Someone else will take the fall for him—willingly or not—and we will be right where we started.” She turns her gaze toward Seren, gesturing with an open hand. ”Extract the information you need, certainly. But slide a knife between his ribs the instant you obtain it, or he will slip into the river and likely avoid biting any hooks for quite some time.”
”If this is meant to entrap me, I am already here,” points out Vulpina. ”I doubt there is little I could say to garner further misfortune upon myself if that were the case.”
"There is some wisdom in that statement. We are here already" replied Andreas.
"Can they be this brilliant, truly?"
|
|
The means to identify the one who summoned you all is currently limited. The only clue seems to be, aside from your cards, the basket that resides under the table.
Inside it sits a bottle of Chelaxian Vintage from 4675, as well as bread that seems to be fresh from today. A note also lies in the basket...
Thank you for coming.
I had to step out for a bit, but shall return shortly. Please, have a seat while you wait.
Help yourselves to the bread and wine.
Seren puts the basket on the table and looks about for glasses, "Would anyone like some wine?"
Vulpina makes a face. ”At the risk of impoliteness... I will wait until I have seen our host partake. I may have wandered into a trap, but if so, I will not poison myself as well.”
”I will not judge you for indulging, however,” she says unconvincingly.
"Oh, right, um, right..." Seren puts the bottle down and steps back cautiously, looking at her hands.
|
|
"Curious, curious, curious. Why bring us all here? We all seem to have issues with the same person, but why gather us together? Why offer food and drink? particularly in a way that would make a poison trap obvious. You!" Kip points at Seren "Our enemy took someone from you, but what of everyone else? Me I was left for dead shivering in the alleyway." While saying this Kip picks up a piece of bread, sniffs it, and sets it back down.
|
|
Giacomo quietly looks deep in thought.
"We just might be able to use this situation. These people seem manipulable."
Giacomo breaks off a piece of bread and offers it to his curious critter, before pouring a glass of wine and stepping back against the wall near Andreas.
"Well, we were invited." comments Andreas as he waits for Seren to pour.
"Of course. They do not understand true power. They are putty for my skills."
Andreas's look shows he is judging.
Spooked, Seren does not pour and just watches.
|
|
From the door you hear the sound of a few knocks, before it gently eases open. A middle-aged Varisian woman with long and dark hair walks inside. As she enters, she produces a harrow deck from her pocket, and idly shuffles the cards. The way they seem to float and dance through her fingers, it is quite clear that she is very skilled, and more than likely the one who contacted you all.
"I am certain you have questions. Allow me to start with my name; I am Zellara Esmeranda. No, I am not an associate of Gaedren Lamm, but I am someone who needs to have him stopped as well. Exactly like all of you, I have been wronged by him as well." She indicates to the table and seats with a wave of her hand, implying everyone sit down.
Vulpina finds her way from the arm of the chair to the seat. She cannot help but smile; ”As suspicious as we all are, the likelihood of Mister Lamm to have acquired at least this many enemies is admittedly quite high,” she admits.
|
|
"To understand the man we all know as our common enemy is simple." She draws a card from her deck and places it flatly on the table in a quick and heavy motion.
The Idiot
"Folly, greed, blackmail, bribery."
Then as swiftly as she places that one down, she places down another next to it.
The Betrayal
"Selfishness."
And then another card swiftly is placed next to that.
The Crows
"Murder and theft."
|
|
"Well, perhaps a year ago or so, Gaedren Lamm's thieves stole this from me." She indicates to her harrow deck. "It is important to me, an heirloom passed down through a dozen generations, and also my sole means of support. When Lamm's pickpockets stole it, my son Eran tracked them down and returned my deck to me." She closes her eyes and frowns.
"Unfortunately, he was followed. Soon after he left my home, Lamm's thugs murdered him. I sought help from the Korvosan Guard, but they turned me away. I asked around, paid bribes, and consulted my deck for advice. It was recently I was rewarded - I found where Gaedren dwells."
"Of course, that is where you all come into this. The Korvosan Guard is so pathetically slow moving, that if I went to them for help, he would most likely evade capture. Even if they did arrest him, the odds are he would escape justice again. He has evaded the law for decades." She then looks at each of you. "But you know of these frustrations as well, for word on the street has it that Gaedren has wronged each and every one of you. It is time for him to pay, for everything."
”You may refer to me as the Lady Vulpina,” says she, ”although I would consider it unlikely that you require the introduction. For the rest of you, of course, it shall serve.” She casts an amiable look around the room.
She is quiet while Zellara speaks. Not an entirely unfamiliar story, although some key details have been changed. Has everyone here been wronged similarly?
”Will he be the only one paying?” asks the noblewoman. ”Or, to be more to the point, is vengeance to be our sole compensation?”
Andreas raises an eyebrow at Kip’s crude attempt to help with the wine. He sighs deeply as he pours himself a glass, making a show of swirling the wine and sampling its aroma. ”Of course, a vintage such as this should be properly decanted and allowed to breathe unlike the Sauerton many here are probably more familiar with. ”
”Nothing that hasn’t already gone wrong before. We will need to teach these folks some manners. ”
As the woman arrives, Andreas immediately stands. ”Andreas Isidore, at your service. You seem to have had the better of us, thank you for your introduction.
“I am sorry to hear of your son’s murder. Unfortunately this seems to be standard operating procedure for this villain.
“But to your point, it seems, perhaps, you are to be our benefactor? Why should we put our lives further at risk, going up against a criminal who has the Guard on his side, and who uses ruthless tactics to eliminate his foes and potential rivals? What do you offer to enhance our abilities to survive and to reward our actions?”
|
|
"I'm sorry, Lady Vulpina, is it? Perhaps the idea of always living under the boot and shadow of a crime lord who let you take the fall is more appealing?" She laughs crudely at the fallen noble. "Shame, really. I figured you wouldn't need to be further motivated, but evidently I was wrong. As if you wouldn't claim every ounce of treasure he hordes in his lockboxes."
She then looks to Andreas. "Firstly the guard is not on his side, because they are on no one's side. They are too slow and inept to be of benefit to anyone, aside from him escaping every time they wake up from their hangover. Second, think of this more as your opportunity rather than a hired job. If I had the capability to go in alone and avenge my son, I would have little need to call upon you all. More likely, if I went alone I would be taken advantage of before my decapitated head would be left as a prize on his desk."
"No, rather, you have a great deal to not pass this up. Gaedren Lamm's operation has existed for a long time, so no doubt he collected a great deal of stolen wealth. With your skills and capabilities, not only is revenge a possibility for all of us, but so is walking out of his hellhole hovel with a large pile of treasures. I can assure you, I am asking for none of it."
She then flips through the cards at an incredible speed. "If nothing else, I can provide you a harrow reading." Before you even get a chance to decline, she already proceeds to draw and place the cards.
Andreas takes a sip of the wine, and says, ”Never hurts to ask, but honestly, you have nothing but a reading to offer? You ask a lot, with little to promise but the rewards we would earn on our own, without your so called ‘help’.
“If you haven’t the ability to gain your vengeance on your own, nor funds to help us an reward us, what is it you are offering other than some wine which was obviously purchased to impress us somehow ”
|
|
"No, there is no extra reward for doing as I have called you for. If you feel certain that his shadow will never eclipse you again, nor that you have no need for my knowledge of where he is now, the door is over there." She doesn't even glance away from her reading. "Of course, if you feel that you can find him before he finds you, I wish you the best of luck in keeping that head on your shoulders. Your best bet is to get him while he isn't aware that he has been found, any other time and he can get whoever he wants with his resources to end you long before you catch him."
After spreading the cards, she looks up at Andreas. "Call it luck, fate, or the will of a deity. I don't care in the end what you label today as, but this is your window of opportunity." She smirks. "Or are you a coward afraid of his past? The idea of It takes a pile of treasure to convince you to stand up for yourself from a man who walked all over you? Who destroyed your future and tore your brother away from you? If being paid is required for you to act on your own vengeance, then perhaps I asked the wrong person to attend." She gestures to the cards before her. "Pick one, each of you."
Try to bargain all you want, but she sees herself as the one in control of the situation. She also doesn't appear threatened, even the slightest.
Vulpina offers an open-palmed shrug at her response. ”My coins run low, my jacket runs thin, and should I decide that Gaedren Lamm and I cannot share a city, ‘tis a long walk elsewhere but one I am capable of. For a job such as this, a payment would usually be assumed—although I certainly do appreciate the special circumstances of our quarry and the wealth that surrounds him.”
She draws a card without looking at it; ”There always exists the possibility that we will be chased off before we can shake the floorboards and mattresses clear of coin.”
”Still, information is valuable on its own, and the death of Gaedren Lamm would put a smile upon my face whether I drew a copper piece from it or not. ‘Tis a risk, to be sure, but thus far I have done quite well with risks.”
Except when Lamm is involved.
Seren shrinks into her chair, Bartering over a man's life! What has become of these people? She looks up at Zellara and thinks about her son, thinks about Gorvy... I must know. I must find him. If these are the people who can help me then this is the path.
She screws her courage to the sticking point and stands urgently to her feet, knocking her chair back in her haste. After glancing back quickly at her chair, she speaks, "I've been searching all over for Gorvy and I haven't found a thing. Not a thing but this vile man, Lamm. If this is my chance to find the lad then by sweet Desna's wings I will take it." She whirls on Andreas and Vulpina, furious tears budding at the corners of her eyes, "It's not coin I'm after, or vengeance. It's the truth and some justice and a reckoning." Seren takes a deep breath, "And if that's a hard truth, hard justice and a hard reckoning, then I'll take it as better than nothing."
The young woman hides her shaking fists in the pockets of her robes, "I reckon every one of us here would gladly pay good coin for this information, and we'd pay even more, if we could afford it, for the muscle and spells to see it done."
She turns back to Zellara, "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth and don't haggle over a free ride, that's what they say on the caravans. I'm in. Let's find Gaedren Lamm."
Seren draws The Dance.
Andreas draws The Cricket.
"Bah. She finally told us she had information, which is more than she offered before. What the frick does 'the cricket' mean?"
"So, you do have something to offer. Information would be helpful.
"Do you have a safe house that we might rest and recover at?"
|
|
"This very house here, though you won't have time to rest. Preparation will be required swiftly, for while I have his location, the promise of him staying put is not one I can make."
The Peacock.
"The Dance, a complicated framework of cooperation. Without its binding, collapse is but inevitable. As to your situation with Gorvy, if you cannot receive the help of others, his disappearance is but assured."
"The Cricket, quick travel with a reward at the end of the journey. Perhaps you will find more satisfaction from this endeavor then you believe, but the road will be longer than just our fate meeting."
"The Peacock, beauty of infinite greatness, but can only hold so if frozen in time. A potential future where you will find something that will satiate your desires, but at what cost?"
"The Rabbit Prince, carrying with a broken blade that has seen more battle than his own life has seen. You are not aware of what you were or where you were, but you know you are here."
|
|
She then takes all the cards, and swiftly shuffles them into the deck. In a lightning quick motion she begins placing cards face down from left to right, then a row below than, and a third row below that one as well.
Winged Serpent - It represents the couatl, the bridge of understanding between the towers of knowledge and judgement.
Vision - It represents esoteric and arcane knowledge, or madness.
Paladin - It represents standing resolutely against trouble, without backing down.
Bear - It represents pure strength that cannot be truly tamed or trained.
Eclipse - It represents loss of faith and purpose, and the subject's doubt about his abilities or prospects.
Unicorn - It represents one who generously offers up that which is sought.
Peacock - It represents a great beauty that can only be preserved if petrified and frozen in time for eternity, as by a cockatrice's glare.
Beating - It represents an assault from all quarters, or the mental dissolution of the self.
Rabbit Prince - It represents the quiky vicissitudes of melee combat. The Rabbit Prince is the personification of the capriciousness of battle, and his broken sword indicates that defeat may come to anyone. The card sometimes represents younger members of royal or noble houses.
"The left most column, the past..." She begins to flip the cards over. "A bridge of understanding and the towers of knowledge.. With a pure strength that cannot truly be tamed.. And a beauty that cannot be claimed without being frozen forever.." She looks over the interpretation. "Some of these were once your prizes that you held to yourselves. Taken away from you without a chance to fight back. The things that once were but are no longer." Then she looks to Vuplina. "Though there is good fortune here for you it seems. A chance to return to the days of when you had a title, but now one you may be able to make your own rather than someone's given to you."
She then flips the middle column. "This is the now, and here. A madness looms over.. With the loss of faith to follow.. And the mental dissolution of self.." She looks over the interpretation. "These are not you, per say.. Rather, it is of what may become the world around you. A disorder that you will see to the end.."
She then begins to flip the final column, and her face frowns when she sees the first card. "The paladin... A card that should not be in this column... What was once a symbol of resolution and not backing down, now perversed into one that will back down without a fight.." She then flips the other cards. "Yet a generosity will come forth... And a battle of fierce and determined spirit, even when weapons break.." Then looks to Kipp, "You seem to play a large part in this future. Your state of being preventing you from refusing a fight." She looks over the interpretation. "I see it. I see you all rising above the chaos that will come. Heroes will stand above Korvosa, guiding it to a new era. As though they will become you."
Andreas - 2
Kip - 3
Seren - 2
Vulpina - 3
Giacomo - 2
"Now that we are done with that, I will tell you where Gaedren Lamm resides. An old fishery that is north of here, at Westpier 17, he trains his abducted children to become pickpockets and counts his stolen treasures. This is his current base of operations, but given too long and he may move again."
You have heard of this place before, it is run down and decrepit. The previous owner died and had no heirs to leave it to.
Vulpina smiles. ”I am prone to keeping my plans short; improvisation suits me best. But perhaps if we do not wish to be overly visible, I should do with a change of attire?”
She gives Zellara a look, as if suggesting she might be able to offer something here. Vulpina’s noble outfit is old and ragged, but it is still quite conspicuous.