Certainly, Your Grace," Jisara says, curtsying once again. "Thank you for your hospitality." She opens her mouth to say something else, but stops herself. Instead, she turns to leave, not wishing to overstay her welcome. Thatch trots after her, tail held high and proud.
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"Excellent. This is a fortuitous outcome for all. We shall call upon your aid when the time is ripe."
On the way out, Vitalis mentions to the others, "Did any of you notice that the old Tien woman was eying us suspiciously the entire dinner? I doubt we've seen the last of her. Hopefully we didn't give up too much valuable information."
”Oh, just one more thing,” The Queen of Delights holds up a delicate finger towards Edrakk. ”I wish for you to remain for a bit longer; I wish to have a private conversation with you.”
Jisara's eyebrows shoot up, and she fights down a surge of surprised laughter (or, if she's being honest with herself, giggles).
Vitalis remains clueless to the Queen's intentions. He pats Edrakk on the shoulder. "Go on, Edrakk. We'll wait for you outside."
"Yes, thank you! We look forward to rebelling with you soon!"
As he starts for the door, Chance looks over his shoulder to see what's keeping Edrakk. He turns back Vitalis and Jisara, eyes wide, but keeps his mouth shut (for once) and speed-walks to the exit.
Edrakk breathes a quiet sigh of relief when the Queen dismisses them, somewhat worn down by the party, but stops his walking at the Queen's request, confused.
He turns back to the group, obviously completely lost as to what it could be, before slowly turning back to the Queen.
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I'm somewhat concerned that there are gonna be repercussions for this, but as he said earlier in the banquet...
One—the scantily clad gnome—speaks next. ”Well, I would have to say chastity. Just…no!”"...maybe some people aren't really interested." Edrakk mutters quietly to himself....he's going to have to decline.
The Queen of Delights is…shocked. It is as if she didn’t even consider that Edrakk would decline her. She does not look angry or disappointed, just stunned. A brief moment of silent introspection on the Queen’s part follows until she finally just shrugs. ”So be it, I suppose. A shame, though. But I did actually have something I needed to tell you:
“The lady at our table—the Tian woman with the mole on her chin—her name is Hei-Fen. I know that this is against her faith to divulge this information, but her faith is not mine: she is a wererat and a fanatic cultist of Norgorber. She had originally declined my invitation for tonight’s dinner, but suddenly changed her mind. Based on my observations, she is very much interested in you and your friends. She is a very dangerous woman—even at her age she could slit your throat at a moment’s notice. Watch yourself.”
As the other PCs exit, Vitalis obliviously waits outside of Cobweb Manor for Edrakk. Chance and Jisara quickly try to explain the subtext of the Queen’s invitation to Edrakk and that they’ll likely not see their tengu companion for the rest of the night, at which point Edrakk exits the manor himself, much to Jisara’s and Chance’s surprise.
"The obvious joke here is one about stamina," Jisara says, waving the idea away dismissively, "but you clearly barely stopped to chat. You must have turned her down, then. How did she take it?"
Edrakk appears from the door after only a minute or so, evidently somewhat uncomfortable.
"The obvious joke here is one about stamina," Jisara says, waving the idea away dismissively, "but you clearly barely stopped to chat. You must have turned her down, then. How did she take it?"
He shrugs. "S-she wasn't mad or anything. Honestly, I'm not sure the possibility had crossed her mind. M-must not have that happen often, I guess."
"Oh, she also did tell me one other thing, although..." He looks around outside the manor, trying to see how exposed they are to potential listeners. "...actually, I might want to wait until we're not in the open."
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"I was about to say, I noticed that old bag staring daggers at us all dinner. Hei-Fen, Hei-Fen... Where have I heard that name before?"
"S@~@! She was one of the Guild Masters of the Gray Spiders. I assumed they were all dead. If she attended the party because we were there, she must know we retook the Lucky Bones and isn't too happy about it. It doesn't take a harrow reader to see that she'll be a thorn in our back. Maybe we could ask Molly is she knows where Hei-Fen holes up in Vyre?"
"Like we don't have enough to worry about! She's got no business being angry with us. It's not as if we're the ones who stormed the place and killed her comrades. If she was so attached to it, maybe she should have done something with it in the decades it sat empty." Jisara makes a disgusted sound and looks away, crossing her arms.
"I doubt she'll listen to reason, so I suppose we'll have to explain this while she's bleeding out after she inevitably fails to assassinate us."
I assumed they were all dead.
It’s funny that you mention that, because of the four guildmasters of the Gray Spiders, you only found the remains of three: The ghost of Lorelu, the bones of Tchok, and the skeleton of Baccus.
Also, y’all did know (but probably forgot) that in the event of a siege on the Lucky Bones, Hei-Fen was to flee to Vyre for aid while the other Guildmasters were to defend the Lucky Bones. It’s not an unfair assumption to make that Hei-Fen died sometime in the intervening forty years, but it was an assumption nonetheless.
Side note: Hei-Fen was directly involved in the stealing of the warehouse deeds from Molly, the stealing of which (along with the rest of her savings) basically ruined Molly’s life for some time.
Maybe we could ask Molly is she knows where Hei-Fen holes up in Vyre?"
Molly is working on removing the fancy makeup that she wore for the banquet. ”I knew it! I knew that ol’ hag was a Norgorberite! That woman has been givin’ me ‘n my mischief a bad name! She cozied up with the King of Keys and retired in luxury because of it—she prob’ly did assassinations for the guy.” Molly sighs. ”Unfortunately, I don’t know where she holes up—‘n even if I did, she prob’ly has somewhere more secure because of her Norgorber connections. I’m sorry, y’all.”
"Molly. Hei-Fen is more than just a Norgorberite. She is a Gray Spider. I would suggest, for your family's safety, to keep quiet about the returned deed for the time being, just incase she gets any ideas to lash out. Once we've dealt with her, you should be free and clear after that."
"I doubt she'll listen to reason, so I suppose we'll have to explain this while she's bleeding out after she inevitably fails to assassinate us."
Unconsciously, Chance rubs at his chest where he still has scars from Varl Wex's brutal attacks.
"Probably, but I think I prefer my would-be killers to be little old ladies over burly blacksmiths possessed by bloodthirsty enchanted weapons," the gnome says, foreshadowingly.
After a pause, he adds, "I'm going to have to eat these words soon enough, aren't I?"
"Molly, how would we go about finding Hei-Fen? Is there any chance we could get the King of Keys to tell us where to find her?"
"Molly. Hei-Fen is more than just a Norgorberite. She is a Gray Spider. I would suggest, for your family's safety, to keep quiet about the returned deed for the time being, just incase she gets any ideas to lash out. Once we've dealt with her, you should be free and clear after that."
”I had my suspicions. Good to know they were correct.”
"Molly, how would we go about finding Hei-Fen? Is there any chance we could get the King of Keys to tell us where to find her?"
Molly shakes her head. ”I’m sorry, but no. The King o’ Keys is in charge of the city’s defenses, so if he wants someone safe, they will be safe. And I dunno anything for sure, but rumors about the King o’ Keys being a Norgorberite himself are all over the place. I’m sorry, but them’s the breaks. Whether through shared faith or something else, the King o’ Keys favors Hei-Fen, and that fact alone basically makes her untouchable. I’m sorry, y’all, but if you have any chance of dealing with her, y’all’d better leave Vyre and hopes she follows. And prob’ly sooner instead o’ later.”
*
True to her suggestion, early the next morning Molly wakes the PCs up and tells them that she got them a ferry to take them back to Kintargo. And with their business in Vyre complete, the PCs have no real reason to refuse
*
*
”Oh, an alliance with the Queen of Delights; how wonderful!”
Mialari Docur claps her hands at the news, while the rest of the Silver Council listens intently. Strangely, Hetamon is absent this time around; something about being slammed at his tailor’s shop. On this occasion, the Silver Council meets in a private area in Docur’s School for Girls, happily provided by Lady Docur herself.
Rexus speaks up next. ”I would argue that the Acisazi elves were a bit better of an alliance—they can scout out at sea, given their aquatic nature.”
Octavio clears his throat. ”Both are more than beneficial. It gives us allies at sea to assist us against possible retaliation. We have made many alliances—”
“Eh, maybe not enough,” Rexus interrupts. ”We could still work to secure alliances with Houses Aulorian, Jarvis, Jhaltero, and Vashnarstill.”
Mialari nods. ”And let us not forget about the Ruby Masquerade; two months from now, Thrune has something planned. Everything about seems fishy, even the dress code: the color red must be incorporated into the outfit.”
”So, what do we do now?” Rexus asks. ”Twiddle our thumbs and wait for the masquerade?”
“No.” Octavio stands and paces around the room. ”The time for action against the Inquisitor is close at hand, but there is still much we must prepare for. We have allies by sea, but no insurance by land. If we are to overthrow the Inquisitor, we must make certain to minimize any reinforcements that he receives from the heartland. And unfortunately, that means we must take a very drastic measure to the southeast.”
Rexus nods in agreement with the lictor, but Lady Docur speaks up. ”I’m sorry, but is there something that you know that I don’t?”
“Ah. My apologies, Lady Docur, you were not on this council when we last spoke of this. Victocora, do you still have that map of Cheliax?”
“Here you go.”
Octavio gives Lady Docur the rundown of the situation.
”So what you are saying is that we must somehow secure Menador Keep to prevent reinforcements from the heartlands?”
“Precisely. But unfortunately, I do not know how we would do such a thing.”
”Um,” Rexus awkwardly raises his hand. ”I…might know something.”
“You’ve piqued my curiosity, Victocora; the floor is yours.”
”So…Do you remember those documents from the original Silver Ravens that we found? Y’know, the ones I spent weeks and weeks and WEEKS decoding? Well, there was some stuff in there that I didn’t tell you guys about, because…well…it didn’t seem relevant. One of those things was about the Menador Keep.
“So, apparently, the Menador Gap was artificially made by a group of dwarves during the Age of Darkness, because I guess ‘let’s just mine through a mountain range’ is the most dwarven thing ever. Anyways, the dwarves built Menador Keep as a defensible gatehouse, but they also built something into the keep. Above the keep, in an arch of stone overhead, the dwarves built what they called the ‘Anvil of Unmaking,’ it’s basically a mechanism that would cause a massive landslide to occur in the Gap and close it off. I guess the dwarves reasoned that it was better to destroy and rebuild something than to let it fall into the wrong hands?
“Anyway, the original Silver Ravens learned of the Anvil of Unmaking near the end of the Civil War, but by then Thrune had already gotten its diabolic power, so the Ravens were in no good position to use it.”
Octavio sighs. ”As much as I don’t wish to admit it, that may be our best option. We don’t have the manpower to occupy the keep thoroughly enough to oppose a possible retaking of the keep by House Thrune. Menador Keep is a very important place for trade between Ravounel and the heartland. But…”
“Destroying Menador Gap would raise many alarms in the heartland.” Lady Docur chimes in. ”It is not something that will go unnoticed. We might finally be putting ourselves on Her Majestrix’s radar by doing this.”
“But does that matter?” Rexus interjects. ”If the Gap is destroyed, then they can’t retaliate against us.”
Octavio nods. ”Not to mention that the Glorious Reclamation is still hard at work in the heartland. I don’t like it. I really don’t like it. But I don’t see any way around it—if we want to stop Barzillai from bringing in reinforcements from outside of Ravounel, we’ll have to close the Menador Gap. But that does not mean that we need to do this blindly. Menador Keep is a key chokepoint between Ravounel and the rest of Cheliax, and the Queen has placed a throne in command there. We have just over two months before the Ruby Masquerade, and whatever is happening at that ball, it’s going to be significant. We need to close Menador Gap sometime before that ball.”
Octavio turns to the PCs. ”Well? What say you?”
"You're really testing my vows with this one. Just the thought of the destruction of such an architectural marvel hurts my heart. But at this point, I'm all in. As long as we can destroy the Gap without any innocents getting caught in the landslide, I will do it. Any merchants or travelers in the area should be evacuated first. Hells, even the soldiers manning the outpost should be given the opportunity to flee if they so choose."
Jisara walks around the table with the map on it, pausing every so often to look at it from different angles. Once she has made a complete circuit, she places both hands on the edge of the table and leans forward, looking from one person to the next until she has met the gaze of all those assembled.
"By destroying the Menador Gap, we'll be doing more than just closing a path for Thrune's armies. It will be an announcement to the world that we're more than townsfolk disgruntled with their governor. Are we all prepared to follow through with everything that will follow? It's obviously far, far too late for any of us to step away from all this and remain in Kintargo, but there's still time for any doubters to flee. That window will close, permanently, for anyone implicated in this."
”Precisely.” Octavio folds his arms. ”This is not a simple protest; Thrune will notice. And I do not know how we can ensure that no merchants will be travelling through.”
“Well…” Lady Docur stands. ”I have a bit of a connection with Mr. Ormovor—he runs the Oakrib Inn. I’m sure he, with some help from my girls, could find a convincing enough reason to turn back anyone in Ravounel heading to the heartland. And we could send ahead another group to intercept anyone coming to Ravounel from the heartland. But since martial law was declared, traveling merchants have been few and far between.”
Octavio nods. ”Better safe than sorry. And I agree with Vitalis—even the soldiers stationed there should not have to die. They are merely following orders and doing as they’re told; even if one of them is a Thrune. If necessary, any of the injured or unconscious should be transported out of the Gap before the Anvil of Unmaking is set in motion.”
“Um…” Rexus interjects. ”Preferably, could we please put them on the other side of the Gap? I would rather not have a bunch of loyalist soldiers and a dragon rider angry at us and able to retaliate.”
Octavio smirks at Rexus. ”I thought he was a ‘Peacock’?”
“He is. That doesn’t mean he still isn’t the Dragon Rider.”
”Precisely.” Octavio folds his arms. ”This is not a simple protest; Thrune will notice. And I do not know how we can ensure that no merchants will be travelling through.”
“Well…” Lady Docur stands. ”I have a bit of a connection with Mr. Ormovor—he runs the Oakrib Inn. I’m sure he, with some help from my girls, could find a convincing enough reason to turn back anyone in Ravounel heading to the heartland. And we could send ahead another group to intercept anyone coming to Ravounel from the heartland. But since martial law was declared, traveling merchants have been few and far between.”
Chance circles the table in the opposite direction from Jisara, occasionally stopping to stand on tiptoe to get a glimpse of the map itself and ducking under it with a bow to let the tiefling go past.
"If we send another group ahead to intercept anyone coming towards the Gap from the Heartland, won't they get stuck there after the Big Boom? Also, I think we should call whatever happens when we strike the Anvil of Unmaking the 'Big Boom,' so nobody knows what we're talking about. Like a code name. In fact, we could call this whole plan 'Operation Big Boom' and nobody would ever figure it out!"
"I know it'll be a shame to destroy such an historic structure, Vitalis. But it's a critical step towards throwing off the yoke of the diabolic empire." He gives Edrakk a knowing wink and mimes an explosion with his hands, ruining any chance at going undetected by Rexus and the Hellknights by muttering "Kablouie!" and chuckling.
“He is. That doesn’t mean he still isn’t the Dragon Rider.”
"So does the Peacock actually ride a dragon? Or dragons? And does that mean that there's an actual real live dragon at Meandor Gap?"
"If we send another group ahead to intercept anyone coming towards the Gap from the Heartland, won't they get stuck there after the Big Boom?
Lady Docur giggles. ”Fair point. But I have girls in the heartland, so I suppose I should probably send them to do this.”
Also, I think we should call whatever happens when we strike the Anvil of Unmaking the 'Big Boom,' so nobody knows what we're talking about. Like a code name. In fact, we could call this whole plan 'Operation Big Boom' and nobody would ever figure it out!"
Octavio pinches the bridge of his nose. ”I can’t believe I’m entertaining this. The point of a code name is to denote only its intention to those in the loop. ‘Big Boom’ explains everything right at face value. Frankly, ‘Anvil’ would be a more apt code name because it doesn’t actively imply an explosion.”
"So does the Peacock actually ride a dragon? Or dragons? And does that mean that there's an actual real live dragon at Meandor Gap?"
Octavio stands stunned for a moment and glances over at Rexus, who gives the Hellknight a shrug. ”Ahem. Truth be told, I’ve never personally met Captain Lucian Thrune, so I cannot say for certainty whether or not he does.”
"From my understanding, Captain Lucian Thrune doesn't normally ride a dragon. But he did make his first major appearance riding one, so that's where he got the moniker Dragon Rider. If we're lucky, we'll only encounter his astride a horse, but we should be prepared just in case."
"OK, but Operation Big Anvil sounds kind of silly. Anyway, I think we ought to find out whether the Peacock really rides a dragon before we go try to bring down a mountain on his head. And not just because I'd like to see a real dragon, but so we can prepare. Although I would. Like to see a real dragon, that is. So maybe you and Vitalis can ask around with your Hellknight friends? About the Peacock. And his dragon." Chance pauses for a quick breath. "Alleged dragon."
”Perhaps, but it is still a question of when we wish to do this.”
"Sooner is better, I think," Jisara says, making another circuit of the table. "We should tend to anything here that was neglected during our absence, and then move on the Gap as soon as possible. I know that if I were Thrune, I'd bring my forces well in advance of the date of the party."
"Sooner is better, I think," Jisara says, making another circuit of the table. "We should tend to anything here that was neglected during our absence, and then move on the Gap as soon as possible. I know that if I were Thrune, I'd bring my forces well in advance of the date of the party."
Edrakk, who had been mostly quiet in thought, pipes up here. "Perhaps... b-but I'd argue for waiting a bit more. If we do it now, it's more likely that information about what we did would make it back to Thrune, which could make the dance more dangerous. If we do it right before the ball, it might even be possible to make it back before the details make it to Kintargo, and certainly before they have a chance to mobilize a response. Even if they had more time to prepare, we could see it coming, and we'd be catching them off-guard."
Chance sinks into the cushions of a scavenged divan and kicks off his boots. He takes a deep breath through his nose and lets it out with a contented sigh. "Do you smell that, my fellow Ravens? That is the smell of too many unwashed would-be revolutionaries and fugitive outlaw Hellknights in a poorly-ventilated and still-a-little-damp underground hideout, but it's home. It isn't is the smell of the sea, or old fish guts embedded in the planks of a ship's deck, or just the general funk of travel. We don't need to start Operation Big Anvil right away, do we? Isn't there something we could do here, where we can enjoy being watched by unseen eyes and the constant risk of arrest, torture, and eventually the blessed release of the hangman?"
"I doubt there are any preparations he could make that he is not already making," Jisara replies. "He knows we will try to interfere with his festivities. Indeed, he is almost certainly counting on it. Thrune is a vain man, overly given to theatrics, so if he's already planning to bring reinforcements through the Gap, they will probably arrive on or shortly before the day of his masquerade." She draws a path from Menador Gap to Kintargo with her finger.
"250 miles from there to here. At a brisk pace, that's one to two weeks of marching overland. That means, if he's bringing an army, they will soon be underway. At best, we have six weeks or so before they cross through the Gap."
Jisara pauses, tapping on the table, then continues.
"What we need are eyes on the other side of the mountains, ones who can alert us if they see signs of an army. That will tell us for sure when the clock has run out and we need to act."
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I think to be safe, we should plan to leave Kintargo three weeks before the Ruby Banquet.
Their plan set, Jisara once again secludes herself in her workshop for several weeks, seemingly only leaving for food and rest. After just over a month of work, she emerges with a pair of wands, made especially for Chance.
Vitalis hits the town to try to convince the remaining two noble houses the the Silver Ravens have a chance of swaying to their side. His first attempt ends in failure but he isn't ready to give up and he tries again the next week.
This time, he does manage to get House Jarvis to agree to lend aid. House Varshnarstill, not so much. Perhaps someone else would have a better time.
Chance spends their first full day back in Kintargo shopping for ritual components (he plans another day of shopping for supplies immediately before the Silver Ravens leave for Menador Keep):
- Elemental Sentinel, level 4 (60gp); and
- Mystic Carriage x3 (75gp, after 75gp contributions from other Silver Ravens {Chance is buying the extra batch of components on his own})
Day 2: Perform a Ritual - elemental sentinel (heightened to level 4)
The gnome climbs up to the ground level of the Lucky Bones, considerably more subdued than he was the last time he tried this ritual. He laid out his components late the night before; as in his previous attempt, incense, candles, jars of spices, crushed semi-precious stones, several braziers of varying sizes surround the partially-collapsed fireplace. He gulps down the last of his coffee, sets his mug to one side, and starts working.
Whoever the next person to come through the area may be, they see smoking incense sticks, bits of turquoise and jade scattered all over the floor in front of the fireplace, and dried herbs burning in beds of powdered gemstones. The entire room smells of expensive mineral oils and torch smoke, incense and herbs. Chance, however, is nowhere to be seen. After a moment, they might hear his muffled voice coming from inside the fireplace's flue,
Sweat runs down the bard's face as he sings, braced inside the crumbling shaft up to the chimney:
"Ravens, Ravens who need sent'nals
Are the luckiest folks in Kintargo
We're Kintargans, and need an elemental
And despite our Kintargan pride
We want you by our side..."
Eight hours later:
At the last moment of the ritual, Chance's leg cramps and he falls out of the flue into the old, cold ashes that cover the stone base of the fireplace and getting the wind knocked out of him. Coughing, he staggers to his feet, pretty sure that the ritual failed.
Sigh. At least we still have the original wisp watching out for us.
Day 3: Earn Income (Performance {E}, level 8, DC 24)
Chance, still depressed over his second failed ritual in a row, flubs his pan flute performance. He accepts the 5 silver coins he earns with barely concealed annoyance, and stomps back to the Lucky Bones to sulk.
After a surprisingly good night's sleep, Chance gets up and heads to breakfast feeling a little more himself. After several cups of coffee and a few pastries from Laria Longroad's coffeehouse, he tracks down Vendalfek and the Fushi sisters.
"We all realized from that little rally Barzillai threw together that we were getting to be a little too well known, and I think we ought to do something about it. Let's go tell some lies!"
"You're all in? Great! So here's the rumor: Vitalis died before the rally and an actor took his place so nobody would know, especially Barzillai. Or maybe Barzillai hired the actor so as not to have his big announcement messed up. Tell it both ways, just alternate. Anyway, the actor was hired just for the rally and now the surviving trio are squabbling among themselves and are on the verge of breaking up. We can tap into Baron Jhalto's spider's web of contacts to help."
Feeling more optimistic, Chance goes out again with his pan flute and tries to Earn Income.
After a week performing at parties and a few of the city's nicer inns, Chance is 21 gp richer.
Next, Vitalis struts the streets to bring more people to their cause.
With a sneer of distaste at the Thrune seal, Chance unrolls the scroll of rope trick and attempts to puzzle out the uncommon spell.
Next, he opens up the scroll of martyr's intervention:
The next day, the gnome goes out again with his pan pipes to try to earn back what he spent learning the two spells.
Chance spends another couple of days with Vendalfek and the Fushi Sisters pumping the rumor that Vitalis has died and been replaced by a lookalike.
Day 16: another attempt to Earn Income (Performance {E}, level 8, DC 24)[/ooc]
Chance decides to try to learn more about Corinstian Grivenner, senior prelate of Asmodeus and leader of the Church of Asmodeus in Kintargo. Grivenner is supposed to be Barzillai's right hand man, but he seemed surprised about the Lord-Mayor's announcement of the Ruby Masquerade.
On a chilly, rainy morning, Chance trudges out again with his pan pipes, looking for a paying gig. This time he gets past the audition!
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He spends a day trying (and failing) to set in another sentinel
He spends four days spreading disinformation.
He spends a day Learning Spells.
He spends time trying to learn a rumor (I’ll get to that in a bit)
And he spends time Earning Income to earn a total of 43.5 gp.
Chance decides to try to learn more about Corinstian Grivenner, senior prelate of Asmodeus and leader of the Church of Asmodeus in Kintargo. Grivenner is supposed to be Barzillai's right hand man, but he seemed surprised about the Lord-Mayor's announcement of the Ruby Masquerade.
While no one (and certainly not another priest of Asmodeus) would say it outright, there have been murmurs regarding Barzillai’s announcement of the Ruby Masquerade among the religiously-minded. Murmurs that Barzillai is toing the line of blasphemy against the Prince of Darkness. Murmurs that this olive branch of a masquerade could arguably be “showing mercy to his enemies,” which is anathema in the church of Asmodeus.
Chance makes his way through a squadron of social secretaries and household staff, giving a different name and purpose for his visit to each, until he is finally granted a few minutes of the Baron's time and, after trading stories about their respective sea travels, is able to talk the quick-witted shipping magnate into inviting him to return over the next few days.
Days 27-31: Baron Varshnarstill
After the gnome's first effort falls flat, he shows up again like a door-to-door salesman who won't give up.
Days 32-36: Baron Varshnarstill
Edrakk spends about a week offering alchemical remedies across town, ranging from simple healing salves to elixirs to even a few simple explosives when he thinks someone might need it to defend themselves.
At the next meeting, Chance makes sure to tell the rest of the Silver Council what his sources told him about the grumbling in the church of Asmodeus about Barzillai's decision to hold the Ruby Masquerade.
After sealing the alliance with Baron Vashnarstill, Chance starts spending most of his time studying his scroll of invisibility sphere. When he isn't pouring over the occult symbols alone in his room, he's sneaking glances at the scroll while having coffee and pastries at the Long Roads coffeehouse and during boring parts of meetings with the Silver Council, or muttering parts of the incantation as he walks through the underground hallways of the Lucky Bones.
Finally, after a week, he hops off his bed and marches out into the room the group has adopted as their main common area. If any of the Silver Council are there, he announces: "Well, that's done! Making enemies clap for me in the middle of combat was fun - and entirely appropriate! - but I think knowing how to make us all invisible for ten minutes while we hunt for the Anvil of ..." remembering that Thrune may have ears anywhere, he glances from side to side before continuing, "... um, the Anvil of Extreme Anvilating will probably be more useful!"
Finding herself with a surfeit of free time but not enough raw materials for the projects she has in mind, Jisara decides to exchange that time for currency.
Chance and the Fushi Sisters spend the next three days pressing the Silver Ravens' network for information about Barzillai Thrune's plans and preparations for the Ruby Masquerade. "How else will I know what kind of costume to wear? 'It has to include something with the color red' doesn't tell me anything! Everything I own has red in it! Also, it would be good to find out now whether he's planning to poison the punch, or if all the waiters will be assassins, or if he's going to drop some kind of nasty Asmodean curse on all of us while we're dancing, or anything like that."
Vitalis sends some agents to scout out the opera house to see if they can produce a layout of the building, or a guest list, or anything else of value before the event.
Vitalis also sends some agents to see if they can infiltrate the Ruby Masquerade as waitstaff or maids. If Thrune is hiring staff, they can try applying or if he is not, they can try stealing uniforms.
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Chance impresses Baron Vashnarstill and retrains one of his spells
He then tries to learn more about the Ruby Masquerade.
There is a rumor going around that Barzillai plans for some kind of big announcement during the Ruby Masquerade. People are speculating that he’s planning on ending the curfew or dropping taxes, but no one knows for certain. Whatever the case, it seems Barzillai’s ball has increased his approval rating; people who were on the fence seem more amicable toward the Inquisitor.
The scouts come back and give Vitalis a map of the Kintargo Opera House, as well as where guests will be allowed to be during the ball itself.
During the ball, the basement is off-limits to guests. On the first, second, and third floors, any room colored with gray tiles is open to the guests, while the rooms colored with yellow-ish/beige tiles are off-limits to guests.
The first floor has 20 foot high ceilings, while every other floor has 10 foot high ceilings. The exception to this is the area where I placed the floor numbers; this is open all the way to the top of the third floor because it’s, y’know, an opera house. It’s meant to be open like that to allow for people on all of the non-basement floors to be able to see the stage. The opening where the number 1 is positioned over is an opening that leads to the orchestra pit (which is where the B is positioned on the map; marked more clearly with a red circle). In that particular area, it goes all the way from the floor of the orchestra pit to the ceiling of the third floor 50 feet above.
The black circles on the map on the first and third floors show stairs that DON’T lead to another floor. The blue lines on the third floor are a drop-off of the catwalk; the stairs right below the line are lower in altitude from the catwalk above the blue line; those stairs lead down. The green arrows show where the stairs between floors lead; the arrow head shows where the top of the stairs are.
A lot of it is intuitive, but of note are the areas on the first floor and basement marked with yellow circles. This is a loading ramp. On the first floor, behind the opera house, there is a built-in incline that descends down to the area with the yellow circle on the basement floor. The yellow-circled area in the basement is technically open to the sky outside.
Also important to point out: this map is “1 square = 10 feet.”
The Silver Ravens manage to get one of their own to replace a member of Barzillai’s staff for the ball.
Vitalis spends the next 7 days at Lady Docur's School for Girls learning the steps to the Dance of the Damned. He hopes to make less of a fool of himself than he did at the last social encounter.
Then he'll spend his last two days helping out at the Songbird Hall church. He donates all that he earns to the poor who visit the church those days to help them pay for food and bridge tolls.
After his week offering alchemical services across the city, Edrakk turns his attention to one of Thrune's gifts: the skeptic's elixirs. He carefully works to split the concoctions into their base components before testing each one to identify the formula. Once he has a pretty good guess, he spends the next few days refining the recipe.
His first attempt fails to give him usable results, but he manages to salvage the materials, so he attempts his experiments again to get a clearer picture.
After he's done with that, he approaches Lady Docur to ask for some of her expertise. He noted that the outfits they wore at the banquet specifically made an impression, so for the next week, he studies at Lady Docur's School for Girls about the finer points of tailoring and fashion and how to specifically impress certain audiences.
Next, after hearing about the rumor Chance spread, Edrakk tracks down Vendalfek and the Fushi sisters and starts planning another rumor: that Chance, disheartened by the loss of Vitalis, quit the Silver Ravens and returned to the theatre, taking the leading role in a play about organized crime in Kaer Maga. In an effort to improve the rumor's effectiveness, he manages to come up with impressively expansive lore about the play's plot, describing (although not in enough detail to spoil it, of course) poignant scenes in a clock tower and a bridge, dynamics between the titular character's wife and a wealthy socialite, and how the play brings you to sympathize with a cold-hearted killer.
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Hero point reroll: 1d20 + 22 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 22 + 2 + 2 = 33