Bellaluna clutches her crossbow with white knuckles as she nervously scouts around for danger. ”This is the second dead body related to the masque that we’ve found today; both on wildly different ends of the social hierarchy. Not to mention we got attacked for asking questions about the masque—and I’m sure those three enforcers also targeted us because of it. I smell Gardeners, and they really want to keep this party as private as possible.”
"Do they though?" Gregoth asks from the entrance to the room, sword held ready in his hand despite the relatively-peaceful surroundings. "Too many people knew about the invitations, and if the Gardeners really wanted to keep this party private they would have killed him and been done with it." He shakes his head, pausing to gather his thoughts.
"This... This is like when you put poison out for rats. Put it in something they can't resist. Someone wants to find people interested in the gala. I can't think of why though."
Looking over the abandoned shrine Kaldren shakes his head in disappointment. "It is a shame to see this place so uncared for.". On entering the temple and seeing the state of the floor he too reaches to touch one of the runes on his armour causing the ethereal ravens wings on its back to manifest allowing the big man to fly across the room to the spiral.
Turrey stays to look over the body, while his comrades look at the Pharasman spiral.
"The poor fellow. What scared you so?" He asks as he looks the body over for clues.
Félicité and Kaldren both activate their magical amours, and large angel wings sprout from their backs. They fly over the dangerous tiles and begin to examine the spiral.
They discover that it is definitely Pharasmin, and ancient, probably part of the temple originally. The brickwork of the wall forms the spiral, and it has definitely been cleaned recently.
Kaldren is satisfied with it, but very little escapes Félicité and she spots a small crack around the brick at the very centre of the spiral. By depressing it slightly she reveals that the brick next to it has a small ledge and can be pulled out, revealing it to be hollow and it contains a couple of items, a scroll and a cloth headband. Kaldren immediately confirms that the scroll is one of Heroism, and a particularly potent one at that. .
As Félicité and Kaldren examine the items from the secret brick, Bellaluna spots movement outside. Two women, dressed in dark cloaks and with masks pulled across their faces approach the temple. They are wearing shawls woven in the style of spider's webs, and carry heavy staves adorned with spider totems. The way they are brandishing their staves, hissing and moving with purpose suggests hostility!
Active Effects:
Félicité
Gregoth
Kaldren
Pilgrim 1
Bellaluna
Turrey
Pilgrim 2
Bellaluna instinctively pulls out her other crossbow and calls back "We've got company!"
Félicité whirls around and notes the newcomers.
◆
◇ Recall Knowledge
"Morrignas!" Félicité hisses. "They are psychopomps in service to Pharasma, bounty hunters of the boneyard."
She looks perhaps a little downtrodden.
"I suspect they are not here for you. They seek out creatures that thwart death or interfere with the flow of souls. If you fight, know that they will regenerate unless damaged by acid or fire, and have resistance to negative and poison damage."
Realizing that any attack she could make now would be foolhardy, she raises her hands to show they are empty.
◆◆ "You're here to tell me that all who live must face her judgement. And there will be plenty for which She will judge me. But none of that has to do with today. Allow my friends to leave, they don't need to be involved in our business."
The Morrignas tilt their heads at Félicité's words for a fraction of a second while they consider, but they don't seem convinced.
"Don't try to confuse us, we know you're in league with Sakhils! Tell us what you've done with Nellibet and perhaps the Lady will be lenient in in your judgement"
The way they say it makes it clear that they're expecting to send you for your judgement imminently.
“You mean the little face-grabber that attacked us with the morgh?” Gregoth puts his sword and shield between himself and the strangers. “And Nellibet is the dead fellow in here? Kaldren, these are your people, right? Tell them… Tell them we don’t want to hurt them!”
At Bellaluna's call Kaldren turns from the spiral and his examination of the items, launching himself into the air he glides across the floor to stand in front of Gregoth. He bows to the two creatures and great them "Servants of my mistress I welcome you. if it is my time to face the lady Pharasma's judgement then so be it. But know that we seek only to bring justice and balance to this troubled land and are not in league with any save the lady Drannoch.".
The two Morrignas both look shocked to see Kaldren's resplendent form, complete with symbol of Pharasma on his cassock. They look at each other for a moment, and their form abruptly shifts and melts into one rather more extraplanar- they stand tall with spider-silk wings and metallic masks that cover only their eyes.
They stand up straight before Kaldren and hold their staves for support instead of as weapons.
"If you speak the truth, then we mean you no harm. I am Isias, and this is Ninolda. We came to aid Nellibet when we learned that mortal forces in league with Sakhils had come here to do him harm. If that is not you, then what are you doing here? Where is Nellibet? He is an ally to the Boneyard, and has earned our protection"
They both eye Félicité curiously while they wait for a response.
"'Mortal forces in league with sahkils'? Well...that kinda explains the weird mask thing from earlier. So, uh...what does this Nellibet look like?"
Isias and Ninolda walk past Kaldren and Gregoth and into the temple, deftly avoiding the loose tiles and looking around, twisting their heads just slightly too far for a mortal humanoid and managing to look quite disconcerting.
"He is a human, white haired and with just one good eye, he hides the other behind an eyepatch"
as Isias is speaking and looking around, Ninolda sees the corpse that Turrey has been looking at, but she looks at it for barely more than a few seconds before stating: "Not him, he may still be around here."
She continues to stalk about as Isias resumes.
"Why have you come here, if not to do Nellibet harm?"
She turns her masked face to each of you, and though her eyes are obscured you can feel the sting of judgement. Especially Félicité, whom their gaze lingers on the most.
Turrey sighs with relief as they confirm the corpse is not the man they seek to protect.
He hesitates at the request, and glances at the others, guessing they'd want to keep knowlege back. And yet, these are supernatural allies of Pharasma. Surely no friends of the Gardeners...
Turrey rises from beside the corpse, and then bows. "I am Turrey Butterhill. I sing to bring glory and light to The Eternal Rose, and all the beauty in this world.
As I'm sure you'd agree, a peaceful death at the end of a life worth living can be it's own beauty...and I've come to this sad realm to do my part to stop these so-called 'Gardeners' from marring lives by cutting them needlessly short--or worse, cleaving souls from the Mother of Souls.
"We got word that, perhaps, our goal was in line with a one-eyed man who lived near this shrine, and came to seek him out. In that, it seems our purpose and yours may well be in line?"
Turrey pauses, looking down at the body frozen in fear.
"I'm heartened that this isn't Nellibet. Do you know anything about who is was? Or how it died in this way? Either might be useful, in locating Nellibet."
Bellaluna looks shocked as the psychopomps barely even linger over the corpse that the party found. ”Wait, so this isn’t Nellibet? Hold on…” She holsters one of her crossbows and takes another look at the corpse. What’re the odds of two white-haired, one-eyed humans in the same vicinity?
The elf flips the corpse’s eyepatch and uses her free hand to force open the eyelid of the eye that the eyepatch covered.
That don’t look blind. But I’m no doctor… ”Hey, Felice! Need your medical opinion!” When Félicité comes over, Bellaluna holds the corpse’s eye open and motions towards it. ”Does that look like a non-working eye to you?”
”Yup. Body double. Nellibet is probably using this guy to throw folks off of his trail for asking too many questions. I wouldn’t be surprised if he used preservation magic to keep the body fresh so that anyone who came looking would just assume that he already got got right before they got here—exactly like we did.”
Though, why wouldn’t he also blind one of the eyes? Would that be considered desecrating the body? Pharasmins and dead bodies, man. Did he use this guy as a double while he was still alive? Did he kill this guy just to use his body? I vaguely recall Pharasmins using death magic..
”Hmm…”
Gregoth stands silently at the door. Part of him knew he should be watching outside, searching for any other people - or angels? - that might be attracted by all the commotion. And yet he can’t tear his gaze away from the scene unfolding inside the ruined temple. Thank goodness they listened to Kaldren - but now what? Are they friends, and if so, for how long?
Ninolda and Isias listen to Turrey while they continue to search the room, apparently satisfied with his flowery explanation of your purpose. They shake their heads smoothly to the question of who the corpse belongs to, but they both stop moving when Bellaluna proposes her theory that the corpse was dressed by Nellibet to throw off pursuit.
"Yes" Ninolda says emphatically. "That has the ring of truth".
As Ninolda says that, Isias begins carefully moving to the entrance of the temple, where she sits cross-legged and begins working some sort of ritual. Ninolda continues to speak.
"Isias will contact the boneyard to inform them of these developments. I will explore the temple further. Join me if you wish".
She to the door and opens it, but stops before proceeding.
"There is a ward here, some form of magical barrier that will trigger should anyone step into the landing. I dare not pass"
Félicité stares right back at the Pharasmins, daring them to escalate their cold war into a hot one. But she readily confirms Bellaluna's suspicions, and she'll begrudgingly help the morringas disable the wards.
As Bellaluna watches Félicité use divine knowledge to undo the magical barrier, Bellaluna just leans over to Ninolda and says ”Why couldn’t you do that?”
"These such wards are juvenile pranks at best."
Kaldren follows the creature and Félicité to the door and examines the ward.
Félicité examines the place where Ninolda pointed out the rune. With careful examination she can see that the runes have been constructed expertly to create a kind of psychic static, targeted specifically toward anything not native to the material plane.
Kaldren suggests a sequence of rune disabling that Félicité considers unwise, so she sticks with her gut and manages to divert the considerable power of the runes harmlessly into the ground. In doing so she realises that any creature not from this plane would likely have been dismissed back to their home plane if it went off, and anyone else would have suffered immense mental damage.
To the left, stairs lead up, and down to the right. Ninolda appears content to follow you, as she appears to have learned some caution. Emerging through a decaying door on the roof you the fallen tower lying across the slightly pitched roof like a stack of toppled blocks. In addition you find a sheet of canvas covering something around 5 feet tall, which you reveal to be an especially fine spyglass mounted to an ingenious collapsible tripod. It seems to be trained on the entrance to the Gray Monastery.
Beneath the spyglass, between the legs of the supporting frame, lies a short pile of bricks with a slim notebook on top. Its first page declares it belongs to "Nellibet Amberin. Crusader of the Lady of Graves."
It contains several entries detailing comings and goings from the Monastery, the most interesting of which being:
Cloaked Figure with a train of flowers- a pakalchi, maybe?"
Enclosed wagon brought in, large enough to contain a ximtal. Maybe stacked with coffins instead?"
Ximtals are swarms of featureless humanoids that have a hive-mind, they can magically create fear that slows their enemies
Heading down to the basement, you find a wide room with rough-hewn walls and mouldering remains of furniture. Opposite the furniture, an inhuman creature wearing a wide gown of thony red flowers is manacled to the wall. Sharp thorns litter the floor throughout.
"Ah so Nellibet has finally found someone with the courage to interrogate me. I am Miss Whisper of the Seven Shadows, who might you be?"
--Before
"Pakalchi and Ximtal are both types of Sakhils, fiends that prey on fear and are typically immune to it. Pakalchi are known for their manipulative nature and their train of thorns that have a poison that can break the bonds of friendship, as well as their ability to skip to the ethereal plane. Ximtals are swarms of featureless humanoids that have a hive-mind, they can magically create fear that slows their enemies."
--At the bottom of the stairs
"Mademoiselle Whisper of the Seven Shadows, I am Madame Marie-Félicité-Denise Pleyel. I seek an invitation to the masque, and heard that Nellibet Amberin had one for sale. Do you know where it might be?"
Bellaluna opens her mouth to speak, but then closes it, wanting to see how this plays out. She does keep an eye on how Ninolda reacts to the chain-up sahkil.
The pakalchi scoffs at Félicité's question.
"Would you have me believe that Nellibet didn't send you down here himself? Preposterous. If you want an invitation to the masque you'll have to convince me you're not in league with that zealot! Though with what the gardeners have planned you might wish to reconsider..."
When she catches sight of Ninolda stalking down the stairs, she raises an eyebrow.
"Be careful with that one. Psychopomps have no concept of loyalty, and their agenda in Galt is eons in the making. She will betray you"
Ninolda's stony expression doesn't change, but puts both hands on her staff.
"She may have information, but be wary..."
As you all watch the Pakalchi speak, she seems to be drawing out her words and speaking especially slowly, as well as throwing out topics left and right as if stalling for time.
Gregoth’s gaze darts back up the stairs, and his hand falls on the hilt hanging on his belt. “She- they- it’s expecting company!” he growls, words stumbling around his mouth as he tries to find the right one.
"Be careful with that one. Psychopomps have no concept of loyalty, and their agenda in Galt is eons in the making. She will betray you"
Bellaluna chuckles. ”Says the fiend who breaks the bonds of friendship.”
Gregoth’s gaze darts back up the stairs, and his hand falls on the hilt hanging on his belt. “She- they- it’s expecting company!” he growls, words stumbling around his mouth as he tries to find the right one.
Bellaluna, in an odd (to the party) display, looks at Gregoth with confusion and lightly slaps the man with the back of her hand. ”Have you not connected the dots yet? Those sahkils upstairs were here to rescue her.” Bellaluna turns to look at the restrained pakalchi and smirks. ”Newsflash: your liberators are dead; we ran into them when we got here. You’re all alone here, missy.”
Bellaluna will give a glare to anyone else in the party that even starts to speak before the sahkil, wary that they may accidentally contradict her and give away her deception.
Miss Whisper looks incredulous.
"Don't be absurd, why would they travel physicall-"
but as she peers at Bellaluna's expression she sees that she's telling the truth, and she begins thrashing to break free from her manacles. The train of thorns surrounding her writhes as well, scraping against stone.
After a few seconds when her gleaming manacles show no signs of breaking she relents, and continues speaking as if nothing had happened.
"I can get you an invitation you know. Just release these manacles and I can procure one within minutes."
"Don't be absurd, why would they travel physicall-"
So sahkils don’t have to travel physically? Noted. Wait...then why is she still here physically? Questions for later.
Bellaluna shrugs. ”Whether they traveled physically or not didn’t matter. Now, I would LOVE to just let you go, but you mentioned something interesting. Tell me, what do the Gardeners have planned for the masque? Apparently something juicy enough to consider letting an unpruned fearmonger free.”
"Very well I can give you something to whet your appetites, but nothing more until you release me. The masque is a ruse you see, for a grand event, an event so sinister-"
She visibly shudders with delight while thinking about it.
"-that it will go down in history. Unbind me and I will tell you more..."
Miss Whisper is a good liar, but you aren't fooled. She seems to have been telling the truth about a sinister event, but was lying when she seemed to relish the thought and that she would tell you more; she doesn't know any more.
She's acting a little more confident than you'd expect for something in her position. You think she believes she can escape as long as she can get the manacles off, perhaps by magical means
Félicité has no qualms about executing the sahkil, but wants to make sure that Bellaluna gets all the information she needs.
She begins searching for places to lay an ambush for whoever is coming for the sahkil,
Bellaluna whistles. ”You’re quite the tease, ain’t ya? But that’s not an answer. And you’re not exactly in the position to negotiate. Answer my question or you’re not getting out.”
Turrey frowns, and then calls folks back to whisper. "She doesn't know more than what she said, I'd bet my trumpet on it. She also seems a bit too confident that she's going to be rescued, or that she could escape if the manacles came off. I'm not one to take life easily, but Sakhils are evil to their core. Shall we finish her off now?"
Turrey frowns, and then calls folks back to whisper. "She doesn't know more than what she said, I'd bet my trumpet on it. She also seems a bit too confident that she's going to be rescued, or that she could escape if the manacles came off. I'm not one to take life easily, but Sakhils are evil to their core. Shall we finish her off now?"
”Oh? She doesn’t know anything else? No qualms about this then.” Bellaluna abruptly pulls out both of her crossbows and shoots several times at the chained-up sahkil!
The elf quickly reloads her crossbows and stows one of them. ”I’m not against killing this abomination, but I feel like Nellibet kept her alive for a reason. So we can either ambush the people (or otherwise) coming to rescue her, or we can just kill her now and leave only a corpse for her rescuers. I’m not opposed to either.”
"No I do know things, I'm the mastermind behind"
Bellaluna's blunted arrows slam unerringy into her temples and knock her out as she's panicking.
A quick and careful scan of the room shows thick dust in most of it indicative of years of disuse, but in the pile of ruined furniture you see a stone bench that Félicité can easily see was used recently as an impromptu forge, possibly for the manacles. Indeed on closer inspection they do register to Turrey's magical detection.
Félicité will gladly join in with her sling, beating the chained creature with her sling. Her eyes reflect a wanton cruelty, and she seems to enjoy it far more than one ought to.
Afterwards, she looks sad, as if she suddenly realizes that no matter how many of these things she strangles, it'll never fill the void in her heart.
---
If the group agrees to ambush, Félicité will sweep all the caltrops over by the stairs.
"Don't be absurd, why would they travel physicall-"
Félicité will gladly join in with her sling, beating the chained creature with her sling. Her eyes reflect a wanton cruelty, and she seems to enjoy it far more than one ought to.
Afterwards, she looks sad, as if she suddenly realizes that no matter how many of these things she strangles, it'll never fill the void in her heart.
Bellaluna just stares in disbelief at Félicité’s brutality. Sure, the elf doesn’t like these things either, but Calistria’s whip! She puts a hand on Félicité’s shoulder and just pulls her away from the pakalchi’s unconscious body. ”Félicité, that’s enough.”
Eventually Bellaluna pulls Félicité to the side for some relative privacy. ”Look, I…that is to say…is…everything alright, Félicité?”
As you start to consider laying an ambush you think about what you've heard about the abilities of Sahkils before. That they spread fear and unease among mortals you've all heard, and some of you have even heard that they were once psychopomps who rebelled and now delight in corrupting the mortal world. Looking at Ninolda standing rigidly upright, ceaselessly watching and waiting, it's hard not to see the Pakalchi as a dark reflection of her.
The most common thing said about Sahkils though, that all save Gregoth have heard told around campfires on the trail when the fire burns low, is that Sahkils can move to and from the ethereal plane as easily as mortals change their expressions. There must be some magic holding Miss Whisper here. They can watch the material plane as long as they wish, and strike only when they want. They could even be watching you right now...
Presumably Miss Whisper was expecting other Sahkils to simply pop into the material plane in this room rather than enter the temple above on the material plane.
”Félicité, that’s enough.”
Eventually Bellaluna pulls Félicité to the side for some relative privacy. ”Look, I…that is to say…is…everything alright, Félicité?”
Félicité realizes that she's out of line, and she puts back on her "game face". "I'm fine," she says curtly. It doesn't take an emotional genius to discern that lie.
Upon hearing that the creatures could possibly appear anywhere, Félicité begins to reconsider her vote to ambush. "It's hard to come up with a plan that will give us a decisive advantage."
"One thought that popped into mind is that we can execute the sahkil, and then try to use the restraints on whoever comes to save it. Seems high risk."
Kaldrin looks uneasy at the talk of an ambush, "If you all wish to conceal yourselves go ahead, I will remain in the open and give these creatures a chance for redemption.". He then moves to the centre of the room, draws is weapon and waits.
“We can’t hide from ghosts.” Gregoth draws his blade and walks slowly over to the shackled creature. “Do we kill it now, before anything else happens?”
Ninolda stands like a statue observing the unconscious sahkil before she speaks.
"Capturing her rescuers may give us information, but the risk is great and we are at a disadvantage. Nellibet is not here, and this is a distraction. Release her essence."
Gregoth dispatches the fiend quickly, and takes the manacles, which appear to be made of mithral. A quick search of the basement shows nothing else of interest, and heading back upstairs you find Isias finishing up her meditation.
"We are recalled" she announces with finality as she stands up.
Ninolda hardly reacts at all, but somehow gives the impression that underneath her mask she is raising an eyebrow. She turns to Kaldren.
"You are a warrior of Pharasma, just as Nellibet is. Perhaps it is you who are to aid him. The lady walk with you, Kaldren."
She bows deeply before moving to Ninolda, whereupon the two of them transform into hooded pilgrims once more, and stalk out into the night.
When you are back in town you slip quietly into the Soul Mother's Herbs to find Keznin fussing over a pot of stew.
"Oh you're back. Good, good. Best get some food in you"
His relief that you hadn't been disappeared by the Gardeners is plain to see.
As you eat and plan your activities for the next day, you examine the manacles and the headband that you found. The manacles are rough, having been cast in the makeshift forge that you found, but they are well-made for all that, and being cast from mithral makes them strong and light. Kaldren feels a particular affinity for them as they seem somehow aligned to the power of Pharasma. He learns that they are ordinary manacles, but when used to bind a Sahkil they inhibit their ability to move to and from the ethereal plane.
As the group looks at the headband while Gregoth busies himself with more mundane activities, quiet falls over Félicité, Turrey and Kaldren as they each realise at the same moment it's nature. Only Bellaluna fails to divine the form of the enchantment, though she can tell that it is very powerful. The final step of the identification is dipping the headband in Keznin's stew, for it remains perfectly pristine even when removed.
The next day you wake up refreshed, and in a much better position than the previous day of having an invitation to the masque.
---
Félicité realizes that there's little that she knows about the Final Blades, despite their presence being such a big part of her early life. Félicité will ask around about the Final Blades.
Gregoth spends the morning wandering between the various taverns. He buys a couple rounds for folks, slaps their backs when they begin to choke on their own spittle, and tries to gently steer conversations towards the Final Blades themselves. "Just passing through - we don't have things like those back home..."
We don't have much of anything back home now.
Before they head out, Turrey says, "Hold on, friends. Last time we went out asking questions, we were clearly followed back here. We're fortunate that those who tailed us seem to have died before they could alert the Gardeners more broadly...but the last thing I want to do is bring another attack down on Kenzin's shop.
"It might be best if we find ways to be discrete--perhaps following Bellaluna's suit and going out in disguise? In addition, I'd recommend we meet up at the end of the day somewhere other than here. Maybe that nice-looking restaurant on the corner of Rue du Coq Rouge and 7th? I noticed it when I was out the first day, and the menu looks fabulous. Anyway, after dinner, you all can leave together and I'll go invisible and walk a block behind, looking for anyone tailing us. If the coast is clear, I'll catch up to you. If there's someone suspicious, I'll Message you. Sound good?"
. . .
Before going out, Turrey will disguise himself as a human child in local clothing. Then, while out, he'll seek to go unnoticed, and look for opportunities to unobtrusively follow Grey Gardeners and eavesdrop.
If that doesn't prove fruitful, he'll disguise himself as a visiting scholar of the occult, and seek entry into a local university, and see if he can learn anything more about the Final Blades.
Turrey advises caution and creates a plan, Bellaluna puts on another disguise to study the mysterious Gray Gardeners from the inside, Félicité tries to use her high-society connections to learn about the final blades, while Gregoth tries to see what the other end of society knows about the same topic.
Gregoth -
Bellaluna -
Félicité -
Turrey -
Kaldren
Kaldren bows in return to Isias and Ninolda. He returns his flail to his belt and joins the rest of the group as they make their way back to the herbalist's shop.
---
Gregoth and Félicité both set out with the same purpose, to learn things about the Final Blades. Gregoth at the taverns of the working folks of Litran, buying ales and loosening tongues, and Félicité at the coffee shops, fitting rooms and well-to-do shops of the elite. Gregoth slaps backs and makes friends, whereas Félicité goads with whispers of gossip, teasing out secrets with her mastery of etiquette and politics.
That the final blades are indestructible is the first point of discussion in both settings, though it certainly doesn't come as a surprise to Félicité. Some speculate on secret methods known only to the Gardeners to destroy them and free the souls trapped inside, but it's clear neither the tradespeople nor the aristocrats of Litran have any idea what they might be.
It's Félicité who first learns something new, Lady Bartholemew who is in town for the festival mentions that the final blade that usually resides in the town square of Edme has been moved recently, a quite unusual occurence. This sets off a round of surprised conversation where several other notables recall their final blades also being moved, though none have any credible theories why.
After Félicité and Gregoth meet to compare notes over an ale, Gregoth manages to seed this conversation topic amongst the roustabouts of a tavern called the "The Rolling Keg", and he learns from a barge navigator that a local cartographer named Tristel Liendi has some theories about the final blade movements, and she has a shop in town called the People's Maps.
Bellaluna's morning is extremely productive. None of the other Gray Gardeners question her disguise, and her very first conversation of the day is with another Gardener who confides in her his desire to become an assassin. It's clear from his tone that he believes the Gray Gardener Assassins are their most experienced and unburdened agents. Rather than bothering to arrest people or oversee beheadings, they usually just murder the guilty in their homes or on the streets. Sticking with this individual for their loose tongue, over the course of the morning he makes several other slips. He keeps on talking about his desire to be an assassin, and makes several mentions of impressing Zintaya. With some further asking around Bellaluna is able to deduce that he believes Zintaya Calbieste, the leader of Litran's farming collective, to be one of these assassins. She operates out of the cooperative meeting hall of the Litran farming collective.
Turrey has less luck. His disguise appears to be flawless, but the fourth time a local having a conversation notices him and tries to find his parents he starts to get annoyed. By the time the group meets up to discuss what they've found he has nothing to show for his efforts other than a hat full of stale bread.
Kaldren doesn't find even that, for almost every time he approaches someone they fend him off with a "Not today, thank you", or know so little about the final blades that they are useless.
After you've reconvened at the restaurant, none of you have seen any signs of undue interest, and the sun is peaking in the sky as you discuss how you'd like to proceed.