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"Have you tried a different style, or maybe talk with some Desnans? Kuthonites would certainly give you encouragement but that might not exactly help where you're at right now."

Despondently, Salvator says, "I have been trying, but I can't seem to get it right. Something's missing and I'd do just about anything to get it back."

Salvator glumly responds to Wednesday, "Not the same dreams, but still bad ones. Just not ones that I feel the need to put on canvas. They're bad, but they're all fleeting now. Nothing sticks anymore. I no longer have anything to work with."

Salvator sheepishly answers Laori, "I, uh, no. I've never seen him before. Not in person, no. I... I dreamt of him. I have all sorts of dreams, nightmares mostly. When I wake up, I have to get what I saw down on canvas. So... my dreams, actually. The dreams I, er, had..."

Salvator's jaw drops when he sees Laori. "I.. I..I don't know this woman," he stammers. "How do you know me?"

Salvator leads you to a section of the Old Dock neighborhood not far from one of the burned wooden bridges that used to link Endrin Isle to the mainland. The small building he approaches is a decrepit affair that has a slight lean to it. Various subdued sounds of life can be heard about the street and from the Shingles above, far more subdued than before the traumas of the plague and quarantine.

There don't seem to be any particular dangers involved in getting to his home, but when Salvator reaches the door, he fumbles about in dismay. "I... I don't have my key. It would figure, wouldn't it?"

But almost as if someone were waiting in the house for the sounds of people arriving (because they were) the door is flung open and a high-pitched and perky voice calls out, "Salvator? Is that you?"

Salvatore glumly answers, "I really want to get away from here. But I do need to get a few things in my flat before I leave. It isn't far and I would feel much safer if you came there with me." He looks up and down the street. "I would be surprised if Pilts gave up so easily. But, maybe you really did put the fear of death and damnation in him..."

Sure enough, the mayhem inflicted mainly by Tolenn and Wednesday seems to have suppressed trouble in the immediate area.

Yep, the building is explored. Those stairs head down into the first floor rubble and are actually impassible.

A quick look about and riffle through boxes nets the Great Firaldi a jewelry box. It is unlocked and opening it reveals what appears to be mainly costume jewelry. A quick glance suggests that most of it is worth silvers at most, though there may be a find or two in there amid the gaudy brooches.

The final chamber on the floor and accessible through the hallways appears to have once been a storage room. It now sits mostly empty and a reason why is easy to determine... part of the room has collapsed, leaving it partly exposed to the outside. Peering through the corner where the wall and part of the floor has collapsed into the rubble below, it appears that another serviceable exit from Pilts's Palace has been found.

Salvator shakes his head and sniffles, "I don't know if Glorio is loyal to the queen or not. He seemed agreeable enough when I asked him to keep Neolandus safe. I pray he stayed that way. I just want to get out of here - to get away from here."

He looks about and gestures at the three paintings. "If you will look into Neolandus's safety, you can have those. Pilts doesn't deserve them, that's for sure."

Meanwhile, Firdall finds no sign of danger on the door across the hall. The chamber beyond seems to be a storeroom - packed with crates, boxes, and barrels. It looks like some have been opened and at least partly rummaged through as some colorful clothing and costuming is piled about some incompletely closed crates.

Glorio isn't known to be particularly loyal to the queen. He's known to be more of a genial presence in the public eye than his father had been - notably the way he makes the rounds of the slums of Old Korvosa, handing out candy to children and coins to their parents. His younger sister Meliya is the more public of the two and she's closer in age to Queen Ileosa and with beauty to rival. Rumor puts them as rivals, at least on a rhetorical, passive-aggressive insult level.

"Yes! Yes, that's him. Neolandus Kalepopolis. He's been a patron of mine for a while, even a friend, but I never expected him to show up at my flat - and not like that! He was bleeding and hurt and really sick. He said that the Red Mantis was after him. I did what I could and hid him a few days. But I can't defend him from assassins! I thought the Arkonas could so I took him there. Glorio Arkona is another patron of mine. I thought it would be alright. I eventually told Vencarlo about it and that's when he got mad. He told me they were a lot more dangerous than I thought. He was really mad at me and that I may have Neolandus's blood on my hands." Salvator sobs again. "But I wanted to save him!"

Salvator takes a few shuddering gasps and then a torrent comes out. "I didn't know what to do. I didn't know! I couldn't keep Neolandus hidden forever so I took him to Arkona. I thought they'd be able to hide him, but then Vencarlo told me that Arkona couldn't be trusted. So he must have gone to see if he could get Neolandus back. But that means if he's missing they probably did away with him. But I didn't mean for that to happen! I didn't know!" he sobs again.

Salvator reacts to the questions about Vencarlo with a more dismayed look than before. He doesn't even react to the sandwich and rum offered to him by Firdall.

"You can't find Vencarlo?!?" a look of dawning horror grows on his face. "Oh, no! No, no no, no, no! Oh, it's my fault." He clutches at his lank hair. "Stupid! Stupid! Oh, gods, I've killed him! Oh, no! No!" he says as he breaks down in sobs, clearly extremely distraught.

Salvator looks like he's about to say something in response to Firdall's question about where he can be safe, but then he looks stricken. "I... I... I don't know." he finally manages to stammer. "I... Vencarlo! He'll know. Get me to Vencarlo Orisini. He will know a safe place to go."

Indeed it is Salvator Scream and Firdall's days associating with the the Korvosan arts community pays off. Though, it seems the reclusive artist has seen better days.

"Pilts is gone? Are you sure? He's really lost his mind this time. He keeps me here to paint, but I can't do it anymore! I was sure he was going to kill me! His men grabbed me a few days ago and brought me here. He said that I was going to paint for him and nobody else. But every painting I made just made him more angry. I kept telling him I can't do it anymore, but he wouldn't listen." Salvator's words come out in a torrent interspersed with sobs.

As far as paintings go, there is a nearly complete one on the easel behind Salvator - a scene of a village being attacked by immense fiends - definitely Salvator Scream-style subject matter. But there's something about it that doesn't have the same impact as the three paintings hanging in the outer chamber. All three of those are creepy enough to unease or cause a disturbed feeling in the pit of the stomach - but not the one nearing completion.

Yay! A post of mine finally got through!

There is no sign of a trap nor any lock securing the door other than the bar, so there is little to stop Wednesday moving the bar and opening the door.

The smell of body odor and paint wafts out of the small chamber beyond the door. Standing there is a wreck of a man. His eyes are sunken and dark as if he hasn't slept well in a long time. His old and tattered clothing is spattered with paint. Bruises as well as insect bites mar his face.

He drops to his knees sobbing, "Please, please help me! I can't stay here. Please help me get away."

Behind him, the room is barely furnished with a mattress, a paint table, and an easel.

The small bed has obviously seen frequent use and by someone not too keen on neatly making it in the mornings. The sheets have a bit of a body odor reek to them. There are a few objects of clothing mixed in with the sheets - all styled for a small adult and were, at one point, bright in color, now faded with years of washings. There is nothing else of obvious value in it or directly around it.

The table service is probably the most noteworthy element of value in the room. There is a nice set of silverware, enough for four settings plus servingware, that appears to be made of real silver. There is also a decanter that appears to be made of platinum and crystal on the table - filled with some form of liquid.

Firdall fails to find any form of trap on the other door, nor is it locked.

I'll assume you will open it at some point...even if there are other things you want to accomplish in this grisly trophy/dining room

The room beyond the door seems to be an extravagantly decorated bedroom that could belong in the richest of noble villas or monarchs’ castles—at least, until one looks a little more closely at the sheets on the four-poster bed and notes how stained and frayed they are, or examines the tapestries and bed curtains and sees the patches of mold and threadbare edges. A tall, well-stocked bookcase to the south turns out to be leaning against the wall for support; the contents of its sagging shelves are poorly produced books with violent or erotic names on their mildewed spines. Everything is slightly musty, stained with age, and well beyond its prime. Only the three paintings hanging on the wall hold up to closer examination, but their grisly subject matter might make them difficult to show in most public venues. They do, however, fit right within Salvator Scream's style, though.
To the left, a simple wooden door is secured with a lock and a heavy wooden bar. A muffled voice can be heard from within, calling out, "Let me out! I don't want to die here!"

And the maps are updated - for the visually oriented

Opening the first door in the hallway allows the unpleasant air of the interior wash over the group of heroes. It's a foul, sickly sweet mix of vinegar and flower aromas. The smell likely comes from
the fourteen poorly preserved heads mounted on the walls of this grisly trophy hall. Most of the heads are human, although two are those of elves and one is from a dwarf with a beard roughly sheered off to match the cut to the neck. In the corner, a small, child-sized bed sits against the wall opposite a wooden table decorated with a magnificent set of silverware.

There is one more door in the wall directly opposite your entry.

It's reasonably well-known that the painter Salvatore Scream worked in and around Pilts's theater company, the Exemplary Execrables. His paintings were often used in background for the troupe's notorious entertainments. Scream has a pretty strong following despite the fairly macabre and disturbing works he is famous for - to the right buyer, they've been known to sell for hundreds, even thousands of gold coins.

Firdall examines the wall to the right, but if there is a hidden portal to the room beyond, he cannot find it.

Meanwhile, the rest of the room seems to contain mostly painting supplies, including a fairly large amount of blue paints, in multiple shades. The paintings, 11 in all, incorporate themes of violence, darkness, scenes of pain, shadowy dragons, and despair - all in vivid colors, particularly blue hues. All are the typical subject matter of Salvatore Scream - and all in pristine condition.

The door is not secured by either lock or trap and, at first glance, the room beyond seems fairly mundane. Several barrels and crates sit against the walls. Stacked on some are many blank canvases and what appear to be ceramic containers. A stack of paintings leans against the eastern wall, stretched on wooden frames and partly covered with sheets.

The sound of the thumping is a little easier to hear from this location, but it is evident that it does not come from this chamber itself.

Oops - updated the slide, but not the other map. Both are in sync now.

Jabbyr the recently-deceased gnome bears no signs of identification that would indicate his place of origin. He is, of course, fairly unique with his tongue cut out and having only one eye, but how he ended up in this state or why he ended up in Korvosa is as mysterious as anything.

Tolenn can feel satisfied, however, that her shove sends the guillotine toppling off its platform - the splintering of wood indicating that at least one of its main supports has broken and probably jamming it.

Up at the front of the group entering Pilts's Palace, neither Firdall nor Wednesday find anything suspicious. However, they do notice a sickly odor coming from the door on the right as one enters the hall. It's a bit pungent - vinegary.

Otherwise, a quick peek will indicate that the hallway bends around before heading down toward ground level. The sounds of thumps and a voice seem to come from the area shaded in red on the map, same level as you are currently on.

There's a single door that offers entry into the personal areas of Pilts Swastel, former Emperor of Old Korvosa. It is just past the platform upon which stands the tall knife, with its leering demonic face.

The door, having been guarded by Pilts's men, is not locked and opens easily. Beyond the door is a hallway - there are 3 visible doors before it turns a corner and heads out of sight. There is a muffled knocking in the distance ahead, and maybe the sound of a voice.

I am experimenting with putting the maps on google slides. See this link: Slides. I think it may make using the maps from a tablet a little easier. There's a slides app that seems to make them sufficiently editable from my iPad. There may be one for other handhelds as well.
I'm also posting more art with it. Check it out.