Emirikol - what happened last month....

[subplotkudzu]

Here’s the breakdown of last session:

 

The quartet exit the obelisk of the winds, heal up and then return. The wind tunnel room is still, and their patient exploration is rewarded by their not being surprised by the air spirits that once powered it (whom Hiram is able to bring to their side), the chaos cleric or her silenced minotaur companion. The conflict is brief and goes poorly for the chaos folks. The air spirits rejoice at the death of their old masters and take turns sucking the last breath out of their corpses. The exploration of the rest of the tower reveals an entrance into and out of some sea caves via a narrow hole in the wall and steel rung ladder (which Hiram and Dietrick partially explore, but, not knowing when the tide is due back in, decide not to press on), and a locked vault door.

 

Cybele’s magic overcomes the vault’s protections and inside they find a small library with journals and a well stocked wine cellar, along with a variety of other small treasures. Deitrick reminds them all that while the possessions of the chaos cultists are theirs by right, the fact that the cultists never penetrated this room makes it part of the tower and thus city property. Still, the paladin manages to look away as Melas pockets a half score of the best bottles into Cybele’s haversack. It’s a small enough reward.

 

Outside there is a clear political split going on between Filkey and d’Ferrantino concerning the tower, with Galeweather desperately wanting to move in right away and Grimm throwing up roadblocks – mostly, from the look of it, to irk Filkey. While all of the wizards in the city seem a little odd, d’Ferrantino and Grimm mostrly have their head on straight. The wizards counsel takes the journals to search through them for evidence of Lord Fireside’s retreat, promising a meeting with all speed, so that they might find his spell books and the cure to Lady leNort’s madness.

 

Melas then recruits Hiram in his plan to get Olivar to elope with Jenna. The young bard is able to, during a long and drink-laden eavening, assist in pushing Olivar into their plan (though they had to threaten to leave Olivar hanging with no protection at all to make that final push). Melas and Olivar seal the deal with a handshake and Aristocrat’s binding promise. Here’s the plan: Olivar will invite Jenna to a play known to have an early intermission and a long second act where, if things stick to tradition with their other assignations, her aged duenna will nod off. Hiram will recruit his elven flautist paramour Eloise to slip into the box disguised as Jenna (there is a fair enough likeness in build, and the duenna is old) to allay suspicion during the second act, and will disappear into the crowd after the play is over, leaving the poor old woman without her charge.

 

Her charge will have joined Olivar and Hiram in a hired carriage – Melas will have been watching in the theater to make sure nothing goes wrong – and will ride on the sideboard and roof of the carriage once the couple is underway. Hiram will remain inside to make sure no one gets cold feet. They ferry the couple to their boat, where Hiram will have arranged for the presence of a Water Priest who can marry the two once they’re at sea. Melas & Hiram will row back after insuring that the deed is done.

 

Hiram calls on his connections with Sebastian d’Ferrantino, the Cardinal of the East, whose reputation they saved some months back, to see if he could perform the ceremony. He demurs on that, given the tight politics of it, but does arrange for a water priest to be on board “as protection against pirates” – well within his authority to grant. He then asks for Hiram’s help in wooing Fortune leNort, and Hiram readily agrees – easy stuff, all things considered.

 

While Hiram is doing this Melas takes the extra precaution of booking seats in Olivar’s name on an eastbound carriage to further throw off the scent, and then informs Patrony Khaizan that the ship must be ready to sail at once. Melas and his friends have trade goods that might sell at the capital, but more importantly Melas agrees to bear the cost of the losses on the trip. And thus all is arranged.

 

 

Deitrick and Cybele were more involved in the research for on the papers, which revealed that Lord Fireside's domicile was on an artificial island inside Seawall Swamp, held above the waterline and maintained by magic. According to the diaries, Fireside was granted an imperial land title that made him the official lord of a stretch of Seawall swamp, and then also enchanted it so that its owner would be "the Lord of the Swamp", owed deference by the swamp creatures and preternaturally skilled in its environs. The manor is also nigh immune to scrying or divination, as Lord Fireside liked his privacy and was having a spat with the Loremaster at the time. This is helpful to the wizards counsel (which will include Aslan this time), but not extraordinarily so - discussions are made as to how to best search the swamp, can we find out more from the diaries, the amount of resources they can draw from the city to flood the swamp with searchers and so on. Cybele and Detrick manage to hide their excitement.

 

Why excitement? The wizards do not know about the painting by the lesser master Dechau now hanging in Cybele's rooms. Hiram has previously identified the artist and even provided a brief history of his work, starting with the lighter landscapes of the Rheel valley and, in his middle age, moving to darker, more ominous paintings of the seawall swamps to the west. On his 40th birthday he invited his friends to join him for a feast in the swamp, at which he got drunk, declaimed that this was his kingdom and then was unexpected eaten by a crocodile. Since Cybele acquired it she has had a growing affinity for the swamps, and once the swap jaguars even bowed to her and left her unmolested. Clearly there is a connection.

 

The painting is actually painted over the legal deed to that that piece of swampland, secured by lord fireside by the emperor that the ownership of this document made one the owner of the land in question. Big time stuff! Cybele and Deitrick confirm this after the meeting is over, with Cybele working through the night. She is able to discern that the painting contains a pocket realm of some sort. She can’t access it herself – they need a more powerful wizard. For this, they turn to Aslan Nightshade, who, while a little scattered, has no agenda in these affairs and has always been their friend. The wizard confirms her suspicions and offers to open it for them to investigate. They accept, once they get some rest and prepare. In a few hours they are ready to step into the painting.

 

Melas and Hiram’s plan works perfectly, but for one snag – the assassin. In their trip from the theater to the docks Melas’ keen elven eyes spot that while the clothes and face of the woman riding a horse some distance behind them had changed, the horse was the same! Waiting until the horse and carriage passed under one of Scornbul’s many points where the buildings on either side of the street have been built up enough  connect he heaves himself into the eaves and waits for their pursuer, dropping onto her horse behind her and getting her a bear hug to prevent any funny business.

 

The woman, now dressed as a sailor ships officer, curses and hurls both of them off the horse. Melas is the more graceful in the landing, but as the woman stands she does something magical and now appears once again to be the woman of quality who exited the theater behind them. She yells that she is being mugged, and promises 10 gold coins to the man who restrains her attacker. Melas curses now, and has to waste valuable time fending off a trio of burly sailors. His superior skill and surprising strength lets him hurl aside their first assault and, seeing his target running back to her mount, he grabs a cobblestone and hurls it past the horse’s head, spooking the beast and sending it running. The woman is barely able to rip something off the saddle before her mount is out of reach.

 

Hiram, seeing that something is up, leaves the soon to be newlyweds to their canoodling and slips out onto the roof and beside the coachman, urging the man to move with more speed. The issue isn’t the weight, it’s the difficulty picking through the cluttered street. With a burst of inspiration Hirmal casts cat’s grace on the horse, allowing it to prance nimbly through the obstacles and increasing their speed.

 

Melas brandishes his rapier and the seamen fall back, not wanting to tangle with an armed and dangerous man, but curses again when the woman runs to a building and climbs it like a spider, quickly making her way across the uncluttered rooftops. Her rescued bundle is a shortbow, which she strings and fires, taking Hiram’s coachman in the neck. The young actor curses but is able to grab the reins as his hired man tumbles to the ground below, barely avoiding instant death under the carriage wheels, but there is no time to see to him with a sniper about. He snaps the reins and the horse surges forward toward the dock.

 

Lord Belaseca rubs the cobblestone dirt into his hands to improve their grip and clambers from windowsill to archway to eaves, ascending the building ahead of the sniper with  with surprising speed. The moment he is over the edge he is struck by an arrow fired at point blank range, and only his strong sense of balance keeps him from tumbling back down. With a word he activates his enchanted glove, bring his loaded heavy crossbow instantly to bear and fires it into his assailant, who tumbles backward into a crevice between buildings. When he reaches the edge there is no sign of her.

 

Both the hunchback and the actor know that this means nothing and Hiram, canny and desperate, casts a dramaturgy enchantment designed to locate lost props – in this case, a short bow. Illegal in cities and rare in any event, the bow is immediately outlined in his sight, revealing the sniper scuttling along the wall, hidden by a color shifting cloak. He waves to Melas to indicate her location and turns his eyes back to the road just in time to skirt around a fishmonger’s cart at the end of the dock. He hustles the lovebirds out of the carriage (they, in their amour, are unaware that anything is amiss) and hustles them down to the boat, praying that Melas can keep the woman occupied until they are safe.

 

He cannot – she is too far out of reach, though Melas does block the dock to keep her from pursuing he cannot stop her long arcing bowshot headed directly for…Jenna? Hiram is able to push the girl clear and take the arrow himself, his magical cloak protecting him from the worst of it and the poison. He quickly wraps the arrow in said cloak to keep from breaking the mood and the boat casts off. Melas and the assassin share a look before she scuttles back up the wall and out of sight. If she was hired by the de la Bellastras family to protect their daughter – Melas’ first thought – they’d have to be awfully cold blooded to prefer killing her over her elopement. Something doesn’t sit right; Melas calculates that there is another player in this game. Hiram is just happy to be out of danger. He  uses some simple dramaturgy to draw out his arrow wound into a scarf, serves as a witness to a marriage and rows home. The conspirators retire to Melas’ overlarge manor house and drink to their success.

 

Cybele and Deitrick enter the painting, and upon walking around Cybele realizes she recognizes the place from landmarks not visible in the painted image – they passed this spot in their pirate hunting last spring. Before they can do much else they are accosted by a Juvenile Black Dagon that erupts from the brackish water. They are able to engage it in dialogue before they attack and learn that it is bound here to defend the painting, and has been trapped here like a fish in a bowl for centuries. As the rightful owner of the painting, Cybele shrugs and says that it can go. Expecting the beast to take flight away from this space the pair are stunned when it roars past them, out the opening through which they had come. “Oops,” Cybele mutters. “Surly Lord Nightshade can take care of it,” Deitrick consoles her, and they finish their investigation, locating the spot that no doubt is the entry to the manor in the real world. “This,” Deitick concludes, “Is the most over-elaborate map ever.”

 

Upon their exit they learn that lord Nightshade had dealt with it, and then forgot it. When pressed he cannot account for the acid pools on the floor, the destroyed piano and other damage, but he is happy to show them his new nightingale, trapped in a gilded cage. The bird’s beady little eyes bore into Cybele’s with unbridled hatred. “Well it’s hardly my fault,” she replies. Now in possession of the location of Lore Fireside’s manor, all the pair have to do is collect their allies and head into the swamp to claim more glory, Cybele’s unexpected windfall and the cure to lady laNort.

 

 

They are a little distracted by quiet requests for assistance from the de la Bellasteros family over Jenna’s disappearance. Could lord von Eisenwald offer the help of his people at Vulture Point, as the carriage that carried her away was headed in that direction? Of course, but they quickly learn that the carriage was a feint. Cybele is able to do little more than lend a consoling ear to Florian. Hiram stays well out of sight, and Melas sends the de la Erosas family to the streets to see what they can drum up on the assassin – precious little, other than rumors in Scornbul someone in town had hired a member or the empire wide Red Tide assassins’ guild for a job in Emirikol. That would be their woman, but who held her leash?

 

Eventually the scandal hits the broadsheets and the de la Bellasteros family loses considerable face. Not entirely heartless, Melas waits until enough time for the ship to reach the imperial capital at Greensward has passed and then writes a letter to Lord de la Bellastros letting him know that his daughter and her new husband are the guests of his noble aunt Agatha Vienne in Greensward, who sends all of her best. The de la Bellasteros family can let their fear turn to relief and then fury. The game has begun in earnest. Melas fingers his periapt of proof against poison and wonders what will come next.

 

While keeping a low profile, Hiram still must keep up appearances in his regular haunts lest his absence prove suspicious. In one such he is approached by a guardsman, openly displaying his identifying breastplate and shield. The man wants to bring Hiram before a magistrate to answer a few questions, and Hiram, having been schooled by Melas to not lie or dissemble as they have broken no laws, willingly goes along. The din of the bar prevents him from noticing that the man’s accent is not local, and he is taken much by surprise when the marriage he is directed into proves reinforced and locked from the outside. Before he can slip free he is clapped in irons, the door is slammed shut and the carriage is in motion, with the sounds of three other mounted men falling in around it as it makes its way south, out of the city. He barely manages to free some rose petals from his pouch and make the complex gesture of the invocation to place an audience into slumber in hopes of incapacitating his captors before they can leave the city, but the guardsmen resist the spell – the driver opens a small slider in the carriage, inserts his pistol and tells him matter of factly that if he tries that again the guardsman will blow Hiram’s head off.  The carriage rattles out of town as the actor plots.

 

The next evening, just before dinner, Deitrick receives a visit from Rudolph Eisenwald, the solicitor he shares with Hiram. They had an appointment with Lord Desaud this morning and when he didn’t appear they looked into it, finding the official filing for request of jurisdiction in the magistrate’s office. Hiram has been arrested for suspicion of the murder of Hiram Desaud! The official story is that Hiram Desaud died over a year ago. The boy, who had always been studious, well mannered and a little shy, had opted to pass his family estates on to his uncle, Lucien Desaud, in favor of a life of contemplation of his ancestors at an Iselberg monastery (the same one Antonio Huera was sent to by Osmundo de la Erosa, for those keeping track). Alas, his dreams were unfulfilled, as his body was found in a ditch near Encinal, his papers stolen. A funeral was held in Everbrook once Lucien learned of the tragedy, and the Catchpoles of Encinal have been on the lookout ever since. Whoever it was who stole Hiram's clothing and identity made a fatal overreach, trying to claim the false estates as his own. Once Lucien heard of this he sent the Catchpoles to Emirikol to bring the rogue in for questioning to see if he is a liar and extortionist or actually the murderer of Hiram Desaud.

 

Rudolph Eisenwald acknowledges it's a neat little trap: no one in the town can actually vouch for the boy's identity, and he was never allowed out much in Everbrook for people to be able to doubt the studious story. Yes, there are chinks in the take, but if Hiram is tried in Encinal the letter of the law will be twisted to evil ends - of that he has no doubt - and it will be done with all speed. Hiram must be freed and kept out of Encinal until the true law can be made to work.

And that brings us up to date.