Festival of the Arts

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Summary

Adventure: Festival of the Arts
GM: Andrew Withy
Session: Summer 807 WK
Night: Wednesday starting 13 Dec 2006
Level: High-ish
Location: Andrew's house, Avondale.

Party

  • Bertran de Born, a Human Minstrel doomed to wander the earth
  • Caprice, a beautiful gypsy lass bearing a horrible curse
  • Gerald Jr, a young Human Archer recently returned from training in the Far East
  • Gerrad, a handsome and brave illusionist with a tragic future
  • Serena, a whimsical exotic dancer escaping from a terrible past

Employer

Mournful Arcadia, a 6'5" muscle-bound & balaclava'd representative of the para-military wing of the Arts Council of Silberton, a district in Sanctuary.

Mission

The Council believes that rival groups and anarchist street performers may be planning trouble at the Jharn Alden Memorial Arts Festival. They need some multi-skilled performers from the Guild who can blend with the "talent" and the punters, and find out and prevent trouble. The Popular Ilsigi Liberation Front, the Viola Supporters Association, and both factions of the Royal Trust for Performing Arts are the most likely (counter-)insurgency movements. Mimes have also been seen in the area. The Sanctuary Mage Guild has been paid off by forces unknown, so the Council have been forced to seek wider afield for enforcers.

Pay

Free access to most shows, plus advanced Troubadour training and possible commissions for future performances. Cash if strictly necessary. Payment by Royal patronage also likely, but central funding has not yet been guaranteed to the Council.
Opportunities for Master works in Troubadour / Spy likely.
At least guild rates, except during the festival when they are paid a guinea a day.

Dramatis Personae

Any great drama has a number of 'bit players' that act on the stage that is our life and impact our time in any place. The 'actors' listed below had some impact on this story and deserve some mention, however brief.

  • Kate, a lithe Rankene lass with a penchant for gladiators
  • Father Lucius, a priest of Berith with a bad lisp
  • Raz, owner of a Messenger Service
  • Otto von Schultz, A painter
  • Black Viktor, A Sanctuary Mage Guild Master Thaumaturge
  • Alneri, Elven bruiser

Planned Events

Buy your Souvenir Programme for a hap'ny.

Scribe Notes

Note

IN GAME - These Scribe notes will not be available for release until the end of the present session
IN REALITY - Due to the nature of DQ, for information purposes, as well as the position of scribe these notes will be updated regulary as per normal.

Assigned Roles
Gerald Jr: Party Leader, Arlecchino, indolent and knavish valet to il Dottore
Bertran: Military Scientist, Dottore Graziano, lawyer, astrologer, or philosopher, rich, fat, absent-minded pedant.
Gerrad: Scribe, innamorato, Valerio, perfumed scapegrace
Serena: Security, innamorata, Isabella, ignorant foil for the intrigue
Caprice: Little Dove, rather intelligent lady's maid to Isabella, lover of Arlecchino

Prelude

1st of Meadow

Our employer is Mournful Arcadia head of the Silberton Arts Council’s security. Our job is to ensure that there are no non-union performances at the upcoming Jharn Alden Memorial Arts Festival. Mournful is concerned that non-union performers will try to disrupt the festival for their own ends. Their reasons could be political, egotistical, anarchical or just to achieve a moment of fame. The main suspects are the Viola Supporters Association or PILF. The PILF are part of the security detail and are on the organizing committee, as some events are in their territory. In events outside of their territory they are likely to be instigating riots rather than preventing them. Ischade is in charge of security as the Mage’s Guild has been bought off.

If a riot starts it is up to us to control it or else the 3rd Command will be called in. As they are heavy cavalry that doesn’t sound very nice for the locals. We are probably more dangerous but at least we have a speed between talk and trample. For Uptown events the Prince’s Guard will keep the peace.

The Festival is to commemorate Jharn Alden, who was a major patron of the arts. She was a major source of funding; the Festival is an effort by the Council to raise funds. She passed away in suspicious circumstances in which no Guild member was involved. No member of the current party was there at the time, knows anything about it, or can tell you where the bodies are buried. Not that we are saying they were buried, as we don’t know anything about it. So stop asking.

Time being of the essence we agreed to fly out that afternoon to Sanctuary. The Council has a deal with the Mage’s Guild who have a reciprocal arrangement with the Guild for services, so Mournful can get a set of wings on account. For some reason he also decided to get a round for everyone in the Guild Pub as well. Probably expense it as “incidental flight preparations”. An uneventful four hour flight.

Bertran warned us of scriptomancy. This allowed certain mages to locate people using a sample of their handwriting. Sure enough we had to sign in at the gate. The paper transferred the information to a central registry somewhere. Gerald Jr signed in using a cantrip and I used just an X under my Master Jones alias. We decided to have everyone but Bertran and Caprice enter by the main gate, so at least some of us should not be on record.

The Council is heavily into secrecy. We had to wear masks to the Security Committee meeting. Which was held behind a pub in a dirty, smelly windowless room. Present were a Thrusher – a guardsman, Tiana - a pretty young artist (badly dressed), Liranne - an overdressed member of the Royal Trust (potential funders), Jing - an elven street thug from the PILF and Ischade, a lady of dangerous reputation. I asked Ischade why the Mage’s Guild were not providing security. She replied that she was happy that they were not involved and showed nothing but scorn for them.

We asked about the events and possible threats. In the lead up to the main events there will be practices for the Concert and Operetta. The puppeteers are from Brandenburg or Aquila (very suspicious, probably evil binders). The Gladiators are likely to disrupt the parade as they were told that they were not artistic. A Seagate assassin by the name of Silverfoot has put a sculpture in the Competition (may eliminate other competitors). There is a dancer who it is rumored is a vampire who can walk in the daylight.

We have a large area to cover and a big list of potential threats. We can use the room for interviews if we like, however it is shared with 15 other committees. The Security Committee will be asking the Membership Committee to grant us free Union cards during the festival.

One of Mournful’s security team is assigned as our guide and liaison. He will try to keep us from getting into avoidable trouble, but it is up to us if it gets messy.

Not having any lodging organized Tiana took us to the boarding house she frequents in the Street of Red Lanterns. Her particular spot is in the park nearby. As there was another lady hard at work in the room next door we decided to go for a walk to get familiar with the area.

We visited one of the fine establishments in the area. The quality of the dancing was passable. We swapped rumors with the bartenders.

2nd of Meadow

After an uneventful night Gerald Jr cast permanent disguises on Caprice, Gerrad and Serena. While he was doing this Bertran went out disguised as Father Lucius. His mission was to rent out a house managed by Raz. He achieved this task and we moved into our new base in Hovaty Lane. Bertran learnt that Otto von Schultz is entering into the Art Competition and organised some art supplies for him. Caprice got some new clothes and a traveling chest to put them in.
For some reason Caprice has decided that we need to become a traveling comedy troupe.

Our mission, and I quote "to blend with the talent and find out and prevent trouble." Not to wander around looking like a motley assortment of death on legs (on stilts maybe). Little Dove

So we spent some time practicing our parts. Bertran is Il Dottore (the Doctor), Gerald Jr is the Arlecchino (Harlequin), Caprice is Little Dove, Serena the Innamorata (lover) named Isabella and Gerrad the Innamorato (lover) named Valerio.
Later that morning we headed down to the Arts Council and presented ourselves for licences. Being masters at our respective arts we all made a good impression. We all managed to gain roles in various events in the festival.

  • Bertran – a male stripper in “Bards for Babes” –first performance for Lady Danlis in Uptown, at one of Torchholder’s houses at dusk on the 5th. No practicing required.
  • Gerald Jr – clarinetist with Jaret Knock’s group. Possibility of a walk on part in the concert. Jam session at 1pm on the 3rd.
  • Little Dove and Gerrad – singers in the Operetta. Our new agent, Sinn, very kindly got us roles for a modest fee with no formal contract.

That evening there was a smaller Security Committee meeting. The large meeting are only each Moonday. Thrusher, Mournful and Gerald Jr attended in the usual dingy room. Mournful identified some items he wanted us to take care of:

  • Tudhaliya, a sword juggler, got a bit loose and chopped up some guards (including Jing, who is being patched up). He needs to be chastised appropriately so the PILF don’t take action against him. He is usually around the Docks area as he also makes Sushi.
  • the Circus has a problem with Drakenburgers letting out the animals. We need to make sure that this doesn’t happen again.
  • Ischade has resigned from the security detail and is sending her apprentice Haught instead.
  • the Gladiators are planning on returning to the Stadium and staging battles on the 8th onwards. This clashes with the festival, so it needs to be delayed.
  • Thrusher provided the names of his Sergeants, with the password of “pansy”.

Viktor, a member of the Mages Guild visited his guild. The head of the guild, Catlan gave him three apprentices and the job of replacing Ischade as security for the Festival. This made him more than a little unhappy, as the apprentices are Darios (Earth), Merricat (E&E) and Marype (Mind). They are all young and inexperienced and Marype has managed to turn himself into a vole. Victor sent Darios Downtown, where his family is in sanitation, to ferret out rumours, Merricat he asked to re-enter her social circle and go Uptown and the Vole was left to be a Vole. One of them mentioned a “secret” which Bertran forgot to follow up on.
When everyone had returned we headed out to the Bazaar and Little Dove made friends with the Gypsies. They don’t seem to be directly involved in anything that would concern us, apart from young Wess. Wess is responsible for letting out the animals from the circus, with the help of her inside man, a green skinned strongman named Aristarchus. She wouldn’t shut up talking about animal rights. The other gypsies are embarrassed about her views.

3rd of Meadow

Little Dove and Valerio got minor roles in the Operetta. Practices are each afternoon for a couple of hours. Full dress rehearsals the two days before opening (6th and 7th). Balina is the female lead, a girl with enthusiasm but not enough skill for the lead. Andre is the male lead, and suited for his role. The director, Kranderon, picks his female leads for their abilities under the covers. After infiltrating the “in-crowd” amongst the cast, a lot of juicy acting gossip was obtained. Potential for better roles if certain cast members have accidents. While spying on the in-crowd later in the night, the gossip was that Valerio was seen as not hungry enough (little do they know)and Little Dove was recognised as being very ambitious (very correct).
Gerald Jr had a successful jam session with the band.
Viktor visited Enas Yorl, an elderly member of the Mage’s Guild. An interesting fellow, he keeps Basilisks as pets. Hopefully some useful information will come from the visit.
Arlecchino and Bertran investigated the Stadium. Work is still underway on erecting seating. It was supposed to be finished by the 1st, so some carpenters were talked to and now the speed of work has increased. Chenaya’s exile at Land’s End seems to be coming to an end with the death of the Duke. When she returns she will bring her gladiators with her.
Viktor made it to high tea at the Mages Guild. A thorough interrogation of the Vole returned no interesting information. It must be one of the other apprentices who knew about the “secret”. The guild namer is happy to work on changing the Vole back to a human in exchange for a date with Serena. As this would probably be the namer’s last date, this really isn’t a good option.

We all headed down to the dock district, disguised as locals, to attempt to gather some information on the Gladiators. After discovering other entertainments (cock-fighting and a floating bordello were memorable and a fire-sale wasn't) we lucked upon On-on-one fighting.
Also Arlecchino popped out for the nightly "little" security meeting.
Through the press of the crowd we found 7 Gladiators (including Justin, Dayrne, Ouijen, Dendur) around Anamar. Kate and Isabella hung out close to the group and got themselves included a little. The final fight of the night was between Justin (foreigner) and Dendur (underdog). After it's conclusion (Dendur won to the delight of the crowd) Kate managed an invite back to Land's End for herself and Isabella.
After an unfortunate incident at the Stables when Isabella's protests were mis-heard and things got a little out of hand, (only two buildings burnt down and no loss of life or horses) the group headed back to Lands End with an altered appreciation for the ladies.
During the rest of the evening and the next morning, useful intelligence was gleaned which amounted to confirmation that the Gladiators return is as much a Political endeavor as it is a Cultural statement (Chenaya plans to go on to take over everything as far south as the Sweetwater, and north as the swamp.)
Meanwhile Arlecchino and Bertran had little luck finding Tudhaliya or where the Circus stores their animals for the night.

4th of Meadow

Some sleep was had by all during the night, but much painting was attempted by Otto.
Kate and Isabella returned with their fresh intelligence late in the morning. As a group we then headed out and arranged a professional to take Serena's walk with the SMG Namer.
We also took the opportunity to approach Tudhaliya and negotiated with him to reduce his threat level. He has agreed to curtail any spontaneous artwork, and to clear his raw materials with us before engaging in any scheduled works during the Festival. He also agreed to specifically avoid any uniformed or high value raw materials.

At this evening’s Operetta practice Evenita’s confidence was undermined by the efforts of Little Dove. She interrupted her during her lines, give her cues at the wrong moment and generally made her life hell. This was effective but unsubtle. Her efforts are being noticed by the cast, which may well make her a target.

Gerrad was more subtle in approach. He befriended the Goat Herder’s understudy, who is suffering from anxiety that he may have to play the role if something happens. He should rest easy on that score, something will happen, but he won’t be replacing the Goat Herder.

Serena Mk2 (a hired professional) was very effective at showing Mr Slimey Namer a good time. He better hold up his side of the bargain and turn young Vole back into a human.

“Jurgen” (Fake nose #4) and Serena checked out the Circus, which was still being set-up. This turned out to be a freakshow with a variety of acts such as the Beardless Dwarf (dressed up gnome), chained winged elf (she recognised this as a Vanyarami) a Griffin and others. Since it is our duty to ensure that none of the acts are freed by any animal rights activists Serena promised the Vanyarami that she would free it. For some reason the plight of the gnome didn’t seem important to her. Despite the rumours Jurgen couldn’t find work at the circus though he did catch up with a dodgy mate of his who is part of the Voilas. They have a temporary truce with the Silberton Arts Council and may need some help with a bit of non-union member knee capping.

At tonight’s meeting Gerald Jr was informed that:
Tudhaliya had been at it again. This time two sailors had been artistically rearranged. The Palace Guard have withdrawn to the Palace as they have too many nobles to look after. The Viola have agreed to a two week truce and joint membership. There may be some need for “extreme body guarding” duties on the 8th or 14th. A Queen from Glissom is incognito somewhere. The Palace Guard would like her found and escorted to somewhere safe, like the Palace.

Bertran checked up on his apprentices.
Merricat is having fun living her old life, but only gossip to report so far. Bertran will try and get her an invite to the Palace so she can get into more useful circles. Darios is back in his father’s gang headquarters. Avoiding a scrap with the local toughs Bertran had to resort to sending a message by wizard’s face. Darios reported that a Salamander is somewhere in town and that he can get tickets to the opening of the Arena.

Serena and Gerrad visited the very civilized troll named Aristarchus. He lives in the NE end of Downtown in a basement. Once he was told who Serena was he invited us in for tea. He was very clear that he wasn’t planning anything involving the Circus. He may have some artistic plans, such as bending iron bars into pretzels, with salt of course. He would have to gather some materials for his art, which if he were an artist, we wouldn’t be able to stop him doing. He agreed to tell us when he decides that he is not planning something. Sadly, Serena was a bit oblivious to his real meaning until afterwards. Fancy being out thought by a troll!

At midnight we went to the Arena to accompany Serena on her appointment to meet Tempus. He was expecting a fight with Serena and was pleased to see that she was more even tempered than her reputation had led him to believe. He wanted to know what she was doing in Sanctuary, and made it clear that this was his town and he didn’t want her meddling in the choosing of the next Duke of Ranke. He made it clear that Bertran’s amnesty was over and that he was in trouble. Not wanting to meet him directly Bertran quizzed him via Wizard’s Face as to what he had done, to which Tempus replied, child abduction and molestation. Being an upright member of the Guild Bertran of course denied the charges and called Tempus a liar. This resulted in a challenge to a duel, which Bertran declined and promised to get back to Tempus on the matter in three days. On reflection Bertran realized he was guilty as charged on the abduction charge.

On our late return home we discovered a nice dinner waiting for us and a note for Gerrad from Shelley, one of the local lasses and a member of the chorus for the Operetta. She is due some wining and dining for her efforts.

5th of Meadow


The brilliant plan involving Tudhaliya having his licence revoked is not getting too far. We managed to get our hands on the membership register but it is linked to the master copy at the auditors. So no good making a small alteration. He has paid a master’s membership, which means it was vouched for by a council member. There is the possibility of getting him on a technicality, but that could be hard. We will have to ponder this further.

Serena popped out of town and in full Valkayrie regalia visited the Galadiator’s encampment. She has negotiated some concessions from them in return for fighting in the Stadium at some future date.

Viktor had successful interviews with the parents of his students.

At the Operetta practice we discovered that nothing stays the same in show business. Joia has been sacked and Tamzen has replaced her. Joia’s boyfriend (the Goatherd) has a nasty streak, he went ballistic at the idea of his beloved being replaced. Luckily no one was injured and he was escorted from the premises. This left open the role of Goatherd which fell to the nervous understudy. Due to no one else knowing all the lines perfectly the new understudy role fell to Gerrad. Having a singing talent can be useful sometimes. With the female parts in flux the Director is getting very worried so Caprice wrangled understudy to all of the female parts. Since Gerrad knows everybody’s lines he helped Caprice with a few hours of extra practice after rehearsals.

Bertran visited the Mages Guild and checked out the progress on the Vole problem. Elaine needs a body to put the Vole’s soul into, as the Vole is Elven a recently deceased Elven body would be suitable. Ruminating on that problem he went to the pub to pump his contacts for juicy rumours.

That evening stoked up with medicinal supplements Bertran enjoyed his performance at Bards for Babes. However, it turned out a lot tamer than expected, though there was hanky panky in a carriage on the way home with a young lady.

At a Diabolus practice Gerald Jr came up with the excellent idea to get the band to play accompaniments to the gladiators. That way they could perform at the Stadium at the same time. The band liked the idea as long as they continued to get top billing.

The evening’s Security Meeting:
-okay with the combined Gladiatorial contest and Concert
-formal complaint from Lalo about his missing daughter Latilla
-the Temple Dancers have withdrawn from the festival, they have said that they have received threats and need better protection
-Strike Anywhere has been declared illegal. At their performance we will need to provide security to ensure that the Palace Guard don’t turn up and demand a share of the takings. All of which Thrusher (of the Palace Guard) was present to hear.
-The PILF have been very successful at enforcing the Union Fees with a 10% rise in revenue

On our return home we discovered messages had been left for Father Lucius to check in with his temple and a Mime had tried to leave a message involving lots of miming.

The nignt still being young, and needing to check out the nightlife we visited the Tempe of Gremory .Which round here seem to mean temple of fornication. Sadly we were in too much of a hurry to partake of the offerings. The high priestess informed us that Vashanka, one of the old Gods, is due for one of his regular appearances and this time he wants to wreck the Festival. As he is into chaos and destruction the Temple Dancers are keeping well clear unless they can get divine assurances that it will be safe. His last effort involved putting part of himself into some weapons which once picked up made the wielder a device of Vashanka. Very messy.

Needing divine help Serena took us to the local temple of Odin. This is a former Arabie temple with bear skins and log fires, a bit weird really. On presenting herself to the high priest (who actually is a priest of Freya) the temple was cleared and we got a private audience. It seems that the cult of Vashanka likes causing strife, usually his interference in local affairs leads to bloody revolutions. The revolutions may start off with noble aims but by the time they finish it is just destruction and chaos.

Next stop was Lalo’s house in Kettleby. Latilla, one of a mob of around 12 children, has been missing for two days. She was sent to the market yesterday and never returned. Lalo gave us an extremely lifelike painting of her to help with the search. It proved good enough to do a locate from, but we only got spinning arrows. We suspect she may be scry shielded.

We decided to start the search in the morning.
Gerrad kindly stayed overnight at Shelley’s to help her with her lines.


6th of Meadow


Our search for Latilla started hopefully with Caprice’s snake and Gerald Jr’s illusionary rat able to use the painting to track Latilla’s scent. Some similar smells were found around Silverfoot’s gallery, but nothing definite. The rat delved into the Sewers below and disappeared. Our investigations at the market determined that she disappeared between the 4th and 6th stalls on her shopping list. The rat finds a blood trail that we tracked into Little Ilsig. A wizard search of the area did not show anything useful. A dog in the alleyway near the market saw a bleeding girl being carried by a big man who smelt like a krrf user. Having no other leads we visited Jing who sent out a message through the PILF network to help track her down. In case the abduction was something to do with one of his commissions we asked Lalo who he had last painted. They were the nobles Terapis and Nuphtantei.

Serena visited the gladiators. Chenaya is keen on the idea of the combined concert, though the issue of shared gate takings and double ticketing may be a problem. They are planning a victory parade along Governor’s Way after the event. Serena offered to fight on the 13th.

Jharn Alden’s daughter JaelleOrla has become a judge replacing Shamut.

At the Operetta dress rehearsal Gerrad moved into the Goatherd role as the ex-understudy couldn’t handle the pressure. Joia has made a comeback and replaced Evenita, much to Little Dove's disgust. Little Dove hypnotized her to miss her lines but it wasn’t enough to get her replaced yet.

The Security Meeting was uneventful.

Aristarchus had advised us that an unplanned artistic event was happening at 8pm that evening at the Freak Show. When we arrived we discovered that he had gone in early. There was smoke billowing out of the warehouse and a large crowd watching. In the confusion and blinding smoke we found that the Vanyarami was already gone, the gnome and mouse had deceased, Aristarchus had hired a couple of Mimes and Tudhaliya as artistic assistants, a very artistic steel bar pretzel had been created and the Gryphon was loose. We captured two mimes (when the dead Gryphon landed on them), knocked out Tudhaliya and then removed his hand with his own sword (artistic justice). Not much left of the Freak Show, but no rampaging animals and art was seen to be done.

In the aftermath it seems that Tudhaliya’s sword was one of those Vashanka imbued weapons.

The Vanyarami returned to the fray and thinking us to be Balaclaved security threatened us with a twig. A very dangerous twig which is an invested wand of stream of consumption. Not wanting to be seen to be outmatched by an unsteady and rather insane winged elf Bertran and Serena restrained her and knocked her unconscious. The PILF arrived after all the fun was over and asserted their authority over the scene. Which was fine by us, as we didn't want to hang around anyway. Aristarchus slipped away with the Gryphon and the Mimes carried away Tudhaliya on a mime stretcher. All in all a reasonable outcome. We have dealt to the Tuhhaliya problem, taken a tool of Vashanka out of circulation and allowed Aristarchus some artistic expression. Pity that the Freak Show looks to be out of business.

Mad Vanyarami
Back home after a bit of healing Bertran questioned the Vanyrami in his guise as a Vanyrami (where did he get that one from?). She is not what we expected, maybe the millenia of separation from the rest of her kind has driven her batty. She has a hatred of humans and a disdain of ground elves, all a bit drow in her thinking about other races. Her first response is aggressive and violence looks to be her perferred course of action to solve any problem. She wants to fly away with Bertran and rejoin her lost brethren. Since the conversation was getting a bit hard, Bertran sapped her. An interesting negotiation tool. We shoved her into a wardrobe and then Caprice dropped her out of time to keep her nice and fresh.

The Rescue (not a child abduction)
A short balaclaved gent turned up and told us that Jing had some information for us and wanted to meet us as soon as possible down at Riverside. We went to the meet and found some PILF (Jing was still in Little Ilsig. One of them told us that Aye Gophan has Latilla in his mansion in Little Ilsig. It is curious why Jing would let us know this as Aye-Gophlan is one of the most senior Ilsigi in Sanctuary.

The rescue was very simple. Gerrad and Gerald Mazed the back door guard. The rest ran into the house and finding no defences at all snatched the sleeping Latilla from a basement room. She had been painting. There was a partially completed painting of a an old lady and an outline sketch of a couple. After a divination the only magics on Latilla was charm. Was this just an effort to get a cheap painting done?

A very clinical operation no breakages, casualties or witnesses. Now we need someone to place the blame on.

It being near midnight the rest of us got some sleep while Serena and Bertran went to meet Tempus at the Stadium.

Organ Donors
After explaining the full child abduction story Bertran managed to escape the wrath of Tempus with the removal of his tongue and a kidney by Serena. Since he didn't show any remorse he got landed with a Geas not to abduct children.

Since Serena has entered the gladatorial contest Tempus has entered as well. He has been instructed (who by, we wonder?) to let Chenaya win, which can't be good for his ego. His instructions to Serena are that she has to lose to whichever of Chenaya or Tempus that she meets in the contest.

Luckily Caprice has an item that can be used to regrow an organ. She used it on Bertran's tongue, since he can survive without the kidney.

7th of Meadow

  • Aristarchus comes by and asks for winged elf back. Party say shes too dangerous to release. Aristarchus not happy but leaves.
  • All bar Bertran go to Lalo/Gilla's to tell of recovery. Palace guard everywhere. Agree with Gilla third party to return her.
  • Something break into house and starts breaking a wardrobe. Bertran flees house with Latilla, leaving his apprentice in the meat locker.
  • Party return to find Vanyarami still frozen, but wardrobe destroyed around her, no Bertran, no Latilla, elf blood in the bed and floor. Figure its mimes.
  • Party moves Vole & Vanyarami to safe-house in Red Lantern district. Try to figure out what's happening.
  • Bertran flies around for an hour, then leaves Latilla with Catlan & Alain of the Mage Guild. Has lunch there.
  • Bertran finds the rest of the party. They swap tales.
  • Bertran & Serena return to see how Alain is going - he has almost finished removing Latilla's soul to allow the vole's to be placed there, and is confused when they deny that was the plan. They gather up a bevy of journeymen, apprentices and proctors, and return Latilla to her family. The mages are put on 24-hour guard of the house & occupants for the next two days.
  • Little Dove & Gerard go to the Operetta's final dress rehearsal. It's pretty chaotic. More cast changes. Gladiators walk in and watch most of Act Two.
  • Gerald jams with Diabolus. They work on theme songs for gladiators, and change musical styles to prepare for a rowdier crowd.

Opportunity Lost
Bertran organised for his painting to be delivered to the Art Gallery for the Art Competition. He then actually made it to another Mages Guild dinner. Due to his challenge to Caitlin (over the Latilla soul swap incident) he had managed to excite the younger crowd amongst the masters. Half a dozen of them are quite keen on a change and some patronage from the potential head of the Mages Guild. Alaine would like to be the second in charge and volunteered for the role. Alaine also told Bertran that he had a strange request from a Mime to do a ritual. He sent out a Journeyman to do it, who was unable to revive the winged elf under the bed. He then went himself and brought the creature back to the Mages Guild to continue his studies of it.

Obviously not realising how easy our task would be if we had the full power of the Mages Guild behind us, Bertran apoligised to Caitlin and the duel is off.

Rumours of my death are greatly exaggerated
The ex-Goatherd Dzis returned to the Operetta dress rehearsal and made a bloody attempt to get his role back. While Gerrad lay bleeding on the floor with a wound from a poisoned dagger in his back, Dzis just happened to be available to offer the director his services. With the help of the beautiful and talented Caprice, Gerrad was returned to full health in seconds. Dzis was a bit taken aback by the sudden recovery and Gerrad kindly asked him to stay out of his sight for the next few days, or he might have to return the favour.

Security Meeting
A full Security Meeting was held this evening with Mournful, Thrusher, Jing, Lirain, Tianna and Haught. New items of note was a report from Tianna that there have been attacks on some artists, including knifings and what looks to be vampire attacks. We are also expected to provide crowd control during the Gladiatorial procession tomorrow.

Dinner with a Troll
Aristarchus was a very pleasant host. He went to the effort of making finger food (looks like fingers) and a lovely stew. He had retreived the Gryphon but Tudhaylia had removed its wings. We resolved to pay Tudhaylia a visit in the morning, as we need to reattach the wings if we are to resurrect the Gryphon.

Bards for Babes - the sequel
Bertran had more fun with the younger looser crowd at Shafralain's place. Esaria was the hostess. Lots of new contacts were made.

Gallery Opening
Security for the opening of the Art Gallery was very tight. Lots of Palace Guard to keep out the riff-raff. Since we have Balaclavas on we were able to walk through all the security without a challenge by anybody. We discovered that Tudhaliyas' entry is a Vanyrami, though the wings on it are fake. All the entries are protected by magical bubbles of preservation and alarm. So we were unable to DA any of them. That ticking banana is a bit suspicious, wouldn't mind having a look at it in more detail.


While the rest of us caught up on sleep:

Gerald Jr chatted up some gladiators (Gestus and Dismas) and was discovered that they are not going to be marching into town until the early afternoon. They don't seem to know of any plans to disupt the festival.

Bertran went and chatted to the Head Priest of Seir at the Temple. It seems they have some problems with Urielites. Bertran gave him permission to go forth and kill a few of them.

The schedule for the morning is:

  • 10:00am Gladiators to parade into town
  • 1:00pm first Gladiator open practice session at arena.
  • 3:00pm full cast/crew meeting for Operetta opening Night.
  • 6:00pm Operetta Costumes/Makeup.
  • 7:30pm Curtain raises.

Opening Day

8th of Meadow

Break a Leg

Little Dove visited the boarding house where Joia is staying and hypnotised the cook into adding a potion to breakfast. Know everyone will be unable to sober up if they have a drink. Could be a bit messy by the evening!

Kate then had a morning rendevous with her Gladiator friend (Dendur). It turns out that him and a few other Gladiators are planning on gate crashing the Operetta and having some fun. Kate agreed to join him backstage, but won't.

Freedom
Bertran popped over to the Mages Guild to check up on the stolen Vanyrami and found Alaine unconscious, broken shutters on the window and feathers on the floor. His locate shows that the Vanyrami is at least 50 miles away. Not the best solution to the issue, that creature is one mad bad flying elf. At least it currently isn't our problem.

Tea with Mimes
We scoped out the route of the procession down Governor's Way. Not much scope for us to do anything as there is a huge amount of ground to cover and lots of people are already starting to gather. While we waited for things to start we had a mime conversation with a Mime. Not much said but it looks like the Mimes are here to perform and pursue freedom of expression. They had put Balaclaved security men on their list of oppressors due to the fracas at the Freak Show. They wanted the Vanyrami freed for freedom's sake. We seem to have made an impression and the Mimes understand that not all security are bad. Bertran is still on their hit list however. Which suits him just fine.

Little Dove played with one of the Mimes affections, and broke his heart.

Never ask what is in the stew
We wandered over to Tudhalyia's place at about 11am. It had been busted up by a gang of tall green stilt walkers and Tudhalyia had disappeared. We checked out his sword collection and found a broken scimitar, a Vashanka embued weapon, the twin of the other one we have. Both are now in the careful possession of one of the most dangerous people in Sanctuary (Serena).

Knowing that Aristarchus fitted the description of the gang of thugs we paid him a visit. He admitted responsibility, he was incensed by the sight of carved up people at Tudhalyia's gallery so he did some carving up himself. A rather karmic end to a very unpleasant individual. Sadly Aristarchus is a resourceful soul and he utilised the remains in the stew we ate last night.

Bloodless Artists
After lunch we popped in to see Tianna at the flophouse. She had started an amateur autopsy on one of our possible vampire victims. After DAs and divination it looks like the bodies were all under a magical effect that drained the blood from them, the effect continued after death. It was an external effect and not a spell. Probably some kind of nasty shaped item, maybe another Vashanka item?

Tianna knew were Aidin, the rumoured vampire, worked so we went there and got his address. His flophouse wasn't quite what we expected from the lair of a vampire. He actually is a hard up stripper. I don't quite see the point of being an undead if you have to work for a living. From a DA he is definitely a vampire and one that hasn't tasted human blood for quire some time. His master is running some weird pacifistic cult and has sent him to check out the slave trade in Sanctuary. Since he was being reasonable we left him alone, and asked him to look around for us and see if he can find anything out.

The Grand Procession
The gladiators finally got around to come into town around 1pm. A procession of a half dozen chariots, 2 lions and a panther. Lots of posing but otherwise uneventful.

Operetta Practice
The plan to remove Joia from her role is a boozy success. She turned up to practice drunk and got put in a room to sleep it off. Caprice took the role of Ostara and her role was filled by the delightful Shelley. When Gerrad and Caprice popped over to the mansion where Bertran was having a tea party for the visiting Guild Members (to grab a Strength of Stone) some dastardly assassins snuk into the opera house and killed Dolly. On our return we found her hanging from the rafters by her ankle, a large pool of blood on the floor and her throat ripped out. Yet again Bertran surprised us with an interesing talent, this time it was the ability to view events surrounding a death. He saw four men commit the crime and got enough to get a locate on their leader. We then tracked them to their pay off point in the sewers. The leader headed into the maze so we let him go. One of his flunkies was nearby spending some of his gold on a lady, so we sent in Serena to through him out the window to a waiting Gerald. After some time in the meatlocker we got what we needed from him. The leader was Jonas, an extremely strong man. He did the hiring, so we need him to find out who is behind the murder. We have his address in the Maze, but we would rather catch him in the open.

The Operetta
To put it mildly Gerrad and Caprice totally stole the show. They were quite brilliant.
Backstage our security team managed to stop four of the gladiators getting to the stage, with one dead and resurrected by Braegon. The other two appeared as guards during scene two and actually didnt cause too much trouble. Having all six on stage could have been intresting though.

Due to their stunning performaces both Caprice and Gerrad got invites to some of the best parties and got home early in the morning.

To do list:

  • Find the exsanguinator
    • Resurrect if possible an exsanguinated body and interogate (if not possible up paranoia level)
  • Hunt down Jonas
  • Provide Arts Council guards for Latilla
  • Have another chat to Gremory's high priestess
  • Get Dolly fixed up
  • Infiltrate the arts judges and get a share of those bribes


9th of Meadow

We went to the De Ridefort Estate (Guild mortuary, Sanctuary branch) and decided to resurrect Wryl the exotic dancer. All he can remember is going down some alleyways to work, as usual, seeing a hooded figure and then nothing. Not really any help.

Using a scry detecting item we determined that we were being scryed on from the Palace. Someone is interested in the movements of a dangerous bunch of loons or they could just be fans of Caprice and Gerrad.

Next on the agenda was the Bazaar for the Street Festival. Not much going on apart from minor thuggery by people in balaclavas. We sent one off with a message to Mournful and he returned with a message for us to report in. With all the fun last night we had missed the Security Meeting. We all headed over the cafe for the meeting, Mournful told us off for not turning up and we promised to send him a message if we can't make it in the future.

Security Meeting (catch-up from last night)
-Palace guards were injured at a Strike Anywhere performance
-the Viola are up to something. There is an astrology reading that implicates them in mass death and destruction to come.
-the truce with the Viola is off.

While we were at the meeting Bertran checked up on Alaine at the Mages Guild. It seems he can't make any more progresson the Vole problem as Catlin has taken all the books on Soul Magics. Looks like he might be making a play of his own. Is it a blocking move, or something more sinister?

We visited the high priestess at the Temple of Gremory. She is pleased that we have dealt with Vashanka, now she is concerned that Ipos is involved. They have received some of the verses of the Astrology reading about the Viola and believe that the chaos will be the work of Ipos. Danger money will be needed to get the dancers to perform.

Back to the Bizarre
On exiting the Temple district we saw large plumes of smoke coming from the direction of the Bazaar. We sped ourselves and double-timed it through the crowds. On arrival we found that the Freak Show's salamander had melted the lock on the Djinn's cage and then both had got loose. The salamander was busy setting carts, buildings and people on fire. We netted him up. He is just a local Alusian variety, a bit stunted and myopic. Being cute Caprice kept him. The Djinn was creating whirlwinds and tossing carts, donkeys, children and chimneys around. The idiot master of the menagerie Bauchele Meyne tried to talk the Djinn down by making threats. It responded with large falling objects. Serena successfully negotiated with the Djinn and it left. Serena's plummet from a hundred feet up was quite spectacular (the Djinn had lifted her up and then dropped her when it left) with a last second unfurling of Shadow Wings. With Bauchele having run for his life, we decide it is about time the Freak Show closed. All the remaining animals were carted off by the crew back to the warehouse.

Viola Informant
Jurgen (nose 3, wig 2) visited Wic to find out what the Viola were up to. Wic isn't owning up to anything, though he was very evasive on the topic of the slaying at the Operreta practice.

Operetta
The afternoon's practice was successful. A recovered Joia was seen off by Caprice. However with her return the director reinstated the play to its former story. This threw out the performance somewhat and it wasn't as stunning as last night.

Strike Anywhere
After some sleuthing Serena and Gerald discovered that a Strike Anywhere performance was to be held at 4pm in the basement of a pub. They arrived before the performance and discovered some undercover guards in the audience, some "injured" men with very sericable crutches, Ilsigi looking for a fight and various other patrons. Being sneaky and devious they allowed the undercover men to leave before illusioning over the steps down to the basement. When the guards returned with a detachment of about 20 guardsmen they couldn't find the entrance but were ushered into the pub by a meek Gerald. General mayhem ensued with the pub wrecked and its patrons bashed/arrested for their crimes. A single stagehand who had been chased out of the basement by an Ilsigi was arrested. Otherwise the show went on.

Security Meeting
-Extreme bodyguarding is needed for Silverfoot. Who is receiving totally deserved threats and bodily violence.
-The Arts Council security is making a pre-emptive strike against a party of Viola tonight.
-Up to 50% more in danger money is our limit in negotiating with Gremory's dancers.

Knocking a few heads in
A large mob of Arts Council toughs smashed up a sneaky and conniving meeting of Viola (under the cover of playing cards and drinking at one of their pubs). Only those members of the party who believe that being a guard means you have to act like one joined in the fun.

Interrogations
Later that night Jonas was detected leaving the Maze so we accosted him in a dark alley. He actually is just a normal thug. He used a Rope of Animation and Gloves of Money Changing (pound of flesh removal) to do the job. He wasn't meant to kill anyone just stop them from singing. He didn't realise the power of the gloves, which he had borrowed from his girlfriend. He was hired by Mange. We dumped him in an alley.

Mange was mugged on his way to the privy at a pub. He was hired by Evenita's family to settle a score with the girls at the Operetta that had treated her so badly. He couldn't do the job himself as he is Viola and there was a truce with the Arts Council. The Arts Council had beaten him and his mates up that night.

10th of Meadow

A Killer Unmasked
Two more bodies were found last night, so we went to the location of the actually killed last night. The other had been dead for a few days. Bertram did his time scrying trick and after a couple of attempts (all morning and into the afternoon) he finally fine tuned his vision to the time of death. The victim was knocked out by a hand to the head and then had a rod inserted in him for a couple of minutes. The dark, cowled figure was Catlin the head of the Mages Guild. He had been accompanied by two apprentices from the Mages Guild, one was on lookout and the other made the stab wounds to the neck that had sent us on the Vampire chase. Catlin has a robe that allows him to become invisible, which he simply took off after the killing and walked back to the Mages Guild like he was out for an evening stroll.

Bargaining with Dancers
While Bertram did his scrying, Serena stood guard and Gerrard got into the role of Guard. This involves shakedowns, bullying and menacing the local population. Great fun. Gerald and Little Dove went to the Temple of Gremory and persuaded the High Priestess (who was a bit worn after a big night out) to accept 36% more hazard pay for her dancers to go to work at the Festival. She is now convinced that the "troubles" that she has foreseen are the work of the Beautiful Earl - Renove, a threat that is happy to deal with.

The Concert/Gladiatorial Games
With some tireless work by Gerald the Concert at the Stadium went extremely well. The music was played, Gladiators fought, the crowd fought, drank and flirted and much fun was had by all. Cappen Varra's enormous ego was kept in check by Gerald plying him with wine and women. Kate the groupie flirted with Gladiators. Gerald's clarinet playing was appreciated by the musical fraternity.

Last night of the Operetta
With the scrying having taken until after 4pm Gerrard was late to the Operetta practice. Luckily the director hadn't got a replacement organised yet, so his role was safe. Little Dove was even later getting back from the Stadium and had been replaced by Joia until she got a vicious dose of food poisoning and had to leave. Strange how so many people get poisoned around here, must be the water. Bertram became an undercover stagehand and helped out by painting too much detail, trying to do the carpentry properly and handing out the correct drinks to thirsty leading actresses.

It was a better performance than last night, though the director changing the script each performance got some of the cast a bit confused.

Security Meeting
At the evening's Security meeting Thrusher sent his assistant as he was "detained with Politics".
-the Mason's are rioting and no work is getting done. The Palace Guard is now not welcome in some areas of the City.
-Bauchele is being tried by a Temple for the imprisonment and death of a Gryphon
-More Vampire killings last night (already dealt to)
-There is to be a public performance by Strike Anywhere. The Palace Guard will make a strong showing at this event.
-Silverfoot is in custody and needs to be "protected"

The handover from the Arts Council security to our protection doesn't start the best with Silverfoot nearly being killed by his new protectors. We added him to the collection at the Mansion.

Gypsy Dancing
The lads were forced into a bizarre ritual to boost our abilities which involved Little Dove dancing around a campfire naked. Serena refused to take part as it didn't do anything for her. A pity as it would have helped party morale no end.

Capture of Catlin
We staked out the Mages Guild and waited for Catlin to go out on his nightly killing spree. Surprisingly we ambushed him in the act (using Gerald) as bait. We captured him and his apprentices in a matter of seconds and bundled them up for transport to Hovaty Lane. Annoyingly Catlin was teleported back to the Mage Guild where an Imp was waiting to fly him away to Enas Yorl's house. Luckily the package was retaken mid flight, the Imp turned to dust before we could find out who had sent it.

Our interrogation of the apprentice that saw through our disguises revealed that he is cursed with seeing reality (a version of true sight). He believed that Catlin was going to resurrect all the bodies after the resurrection of Jharn Alden. He hasn't seen Catlin associate with any demons.

After a tortuous discussion with Catlin, in which he was relatively eager to tell us what was going on, we discovered the true reason for the festival. It seems that a consortium has financed the festival to be the grand stage for the resurrection of Jharn Alden. They want the event to be a miraculous one, to enable her fame to spread. Catlin's role is to do the necessary ritual to bring back her soul and transfer it to a number of vessels. Once resurrected she will be able to move from each vessel at will. He wouldn't tell us who had brought him into the group, or what he gets out of it. Just that he is doing a favour for a friend. He claims that all his victims were chosen carefully and were not "innocents".

He promised not to come after us or to kill any more innocents. We also had to explain to him that his apprentice is going away for a while as "he saw too much". Catlin understood this and promised not to pursue the matter.

The amulet is linked to the Unicorn Duke, it is part of the Guild master's regalia of office.

In our traditional manner we then dropped off Catlin and one apprentice in the fountain outside the Mage's Guild. Sadly all of Catlin's stuff was returned with him. Black Victor was on hand to take charge on the discovery of the beaten up Master and to help defend the Mages Guild against the "dark forces" that Caitlin had fallen from the sky defending the city against. You have to be a smooth tongued individual to make it to be head of the Mage's Guild.

11th of Meadow


Palace Guard Foiled Again
The main event of the day was a performance by Strike Anywhere at the Cathedral at 2pm. To our surprise we found that the Cathedral is consecrated to Uriel but is not a church, It is being used as a town hall for all the city working men's guilds. Being cunning we chatted with the Stone Mason's guild (who had it in for the Palace Guard after the beating of the wife of the Guild Master) and they agreed to declare a sacred general meeting of their guild at the same time as the performance. This gives them the right to close the doors and bar entry to non-Guild members until the meeting finishes. This turned out to be a brilliant plan. Several heavily armed squads of Palace Guards were left fuming out in the square as the doors were slammed in their faces. Those that tried the back door were quickly repulsed. At around 3.30pm the performance finished and over the next few hours the performers were snuck out one by one. At dusk the guards went home emptyhanded.

The Queen is Found
Earlier that day the Queen of Glissom arrived at the Palace on the back of her Pegasus (illusioned horse). Somehow Caprice got away with her deception and is now a judge for the Art Competition. She discovered that all the art is stashed in the Palace. The pieces in the gallery are illusions hidden behind magical shields. Very sneaky.

Mages' Guild
Victor spent most of the day avoiding all the bureaucracy that is involved in running the Mages' Guild. He managed to get some sleep by delegating to Alain and ordering the proctors to guard his door.

Security Meeting
-Thrusher was somewhat pleased that the Strike Anywhere performance had not involved any casualties. It also generated a lot of paperwork with all the demotions he handed out afterwards.
-We need to deal with Bauschle's defence at the trial at the temple.

The Streets of Sanctuary
A large group of Silberton Arts Council security members while out on an evening stroll was accosted by vicious thugs from the Viola Supporters. Poor Baz, one of Gerrad's new friends was beaten to near death and is now at the Mansion in the healing queue.

Bards for Babes
Another night of debauchery with both Bertran and Gerald in attendance.


12th of Meadow

Life is a Cabaret
Surprisingly the Cabaret in the Street of Red Lanterns occurred without any significant blodshed or chaos.

Catlin Prepares
Catlin requested quiet for 48 hours and left Alain in charge. It must be quite a ritual that he is preparing for.

In other news, the Vole was moved to the Mages Guild and the Security Meeting had no new events to report.


13th of Meadow

A Star is Born
Due to the other judges being totally useless the Queen of Glissom had to make up their minds for them and Lalo was decided the winner of the Art Competition. The hard work done, the nobility went off for a spot of hunting.

Gladiators and other Actors
Considering the events in the Stadium I think that the gladiators need to become members of the Arts Council. The finals were all totally staged. Serena allowed Tempus to bash her repeatedly into the walls, trip her up and run her through-and she wasn't out of breath at the end of the bout! In the grand final Chenaya piggybacked Tempus around the ring trying to gouge his eyes out. He admitted defeat and then carried her out of the ring. He could have swatted her like a fly if wanted to. At the end the laugh was on Chenaya as Princess Meredithis declared the winner her champion for a year. With the crowd all there to hear, Chenaya could hardly refuse. Now instead of being her rival for the Duchy she has to protect her!

Security Meeting
-all artists need to attend the presentation of the prize for the Art Competition at 8pm -Tudhaylia does not want Councill Security as he is bringing his own (didn't we eat that guy?) -after the presentation the senior Mages are performing -there is a post parade party for which we have tokens to give to the crowd -there are two trials tomorrow, a Urielite priest for desecrating an altar and Bauchle for Gryphon killing -Tianna has caught the vampire (bag of dust) and has the head of Jonas in a bag
Dinner with the Mages
Victor discovered at dinner that he was part of the entertainment at the Art Competition judging. He was given a ring to allow him to draw upon the energies of the crowd while Catlin does his magic.

Tianna the Vampire Hunter
We really weren't expecting her to take it this seriously, but Tianna has bagged her first "vampire". She tracked Jonas to a house where he met a vampire (actually an imp). She then bust in with a couple of heavies to keep Jonas under control and sawed off the imp's head with a string from a holy tapestry, it then turned to dust. She stole the string from a temple. For some reason she then had Jonas's head removed. Since she has shown herself to be a capable lass Gerald hired her as extra Security for the evening.

The Spirit of Fine Art
All the entrants were gathered up safely. Two of us to escorted Sabastian, leaving Serena to round up the rest. Somehow Tudhaylia arrived with a Mime as escort. Looks like our friend Aristarchus may have been fooling with us again.

Our friend Lalo won, the speech from the Queen of Glissom was also a work of art, however Lalo gets the cash. For some reason Catlin was very keen on the nobles picking a personal favourite from the art work. Ischade and those rings sucked fatigue from the crowd (you had to be willing) but not the party as we could feel it happening and weren't keen on being leeched. The Mages did there performance with lightning, abrupt darkness, fireworks etc. All cover for Alain to cast a spell containment field while Catlin cast Mass resurrection (Earth, Necro and Shaper). Not surprisingly that dodgy banana was part of the plot. During the performance it opened and the spirit of Jharn Alden was released and then split and placed into the artwork. Now she has a statue, a flesh carving, an ice princess and three paintings to inhabit. She spoke to us from a Lalo's painting and the statue moved.

Bards for Babes
You already know the score here.


14th of Meadow

Trials and Tribulations
The frist trial was at midday and Molin Torchholder presided. Father Rashan (the Urielite) was good on his canon law and made a good case. Molin didn't see the harm in a bit of drunken revelry and dismissed the charge. Bauchle was not so easy a case but Gerald gave it a damn good shot. He cast enough doubt and confusion that Molin decided to investigate the matter further. Including investigating how Uson managed to let one of the City Gryphons escape from his care in the first place.

Mardi Gras
Those who had performed in the Festival got to ride on floats down to the Bazaar. The crowd was in a good mood and tokens were passed out to the young and good looking. The party in the Bazaar was an excellent end to the festival but we had the Governor's ball to attend so we had to slip off early.

The Grand Ball
We all managed to wrange invites for the ball. Only three people attended as Bertran. One actually was Bertran, the others were Gerrad and a stray bard. Serena went for subtlety in full over the top Valkyrie costume (really big pointy horns on the helmet). We were surprised to see Aristarchus there, he can actually dance without squashing people! The elf stew was a joke, fooled by a troll again! Another surprise guest was a rather stony Jharn Alden. She didn't stay long. Even with an illusion you can't hide the animated statue look from an astute observer. The biggest surprise of the night was the declaration that Princess Meredithis has accepted the Ducal throne and a grand procession to the capital was to leave the next day. Now the idea behind the whole 3rd Command heading upriver makes sense, looks like her "supporters" will be in the capital before her.


Endings

Despite Sanctuary's reputation as a dangerous and deadly place we hardly got bothered at all by the locals. There was the assasination attempt on Gerrad, but otherwise we were dealing out most of the punishment.

It was nice to see some real art and culture. You don't get much culture in the Baronies.

We all made some new friends and surprisingly few enemies.

Gerrad went upriver with the procession and managed to weasel his way into singing at the coronation. He was last seen hanging around the court trying his best to keep out of trouble.

Caprice left behind broken hearts and out classed leading ladies.

Bertran is now a senior mage at the Mages Guild. A real contender. He has even more personnas runing around town, who are likely to get up to mischief while he is gone.

Gerald is making a name for himself in Silberton and has stayed on to perform with Diabolus.

Serena has had an education in the large world of grey that exists out there. Life isn't all that black and white after all.

People needing to be “replaced”

  • The senior goatherder in the Operetta – for having a better role than Gerrad and liking the look of his legs in tights. REPLACED
  • Mimes – who needs a reason. 2x CAPTURED THEN RELEASED, 1x HEART BROKEN
  • Evenita, one of four supporting actresses in the Operetta – because Caprice wants a better role and Evenita is not part of the in-crowd. REPLACED
  • Joia - for stealing Evenita's role in the Operetta before Caprice could. REPLACED
  • The guy renting Raz’s house in Kettleby – because we need anther base of operations.
  • Tudhaliya - for making the party think about the nature and boundaries of art. AMPUTATED THEN EATEN

Assorted Information

Loot

Sword of Vashanka
DA reveals this magical Scimitar gifts the Inspiration of Vashanka to its wielder, providing a muse for their activities. Experimentation reveals this generally results in carnage. Belonged to Master Tudhaliya of the Silberton Arts Council until confiscated. DESTROYED
Sword of Vashanka
Like the sword above, but with it's tip broken. Also once belonging to Tudhaliya. DESTROYED
Twig of Emotion Channeling
This twig was found and shaped by Inazriel, a Fallen Vanyarami. DA revealed it as channeling a Stream of all-Consuming Vitriol. Divination reveals the emotion projected is based on the core emotional base of the wielder. Kelsie - Core emotion to be defined/discussed. Tentative Valuation - 8,000sp CAPRICE
Sal the Salamander
Sal is a young and sickly salamander. He is about 14” nose to tail, and is coloured pale blotchy blue, fading to near-white on his belly. Cataracts have turned his eyes milky-white. He is short-sighted, and can only see around 20 feet. This means that his pyrogenesis talent has a reduced range of 20 feet. It is also much weaker than an adult, healthy salamander, and will usually fail to immolate living creatures. Sal was born on Alusia, which is the cause of much of his weakness but means he cannot be banished back to the plane of fire. Sal is highly skilled in hiding (stealth), and has learnt to swim. Tentative Valuation - 20sp CAPRICE
Animated Rope
This 50’ long rope has a permanent Rank 16 Animation spell from the Binding college. It will speed up any tasks done with it up to a factor of five times, but cannot be ordered to do anything on its own. For instance, if it is used to tie someone up, it will take five times less time, and automatically be secure and well-done. If used to haul up a load, it will haul up five times faster than the person pulling on the rope. If used as a whip or garotte, the Strike Chance is increased by 20%, and the chance to avoid entangling is decreased to 1×AG. Tentative Valuation - 5,000sp GERALD
Gloves of Money-changing
This matched pair of size 8 gloves (no auto-resize) was intended for use in usury and other financial transactions. The left-hand glove allows the wearer to stack & count coinage very rapidly without concentration – akin to modern croupiers. The right-hand glove can be used to extract a pound of flesh from an overdue customer. On a helpless or stunned victim, a successful strike does an automatic specific grievous injury causing D10 Endurance.
If used on someone who is not an overdue debtor, the gloves will seek “natural justice” on the wearer. Sometime in the next week, circumstances will contrive such that they will suffer the loss of one of the following: eyes, hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions. Whether this be through a freak event, the acts of mankind, or simple consequence, it is inevitable. If it is postponed by whatever means, interest on the delayed justice will compound weekly. Only a God of Justice may prevent this “natural justice”.
This pair of gloves belongs to Furtwan.

RANSOMED BACK FOR 1 LB GOLD

A Portrait by Lalo
For returning his daughter from kidnappers, Lalo will paint a portrait of one person, using his magical skills to reveal her inner personality & thoughts. Tentative Valuation - 10,000sp SABRINA
Mime Heart
Caprice has captured the heart of a powerful Proscenium Mime, who will be aware of her location & emotions while within ten miles of any major Art Festivals or Revolutions he may be attending. No Valuation CAPRICE
Mime Mask
Sabrina has made an alliance with the Proscenium Mimes, any of whom who will be aware of her location & emotions while within ten miles of any major Art Festivals or Revolutions they may be attending. No Valuation SABRINA


Contacts/Favours

Devoling
Alain and Catlan will turn Marype back from a Vole into an elven man, once Black Victor procures a suitable body.
Troubadour Contacts
Gerald can get further Troubadour/Spy training from Artists#Cappen_Varra|Cappen Varra. He is now a recognised junior Master in the Silberton Arts Council.
Eltrandorian Contacts
Little Dove has made mid-level contacts in the Eltradorian Court, and can arrange to perform there in the future.
Rankene Contacts
Gerard is in great favour in the Rankene Ducal court as a performer.
Master-Works
Gerard, Caprice, and Gerald have each completed a Troubadour Masterwork during the Silberton Arts Festival.
Bertran and 6 of his personas collectively have completed a Spy masterwork during the Silberton Arts Festival.
Sanctuary Gentry Contacts
Everyone in the party (except Serena) made a great many contacts in High Society, and (discretely) slept with most of them.
Tame Namer

Sabrina has picked up a talented Elven Namer apprentice, Stefab.

Some Bodies

Night of the 6th.
Body of Wryl the Rankene dancer found dead in a Silberton alley. Two neat puncture wounds and a small bite to the neck.
Later DA/Divination reveals he was drained completely of blood by a non-spell "exsanguination" effect, which continued after his death.
Body of Jon the Aladarian acrobat found dead slumped over a drink in the Old Saints tavern The Red Griffon. No wounds found.
Later DA/Divination reveals he was drained completely of blood by a non-spell "exsanguination" effect, which continued after his death.
Night of the 7th.
Body of Saz the muscled Ilsigi "roadie" of a small band found dead in his bed in a Silberton flophouse. A lump of his inner thigh was ripped out.
Later DA/Divination reveals he was drained completely of blood by a non-spell "exsanguination" effect, which continued after his death.
Night of the 8th.
Body of Dolly the actress found dead backstage with her throat torn out & hanging from a rope by her foot.
Later temporal scrying reveals four people - male human Jonas, male elf (did I give a name?), female human (unknown name), and a fourth figure (unknown name) working the ropes above the flats. Jonas was seen to haul Dolly up 30 feet in 2 seconds, rip her throat out with his hands, then the four ran off. Location revealed a sewer meet point afterwards where they met and were paid 5 shilling each by Jonas. Questioning of the Elf in a secluded meat locker revealed that Jonas was the brains of the group, and was apparantly in regular contact with Mradhon Vis and the Hump; often hung out at Sly's Place. Locate on Jonas went off a minute after he entered the Maze. Early theories by the Party have this crime unrelated to the other three.
Suspects
Jonas & Crew - seen by retrospective magic performing the last slaying.
Aidin the Dancer - alledged vampire, believed not to have fed on humans for several years - now part of a Buddhist or Jainist cult. Deemed unlikely.
Vashanka cultists
Catlin, Head of the Sanctuary Mage Guild. Caught in the act.

Astrology

The Viola Supporters Association has been declared anathema by the Sanctuary authorities (including the Silberton Arts Council) following publication and confirmation of this Astrology reading. 9th Meadow 807.

Our blood is forfeit as powers enthral,
Draining our fortune as offspring expires.
Bodies lie piled in streets where they fall,
And violas keen from the rooftop spires.
Slowly the poison, the whole blood stream fills,
’tis not the effort nor the failure tires,
The waste it remains, it remains and kills,
And violas keen from the rooftop spires.

Quotable Quotes

You can say anything when you're wearing a balaclava
-> Some anonymous Guild Member
I think we actually need to do our job
-> Gerald Jr
There may be some subplots, this is Sanctuary
-> Sabrina

Poetry

To the tune of "A l'entrada del tens clar" a troubadour song from the twelfth century

in progress
1. As the days dawn bright and clear, e-y-a!
The art happ'ning of the year, e-y-a!
Comes to Sanctuary drear, e-y-a!
Our huge balaclava'd queer,
Employer stands before us.

chorus: On your way, on your way, jealous ones
Let us be, let us be,
Come now, dance with me, dance with me

2. Our job is very clear, e-y-a!
Save the artists and their gear, e-y-a!
Let no scoundrels interfere, e-y-a!
Head off mimes 'fore they appear,
And make the crowds adore us.

3. Will they chuckle, will they cheer, e-y-a!
Will they give us all free beer, e-y-a!
Or will dogs and children sneer, e-y-a!
As we meet the end we fear,
and all around ignore us.

Caprice

Six met by Stealth,
To talk for future fun,
Where and when to do things,
Hidden from the Sun

The diseased Warrior and the vibrant professional,
The hoity-toity toffy nosed lass and the lad from the street,
The sad protector of imagination and the one of no true name,
And a pent of visitors from a watery entrance

Much is known but much unguessable,
So much to do and ensure others do less,
Who to trust and who to be aware of,
Decisions made will reverberate in the Aether ever anon

- Bertran, 1st Meadow, 807

come one, come all,
but not those that wish to brawl.
come artists, come players,
but minus the thugs and slayers.
dance down the street, juggle and tumble,
but stay away those who wish to rumble.
the big show is town, Sanctuary's art,
but cause trouble, and I will dance the 'art' from your heart.

- Serena, 1st Meadow, 807


Settin out after summer's noon
   Twas a busy day'o
Five did fly with the artists goon
   For he'd drunk his pay'o

Landed three before the night
   To enter with the crowds'o
But two they stay'd out of sight
   Flying amongst the clouds'o

{In progress}

- Gerald Jr, 2nd Meadow


We are Silberton Security
We've danced out of obscurity
We do routines and chorus scenes
of moral ambiguity.
We dine well here in Sanctuary,
We eat ham and jam and statuary.

We're Silberton Security.
We suffer from verbosity,
But many times we're stopping crimes
That personify impurity.
We're opera mad in Sanctuary.
Our costumes are quite sumptuary.

In war we're the authority,
and we're experts in atrocity.
Between our quests we sequin vests
and impersonate maturity.
It's a busy life in Sanctuary.
Our house is now a mortuary.
- Anon.


Significant Guests

Seagate Guild Members

transported by Silverfoam's ship from Seagate to Sanctuary. Presumably arriving on the 7th or 8th, leaving 15th.

Party Support Discretely Available

  • Locates will log date/time of deaths.
  • Reverse Locates to monitor scrying.
  • Resurrections & SoS Rank 20 available most afternoons.
  • Witchsights in exchange for info
  • Waters of Strength and Healing for those who need them. Other Water College spells when required.
  • Greaters available if party E&E is busy.
  • Invites to important functions as plus ones.

Nobility

  • Prince Kadakithis of Ranke
  • Princess Meredith of Ranke
  • Viscount Xavier Sartoris of Aladar
  • Assorted Barons from Ranke, Ormond, eastern Aladar
  • Incognito elves from Eidolon - possibly demi-royal?

Other rumoured figures

The following list is merely hearsay and rumour, and should not be taken as gospel. Some of the figures listed below would take 'significant umbrage' at being 'unmasked' in their anonymous visit of Sanctuary. Some of them may not even be present.

The list is in approximate precedence. Please don't move your favourite noble above their social position.

Visitor's Diary

Event Summary Here

  • Arrive in style on the 7th, on Silverfoam's ornate land-ship
  • Invited to stay at the Palace, and/or at the De Ridefort walled estate within Elysium Fields in town.
  • 7th evening - invited to a closed viewing of a wierd Art exhibit - Palace guests only
  • 8th afternoon tea at De Ridefort's. Highlights include:
    • request by Bertran/Sabrina for resurrection of wingless griffon at 3pm.
    • request by Caprice/Gerard for resurrection of throatless singer at 5pm.
  • 8th evening - The Operetta.
    • Much singing and cross-dressing.
    • Staring Caprice & Gerard - both extraordinarily good.
    • Two Gladiators have cameo walk-on parts in Act Two.
    • Request by Gerald for resurrection of a Gladiator in the interval after after Act Two.
  • 9th is a "free" day.
    • Rag-tag street festivals in town, to be avoided.
    • 200 foot whirlwind, voices of thunder & several arson attacks during street performances.
    • The Palace is full of politics, from ducal-level alliance talks, to table-place shuffling based on perceived precedence.
    • Horse-riding & stag-hunting in the afternoon.
  • 10th afternoon - Blood Sports & Fine Music.
    • Seats in the Governor's Box.
    • Gladiators & some musical acts share the blood-strewn sand, at the refurbished Stadium.
    • Cappen Varra is the stand-out act.
    • Gerald tootles on his clarinet with great style.
    • The bouts are a practice run for the big tournament later in the week.
    • Rumours of mysterious, romantically tragic deaths in town start to filter into the palace.
  • 11th Nouveau Art.
    • The interpretive and other socially deviant "art shows" are generally given a miss.
    • The Queen of Glissom makes a belated appearance, causing much fuss and gossip.
    • High-level agreements between the assembled royals are hammered out in corridors and chance meetings.
      • It's all in code, with reference to "bananas", "cats", "frozen assets", "mood lighting" and "artistic merit".
      • Appears to be firming up support for Meredith's push for the Rankene Throne.
  • 12th Caberet.
    • Everyone dons disguises, and goes to the Street of Red Lanterns incognito.
    • The men are mainly there for the performances.
    • The women are mainly there to keep an eye on their men.
  • 13th - Tournament and Art Competition.
    • Sabrina is simply out-classed, taken apart casually by Tempus in the semi-finals. Many will long remember the sight of Sabrina being repeatedly swung against the stone walls by her ankles (her hair was mussed!).
    • Chenaya bites, scratches, and hair-pulls her way to a victory over a bemused Tempus in the Grand Final.
    • As patron of the Games, Princess Meredithis declares Chenaya (a rival for the Duchy of Ranke) to be her personal Champion and protector for the next year.
      • This political take-down of Chenaya is generally regarded as the best move of the whole tournament, except by those who have seen the usually victorious Sabrina in action before.
    • The Arts competition announcement that evening is odd.
      • Caprice (standing in for the Queen of Glissom) gives a good speech.
      • Some mages do a "Thunder & Lightning" show, and then the art works appear to be illusioned - rather anti-climactic.
  • 14th Mardi Gras, then Masked Ball
    • The Mardi Gras is a costumed Street Parade for the plebs. Braegon, Darien & Aqualina probably enjoy this and the after-party no end. It's kness-up dancing, good music, good drinks, good company, no stuffy clothes.
    • At dusk, a Grand Masked Ball occurs at the Palace. All of you are invited. Outlandish costumes.
      • Sabrina goes as a Valkyrie.
      • Someone goes as a 12' Troll.
      • At least four different people appear to be calling themselves Bertran.
      • At midnight, Princes Meredith is annonced as Duchess Meredithis of Ranke.
      • The girl in the Art pictures turns up, resurrected after a year - explains the fireworks last night.
  • 15th to 21st Royal Progress to Ranke
    • The party is over. You can leave, if you want.
    • All important guests (including you) are invited on a royal progress upriver to Ranke city.
    • This takes 7 days, ending in Duchess Meredithis taking the Rankene Throne.
      • The big coronation party includes a singing performance by Gerard, who rouses the entire ballroom into patriotic fervour, silencing the last of her critics.
Thank you for vicariously participating in the Silberton Arts Festival.
Ranking
You were primarily on holiday, but the week can count towards ranking in Courtier and Spy, as even the nice bits of Sanctuary are pretty cut-throat. 18,000 Trainers were provided.

Comments

This is not a city where I want to be walking around exhausted. I will quaff gut busters to support and heal guild members, but I'm trying to give them up as a daily tonic. So, one resurrection per day for non-guild members, preferably at night. Choose which one you want resurrected first. -- Braegon

Resurrection Queue

8th Gladiator that was killed by Serena.
9th Wryl the ex-sanguinated exotic dancer
10th Dolly (requires 3 days regrowing her throat) (?)
11th Baz (friend of Gerard, bashed ½ to death)
12th Dolly (throat) (?)
13th Dolly (throat) (?)
14th Drunken party / Masked Ball, no extra healing available


Waiting List
  • Gryphon (plus 90 days regrowing wings, or 5 days for wing reattachment if recovered).
Requires high-rank Beastmaster of Fantastic Avians to be present.
  • Bertram
Requires 3 days regrowing his kidney & 3 days for his tongue.