Solo Adventure D: Tados

Three Fingers and the Skull of a Calf

June 26, 739 to June 30, 739

The heroes set sail for Port-a-Lucine, making their first successful excursion into Dementlieu.  In this domain they have friends, Tados and Loretta have been here for years, sending letters home to Kirablis in hopes of a kind word from loved ones.  Also, it is at least possible that Alastir Gorning is here, having delivered an item of magic to Tados that would bring him pleasant dreams.  For a place where so many friends await, the heroes have precious little time in the city.  But the option to leave Port-a-Lucine may not be theirs to choose, ever.

 

 

 

“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.”

Charles Caleb Colten (1780-1832)

 

June 26

Port-a-Lucine is the glittering jewel of the west coast.  While the city radiates a sense of a great antiquity, many of the buildings indeed show a newness.  Even moreso than Lamordia, Port-a-Lucine is a home of culture and wealth…for some.  The docks bustle with carts moving goods from ships to warehouses and shops.  Those to the west are beauteous and overtly rich.  The farther east the traveler looks, the more desolate and impoverished the city becomes.

            The heroes unload their cargo from the Perseverance, and Darius thanks Herr Benatheim for timely and safe passage.  Then, amid the crowded streets of Port-a-Lucine’s docks, a new problem presents itself.  No one, not even Jemily, knows how to handle a team of animals.  While Jemily has been able to keep the horses calm while in the city, she cannot communicate to them their need to move about the busy road.  Intimidated by the sudden change of surroundings, the horses lock up, refuse to move.

            As Jemily struggles to get the animals walking, the topic of trading goods comes up once again.  Apparently forgetting that the priests of Horus have constructed a factual trading group to honestly move about as merchants, as well as to defray the costs inherent in any lengthy journey, Kethantril blurts out to everyone that there is no real need to sell the goods purchased in Leudendorf.  This time, no one bothers to repeat that the heroes truly are a merchant troupe, and they truly do intend to sell their wares.

 

“But we don’t need to sell goods…That is a cover…”

Kethantril just a little too near to Markus Valorn

 

A man happens upon the heroes and offers to hire a teamster for them for a handful of gold corona.  Morgan agrees, and Gregory—as accountant to the Scarlet Falcon—pays the man.  As the afternoon draws on, though, it becomes evident that the man is not returning.  He has taken the heroes’ money and walked off to spend it. 

Markus takes the reins from Jemily, but he has no more luck in the endeavor, and it is well into the afternoon before the cart begins to roll away from the docks.  Trying to escape Port-a-Lucine and its maddening crowds as quickly as possible, the heroes pay for some information.  They learn that the southeast quarter of the city is the home of crime and poverty, but it is also the way out of the city’s walls.  To get safely to the exit, they must ride southeast and circle about the south side of the city.  Attempting to follow this advice they roll south into the Quartier Savant, where the minor aristocracy dwell in terrace homes overlooking the sea.

It is not long before the heroes’ very presence insults the eyes of lords and ladies in that quarter.  A band of musketeers emerges from an alleyway, and, laughing, see that the heroes turn their cart about on a very narrow street.  They do not allow an extra inch of progress along the road into the noble’s homes. 

Paying another boy to act as guide, the heroes finally make their way to an inn, the Golden Fig.  Morgan enters and procures two rooms.  First, the largest of the rooms, is for the Scarlet Falcon, his bodyguard and his accountant.  This chamber is massive, the size of an entire home in Kirablis.  Still, it does not compare to the largest of rooms in the Fig.  The second room, rented for the servants, is barely large enough to contain the two single beds stuffed into it.  Windowless, this room becomes home for Vatusia and Jemily, enough to nearly drive the two rangers mad.

Those remaining, Keradre, Kethantril, Markus and Herut, shelter in the stable with a pair of teen-aged stable boys. 

            One more lesson in Dementlieuese culture remains to be learned this night.  The heroes see only a wet bar in the common room of the inn, and the café on the side portico is merely for imbibing beverages while catching the afternoon sun.  No Dementlieuese worth his heritage would consider dining where he slept, and so the heroes find themselves disgraced once again: They eat their trail rations in their rooms.

            As Morgan, Gregory and Darius walk to the stable to get their food, they stumble over a young child.  Roughly thirteen, the boy is dressed in the finest noble garb, but he has dirt on his cheek and his shoes are scuffed from walking.  The boy stares at Morgan, almost blankly, until Morgan speaks to him a couple of times.  Finally, shaking himself, the boy introduces himself as Ambrose Decartes, son of Lord Decartes.  His father, Ambrose explains, is not himself.  Ambrose begs the heroes to come to a gala ball being given by his father tomorrow night.

 

 

 

            It is the name of Tados that catches Morgan’s eye.  Darius quickly states that there could be someone else named Tados, but Morgan replies that the odds of another man with the same Darkonese name in Dementlieu, right now, are too slim to be considered.  He asks Ambrose what he knows of Tados, learning that Tados is Lord Decartes’ “propagandist.”  Ambrose refuses to describe Tados in much detail, appearing embarrassed by something in Tados’ appearance.

            During the conversation, the quartermaster of the Golden Fig attempts to throw Ambrose into the street, mistaking him for an urchin.  Darius picks the boy up and dusts him off, and the talk concludes standing in the street with the boy.

            Morgan and the others walk to the stable once Ambrose scampers off.  There, they tell Kethantril, Keradre and Markus that they will be attending a costume ball tomorrow night.

 

“We’ll go as elves.”

Keradre

 

            That done, Morgan and his two companions leave the stable and walk into the Golden Fig to tell Jemily and Vatusia the news.

            Left behind, Kethantril grows frustrated and walks to the portico café.  There, he finds a pair of minor nobles—a lord and a lady—who speak the Darkonese tongue.  He speaks with them, and in doing so insults the lady.  When the man says that his meal has been ruined, Kethantril offers to buy him a new one, thereby insulting him still more deeply.  Flabbergasted, the man storms inside the Fig, dragging his wife in tow.

            Throughout the conversation, another man has watched Kethantril closely.  Much taller and far more powerfully muscled than any nobleman seen thus far, the man nods to Kethantril once the insulted couple is out of sight.  When Kethantril approaches, the lord allows him to sit.  He observes that the Scarlet Falcon has hired a most rambunctious and self-destructive elf, then dismisses the watch—summoned by the affronted nobleman—when they come to arrest Kethantril.  What the man says to the watch is delivered in the Mordent tongue, which Kethantril does not comprehend.

            Once the watch is dispatched, the man inquires as to the Scarlet Falcon’s plans.  Upon learning that the heroes are riding south to trade goods all the way to Kartakass, he asks to meet with this merchant.  Kethantril agrees to take the stranger to the Falcon.

            When asked, the man introduces himself as George, Lord Weathermay.

            Weathermay, upon meeting Morgan, advises the man to stay away from Kartakass if he travels solely based upon the rumors he heard in Darkon and Lamordia.  It is a deadly place, where the land itself is a foe, and the domains between Dementlieu and Kartakass are equally deadly.  Arkandale and Verbrek, for instance, are full of werewolves.  Morgan politely explains that the heroes have reason to travel southward, and Weathermay seems to read something into the wording.  Before leaving, he offers to have one of his servants dispatched to the Golden Fig in the morning.  The man can be trusted and will get the heroes as far south as Mordentshire—which they have explained to be their next stop—where another of Lord Weathermay’s men could be hired on to continue southward.

            The heroes sleep nervously, but not without hope.  They have made a contact with the Weathermay family, of whom they learned while attending Drac’s ball years earlier, and they expect to reunite with Tados tomorrow evening.

           

 

June 27

As the heroes prepare to leave in the morning, they are met by Lord Weathermay’s man, Gaston.  A native of Dementlieu, Gaston says that he is familiar with the domains of Dementlieu and Mordent alike, and that he will happily get them to Mordentshire.  Though a small and seemingly inauspicious fellow, Gaston reveals himself to be more and more capable of standing on his own the longer the heroes are with him.

Gaston is also aware of the estates of the true aristocracy, which lie along miles of cliff shore south and west of Port-a-Lucine.  He explains to the heroes that they have not just been invited to a lord’s gala.  They have, in fact, been invited to the gala of Lord Decartes, a member of the city’s Council of Brilliance.  Gaston goes into a little detail as to what the council is exactly and when it was created, all the while checking the cart and readying for the journey out of Port-a-Lucine.

As the cart rolls out of the Quartier Publique and into the outskirts of the Quartier Ouvrier, the heroes find themselves confronted by a band of musketeers and hired thugs.  They are led by a man named Reynard, who wears the badger-on-sable heraldry of the Decartes family.  Reynard explains that the boy, Ambrose, is not well.  His mother passed away when he was very young, and he has not developed properly.  Reynard asks for the invitations to be returned, citing that the heroes would most definitely not be comfortable among those who had been rightly invited to the party.

Morgan tells Gregory to concede, to which Vatusia—who does not understand the conversation, only the apparent action to be taken—demands to know what is happening.  As is the case in most conversations in Port-a-Lucine, she and the others receive a piecemeal version of what has been said, leaving them with little to discuss.  All the same, the heroes insist that Gregory keep the invitations, and true to expectations, Reynard backs down. 

With a sly smile and a faux clap, the musketeer and his men leave the heroes.

Anxious to get out of the city as quickly as possible, the heroes do not care when Gaston informs them that they will arrive well before the party shall begin.  Thus, they grudgingly purchase costumes and then rush into the countryside.  They arrive outside Decartes Manor before any other guests have arrived.  They are received coldly, and the guards become visibly consternated when the vast majority of the Scarlet Falcon’s “servants” walk inside with him, leaving their horses to congest the main entry. 

Gaston, Kethantril and Markus stay with the horses, eventually ensuring that all of them and the cart are taken to the appropriate place.  Herut also stays with them, disturbing Markus with his uncanny intelligence.

For quite some time the heroes who walked inside Decartes Manor are allowed to sit in a parlor, with the door shut.  Beyond the closed door, they hear the arrival of other guests, but they are never retrieved.  Finally, realizing that they are never to be fetched, they open the door and confront the doorman, who reluctantly announces the entire group as “The Scarlet Falcon,” as per Morgan’s request.

Before the doorman can even escape, however, the heroes find themselves confronted by the grinning, venerable visage of Silas McCormick, known from the Sea Lord’s gala in Leudendorf, and also as the enchanter of the shoes Morgan traded from Argyle McGill. 

Smiling proudly, Silas uses some manner of ESP to speak with the heroes and tease them.  He learns from their thoughts that they have come looking for Tados, that they are part of an organization that they hope he does not learn of.  Then he reveals to the heroes that there is someone else in the city already who is part of this same organization.  The heroes do not press the matter, and Silas soon dawdles off to antagonize some poor lady.

Thoughout the gala dance men and women clad in the gaudiest of costumery.  Peacock feathers, shark’s heads and the like adorn the bodies of the richest of the Lands of Mist.  The cheapest mask the heroes see easily costs ten times their most expensive, and the rest of the outfits dwarf even those lofty sums.  In all the room, only a handful do not wear masks of some sort.  Among them are Keradre, Silas McCormick, and Reynard and his men.  The latter group stand about in uniform, quite blatantly eyeing the heroes as they move about the party.

Hoping to surveil the ball room and its exits, Darius asks Keradre to dance.  Though he stands almost two feet taller than she, they manage to make their way across the floor, eyeing up each way out as they go.  The other guests give them wide berth, though several clusters of ladies have already begun to gasp, giggle and gossip.

Morgan finds himself confronted by a lady who asks him how he feels regarding the Treaty of Four Towers.  He tries to answer diplomatically that the treaty does not affect him personally.  The lady proudly returns to her friends, victorious in having spoken with the barbarians.

Very briefly, Ambrose Decartes appears and asks the heroes whether they have seen his father.  He says that Lord Decartes is quite busy, but also begs them to look into his odd behavior.  Before he has finished speaking for more than a few moments, though, a woman calls him upstairs.  Calling the woman “mother,” he rushes out of sight to obey her.

Across the room, Morgan again finds himself confronted, this time by a Lord.  The man seems outraged, and demands to know where Morgan feels justified in claiming that the grain trade from Falkovnia is of no consequence.  When Morgan replies, he comes across as somewhat blunt, and the nobleman storms away, vowing that his honor will be assuaged.

On the dance floor, Gregory and Jemily are looking for Lord Decartes.  If they cannot find the lord himself, they have settled upon speaking once more with Silas McCormick.  Across the room, they hear the old enchanter tormenting an elderly woman, telling her that she has very taut flesh for a woman of her age, and then muttering proudly as she scampers away, “That got the desired reaction.”

Gregory almost misses the platinum badger mask as it passes him by in the chaos of the ball.  Connecting the mask to the heraldry of the Decartes family, though, he quickly realizes that he stands at the side of Lord Decartes himself.  When he attempts to speak with the man, he finds himself coldly rebuffed, and told in no uncertain terms that he is not welcome in the ball any longer.

Jemily, standing at Gregory’s side, hears little of this.  She has made eye contact with a beautiful, lithe, blonde woman, one who stares intently back at her even after they have made eye contact.  Jemily suddenly recalls having seen the woman on the docks while she fought with the horses to get them moving.  The woman wore the same studious expression even then, as she walked through the crowd and eventually vanished behind a pair of passing carts.

She points the woman out to Gregory, but neither of them recognizes her.

Darius and Keradre, as well as Morgan and Vatusia, arrive at their sides.  Informed that they are not wanted at the party, the heroes determine to leave.  They turn, only to find three new guests have arrived.

                The first to enter are a pair of rugged fellows who appear to have been raised in the mountains, or at least somewhere far from the city of Port-a-Lucine.  They have broad shoulders and square jaws.  Box-like in build, these men are very different from the Falkovnians you fought in the Long Night.  With their dark complexions and black hair falling to their shoulders, they must be of Barovian stock. 

            At first they seem to be brothers—even twins—but as the heroes take in their mannerisms they realize that what they see is national heritage, not familial.  The warriors’ dark eyes—almost as black as their hair—dart about constantly, even as they walk with both an almost preternatural grace and confidence.   But what is most impressive about these men is their sheer size.  Both are over six feet tall, but it is their depth as much as their height that impresses all at the gala.  These men are solid muscle, and despite their grace they are easily strong enough to put the heroes’ childhood memory of Picho the Strongman to shame.

            Each is clad in shining bandedmail armor, and each bears a shield of ironwood reinforced with steel bands.  One shield has been worked with the unpainted heraldry of a bear on a field of wheat.  Each of them carries a shining mace and wears a shortsword on his hip that bears a pommel in the shape of a wolf’s head.  Each wolf clutches a ruby in its jaws.  One warrior’s mace—the man whose shield is unadorned—sports a dagger blade from the bottom of its extended haft.

            One warrior wears a set of bone-bladed throwing daggers on loops from his sword belt, while the other wears a set of throwing axes with wooden hilts dyed with some deep scarlet ink.  One of the axes bears an odd obsidian head, webbed with white striations.

            They appear as living anachronisms in Port-a-Lucine, but this makes him seem all the more fierce.  There is something about these men that simply exudes menace, as if they may begin wading into these “civilized” folk at any moment.

            Behind them, though, is a smaller, almost portly fellow whose very appearance tells of an aristocratic life.  This fellow is about 5’7” and slightly plump.  He pulls back his red hair into a short, well-groomed ponytail, and he wears a neatly trimmed beard and mustache.  Though genuinely of disinteresting appearance, his face undergoes a miraculous transformation when he smiles, making him almost radiantly handsome.  The sight of him in a good mood is a sight that men and women alike remember for days thereafter—a sight that the heroes instantly dislike for the way it makes them feel…trusting and friendly.

            Watching the men enter the ball, the heroes continue on their way out the door.  The ladies laughing and swooning fashionably over their uncouth natures have all but driven them to the edge.  Still, the night has not run out of surprises.  The lord insulted by Morgan earlier arrives with a man at his side.  Demanding a duel, the lord informs Morgan that the choice of weapons is his. 

            At first, Morgan does not realize that he can choose—nay, is expected to choose—a man to fight the duel for him.  Derided by the offended lord, Morgan ultimately chooses Darius as his man, and swords as the weapon.  The crowd eagerly exits Decartes Manor into the foyer.  There, before the spouting fountain and stately, imported oak trees, a box of rapiers is brought out.  Again, there is verbal sparring as Morgan attempts to get Darius permission to use his bastard sword.  The lord scoffs, stating that, in Dementlieu, duels are fought honorably, and with honorable weapons.  Ultimately, on pain of decapitation at the guillotine, the Scarlet Falcon relents.  Darius will duel with a rapier.

            The fight itself lasts less than thirty seconds.  The lord’s man takes a posture and lunges, only to find Darius’ rapier cleanly thrust through his heart.  The crowd cheers, and the Scarlet Falcon’s honor is assuaged.  The lord even goes so far as to apologize before returning to the ball.

            Still a bit confused, the heroes intend to do nothing more than leave.  Only the sudden shouts of their childhood friend Tados keeps them from meeting Kethantril, Markus and Gaston.  Tados rushes up to them and briefly greets them.  He asks them to stay in the city another night, and to come to a place called du Cire’s House of Wax tomorrow evening with him.  He will meet with them there, and they will catch up.  When Morgan states that the heroes are not welcome in the city, Tados quickly informs him that the duel settled all such matters.  No one will trouble them further tonight.

            All the same, the heroes are untrusting.  As they ride towards Port-a-Lucine for another night in the port city, they agree with Gregory that something is wrong with their friend.  They do not go to the Golden Fig.  Instead, they ride to the Auberge de la Premiere, where they get rooms similar in stature to their rooms at the Fig.  As with other nights before this one, Kethantril hears Markus whimpering from nightmares well into the night.  He does not rouse the human, and he does not speak to him of the dreams that plague him so frequently, once day arises.

 

 

June 28

Kethantril stays at the Auberge de la Premiere with the cart.  The others spend the day trying without success to sell gemstones to local jewelers, and then they go to the wax museum with no more than that with which they started.

Not seeing Tados outside, they assume their friend is inside.  Thus, they take the tour without him, following the tall and gaunt Alexandre du Cire through his famous House of Wax.  The man does all he can to appear sinister, wearing a straight black suit, a top hat, and having cut his beard and mustache into devilish angles.  The show itself is chilling for the heroes, as it grows more and more personal as the heroes walk on.

 

 

Scene One

Strahd von Zarovich, the Count of Barovia

 

“The mad count of Barovia and his red-haired wife.  It is said that every ten years the count descends upon his own people to select a single, red-haired maiden to take as his bride.  As the legend goes, however, not a single one of these ill-fated weddings ever takes place.  In every instance, the woman has perished inexplicably before the marriage ever began.”

 

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Scene Two

Spawn of the Sea of Sorrows

 

“The inky waters of the Sea of Sorrows are home to teeming masses of the most horrid creatures.  Tentacled beasts and barely humanoid monstrosities hunger for the flesh and blood of warm surface dwellers.  These few clamber ashore in the Thaw to mate and to feed.  They have been captured here for your amusement.”

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Scene Three

The Hanged Man of Mordentshire-by-the-Sea

 

“This poor soul was falsely accused of the murder of his own wife.  The trial was brief and before long he was hanged outside his own home in Mordentshire-by-the-Sea.  It is said that, as he died, he came to understand that the man truly guilty of the murder was the very judge who sentenced him to death.  In his grief he came to haunt the sight of his death.  He can still be spotted on that hilltop to this day, a mere shade among the shadows.”

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Scene Four

The Mad Slasher

 

“The Mad Slasher of Pont-a-Museau, this man was credited with the deaths of dozens of women over many, many years.  His black top hat and serrated knife are the subject of countless posters in many domains.  Having tired of Pont-a-Museau, he left Richemulot.  His work has been seen in locations are disparate as Lamordia, Dementlieu, and even Falkovnia.  Some say that it is not the same man who has committed these crimes, that his mania is instead some disease passed from person to person.”

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Scene Five

The Grave Robber of Richemulot

 

“For three years from 722 to 725, this tall man was seen passing from village to village in Richemulot.  In his wake came a terrible disease that obliterated entire populations.  Later investigations of Ste. Gragneville and Pideuax revealed that many of the graves were empty.  Like so many infamous killers of his time, the Grave Robber has never been caught.  He could be on his way to your home…even now!”

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Scene Six

The Mad Mage of Darkon

 

“A Darkonese wizard investigating the lair of some vicious brigands fell afoul of lurking Night Terrors.  When he tried to withdraw a blanket that would have revealed his friends’ intrusion upon the brigand’s hiding place, one of his friends trapped his hand under the closed window.  As he frantically tried to free himself, Night Terrors with sharp razors leapt forward and severed three of his fingers.  The poor mage  slipped from sanity, broken in mind and body.”

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Scene Seven

The Traveler in the Darkonese Night

 

“A small family wandering too late on the road in Darkon ran afoul of the Night Terrors.  As you can see, the mother fell quickly, and the father died soon after.  Only the child, maddened by the experience, survived.  He fled to the city of Il Aluk, where he languished in an orphanage until an elderly wizard discovered him and adopted him to raise as an apprentice.”

 

 

            As the door opens on the exit, the heroes find Tados waiting for them, and somewhat hurt that they went through the House of Wax without him.  He recovers quickly, though, and invites his friends to an outdoor café where they can catch up.  Morgan, Vatusia, Jemily and Gregory do all of the talking at the café, while Keradre and Markus listen quietly.  Darius fidgets. 

            Tados catches the heroes up on what has happened in his life.  He tells of Loretta bringing him to Dementlieu, and how he awoke in a hospital bed under the care of Dr. Dominic d’Honaire.  The name brings a smile to Tados’ lips, and when the heroes state that they do not know of the doctor, he informs them that they saw him just last night.  It was Dr. d’Honaire who entered the ball with his pair of Barovian bodyguards. 

            The heroes learn of others who have come to the city.  Blaine Trundle, who arrived before Tados awoke, arrived and told Loretta that he was friends of the heroes of Kirablis, and that he had come to look after them.  Alastir Gorning arrived just last December, bearing Arrness’ mother’s phylactery of pleasant dreams.  Tados thanks Morgan for sending it to him, then informs his friend that he had the item delivered to Dr. d’Honaire, as it was an item of powerful magic.

            According to Tados, both Blaine and Alastir have stopped researching magic.  They now work for Dr. d’Honaire, running errands in the Quartier Ouvrier.  The heroes nod along to this, commenting that it would not be the first time that Alastir Gorning posed as something he was not.  He had done the same when he first arrived in Kirablis. 

            For Tados, though, the true topic of choice is Loretta.  He is both affectionate and distressed when discussing her.  He cannot wait for her return.  It has been over a year since she last visited.  Her work for Dr. d’Honaire has kept her outside of the city—and possibly even the domain—for months at a time.  Nonetheless, Tados shows the heroes the diamond ring he carries for the day she returns.  He admits that it is not anything like the stones worn by the lords and ladies of the aristocracy, but it is quite a prize for someone of his position.  The heroes encourage him and tell him that the ring is beautiful, and they voice their wish that they could have met Loretta during this visit.

Having dominated the conversation with himself, Tados asks what has happened in Kirablis.  The heroes tell him of the Long Night, and how the village has grown.  He asks several other questions, some regarding Alianna, but the heroes turn the conversation back to his therapy.  Tados explains that he was cured by Dr. d’Honaire, but his therapy is still not yet complete.  First, he had to acknowledge his past through the regression treatments.  Then, he went to Alexandre du Cire, a contact of Dr. d’Honaire’s, to work a catharsis.  Through Tados’ descriptions, du Cire has created perfectly lifelike wax creations in the shape of the events that made Tados the man he is today.

It has grown very late while the heroes have talked, and they sadly inform Tados that they have to get moving.  Tados learns that they are continuing southward—and of their hardships earlier.  He seems truly saddened and surprised when he learns that they did indeed try to visit twice before.  Nodding, he offers to get them maps of the areas around Dementlieu.

Leaving the café and Tados behind, the heroes again whisper to one another that they believe something is wrong here.  They are concerned that Tados did not express more interest in home, particularly in the death of Valdis Vaniir.  They are also concerned that Dominic d’Honaire factors so largely in the hearts and minds of everyone they have met—including their own memories.

 

 

“I think that every adult around him…”

Keradre

“I know, and that’s the problem…every…adult.”

Morgan Abira

 

            Back at the Auberge de la Premiere, the heroes catch Kethantril up to speed on what has been happening.  His primary interest is in the gemstones, and he goes to great lengths to explain to Vatusia that the gems are not flawed.  He shows her the formation lines that make the gemstones what they are.

 

“The man’s an IDIOT!”

Kethantril

 

The heroes retire for the evening, and Jemily dreams. 

 

 

It must have been because you thought of Tados right before you fell asleep.  You were awake less than four hours later, feeling exhausted and having sweated through your sheets.  Looking about in the darkness, you quickly realized that it was only a dream, but the sense of claustrophobia was all too real.  You are a Ranger trapped in the height of civilization, and this inn room, with all its amenities, feels coffin-like around you.

 

You stand on the grounds of Stromhouse, and you know it is six years ago.  The damage of the explosions that rocked Stromhouse when you left it behind has not yet occurred.  The signs of neglect are not as pronounced, and the new lock on the gates has not yet been placed by the Crypt Rangers.  Of course, one look at your company could have told you as much.

Huddled in fear, your companions look about.  They hold crossbows and bows and swords.  They are wide-eyed in the darkness, worried that one of the partying brigands inside Stromhouse will spot them.  Only Mathys Kargrin, hulking and silent in the darkness of the Night, seems calm. 

Shifting your crossbow to your left hand, you look through the dark window, where Gregory crouches.  He is boyish again, without the lines of worry and stress that have aged you and all your companions.  Your mind warns you to look away; you have seen this moment too many times before, but your body is young and does not know to listen.

Gregory sees them in the next room, sees them turning the razor in their grubby, filthy hands.  Your eyes widen as you see the horror mounting beyond a breaking point.  Something within him snaps.  Raw panic takes control of his body, and he turns to flee the Night Terrors without time for reason. 

In a dull blur, Gregory hurtles past you.  Behind him, your young self spies the horrible Night Terrors for the first time.  Tados gasps, then lunges forward for the blanket that would reveal your presence to the brigands if left behind. 

You’ve always been faster than Tados.  It is a simple matter to beat him to the blanket.  You feel confident that you can grab it and jerk it free of the room before there is any threat to you.  Already, in the back of your mind, you are calculating how differently everything will be.  Tados will not lose his fingers.  Morgan will not be forced to become one the baron’s Goblinslayers—He’ll never have to die.  Loretta will not have to leave home.

When the window sill slams down on your arm, you are too surprised to even hear the scream of pain that issues from your younger self’s mouth.  Looking about, you try to see what has happened.  Who would have done this?  On your left, Mathys Kargrin holds the window down with a calloused hand.  On your right, though, Tados holds the other side.  He smiles at you as try to jerk free.

“How does it FEEL?” he shouts, spitting as he screams into your face.

You look back through the filthy glass window.  The Night Terrors are walking forward.  Dimly, you remember their leering dance.  Only, before, it was Tados whose hand was trapped before their blades.  Tittering, one pulls back his arm.  You try to close your fist, but his razor descends too quickly.  You feel it touch your skin.  Your eyes roll upward, until they open…

 

…in bed.  It must have been because you thought of Tados right before you fell asleep.  Looking about in the darkness, you quickly realize that it was only a dream, but there is a residual sting in your finger.  Phantom pain.  And the sense of claustrophobia was all too real.  You are a Ranger trapped in the height of civilization, and this inn room, with all its amenities, feels coffin-like around you.

You need to get outside, or you may just go as mad as your husband.

 

Vatusia keeps Jemily from running outside.  They talk into the night, and Jemily continues to insist that she did not know that Tados’ hand was trapped in the window at Stromhouse years ago.  Even though she held the window down against his frantic attempts to escape, and even though he was screaming desperately, she insists she did not know she was holding the window down.  Vatusia consoles Jemily, and the two gradually fall back asleep.

 

 

June 29

In the morning, maps are delivered to the inn.  With these maps is a family portrait of the d’Honaire family.  The heroes recognize only Dominic.  For a moment, they briefly wonder why Tados would have sent the picture along, until Vatusia hits upon the simple truth: Tados reveres the docteur.  The picture is probably the most precious gift Tados could imagine giving someone else.

The bulk of June 29^th is spent in a meeting at a nearby eatery.  Kethantril manages to pay five gold corona for the afternoon, and rents a private room for the heroes.  A number of topics are discussed.

·        Jemily dream.  It seems likely that guilt repressed over the last six years brought about the nightmare she experienced.  The trigger was probably a combination of both the wax show and the conversation with Tados.

·        The heroes speak openly in front of Gaston and Markus regarding their concerns and thoughts.  They never mention SHADOW, but most other topics do arise.  Magic is mentioned frequently, and any number of macabre possibilities for what is happening here are considered.

·        At one point, Morgan returns to the Auberge de la Premiere with Darius and Kethantril.  Their purpose is to see whether there are any auras extant on the painting Tados delivered them.  While there are not, there is evidence that someone has broken into the Scarlet Falcon’s room while he was out.  The invitations given him by Ambrose Decartes have been removed from their satchel and arranged on his pillow.  Kethantril examines the window and sees that someone climbed the outside wall of the inn, to the second floor, in broad daylight.

·        Between the private room and the Auberge de la Premiere, Morgan is confronted by the blonde woman from the docks and the gala.  In unaccented Darkonese, she says, “Morgan, please kill me.”  She then stares at him blankly until he touches her.  Then she snaps to, and curses in Mordent as she spins deftly out of reach.  Kethantril wants to follow, but Morgan lets her go.

·        Back at the private room, Gaston remarks that people very often don’t see things in Dementlieu.  It would not surprise him to learn that no one noticed a rogue scaling the walls of the Auberge.

·        Markus, in the name of an open relationship, attempts to tactfully confide in Morgan that he has figured out the Scarlet Falcon’s real name.  The secret is not terribly well kept.

·        Gaston, having considered long and hard, finally offers to go and get Lord Weathermay himself.  He says that Lord Weathermay is a well-traveled fellow with experiences in many domains.  If any can offer assistance, then it would surely be he.  The heroes welcome the offer.

·        Keradre discusses at length the possible uses of hypnosis.  A willing recipient may be placed into a trance where he is especially vulnerable to suggestions and interrogation.  The subject becomes very relaxed and willing to do almost anything that is not against his core beliefs.  She notes, too, that a hypnotized individual can be easily fooled; the subject could be convinced that he is doing one thing while he is in fact doing another.  Keradre goes on to list other effects of hypnosis, when used by a skilled doctor: A subject can be induced to remember things he has forgotten by reliving a frightening or distant event, a subject can be made calm and unafraid in the face of a specific situation for which he has been prepared, a subject can be cured of a bad habit or an addiction, and, most disturbingly, a subject can be prepared to impersonate someone by thoroughly adopting the individual’s personality.

·        Darius states that it may be possible that Tados missed Loretta so much that he learned hypnosis and made Loretta out of the blonde woman.  The rest of heroes find this notion unlikely, as the woman looks nothing at all like Loretta, and Tados still carries the diamond ring he hopes desperately to give his love.

·        Markus asks whether it is possible to swap minds.

 

“Mordenheim was trying something very similar.”

Gregory Walker to Markus Valorn

 

·        Morgan poses the theory that someone is possessing these people.  Ambrose Decartes, the blonde woman, and possibly others. 

·        While discussing hypnotism, Vatusia relates to Keradre that Silas McCormick offered to train her, for the right price.  Keradre pales at the notion.

 

“By the old man?  Oh, I don’t know about that…”

Keradre

 

·        The heroes consider using their contacts in the city.  Morgan and Darius are completely against visiting Blaine and Alastir.  Primarily, Blaine is a member of SHADOW, and the heroes do not want the organization to know their location or plans.  Second, Morgan is still in a hurry to move quickly, and he is not interested in visiting with friends right now.  Darius is the one who explains that Blaine is affiliated with SHADOW, this organization the newcomers know so little about.  Even Kethantril is surprised by this revelation.

·        Kethantril continues to suggest that Morgan divine the history of the invitation to the gala.  Morgan declines.

 

“The Falcon has a way of getting pearls of knowledge from things.”

Kethantril

 

·        When the blonde woman is sighted in the taproom, Morgan goes to meet with her.  Gaston watches discretely from the balcony.  The woman gives her name as Amelia d’Augustine when asked, and she explains to Morgan that he and his friends have to leave Port-a-Lucine.  Terrible things are happening, things that he cannot possibly understand.  But, if he does not leave, people will die.  Morgan tells her that he is considering just what she has suggested.

 

 

Ultimately, the heroes determine that they will send Keradre and Gaston to meet with Blaine and Alastir with a message for Tados.  As the men do not know her, they will not suspect from whom the message comes.  The letter asks Tados to come to the House of Wax tonight.  They hope to meet Tados around the display of Stromhouse, or of his parents’ death, and convince him to speak openly with them.

With Lord Weathermay, the heroes follow Gaston into the Quartier Ouvrier.  They watch from hiding as Keradre delivers their message.  They then return to the café and await their friend’s arrival.

Hours pass.  Just before 2:00 am, when the House of Wax closes, Tados arrives with Blaine and Alastir.  Blaine seems angry that his “friends” have tried to avoid him.  Alastir seems hurt and very uncomfortable imposing his presence upon people who clearly want nothing of him…particularly after the highly amicable history he has developed in aiding the heroes through the Long Night and carrying the phylactery to Dementlieu for them.

Splitting into two parties, the heroes take tours of the House of Wax.  The first group emerges unscathed and returns to the café to talk.  The second group, consisting of Kethantril, Darius, Markus, and Lord Weathermay, enters the House of Wax behind them.  An hour later, they have not returned.

Things go from odd to eerie to deadly as the remaining heroes attempt to locate their missing friends.  They insist upon a tour, even though du Cire insists that his House of Wax is closed.  When they find that a tarp has been drawn over the exhibit of Stromhouse, Morgan and Vatusia’s questions become more pointed.  Du Cire explains that Darius bellowed a word in an odd language, and wrenched a bolted iron censor, spraying coals over the effigies.  Morgan states that du Cire is lying.  There is only one reason Darius would utter his Saint’s Oath.

Vatusia notes that the door leading out of the Stromhouse exhibit is not closed.  It is merely leaning against the lintel.  When du Cire casually lifts the door and places it to the side, the heroes realize that the tall, gaunt wax sculptor is not what he appears. 

Du Cire insists that his tale is true.  Morgan replies after hurling a magical dagger.  When the blade vanishes, the open wound is dark and dry.  Du Cire is made of wax.

 

“I don’t believe you.”

Morgan Abira

 

            At once, the wax men come to life.  The figures of Strom, Tados’ parents, even the tree Night Terror.  Even the horrid jermlaine beyond the window of the Stromhouse display.  But the Created do not fight alone.  Tados, Blaine, and Alastir all stand alongside the sculptor and his kin.  One by one, the heroes are felled.  Gaston was led out of sight before the battle began.  Keradre is trapped in the window mechanism that Tados designed to sever Jemily’s fingers.  Vatusia and Morgan are both rendered unconscious by du Cire himself.  Soon, Keradre is trapped, Jemily is embattled, and only Gregory has a clear route to the exit.

            Just then, he hears Loretta Dauntre speaking in his mind.  She warns him that he can save his friends, but not here.  Not now.  He must run.  Looking about, Gregory makes a hard choice.  He surrenders to the compulsion as he dashes for the exit.  His world dissolves into an urgent need to be away from the House of Wax.  Time dissolves, and Loretta’s presence fades.

 

 

June 30

Gregory comes to his senses a couple of hours after dawn.  He has stumbled into an alley near the Quartier Ouvrier, bordering on the Quartier Publique.  Shivering, cold, and wet with his own blood and that of his friends, he pulls himself into the stark light of morning, knowing that he very well may be alone in the Lands of Mist.