Still the 3rd of Sun
Shilukar sends us back to Castle Shard with a message: “In exchange for the life of Lord Abbercombe, I wish sanctuary and protection from Castle Shard.” Gnolls lead us out of the place (sadly, we have to leave behind a pile of loot!) through the abandoned chaos temple and gnoll barracks.
Back at the shop, things are still slow (what a surprise) so we waste no time in sending off the message to Castle Shard. Then some of us visit the Temple of Asche to heal some festering demon flail wounds. (“These wounds do not smell right,” Charnoth says, concerned for us.) I head over to the market to sell what loot we did manage to collect on this last trip into the Dungeon. Castle Shard sends back word that they will meet with us tomorrow afternoon.
4th of Sun
We head over to Castle Shard after lunch. Kadmus greets us at the door, gracious as ever, and shows us to a waiting room. A Shoal elf we don’t recognize is already there. He’s an emaciated-looking guy smoking a cigarette with a long cigarette holder. Kadmus introduces him as Master Autumnsong. Ah, Moynath Autumnsong, yes, we’ve heard of him — he’s one of the most powerful wizards in Ptolus! Turns out he’s one of the snootiest, too. I guess he stays here at the castle when he’s in town.
Zavere and Rill listen to our message with concern. They don’t know Shilukar, but they want us to find out more: What’s his ace in the hole? Why shouldn’t they just go down to his lair and destroy him? And is he willing to take their oath of nonviolence if he comes under the castle’s protection?
To learn more about this dark elf, we decide to send Seanus to seek Linech’s half-sister Biesta again — she was palling around with Shilukar when we saw her back at Linech’s place, where, incidentally, we first saw the “statue” of Lord Abbercombe.
5th of Sun
Today Tharn buys a new sword, which he names “Wolf-Brother.” Meanwhile, I have finally saved up enough money to visit an akashic to find out more about my heritage: Where I came from and why I wound up down in the Dungeon as an infant for delvers to find is a big mystery.
I have to pay five hundred gold coins in bribes to locate the akashic, who lives in a place in Oldtown. When I speak with her, she confirms that, yes, the Hu-Charad are an ancient people from another continent far away. She couldn’t learn much about them where they are — it’s as though where they’re from is beyond her reach (and that’s weird; she doesn’t seem used to the idea of any information being beyond her reach). She tells me of a ruin on the coast north of Ptolus, a place called Ar-Nampur. Most historians don’t know who built this fortress, but she knows that the Hu-Charad did. It has been explored thoroughly over the centuries so most people now ignore it. However, she tells me that there are undiscovered reaches in Ar-Nampur that might give me more information about my heritage. She also says that, unknown to anyone, the Hu-Charad returned to Ar-Nampur to visit only twenty or so years ago. Wow! That corresponds with the time of my birth! But why did they leave me…
Sadly, the akashic does not know. She does tell me that these people are excellent sailors, that they are wise and knowledgeable about magic and life. Hmn, it doesn’t sound like I’ve inherited anything from them.
When I go home and tell my Dad everything I’ve learned, he promises to look into those ruins of Ar-Nampur, see what he can find out about them. He reiterated that I was left in a safe place under the city, not in some faraway ruin to die. The people who found me said it seemed as though I hadn’t been there long. Will I ever learn the truth?
6th of Sun
Seanus sets up a dinner date for us with Biesta for tomorrow at the Ghostly Minstrel. He never lets us down! Meanwhile, Diethan checks up on Lunes, the wolf we kenneled over at Lendarick a while back. Her training is proceeding — maybe she’ll be a good addition to our band after all. Many in the group have been happy to have these last few days to rest up and train ourselves.
7th of Sun
Business is still poor, so I put in a few more hours at the Delver’s Guild. Biesta shows up at dinner this evening with dark circles under her eyes. Barbatos whispers that she’s clearly hooked on shivvel. (How would he know?) She recalls a “ruckus” at Linech’s office when the gold statue vanished, then he and Shilukar split. She still sees the dark elf, though. She trusts him, I guess.
She hears Shilukar talk sometimes about these machines he’s making. He goes about the city disguised as a Shoal elf. He hates the Shuul, an organization of technologists and machine-workers who seek to resurrect some of the classic Prustan technologies lost to us these days. She thinks the gnolls are not from around here but were brought here with magic. He uses items of magic (wands, scrolls, creepy spidery things) in his work. She calls him generous and rich and — get this! — says he knows what people are thinking! Great, powerful and psychic.
Biesta says he fears a group in the city here that can take people over from a distance, but he never got more specific than that. He is interested in politics: who is in control of the city, the Commissar’s doings, and so forth. He sometimes goes away for days at a time. She doesn’t know where he lives now. (We do not enlighten her.) She thinks he visits the Steam Foundry and Technicians’ Guild in the Guildsman District, but why would he go there?
In any case, we’re pleased with all the information we managed to buy with only a single dinner.
8th of Sun
We prepare for our Big Sale event tomorrow, then head off to our appointment with the Sisterhood of Silence at the Priory of Introspection in the Temple District. I sure never thought I’d ever be visiting places like this!
Like everyone in Ptolus, I’ve seen the Sisters around from time to time. They all wear black and white habits and carry greathammers. The priory they live in is a complex of colonnades and corridors. A eunuch ushers us into a big reception room with a screen at the far end. Apparently they won’t let us actually see the Mother Superior — she’s behind the screen, but a eunuch translates for her.
We have petitioned for the Sisterhood’s continued support of our business, along the lines of the protection they extended to Myraeth himself. At first it sounds like we’re out of luck. “You have nothing to offer the Sisterhood now,” the Speaker translates, and our hearts sink. “But you may in the future, and we are willing to take that risk.” We’re told that we have their support, and that at some time in the future they will come to us with tasks they need us to perform. “We appreciate your faith in us,” Calista says graciously. But I can hear Barbatos grumbling in the back about being indebted to an order of crazy, power-mad nuns who refuse to talk.
As we are about to take our leave, the translator interrupts us with a question from the Mother Superior. “What is the Legacy?” Now, where did that come from? Was she sifting through our thoughts all this time? (I suddenly feel very self-conscious: What have I thought about since we entered this place?) Calista replies that we don’t know what the Legacy is, exactly. “That will have to be rectified,” the Mother says via her Speaker. “We will be in touch.” So, I guess we’re not done with the Halls of Cordaris after all!
When we get back to the shop, lo and behold, we have a dozen customers! People say they were passing by and just felt like stopping in. Talk about fast results!
Later that evening, we learn from Shim, our skulk friend, that the name of the Killraven agent who attacked us and got away is Sanalin Resare. He tells us that all four of the attackers worked for Killraven.
9th of Sun
Our big sales event goes great! We hold a raffle for door prizes and have lots of sales. But sadly, our troglodyte friend comes back, threatening that even though he can’t hurt us at Myraeth’s, we are fair game when we leave the shop. “Putting a brave face on this won’t prolong your lives,” he hisses and leaves. We renew our desire to trounce him at some future date and go out for a celebratory dinner.
10th of Sun
After work at the Delver’s Guild we head over to the house Shim described where Sanalin Resare resides. We call out his name and charge in. Three foes are upstairs, four are downstairs. One of them breaks my magical axe! Now this is really personal — I take his own axe, but it just isn’t the same. After a prolonged battle, we lay them all low.
11th of Sun
Taevel has detected magic and identified our most recent loot from our strike at our would-be attackers, and Archinemus takes it to the market to sell. He finds this dwarven weaponsmith named Gaen Cloudstone who says he can fix my greataxe — but then Calista surprises me by fixing it for free with a spell! I’m so excited to have it back, I take her out to dinner.
12th of Sun
Ready to deal with our dark elf “friend,” we set off once more for Shilukar’s lair. Before one set of stairs, the gnoll leading us down snaps his fingers twice (you know, come to think of it, we saw that done before, too). He leads us through a chamber that holds a couple five-foot-long spiders with wolf heads up on a web on the ceiling. Some of the dark elf’s experiments, I suppose.
We pass from the spider room to a chamber with a chemical smell and colorful liquids bubbling in huge vats. Shilukar’s waiting for us. “Tell us more about the key to freeing Lord Abbercombe,” we say, attempting to take charge right off the bat. The wily dark elf says he’s the key — if he’s harmed or dead, he can’t help Lord Abbercombe, who is currently frozen in stasis. He’s willing to undo the freeze if we take on a mission against our mutual foes. It’s hard for me to believe I have foes in common with an evil creature like Shilukar, and even MORE difficult when I hear who he’s talking about. It’s the Shuul!
The Shuul arrived here in town about three or four years ago, and since the defeat of the chaos factions, they have become quite powerful advocates of Law throughout the Empire — so powerful, they could even sway the decision on who the new emperor should be. It’s a noble and hard-working group, and I can’t for the life of me see why I should believe a dark elf when he tells me that I should work against them.
He actually had the nerve to accuse the Shuul of working in secret for the crime lord Kevris Killraven and her organization of Sorn technomages. She’s growing even more powerful than the Balacazars of late, and according to Shilukar she is working with the Shuul on a machine that will wipe out the last vestiges of chaositech in town — a machine that supposedly involves dwarves and litorians.
It seems that a scientist named Doctor Feegus is in charge of this weapon and, according to the dark elf, he has the litorians from Charnoth’s tribe! Shilukar will pay us twice the bounty on his own head (two thousand gold) for the head of Doctor Feegus. He doesn’t know where this lab is, but he can tell us that Feegus’ assistant, Nerlene Camus, visits the Healers of the Sacred Heat on the first of each month for a goiter treatment. If we want to find Feegus, we could do it through her. Shilukar claims that all he wants out of this arrangement is to be able to do his pure chaositech research and development without having to fear this new device. (But I do notice that nothing in this lab of his seems in the slightest related to machine skills — everything in here is very organic, not tech at all.)
Well, I know the Shuul congregate in the Technicians’ Guild in the Guildsman District, and also at the Foundry (where they manufacture steam devices) and the Tower of Science in Oldtown, plus, of course, the Temple of Teun. I’m a member of that church myself, which makes it doubly hard for me to believe that law-abiding Shuul workers would truck with SLAVERS! These dark elves are full of lies.
After leaving Shilukar this afternoon, we send a message to Castle Shard saying we have news, and they invite us for dinner the next day. I feel kind of a cold shock when I realize that I don’t have anything appropriate to wear to a dinner at a castle, but Barbatos helps me buy some nice clothes at a store for tall women. Well, actually, they also sell clothes to fit tall men — and ogres, creatures with wings, and other unusual types. Hmm, I’m not sure I’m entirely comfortable in this category of “odd-sized” shopper…
13th of Sun
We get ourselves all “tarted up” (Barbatos’ words) and head over to Castle Shard for dinner tonight. Something unexpected happens right off the bat: We’re given friendship bands to signify our relationship with the lords of the castle! Wow, wait till I show Dad!
The Shard at the center of the castle seems extra bright tonight, and for a minute there I could have sworn I saw a woman in the center of the enormous jewel. At dinner we enjoy aged elven wine, shrimp cocktail, and pheasant. The satyrix named Narasha is there, and she seems to really have the hots for Diethan, which makes our pal decidedly uncomfortable. Consequently, he drinks a lot — perhaps he’s trying to make her seem more attractive. Charnoth and Tharn take away Diethan’s weapons, encourage him to “acquit yourself as a warrior,” and push him toward Narasha, but Zavere warns her off, saying we have business.
After the meal, we update Zavere and Rill on Shilukar’s latest news. Lady Rill tells us an interesting piece of information: that on the night we met Mand at the Ghostly Minstrel (where he saved Barbatos from the ear-seekers), he’d been told to go to that tavern to meet someone that night. Was he manipulated by Shilukar into meeting us and having us in his debt, so he could line us up to handle the Linech affair for Castle Shard and discover the golden Lord Abbercombe?
14th and 15th of Sun
We decide to spend some time gathering information on dwarven projects, machine parts, and the Shuul. The leader of the Shuul, a man named Savane, lives in the Tower of Science. Terrel von Mitteram (the Shuul head of security) and Necent Kamara (an administrator) are also high-ups in the organization. Mand sets up a meeting with us in a few days to discuss chaositech with his friend Aprata Nachov, an expert on the subject. Tharn even asks Shim to nose around for news of this crazy “anti-chaos machine.”
16th and 17th of Sun
I return to do some work at the Delver’s Guild. Meanwhile, Calista speaks with Aoska of the Malkuth (I still can’t believe my friend shares a home with angels!). She tells Calista that she believes Terrel von Mitteram would love to see an “anti-chaos machine” created. Apparently, he’s quite the militant opponent of chaos. Aoska has seen no proof of a Shuul-Killraven alliance, but many believe there is one. She adds that the Shuul owe allegiance to the Iron Angels; the Malkuth find these celestial patrons of machining difficult to tolerate for some reason. She says the Shuul are less interested in “law” than in “order.”
Archinemus hears that Nerlene Camus was seeking litorian volunteers a while back for a special project; interested parties were to inquire at the Technicians’ Guild. Charnoth and Tharn waste no time going over there to inquire, but no luck.
Meanwhile, a message comes for Calista from Shilukar! He says that if he gets his sanctuary at Castle Shard, he will give us information on his blue demon-gnoll allies, so we can “clean them up” after he’s out of there. Interesting approach: How did he know that Calista hates demons with every fiber of her being? That dark elf knows too much, and the news about Nerlene and her “litorian project” makes me worry that some of what he knows may actually be true.
A bit more mundane news: Taevel says a customer named Methir Orth came in looking for aethel stones. He had a rather odd manner, she says, but he wants to buy a lot of them, if we can find any. Something to keep in mind if we get down to that place beneath the Fevered Moon candle shop.
