Session 98

General Summary

• Dazki cooked breakfast for everyone, for the first time in his life, with Rosalin. Over breakfast, he apologized to everyone for having "unfair expectations" of them, and then they proceeded to make plans for the day.
• As soon as they were done making plans, The Queen of Hearts walked in, demanding explanations for what had happened the night before.
• When the party explained what had happened with Kerro, presenting the scenes captured on The Admirer's Cards of Collecting, Queen accepted that Kerro was the mole, but she was concerned that it would be difficult to "sell" what the party claimed to have happened to the body after.
• The party proposed that Kesmet would attune to the Rotor of Return and then personally testify to The King of Jacks what had happened, under a truth spell cast by someone that he trusts.
• Queen agreed, as long as the party provided some sort of collateral to assure the family that they wouldn't run off.
• Marvin volunteered to personally be this "collateral", at which point Ten of Hearts emerged from the shadows and knocked him out in a single round of attacks, afflicting him with a cocktail of poisons that would be dangerous to try to cure without the antidote.
• Satisfied with this "collateral", Queen left them to their own devices.
• Kesmet attuned to the Rotor of Return, immediately being flooded with all the memories of what had happened over the past thirty days (including those from Overlook that he had agreed to forget).
• Contrary to what he and Grogery had been misremembering, Kerro's body did not visibly change into the automaton. It was just... one second, there was a corpse, and then the next time anybody looked at it, there was an automaton there instead.
• The party then went to check up on the progress of healing Baxton's victims at the House of Crystal, as well as discuss with Annu a bit.
• They're not allowed to see the victims, though, so it was just Annu.
• Dazki revealed to Annu the single-letter monikers of the remaining four individuals from The Book of the Mirage and the entirety of the contents of Vicra's Map of Exignis to try to corroborate with the people whom Annu and Biz had been looking into the night before.
• Annu does not feel that the information is reliable enough for the governments to officially act upon, especially given its sources, but he's fine with his "advisors" investigating further.
• He then relayed some information on the gnomish folklore that "The Metronome Man" based his persona off of: people are said to make deals with "the Metronome Man", out of desperation, and that these "deals" will lead to either happiness or despair.
• Annu forced some small talk, getting Grogery to say something that he piggy-backed off of in order to deem him "fit" to leave Ashport.

Full Recap

Dazki and Rosalin work on trying to prepare breakfast, Dazki never having cooked in his life and Rosalin not being too much better. Dwardazik walks into the house from the back, notices the sounds coming from the kitchen, and announces that he's hungry. He washes up and heads back upstairs to gear up for the day. Marvin wakes up, seeing that Yacht is no longer here, and decides to help cook breakfast, but it's already pretty much done.   Dwardazik smells like cinnamon / vanilla today, for some reason.   Breakfast is served: it's some pancakes and fruit. The party starts eating, and...

Kesmet: Oh my goodness! You're supposed to cook them!   Marvin: Just add some of your spices to it or something.   Kesmet: This isn't batter, this is sawdust! You used the wrong... no!   Grogery: I dunno, these taste pretty OK.   Dazki: You know, I have never cooked before. In my life.   Grogery: This was actually a really good first attempt.   Dazki: It has been a hundred and twenty-some-odd years, and I have never cooked a meal. This is my very first attempt.   Marvin: You're a hundred and twenty?! Damn, I hope I look that good when I'm a hundred!   Kesmet: How are all of my pancakes... why are there wood chips in here?!   Dwardazik: That's not wood chips. Stop exaggerating.   Grogery: It's oats, I think?   Dwardazik: Hey Dazki, these pancakes aren't too bad, but here's the trick. You see, you got the fruit separated from the pancakes, but next time what you need to do is take that fruit and cook it for just a little bit to soften it up. Mix it in with the batter in a slight ratio, and it allows some of the flavor to get in with the pancakes themselves! It's passable, and it's definitely fine, it just lacks that "spice" that... well, I'm sure you're familiar with that.   Dazki: First attempt, I did not expect it to be good.   Kesmet: It wasn't. I'm gonna go get an apple. (He walks over to the kitchen, grabs one, and comes back.)   Dwardazik: I've had worse.

Grogery and Marvin discuss what spells to prepare, between the two of them. Grogery makes a reference to something that happened back in the fight with Vicra, which Kesmet doesn't remember:

Kesmet: Wait, what?! When was this?   Marvin: When you fuckin' merc'd the boss. The Big Bad.   Kesmet: Look, you guys are using this amnesia thing as a major ass pull, OK?   Marvin: "Ass pull"?! The only one pulling things out of their ass is you, with your daggers!   Dwardazik: You're the one who volunteered to forget...   Dwardazik: I don't know what you're talking about, these pancakes are the most flavorful pancakes I've ever had! (He takes another bite.) I think you're losing your memory! They're so delicious. Is your memory OK over there? Maybe you should try another bite!   Dazki: I promise you, these are not the best pancakes you've ever had.   Grogery: These pancakes are warm, and the fruit was obtained legitimately. This is already above 50%, in my book.   Marvin: What's the alternative to acquiring the fruit "legitimately"?   Grogery: Stealing it from the kitchens in the middle of the night, because apparently my parents didn't understand that goblins get scurvy too.   Dwardazik, trying to just talk directly to Grogery: Hey, you got any of that bland bread?   Grogery, not directly responding: Hey, Marvin, do you know any spells to produce food and water? Just curious, because that's another thing I can do pretty often.   Marvin: I don't have that, no.   Kesmet slips Dwardazik his magic spice box.   Dazki: You guys don't need to try to hide it, if that's what I think you're trying to do? Seriously, it's OK, I am a bad cook. I get it. Not good at everything.   Grogery: I wonder if I would do a decent job cooking...? Then again, my "cooking" is that I grow bread out of the ground, so...   Kesmet: I used to bake. Not cook.   Dwardazik: Like I said, I've had worse. (He pushes his plate into the center of the table.) Mmm, very full. Marvin, you want some more? You can have the rest of mine!   Dazki: So, if we're all done making fun of me trying to do something nice for everybody now...   Dwardazik: That's not what I meant, Dazki.   Kesmet: We appreciate your effort, but not the result. And I, for one, was not making fun. I was being entirely straightforward. I think mine got cursed somehow, with literal wood chips in them.

---

Marvin: Yeah, so, how'd your guys's little study session go?   Dwardazik: Well, I read our book, that our resident expert over here translated. I gotta tell ya, that thing is the most complicated fuckin' book that I ever read. I don't even think those are words!   Marvin: What, did you get past the table of contents or, what are we talkin' about here?   Dwardazik: There's a table of contents? He looks to Dazki.   Dazki: No. No, there is not.   Kesmet: It's just a poorly-written book, then.   Dwardazik: It's... somethin'. At some point, I turned the book 90° and I thought I made more progress.   Dazki: It is incredibly dense.   Kesmet: So what is our next step to finding Dennis? It sounds like we've got a lot of conflicting information.   Grogery: We can't leave the city until Annu gives us the go-ahead. He's still looking into me and Dwardazik.   Dazki: Plus, we need to go talk to The Queen of Hearts.   Marvin: And not get murdered.   Dwardazik: That would be nice...   Kesmet: How much of that do we really need to do? "Need" is a very key word, there.   Dazki: Threats upon our life, and the lives of anyone who lives in our house, were made if we do not get her the Rotor of Return.   Dwardazik: I kinda have to agree. I'd rather not have the mafia killing me.   Kesmet: All the more reason to leave. Don't worry, I've got a lot of experience dodging them.   Dwardazik: Why do we have to be on the run, when a simple conversation can make it so we don't have to be on the run? We need less enemies.   Marvin: Dwardazik, let's be real. When has just talking ever worked out?   Dwardazik: A couple of times.   Kesmet: I believe one time, we managed to recruit this crazy hyena by just talking to it. But never since then.   Grogery: We were able to get Morn'Tharur to give us back the box full of Turmoil by talking to him and giving him a rock.   Kesmet: He attacked us.   Grogery: Well, yeah, but he wouldn't have, if we just gave him the rock.   Kesmet: We tried to. And he attacked us before we had the chance.   Dwardazik: And Dazki's convinced us not to be killed by the mafia. Dazki talks his way through everything, so, we're good.   Marvin: It usually results in fighting. Let's be real. It's not 100% successful.   Dazki: Speaking of talking my way through things, I do think I owe everybody here an apology.   Marvin: Huh?   Grogery: For what?   Dwardazik, with a sigh: What'd you do this time?   Dazki: I have had unfair expectations of everyone here at this table. I've been expecting you to behave like I would behave. I could go into reasons and excuses, blah-blah-blah, that's not the point. What matters is I've been expecting each of you to behave like me, and you're not me. So, I'm sorry to everybody for that. I've been focusing on negatives quite a bit, lately, and I want to try to be better. I'm gonna try a little bit of encouragement and understanding from now on.   Dazki (cont'd): So, Marvin, you're a good guy. You're persuasive, you're a good storyteller. You don't need to resort to mind control as a reflex. People like you! It's fine to be yourself, and you're a good man like that.   Dazki (cont'd): Kesmet, I'm sorry. I've underestimated how much pain you went through at the hands of Dennis, and I underestimated how much it hurt when you lost your family. I'm sorry that I've been allowing you to believe things have been leading you towards resolving that, when they maybe have not been. I won't do that in the future.   Dazki (cont'd): Grogery, you're a good guy. You're a noble person — not because of your family, but probably in spite of them. You're the tallest out of all of us, don't be afraid to act like it once in a while. And I know I challenge your faith sometimes — reflect upon it, but don't let my words cause you to doubt. You're a good leader, and I think one day you're going to have a great congregation — like Father Isaiah's, but probably more diverse.   Dazki (cont'd): Dwardazik, I owe you an apology most of all. I have reacted poorly to some of your emotions. Your anger worries me, especially because you have whatever that Turmoil creature is within you. I know you say it isn't a threat — and I'm sure you entirely believe that! — but my concern is that I haven't seen Turmoil do a good thing, ever. And I don't want it to hurt you. So if you're willing, I want to help work with you, see if we can find a way for you to control it, instead of the other way around. See if maybe exerting more passive / less violent feelings upon it will help prevent it from welling up anger and violence within you.   Dazki (cont'd): So, I'm sorry I'm not going to be perfect, everyone, but I am going to try to be better.   Dwardazik: Phew! Thank goodness. And here I was, worried you were gonna stab me in my sleep!   Dazki: What?! No! You're my friend. If I'm gonna stab you, it's gonna be in the front, when you're awake.   Dwardazik: That's more like it! I appreciate it, Dazki. I was really worried about you, I knew something was going on. I could tell. And I hope that, at some point, you're able to tell us what is going on. 'cause something's stressing you out, and I know it.   Dazki: It's really just been me worrying about everything, expecting you all to behave like I would. Like I said, that's not fair. You're not me, and I shouldn't expect any of you to be me.   Kesmet: ...I still don't get it, but, all right. Apology accepted, or whatever.   Dwardazik: Meh, it doesn't change anything. I'd still probably end up dying for you. Probably. Mostly.   Dazki: Let's hope it doesn't ever come to that.   Dwardazik: You know as well as I do that the journey we're going on... there's probably only going to be one way at the end of it.   Dazki: I sure as hell hope not! I don't plan on dying!   Dwardazik: Neither do I. But look at what we're encountering!   Kesmet: We gotta focus on killing Dennis and his weird evil cohorts or whatever that are trying to destroy the world with dark magic or whatever the thing is.   Marvin: Yeah, old mafias, dark energy that wants to absorb the world, Annu, ... what's the worst that could happen!   Kesmet: We don't get Dennis, and we die.   Marvin: That'd be pretty shit. Let's not do that. I think we got this!   Dazki: Unrelated — I did not ask him to do this, but Baxton tried to report to me about each one of you. So, he's an asshole, and be wary of that.   Dwardazik: It's not like we can trust Baxton anyway. He thinks he's smarter than he actually is.   Kesmet: Couldn't even sell kindling to a pyromancer.   Dazki: He is actually pretty insightful.   Dwardazik: No, I know that!   Dazki: ...occasionally.   Dwardazik: I know that. He even helped me out! ...I think.   Marvin: So, when exactly is he aware of his surroundings?   Dazki: He has to focus when he is in the ring to be aware of the thoughts of whoever is wearing it.   Marvin: So if no one's wearing the ring, then he's not aware of the surroundings of the ring?   Dazki: No. From what I understand, it's even difficult for him to tell the passing of time. He did specifically ask to be involved in our investigations from this point forward, and I am... hesitantly willing to let him get involved, to a limited extent.   Marvin: Just enough to keep him sniffin', right?   Kesmet: ...when you say he has to focus in on the person in order to see or hear through them, then the entirety of the book idea I was pitching him... he was able to ignore it?   Dazki: I don't know.   Kesmet: Aww man! I gotta start from the beginning! Can I hold onto the ring for the next eighteen days?   Grogery: He wasn't affected by the Bewilderburr thing, obviously, right?   Dazki: Not as far as I know, so he probably remembers the story.   Dwardazik: Who has Baxton's ring right now?   Dazki: I do. (He shows that he's been wearing the ring.)   Dwardazik: You know, of all the people here, Baxton is probably one of the most manipulative and, frankly, ...not-trustworthy-while-at-the-same-time-leading-you-in-the-right-direction... person I know. You're probably gonna be the wisest to any of his tricks, but I'm tellin' you, I'll be the first one to punch you in the face if I see you doin' somethin' stupid with that ring.   Dazki: Deal.   Marvin: Well, he is wearing the cloak, eh?   Grogery: I know from Baxton that he's able to figure out at least a little bit about what sort of Turmoil stuff is going on in me and Dwardazik.   Marvin: Wait, Dazki, you said he had something to say about all of us. What the fuck did he say about me? I haven't spoken a single word to him other than "hey Baxton, I hear you suck!"...   Dazki: ...OK, he didn't actually have anything to say about you.   Marvin: Damn right he didn't! Fuck that guy.   Kesmet: What about me? I talked to him for quite a while. Don't tell me he's ignored all of it!   Dazki: No, no, he had some choice words.   Kesmet: Joking about me torturing getting his opinion on the book aside, can I actually be the one to hold him? Out of all of us, I think I'm the only one who hasn't actually bought what he's trying to sell. There's nothing he's ever even tried to offer me, except that one time when he wanted me to off Barry before we knew Barry too well. And he didn't even do it right!   Grogery: He could tell you where he thinks Dennis is...   Kesmet: See, the thing is, I can't trust him anymore! We don't even know, because the info person, where you have to stand on her desk, she was all confused, and I'm not sure we can trust Annu's information because whatever stuff's going on... we need to find a brand new source of Dennis information. I'm not gonna take anything from Baxton.   Dazki: His exact words were, "Please keep me with you, as I find it difficult to focus with the punishment constantly doled out by other three".   Kesmet: Are you guys writing books too?   Dwardazik: That's not fair! Baxton, if you're focusing on this, we've had a pleasant conversation! Don't include me with the others!   Marvin: You sure he's not talking about in-between those conversations, where all the thoughts are just "dwarven ale, dwarven ale, dwarven ale, dwarven ale, dwarven ale, ..."?   Dwardazik: ...OK. Maybe if it was just "dwarven ale", then yes... because that was the entire situation of our last adventure...   Grogery: Admittedly, I did say some barbs to him in my head, but he was doing the same. And also thought I was stupid.   Dazki: I'm not saying that his thoughts there are accurate or appropriate. Just relaying the direct message. But enough of that for now. Things to do today, and based on what we know of "The Metronome Man", could be an ally or could be a very powerful enemy.   Marvin: Still don't like that name...   Dazki: Because on the list of persons Baxton gave to me, there were two others that had a male gender: "A", who is very much a problem (he actively wishes and works towards alteration of the material plane as well as other fundamental forces so that Mirage Prime can live here), or "Mr. E", who agreed with whatever plan Baxton had and was looking at other planes to accommodate Mirage Prime so that he does not come here.   Grogery: So, this "alteration of the material plane" kinda feels a bit like warping reality and stuff. It could be Metronome Man...   Dazki: Could be. The other two that are still alive are "she", so we don't have to worry about those two since this person is referring to themselves as the Metronome Man.   Kesmet: Could be to throw us off. Also, wait, putting the darkness in a different plane? Are you trying to tell me that Baxton's plan was to sell some evil god a condo, when he was trying to buy a three-story single house?   Dazki: Trying to get him to build a palace elsewhere, that he could rule here from the comfort of his own home.   Kesmet: Oh. That's still shit for us.   Marvin: Trying to throw us off? Yeah, no, the egos on these creeps are so big that they want everyone to know exactly who they are.   Grogery: It takes a special kind of ego to try to seek out Turmoil for help.   Dwardazik: Do you want to take that ring off for just a moment?   Dazki does.   Dwardazik: So which location on the map do we think that Mr. E is, then? Based on all the information we've acquired?   Dazki: We don't know.   Grogery: Well, OK, the Metronome Man altered reality surrounding Kerro Schene at some point. Originally, Dennis was supposed to be west on the island, but then "no, he's east in the Swamp". So it might be associated with either of those locations?   Dazki: The one that looks the most swampy is probably the one by the Invictus Una.   Grogery: So purple?   Dazki: Yeah. So I think that's probably where "A" is. As far as Mr. E, could be any of the other three, but — and there is a big "but" here — what I saw on the table with Annu and Biz Abrak yesterday. They were researching people that may very well be related to what we're looking into.   Grogery: Oh?   Dazki: So, I think maybe we share some of this information with Annu, and we can use their list of suspects to narrow ours down a little bit?   Dwardazik: That's a good idea.   Grogery: Annu has proven that he's willing to support us longer-term than just going after the Flesh Artist, so...   Dazki: Yeah.   Dwardazik: Would you believe that I actually sort-of trust Annu? Despite his "fireballing civilians" mentality?   Kesmet: He doesn't have the capacity to even try to be deceptive, which is why you trust him.   Marvin: With Annu, you can trust that he means what he says, and that when he says he's going to do something, he shall do that thing.   Dazki: So, plan of attack for today: first, go see Queen of Hearts, then go to the House of Crystal again. Grogery, we can check up on how the people being healed there are doing, and then we can talk to Annu. And go from there.   Grogery: All right.   Dwardazik: Sounds fine to me.   Grogery: I'd also like to research Annu's past before we leave Ashport at some point, but I honestly have zero leads on that, so... Editor's note: I disagree...

In Session 92, there was some information from Alfalfa (and a bit from Marvin) about Annu. There's easily at least one very specific element of it that's actionable at this time, and some less specific things that could be probed into more thoroughly if that one dries up.

  Dazki: All right, well, that's step three for today, then.   Grogery: We'll see if anything turns up.   A voice from the doorway: You guys sure have a lot of plans...   Dwardazik: Ahh, I didn't see you walk in. Can I help you?

Home is Where the Heart Is

The Queen of Hearts is standing in the hallway outside the dining room, slicing up a mango with a paring knife.

Dazki: Ahh, perfect, we were just getting ready to come and see you after breakfast. You know, you might want to keep an eye on your breakfast table. I hear there's a new little thief around who has a penchant for cinnamon muffins.   Queen: You lot are adorable!   Marvin: We do our best.   Dwardazik: Can we help you? We were about to see you, but... you're here. Probably on business, I assume?   Queen: Mind if I take a seat?   Dazki: Please do!   Dwardazik: Don't try the pancakes...   Marvin: Or... do!   Dazki: Of all my talents — apparently, cooking is not one of them.   Queen takes a seat directly between Dazki and Grogery, half-surrounding herself with party members.   Kesmet: I'm gonna go get myself another apple. That mango looks good. Actually, do we have another mango here? (He leaves to the kitchen.)   Dwardazik: So, do we start with our business or your business?   Queen: Are you serious?   Marvin: Or is this pleasure? Are we just chatting?   Dwardazik: That was our intention. You were our first stop for today. I guess, uh... we could just chill here for a little bit?   (Kesmet is back with an apple.)   Queen: It was such a long night, not hearing from you. That doesn't sound like good news.   Dazki: There is good news... and there is bad news.   Queen: I don't do very well with bad news.   Dazki: The good news is, we indeed have who stole the Rotor of Return, and we have it to return to you. As well as proof. The bad news is, that person melted into a Turmoil automaton.   Kesmet: He's real freaky-lookin'.   Queen: Is that what happened, then? That's what you're going with?   Dazki: You want to see the automaton? It's in the drawing room!   Queen: I've seen your pile of scrap metal.   Marvin: It's not scrap!   Dwardazik: It'd probably fetch a decent price...   Queen: I'm uninterested in money. You know what I've come here for.   Dazki: I do.   Queen: And it sounds like you don't have everything I asked for.   Dwardazik: You gave us a lead, and we followed the lead. And we have another lead. You can't expect the entire mission to just be completed on a hunch! We now need to go to the next section of the lead! This is a complicated problem! And it turns out that, probably, your problem and our problem kinda coincide. So, honestly, it's kinda just workin' out this way!

As Dwardazik says this, Dazki pulls out the cards that captured the important moments of Kerro's conversation and sends them over to her. Dwardazik follows his lead with his own cards. She puts her knife and fruit down so that she can take them. She looks over them for a short while.

Queen: This is some good stuff, but where is he now?   Dazki: He is that pile of "scrap" in the drawing room.   Dwardazik: Should we go with the hypothetical answer or the more scientific answer?   Queen: See, we have a problem. Because these images don't show a pile of scrap. They show me a person, probably one roaming around causing more trouble.   Marvin: That will not be a problem...   Dazki: Would you like me to tell you what happened, under a truth spell? Because I promise you, it will not change.   Dwardazik: Who can do a truth spell?   Grogery: I might be able to, but —   Dwardazik: Would you really believe him, though?   Dwardazik: Look, I just don't want to be stabbed in the back for doing a damn good job! And we've got a lead, dammit!   Queen: You have a "lead"? You had the man, and now you just have a "lead"?   Marvin: Yeah. And the man is now a pile of, as you say, "scrap metal".   Dwardazik: OK, look, Queenie. We're goin' with the hypothetical answer, because it's too ridiculous for you to currently believe, I guess. The crazy-ass answer is, do you know what that Rotor does? It, like, fucks with time, space, and everything, OK? It, like, changes reality. So, apparently, your informant fucked with it, touched it, and then reality changed for that person. It's fucked with other people. And it turns out that when — according to what I understand — it was activated in the room (I wasn't there, sue me, ask Dazki or the others what happened), apparently the man's totally-not-a-corpse turned into this robot. Powered by Turmoil. Woo-hoo! Go get the logs from Annu, I'm sure he's destroying the Turmoil right now. You've probably got people watching his every move.   Queen, turning the chair to face Dazki directly: And you personally saw this? He said I could ask you. You saw a man turn into machine, with your clever eyes and depth perception?   Dazki: I personally did not see it. Grogery and Kesmet saw it, and I trust their word.   Dwardazik: Look, Queenie, this whole lead with this automaton kinda coincides with our personal objective. It's like two diabolical birds with one stone!   Queen: I am not interested in your excuses at this time.   Dwardazik: Not an excuse! It's a lead!   Queen: How am I meant to sell this?   Marvin: Sell what? I thought you weren't interested in money?   Dazki: How is she expected to tell this story?   Marvin: Oh, sell the story...   Dwardazik: Highly advanced memory magic. Because that's basically what's happening, though it's changing reality around it.   Marvin: That's what the Rotor does, and it's what she wanted!   Queen: It's not what the Rotor does.   Dazki: That's what the Orrery, as a whole, does.   Dwardazik: Aww shit, you think she's touched it?   Dazki: No. It hasn't been assembled yet.   Dwardazik: Do you think she's touched the Rotor? If she's touched the Rotor, then she could've been affected by it.   Queen, still facing Dazki directly: You understand the situation we have here, right?   Dazki: I do.   Queen: And I'm not taking the fall for this poor job.   Dwardazik: I don't think it was a poor job...   Dazki: And what do you propose, then? Are you just going to scapegoat us?   Queen: I know you to be a merciful lot, and that's making it hard for me to believe that he mysteriously "vanished" or "transformed" or something. Kerro is clever. Have you been outmatched?   Marvin: By that bitch?! No. Definitely not.   Dazki: I believe it goes further than we believed. He was working for Dennis Donahue, as you had assumed or knew, and Dennis has a man like Baxton working for him / with him / using him (doesn't matter which), and we believe it was that man's plan, not necessarily Dennis himself.   Queen: That sounds like a "yes".   Dwardazik: Like I said, we got a leeeeeead!   Queen: That definitely sounds like a "yes, milady, I was outwitted", which is not good for either of us.   Dwardazik: You gave us one evening!   Dazki: We ran into unexpected difficulty leading to a delay and a loss of some potential information and a person, who is now a pile of scrap due to some Turmoil magic.   Dwardazik: I'd like to see you interrogate a dead person who turns into a scrap pile...   Queen: "A dead person"? So you claim to have murdered him, and yet have no body but some bits of metal? You cannot murder a pile of metal.   Dwardazik: I guess we didn't murder him, then! I punched him unconscious, I saw it happen!   Grogery: Kesmet took the final shot...   Dwardazik: I guess Kesmet's flames are no longer hot! Kesmet, touch me, you must be cold!   Kesmet: I'm gonna go get another apple. (He leaves.)   Dwardazik: UGH. Whatever. You know what, Dazki, you negotiate your way out of this or whatever. When you're done, let us try and find this, so we can go and not be killed by your men? Because we have a lead — though you don't believe us — and it just so happens to coincide with our objective, so you can damn well trust that we're gonna give it our best foot forward.   Kesmet, as he walks back in: I found a pear instead.   Grogery: That's an appropriately-shaped fruit for the situation, Kesmet!   Dwardazik: I'm probably gonna be killed for this... ugh. Just give me a bill for reparations if I've insulted you or something. I don't want to die, I've got a mission to accomplish.   Queen: ...so. Regardless of that begging and pleading over there, what do you propose to do with this situation?   Dazki: The proposal we have is:

• Return to you the property that is yours
• Go remove Dennis Donahue from the equation, along with this Turmoil mage that he is working with

Queen: The first part of your plan would go a long way.   Marvin: Yeah, you go home happy, we go home happy, everybody gets something.   Dazki: If you'll excuse me, I will take just a moment to go collect your artifact. Is that acceptable?   Queen: Sure. I've got plenty of hostages here.   Dazki: Sounds good to me. (He goes to retrieve it from its hiding place.)   Grogery: Uh, hey, miss? I had a question... so, both the House of Cards and The Hounds Guild are after the Orrery, correct?   Queen has gone back to slicing up her mango, though she seems receptive enough.   Grogery: So, obviously, both of you don't want the Orrery in the other group's hands, which is why you're after it now, but... who started it?   Queen: It's wholly unimportant.   Grogery: I don't think it is. If it's unimportant, then you risk nothing by giving us this information.   Queen: Let me rephrase: it's unimportant, so I don't care to know.   Grogery: So this has been going on for a long time, then?   Queen: I'm uninterested in the whole affair, but... sigh... sometimes adults can be such children.   Grogery: The King of Jacks is the one who's after it, right?   Queen: Yup.   Marvin: So, we found your artifact, took care of the mole, and we're going to go take care of the mole's boss, and you're somehow unhappy with the situation?!   Queen: You did not take care of the mole.   Grogery: Well, it doesn't suit her to be happy with it, because if she's unhappy with it, she can get us to do more stuff.   Marvin: Oh. Of course. Yeah.   Queen: Are you claiming I'm being dishonest in my business practices?   Marvin: What?! No! I think you're being very clear, with your manipulation of us.   Grogery: I'm not claiming that you're being dishonest. I'm claiming that you're a businessperson.   Queen: If it has not become glaringly obvious, I am doing this not because I have a deep desire to find this mole, or any ancient artifacts. So arguing as such, I am not interested in.   Dazki, walking back into the room: It's because expectations on people have great weight — and great consequences if they are not met. Your artifact, milady. (He hands her the Rotor.) I do have a mostly-unrelated question, if I may?   Queen: You've already said so many other unrelated and unhelpful things. Why not add another...   Dazki: The young one, is she going to have a chance to strike out on her own, or will she be in the same position that you and I have been put in, with various familial responsibilities?   Queen: That's not up to me.   Dazki: No, but I thought there might be a chance that you might have at least a little bit of insight into the situation. Shame... I hope that she gets the chance that we don't have.   Queen: In either case, you either need to help me figure out how to sell this whole deal, or things are going to have to happen.   Dwardazik: All right, look. I'm a decent salesman. Can you please clarify what we're trying to sell? What do you need, do we need to sell the death of someone? Evidence? What do you need me to sell here?   Dazki: We need to make it clear that we didn't just completely fuck up by Kerro not being here, and us not having proof that he is dead. We have proof that he was the mole, but we don't have proof that he is "no longer".   Dwardazik: Forge documents that Kerro left on an emergency thing and is currently on a secret mission?   Kesmet: ...doesn't that kinda point away from him being dead?   Dazki: Yeah...   Queen: Look. Look, all right? I'm gonna lay this down straight.   Kesmet: For once.   Queen: I've had it with being casual about this whole thing. You, as far as anybody is concerned, have just gone to the casino, definitely injured (but potentially murdered) one of Jack's favorite, FAVORITE men, and now here we are with little to show for it but the thing we were already supposed to have. How am I supposed to explain to Jack what has happened to his favorite man?   Grogery: I presume it's not enough to just say "he got away, and we're going after him"?   Dwardazik: Kesmet, was it possible to Dimension Door away out of the casino, from that room?   Kesmet: I think so? He Dimension Doored into it.   Dwardazik: You would know if a teleportation spell was cast, correct?   Kesmet: I don't think I would know unless he tried it and failed.   Queen: Did you, or did you not, murder Kerro Schene?   Grogery: If we have any unused cards, I can cast a truth spell, have Kesmet stand inside of it, say "I'm the one who killed Kerro Schene", catch the moment on a card with the truth spell in it, and then that's proof?   Queen: Why do you think words will be enough here? They certainly help, don't get me wrong: if you had brought a corpse, this would have been more than enough to justify it being, you know, a corpse. But people can think things differently, see things differently. They're trickable, and no amount of thinking you're telling the truth is going to get us out of this mess!   Grogery: And he is Jack's "favorite guy", so of course dressing up an existing corpse isn't going to work... too easy to investigate.   Dwardazik: Wait, you have the Rotor right now... (he reveals that he's still holding a blank one of The Admirer's Cards of Collecting and sets it down on the table)... if I touch this thing, will it give us evidence?   Grogery: Not... really?   Queen: ...no?   Marvin: What would even happen?   Dwardazik: We don't know what would happen! Maybe it'll turn back time, and the corpse will appear in front of us!   Grogery: No-no-no-no, we're not doing this.   Kesmet: All right, fine, we don't have proof that he's dead or whatever. I mean, we've been trying to put in the legwork here, you offer a suggestion!   Queen: I believe that's what I hired you for...   Marvin: Oh, we're getting paid for this?!   Dwardazik: With our lives. (Eyeroll)   Marvin: Apparently, I didn't get the memo!   Kesmet: Well, we can't do more than we can do. This is all we've got. Threatening us further won't magically grant us the ability to fix something.   Dazki: All right, here's what the Rotor of Return can do... Kesmet or Grogery. One of the two of you can attune to the Rotor of Return. If you're attuned to it, since you can "unerringly recall any event that took place within the previous 30 days", and since you saw it happen, you can unerringly recall exactly what happened.   Queen: Is that what that piece does?   Dazki: Yes, among other things. There will be some minor malfunctions, possibly additional effects since it's not part of the whole, but...   Kesmet: So it's gotta be either me or Grogery?   Grogery: What does this do for us?   Marvin: Would we be able to use the card with it?   Dazki: You will get a perfect memory of what happened. Combined with a spell of truth, you will be able to say exactly what happened from your perspective, unerringly.   Queen: Hmm, Jack knows what the piece does.   Dazki: So if we can get to King of Jacks with this, and have someone he trusts monitoring a truth spell, we can prove what happened. It would have to be Kesmet, since Kesmet is the one who performed the killing blow.   Marvin: And just to be clear, he had ample motive. I don't think we've explained that yet.   Queen: I'm not saying I don't (partially) believe you. That's not the problem. That was never the problem.   Dazki: The problem is, we killed one of King of Jacks's "favorite" people, and we do not have physical proof that he is dead, and it's an entire mess.   Marvin: No, I understand. I'm just now questioning why this guy was somehow somebody's "favorite"... he's a fuckin' asshole...   Queen: He —   Kesmet: Also, won't this get us in more trouble if he believes that we killed him? More specifically, that I killed him?   Queen: Not with the proof that we have.   Marvin: No-no, we know that he's the mole.   Dazki: Yeah, we have proof that he stole the Rotor of Return. That he was a mole for Dennis.   Kesmet: And that's gonna be good enough, right?   Marvin: Yeah!   Queen: Who knows?   Dazki: It's our best chance right now. Truth spell, from someone the King of Jacks trusts, and with you speaking with the Rotor, it's the best chance that we have.   Kesmet: All right.   Queen: So, let me get this straight. You want me to hand what I am now realizing is our only piece of the Orrery of the Wanderer, to the most likely member of your party to be a mole for the Hounds Guild?   Dazki: What would you like as collateral?   Dwardazik: Dude, this guy's been trying to kill Dennis since the moment he even spoke a word to me! If this guy's a mole, he's the most incredible mole I've ever seen.   Queen: So was Kerro.   Kesmet: Yes, but the difference is, Kerro was a motherfucker!   Queen: Kerro saved a man from a burning building.   Marvin: Yeah, I'm pretty sure he lit that building on fire.   Dazki: What can we get you as collateral?   Dwardazik: Wait, he saved a person from a burning building?   Marvin: That he probably set on fire.   Queen: Yeah. He almost died, too.   Kesmet: No, he probably didn't.   Dazki: Either way, that's not relevant to the current conversation.   Marvin: Yeah, joke's on him, he's fuckin' dead! So yeah, what do you want for collateral? I volunteer myself! I'll be the collateral.   Queen: You will be "collateral"?   Marvin: Hell yeah!   Queen: What is — like a hostage?   Marvin: Hell yeah!   Dwardazik looks at Marvin confused, as Grogery uncomfortably scoots his chair back.   Marvin: Come on, I'm all about that no-accountability lifestyle. Let's do it! I'll be the hostage!   Queen: Are you sure?   Marvin: Yeah! Why not?   Dwardazik: Marvin, I don't think you should agree with this. Come on, Marvin, what do you have to prove here?   Queen: He wants to be collateral.   Dazki: Is that acceptable for allowing Kesmet to attune to the Rotor, and getting us an audience with the King of Jacks so that all of us are in a little bit less trouble?   Marvin: You know why I am so not worried about being "collateral" / "hostage"? Because if there's one thing that I know about Kesmet, it's that "fuck Dennis". That is his life, that is his motto, that is his singular purpose.

Heart Attack!

As Marvin says this, Ten of Hearts emerges from a hidden location in the room and uses the back of his scimitar to slam Marvin's head face-first into the table, following up the attack with a poisoned off-hand dagger that knocks him unconscious.

• Queen of Hearts just spent the whole time eating her mango, casually slicing off one piece at a time.
• Kesmet started by making himself and Dwardazik invisible.
• Ten started by giving Marvin a potion to bring him back to consciousness, then proceeded to just casually walk away to stand by Queen, sheathing his scimitars and folding his arms. Dazki asked if Marvin was going to be OK, to which Ten just shrugged (Insight 20) to indicate that it seems like he's done his job in taking Marvin as a hostage: what happens next is up to the party.
• Dwardazik had invisibly dragged Marvin against a wall, Marvin just hysterically screaming: "Let me at him! Where is he? I'll fuckin'... give him a memory of his mom touching his butthole, that's what I'll do! Where is he?"
• Grogery did a medical assessment of Marvin: (Medicine 23) aside from the obvious purple eye and broken/bloody nose, he's definitely been poisoned, but... the poison isn't (or, more accurately, the poisons aren't) currently killing him. So, what was the point of poisoning him, then? Regardless, Grogery announced that Marvin was indeed stable enough that he wouldn't die in the next few minutes.
• Despite the assurances that Marvin was OK, Kesmet still kept invisibly laying more Fire into Ten, which made Ten just run away and try to hide, a plan that was thwarted ("...shit.") by Jersey, who had come running downstairs after hearing the commotion.
• Dwardazik invisibly dashed over to Ten. Rather than attacking, he just whispered directly to him: "Next time, you're not walking out of here alive."
• Kesmet and Jersey continued the attacks, and Ten continued running away. The rest of the party (mostly Dazki and Dwardazik) convinced them to back down.

Dazki turns to Queen, who is just quietly giggling to herself; apparently, she finds the whole thing hilarious:

Dazki: A little more warning will be nice next time. Hopefully, there won't be a "next time".   Dwardazik: What an absolute waste of spells and abilities.   Dazki: Now that that's settled, I'm assuming that's a poison that we'll need the antidote for soon?   Marvin: ...what... did he just give me...   Queen: You said I could take him as a hostage.   Dwardazik: As collateral.   Queen: And he doesn't seem like great company, but he does seem... slippery.   Marvin: I'm... plenty... great company...   Queen: I figured, you know, Ten would show up eventually. I can never slip him for too long.   (Insight 20) Queen actually isn't thrilled about the fact that Ten is always with her, so she must not be the one employing Ten. Because she's not the one employing Ten, it's extra funny to her that he actually needs to leave her alone here now, for real. She has, indeed, been having difficulties slipping away from him. She had managed to do so, but he quickly found out here.   Marvin: You could've just asked me... to drink the thing... I probably would've done it...   Dazki: So, should we relax here for an hour while Kesmet attunes to the item, or should we head somewhere else?   Marvin: Do I have an hour?   Queen: Oh, you'll have some time!   Marvin: How many... of these hours?   Queen: I'm not much of an alchemist.   Dwardazik: So, what's the chance that Grogery can just purify this poison, eh?   Queen: I would... well... I highly suggest you don't do that.   Dwardazik: Oh. Why?   Queen: It's a bit of a cocktail. A balancing act.   Grogery: Clerics can easily remove this sort of thing. So in order to keep a cleric from easily just removing this sort of thing, they probably have multiple poisons in there: the exact combination is one that doesn't cause his heart to stop, but removing any one of them will probably... not do well.   Marvin: Oooooh! Yeah! I'm gonna make that guy have a memory of a bunch of fuckin' dragons gangbangin' his dad!   Queen: That's gonna be hilarious.   Dazki: Marvin, what did we talk about?   Marvin: Hey, let me have this one! I agree with everything you said before, let me just have this one fit of anger!   Dazki: I suppose I could turn a blind eye...   Marvin: I'm not actually gonna do it... just let me think about doin' it...   Dwardazik: Do you need any healing potions?   Marvin: Um... I don't know what I need.   Queen: I think our plan is fairly solid. It will take a while for me to... "acquire"... a meeting. Luckily, you have a while. I will speak with you tonight, maybe?   Dazki: Any particular location, or you'll find us?   Queen: You're not hard to find. I'll keep you updated. And you really should get a cook.   Dazki: We're working on that. Our house manager will likely be doing that soon, I believe.   Dwardazik: Hey, Queenie. Your buddy tries that one more time, and he's dead. Just sayin'.   Kesmet, walking behind her and speaking in "as nonthreatening a voice as possible": Your highness. Please understand. We know the hold you have over us. But it's only a matter of time — and a matter of these incidents — before we no longer have something to lose. Please take care.   Dazki: Here's the thing, guys: her dad's the one paying Ten. Not her. She doesn't seem to have much control over him. Well, not as much as she would like, I'm sure.   Dwardazik: I get that, I'm just informing her that if Ten does that again, he's not going to make it out of the room alive. Well, either that, or I'm not.   Kesmet: Revenge, much like justice, is often blind. It doesn't really matter who's pulling the strings.   Marvin: I'm really touched that you guys would go through all of this for my sake.   Grogery: You're the one who offered to be "collateral"...   Dwardazik: Yeah, but not get poisoned though, Grogery. Can you start working on your spells?   Grogery: Yeah... I also want to give Marvin a more thorough examination to make sure the poison's the only thing wrong with him.   Queen: I feel I must leave you to your day.   Dazki: All right, well... thank you for your visit? Hopefully, next time, it will be a much more pleasant one. Can I show you to the door?   Queen: It would be nice to take the front door, for once.   Dazki: I'll make sure Jersey knows that you're welcome here.   Queen: The look on Ten's face was so worth this journey.

Dazki shows her towards the door, as Four of Hearts suddenly appears in the room and follows them out. Dazki remarks to Jersey as he passes:

Dazki: She's welcome in. The other guy that was with her, maybe keep him outside if you can.   Queen: I do so hope your plan works. For both of our sakes.   Dazki: We'll know pretty soon. And if it doesn't, then... I have a feeling we won't have much to worry about afterwards.

She is escorted out, and the party regroups.

Dwardazik: OK, here's the deal. Let's make sure you can identify whatever poisons he's got, and you all work on your spells as you were mentioning so we can get some healing on him in case he needs it. I'll watch him carefully and give him any potions if he goes unconscious, OK?   Dazki: Sounds like a good plan to me.   Dwardazik: Our schedule today is completely fucked up, thanks to that asshole!   Dazki: No. No, we can just wait another hour instead of the time it would take to head over to see Queen. We took care of that here. Once we're ready, we had to the House of Crystal.   Dwardazik: Are you even going to be able to travel, Marvin?   Marvin: Doc? Hey, doc, am I good to travel?   Grogery begins looking him over a bit more. He definitely has a concussion.   Kesmet: Is Grogery not able to revive someone if they die?   Grogery: I'm able to do that, but it is... ... listen. One of the tenets of following Pelor's way is that it's not good enough to just go around throwing kindness at everybody. You have to plan ahead of it, otherwise you're not going to be very effective at helping people. Part of that "planning ahead" is not letting people die, and then having to spend hundreds of gold a pop to get them back up. Also, Dwardazik, was dying not painful for you?   Dwardazik: Dying? ... ... ... I don't have anything to say.   Marvin: Hey Kesmet... Kesmet... how bad do you want to kill Dennis?   Dwardazik: I was about to say, Dennis is now on my fucking shitlist. Dennis is the reason why this whole thing is happening.   Marvin: No, I know you want to kill him, I'm asking how bad?   Kesmet: It is everything that I have devoted my life to for the past five years.   Marvin: That's exactly what I needed to hear, buddy. Let's make that shit happen.

The party takes the one hour for Kesmet to attune to the item and Grogery + Marvin to prepare their spells for the day. During this time, Dazki writes a letter to Mot Noside asking him to come over at some point and inspect the automaton, in case they're not able to reach him today, and he lets Jersey know that Mot is welcome (just him) to come in and inspect the automaton (but not to wander around in the rest of the house).   As Kesmet finishes attuning to the Rotor, every single thing that he's forgotten over the past 30 days come rushing into his head at once, including the memories of their time in Overlook that he had chosen to forget. Every footstep made. Every bird's chirp. Every article, preposition, and noun that anybody has ever said to or around him, stunning him for a minute. That one time where three people remember solving the skull puzzle? He now remembers both outcomes.   As the incredibly detailed memories all rush into his head at once, he starts to notice a pattern that he never saw before. One seemingly ever-present fact follows them around, a constant that holds true for friends and foes alike. An earth-shattering revelation that was staring him in the face the whole time, now laid bare by just a fraction of this ancient artifact's power:

Kesmet: Wow. I have gotten so many people's names wrong. It's crazy.   Dwardazik: Hey, Kesmet, you there? You kinda blanked out for a bit.   Kesmet: His name is "Isaiah", not "O'Malley"?! Oh my god!   Dwardazik: Are you all right? Do you remember what happened?   Kesmet: I remember! All the bullshit that happened, in the thing! And there was a dude, and... I did get the final shot!   Dwardazik: What about kerosene?   Kesmet: Fuck him. And then, um, what else... oh my God, there was the dude with one leg, and I think I got thrown up on or something.   Dwardazik: Think-think-think. Focus. What about kerosene?   Kesmet: Huh? What about him?   Dwardazik: How did he die?   Kesmet: You had him pinned down, holding his right arm behind his back. I cast Burning Hands, giving him second-degree burns over 13% of his body and third-degree burns over about 75%. And then he just kinda passed away from the burning + blood loss.   Dwardazik: OK, and then what happened?   Kesmet: Everyone left the room except for myself and Grogery. Grogery, for some reason, opened the box after he tried to convince me to drag the dead body and confess to the murder. And then, as Grogery opened the box, the box aged rapidly, and then the next time I looked, the body just simply... was an automaton.   Dwardazik: What the hell?! So wait a minute, wait a minute, back up. You saw a corpse. Then the box aged. Then the corpse was just an automaton? There was no magic, no spell. You didn't hear any words, no hand motions, no casting spells, no flashes, no nothing?   Kesmet: Just the sound of the music box.   Dwardazik: Well, shit! That doesn't help us — well, it does help us, but I mean... I thought maybe you would be able to recall something happening! A flash, a shadow appearing, secret wizard appearing, taking his corpse, teleporting out, teleporting back in, putting the automaton there, then teleporting back out!   Kesmet: No telltale signs of teleportation, transmutation, illusion magic, or nothin'. It was just one way one second, a different way the next.   Dwardazik: OK. OK-OK-OK-OK-OK. Ignore the automaton. Everyone, ignore the automaton. Why did the box age?   Grogery: ...magic?   Dazki: Probably an enchantment that was on the box itself.   Dwardazik: So, what triggered it? Opening it?   Dazki: Yeah, opening it triggered the magic to activate.   Dwardazik: What kind of enchantment causes something to age?   Dazki: I dunno, there's all kinds of time dilation magic and stuff like that.   Grogery: Didn't Dazki age twenty years that one time?   Kesmet: I remember that now!   Dwardazik: The only other thing that seems strange, outside of the Rotor of Return and the automaton, is the box. The music box. That's about all I can think of.   Dazki: Why are you trying to put it all together right now? It doesn't really affect anything, I don't think.   Dwardazik: Well, I'm lookin' for leads. Listening to the way he's recalling all the events. I'm trying to understand if there's anything here...   Dazki: Leads on what?! We have leads to the Metronome Man! What more leads do we need?   Dwardazik: I want to know how the person's corpse swapped with this automaton, or became the automaton. That's all I'm lookin' for.   Dazki: I don't think we're going to be able to figure that out until we find the Metronome Man himself.   Dwardazik: I was just asking to see if there were any other effects here. It pays to be complete, in this kind of case. Everyone believes something impossible is happening, and I mean, we basically experience the impossible.   Dazki: I think right now, until we have more actual evidence, speculation is not going to be particularly useful. So we follow the lead that we know we have.   Dwardazik: So, do we rehearse what Kesmet's going to say?   Dazki: Isn't that what you guys just did? We have plenty of time. We have other tasks we need to go take care of as well.   Dwardazik: No, I understand. Yeah, I guess so.   Dazki: We can be back here in time for dinner, and we can rehearse after that.   Dwardazik: Uh, yeah, in time for... me to cook dinner.   Dazki: Yeah. No, that's fine, I... yeah.

Crystal Clarity

The party makes their way to the House of Crystal, first intending to get an idea of how the treatment of Baxton's victims is going, and then to discuss more with Annu. When they get there, they are not permitted to see the victims being treated. Dwardazik approaches GIST

GIST: Oh, howdy there! Long time no see! What can I do for you today, sweet cheeks?   Marvin: We just saw you yesterday...   Dwardazik: GIST, please guide me to the location of Annu. Thank you.   GIST: Well, I'm not sure if he's looking for visitors at this time, but I can definitely show you where he is currently!   Dazki: That would be appreciated. Thank you.   Purple line on the floor.   Dwardazik: Oh, hey, GIST?   GIST: Whaaaaat's ailing ya?   Dwardazik: Nothing at the moment. Out of curiosity, do you have a little jingle? You know, like "(do-do-do), It's your GIST, here to help you!"   GIST: I do not have a jingle at this time. I suppose it would take up too much extra time. Yes, I believe jingles are inefficient.   Marvin: I got one for ya... no, I can make one for ya, real nice and quick... see, the trick is to make it part of the greeting itself... just have it be something like...

Marvin makes one up for GIST on the spot.

GIST: Well, if I was capable of determining quality of music, I would certainly say that that was a... music! I've recorded it for further analysis.   Dwardazik: Cool. Thanks for the guide, GIST. Let's go visit Annu.

Annu is still in the same area he was last night, but the arrangement is completely different. As nobody else seems to be here bothering him, he's able to use more of the space for stations where he can multitask.

Dazki: Hey, Annu. After some analysis of what you were working on yesterday, we have discovered — I think we have some information that we can corroborate with some of yours.   Annu: Why is it that you know my information?   Dazki: Things that were left out on the table yesterday. I gleaned some stuff as we were walking by.   Annu: I see.   Dazki: I apologize if you feel that that was an intrusion of your personal research and space.   Annu: It would have been an amateur move to leave classified documents out in the open.   Dwardazik: Which is something you would never do!   Annu: Correct.   Dazki removes Baxton's ring.   Dwardazik: Perhaps we could sit down somewhere and discuss notes? And you could float nearby?   Dazki: What would be most useful would be a map of the kingdom.   Annu: You do not already have a map? I thought you already had a map... why was I under the assumption that you had a map?   Dazki: We have a map. I just wondered if you had a map, in case you wished to take notes on a map. Some of the information we have is geographically related.   Dwardazik: We have a map. We just want a big map that we can all stand around and put things on it.   Dazki: My map is big enough for that.   Dwardazik: I know you have a big map. You don't need to brag about the size of our map!   Annu has already produced a sufficiently large map, acquired from a pocket dimension of some sort.   Dazki: Based on information we received from a book that we have given to you — The Book of the Mirage, if you recall — and some information we acquired while we were in Vicra Lammergeyer's Lair, we know that there are four more people that were working with him and Baxton on their plot to bring this Mirage Prime to the material plane.   Annu: I will need to be informed as to the contents of this book. I had intentions of researching it, but it was deemed outside of my jurisdiction.   Dazki: The book relates to the research of Turmoil.   Dwardazik: Oh, that thing?! That thing's fucking impossible to read.   Dazki: It was penned by Baxton, and it includes a lot of the information he had researched and developed and found over his time.   Annu: This information would be quite useful to my current endeavors, but it was deemed that the book should be destroyed instead of researched, so I do not have its contents. You have its contents. You will give me its contents.   Dazki: I have read it. Its contents are (he points to his head) up here.   Dwardazik: Wait... don't destroy his brain!!! Annu, no.   Dazki: I can provide you with some of the information from that and, given time, I can transcribe a copy with the relevant information for you.   Annu: Any transcript of relevant information would also be deemed outside of my jurisdiction and will be destroyed.   Dazki: Then, uh, I will provide you with said information whenever I can.   Dwardazik: What would happen if we spoke about said information and you just overheard it?   Annu: As long as the information is not incriminating to your cause or would require me to remove your apprenticeship here, then nothing. Anything conspiratorial will have to be reported.   Dazki: Luckily, this is not conspiratorial, as we are trying to openly share information with persons whom it would be relevant to.

Dazki starts openly chatting about the six single-letter monikers that were mentioned in the final chapter of the book. He then recounts the details of Vicra's Map of Exignis on Annu's blank map, pointing out where the black dots were and the general color-coded regions.

Dazki: We believe these four persons are based in each of these locations, having a specific territory that they control. We don't know who has territory where, but our best guess is that this one over here by the Invictus Una is "A", whoever that may be. We believe him to call himself "the Metronome Man", and him to be the one responsible for the incident yesterday where a person became the Turmoil automaton. We felt this would be relevant information, based on what we have learned over the past twenty-four hours.   Annu: How are you assured that the information you have is reliable?   Dwardazik: Well, that dot (he points to one) was Baxton's, and that one (points to the other) was that other one we killed, Vicra.   Dazki: We do currently only have the single source: the Book of the Mirage, which was deemed "outside of your jurisdiction". We have not been able to find a second independent source to verify these things. However, so far, the information has seemed to be fairly accurate.   Annu: Two data points is insufficient to determine the accuracy of your plans. However, this is why we have advisors. This data, if accurate, would be incredibly useful.   Dwardazik: So, you had some data on interesting persons. Perhaps you also have geographical locations of those unusual persons that could be overlaid with this?   Annu: We do not have valuable ways of tracking the current locations of many of these individuals.   Dwardazik: What about hypothetical locations, based on other information you have, with the highest confidence that you've got?   Annu: I believe, as advisors, you should seek out these hot spots and see if any of these individuals are rumored to be there.   Dazki: That is our plan. To head to the Invictus Una and research that area, since we have had what we believe to be contact with a simulacrum — or something of that nature — created by the Metronome Man, who we know is in that region.   Annu: I must inform you that the Metronome Man is an urban myth spread by gnomish cultural tales.   Dazki: Could you tell us this tale? Or perhaps give us a brief overview of it?   As Annu prepares to do so, Dwardazik pulls out his black book to take careful notes.   Annu: The tale of the Metronome Man is of an old shape-changer — this is common in gnomish tales; they have a tendency to both name things poorly and overcomplicate their stories, but I will attempt to summarize. The Metronome Man is named so because of the properties of a metronome, how it "Ticks" left and "Tocks" right. One side is said to bring fortune, the other side misfortune. A prophetic individual, a shape-changer, he can trade deals. These deals will lead you to either happiness or despair. Those desperate enough might, it is said, take a chance on the Metronome Man, to see if it will Tick or Tock. I don't see the point in such a tale.   Dwardazik: So... you said this was a legend? I would imagine that most legends have a grain of truth behind them, based on historical events. Usually stories that teach you not to go out at night, or walk into a cave tunnel that's gonna collapse on ya. So, are there any historical events of a """the Metronome Man""", or anything like that, happening to people who are """cursed""" by his luck? Or is it really just a story?   Annu: People tend to like to say that things are out of their hands. When things go wrong, they do not wish to blame themselves. I believe a "Metronome Man" situation would be a reasonable coping mechanism for somebody having a bad time.   Marvin: Someone might have said the same thing about Vicra.   Annu: Or a justification as to why one person would be doing better than you.   Dwardazik: Hmm. That does make some sense.   Annu: A gnomish man could, for example, say that he is not an inferior clockmaker compared to the other gnome; the other gnome must have taken a deal with a foul beast. "I am not a bad clockmaker, he has just forged a terrible chancing path".   Dwardazik: Isn't that basically referred to as a "deal with the devil"?   Annu: I do not believe devils give out "deals". I'm certain some could, but I would not trust that.   Dwardazik: Hmm. Well, what do you guys think?   Dazki: I think there's definitely more to this that we need to investigate in that region.   Annu: I agree. These data points are insufficient, and we now have an ability to extend our reach out there.   Dwardazik: ...Annu, could you get us a boat?   Annu: I do not own a boat.   Marvin: But can you get us one?   Dazki: Who would be best for us to speak to, to secure passage on a ship upriver towards the Invictus Una?   Annu, after a long pause: ...a boat captain. A captain of a boat.   Dazki: Is there anyone in the government, that you know of, who would be able to introduce us to such a person?   Annu: The only individual that you have a neutral-to-positive relationship with is currently indisposed.   Dwardazik: Do we really have that bad of a relationship?   Annu: You have a neutral-to-positive relationship with other individuals who cannot grant you access to a boat, but that is not what you asked me.   Dwardazik: Thanks, Annu! You're my friend, too.   Kesmet: Who is the individual that, were they not indisposed, could grant us a boat?   Dazki: Who was the person who, we recommended, "take a fishing trip"?   Annu: You are adaptive and charismatic individuals. You will be able to convince a boat captain to travel.   Dazki: We will, we were just hoping to have someone introduce us to them to make it more efficient.   Annu: You are not official government employees and, thus, do not get the resources available to government employees.   Grogery: Fair enough.   Dazki: OK. I can't argue with that. That is a very valid point.   Grogery: Well, we aren't actually allowed to leave the city until we are given the go-ahead. Er, we have been "requested" to remain within the city until we have been given the go-ahead.   Annu: I have requested that.   Grogery: Because some of us have """medical problems""".   Annu: I have not been able to detect, thus far, any medical problems within you, physically.   Marvin, still wincing in pain: Oh, is that... is that so?   Dazki: So, we have your leave to exit the city shortly, then? To go upon this research?   Annu: You will write me a full account of how you are feeling, Grogery.   Grogery: OK... so that I might not waste either of our time, how thorough do you wish this to be?   Annu: Any information left out is a loss of information.   Grogery: I guess I know what I'm doing today.   Annu: Until then, I will consider you and your fellow comrades to be "individuals of research significance".   Dazki: Very well. I hope the information we brought you will help with your own personal research that you've been doing.   Annu: I have not had much time for personal research since the reconfiguration of the government houses.   Dazki: Your professional research, then.   Annu: This is my professional research.   Dazki: And we do request that you try to keep the information as close to you as possible. We don't want any word getting out to what might be individuals that are gathering information for the other Turmoil sages / priests / warlocks or whatever they may be called.   Annu: I have concerns.   Dazki: What concerns do you have?   Annu: You are asking me to hide information.   Dazki: No, I am asking you to keep the information appropriately classified. Not "tell nobody", but to tell only the people who you feel are authorized to know said information.   Annu: You are incapable of setting such an authorization.   Dazki: But you can make the decision on who is and who is not authorized. I am asking you to use that power.   Annu: I will not restrict valuable information. If I get to decide, truly unhindered, what is and is not classified, I will choose to keep it declassified.   Dazki: I respect that. I actually very much respect that decision. I simply hope that it doesn't come back to bite us in the ass, but I respect your decision, and I do believe it's the right one.   Annu: As long as you keep gathering information, you will have more than those who you wish to not have the information. I will not hide information, you simply must gather more to stay ahead.   Dazki: Seems reasonable to me. Well, as soon as Grogery is done, I guess we have to go seek passage on a boat.   Dwardazik: Wait, wait, Annu. I have a joke for you. Ready?   Annu: Is this joke an attempt to increase comradery between us?   Dwardazik: How many trolls can light a candle? ... ... ... ... Just one, but he's extremely cautious.   Annu: It is wise for a troll to be cautious around fire.   Dwardazik: It sure is, Annu! (He takes a few steps away.)   Grogery, to Dazki: Was that... thieves cant, or...?   Dazki: If it was, it's not anything I'm aware of.   Annu: Cleric Grogery.   Grogery: Yes?   Annu, clearly straining uncomfortably, even though his face is hidden by his mask: How are you?   Grogery: Do you want this in writing or verbally?   Annu: You will write me a report either way, but answering the question verbally would show more comradery.   Grogery: Well, honestly, I could be doing better. The fact that there isn't really a lot of information about what's going on with my magic is frustrating.   Annu: You are an entity of faith.   Grogery: Yes.   Annu: You will... be... f-fine. This, I'm finding quite difficult. It is very hard to waste one's time with such minimal detail.   Grogery: Uh... well, um... OK, this is really uncomfortable to talk about, but... OK. So, you know when we were out in the field, we did have encounters with things that were potentially contaminated with Turmoil, that's how we got here... I think Dwardazik and I got a little bit more strongly affected because we were more badly hurt. I think part of how the Turmoil was able to get inside of me is that, in order to succeed on our mission, we had to compromise with a town full of undead, and my god didn't like that, and he may have let this happen to me.   Annu: I am also an undead entity.   Grogery: But this was an entire town dedicated to Altzmyr. A bit of a difference of scale, don't you think?   Annu: I have heard the reports. Do you feel more vulnerable near me?   Grogery: If I'm being entirely truthful, ... somewhat. Yeah.   Annu: I deem this a problem of faith, not a problem of Turmoil, then. This gives proper justification to allow you to leave the city.   Grogery: OK.   Annu: Also, frequently asking how individuals are feeling — and what they have accomplished throughout the day — is said to increase amiability.   Dazki: That is correct.   Annu: I think this form of communication is inefficient, but perhaps it will be more useful in the future.   Grogery: ...OK.   Dazki: Emotions are inherently inefficient. But they can't be avoided. At least, not with living beings such as ourselves.   Annu: Usually, the next step in these casual conversations is to ask the other person how they are doing.   Grogery: How are you doing, Annu?   Annu: I still have concerns.   Grogery: About what?   Annu: Those are outside of your jurisdiction.   Grogery: You're concerned. I'm sorry then, I guess. I hope that, whatever it is that is concerning you, you find a way to resolve it with efficiency.   Dazki: Are there things about your concern that you may tell us? Within our jurisdiction to know?   Annu: I have tried this once before, reaching out for... connection.   Dazki: Ahh, with regards to the joke that you told us. To increase "comradery".   Annu: Indeed. I have put some amount of (emotional) thought into it. Being open (about one's feelings and emotions) also increases comradery.   Dazki: Well, our plan is for the rest of the day to ruminate upon your joke with the intent to increase comradery with all of us.   Annu: And then you will take a boat.   Dazki: And then we will take a boat.   Annu: Then we have no more small talk to discuss about.   Dazki: Very well. I hope your work goes well.   Annu: My work always goes well.   Dazki: Good.   Annu: Good.   Marvin: You know, Annu's totally right, guys. We gotta stop joking around. This is a grave matter. I'm being dead serious. Because... liches get stitches.   Dwardazik: OK, that last one was just forced.   Dazki: OK, guys, let's leave Annu to his work. We have delivered the information we need to.   Dwardazik: Wait, wait, wait. Annu, I just thought of something! What is the favorite hot beverage of a cleric?   Annu: Clerics, being individuals, have been known to drink a variety of drinks. Although, depending on the deity one serves, I would assume that some would favor one particular hot drink over the other. Although, with each cleric being an individual, there would of course be some variance within the choices.   Dwardazik: Nah-nah-nah. It's... divini-TEA!   Annu: ...   Dwardazik:

They all leave, and once outside of earshot of Annu:

Grogery: Ugh. I don't think he's right about the whole "problem of faith" thing, but...   (Insight 20) Annu is also not necessarily convinced. The way he worded his phrase was that this "gives proper justification to allow [Grogery] to leave the city". He did not say that he believed it to be a problem of faith, just that he deemed it one and justified it as one. He picks his words very carefully.   Dazki: How's this, then, Grogery? If you have time tonight, then you, Dwardazik, and myself can all break open the Book of the Mirage — maybe get some help from Baxton — and see what we can figure out.   Grogery: All right.   Dwardazik: Might as well. That sounds like a good idea.