Session 54
General Summary
- As The Disfigured Man's corpse bubbled away, the party went upstairs to "examine" the suite that he kept. Among his possessions in the suite were:
- A "book" of sorts whose polished reflective cover allowed it to be used for scrying
- The contents of a typical writer's desk, plus a forgery kit: it's that kind of writer's desk
- A research journal that apparently belonged to Annu
- A metric heckton of money
- Several pages of incriminating evidence used for blackmail
- A strange sheet of paper with an eye on it and some strange markings
- Three amulets of spying
- A pile of "cleaned" ivory masks, formerly belonging to the monks from The Order of Imagination.
- A font made of pure evil used for hatching simulacra
- Lots of clothes, presumably for climates not typically found in or around Ashport
- A pretty hairpin
- A pocketwatch
- An entire wall lined with bookshelves and poorly kept books of all sorts
- A well-enough-kept book of elven poetry that didn't seem to fit in with the other books on the shelves
- Another box of them gosh darned nukes. At least these ones are smaller?
- The party were called back downstairs to see the corpse deteriorating much more, and a bunch of small trees growing around it for some reason.
- The Red Lady's name is Rosalin Violett, and she really wants to get to The Palace of Pride, in particular.
- After dropping off the loot at home, the party regrouped with Rosalin to go to the palace, where they bumped into Annu and Sorda'an arguing over what to do about two people who were captured with burn marks around their right eyes.
- Annu politely requested that the party attend a meeting that he and Sorda'an would be attending shortly, which the party agreed to.
- The other people at the meeting are Aldrick and Gilda.
Full Recap
Opens in The Red Lady (the pub, not the person, though the person is here too. we learned her name this time, so it won't be so confusing later). A former disciple of the Mirage lies limp on the floor, the grotesque eldritch eye boiled and burned away from within, eating deep into its face, shining light on a disfigured skill and eye socket. Once a poisonous egomaniac, now just a puddling corpse, abandoned by both god and man. The air here is thick and numb. The quiet sobbing and sizzling flesh mesh discordantly with the ringing in your head and the pounding of your heart. The coldness of the scene is surreal, conflicting. It feels wrong, like a paralyzing dream. Still, there is much work to be done. The night is still young.Downstairs Is Safest Stairs
Dwardazik goes over the waitress:Dwardazik: Lass, are you doin' all right? I saw you runnin' away quite quickly. Waitress: Shit's gotten real weird. Dwardazik: Don't worry, Baxton's finally been defeated! His spells and curses on this place have been lifted! Waitress: ...OK, if you say so. Dwardazik gives her a thumbs-up and a big smile.Looking around the room, similar to the other situations where Baxton's simulacra have been destroyed, there's no puddle around their respective blast zones. Dwardazik whispers to Kesmet, asking if the sorcerer can fix the Red Lady's broken sitar with some of his magic. He can. Dazki takes his cloak off and gives it to the Red Lady:
Dazki: Are you going to be OK here for a few minutes? Red Lady: I don't want to be alone... Dazki: Well, I'm going to go upstairs. He had a room up there, right? She nods. Would you like to come with me while I go up there and try to figure out what he was doing, and search through to see if there's any information that might help prevent something like this in the future? She hesitates... it's clear that she wasn't supposed to go there. It's OK. He's dead. It's going to be all right. He turns to the party. Will one of you guys stay down here with her, then? Kesmet, heavily damaged from the fight earlier, gives him a thumbs up: Sure, I would very much like to not go upstairs... stairs are very difficult right now. Dwardazik: Mmm... it's dangerous for us to split up. As much as I want to comfort her, we should stick together as a party. We are weakened and battle-weary. Grogery: We are also not the only people here. Dwardazik: Lads. I know we're all stressed out from this, and I don't have nearly enough alcohol to compensate. But let's move. At any moment, Baxton's allies, or anyone else for that matter, could come in to investigate. We are in no position to take care of 'em. Dazki starts heading upstairs, encouraging the Red Lady to come with him. Grogery, as they move closer to the waitress: The musician might be in a bad way right now. My group and I are going to go upstairs to investigate, make sure that there are no more hidden dangers. Do you think you could keep an eye on her and make sure she's doing OK? Waitress, still a bit shell-shocked: Um... yeah, yeah... I can look after her. Though she is clearly wondering... if the waitress is looking after the Red Lady... then who's going to look after the waitress? Grogery: Thank you very much... you're both going to be all right. Are you coming, Kesmet? Kesmet: I can... watch the door... Grogery: That way you can be alone when the guards show up? Kesmet: I can disguise myself... like so! Grogery: I don't think that's ever worked once. Kesmet: I think it's worked exactly once... OK. He helps the Red Lady into a seat and addresses her. Just have a seat. Everything's going to be fine. Dwardazik, to the waitress as they pass: So, what do you think, now that Baxton's dead, eh? Waitress: I guess things finally go back to normal, right? Dwardazik: "Normal" wouldn't happen to involve working for any more nefarious people, right? He makes an awkward combination of a wink, while raising his eyebrows, while shrugging his shoulders.
Moving On Up
Upstairs, there's a series of suites down a hallway, designed for upscale businessfolk who need to stay over for business reasons. Dwardazik randomly tries the first door he sees. It's locked. He looks over at the rest of the party, slightly embarrassed, remarking, "Good locks.". Dazki moves to the door whose number matches the number on the key he lifted from Baxton. Investigating it for traps, there's a Glyph of Warding on the door that would react whenever any person touches this door.Dwardazik: What's takin' so long with that door? Dazki: There's a spell on it, protecting the room. Dwardazik: Bah. Why am I not surprised? There's more discussion among the more magic-aware members of the party about what to do about it. Dwardazik: UGH. Do you want the dwarven solution or not? Dazki: That would be a bad choice. Dwardazik taps on the wall next to it. It's not that thick, some plaster covering a bit of stone. Grogery: Don't destroy a perfectly good wall! Let me dispel it first. He tries, but it doesn't work. Kesmet: OK, let me try. He tries, but it doesn't work. Dazki: OK, guys... step back, we'll see what happens. Dwardazik: What's goin' on? Did it work? Dazki: Look at their faces. Does it look like it worked? Everyone get back to the end of the hallway. Dwardazik: I dunno... why don't we just go through the wall? Grogery: It's a perfectly good wall! Don't walls provide structural support? Dwardazik: Not the whole wall, just a small hole. Enough to go through. Dazki: Sounds OK to me. Grogery: We could break something on the other side, though. Kesmet: Actually, I could maybe open the door with Mage Hand. Nobody has to touch the door. He gets the key from Dazki, unlocks the door with Mage Hand, and opens the door with Mage Hand just fine, without incident. We're clear. Dwardazik, you go first. He does, pickaxe and shield drawn.The door opens up to a lived-in, but nice, suite. Clearly one of the most expensive suites, though it is not the largest. There are five elements of interest visible in this part of the suite:
- The window and balcony on the eastern wall are blocked by a line of bookshelves crammed with all manner of texts.
- There is a large writer's desk, well-used and covered in books.
- There is a door on the western wall.
- Mounted on the western wall next to that door is a safe.
- In the corner is a stone lectern that probably contains a large book, but the whole affair is covered by a linen cloth to keep the dust off.
Dwardazik: I gotta tell you guys, I feel like a rat in an exterminator's shop. Dazki: Why? It's just books... Dwardazik: Anything I touch might be trapped! He hides more tightly behind his shield. Grogery: Well Dazki is relatively unharmed, and he's certainly come into his own as a master of investigation, so maybe he could give each item a once-over, then once he decides that something's not immediately dangerous, someone else could step in and he can move onto the next thing? Dazki: Sounds great! What do you guys want me to look at first? Grogery: That lectern over there looks the least dangerous.Kesmet uses Mage Hand to move the linen cloth off of the stone lectern, revealing a very large, heavy-looking book. Its cover is made not out of leather, but seemingly solid obsidian-looking glass, bound together by mithril cording. The writing on the cover is... hard to make out, ancient Elven bordering on Sylvan. Dwardazik gives it a try.
Dwardazik: A book such as this is a temptress. I have seen such things in the caves while mining: a gem that looks so perfect, and yet, the foolish dwarf who goes to seek it ends up falling prey to a cave-in. This seems like something we shouldn't mess around with. Dazki: I respect your opinion, Dwardazik, but I'm still going to go take a look at this anyway. Dwardazik: I'm not saying not to look at it, just that it seems dangerous. And not in a good way.Dazki manages to translate the title:
Through inky depths, I flow aheadIt looks super expensive... it must be worth at least a thousand gold!
through twisted tale and tangled thread. Wade in the waters written here
for stories drowned and visions clear.
Dazki: Ah, this book can be used for scrying. Dwardazik: How does a book help with that? Dazki: You know how legends say you can do it using a still pool of clear water? The magic doesn't care that it's water, you just need something clear and reflective. You can put use a very pure gemstone in a pinch. Something like this is more than adequate. Dwardazik: So would you say that this item is safe? Dazki: It won't hurt us if we touch it. Just heavy. Dwardazik: If nothing else, even if we won't use it, maybe someone will pay for it. Let's take it with us. Kesmet: This could actually be really useful to look for Dennis. Dwardazik: Good point, but before we count our chickens, let's press on.Dazki uses his wand of detect magic to see what else is magical in the room and tells the party:
- The other door is warded
- There's a faint glow of divination magic around the book
- Lots of stuff that was on Baxton's corpse is magical
- There are 3 amulets in the writing desk that also give off divination magic
Dwardazik: That ward on the door, it's the same as before? Dazki: It seems to be, yes.Dwardazik then goes up to the door heroically and, touching nothing but the handle, attempts to open it. As soon as he touches the door handle, lightning arcs across the room, knocking the dwarf out cold. It smells like a burning rat in here now. Grogery heals Dwardazik up a little so he can stand, and Dazki helps him into a chair. The party splits to investigate the different features in the room.
Dazki investigates the wall safe. This kind of safe probably comes standard with a lot of the suites here, which are designed to house high-end clientele who would have things they want to protect. It's protected by a gnomish combination lock, innovative for the time, instead of the standard keyhole. He listens carefully as he turns the combination, but he does manage to get it open.
- A whole dragon's horde of money weighs down a pile of documents and letters. The paperwork is ripe for blackmail, implicating various people in career- or life-ruining situations if the evidence ever came to light. Through these correspondences, it seems like two different flavors of blackmail. There is the standard proof that you did something scandalous, but also many documents tying unfavorable actions to both Baxton and the blackmailee, ensuring that if Baxton went down, so too would these individuals. Some of these individuals did blackmailable acts at the behest of Baxton, only realizing later that they were doing something very wrong.
Grogery is looking through the writing desk. It has everything that a standard writer's desk would have, plus a forgery kit. Sitting atop the desk is a rare, old-looking book. Baxton must have only been partway through reading it, which is evident by the dog-earing and margin-scribbling that he seems to have done on the pages of this book and throughout his other writings. He does not take very good care of his books at all. The book is written in Elvish, so Grogery can tell that this is a research journal, not something that has been published. Upon examination, this book could easily be more than a thousand years old, older than any living elf. Judging by the wear on the book, it's clear that the book was maintained very well in order to have made it this far. The author of the journal: Annu Adabra. Baxton doesn't seem to have a journal of his own; instead, he seems to just make notes on other people's work, not caring for future preservation. Grogery very carefully and gingerly puts the book into the bag of holding. Turning his attention to the drawer, although Dazki's magic detection clearly indicated the presence of some divination magic in here, the contents of the drawer seem mundane (though nice), nothing out-of-place at all. Grogery looked for any hidden compartments / false bottoms / things like that, but he doesn't find it. We'll have to come back to that later.
Kesmet tries to open the side room door with the same key that opened the room, and that probably would have worked for the other suites in here, but Baxton seems to have replaced the lock on this particular door. It won't budge. It is, however, made of wood, so Kesmet successfully devises alternate means of entry.
Dwardazik reveals how much money was in the safe: 245 platinum, 8920 gold. Baxton sure had lots of money, an unusual amount for someone who doesn't seem to have been spending much of it on nice things.
Dazki goes over to the writing desk to follow through on Grogery's attempt to find a secret compartment. He finds two secret compartments next to each other. One contains three amulets of spying, and the other contains a weird... letter?
A small side room, probably intended to be used as a bed chamber, has no bed. Rather, a comfortable-looking chair sits in the corner of the room, facing the door, with an ottoman. There's a lovely hardwood wardrobe with drawers built into the bottom. It seems damaged. The main fixture of the room, however, is on the far side of the room: a heavy looking font carved out of marble and inlaid with silver. The basin that normally holds liquid is protected by a large dome of hand-blown glass. To the side of the font is a small worktable containing stacks of clean ivory masks among other things. Grogery steps closer to the font to investigate. Inside the font is a metallic dark red liquid that obscures whatever may be inside. The font is covered in runic-like carvings. Grogery isn't familiar with what the shapes might be, but some stuff that he's seen before. The pattern resembles a circulatory system. The silver inlay is actually quicksilver, which gives the whole thing a slightly uncomfortable ripple as Grogery manipulates around it. The carvings focus greatly around the lip of the basin, which is filled with an opaque metallic red liquid. On the workbench are some ivory masks, scrubbed clean of whatever dirt or debris may have been on them before, a large pair of tongs, what you would use for dipping metal in acid, and a lockbox made of lead, similar to the one that was stolen off of the caravan.
Kesmet also entered the room. He goes straight to the wardrobe. The front of it is damaged, as if something used to be in front of the wardrobe but was removed. He opens it with Mage Hand to find a variety of clothes, some of it really nice, none of it looking at all familiar: Baxton has never worn any of these in public. Some of it is travel gear for environments other than Ashport. Something unusual, of note: a small hairpin in the form of a flower with a bee on it. Kesmet takes the hairpin to present to the party later. There is also a timepiece in here, which Kesmet takes.
Dwardazik searches through the bookshelves, looking for anything related to the Rubymist dwarves that he and his former clan are at war with. There are a few dwarven texts, nonspecific to any clans, though. It's mostly ancient history and folk tales. It seems Baxton doesn't have much in his bookshelves about recent events. Dwardazik removes the books related to dwarves and sets them aside for later. There's at least one book in particular about the dwarves from what's called Underhoard. Dwardazik cracks it open and starts reading through it.
Kesmet approaches the font with Grogery. He has a better sense of what's inscribed on the font: while the inscriptions are not magical, themselves, woven throughout the pattern are runes of illusion, necromancy, and evocation. The masks are from the monks of The Order of Imagination, but they have been stripped clean of their identity.
Grogery: Kesmet, you seem to be on a roll with magic right now, so maybe you can let me know how bad of an idea this is, but... I want to make sure there's nothing inside the font that we want to worry about getting out. My plan was to take the dome off, use the tongs to poke around in there and make sure there's nothing alive, and then put the dome back on. Kesmet: Go ahead.Grogery carefully takes the dome off. The smell that comes out is a mix of copper and sweet acid, "like if somebody vomited up a bunch of nails", but the water is mostly still, rippling only like it was doing with the quicksilver. He then carefully dips in the tongs and takes them out... they sizzle a bit, but nothing happens. He then carefully prods around the bottom of the basin. There's something firm and rubbery, about the size of a lemon. After confirming that this object is the only thing in there, he proceeds to start lifting it out. The liquid in the basin somewhat sticks to the tongs as he does this. Upon seeing the object, Grogery recoils in horror, nearly dropping it back into its liquid womb. A red malformed fetus pulses like a heart, vein-like tendrils clinging loosely to its grotesque form, dangling into the liquid below. He gently lowers it back in. This can be someone else's problem.
Dazki is going through the books on the bookshelf, looking for books on magic and, specifically, Turmoil. As Grogery also discovered, Dazki is seeing that Baxton was absolutely dreadful at taking care of his books. Some of these are even first-edition one-of-a-kind books that would otherwise have been worth quite a lot of money, except that they are heavily dog-eared, with many sections circled and noted, citing references to other books, contradictions, and simply numbered to be remembered for later. It seems that Baxton didn't care about the quality of the books at all. The books range from religious texts, comparative and gross anatomy, spell theory, ancient history, folk tales, alchemy, chemistry, planes of existence, tribalism, the Phantasmagoria, the Serpent Wars, flora and fauna of the desert, and the list goes on and on. He does not keep a journal, himself, but it seems that this library wall is his journal. Remembering all this information for himself will make it almost impossible for others to follow his line of thoughts. Clearly, he only cared if he knew the knowledge. While none of the texts directly deal with Turmoil itself, Turmoil always seems to be linked to everything. For example, in a book about the Serpent Wars, we know that the war was against Turmoil, but the book focuses on the war. Similar thing with the folk tales: he would fill in the places throughout the book where Turmoil might come in. There are several tribes who worship the chaotic energies of the Turmoil, thinking that it's "the immune system of a mother plane", or something like that, and then he circles it saying, "Turmoil?". One book, however, does not follow this pattern: it's not heavily earmarked, it's rather well kept, and its topic doesn't seem to fit with the other books. It is a book of Elven poetry, which Dazki puts aside. Dazki looks for more for books that may potentially help figure out what's going on with Barry (and what to do about it) and puts them aside as well. Going through all of this, Dazki can't help but to turn away in disgust at how Baxton kept his collection of books. It's just not fair! For a lot of these books, that copy is the only place where you can find that information, and yet, Baxton is just harvesting them for their information to hoard all to himself, without any regard to how others in the future will inherit it.
Grogery also scans the bookshelf and picks up some books of religious significance, primarily focused on anything that might be one-of-a-kind, in case the party is unable to come back.
The entire party goes over to the lead lockbox. It has two chains in a cross around it, and a little padlock. Dazki unlocks the padlock and opens it. Sitting relatively unprotected in the box, in a little bit of water, are a few cylinders and several glass orbs, each clear glass orb holding some sort of material. It pulses, occasionally reaching the end of the orb before morphing again. These are more of those extremely hazardous substances, similar to what's in the box that the dragon now possesses, but smaller, and some cylindrical. Dazki closes it immediately, sets it down.
Time to go. The loot that will fit is scooped into the Bag of Holding, and Dwardazik wants to carry the scrying book. While packing up...
Dwardazik: Actually, I don't want to leave those Turmoil things. Dazki: And I don't want to be near them at all. Dwardazik: But we have a responsibility to destroy it! Grogery: Well, we know about Annu. We have a key to lock this door. Nobody else will come breaking down this door except maybe Annu, right? Random people won't be coming to interfere with stuff. Maybe we should leave someone behind? Dwardazik: Why don't we take this, bring it back with us, and present it to Annu as part of a goodwill gift? "Here's your diary, here's this Turmoil, we killed Baxton." Dazki: That can probably wait until the morning. While the party is discussing, the waitress appears in the doorway. Waitress: I told her not to come up here, but... The Red Lady shows up not far behind. Red Lady: I think we might have a problem. Grogery: What happened? Red Lady: I don't want to describe... it's really gross. We really... can we go to The Palace? Like... now? Grogery: Should we take the box? Dwardazik: We should take the box. Dazki: I think we should leave the box and tell Annu about the box, but if I'm outvoted, then I'm outvoted. Grogery: I think we should take the box, because I'm concerned about something happening. Clearly something knew about what was happening with Baxton, and I don't trust that it won't try to come tie up loose ends. Red Lady: I think we need to tell them about a little bit more than what you found up here. Dwardazik: What has you so spooked, lass? Red Lady: Come with me downstairs...
Nope. Nope Nope Nope. NOPE.
The Red Lady points frantically at the corpse of the Disfigured Man. His condition is worsening. There's a purple-colored goo that's formed a slight patina on part of the wood, and some small trees are starting to grow from it now. There's a whole little forest there.Grogery: O... kay... Dazki: Yup. Let's get out of here and get to the palace. Immediately. Grogery: Yes. We know exactly who we need to notify of this. Thank you for bringing this to our attention. Kesmet: Let's get the hell out of here. We don't know if this is a biohazard or not. Dwardazik, yelling on their way out: Everyone out! Everyone out! Can you lock this place? Red Lady: Can I go with you? I really must go to the palace. Dazki: Absolutely.Red Lady seems a bit unusually keen about going to the palace. Something about her suggests that it's not to get a problem resolved, per se, but to see somebody there. Red Lady is only half-elven, and some of her facial features seem somewhat familiar.
Dwardazik: If she's comin' with us, she's gettin' manacled. Grogery and Dazki: NO! Grogery: We'll probably get to the palace faster if Dwardazik can drop this heavy thing off, since we would have to wait on him to hobble anyway. Kesmet: Maybe she can meet us at the palace, and we'll drop this stuff off first? Dazki: I'll take her to the palace in a carriage, you guys can drop stuff off at home and meet us there.
Palace
Before the party meets back up with Dazki and the Red Lady, the two have a bit of time to chat.Dazki, pulling out the Elven poetry book: I found this upstairs. I think this is yours? Red Lady: It's not... this isn't mine. Dazki: Oh. OK. It didn't really strike me as the kind of thing that He would have. You want to talk about anything, or...? Red Lady: I don't know... everything's all confusing. Dazki: Yeah. If it's not too much to ask, how long has he been doing that to you? Red Lady: A while.. you kinda lose track of time doing the same thing over and over again, you know? I don't think I want to play an instrument or speak to a man ever again... Dazki, laughing just a little: That's probably fair. Did he have any guests or anything like that? Red Lady: I don't know what you mean by "guests"... Dazki: A Tall Man and the Short Man, did they come and speak to him on any occasion? Red Lady: No, he would usually just go back to be... him. Dazki: OK. As paltry as this sounds, is there anything that I can do for you? Other than, of course, take you to the palace and help get all this taken care of? Red Lady: I just really need to see my sister and know that she's OK, and let her know that I'm OK, and... She instantly regrets saying that line, as if it were secret information.The Red Lady's name is Lady Rosalin Violett. Dazki gets the sense that she was an unwitting hostage in this situation. The party meets back together and continues somewhat further into the palace grounds. For being early night, the palace is anything but asleep. Annu and Sorda'an are having some kind of a discussion, both vaguely near the House of Crystal building near the front gate. Annu has two figures in purple robes held next to him while he argues with Sorda'an. Both of these purple figures have burns around their eyes, similar to what Lady Rosalin has.
Annu: It is my duty to protect this city. I will deal with the threat swiftly and thoroughly, then I will come to the deliberation. Sorda'an: It may be your job to eliminate this infection, but it is my duty to protect the people, Annu! Annu: Our given missions are at odds. You propose a compromise, then? Both duties will be completed inefficiently. The party approaches. Annu spies them immediately, turning to face them. Annu: These individuals will answer our questions. You will submit to interrogation. Sorda'an: Not interrogation! Inquiry. Conversation. Dazki: A "please" would be appreciated, and yes. We will. He pulls out Baxton's cloak and tosses it at Annu's feet. Sorda'an: Perhaps we should talk more formally. We've got a meeting to attend. You should come with us. Dwardazik: Well, if nothing else, being in a meeting allows us to address important people more efficiently. Sorda'an snaps his fingers, and a guard captain practically spawns next to him. Sorda'an: You. Secure those infected, and detain them at the barracks and meeting hall within the House of Steel. If anything deleterious happens from this infection, I would rather it happen in my house, near the firelord. Console, but control. He waves his hand, and the captain fucking vanishes. Dazki, pointing to Rosalin: She stays with us, though. Kesmet superficially hides Rosalin's mark using some cheap magic, even though everybody has already seen her with it. Kesmet: She's fine. That was just a bruise, just a black eye. You didn't see anything. Kesmet, to Grogery: Wait... do you think this same nonsense just happened to Sol? Grogery: Hmm... yes. Kesmet: You can probably message him or something... you can do that, right? Grogery: I can do this exactly once before the end of the day, and we don't know if there's going to be an emergency. So if we get through the end of this day, I can send to him.On their way to the meeting room, Dazki picks Baxton's cloak back up and Annu releases the two figures he was holding. The guards scoop them up.
The House was a... wait for it...
Perched (or sculpted?) over the entryway into the House of Steel building is a large bronze mechanical dragon of some sort, made out of plate mail. It's not clear if it's an automaton or just an art installation, but it is definitely there, and definitely distracting. The large meeting room that they are led to is complete with a table like what you see in a war room. The room is very large, but otherwise empty. Despite a meeting apparently having been set, we are the first to arrive. Sorda'an takes a seated position at the table and motions for the others to do the same. Annu does as well, which is fairly awkward given how he moves around. All the party sits as well.Dwardazik, to Grogery: At least we're not in manacles this time. Grogery: Yep... He still holds the box on his lap.After a few minutes of sitting awkwardly in the overly large room, the doors burst open, and a voice yells out:
It is I, Sir Aldrick Ansley Baster the 3rd, reporting for duty!Appearing through the doorway is a shining prince of the people, chest puffed out heroically. His heroic pose drops almost immediately upon seeing the party, however.
Aldrick: Hey, wait! You said we were meeting without any of the help! Why do you get so many assistants? An unknown voice from behind him: Well, SOMEBODY has to stay behind and do your work.It's the gorgeous Gilda Lily, who has arrived in an equally gorgeous red formal gown. She walks right past Aldrick, still in the doorway, and immediately takes a seat at the table. She pulls out a journal and a small set of spectacles and begins reading.
Annu: You are three and a half minutes late for this assembly. Nobody acknowledges this remark. Gilda, without looking away from her book: I would prefer if we get this meeting done and over with as quickly as possible.
