Mounting Unease (The City of Splendors #6)

It is strange, Zloton.
 
I feel it again. I feel tougher. My head feels...bigger, and sure enough, when I try, I can keep another spell in my mind. That’s five whole spells at the same time, in case you weren’t keeping track. And as I marvel at that development in silence, while we are patiently waiting for Algeroon, I was admiring this giant book he had in his study. And I do mean giant. I’ve never seen a book that was bigger than Nettie before. It’s apparently some sort of holy artifact, sacred to Azuth.
 
So, I stared at that giant book, and as I was trying to think of literally anything but our current predicament, my mind started to wander and then wonder. How *did* it get that big. Was it really manufactured that way, with over sized sheets and specially made binding? Surely not. It's a magic book for crying out loud. Azuth or whoever just made it big. So, I wondered. How does that work?
 
Like when cut down to the grain, are the grains bigger or are there more of them. It reminded me of the transmutations between materials that I can now do. I wondered if the same mechanics that I worked out applied. I did a bit of notetaking which out of respect for your attention span I shall skip. Anyway, end result, I made this journal become very large and very small in quick succession. I’m pretty sure the same rule could apply to other things, to people even. I wonder if the Baron would like to become a giant at any point. I should ask sometime.
 
Algeroon came in and we explained the situation. He did not say so, but his face made it plain, we are screwed. He echoed Carina’s sentiment that an archdruid could do it. He also brought up Silverhand, the open lord. She’s friends with Mirt, but Algeroon seemed convinced of her decency and said that she would help us. He clearly is a huge fan, spouting out her revered history as one of seven sisters and a chosen of Mystra. He told us he would try to get us an audience. I stressed to him the urgency of the matter and thankfully, he firmly agreed. We’ll see what becomes of it.
 
We decided to go to the Yawning Portal and speak to Durnan, since he personally knew Mirt and could advise on the best course of action. Only trouble was figuring out the best course of action in traveling there. We did not want the statue to be seen. It would draw attention to ourselves, so we dressed Primara up, and by dress her up I mean cover her in a blanket and have Ristrien create an illusion of a small troll arm hanging out of the bundle, because that’s way better.
 
So, we took a coach to the Yawning Portal. We were given quite a few strange looks. I'm used to that, but for once they weren't directed at me. Eventually, Durnan had a momentary break in his business to give us attention. The moment Mirt’s name came up in our explanation, he silenced us and took us into his back study.
 
Interesting, the moment he shut the door, the dull roar of his establishment went silent. It punctuated the severity of how screwed we were.
 
He sat in his chair and reopened the conversation. “What’s this about Mirt?”
 
We showed him the unicorn statue "You see. It isn't really a baby troll."
 
"My idea," Nettie admitted
 
Durnan's reply. "Good idea. Less conspicuous." It was in a tone that was hard to tell whether it was sarcasm or sincerity. It's possible it was both.
 
We explained the situation, proved that the unicorn communicated, and asked for insight on Mirt. The good news is he probably won't kill us. Apparently, that's not his way. The bad news is he will screw us over in the law, blacklist us and make it very difficult for the guilds to work with us. Durnan said that although he is most well known as Mirt the Moneylender, he's also been called Mirt the Merciless. Yeah, it would have been nice for Renear to, you know, make that clearer.
 
He also apparently shares Flynn's belief in the usefulness of friendly street urchins. It seems likely Mirt will have kids watching us and will notice if kids are watching him.
 
Flynn asked, "Can Mirt teleport?”
“No, he can enter your house portly though.” And people say Durnan isn't a sparkling conversationalist.
 
So with all these facts, we asked him what we should do. He pointed out that the unicorn might really be a magical object that thinks itself a real unicorn. He has a fair point, but in the end, if Primara is telling the truth, it would be wrong to not try and free her.
 
Durnan said we had a case for proving she isn’t Mirt’s property, if we could prove she’s sentient (since slavery is illegal in this city). With that path before us, we decided to research the legal procedure the next day.
 
On our plan, Ristrien had this to say, “It's very lawful. I'd not usually be into that, but this time it's tied with..."
 
"Morality?" I guessed.
 
"No, research."
 
Pete was confident. "He may have friends in high places, but I have friends in very low places."
 
In general we all left more confident and once Nettie finished the “lullabies” she apparently had to sing in her room, we went home. Sidenote. This reference to lullabies makes me wonder if she is discreetly raising a child. If so, I can understand why she keeps the child away from our hag haunted house.
 
Speaking of children, we met with Janks, Nat, and Squidly before we entered the house. We told them about the unicorn (they got a kick out of touching her) and warned them about Mirt, as well as other children he might have in his employ. Nat signed that she knew girls that were seen with him. She also admitted she hasn't seen two of them since, though apparently that was during the time of the coup and there was a lot of violence going on. We told them to be careful in any case.
 
Flynn wanted to confront the ghosts, so when we entered the manor, we went up to the 2nd floor and waited, but after an hour of Nettie singing, nothing showed itself. We decided to set up camp there, meaning for the first time we were actually going to sleep in the part of the manor we are supposed to sleep in. I know, the small pleasures in life. We laid our bedrolls out in the central room, and I alarmed the entrances. Ristrien and I have taken first watch, although Ristrien has gone to the library room alone. I hear strange noises of some sort of ritual occasionally, but she asked to not be disturbed, so I’m remaining here. When she emerges I’ll give an update.
 
Update: So, Ristrien has a cat now. I'm serious, she emerged from the library with a cat on her shoulder. He was cute, with blue tinged grey fur and orange yellow eyes. Ristrien introduced him as Grisbi. I was introduced thusly, "This is Veek. He's a friend. He uses magic and is a really good cook."
 
"The cook comes first," I corrected.
 
I have to give her credit. Without skipping a beat, Ristrien repeated, "he's a really good cook and uses magic.”
 
Abruptly, Ristrien needed to go to the bathroom. She literally ran upstairs in desperation. I woke up Nettie to go with her. I didn't think it was wise to have anyone go off alone, even for something that mundane, and I had to stay there to watch the rest of the people still sleeping.
 
I could hear Nettie clear enough. "You have a cat! It's so cute!"
 
As you may have guessed if you've been paying attention to the religious doctrine of a certain someone, as I have, then you know that there's one person who would be less than pleased by the new addition's presence.
 
After both ladies returned, Pete woke up with a start. It was hard at first to get him to describe the dream, but eventually, in his own way of course, he explains that he dreamed of ocean water and a familiar woman’s face that very well may be the hag’s. Then he was awoken by the Baron licking his foot, which he praised at first, but the Baron would not stop. He eventually looked back to see the figure of the hunched hag, stroking his foot with the lolling tongue of the Baron’s severed head. That was actually when he woke up and who could blame him for reacting so to such an image.
 
Worst of all, that dream had effects. The Baron's head was all that remained of him and there was a piece of meat lodged in his teeth.
 
He didn't recognize the taste so it couldn't be the rat body of the Baron. He gave it to me and I tried it. Yes, I had something that's been in Pete's mouth. No, that doesn't bother me. What bothers me is that even though I didn't recognize the taste, I suspected it was human child. Not actually cannibalism for me, but still gruesome. I took note of the flavor. I burned it into my memory. I want to know if I'm being fed human meat again.
 
Pete blamed the cat for the Baron's death, which led to an uncomfortable argument. We all knew it wasn't Grisbi, he has an alibi in the form of playing with Nettie's dancing lights upstairs. Besides, it seems clear that the woman in his dream was responsible. But Pete would have none of it. Cats are the great evil to him. Foul servants of Baal that corrupt mortals against rats and goodness.
 
Nettie and Pete are staying up for next watch. Pete went to the library to summon the Baron's spirit into a new rat once more. I'm going to sleep where Pete slept. We'll see how it goes.
 
Update: I've awoken briefly. Ristrien has also had a bad dream. Something about researching in the Library Study by candle light, some troll roaring "Whose that trip trap over my bridge" in a fairy tale, the Library erupting in child shouts, a woman grabbing a kid, and she woke up. I'm writing it now in case she or I forget. Dreams are like that. Anyway, it's Flynn's watch now and I'm going back to sleep hopefully for good