Hieronymus enters a blood pact, Mercedes abstains from an orgy and Elize pretends everything is fine
General Summary
Morning sixth of September. Elize Kindling has recieved letters from Princess-Mayor Mari about hiring her team of special operations mercenaries for two very sensitive missions. One to clandestinely sink ships of the enemy's fleet in Barrodal's harbour and one to act as backup in a coup in Wassund led by Mercedes to make Agatha Nyckel surrender the throne to her daughter Brunhilde. She also recieved a very upsetting letter from Admiral Lothar auf Swarchen that her flag ship is to be seized by the city to strengthen it's fleet.
As the previous gunsmiths she asked had declined to work at her new musket manufactury, she writes a letter to the owner of a musket factory in South Village, Boomstick Co., requesting to talk business.
In the middle of the letter business Thomas Hardinger enters her office and declares that he will quit his job at the mercenary company as he has gotten a better offer from Mercedes de Luna-Cimil (who has at this point fled the building) to work in the newly founded Inquisition. Elize reminds him he is under contract for a year and can't just quit, which makes Thomas very upset (because he apparently didn't read the one-page contract, which was quite clear with no sneaky fineprint). However, if he is willing to give up the secret schematics for his multi-shot gun, she'll be willing to rip up the contract. Thomas agrees angrily. Elize (probably) snickers as he leaves the door; she muses at how surprised Mercedes will be that she isn't angry with her as Thomas gun schematics are more valuable to her than his services, and Mercedes unwittingly (as usual) gave her the perfect excuse to get hold of them.
She then heads to the Princely Palace to talk to Princess-Mayor Mari about the missions and the requisitioning of her ship. Both Mari and the Admiral are in the throne room when she arrives. With little trouble she convinces them to hire her ship as a mercenary vessel instead of requisitioning it. Elize and Mari then moves to a more private room where they talk about the secret missions, and Elize asks if this means she doesn't have to send assassins because she actually doesn't want to murder her mother-in-law. Mari says that it does, but does seem a bit disappointed in Elize that she had agreed to something she apparently didn't want to do, and that she hadn't set things in motion. But she says it is alright this time since she herself were the one to abort the plans.
Then they discuss price, as Mari had proposed that her mercenaries get paid commission per ship they sink and nothing up-front, as is usual when the de Luna family hires privateers. Elize wants up-front payment for safety, but after a lot of haggling Mari wins out saying that if Elize isn't confident in her mercenaries abilities she can hire someone else, and refuses to change the deal. Elize folds.
She would like to speak with Mercedes about the latest events, but she is nowhere to be found. Instead she returns to prepare for her wedding.
Mercedes is in the apartment where she had just unwittingly chased away Laura Kindling, still very angry at herself. She realizes she should tell someone about what has happened and returns to the Princely Palace, making the guards who accompanied her carry the mirror and put it in the Catacombs of the palace where Vivaldi dwells.
She goes to the main hall where her mother Mari is and tries to tell her what she has learnt, and about her suspicions about auf Klint and the murder of the King of Verdina. Before she can do that, Mari interrupts her and basically orders her to become a General after which Field Marshal Henrich Brücke arrives and she gets to swear an oath to always protect the city and recieves a ring as proof of her rank.
After that is done Mercedes finally gets to tell her mother about the auf Klint family's disappearance and her suspicions that they have travelled via magic mirror to Verdina to claim the throne for Einar auf Klint's wife Princess Edhelhild of Verdina, the deceased King's half-sister. Her mother gets pale and says that that's obviously true now that she says it, as Edhelhild is the only surviving member of House Sheehan. This makes Mercedes very anxious as she knows her adoptive sister Estanza de Luna is actually also a Sheehan in exile and probably has a fairly strong claim on the throne. But she also knows Estanza doesn't want to be queen, especially not of the worlds most boring country. She decides against telling Mari about Estanza's heritage until she has spoken to Estanza about it.
If Edhelhild and the auf Klints has taken the throne of Verdina, says Mari, there is an imminent threat that Verdina will join the war on the side of The False Phoenix. Now more than ever they need to make sure to secure Theraos as their ally. That prompts Mercedes to tell her that her wife Yum is in Theraos on the Party Ship to investigate if Queen Sofia II of Theraos were the one to order the assassination of Yum's mother. This makes Mari even paler as they very seriously need Theraos on their side now and they got good relations with the Queen. Mercedes says she'll write a letter.
She wants to talk to Estanza, but she is at the Admirality. She instead walks the short walk to the City Palace where the Commission got their HQ. Matteo Blankros, the vice-leader, is there working and passive-aggressively says there is very much work to do in the absence of the leader. After trying to explain that she also has much to do, Mercedes tells him about what she has found. Also that there seem to be three factions on their enemy side, the regular Phoenix Cult, the Society and finally the Church of Avalon.
Then she is just about to say that they should keep an eye on the Bellwick Club as Deacon Lovena the Chaste enters the room and Mercedes notice she is wearing the club ring. She interrupts her conversation with Matteo and asks Lovena about the club instead, which makes Matteo very annoyed. He gets even more annoyed as they talk about partying and Lovena then writes an invite to Mercedes to join the "Blue Night" taking place the same night, which Mercedes accepts as she thinks it'd be a great opportunity to investigate. As Lovena leaves, Matteo is very frustrated and no longer interested in talking and so Mercedes goes to Vivaldi in the catacombs instead.
Vivaldi wonders if this mirror that Mercedes had brought there is a hellish Shadow Mirror like the ones she has described, again seemingly frustrated. Mercedes answers that it is, then also gives her the other books and objects with weird runes she found. Vivaldi says that it'll take a while to investigate them, but Mercedes feels lonely and stays in Vivaldi's study for a few hours while she works. She then realizes she's about to miss the Bellwick Club meeting and rushes to find some blue clothing and goes to the club.
As she arrives late, the orgy is already in full swing. She meets Theresa de Castillio in the foyer who is surprised to see Mercedes there. She asks if she wants to join in the orgy, but Mercedes declines since she is newly married and Yum would be angry with her. She doesn't say she also declines because the club is connected to the demon Devitia, the Sarkian flesh-god. Theresa is surprised to hear this as she didn't think Mercedes and Yum were the monogamous kind, but says that she has gotten hers tonight so they instead drink some wine and converse on the balcony. Mercedes is slightly distracted by the sounds of carnal pleasure coming for the main room's windows.
Hieronymus, still in his birthday suit, is feeling his way down a pitch-black, cold set of stone stairs. Kleon's footsteps disappear in the darkness before him, but he keeps going until he reaches a large doorway. He fumbles in the dark to find the handle and opens the heavy door and is met by a blinding light. Sunlight, it turns out as his eyes adjust to the sudden brightness, over an enormous, red desert that reasonably shouldn't exist in the cellar of a house in Alldris. In the distance, maybe a kilometer away, he sees what looks like a large, strange temple, the architecture unlike that of any culture he recognizes. Slightly frightened, quite intrigued and quite drunk he starts walking through the desert, his naked skin baking in the intense sun.
As he approaches, he realizes the temple he saw is just a small part of something much larger. He enters the building through a large gate. Statues of lizard-like humanoids border an enormous hallway, leading to a set of stairs, the steps too large for a regular human to walk comfortable on. It was apparently built for something else. Footsteps of red sand lead up the stairs, which Hieronymus follows. At the top stands Kleon, also still in the nude, and watches something hovering impossibly in the air inside some sort of light. It looks similar to the statues he saw further down the temple. It seems sleeping, not dead.
Kleon starts explaining; the sleeping thing is of an old race. Older than everything he has ever known or heard of, older than the Empire and even the tribes and kingdoms that came before it. It has slept for a very long time. And it has magic. They could only find it because of people like Hieronymus. Artists. In fact, they are inside a painting, painted by his friend Lorenzo di Grande who started having dreams about this thing. Sent from it, like it wants to be awoken. He and Lorenzo are part of a society (The Society, probably) who wants to harness this magic, for the good of the world. They also want other things, but before he says more, he wants to know he can trust Hieronymus.
He asks Hieronymus to present his hand. Hieronymus does this, and Kleon carves a strange rune in his palm, and tells him an oath to swear. As Hieronymus complies, the rune starts burning, then, as he finishes the oath, the rune has disappeared. Pleased, Kleon tells him that he'll ask Lorenzo to get in touch. Maybe Hieronymus will also start to have dreams now that he has been here. Hieronymus wonders what would happen if he broke his oath, but Kleon just answers that there's no point in wondering about things that will not happen. Then they walk to the door back to Alldris, now seemingly much closer than it was when he entered. Kleon says that he can't return with him (maybe because he is a wanted man), but bids him good luck and says that they'll see each other again.
He walks up the dark stairs and through a door leading back to the club house and meets Adolf who jokingly asks why he's been in the cold wine cellar. Hieronymus asks for more Je M'Appelle Regelle Citadelle and Adolf says that his wife probably has the last bottle, and she was going out to take some fresh air. Hieronymus steals some tight white riders pants and heads outside to the balcony.
He finds Theresa and, surprisingly, Mercedes. Hieronymus asks to speak with Mercedes in private and Theresa leaves the balcony. He says to Mercedes, who is very anxious although there isn't much reason to be, that he might be able to give her information on who his employer is in return for money to open an art gallery. He names a price and Mercedes who has no grasp of the value of money agrees. Lovena the Chaste interrupts for the second time that day and nakedly barges out on the balcony looking for more sex because most people in the main room has fallen asleep. Both of the people on the balcony declines and heads home for the night. Hieronymus with a new red suit he has stolen instead of the white riding pants.
Elize wakes up the morning of the seventh, with Julius giving her breakfast in bed and reminding her that they are getting married tomorrow. He knows she always has lots to do and offers to run marriage-related errands during the day to let her work, which she accepts. She herself finds Malakit to talk about the missions for the city they have gotten hired to do.
They decide that the best candidates for the coup would be Julia Messechsmidt, due to her being used to moving in the high society, and her second-in-command Claudia Hammer. For the sabotage of ships, Malakit says that he has experience sinking ships this way, which Elize doesn't question and just express confidence in his abilities. With him will go Julius, Felice Kamper and Cornelius Huklatz. They decide they will, naturally, not leave before the wedding.
After establishing that, Elize calls Cassandra Drigez to her office. Cassandra starts by asking where Thomas Hardinger has went and express dismay when she learns he has joined the Inquisition since he is an asshole. Elize says that's not their problem anymore, and offers her the position of Captain on her flag ship Maiev as her former Captain Katelyn de Blu is still in a coma after running into Blackpowder Jack on the journey home from the New World. Drigez eagerly accepts and thanks her profusely for the opportunity to join what will probably be the largest battles this city has ever seen. Under her will also sail Brutus since his close quarter combat experience will be very useful on the cramped spaces of ship-to-ship combat.
Hieronymus is pumped after yesterdays experiences and decides that today is the day he is productive. What better way to help productivity than drugs? He leaves his attic apartment to ask his regular merchant The Great Zagrabad, whom he usually buys opium from, for something more stimulating. As he leaves his house, he discovers a crowd is gathering around a sculpter who is sculpting a fairly large statue. It is Lisette making a sculpture of Hieronymus himself, holding a wounded Liam Cross tenderly in his arms in a heroic pose. It is a romantic sculpture in every sense of the word. Lisettes skill and attention to detail has attracted the crowd. Hieronymus, who recently realized he doesn't like Liam, is annoyed but reasons that at least it might spread his name. He continues to the merchant.
The merchant, selling all sorts of exotic wares and spices at his market stand and smelling of curry, recognizes Hieronymus as a regular and has prepared a pouch of opium for him. Hieronymus asks him if he also has something more stimulating for the productivity. Zagrabad brings forth a pouch of exotic white powder that he has recently got hold of and says to mix only a pinch of the powder in a glass of water. Hieronymus asks what happens if he takes more, and Zagrabad answers that he doesn't know, he has just heard that it is very potent, but Hieronymus is an adult and does as he wants. Also, after the powder has run its course, giving him energy and focus, he'll become incredibly tired. Hieronymus buys a small pouch and heads home.
To his dismay, as he walks past The Rotund Raven, a familiar voice calls out to him. Liam. Trying not to show his distaste he turns around and joins Liam at the tables outside the tavern. Liam is very excited because he has just gotten a lot of gold, all he had to do was give some blood to a weird Bearded Man in a hood who said he needed an artist's blood. And now things felt slightly less meaningless and he was going to find a rich widow to marry. Hieronymus scolds him and asks why he is gonna find a rich widow, to which Liam answers that then he'll be economically independent and could spend all his time doing art. Hieronymus says that he has to stop coming up with these plans for the future and just focus on his art because money is evanescent and art is everything that is important. Liam almost starts crying, but Hieronymus orders him to use the money to buy painting materials and get to painting, because he has gotten a benefactor in Mercedes de Luna to pay for their new gallery. Liam accepts and Hieronymus continues home without any more mishaps.
He pours two glasses of water, and puts a pinch of the white powder in one. He readies his two paintings he has in progress and gulps the glasses and immediately feels an extreme focus he hasn't felt before. He starts painting like he has rarely painted before, and finishes one painting and almost finishes the other. Then he realizes it has been ten hours and he hasn't eaten anything. Exhaustion overcomes him and he can barely stand as he makes his way to the kitchen to take a salted herring from a barrel of salt brine, but his fine motor skills fail and he topples the barrel which pours smelly salty water all over the kitchen. Not able to keep his eyes open for much longer, he decides to leave it until the next day and falls asleep to the noise of very angry neighbors below.
Elize feels she needs to talk with Mercedes to talk about the mercenaries for the coup, Hardinger and ask her why she is avoiding her. She sends a short message to the Palace saying they need to talk and she can find Elize at Karolinska Huset or at the Palace.
Mercedes wakes up to frantic knocking on the door and a servant enters with a message from Elize saying they need to talk and she will be either at Karolinska Huset or at the Palace. Mercedes reasons that since she is at the Palace already, she should stay there and assume that Elize will turn up. Since she is awake now anyway she goes to Estanza's room to talk about things she would rather avoid. Estanza is there and lets her in. They talk for a bit and it turns out Estanza has been promoted to vice-Admiral and is going to get her own ship. They congratulate eachother for their respective promotions. Then Mercedes tells her that the Verdinian King is dead and that auf Klint has travelled there to put Princess Edhelhild of Verdina on the throne. And that they might declare war on Alldris and join the Phoenix Revolt. Then she tries to gently lay out the fact that Estanza also has a claim on the throne and they should consider the implications. It takes a while, but Estanza finally gets it and is aghast at the prospect of being Queen of the most boring country in the world, and accuses Mercedes of thinking she should do her duty, but Mercedes assures her she wants no such thing and they can figure something out, but its something they need to think about. Estanza says she needs to be alone for a while.
Elize plans to go visit Boomstick Co. in South Village but realizes she said to Mercedes that she would be at Karolinska Huset or at the Palace, and thus she should probably be at one of those places. She instead decides to go to the Palace to look for her. There she is allowed in and knocks on Mercedes door. Mercedes, who feels more down than usual after her talk with Estanza and returned to her room to become a blanket burrito in her bed, tells her to come in. Elize is worried by the fact that Mercedes is still in bed as the time is approaching midday and asks what's the matter and why she has been avoiding her.
Mercedes proceeds to tell her everything that has happened with auf Klint having escaped and probably taken the throne of Verdina, that she thought Elize would be mad that she had poached Thomas Hardinger from her mercenary company, even more mad about her chasing away Elize aunt and that she was still in bed because she was just overwhelmed in general by everything.
When Elize calms Mercedes down a bit by assuring her that everything is fine and according to plan, Mercedes tells her about the slightly good news that, firstly, they were now in control of two Shadow Mirrors, with a third one destroyed at the auf Klint house. Also she had been at the Bellwick Club (underlining that she had not participated in any orgies) where she met the artist Hieronymus who said he was willing to snitch. Upon hearing Hieronymus was there Elize, without realizing it absolutely sounded like she wanted to get boned by him, says that it sounds like she should have come to the meeting.
Elize says they probably both have very much they should do and she should leave before people start gossipping, but Mercedes cries that she doesn't wanna do stuff and begs Elize not to leave her alone, so Elize invites Mercedes to accompany her to the gun manufactory in South Village. They decide to walk as it's a nice day and they both have too many guards to go by wagon. As they pass through the Theraonian Gate into Hut Town they notice there are pillars of smoke here and there in the district. Elize who has been very busy the last few days had completely missed that there were riots in the poor quarters. Mercedes had heard about it but had forgotten.
As they walk, they pass dried patches of blood and shrouded bodies, and at one point a large crowd gathers behind them in the streets. They hear talk of marching against the Theraonian Gates and realize the crowd is composed of angry Phoenix cultists. It doesn't take long before the angry mobs' and the group of nobles' eyes meet, and for a moment they stare at each other, before collective anger at the upper class sweeps through the mob and they start charging.
Character(s) interacted with
Mari de Luna
Malakit
Estanza de Luna
Matteo Blankros
Lovena the Chaste
Theresa de Castillio
Liam Cross
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