Session 13
General Summary
The party stormed out of the Ambassadors' Ball having agreed to White Falcon, Radislav's terms, at least for the time being. Before leaving, Ludwig asked Tekin, Timur to set up a breakfast meeting with Hammett, Talwyn at the Far Traveler for the next day. Then, determined to get the jump on the real assassin, the group split up to begin their investigation that night.
Mrek went straight to the temple of Aru in the market square, where a sleepy acolyte was intimidated into waking Akerlind, Marta. She heard Mrek's story and agreed that the next day after breakfast, she would first question the entire party within a zone of truth, then assuming their story checked out, cast speak with dead on Prince Madoc's body.
Ludwig went to the Midmarean delegation at the Well-Founded Sailor and talked his way past both the bartender, who hates him, and the Blackhearts. (A Blackheart named Kirken recognized Ludwig from the psychic porcupine trip and vouched for him.) Ludwig searched Prince Madoc's room, but found nothing of interest; it had been well cleaned since any poisoning occurred. He also questioned Kirken, who was present in the kitchen when Madoc's lunch was prepared. He learned that Timur and Talwyn had come in the morning but left well before lunch, that Madoc felt ill after lunch but insisted on attending the Ball anyway, and—after casting detect thoughts because he felt Kirken was holding back information—that while lunch was being prepared, Kirken heard a disembodied whistling.
Feng headed for the western gate of Volscia Mera, the only one kept open at night. He climbed atop the guardhouse by way of some nearby buildings, evaded notice by the many guards, and kept watch all night. Nobody tried to leave, and only one new arrival appeared at about 3 am, two old merchants with a cart of market goods.
Slint and Kairon kept watch at the harbor. They met a dockworker who told them he liked to work the night shift because it gave him plenty of time to work on his poetry, which he shared some of and which was terrible. He also told them that the only excitement that night was from the Midmareans, who made multiple trips back and forth between their three ships: the Huntress Queen, Midnight Candle, and Flying Stag. He hadn't seen any individuals come or go. They spent the rest of the night hidden and watching the slips for small craft, but saw nobody.
The next day, Slint and Kairon returned to the harbor to speak with the dockmaster before breakfast. He showed them the logs for small craft; none had left recently, but on Thursday a small sailboat called the Godsong came in. The log didn't show a name for the owner; the harbormaster blamed his assistant, a halfling named Thomas.
At breakfast, the party found Talwyn Hammett to be beautiful and intelligent. She wore a lilac "breakfast dress" that brought out the purple of her eyes. First, she told the group about her relationship with Prince Madoc. He was sponsoring her new symphony, her fifth, called The Four Keys. She and Timur had gone to the Well-Founded Sailor the morning of the 26th to play four themes for Madoc, representing the four movements of the symphony. These were...
- Allegro in A Minor: "The Wind Moves the Clouds"
- Adagio in E Major: "The Bounty of the Earth"
- Scherzo in F Minor: "Flames in the Mountain"
- Rondo in D Major: "Waves Dance through the Sunken City"
- Who is the bandaged man who whistles? A mystery.
- Who are your enemies? Those who deny the light of Aru.
- Why were you sponsoring Talwyn Hammett's new symphony? She sings the song of Aru.
- ...?
- What do you know of the namzaqu? Keys to the Interment Gates.
- Midmare, her homeland, "a student work"
- A lighter symphony, inspired by her time at Stagmount
- The Great War
- The Gargantuan, begun after Forked Crossings
- The Four Keys
Report Date
08 Jul 2019
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