2025-03-21 Posthumous Correspondence
General Summary
Scene: Night at the Whistling Pig Tavern/Inn
Stelsor transforms into his digging form to inspect if there's anything interesting below ground, but doesn't really find anything.
The Whistling Pig is largely empty this evening because most of the usual crowd did their partying earlier during the rani-satrap's birthday festival.
Characters present:
Actively played: Stelsor, Fortifier, Rohen (and Malka), Bushy, Rarida
GM controlled today: Scurrilous Minx, Seline. Dreamflower, Chalai
Peleps Danic Rarida is catching on that essence use is afoot and approaches us.
We exchange introductions. He introduces himself with his pirate name: Dr. Blood / Captain Blood.
Fortifier describes Burano Joh Aspidian's disguise to Rarida in case he recalls seeing her here.
Rarida doesn't recall her.
Bushy advocates embracing the serendipity of us crossing paths with Rarida.
Stelsor asks Rarida about his line of work and Rarida says he sails a ship. Stelsor and Rarida agree to have the sailor work alongside us.
Stelsor takes over the tavern's kitchen to make stew and the innkeeper is glad to have the break.
Scene: Following day, at the palace / spirit courts
Prikata Fang-Fall and Laughing Rain Izu are doing a mini storm outside. Whenever they are struck by lightning they seem to be rejuvenated
They wave as we pass them.
We continue in to speak with the Rani-Satrap Burano Rohavin in her throne room.
We fill Rohavin in about the secret meetings we observed and the encoded book.
Stelsor asks Rohavin if they have Black Sunshine in Prasad.
Rohavin seems shocked at him mentioning this as she knows it is addictive poison to the mind and body.
She says they've managed to keep it out of Prasad so far.
We explain that we have been working on making something that will help people break away from it.
Stelsor gives Rohavin one of our pamphlets on the many misdeeds of The Lover Clad in the Raiment of Tears.
To facilitate our investigations, Rohavin instructs her retainers to show us to Aspidian's room and respect the Circle as her inquisitors.
The Prasadi retainers seem variously skeptical or concerned at how quick their ruler is to trust these foreigners.
Someone wearing a veil is hiding near the throne. They seem to be crying. We infer this is Rohavin's daughter who would also be Aspidian's mother.
Read intentions on Rohavin.
We sense that Rohavin seems to be throwing herself into this mystery to hide from the grief that her own granddaughter betrayed her.
Rohavin's Major Virtue is Discipline.
Scene: Aspidian's palace suite
It is lavishly large and decorated. Just the walk-in closet is gigantic.
Rohen finds a bookcase and recognizes several books are about the sorcerous arts.
None of these on the bookshelf are written in Gradafese.
Bushy sniffs about and finds a pile of dirty laundry.
This seems unusual for royalty. Normally servants would clean up things like this.
The unusual scent seems to be from salt and warding treatments to protect against Ghosts.
We recognize one of the cloaks as the one Aspidian wore to the secret meetings.
Searching the pockets of the clothes, we don't find the letter we're looking for but do find others.
Letters from the Lover, promising to make her ruler.
Love letters from Subtle Wood, but none to Subtle Wood.
Rohen searches the nightstand and finds yet more letters.
There are love letters both to and from someone named Akatha Mumjei.
Dreamflower and Rohen use Sagacious Reading of Intent to examine the intimacies of the love letters.
Aspidian's heart wasn't truly in it when she wrote to Mumjei, but did have strong feelings when corresponding with Subtle Wood.
Bushy goes on the balcony and plucks a hair and it becomes a bird (a northern cardinal) who he tasks with watching over the room.
Fortifier answers a knock at the door and a servant offers to lead us to an ice room where Aspidian's body is being kept.
Fortifier and Rarida leave the chambers to go along to the ice room.
Scene: Ice Room
From his time in Sijan, Fortifier recalls that it is a social taboo for a non-Dragon-Blood to handle the remains of a Dragon Clan member. Luckily, Rarida is Dragon-blooded.
In lieu of inspecting the body physically, Fortifier uses Spirit-Cutting Glance to see if its ghost is present. Since she is, he sprays a misty substance into the air (Spirit Manifesting Word) to manifest the ghost for Rarida.
As a Burano descendant of the rani-satrap herself, Aspidian has been well-feted, appeasing her lower soul.
That her higher soul lingers must be for some reason other than a lack of funerary protocol.
Fortifier asks the ghost for information on the Lover's agents here in Kamthahar.
She says we know them already, for she can sense the scent of the Whistling Pig on us.
She expects to be richly rewarded in the Lover's domain of the Underworld. So, what could we even offer her in exchange?
Rarida searches the body and finds the letter we saw in the memories and 2 more letters.
One is from 3 days ago, one from the day Y'danna fell.
Remembering the love letters from her quarters, Fortifier asks the ghost if there is anything she wants conveyed to Subtle Wood or Akatha Mumjei.
Grief shatters the ghost's poise. She wants Subtle Wood to know Aspidian loves her but has nothing to say to “that buffoon”.
Fortifier and Rarida return to tell the others what they found.
Scene: Reconvening at Aspidian's suite
There were 3 letters on her person.
Only one was written in Gradafese (the one to the Lover that she didn't send)
The other 2 are from Subtle Wood.
Deciphering montage
Fortifier begins busily processing the coded messages. It still takes time but also doubles as worship of Autochthon.
Aspidian's unsent letter to the Lover Clad in the Raiment of Tears
Aspidian thinks the conflict with Y'danna was a wasteful distraction from their true threat to Prasad's interests: Ma-Ha-Suchi to the north.
She says Mount Metagalapa is coming for Prasad now because they attracted attention by taking Y'danna.
The circle knows this isn't the actual motive of the Metagalapans, just Aspidian's theory at the time she wrote the letter.
Her tone is very sarcastic and expresses a lot of disillusion toward the Lover.
We realize that probably no one has told Subtle Wood what happened to Aspidian.
Some code names are mentioned in the letter.
Brave Seal is Aspidian, Lucky Lover is Subtle Wood.
Thunder Hammer is almost certainly Laughing Rain Izu.
We don't have the common names of Sweet Treat or Antique Delicacy, but we do find dates for some of their movements in and out of Prasad.
Meanwhile: Rohen and Rarida
Rohen and Rarida decide to search through city entry records to try to match them to figure out who Sweet Treat and Antique Delicacy.
They go in search of smugglers and corrupt customs clerks.
They find the guildmaster of stevedores, who is willing to take bribes.
Meanwhile: Stelsor
Stelsor goes shopping for goods to take back to Metagalapa.
Meanwhile: Bushy
Bushy volunteered to relay the ghost's message and visits Aspidian's corpse to consult the ghost directly.
The ghost asks Bushy to deliver her love along with a pendant to Subtle Wood.
Bushy promises to do this… in exchange for the Dragon-Blood's form. The ghost agrees.
Bushy goes to the Fecund Court
Subtle Wood is the scribe of the Court, which is still in session until sundown. The Akatha attendants ask him to wait but let the spirit know to stay a little late.
Once Beautiful Eyes adjourns, the gods disappear except for Subtle Wood.
Subtle Wood seems already worried as if some part of her already suspects the news.
Bushy delivers the pendant and says “she wanted you to know her love for you was true.”
Subtle Wood breaks down weeping but thanks Bushy.
Bushy leaves her to grieve, hinting, however, that he may be in touch later.
Post-credits teaser scene:
Later, when Bushy has a moment alone, he transforms into Burano Joh Aspidian to access her all her memories with Memory-Drinking Meditation.
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