Theoday, 3rd of Toil, 721IA
But apparently no one heard my plea and we spent the rest of the “day” (or rather walk-till-we-drop cycle) going all the way back down to the campfire site.
We did the night there.
Kingsday, 4th of Toil, 721IA
The majority of us agreed that since we are already here, we might as well check where the downward leading tunnel goes, and after about two hours of walking the tunnel became much more rugged and the wagon couldn’t proceed. Eric and Sebastian stayed behind as the rest of us probed a little further.
After a bit of walking, and a right turn on a fork in the tunnel, we came upon a strange sight. A narrow straight tunnel led to a small cave and in the centre of it was a pool of a strange, dense looking liquid. When the light from my torch touched the surface of the liquid it lit up in many different hues like a rainbow, it was rather beautiful and I looked at it intrigued… and then Aretha touched the tip of her staff to it and the staff just vanished out of her hands!
I think we all took an involuntary step back. I picked up a rock from the ground and threw it in, and it too vanished the moment it touched the surface of the liquid. Menon and I looked at each other and we asked almost together: “Liquid Shadow?”
Aretha and Tuur looked at us quizzically and we filled them in a little more on what we know of the substance: “Vile stuff that forms in the dark places of the world: in the heart of caverns or bottoms of lakes. It forms, by the way, from the evils of the world.”
Tuur turned his head towards the pool again and said in a determined tone: “This thing is definitely evil…” We looked at it for a bit longer, Menon and I thinking the same thing: how could we take a sample of it dammit?!? Empty handed but a bit relieved we returned to the wagon and Eric and Sebastian.
I will not bore you with the details of us climbing all the way back up (now with the body we were sent to retrieve) through all the ropes, ladders, and handholds. It was a long and exhausting day and we finished it at the Delver’s cache where Aretha left Maxim her dog. The place was a mess: dog dropping and piss all over and rations of food scattered all over.
Of course, she cleaned it all up.
Airday, 5th of Toil, 721IA
Even though I had my sunglasses on before leaving the Clock Tower, the mid-day sun beat down on me harshly and blinded me for a moment or two. I stood with my eyes closed shut and breathed heavily of the city air, taking in the smells of Ptolus. Damn it’s good to be out of there, I thought and as I opened cautiously my eyes I saw the same look on all my companions faces. I will never understand people who go down in to the Dungeon for a living!
We made our way with Kai’s body to the Delver’s Guild. Of course, some people along the way looked at us queerly and rubbed their noses, but this is Ptolus, people are used to seeing such things on a day to day basis.
Gorti was glad to see we made it back successfully and paid us for the job. I sold her a map I’ve been drawing of the whole area (all except for the area that lead to the strange liquid pool) for sixty gold imperials; not bad money for a map I must say.
The afternoon hours were spent selling excess equipment (Tuur, for example, took an axe head that had a magical aura to be fitted with a handle), and once that was done, Aretha, Menon and I went for some relaxing treatment: The Waterfall in the Rivergate district. For those not in the know, and with a bit of silver to spend: this if the best bathhouse in Ptolus.
Gods I needed that!
Waterday, 6th of Toil, 721IA
We received a message the day before that Sebastian would like to meet with us first thing in the morning at the office. Once we were all there he set things for us: “Brother Fabitor contacted me yesterday. Phon has gone missing some days ago, and he has managed to find out who her lover is: Helmut Itlestein.”
Eric started chuckling to himself with that annoying, righteous, all knowing look he gets from time to time when he thinks he knows better than us; something along the line of: “I knew something like this would happen, and the fact that the head of the Republican is implicated doesn’t surprise me at all.” I wonder sometime if they teach them how to be infuriating in Paladin School.
We went to Phon’s house and after “letting” ourselves in found nothing that could help us understand if she has gone by her consent or by force. At her work no one has seen her since the 1st of Toil, and so at last we went to her parent’s house.
Her mother opened the door and one look at the party of six people at her door immediately shook her up: “What happened, oh my God what happened?”
We tried to calm her. “Be calm please, but Brother Fabitor has told us that he fears Phon is missing and we hoped you might have a notion as to her whereabouts.”
“We were supposed to meet on Theoday but she never came… what do you think happened…”
“Did you know she was pregnant…” Eric started but could never finish.
“SHE’S WHAT?!? She isn’t married yet, how could she possibly be preganant…”
Eric tried some damage control, “Well we aren’t sure she is, just something we heard.”
Eric’s straight face apparently calmed her down. “Well she didn’t tell me anything.”
We tried to pry some useful information out of her, but she really didn’t have any idea where Phon might be, and she never even heard before of Helmut Itlestein. To be honest though, the ‘interview’ didn’t go very smoothly, with people jumping in and intervening with questions of their own… some people really need to learn to listen.
Both Menon and I were definitely not in the mood to help Phon. She constantly rejected our help before and there is no reason she might not reject it now. Not telling her mother that she was pregnant, she might have dropped out of sight just for that reason: not wanting to have her mother around (and after meeting said mother, I think she did wisely). And so, we decided to head over to the Malkuth, and see if Aoska has learned anything about the key. Eric decided to stake out Helmut’s house, Sebastian went to sniff around Phon’s neighborhood, Aretha I think tried to find out as much as possible about Helmut, and Tuur… actually I’m not sure where Tuur was at that moment.
Just before knocking on the Malkuth tower I said with half a smile: “Maybe the same guy that eyed you will open the door again.” Menon cordially told me to shut up.
If it wasn’t the same being then he was very similar indeed. Damn they look good! But Aoska was not there and we were told that it’ll be fine if we came back another day, they had no idea when she’ll be back. Not finding our answer there we went to the library to try and dig out information about the appearance of Liquid Shadow, but we didn’t have a lot of time to set our minds to it as I had a show to give at the Griffon.
We went there some time before my gig and met Eric and Tuur there (Aretha was at her first Shooting Club meeting where they had someone giving a lecture), and Eric told us about this guy he followed from Helmut’s house to his own house in the Rivergate district. He couldn’t find out wholives in that house and so he went up to the door and tried to weasel out some information from the guy he saw leaving Helmut’s house, but he couldn’t find out to where Helmut has gone. As some might have noticed already, Eric isn’t the most ‘weasely’ of fellas.
The place was packed with all sorts of people and I think this could easily be the most crowded performance I had given up to now… And it was a good one! I was in my element and the crowd was fabulous. I had to smile to myself as I went down from the stage to rejoin my sister and friends at the table: I was getting somewhere… I was becoming a somebody.
Nella intercepted me on my way to the table and told me that she had an opening tomorrow night and if I could perform again, something I was all to glad to do. But that was not the end of it for tonight: a woman called my name and as I looked at her I noticed it was Tellith, the beautiful manager of the Ghostly Minstrel, and asked me if I could come to them for a show on the 12th of Toil. “I’d be honored,” I said smiling happily.
Earthday, 7th of Toil, 721IA
We met in the morning and Sebastian told us how he learned about Phon sitting in some restaurant with an unknown man… doesn’t tell us anything really. Eric and Sebastian were both for breaking into Helmut’s house. Aretha walked along the wall of the house, tracing her hand along it, and when she came back gave us a detailed plan of the first floor and that there was no one there. “There are stairs to a second floor, but I’ll need to rest a bit before I can try that spell again,” said Aretha.
At that moment a woman came walking towards the house, Eric noticed that she is carrying a bag, just like the guy from yesterday. Shocking!
They wanted Menon and I to try and “bump” into her so as to take a peek into her bag, but it was too late and plans that can’t be done elegantly shouldn’t be done at all. Sebastian and Menon went after her and knocked on the door, but they saw nothing special inside the house and the woman claimed to be a cleaning lady.
Eric took us to the house into which he saw the man from yesterday enter. Aretha, knowing the city as if it were one of her guns, said that it’s the school of an organization called the Fate Weavers. I heard about them also: an organization claiming to be consisted of prophets and seers, oh yea, and some locals claim that it’s just a front for prostitution. We spent some time trying to find out more about them but nothing really came up… neither did any concrete evidence of them dealing in prostitution.
The Griffon was packed again tonight, and my performance, while not as excellent as yesterday’s, was till very good.
Fireday, 8th of Toil, 721IA
Helmut’s house again.
Eric boosted Aretha up and she traced her hand along the wall of the second floor. Again she gave us a detailed sketch of the floor including a secret room with one person inside. That was enough for Sebastian who wrapped his hand in a cloak, broke the window and vanished inside.
He came out several minutes later. “Phon is there,” he said, “and she is there voluntarily. Helmut told her that she is in danger and that he will hide her. He also said that he told her parents that so she shouldn’t worry. When I told her that her mother did not know a thing about it she just mumbled something about her ‘crazy mother’ and asked me to go away and not bother her.” Eric agreed that she is obviously brainwashed or totally in love with the man. Aretha, Menon and I were in the same mind frame: we couldn’t care less.
We went to the mother and watched as Sebastian slowly told the mother how we came to know Phon and where she is and what her situation is. I’m not sure she really heard all Sebastian said, probably just two things “your daughter is pregnant” and “she is at Helmut’s house.” The mind is tricky like that.
We followed he from a distance and saw her storm into Helmuts’ house (pushing the woman opening the door aside) and come out some time later. She had a brisk, confident step. “Thank God you told me where she was,” said the mother, “Have you seen the bed she sleeps in, and that stuffy room… not to mention the horrible food they been given her… She’s pregnant for God sakes, they should know better.”
Oh bother. If I was Phon, I’d probably put a contract on us.
Brother Fabitor was thankful for the information, and while he didn’t have anything with which to pay us, he promised to be of assistance should we need some healing or cure, or something like that.
Queensday to Theoday, 9th-10th of Toil, 721IA
On the morning of Queensday Menon and I went again to the Pale Tower and were ushered in to see Aoska but she had nothing knew to tell us about the key. We told her what we’ve researched so far about Shadows and Sadar. Exasperated, Menon asked her if she knows anything about the Church of Lothian, and how come the wife of Renn Sadar might come to work there, to which Aoska said: “Mysterious are the ways of humankind.”
On a whim I asked her if she knows of Liquid Shadow, “How does it look? Does it light about like a rainbow when you put a torch near it?”
“No,” said Aoska, “what you are referring to is a Pit of Insanity. Very, very dangerous.” I was suddenly very glad I decided not to draw it on the map I gave to the Delver’s Guild. I offered to give her the location of said place, perhaps they could neutralize it, but she said that there are other ramifications to such act and that she doesn’t think it’ll be the correct action just now.
Most of the following two days were spent researching in the library; and for me, also reading poetry and legends at home and continuing the writing of the poem for the Republicans.
In the middle of the night a sound of something knocking on our window woke us up. “Will you stop writing at this late hour…” called over Menon from her room.
“And here I thought you were entertaining someone…” I retorted. But the sound didn’t stop and I went to the window in our living room. Menon was there and as she opened the window, a small black bird flew in and landed on our table.
We looked at each other. “Shadow Sendings,” said Menon and I nodded. I went to it and touch the bird. “Lord Zavere and Lady Rill request your presence urgently at Castle Shard.”
We were in our rooms getting dressed even before the message ended.
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