Day 12 (continued)
Guido returns to the bar dragging a bottle of mead with his tail. Temerity creates a diversion to hide his entrance. He conjures the illusion of lines of tap-dancing rats with gold waistcoats. Everyone falls silent and watches the incredible display of bardic phantasmagoria. Under the cover of this distracting illusion, Temerity scoops up Guido and begins to juggle with him. Temerity pops the cork of the bottle, catches the lute that he was also juggling, strums the final chord and catches the bottle upright on the top of his head. Guido lands head first in the bottle. The audience provides rapturous applause. Various items are thrown at Temerity, mostly gold but the odd item of underwear also. The rats scurry off and the inn returns to normal in the wake of the spectacle. Temerity gathers up 110 gold pieces. The innkeeper is so impressed that he offers Temerity a permanent position at the bar. Temerity instead buys a round of drinks for all present.
Two young gnomes approach and ask him to teach them the illusion magic. However, during the conversation, they notice that Guido is, in fact, real and not an illusion. They begin to suspect Temerity. In an attempt to distract the gnomes, Temerity creates the illusion of flowers growing from Guido’s anus. He tries to sneak the bottle into his bag, but one of the gnomes grabs it. Theren, watching from the bar, sees that the situation is getting out of hand and sends Runcible to retrieve the bottle. Runcible fires a burst of flame at the bottom of the bottle, launching Guido out of it to land atop Temerity’s head with singed whiskers.
Temerity continues on his self-destructive rampage and headbutts one of the gnomes. Both gnomes try to punch Temerity but they miss him. Gage sees the ruckus developing and climbs up above the gallery into the rafters in preparation. Temerity addresses the crowd, trying simultaneously to incite them against the gnomes and aggravate the gnomes. Gage moves to position himself directly above Temerity. Theren despairs of the situation and starts drinking the mead, even though he hates it. The crowd begins to become uncomfortable as some of the more inebriated patrons begin to side with Temerity. Theren sidles out of the bar, leaving Temerity to his brawl.
One of the gnomes pulls out a truncheon and smacks Temerity across the kneecap. The other gnome grabs his hand and wrenches it backwards. Temerity creates an illusion of two sheep mating; the sheep have the gnomes’ faces. Lavender is outside listening to the brawl but doesn’t get involved, remembering to remain incognito. Gage aims his bow at the glassware on the bar in an attempt to distract the participants from the brawl. He shoots the glass in the innkeeper’s hand and everyone turns to look. The innkeeper is furious at someone for using weapons in his bar. Gage drops to the floor and attempts to lie his way out of the situation. The gnomes are now staring at Gage, but still try to attack Temerity, failing due to the distraction. Temerity’s illusion shifts now – there are more sheep, one with the face of every gnome in the bar, including Gage. They are all engaged in deviant acts. Temerity is also present in the illusion, standing as a shepherd benevolently watching over his flock. Everyone in the bar stops and stares at the illusion for a worrying amount of time. Silence blankets the place. Theren hears that the ruckus has ended and peeks through the door. He sees the illusion and hastily leaves again. No-one in the bar can tear their eyes away from the disturbing scene.
Just as the illusion fades, the sheep morph fully into the gnomes, link hands with Temerity and bow before winking out of existence. Horrified silence pervades everywhere. Everyone returns to their business, as if pretending that the tableau never existed. Temerity packs away his things, struts over to the bar and plonks down a stack of 10 gold pieces. He then returns to his corner and continues to play his lute. Meanwhile, Guido is frantically searching for something. Temerity tries to entice him over using a glass containing some dregs of beer. However, Guido ignores him and continues his search. Temerity switches tack and sings about liquor under his chair.
Outside, Gage tells Theren that he tried to help in the brawl but that it really didn’t work. Theren passes him the mead bottle. Gage gives it a sniff. It is not local mead but he cannot discern from where it comes. He spots something at the bottom of the bottle but it’s not clear what it is. Theren discusses with Gage about heading to the mayor’s residence and agrees to go. Meanwhile, Lavender waits in her room for the others, wondering what the distraction will be now. Gage remembers to fetch her and throws a small rock at her window. Lavender hears the tink and sees Gage giving her a thumbs-up. She puts up her hood and leaves the inn. Outside, she discusses the plan with Gage.
Theren has sent Runcible on a recon of the mayor’s mansion but he saw nothing of use. Lavender wants to fetch Temerity to provide a distraction. She tells Theren to get Runcible to fetch the bard. Theren tells Runcible to bite Temerity. In the bar, Temerity sees Runcible enter alone and holds out his arm for the dragon. Runcible lands, looking very cross, grabs tightly to Temerity’s arm and pulls. Runcible growls and whips him with his tail, stinging Temerity. The poison doesn’t affect Temerity and he tries to stroke Runcible. The dragon tries to bite Temerity but misses. He flies off.
Temerity stands up, storms over to Guido and picks him up by the scruff. Guido protests vociferously. Temerity taunts Theren outside but Guido’s protests increase and Temerity pays attention. Guido tells Temerity that he found something important but that he lost it in the mead. Theren understands Guido and grabs the mead bottle from Gage. He looks inside but cannot see what Guido is talking about. Temerity sees Theren looking at the mead bottle and sashays over to take the bottle. Theren tries to swing the bottle at him but falls over instead. Lavender grabs the bottle as he falls. Temerity bows elaborately to Lavender and asks graciously for the bottle. Lavender wants to know why. Temerity states that it is Guido who needs the bottle. Lavender inspects it and spots a ring inside.
She empties the mead onto the floor and retrieves the ring. Guido sticks his head beneath the flow and drinks some of the mead; however, he becomes sticky as mead flows over head and bemoans the waste. Lavender tastes the mead from the ends of her fingers. She stares at the ring but senses nothing from it. It is silver with three dark occluded jewels set into it. She shows it to the party. Temerity senses that this is a magical ring and has something to do with necromancy. It glows blue a little bit, like Lavender’s eyes have done in the past. Theren also senses the necromantic energy. He knows how powerful the ring is and that it will require attunement. Someone is already attuned to it and it would be easy for a relative to attune as well. He divines that the ring belongs to Orris Locke and tells Lavender to put the ring on.
Temerity slides the ring onto Lavender’s finger after she removes her gauntlet. Nothing happens, so Theren tells her to meditate upon it, as she should be able to attune to it. He tells her that he believes it is linked to her brother. She returns to the inn.
The rest of the party head to the mayor’s manor. Gage infiltrates from the rear, using perfect stealth skills. Theren remains outside to watch for guards. No-one sees Gage as he ropes up to a balcony and enters the mansion into the servants’ quarters. He investigates the wardrobes and finds clothes. He sends a telepathic message to Theren to come up and disguise himself as a servant. With Runcible’s help, Theren manages to climb up the rope and enter the mansion. He dons a disguise while Gage peeks out of the door and sees the entrance foyer.
Meanwhile, Temerity preens himself before strutting up to the guard at the front door and demanding to entertain the lord, claiming to be the sheep illusionist from the inn. Temerity senses that something is not quite right about this guard. The guard is confused and concerned but is very pale. Snow settles on him but does not melt. Temerity strolls up to the guard and places his hand on the guard’s shoulder, suggesting that they speak inside. The guard looks dead; he stares at Temerity and says nothing. Temerity suggests performing in the courtyard. The guard continues his stony silence. Temerity takes this as consent. Using full vocal projection, he begins to sing a bawdy tavern song, changing some of the lyrics to mention necromancy. The guard begins to sway in time to the music. Theren moves towards a window to listen to Temerity, but he cannot hear what is being sung. Temerity begins banging the front door as part of his performance. The guard continues to sway to the music.
Theren moves away from the window and immediately bumps into another servant. He tries to move around them, but the servant blocks his path. Gage watches this from the shadows. He throws a ball bearing at the servant but the thud is muffled by the carpet. Theren looks up into the face of the servant. The servant is frowning and silent. They appear confused. Theren forces his way past, apologising. The servant stares after Theren but does not move. Gage observes the servant moving off in a different direction to the one they were originally taking before the confrontation. Gage stealthily follows.
Temerity works the words to a knock spell into his song and suddenly there is a massive banging reverberating through the house. The servant stops and turns at the noise. They are near a door that they were about to enter. Gage tackles the servant and knocks them through the door and into some sort of office or study. There is another person in the room – it is his contact, Frolot. Gage brazens it out with Frolot, pretending that the tackle was intentional. Frolot is confused but accepts Gage’s explanation. Gage explains that he was at a bar fight caused by the people he was tasked with tracking. He explains that the one causing all of the noise outside is one of the party and that the other two are still back at the bar. Gage leaves the office after making his report, shutting the door loudly. He puts his ear to the door and listens but no sound comes from within. Gage shrinks back into the shadows.
Temerity opens the main door but does not enter; he projects his voice into the house and begins his sheep illusion. This time all of the sheep are zombies, surrounded by necromancers with hitched up robes who are raping the sheep. The lyrics shift to singing about an undead donkey paladin and his journey of justice across the land.
Theren tries all of the doors along the corridor. The rooms seem unremarkable; everything is unkempt and in a state of disrepair. He enters the library and skims the books. He settles on a section on history and selects a book that seems to be handwritten by the historian of the manor. It is quite old and stops quite abruptly. It talks of things being built and extended. By process of elimination, the manor was extended downwards. He begins to make his way down to find cellar steps.
Back at the inn, Lavender settles onto the floor of her room and meditates on the ring. It is very cold. As she stares into the stones, the occlusion within swirls. She feels not that the ring is cold, but instead an intense absence of heat. She slowly becomes accustomed to the anti-heat. The smoke within the gems pulses in time with her heartbeat. As she attunes to it, she realises that the ring will grant her the ability to use the spirit of death spell. She stares into the gems and within she sees images of this spell being used to strike people down. It is Orris doing the killing. The spirit he has summoned creates the faces of his whole family, including Lavender. Orris raises the fallen and continues the cycle – striking down his enemies and raising their corpses. Cold tears run down Lavender’s cheeks.
Back at the mansion, Gage knows that the true leaders of the outfit must be here, be he has never seen them before. Theren sends Runcible a message to fetch Lavender to join them before they head down into the cellar.