Larane 11, 730 TR
After consideration, we decide to concentrate on five areas of interest. They are: Sir Blors, Mogger, the Aerths, and Ewen’s gigs. We are also interested in the pedophile Baron and what he is doing in the city. Events happen quickly. Dascomb informs us that the Baron’s two men at arms (Pix and Trelk) carried in an unconscious or dead man on a stretcher and brought it to his suite. From the size it is not either the Baron or his “niece.”
As we are going over this event, Pix knocks on our door. He is shaken and announces that Sir Felkar has been murdered. The Baron has retreated to his inner room and refuses to give any orders. Pix and Trelk found Sir Felkar about to be dumped into the embalmers barge on the canal. His throat had been slit and he was totally nude. He invites us to help so we go to look at the body. He is dirty and his throat has been cut.
Upon drawing back the blanket covering him we discover that the three mascle sign has been carved into his chest with a keen blade. He has not been in the water. He appears to have been dragged (we think by the Agrikans) and we find a silver penny lodged in his gullet (the harper in Coranan had a key in her throat and silver pennies on her eyes).
Upon further discussion we find that another cousin of the Baron (the heir to his estate) died several weeks ago from a heart attack. Sir Felkar had been the heir after this death. They last saw him in their room at midnight when everybody had gone to bed. No one heard him leave or knew why he might have done so. When he went out he was armed but left his armor and helmet here in his room. The group has been in Golotha for three days (from Larane
but the guards do not know the reason for the visit. The Baron visits the city (according to Pix) once a year that he knows about. When we knock on the door of the Baron Quste, he shouts threats and does not wish to be disturbed. The party decides to go and have breakfast to discuss the events. We leave Dascomb there to be whatever help he can be. After about twenty minutes the party comes down. The Baron pays for his stay and leaves. He does not tell the innkeeper that he has left a dead body in his room. He has told his retainers that he has “made arrangements.” He is running very scared.
Bevan and Dascomb follow them out of the city. They go straight to the gate, retrieve horses from the ostler and head up the road toward his home. While this is going on, Ewen decides to check out the now empty room. He finds evidence of hasty packing. They have even left Sir Felkar’s armor behind (which Ewen thoughtfully puts in our rooms), a full chain hauberk (an expensive item). Also left behind was a small chest at the foot of Sir Felkar’s bed. It contains clothing that has been gone through. In the Baron’s room, he finds a good, small strongbox which is empty. Bevan, Dascomb and Imarë (who was at the Smoking Meken) return at about 10:00. We decide to see what happens.
Orsa learns there is a body in the room from the maid sent up to clean the room. He is quietly carried out the back of the inn with no notice being drawn to it. There is no alarm raised about it and nobody is sent for to investigate. Perhaps Orsa has some experience in these matters. Certainly it is a phlegmatic response to a murdered guest.
We decide to ask the harper Nicola if she knows our red-headed harper from Coranan who started us looking for the mascles and, we think, had to do with the murder there. She has not and has never heard of that sign. We decide to look for where this attack might have happened. We find blood along the building in the alley north of the Bridgetower Inn . It appears he was dragged into the alley to have his throat cut. We also find his linen down the alley (with no blood on it). After we have determined this, we go to find someone who will buy the armor we have liberated. We go to one Petrak of Marganae (a weaponcrafter who specialized in swords). He is willing to pay 760d for the armor. Asking if anyone else had come to sell anything unusual this morning, he tells us a common man came in to sell a very good dagger at a very low price. The dagger has flecks of blood on it, which doesn’t mean anything other than it had been used.
After this we return to the Bridgetower. While we are there, a man at arms comes in and looks around the room. He then goes back out to the courtyard and talks to group of riders (four others). Sir Blors then comes into the Inn. He goes to Orsa and tells him he needs to go upstairs and does. Bevan follows him up and tells him what has occurred (he seemed friendly with Sir Felkar). He asks something about the Baron of Quste descending below the Northhaven Wharf. It’s possible Sir Felkar was supposed to deliver something to someone there and seems to have been intercepted along the way. This seems to be what upset the Baron so much, though we have no evidence for this. When asked what he has against the mission we are on, he says too many troops would be needed to quell the city and that we are on a fool’s errand. If we are able to tell him who killed Sir Felkar he would be willing to answer some of the questions that we have (he wants revenge for Sir Felkar).
At this point we get the idea to see if any of the night denizens of the alley could have seen what happened. We split into two groups, Imarë and Ewen go in the front of the alley and Bevan and Dascomb will go around and enter the other end. One person who has two friends waiting to rob us draws us into the alley. Our pincer movement traps them and enables us to talk to them.
They did see what happened in the alley the prior night. Three men with shortswords, one small like a child, waited for someone to come by. While one of the men confronted Sir Felkar, one of the others hit him over the head from behind. Once they had done this they grabbed a big leather bag he was carrying and ran back through the alley. After this, another man came along via Nemiran Street from the south and slit his throat and dragged him into the alley. There he did something they could not see with a dagger and then took his purse. He took off to the north. After he left, this group went and stripped him bare (weapons and clothing). We give these people money, 6d apiece, for their story and offer them more if they bring us information and they agree.
Larane 12, 730
The next morning Bevan gets ready for her dinner with the Aerth family. She and Imarë go to the perfumer Borana of Promel. While there we see a hard looking man with a scar in the back room. At this time, the perfumer’s daughter comes in and she is the spitting image of Ewen (who says that he had an uncle who traveled a lot). Bevan buys a nice bottle of perfume. We then go to a clothier (Zako of Varian) and Bevan buys a nice red silk dress.
While Bevan goes to her gathering, Imarë goes to meet with Mogger at the Silk Hat. As usual, Bloody Bhurt is on the door and the interior is dingy and smoky. Imarë finds that Mogger is a native of Golotha and is “of short stature but great abilities.” Imarë decides to bite the proverbial bullet and has a sordid tryst with the midget. The pillow talk afterward she learns that he is “important in other ways,” “has many irons in the fire,” and “has business opportunities come his way.” There is potential here to be cultivated (especially after the short, child-like person was involved in robbing Sir Felkar). We then leave Imarë with the midget and Dascomb in the common room with Bhurt.
Bevan and Ewen go to the Aerth house for dinner. The hall is set up with tables that have benches and chairs. The place is very made up for the occasion. Fralys and Arvind of Aerth enter the room with other guests and dinner begins. Parqu (the other brother) and his wife enter the room. He is a city litigant (and a member of the ruling council). The two brothers sit at opposite ends of the table. A stunning young woman enters the hall with a good-looking young man (we saw him eating at the Bridgetower with another woman). She is Rahel and is the daughter of Fralys. The young man is Selik of Radburn. In conversation Bevan finds out that Golotha is the anchor of the family business and that they are merchants first and foremost. Parqu knows Theron (we are all so surprised at this …), though they seem to know and esteem Vestam Palliser better. He sets up a meeting with Bevan at his office (near the Hall of the Mangai) and seems to know why she is in the city. He thinks Bevan’s presence is a positive sign and “good for the family.” The session ends after the end of the dinner, but not before Ewen is invited to dinner at the house of the lovely Rahel of Aerth.
