Dr. Si's Curse of the Crimson Throne - Alpha Group

[Dr Simon]

OOC: Psst, Leif, I wrote it so that Jerrigan brought the topic up. The "bauble" is the Queen's missing brooch that Maya and Tristan have in their possession. The reward is said to be 1200gp, more than the value of the brooch.

In a quiet booth in the Jittery Quill tavern and coffee shop, an expensive hang-out for scholars and wizards in the Heights district, Tristan lays out the cards and performs his forst Harrowing.

The Past, revealed. The three cards are the Publican, the Winged Serpent and the Unicorn. These cards all tell of friendship gained and alliances made. The Winged Serpent denotes a timely intervention, suggesting that Fate played a hand. In this position, the Unicorn is inauspicious, not all friendships turned out to be long lasting.

The Present revealed: The cards are the Lost, the Peacock and the Mute Hag. The Peacock sits at the centre of the reading, in a place of strong alignment. Brash and full of pride and beauty, the Peacock speaks of a change in fortune as sudden as the appearance of its brightly coloured tail. A change for ill or good, perhaps the rest of the reading will tell? The Lost in this position tells that duress may bring out the best of us. The Mute Hag, keeper of pacts and oaths. Bonds made, but she also tells of dark secrets hidden beneath the surface.

The Future revealed: the Marriage, the Sickness, the Avalanche. Not an auspicious array. The city heads for disaster, brought on by an alliance of strange bedfellows, sickened in mind and sickened in body. In this position, the Avalanche is not completely overwhelming. There may be a tiny chance of averting it.

 

[Leif]

[sblock=Dr. S]Ooops, will edit![/sblock]

 

[kinem]

"The future spread is the hardest to interpret. Sickness has the potential to affect an entire community. It suggests to me that perhaps the Queen will marry badly."

But ... I can't entirely rule out another interpretation. Perhaps ... it is our alliance, the three of us, that will bring disaster to the city. Strange bedfellows indeed. A more experienced reader might know.

"Ah, it's not worth worrying about. As I said, I'm just an amateur anyway.

Let's figure out what to do with the brooch. Should we just waltz up to the palace and turn it in?"

 

[Leif]

Jerrigan Arbordelve

"What?? You mean YOU have it??"

"Can I see it?"

 

[Shayuri]

Maya, silent until now, sighs and gives Tristan a halfhearted glower.

"You are uncareful with your words," she reproves him mildly in her Shoanti accent. "As for what to do, I see no reason for you not to take it back. We came by it honestly, and these are your countrymen. They won't assume you stole it."

Her slight emphasis on 'you' make it clear she doesn't extend that protection to herself.

 

[Leif]

Jerrigan Arbordelve

Leaning in quite close to his compaions, and very quietly, Jerrigan says, "Sarenrae's Grace! What good fortune for me, I think. Have I stumbled upon the two souls who have the most sought-after treasure in all of Korvosa?"

 

[kinem]

ooc: I thought that Jerrigan is the one who told us that our brooch is the Queen's.

"I suppose I blend in here, Maya, but I am no more a native Korvosan than you are" Tristan notes. "I came from Taldor to study at the Academy here.

But if you think I should do it, fine. I'll take it to the palace.

The other items, we should sell, I think."

ooc: Where is the palace? If there are no objections, Tristan will do as he said.

 

[Leif]

Jerrigan Arbordelve

OOC: Maybe I'm still not getting it totally, but I thought that while Jerrigan knows the brooch is missing, and where it originally came from, he does not know where it is at the moment or who has it.

 

[Shayuri]

Maya hesitates, then sighs and nods. The objects were certainly stolen, but it just wasn't feasible to find their owners now. Maybe by selling them to stall owners and vendors, their owners would find them again one day...for sale.

In any event, they were now legitimate spoils of war, and noble intentions wouldn't put food on any tables.

"Agreed. I have little skill in such matters, but I will go to do it while you see to the brooch."

 

[Dr Simon]

[SBLOCK=OOC]Well, my original intent was that Jerrigan saw Tristan with the brooch, recognised it and gave them the detailas, but this works just as well.

The Queen can be found in Castle Korvosa, a tall spired castle in the Chelaxian style (i.e. all black spiky turrets and scary gargoyles) atop the ruins of an ancient Shoanti pyramid, known as the Grand Mastaba. It towers over all of Korvosa. (See cover to Guide to Korvosa for a picture. The ongoing battle in that picture has nothing to do with this adventure, BTW...)

So Maya is going to avoid visiting the Castle. Is Tristan taking Jerrigan with him?
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[SBLOCK=Crispin Jeggare]
Gaedran Lamm was dead. That was the word on the street. The old man had led a long life of petty crime, preying on the weak and slipping between the cracks of larger criminal enterprises. The law in Korvosa was too bound in protocol to catch the old man, and his actions tended to be beneath their interest anyway. But now, somebody had taken the law into their own hands, and nobody mourned his passing.

Two surviving henchmen, a gnome and a half-orc, were reputed to be in the cells of Citadel Volshyenek, home of the Korvosan Guard. His gang of orphan pickpockets had scattered across the city to fates unknown, except, as far as Crispin could discover, for one lad who had been taken into the care of a dwarven cleric, one Khadmeade.

This Khadmeade was said to have been part of the group to break up Lamm's operation, rescuing a dwarven child who had been abducted into the gang. Rumour and speculation surrounded the other members, including mention of a tiefling guard from the magical Acadamae and a Shoanti woman with claws.
Khadmeade the dwarf, or the prisoners, were the only solid, reliable lead towards more solid information about the downfall of Gaedran Lamm.
[/SBLOCK]