Session Fourteen, Part Two: New Mysteries and Old
DM's Note: Sorry Horacio. I'm mean cos I'm a Rat B@$tard DM at heart. 
Yes, it's all over now...we finished up around 3 am. There will be one more session of tying up loose ends and then drnuncheon's Freeport Story Hour will go on hiatus while Dru runs a short game. I've got nearly twenty pages of notes left to write up from two sessions, so answering the question will have to wait. In the meantime, though...an update! Enjoy.
"Daughter." The faint smile on Tensin Naïlo's face was entirely missing from his voice. Then again, it always was.
"Father. What are
you doing here?"
Still the smile. "I was invited by my dear friend, Torsten Roth. He knew that I would not wish to miss the presentation of such a prestigious award to my own daughter." He set the book down on the table beside him, and stood.
Dru watched him with a wary eye.
One blade in the boot. One up each sleeve. One at the nape of the neck... Her gaze narrowed.
Where are the others? "Yes, I appreciate the little friends you've been sending over to play."
"I'm sure they keep you in practice." His gaze took in Di'Fier as well. "Thank you, by the way, for taking care of Kenzil. He was growing bothersome." His expression changed faintly, and the voice dropped a few degrees colder. "Soderheim."
Dru glanced back. Captain Arias Soderheim, of the Council. She knew the name - she'd heard her father's disgust more than a few times. A half elf, representing the interest of elves on the Council? Insulting.
"Naïlo. And is this your famous daughter, and her...partner?" Soderheim smirked at the elf, bowed deep over Dru's hand. "A pleasure."
Naïlo looked at his daughter. "Congratulations, Dru." Was there a flicker of warmth in his voice? Or was it her imagination? Whatever it was, it was gone as swiftly as her father was.
The Chamberlain's voice echoed dimly down the corridor. "High Wizard Tarmon, of the Freeport Wizard's Guild." Moments later, Tarmon arrived, his apprentice in tow. "Ah, Di'Fier. Congratulations, my boy. You've done the Guild proud. How are your studies coming? Have you mastered the third circle yet?"
Di'Fier coughed. "I believe I have, sir," he said.
"Splendid, splendid. Ah, Councilman Arnig," Tarmon turned to greet a stocky gnome, who bowed.
"Please, High Wizard, a moment of your time..."
"Certainly."
The woman who had entered with Arnig smiled at Dru and Di'Fier. Thuron moved forward to make the introductions. "Watch-Lieutenants, this is Petra Fricke, nominee for the Captain's Council. Petra, Watch-Lieutenants Dru and Di'Fier. Petra's done a great deal of sculting for the Temple," he added.
Petra turned her smile on him. "I'm glad you liked it," she said.
Dru raised an eyebrow. "A sculptress? Did you work on the lighthouse?"
The smile vanished from Fricke's face. "No," she said, then sighed. "For some reason, Sea Lord Drac has not seen fit to use local craftsmen for his wondrous project - nobody from the city has worked on it for the past three years." She shaked her head as if to clear the subject from it, and her good humor returned. "I understand you two solved a crime rather close to the hearts of the Craftsman's Guild. The mad alchemist?"
Dru snarled. "He got away," she said bitterly.
"Well, there's been no further problems with him," Petra said. "Which is all we can ask."
"Honored guests," panted the halfling as he entered the room and bobbed in a quick bow. "The Sea Lord requests your presence in the main ballroom." And he was gone.
"I hope we'll have a chance to talk later," said Petra, as they filed out the door.
"Thank you all for attending this grand ball, to celebrate the opening of the Lighthouse of Drac - a monument to the greatness of our city," the Sea Lord said, opening his arms expansively. "The light of its beacon will shine forth across the world, proclaming the power and majesty that is Freeport."
A smattering of polite applause died as he held up his hands for silence. "But tonight...tonight we also honor two heroes of this city. Heroes that have delivered us from the evils of the late Councillor Verlaine, and the dark Brotherhood of the Yellow Sign. If not for their vigilance, our city might have fallen under the sway of an indescribable evil."
"Come forward, my friends, and accept the Order of Drac...with our sincerest gratitude."
Dru and Di'Fier stepped forward in unison, marching to the dais and bending their necks to accept the heavy gold medals. They turned to the crowd, which erupted into applause.
"And now, my friends, let the ball
truly begin. Musicians!"
Dru leaned up against the wall and loosened the high collar of her dress coat. "Gods, I thought we'd never get out of there. I hope we don't have to fight, my hands all numb from being shaken so many times."
Di'Fier nodded in agreement, but his words were forestalled by the sudden appearance of Sister Gwendolyn. She smiled briefly at the pair, and said in a hushed voice, "Lady Elise would like to speak with the both of you. Here, in the sitting room."
"Of course." They let themselves be lead to a large and comfortable room, where both Lady Elise and Councilman Arnig awaited them.
"Please, do sit," Lady Elise said. "I am told that you have been conducting some investigations into the matter of the lighthouse." She paused a moment. "Have they uncovered anything?"
Di'Fier thought a momentm choosing his words carefully. "We have...suspicions, nothing more."
"I see. Ah, Captain Gordon. Join us." Lady Elise turned her gaze back to the Watchmen. "I propose we lay all of our cards on the table, Watch-Lieutenants. At this point, hiding what we know can only lead to problems. Xavier?"
Captain Gordon let out his breath. "I've had one of my privateers in the vicinity of the lighthouse, mooring nearby at night. The captain reported that a ship without lights landed there and unloaded some cargo. The man in the crow's nest used a spyglass to watch them, and he swears he saw a passenger with a serpent's tail."
Dru frowned. Di'Fier didn't look much happier. "That's about what we expected, though," he said.
"One of the priests of my temple was watching the lighthouse from his window," began Sister Gwendolyn. "He saw strange flashes of light. I was able to speak with some of the workers, and one of them said that they found the bodies of two strange creatures at the base of the lighthouse - with the bodies of bears, and the heads of some kind of bird. I've never heard of anything like them before."
"From what I understand," said Di'Fier, "Freeport is at some kind of a nexus of ley lines. I don't know much about them myself - I saw it in a..." he hesitated. "...colleague's research. But between that and the bricks we found..."
"They have the Yellow Sign in them," Dru explained. "The symbol of the Brotherhood."
"Then it is even worse than I suspected," said Lady Elise. She looked pale, but still controlled. Her eyes bored into Dru and Di'Fier's. "I must ask you to go, speak with Drac's servants. You are not yet marked as one of my supporters - listen to them. Perhaps they will let something slip."
"So, it is almost over." Arias Soderheim swirled the brandy in his glass as he gave a sidelong glance to Guildmaster Torsten Roth. "I'll be sorry to see it go."
"You [u[would[/u] be," Roth muttered. "With your exclusive rights to the shipping."
"Tch, tch, Guildmaster." Soderheim took a sip. "There was more than enough gold for everyone. Don't think I don't know about the special orders the Sea Lord made through you. What
was he looking for?"
"So there are things you don't know, eh? Rare for you to admit that, Soderheim. You'll just have to be curious," Roth said smugly. "It took me two years to find it..." Here his mood darkened. "And Drac still hasn't made good on his promise."
"The nomination?" Soderheim chuckled. "Drac has dangled that in front of so many fish over the years its a wonder he has room for them all."
Unnoticed, Dru wandered away from the pair.
"So, Lord Drac..."
Nothing like grabbing the bull by the horns, right Di'Fier?[/u] he asked himself. "Now that the lighthouse is finished, what will be your next big civic project?"
"I...haven't considered it much," the Sea Lord smiled. "Perhaps...a new headquarters for the Guards."
Tomas Fleetfoot, High Chamberlain for the Sea Lord's Palace, sat heavily down on a bench and mopped his brow. "There hasn't been this much activity since that man jumped out the window."
"Oh really?" The voice made Tomas jump to his feet. "No, no, sit down." Dru emerged from the door she'd been standing in. "Don't mind me. I may be a guest, but I'm a public servant, too."
"Well...if you don't mind." Fleetfoot sat down heavily. "They've run me ragged with last minute preparations."
"I imagine so. This fellow who jumped out the window. That was the merchant?"
"The Sea Lord's factor in Highgate, yes...Weggit."
Dru put on her best look of concern. She must have been at least partially successful, as the Chamberlain wasn't turning pale and shaking the way peple often did when she questioned them. "Why would he jump? Was there some kind of trouble?"
"No...I don't think so. It was really the most terrifying thing. I was walking down the hall, and he came bursting from his room just in front of me, screaming like there was a devil pursuing him. He ran down to the end of the hall and leaped through the window." Tomas paused to wipe his brow again - he had broken into a cold sweat at just the memory. "When I went to check his room..."
"Yes?" Dru prompted, as gently as she could.
"There was a book lying open on the table, and inscribed on one of its pages..." Fleetfoot hesitated. The officious Chamberlain was completely gone now, and in his place a tiny, frightened halfling. "...a strange yellow symbol. It took all my willpower to leave the room and not follow Weggit."
