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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Morrow" data-source="post: 2766990" data-attributes="member: 301">Session 12 - The Aftermath - 11/6/2005As the second act began, the group began to notice the odd visual effects that Tavaari had described.  Only minutes later Tavaari observed the ghostly figure of an elf woman appear at the opposite end of the backstage area, watching the opera from the wings.  They quickly surmised that the opera was indeed haunted by the ghost of Fiarella Donadrien, the elven composer who had written this very opera for the opening of the Freeport Opera House a hundred years ago.Bronson took the lead as the party approached the ghost.  As he approached, she heard him and turned, giving him a withering look.  That one look chilled Bronson to his very soul, but he struck back, attempting to turn the undead creature.  His efforts were ineffectual.  Queg, was concerned that the ghost had so affected his master with a single glance called up an obscuring mist to hide the party from its gaze.Nate, surmising that they would need Sully’s help, attempted to peer surreptitiously through the curtains and send a message to his ally.  Unfortunately, his attempts at stealth were somewhat lacking and titters of laughter filled the opera house as the audience caught sight of him peeking onto the stage. Queg continued to hold back to stay beyond his master’s attempts to rebuke the undead, but the others circled the mist looking for any sign of the ghost.Sully, receiving Nate’s call for help, cast aside all subtlety.  She reached down and tore her dress, exposing a considerable amount of leg and the falchion she wore hidden under the voluminous skirts.  Tearing the skirts away entirely, she handed the useless cloth to a stammering Buster Wallace and leapt from his box, catching hold of one of the dozens of chandeliers that lit the opera house.  As her companions searched for the ghost backstage Sully swung from chandelier to chandelier, traveling toward the stage over the heads of the shocked audience.  Some gasped in surprise, others clapped with delight.  All were sure that this was one performance they would not soon forget.Nate felt a cold presence settle into his mind.  His head turned toward Bronson, “What are you doing?  Stop disrupting the performance.  Stop this instant!”  Bronson responded by holding up his holy symbol and releasing a burst of energy.  The ghost separated from Nate and sank, cringing to the floor.  Nate, seized the opportunity, “What do you want?  Why are you haunting this place?”Sully arrived moments later, swinging to the curtains at one side of the stage and sliding down them.  She slipped backstage, ignoring the stares of the flabbergasted singers.  As she charged through the backstage area looking for her friends, the performance was disrupted yet again, as a scream pierced the air.Sully passed Tavaari, she running to Nate, he running toward the source of the scream.  He quickly found three figures, a pair of actors and a stage hand exiting a large storage room.  The young actress, tearfully explained that she had found the body of one of the other singers with a knife in his chest.  Tavaari cut short his questioning as he saw the stage hand slipping away.  His blade leapt to his hand, “Stop!”Nate was deep in conversation with the ghost.  It was indeed Fiarella Donadrien.  She did not entirely understand that she was dead.  She apparently returned because of an unshakable feeling that her opera was not finished.  Every time it was performed she came back, trying to explain changes that should be made, but her presence only lead to deaths and terror.  From her perspective she had attended a series of rehearsals, confused by the rapid changes of casting, costumes, and sets.  Nate applied himself to the Herculean task of convincing her of her own death.Sully, finding that she could do little, collected Queg and followed Tavaari.  As they approached they saw the stagehand produce a blade seemingly out of nowhere and slip under their friend’s guard to stab him.  The stagehand then tumbled away toward a set of ropes used to raise and lower curtains and sets.  He grasped a rope and cut it with a quick slash of his blade.  He went sailing up into the air, and Queg dodged aside as a curtain crashed to the floor.  They watched the stagehand deftly step onto a catwalk and move away.Queg, unslung his great bow and fired two shots at the fleeing man, hitting him squarely.  Unwilling to let their prey escape, Tavaari and Sully followed him into the rafters.  They did not even notice as one of the curtains loosed by their ascent crashed down over the opera director, Gorsky Glitterlights as he ran up, spluttering at the chaos they had caused.  Tavaari attempted to cut off his opponent, but the stagehand tumbled past.  Sully, thinking quickly, grasped a rope and swung up to her foe.  She landed deftly and struck a mighty blow with her falchion.  “Surrender!” she hissed.Demoralized, with his life’s blood seeping between his fingers, the stagehand lowered his blade.  Then he leapt aside, off the catwalk, falling far down to the floor below.*     *     *     *     *Sometime later the crowd that gathered around the body identified him as Ruphus the stagehand.  Everyone was mystified until one of the older members of the cast removed his fake beard and makeup and recognized Hodge, a one-time member of the company who had been fired after a truly terrible performance several years ago.  Apparently he had returned to slay those who had criticized his abilities.After much negotiation on Nate’s part Glitterlights, the director, agreed to accept some advice from the ghostly artist.  When the party last saw him, he was wandering off, mutering, “We can do that.  Yes, excellent idea… Oh, she won’t do at all, we’ll have to find another performer altogether…”Nate, Tavaari, Bronson, and Queg, having been paid wandered off to find a drink.  Sully, exhausted by the events of the day, returned to the Scholar’s Quill.  When her companions staggered home some time later they discovered their friend missing, and the proprietor Dezi concerned that she had not stayed to see her brothers who had come to visit.</blockquote>

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