Session Six

Skeletons in the Closet

Almost everything in the house had been removed in preparation for its renovation, much of it set aside for the Dungsweepers' Guild to collect. Some objects were stubborn, though. One was a group painting above the bar that resisted all attempts at removal. Another made itself known by way of a bone-grinding noise that caught the attention of Elegy and Beatrice in the early morning. They quickly figured out what had made the noise: a dream-like mosaic of children of all races, two pieces of which were missing, that returned to its previous position in the cellar.

The doll they’d found had fortunately remained where Val had left it on his side table, though it had its own unsettling quirks. It would repeat certain phrases, seemingly at random. "Who's been a wicked child?", "Don't worry, we'll take care of her.", and "Delicious." were heard in a sweet, motherly voice, while a more child-like voice offered up, "Please don't hurt me!" and "I hope I don't wake up."

Questioning Lif—who couldn’t recall who they were or even how they had died—proved fruitless. All Lif could say with certainty was that they did not (could not?) go near the basement, and that they would keep Chess away from it. Though not a child per se, she was clearly young. She’d rejoined the group the day before after a brief stay with Beatrice’s elderly parents in the Trade Ward, and now laid claim to the attic bedroom where she was befriending the family of crows who’d taken up residence over the years.

The doll, the mosaic, the bones… perhaps magical assistance—maybe even divine intervention—was necessary.

Nedria, who sometimes paid homage to Mielikki, Goddess of Forests, suggested seeking help at the Shrines of Nature. The walled-off urban forest in the Sea Ward was where the Forest Queen shared her Waterdhavian seat of worship with her father Silvanus, God of Wild Nature.

Within its sanctified groves, they made the acquaintance of Eldroth Karn, a priest of the Oak Father, explained their problem, and presented the doll. That it had been found at Trollskull Manor alarmed him, though he would not say why; it was not his story to tell. Instead, he advised they speak to a woman named Ulkoria Stonemarrow. After his magical inspection Karn did, however, assure that the doll wasn’t dangerous. The words it stored were just that: words, nothing more.

The party returned to the Manor, doll in tow, with more questions than answers. Afternoon was turning to evening and their current lead would have to wait for tomorrow. In the interim, perhaps a more comprehensive inspection of the basement was in order. An impromptu excavation led by Nedria turned up even more grisly discoveries: bones, buried below the now-loose flagstones. Not the perfectly-preserved pile like before, but yellowed, brittle, and bearing signs of damage—of teeth marks. They ranged in size, but the group’s resident archaeologist could easily tell that these too belonged to children—children, it would seem, of all races.

Extreme Home Makeover: Faerûn Edition

Running parallel to their unsettling discoveries was the group's misadventures in home ownership.

Setting aside the issue of the bones in the basement, the group began the process of assessing and repairing their new abode. After some consultations, the total sum for the complete repairs to all damages of the neglected manor came up to well over 1,000 dragons.

Fortunately, there were some silver linings: after discovering Trollskull Manor was owned by a party of nascent adventurers, three of the guild representatives the group sought for repairs offered to cut a deal in exchange for the party's services. Elegy could also make headway into repairing some of the damages, and their and Beatrice's connections to various crafts guilds gave insight into how best to proceed.

Even with those trades, the remaining repairs cost a significant sum and the group got to work. They sold some of the loot they'd recovered over the course of their previous misadventures, assisted by Valentino's persuasive charms and the clever application of some spellcraft by Solaris. After hitting up half of the curio and pawn shops in the city, they also asked around for other ways to raise the cash and learned of the upcoming Queen’s Gambit Tournament.

Three—Elegy, Solaris, and Valentino—even decided to plumb the depths of the Great Harbor and visit the subnautical village of T'quession. Valentino's connections allowed him to learn of a recent shipwreck from the constant winter storms, as yet untouched by other water-breathing scavengers. The trio returned to share the information—after adding a few more trinkets to their collection, of course.

Social Calls

Meanwhile, Beatrice had gone to see Ches the kenku, who was staying with his elderly parents in the Trade Ward, and offered her a room in Trollskull Manor that she happily accepted. Before the two returned to the Manor, they visited the Silverharp Villa, House Majarra's family compound. He'd been visiting Lady Orlanna, a tinker previously of House Vinen  (and friend of Elegy) who had formed a close friendship with Beatrice when she had married into the house and helped Bea restore a strange old concert harp that later awakened his latent magical potential, then shrank to a small lap harp and seemed to go dormant.

His visit had concerned the harp in question; when playing it the night before, it unfurled and reconfigured itself into a shining figure. It introduced itself as Glissando and declared Beatrice its maestro, but the magic of its transformation did not last long before it once again returned to its original size. Its presence remained a voice in Beatrice's mind though, and it was able to return to travel size at his request.

Orlanna was astonished to hear what had occurred, then even more amazed as Glissando, at Beatrice's request, briefly awakened once more to introduce itself. The two marveled over it and made plans for a future visit before Beatrice departed with Chess and a dormant Glissando in tow.

While Beatrice made social calls and the other three explored, Nedria made the acquaintance of one of their neighbours—Rishaal the Page-Turner, the gold-scaled Dragonborn proprietor of Book Wyrm's Treasure—before going shopping with Jalester Silvermane. He helped her pick out some armour and introduced her to  yet another book store, then parted ways to tend to his own affairs when the two bumped into Beatrice as they arrived at Trollskull Alley.

Before Beatrice and Nedria could clear the threshold, they met two more of the alley’s residents. One, the elven Fala Lefaliir, ran the plant shop and apothecary across the street named Corellon's Crown. The other, a water genasi who introduced himself only as Avi, lived and worked at Steam & Steel, the forge a few doors down from Fala’s.