C1E17: Connections

Erash and Phelan share a pint or three at the Pillow Trove while waiting for the others to return from their errands. Phelan gets a note from Emmi (the archivist) at the Cobalt Soul  and excuses himself quickly once Ferric, Khoraka, and Snow arrive. Khoraka's alcoholic haze is still in full effect and he aims to keep it that way, while Snow and Erash head off to arrange transportation for their travel south.

Snow also gets a note from the front desk a short time later, with the news that her date is set for the following evening. She can barely contain her excitement. After the party retires for the night, she tries to sleep – and in her wakefulness, witnesses Erash in the throes of a dream [https://aedificium-arcanum.com/erash-first-dream/]. As he thrashes in his sleep, he seems as though he is glowing, and the heat he's emanating seems like enough to set the bedding on fire.

He wakes with a gasp, and the two discuss what he saw, and what it might mean.

Phelan drops Emmi at her door after dinner. [https://aedificium-arcanum.com/phelan-emmi/] Through some highly effective truth extortion and calling out his decidedly non-human resistances, she backs Phelan into admitting to his lycanthropy and agreeing to "work" with younger monks in the Cobalt Soul's training facility during the full moon of Ruidus the following evening.

The next morning, another message waits for Snow, this time from Echo.

> Snow, what magic is this that you worked? You are a wonder! Claudius gave me the night off. I am so excited! I’ve never been to see the show. And I’ve heard that since tonight Ruidus is full, they have something special planned! What are you wearing? Where should I meet you? I can't wait to see you! After an idle morning, the group makes their way to The Crooked Rook for the chess tourney to cheer on Khoraka as he competes for the prize.

The Crooked Rook > The Crooked Rook couldn’t look more different than the last time you were here. It’s teeming with onlookers. The bar is completely overrun with a festival atmosphere, and the half elf man you met originally has his hands full. His full sleeves are pulled up in garters as he and a dark-haired dwarven man with a prosthetic arm serve patrons. > In the center of the room, a circle has been cleared around four of the bar-chess tables. On each sits a box of chess pieces. A halfling goes to each table in turn, pushing an inlaid button that causes a three-tiered board to telescope out of the table, and placing the three tiers of pieces on each — infernals on the lowest board, denizens of the material plane on the middle board, and celestials on the top. > At the bar, Phelan salutes you absently with a pint from the corner where he’s in conversation with a huge, stately, white horned owlin in blue robes. > The tall half-elven proprietor, Svorin, shouts to be heard above the crowd. "All right folks, welcome to the Crooked Rook’s quarterly dragonchess tourney! Let’s get this started! Contestants — standard tourney rules apply. Each match is timed, 30 minutes to a match. Best of three advances to the next round. We’ll all take a 30 minute break between matches, so the aim is to have our winner ready to drink on the house by 1800.” > A rowdy cheer goes up in response. “And while Oleg’s homebrew should be enough reward for anyone – ” > The burly dwarf gives a mock toast with a tankard from behind the bar. > "– we also have the pot for today’s winner — 160 GP!” More cheering. “Now then! Bracket’s been posted for a few days, but let’s have match 1 — Dhakor and Goldfinder here at table one. Kierae and Aptos at table 2, Ahearn and Folkor at table 3, and Asherwyn and Hardybeak at table four. Places, folks! We begin in five. > Money begins to change hands among the onlookers while the players seat themselves. Halfway through is first match aganst a dwarven cleric named Nalral Goldfinder, Khoraka becomes strangely aggressive and abrasive and not at all his usual easygoing self after a series of poor moves. His opponent is both startled and watchful, and ends up losing the match.

The second match starts amicably against a handsome, friendly tiefling who introduces himself as Marbas Aptos. The talk is light, but again as Khoraka gets deeper into the match, his demeanor changes. He makes another bad move, and infuriated, he gutterally curses in Abyssal before cracking the table in half with an eldrich blast. Shocked, the tourney pauses while Erash and Ferric pay the proprietor for the damages and hustle Khoraka out the front door. Snow stays with Phelan, who is still mid-game.

After the tourney, Snow strikes up an apologetic conversation with the tiefling that was playing Khoraka when he became unhinged. He seemed genuinely concerned and they spoke at length about Khoraka, his strange abilities, and his whip. While the chat seemed quite genuine and pleasant, at some point Snow got an uneasy feeling that Marbas knew something he wasn't saying, and she took her leave.

Snow and Phelan (who lost decisively to the owlin) leave The Crooked Rook, concerned for their friend, and make their way to their respective evening plans – Snow's long coming date with Echo, and Phelan's "date" with the Cobalt Soul.

The Platinum House Unsure how best to help their friend, Ferric and Erash take Khoraka to see The Herald of the Platinum House, Kumas, for a thorough divine inspection. He finds the mention of the Abyssal utterances disturbing, as well as Khoraka's lack of any memory of the event. Trying to gauge Khoraka's current perceptions of good and evil, he tries a few different approaches, but sees nothing in Khoraka's basic essence that indicates posession or any other intrinsic demonic influence. Troubled, but satisfied for the moment, they take their friend out into the darkening wet of the Pentemarket as they make their way back towards the Tri-Spires on foot.

Quicksilver Cabaret Snow picks Echo up in her newly-acquired carriage and they make their way towards dinner.

> You enter the cabaret through soaring double doors. A staircase flanked by whimsical statues of leaping rabbits leads down into a checkerboard-tiled dining area bisected by a long stage. A matching staircase sits across the cavernous space from you. Over head, sourceless lights create colorful patterns around the room, morphing slowly from pink to green to blue to white and back again. Sourceless music fills the air, adding to the feeling of anticipation. > Busy halfling waiters weave in and out of the tightly packed room as you're shown to your table right next to the stage. The show is a stunning, fantastical spectacular of skill and artistry [https://aedificium-arcanum.com/quicksliver-cabaret/], all overseen by the grey tabaxi named Vale.

Following the show, Echo and Snow make their way to the upstairs VIP lounge, where the cast is emerging in street clothes after a successful show.

> The lounge is lit by a combination of glittering chandeliers and moonlight, but is devoid of the pretension of the lower floors. A long, dark wood bar backed by a giant mirror and a colorful array of bottles faces out onto an open room of small tables and stuffed chairs, the floors covered with warm, patterned, and mismatched rugs that ward off the chill. A fireplace with a merry fire sits between the vaulted windows. The cast of the night’s production are dressed in comfortable clothes, some nursing packs of ice or herbs, drinking and smoking in the low amber glow. Conversation flows and there’s laughter and quiet conversation all around as the performers come down from a heady success. The tabaxi with the sound board is in the corner, in a jam session with the tabaxi in the feathered hat, who made his way upstairs once the crowd had dissipated. Snow overhears the grey tabaxi, Coal, talking to his friend Wing (the DJ). He's had concerning news from home that his clan – Thundering Basin – is dealing with sudden Yuan-Ti activity in the area. She and Echo join the conversation. The Yuan-Ti had been thought gone and destroyed for the past several hundred years. How does a whole people come back from the dead like that? Surely it’s something else?

After a long evening full of wonder and conversation, Snow takes Echo home again, and as Echo gently tells her she talks too much and leans in for a kiss, it becomes pretty clear that their evening, at least, doesn't end there.

Pentamarket by Night Navigating the wet byways of the Pentemarket, Erash, Ferric, and Khoraka duck down a side alley. They're intercepted by a two small, wide-eyed children who asks them for charity. As Ferric and Erash give her a few coins, a roaring column of fire pounds down upon all five of them, instantly killing the children and disorienting our heroes. Looking up, on the rooftop next to them, they see the man from the chess tourney – the teifling – looking down on them with death on his face. He extends a hand towards Khoraka and in an instant, Khoraka is near catatonic; not able to speak or comprehend any language, nor able to use any of his powers. Erash surrounds the tiefling with fire, setting the roof alight. The fight continues until, overpowered, Erash and Ferric ultimately collect their friend and run to the sound of echoing whispers in Abyssal that chase them through the dark streets, the orange and reds of the burning building reflecting in the puddles on the street around them.

This guy. Marbas. This guy is a problem.