House Party

Scout vanishes and Diomarche appears. We brief him on our suspicions.

Bran shows up - he's been looking for slith and is pretty sure there is not a large force around. There could be a few.

Off to the party! All the servants are Saurien. The guests are about half Saurien, half human plus a few elves.

Notable NPCs include:

1. Centurion Julia
2. Keeper of the Lord's House (Pyotr)
3. Leopold (outgoing consort, was consort round 3 and 4)
4. Viktor (was original consort round 1 and 2)
5. Richard IV
6. Carol
7. Vivian (maybe not there)
8. Mario
9. Fiodor, a saurian.
10. Angelina
11. Waldron (the warlock)
12. Thistle
13. Antonio, head of the local paladins of Rush

People are scattered around - some sitting rooms including one library, a ballroom with a bar, some larger museum-ish rooms.

Vidan identifies Richard and briefs him on Middlesea.

Gale notes there are multiple scoreboards. The biggest one is the consort race - she can see the score for tonight. Pyotr has a couple of points - neither he nor Julia has shown up yet. (He gets another point in the first round).

Diomarche identifies Antonio and gives a report. Antonio has heard from Bran about the potential slith; he says he isn't confident of the security for a deeper report.

Stella identifies Fiodor - he has recently arrived in town. He's a Yellow mage, recently arrived from Yellow - it's easier to get a job here.

Nesh listens to Carol and Angelina - Carol seems to be thinking "stick with Leopold, don't shake things up", while Angelina makes a reasonable case for Richard.

Vidan fusses a little (propaganda)

Gale dances with anyone in the ballroom who is interested in talking Drama about the consorts.

• Richard is clearly going to cause military assistance in Red. (When Gale asks, he deflects. Fair enough.)
• Viktor is also likely to lead to military action. It would be more of a snub to Leopold to go back to Viktor
• Nobody knows what to make of Pyotr being in the running. Sauriens are even less common as consort than elves.

Nesh goes to talk to Fiodor; he raises his resistance, which causes Fiodor to lower his. Huh? No illusions fall off him.

Mario tries to find out orange secrets from Stella; she manages to keep him from learning anything interesting, like the Heart of Orange.

Vidan tries to detect Carlo Picanti, but does not.

Gale checks the rest of the scoreboards:

There are four.

• Consort (Pyotr is running away with it)
• Slith v opposition (0-0)
• Bent v Free Rangers (also 0-0)
• Secret Passages (also 0)

That's another longer-running plot but probably not one to be resolved tonight. Well, the Slith Opposition might resolve tonight.

Managaratha listens to Carol and Angelina - they're talking about relations with Kor now. With Isabella out of the picture, Viktor's relationships are mostly with Rin'yan. And Isabella is from Vani in particular; Kor is only missing a journeyman, while Rin'yan is also missing a guildmaster.

Nesh continues spamming the rooms with anti-magic; Waldron thinks this is Rude. Nesh says it is necessary; Waldron wants to know why, but Nesh will only explain in private. Waldron is intrigued. They go outside and Nesh explains about the potential slith.

Vidan gets eaten by the house. A lot of other people have vanished.

We notice that 9 (Fiodor) has vanished from the map. Managaratha notes he hasn't heard of him.

Nesh and Gale are in the hallway - Gale casts "lightning nearest slith" Something goes off but not in a party room. "We're going slith hunting, right?" "Right."

Piotr hears the lightning and heads into the back.

Secret Passages are up to 3: Vidan, Mario, and Fiodor.

Vidan has fallen through a trapdoor into the basement:

Mithral Mine in the Basement

Vidan is trying to ignore the yellow (sotto voce) voices in his head, but he notices small lightning bolts hitting one of the other figures nearby in the mine.

Piotr heads to the basement.

Diomarche chats with Waldron - he doesn't have the ability to detect Bent priests, and he doesn't find any demons.

Leopold and Richard both get points with Julia. Viktor joins them with a drink for her.

Carol starts to notice that all the named characters have deserted her side of the map.

Antonio can take Nesh to the fight if he drops his defenses - Nesh suggests taking Managaratha. They go.

"Oh, look, it's Managaratha. He must have brought the paladin. Surprised he didn't bring one of ours."

Piotr: "I am going to have to ask you all to go back upstairs now."

Vidan: "The last lightning bolt hit the invisible slith right next to you!" Piotr: "Fiodor just teleported - that seems unlikely for a yellow mage"

Slith: 1 (probably from when Fiodor got to the basement) Anti-Slith: 4-5

Secret Passages is pretty high now.

Diomarche talks with Richard - he is aware that the slith countries are the size of Red / Blue / Yellow, not the size of King Richard's Lands, etc

Gale thinks the Bent v Us score wouldn't have done much unless something dramatic happened in the consort race.

Was Fiodor the same guy as Mikhailovich?.

Loot

• +8 EPs
• + 12 SPs