52. Diamonds and Hearts

* After having to withdraw from the Chaos of Clay, Aerendyl, Clwyd, and Wilfred spent the night in Luciana's guest rooms. Pyt, returning from winning his table in the second round of the poker tournament, waited well into the witching hours of the morning in the party's hotel, but nobody showed up and no messages had been left for him. Fearing his crew mates had perished in a bloody spectacle, he cast *Dream* on Wilfred.
	+ Wilfred finds himself aboard a boat in an empty ocean. Checking the side, the boat is named *the Gristling Throb*.
	+ Pyt appears from the deck cabin and the two have a chat, Wilfred telling him about the shenanigans in the Garden of Sand. Pyt leaves before telling the gnome he won his poker match, walking off the ship, falling into the ocean, and disappearing.
	+ Wilfred is left in the largely featureless dream, completely lucid, for several hours. He curses Pyt for an asshole once more.
* The next morning, Sunwane 39, the trio awoke at Luciana's house.
	+ Wilfred had a bad bruise on his back, the wound from the clay golem's attacks not healing over night.
	+ Luciana's was worse - an angry, swollen bruise on her abdomen. Despite it, she still trained after she woke up, and Wilfred heard her cursing the pain in what was distinctly not a Rumidian accent.
	+ When she was done with her training, she came out and greeted the group. Aerendyl used the last of his diamond dust to cure her unhealing wound with a *Greater Restoration*.
	+ She offered a pair of diamond earrings so that Aerendyl might cure Wilfred too, but the elf, being polite, mentioned that it felt like they'd taken a lot from Luciana already. Before Wilfred could raise a protest, Luciana shrugged her shoulders and had Cornwallace take the jewellery box and earrings away.
* Aerendyl, Clwyd, and Wilfred left Luciana's house and went to meet Pyt back at their hotel, still within the Pleasure Quarter.
	+ They all told each other about the previous night in some more detail; Pyt letting the others know he got through to the next round of poker.
	+ Clwyd and Aerendyl decided to spend a few hours training with their recently acquired shields. The elf enlisted Jolene's help, and the imp grumbled and sighed as she stung the guy in a barrage of attacks. Her poison did nothing to him now, but the dagger-like stinger cut with each hit. Still, Aerendyl was too proud to call off the exercise early and ended up seeing it through to the end, picking up seven nasty gashes. When it was over, Jolene went and sat in a corner, reading her book on How to Train your Minions she had taken from the Night Mother's home.
* Next, they headed to *the Drunken Dragon* at the end of the docks.
	+ On the way, Clwyd picked up a few nice bottles of brandy for 17gp.
	+ Taylor, puzzling over his dragonchess board as ever, was stoic-but-grateful when Aerendyl gave him the stones board.
	+ Clwyd presented the brownies with the fabric and materials she'd purchased, explained the designs of the garment she wanted, and then presented the brandy that was to be payment. In a wondrous fury of cutting, measuring, and sewing, the brownies had her clothes done in a mere ten minutes.
	+ Once finished with their work, the brownies shivered in pleasure at a deal completed and began tucking into the brandy Clwyd had given them.
	+ The goblin had had them make some sort of abomination (*Harrison, I can't remember what it looked like, other than it being awful. Please edit with details if you're so inclined.*)
* They briefly headed to the Small Quarter, looking to get some diamond dust to sort Wilfred out.
	+ They went to Myfanwy's Schmuck, the jewellers ran by a clan of goblin hobbers, where Wilfred had successfully purchased some diamond products before.
	+ Clwyd decided to wait outside.
	+ Seeing three non-goblins at the counter, the clerk that came to deal with the party shouted to his guys in the back to bring some of the cheaper diamond jewellery for these schmucks. He then asked an extortionate price for either a necklace or some earrings, neither of which was presented in a box or appeared to have been made in-store.
	+ Pyt revealed he understands the goblin language and the clerk lost all pretence of a smile.
	+ Wilfred wanted a diamond worth 100gp; the goblin said they could take the necklace for 300gp; Wilfred first says he just wanted the diamonds from the thing and they could keep the rest; he got laughed at; Next, Wilfred offered 150gp and the goblin snarled that he'd take no less than 200, and he'll choke on it at that.
	+ Wilfred didn't like the way he was being spoken to. He decided to leave it.
	+ As they left, about 20 or so goblins in the back, some popping their heads up from hatches below, all started sneering and shouting in the goblin tongue - words to the effect of 'fuck off,' 'cheapskates,' and 'good bloody riddance!'
	+ Hearing the cacophony of sneers as the door opened, Clwyd enjoyed an 'I told you so' moment regarding trying to deal with hobbers.
* With their errands done for the day, the group bedded down. They settled into life on Tortuga a bit, studying, training, waiting for the conclusion of the poker tournament. And with hardly a notice, the end of summer came and went.
* After eleven days, on Harvestide 4, the sixth night of the full moon week, it was time for Pyt's next poker match. Aerendyl, Clwyd, and Wilfred decided to tag along.
	+ At the pre-match gala, they heard some bougey people having a bit of a heated argument. A woman posited that the dwarvenoid originates from the ice lands, where human life expectancy is no higher than late-30s, and where dwarves live to an age comparable to what humans achieve in more hospitable climes. Thus, when dwarvenoids leave the ice, their robust physiology is what extends their lives into the centuries. An old man throws his hands up in the air, disgusted at the suggestion, screaming, 'won't somebody please read Galder's Theorem!'
	+ The competition in the poker tournament was much fiercer now. But Pyt was still riding his luck, with his knack for lying and getting in people's heads doing the rest of the work.
	+ Pyt's table got to heads up play, just him and Hamill Freeman, an alderman from Snowmead on the Merchant Strait. Pyt psyched the guy out completely, practically telling him to fold or to call when he wanted him to.
	+ Hamill went out, earning a place at the best losers table, where he had one more chance to get to the final table.
	+ Meanwhile, Pyt had won his third table, meaning he'd made it to the end - he'd earned his spot on the top table despite being a novice poker player!
	+ He was greeted with a handshake and some congratulations by a well-dressed, well-groomed human man, around 60 years or so, one eye clouded over after an injury, the scar still visible. The man introduced himself as Florian Le Sheur, the host of the event if Pyt didn't know, and talked about how he was looking forward to seeing how the 'wildcard' of the tournament fares in the end. Pyt didn't recognise the man or his name.
* Another eight days pass. On Harvestide 12, last night of the phasing moon, the top table of the poker tournament was to play.
	+ The entertainment was really top notch that evening. And more of a crowd stuck around to watch the table play than the previous games.
	+ Luciana had also made it through to the final table. She asked Pyt if he was interested in making a side bet between them and he agreed. Luciana said that if she placed higher than Pyt, they'd go on a date and he'd pay for it all. At a loss for what to ask himself, he said that she'd pay for the date should he place higher.
	+ Pyt and Luciana were joined at the table by Hamill Freeman, having been victorious at the best loser's table; as well as Margarita au Volpe, the human woman in her 70s who'd bought the fey lynx at the cat show; Jiggy Gingerale, the old, drunk, jolly, bald and bearded, corpulent lord of Tortuga's small; and Basker Stoke, middle-aged human man, otherwise known as Mr Poker, the out-and-out favourite to win the event with the absence of Lady Luck.
	+ The table, and the tournament goers at large, had apparently taken to calling Pyt 'Wildcard' or 'Joker' for his unpredictable, talk-heavy style of play.
	+ Before the match began, Florian Le Sheur addressed the crowd a little, thanking them all for attending this, the second of this newly-minted quadrennial tradition. He attested that much fun had been had and that it seemed many people had gained a lot from the event. As a little token for these the best six players, he presented each of them at the table with a black and gold ring, adorned with tiny gemstones that formed the shapes of the four card suits. Were the rings mundane, they surely would have been worth a lot, but Florian said they had been enchanted by his friend from the inner isles, the artificer Szordin.
		- Wilfred recognised the name: Szordin was a very well regarded maker of magic items, famously fussy about the projects he worked on, and also husband to the Circle's Archmage of Evocation.
	+ When the match finally started, Pyt did his best but ended up going out first, losing in the end to a bad beat at the hands of Mr Poker. Basker gave him a little shrug, and Luciana winked at Pyt as he left the table to an ovation from the crowd and the odd chant of 'wildcard' or 'joker,' names he apparently hated already.
	+ Pyt found his mates, they commiserated him and remarked that they really didn't even expect him to get this far. Then they all stuck around to watch a bit more of the match. While they were doing so, a worker came over and handed Pyt a velvet bag full of coins, his winnings. He didn't know he got winnings.
	+ Hamill Freeman went out fifth.
	+ Spotting Florian amidst a mingling crowd of merchants, hand-shakers, and deal-makers, Pyt headed over. He had to wait for the man to finish talking to a couple other old men and a few handshakes to be passed around before he could get in a conversation with the event's host.
		- Florian commiserated Pyt for his early exit at the table, calling him Wildcard again, half in jest.
		- They talked a bit, and the Rumidian was so wrapped up in high society he didn't even contemplate that Pyt might come from humbler origins. When asked, Pyt told Florian he was a musician, prompting the Rumidian to ask what college. Pyt fumbled a bit but gave over that he studied at the College of Overplynn, earning a little smile and an, 'oh, provincial,' from Florian.
		- Pyt went on to lie to the man about being good at sports - running and such. Florian mentioned that 'spell soccer' seemed to be taking off in the inner isles these days. He wasn't not much into it, but the Company needed to keep on top of what was popular, after all.
		- It became clear that Florian was a high-up member of the South Rowe Trading Company. This info spooked Pyt and he quickly took his leave. Another party goer soon replaced him to greet Florian, shake hands, and evidently start trying to form some deals.
	+ Pyt returned to the party, calling Florian 'one of the bad guys' in a bit of a panic. The others told him to chill.
	+ That said, they have heard about the South Rowe Trading Co, large enough now to be a political force in its own right, and apparently part of the push for aggressive Rumidian action against the Sultanates.
	+ The group left the match and gala, but not before seeing that Luciana eventually went out fourth.
	+ Before they went back to their hotel, Wilfred had the group swing by the silent auction. He did a bit of mental maths, hoped their Pliny Set sold, and decided to put a bid of 600 platinum down on the *Roguestone*.
* The party returned to their hotel after the tournament.
	+ Wilfred identified the Gambler's Ring Pyt had got for making it to the final table. It was a fine ring for a poker player and a gambler, able to shield the wearer's thoughts from prying magics, and able to give the wearer resistance to fire damage at the cost of becoming vulnerable to cold damage, or vice versa.
	+ Next, they counted out the money in the velvet bag Pyt had received. It was 2000 platinum pieces in all. Clwyd convinced Pyt to split it four ways, despite his initial reluctance, because they'd bought him into the tournament in the first place. Pyt eventually agrees, concluding that he'd have wanted some of the Chaos of Clay winnings if they'd managed it.
* Five days later, Harvestide 17, and the silent auction came to close, marking the end to the event itself.
	+ The Pliny Set sold for 2600 platinum. After the Proprietor took his cut and recouped what they'd initially been given for offering the item, the party ended up with 1870 platinum on top of what they had in their pockets.
	+ Wilfred won the roguestone - handing over practically all of his share of the Pliny Set money to make up the 600 platinum he'd bid.
* Luciana sent one of her pigeons with a message for Pyt to the party's hotel, reminding him that he owes her an all-expenses-paid date.
	+ Pyt picked up some lilies and headed over to Luciana's without messaging ahead.
	+ When he got there, he had to wait in one of the sitting rooms; she was busy with someone else upstairs. Cornwallace remarked that he should have messaged ahead.
	+ Luciana eventually came downstairs, told Pyt he should have messaged ahead, and said she doesn't even like lilies! Pyt laughed and said he really doesn't care.
	+ In the end, she said she could be ready in an hour if he wanted to wait.
	+ In the meantime, Pyt briefly met the courtesan Luciana was with: a half-elf woman with a long, slender neck, who was really weird and stared at him in silence a lot.
	+ Pyt and Luciana eventually headed out. They rickshawed to Riverside and ate at a restaurant called the Sultan's Stove. Next, Luciana wanted to go to the rooftop gardens, so they rickshawed back to the other side of the Pleasure Quarters.
	+ Climbing some steps at the sides of buildings and going through a door to a massive, greenhouse-like enclosure that spanned a huge number of the rooftops in the district, they ended up in Tortuga's butterfly gardens, a place Luciana was really fond of.
	+ Luciana lost herself walking around the place, looking at the huge number of butterflies flying around water features, winding paths, and flora from half a world away.
	+ Pyt asked if she has any good stories about Aerendyl and she concluded that she doesn't have many funny ones - he's a bit of a serious guy.
	+ Eventually, Pyt asked her if she had a favourite butterfly, *polymorphing* into it when she answered. A real moment of girlish joy took over Luciana when he did so, before she remembered herself a little. Pyt undid his transformation with a bow.
	+ After that, Luciana asked him matter-of-factly if he wanted to bang, and he responded with a shrug and a 'yeah, alright.'
	+ So the two of them went back to hers.
	+ Around 4am or so, Pyt took his leave. He grabbed a bottle of some hard spirits from Luciana's cabinets and walked back through the streets of the Pleasure Quarter to the hotel, enjoying the cool, autumn night.
	+ Clwyd was up and watching the door when he got back, as ever. The pair briefly discussed post-coitus etiquette, with Pyt not letting on that it was Luciana that relegated him to her guest rooms when they were done. The conclusion was that since Clwyd was of a people that shag about once a year when it's wet outside, she really shouldn't be trying to lecture other about standard behaviour regarding the topic.
* The next day, Harvestide 18, the group of four tought it might be about time they left Tortuga.
	+ Wilfred bought three sets of healers kits, thinking the people of Agnor would find such things valuable.
	+ Then the group headed to the docks, got aboard *the Drunken Dragon*, and finally pushed off the shell, five-and-a-half weeks after they'd arrived back on the floating island.
	+ Clwyd messaged Nix, telling the cambion that they were leaving Tortuga at last. Nix replied that he and Badger had succeeded in capturing the pegasus the party had encountered in the Pirate Republic, and also that Dispater seemed to have got his hooks into the area already.
	+ They set sail for Bisquay.
* *The Drunken Dragon* sailed through the Chelonii Atoll uneventfully for two days. But in the late afternoon of the third day, they sighted a relatively neat looking goblin junker chugging away on their horizon, heading out towards the edge of the atoll that leads to open water and eventually the Rolling Blue.
	+ Pyt recognised the ship and wanted the group to head towards it. Clwyd agreed, though she didn't know the ship personally. With a bit of reluctance, the elf and gnome acquiesce, but Aerendyl said he'll be staying on *the Drunken Dragon* with Taylor and the brownies.
	+ When the ships were close to one another, the well-dressed goblins aboard the neat junker started calling down, asking who goes there. Pyt shouted up his name. Suddenly, there was a good amount of commotion up on the junker, and eventually thundering footsteps start sounding, someone big walking towards the edge of the metal ship.
	+ A human-sized, monstrously fat goblin poked his head over the side of the ship. He was practically crying, chins warbling as he sobbed and spoke. 'Is that really you, Pyt?!' Clwyd whispered to Pyt, 'should I even ask?' Pyt shouts up, 'Hi Coco! I'm back!'
	+ Coco, the massive goblin, called for his lads to get them aboard. The junker goblins scrambled to get a ladder in place and to help Clwyd, Pyt, and Wilfred up onto the junker.
	+ Coco was already shouting for music, food, booze, and celebrations to be had. He wrapped Pyt up in a hug when the bard got up on deck.
	+ 'Thought you'd died!' Coco was screaming. 'Thought you'd been blown to smithereens! To smithereens!'
	+ Pyt played a horribly generic goblin song that Coco and his lads loved. There was a bit of a party atmosphere going. Coco asked if they were looking for a revel too - that's what he and his lot were making their way towards.
	+ As the party and the conversations flowed, it turned out that Coco had been given a bunch of greypowder by Madog the Inferno, an offering and a show of strength the would-be conqueror had made to goblins of some renown, such as Coco. Since Coco had thought the greypowder had killed his buddy Pyt nearly two years ago, he'd been ignoring Madog and his founding of a new goblin nation - a floating island where they wouldn't have to run any more, Madog had been saying. Coco seemed pretty keen to go check out what Madog was up to now that he knew Pyt was ok.
	+ This caused some tension with Clwyd. She called Madog a murderer. Coco screwed up his face, not really following. 'Well yeah, everyone murders, don't they?' he said. Clwyd said Madog killed everyone she cared about, all her family. 'You only ever kill orphans?' Coco replied. 'That seems much worse than killing people with families. Meaner like. It's a lesson in context, ain't it.' This kind of exchange went on for a while longer until Coco just settled for accusing Clwyd of being very negative.
	+ Clwyd was pretty unhappy, Wilfred was pretty so-so about the whole party, and Pyt was keen to go. But Coco said he thought he'd lost Pyt once, never again! The big goblin didn't want to let the bard leave. Pyt tried and fails to convince Coco to let him go.
	+ Pyt sighed, then bade his companions return to *the Drunken Dragon* and sail away. He had to stay with the goblins now.
	+ The two caught on quick and took their leave. On her way out, Coco, very drunk at this point, called Clwyd a hobber. She briefly stopped, asked him to repeat himself, and then just walked away when he did so, concluding that the big dude just wasn't worth it. Coco and his lads hurled a few more insults down at her, then shifted their attention to having another party now that Pyt was with them for good.
	+ Pyt said he needed to take a long piss. He went to the edge of the ship and spent ten minutes casting the spell to summon Jude, his peryton servant.
	+ He called Coco over, pointed up at the peryton in the air and remarked on it. Coco was pretty impressed by the creature. But as he was doing so, Pyt mentally commanded Jude to swoop down and snatch him up in his talons. Pyt gave out a good scream as the peryton flew away, in the general direction *the Drunken Dragon* had sailed off to.
	+ Coco started screaming for his lads to start up the engines, fetch the crossbows. He was shouting into the wind, 'I'm coming Pyt!'
	+ Pyt and Jude eventually caught up to *the Drunken Dragon*. They sailed long into the night to put some distance between them and Coco's junker.
* The next day, four days after leaving Tortuga, the party reached the edge of the Chelonii Atoll. Two days after that, on Harvestide 24, the wine isle of Bisquay came into view.
	+ The group were worried about vampires on the island. Aerendyl suggested that he could scry on a few people.
		- First, he scryed on Coco. The massive goblin was sat in his throne-like chair on the junker's quarterdeck, screaming for his lads to get a move on, keep their eyes peeled, and shouting out to the wind and sea, 'I'm coming Pyt! Don't worry!' The group watched Coco for the full ten minutes the spell lasted.
		- Next, the party decided on scrying Cana, the halfling vampire they'd dealt with before on Bisquay. When the pool of liquid silver rippled and cleared into a window, the group saw two halflings, one with white hair stood behind the other, who was dark haired and seated. Cana was brushing her sister's hair, no longer matted into dreadlocks as it was when the party had known her. Cana asked Raphaela how she was finding the change, and she responded that it wasn't so bad as she'd thought it would be. Cana then looked up, straight at the window formed by the scrying sensor, looking right at the party as they looked down at her. She smiled sweetly. 'I think there are a few other people watching that are interested in how you're finding the change, you see. It's your old friends, Raphy. The ones I met before. I knew they weren't dead. They just disappeared for a while. Is there anything you want to say to them?' Raphaela, formerly Wick of the Eight-Finger Pirates, thought for a moment, then asked her sister if the gnome was there. Cana nodded. Raphaela looked up into the air, approximating where the sensor might be, then said, 'you promised me a fight to the death.' Aerendyl ended the spell and the party reeled from it all.
	+ Eventually getting back to business, Pyt had Jolene go and scout the island of Bisquay out. Wilfred used *Minor Illusion* to provide a likeness for each of the mage hunters that had been after him and on the island before. The imp turned invisible and flew off. By the time *the Drunken Dragon* was coming in to dock, Jolene returned, saying there were a lot of people about - apparently no sign of vampires or those three mage hunters though.
	+ Since they were still flying a jolly roger, the party got a bit of a frosty reception in Bisquay - the island apparently vowing not to do dealings with pirates any more. Clwyd (of all people) managed to convince the dockmaster to let them go about their brief business on the island, saying that they'd brought legitimate coin and they'd be no trouble. The dockmaster gave them until sunset to be done and gone, about three hours.
	+ The party of four bundled the brownies into their pockets, into Pyt's upturned drum, and anywhere else they can smuggle them, telling them it was time to go. The process was a bit chaotic, the brownies were mostly all overcome with sadness at having to say goodbye, and the group didn't think to do a headcount. They headed straight for the vine fields and the fey crossing at their heart, with Wilfred briefly stopping to grab the brownies some wine. Then Chestnut ushered the little guys through the portal, tipping his hat to the party in thanks, and telling his charges not to think about it too much when the younger brownies started crying and saying bye bye.
	+ The party all seemed a little sad to see the tiny helper fey go, but their deal was complete. They'd brought them to Bisquay and done right by the fey, and their ship had never looked better for it either.
	+ They rushed back to the docks and pushed off from the island without incident just as the sun was about to set.
* Leaving Bisquay, the party spent the night in the safe waters just before Eight-Finger's Folly proper. The next morning, they made way for Agnor in earnest.
	+ A couple days into this leg of their journey, some of the group were down in the hold going through the crates of food supplies when they heard some sounds from within. Opening the lid, they were met by the scruffy, smiling face of Poop the brownie munching away on a hardtack cracker.
	+ There were a lot of groans and signs from the party. Wilfred asked Poop what he was even doing here, saying the rest of the brownies had already gone.
	+ It was a lot of negativity all at once for the little guy and he immediately started sobbing. He explained that Burnt Butter told him to go hide when they were playing and that Poop had been doing a really good job because nobody had found him yet but then he got hungry.
	+ The group thought about turning back for Bisquay to drop the little guy off, but Faerie time dilation shenanigans meant that he might not be able to catch up with the rest of the brownies now anyway.
	+ Then Wilfred said they'd find some nice people to take Poop in and the brownie started wailing. Poop said he'd be good and that he'd be useful so they don't need to send him away. They were a little shocked he wanted to stay and Poop said he doesn't want to be alone or with strangers.
	+ And so, *the Drunken Dragon* gained another crew member, the brownie known as Poop.
* After three days of earnest sailing from Bisquay, Agnor appeared on their horizon in the mid-morning of Harvestide 28.
	+ They sailed the boat reasonably close, but didn't want to dock on the island.
	+ Then the group thought through a few options and decided they didn't want to deal with locals. Clwyd reckoned she could do what Nicole had done to commune with the Siblings last time if it came to it.
	+ And so they flew directly to the summit of the mist-shrouded mountain in the middle of Agnor, with Aerendyl *wildshaping* into a bird and Clwyd using two lots of her *fly* spell to get the other three of them up there.
	+ At the top of the mountain, the three foreboding forms of the Siblings of Agnor were already waiting for them, stood at the side of the putrid lake.