50. Fat Cats

* The party had accompanied Luciana and Yasmine to the Morendo Music Hall for an evening of revels. Following the headline act, a half-elf woman with a small golden harp pinned to her jacket, Pyt left the group suddenly. He questioned her a bit, and then ran back to Luciana's house in the rain, only to fall foul of a little trick by his old friend Riss, in the form of a magic mouth that laughed at him after he whispered his name 'sexy-like' into the card it was cast on.
* The rest of the group took their leave of Morendo and headed to Bronze Boy to keep the night going, assuming Pyt had already headed there since it had been the plan from the start - and they were supposed to be enjoying his late-birthday celebrations.
	+ Luciana and Aerendyl take one of the nice rickshaws for themselves and catch up a bit. Luciana asks how he finds the group, and Aerendyl tells her he likes the gnome but thinks the goblin might well stab him in the back the first moment it benefited her. Luciana said that she and Yasmine had a lot of time for a woman that the world at large was often inclined to reject on appearance alone, and they kinda agree to disagree.
	+ In the other rickshaw, Yasmine explains to Wilfred and Clwyd that a 'golden harp' isn't a physical object they were expecting to see that evening. It's the title given to a someone that's graduated from the Rumidian bardic colleges with an education in the six liberal arts, a catalogue of memorised songs, poems, and plays, and a mastery of strings. That woman, Ruby she calls her, was in fact born in the Red Velvet, and Lady Rouge sponsored her education.
	+ When they got to Bar Model Silver -- a little known, expensive place that Luciana frequents -- they found that Pyt wasn't there and concluded that he was likely shagging the half-elf musician he'd rushed after. As such, they all stay and get super drunk on the silver-leaf vodka the place serves, while enjoying the chill vibes of a dark room, comfy chairs, incense and candlelight, not many other customers, and a cool clockwork music box playing nice tunes.
	+ Next they hit Bar Death Match in Hell, a cramped, dark room playing skeethy music, with a bunch of very skinny, scantly-clad human and half-elf men in their late teens dancing on poles about the place. It took a lot of shimmying to get between the tables to the bar.
	+ The group stumbles out at about half four in the morning. Yasmine, not shitfaced like the rest of the group, takes her leave, returning to her quarters in Riverside. The other four head back to Luciana's house.
	+ Meanwhile, Pyt has been busy lashing out in sadness and anger. He went to the guest bedrooms of Luciana's house and entered a trance so that he could give Tobias Ashborne a horrific nightmare with his *Dream* spell. The man saw Pyt's face in the space left on a shelf when he pulled a book away, and the face did speak: '*Think what you have done! Think now what you deserve!*' Then Tobias was falling, endlessly falling, with books tumbling after him. Pyt stuck around in the dream-space to watch the man's terror for a few hours. He eventually left the trance when he heard the others get back, but Tobias Ashborne was in the nightmare for the rest of the night, and would be taking 9 psychic damage from the horror of it all when he woke up.
	+ Luciana wakes up Cornwallace to draw her a bath before she goes to drunk sleep.
	+ They're all super drunk and they try talking to Pyt a little but not much comes of it. Everyone quickly goes to bed.
* The next day, Sunwane 28:
	+ Aerendyl is largely immune to poisons following the River King's 'care', so he suffers no hangover and reckons with a little more practice, alcohol might not even have much of an effect on him any more. Clwyd switches her Fiendish Resilience to poison to head off the worst of the alcohol's effects, what with her being unable to sleep things off any more (or sleep at all). Wilfred, though, has a pretty gross hangover.
	+ It's midday but the time they're up and at em.
	+ Clwyd sends a message to Nix, telling him the group's back on Tortuga. He replies that he can be on the turtle in a couple days and they should meet up to talk.
	+ Four invitations to the poker tournament have arrived for the group, in light of their contribution of a Pliny Set to the auction. The entrance fee is 500 platinum each, but it comes with access for the entrant and a plus one to the events of the month, and the final table of the tournament has some hefty prizes: just getting to the table, 6th place, receives 2000 platinum, with 1st place receiving 10,000 platinum.
	+ The group play a little poker with Luciana, who, it turns out, is very good at the game. They also discover that Pyt has quite a knack for it, and decide that they might enter him in the tournament if he commits himself to actually learning the rules of the game in the time they have to prepare.
	+ Luciana agrees to teach Pyt the rules and some of the strategy of poker. Aerendyl sticks around to make sure Pyt is actually paying attention. Meanwhile, Wilfred and Clwyd use the afternoon to take a trip to *the Drunken Dragon,* parked as it is at the end of Tortuga's docks.
	+ They find Taylor sat at the stern of the boat looking out over the water. His clothes are spotless, having been mended by the brownies after they ran out of things to do around the ship. The brownies themselves are hiding inside the deck cabin. Clwyd gets Taylor to talk to her for the first time! She asks if he's any good at poker and he tells her he has a head for strategy games, but he doesn't much want to be around people right now, and so declines her offer regarding the poker tournament. Wilfred gives Taylor 50 gold to buy the brownies food (specifically brown foods if possible) and booze. He also casts *Arcane Lock* on the hatch leading down below *the Drunken Dragon's* deck.
	+ Clwyd pays the Warden for another week of surveillance on the ship, and gives one of the Proprietor's dock masters some more gold to keep them in good graces.
	+ Before heading back to Luciana's, the small duo swing by Bronze Boy and strike a deal with Bar Gently, selling their trunk of 50 gallons of Freetown Rum for a tidy 5000 gold pieces.
* The next day, Sunwane 29:
	+ Clwyd tells Nix she's on Tortuga for the next month or so, wrapped up in some investments. He replies that he's just arrived in Hell and will be on the turtle tomorrow morning. He needs her to message again telling him where to meet her.
	+ Clwyd tries getting Pyt to message and tell Nix the location of Luciana's house, but he doesn't really do a great job of specifying where that is. Nix reminds him that he can't message Pyt or Clwyd because of their bracelets.
* The next day, Sunwane 30:
	+ The party go to a nearby restaurant in the Pleasure Quarter and Clwyd messages Nix, telling him where to find them.
	+ A few hours later and the cambion arrives, all smiles and pleasantries. He talks to the group a little bit, they give him a rundown of everything that's happened to them since they've seen him last, and then eventually Nix says he'd also hoped for the opportunity to talk to his wards alone, Clwyd today and Pyt tomorrow. When he makes no indication to leave the table, the other three take the hint and make their departure.
	+ The pair talk a little about Clwyd and her intentions regarding Madog - she says she's hoping he'll be on the move again once the Pirate Republic goes up in the air, a stance Nix finds perplexing. He then gets Dimitri to read out a list of all the updates she's given him in the 113 days since they'd last seen each other:
		- 'We've arrived in the Pirate Republic and are being put in chains.'
		- Wilfred asking for updates on whether Greenbeard was a good candidate for wardship or not. He had not been.
		- Wilfred trying to strong-arm Nix into helping the group - specifically, saying that Pyt had been turned into a werewolf and if Nix wanted his ward right and well again, he should help.
		- 'Just freed 14 imps from the Fourth Hell into the Republic. You might be able to angle it into a favour of some kind.'
	+ Nix tells her these are some real shit updates, that he has no means to help her if he doesn't know what's going on with her, and that his other wards who want his help message him most evenings. They get into a little bit of a shouting match when Nix criticises her for freeing the imps - 'in a time of turmoil for the Republic, you've released 14 agents of the Fourth! Dispater's probably signing pacts as we speak!' He tells her there's no favour to be angled, not least because he wouldn't even know who the imps were working for and so who to talk to about it, but because she didn't form any sort of written contract in the first place. 'Devils aren't faeries,' he said. 'We aren't obliged to balance any metaphorical scales. Always get it in writing.'
	+ They both calm down a bit, and Nix says that the question regarding Alekto sounds promising -- and when asked, he says he's certainly not above using faeries to further the household's goals -- and that the wand they'd picked up sounds interesting too and he'd quite like it for his mother's sake.
* The next day, Sunwane 31, 1st night of the Moonless week:
	+ On Clwyd's insistence, Pyt and Aerendyl go together to the same restaurant as the day before, so they can meet with Nix.
	+ Nix again starts the talk off with some pleasantries, then tells Aerendyl he'd quite like the magical talking wand the elf has come into the possession of, thinking it might have a great deal of knowledge that could be useful for his hellfire household.
	+ Skully the wand is in a pretty unsociable mood after having been kept in Aerendyl's pocket for over a month. He's rude and abrasive to everyone, especially Aerendyl. He refuses to act civilly with the elf until he sits in a cupboard in the dark for 30 days.
	+ Nix offers to augment the abilities of one of his two wards in the party that have taken on hellfire, or alternatively to trade a magical trinket, such as a Brimstone Cloak, for the wand. Aerendyl requests time to think about it, then departs, leaving Pyt and Nix alone, but not before giving Aerendyl a little speech and asking if he thinks he's a good man; if not, you might well end up in Hell anyway, so best start politicking while you're alive.
	+ Alone now, Nix gives Pyt a guidance councillor-esque talk about how he's got great potential but doesn't seem to want to apply himself. The cambion says he can't very well help the man grow his hellfire if he doesn't tell him what he wants to do. He says Pyt seems to have no direction, and when the bard says he's all ears for suggestions, Nix says he's already given him a list of things he might try and do - one of which, 'find a pegasus,' he did do, but then he ignored! Pyt nods and agrees and doesn't commit to much and takes his leave when given the chance.
	+ That evening, being the first night of the moonless week, the group go with Luciana and watch the Chaos of Clay taking place at the Garden of Sand. They try and take note of as much as they can, since they're still thinking about going for that 40k prize for themselves.
	+ In the Garden of Sand, Wilfred also notices a bold poster calling for trolls, troll owners, or troll associates, for there was to be a massive troll fight soon in the Garden of Sand. 'Many trolls will enter! Only one troll will leave!'
* The next day, Sunwane 32, the first day of the month-long poker tournament:
	+ The group use their rum money to buy Pyt into the tournament. Then between Pyt, Luciana, and Yasmine, they have enough +1s for them all to go to the opening gala in one of the fancy hotels in the Pleasure Quarter.
	+ They learn that, Pyt included, there are 82 entrants to the tournament, and the eventual winner will likely have won four tables, one per week.
	+ At the gala, the group overhear a heated conversation about two of the archmagi being sent to the Sultanates to hunt down the Lioness. A man in military dress is getting increasingly angry, saying that she wouldn't have let herself be found if she didn't want to. Another man eventually agrees, suggesting that it might be a smokescreen or an attempt to stir up conflict between the Empire and the Sultanates, since there's so much merchant interest in the place at the moment.
	+ After several hours at the gala, the crowd are ushered into an auction room, where the cat show takes place. They see a great many well-bred cats, including the Highland Jewel, the Kashum, the Proud Galleon, the Blue Rumidian, the Baronae Shorthair, the Rumidian Wirehair, the Savannah, the Faux Sphinx, and the Skogkatt. But the star of the show is the single Fey Lynx they have, which Aerendyl knows to be a creature that can tell a lie when it hears one. They briefly discuss making a bid for it, but give up as soon as they hear how quickly the price climbs. The cat eventually sells to an old human lady for 2200 platinum.
	+ When night has finally fallen, the entrants sit down to play cards while the rest of their entourage enjoy more of the gala. Pyt and Luciana are able to win their tables, though Yasmine loses at hers.
	+ Aerendyl, Clwyd, and Wilfred, still mingling, overhear another interesting conversation: 'The halo has shown itself once more!' A group of Rumidians are talking eagerly about the birth of another living saint in the royal family. They hear that the child was the youngest of a set of twins and that, 'the prognostications show a great many futures for the elder twin as well,' whatever that means.
	+ Trying to get into better habits, Clwyd fills Nix in on that development that same night.
* The next day, Sunwane 33:
	+ After eight nights in her care, the group agrees that they've enjoyed Luciana's hospitality for long enough. They move to a nice hotel on the outskirts of the Pleasure Quarter that gives them meals and board for 5gp a night.
	+ Aerendyl talks to Skully, trying to rebuild some bridges. Skully though, refuses to be civil until Aerendyl has sat in a dark cupboard for 30 days. When Aerendyl says, 'I'd understand if you wanted to go with Nix to Hell--' the wand doesn't even let him finish, replying with an, 'OK, cool then.' With sadness and regret in his heart, the elf trades the sentient wand with Nix for a Brimstone Cloak that he can use to teleport.
* Some time passes. Then it's Sunwane 38, the first day of the 2nd Phasing Moon, which means the Chaos of Clay is on again.
	+ After the grand opening ceremony, the poker matches this week are being staggered between the events and parties each night. As such, Pyt has to play tonight and he again manages to win his table!
	+ Luciana is free that night though, and she agrees to enter the Chaos of Clay with Aerendyl, Clwyd, and Wilfred - on the condition that, in the event they win, they split the prize five ways and she takes two servings, giving her 16k gold and the party 24k. They agree, if in return, Luciana will pay the 1900gp entrance fee for them. She does so happily.

*It's technically been 10 days since Clwyd and Wilfred went to the Drunken Dragon. Might want to have topped up your surveillance money, checked in with Taylor and the brownies, etc.*