Doctor Fletcher Florence Fitzroy Phineas of Featherfall IV

A member of House Aviary. Played by Derek Sturn.

#### Sent*:*

Dr. Fletcher Florence Fitzroy Phineas of Featherfall IV from House Aviary will visit Lord Darius Maxwell of House Toiracsi in order to give a formal introduction. He shall bring a gift of New Zenith wines and local poetry. He would like this meeting to set up relations, get a sense of the current political landscape and what his House desires.

#### Response:

You arrive at Bastion and set off to the area with house Toiracsi. You walk up to a more than normal fancy looking building. You walk in and greet the man behind the counter and ask to speak with Lord Maxwell. The man states that unfortunately he is not in but his consultant is. He goes to the back to get her. About 3 minutes go by, when the man returns with a woman. She introduces herself as Ariel. You greet her politely. She asks you to take a seat on what seem to be some very nice chairs and to please explain your business. You agree to show her the wine and explain why you are there.
She gladly accepts the wine and chuckles a little at your request. She states that the political landscape of things is complex but simple all at once. There is the King of course who is the ruler and makes all final decisions. Then there is the High Arcanist whom some adventurers have already met. He has the same power as the 3 Dukes. They all oversee the 13 other houses that govern the lands. Then there are 13 houses. Obviously house Maxwell is a house. They are about politics and making sure that everything that is said at the round table meetings is recorded and put into record. At this point you are really intrigued and are 2 glasses of wine down.

She explains that each of the 13 houses meet at round tables weekly to go over the state of bastion and any new house members that may have joined a house. All houses have their favorite and least favorite Duke. They also discuss the state of the lands in which they control and all those political things. House Maxwell desires the record and keeping of all that goes on in Bastion, politically that is. At this point, she finishes off her 3rd glass of wine and stands up. She thanks you for the wine and time, but she has to get back to her duties. She tells you that you are welcome to the house any time and she will tell Lord Maxwell about your visit and hopefully next time you return he will be available to talk. You thank her for all the info and set off to get ready for the upcoming market day.

### June IBGA

#### Sent:

Dr. Fletcher will visit **Lord Darius Maxwell** of **House Toiracsi** again. Bringing different New Zenith wines this time and a badminton set for some afternoon play. Following up on his discussion with **Servant Ariel** about House Maxwell's desire to record all political dealings, Phineas will offer his services as a scribe for their aforementioned weekly round tables. Phineas is obviously doing so to try and get a clearer idea the power dynamics between houses and other helpful details.

#### Response:

You arrive at **House Toiracsi** again and are welcomed in. The same receptionist goes into the back to get **Ariel**. A moment later, Ariel comes out and greets you warmly. You show her what you brought and she is delighted. She gestures to you to come to the courtyard for your game and tells the receptionist to bring 2 glasses. You walk out to a large courtyard that seems to be pretty open with some flowers around and some benches. You find the perfect spot to set up the game and begin to play. During your match, you talk about why you are there and also have some drinks in between serves. She chuckles a little, but tells you that since you are an ally nation and have brought some generous gifts, she will see what she can do about allowing you to scribe during one of the round tables. You then score the final point and are the winner. She thanks you for a great match and tells you she will be right back with an answer. She returns about 20 minutes later, just as you were finishing up putting away the game and topping off the bottle. She approaches and says she has good and bad news. Good news is that she can get you in as a scribe, bad news is that it is an apprenticeship to their current scribe as they already have one and can’t just release him of his duties. It's not the outcome you wanted, but you agree. She seems delighted and tells you the round table will begin shortly so come with her. You follow her through the courtyard and out the back gate into a large courtyard leading up to a large building.

You enter and are told to take a seat opposite of the other scribe. That way both of you can keep an eye on the room and listen from all sides. You get out your ink and parchment ready to start the task. Slowly others start to come in and sit down.You notice that **Lord Cane** did not make it but instead there was a woman. Her name is **Lady Angela**. She is really well dressed and has this charismatic charm about her when she talks. You notice that the **King** himself and the **High Arcanist** did not show up to this meeting. They still have chairs there for them but they are empty. Then a hooded figure walks in and sits in the High Arcanists chair and nods to begin. They talk about the normal routine of status of each house and how Bastion as a whole is doing. You do notice though that the **House Lightward** doesn’t say much, but when she does everyone listens intently. Almost like a high respect kind of listening. You also seem to notice that whenever **Duke Writhford** speaks, it seems like **Lord Pennyglint** is always in agreement and supports his decisions no matter what. At one point **Lady Ivorhook** had made a suggestion on selling goods, and then **Lord Jenko** seemed to object and disagree with it immediately. You overheard some whispers from others say “here we go again, always arguing. No wonder they didn’t work out”. The rest of the meeting goes what seems normal and they adjourn. You head outside where you are met by Ariel. She asked how it went and you gave her some details. She seems impressed when you show her your parchment with the meeting notes and she asks for you to hand them over so they may be looked through and recorded. She tells you well done and says that will be all for today. You thank her and head off to get ready for the market.

### July IBGA

#### Sent:

Dr. Fletcher will once again visit Lord Darius Maxwell of House Toiracsi. Bringing a different set of New Zenith wines, but no recreation activity this time. He hopes to finally meet with the Lord himself to discuss matters. The doctor will hope to discuss matters pertaining to the upcoming expedition and the use of adventurers for it.

Namely that while adventurers are being utilized at the forefront of many exploratory ventures already, it is with only foreign nobility having any sort of authority on the field. The Doctor thinks this is a mistake that may backfire, since there is no guarantee that foreign adventuring nobles' interests will align with our mist, let alone are they beholden to it. Dr. Fletcher will offer a solution. Appoint an acting Emissary for a Bastion-born adventurer. Thorn Turnpike has shown the initiative, patience, and intellect to take on the position. House Aviary, a house that has recently been given the favor of the King himself, endorses this idea.

Dr. Fletcher will try to be an apprentice scribe again for the Noble's meeting, making similar observations as last month.

Additionally, as a follow up, he wants to remind that he sent the two goblins he rescued during the last market to New Zenith for experimentation. Perhaps the magics their bodies absorbed could lend more insight into our nation's continually mission to find our own time locked nation.

#### Response:

You are unable to secure a meeting with Lord Maxwell at this time, however Ariel is thrilled to see you and promises to bring both your gifts and words directly to Lord Maxwell.

You once again sit in on the meetings as an apprentice scribe and things go about the same as they did previously. There is much discussion about the preparations for the ritual this fall and it becomes clear that each of the houses is doing their best to show their influence by finding new ways to assist the effort, whether it be by dipping into personal resources to help outfit the expedition or by providing assistance unique to their house. Overall the discussions are rather dull, if important and you are starting to better put together the general structure of Bastion politics.

There is one incident that sticks out to you however. During the first meeting you attend, you are surprised to see that the High Arcainst himself attends, sitting in the seat that is usually occupied by who you assume is an apprentice you haven't met yet. He reports success in his most recent experiments and expresses confidence that the ritual will be ready come the fall. Later in the meeting Duke Writhford asks about alternatives and back up plans, should this fail and there is a general agreement that a plan should be put in place should the portal ritual fail. The room fills with general murmuring as the council begins to talk amongst themselves about what that might look like, with several of them mentioning some method of escape for the nobility. Suddenly the air in the room grows heavy and you notice your feathers start to ruffle as several noble’s hair stands on end. The High Arcanist’s eyes begin the glow so brightly that most squint or look away. “It will work, '' he says simply. The moment ends, the glow of his eyes fades to normal, and he stands and exits the room, leaving a heavy silence behind him.

Several days after your visit with Ariel, you receive the following letter:

Dear Dr. Fletcher Florence Fitzroy Phineas of Featherfall IV of House Aviary,

I wish to thank you for the wonderful wine you left me recently, and for the insights you passed along. As you know these “adventurers'' are a new phenomenon within Bastion and your first hand insights are both useful and appreciated. I shall take your thoughts and recommendations to mind when I speak on these matters to His Royal Majesty later in the month.

With Thanks,

Lord Darius Maxwell of House Toiracsi

### October IBGA

#### Sent:

Dr. Fletcher will work with Kolrabi to secure the hidden lab within the time caves for their own private location.

### November IBGA

#### Sent:

Dr. Fletcher will return to his recently acquired lab in the Time Caves. Using Kolrabi's formula for preservation salve, he will ensure all of his collected body parts stay fresh. The doctor will spend his lab time trying to develop a method to cleanse Bedlam from the bodies he's collected. His eventual goal is to try and gain more sources of food when hunting Bedlam creatures.

#### Response:

Each time Dr. Fletcher goes to the Lab, he will have to spend some time clearing out a few spiders that wander near, though the numbers appear to be less each time. Though likely it will be a long time before it is completely clear, it is much more usable as time goes on.

Testing for the cleansing of Bedlam from bodies is beginning, though this seems to be likely a long drawn out process of trial and error. Perhaps finding plants that can survive in an area with a good amount of Bedlam might give you some new ideas to try?

As for the Preservation Salve, how many uses will you be using, as each one requires a Cure Disease, Antidote, and a paste of stickiness.

### December IBGA

#### Sent:

Dr. Fletcher will spend an obsessive amount of time in his lab trying to unlock the secrets to cleansing Bedlam from organic matter. He will use local bedlam-infused plants that have been gathered by his butler to help unlock this mystery.