Episode 29: Knives Out

**Episode 29: Knives Out** *(2x29)* is the 29th episode of the Venture Maidens Favor campaign.

## Starring

Sage Stafford as Aoife Flannery
Naseem Etemad as Fittonia 'Toni' Silvertail
Katie Budabin as Lluvyras 'Lu' Ssath
Celeste Conowitch as Dungeon Master

## Synopsis

A tall figure steps through the flaps of the Silvertail’s palatial green tent and Toni is met with her little brother Geo, who now stands just taller than she does though he lacks the muscle mass. He drops the trunk that he is carrying, surprised to see Toni there. While they excitedly hug he asks her what she is doing there and she says that their dad can fill him in on the details, but she is there for business and they can’t let anyone know they are related. Behind Geo is Lori, Toni’s serious-faced uncle. He steps into the space and nods a greeting, also surprised that she was there.

They talk about Enzo and the wedding and Lori reveals that Enzo didn’t say anything about the engagement in the letters he had sent. Lori wasn’t even aware that Enzo had kept in contact with the Oleanna's. Enzo had been sending letters to keep Lori updated on his studies at one of the universities in Faelyn, but they had drifted apart since Enzo’s mother had died. He was just glad to get an invitation. Toni asks if he has seen Enzo yet, but Lori hasn’t had a chance to make it to the main house yet.

Toni asks Lori if he had ever even met the bride and is told that Lori is the one who arranged Enzo’s first marriage to Mina. Toni expresses empathy for Enzo over what happened with Mina. Enzo had been messed up for a while, which is what made recent events more surprising. Toni is curious how Mina died and is told that the girl drowned, or that was the running theory since the family hadn’t been forthcoming about it. Toni fills her uncle in on why she has come to the wedding, and the need for their discretion.

Toni tells Lori that she is there mostly to protect her family above anything else, so if he heard from Enzo or sees anything strange to come find her at Tent #32. Uncle Lori tells his niece that, as the father of the groom, he had been invited to dinner at the main house, and invites Toni to go with him to meet Enzo. He reasons that perhaps they could get a read on what is happening. Toni agrees and Lori heads out to get ready for dinner. Toni turns to her dad and admits that she is surprised that Lori was able to arrange Enzo’s first marriage to the Oleanna's. Her dad tells her that Lori spent more time in Faelyn than the Plains, and was good with money and had a mind for politics, so it made sense that he had made friends with the Oleanna family.

The Silvertail patriarch embraces his children, happy to have them there together. He makes them promise to tell him if they ever planned on getting married. He didn’t care who they were getting married to, he just wanted to be involved and do silly things. He asks Toni if she wants to introduce him to her friends, but she wants to touch bases with them before introducing them. They plan for him to stop by their tent in a few hours, giving him plenty of time for a much needed nap.

The Maidens rendezvous at the meadery that Cassie had mentioned to Aoife, who had arrived early enough to get them a prime spot and wave them down as they trickled in. Toni tells them how excited she was now that she had a chance to see her family, and they were all as shocked about the wedding as she was. She is going to find out if there was a way for Lu and Aoife to come to the main house with her and Lori. It shouldn’t be that difficult to do because Sten had hired them, and he was a family friend of the Oleanna’s, who had asked him to investigate so surely they would be expecting the bounty hunters to want to take a look around. Toni also reveals that Enzo was engaged to Rayna’s sister, Mina, until the girl drowned a year ago. Toni suspects something happened because she finds it strange that a prominent noble with a manmade lake in their backyard didn’t know how to swim. She admits to her friends that even though she was trying to distance herself from her family for the sake of the investigation, she was already too close to this situation and asks that they hold her back if certain things escalate.

Aoife brings up the topic of Cassie and Lu gushes about the half-elf, and that they were lucky to have her expertise. They pick up on Lu’s attraction for Cassie and tease her, with Toni asking if Lu has a crush. Lu tries to deny it, but immediately looks to see if she can find her in the crowd. She had brought Cassie a sandwich that she and the chefs had devised in the kitchen tent. Toni teases her, emphasizing the word sandwich, which sends Lu into a frazzled spiral, causing Aoife to tell her to calm down because they already knew her love language was food. This catches Lu off guard and she asks if she should throw the sandwich away, but immediately backtracks because she had already told Cassie that she was going to bring her food.

They hear Cassie call out to them from the crowd and Toni is introduced to the very tall half-elven Eldrin woman with cascading red hair pulled into a high ponytail. She calls over to them to ask if they wanted drinks from the bar before disappearing back into the crowd. It isn’t long before she sidles up to the table with two large pitchers of mead. Toni tells Cassie that Aoife had told her about the woman, and she was excited to work with her, but she wanted to know if Cassie liked sandwiches. Cassie admits that she loves sandwiches, and that food was her love language, which causes Lu to panic and Aoife to cover her face to stop from laughing. The fey expert slides into the booth next to Lu and spots the sandwich, which Lu admits is for her. She explains that she and the chefs had talked about and modified one of the dishes and she had even wrapped it so that Cassie’s fingers wouldn’t get messy. Cassie appreciates the gesture, happy to be working with people of great taste.

They tell Cassie they had an in at the main house for dinner and Lu awkwardly asks if Cassie wanted to join them. Cassie agrees while explaining to Toni that the more information she had, the more useful she would be to the bounty hunters as a resource. She had been thinking about the case on her way over and decided that the information they had now was too vague and could be any number of fey. To narrow it down they would need to find out what kind of dreams had been plaguing Enzo or anyone else affected.

Aoife asks Cassie if she has any information on the current fey activity in the Eldrin Empire. Cassie has been busy the last few weeks with a constant influx of cases, but there wasn’t a lot of information coming in about what is causing everything. Aoife asks Cassie if she has ever worked with the Carillons, but Cassie tells her that she prefers to work independently because the Carillons were selective in who they allowed into their club.

Toni turns the topic to something more lighthearted and asks Cassie what she thinks the sexiest dessert is. Cassie says cannoli, though that might be a bit too on the money. This answer throws Toni for a loop and causes her to elbow Lu, asking her for her sexiest dessert. Lu does a full breakdown of criteria before deciding on the tart. You could share it and feed it to each other, it had a sturdy crust but was a little messy because of the fruit filling, but dark chocolate was needed because it was the sexiest ingredient so you needed a chocolate covered strawberry on top. Cassie says that it sounded complicated, but she would love to get into it sometime and Lu offers to make it for her if they have time after the job was done.

Cassie, dazzled by the food and their adventures, asks how someone were to get into this adventuring club and Lu jokingly tells her that she has to get Rook to like her. Cassie still had not met Rook, but was reading that the girl was more of a private person. Lu says that Rook knew a lot about the fey and hoped that the two would have a chance to talk.

Lu takes this opportunity to head off for a refill, but tracks down an earbud wearing organizer to try and swipe the device. While the drow is gone, Cassie asks the other two if she is coming on too strong because Lu kept running off. Lu sighs, revealing the Lu was complicated and has fully recovered from her last relationship. She tells the girl that Lu and her ex were going to get married and it didn’t happen for tragic reasons. Cassie is concerned about the tragic reasons, asking if it was a divorce with kids situation or something else. Toni is dying in the background, worried that she is revealing too much information, but Aoife reassures the half-elf that Lu will open up with time. Cassie says that she is going to get a refill and heads off towards the bar.

Lu spots some event coordinators having a party at one of the tables. They have tossed their clipboards in a pile off to the side and are all venting about their day. The drow leans into the center of the table and compliments the coordinators on their hard work, offering to buy them a pitcher of alcohol. She and the event coordinators commiserate over their shared struggles of event organization and catering. One of the girls grabs Lu’s face and offers to buy her a drink and Lu returns the gesture, but when she pulls her hands away from the side of the woman’s face, she has the earpiece tucked behind her fingers. They exchange cards and Lu turns to leave, easily snagging the pages from one of the clipboards. She makes her way to the bar and orders a pitcher to be sent to the event coordinator’s table and another pitcher that she takes back to her own. Cassie offers to start bookmarking some stuff and let them get back to their bounty hunting.

Before she leaves, Cassie asks to speak to Lu privately and leads her out of earshot. Hoping its not too forward, she tells Lu that she likes her and would like to get to know her better in a romantic way if she is okay with it. Lu asks Cassie if the sandwich made her fall for the drow and Cassie agrees, but admits that it was also the way Lu blushed when giving her the sandwich. Lu wants to be upfront and admits that she is not good at the start of relationships, but asks Cassie to be patient. Cassie tells her that she has already been told to take it slow and she looks forward to getting to know Lu. They agree to a date by the lake later.

Lu wanders back to the table and spots Aoife with her head in her hands, staring at her wistfully. Lu demands to know what they told Cassie, revealing that the half-elf had asked her out on a date. Lu asks if anything has changed about dating in the last twenty years since that was the last time she had gone on a first date. Toni tells her not to put any pressure on herself, because it was just like hanging out with any other friend. They just happen to know that they are into each other so Lu needs to focus on getting comfortable with the girl. Aoife tells the anxious rogue that anyone that sees her the way that Aoife sees her won’t be able to help admiring her intelligence, creativity, kindness, compassion, and thoughtfulness. Lu wipes away a tear and tells Aoife that she is sweet, but they need to get ready for after dinner drinks at the main house.

Toni leaves a note for her dad at the tent that they will have to meet up the next day. They head to Lily Hall, admiring the extravagant interior. The Hall was the Oleander summer home, and as such it is not lived in most of the year so everything is perfectly manicured and fresh. The butlers greet them as they walk inside and are directed to a lounge off the main dining hall. Toni quickly finds her uncle, who looks out of place in the corner sipping a beverage. She introduces him to her friends and he bows and shakes their hand formally. Lori asks Toni if she has seen Enzo yet and tells her that he is in another parlor when she informs him that she has not. He says that Enzo seems really happy and Rayna is charming, so it will be nice to have her in the family.

Aoife asks Lori if Enzo and Rayna would be getting a stead of their own, or what their plans might be after the wedding. Lori informs her that he is the leader of is his clan, and Enzo and Rayna wish to come live with him and the rest of his family. Toni asks him if there was any talk of the possible fey or recent events but everyone at dinner was overly polite, but Lori could tell that Enzo was disturbed by something. Enzo had always been an active boy and maybe its the stress, but he seems very on edge. From what he could hear, it is all pretty words, but something felt wrong.

They head into the second parlor to find Enzo, passing through some French doors onto a patio. An older Eldrin man with powder lavender hair leans against the railing smoking a cigar. As they get close, Enzo spots them and introduces them to Papa Whithelm. Aoife tells the man that he has a lovely summer home and he thanks her before excusing himself to refresh his drink. They all note Enzo’s sallow skin and the bags that hang under his bloodshot eyes. Despite this, Enzo seems cheerful when he greets his cousin.

Toni grips Enzo’s hands and tears spring to her eyes. She tells him that she just found out about everything he has been through over the last year. She didn’t know that he had lost Mina and she passes along her condolences. Enzo admits that if he hadn’t had lost Mina, he never would have fallen in love with Rayna. He doesn’t know if it was the hand of the Mother, the Father, or some other god, but he is glad it led to this.

Toni introduces her cousin to her friends. Enzo knows why they have come, having been filled in by Lori at dinner. Toni agrees with the constable that this is all fey related and asks Enzo about his dreams, because she has had her own experience with fey dreams. Enzo leads them to some plush leather chairs and asks a servant to fetch them some refills. Toni could see how comfortable her cousin was around the luxurious lifestyle, like he was a part of that world.

Enzo admits that he knows he looks like hell and it was evident he hadn’t been getting any sleep, but he doesn’t know what is happening. He thinks it may even be affecting Rayna worse than him because she was now so worried and stressed. Everything should be happy, but he could feel a weight crushing down on them and he didn’t know how to help. Aoife asks him if it was Rayna’s idea to get married so quickly and he informs them that despite the rumors, it was a mutual decision. He had drifted away from his dad and he and Rayna had met at school in Faelyn. It wasn’t until Lori had arranged his marriage to Mina that Enzo had learned the two women were sisters. The marriage was arranged, so he really didn’t have a chance to get to know her the same way he has with Rayna. They had been dating for a while and this had seemed like the perfect time to get married. He knows how it looks.

Aoife picks up that he isn’t lying to them, but his posture give away that he is experiencing more distress than he is letting on. He is exhausted, passed the point of it being a medical issue; he had clearly not been getting enough sleep but she knows that it isn’t pre-wedding jitters. Lu asks him if he remembers any of the dreams, or if it he just knew he had a bad dream once he woke up and Aoife asks him if he has found any strange glass marbles in his room lately. He says that he has not found any marbles, but Rayna’s family had been taking good care of him. They had a few physicians in the family and they had him taking medicine to help him sleep. When he wakes up he can’t breathe and it feels like something cold and heavy is sitting on his chest.

Lu asks if he can remember anything about the dreams from before he had started taking the medicine. He tells them that he would wake up feeling so afraid and not knowing why. He had never been big on dreaming before all of this. Lu asks him if it would be weird if they were present in the room while he slept to watch over him. He agrees if it will help them in figuring out what was going on, he just wants the wedding to happen. Lu promises him that they will do whatever it takes to make the wedding happen. Toni suggests that Enzo avoids taking the medication so that they can examine the full effect of what is happening to him, which he agrees to by setting his drink down and sliding it away from himself.

Lu assures Enzo that, despite his insistence on looking haggard, he instead looked very happy. He says that he feels happy, but looks around and feels like he shouldn’t be. Toni says fuck that, because he should be happy. He can’t blame Lori and the rest of the family for being skeptical because they had all been out of touch, which is sad, but it happens. She can tell he is excited to start a life with his new wife and that makes her happy. Aoife asks him where Rayna is and he explains that they couldn’t see each other a few days before the wedding because of stupid Eldrin wedding traditions. This made this entire situation worse because he and Rayna had not been able to check in with one another. He thinks she might be with her mom in the Women’s Wing on the other side of the house.

He thinks that if Rayna feels anything like he does that it might be good for Toni to go and reassure her. Aoife rips a piece of paper from her notebook and slides it across the table with a pen. She tells Enzo to write a note to Rayna and they would deliver it when they went to see her. He tells her that Rayna already knows that he is thinking about her, and he doesn’t want to get anyone in trouble for breaking tradition.

Aoife admits that she is surprised that Enzo and Rayna are returning with his family despite his ease and comfort around nobility, especially since he and his dad have been out of touch for nearly a decade. Enzo explains that when he and Rayna had met at school they had made a deal. He became a part of her world in Faelyn and now it was time that she learned about his. He is sure that they will wind up back in Faelyn, but maybe they could build something new in the meantime. Aoife says that they will have to visit the newlyweds once they got settled into their new lives and Enzo agrees so that they can experience an actual party instead of this stuffy affair. The Maidens let Enzo get back to Wilhelm, who he sweeps away from the bar.

They make their way to the lounge parlor on the other side of the house. This room is more tastefully decorated than the stag head studded smoking lounge they were in previously, with vases overflowing with flowers and a circle of fainting couches where a group of women sit and socialize. Most of the women are wearing maid livery, but a well dressed Eldrin woman with powder pale green hair notices them entering and calls out to them.

She introduces herself as Ariadne and welcomes them to her summer home. Lu compliments her taste in decor and Ariadne admits that they paid a lot of very talented people to make it look beautiful. She asks them if there is anything she can help them with. Lu says they are here to investigate and asks if they could speak openly there or if she would prefer a more private venue. Ariadne dismisses the other ladies and instructs the bounty hunters to sit.

Aoife immediately asks what Ariadne thinks of the sudden engagement of Enzo and Rayna. They learn that a year ago, Ariadne probably wouldn’t have agreed with it, but now Rayna was her only daughter and she doesn’t think her family line will continue. There are plenty of other Oleanna out there that are more qualified for positions of power so she considers it her gift to Enzo and Rayna for them to be happy. When Mina died, things came into focus for her.

The inquisitive satyr pours the Eldrin another glass of wine and tells her that they don’t have to get into the subject if she doesn’t want to. Ariadne knows they are there to investigate and is willing to talk about it for the sake of Rayna and Enzo. Aoife points out that drowning sounded like an unusual cause of death for someone that grew up with a built in lake near a city bordering the ocean. She asks if the family investigated the death and Ariadne explains that Mina was out on the lake during a bad summer storm and fell while climbing some rocks. When she was found she had a terrible wound on her head from the fall and must have been knocked unconscious before she drowned. She must have slipped and that is what killed her.

Lu is curious if Mina went to the island by herself and Ariadne is sure she did. She raised both of her girls to be independent and they were very adventurous, always climbing and swimming around. Aoife senses true honesty in her voice and she is clearly happy for Enzo and Rayna to be married while also being sad about Mina. Toni is surprised that they think that Mina slipped and fell which caused her to drown, because that isn’t what they had heard. Ariadne is not sure what they have heard, but she is the one that identified Mina’s body. Her daughter had been out on the island in the middle of the lake all the time. There was a cottage out there where she and her friends would have sleepovers. One stormy summer night she fell but they don’t know why she was even out there. Mina was always a stubborn child, but so was Rayna. It was part of their charm.

Toni asks Ariadne if anyone in the family owed a fey a debt or favor. The Eldrin socialite explains that it would be a scandal if there were. She is certain her husband and daughter are not caught up in something like that. She notes that Enzo looks a lot like Toni, and says that he is an honest boy and she thought that Enzo and Rayna were a better match than he and her eldest daughter. She blames this entire situation on herself for accepting the arrange marriage, and this was the price she was meant to pay. Lu disagrees that karma works like that. Ariadne admits to not being a nice person most of her life, but that was politics. She had an arranged marriage, just like her mother before her as it had always been. She didn’t know what love looked like until she had seen Enzo and Rayne together.

Lu makes a toast to change before asking to speak with Rayna. Ariadne reveals that her daughter has gone to bed because she was bone tired but they could catch her at breakfast. Rayna had been through hell and was even getting accused of being pregnant. If Ariadne heard the term “crossbow wedding” one more time, she was going to kill someone.

Sensing the evening coming to a close, Toni tells her friends that she is going to patrol the grounds through the night to see if anything passes through. Aoife decides to go and watch Enzo sleep because she had a spell that let her see invisible things in case anything came in the night. Lu says that she can meet up with them later, but she promised to meet Cassie by the lake. She tells them that if they need her, all they had to do was track down someone with an earpiece. Toni tells Lu to go have her date, but the drow isn’t sure it even is a date.

Cassie hadn’t said it was a date, she just wants to get to know Lu better down by the lake. For all she knew she was about to be murdered. Aoife tells Lu that she is way too tough to get murdered and Toni points out that Cassie was just a consultant, so she should be easy to handle. Aoife suggests that Lu and Cassie find a boat and go out to take a look at the island. Lu wouldn’t mind this since she felt guilty leaving the two of them to do all of the work here. Aoife heads off to meet up with Enzo, who falls asleep almost as soon as his head hits the pillow. The bard settles in for a long night.

Oxya is a celebration of romance and Toni saw that people were feeling the summer heat on her walk of the the grounds. Lu heads to the lake to meet Cassie. She redoes her hair on the way but settles on just leaving it down, reasoning that it made her look more approachable. She begins to second doubt herself but pauses and tells herself to shut the fuck up. She finds Cassie sitting on a bench by the lake, admiring the stars in the mirrored lake surface. The drow’s approach catches the researcher’s attention and she looks up, greeting the drow. Lu hopes Cassie isn’t too mad about having to wait for her, but Cassie isn’t mad that she had to wait in this gorgeous summer night. Lu is glad, revealing that she prefers the nighttime, especially in the summer. Cassie supposes it was because the rogue was of drow heritage. Lu says that it isn’t usually too bad unless she is exposed to a bright glaring light, she just likes night better because it feels more magical.

To Cassie, most good things happened at night. She asks Lu if they should walk around the lake, but Lu confesses that she is there for another reason. She asks if Cassie wanted to take a boat with her to a cabin on the island. They could get some investigative work done while getting to know each other, which made Lu feel less awkward about this whole situation. Lu spots some paddleboats off in the distance and that walk towards them. As they walk Cassie asks Lu if she grew up in the Empire, because she had never seen another Drow. Lu tells her that she lived in the Underworld the first forty years of her life. It wasn’t the best childhood, but she found her found family and came to the surface, where she has been the last fifty years. Cassie is glad they are around the same age, though she isn’t sure how long she will live. She is the only half-elf half-Eldrin she had ever met or heard of.

Lu asks what that was like growing up. Cassie said that it was weird because she was part of two very different cultures. Her parents did the best they could to make it work but she never really felt like she fit in. Instead she went where her heart took her. Books were a great escape, but Cassie liked that they were an excuse to go everywhere and learn about everyone. Its amazing how many places you could into to if you just have the desire to learn. They awkwardly paddle towards the island. Cassie says that she doesn’t want to rush anything, but she gets a good feeling about Lu and wants to ask her something. She confesses that Aoife had told her about Lu losing her last big love, and she just wants to know if there are any character flaws she should avoid, because a 10 year relationship was a lot to live up to.

Lu does not believe in true love. She is an elf that isn’t elf-exclusive so it was unrealistic to think she would only have one soul mate for her entire life. Jada was special, and she thought they had a lot longer together. Everyone who met Jada loved her. She saw the best in everyone and was able to listen to Lu getting in her own head and understand what she was trying to say so easily. Lu has struggled, since losing her, to show people what she wants to show them. She doesn’t want Cassie to think that she would compare partners, but she won’t say Jada wasn’t special to her or not talk about her.

Cassie thanks Lu for telling her. She knows what it is like living with a ghost and is glad that the drow had that kind of love in her life. Cassie has the feeling that Lu has met a lot of people in her life that love her because she just has that way about her. Lu hopes to get to know Cassie more, with no pressure to talk about her own ghosts. In fairness, Cassie starts to explain, but she is sidetracked when she spots a figure at the edge of the island, laying prone on the sandy beach. She points it out to Lu and they paddle harder.

Aoife takes some time to look around Enzo’s room while he sleeps to look for any glass marbles that she would be familiar with. She periodically casts See Invisibility but most of her night is uneventful until she hears a shrieking scream coming from down the hallway. A woman is crying out for help. Aoife doesn’t hesitate to dash out of the room, yelling at a startled Enzo to lock the door until she came to get him. Down the hall she spots a chambermaid standing in front of an open door. Water cascades past her feet and drips over the banister to the floors below. She pleads for the bard to help the man, pointing at something inside the room. Aoife pushes her out of the way and sees Uncle Lori lying on the bed, water dripping across the sheets and floor into the hallway.

Uncle Lori is convulsing on the bed, grabbing at his throat like he is choking. Aoife commands the chambermaid to find Toni out on the grounds and send her back there before she goes to Lori’s aid. She turns him on his side and can see water pouring out of his mouth, like the water was originating inside of him. He looks at her with terror in his eyes, unable to speak. Aoife pats him hard on the back, casting Lesser Restoration to slow the watery expulsion to a trickle.

Toni bursts through the door to find Aoife examining her uncle’s airway, but she doesn’t find any obstruction or cause. The fighter can see the water that soaked the bedding and carpet has already started to dry, as if it were being super-heated, and it rises to form silvery mist before evaporating. Toni immediately peeper Lori with questions. When he looks up to answer he goes pale, pointing up at the wall behind them. They turn to see two words carved into the wall: See me.

Lu and Cassie are close enough to see that the crumpled figure is a girl in a nightgown, which clings to her as if she had just swam across the lake. They see her face and how similar she looked to Ariadne, with the same pale green hair. Lu thinks they may have somehow found Rayna?

This is where our journey comes to an end. Until next time, Venture Away!

## Featured Characters

### Player Characters

* Aoife Flannery
* Fittonia 'Toni' Silvertail
* Lluvyras 'Lu' Ssath