Session 062: To the Library

We begin as the party heads to Mildred's Menagerie to meet Mildred Mason, the last Seamstress. The shop is pristine out front, with little containers of beads and displays of jewelry, but it is chaotic and cluttered with boxes in the back room. Mildred is squirrely at first but once the party confirms they were sent by Joyce, he opens up to them.   Mildred gives the list of Seamstresses: Joyce the Chief Seamstress, Edwyna Clavell aka the Grandmother, Pela Freemason who does most of the actual talking to members, the Saysanasys, and Priscilla Seymour who works at the temple. There are lots more people in the Silver Thread, but most of them don't know any of the Seamstresses.   The Grandmother became a Seamstress eight years ago. Aka Saysanasy is the newest Seamstress, started six years ago when Lila got her in against Mildred's advice.   Mildred has records of Silver Thread activity going back to when he took over as record-keeper thirty years ago. It's more accounting records than anything, who owes them money, who broke rules and needs to be watched, etc. Silver Thread tradition is to destroy previous records when a new record-keeper takes over to symbolize the changing of the guard and keep old info out of the wrong hands.   Joyce took over the Silver Thread and then brought Mildred on. Symbolized change: what was happening before isn't what's happening now. Word on the street is that it was a peaceful shift: the former Chief Seamstress named Joyce as successor then peacefully retired. She just so happened to never be seen again. The Silver Thread was less hands on in the time before Joyce. Slowly but surely all the previous Seamstresses got replaced after she took over. Then the Silver Thread gradually became more hands on. Mildred says he was chosen not out of sweetness, but because he was the best codebreaker in the game at the time. Not only could he make great codes, but if the best codebreaker was working for you then they couldn't be hired to work against you.   Red Hand was small fry, just kind of show up suddenly in records, likely came from somewhere else. Pela talked to some folks who vaguely remembered Red Hand going around with two associates. Didn't make waves first time around. Mildred claims that the only thing suspicious here is that Joyce didn't give up once her kid was dead. There are lots more kids to work through.   Group notices a false panel on the wall tucked behind a bunch crates that may open a secret compartment. Mohr notices that Mildred, despite his comments to his cat Muffy that he'll keep her safe, doesn't seem at all concerned about being targeted. A little too unconcerned.   Group leaves to go talk through things at a nearby chai place, Mildred hinting as they go that it would be nice if they bought something next time. They decide to go back to Mildred's after nightfall to investigate his records. In the meantime, they consider checking in with Sergeant Mayphew, talking to the other adventuring party after the reward, and several methods of heisting or borrowing money in order to get Mohr a spellcasting component for a Scry spell. Ultimately, they decide to go to the temple to Ilvia and ask to use their focus.   Mother Charity says yes in return for sketching Mohr while she casts the spell. She brings large round mirror with florals and fungi etched around the edge. Mohr prays to the Snowmother and begins to Scry. They see Onoana moving through a tunnel, wearing a dark cloak. Onoana's face looks subtly different, no horns in sight. Casts a spell that causes her to fade from vision and the Scry spell to end. Mohr thinks she might have left this plane.   Party heads to the library to look into tunnels in Vivaria. The party splits into two teams to look into Springish city planning theory and Vivarian history, and they both do so good that they get an ongoing +5 bonus to rolls regarding those two subjects. Team City Planning learns about the sewer system and finds a reference to a very old text titled My Magnum Opus: the Sewers of Vivaria that speaks multiple times about existing structures encountered during construction that was sometimes a huge help and sometimes a huge hindrance. A librarian is able to tell them that the text is not available in their collection, but a copy is held in a private collection and the owner is only willing to accept inquiries from academic institutions or Vivarian government. The librarian says that they will check if the Verdant Quarter counts.   Team History learns a lot about the Element Wars and the way the earth wizards hurled stone and encased their enemies in rock, the rise of the Primrose Monarchy and the oath to never cause such strife within the kingdoms again, and the sparsest area, the time following the Fall of the Dragons, in which Vivaria came to be. The team finds the slightest of mentions to goblins that participated in the building of the original settlement that grew into Vivaria, and how they built tunnels beneath the area that would be the city. However, it is difficult to determine when the chasm that surrounded the heart of the city became the moat that surrounded the heart of the city, possibly flooding part of the tunnels. The ancient goblin references come from a text called "The Goblin in Me", written by a man raised by Vivarian goblins.   Go to city hall to talk to the master of the sewers. They manage to speak with Alfred, aka "Alf", Deputy Director of Underground and Sanitation Maintenance. The group shows the Thornguard sigil that they definitely remembered that they had. Alfred gives them a map of the sewer system and sends them on their way.