A day in the City of Flowers:
Dawn - a mermaid crouching on a roof, sleepless scribbles in his hands
A note torn hastily from a door
As always, at dawn they plan
Morning - headed home to Grandma, breakfast casserole and judgement served hot
A leisurely stroll through the garden
Belladonna plucked from a pot
Mid-day - how best to maneuver murderers into saving countless lives?
Blackmail Joyce the Viper and trust her to be fangless?
Threaten jeweler and hope for no lies?
Afternoon - confront Mildred in his Menagerie, tear a contract from his thoughts
A promise to arrange a meeting
A chance to flee the coming plots
Afternoon - counting gems in the backroom, when a bell rings right outside
An invisible witness to watching eyes
Too late to dodge them or hide
Afternoon (evening approaching) - a ragtag group readying for a ball, reviewing practiced dances
Masks at hand for whimsy alone
And certainly not to avoid glances
Sunset - are you ready? For the coronation of the Primrose Queen?
Dried petals underfoot at the palace
Awash in sunset's gleam
Slightly more useful notes:
Tal has just decoded Mildred's journal, having stayed up all night. The group gathers near the Clavell household to discuss next steps:
- If giving the journal to Joyce, Mildred would get killed and then the Red Hand would still be out there
- If giving the journal to the cops, then Joyce will be revealed, weakening the Silver Thread and allowing the Raywalkers to move into town
- If using the journal against Mildred, get him to arrange a meeting with the Red Hand in exchange for a chance to skip town
- Possibly use Talasea's ability to create items to duplicate the book temporarily
Establish that the plan for the Red Hand is to take them out with non-lethal damage or to stabilize them soon after dropping them unconscious so that they will be available for questioning.
Head to Grandmother Lukot's house. Breakfast casserole, baths, stroll about the garden, belladonna picking, the learning of traditional dances. Talasea sleeps off his exhaustion.
Head to Mildred's Menagerie. An alarm goes off upon entering. Mildred comes out all indignant, but Tal immediately intimidates him into giving up any attempt at subterfuge. Squeeze into the back room.
Zenith casts Detect Thoughts: Mildred immediately thinking through how to leave town. Zenithh asks about how to take down Joyce. Mildred is focused on allowing Raywalkers into the city before Joyce dies. Mildred claims it's because Joyce is so good at surviving. Question why he trusts Raywalkers not to kill him. He says they signed a magical contract that will have repercussions for them if they break it. Zenith digs deeper into Mildred's mind to get the terms of the contract. Will provide Raywalkers with info about the conversations and decisions of the Silver Thread. Do his best to provide support to any reps of the Raywalkers in service of their mission to gain access to the city. Clause that says that in exchange the Raywalkers shall not harm or act against Mildred. Another states that if a rep of the Raywalker determines that the contractor is acting contrary to the objectives of the mission, the Raywalkers may cause harm to Mildred. Do his best defines doing anything in his power that does not act against his own interests.
Mildred agrees to set up a meeting with the Red Hand and surrender a quarter of his wealth IF they will sign a contract. Most of them vehemently refuse, but Aphid agrees to sign in exchange for protection for his family.
A customer enters the shop and Mildred goes out front to help them. Tal goes invisible and tags along. Notices Mildred flip a decoration in the window from the white side to the green side. They also see a figure with dark hair and dark skin with a metallic sheen on the cheeks sitting on a bench outside watching the store. Back in the back room, Mildred says that they have signaled the Red Hand that he wants to meet and should be getting a location within 24 hours. Also that an alias he recognizes as having been used by the Red Hand was outside the store.
The group gets 10,000 gold worth of uncut gems.
They leave, doing their best to look disappointed. Talasea thinks back to when they arrived and realizes that this person was not sitting on the bench when they got there... because the person was walking behind them.
The party obtains a room at an inn so that they may hastily make ready for the masquerade ball - the anniversary celebration of the coronation of the Primrose Queen. As the sun sets over Vivaria, the streets strewn with flowers from the earlier parade, the North Wind, dressed in all their finery, approaches the Primdawn Palace.
