02-16-963 - Duels, Ships, and Invitations

Having made it to the capital on the Day of Challenging, the group went to the Dueling Grounds to schmooze with the young nobility. Chedvah and Nexus focused on making connections and seeing who might have some antiquities to look through and perhaps burgle. Nexus recognized the sigil of House Kuysok, from Millburn on the Halen Coast, and set up a time with Lady Jasnet to view their collection the next day. Shortly after, Chedvah recognized the sigil of House Orunbaev, from Sarkas, just north of the Gate of St. Sigismund. Though it seems most of the Orunbaev collection is in Sarkas, some pieces remain at their Residence in the capital. Being of Durakki descent, most of their collection is from the Basin. As the first major stop coming north from the Basin, many smugglers pass through Sarkas. Recently a large group of them was uncovered and jailed.

While Chedvah and Nexus were socializing, the rest of the group joined the tournament to duel. Dendra won her first duel against Lord Estoc Caebrek, and although Luci had a strong start, he ended up losing to Lady Eodwyn Leagallow. While waiting for his duel, Sinata took a peak at the tournament master's roster and saw that he would be facing Lord Fulcaire Galpsi, a name he recognized.

House Galpsi are from Ostah'lath, a day's journey northeast of Constag. Sinata found Fulcaire in the crowd and approached him. Sinata offered a wager, in the event that they faced each other in the ring. Him and his compatriots considered this, but scoffed at the suggestion of only using fists. What manner of duel did Sinata think this was? Did he think he was some sort of ragamuffin ne'er-do-well rolling about in the street? No no no, duels are fought by civilized people in a civilized fashion. In an attempt to goad him into accepting, Sinata told him that he had heard some things about House Galpsi, and maybe they were true if he didn't want to fight with his fists. This pushed Fulcaire over the edge and he became irate, donning gloves, only to take one off and slap Sinata with it, demanding satisfaction. Sinata was understandably confused by this, but was saved from further complications by the summons to the arena.

Like all the others, Sinata was advised of the rules: Rapiers must be used, One must conduct oneself in a manner befitting their station, and one must behave according to proper etiquette, and was shown into the ring. Once his duel with Lord Fulcaire began, Sinata managed to land a few hits while also kicking him in the butt and generally making a fool of the Lordling. But despite Sinata's whimsy, Fulcaire managed to land the required three hits and win the duel.

Meanwhille, Luci was scoping out the crowd and listening for whatever caught his ear. He heard many people speculating about the parties that would be thrown in honor of Lord Airan Redfell Renewing his mother's title, confirming him as the next Margrave of the Canglir Foothills. Other people were commenting on how exciting it must be for the Crown Princess to be on her state visit to the Westerlands with some of the Ministers of The Company. Still others were discussing the rumors that the wreck of the Triumph of the Wind had been found after it was lost at sea last fall.

While Dendra was going in for her next duel, which proved to be a real nail-biter right down to the end, Nexus caught part of a conversation and overheard the name Brynjar Härtvigssen. Thrown back to his younger days as the village punching-bag, he remembered Brynjar as one of the ringleaders. Nexus inserted himself into the conversation with a young noblewoman and inquired about Brynjar. She said that she had met with him recently, and Nexus asked her to pass along that Baern (one of Brynjar's friends from Tidfjell) was in town and staying at the County Carnen Residence.

Everyone having completed their goals in the Dueling Grounds, the group headed off to look around some of the other events of the Day. Dendra found her way to an archery contest and nearly won, while Luci and Chedvah left everyone else in the dust in a footrace before Luci edged out a win.

Sinata, however, was feeling down. He felt like he had bungled the interaction with Fulcaire, and then losing to him in the duel compounded that. He found his way to a tavern and did a bit of peoplewatching before overhearing a conversation between two sailors. It seemed that one of them knew the location of the wreck that Luci had heard about earlier. Sinata asked to join their conversation and the sailor recounted him with the story of the Triumph of the Winds. After they discovered the Westerlands, the Dragon's Head Trading Company knew that they'd need to be able to transport vast amounts of cargo to and from the newly discovered lands. To accomplish this they commissioned the largest ship ever to be made. When it was done it stretched 400ft long, had seven masts, and could hold nearly 5000 tons of cargo. She set sail on her maiden voyage around the islands off the western coast, but was lost in a storm early last fall. Since then, the Company spent months searching, but gave up hope of finding their pride and joy. But since this sailor's old friend, a lieutenant in the Royal Navy, knew where it could be found, they might be able to recover it. He figured that with 500 gold to start with, they could get some equipment and get to work on salvaging it. Once they got it up and seaworthy again, who knows what the company would pay to buy it back, maybe they could even work out a deal to get a percentage of the profits from the cargo. Either way, with some gold to begin, they could make some progress. Sinata was interested in this and gave the man 80 gold to start, saying that he might be able to get some more from the group once he got to meet this lieutenant. The lieutenant's name was Burgell, and he could ususally be found down by the military docks on the river. Excited for his new find, Sinata set off to tell everyone about what he had learned.

After winning the footrace Luci was waved over by Dierdre, out for some groceries. She said that a letter had come for Luci, and that she had put it on the mantle for him. Apparently someone in a noble's livery had delivered it just a little while ago. Intruiged, Luci made a quick stop by the Residence and read the letter: