The party fought the final battle of the tournament, going up against a reinforced and deadly Cilorian team at the center of the mock siege. The fighting was intense, with Salt quickly capturing the flag, and the horde of enemies closing in on the rest of the party. Low on spells and health, the party desperately fought off the Knaves, with Lucifer and Inej both going down repeatedly.
After going down early in the fight, Elvira bounced back, dealing truly insane amounts of damage every single turn, she managed to hold off the enemies while Salt and Laura dealt with the trickshots lurking in the back of the hall. The party gradually whittled down the opponents, before finally emerging victorious as the champions of the entire New Light Tournament.
To reward their victory, the party received a total of 20,000 GP, and a wand of Tiny Hut. They were invited to a victory soirée, where a collection of important people were waiting to celebrate with them. On the way, Raoul pulled Inej aside and got her to promise she would meet him at his room later, so he could give her a gift.
At the soirée, the party spoke to several different people. Lucifer and Elvira talked to a pretty-boy named "Bartholomew Haymitch Montgomery", who introduced himself and said "but you can call me Barty". He was completely unimportant, just an asshole to laugh at. Several party members spoke to Lavinia, who discussed her failure of a brother Corbo Greenbriar, and generally continued to be hot and a badass.
The party also checked in with a strange Goliath named Aparhan in the corner hogging a tray of hors d'oeuvres. He talked about how the newly active giants in the North had probably killed both of his parents, and how he was now a refugee. After an offer from Laura, he agreed he would come back to Beggar's Hole with the party when the time came.
Salt had a conversation with Penelope, coming on slightly too strong by asking her to help him run the orphanage before they've even gone on a date together, but ultimately securing a date for after the party. Meanwhile, Sabina (disguised as a part of the wait staff) caught Laura's eye and held up two fingers before moving on.
The Baron Raymond walked in, called Salt an asshole, and took his incredibly smelly perfume off to a corner of the room. Inej went to talk to him, putting on the charm in an effort to learn more about him. One thing Inej noticed was that Raymond smelled exactly like the two strange men she saw at the masquerade ball, and she learned that Raymond is married. Raymond seemed receptive to her advances, lamenting how lonely he gets while in the city away from his wife. Inej invited him to perhaps hang out after the soirée died down, but Raymond turned her down because he had "an important meeting". Instead, they set a date for the next morning.
Raymond rushed out to his meeting, and Inej and Elvira decided to follow him. Elvira disguised herself as a servant, and Inej stuck to the shadows. Elvira was spotted, but managed to play it off as if she had been looking for the kitchens and had gotten lost. Inej continued to follow Raymond, but she too was caught when Raymond was near the Royal Ossuary. In a tense conversation, Inej cast Detect Thoughts, learning that Raymond was thinking about how he definitely needed to prepare for their meeting the next morning. As he directed her towards the Royal Cathedral, she dropped a drawing of the Royal Ossuary sigil, at which Raymond thought, "I need to ask Miss Gavreau about this."
Lucifer and Laura each did their own thing after the soirée ended. Laura hung around the party room until the cleanup was finished, eventually talking to Sabina and confirming that Sabina was planning something big to happen in two days. Sabina would give no more details, but asked Laura to make sure she was on the right side when the time came. Laura confirmed, and continued feeding leftovers to her flock.
Lucifer, on the other hand, decided to consult the tomes. She found the royal library, and started looking for a history book that might explain the strange symbol from the Royal Ossuary that kept popping up. Eventually, Lucifer found a book of noble genealogies. Despite searching it thoroughly, she could find no family crest with any connection to the skull and crown sigil.
Meanwhile, Penelope and Salt went on their riverside walk. It was sunset, the magical torches of the city were beginning to light up, and the young couple had a very romantic walk where they got to know each other better. Their date was briefly interrupted when Salt noticed angry screams from a few blocks away. They detoured to check it out, seeing a riot in the making where an orator was whipping up a crowd of the urban poor. The couple returned to their walk, and as the sun was setting, Penelope gave Salt a peck on the cheek and started to head home.
Salt immediately rushed back to the protest, using a combination of telepathy and lip-reading to find out what was going on from some of the rioters. The rioter explained that the immense wealth on display at the tournament had caused great anger in the public, who were offended to see the king spending all of this money on a tournament when the people were suffering from an ongoing famine. Salt, with a new perspective on the king, walked away from the protest.
Salt rushed back to Penelope, and she was scared by his rapid approach. Sheepishly, she admitted that when she had seen Salt moving towards her so quickly, she had thought he might be "The Black Reaper". Salt asked about this legend, and Penelope told him about the mythical monster.
The Black Reaper is said to be a spirit of death. Children in Ciloria are told that if they go too deep into the Kingswood, explore a Royal Ossuary alone, or go off alone at night, the Black Reaper will appear and steal their soul. Penelope also said that, many years ago, there was a period called "The Year of Five Kings". Over the course of a single year, Ciloria saw its king die, and a succession of four kings rise to the throne surrounded by rumors and speculation, before being brutally murdered. Despite the best magic in the kingdom, none could be revived, their souls being completely gone when the clerics tried to revive them.
The first king, Idhelm "the Bastard," was surrounded by rumors that he had not been born of the line of Ravenor, and that he was actually the king of a lowly stable boy. He ruled for less than a month before he was found dead.
The second, King Saebald, was a popular king, who seemed eager to institute reforms. It was said he would free the peasants, and open up the vast Royal Forests for anyone to use. He was viciously murdered after only a few weeks.
Third came King Jaruman "the Usurper", who was a noble not from House Ravencrest. Jaruman had taken power in a palace coup during the confusion of the year. Despite this cunning, he was found dead fastest of all, the same day he took power.
Finally, there was King Alwin "The Apostate", who didn't worship Lathander, and seemed ready to destroy the state religion. In a final brutal murder, he was found assassinated after two months of his reign.
Rising to power after all of this murder, the fifth king, whose reign would last for decades to come, was King Aedrad "the Young". A mere ten years old when he ascended the throne, he was surrounded by none of the intrigue or rumors of his four immediate predecessors, ruling peacefully and in the traditional style of the Cilorian kings.
Salt then regaled Penelope with the story of "the Egg Cracker", a prank/ghost story he had made up at the orphanage as a bit of a prank. Penelope laughed, called this cute, and Salt dropped her off with Duke Nicholas, who was overjoyed to see Salt hanging out with his daughter.
As the party began returning to their quarters, Inej headed to meet Raoul at his room for their date. As she approached his room, however, she noticed that something looked strange. The door was ajar. Inej crept closer, before slowly peeking inside to see a scene of utter destruction. The room was destroyed, with blood coating the walls and the furniture destroyed. Elvira, who was using magic to see through Inej's eyes, immediately started rushing up to meet her.
Inej began investigating the murder scene, using her expertise as an assassin to notice several important clues. Firstly, she determined that no one had entered the room through its front door, except for Raoul. Second, she figured that the scene of the crime seemed staged. The blood was spread too far and without any clear relationship to any possible injuries, and, most importantly, there was no sign of the body. Finally, Inej found a discarded ring with the skull and crown on it which had rolled underneath the shattered bed.
As Elvira was arriving, Inej found a secret passage behind a bookshelf. The duo figured out that the secret door wouldn't open from inside Raoul's room, and Elvira used her Blood Orb to destroy the bookshelf. Elvira and Inej saw a dark passageway leading away from the room at a downward incline. Elvira sent Marrow to retrieve the party as the two continued to investigate the scene of the murder.
Marrow arrived at all three of the other party members, pecking them on the head and saying "murder" before flying off to find his next charge. He led them all back to Raoul's room, where the entire party convened to witness the carnage. As the newcomers tried to make sense of what they saw, Inej found a small wrapped package and opened it. Inside was a necklace with a silver heart on it. On the heart, was inscribed the letter R. She also found a small note in Raoul's large, looping script.
"Dear Inej,
They call me the heartbreaker, and frankly I kind of understand why. When I was young, I was in love with a girl named Amalia, who disappeared without a trace after several months of courtship. Ever since then, I've never known how to open up to someone again. Instead, I've built up a shell and forgotten how to speak from the heart. Now, the best I can manage is the stupid, crass, aggressively horny flirting that I subject you to every time we find ourselves in combat.
Dozens of women have thrown themselves at me, but I've never felt like I could let them in. Until you. Somehow, your gentle ribbing and willingness to match my abrasive attitude reached inside and touched my heart in a way I never thought I would feel again.
I'm writing this note because despite how strongly I feel, I can't find the words to express myself in the slightest. I hope that this token of my affection is enough for you to understand how special I think you are.
- Raoul"
And with that, we leave our party. Staring into the maw of a secret passage, no idea what's happened to Raoul, exhausted from a full day of intense combat, and with tensions and mysteries closing in around them on every side.
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