Session 059: Rolling with the Romanovnas

General Summary

We begin with Pietra Romanovna, incensed by the accusation being made. She expands upon her devotion to the city, her public work, etc. The North Wind is asked to leave in no uncertain terms.
On their way out, Zenith casts invisibility on Verity and tells him to do what he does best. Then, Joyce Romanovna catches up with them as they pass between some bushes towards the road.
Joyce: Who talked? Jack: Snitches get stitches. Joyce: Fine, I'll find out on my own. Why do you think it's tied to the Silver Thread? Jack: Seems like a bit too much of a coincidence. Joyce: Why because two of the people targeted are silver thread members? Jack: can we have a moment? Joyce: how about you figure out what your strategy is and meet me at the docks at midnight. I'll find you.
Mohr: Quick question, your wife doesn't know? Or is she just a really good actor? Joyce: My wife does a lot for this city. Mohr: I see. Joyce: Sure you do. I'll see you at midnight and I hope that compatriot of yours doesn't steal anything of mine while they're snooping around my house.
Once Joyce departs, Talasea also goes invisible and dimension doors into the house. He checks out the office. Everything he finds for Pietra is on the up and up. He finds that Joyce takes care of the household finances and appears to be laundering some of her Silver Thread income through the household, but only a fraction of what she is likely making. Tal finds and copies the schedule for Joyce's children. However, any other paper records of Silver Thread activities must be kept elsewhere because there is no indication of them here.
Tal also notices a small safe in the office, but doesn't try to crack it. He prepares to leave when the door creaks open...
Verity? Tal whispers. There is no response. There's a safe.
A moment passes.
The dials on the safe begin to move.
Tal sends a quiet bardic inspiration for Verity to use "if it's you."
The safe opens to reveal papers, bags of gold, and a silver mirror that matches the one Pietra had been holding downstairs. About half of the gold disappears along with the mirror, then the door creaks again as Verity apparently leaves.
"You flounce too loudly," Tal whispers as he hears the swoosh of a person leaving their side. He feels a paper ball hit him.
Tal checks out the documents and finds they're mostly important birth certificates, etc. Pietra is listed as having been born in the Winter Kingdom, daughter of Pietra and Oskar Romanovna.
Tal takes a handful of gold from each of the bags and climbs out the window.
Zenith calls Verity out of the house. Verity reveals a crumpled child's drawing of a figure in a skull mask. When Talasea arrives and drops invisibility, Verity is surprised as he hadn't known there was another invisible person in the house. They come to the realizatipn that there was a third invisible person in the house and that person has half the Romanovna's gold and their silver mirror.
Leaving, Tal takes some time to ask around about the masquerade. They learn that the event is not always a masquerade; it celebrates the anniversary of the Primrose Queen's coronation. The ball itself is limited to VIPs, but during the day, the queen goes out and distributes sweets to the people. The group determines that Aphid has an invite by virtue of being a Lukot and has a single plus one.
The group heads towards the home of the third victim, Fiona Freemason. They find a small shop called "Freemason's Masonry" and an adjoining house.
They run into Pela Freemason, a messenger, outside the house. Inside, Pela sends some kids out and gets their husband Finnick in the room. Aphid asks if there's anything they could share they wouldnt share with the guard. Pela admits to being a smuggler with the Silver Thread. They give some advice for approaching other members: try to speak to them alone and be clear, because the vagueness sounds like how cops talk.
Pela admits that there aren't many Seamstresses left and they're concerned that the Red Hand will start looping back around.
Pela doesn't remember the Red Hand from before. The group asks about the identities of the other Seamstresses and the possibility of luring the Red Hand to target the North Wind. Pela shares that the identities of the Seamstresses are not known to the rest of the Silver Thread or even entirely to one another. The only person who knows them all is the Chief Seamstress. In order to do a setup, they'd need to find out how the Red Hand is getting the information. The Seamstresses are called to meet via message.
Pela shares that they don't know the identity of the sixth and final Seamstress, but the fifth is known as the Grandmother (no relation to Grandmother Lukot as far as they know), real name Edwyna Clavell. They also share that they think that the only way to pull off any sort of heist or trick would be with the collaboration of the Chief.
The North Wind departs with Aphid telling Pela to send a message to Lukot Manor if they're in need or have information.
The group heads to the home of victim two, Gerard Oxenbrigg. They arrive at a Temple to Spring and are introduced to Father Humphrey and a servant named Priscilla Seymour. Priscilla snorts when Humphrey says he treated Gerard like his own. Gerard had been left on the doorstep when he was a baby. He passed along the same message as the other children in a conversation with Priscilla.
Taking Pela's advice, they separate Humphrey and Priscilla. The conversation with Humphrey turns out utterly normal, chatting a bit about how he reads the word of the father of their underworship, Gregory the Saint, and his water polo hobby. Priscilla reveals that she is indeed a Seamstress. She says that mentioning the Silver Hand in front of Joyce's wife probably doesn't mean she'll kill them outright, she's just less likely to work with them. Theft from her decreases that chance further. Priscilla has a theory that maybe the rest of the Seamstresses weren't in the line of fire until Joyce put them there.
Priscilla vaguely remembers the Red Hand before. She remembers him being pale, kind of flighty. Got a feeling of genasi from him but not sure.
The group pops into Thornguard West to speak to Thornguard Berry, the guard who'd been in the basement at the Saysanasy house. Berry doesn't share much new information, just that she did a pretty good job of resisting the spell cast, but it succeeded anyway. They woke up after around a minute.
The group ends with a visit to Edwyna Clavell. Her grandaughter Clara takes a break from playing druids to come talk to them. Clara initially lies that she hasn't spoken to any strangers because she knows she's not supposed to. Then Mohr casts Zone of Truth. Clara admits that a person in a skull mask came up to her. Clara refused to speak to the stranger until the stranger shared their name. The stranger grew increasingly frustrated until they finally said a name: Onoana.

Report Date

22 Sep 2024