OttL Session 18: The Troubles of House Klaedris - Part 3

General Summary

To begin the session, the party is still a little scattered. Ignacio Icarsus is talking to Kilfras Klaedris, asking for theories about potential suspects. Hobbs, Sylvan Honorifics, and Natsu are in the lobby. Thaiva Phenol continues talking to her sister. She starts off by asking why she didnt list Ambed as an alibi if the two were having sex at the time. This confuses Hinfyire Soriel greatly, who explains she was actually sleeping with Kastorgac.
Meanwhile, Natsu and Hobbs are talking to Estuus. Hobbs is the first to address the suspect:

So, my friend and I are havin' a bit of a wager on here to find out which one of us had committed the murders most recently, and I put my money on you, so I was wonderin' about when was the last time you were thinkin' about doin' murder?

Estuus is extremely offended by this question. Thaiva Phenol, just now coming around the corner after her talk with Hinfyire Soriel, attempts to calm the widow to no avail. Natsu senses genuine confusion and offense, however, and so they conclude Estuus is innocent and move on.
Ignacio Icarsus, meanwhile, has moved on to interrogating Nompek, the fish trader from Qolodeteshii. He asks a lot of questions, but the trader's answers are mostly very mundane. He does admit, however, to having the means to procure goods from the Feywild, through the village of Omsebelle.
Thaiva Phenol talks to Nunlus, to ask about hats. Nunlus himself has a circlet, but it appears to be mundane. The fake Thaiva seems to have worn a fez when Nunlus spotted her leaving the servant's quarters. Other hat-related suspects include Ailmon and Hinfyire Soriel, who both wear hoods, Estuus, who wears a simple peasant hat, Femtid, who wears a simple ponytail, and of course Alibor Klaedris and Kilfras Klaedris, who both wear crowns.
Natsu is eavesdropping on Hinfyire Soriel and Ambed arguing about why someone thought they were having sex. Natsu gets caught spying on them, but manages to talk her way out of it without serious repercussions.
Hobbs interrogates Nompek, and asks if he sells poison, what with him being a traitor and all. The trader denies this, but does eventually admit that he actually does know of many poisonous fish, but he refuses to sell any of them to someone who specifically asks for poisonous fish.
Ignacio Icarsus asks Estuus some questions about her bar, but does not learn anything of particular significance.
Natsu is investigating the bathrooms, and finds a small bag of strange, pink powder. The contents of the bag are unidentified. After this, she gathers up the others, including Izar, into one of the meeting rooms. They catch up with each other, and when Natsu explains that Femtid intends to hang herself, Izar became very concerned, and asked where. When Natsu said it was at The Hanging Tree, Izar spaced out for a long time before finally saying "I want to help her."
As they scatter about to continue investigating, Natsu eavesdrops on a conversation between Eesa and Ailmon:

eesa: So you think so too, yes? She seems... special? ailmon: yes, yes! Exactly the sort of thing! eesa: Why, though? Why her? ailmon: There is a certain wonder to her... an air of mystery, if you will. Sort of like Olidammara, you know? The power to do anything, but also the personality to do anything eesa: I see. I see. That's a very unusual answer ailmon: Well I'm an unusual guy

Hobbs talks to Alibor Klaedris and Dryxora Klaedris, and establishes without a doubt that Thaiva Phenol does not, in fact, have a twin sister. He also "entertains" Alibor Klaedris again by catching a crossbow bolt again.
Once this is done, he goes back to the servants' quarters to talk to Ambed. When he arrives, he sees Hinfyire Soriel pinning Ambed to the wall and threatening her with a dagger. He hears the voice of Dreamonskii in his head:

It's me, D! Get her off me, please!

Hobbs talks for a minute, as he sneaks closer, then initiates combat and knocks the dagger out of Hinfyire Soriel's hand. Ambed escapes the room, but Hinfyire Soriel is extremely upset. She draws another dagger and stabs Hobbs in the chest with it. Natsu attempts to retaliate to defend him, but her shove is entirely ineffective. High perception rolls from Ignacio Icarsus and Thaiva Phenol alert the rest of the group to the action and they begin rushing over. Combat is brought to an end in relatively short order when Hinfyire Soriel shoves Izar out of the way and flees. The party pursues, but when Thaiva Phenol arrives she gives her sister an opening and she shuts herself in a storage room.
Combat is over, but Memento Vitae is still blindfolded, and is running down the hallway trying to find the scene. He is turned around by some guards, then on his way back up the hallway runs straight into an invisible woman. Hobbs, who is close by enough to see this, immediately recognizes Femtid as the invisibility spell breaks and combat begins again. At first Femtid attempts to fight, but when she realizes she is in a losing battle she casts dimension door to teleport away. Hobbs shoves Memento Vitae out of frustration, causing a brief scuffle in which Memento Vitae attempts to locate his attacker by casting unseen servant. This is unsuccessful because Memento Vitae cannot see the servant pointing at Hobbs. A few seconds later the party hears the spell go off a second time, and when they go to check the closet they discover both Femtid and Hinfyire Soriel are missing.
Hobbs and Thaiva Phenol argue for a while, and then the party piles into the servants' quarters to question Ambed. She claims that Hinfyire Soriel was asking a lot of questions, but did not believe her answers, and pinned her to the wall as a threat. Ambed is kept under guard, but most of the party departs in search of the fugitives. Some shenanigans ensue, which includes another instance of Hobbs eagerly demonstrating his ability to catch crossbow bolts.
Thaiva Phenol is the one who finally finds them. Femtid took herself and Hinfyire Soriel into the treasury. Apparently she initially wanted to leave the building entirely but Hinfyire Soriel refused. Thaiva Phenol is angry with both of them, but eventually opts to trust her sibling and returns to the servants' quarters to interrogate Ambed.
Ambed claims that her alibi is Hinfyire Soriel herself, who she was sleeping with at the time, but Thaiva Phenol does not believe this because Hinfyire Soriel had reported sleeping with Kastorgac instead. Vannis attempts to cast charm person on her to get some straight answers, but the spell fizzles immediately with no saving throw. This alone is suspicious, so some further prodding eventually causes Ambed to snap her fingers, at which point she transforms into a male dragonborn fitting the description of Kastorgac. The party is not satisfied with this alone, however, and even further prodding causes Kastorgac to transform again, revealing that he is actually Dreamonskii, the proprietor of Fresh Start Soul Traders.
The party continues prodding, but fail to squeeze any concrete details out of Dreamonskii. He admits to being in Xumasha due to secret orders from Penguin. He claims that his investigation is unrelated to the one being conducted by Eesa, but refuses to disclose details about either mission. He did not witness the crime, either, but he does claim that he has the ability to look into people's Souls, and that Femtid and Hinfyire Soriel both work for Lolth. He insists that those two should be the prime suspects, because Lolth and her people are a bunch of bastards who target people who need a change in their lives and get them to do shady things.
As this interrogation is happening, Hobbs and Natsu go to update Alibor Klaedris/Dryxora Klaedris. While they are doing this, Natsu catches Hinfyire Soriel trying to sneak down an adjacent hallway. A confrontation ensues, in which Hinfyire Soriel once again defends all of her actions. Natsu takes some convincing before she settles down, but afterwards she reveals to Hinfyire Soriel that Kastorgac was secretly an incubus named Dreamonskii. Hinfyire Soriel is stunned and outraged, and promptly sneaks away again. Once Hobbs and Natsu are alone again, they also have some tender loving moments in the hallway, in which Natsu asks Hobbs if he still has a romantic interest in Dreamonskii, and he says no.
Back in the servants' quarters, the rest of the party is discussing possible motives for The attempted assasination of Kilfras. Dreamonskii says that assassinations and the like are actually quite common around Montia lately. It seems like someone big and powerful is being "real picky about who's in charge around here".  Memento Vitae hears Hinfyire Soriel whispering in his ear:

Get somewhere alone. We need to talk. NOW.

Nobody else hears this, but Vannis does hear Memento Vitae attempt to respond:

I will try my best but I will need a bit of help, I am essentially blind.

Memento Vitae then asks Thaiva Phenol to take him to the bathroom.  On their way out, Vannis informs Thaiva Phenol about what he heard.  Thaiva Phenol hesitates at this, but still takes Memento Vitae to the restroom under close guard.  Once there, Hinfyire Soriel reveals herself to Thaiva Phenol and asks for a few minutes alone with Memento Vitae.  Thaiva Phenol is nervous, but does acquiesce to this.
Vannis , now alone with Dreamonskii, takes a moment to talk about books and the trading of souls. 
As soon as they are alone, Hinfyire Soriel starts questioning Memento Vitae:

How many eyes lurk in the dark?

Memento Vitae is confused, and so Hinfyire Soriel explains that is a code and he had just answered incorrectly.  She issues Memento Vitae an ultimatum: either abandon The Traveler to join up with Lolth or quit "pretending" to be one of them.  As she leaves, she pats Thaiva Phenol on the shoulder.

I think I scared him off.

The party regroups back in the servants' quarters. Thaiva Phenol leaves again to retrieve Hobbs and Natsu, interrupting their romantic moment. Once everyone is present, Dreamonskii asks to talk to Hobbs alone. Hobbs is reticent, but does comply. Natsu immediately sneaks up to the door to eavesdrop.
Dreamonskii talks to Hobbs, covering much of the same territory as he did with Ignacio Icarsus in Session 17: The Troubles of House Klaedris - Part 2. He and Hobbs were very close - extremely close. Closer than he initially let on. He had learned some secrets about Hobbs, and signed a contract stating he would protect those secrets until the bitter end. That means Dreamonskii knows some things about Hobbs' missing memories that he is legally not allowed to disclose. This bothers Dreamonskii, and he even tried to consult a lawyer, but he could not find a way around it. He does have one thing he can do, though, which is provide Hobbs a map to his home in the Feywild, with the hopes that he might find something there.
Dreamonskii warns, however, that he suspects Hobbs had forgotten his memory intentionally. The man Hobbs was wouldn't let anybody take anything from him without his say-so. He also gives Hobbs a magical monocle, which he says would allow him to look into peoples souls. He is also still trying to investigate what the remaining memories that Hobbs lost are.
After this, Dreamonskii also has a brief conversation with Natsu. He explains that he won't stop her from persuing a relationship with Hobbs, because she is now on Penguin's "don't fuck with" list. He'll leave them alone, but if she hurts him in any way then he will kill her, slowly and violently. This warning done, he tries to lighten the mood with some advice: the way to Hobbs' heart is food. In particular, he recommends blood sausage.

Report Date

04 Sep 2020