Sharak 12-15, 652 DR: When the Red Cock closes, a surprise is found. Old Ginch examines the powder. Dogsbutt talks with a priest. An old woman with an odd request visits Daga’s shop. Daga trips a trap at the Red Cock. The problem with eyeglasses. Looking for Belder’s brother. Tales of the West Wing. Daga heads south, seeking the help of an old soldier.

Continued from Pounder Versus Titan.

Bærídor, 12 Sharak 652

From a high window overlooking the Naryard, cold eyes stared down across the city’s sooty roofs and oily streets. A rush of blood beat fiercely at its temples. The pleasant, satisfying, warm feeling of success. Drawing closed the black shutters with its feathered claws, the watcher returned to his game.

Early in the morning, many hours before the City of Oð’s brief dawn, people filtered from the Red Cock into black streets. Solem said good-bye (like any other night) to everyone preparing to leave. Eventually Solem said he was closing and the remainder stood slowly and moved for the door, all except for Belder. Belder sat in his corner chair with his head back, his mouth hanging open. Solem asked Daga and Dogsbutt to help him outside, but when they drew closer they noticed something large and red around his neck. A crimson quill hung from a dried but bloodied wound in the large man’s neck, he had been killed, and no-one had noticed. Daga took the quill to study. Shaking his head sadly, Solem told Dogsbutt to dispose of the body. So the bent-fingered little man dragged Belder’s corpse out back and pushed him into the sewer grate. Belder did not go easily, so Dogsbutt produced his knife and trimmed the big man down to size.

At his workshop, Daga examined the feather more closely, and found a faint blue powder coating. He carefully collected the dust with small clock-cleaning brush and poured what he found into a small vial.

Virídor, 13 Sharak 652

The next day, Dogsbutt took the powder to Old Ginch, a respected physician in Jaris. Ginch looked at the substance and listened to the Dogsbutt’s story but explained that he did not know what the powder might be. He referred Dogsbutt to a priest named Yarrol, who lived near the Barrens. Dogsbutt trekked down into the southern Naryard as Ginch had directed, and knocked on the priest’s door. The door was answered by a well-to-do balding man who welcomed the unseemly Dogsbutt into his house without hesitation. Dogsbutt showed him the powder and the man left to consult his books. Dogsbutt wandered lustfully through the priest’s parlor, looking at the baubles and shiny metals on display. Yarrol then invited him into a back room where he used a bit of the dust with some vials of liquid, and steaming things. After a watch of pouring, heating, and examining bottles of various colors next to candled-mirrors, he said at last that the substance was a spell component consisting of ground birds’ talon and traces of half-a-dozen minerals. He explained that the component was not uncommon among the Dagra Nol and was used to make things fly. Giving the remainder of the powder back to Dogsbutt he extracted a promise that the short man should return so that he could escort Dogsbutt to the Temple. The stunted man agreed to this, in Dogsbutt’s way. Leaving Yarrol’s home, he returned north.

That same day, Daga tended to his shop. Things were slow until an old woman stepped through the door with a golden medallion that she wanted opened. Daga took great care working the small lock mechanism, though was somewhat distressed by the fact that she did not want a key fashioned. Once opened, he found a small hair-brush portrait painted inside. He asked if it was someone she knew, but she said that is wasn’t. She asked him to remove the portrait and see if anything was beneath, there wasn’t. She thanked Daga and paid him for his help. On the way from his shop she explained that the medallion wasn’t bad for a day’s work.

Daga looked around, found his picks, and went to work on the Red Cock’s front door lock. In moments he heard the characteristic click he was accustomed to, but also felt a prick in his hand. The lock had been trapped. Cursing Dogsbutt, Daga wandered back toward his shop. The further he walked, the more his vision began swimming. The cobbled road wavered beneath him like water, and the building walls on either side breathed like things alive. People moved about him in the streets, but he could not focus on their faces. One image came close and he could feel his spectacles being pulled from his face. He reached for them but they were gone. The shapes about him regarded him sadly, and somewhere behind he could hear familiar but somehow distant footsteps and the laugh of a certain ugly friend. Staggering, he found the door to his shop, and fumbled with his keys. So many keys. Finally a hand helped and his door opened. Dogsbutt led him to a bed where the world flipped backwards, and the ceiling soon was swimming above him. Dogsbutt explained from somewhere in his swimming world that he should have known better than to try and break into Solem’s place.

After rummaging through Daga’s store, Dogsbutt found Solem and explained what had happened. The tavern-keeper was furious and explained to his tenant that the antidote and resetting of the lock would cost Daga plenty. Dogsbutt agreed to this and was given a glass teardrop filled with liquid. Solem explained that this was the antidote, and that the tip only need to be broken off and stuck into the victim’s skin. After some bargaining with the delirious and desperate Daga, Dogsbutt stuck him several times with the glass ampule, but nothing seemed to happen. Finally, he remembered to break the tip and applied the medicine. Later that evening, Daga began grinding new lenses.

Palídor, 14 Sharak 652

The next day, having recovered from the poison, Daga decided to deliver the message of Belder’s death to his brother Ommor, and perhaps discover more about why the man was killed. Daga left his neighborhood and climbed up the Naryard hill until he reached a tall bleak stone building surrounded by a spiked wall on all sides. At the padlocked black gate he rattled the bars and chains until a gaunt man in a high hat came to answer. Sindor, the South Wing attendant, welcomed him inside explaining that he’d have to look for Ommor himself as names were not used at the asylum. Inside the building Daga looked around as dozens of residents called and reached for him. At the terminus below a crumbling portrait of Lord Rott, he came to a heavy door with a small barred window. Peering through the door was a pale disheveled man who despite his vocal aping, told Daga that the man he sought was Daroc, which he said with a gesture indicating “the man with the large nose”. Sindor explained that the West Wing was very dangerous and dark, and that all the doors had been removed and the windows bricked closed to keep the inmates within. Daga decided not to continue alone and thanked Sindor for his help.

Daga returned to the Red Cock and talked with Solem about finding help. After some thought, Solem suggested an old soldier that lived in the Town of Genter, south of the City. The man was an ex-soldier who had a reputation for being a cheap sell-sword.Daga traveled south for the remainder of the day, finding a small boarding house in the Sulyard for the night.

Alídor, 15 Sharak 652

Early the next morning, Daga continued to Southgate and down the road to Genter. After asking around, he found Çarn in a tavern, getting an early start on the day. It was late afternoon and the man’s table was already littered with empty tankards. The old man was in no condition to travel. Çarn agreed to the business offer however, before Daga was finished explaining the details of the mission. Daga remained at the man’s table for the rest of the evening, listening to him tell stories about his time with the Lords’ Men. Whenever someone drew too close or too noisy for him to continue his stories, Çarn would stand up and smash a tankard against their heads. More than once the tavern almost erupted into a brawl until they saw the old man with the sword leaning against his chair. People knew better than to mess with the old man; this was a comfort to Daga.

Continued in Trumps of Madness.

Characters

• Daga Grey
• Dogsbutt
• Belder
• Daroc Kondor
• Grenna (Red Cock Barmaid)
• Karras
• Old Ginch
• Ommor the Mad
• Rita (Red Cock Barmaid)
• Sindor
• Solem (Red Cock Barkeep)
• Thylàdaréus Çarn
• Wormy (Daga’s Cat)
• Yarrol

Played: 05 May 2007