Maran 12-13, 653 DR: An old woman stumbles distraught and weak into the Red Cock from the storms. Daga and Dogsbutt search for the lost “necklace” which keeps her alive. Daga finds his way to the Kyard looking for the mysterious Kulak. Dogsbutt sneaks into a den of lusty thieves. Both return in the early morning to Daga’s home, hoping they are in time.

Continued from Trumps of Madness.

Bærídor, 12 Maran 653

Another rainy Spring night found a small group of locals huddled in the Red Cock tavern. The wind howled through the streets outside, swinging the old plaque above the door so that it might fall from its hinges at any moment. Inside many hoped that it did, or for anything that would break the monotony of days without a hint of sunlight, days of relentless rain. The night was not improved by a pervading foul stench that wafted across the city from the Iron Temple. Not a door or shutter remained open in the Naryard this night.

Mayla cursed as the door flew open and the wind and rain drenched her, soaking her last rolled smoke. She reached to shut the door as an elderly woman stumbled inside, covered in street grime and soaked to the bone. The hunched woman clutched the back of a chair to support herself, shaking and terrified. “You must help me,” she croaked. “Please, help me.” Daga and Dogsbutt moved to assist the old lady. Solem, undeterred from his labor to polish the bar top to a mirror finish made a comment about “no handouts”; he did not look up. The crone protested weakly, “No. My necklace. I’ve lost it.” As Daga helped her into a chair he noticed she was clutching her chest, but more interestingly was the fact that her hand was ticking. Daga fetched the woman some tea while Dogsbutt asked her what had happened. She explained between gasps that she had been walking from the Pryard to the Kyard to answer a message from a friend when she had slipped on the rain-slicked cobbles and hit her head on a porch step. She did not know how long she had been out but awoke when two young men helped her to her feet. After the men had left she realized that her necklace was gone. The old woman insisted that without it, she would die. When asked why she would die, the old woman only answered “old age”. When pressed for details she explained she might die within a day.

Dogsbutt grabbed his cape and went outside to search the rain slicked streets for some sign of the woman’s treasure. He found nothing. He returned to the tavern to learn more of the young men that “helped her”. She explained that she had not had a good look at them for they had hoods. She did notice that one had a grotesquely bulbous nose. Without much work in Jaris these last months there were few thieves about. Dogsbutt headed south to see if any beggars fit the woman’s description.

With Dogsbutt gone into the stormy night again, Daga assisted the old woman back to his house. Fatigued from the walk, the woman passed out into a chair. Carefully moving aside the clutched hand and blouse of his unconscious guest, Daga found a metal hole implanted into the woman’s chest. Radiating out from the hole were four knotted scars where the lady’s chest had been carved and pulled open. Mirroring some lantern light on the subject, Daga’s eyes lit-up to the sight of turning clockworks and the clear audible tick of a working machine, dying down. The iron rim of the chest hole was perforated to allow for a medallion-sized cap to fit snugly over the top. Daga roused the woman from her blackout and asked her about the friend she sought. He learned that her name was Iveánda Navèdra and the friend she sought was named Kulak. Grabbing his coat, Daga returned into the wind and the rain and made the best time he could toward the Kyard, looking for a man he’d never met.

Dogsbutt picked his way carefully through unfamiliar streets. The run-off was not so deep here and he thought once or twice of emptying his boots. Soon he came upon two beggars, man and woman and asked if they’d seen the two young men he was searching for. He offered the woman fruit which he didn’t have, but convinced her that he had a barrel-full “back at home” and would bring her some if she could be of help. Despite being hit and told to be quiet by her companion, the woman explained that some thugs lived in an old inn blocks further. She explained that the man he sought was named Tellet and that his companion was Ursyd. Dogsbutt thanked her and ran off.

The spectacled Daga talked to a couple nightwatchmen in the Kyard. Neither had heard of the name “Kulak”, but both thought the name sounded queer. The second directed him to a basement bar which he nearly walked by without noticing. Entering, he was directed to a corner table where several men and women sat. He recognized immediately one of the men slowly tracing a Derékaln sign on the tabletop with his fingertip. Daga responded in kind. He explained that he was looking for a man named Kulak, for an old woman in his care. A middle-aged woman at the table responded that she knew of Kulak, and add that ‘if certain people learned that he had spoken with the man he sought, Daga would be as good as dead.’ Fear seized the balding tinkerer, he thanked them for their time and left for home. He felt terrible about not finding Iveánda’s friend, but could not bring himself to soldier on.

Dogsbutt found a man urinating in the back of the old inn. He followed the drunken sot into the back kitchen and took stock of the ground floor inhabitants. Climbing up the back wall of the half-timber building, he slipped into a dark room and staked out the floor. In one room a man was puking onto the floor, in the hall a woman sat snoring and splayed against the wall. Only in one room was there candlelight and conversation. He crept into the adjacent room and listened for a watch or more.

Virídor, 13 Maran 653

It was after Nightsdeep when one of the people stopped to vomit from the first story window. Dogsbutt peered out his own window to see that it was the man with the large nose. Finally, one of the two passed out onto the floor and the larger of the two vacated his bladder onto his friend before collapsing onto a bed and staring bleary-eyed at his room for a while longer. Soon, he too passed out. Dogsbutt slipped quietly into the room and found the medallion and a purse of coins. Success! The small thief “visited” briefly with an unconscious girl in the hall and then quietly climbed back out of the old inn, returning to the Red Cock. Finding no one at the tavern he struck out for Daga’s.

The two met in the early morning at Daga’s front door. Inside, Daga and Dogsbutt found the woman slumped deeply in her chair; the ticking noise was gone. Daga hurriedly fit the medallion into its place on the woman’s chest but the ticking did not restart. Iveánda was dead. Dogsbutt, exhausted from the long night’s adventure returned to the Red Cock. Daga watched him briefly as he left. After the ugly little man had disappeared in the inky rain, the tinkerer grabbed his things and excitedly returned to the body in his front room. After a taking some measurements, Daga adjusted his spectacles, straddled her chair, and began sawing the iron heart from Ivy’s chest.

Continued in Free Beer.

Characters

• Daga Grey
• Dogsbutt
• Almor (Brother of Beldor)
• Almrus
• Beldor
• Earad (Ratcatcher)
• Grenna (Red Cock Barmaid)
• Iveánda Navèdra
• Mayla (Prostitute)
• Rita (Red Cock Barmaid)
• Shala (Prostitute)
• Solem (Red Cock Barkeep)
• Tellet (Street Thief)
• Ursyd (Street Thief)
• Wormy (Daga’s Cat)

Played: 12 Mar 2004