Short rest over the train
Characters explain to Grondar Blackfloyd what happened on the train ride:
- Maid and bartender were assassins
- Gassed the guards and VIP
- That’s why guards are dead, but VIP was revived by Helia
- Guard asks what happened to these “assassins”, no bodies can be found
- Guard asks about Neothelid
As one of the guards poke the corpse of the Neothelid, Ragnar Rok rolls out, claiming to have killed the Neothelid. The party initially start denying this.
As Ragnar surveys the scene, he sees Grondar and exclaims “COUSIN”. Grondar recognizes Ragnar and facepalms.
The VIP also nods to help confirm some of the party’s story.
Grondar takes the party and Augur of Melodies towards the fortress of the Man of Strings.
As the party pass through the city, they notice blemishes, cracks, and buildings falling apart. Many creatures are huddled around garbage fires.
They arrive at a massive structure with spikes sticking out of the ground, suspended by strings in Tensegrity.
They find Amras waiting at the bottom of the elevator entrance, holding a Tonic giving off a faint blue luminesence.
The elevator opens to reveal Uptown Girl, who takes in Amras and the party. She exclaims at the Augur’s appearance, takes in Amras. She briefly questions the party but then haughtily ignores them.
Amras examines Velden on the way up: he reveals that Velden has been cursed with Feeblemind and that some of his core stats have been reverted to base instincts only. Every feeblemind has a different cure, but Amras dangles a potion that should lead them to a cure.
Amras offers the potion for no price, but the party must agree to be indebted to him and grant him a future favour. Cory and Harloc counter with a double-or-nothing, with a palmed coin toss, which Amras agrees to and does not notice. They thus get the potion for free.
In the chamber of the man of strings, sitting in front a giant piano.
He is revealed to be a frail old man, physically barely alive. But his eyes blaze with life, and he is able to quickly perceive intimate details about the party.
He thanks the party for saving the Augur, dismissing The Synth as an annoyance.
Amras offers the tonic to the Piano Man, go undergoes a physical transformation. He starts playing, and taps into the rhythms of the universe.
Son can you play me a memory?
I’m not really sure how it goes
But it’s sad and it’s sweet and I knew it complete
When I wore a younger man’s clothes
The Augur has his eyes closed, and responds with a counter harmony:
How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
The room thrums and the energy focuses on the Augur, who is raised off the floor.
Oh, la, la-la, di-di-da
La-la di-di-da da-dum
The thrumming reaches a crecendo, the Augur’s eyes shoot open. With a rictus grin, he responds:
How many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, and how many times must the cannonballs fly
Before they’re forever banned?
“Bill, I believe this is killing me”
As a smile ran away from his face
Piano man forces the issue:
Oh, la, la-la, di-di-da
La-la di-di-da da-dum
The Augur croaks:
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind
and collapses on the floor, dead.
The expression of energy leaves the piano man physically exerted, back to his sickly thin old self.
“So it’s to be the winds this time, well, it can’t be worse than the tambourine man” he muses mostly to himself.
His attention focuses on the party, who try various tricks that he sees through. He knows that the party has saved Lyric and had dealings with the Queen of Hearts.
He asserts that the party is here for the intervals and grants them the honour of competing under his banner in exchange for saving the Augur.
The party leaves and stops at an inn, where the banner of the man of strings grants them access to luxurious accomodations.
They feed Velden the potion, which makes him speak in his dreams:
Hadaee mada tawila
Wa ana nahos ana wahala ghzaltiI dream of rain
I dream of gardens in the desert sand
I wake in vain
I dream of love as time runs through my handI dream of fire
These dreams that tie two hearts that will never die
Near the flames
The shadows play in the shape of the man’s desireThis desert rose
Whose shadow bears the secret promise
The dream gives Velden a sense of where to find the rose, off in the desert.
The party travel half a day into the desert, to find the shadow of rose in the midst of a Kruthnik lair.
They sneak in, but every time they touch the shadow, it moves to a new spot.
Combat is initiated just as they figure out that they need to water the rose, then burn it with fire.
They pull it off while fighting off Kruthniks that are being summoned in waves: the shadow blossoms into a forested pedestal with a white rose blooming outwards.
They kill the hive lord and Velden sniffs the rose, breaking his feeblemind and happiness derived from ignorance. The shattering makes him hate the smell of vanilla.