Previously, the heroes attended a soiree at the College of Bards and spoke to Le Papillon, the headmaster of the college, about the Arms of the Senhadrim, as well as the legends and myths about capturing and imprisoning souls. The headmaster offered access to the college’s archives. A Beauclairois trobairitz introduced herself to Quentin as Aubrey, who wanted to know more about him in order to compose a song in celebration of his betrothal. And bard by the name of Rigoletta caught the heroes’ attention because there was something strange about her.
Eighth Day, Second Ride, Autumn Twilight, 1262
(Silvermoon is waning, Bloodmoon is waxing, Darkmoon is in high sanction)The heroes found themselves listening to the enchanting song of Rigoletta, the enigmatic bard that had so unnerved Neamhan. Emrys found himself somewhat lost in the song and forgot everything around him, including Neamhan who had turned back to her trueshape and was trying to warn her companions of the danger she believed the bard posed. Even Wynn came back and urged the others to leave because he had stumbled upon a corpse in the corridors of the college, and he wanted to be safe under the accords of the Careless Wanderer.
Each of the heroes was experiencing the song, and its meaning, in a slightly different way. For some it was pieced together of fragments they could understand of the archaic Lyrian, while for others it was translated by their Senhadrim weapon, either verbally or innately.
“When the scarlet rain falls,
and our ancestors rise again,
the tyrant king will take his throne,
and liberate us all from death.”As heard by Neamhan
Quentin had noticed that his raven feather talisman had been humming underneath his shirt, and he took Emrys’ hand and put it on his chest, just as the song hit its climax. This seemed to shake Emrys from his reverie, but it took quite some convincing to disengage from Rigoletta. The heroes started moving towards the exit while the crowd was still applauding.
When the heroes left the ballroom there was a deep darkness which hung over the hallway beyond. A sound of heavy footsteps and a grating sound of iron upon stone could be heard coming from down the hallway. Not sparing it a second thought, Neamhan connected to the power of sunlight and filled the hallway with daylight, instantly revealing a hulking figure dressed in dark robes. The hood of the robes held a featureless face of flesh which shook the heroes. He held an oversized shovel in one hand, and the leg of a corpse in the other, both of which he casually dragged behind him. Wynn confirmed that the body the hulking brute was dragging was the dead body he had encountered.
“Beneath the scarlet rain’s descent,
Old voices stir, their strength unspent.
From silent graves our kin arise,
Their echoes burning in the skies.
Upon his throne, the tyrant stands,
Crowned not by love, but iron hands.
Yet through his reign, death’s grip will cease;
A bitter rule, a promised peace.”As heard by Emrys
Weapons were drawn, spells unleashed, and Neamhan transfigured into the fearsome bulk of a long-toothed cat which hunted in the high reaches of her mountain home. Emrys summoned an abomination, conjured from the rubble of masonry, tiles, and glass which had been knocked loose in the fight. Momentarily, Emrys could not contain his intuition and his magic slipped out of control, leading to a surge of magic which summoned an apparition of a tall, statuesque woman he had seen before. She vowed not to let Emrys fall that night, and he felt immediately bolstered and reinvigorated.
The brute left through the hole in the wall and entered the courtyard, but the heroes managed to defeat it. As the heroes made their way across the courtyard, they noticed Rigoletta, who raised her hand and a body who had been crushed beneath the rubble obeyed her command rose again to stand at her side.
“And it shall come to pass in the latter days,
when the rain is turned to scarlet,
and the bones of the fathers are stirred from the dust.
Lo, they shall rise and walk upon the earth again.
Behold, the Tyrant King shall ascend his throne;
his sceptre forged in shadow, his crown forged in fire.
And by his hand the gates of death shall be broken,
and the captives shall be delivered from the grave.”As heard by Quentin
By the time the heroes got to the Careless Wanderer, the bells struck twice. Durham grumpily opened the door and let the heroes in. It was late, and it was decided to have the debrief in the morning. Before departing for his nightly rest, Wynn claimed that he had seen a dead body which had been killed by a snake.
During the night the weather turned colder and stormier, leading to a blizzard in the morning. Strong gusts of wind and flurries of snow battered the coastal city of Kingsport. Despite the weather, Chakuq decided to pick up the talismans he had made from the teeth of Epidemius’ mount. Falka was studying several of her books, and did not seem to have any intention of leaving the hearthside that day. Luca was also studying, but he was meticulously drawing out arcane diagrams in the process. Neamhan, waking up only at the eighth bell — particularly late for her — decided to do the same, and sat with them to study the barkskin she had found in the library of the Newport vault.
When Emrys and Quentin finally joined the rest just after the tenth bell struck, the heroes decided to explain what had occurred at the College of Bards after Chakuq and Luca left. Neamhan was quite concerned for having wildshaped in front of strangers, and Quentin was keen on informing Cardinal Roark of the incident; he felt the behemoth was interfering with life and death. Rigoletta’s song also came up, and it became clear that each of the ones that overheard it had a slightly different interpretation of the lyrics.