The party spend some time playing with the door that led to The house of Bellis, their new office as newly appointed Petal Bound and founding members of the Second White Petal Accord.
They kept the door safely stoved away at the back of White Petals Bridal, Amelia’s shop. It had a utility room with a locked door into the house itself, so they could let the backdoor stay unlocked and keep the door hidden in this utility room.
At dinner they discussed next steps. There was a lot of open threads to attend to and they needed to decide in what order to tackle them:
- The mysterious ways the Iron Masquerade’s clothes and masks had vapourised in an earlier encounter.
- The news that The Promised had seen Fenrir transform to his wereshape meaning they were now on the trail of him.
- Establish the Second White Petal Accord including reaching out to all the heads of the various Guilds in Skylathar.
- Check in with their respective business.
- Inquisitor Lopper Goldsmith’s oddly obsessive interest in Fey and possible connection to Iron Masquerade.
In the end, the heroes decided to check in with their own businesses in the morning since all of them were located in the neighbourhood.
Reestablishing their businesses
As dawn broke, the party had breakfast together in Amelia’s kitchen and decided to visit Lolli Tinkergiggle, the Gnomish owner of The Dandelion Toybox to hear of any news the heroes also needed to take into account.
As they left White Petals Bridal, Orlando spotted one of his “flowers”, Sally One-Step, a one-legged female thief dressed as a beggar.
Sally One-Step was carrying bags and boxes and looked like she was leaving town and hurried off as she spotted the party.
They caught her and it turned out that Orlando’s local criminal outfit, and their HQ The Golden Carnation, had been taken over by an outside, the Pirate Queen Captain Isabella Vane, The Blood Rose of the Seven Seas.
Making matters worse, it turns out she gained control of the outfit with little resistance.
Confronting Captain Isabella Vane, The Blood Rose of the Seven Seas
The party quickly went to Lolli Tinkergiggle who confirmed the hostile takeover and that crime had all but left the streets leaving The Circle of Life neighbourhood feeling safer than ever.
She could also explain why: Isabella Vane had little interest in running the criminal enterprise. She was finding sailors for her pirate fleet and had already shipped most of the gang members to sea.
With that, the party rushed to The Golden Caranation to confront Isabella Vane who they found planning and giving instructions in the back office. She was clearly also emptying the basement storage of goods and weapons.
Orlando tried to reason with the Pirate Queen, but with no luck.
A stroke of luck
Next to Isabella stood Silas “The Ledger” Ashborne, an old thief now tasked with recording all movements within The Veiled Hand, the guild of the thieves in Daisygate.
But while Silas clearly wasn’t fond of Isabella, he was acting as an observer in the take-over and could unfortunately confirm that the take-over had follower the rules of The Veiled Hand.
However, when Alfein presented herself as a companion of Orlandon, Silas spotted an opportunity as that technically meant, Isabella had not taken over the entire outfit but merely split in two.
That meant an ancient challenge called The Five Trials of Thievery could be invoked to determine ownership of the gang.
Stunned Orlando was left speechless, but Alfein stepped in and accepted the challenge on Orlando’s group of the gang.
Isabella was furious, but had no way to refuse the challenge.
The Five Trials of Thievery begins
The Five Trials of Thievery would take place in the headquarters of The Veiled Hand. It was located in The Gutters in a huge underground palace underneath La Rose de Velours, a seedy burlesque establishment run by the voluptuous Madame Colette D’Aramont, a retired Assassin and the head of The Veiled Hand.
Before entering the establishment, Amelia prayed to her patron, Ethuil – Keeper of the Ever Turning Wheel, for Guidance to all the heroes.
The larger than life Colette was there to welcome the party and quickly got them settled in a dugout located at one end of a huge amphitheatre with Isabella Vane had her team located opposite.
Our heroes could see Isabella was equally confused and had brought a team of her own staff: A man, an elf, a goblin, a bulky halfling with her making a complete team of five, one for each trial.
The Trial of the Purse
The first trial was called “The Trial of the Purse” and Alfein jumped in. She would also have to participate in the fifth and last trial facing off to Isabella Vane.
The rules were simple: In the centre of the stage were five cloaked figures. One had a black coin in their pocket. Whoever stole the coin unnoticed would win this round gaining The favour of the Hand, a token that would come in handy in the last trial.
And the game was a foot.
The five cloaked figures spread out randomly and Alfein skillfully picked the closest’s pockets only to find they were empty.
The human pirate representing Isabella also seemed to make a successful pick.
The cloaked figures moved again and Alfein made a quick move towards a cloaked figure some way a way from him with the intent to pick pocket another cloaked figure she would pass by.
But the pirate made a sudden dash to push Alfein into her intended target. Alfein dodge the push and skillfully picked the cloaked figures pockets revealing the black coin.
Round 1 goes to the The Petal Bound!