Episode 1: Ierendi, The Tournament of Adventurers

Seeing that Anlo has already torn a part of the curtain away earlier to handle the broken vial, Tasya does the same. She wraps part of it around the iron pin and places it on the deck for a moment. Then, climbs out through the window with another scrap of curtain to grab the feather.

Tasya scaling outside of ship.
Tasya effortlessly leaps up into a crouched position on the window sill. She then swings herself outside of the window and adeptly leaps to a vertical beam 6 feet to her right between windows. She shimmies herself up it until she comes to the long dark feather wedged by the wind in the space where a horizontal beam meets the one she scaled. When she pulls the feather out from the spot it's lodged in she notices that it is rather longer than she thought, and it doesn't remind her of any bird feathers, in fact her skill in deciphering things of nature tells her that this feather is not from a bird, but instead a flying raptor. (The circus once rescued a young injured flying raptor that made it's way from the southern continent. Rosalyra was never able to fully train the beast for the show and it never fully recovered and ended up passing away.)

Port Lounge

"Yes. Alchemy exactly." replies Quint curtly. "Will you please excuse me?" With his mind appearing to be occupied, Steward Quint breaks the conversation and moves to go speak with Elandra Stormblade, who Kahli does not notice doing anything odd after handing the pin to Captain Zephyros. She just stands, like many in the room, focussing on the Queen in astonishment.

King Palfrit picks up where Quint leaves off. "Agreed. We do not need the crowns to continue with the tournament schedule. We will find the thief, I'm sure."

Tribune Danta, overhearing the conversation, steps up from behind Kahli and interjects, "Yes, Your Majesty. As the fortune-teller says it is in the best interest of the Kingdom to have the show go on. We don't want our neighbors--she looks toward Bartolomeo Fiori, Ambassador from the Minrothad Guilds--to have reason to believe our traditions are not being adhered to and our valued system is in a state of flux."

She then looks at Kahli. "I sincerely hope we find that the circus has nothing to do with this travesty and is not being influenced by a foreign nation to sabotage the Tournament to undermine Ierendi’s international reputation."

"I did not realize Ierendi had any serious enemies, My Lady. For arguments sake, who are your list of suspects and motives? And for the record, if such a conspiracy exists, I was never approached about it."

Khali is a bit defensive, considering her background. She understands nobody is above suspicion but does her best to sound sincere, aware of the Tribune's position.

Port Lounge

Tribune Danta noticeably senses Kahli's defensive stance. Her following tone is soft and non-accusatory toward Kahli. "Enemies. That may be too harsh of a word."

She moves closer so only Kahli and King Palfrit can hear her. "It is true that Ierendi is a peaceful kingdom and has remained relatively outside of any major conflict between nations, save for aligning with Thyatis on some excursions to the South Continent. Even so, the neighboring island nation of The Minrothad Guilds would never want our prosperity to undermine their dominance of trade on the Sea of Dread. Any alliance we have with Thyatis, the Guild's rival on the seas, could be viewed by some as a threat to Minrothad."

She sincerely adresses kahli, "Forgive me Mistress if I came across abrasive. Although I am not a native of this land it has been my home since I was a child, and I consider this place, so dear to me, my home. I get passionate about the thought of our way of life here being lost."

Lower Starboard Tower
Moa and Manu thank Anlo as he assists the yet unsteady stewards. They all make their way to the port lounge. Kani Takes the lead and Ru takes the rear of the procession.

Port LoungeSteward Kani leads the small procession into the lounge. All present turn with curious eyes to see Anlo and Tasya securing the steps of Steward Manu and Moa. Queen Mari sighs with relief upon seeing Manu.

Steward Kani steps aside when Moa and Manu are before the royals. Queen Mari and King Palfrit step forward. Kani adresses them:

"These circus members were able to revive your courtiers Your Majesties," says Kani as she gives a slight bow. She continues, "The four have agreed to relate their account of the recent events in the tower."

"I am pleased that you are not seriously injured and able to give your account," says the Queen in a relieved tone mostly directing the comment to her courtier Manu.

"Steward Moa," interjects King Palfrit, "what happened after the show?"

"Your Majesty, Steward Manu and I were scheduled to meet Steward Kani backstage after the show and be escorted to bring the crowns back to the palace. We both heard her voice call us from the tower. We entered and did not find Kani there. The next thing I can recall is being awakened by this circus member, Anlo. The circus members tended to us until Steward Kani appeared with Steward Ru." replies Steward Moa.

"I assume it was not you who called to them," asks Queen Mari of Steward Kani.

"It was not my Queen," answers Kani.

"I see." says the queen.

"Anlo and Tasya. The two of you are our tournament trainers, are you not? Can you relate your accounts of finding the Stewards?" questions Queen Mari.

Anlo glances around, seemingly a bit nervous. "Um... we, I mean... Your Majesties, we arrived at the room in question and found the two stewards unconscious. The window was open, curtain flapping in the breeze. It may have been a point of entry or exit? I'm not sure. Um, anyway... we checked the stewards, brought them around, helped them as we could. Then the others showed up, we explained what little we knew, and we all headed up here."

A bit unsure what to do, Anlo bows slightly and steps back.

Khali moves to stand next to Anlo, assuring him with a warm feminine smile."Well said, friend." offering him her support.

King Palfrit replies to Anlo:

"Thank you for your account and for taking care of our stewards Master Anlo and Mistress Tasya. I wish we knew who took the crowns and why. But considering we do not, we should all remain vigilant in keeping our awareness high. As Mistress Khali stated before you arrived, the show must go on. We must not let the disappearance of the crown interfere with the Tournament's proceedings. The people of Ierendi would be gravely disappointed otherwise. I am hopeful we will get to the bottom of the crown travesty before the week is out. If there is any thing you discover you may bring to the attention of Steward Quint's at the palace as well as..." he looks at Queen Mari for a prompt.

"Steward Kani," informs the queen.

"...and Steward Kani, with whom you are already acquainted." continues the king. "And further the Queen and I will be meeting with you along with the other contestants for tournament event training tomorrow I believe, are we not? Though we are both previous tournament winners, neither of us are seasoned circus performers. After your amazing show tonight, I am certain I will need all the training you can possibly provide in the time we have." The king smiles to help lift the tension caused by the crowns' disappearance.

Queen Mari interjects. "In any case, due to the unfortunate circumstances of the evening I feel it best that we end this gathering tonight."

Palfrit nods in agreement.

"Yes your Majesty, that is wise, warmly agrees Tribune Danta. "We do want the tournament to be a wondrous success for all to remember for years to come. It is important to our Kingdom," She then turns to Khali and asks, "Which of the contestants will you first give a reading to?"

Tasya is eager to share the findings she and Anlo made with Khali, but she waits patiently; nodding and bowing when etiquette required.

Khali answers the Tribune "Its first come, first serve, your Ladyship. I want to add, there will be no attendance or record of who comes or not. I don't want anyone feeling obligated."She has enough experience to know there is a fair amount of skepticism and she says that loud enough for the contestants in the room to overhear. If it's proper to do so, she leaves for her studio offering a sideways glance to Anlo and Taysa; a subtle invitation to follow if they so choose to.

Tas is glad for the subtle invitation and takes her leave of the gathering, following only a short distance behind Khali.

"We have evidence to show you, Khali. Perhaps you can make of them some discoveries regarding the stolen crowns?" She says hopeful of solving the mystery and getting back to the business of performing.

Anlo follows the two women, hoping no one from the royal procession overheard them. The cloth-wrapped broken glass felt heavy in his pouch, but he couldn't risk providing whoever did this a chance to cover up their crimes.

Port Lounge
"I will be sure the contestants know that Mistress Khali," responds Tribune Danta. "I hope you are able to get rest. Good evening" Danta steps away with a cordial nod.

As Tasya, Anlo and Khali begin to make their way through the lounge they hear The Queen announce that the night's gathering must come to an early close. The guests begin to put down glasses and gather themselves to leave the ship. Khali's Studio
Tasya, Anlo and Khali make their way from the lounge to Khali's studio...

Khali invites them to pull up a chair to her round fortune telling table.

"Make yourself comfortable."

She gestures to a bowl of dried dates and a bottle of wine, cups included, at the corner bar. She sits in a chair that is across from them when they get a chance to settle down.


"I don’t know if you’ve heard, but the Circus is high on their list of suspects. So, what do you have?"
she asks, inquisitive.

Anlo carefully removes his bundle from the pouch it was stored in. "This broken glass... vial maybe? We found it by the downed stewards. There wasn't much in the room, so it was sort of conspicuous. I didn't touch it directly, using part of the curtain to gather it."

The young man carefully unwraps the shards, again being careful not to make any contact with the glass.

"I didn't mention this to the King and Queen, because their procession may have demanded the evidence -- and whoever did this could have been in a position to cover up their crime and frame us.

Plus..." And here, Anlo takes a deep breath and sighs, "...if it actually was someone in the circus... then the circus finding that person -- or persons -- and taking them to task should protect the reputation of the rest of us. Either way, we need this evidence - not them."

Anlo gives a resolute nod, and using the corner of the piece of the curtain slides the shards to Khali.

"And..there's more." Tasya interjects and pulls out a similarly wrapped object and a large black feather, she presents by the quiill wrapped in curtain scrap. She pushes the first across the table. "Someone on the inside of the ship removed the securing pin from the interior window latch." She then points to the feather. "It appears to be a feather from a flying raptor. I found it lodged outside the window on the outside."

"Let's see what we can Divine."


She says a few arcane words, does some intricate hand gestures, and a floating eyeball appears above her head and peers at the items presented on the table. Then she lights some oil in a silver bowl and throws sulfuric powder into it so it sparks. Then she lights a few small candles before chanting. Her eyes roll up into her head so that only the whites of her eyes are seen. She does this for about ten minutes. Finally, her eyes open and she gazes upon the table items.

Khali shares with Tasya and Anlo the information concerning the vial, gas, and feather.

"These items still have magic residue. This shattered glass has traces of a potent sleeping agent. And this feather isn't completely natural. It too, smells of magic. And, while you're pondering that...."

Her eyes dart back and forth to each of them. Suddenly, they can hear a baby crying from beneath the clothed covered table.

"What your thoughts? Feelings? Intuition?"