Part 3: Siege of Songs

Soon after the announcement gala, Fallenta invites you to your first meeting as coproducers. "Good, you’re here. Working with your notes from our first meeting, I’ve made an initial outline for the opera’s script, but I wanted to get your input before I start in earnest. After all, no one knows your adventures like you do, and I’m sure you have thoughts on the show. Have a seat, and we can get started."

Fallenta explains that she intends to write this opera using the classic styles of Cheliax, but with that decision comes another—you must determine which of the three categories of Chelaxian opera would make the most sense for you to stage.

Opera Histria (Spectacular Opera): The most bombastic tradition is an opera that focuses less on individual character arcs but on the spectacle of the story itself, resulting in productions heavy on action and meant to thrill.

Opera Prepostera (Comedic Opera): This tradition is one aimed at the "common" people, and operas in this style are often regarded as light-hearted or comedic, designed to inspire and lift the audience’s spirits.

Opera Verita (Dramatic Opera): This tradition is the most serious of the three styles and emphasizes serious tones meant to evoke feelings of sadness or melancholy, inviting the viewer to explore the deeper emotional meanings of life.

The categories aren’t entirely mutually exclusive, but you should choose your predominant tone as the opera’s style.

After deciding on the style, Fallenta goes over her notes about the opera's three acts, giving you a chance to adjust any decisions you have made if you'd like.

Once that is done, she nods and sets down her pen. "Excellent, that should give me plenty to work with. As for the rest of your duties, you have several things to handle before we begin rehearsals, but first, we need to cast a crucial part: your nemesis! And I have the perfect performer in mind.

"If any of you followed opera before, you’ve probably heard of Oriole. Their reputation is legendary; they can perform any voice part with equal artistry. Unfortunately, Oriole officially retired a couple of years ago, and no one knows where they are now—no one who’s talking, anyway. But I’m sure finding them will be easy enough for people of your talents!"

Bekassine recalls that Oriole’s sudden retirement from performance took place after one of their best-reviewed shows in Absalom. They claimed they wanted to "go out on a high note," but others believe Oriole had grown bored or even jaded with their life.

"I think Horace has the right idea," Fallenta says to answer Bekassine's question. "Oriole is a nephilim, a ganzi. They are quite well-liked here in Kintargo. They spent a fair amount of time at Songbird Hall, one of the only places in pre-secession Kintargo that a nephilim could feel safe in showing their true self. Oriole’s first big break in Kintargo was a performance at the city’s oldest performance hall, the Three-Legged Devil, and they made long-lasting friendships with the owners and locals of that venue. Perhaps asking around at both of those locations can help you find some of their friends who may know where Oriole went."

Bekassine and Ramank question the priests in Songbird Hall. They learn that while Oriole did attend Shelynite services, their true faith was to the empyreal lord Arshea, patron of freedom, physical beauty, and sexuality. In fact, Oriole was gifted some guardian statues fashioned to look like Arshea from an appreciative patron.

Meanwhile, Aurelia makes a good impression on stage at the Three-Legged Devil. Speaking with the patrons there afterwards, she is able to make contact with an associate of Oriole's. This associate tells her that the performer relocated to an island in the Shackles known as Petrel's Perch. It is located in an island chain off Garund’s coast and to the east of Yoha’s Graveyard.

Using teleportation magic, it's only a matter of a couple of days before you find yourselves near the shoreline on the island of Petrel's Perch. It is raining rather heavily, fat raindrops pattering against the ground and your clothes and armor and making the already hot air of the Shackles even more humid. Most of the island’s shoreline consist of jagged cliffsides, but an idyllic lagoon inside of the "C" shaped island features a lovely beach on which Oriole has seen to the construction of a single pier that can accommodate most sailing ships. Much of the island is covered by subtropical forest with thick, trackless undergrowth, but a trail leads up to the island's highest peak.

Through the rain and lush foliage, a wrought-iron fence with an open front gate comes into view. Beyond it stands an elegant two-story mansion, its brick walls adorned with vines and roses that twine up its sides. A sheen of rippling energy covers the building’s many windows, as well as a skylight visible on the second story.

As you get closer, you see that the iron gate is fashioned to look like a page of sheet music. It hangs open in front of the house, swinging crookedly on broken hinges. Past the gate, pathways extend to the east and west, as well as to the house’s front door, which also hangs slightly open but is covered with a faint shimmer of energy—as are the building’s shuttered windows. Farther to the northeast of the manor stands a gazebo, its trellised sides adorned with vines. Patches of wildflowers grow here and there alongside the path amid several taller trees.

On the path to the gazebo, an enormous dinosaur with a large, sail-like fin running along its spine hunkers down. It lets loose a low, rumbling growl.

Horace recognizes the enormous beast as a spinosaurus! The spinosaurus is more than just one of the largest carnivorous dinosaurs—it’s also one of the most unusual in appearance, with a large, sail-like fin running along its spine. Often quite colorful, this sail allows the spinosaurus to attract mates, aids in swimming, and makes it appear to be even larger than it actually is. A swimming spinosaurus can also use the sail as part of a unique means of staggering prey by slapping the water with it to make a crushing wave. It has no particular weaknesses.

The creature continues to watch you warily, favoring one of its legs as it shifts on its haunches.

The shimmering seems to be a barrier of sonic energy. It looks like it is covering every entry point of the house. It will be very difficult to pass through it without injury.

Horace uses his occult knowledge to modulate the harmonic frequencies of the sonic barrier, opening a passage through it and allowing you to safely enter the manor through the front doors.

Paintings adorn the walls of this octagonal entry hall, some reaching almost all the way to the ceiling. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to the art’s curation, as the paintings’ subjects range from portraits of well-dressed people to landscapes to abstract shapes. Closed wooden doors, each carved with music notes, stand in four of the walls, with the door to the front yard hanging open on its hinges. Light filters in from a skylight in the arched ceiling twenty feet above, and a thick, slightly rumpled red carpet crisscrosses the floor. Three marble statues of a beautiful androgynous figure stand between the interior doors. You recognize the figure as a depiction of the empyreal lord Arshea.

The statues of Arshea animate after a few seconds, moving to defend the manor!

Bekassine recalls most of a popular Arshean hymn, and Ramank is able to fill in the rest of the words:

Mine hands I clasp to bosom flat
Such to proclaim this wish impassioned
I am thy clay, my body shape, that
By thy hand I may be fashioned.
Soft-curved Arshea, strong of arm
Whose shapely form doth lust evoke
A portion grant me of thy charm
That truest self discard this cloak

Upon reciting the prayer, the statues immediately stand down, returning to their vigil. As you look around the foyer, you see that the rumpled carpets show the trail of creatures that hurried out of the foyer recently. It seems four creatures ran through the door to the west and one ran through the door to the northeast. A third door exits to the north.

The door opens onto a long hallway leading north. There are two exits, one door to the west halfway down its length, and another door at the far north end. You can hear faint, tinny music coming from beyond the west door.

Set into the floor of this tiled room is a gently frothing pool of water surrounded by vines and greenery that seem to grow out of the walls. Though indoors, it appears as a tropical forest pond. A wall to the north partially conceals a small sink and lavatory, and the room smells of flowers and perfume. Opera music plays from a small clockwork device set along the pool’s edge.

A strange creature lounges in the water, gently splashing about. She has the lower body of a snake, a humanoid torso, and a bird-like head and claws. Her eyes lazily move towards you as you open the door, then they widen. Wit ha startled splash, she rises up from the pool, coiling her tail around her like a boa and pressing a claw to her chest in exaggerated shock.

"Goodness me! Don’t you know to knock before you interrupt a lady in the bath? How very forward... especially considering that I don’t recognize you. Are you friends of my dear Oriole?"

"Oh, dear! Is the estate under attack?" the creature asks. She fans herself dramatically with a clawed hand. "I'm simply Oriole's darling Grandmama! I'm not cut out for battle! Perhaps I should make my exit while you have it out with whatever unruly guests have decided to make themselves at home here!"

The being scoffs. "A dragon? Hardly, dear. I am a lady!" she insists.

With his knowledge of occultism, Horace is able to identify the creature as a protean. Guardians of disorder and natives of the primal plane of chaos known as the Maelstrom, proteans consider it their calling to spread bedlam and hasten entropic ends. This particular protean belongs to a caste known as imenteshes. The loquacious proteans known as imenteshes serve as missionaries, spies, and heralds of chaos to further the protean goal of reality's dissolution. Imenteshes are cunning, curiously diplomatic, and profoundly whimsical. They travel beyond the Maelstrom for their work, frequently adopting extravagant personal attire and decorations that often border upon the garish, all to curry favor with less chaotic beings.

You know that Oriole is a ganzi, a nephilim descended from proteans, so Grandmama's claim that she is related to the performer is not entirely far-fetched. She tilts her head and regards you curiously. "Well, if this home is under attack, then the magical defenses will have likely put up a barrier between here and the upper floor where Oriole's room is located." She gestures with a claw to the clockwork device that is producing the opera music. "This is my dear descendant's work! If you play it at the barrier, it will allow you to pass unharmed. I do hope that Oriole is okay! You will check on them, won't you, darlings?"

The protean bobs her head. "Good luck! The stairs up are that way," she says, pointing back the way you came and to the east with her tail. Then there is a flash of light, and she is gone, having teleported away.

The enormous dinosaur lifts its long, sinuous neck to regard Horace. "Stupid bird-things," the beast growls. "They made me think they were my friends. But they are not my friends. They tricked me into coming here and breaking the gate and the door. But then bad magic hurt me. Made me mad! I ate one of the bird-things. The others ran, but I think they are still near."

"I don't know. Maybe they used magic, too," the dinosaur grumbles.

The massive creature bares its sharp teeth. "I can smell them nearby. If you make the pain go away, I will help you hunt them down."

"Yes. I can walk, but I hurt," the dinosaur complains.

The dinosaur rises up to its full height, its dorsal sail spreading wide as its tail lashes happily behind it. "Much better!" it roars, the sound echoing across the manor's grounds. "Now, to make those bird-things pay!" It pauses to sniff the air, then growls, "This way!" as it begins stomping around to the back side of the manor house.

The dinosaur stomps around the path to the back of the manor house. As it gets near a patch of dense undergrowth, it stops and lets out a challenging roar. The roar is answered by squawks as a half-dozen creatures who had been hiding there emerge! These creatures have humanoid torsos and seagull heads, wings, and feet, and they stand about 5 feet tall. The angry dinosaur moves to attack them!

Horace recognizes the creatures as fey called shanty callers. Shanty chanters are known to dwell along the coasts of Garund or the eastern isles of the Shackles, living on small islands or cliffsides but rarely venturing too far inland. These capricious fey adore music, especially the sea shanties sung by ships' crews. Like many fey, they are weak to cold iron.

The thaumaturge demoralizes one of the fey as Ramank unleashes a howling blizzard upon them! All of them are injured by it, two more so than the others. The dinosaur roars and stomps forward, snapping at the closest fey, but it fails to hit them.

One of the shanty callers begins to sing a catchy sea shanty, and the others join in, the music seeming to bolster their resolve and quicken their movements. The other five creatures cast spells, blasting the enormous dinosaur with lightning bolts! The great beast proves quite nimble, dodging all but two of the blasts. The fey then all do their best to scramble further away, though the ice and snow from Ramank's spell slows their movements.

Bekassine's and Aurelia's spells wreak havoc on the shanty callers, the icy blast and mental assault leaving them reeling. Horace hits two of them with scorching rays, further burning them, then Ramank sends Yarth in to attack, the eidolon ripping out the throat of the most wounded of the fey. The dinosaur stretches its long neck to rip and tear apart another one with its teeth!

Four foes remain, each of them badly wounded. Deciding to cut their losses, the four fey take flight, squawking and singing as they fly away as fast as they can! They quickly get out of range.

The dinosaur roars triumphantly. "Yes! Run, bird-things! And do not come back!"

"Yes. I will rest here, then I will swim back to where I came from," the dinosaur says. "Thank you for helping me." The beast lowers its head in a respectful manner before tromping off to find some place to settle down.With the fey driven off, you head back into the manor, concerned for Oriole's safety. Following Grandmama's directions, you head into one of the chambers adjoining the main hall. A beautiful piano occupies a nook to the north in this spacious room, with sheet music sitting upon it. Along the walls are several instrument stands holding a violin, mandolin, flute, and lyre. A harp sits next to a white couch to the west. Windows look out onto the terrace and gardens, and musical notes etched in gold-leaf decorate the wooden trim on the walls. A spiral staircase in the south leads up to the house’s second floor, its entrance adorned with a wooden archway. A field of energy shimmers within the archway itself.

A bearded man relaxes in a comfortable chair near the eastern window. When he spots you, the man rises up from his chair with a gasp of relief. "Oh, thank goodness! Somebody has come to the rescue! My name is Miavri. I'm a good friend of Oriole's, and I've been staying here as a guest. We're under attack by a group of strange fey! Oriole fled upstairs, only to become trapped in there by some sort of fey magic that’s blocked the archway. You have to get to them to make sure they are okay!"