Tales of Neutral Ground IC

[3SecondCultist]

Castling

Nyctessa barely has to think before launching into a second answer-as-tirade.

"Well I didn't get a really good look at him because it all happened so quickly but he did seem a bit confused I read that he has some sort of mental condition perhaps magically induced or just because of age so it does make sense that he wouldn't have all of his wits about him if I had to guess I'd say he wasn't all there when he was taken." She stops momentarily, only to watch as Arano and Draci are put in new cuffs by the Throne Wardens. The former at least is allowed to walk with Kett for a time, Drake taking up the rear to trail behind the group.

"I hope for our sake that she's effective," muses the elf to his partner in his crime. "It might be good to have a counterweight on the other side, should former parties not prove true to their word. Nothing wrong with hedging our bets."

Obliviously, the gnome continues. "Well now I heard about Magistrate Taralos thanks to your missive and Navel arrived before you did but honestly who dies from falling into a lava pit? The castle's sending station has been going nonstop since you gave word, apparently Flamekeep's not too happy and even now the High Cardinals are in session deliberating over who to appoint to replace him but it might be as long as a fortnight before word comes down so the less said about that the better oh right sorry you were saying something else about your night what happened?"


Counting Shadows

From the vantage point of the table Drake has picked out, you have a pretty good view of the House of Counted Shadows across the open street even through the rain.

Nestled in a block of three storey buildings - all of which boast storefronts and restaurants on the first floor and what look like associated tenement housing above - the House doesn't stand out too much at first glance, its features plunged into darkened obscurity. What is visible from the front is mostly weathered stone and chipped marble, streaks of lime readily apparent even from a distance. The painted wood is chipped and warped, a once rich scarlet now washed out maroon. There must surely be nests of pigeons and other fowl somewhere amid its crumbling rafters, for the flying vermin flit all about about its upper echelons, leaving more than a few droppings. All in all, it's hardly a winsome portrait for Phiarlan.

Yet the more one looks, the more one can imagine the House as it once might have been. The colonnade in front, overlooking a set of stairs leading to a quatrain of double doors. Frescoes of dynamic scenes cast in ivory and stone, too many and too varied to recount them all. Rising cupolas and buttresses all leading to graceful crescendo in the form of a central domed roof, whose uppermost point still braces against the expanse of day. It must have been a staggering sight in its time.

Tactically, there are no visible street entrances from the front besides the central doors. However, there are two alleyways on either side of the theatre house where it abuts its neighbours which may yet hold answers.