In which our heroes wake up

Dawn broke the next morning and the sun peeked through the cracks in the shutters on the room's window. The bloody wall stood in full view having dried over night. The five performers got out of the cramped wooden beds and stared at the wall. No one spoke for a minute or two. While they were staring Onala noticed that the words were centered above the bed. Berenwick looked closer and pulled some thick bristly hairs out of the blood.
"Well, we should inform the landlord about the condition of this room." said Prosepon.
"I wonder if we should have told him last night, lest he think we were responsible for it..." Onala's voice trailed off.
"Well, you deliberate on that matter, I need to offer up my concerns to a wise old bastard..." Tin turned to face the wall again.
"We're innocent! We have nothing to fear from reporting this harrasment." insisted Prosepon.
"Maybe we should just clean up this blood and figure this out on our own." Nessa said in between yawns. "We dont have to involve Sevn in this."
"What might we clean this with? I didn't pack any thing for cleaning up this kind of mess..." asked Onala.
Their musings were interrupted by a series of knocks on the door.
"Dammit. Who could that be?" exclaimed Tin.
"Who is it?" called out Nessa.
"Anyone awake in there?" came a voice from the other side of the door which none of the performers recognized. "It's Shima."
"Do we know a Shima?" whispered Onala. Prosepon carefully opened the door, positioning herself so the person couldn't see inside the room. Outside the door stood one of the human barmaids.
"Sevn wants to speak with you about schedules and I need to clean the room." said Shima.
"You may have your work cut out for you." said Prosepon. She moved out of the way to let Shima into the room. Shima took one look at the writing on the way and let out a high pitched scream. Onala rushed forward and covered the girl's mouth. "Shush! You'll bring everyone down here yelling like that!"
"It's the curse." Shima's voice was barely above a whisper.
"Curse, you say?" Prosepon raised an eyebrow.
"...swell. Please explain." Tin rolled her eyes.
"The curse on the performers." Shima tried unsuccessfully to keep the worried look from her face. "Not a single performing group has lasted more than a week here."
" 'Lasted'? What do you mean, 'lasted?' What, the performers got bored or something and took off for the next bar on the road?" Tin interrogated the girl.
"Some left willingly on their own two feet. Others didn't."
"...didn't? What happened to the ones who didn't leave?" Nessa looked at Shima questioningly.
"They left. In long wooden boxes."
"How did they die?" Nessa inquired further.
"They died in many ways. All of them supernatural or 'accidental'." Shima started edging towards the door.
"Eh, we can supernatural them back." interjected Berenwick.
"Well . . . that's interesting news." Prosepon kept her face emotionless.
"Oh come on!" Nessa threw her hands up. "What makes you think a wizard didn't do it?"
"Wizards don't kill people around here." said Shima. She looked from side to side nervously.
"Will you be cleaning up in here, Shima?" asked Onala.
"Miss, I am rather sure that curses don't catch." Prosepon tried to console her.
"I'm in no hurry to find out." She bolted down the hallway.
"Does this mean we have to clean it up?" asked Berenwick.
"You're welcome to it." Nessa said to him. "Think we should have a talk with Sven?"
"Yes, let's go get some answers." Onala picked up the bloody bedsheets and headed for the door.
"Let's see if the barmaid said anything to him." added Tin. The group headed out the door. The stairs and hallway were much less foreboding in the morning with the sunlight streaming in the windows. The trip downstairs felt shorter than the trip upstairs. Down stairs they found Sevn waiting for them on the stage.
"Good morning, Sevn!" Prosepon's voice was full of cheer.
"So, you heard from Shima?" Nessa asked.
Onala dropped the bedsheets next to Sevn. "We'll be needing clean bedding, please."
"Good morning. Shima? Last I saw her she was going to clean your room." answered Sevn.
"I think she's changed her mind." commented Tin.
"Changed her mind? What happened and why are these sheets messy?"
"We received some sort of threat. Painted on the wall. In blood." said Prosepon.
"Oh that." Sevn looked crestfallen. "My staff is overly superstitious."
"Superstitious or not, we've got a threat painted in blood in our room." noted Berenwick.
"So you dont believe in this curse business?" asked Nessa.
"Not at all. I do believe that I have enemies who would very much like to see my business fail."
"You obviously do believe in the effects it has had on previous troupes performing here?" asked Tin." Apparently some have left 'in wooden boxes,' as the barmaid so eloquently put it."
"Shima was always the dramatic one." sighed Sevn.
"Personally, I'd like to hear more about this superstition. Like, how long it's been kicking around, what the curse's source is supposed to be, etc." insisted Prosepon
"Ghosts, Fey, Hobgoblins, it changes based off which of my staff is telling the story." said Sevn.
"Has anything... unfortunate happened to performers at this tavern before?" asked Onala.
"I've had a few performers meet with "accidents" that were highly suspicious." said Sevn. "Probably not nearly as many as Shima told you." Berenwick began to get a little suspicious that Sevn was not telling all he knew.
"You never tried getting to the bottom of this?" asked Nessa.
"I tried once. It only made things worse." Sevn shrugged. "This town can be difficult if you find yourself on the wrong people's bad sides."
I suppose the logical next question is to ask which enemies of yours we should be looking out for, in case they try to cause trouble again." stated Prosepon.
"I only have one set of enemies. I prefer not to talk about them." Sevn looked around and lowered his voice. "At least not here in the open." Sevn briefly discussed scheduling of performances with them before excusing himself to run his inn. Before he walked away he whispered to them. "If you really want to know about my enemies, we can talk in the back room." The performers conferred briefly with each other and agreed to meet him in the back room in a few minutes. The made small talk for a time while one by one they slipped off to the inn's back room. They found themselves surrounded by food covered shelves sitting around a small wooden table.
"Please shut the door." requested Sevn. "What I'm about to tell you will sound very odd. I'm sure you're well aware of the noble houses and the like. What you may not be aware of is the gnomish merchant guild."
"Merchant guild, you say?" Prosepon's curiosity was piqued.
"They're more than merchants. They're thugs and criminals of the lowest caliber." said Sevn. "It's likely they were responsible for the "fire" last night."
"I proabably should've pointed out that guy yesterday." commented Berenwick. "I detected a gnome casting things last night. I didn't think much of it, but probably should've thought more. I'll keep an eye open for that gnome if there's a repeat performance."
"Why would they want to sabotage a simple performance? Wouldn't criminals have better things to do?" asked Nessa.
"They're the enemies I have. They want to run me out of business so they can control all the inns and taverns in Douxfield." replied Sevn. "I'm working on forming a group of innkeepers and tavern owners to combat them but the going is slow. Other independent owners are stuck between difficult decisions. If they join me they'll be targeted. If they don't join me they might be targeted anyways. There has been one tavern that was placed under the protection of a noble house. It helped them some."
"What tavern?" inquired Tin. "And what noble house."
"The Dancing Bear and Ganut Raum, but you didn't hear that from me."
"Hmm . . . well, this is all good to know. We'll keep an eye out for trouble interfering with our shows. We don't get spooked easily, Mister Sevn. We won't be running out on you just yet." stated Prosepon.
"Thank you." A relieved look spread across Sevn's face. Sevn got up and left the room smiling happily at them as he left.
"Lovely, we've just dropped in the middle of a political struggle." Onala did not sound pleased.
"Talk with the people with the Dancing Bear?" asked Berenwick.
"Yes, I think that would be a good place to start."
"We need to find out more about this Gnome Merchant Guild" said Nessa.
"What about the Dancing Bear?" asked Onala. "Why did Ganut Raum favor them?"
"I heard it's because Ganut Raum is having a feud with the elven house of Aleath. The Dancing Bear is probably owned by a human whom with they have a personal relationship. They seem to be on of the newer noble houses in the city, and they're very supporting of humans who respect them."
"Perhaps we should make their acquaintance, then." suggested Onala.
"But before we do that I'd like the chance to go out into the streets and see what I can pick up just by listening to people." said Prosepon. "You can learn a lot that way, and it'll be handy if we know which way the wind is blowing."
"Yes... it'll be handy if we want to fly kites someday." commented Nessa. "I wonder what does Ganut Raum know about the gnome merchants?" Her question went unanswered as they gathered themselves together to hit the streets for information.
Outside the city appeared to have woken up about the same time they had. People stumbled about their daily business between rows of merchants and a street performer or two. No one looked terribly interested in providing information to anyone at this point. Most of the people on the street just looked like they wanted their hangover to go away. After a brief consultation, Tin decided to head off to the library while the rest of the group tried to find out more about the city in general. With Onala, Berenwick and Nessa in tow, Prosepon talked with several merchants and people walking the streets. Many of the people they talked to stared in disbelief when Prosepon approached them, but became quite friendly once she started talking. Prosepon discovered that opinions of house Ganut Raum are polarized. The humans of the city tended to like them a lot. The other races not nearly as much. In contrast, everyone saw house Aleath as very stuck up. Lastly, house Fiera was deemed the party house by everyone she talked to. In fact they were supposed to have one of their "legendary" parties on the following night. Prosepon also noticed as she walked the streets that most of the populace was either human or gnomish. All races definately agreed that while the noble houses throw great parties, getting mixed up in their politics is not a good idea.
They finally headed for the Dancing Bear. The Dancing Bear was a lavish one story tavern. There was even a small garden out front for people to sit and admire while they get totally sloshed. As they were about to go in, Tin came mincing down the street with a pleased look on her face.
"Hello, Tin, find anything useful at the library?" asked Onala.
"At least one thing; the 'accident' in the room was not humanoid in origin." Tin was nearly giggling at her new found knowledge "Also found a great hangover remedy!"
"That's a relief... about the accident not being human, anyway. We'll see if any one needs the remedy."
"This place is upscale!" Prosepon's voice was filled with joy." Just what I imagined. Do you think we'd even be able to afford the lamb?"
"Let us find out." said Tin. The five performers walked inside. Their eyes were met with no less lavishness than they had been on the outside. There were no cheap seats in the Dancing Bear. The worst seats had small cushions on them and were around round tables similar to the good seating at the Sky Serpent Inn. Scantily clad human barmaids flitted between the few patrons in the Inn. The bar itself was made of finely carved high quality granite.
"Damn, high class shit." commented Berenwick. A barmaid walked up to the performers.
"What are you doing here?" she asked with a sneer. Prosepon held herself back from replying while Tin gazed off into the tavern in disinterest.
"In fact, we came to investigate the prospects of lunch. We were told the lamb here was excellent."
"You're hardly dressed right to eat here."
"I had no idea this place had a dress code" said Nessa.
"All the best inns require the guests to wear something besides rags." The barmaid scanned them from head to toe.
"Give me a sec." Berenwick stepped out the door of the Dancing Bear. He looked aroud surreptitiously then mumbled and waved his fingers. His clothes instantly transformed into the robes of a high class nobleman. He strode back inside as haughtily as he could.
"You all going to stand there or get out into the street where you belong?" the barmaid shooed them with her hand.
"What do you mean. My friends there have just had a few problems with local riff-raff." said Berenwick. "I didn't want to bring them under suspicion." The barmaid took a close look at him and noted his change in clothes. Prosepon leaned in close and whispered.
"We're bodyguards." a look of comprehension spread across the barmaid's face.
"Ah, I see. "Bodyguards". If you'll come this way Mr. Gnome I'll get you and your bodyguards a seat. Will they need some extra oil to help "guard" your body?" She lead them to the front of the tavern and seated them on a set of very nice pillows. The five of them plopped into the pillows.
"What would you like to drink?" asked the now cheerful and friendly barmaid.
"What would you suggest?" asked Berenwick who was mentally sweating.
"The Ifful is the suggested light wine for morning and afternoon drinking. Is this your first visit to our city Mr. Gnome?" the barmaid asked.
"Yes, I have traveled around. Bring around a bottle." Berenwick relaxed a bit after the maid left to fetch the bottle. She returned shortly and set the bottle and five glasses in front of Berenwick. She took extra care to bend over right in front of him.
"Will you be wanting food with your drink, sir?" she inquired.
"Yes, we heard the lamb was good here."
"I'll have the cook start on the lamb right away." She stood up straight and navigated her way through the pillows to the bar and then back to the kitchen.
"Okay, now that we're in here, what now?" asked Nessa.
"Gods, I thought she'd never leave." Onala was exasperated. "And will Mr. Gnome be picking up the tab today?" she said mocking the barmaids tone while smiling sweetly at Berenwick.
"We need to find the barkeeper..." Tin trailed off.
"This was my scheme, I'm in for paying. Also I really want to try that lamb." said Prosepon. The barmaid returned with a friend. Between them they held a large tray with an entire lamb on it, roasted to fine perfection. They set it directly in front of Berenwick.
"Will you be having anything else now sir?" She winked at Berenwick. Berenwick resisted the urge to yell "HOLY CRAP THAT'S A LOT OF LAMB!".
"That'll be it for now, thanks." at his comment the barmaids left. The five performers dug in while keeping an ear out for any juicy tidbits of information. Nothing besides the local gossip of who wore what to the latest part reached their ears. The people who had something to hide sat at the booths along the back wall or at the far tables and talked in low tones. The bar was tended by a man in spiffy black clothes off set by his starch white shirt. He bustled between the few patrons at the bar with splendid efficiency. Before long the barmaid came back wafting a piece of paper in her hands.
"Please give your money to the bartender when you're finished. Tips you can give directly to the waitstaff." She smiled brightly at Berenwick. Berenwick flipped over the piece of paper. It simply read '50 gold'. Berenwick produced 60 gp and gave it to the barmaid.
"Thank you sir." She bowed low before leaving.
"Guys, you can pay your shares later. If I pay the bill, there's less of a chance they'll catch on." whispered Berenwick.
"Perhaps the owner of the inn is going to have a hard time rationalizing coming down to talk to us?" considered Tin.
"You planning something?" asked Nessa. The performers stood up and headed for the door.
"I want to know more about what the guild did to him...they were acts of subterfuge, but I did not ascertain their exact nature." said Tin. "We might be able to preempt the next incident if we know what to look for."
"I could try to get the help to let us thank the owner directly, but I'm not sure that'd work with the Gnome problem." mentioned Berenwick. "Didn't work with the waitress..."
"If anything, the inn owner is liable to be more perceptive than his hired help." said Tin. By silent agreement they all walked out the door of the Dancing Bear and into the street. "Also, I wonder where these Gnomes are based..."
"Maybe Berenwick would have some luck infiltrating the Gnome's base of operations?" suggested Onala.
"Apparently they were public enough for their number 2 to be tracked down." nodded Prosepon.
"Exactly. Either that, or this particular House has a good information network." said Tin. The five of them stood on the plaza of the Dancing Bear pondering what to do next. Their introspection kept them from noticing something very important...