presents...
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Time for Troubles
Game Date: 05/19/06
Terdi, Quartus 19 Renato Vasari leapt forward to catch Lady Donati. Don Alessandro, alarmed on her behalf, turned to order some servants to make a couch ready for her inside - and disappeared in mid-sentence! Francesca saw him almost blur slightly before vanishing from sight. She (and most of the other bystanders) screamed. Gianina, revived but refusing to look back at the spot where Alessandro had been, could feel the tension that had been in the local strands suddenly increase to a crescendo, then relax. There was, understandably, a period of some chaos. At the end of it, Salvador had mobilized Giulio into cordoning off the area from which Alessandro had disappeared. Francesca frantically examined the area, stretching out her arms to see if Alessandro was there, but somehow invisible. Failing to find him that way, she dropped to search the flagstones, to see if there was perhaps a trapdoor or other exit, but found none. Sitting up, she let outa breath - and noticed a small red hole torn in the air in front of her - a hole much like the one she had seen the Montaigne countess tear in space. She asked Salvador to take a look at it, since he'd Walked through a Portal before. Salvador looked, shrugged, and stuck his finger into the thing. The Portals he had been through had been sticky and warm; this was either so hot that it felt cold, or so cold that it felt hot - sharp and painful. Yanking it back out - it was apparently unharmed, although it was some hours before feeling fully returned - he declared the spot a "hole to hell." Father Donati was summoned. Francesca, meanwhile, convinced her sister to take another look at the area; Gianina had recovered consciousness but refused to turn around. Reluctantly, she looked to see if the black strands had gone away. They had, leaving with Alessandro. Unfortunately, she also saw that one of Giulio's split Cups strands to the palace had come loose, was turning dark at the end, and was snaking toward the hole to hell. She warned him not to go near the spot, and Giulio didn't have to be told twice. Father Donati arrived and did some experiments, trying to determine the nature of the portal. A wooden board passed through it; a vial of holy water was partly destroyed, but the water within neither froze nor boiled. While he did that, Francesca and Marco tried to find information in the palace's old library. She hunted down the area with the oldest-looking books, but they were in Old Thean, which neither could read. The priest would have to do the honors, so they went back out to get him. Everyone was ready to try the library at this point, but as they went back inside, Angelo saw a curtain draw back at a third-story window, and a black-clad figure looked out. Curious, the Donatis had Giulio lead them to this woman's room. She was Katia Mondavi, one of Alcide Mondavi's older sisters, and living here in the palace. She had felt the change in the strands and tracked it to the courtyard somewhat belatedly. She listened to their tale with interest and asked that Lady Donati (who was resting below, under Renato's solicitous care) be summoned. They spoke in private for a while; the rest continued on to the library. Donna Katia admitted that none of the local strega had noticed the ambient tension in the strands until it had suddenly slacked off; it must have been increasing slowly over some time. Further, she had not seen Don Alessandro for at least a month, perhaps longer - she lived a modest and fairly solitary life here, and didn't have much cause to associate with anyone outside of her own household servants. He certainly hadn't been wrapped in sparkling black strands the last time she'd crossed paths with him. She would keep her eyes on happenings in the area now, more alert to subtle changes, and especially on Giulio Morenetti, since Gianina reported the change in his strand. She strongly encouraged Lady Donati to bring all of this to the attention of the "cursed witch" Beatrice Caligari, who was rumored to be involved in Sorte stronger and stranger than any known to other strega. This business of things disappearing in connection with a Lorenzo palace put her strongly in mind of Marietta Lorenzo. Further, the sea sometimes ran red - red like blood, or like a portal - where Lorenzo Island used to be. This tiny portal might somehow be related to that. In the library, an assortment of ancient documents were found. There were lists of needed supplies, some letters and reports, and sketches in several levels of detail. The earliest relevant document was a rough sketch of the palace, together with a list of supplies and times that Giulio could identify as a sort of guess - a first cut at what an architect would need to get to work on the building shown. The sketch, dated Quartus 24, 1058, was signed "Alessandro Mondavi." That struck everyone as strange, and they hunted for more evidence of this possible ancestor of the missing Mondavi. His name continued to appear on documents for the next month, then there was nothing for a month and a half. It reappeared, but the handwriting was changed - sloppier and shakier. Perhaps his hand had been broken for a time? A check of the geneaologies available found only old Lorenzos recorded at that time; by the time Mondavi records started appearing on the shelves, it was 1100 and there was no Alessandro Mondavi mentioned for another two generations. Unable to read the Old Thean, Francesca wandered in and out to hear Father Donati's reports. While wandering out, she queried some of the servants and some of the local nobles about Don Alessandro, trying to determine who might have had cause to harm him. The servants and the workers had found him to be a typical boss. When things were late or poorly done (especially if Don Tigran was expected back), he got angry and they tried to stay out of his way. When things were well done, he let them know it. Pay was regular; no complaints there. He had, among the work crew, come near the Vodacce ideal of being feared but not hated. The court hangers-on had only one salacious bit of gossip to add: Don Alessandro's favorite wasn't a noblewoman or a courtesan, or even a pretty maid. The rumor was that his discretely kept lover was another young man of the court. All in all, there was not a strong sense that anyone here had any reason to intrigue against him. It certainly wasn't as if anyone wanted his job. Sketches showing the progress of the palace didn't give any clue that anything important had ever stood at the site of the portal. Very early in the construction, a small wooden gazebo stood there, but it was gone well before the flagstones were laid for the courtyard itself. The only things notable about the site were that it was along the centerline of the palace and it was far enough back down the courtyard to command a view of the entire thing at once. There was little else to see in the library. Just before closing everything up, someone thought to compare Don Alessandro's signature to that on the old papers. It exactly matched the signature on that first document, the rough sketch of the palace. Slightly spooked, the Donati collected themselves to call upon the archbishop, Luigi Pioci. En route, they passed a very young Mondavi nobleman, perhaps not more than fifteen, trying to calm a populace that had heard entirely too many rumors today about a "hole to hell" opening in the old accursed Lorenzo palace. The Eisen workers had, in fact, formed ranks in different places around the palace, holding their tools in a distinctly dangerous fashion. The youth was not doing a good job at damage control; Father Donati gently stepped in and offered assistance. With the young lord's permission, he told the locals that a Portier had come through and this was just a little leftover; the next time one of the soulless apostates visited, surely the thing would be repaired. In the meanwhile, it posed no threat; indeed, Charouse was littered with them. This fit in well enough with what the folk knew about Porte, and it seemed to satisfy them. Archbishop Pioci was given a fairly full account. He was worried about the possible connection to the Mad Queen - was there any chance that Agitazione was about to disappear, like Lorenzo Island? There was an uncomfortable silence, broken when someone mentioned that Donna Katia Mondavi didn't seem that alarmed. The archbishop relaxed somewhat. He thanked Father Donati and his family for their investigation into the matter. And that was that. The Donati would leave the next day. Salvador went out with Giulio for a round of much-needed drinks. En route to Giulio's favorite watering hole, he was accosted by the merriest, plumpest old apple-cheeked strega he'd ever met. Surreally, the black-veiled woman (who gave her name as Lucani) seemed to be running a humble woven-goods shop. The branch of flowers over the door, though, also marked it as a house belonging to the Daughters, so Salvador followed her to see what she needed. He had the look, she said, of a northern nobleman (the cut of the jacket - she knew jackets) and she'd heard the Donati of Monfalcone were about town... would he be of that clan? Oh, how lovely... she had been expanding her trade into lace-making, and had made a mantilla in the Castillian style, which she wished to send as a gift to Countess Morena (to perhaps sell her more later, si?) and if Salvador would do her the great courtesy of conveying the mantilla to the countess, she would be pleased to gift him with a pair of her special lucky socks, very soft and good for travelers. Bemused, he agreed; she sent him on his way with the package, a pinch on the cheek and an admonishment to go eat something, he was too skinny. Guerdi, Quartus 20 The Donati left Agitazione. The bodyguards were both on foot today, walking along with the ladies while they rode. Neither of them were especially skilled at fighting from horseback, and felt that they would do better defending the women if they were already on foot. Marco offered many tales of the sights of Mondavi Island - he was raised there, from age seven til manhood. The mountains were, firstly, amazing, the tallest of all of the islands, and linked by the most clever webwork of bridges in Vodacce or Theah. The peaks were so high, one could go above the clouds and look out on them as a sea. There were palaces and churches, all of great beauty, and the triumphal arch built for the prince when he was born, which still very new and splendid. He tried to remember to address his remarks to the group as a whole, but found himself most often speaking animatedly to Francesca, making plans about where they would go and what they would see.
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