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Orhan 1 Day 68 TE 6052

We return to Griffin College and get a level.

We go to that one capital we always go to, the one Kyric and Haerann live near, with the goofus Emperor and all the permits.

The Divine and Dazzling D. looks up the theatre troop she befriended the last time she was in town. The Occassional Players' leader, Carstia, remembers her fondly, and asks if she'd care to audition for the next play, "A Love Story". After some math to make sure she'll be in town long enough, D. happily agrees. She auditions for the Enchantress and the Fool. She easily lands the part of the Fool, with her excellent singing, poetry, acrobatics, and stilt-walking. D. blends quickly into the Bohemian artist crowd. She gets all the dirt on the other players:

• Carstia is well liked by all the troop. She has raven black hair with a white forelock. She is also the leading lady. Many nobles admire her for her beauty, and she uses this to try to get patrons for the troop.
• Dennis is the troop's illusionist, responsible for most special effects. He is said to have unsavory connections, perhaps as a fence. This is tolerated, as long as it is kept away from the troop.
• Laia is another actress, who plays slightly older women in the plays. She looks to be in her 30's. She is currently dating the heirs of two rival counts. The heirs hate each other. This is much to Laia's advantage.

In more general gossip:

• The Emperor has four older sisters. The youngest of these is his confidant. She is said to be having a tete a tete with the Imperial Truth Sayer.
• Prince Westly of Lethis is a half elf. While he is well liked, his heritage causes some discontent.
• Lukas the son of Duke Hathorne, is close friends with Prince Torin, the Emperor's middle son. Very good friends. Scandelously good friends!

Haeraan and Kyric check the political rumor mill, looking for (among other things) the outcome of the expedition mounted by Haeraan's bastard half-brother Farudan, which we had seen in preparation at the Andurel estate a year ago. It turns out that the expedition headed into the northern part of U-lyshak at about the same time that Lorgalis's forces invaded. The expedition bumped into Lorgalis's armies several times. When they returned, Farudan put it about that he hade conducted a reconniassance of Lorgalis's army on his own initiative, which pleased the Emperor. Checking further, Haeraan finds that the expedition appeared to be looking for something, and that Lorgalis's army was probably looking for the same thing. Haeraan sends a message to Jack, currently a magical advisor to Kier, with all the information he has, asking for Jack to check around (and make sure that Farudan is watched if he enters U-lyshak again. Haeraan tells Imre about this, wondering what Xin might have wanted there. His best guess---the "Black Heart", an unspeakably horrible artifact that will make us very unhappy pretty much whatever happens to it. Haeraan asks for a dream from Reann about it. The answer---an open field, with people living in it, and a bunch of other people (including Lorgalis and Xin) standing on the edge of the field, clearly wanting to search it for something. Every time they go in, or send people in, the natives chase them off. So we hope that neither Xin nor Lorgalis has it yet.

During a conversation about The Black Heart with Haerann and D., Imre flips out about his mom and runs down to the basement. D. goes down to hide with him. Having only the purest of intentions, D. thoughtfully disguises Imre in order to make him feel safe from his mother. D. wanders back upstairs and introduces the lovely, blonde, half elven lady with her as Yvonne, a friend from the theatre. Haerann wants to know where Imre is, and goes down to look for him in the basement at D.'s suggestion. Seeing two sets of footprints leaving the cellar, Haerann comes back upstairs to organize a search party, at which point Imre's monkey comes and sits on Yvonne's shoulder. Haerann gets it. Kyric doesn't. Yvonne goes into Imre's room to return the monkey, and shortly after, Imre emerges. Kyric is reassured by Haerann that the lady is fine, she just went back to the theatre.

D.'s show, now called "Spectacular! Spectacular!" and reworked as a musical, opens as the run ends.