Phalle 23, -415 to Absolu 1, -414
Grimble is troubled by what he sees or does not see on his loom. He is further troubled by Devils and Demons fighting with each other over the Chicken.
Grimble requests help from the Blightwalkers, who send him Dani. He also sends for help from the Law Firm of Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze, and Iron who send him Muffins Tuffnel.
Grimble sends the party to the estate of Baron Saturday with two letters, one for Maeglin and one for Celaena. The letters are important.
The Estate of Baron Saturday is on the Island of Craptopia. Craptopia has experienced a devastating economic recession with the introduction of sea faring vessels. Now, shipping between Newur, Merdreterre, and Ithulvania no longer needs to stop at the port town of Sea Side. The people are starving.
The people were starving. There are no people any longer, thus no more starving. The Baron has “saved” them with “the smallest possible change to make the greatest possible difference.“
That phrase is guiding idea behind Clinamen’s sorcery. Saturday, Celaena discovers, was one of Clinamen’s Generals.
Saturday has “saved” the people by removing their lives without them dying. How exactly he did this, is important. Was it ‘patalogical sorcery or something else?
Before we get to those details, there’s the matter of Arthur, the Night Butler. One thing about Arthur to note was his exquisitely maintained elaborate facial hair.
Another thing to note about the island is that something is causing random things to animate, and spending too long on the island is driving the living insane.
A party of Goblins adorned with the symbol of the Duck have killed each other in a fight among themselves in the town of Sea Side.
Now, as to what the Baron was up to, this is what you know.
First, the Gallery:
- In his gallery, he was painting. He created six paintings. Five were the ‘patalogical sorcerers and one is a mysterious figure painted entirely in black.
- A work in progress was a painting of Ubu. Ubu’s chest was sketched, erased, sketched again, erased again, etc., leaving it a smudgy blur. The painting was unfinished.
- There was a book in the middle of the room, surrounded by the six finished paintings. The book was in a script that resembled Celestial, but was not. Celaena tried to understand the text and could not (but with Keen Mind recalls what little of it she was able to study…)
- … before Brialle torched the paintings, at which point the text disappeared from the book.
Second, the Office:
- The office is not actually in the Estate. It is in another Plane (this is why slipping into the Shadowfell didn’t work to get you into the office — the Shadowfell is a reflection of The Material and the office is definitely not on The Material Plane). It appears to be at the top of a large tower in a ring shaped city encircling a mountain top.
- In the office, they find another book. It appears to be a detailed description of the people of Sea Side. At numerous places, words are struck out and pages are inserted with new text. The lettering is similar to the one in the book from the Gallery. Celaena cannot read this text either.
- They find the Baron’s Journal, where he discusses his experiment to save the people of Sea Side.
- The final entry does not appear to be written by the Baron. It is in another hand writing in rhyming lines.
- Maeglin finds a playing Card. It is hand painted and worn. The front of the card is the Queen of Diamonds. The back of the card is a portrait of The Moon.
In Sea Side, Brialle finds The Egg. While the party doesn’t know what they have or how to use it, Flex has been told to find The Egg.
Of the two people that Grimble has sent the Party to find, they only discovered one: The Burgoman of the Town. The Pastor of the Chapel to the Temple of Small Streams and Domesticated Animals was never found in the Estate or outside of it.
Atop the office, the Baron kept Clinamen’s Telescope. The Telescope was pointed at three celestial objects — planets in an alignment from large to small. The Baron’s journal reflects his alarm at this discovery.
Also, in the office, there is evidence that The Baron was traveling. There was a traveling cloak, a traveling hat, traveling boots, a traveling bag, and a flying carpet.
Celaena will have a dream-within-a-dream where she sees The Baron making his way out of the caves leading into Antimony’s Still.
Also, and the party is joined by two others: Kahseer and Bruni. They are sent to the Estate with a mission of delivery whisky in return for payment and a signature on the receipt. The instructions are clear, payment and a signature on the receipt.
This never happens, because they never encounter the Baron at the Estate.
How to get into the office: I could think of a couple of ways of cheating your way into the office. Most of them were well above your level or extremely long odds. However, one was to gamble and win with Arthur. The other was the Lighting Imp, who had access to the office to in order to maintain the extra-planar lighting.