Reinald's Perspective (20th Leaffall)

20th Leaffall - Before Noon: Ervin meets Reinald outside the De Ragnaisse townhouse alongside Aveline. Reinald's belongings have already been brought over from the mansion. Ervin explains that many houses in the city carry number plates, and flipping his upright will get Reinald off the streets with no questions asked. He declines to explain further.

20th Leaffall - Before Noon: Ervin escorts Reinald to his guest room in the townhouse. He is given a map of the city. The staff will return tomorrow.

20th Leaffall - Before Noon: Reinald takes a moment alone with Röka before heading out. They discuss what Röka is, as usual without resolution. Röka deflects. They move on.

20th Leaffall - Before Noon: Reinald passes the mayor's office. The door has been recently replaced with noticeably newer wood. Paint buckets still sit beside it.

20th Leaffall - Before Noon: At the Ambassador's Pier, Reinald spots three contacts from Lucien's list: the deerfolk and blue dragonfolk from his dream, and the woman in white gloves stepping out of a converted lighthouse-church. None of them recognize him. The dragonfolk departs the district. The woman and deerfolk enter the Ragnaisse warehouse.

20th Leaffall - Noon: At the Barnacled Barrel, Reinald meets Brigitte and Gurak. He confirms he was in the dream and that Aveline was present but did not recognize him. He mentions the missing bookshop owner, the change of management at Katrien's shop, and the mayor's disappearance, testing what they know. They don't take the bait. He recognizes the silence for what it is.

20th Leaffall - Noon: Reinald suspects Brigitte and Gurak know significantly more than they are willing to share. He notes that Gurak reacts to the name Corrin. Outside, Gurak calls him a spy. Reinald pays for his own drink.

20th Leaffall - Afternoon: Reinald visits the Spellwhisk Consortium warehouse. He reunites with Corrin, an old academy acquaintance, who wears a white dagger patch matching Lucien's emblem. She leads him to her office.

20th Leaffall - Afternoon: Corrin tells Reinald he is approaching the investigation the wrong way. Issuing baits does not work in Allura's Haven. He needs to blend in with the commonfolk. The scaffold district is where information moves. She recommends visiting a potion shop run by a girl named Sonya.

20th Leaffall - Afternoon: Corrin and Reinald briefly reminisce about the academy and Lewys, who was in their year. She still needs to visit Silas about paperwork. They agree to lunch tomorrow.

20th Leaffall - Afternoon: Reinald returns to the townhouse, changes into simpler clothes, and covers his Niðavellirian arm with a glove before heading to the scaffold district.

20th Leaffall - Afternoon: At the Drunken Phoenix inn in the scaffold district, Reinald approaches Baeur'gard from Lucien's contacts list, who goes by Reggie. His opening line goes poorly. Reggie makes him buy a round, then gives him a quiet education: Stop invoking wealthy names in the poor district, sit with people before asking things of them. Eventually, Reggie points him toward Sonya's potion shop.

20th Leaffall - Afternoon: As Reinald leaves the Drunken Phoenix, a large bearfolk with a distinct mushroom smell pushes past him on the way in.

Brigitte's Perspective (20th Leaffall)

20th Leaffall - Noon: At the Barnacled Barrel, Brigitte spots the woman from her dream conducting business with a wolffolk assessor. The woman does not appear to recognize her. Brigitte receives a second bathhouse coupon from the kobold.

20th Leaffall - Noon: Brigitte and Gurak discuss Lewys thunderwaving the mayor's office door open on arrival, with the city guard allowing it. Since the door was barricaded from inside, Lewys must have had prior knowledge of its condition. Someone told him.

20th Leaffall - Noon: Brigitte meets Reinald at the Barnacled Barrel. He already knows about Hartthorne's disappearance and Katrien's absence despite arriving in the city today. Brigitte and Gurak say nothing to confirm or deny. Outside: Gurak concludes Reinald is a spy.

20th Leaffall - Afternoon: Back at the hideout, Brigitte and Gurak brief Kaelis. He was in the scaffold district last night and heard nothing about Hartthorne or Katrien. The information is not public. Kaelis agrees to surveil both Reinald and Felix Fabulous.

20th Leaffall - Afternoon: Felix Fabulous told Brigitte and Gurak that Katrien was on holiday. They now knows that was a lie, it means that Felix knows Katrien is missing.

20th Leaffall - Afternoon: The foxfolk information stays between Brigitte, Gurak, and Kaelis for now. A family meeting is planned for tomorrow. The harefolk visitor also arrives tomorrow.

20th Leaffall - Afternoon: Brigitte visits the scaffold district. A pouchfoot vendor mentions guards have been going door to door searching houses without explanation. Brigitte buys tarts for Sonya.

20th Leaffall - Afternoon: At the Bubbling Cauldron, Sonya explains the citywatch took half her inventory that morning, citing illegal sourcing. Her research into throwable healing Baubles is on hold.

20th Leaffall - Afternoon: Sonya asks Brigitte to accompany her to the sewers to harvest her ochre jelly batch. The maintenance room where the jellies were being grown has been locked from the outside. It should not be locked. The pot is nearly empty. Someone has been there before them.

20th Leaffall - Afternoon: Brigitte throws a rock at a guard's shin to create a distraction, intending to miss. She does not miss. Sonya sprints for the sewer entrance. Reinald, watching from across the street, casts a subtle illusion of a child running in the wrong direction. The guard follows it. Reinald enters the sewers after them.

20th Leaffall - Afternoon: In the sewers, Reinald trails Brigitte and Sonya at a distance. He rounds the corner just as they discover the empty pot. Neither is looking up. He spots the ochre jelly on the ceiling above them and blasts it before it can drop on either of them. It drops anyway, but where he directs it.

20th Leaffall - Afternoon: A chaotic fight breaks out through the maintenance tunnels. Brigitte's sword splits the jellies, which multiplies rather than kills them. Reinald burns several with fire. Sonya lobs Healing Baubles at Reinald from a safe distance. Reinald sustains significant acid damage. Brigitte keeps him standing.

20th Leaffall - Afternoon: Sonya hears sounds from further into the dug tunnels and calls for help. Reinald and Brigitte find a masked figure surrounded by jellies, robed in silken cloth unlike anything from above ground, carrying a bioluminescent flower on a staff. The flower caused the jellies to overgrow. They clear the remaining jellies and save the figure.

20th Leaffall - Afternoon: The figure addresses them in an ancient language. Brigitte understands it. Reinald and Sonya do not. The language has a dwarven quality but is older, much older. The figure says: Surface dwellers, I thank you.

20th Leaffall - Afternoon: The figure tells them to leave. A second voice from deeper in the tunnels shouts in the same language: Surface Dwellers! Kill them on sight! Brigitte understands but doesn't tell. She moves Reinald and Sonya out. Sonya leaves a healing potion in the figure's hands.

20th Leaffall - Evening: Back above ground near the pier, Brigitte blocks a guard's line of sight while Reinald and Sonya slip past.

20th Leaffall - Evening: In the Bubbling Cauldron, Reinald introduces himself properly to Sonya. He asks about the figure in the tunnels. Brigitte does not identify the language. Reinald notes it sounded ancient, adjacent to dwarven. Sonya deduces the flower caused the jellies to grow and that someone locked the door from outside before they arrived. The pieces do not yet form a picture.

20th Leaffall - Evening: Reinald offers to help Sonya with ingredient sourcing while he is in town. He notes an unguarded warmth in Sonya's reaction when he mentions Brigitte. He files this away. He takes his leave.

20th Leaffall - Evening: Sonya reminds Brigitte: she has a fight with Salt and Pepper tonight. A two-on-one match, on Brigitte's own terms. Sonya presses a spare healing potion into her hands.