Thessaly Hall

The home of Lady Tadien Thessaly and her daughter Mia, this former castle can be found about 20 minutes outside of Korint.

Event

Things are quite busy as the party arrives; preparations are in full swing for the Spring Ball tonight. A foreman (40’s, good looking, beard) is directing a large group of workers to set up a huge tent and the garden is being made ready for the festivities. When they find Lady Tadien (well dressed, early 40's, still quite attractive) she takes them inside and show them a broken display case.

She tells them that she heard a sound around midnight and when she came downstairs she found a necklace of hers was taken. “It’s priceless. It was given to me at our very first ball 20 years ago. I hoped to wear it tonight.” Hanur asks about the other thing stolen; "my daughter is also missing," is the response.

When asked if someone took both or if her daughter might have taken the necklace, she points at a doll set on a chair next to the display case; “I gave it to Mia when she was a baby. No doubt it's a message. A burglar would have taken other valuables. Mia and I have had some disagreements recently. Since my husband died last winter Mia has been... troubled. Coming and going at all hours. Exams were a disaster. And I had to stop her allowance, she kept giving it all away.”

Lady Tadien doesn't know all that much about her daughter's social life but thinks her best friend Helen might know more, and she can show the party her daughter's room, there might be some clues there, she's pretty sure a few outfits are missing from her closet. A quick search reveals some letters from someone named Olav, who is probably her boyfriend, and Helen. The also find a book; The Brotherhood of the Stationary Sweater. And in Mia's ledger they see that she recently donated 10 gp to the church of Istus.

The party decides to go ask the carriage driver for Helen's address and then decide to just avail them of his services. He checks with Lady Tadien and she puts him at their disposal. Helen isn't home but they learn she is at the Stiltorq club, which is where they head next. They find her and she is quite surprised when told Mia is missing. She thinks it most likely that she has just fled all the commotion for the ball tonight and is in an inn or tavern somewhere in town. When asked about Olav, she tells them that he is right here, in the changing rooms, getting ready for a match.

Regius immediately runs over, kicks open the door and asks for Olav to make himself known. A tall, good looking, late teens or early twenties man with a Sormark accent in nothing but a towel raises his hand. The cleric tries to bull rush him but everything goes horribly wrong and Olav trips him, bringing Regius crashing to the floor. "You took her!" the cleric accuses him from his unfortunate position.

Hanur comes into the changing rooms and tries to apologize, explaining that Mia has gone missing and that they are looking for her. Olav is seemingly surprised at this news. “I've not heard from Mia for days. And I've been busy with training, so...” When pressed his best guess is that she is out shopping or at some inn or tavern, he gives them the name of her favorite hangouts.

A messenger finds the party; Lady Tadien wants them to come back to Thessaly Hall, something was found in the garden. When they return, she and the foreman bring them to a bush where Mia's vest was found, a large bloodstain on it. And a note as well: “If you want to see your daughter again, leave 1,000 gp in gems under the fountain by midnight tonight.”

With all the work going on around, the vest can't have been here long and must have been placed recently. Lady Tadien is clearly affected by the new find; “I'm so foolish. I assumed it was just Mia being Mia. Please, bring her back,” she pleads. Arosin wonders if they can get fake gems in time but she tells them that she will pay the amount if it has to come to that. They are of course to come to the ball tonight, but they should probably dress the part if they don't want to stand out. Alternatively they could dress as the staff, who will all be wearing fairy costumes tonight.

The party decide to check if Olav told the truth and go to his family's house. There the staff eventually tell them that Olav had planned to go to Mia yesterday but changed his plans and went to see Helen instead; he arrived back home around two at night. They go to Helen's house next and speak with the building superintendent. He turns out to be a follower of Ulaa and is willing to show them around the place, Mia isn't there though.

Back at the Stiltorq club they talk with Helen again. Confronted with new information she has more to say. She wasn't all that happy with Mia, as she knew that Helen liked Olav for years and yet "she still hooked up with him, just to pass the time". When Olav came by she learned that he intended to propose to Mia, so she told him that Mia was likely seeing someone else. Mia had been very evasive though and didn't want to confirm this fact but did comment that she met someone; "right here in my own back garden."

And she isn't done confessing; it turns out more happened after she told Olav about this new man in Mia's lift. "He was upset. We had a drink and then... you know... I didn't plan it or anything. It just happened. After we... He dozed off. And when he woke up he couldn't get out of there fast enough. He made me swear never to tell anyone. Nothing like a vow of silence to make a girl feel special."

They then decide to look into the necklace and eventually find a pawn shop where the owner tells them that a young man with part of his left earlobe missing had been in early this morning with a necklace of their description. The man left quite unhappy when told the pawn shop wouldn't pay more than a silver for it.

Back at Thessaly Hall the foreman, Ron Greenvale, recognizes the young man's description and points him out. Lee, sees the pointing and runs away but a sleep spell by Arosin soon has him down on the floor. When interrogated it becomes clear Mia asked him to pawn the necklace for her, she freaked out when told it wasn't worth much at all, saying that she now has to get money some other way. He also tells them that he never met her before last night when he saw her coming from the guesthouse, having an argument with Ron. He said: "Mia, don't be like that!" and she replied: "I shouldn't have said anything!" That's all Lee heard.

The party goes back to Ron to see what he has to say. "Yeah, Mia came to see me. Maybe I should have mentioned it, but I knew you'd jump to conclusions." "What were you arguing about?" "Mia was upset, that's all. She'd had a fight with her mum. Something about her allowance." "Do you know why she needed money?" "She never said. Too busy calling Lady Tadien all the names under the sun." "Why did Mia come to you?" "I've known Mia since she was a baby. We get on. Or at least we did until I told her she should apologize to her mum. Mia doesn't like being told what to do."

It's soon evening and the ball is about to start. Hanur and Regius dress up in the fairy outfits like the rest of the staff and take up positions to observe the fountain. Arosin has bought fine clothes to pose as a guest. Lady Tadien opens the ball with a toast: "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Thessaly Hall. This evening is all about raising funds for local charities, so when our fairies come around with the raffle, please dig deep. And in the meantime, please help yourselves to the buffet, and the bar, and may I wish you a magical evening. And now, a toast. To spring, new life, and new chances!"

Not much later Lady Tadien can be heard again, quite loudly this time, and saying quite unladylike things. "Come on, everybody! Drink up! It's supposed to be a party! Has anyone ever told you, you have a very large..." Arosin quickly goes over, as does Ron. This can't be the result of one glass of Moussa, her drink was likely spiked. They decide to take her inside to lay down before she makes a real spectacle of herself. Arosin brings her to her bedroom and helps her on the bed.

"It's a very long time since a man took me to bed," she drunkenly tells him. The bard inquires why, her husband only died some months ago. "Oh, it turns out that I wasn't my husband's type," Lady Tadien explains, "it's very simple, darling. I wanted to get away from my parents and he wanted a beard." Mia? "She was a gift from the fairies." She leers at him, "why don't you stay here and give me a cuddle?" He does the opposite and leaves to go find Ron.

Arosin and Regius find Ron in the guesthouse, packing. When confronted with new information he tells them; "before he died, Lord Bede told Mia he wasn't her real dad. She was upset that her mum lied to her for so long. She wanted to come to Garios with me, and I told her I can't afford to support her. I can barely keep a shirt on my own back."

When Mia arrives at the guesthouse with the gems, she also carries the necklace, and when Ron sees it things start to really dawn on him; "I paid five silver for it at a halfling festival, way back when. That's all I could afford at the time. She kept it?" He is now convinced that he is Mia's father and goes off to talk with Lady Tadien.

Mia admits that she only wanted the money so she could move to Garios. But now that it has turned out that Ron is likely her father things have changed and she decides to stay and goes out to the party.

The next day a happy Lady Tadien pays our friends a hundred gold pieces for all they have done.