Mirrors

In the morning the Ramalinga Lords receive word that Lord Jangir is unwell. When they visited him they found him weak and barely alive from the effects of the Dripping Poison. Lady Dipaly, the woman he bedded last had the opportunity to poison him since Lord Jangir had sent Ging away in order to have some privacy.

Lord Hazir decided to visit her and learned that she had did not remember parts of the evening. She could only give a sketchy account of the last thing she remembered, then she woke up in Jangir's bed.

Lord Ramachandra writes a careful letter of warning for house Modina and visits Lady Mizi Modina. He intrudes while she is dressing, but she manages to keep the entire encounter stylish and in good taste. After chitchatting while waiting for her to dress, he explains about what he perceives as a plot to incriminate House Modina, and she reciprocates by showing a letter of commission for the assassins guild directed at herself primarily and her house as targets of opportunity.

Lords Darshi and Naresh tour the city, Lady Darshi looking for worthy warriors, Lord Naresh inspecting the fortifications and dreaming dreams of bricks.

At midday, the local nobility gathers and mingled for several hours. Present at the assembly were (among a host of lesser nobility):

House Modina

 * Mizi
 * Mohapet
 * Bolfa, a tacky sorcerer
 * Miyao
 * Eshaki
 * Aiporlani
 * Chin Modina, pleasure-seeking Wu Jen
 * Alysha, aspiring duelist
 * Balsis, possibly involved with the robbers in Jangir province.

House Ramalinga

 * Darshi
 * Hazir
 * Naresh
 * Ramachandra

Paniren

 * Ti Za
 * Li Fu

Ruhu

 * Shawar Ruhu

Pandino

 * Alalan Pandino the Ruin Lord

Mizi Modina was fashionably late and made a grand entrance, supported not only by dancers and musicians, but also by Ramachandra, who managed to put himself in the limelight while doing so. After the seating arrangements were slightly changed to accommodate Ramachandra's initiative, the mingling began. Most at ease were the monks, who promptly took center stage and began philosophizing and reminiscenceing. Soon, however, all joined in.


 * Darshi was singled out by Alysha Modina, who seemed discomforted by Darshi's focus, but who still wanted to practice together.
 * Hazir focused his attention on the two Modina ladies in the corner while bantering with the monks. He eventually got the ladies to talk, but not enthusiastically.
 * Naresh was hit upon by Bolfa Modina and his young boy companion. He hits on Naresh by praising his physique and the discipline that built it.
 * Ramachandra tried to warn Naresh about Bolfa, but mostly he focused on Mizi Modina and the intrigue of the hour.

Alalan Pandino shows off two sets of golden armor, a light and a heavy breatplate. Lord Naresh expresses his disappointment that there is no suit of heavy armor, and proclaims that his will marry any Noble woman who brings him a heavy soft of golden armor as her dowry. This causes some talk among the present nobles.

After these amusements, Alalan Pandino started to take representatives of the different houses away for secret discussions - first the hostess Mizi Modina who returned with a disquiet attitude that intrigued Ramachandra to no end. Secondly, we are taken to the presentation, where we are shown a painting of a behemoth, the ultimate war machine. The Ruin Lord worriedly tells us that he has recently found not one, but two, of these machines. He claims his house does not want them, because they might provoke neighbors into attacking him. Hazir bluntly puts forth his reservations about such terrors, while Darshi frowns very deeply, but the consensus is still that two such war machines must not belong to the same house - something Alalan Pandino tells us Mizi Modina has some trouble accepting - which solves the mystery for Ramachandra. We decide to make an offer of a hundred chests of gold for this monster - this puts pressure on Pandino, who must decide whether they really want to sell or not, while still not being insultingly cheap.

Markedly, house Paniren is not asked to bid on the behemoth as far as we can see.

The reception soon ends at Mizi Modina's quiet prompting. Hazir takes the young Modina assassin to inspect the assassination attempt against Lord Jangir, something that makes her all business and which she seems to appreciate. When Hazir tells her he wants to meet with the students he sent into Modina service all by himself tomorrow, she makes a wide-eyed protest - which promptly causes Hazir to kiss her. She flees, and Lord Hazir is very smug.