Night 024

[allthekeys]

|| THREAT DOWN

|| NIGHT 024: GENERAL The snowfall subsides as night falls, leaving clear, cold weather with an occasional few drifting flakes. The courtyard and road are drifted over despite best efforts, although a few guards dig out a path between the castle and the town shortly after nightfall. Everyone awakens with a small package wrapped in faded, colored paper with simple designs on it. Within, they will find some small nonmagical object from their homeworlds, a memento of something important to them. || CASTLE In the Throne Room, there are large tables set up with food and meat brought by the Grey Maids from the kitchens. The fare is rich and filling if it can be reached. A few instruments hover by one wall, playing spirited ballroom dance music by themselves, although there is occasionally the sound of rattling chains echoing beneath it. Faceless, translucent richly dressed phantoms dance in the central floor and pace along side the tables, hovering around as if talking but never touching the food. Mixed in among them are the Merry Gentlemen, who are quick to fall on anyone living who catches their eye, pulling them apart as if it were another spectacle of the dance. The Cook is busy in the kitchen, attended by Grey Maids; while the trays they take to the throne room are watched closely, a small table by one wall has leavings and scraps set out for any that come through. || THE TOWN The townspeople also seem to be celebrating, though in a less grandiose and far more wholesome way. What villagers remain each come out with their own presentations. The Guards do not enter the town for the night. Candles are set out around the square and along the walls, along with small censers of incense. Frayed cords hold tattered colored streamers and simple plain pennants. A few cauldrons hang over cookfires filled with a sweet, spiced cider of some sort, each with mugs and a ladle nearby. The Baker has a table set out, filled with pastries, breads, and sweets of multiple kinds, along with meat pies that steam in the cold. For the duration of the Night, he asks no payment, although he will ask those who come by his table to remember and help others in kind through the coming year. Kora has a small table by her home, set out with an assortment of cheeses and many of her usual wares; the table has a hastily cobbled together tent behind it that shelters the children. The Bladesellers occupy another shabby tent with a table, their wares considerably less than in their previous appearances, although they seem determined to attempt some good cheer. The Toymaker has a small stand laden with a small selection of her wares. She is very enthusiastic to show them off to her customers, especially those who show interest. Her work is of impeccable quality. The Tea Lady hunches over a fire near which a cauldron, which she occasionally stirs, is kept hot. She greets those she knows and is quick to pour a cup of tea for those who request one - or as quick as she can be. From a poorly constructed stage, the Ready Wailers of the formerly traveling market tune their instruments as the sun sets. Not all the instruments are as they were before; some have damage and other signs of wear, while others have been replaced entirely with shoddy imitations. Very few are still in good condition, but they seem to be serviceable enough based on the music they produce. The Monks wander around the outer edges of the town’s festivities. If approached, they can be heard singing quietly, almost to themselves. There are fewer of them then there were before, even after several were slain. They do not otherwise participate in the festivities.