A Further Insight Into Ardgan

Thorgrim Slatemane

Thorgrim Slatemane is a dwarf from one of the oldest families in Ardgan, a line said to trace back to one of the city's founders. That heritage comes with deep political connections, and Thorgrim has never been shy about using them. He lost a leg fighting in the wars against the orcish tribes, and the experience left him with a lasting nemesis: Grr-zahnn Bristlebile, whom he considers a lunatic and a genuine threat to Ardgan society. The two are rarely placed near one another at public events, and at Silu's opening night they were seated at opposite ends of the theatre.

Politically, Thorgrim is a staunch conservative. He distrusts anyone who wants to change any part of Ardgan, believing the city should stay exactly as it is. He sides with the Hegelian half of the council, finding the Gronans too advanced and too experimental, and prefers order to progress. His family crest is a great hammer pointing upwards with a fortress rising from the top of its handle, and the Slatemane motto says everything about him: "It isn't broke."

He has a large circle of friends among Ardgan's elderly community and the wealthy, and counts Rogveld Peppersnip among them, whom he considers the perfect councillor. Unlike most dwarves, he is clean-shaven, with extremely long hair braided with gemstones, and a massive, bulbous red nose that is impossible to miss.

Scarlett Perrieh

Scarlett Perrieh is a petite woman with long, wavy black hair, golden skin, and sea-green eyes with a hint of yellow. She comes from the small North Veridian town of Tuloonie and arrived in Ardgan with ambitions far bigger than where she started.

Scarlett's past is a tangle of secrets. She is a were-bear, cursed with lycanthropy, and has killed before, which makes her a criminal. To keep that hidden, she has signed a pact with the devil: anyone who learns what she is will either lose their mind or disappear. She also slept her way onto the council, a path she considers perfectly fair. Her former lovers include Merin Morecroft, whom she was with for the money (and to steal gems), and Lumunkulin, with whom it was just for fun.

Her current partner is monogamous, but sells secrets to the highest bidder, anything and everything, though he has no idea what Scarlett really is. Her best friend is her salsa partner, and the two compete in dance competitions, where Scarlett turns up in one of her many scarlet dresses. She is a wonderful dancer, and was on the dance floor at Silu's opening night.

By the standards of the notes, Scarlett isn't a good person at heart, but she is convinced she deserves her seat on the council, and she has the dedication to keep it.

Avari

Avari is a celestial being, an angel among men, who has existed for a couple of thousand years. They are intelligent, magically gifted, and keenly interested in new technology, and they have grown tired of being a bystander to the world.

Avari lives in an ancient urn, which sits on their chair in the Ardgan Council chamber. They do not exist primarily on the material plane, and they are an all-powerful being capable of wiping out the whole of Ardgan if they chose to. In many cities outside Ardgan, groups of people worship them for work they did centuries ago, though no one does in Ardgan itself.

Avari also has a fear of love, though they are fully capable of feeling it. They know that any mortal they fall for will die long before they do.

Loose Ends in Demivere

Before leaving, Damthus makes sure Demivere understands the terms. A note is left with Kendel, written in his own hand and signed with every name he has worn:

IOU: if a single hair, on the head or body of anyone in Stone Clan, is so much as misplaced, then Lucius and all the clones are done for. Love, Jade-Eyes / Damthus / Kendel IV / Ya Dead x

Still wearing Kendel IV 's face, he then shifts once more, this time into the form of an Earth Genasi, and sets about seeing the promised exodus through. A soldier is ordered to release the children and return each of them to their homes, and their minds, one by one, are set free.

It is, for a moment, an uneasy victory. Rae and Damthus both wonder whether they have made a mistake in leaving so much of Demivere standing. But the children are going home, Sophia is at Rae's side, and there is nothing left to do tonight but arrange to meet again and part ways.

Catching Up

Rae and Sophia find a quiet bar and finally have the conversation they have been owed for months. Rae walks her wife through everything that has happened in Ardgan.

The horror of finding Pachakuty, the hunt for the kidnappers, and the long road down to Demivere. Some events get the full telling. Others, she skims.

Damthus, meanwhile, is running late as usual, with somewhere important to be.

Opening Night

It is the debut performance of Silu's latest show, and Damthus slips in disguised as a gnome. The audience is a who's who of Ardgan. Rogveld Peppersnip is seated near the front, alongside his husband, a gorgon in black glasses, who might be the happiest person in the whole theatre. Laka'chantu is there too, and Grr-zahnn sits at one end of the auditorium, with Thorgrim Slatemane at the other.

Damthus takes a seat in the second row. Beside him is Pachakuty, still on the mend but determined not to miss the premiere, and beyond him Lottie Fandango, wearing seventeen different colours in a long couture dress cut to resemble armour. Somewhere in the rows ahead, a line of teenage boys, all human, sit side by side in matching shirts reading "I identify as Yuan-Ti".

Silu appears on stage alone. The show is an abstract exploration of love through the ages, told through a series of differing perspectives and performed entirely as a one-person piece. Silu announces the quintessences of love: friendship, loyalty, desire. Then, with a sweeping gesture, they invite the audience to see just how much love is in the room.

The curtains part. On the other side, on a couch, are Rae and Sophia, very much making out.

"I present to you... love."

Rae takes a bow. Then she scoops Sophia up and carries her off to a different room.

Celebs on the Dance Floor

The chairs are cleared and the theatre becomes a dance floor. Lottie proves to be a wonderful dancer, and Scarlett Perrieh is in attendance.

Betsy Wingleton, naturally, has taken to the poles, performing what can only be described as ribbon dancing, but with poles.

Damthus slips backstage to congratulate Silu, and decides, for now, to hang up his assassin's hat.

Back on the dance floor, he and Silu transform into a rather unusual pair of elderly women and share a dance with Lottie.

Taking Time To See the Sights

Rae and Sophia spend the night together. Sophia asks whether Rae still plans for them to return to The Ruby Orchard after all this, and when Rae says yes, Sophia agrees to spend a little longer with the friends they have in town.

They stay for a few more weeks, making sure Damthus is properly settled, and spend it taking in the city's more curious attractions. The aquarium and the zoo are the two favourites. The aquarium sits on the Aquatic plane, coexistent with Ardgan itself, with fish drifting through the city. Damthus' favourite animal is an albino dolphin named Silas, and the two bond over the family troubles they share.

They also visit Laka'chantu's hall of curiosity, complete with a hall of mirrors and a ball pit, in which some of the balls are magical and, occasionally, run away. Further afield are Ardgan's hedge maze and Bereshi's Castle, a challenge castle where the prize for winning is a "considered apprenticeship" with Laka'chantu himself.

Arrivals

Just before Rae and Sophia plan to leave, Lottie goes into labour.

Damthus panics. Rae steadies him. Leading the room is Dr Jeremy Grinley, the world's best doula and a member of the council, a clockwork automaton who has spent their entire existence worshipping the god of healing, and who is also, as it happens, a cleric. Lottie reaches out a hand to both Silu and Damthus. She does not want the best, she says. She wants them.

Jeremy is swiftly put on drinks duty: whiskey for everyone. Rae helps where she can.

Triplets arrive. Sora is a beautiful white leonin with jade eyes. Charlie is a changeling, with Lottie's deep amber eyes. Nala is a leonin with Silu's eye colour, one blue and one red.

Rae and Sophia stay a few more days to make sure the new parents are doing well, then say their farewells. Hugs are exchanged.

Lottie recovers quickly from the pregnancy and starts a campaign to run as one of Ardgan's newest councillors.

Home on the Orchard

Rae and Sophia return to The Ruby Orchard and get the farm back to running in tip-top shape, with their next anchor point already on the horizon. Mostly, they are getting to know each other again.

A standout event during their absence: Frederick III was pregnant. There are now two more, Frederick IV and Frederick V.

The Months That Follow

Damthus' coming months look very different.

Lottie is back at the gym and soon disbands Stone Clan as a criminal organisation, reforming it as the first political party in Ardgan: the People's Party. She runs to be its first leader, with a simple pitch: "let's make some effective government in this city." A cultural festival is planned to celebrate Ardgan itself.

Silu spends some time raising the children, then returns to their theatre work.

Damthus becomes a full-time dad. Days are spent at the park, the aquarium, and the Museum of Orc Heritage. He has magic tricks for Nala. Sora is a great swimmer. Charlie, it turns out, is a charmer.

For the first time in his life, he takes on a form and keeps it: a human man in his late thirties with no distinguishing features, other than his green eyes. He joins the PTA at the local school.

In the evenings he performs shadow plays for the children. An adventure of a big woman and a little man who leap off a cliff, and land on a griffin.