Following the successful curtain call of Masha and the Bear, the cast of the Second Unit enjoyed a well deserved cast party, and a couple days off, while the First Unit completes its preparations for Opening Night on Thursday the 18th. This morning, a message was posted at the Palace and at the Legendary that the Second Unit would meet in the theatre's lobby at 11 am to discuss the upcoming production.
Mon is surprised that Herald has not returned to his room since the cast party Saturday night. The rogue left with a female friend, and has not been seen since. Mon silently prays that he will miss the call and perhaps finally be let go from the theatre. As he thinks about Herald, however, a suppressed memory sparks up in his mind. He remembers a warm summer day in his youth where he was playing with a friend of his outside, and the friend fell down a small cliff and broke his left arm and wrist. The friend's father had forbade Mon from ever being with his friend again, and though the two of them would meet in secret afterwards, the relationship was never the same. This also reminds Mon that though he used to enjoy keeping secrets, now he doesn't like it, limiting himself to only keeping necessary secrets.
Mon spikes Herald's wine to contribute to the rogue's misery and possibility that he will miss the call. Meeting his two friends in the Palace's cafeteria, Mon notifies Marigold and Branna of Herald's absense. They express concern that he is still involved with Lady Astral. Asking around, Branna finds that the closest estimate is similar to that of Mon, except that her reports indicate Herald was fairly inebriated at the time of his departure.
Marigold, Branna and Mon return to the Legendary, and since they have an hour or two before the cast call, they meander through the theatre, looking for signs of sabotage or for people who do not belong. With the First Cast busy getting the last touches done, there are a lot of people in the theatre they do not recognize, but all of them are accompanied by theatre personnel. They also do not discover any sign of sabotage or people or objects missing.
Visiting the secret passages that traverse the Legendary, Mon finds that someone has walked in the passage directly underneath the stage. This passage must have been used at some point to lift someone in and out of the stage, as there is a trapdoor directly behind the curtain. The equipment has not been maintained, and the gears that would facilitate the platform raising from the passage to the scene have not been greased in many years. The mixture of flour and dye that Mon used shows evidence that either a child or a halfling has walked through here multiple times in the last two weeks.
Mon reports his findings, and notes that his powder wears off after twenty or thirty feet. Marigold fixes this problem by concocting a mixture of her own. She mixes grease and a fine metallic powder and smears it on the door knobs of two of the doors in the less-traveled tunnels. Now anyone using these doors in the secret passages will leave a mark wherever they go, since her mixture does not come off very easily.
With the Second Unit crew and cast assembling in the Legendary's opulent lobby, Marigold and Mon split up, so they can watch the crowd as the cast list is announced. Branna stands with the rest of the crew. Sir Gregory Tsaplin welcomes everyone, and thanks them for a great run of Masha and the Bear. Due to the critical and financial success of the production, he is awarding everyone a bonus of 3 silvers. He then turns the floor over to Yurchik, who presents the next production.
Yurchik explains that the Second Crew will be presenting General Toptigin Cheats Death. This musical is divided in three acts:
- Act 1, a young wagon driver named Yamshik and his fiancee named Fedya are traveling back to their hometown after delivering bolts of cloth. They comes upon a battlefield where two armies recently fought. The battlefield is littered with the dead, with only a few wounded soldiers still alive. Among them is the great General Toptigin, hero of the homeland. Having cheated Death many times before during battles, the great general is grievously wounded, nevertheless Yamshik offers him a ride so that the great man is not left to the crows . So thankful, the General pledges any favor in his power to give. The three of them share stories as they arrive at an inn that night.
- Act 2: During the night the inn is visited by Death, who is here to claim the General, as he should have died on the battlefield. The innkeeper, with Yamshik and Fedya’s help, manage to disguise the General, and though hurt the General engages in a battle of wits with Death.
- Act 3: As Death comes closer to discover the General’s true identity, Yamshik realizes that he must sacrifice himself to fool Death. The General will not hear of it, however, and reveals himself to Death. In the climactic battle scene, the General is about to defeat Death, but not before Yamshik and Fedya are mortally wounded. The General tells Death that he will give himself up if Death will spare Yamshik and Fedya. Death agrees, but as it bends down to collect Toptigin's soul, Yamshik, in tears, tells the General he can’t go, because he owes him a favor and his favor is that the General remains in the world of the living. Confounded by this pledge and its consequences, Death departs alone, and the General cheats Death yet again.
Yurchik then pulls the cast list. All actors, including Herald, are awarded roles according to their rankings within the theatre. However, Yurchik poses before announcing that, in consultation with Marinka, the first author, Mon is appointed to the role of Death. His performance during Masha and the Bear was outstanding, and he is being rewarded with a bigger role. Vadim quips that it makes sense, as Mon already looks like a corpse.
While expressing reservations, Yurchik appoints Luba to Fedya's role, and he is more enthousiastic about appointing Vadim to the role of Yamshik.
With the roles distributed, Sir Gregory Tsaplin walks through the crowd and talks to everyone. He congratulates Mon on his upcoming role as Death. He asks Marigold if she could make some modifications to her bubble machine as he would like to use it at a future party at his estate. He also tasks Branna to make the costume for Death. After about an hour, the Legendary's owner departs with his manservant Ony.
After Sir Gregory Tsaplin leaves, the various Departments meet to strategize how best to approach this show. The work of setting up the play will begin tomorrow. Mon receives a copy of the script he will need to rehearse. As Death, he doesn't say much, but he is present in most of the scenes in Acts 2 and 3.
In discussions with the props department, Marigold says she hopes to recreate the sounds of cannons, along with the smoke, to make the battle scene for Act 1 look even more realistic. Branna will pull the costume of Death that was used three productions ago and will greatly modify it, so that it seems like a brand new costume for this production.
As Mon reviews his lines, he overheads Vadim and Ulan talk about Luba. Both of them whisper to each other, but with his great hearing Mon realizes that they are discussing the fact that Luba was not at the casting call. Neither was Herald, but nobody noticed or cared. Worried, Mon decides to pay the actress a visit. He knows where Luba lives, because he has followed her before, to ensure that she made it home safely. She lives in the west side, about 15 minutes away. Mon rushes to her house to let her know the casting news. He purchases flowers at the florist, with a sign that congratulates her on earning the role.
After knocking on the door and hearing no response, Mon explores Luba's small backyard, and he finds that the fire pit was recently used to burn letters. Examining the remnants, he discovers that they were most likey letters with what appears to be male handwriting. Luba's laundry is drying on the line, and no one seems to be watching. Mon picks the lock of Luba's backyard door, and enters the residence. Luba's cat greets him loudly, but after a perusal of the home Mon finds nothing amiss, and there was no sign of struggle. He leaves the cat behind, and locks the door before departing.
Mon travels to the Warm Whistle, where he is informed by Nastasia, the owner, that Luba was indeed here the previous day. She met with her agent, then left. She did say she was running a few errands, then would return home and spend the night with a good book and a bottle of wine. The owner says that Luba likes to reward herself after a production by purchasing a small jewelry at the Gemstone Harbor, so that's where she might have gone next.
Once at the Gemstone Harbor, Mon talks with Veronika, the owner. She is surprised that Luba would mist a casting call, and she worries that something might have happened to her. The actress did indeed stop by yesterday, and she purchased a small silver bracelet designed for a male. Veronika thought this was strange, because usually Luba lets her propose several different pieces, but yesterday she really had her eyes set on that particular bracelet. Luba paid for the bracelet and left with it in a small box. Veronika then proposes a silver necklace to Mon, which is very fine and of Elvish craftmanship. In the right light, it looks like mithral. Mon agrees to purchase the necklace. Veronika then mentions that Luba was going next door to the winery.
Mon thanks her, then heads next door. At the Kaleidoscope Winery, Mon learns from Viveka that Luba was indeed here yesterday. She purchased two bottles of wine, one red, one white, and she left them here. She had an errand to run in Low Town, then was coming back to pick up her bottles. She never returned.
Exploring Low Town, Mon comes across her broken parasol in the gutter of an alley a block and a half away from the Anchor's Luck. Hoping to find Captain Popov, Mon is informed that the Captain hasn't arrived yet, but several of the old timers saw the incident. The report that the actress was walking down the street yesterday when she was ambushed by the Cardinal's men. She put up a fight, but was eventually thrown in the back of a jail wagon, and she was taken uptown, presumably to the Cathedral.
Mon rushes back to Legendary, where he finds Pavel. He informs the head carpenter of the events that transpired yesterday. Pavel tells Mon to locate Sir Gregory Tsaplin's solicitor, Sir Matviy, and ask him to intervene. Pavel gives the bard directions. For his part, Pavel will activate his network of relations in Low Town and see if he can gather more information. He will also send a message to Sir Gregory Tsaplin and report on what has been happening. Pavel instructs Mon to reconvene back at the Legendary at 4 pm.
Meanwhile, while Mon is running about town trying to find the actress, Branna looks for the Death costume. She discovers that the hood is missing, even though on the inventory it clearly shows that it was there when turned in to the clothes' archives. She locks what remains of the costume in her cabinet, and leaves a note for Oskana.
Marigold is working hard on props when she is interrupted by Ony, who talks with her about Sir Gregory Tsaplin's upcoming party and
the role that the bubble machine will play. He would like bubbles that are
different shades of blue, with a hint of green, and also once in a while
yellow bubbles that look like lillies. Marigold inquires what the flower should look like. Ony does not know, but he will find out and confirm with her. Marigold thinks she could adjust the motor and creates more permanent bubbles.
Mon locates Marigold and Branna, and informs them of what has happened. Marigold gets some ball bearings and grease, in case they run into the Cardinal's men. The three of them then head out to the solicitor's office. Marigol notifies Nadie, the head of security at the Legendary of what happened to Luba, and Nadie agrees to spread the word that no one on the staff should be outside by themselves. They soon locate the office of Sir Matviy, Gregory Tsaplin's solicitor. They are greeted by Maria, Sir Matviy's secretary. Once in the solicitor's office. Mon explains everything. The solicitor orders his coach, and plans to head to the Cathedral. Mon stays behind at the law office, but Marigold and Branna will accompany him there.
Sir Matviy, Branna and Marigold are denied access to the Cathedral's offices at first, but after insisting they are taken directly to the Cardinal's office, a very ornate room larger than the Legendary's lobby. There the Cardinal readily admits that Luba had been arrested, but he pleads it was an innocent mistake. When asked why he had not released her, the Cardinal points out that she was hysterical, and he didn't want to release a distraught person to the street, where she could be harmed. Luba is soon produced, and she is released to Sir Matviy.
Back at the solicitor's office, Luba recounts her tale. She was walking in Low Town to meet a friend when she was viciously attacked by the Cardinal's men. She was taken to jail, where she was asked to strip and change into uncomfortable clothes. They also confiscated the bracelet she had bought for Mon. She was interrogated all night about an oak leaf, and about the dark oak leaf. She didn't know what any of this meant, but her torturers were vicious. Luba has bruises on her body to back up her claims.
Luba also notes that she thinks she heard Herald while in the jail. Instead of being thrilled at playing the role of Fedya, the actress is despondent and thinks about quitting and returning to Sezja. Mon bolsters her spirits, and she agrees to return to her home. Marigold and Branna will spend the night there with her, to make sure she's comfortable and protected. Mon mentions to Sir Matviy that Herald probably is in the Cathedral's jail, but unlike Luba, they don't have proof. The solicitor agrees to return to the Cathedral and investigate the matter further.
