Carnevale - Session One: Escape from Ca'Benicio, Part One

Signore Gustavo di Benicio was dying. House Benicio was an old patrician family in Vanzenia that had fallen on hard times since the city's conquest by the red dragons. Despite his relative poverty, Gustavo was somehow able to scrape together enough money to help each of his children on their chosen path in life, but he was not able to turn the family fortune around. Now, as he lay dying, he summoned the surviving members of the family to attend his bedside: he had something important to tell them.

One by one, the members of House Benicio arrived in the city. Greta was the last to arrive. It was a cold winter evening, and the streets were covered in frost. Breath puffed out in clouds. The familiar stench of waste in the canals bit at nostrils. Bells tolled to mark the hours. Distantly, in the Plaza of the Dragon, there was the sound of music and celebration, and fireworks occasionally lit up the sky: it was the beginning of Carnevale. The streets were nearly empty, save for the odd beggar or costumed reveler.

When she reached Ca'Benicio, Greta knocked on the door and was met by Giovanni, the old human doorkeeper, who admitted her. The facade of the building was crumbling, but inside, the house was in much worse condition, with much of the mansion unused. Marco, the dwarf majordomo, brought hot mulled wine for Greta from Giulio, the gnome cook. Giulio's daughter Sofia helped remove Greta's cloak, scarf and gloves, and asked her about what sunny Sahelio was like. Naso, the family's old dog, emerged and whuffed at Greta for treats.

Greta's adoptive siblings were already here: Chiara and Stefano lived in Vanzenia, Matilde had returned from La Universite di Padavia, and Deltorro had traveled from the Marshes, where he had working as a doctor. The family talked amongst themselves: they had not been gathered in one place for many years. Marco returned to announce a surprise guest as well: a strange half-elven woman, who claimed to be their long-lost half-sister Vivianna. Greta talked to Naso, who was puzzled by Via: she smelled familiar but strange at the same time. The others questioned Via, who answered their questions vaguely. Her jewelry was definitely authentic, though. She had a bracelet with the house's crest upon it. Marco departed, to fetch a mysterious final guest. He returned with an aggressively uncomfortable woman. Her clothes and accent showed she was a commoner, but her bright red hair and golden eyes were clear signs of draconic heritage. Most dragonborn were nobility. Who was this woman?

There was no time to ask her, as Marco led them up to the third floor, to see Gustavo. The big man was lying in a bed, surrounded by aromatic herbs. His breath wheezed from his lungs, and his skin was waxy and shrunken against his bones. Marco slipped out, while Gustavo greeted them one by one. He cried when he recognized Via, and he identified the strange woman as Adrianna, the illegitimate daughter of his wife Fausta. Gustavo begged for her forgiveness, but she was still angry with him and doubted his sincerity. Meanwhile, Matilde was looking out the window and saw Marco paddling away down the canal rapidly. She summoned her magical familiar, Enzo the raccoon, and opened the window so that Enzo could follow him and see where he was going.

Gustavo was about to start talking to everyone when suddenly there was a great explosion from within the house. Everyone was jostled, and Gustavo was flung from his bed, striking his head upon the ground. Greta rushed for the stairs, while Chiara went to help Gustavo with magical healing. Adrianna took sheets off the bed and went to open the window, so that everyone could escape out it, but crossbowmen from across the street opened fire. Via jumped at Matilde and knocked her out of the way of the bolts.

Everyone started hurrying downstairs. At the bottom of the stairs, water was rushing into the house. Chiara's maid Maria emerged on the second floor, panicking. Stefano found Naso and told him to go look for Sofia: the dog found her hiding in a closet, crying. Adrianna leaped down the stairwell, but landed awkwardly and hurt herself. A second explosion sounded, rocking the house and flinging people to their feet, and the water began rushing in much faster. Via dove into the water and began swimming to the locker with her goods, while the others went to their rooms to grab their belongings.

Suddenly, out of the dark water, something emerged and grabbed Via's leg. She turned around to see a hideous tritone. These fish-men had an underwater colony somewhere near Vanzenia, but were very rarely seen. This one had a knife, with which it viciously slashed at Via. She channeled her eldritch power and poured it into the tritone, distracting it for long enough for her to swim away and get her belongings. At the same time, two more tritones emerged at the landing. One stabbed Adrianna, and she fell into the water, bleeding out. Greta hauled her out and used her magical powers to heal the wound, while Deltorro engaged the tritones in hand-to-hand combat. Using some sand, he managed to blind one of the tritones, which retreated into the water. The other attacked Greta, who impaled it with her javelin. At the same time, a furious Adrianna emerged behind it, stabbed it in the back, and then reached around and slit its throat.

The water was rushing into the house faster and faster. The explosions had destabilized the house's foundations, and Ca'Benicio was sinking into the lagoon. Stefano grabbed Gustavo's body and carried him into Chiara's bedroom, hoping to escape from the other side of the house, but there were crossbowmen watching that side as well. He looked around in desperation and came up with a plan: he would push Chiara's antique bed out the window at the last moment, and then escape that way. Chiara shouted for the others to come upstairs.

Suddenly, Chiara realized that Giovanni and Giulio were still unaccounted for. She used her magic to contact Giulio, who was underwater and trapped under a fallen shelf in the kitchen. She and Greta dove out the window, narrowly avoiding the crossbow bolts, and swam for the kitchen's small window. They managed to force their way in, cutting themselves on the glass in the window-frame, and found Giulio, unconscious and almost dead. Between them, they managed to free him and drag him up to the surface, where Greta was forced to use her healing magic to revive him.

Meanwhile, the others retreated upstairs. Via emerged from the water and grabbed a rope that Maria had dropped to her. Stefano hauled her up, but not before one of the two surviving tritones slashed her leg. Stefano, Via and Adrianna retreated into the room, with the two tritones close behind them. Adrianna coughed up a massive gout of flames, which incinerated one of the fish-men for long enough that Stefano could crush its skull with his warhammer. They rushed into the room, and Stefano pushed the bed out the window, with Sofia, Naso, Maria and Gustavo upon it. The others jumped out, and held on to the side of the bed.

They were met with a hail of crossbow fire. Behind them, Ca'Benicio sank entirely into the lagoon, and the current forced the floating bed towards the side of the canal. In front of them, one group of killers was rushing down to meet them: behind them, the second group were entering a boat to come after them. Suddenly, the final tritone emerged from the water and stabbed Via, who passed out from loss of blood. The assassin clambered on the bed, only to be savaged by a furious Naso, who tore out his throat. Suddenly, Stefano noticed that one of the crossbow bolts had hit Gustavo! Their father died, but not before saying a final word. Who or what was Delila? And would they survive long enough to find out?

Art: 'Miracle of the Cross at the Bridge of San Lorenzo.' Gentile Bellini, c. 1500.