Zangari

Zangari
Details
Race	Human
Birthplace	Fiora
Lifetime	After the Mending
Spouse	Aribelle
Sources

Lord Zangari was a human noble from the plane of Fiora, whose schemes and machinations caused his downfall.

History

At a ball in Earl Bartoletti's mansion, Lady Tirelli told Zangari that his wife Aribelle was viciously telling anyone who would listen about the latest misfortune to befall Zangari's business. He was fuming and refused to speak with his wife for the rest of the night, and he left the party early, alone. He went straight to his mistress, the young widow Iolanni. Bored of his complaining, Iolanni tipped Zangari of the artificer Sydri, unaffiliated with the Black Rose, who could build untraceable and effective ways of assassination.

Zangari visited Sydri's workshop the next day and gave her the order to create a musical box that would give his wife a heart attack. Sydri accepted the proposal and asked Zangari for the sum of one hundred and fifty thousand, as well as a lock of his wife's hair and her favorite music box. When Zangari protested at the exorbitant price, Sydri simply referred him to a seedy tavern thug as an alternative and thanked him for his business. Zangari could only glare, nod, and leave.

Three days later, Zangari returned with the required items. A mechanical spider sentry scanned him, and his head felt foggy afterward before Sydri would let him in. While she studied the items he brought her, Zangari noticed a broach with an intricate wire clasp, gold, and silver, with a boar's head emblem on it. Zangari thought it was quite nice, and went on to say that his family crest featured a boar's head as a symbol of resilience and determination. Sydri accepted the quality of the items Zangari had brought her but told him the boar's head broach was a custom order for another client and was not for sale. She then told him she would need two weeks to finish the work on the music box trap.

When Zangari came to Sydri's shop for the third time, all of her display works had been packed into small crates, and the walls were completely bare. Sydri explained to him that she moved shop from time to time, for obvious reasons. She told him that she had woven an enchantment into the melody of the music box, so that the first time his wife heard it, she would develop a mild fascination with the tune. That was the attunement charm at work. The second time Lady Aribell heard the tune, it would trigger a state of calm introspection, triggering a mild compulsion to resolve any outstanding issues in her life and take care of any unfinished business, leaving her feeling calm and relaxed. The third time Zangari's wife would hear the music box's tune, the resonant harmonics would trigger a neurophysical cascade reaction, and her heart would stop. The charm would then destroy itself, going back to being a perfectly normal music box, leaving the murder untraceable.

Sydri then politely gave Zangari a last chance to change his mind, and he puffed himself up, and shouted at her to mind her concerns, and that he would ruin her if the music box did not work as intended. He slammed his coin purse on the counter. Sydri looked at him, a puzzling expression on her face, then disappeared into the back room. She emerged with two satin-lined gift boxes, one smaller than the other. She told him that the smaller box contained the boar's head broach, as it was never picked up by the other client, and the materials for the music box were cheaper than anticipated, the broach making up the difference. Zangari greedily snatched both boxes and left.

On the day of his wife's birthday gala, Zangari was dressing up and thought the broach would be perfect for his summer cape. He plucked it from the gift box, opened the clasp, and fastened it through the cape. There was a brief flash of pain as he had somehow managed to prick his finger on the broach. He found this oddly hilarious, and as he laughed louder and more enthusiastically than he had in years, pure joy filled his heart. He felt a little light-headed and sat down on his bed. His head spun a little, and he fell flat back onto his bed. This, too, seemed incredibly funny.

Zangari stared up at his bedroom ceiling, and his laughter slowed. Perhaps he would rest a while before going downstairs. The bed was comfortable, and he was happy there. But as he closed his eyes, he wondered to himself why he was feeling so cold on such a warm summer night.

Story appearances

Title	Author	Publishing date	Set	Setting (plane)	Featuring
The Perfect Gift	Nik Davidson	2013-10-16	Commander 2013	Fiora	Zangari, Bartolotti, Tirelli, Aribelle, Iolanni, Sydri