Fidelphi Dies Before He Can Clear His Name

The black market cliffhanger did not give Hugo the clean answer he wanted. Fidelphi Castro was still alive, prone, blinded, and denying the accusation when the next moment began. Hugo pinned him down and accused him of selling out and murdering his crewmates. The market around them had witnesses, but the real trial happened in seconds, with Hugo demanding truth from a man who could barely stay ahead of whatever had already claimed him. Fidelphi said someone had worn his face. Then the curse answered for him. He vomited black ooze and started choking through failed saves while the party tried to force a rescue with whatever magic they could reach: petrification, Spare the Dying, Gentle Repose, desperate reads of Medicine and Arcana. Jonah's read pointed toward Remove Curse, but no one could get there in time. Fidelphi disintegrated into black void dust. About twenty-five measures of it remained. Hugo's revenge thread did not resolve. It deepened. Fidelphi died before clearing himself, but his last claim shifted the question from whether he betrayed Hugo's crew to who wore his face, who cursed him, and whether the Black Company or Ignotus had built the whole betrayal around a false identity. The target was dead. The truth was not.