Sapphire:Sessions:20051022
[October 22, 2005]
Outside, Rory sees the female bale (whose name, the group would later learn, is Solari) rush away from the Rusty Hinge Inn. Several of the goblin guards peel away to accompany her. The men with whom he and Josh have been talking shrink into the shadows until she is out of sight. Rory can tell they are rather amazed to see her slinking off like that. Soon they start making noises about needing to depart. Before they go, Rory learns that Barshar City has about 20,000 inhabitants in all, of whom about 10% are human, and orcs make up the majority by far. At Rory’s request they give the names and locations of a couple of other inns and several taverns in the human and goblin sections of the city. The headman of the human section is called Boss Craven, and the foremost sage is known as Pain Stay (the man grimaces as he speaks the name). While he doesn’t think the speaker is telling him any lies, Rory notices that several times he skirts the truth, as if the truth will get him in trouble. Four sentries remain watching the inn.
Inside, Jinto slowly reseats himself. The glow of reflected sunlight still surrounds him. Runis notices that the woman who was doing the hand-talk has slipped out. The owner looks uncomfortable when Runis starts another orc-killing song, but he doesn’t try to stop the bard, and the crowd seems to enjoy it.
Softly Aliana asks Chalker, “Are you staying at this inn?” “Yes.” “I’ll find you later.” Chalker tells her which room he’s in. He is the only one who notices her departure.
As Runis begins another song, he feels something bounce off the shield that the Sapphire Diamond is maintaining around Jinto. As if the Diamond had been expecting something like this, it now dims the shield’s glow to a twinkle.
Aliana climbs up to the roof of the inn and surveys the dark streets. The three squadrons of goblins she had seen earlier are gone, and only three or four watchers remain. She can hear Rory’s and Josh’s voices from the livery.
Chalker toys with the idea of using his magnetic power on Runis’ double-bladed axe, but decides he shouldn’t rile the dwarf (or the crowd). The man who earlier had been making hand signals to the woman still holds down a table in one corner of the tavern. Chalker notices him signaling again, this time to a worker who is standing at the kitchen door, and the worker makes a quick “message received” sign.
Runis announces his final song for the evening. The man in the corner rises, gives a slight bow toward Runis, then as he walks past the stage he tosses two copper coins which land one on either side of Runis’ upright battleaxe. Then he approaches Chalker. Chalker pushes out an empty chair and the man grabs it, turns it around, and sits astride it. “What’s a ‘Calventine’?” he asks. “It’s a continent a long way from here.” “Never heard of it, much less an entire continent made of calventines, or whatever she said.” Chalker explains it was named after the ruler of the region, and the man says, “Ah, like the lord here has named the city after himself.” “Well, why don’t you go, like, really really big, like a thousand times bigger than here?” “Wow. Must be one heck of a city.” “It’s not one city, it’s a bunch of cities.” “Well, we’ve got about twenty, twenty-five cities in Yavalin. This is by far the biggest, though, about double the next-biggest city.” “I was wrong… let’s say ten thousand times bigger.” “Oh, wow,” the man says in awe. “Is that why she… is that what upset her so?” “It’s an old and powerful empire, and you know how it’s good to be a big fish in a little pond? But sometimes a bigger fish intervenes… but she’s wrong. We’re just passing through.”
Chalker asks, “Do you know this Lord Alondo?” “I’ve seen him a couple of times.” “He would be human?” “He be a Lord (the man cuts his eyes toward the table where Solari had been sitting), the same type of thing all Lords are.” “Well. That does explain why the goblin soldier told me to give up and die, to make it easy on him. Not really sure why he would think I would do that.” “Well, Lord Alondo is the finest warrior in the city.” “Until that one (nodding toward Runis) came, yes, he probably was.” “That’s really a dwarf, huh.” “That’s really a dwarf.” The man nods toward Jinto. Chalker says, “Yes, that’s really an elf.” “From time to time visitors do come to the city. There’s never been a dwarf or elf here before.” “Do the visitors ever leave?” “Hmm… no, I don’t think so.” “We have an audience with Alondo, and from what I’m beginning to see, these audiences usually don’t turn out well for the visitors.” “No, they don’t.” “Oh, but this one will probably be different.” “I don’t know… there are a lot of Lords.” “Yes…” “Have you set your audience yet?” “No, but it’s supposed to be tomorrow.”
The man thinks for a bit. “I’m sure Talina’s going to want to speak with you.” “Who is Talina? Would that be the head of your order?” He looks at Chalker. “You could call her that. You saw her, she was in here earlier tonight.” “I did. I remember her.” “She definitely wants to speak with you at some point.” “Well, that would be fine. We’re trying to figure out what’s going on here.” “The Lords have a very firm control of Yavalin.” With a gleam in his eye Chalker asks, “Would it upset you if they didn’t?” “It wouldn’t be the worst day of my life.” “Wouldn’t you be overrun by orcs, though?” “It would be… difficult. I’ve never had to deal with orcs that weren’t under the control of a Lord.”
“I’m just trying to make sure I see the three sides of this triangle, because it seems like somebody has tipped the balance. They seem pretty upset with us, and we haven’t done anything yet.” “No, they were definitely not happy with you… and that in itself is instructive. The lord and lady you encountered tonight I’m sure are going to be reporting to Alondo before very long… unless their pride was hurt too much. I’ve never seen that before. But in that case they might try to deal with you themselves. But if Lord Alondo has marked you and they intervene, that could be bad for them.” “How long have they been in control? As long as you’ve been here?” “As long as I’ve been alive, as long as my father has been alive, and into my grandfather’s time.” “How many lords and ladies would you estimate there are?” “Oh… hard to say. Dozens and dozens at least. I myself have seen at least twelve different ones in the city.” “What about the lord of the whole city?” “Barshar? They seem to hold him in respect… or fear. It’s hard to say.” “Would you say that the lords are a sane bunch?” The man guffaws. “You need to talk to Talina for sure. You’re getting into territory I don’t know much about.”
He glances around the room, then raises his voice. “Well, I’m sorry we couldn’t come to a deal, then. More later.” He gets up and walks off shaking his head as if he had tried to strike a bargain and only struck out instead.
Runis leans his shield against the stool. Battleaxe in one hand, mug of ale in the other, he walks over to Jinto’s table. The elf nods toward a chair. “What was the last thing?” Jinto answers, “I felt it, and I felt it to be neutralized, but I couldn’t tell what it was. It appears that she hung a spell when she left, and either time or something else triggered it. She basically tried a sneak attack. I don’t know whether it was to mark me or for something else.” “Not very smart, is she.” “Not very. Doesn’t look like she’s used to having anybody cross her that’s not of her own race.” “Didn’t look to me like she’s used to having the gods on the other side, either.” “Her people, if they worship any of the gods, tend to go toward the Mother of Night, and maybe the Lord of Chaos.” “Did you have any idea that there was a group of bales somewhere in the central lands here?” “No. It was not known. This has been a very well-kept secret by someone.” “Have you been able to locate the teleport point yet?” “It’s in the human portion of the city…” “So are we.” “I know it’s within two miles of us. Something is interfering with my detection. I tried several times while you were performing.”
Rory explains to one of the stablehands that he’s a mapmaker, and asks him about the layout of the roads, the location of taverns, and so forth. The lad seems eager to describe them. “The lords make sure the roads are kept in good condition between the cities, for ease of travel.” Barshar City is built on a river junction; on the east side is the human quarter, on the west side is the goblin quarter, to the north is the orc quarter, and at the junction rises the huge castle.
Runis gathers up his coins from the stage. Among the coppers he finds one silver. He notices the two coppers on either side of his axe, and as he picks them up he observes that each has a rune scratched onto its surface. The rune is the symbol for “freedom.”
Runis takes the other coins up to the bar, sets them down, and portions out the innkeeper’s twenty percent. “A very good night,” the owner says, “in terms of profit. They can’t hold me responsible, for after all they gave you permits into the city. Yes, I should be okay.” Runis rejoins, “Not only did they give us permits into the city, they sent us here… brought us here… put us here intentionally. Do they just not like you, either?” “I don’t believe I’ve done anything to offend the Lords… unless… they couldn’t have… No, I haven’t done anything to offend the Lords.” Runis pulls out one of the marked coins and lays it on the bar. “Unless? Interesting crowd you have here.” The owner turns pale and squeaks “Uh-huh… very interesting. Umm… has your audience with the Lords been established yet?” “You know as much as we do. You were standing there when she said they’d want to see us.” “They’ll probably summon you tomorrow morning.” “If they don’t, it’ll be before that? Or after?” “Sometimes their calls are… more subtle. But that’s mostly to citizens, not to outlanders like you.” “What, where they just come in and take you in the middle of the night, and nobody ever sees you again?” “If you’re lucky.” “If you’re lucky no one ever sees you again?” “Right.” “So what happens if you’re not so lucky.” “They see you again.” “And?” “You don’t see them. Or you don’t care.” “Does this happen often?” “More often than a lot of people like,” the innkeeper says, looking down at the coin, then back at Runis. “I can imagine.”
“Of course it never seems to work,” the innkeeper continues with another glance at the coin, “but each generation seems to try it to some degree.” Runis picks up the coin and examines it more closely. The coin had been minted in one of the Coastal Kingdoms and bears the image of a king who ruled eighty years ago. Runis notices that only coins from other kingdoms bear dates; local coinage bears an image of the castle and the words “Lord Barshar – Yavalin” and are undated.
The innkeeper asks, “Would you be willing to perform here again tomorrow night?” “I’m not sure we’ll be staying in town that long.” “As you know, we don’t get many outland travelers, and they never say more than a few days. I’m sure you’re anxious to get on your way.” “Did they pass through… or did they just arrive?” “I’m pretty sure they never left.” “I’m pretty sure, too. I’ve never heard of this place, and I’m pretty well traveled.”
The innkeeper lowers his eyes and says, “I’m sorry.” “You’re sorry? Sorry about what?” “There’s nothing I can do.” “About what?” The innkeeper looks at Runis, an expression of shame on his face. Runis glances at his axe, then down at the Diamond, then into the innkeeper’s eyes. “Did you think this was a parlor trick?” “It was impressive,” the innkeeper admits, “and I saw how she reacted to it… but the Lords… there are just too many of them.” “There can’t be any more than there are gods.” A strange look comes into the innkeeper’s eyes. “Fate… the First Chosen… they don’t seem to pay us any attention.” “Well, maybe someone brought them with them.” “Maybe the prayers will rise on that, then.” “Don’t feel sorry for me. There are a lot of orcs here to kill.” “Your deeds of this evening have probably caused more prayers to go up to the First Chosen than have in a while. Master Bard, you’ve given me a lot to think on. Maybe you are the answer to somebody’s prayer. Maybe… this will be the generation.” “Never can tell,” says Runis. The innkeeper echoes, “Never can tell… Roo willing.” He turns and heads out the door.
The kitchen helper Chalker saw earlier emerges, looks around nervously, and crosses the almost-empty room to Chalker. “Hey, traveler, I’ve been asked to inquire as to how did you find our fare tonight? The cook is very interested in an outlander’s opinion of his cooking.” “I thought it was well done. Shall I give my personal compliments to the chef?” “No, that’s not necessary. I’ve been tasked to pass the message.” He lowers his voice. “Would you be prepared to receive Talina an hour or two before dawn?” “Yes. Let it be known I am in my room. I probably won’t be alone.” “The more of you she could meet with, the better she would like it.” “I’ll let my companions know that a meeting has been arranged.” “It was deemed safer for her to come to you rather than try to get you out of the city.” “Oh, we’re not going to be able to leave without being watched very carefully. I myself am not trying to leave.” The helper raises his voice and says, “Well, I’m glad you liked it,” and scurries back to the kitchen.
Rory asks the stablehand, “Is there a farmer’s market?” “Yes, the smaller holdings bring their produce in on the first and fourth days of the week. Tomorrow is a market day.” The hand gives him detailed directions for getting there.
Chalker gets up and goes over to Jinto, who is still sipping wine. “I tried to distract her; I wasn’t trying to focus her attention on you.” “She seemed to discount the possibility of a human doing anything pretty quickly.” “I apologize. That was not my intent. Usually that is my intent, but not this time. Second… are there any spells up in here?” “Not now.” “So there’s no way they can actually see or hear us in here.” “I checked for that as soon as she left. I thought I’d detected everything until the one went off that the shield warded off. I checked afterward also and confirmed that there are no remaining spells in the tavern.”
Chalker tells Jinto, “I’ve set up a meeting with one of the leaders of the Thieves’ Guild, and she wants to meet with us sometime before dawn in my quarters. That presupposes we don’t get attacked before then, and I’m not supposing that. And our other companion is in town somewhere, just to let you know, if you didn’t notice her.” “No, I didn’t.” “She’s good at that, I know. But she’s here. I’m just glad to know that she’s safe. Crazy, but she’s still safe.” “That puts what the bale said in a different perspective.” “Yeah, I know. She was looking for the number six. I made that connection, too. I’m not sure what that means.” Jinto muses, “From the way she said it, I wonder if we’ve stumbled into a prophecy?” “In this prophecy, do we come out alive?” “I don’t know. I’ve never heard of this place before, so I don’t know what they have going on there.”
“Just so we’re both on the same page, these are bales, correct?” “These are bales.” “And they are insane.” “Correct.” “They’re all mages, right?” “Yes, they tend toward necromantic magic.” “Isn’t that what you sensed when we came in?” “Yes. And where there are bales, you usually see a lot of zombies running around, and I haven’t noticed any. I don’t know if they’re keeping them away from us, or if they’re really weird bales.” “They’re probably keeping them away from us.”
“Okay, now they consider you a powerful mage.” Jinto smiles slightly. Chalker continues, “Sometimes it’s not good to be mighty. From talking to someone else, there are at least a dozen, and Lord Barshar is one, too.” “History says that bales don’t generally get along too well being concentrated together. To pull this off, he must be pretty powerful.” “One other thing, how do you kill them?” “Normal injury will kill them. They’re a little tougher than the average person, and they heal fast.” “Can they come out in sunlight?” “Oh, yes, they’re not restricted to night. Daylight doesn’t even slow them down.” “They do survive on blood, correct?” “I’m told they prefer human blood, though they can do quite well on goblin… They generally don’t mess with the elven too much.” “It’s a delicacy. Too rich for them. Just like eating too much cheesecake.” “At least a dozen bales?” “That’s what he said, but I don’t know if he can really distinguish them. He could be seeing the same one in twelve different outfits. But there is more information coming, and we will have an audience with Lord Alondo.” “We know that there are at least two different ones, maybe three, then the head one, that makes four.” “Well, Barshar and Alondo could be one in the same.” “That would be a rather elaborate deception, but yes, they could.”
“So, normal injuries? It doesn’t have to be silver or anything? An axe to the head still works? If you chop off an arm, does another grow back?” “Not unless they know the appropriate healing spell.” “Chop off both their arms and they can’t cast spells?” “Depends on how good a mage they are.” “So if we chop off the head, that’s it. Do they have hearts?” “Yes.”
“Well, I thought I’d come over an apologize and talk to you, because you know they’re probably going to try to kill you first.” “I still haven’t been able to find the transport area. I’ve been checking regularly.” “You know, that might be important.” “I think so. That’s why I keep trying.” “Though I have plenty of respect for your magical abilities, it’s a possibility that we could be overwhelmed by them, if your abilities fail. But I’m not worried about that. I have confidence in Runis’ axe and your ability and my speed… to run straight for that place.” “I need to find it first. I think you’ve noticed that the preparation to get one up and running will take some amount of time.” “Yes, I’m well aware of that. But now we know why we didn’t know what the name of the kingdom was. That makes sense. Josh wasn’t just being coy; he really didn’t know. If he had told us, we might have gone south.” “That could have been less dangerous.” “Well, take care, Master Mage.”
Chalker gets up and goes outside to the livery. He wants to do a head count, to ensure that he knows the whereabouts of everyone in his group. Rory has settled in the hayloft and strung his short bow. Chalker makes note of the three observers; they have swords and belt knives, but no bows or crossbows. As Chalker enters, Rory calls down a greeting. “Is this where you’re going to stay?” Chalker asks him. “Yeah, I figure the room won’t be very safe. Plus, someone needs to keep an eye on the horses.” “Where’s Josh?” “Out back. Said he was going to take a look around. He’s only been gone about five minutes.” “I’m going to see if I can run Josh down and inform him of something important. Then I’ll go to my room. I’m sure it won’t be safe there, but see, they’ll come after me and you’ll be safe, you and the horses.” As Chalker leaves, Rory takes some parchment and begins writing notes.
Chalker goes out the back and leans against the door, watching for Josh. About five minutes later he spots the man in the funny hat sneaking back toward the stables. “Did you find anything?” “Yeah… there’s a couple of places not far from here… there seem to be zombies around.” “Well, that fits in with what I want to tell you.” “Is there a necromantic mage operating in the city?” “Oh, that’s only half of it. Let’s just say we have at least four bales, maybe twelve bales.” Josh exhales sharply and Chalker goes on, “And since you were out there scouting by yourself, I was going to give you just a few more minutes before I came and got you, before you became one of those things that you saw.” “I didn’t want to get too far away from the place.” “So, are you going to stay in the barn with Rory?” “I probably need to stay with Rory.” Chalker tells him about the meeting with a leader of the Thieves’ Guild, “but if you’re going to stay in here then you can’t come, because I don’t want you alerting them of something by leaving the barn and coming in. I’ll relay the content of the meeting to you.” “I’ll let you and Jinto handle it, then.” “Oh, and Aliana is here somewhere.” (There’s a soft “Damn!” from above.) Josh looks surprised, then says, “If anything happens in the barn, you’ll be apprised of it.” “Make a real loud noise. That way we’ll know to run… toward the barn, that’s it.” “If this town’s got that many bales in it, I don’t know that there’s any safe direction to run.”
Feeling that he’s stirred up enough chaos for one night, Chalker returns to the inn and goes upstairs to his room. Sitting on the bed is Aliana. “Hi,” he says. “We have a meeting in the morning; did you know that?” “No. Now I do.” “The leader of the Thieves’ Guild wants a meeting.” “Why?” “I don’t know, per se. We also have a meeting with Lord Alondo. People have just been pouring information in my ear for some reason. There’s at least twelve of them…” “Twelve bales? That would be an unprecedented level of cooperation. They are not known to make alliances.” “That, I know.” Chalker describes the actions of Selpran and Solari earlier in the evening. Aliana comments, “I was hoping you would keep my presence here a secret, especially since the woman seemed superstitious about the number six.” “I wanted to put their minds at ease.” “It wouldn’t have crossed their minds if you hadn’t said anything.” “Oh, you should know that’s not true.” “If they don’t know I’m here, they can’t give me away. But it’s too late for that.” “We know the lords are insane. That explains why nobody’s ever heard of this place, because you come in but you don’t leave. Which is why we’re such an oddity.”
“That’s about all I know,” says Chalker. “And how was your trip?” “I was going to ask you about yours. Did something happen…?” “Okay, I’ll go first. We tried to transport to the other site, but there’s some kind of barrier. Listening to Jinto and Rory, we hit the barrier, bounced back forty or fifty miles, then somehow continued back until we were two miles outside the barrier.” “That would explain the fear.” “We did some scouting, me and Josh. We came right up to the barrier. Jinto had said there were two evil magic items there. It’s Josh’s fault… we tripped… we kind of touched… well, I kind of touched the icon, one of them. That set off the alarms, and we hotfooted it back to the camp. But they didn’t come after us, so we went around the barrier. Did you ever run into a no-magic zone?” “No.” “Well, Jinto said there was a 200-foot no-mana zone that we passed through. He was hyperventilating, but I didn’t know why. You know Jinto, how he overreacts, but this time he wasn’t. Then we came to the road and then came into town. First they charged us eight silvers in taxes…” “Eight silvers? For what?” “There’s a tax to come into town.” “To come into a town that you never leave.” “Well, we didn’t know we didn’t get to leave. They looked like they were looking for a fight, and I didn’t have much problem with kicking their little butts at that time. I probably didn’t want to take on the army, but I figured the army was behind me.”
“So let me get this straight,” says Aliana. You couldn’t get to the city using Jinto’s magic, but you could drive right up to it in a wagon.” “I think the barrier is to stop magic from coming in.” “It didn’t stop me.” “So… how did you make it here?” “I walked.” Chalker points to his forehead. “Look at my face. Do you see that mark?” “The ‘stupid’ mark?” “Yes. I thought I had rubbed it off, but it just keeps coming back.” Aliana leans closer and says distinctly, “I walked.” “The whole way. With no help?” “I didn’t say that.” Chalker rubs his forehead again. “Still there.” Aliana leans back, pulls back her hood and removes her veil. Perhaps to keep himself breathing, he asks, “Would it be godly help that got you here?” “It would.” “Well, this was a nice conversation, but I’ve heard enough of it. We can talk about something else now.” Pause. “But you’re okay?” “So far.”
Chalker sighs and Aliana says slowly, “I was told that you might need me.” “Could be.” “I was given no specifics, of course, but I was told that you would need me. So I came.” “I’m glad that you came. You wouldn’t happen to have that magic coin that corresponds to the Diamond, would you?” “No.” “Good. Just checking. The Diamond seems to give enough problems by itself; I think putting it and the coin together… I don’t want to contemplate that situation.” “Why, Runis seems to be quite effective with the rock.” “Yes. But the rock doesn’t talk to him the way it talks to me. ‘Come on in here, boy! You can reside inside here with us!’ No, thank you. That’s what you get for looking at things you shouldn’t look at, I guess. Don’t you think?” Aliana’s eyes glitter as she replies coolly, “Indeed.” (“I know I’m digging myself a hole,” Chalker thinks to himself, “but I can’t stop!”)
“Okay… Did they give you any details? Like, the bales were here?” “Nothing about bales, just that the situation is dire and you might need me. And that the group is the catalyst.” “Oh, you shouldn’t have used that word. You know, the bale, when she talked to me, she asked me what did I do, and I said I was the catalyst.” “You know more than you think you do.” “Yeah… I kinda want to know what I know now.” “I was told that – this is a really strange turn of phrase – you are a ‘weirdness magnet’.” “That’s not a strange phrase to me. That just means that strange things happen in my presence. That could fit a lot of people, though. When I go to sleep, I don’t have little lights dancing in front of me.” “Yes, but you found the one person in the world who when he sleeps has little lights dancing above his head. Isn’t that weird?” “I don’t know if it’s more weird that I found him or that the little lights are dancing above his head. Then there’s you… so I guess ‘weirdness magnet’ might fit.”
“What exactly is ‘weird’ about me?” Aliana asks tartly. Chalker says thoughtfully, “You are a contradiction in so many ways. Beautiful… suspicious… an elf…” “I’m not an elf, Chalker.” “You’re something close.” “Not an elf.” “Well, if you say you’re not an elf (Chalker switches from Common to Elven) I’ll have to change my point…” Aliana replies in Elven “I’m not an elf.” “Well… then I’ll take it that you’re not an elf. But you’re something…” Aliana sighs, “You can call me an elf if you’d like. I just thought you’d like to know the truth for a change. I’d be obliged, though, if you wouldn’t tell people what I really look like.” “I can barely stand it myself. Don’t worry. I wouldn’t.” “Oh, then I’ll put my veil back on…” “Oh, no…” “… so you don’t have to look at me.” “No, no… I’m doing fine. It helps calm the chaos that’s going on in my head as I make the calculation of the survivability rate of this adventure.”
Chalker adds, “I’m beginning to come to your side about Josh.” “What about Josh?” “I think he underestimated the evil kingdom.” “Like he underestimated the two hundred thousand orcs? ‘Let’s stop the orc invasion! There’s only a few… hundred thousand.’” “Aw, that was nothing, though…” “That was nothing. We only had to stop two kingdoms from fighting a war and unite them against the orcs and…” “I’m used to the workings of the court, you might say. That doesn’t bother me as much as…” “Where are you from?” “The south.” “What country?” “Since you told me the truth, I’ll tell you the truth. I’m from Dolyena.” “Good,” says Aliana, but doesn’t elaborate. “But… there are plenty of people that are mad at me. But that’s okay.” “Why?” Chalker outlines his precarious relationship to the ruling family and the many reasons why he had felt it best to leave his homeland. “I think I understand,” Aliana says. Chalker says, “I keep the king and queen informed of what I am doing and how it might affect their decisions. Once we get out of here, I’ll let them know why some of the trade ambassadors they sent to the north never came back.” “So that’s why you’ve been working your way north.” “No, actually, that’s just a coincidence. Trouble that might have a chance of affecting them, I let them know. And I’m learning so much. This Calventine Empire, I’m learning so much about them.” “It’s still a long ways away.” “Yes, I know. But time and travel seem to be irrelevant in our adventures, don’t you think?” “I hardly think so. My backside is sore from sitting a horse day after day after day.” “Well, if you like, I’ll take a look at it… Hmm, I must be getting tired, I couldn’t fight that off.”
Before Aliana can respond, Chalker asks, “Are you a mage?” “I… lack training, but I have the gift.” “All right. Just checking.” “Why?” “I figure there’s going to be a lot of magic around. I know I can’t see it.” “I can see it. I’m afraid I don’t know many spells.” “Well, it’s late, and we should retire. You can have the bed.” “No.” “Okay.”
Josh wakes Rory a little more than halfway through the night. The sentries had changed out a few hours before. Rory sits in the hayloft where he can see both ends of the stable. He hears some movement from near the horse stalls and the wagon, and a word spoken in Goblin: “Mark.” It sounds like part of a spell. Rory puts an arrow into a post near the stall. He sees a flash of movement, hears someone diving for cover. After a few minutes one of the horses starts moving about in its stall, making unhappy noises. Rory removes a coin from his belt pouch and tosses it at Josh. A goblin scrambles out of the stall and runs toward the back door of the livery. Rory heads that way. Josh begins to stir. Rory slides down the rope from the hayloft and sees the goblin stumbling off about 20 yards away. The goblin is dressed in dark, tight clothes and carries a willow wand. Rory pursues for a short distance, but it occurs to him that something else could be out here. Something doesn’t feel right to him.
Rory returns to the stable and sees Josh holding his crossbow at port. Josh points and Rory nods. Raising his voice Josh states, “You might as well come on out. I got you spotted. You’re not going to get out of here. You won’t get away with trying to rob the livery.” The commotion has awakened the stableboy, who peeks over the door of a stall. Suddenly Josh takes a step backward and starts vomiting. Although he doesn’t see his target, Rory fires his bow in the direction Josh had pointed earlier. He flushes out a human, dressed similarly to the goblin and also bearing a willow wand, who had been hiding near the wagon. The human takes two steps toward Rory, his lips moving in a spell. Rory drops his bow, draws his sword, and charges. His wild swing chops the wand in two and slashes the man across the upper chest. The man gasps in pain. Rory swings and connects again, and the man keels over, unconscious and bleeding badly. With a little effort, Rory restrains himself from hacking the man to bits. Josh asks, “Did you get him?” “Yes. One of them ran away. I think they’re wizards. They were doing something over by the horses and stuff so they may have put a whammy on them.” “We’ll have to get the others to check them.” “Are you all right?” “I just felt a great sense of nausea and I couldn’t keep my last meal down.” “We’ll have to complain to the chef.” “No, I think it was magic.” Rory has the stableboy check the horses, and Josh tends to the wounded man.
Hearing an out-of-place noise, Chalker awakens. He feels Aliana tense beside him and knows she is awake, too. Peering into the darkness, Aliana sees about seven feet away from her a goblin, crouching, staring at her gear that is lying on the floor beside the bed. He is pointing a wand at the equipment and his lips are moving. Aliana suddenly leaps off the bed toward the goblin (G1), while Chalker rolls off the other side. At the edge of his special vision Chalker sees another goblin (G2) staring at his gear. At the sight of Chalker, G2 gets a shocked expression. Chalker’s knife is in his hand and he hurls it at G2, striking him in the chest and hanging up in his robes. Aliana knocks G1 over, wraps her hands around his throat and squeezes. G2 rises from his crouch and takes a step back. Chalker extends his magnetic power and pushes the knife into G2’s chest. G1 struggles feebly to break Aliana’s grip. Chalker steps forward and punches G2 in the chest, but G2 continues mumbling and suddenly Chalker feels nauseated and disoriented. But he brings his fists around and punches G2 in the back, driving the knife further in with his chest. A light flares up in the room. G1 goes limp but Aliana maintains the pressure. G2 opens his mouth to scream; Chalker hits him again, and G2 collapses. As Chalker pulls away to check whether his own tush is on fire, he observes that G2’s wand hand has been burned off. Chalker finishes off G2, then cleans off his knife. In a low voice Aliana asks, “Do you want to keep this one to interrogate?” “Yes, though whoever’s controlling them might not let them talk much… because I’m sure this one here didn’t blow his own hand off.” “I’ve heard that extreme spell failure will sometimes have those results. But it might also imply that their handlers are keeping closer tabs on them than we might have thought. Did he hurt you?” “He hit me with a spell, but I’ll be all right.”
Chalker goes around to Jinto’s door and knocks. “Jinto, I’ve been attacked. Are you okay?” “I’m fine.” “Do you mind coming out here?” “Not at all.” Chalker tells him about the goblin mages. Jinto and Chalker check Jinto’s room and find nothing untoward. Meanwhile Aliana has bound, gagged, and searched G1. Deciding that the goblins had simply climbed through the window, she silently berates herself for failing to take precautions.
Chalker returns, Jinto in tow. His scan of the goblins doesn’t reveal that there’s anything implanted in their bodies, but he notes that both of them have suffered an unusually high number of broken bones. Aliana says to Jinto, “This one was staring at our equipment. Was he casting a spell?” “Yes, he was.” Aliana indicates the willow wand and Jinto comments that the goblin must not have been very skilled. Jinto finds spells on Aliana’s equipment but none on Chalker’s. “Do you want me to dispel them?” “If it’s not too much trouble, kind sir.” Jinto can tell that the spells are of the Mind college, but not exactly what they are; he dispels both spells.
Josh has stopped the wounded man’s bleeding. Rory remains alert for someone else to show up. He peers out the front and sees there are only two sentries now. Writing a quick note, he asks the stableboy to take it up to Chalker.
Aliana asks, “Why did they send two mages when one would have been enough?” Chalker: “Which begs the question – how did they know you were here?” Jinto circles the room as if looking for something; occasionally he casts a spell. Aliana: “That’s what I’d like to know. I thought I was very stealthy getting in here.” Chalker: “I would think so.” Aliana: “You don’t suppose this woman from the Thieves’ Guild sent them?” Chalker: “No.” There’s a knock at the door, and Aliana climbs out the window. Chalker peers through the door. “Yes?” The stableboy says, “Rory told me to give you this note.” Chalker opens the door, takes the note, and hands a copper to the lad, who thanks him and scurries away. Rory’s note says that they had been attacked and someone had done some ‘hocus-pocus’ to the wagon. They have one of their attackers captive. Chalker sends Jinto to undo the hocus-pocus, and “tell them it’s about time for us to all get together.”
Rory describes the two “magic people” – one goblin, one human – to Jinto. “They made Josh sick, but before that one of them said” and Rory repeats the phrase he heard. “Hmm,” Jinto says, “two goblins did something similar in Chalker’s room.” Rory: “This one was by the wagon.” Josh: “You’d better check the horses, too.” Jinto finds spells on the wagon and on a couple of the horses, and removes them. Jinto: “Oh, and Josh, Chalker says take the guy inside.” Josh picks up the man in a fireman’s carry and asks Rory to distract the watchers. Rory goes out the front and walks right up to them. “Where’d the other one go? Somebody tried to steal our stuff.” “Oh, yeah, that! Uh, I had him go report it to the city guard.” “Where’s the city guard main office?” The watcher gives him the name of a nearby street. “By the way, did you kill that other one? There was another one, wasn’t there?” Rory: “What other one?” “I thought I heard something after you chased that guy out the back.” “Oh, that was the horses acting up.” The watcher nods his head. “Yeah… they do get pretty skittish…”
Chalker starts to leave, and Aliana asks “Where are you going?” “I’m going to see if they’ve been dumb enough to bother the dwarf.” “Well, they were definitely not dumb enough to bother the elf.” Chalker soon returns. “I could hear the dwarf in there sleeping. I don’t want to wake him just yet.” He searches G2’s corpse, removing a few coppers and a small knife, then covers it over with a sheet.
Josh taps on Chalker’s door. He dumps his burden on the floor next to the other captive. Chalker: “If you’ll go on back and protect those two from themselves, I’ll take it from up here.” Josh: “No problem. I hope you don’t mind me going out the window.” Josh tips his hat to Aliana, who is sitting in a dark corner, then leaves. “You told everybody, didn’t you?” Aliana says to Chalker. “Of course I told everybody. You know that.”
Chalker removes a steel chain from his pack, then slaps G1 back to consciousness. As he props G1 up, Aliana murmurs some arcane words and makes mystical gestures, ending with touching the goblin lightly. G1 groggily comes to, then stares up at Chalker wide-eyed. Flexing the chain Chalker asks, “You’re not going to scream, are you?” “Ah… uh… no,” G1 rasps through his bruised throat. “I need you to answer some questions, okay? Who sent you?” “Solari. Lady Solari.” “The one that’s mad at us?” “I don’t know.” “What were you doing?” “Placing some magic on your gear that could be triggered when she wanted to.” “What would it do?” “She would be able to hear things going on around the gear.” “Is that what your dead friend was doing, too?” “Zack is dead?” “Zack is dead. Was he a relative of yours?” “Just a friend. We’d worked together for a while.” “Not anymore.” “We were trained together.”
“Who broke your bones?” “Solari demands perfection… and I’m far from perfect. But I did my best.” “I see. So that’s all you were supposed to do is cast those spells, is that it?” “We were supposed to sneak in and plant the spells on each one of the visitors. We had the ones inside, someone else was supposed to do the ones outside.” “You mean that guy over there?” “…Yeah.” “Do you need this wand?” “To do what she wanted me to do, yes. I don’t have the spells that are in the wand.” “The wand has spells?” “Certain ones that I can invoke, that she wanted me to put on there.” “What spells can the wand do?” “Far Hearing, Wizard Eye, also some sort of mind stuff that the Lords can do.” “Do you have a spell to make people sick and disoriented?” “That’s one of the defensive spells we have on the wand.” G1 looks around. “Whatever… whoever that was, was on me and I wasn’t able to invoke it. It renders them sick so we can get away or take action. It is the only defensive spell she would give us.”
For several moments Chalker eyes G1 silently, thinking. G1 asks, “What are you going to do now?” “Oh, I’m going to kill you.” In heartfelt tones G1 rasps, “Thank you.” “You’re welcome.” “Will you also burn my body?” “Does that mean so you won’t come back as a zombie?” G1 looks surprised, but after a few seconds he replies, “Yes.” “I’ll have to get permission first. We’re behind, but we’re catching up really quickly,” Chalker assures him. “If I go back as a failure, I’m dead anyway. She’ll kill me.” Smoothly Chalker draws his knife and plunges it straight into the goblin’s heart. Then he goes over to the man Josh brought in and stabs that one through the heart.
As Chalker wipes off his blade, Aliana comments, “It’s going to be difficult to burn these bodies.” “I know. I told him I had to get permission. I was going to go down and ask those guys watching us to burn him.” “Is there something else we could do to make them unfit to become zombies?” “Our resident person of magic might know some other way.” Chalker retrieves some linens from the unused rooms and wraps up the corpses, and he and Aliana carry them one by one into an empty room.
Chalker steps down to Runis’ room, awakens the dwarf, and tells him it’s time to prepare for the meeting. On his way back toward his room Chalker meets Jinto returning from the stable and tells him, “The lady that’s upset with you sent them. Which is strange, because if she’s upset with you, why did she come to me?” Runis catches up with them. “I know why they targeted you and not him. She thinks he’s a master mage. You don’t put magic on a master mage’s equipment, you put it on the dumb fighter’s equipment.” Jinto: “I would have seen it immediately.” Chalker: “Also, they put a sickness spell on me.” Jinto: “That explains the mess I saw in the stable. They must have cast the same spell on Josh.”
As they enter Chalker’s room, Aliana is sitting and watching out the window. “Jinto,” says Chalker, “is there any way to render a body unsuitable for zombie-ism without burning it?” Aliana: “Something maybe a little less messy than hacking it into little bitty pieces?” Jinto: “I do not know much of the necromantic arts. It would have to be something to prevent them binding the spirit.” Aliana: “Cutting out the heart? Cutting off the head?” Jinto: “It’s generally not worth animating a dismembered body. If need be, though, I can burn them here in place.” Aliana: “Without setting the inn on fire?” Jinto: “I’d have to be very careful. It would also cause quite a stench.” Chalker: “I was thinking of putting them in the middle of the street.” Jinto: “That would cause an interesting disturbance.” Chalker: “Not for people who are trained to look the other way.” Aliana: “Perhaps we should inquire of your soon-to-be-friend from the Thieves’ Guild. See if they have a solution for such dilemmas.” Chalker: “Okay.”
From downstairs the group can hear workers starting to move about in the kitchen. Aliana: “I don’t think your friend’s coming.” Chalker: “Well, it has been an eventful night. She might not be able to make it in undetected.” However, about an hour before sunrise, there’s a light tapping on the door. Looking through the door Chalker sees a pretty young woman who appears to be one of the kitchen help. He recognizes her as the one giving hand signals in the tavern. A serious-looking fighting knife is concealed in the small of her back, and there are throwing knives hidden in each sleeve.
Chalker opens the door. “Enter, please.” She steps in and after he closes the door says, “I believe you were expecting me.” Chalker: “You’re the only one, of the people who’ve been here, yes.” Talina: “So they did make a try at you last night?” Chalker: “Something like that.” She scans the room, acknowledging Jinto and Runis (Aliana hides in the shadows). Talina: “I’m assuming you figured out a lot of it from what you saw last night.” Runis flips one of the coins toward her. “Your calling card?” “Yes, it is,” she replies, closing her hand over it. “I just can’t seem to get them to take that final step. Everybody’s so afraid. They know we’re marked, and they don’t think they can overcome that.” Chalker: “How are you marked?” Talina: “Every citizen of Yavalin is marked at birth. The Lords like to know where their subjects are.” Chalker: “I don’t understand. How are you marked?” Talina: “Something they do at the birth of every child.” Chalker looks past her shapely form, scanning her insides for some foreign object, but he doesn’t find anything like a magic bean. Jinto: “She’s got some sort of magic mark on her forehead.”
Talina to Runis: “And I sort of liked the way they reacted to you last night. That’s more spirit than I’ve seen out of a group of people in quite a while. You seem to stir deep emotions in people, Master Dwarf.” Runis: “So why did you leave?” Talina: “I had some stuff I had to do last night… with what you said.” Runis: “So just about the time it got good and she was getting ready to fight, and we might have needed all the people who were willing to stand up for themselves to be there, you had to go?” Talina: “Yes.”
Chalker: “How many lords are there?” Talina: “Around thirty that operate in and about the city.” (Chalker mutters, “This just keeps getting better and better.”) Talina: “However, there are some that have estates in the countryside. Most every city has one, maybe two.” Chalker: “Do you understand that, in all lore and in all of history, unless they come from another plane, I have never heard of so many of these ‘lords’ in one spot. And we’ve never heard of this town.” Talina: “That’s interesting. There are a lot of intrigues, but they never seem to kill very many of themselves, and others always come in to replace the ones who are killed. Lord Barshar is a very firm ruler.” Chalker: “Do you have any idea of how long the lords have ruled this particular country?” Talina: “I know they were here in the time of my great-grandmother. So… ninety to a hundred-twenty years or more.”
Jinto to Chalker: “She has potential to be quite a powerful mage.” Runis: “Does the mark on her forehead prevent it?” Jinto: “No. I’m surprised they didn’t take her in to train her.” Chalker: “Why would you train the enemy?” Jinto: “You can break their spirit. She’s probably too willful, too strong a spirit for them to train her without having to kill her.” Runis: “Then the new question is, why didn’t they go ahead and kill her so she wouldn’t be a problem?” Jinto: “If nobody trains her, she doesn’t know how to use the magic.” Runis: “It doesn’t matter if she has magic if she has the will.” Jinto: “I think it works a little different for humans.” Runis: “She’s still going to be a problem.” Talina: “They’re arrogant. They underestimate me. I’ve been trying to stir things up for quite a while and I get some response, some people agree to help…”
Chalker: “What do you plan on doing?” Talina: “Overthrow the Lords.” Runis: “Only in the human sectors?” Talina: “We have some adherents in the goblin areas, and very many fewer orcs. The Lords don’t take as many of the orcs as they do humans and goblins.” Chalker: “What do you know about them?” Talina: “They’re cruel.” Chalker: “What do they eat?” Talina: “They eat food… and every once in a while they take people for their blood. People are taken and they vanish. Then they come back later as zombies.” Chalker: “Has anyone ever killed a lord?” Talina: “It has been thought at times that one had been killed, but they would come back. But that’s almost like a legend.” Chalker: “Time for new bait.” Talina: “You might be the spark.”
Talina: “You say I have the potential for magic, how long does it take to learn?” Jinto: “All your life.” Chalker: “I don’t have the talent.” Runis: “I don’t need it.” Chalker: “My talent seems to be chaos.” Runis (pointing at Jinto): “That’s what he’s for.”
Talina: “I think there may be a hundred bales in the entire country.” Chalker: “This might take a little longer than I thought.” Runis: “Well, you cut off the head, and they’ll revert to the way they’re used to being, where they bicker and fight among themselves. Somehow, some one of them is keeping them all together. That’s not normal.” Chalker: “They don’t multiply the way humans do… that’s not quite the way I meant to say it… they don’t procreate a lot, so to have over a hundred, it seems unusual that they would produce that many.” Runis: “Who said they produced that many? Maybe they’ve come here, or been drawn here, which is why there aren’t very many anywhere else around.” Chalker: “I was thinking they had come here, so that begs the question of where they came from, but that’s not your problem at the moment.” Talina: “No, my concern is how to get rid of them.”
Chalker: “Do you know how they got here?” Talina: “They’ve always been here as far as I know.” Chalker: “There’s no legend of how they got here?” Runis: “Has Barshar always been in charge?” Talina: “Yes, or his family.” Runis: “We were told Barshar wasn’t in the city right now.” Talina: “His lieutenant, Lord Alondo, has been in charge for a little over a week.” Runis: “How long does he intend to be gone?” Talina: “They never say. From time to time he’ll leave, and sometimes it’s a couple of weeks, sometimes it’s a couple of months.” Chalker: “When he comes back, do you see a new lord that you hadn’t seen before?” Talina: “I do not know. I could ask around.”
Runis: “What is it you wanted to come and talk to us about?” Talina: “I wanted to offer a way to get you out of the city, so maybe we could rally, find out more information, work out a possible approach…” Runis: “You don’t want us out of the city.” Chalker: “And we can’t get out of the city, anyway.” Talina: “I might be able to get you out.” Runis: “I didn’t say you couldn’t get us out. I said you don’t want us out.” Talina: “Why? One way or another they’re going to capture you and kill you.” Runis: “Okay, and if we’re out of the city, what good does that do you?” Talina: “It gives us time to maybe use you as a rallying point… maybe I can work up some of the others…” Runis: “There’s a rallying point, that great band of adventurers that ran out and snuck out in the middle of the night.” Talina: “I don’t think I’d put it quite that way.”
Chalker: “We have an audience sometime today with Alondo.” Talina: “So you intend to keep the appointment… and do what?” Chalker: “Question him.” Talina: “Okay.” Runis: “So you came here to help us leave?” Talina: “Yes, to help you escape that fate, so we could plan and rally forces. But you think that would be a bad idea because it would give the wrong impression of your group.” Runis: “I don’t know what good it would do your cause for visitors to come in and leave.” Chalker: “We want to see him.” Talina: “I will give you what support I can in your decision.” Runis: “I could have sat in the back of the room last night. Would that have helped the cause?” Talina: “No, they would not have seen how effective your encouragements were, and see you face off and stare down two of the Lords. Good point. Boldness is, I guess…” Runis: “Something you’re not used to seeing.” Talina: “By our standards I’m considered bold and reckless.” Runis: “And you want us to run.” Talina: “We have been under the yoke for a long time.” Runis: “We haven’t.” Talina: “It’s refreshing.” Runis: “We just had two hundred thousand orcs march on our country. What good are thirty lords?” Talina: “They have a lot of power…” Runis: “They have a castle, and they’re inviting us into it. They oughta be locking those doors and keeping us out!” Chalker: “Magic has its limitations – no offense, Jinto.” Talina: “Yes, I’ll concede that. Over the years a few attacks have been made on them, but maybe we were too timid in our attacks.” Chalker: “When you win one, you burn one. Don’t let them keep the body. Haven’t you made that connection?” Talina: “That they create zombies from fallen bodies? Yes.” Runis: “No, that they will revive your own if you actually get one slain.” Talina: “With their command over the dead, that doesn’t surprise me.”
Chalker: “Oh… all that attacked us, they’re dead. Is there any way to get rid of the bodies where they won’t come back and haunt us?” Talina: “In the past we would try to hide the body. The law of the land, of course, is to turn over all dead people to the Lords. We have hidden them and buried them, but they always seem to be able to find the body.” Chalker: “That’s because you’re marked.” Talina: “And the mark apparently doesn’t go away at death. There have been some ‘accidental’ fires that burn the body beyond use, but then the whole family is punished, so it doesn’t happen very often. Short of burning the body, I know we can’t hide it because we’ve tried.” Chalker: “I guess we can always cut off their heads.” Talina can get the three corpses moved out of the inn on the supply wagon (she and her people have taken the place of the regular deliverymen for this morning’s rounds), and she agrees to have their heads cut off (though Runis points out to Chalker “You only promised that to one of them”).
Runis: “How many of you are there?” Talina says that within this city there are about two dozen humans that she trusts, perhaps another few hundred “on the line.” There are also a dozen goblins “definitely committed to the cause.” Runis: “How many of them are in the guard?” “Five in the guard, including two humans and one goblin who are assigned to the castle. There are others spread across Yavalin.” She offers to get word to the ones in the castle and have them assist the group. Runis: “The only thing that might be needed from them is to keep their fellow guardsmen off of us. If a fight breaks out, we don’t want to have to fight a bunch of guardsmen as well as the lords. And since the guards are marked, they shouldn’t be going up against the lords themselves.” Chalker: “If something is happening, slow down the guards’ response or keep them from responding at all.” Runis cracks, “Go burn down the orc side of town.” Chalker: “Whatever works…”
Lord Alondo has twin children, Belinn and Calber, who live with him. Alondo’s spouse does not live in the city, and Talina doesn’t know the whereabouts of his twin sister. “And I don’t mean to imply that the Lords are always in agreement with each other. There’s always jockeying for position, and they have upon occasion killed one another.” Runis observes that the only way the lords could be one harmonious unit would be if Barshar possessed absolute control, which he does not. Chalker: “But they don’t challenge his power.” Talina: “No. Not that we have seen. Though there is more of that ‘jockeying for position’ during those times when Barshar is away from the city.”
Indicating the willow wand (taken from G1) which Jinto is toying with, Chalker asks Talina, “How does that look to you?” “It’s got an odd glow to it. I’ve seen that glow before, on the rings and other jewelry that some of the Lords wear. I just couldn’t understand it… I guess it must have something to do with that magic that your lord elf just said I have.” Chalker: “I’m glad you finally got to that point. Now you know.”
Talina: “I wish I could be of more help.” Runis: “Do you want to come with us?” When Talina doesn’t answer right away, he goes on, “First you wanted us to get out of town, now you want to be more help. You don’t really want to come with us to an audience with Alondo, do you?” “No.” “See?” Chalker adds, “Because you’ll light up like a Christmas tree. You’ve got the mark and you’ve got magic potential. That’s like having a ‘kill me!’ sign. You know that, don’t you?” Talina: “I’m already in that situation, just by living in this city.” Runis: “But you’re not associated with us.” Talina: “And I don’t believe I’ve been linked to the freedom movement at all.” “Then you might want to give me that back,” Runis suggests, indicating the coin. She flips it back to him. “The tale of what you did last night is making its way about the kingdom.” Runis: “Well, is that a good thing or a bad thing?” Talina: “I think it’s a good thing.” Runis: “Is it making its way through the common folk, or through the lords?” Talina: “Both, probably.” Runis: “Do you really think the lords are going to boast about what happened? That they backed down and walked away from…” Talina: “Five travelers?” Runis: “Five? There were only two of us there, me and the elf.” Talina: “Do you actually have the backing of this so-called Calventine Empire?” Chalker: “Yes.”
Runis holds up the Diamond. “Do you know what this is?” Chalker: “If you have to ask, that means you don’t know.” Talina: “It’s a very impressive diamond.” Runis: “Yes… look at it a little differently.” Talina utters a low exclamation. “That’s like the wand… but vastly different.” Runis: “And you want to know why they walked away and left last night?” Talina: “What is that?” Runis: “Freedom.” Talina takes hesitant steps toward Runis. “May I hold it?” Runis: “If it allows it.” Talina: “Does it have a name?” Runis: “I just say ‘hey rock’.” Chalker: “It’s called the Sapphire Diamond.” She reaches out tentatively, cups it in her hand. Runis warns, “Don’t look inside too closely, though. It was created by Solash.” Talina: “One of the First Chosen… lord of light, the sun.” Runis: “Did you think I was kidding when I said to them last night, could they not tell we were protected by the gods?” (Chalker: “More like pursued.”) “Could you not see the glow around the elf when she went to attack him?” Talina: “Yes, I did. I thought it was something he did.” Runis: “It was. He had the favor of the gods.”
Talina tenses and gets a faraway look in her eye. Runis: “Stupid rock’s talking to her. Told her not to look; she just wouldn’t pay attention.” Talina remains still for about twenty seconds, then she focuses again on Runis. “He also wishes the demise of the – he calls them ‘bales’. He calls each one of you true defenders of the Light.” Runis: “And you want us to leave town, huh?” Talina: “He tells me to trust your instincts, that you will maximize the damage to the bales by whatever you do. With this and your boldness, I think you may prevail.” Runis: “I have no doubt.” Talina: “If Solash is really in it as you say…” Runis: “You think that was a cheap parlor trick that just happened?” Talina: “No. Let me get about the tasks you have given me… and I will contact you again.” Bowing respectfully, she leaves Chalker’s room.
Rory gathers up a number of sacks, mounts up, and heads out toward the marketplace. He leaves the stable hastily, and one of the guards starts following him. At the market he buys vegetables, in particular a number of gourds.
“I’m hungry,” announces Chalker. Aliana: “I wonder what entity sent her to us?” Chalker: “She didn’t have much information.” Aliana: “I think if we go in there without overplanning it, we’ll be more successful than if we learned everything there is to possibly fear.” They speculate that Lord Alondo’s death will lead to a power struggle, over which bales might possibly kill each other.
Rory finishes his shopping, and a young man sidles up to him and asks in a low voice, “Why are you doing this? Aren’t you one of the travelers staying at the Rusty Hinge?” “Yes. We need supplies before we continue our travels.” “Did the lords say they were going to let you leave? They never let anybody leave.” “I never talked to any of the lords.” “You didn’t? The tale is told that your group stood up to two of the lords last night and made them back down.” “I didn’t see that. I wasn’t in there the whole time.” “If they’re going to let you go, can I go with you?” “Well…” “I’m an apprentice coppersmith.” “I’ll have to ask the rest of the group.” “The lords took my mother and father years ago, and I don’t feel any great affinity toward my master. I have nothing to keep me here.” “I don’t know what the plan is.” “I’ll show up at the Rusty Hinge later, in case you can take me. I don’t care which way you’re going, as long as it’s away from here.” By the time Rory leaves the market, he is being followed by four guards on foot and two on horseback.
Chalker, Runis, Aliana, and Jinto wrap up their discussion. “I suppose since there are six of us,” Aliana says, “we ought to let the other two in on our non-plan.” Saying “I want to be there when the summons comes,” Runis heads downstairs. Jinto wants to return to his room to study how to remove the mark from people’s foreheads. Aliana cautions, “This isn’t a good time for any of us to be alone.” Chalker says, “Then why don’t you go with him, and I’ll bring us all up something to eat.”
Runis seats himself prominently in the dining area, his battleaxe nearby and the Diamond on display around his neck. Whenever people look toward him, he meets their gaze and acknowledges them with a nod. He can tell that many of them have come to the Rusty Hinge just to see the outsiders who embarrassed two Lords.
Rory reaches the stables, and with Josh’s help loads all his purchases into the wagon. He notices quite a crowd milling in and around the inn. He prepares the gourds. Then he asks the stablehand about taking their horses south of town for grazing. “We’ll provide grain for them,” says the hand, but Rory insists they must have grass. Josh comes over and asks in a low voice, “What’s going on, Rory?” “Just going to exercise the horses, take them out and graze them a little bit. I’ll be back in an hour.” Josh shrugs, “Okay, if that’s your story, I’ll back it up. Just be careful, Rory.” “I won’t cause any trouble.”
Josh wends his way through the crowded dining area and takes a seat at Runis’ table. “Anything I need to know about?” Runis answers between bites, “Just waiting for our summons. Where’s Rory? Didn’t he want anything to eat?” Josh explains that Rory is taking the horses out to graze. “He’s taking a big sack with him. I didn’t ask him exactly what he’s planning to do, but he should be okay – he’s got six guards flanking him.” Runis gives Josh a strange look… but it’s not as if the dwarf can catch up with Rory now.
When Rory reaches the gate, he locates the goblin he’s come to refer to as “the general.” He shows him his papers and explains he’s taking the horses out to graze. After talking to one of the guards for a few minutes, the general says to Rory, “I guess you do get to leave the city. Well, knock yourself out.” Rory finds a nice patch of grass right down by the riverbank. And one by one, he releases the gourds into the river, each gourd containing a coded message to warn the bard Starsinger of the garrison south of Barshar City.
After breakfast, Runis tells Josh he’s going out shopping. “If they don’t come and summon us pretty soon, I might just go up to the castle and knock on the front door!” Runis visits a jeweler and exchanges two pounds of gold leaf for gemstones. Next he locates the shrines to Solash and Santash (which have fallen somewhat into disrepair) and makes the proper observances. As he leaves, a golden glow appears around each shrine. Then he visits the shrine of Gauder, brings out the small jade carving of the war god he had found in the ruined temple, and concentrates on it. As he performs his observances, he feels something happening with the icon. When he leaves, he notices a shimmer around the shrine.
Rory comes back from the river and returns the horses to the stable, then goes to the inn to get something to eat. Josh is sitting at a table, nursing a mug of ale and scanning the room. The waitress apologizes in advance as their food supplies had been seriously depleted that morning, but she brings Rory a reasonable brunch. Runis enters and sits with them.
Soon they hear a commotion outside, as of many riders approaching. Three soldiers walk in. The foremost is Tunteki, the goblin who had spoken with Chalker the night before. They come straight toward Runis, Rory, and Josh. Runis rises and unslings his axe. “Greetings, Master Dwarf,” begins Tunteki. “Gentlemen,” Runis replies, “…and you,” meaning the orc. Tunteki continues, “We are here with your official invitation to lunch with Lord Alondo in two hours.” Runis: “It won’t take that long to get up there.” Tunteki: “No, but it will give you time to saddle up and get everything ready, then we will begin the trip to the castle.” Runis: “Is the rest of my group able to come, too?” Tunteki: “Yes, all five of you are invited.” Runis: “Do you have trouble counting?” Tunteki: “No, five of you came through the city gates yesterday.” Runis: “That’s not all that’s in our group.” Tunteki (looking at the Diamond): “If you wish to count that, then all six of you.” Runis: “Oh. Well, I wasn’t counting the Diamond.” Tunteki: “I don’t understand. But your entire party is invited.” Runis: “Our entire party is invited. I’m just making sure that I got this correct. Not just the five of us that came through the gate.” Tunteki: “I don’t… Yes. You’re all invited.” Runis: “Are you taking us up there?” Tunteki: “Yes, we have an honor guard to bring you to the castle.” Runis: “Thirty of you, huh?” Tunteki: “It seemed appropriate. Shall I send a runner upstairs to summon your companions?” Rory: “I’ll go.” Runis: “Do I look like I want to run upstairs?” The orc (Strum) snickers and Tunteki quickly says, “No, I see what you mean. That would be an imposition on a bard of your skills.” Tunteki glances over his left shoulder and glares at Strum briefly.
Runis: “So when do you want us to be ready to go?” Rory: “Two hours, he said.” Tunteki: “It will only take fifteen minutes to get there.” Runis: “You’re going to stand here and wait for an hour and forty-five minutes?” Tunteki: “So we have been ordered, so we will do. If you wish to leave earlier, that would be appreciated, but not required.” Runis: “Yeah, you probably don’t want to have to stand that close to him that long.” Strum’s hand twitches toward his sword hilt, but Tunteki shoots him another glare. Runis: “I hear you’re pretty good with those swords.” Tunteki: “Yes.” Runis: “Is that how you got to your position?” Tunteki: “Yes, and that’s how I keep my position.” Runis: “So that means none of these guys are any good at all, since you killed off the ones that might challenge your position, right?” Tunteki: “The ones that aren’t loyal to me.” Runis: “Like I said.” Strum takes a step forward and Tunteki growls, “Strum, get your…” Runis: “Loyalty’s kind of shaky in some quarters, huh?” Strum fairly quivers with the desire to attack Runis. Runis: “You’ll get your chance, mister orc. Oh, I’ve got something I want to show you.” He reaches into his pack (the orc flinches), pulls out his bundle of orc insignias and fans them out. Runis: “Have you given up on your clan? Was it one of these?” Strum’s eyes go wide. The human (Rozonx) speaks up, “You want to kill him one way or another, don’t you?” Runis brandishes the insignias and grins wickedly. “It’s what I do.” Rozonx: “For someone who’s never actually seen a dwarf, Strum seems to hate you on sight.” Runis: “They can usually tell their betters.”
Through clenched teeth, Tunteki asks, “May I inquire how long it will be before your party is prepared?” Runis: “Nobody’s gone up and told them yet.” Tunteki: “I’ll be glad to provide a runner to summon them.” Runis: “No, he (indicating Rory) said he’d take care of it.” Rory: “You said two hours.” Runis: “Hope you’ve got a good leash.” And the dwarf turns and walks away toward his room. As Runis departs, Tunteki turns around to face Strum and Rozonx. For a moment he just stares, then in a low voice he addresses them in orcish: “You have your orders. If you attack him and he doesn’t kill you, then I will!” And so forth. Just loud enough to be heard by the soldiers, Rory gives Josh a running commentary (though he knows Josh has the translator amulet). Tunteki shoots a quick glance back, but continues the dressing-down, switching to goblin. Rory blithely continues his commentary. Tunteki stares at Rory. “You are as impressive as your companions.” Rory: “I travel a lot.” Tunteki: “May I inquire how many languages you are master of?” Rory: “All the ones I know.” Tunteki: “May I ask you to request that your companions come as soon as is convenient for them, and not take the full two hours? While I do have a tight leash, I would prefer not to have to keep it engaged for the entire time.” “Okay,” agrees Rory. Beckoning to a servant girl he says, “Could somebody go up and tell them our summons is here?” “Yes, sir,” she says, and trots up the stairs.
There’s a tapping at Chalker’s door. “Yes?” he says. “Your companion Rory asked me to let you know that Tunteki said it’s time to go meet Lord Alondo.” “Well, thank you kindly. The message has been received.” “You’re welcome…” Chalker snatches the door open. “Yes?” “I was just going to ask… Are you going to maybe kill them and take over the guard? And then you’ll flee and you won’t have to meet Lord Alondo?” “No, we’re not going to do it that way.” “Well, if you do it that way, several of us will flee with you.” “No, thank you for the offer, but no. What we plan on doing is killing them later. Don’t tell anybody, okay? When we leave the lord, then we’re going to come back and kill them, okay?” “You’re going to haunt them? Oh, okay…” Looking disappointed, the girl starts to leave. Chalker exclaims, “No! Hunt them!” “Hunt them?” “Yes. To haunt them you have to be dead, right?” “You’re going to meet Lord Alondo, aren’t you?” “Yes.” She turns and walks away.
Rory invites the three soldiers to sit and have lunch, but the goblin says, “We are on duty and I believe Lord Alondo would not approve.” Rory: “Oh, so you would offend us. Okay.” Tunteki: “So as not to offend you, I will make this compromise. Strum and Rozonx, you go wait in the foyer. I will partake of lunch with you.” The goblin takes a seat. Rory brings out the map of Barshar City he’s been working on. “Okay, now where are the goblin taverns? See, my parents work in a tavern, and I mark all the taverns for travelers wherever I go.” It turns out that Tunteki owns a tavern.
Footsteps sound upon the stairs. Rory’s head is bent over his map, filling it in as Tunteki describes. Aliana mutters to Chalker, “I thought they said we were leaving. I don’t even see Runis.” Chalker: “That’s what they said.” Just then Runis emerges from his room. Tunteki glances at him, and Runis raises a hand and says, “I’ll just wait outside for you,” and heads for the front door. Tunteki curses and leaps from his chair. “Thank you, Master Rory. Please bring your three companions; we’ll be outside,” he says as he rushes out.
“I’d better get the horses ready,” Rory says. He stands up, turns around… and freezes in place, gaping.