Sapphire:Sessions:20161217

Ahn-Lee goes to a bar called Silver Flag to follow up on Falcon. He learns that Terry Coleson is the second son of a rich merchant from Verde.

Ahn-Lee sits down at Falcon's table and asks, "How do you know who I am? Why have you been sending 'business' my way?" Falcon: "Is that your real face? Do you intend to kill me? I got your name from... uh, I can't say." Ahn-Lee: "How did you get my name?" Falcon mutters that that person is dead. Ahn-Lee: "I can't believe that kid wants to kill his professor."

Ahn-Lee realizes that Falcon is making it up, and it's the wealthier man at the table who's the real boss. There's something going on with the thieves' guild, and the professor is not just a college instructor.

When Ahn-Lee leaves the Silver Flag, he is followed by a scrawny guy, who flees when Ahn-Lee notices him, scrambling across rooftops faster than Ahn-Lee can catch him. Ahn-Lee waits outside the bar until Falcon emerges.

Chalker returns to the embassy and informs the staff that his cousin Frederick is due to reach Sapphire within the next day or so.

That night, Chalker dreams of chasing and catching werewolves that turn to goo. Something is chasing him, too. The dream is remarkable in its clarity, and he knows it wasn't sent from the First Chosen.

Around 4:00am, Ahn-Lee carries an unconscious man to Branamin's place. Around the same time, Shawna (who has been in meditation) senses threatening magic not far from Branamin's place.

Chalker's dreams become repetitive, so he wills himself to awaken. He feels slightly fatigued, and the shadows seem to waver around him.

Ahn-Lee's captive, whose name is Balen Croft, awakens. He seems apprehensive but not panicked. He admits that he intends to take over the Thieves' Guild. He drops the name Donald Stanhope, an up-and-coming merchant who had once hired Ahn-Lee to kill a rival; Stanhope is now deceased. "I tried to sell him 'insurance' and he wouldn't cooperate." Anders and Sable, two other leaders among thieves, "don't like dealing with the Assassin's Guild."

Chalker goes to Sybonne's room and tries to shake her awake. Though she is tossing fretfully, she doesn't awaken until he has dumped a second glass of water on her face. Then she wakes up, sweating, terrified. Chalker: "I guess it wasn't you messing with my dreams." She describes three monstrous creatures tearing her apart again and again.

Shawna senses frustration from something moving around Branamin's place. She rises, still in a meditative state, and moves into the city.

Chalker writes in his journey book, "Something attacked Sybonne and me in our sleep."

Immediately, something strikes the outer wards... and is obliterated. Branamin's ring says to him, "Something just committed suicide by mage."

Chalker sees something fluttering across the clouds away from the embassy. There are trace amounts of metal about its arms and upper torso, but not enough for Chalker to pull on.

Shawna feels the pulse of the life of the city. There were three of "them" circling Branamin's house, and one suddenly flared up and disintegrated. Two others, about three hundred feet in the air, are moving from the embassy toward Branamin's. There are others in the city but they are warded.

Ahn-Lee verifies "something bad" with Branamin. He tells Balen Croft, "You're now the last thing on my priority list."

Shawna soars into the air, then descends rapidly upon one of "them" and kills it easily... a vampire, recently turned. Her second kill is no more challenging. Vampire3 is hovering 200 feet above Chalker and Sybonne, and Vampire4, seeing Shawna, stretches out one hand and a six-foot metal staff coalesces in it. Chalker calls out "Mine!" and pulls the staff out of Vampire4's grasp toward Sybonne. Shawna slashes Vampire3 across the chest and her backstroke beheads it. She kicks Vampire#4 in the head, then flies away toward the embassy.

Chalker senses a knife on Vampire#4, which he uses to pull the vampire toward the ground. With a swipe of his sword, he beheads Vampire#4. Its torso and one arm are covered with a needle-like steel mesh. He reckons the vampire had been dead for a week.

Vampire#5 is bigger and much older than the first four, flying as fast as Shawna. It suddenly dives down to street level in an area blocked from Shawna's senses. She calls to her goddess, "Grant me the ability to track down that perversion of life!" She senses that her request is granted... but delayed.

Chalker knocks at Branamin's door. "Kind of jumpy, aren't you? Ahn-Lee, the vampires are mad at you, aren't they?" Ahn-Lee: "It would be good protocol to warn the others [those who also had dealt with the bale vampires], especially since one is a beautiful woman." Chalker: "If he survives we may use him, but he doesn't follow instructions well."

Branamin turns Balen Croft into a possum, "so he won't know where the lab is." Ahn-Lee pops the possum into a bag, to which Branamin adds a bottle of wine "for his trouble."