Sapphire:Sessions:20190406

It is mid-afternoon. Chalker, Intrinsius, and Branamin bring their prisoners, A2 and A4, into the palace. They find Alastor and Portis in an antechamber. Chalker, indicating A2: "He tried to kill me, but didn't have his heart in it." Alastor, still holding A1's head: "Someone tried to kill me, and now something is in his heart." A2, claiming his name is Dan, speaks up. "You deserve to die... You're evil." Chalker: "You never met me. How do you know that?" Dan: "Uh... It was revealed! That's it! But... it doesn't seem so now." Chalker: "Did Asseraah send you?" Dan: "Oh, no, no!" Chalker: "Since my father didn't send you, why did you come after me?" Dan gapes in mute terror. Chalker, addressing Alastor: "Your Majesty, he wants to kill me because I'm revealed to be evil. It might have something to do with this..." Chalker holds up the fetish made of cloth, leaves, and twine. Dan: "I think it was Doug who gave that to me. He's a "problem solver" at the Shattered Pen tavern." Alastor: "That place is a sh*thole."

Chalker: "Dan, I will put you in a prison cell and not kill you.." Dan (indicating A4): "What about Taines?" Chalker slaps the latter awake, and Taines tells a similar tale: "Doug" had given him a fetish and paid him 2sp. (However, neither Dan nor Taines has any silver coins on them.) "Doug" had also supplied the bone daggers. Intrinsius studies one of them, seeing etchings along the blade edge with "magical potential." He hands it to Branamin. Alastor: "What instructions were you given to use the bone knives?" Taines: "Use it if it started glowing or after first blood was drawn... I 'just knew' where to go... I don't remember how or why, but some of us ended up at the Shattered Pen. There was no one there, so we helped ourselves to some drink..."

Quin Hinks arrives and nods to Alastor and Chalker. Chalker: "The city is fallen. He (indicating Alastor) is in charge of the palace; I am in charge of the troops." Alastor, indicating A1's head: "Don't mind this. It was an assassination attempt gone astray... I am looking to stabilize the city and the country, so that there will be no more bloodshed." QH: "Did you 'get' all the heirs?" Chalker: "No, but we're gonna kill Mays." Alastor adds, "Mays will not be a factor for much longer."

Dan and Taines are taken away to be locked up, and Portis sends a runner to fetch good ale for thirsty Intrinsius.

Portis: "Lamond was sent away because he advocated the end of slavery, and his views had started to gain popularity." Alastor: "I am considering finding Lamond and reinstating him. Meanwhile, the city needs a ruler, which is why I wear the crown." Chalker: "We have reinforcement troops arriving daily. Our hold on the city grows stronger." Alastor: "We have dealt with four of the six generals."

QH: "How long will the city be on lockdown?" Chalker: "Three or four days. We need someone to talk to the merchants who wish to cooperate. To them you can be the face of the city until we get Lamond." QH: "I have no problem being the king's mouthpiece. Many merchants were 'tired' of the slave trade anyway. Having Portis and me as advisors will help calm the city. You should get Lamond in place quickly, by the end of the week. Till then, it's a fine line you walk." Portis: "About half of them, the realists, will cooperate. Others, the pragmatists, will fake sincerity. I recommend getting rid of [he names two of the latter]. I will not work against you or double-cross you." QH: "I can start tonight, pulling in the 'true believers' first. By the end of tomorrow I should have a solid group." Portis: "It will be the end of the week before the opposing forces are organized enough to approach Colvin. They will find the city walls fully manned." QH: "Tell them we have a regent until the true heir returns."

Chalker asks Portis and QH to step away, and they withdraw into a small conference room. Branamin: "The runes on this knife links the victim to the wielder. It has way too many spells on it."

Chalker: "We will have Branamin pretend to be Alastor, and the rest of us will go after Lamond. Contact Molina, put some slaves in uniform, and send them to Quin and Portis." He writes two lines in his journey book: Rory, is there a portal on Myretrius? and Shawna, have you been to Merridel?

Alastor knocks politely and persistently; three minutes go by before a timid butler answers the door. Alastor: "I bring important tidings from Portis. May I speak with Andronius?" The butler withdraws, and another five minutes pass before the master of the house and a personal guard appear. Andronius recognizes "Master Wyncent, newcomer merchant," and invites him into his study. The guard takes his post outside the study door. Alastor: "I have seen Quin Hinks and Portis. The new regent is imposing economic and political changes, in part to abolish slavery." Andronius, grim-faced: "That could be. Hinks has been somewhat outspoken against slavery." Alastor: "Portis sent me to find out what the consensus is if these changes are forced through." Andronius, through gritted teeth: "Tell Portis I'm all in, whatever the new regime wants me to do."

Catching Andronius by surprise, Alastor pricks him with a sleep needle, then doses him with "Otto's First Aid." Andronius goes into convulsions. Alastor knocks Andronius to the floor, then cries aloud, "Oh! What's going on? He started jerking and fell over!" To the responding guard he says, "Inform the Temple of Zeph that one of the slave trader merchants has fallen ill, and they might send an apprentice to attend to him." The guard -- a former slave -- nods, smiles slightly, and moves unhurriedly away.

Back on the streets, Alastor sees Kimtri emerge from an alley and he approaches her. Kimtri: "Ahn-Lee told me to get in touch with you. I have with me Wade, Roth, and two others, an assassin and a fighter." Alastor: "A trader named Zack needs to be dealt with. Make it look like a robbery."

At the docks, Chalker and Intrinsius meet with Bennet Molina. Chalker: "Quin Hinks is now the Regent's representative, and counsellor Portis is allied with us. They will be going around the city speaking with people and will need an official-looking escort. ... When reinforcements come, send half of them through the city to inform the people that they may come out during the day, but by sunset they must be in their homes. ... Alastor is in charge; I will give him further orders to give you. ... Quin Hinks calls me 'Rice Kellogg'; they cannot know my real identity because I'm wanted in Malprin. ... I have to find out why someone tried to kill us." Molina thinks it will be three or four days before Malprin forces can attack Colvin; Chalker says they're at least one-and-a-half days out.

Chalker, Intrinsius, and a couple of guards go to the tavern called Shattered Pen. Smoke rises from the chimney. Chalker tells the guards, "Stand out here and look mean." Inside the dim tavern it stinks "like a battlefield." Chalker calls out; no one answers. Laid out atop the bar is a gutted corpse, dead at least six hours. In the kitchen Intrinsius finds two more bodies, a teenager and an old man, also eviscerated. The back door, unlocked, opens into a filthy alley.

Chalker examines the first corpse. On the body are two fetish bags and a hidden dagger. Nearby are two heavy crossbows and two clubs (one of them with a single spike). Chalker: "I think I found Doug." All three corpses are missing the heart and kidneys. Intrinsius: "That's kinda weird." Chalker: "That's one way to say it." Chalker gives the clubs to his two guards, instructing them to put away their swords.

Back at the docks, Molina has created several "quick response teams." He reports that so far about forty slaves have refused freedom. Chalker: "They're still drugged. I'll check with the Regent to see how much antidote is available."

Rory writes in the journey book that there is a gate in a small farm village two miles outside of Merridel. It has been visited before, so there is a way to the surface. He diagrams the stone placements.

Alastor writes: Chalker, when will Diana arrive? Chalker: Either the 9th or 10th; today is the 1st.

Branamin: "These bone knives linked their essence to you." Chalker: How would they even know? Branamin: "It must have been the dark halflings. I pushed my memory -- they were moving about the city." Intrinsius obtains from Branamin a grimoire containing most of the spells from the Fire college.

Chalker writes: We're going to Merridel. Will you meet us there? Shawna: Yes, I will.

Alastor lists the "hit squad" that was sent after Lamond Kolton:

• Bernard Lacey, mage, 5'10", long brown hair
• Arthur Mayes, fighter, 6', short blond hair (no relation to Marcus Mays)
• Ivo Grifford, leader, 6'2", long jet-black hair
• Beatrix Allard, poisoner, 5', long red hair
• Min Sayers, crossbowman, 5'6", rusty brown hair

Alastor: "When Lamond was exiled, a woman named Sharon Neely went with him. She's possibly a minor royal and likely has relatives in the city. ... The crown is unique. Lamond and Sharon would recognize it."

Chalker sends out an offer to all former palace slaves to "come back and run the place."

Kimtri reports to Chalker, saying simply, "Done." Chalker: "Since Ahn-Lee trusted you, I will show you a secret, but I need one favor. Intrinsius' goodness rubs me the wrong way, so if he learns the secret and shouldn't have it anymore..." Kimtri: "I will not lie to my guildmaster." She insists on being blindfolded or knocked unconscious rather than learn the secret transportation method (gates).

Kimtri assures Chalker that she can 'get' Marcus Mays "even in the middle of an army" if she has Wade and Branamin with her.

Intrinsius suddenly feels like he's "in the right place at the right time."

In Merridel, Shawna first checks with at the harbormaster's office. No ships of Malprin registry have arrived in port (and would be turned away anyway), but there are two unregistered ships docked, Golden Tack and Soft Pain. Shawna contacts an elf named Dal Tray at the Golden Spigot Tavern. She confides that she is searching for a high-ranking human refugee and enlists Dal's assistance. She says she will begin searching at upper-mid-level inns where a foreign nobleman in disguise would not stand out. Dal suggests she start with the Wayfarer's Inn.

A few hours later, another elven contact gives Shawna the names and descriptions of the "hit squad", which had arrived on the Golden Tack. Bernard is "the strongest" mage. Arthur (fighter) and Beatrix (poisoner) have also been "making the rounds" of upper-mid-level inns. "Interesting," murmurs Shawna, "Their mage doesn't have a way to locate him."

Chalker learns the Colvin address for the Neely family and proposes to go there to obtain some item of hers that could be used in a Seeker spell. (Since Lamond was exiled four months ago and his remaining belongings given away or trashed, there is no quick way to find anything of his.) He and Intrinsius find the Neely estate lit up despite the hour, and the grizzled servant that "greets" them bears a fighting knife. Chalker barely gets out the words, "I am Commander Rice Kellogg--" when the "servant" exclaims, "It's about time! I am Neely! What took you so long?" Neely expected the new regime to contact him right away (and is very vocal about it), but doesn't explain why he didn't send word or go to the palace himself. Yes, Sharon is his daughter and had voluntarily gone into exile with Lamond. Chalker asks for anything belonging to Lamond or Sharon; "I gotta get to them before they're killed." Neely: "So the king did send a hit squad." He fetches a lock of Sharon's hair and a palm-sized stone with a rune carved on it. He rubs the stone with his thumb and it lights up. "She has a ward on her, but this will mostly nullify it." Intrinsius asks for a portrait of Sharon. Neely shows them a painting of an attractive young woman.