AN INTRODUCTION AND A SECRET UNCOVERED

2 August - on march between Negrata and Heraloon

Delrin

Three more days with good weather brought them to a string of interleaved glades and forests, the decision to avoid the raiding parties having been made with very little discussion. Delrin's nightly contract with the wolves had helped them avoid another group of humans, which seemed to have been farther inland. They diverted their path for a half day along the craggy coast, but it hadn't cost them much time; they had found the broken outlines of what had to have been part of the great ring road at one time, with moss covered bridges still standing over streams and small rivers from time to time, and it allowed them to move quite rapidly. Earlier that morning, it had just ended, as if the ring road had never circled the entire Lanotalis sea five hundred years before, but had ended construction out here in the middle of nothing. The group had moved further inland again, toward terrain that was easier to traverse. None the less, they should be hitting Heraloon soon, if Delrin's estimates of the distance they had traveled were correct.

They were in their standard marching order, slightly broken up by when then entered the trees. They avoided the more heavily forested areas, but to stay in the glades would have required too much zigzagging. El Sid, as usual, was on point as they reached a steep wooded rise, perhaps ten feet of elevation over forty feet of distance, and everyone was trying to see whether it would be easier to move left, right, or go right over.

Delrin was peripherally aware of the Sid as he moved, and adrenaline was pumping even before El Sid raised his hand in a fist, the agreed apon sight for danger ahead; he had seen the big man tense and stop moving suddenly, a sure sign something was wrong.

But what? Delrin was at home in the woods, and he saw nothing that indicated a problem. El Sid was farther ahead, but the rise would keep him from seeing any more than Delrin could.

He sighed and started his prep; he could always drop it if the next signal was to move back, and if not, the lightning bolt was a potent weapon to have ready.

EL SID

Scent of human... more, scent of metal. Rosebud's message jabbed into his brain, the intrusion painful, as it always was when they had no time to ease into the link. The cat was perched on Johnny Rotten, following a hundred feet or so behind him; the speed they were traveling at precluded using the cat as an advanced scout.

El Sid immediately raised and clenched his fist while drilling into the cat. More information, he needed more information to put any kind of response in action...

He didn't have the time. A man stood away from a thick tree trunk at the top of the rise thirty feet or so distance from the Sid where he had been concealed. El Sid took in the cloak, difficult to see in detail but clearly designed with bits of bark and leaves sewn in to provide excellent camouflage, the glint of metal armor underneath, the naked sword in the man's hand. "Please," cried the man, "I have no desire for unnecessary bloodshed. Hands away from weapons, and clerics and Magic Users stop prepping, please. I have a number of crossbows that will make sure you do not get off a second spell."

[I need marching order and response; individual by character and appropriate to the character please. I am willing to agree to any reasonable pre-determined signal for giving group orders, with a one melee turn delay in reacting.]

EL SID

El Sid thought quickly. They were approaching a reasonably large town. There were raiders in the area. These guys were decked out as a garrison/perimeter defense, not a rapidly moving raiding party. The city's outer defenses? It seemed likely. They could have attacked by surprise, but did not. Therefore their civility implied friendliness / neutrality. He could deal with that.

He spread his fingers and did a short, side to side, choppy wave, the signal to stay ready but not be overtly hostile. He waited for a moment; he was sure of everyone but the barbarian, Fuji. Fortunately, Fuji had been much more subdued since his brother had been killed in the Urakai dungeon, and there was no indication that he was going to ignore the Sid's order. El Sid, of course, could not actually look at Fuji to make sure and leave the stranger in front of him with the impression he did not have absolute control over the group. "Well met, friend" he called stridently, wanting crossbowmen at a distance to hear the greeting. Then, more softly but in a voice that carried, he added "we are as small group of traders heading for Heraloon." El Sid added a silent thanks to the ghods for Glorm's tabbac and brandy. It would lend credibility to the claim. "I am El Sid, Gold Ring of Borgia Greathold in Kethem. May I ask who you are?"

"Kethemers..." replied the man thoughtfully, with the thick Pranan accent they had all become familiar with. "I am Erin Southbee, Captain of Egret Company, Cherifyr Redcloaks." El Sid did a little background translation; if he remember properly, the Redcloaks were Cherifyr's standard fighting force and a Company usually numbered twenty or so men, with at least two clerics and a magic user that were not neophytes. A difficult group if it came to a fight, but not as bad as any of the personal guards of a Cherifyr lord. The man continued to speak. "You've picked a bad time for a trading run, I'm afraid. There has been some fighting in the area."

El Sid nodded. "We heard rumors in Negrata, but very little solid information. But with no shipping arriving, we had little choice but to head north on foot."

The man relaxed a bit; clearly, even this short statement was enough to help confirm El Sid's statement. "Negrata is an odd place for a small trading group. There is very little there of any note."

"Yes, this is true. We actually used Negrata as a point to begin our journey to Micaforo, where we picked up a load of fine ale and brandy. We were planning on securing voyage to Cherifyr, and from their on to Kethem. The load is on my Stallion," and El Sid ignored Glorm's snort and continued, "we lost our pack animal during the trip."

The man looked over at Johnny Rotten, who was standing patiently a few dozen feet behind El Sid, took in the packs on the animals back, and finally smiled. "A well trained beast, and a fine one as well." He made a gentle signal, and there was movement along the top of the ridge and to small clumps of brush to their side as men stood up, lowering weapons. El Sid made his own signal, and everyone stood down except for Delrin and Krinn, who would hold prep until they had to move.

That wasn't long in coming. Erin moved down the slope and guided them to a spot that was easy to climb, even for the horse. He took a slip of paper with a symbol of a horse and shield on it. "Safe passage" he said. You'll hit my camp about a half mile back; there will be a few soldiers there. That's Able Company, who have the night shift. Only a couple of people will be awake, and they should assume you are cleared since you made it by us, but it never hurts to have a pass. After that, it's about a mile or so to Heraloon. Shipping is running pretty regularly; you might be able to catch a late boat today if you hurry."

El Sid nodded his thanks. "So, what is the situation in Cherifyr?" he asked.

Erin shrugged. "It's not pretty. Lord Nuren is incensed, and they say to avoid the streets from Yearling's pass to Greenroad to avoid him. He's killed a few people just because their looks got on his nerves. He lost a lot in the Urakai attack. The other lords are taking it more sensibly. There's even some talk of shifting some of the Redcloaks to some of the northern cities to aid in some general raiding and mayhem against the Urakai." The man sounded excited about the concept.

"And Helseki?" questioned El Sid.

"Oh, you know how it goes. I'd say they've got a division in the field." El Sid did more math; was it six, or three, companies to a battalion in Cherifyr? He was sure it was three battalions to a division although it did change from city state to city state; he guessed three or four hundred men. Damn, he missed Tristan, who knew the ins and outs of the port cities like the back of his hand. Still, a fair number outside Kethem. In Kethem, a division of the Kethem Guard would have been one thousand men. The Pranan city states were much smaller; their entire guard typically consisted of five hundred to a thousand, although the High Lord's personal guard would add another two to four hundred battle scarred veterans to the mix in a real emergency.

Erin continued "as per usual, the entire division is on 'moral leave' and their actions are not sanctioned by the Helseki lordlings. It's the standard game. But we pretty much kicked their butts. Some of the villages like Negrata have suffered, because we didn't want ships to get captured and used by the Helsickies, but things will be back to normal soon, I suspect."

"What's this about Urakai on Black Ships as big as an island? Were you expecting this attack or did it come as complete surprise? Rumor down south has it that a local Lord must have been in on the raid. Someone settling a grudge?" the Sid inquired quietly with a confident-but-confidential undertone.

Erin looked at the Sid in surprise. "The Urakai do have a very large ship, perhaps twenty thousand tons displacement, But no one would cooperate with Urakai. It was unexpected, since the Urakai tend to have a hard time cooperating enough to mount an attack this far south." El Sid whistled. Twenty thousand tons was three to four times larger than a Kethem Heavy Warship, which up to this point had been tied for the largest know vessels afloat in the area.

"In Kethem, this affair will come as a bit of a surprise. How long do you figure this will affect shipping?" he continued, talking to the captain as if he were an equal to a Gold Ring. 'Just two men-of-the-world discussing events' thought the Sid, 'R-i-g-h-t.'

Erin shrugged. "Another two to three weeks, but it is just along the coast here, and mostly the small fishing villages at that. You should have no problem reaching Kethem."

The Don stepped forward to Sid's right, awaited recognition, and gave the Sid a brief salute. "All prepared to move, my Lord." he intoned, increasing the ambiance of privilege surrounding The-Sid-as-Diplomat. An old game between them: stroking the mark. Sid continued the small talk until he had extracted as much information about the current state of the present raid, Cherifyr-Urakai relations and the state of affairs among the local nobles in general as he thought prudent.

"A good evening to you then, captain" pressing the soldier's hand with a small flask of Glorm's brandy, provided discretely by the Don. "Hope the weather holds for us," he ended inclusionarily, looking up at the evening sky.

The party moved on towards the main camp. Glorm marched along side the Sid a slightly sour expression on his face. "Cheer up, my doughty friend," the Saltan lisped in a high and haughty affected accent, "That's why they call them Trade Goods."

Glorm glared his reply.

Heraloon, Cherifyr, and surrounding area

A few hours later, they were relaxing in an inn, smallish by Kethem standards but clean and well kept. There had been a boat to Cherifyr leaving late enough that they could have caught it, but rather than arrive in Cherifyr late and try to find a decent inn after so many days on the march, they had decided to stay in Heraloon for the evening and head out the next morning.

Additionally, Glorm had something he wanted to try.

They had paid 50 silver for a larger private room off the inn's tavern, with a solid wood door and no windows, as a war room to discuss future plans. Delrin and Krinn were out wandering the town, smallish as it was, checking for any additional information on Cherifyr. While Captain Erin had been useful, he had been stationed outside Heraloon for a couple of weeks and Glorm and El Sid had convinced the two that buying a few drinks for sailors that had just arrived from the City State could lead to valuable information. It even made sense to Glorm and El Sid, although that was not the primary reason to ensure the two were not in the room at this moment.

Fuji was just outside the door with one hand on his sword hilt, frowning ferociously at anyone passing by. The rest of them stood around the two gems. Glorm was about to kick off the spell from the Elvish Scroll they had picked up so long ago... well, actually, just a few months ago, although it seemed like a lifetime ago now. They knew from Prenalanan that the scroll would provide a visual and auditory rendition of key events surrounding an object or set of objects. With any luck, it would tell them about a time when the two stones had been together. Glorm and El Sid had agreed in private that, given what they knew already, the information might offend the overly finicky Krinn and Delrin, which was another way of saying that if this thing was powerful but evil, they still wanted to be able to use it without interference from the "goody-two-shoes" elements of the party.

El Sid was the only one without pencil and paper; he would use the read/speak languages spell, the Don would transcribe. Glorm would write down what he could understand or phonetic spelling of things he couldn't.

El Sid nodded when he had cast his spell, and Glorm cracked open the scroll. The odd sense of random scribblings coalescing into something more he remembered from his first time looking at the scroll hit him again, and this time he let it run its course. The spell fired with a sudden surge of energy that Glorm felt like the static electricity before a major thunderstorm. The room was immediately filled with random fluctuations of light and sound, so intermingled it was nothing more than white noise. Glorm knew the spell was taking shape, and waiting for him to direct it; he focused on the two gems, and the ends of his hair bristled with energy for a second. Then it was gone, and the scroll in front of him was blank. He looked up.

The wild, vibrant colors were changing, still flowing into one another too rapidly to make much sense of them, but with enough shape to make out a dagger here, a sword there, blood splattering from a wound, the jagged cobalt blue light of a cold beam. The white noise took on the timbre and structure of a large gathering of people all talking simultaneously, then a conference hall, then a roomful. The images thinned out as well, and Glorm realized that they were events in different perspectives and distances, which helped him sort things out to some extent, but mostly it was just scenes of carnage and destruction. Glorm noticed a man, a man with dark hair and eyes and a handlebar mustache; it was too short to be sure, but he felt he had seen the same man from a couple of different perspectives, which one would assume meant different events. Then the illusion settled down, the random stuff there but faded out to insignificance. It was still difficult to make out the illusion against the real walls of the room, and Glorm quickly blew out the candles on the table, making the ghostly images clearer.

The main view was against the back wall of the room; people jerked chairs around to accommodate the shift, expecting somehow that the illusion would allow them to see everything without worrying about what physical direction they were looking in.

They were gazing at the backs of two men, who were in turn watching from a platform they were standing on into the bowels of a very large cavern. In the center of the Cavern stood six obsidian black pillars, pillars that had opal blue fire running up and down in sheets of flame. Inside the pillars stood at least a hundred people; writhering in agony as the shimmering fire from the pillars washed over them, although they did not appear to burn at its touch. Between the convulsions they looked to the men on the platform with a palatable hatred. Over the heads of the prisoners, something was taking shape; it was a sword, a sword that glowed with the same opal fire of the pillars. It rotated slowly, and as it did, brilliant glints of different color flashed from its hilt; ruby, sapphire, topaz, emerald, amethyst, and other less easily identifiable colors. Glorm knew these had to be the gems, but more than the two they currently held. He counted carefully; ten flashes in all before the blood red ruby appeared again, and sharp white glints from the base of the hilt that had to be a large diamond.

The two men were talking in a very old version of common Glorm could not make out. El Sid, however, was translating; apparently, he either understood it because of his greater familiarity with the language or because of his spell. Glorm listened carefully.

"Veralin, please, please listen to me. This is a bad idea."

"Bad? Can you be a little more specific?"

"Imaging every molecule in your body exploding.... oh, sorry, that was the ghostbusters script. What I really mean is, you've managed to create the eleven Great Swords with the powers of the C Gate and eleven of your followers that were brave enough to volunteer to be ensorcelled into the swords."

"Yes, yes. As we've discussed, while I do not dislike the elves, they are certainly being coy about many things... including the introduction of humans to this world, which I am convinced is not our original home. You know they have the elvish swords, using a similar technique, and now this Changeling... These are powerful artifacts. If we are going to be treated as equals of the elves, instead of children, we have to deal from a power base that is as great as theirs."

"Yes, but you were the one that told me that an Elf *volunteers* to sacrifice his physical instantiation in order to become one with the sword. These are your *enemies*."

"Quibbles, my dear chickenshit friend, mere quibbles. These..." and the first man waved at the people writhering within the pillars... "are more pure mana that I could ever get from volunteers."

There was a sudden flash of iridescence and the rush of wind from the cavern, the blue glow of the fire suddenly turning into a pillar of unbearably bright light, lines of force flowing from the people into the sword, the force literally jerking them into the air and leaving them dangling like marionettes at the end of a single string.

It ended abruptly, and all was dark and still. Glorm was about to relight the candle, thinking the spell had ended, when he heard the same two voices. "Veralin?"

"Just a second..." and the glow of a standard light spell sprung forth, hovering in the air a few feet above and behind the two men. "Must have had a antimagic backlash from the sword's birth..." muttered Veralin.

The second voice spoke fearfully. "What about the restraining spells?"

Veralin answered uneasily "It doesn't matter. The people are all dead."

"And the sword?"

"It can't act of it's own violation.."

"Oh really?" called a deep, new, and entirely unpleasant voice. The glimmer of the gems in the sword's hilt left a streak of light as it flew into Veralin's forehead with a thud, sinking up the hilt. The man reached up, grabbed the hilt in one hand, and the blade protruding from the back of his head with the other, and screamed incoherently. He sank to one knee, fell silent, stopped, and stood again. He finally turned toward the other man and spoke. "Now," he said, blood pouring down his face, "what shall I do with you?"

"Veralin?"

"I don't think so. Just call me Blackheart." He stepped toward the other man.

The other man stepped back in horror, then raised a black, brick sized box. "Stop. Veralin told me how to use this... I can send the shards of those people's souls into the void and leave you dead metal!"

"It doesn't work that way" said the sword, or man, or both, but he stopped moving. "Listen, my quarrel was with Veralin. I don't have anything against you."

"Fiend!" cried the other, and waved his hand over the block in a complex signal. The obsidian pillars burst into opal flame again.

"Don't. Listen to me, don't. Did Veralin tell you that releasing that much energy would destroy everything in this cave, including you? I can help you!" And the sword jerked out of Veralin's head and flashed in an arc through the other's throat. There was a bright flash, and again darkness. This time Glorm waited for a while, then finally lit the candle.

"I think we be not ready for this" he said thoughtfully.

BREAK FOR MECHANICS

You each get 1000 EP to distributed amoung your characters as you see fit. Krinn and Fuji get 250 EP a piece. This is your current liquid cash:

20      El

20      Don

21      Glorm

7       Del

16      Fuji

19      Krinn

You obviously have your trade goods, the Urakai swords and daggers with the gems, etc.

CONTINUE STORY

3 August

Detail of Cherifyr

Delrin pulled his woolen hood down as he entered the Broken Chain, a small waterfront pub on the Eastern side of Cherifyr. It was raining lightly, and there was a bit of chill in the air, a sign of the approaching fall. It would start to get cool in a month or so.

The Broken Chain had a view of the water that was relatively new; it was through a great, gaping hole in the sea wall that normally protected the city from attack. A leftover from the Urakai attack of a few weeks before, as were the dozen or so burned out buildings along the street, it had been hurriedly patched with large timbers and netting until the repair crews could get to providing a more substantial barrier to the elements and enemy attack. Delrin wondered for a moment how the repair crews worked; how were they paid? Or did each Cherifyr lord have a section of the wall he was responsible for? Perhaps this was one of the expenses Lord Nuren was so incensed over.

He shook his head and dismissed it as idle speculation. The Cherifyr Lords had partitioned off the city into lots of irregular sizes, a hundred or so in all, but some aspects of the city were still centralized, with the costs shared between them. The Redcloaks fell in that category. It made for an interesting dichotomy between ancient tradition and more modern organization, and watching the odd interplay between the two elements of the city was always fascinating. But he was not here to do research on Pranan City State culture. He, and the rest of them, were getting the lay of the land and looking for any news or information that looked like it might be useful somehow.

Delrin found a small table in the back of the room and laid down a silver. A serving woman scooped it up with a smile. "Black and Tan, please" he said, and she was off with a wink. A few moments later, she was back with the odd dark on light oil and vinegar glass of beer.

"Here you are, luv" she said as she dropped it on the table in front of him. He laid down another silver for the drink, thought for a moment about asking her some questions, then decided to just relax and listen for a while. The woman moved on, and he leaned back in his seat. Two merchants to his right were discussing options for jacking the price up on brick and mortar. He passed over it, listened for a short time to a few seamen talking about the Urakai battle. It was mostly bragging, nothing of real interest. A couple of guardsmen... redcloaks, not a Lord's retinue... were doing much the same as the seamen. Delrin's ear's perked up for a moment as they discussed Nequyet, a city to the north, but it was just a repeat of the rumors they had heard from Erin the day before.

He bought a couple more drinks, hearing nothing new, and was thinking about leaving when the merchants left and were replaced by two other men, with darker skins and fine silk clothing that looked nothing like the homespun or rough weave cotton of Cherifyr, or even the finer garments of a lordling's staffer. He listened, but they spoke a foreign tongue that sounded oddly dissonant. It took a few moments to realize they were speaking in two foreign tongues. One, he was unfamiliar with, the other, if he was not mistaken, was elvish.

He stayed, and when the two left, he followed discreetly some distance behind. It wasn't obvious that this was anything significant, but still...

The two walked along Seawall road to the southwest, toward Cherifyr's major harbor. The tip of the peninsula that Cherifyr rested on had once been a natural breakwater with a protected cove for seafarers. Man had enhanced nature. Now the tip of Cherifyr was an arrowhead formed by the Seawalls, the point of which contained Warder's Gate, while the inside a small harbor hosted the docks and accouterments needed to sustain Cherifyr's ubiquitous sea trade. Warder's Gate was the only way in or out of the harbor from sea.

At the docks, Derlin hung back. The destination of the two was an easy guess. Amongst the ugly little Pranan traders, a few Kethem Light Merchants and one Heavy Merchant, and a mix of warships of Kethem and Pranan registry, stood one ship that rested at a private berth. A panther among wolves, it had graceful curves, a miniature mast too small to be useful, and a stylized figure of a bird's head that seemed more molded than cut into the ship's bow.

Delrin was not a seafarer. He had a hard time telling a Light Warship from a Raider. But this ship was so different, it could not be of human manufacture. It had to be elvish.

He wondered for a while if he should investigate further, but it was late and the others would already be waiting for him. If they thought it was worthy of further study, he would return.

The walk to the Inn was short. They had decided to stay near the docks when finding lodging, despite the slightly higher rates. He nodded at the innkeeper's son, who was doing a good job of not looking like he was on watch at the entryway, then headed up the stairs to the rooms overhead. This time, they had rented a suite of bedrooms that opened on a single central room suitable for small meetings or a private breakfast. He found everyone else in the room, most with a glass of beer, Krinn with a glass of wine instead. They were chit chatting, clearly waiting for his arrival to begin the day's debrief.

El Sid nodded to him, then said "let's begin. Delrin, since you are a little late, I assume you found something interesting?" Delrin explained his encounter with the two men.

Krinn listened thoughtfully, nodding occasionally. "Kirander," she explained, "Tawhiem tribesman that have a... close relationship with the Elves. They serve on Elvish ships and the like." She frowned for a moment. "Elves in Cherifyr. We don't keep a regular presence in the City States... not big enough fish to deserve an Elvish Embassy."

El Sid raised his eyebrows. "Close relationship? Never mind, probably not critical at the moment." He shook his head. "Dom?"

The Don launched into a short description of the current factions in Cherifyr. A day's research wasn't much, but he had identified the more obvious political divisions. Of the hundred High Lords of Cherifyr, about forty could be considered independents, not linked to any of the political coalitions that today held sway in the city. The largest faction, with about twenty five High Lords, was a conservative group that centered around military dominance of the area; they were behind some initiatives to raise significant tariffs on incoming goods to subsidize a larger military. The ill reputed Nuren belonged to the group. The recent Urakai attack had strengthened their position in recent weeks. The next largest group were a mixed lot, but had a central pro-trade position in common. There were more liberal elements that went further in proposing military as well as economic alliances with other groups, Kethem in particular. They, too, had faired well in the aftermath of the attack, since two Kethem Warships, the Fith's Hammer and Gloryboy, had been caught in port during the attack and had joined Cherifyr forces in repelling the invaders.

"Hmmm... that explains a bit" commented El Sid. "Erin was decidedly friendly, and Cherifyr and the other city states have a long history of mediocre at best acceptance of Kethemers. I thought it was just because he was with the redcloaks...they are certainly less provincial than those more directly controlled by the High Lords... but still, even they have to beware exhibiting too much independence. In some ways, I'd say we arrived at a fortunate time."

The Don continued. A splinter faction of the free-traders who wanted to modernize the Pranan merchant fleet and centralize management of it a la the redcloaks, a small group of religious zealots of Chi Zhar, and the smallest coalition who wanted to return to a completely feudal system, disbanding the redcloaks and other organizations that were not directly controlled by a high lord.

"Chi Zhar... Chi Zhar..." El Sid muttered thoughtfully.

Krinn piped up. "I vaguely remember something about them... I think they are closely aligned with Krism the Alterer."

"Illusionists. OK. Good report, Dom. Krinn?"

Krinn had been assigned researching Blackheart. She shook her head. "Nothing. Sorry, but there just isn't much here. There is a Hectlac temple, an import from Kethem with a few local followers, but they don't even have a library. The books are all back in Kethem."

"Disappointing. But we'll have another chance at that. Glorm?"

Glorm grunted. He had the trading goods. "Be some good, some bad news. Crystal bugs, they be OK, but not great prices. We do better in Kethem I think. Liquor is no good. Too much shipment through here, they see it all before. Urakai swords and daggers, they be the good news. One armorer offer 50 gold for all of them, and I think he go higher. Can't be gems, they are not that valuable. Must be because it is Urakai Chieftain's weapon. I didn't go further, we can price shop tomorrow if we want, and after I left shop someone followed me for a while, an amateur. I lost them quickly." El Sid frowned at that one, but turned to Fuji.

"Plenty of jobs, even for boobs." Fuji said. "Repair crews way busy, but this is small change. Lost a lot of fighters in battle. Even in town, price for good fighters is high, and caravans and ships are paying top dollar. We have many options if you want to do this."

They settled in to begin making their plans.

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