12th Day of Fireseek, 565 CY
The Brass Dragon Inn, Furyondy
Nighttime had brought with it another cold, driving rain.
The blaze in the fireplace of the Tall Tales Room was trying hard, but a chill dampness seemed to permeate the entire inn, even in here. Elrohir and Talass sat together on one of the couches, looking weary. They were sharing a hot mug of tea between them. Between her eyes' constant darting around the room looking for flies, Talass would occasionally look with concern at her husband, who still seemed to have some difficulty concentrating. When he caught her looking at him, he smiled and slipped his arm around her shoulder. She snuggled up to him but kept her worried face from his eyes.
Cygnus and Zantac sat on the other couch, each sipping a glass of wine. Cygnus had added Nodyath's name to his Enemies List in a conspicuous scrawl. The slate now sat on the end table. Cygnus glanced at it every so often as if Nodyath, in fly-form, might be somehow compelled to land on his own name.
Zantac had used a cantrip- somewhat frivolously, thought Cygnus- to constantly change the color of the wine in his glass. When Cygnus had inquired what he was doing, Zantac had looked startled for a moment. "Oh," he said. "Just thinking of someone." He had then glanced up at Tojo, who was standing directly behind their couch, staring at the door without moving a muscle.
"Er, Tojo," Zantac hesitantly ventured. "Don't you ever get tired?"
The samurai looked down at the wizard and cocked an eyebrow, as if he thought the question rather odd. "Of course, Zantac-san. When tired, sreep."
Zantac opened his mouth to say that wasn't what he had meant at all, then decided to just drop it.
Caroline, sitting in one of the chairs, grinned at the exchange. She herself had fallen afoul of Tojo's dry sense of humor several times, although the samurai always resolutely denied ever making jokes of any kind. She sipped occasionally from her glass of apple cider. It was far from her favorite drink, but it did remind her of Argo, who loved apples. Caroline tried to stop herself from also scanning the room for flies, but like yawning, it seemed to be contagious. She glanced over again at Aslan.
The paladin sat in the other chair, his fingers pressed together, staring grimly at the fire. With Elrohir not at his full self (although in all honesty, Caroline didn't see that much difference), and Argo absent, Aslan had definitely assumed command. With a methodical manner, he had surreptitiously scanned every staff member and every guest for evil, on the off-chance that one of them might be Nodyath in disguise. This struck Caroline as being extraordinarily rude, as well as potentially disastrous for business. If any one of those so examined had realized what Aslan was doing, they might well have taken great offense, which could have a ripple effect on their entire livelihood.
The paladin had grilled Cygnus so often on the details of his psionic assault that the magic-user had begun to get a headache again. Over supper, everyone had brought each other up to date, and Aslan had questioned everyone intensely. Jinella had retired up to the room upstairs that had been prepared for her, saying she would return in a few hours after she had meditated, but Caroline suspected she had merely wanted to get away from the paladin's paranoid demeanor. And considering Jinella was a priestess of the Invincible One, that was saying something.
Only Talass seemed to be throwing her full support behind Aslan's program. Big surprise, thought Caroline.
Although they were all armed, none of the fighters except Caroline were wearing their armor. Aslan had indicated that it would be easier to notice a fly landing on you without it, and it would not help in any case against a psionic attack. Caroline still wore her leather armor because she said it did not hinder her enough to make a difference. In truth, she wondered if she was just doing it to spite Aslan. She looked at the paladin again. She really did want to give Aslan the benefit of the doubt on all this. She knew he had their best interests at heart, but damn if he wasn't making it difficult. Very difficult.
The door to the Tall Tales Room opened. Jinella, once again clad in her gold and white surplice, walked slowly in. Aslan caught a glimpse of Tadoa bussing tables in the common room before the cleric softly closed the door behind her. Jinella then leaned back against the door and drew in a deep breath. She didn't look any more rested than before she had gone upstairs. In fact, she looked worse. Aslan rose from his chair, gesturing towards it with his hand. "Jinella, would you care to-"
The priestess shook her head with a wan smile. "Thank you Aslan, but I'm all right." She took another deep breath, again brushing her hair away from her face. "I have received a sending, a magical message delivered from Ethelred, my superior in the Valorous Church. He states that the two individuals you and Elrohir saw this morning vanished from the Prison not an hour from their placement there."
"What?" yelled Elrohir. He jumped to his feet; an expression of rage welded onto his features. Jinella flinched as the ranger grabbed the mug of tea from his wife, but he hurled it instead into the fireplace, where it lay in the flames, slowly glowing red. "What kind of system does the Baron have running here? Even after Nodyath killed my counterpart and freed Talat? Didn't he take precautions? Is he a complete and utter fool?" He glared at Jinella, breathing hard.
Jinella made an effort to compose herself. "Precautions were taken, Elrohir-"
"Not enough, it seems!"
Talass stood up now. "Elrohir, scaring all our guests off is not going to change what's happened, is it now?" Her voice was firm as she eyed her husband, who stamped his foot in frustration and stalked over to the mantelpiece.
The door slowly opened, and Tadoa stuck his head inside. "Is everything all right in here?" he asked in a tone of voice that made it perfectly clear that A) he knew it wasn't, and B) their voices were definitely carrying.
Everyone except Tojo immediately gave an astoundingly fake smile to show the child that A) things weren't even close to being all right, and B) they'd keep it to themselves from now on.
The elf rolled his eyes, muttered "humans" and closed the door.
"Exactly what precautions were taken, Jinella?" Aslan asked quietly. He had not resumed his seat, so Jinella slowly moved to it.
"I don't know precisely," she said, slowly sinking down into the chair. "A sending is always very brief, a few sentences, at most. The Baron of course, can utilize the resources of the Church and the Wizard's Guild at his discretion," she indicated, with a nod towards Zantac, who took up the thread.
"I'd imagine an alarm spell, designed to alert a priest or wizard that an area had been breached. They'd be ready with a teleport spell to transport there and deal with the interlopers. There are many variables, though, so I couldn't guess as to more," he shrugged with an apologetic expression.
"Why not have lethal deterrents already in place?" asked Cygnus, frowning.
"Too easy to dispel. Plus, there's always the possibility of the wrong person setting them off," Zantac replied.
Cygnus nodded, apparently satisfied with the explanation.
Talass spoke up. "Jinella, do we know who these people where?"
Jinella's eyes flickered down for a moment before she raised them to meet the gaze of her peer. She slowly nodded. "To a degree. The warrior is a local man named Sbalt. He's been a brigand in these parts for many years and has apparently risen through the ranks to gain command of his own band. The other man- the monk- is more disturbing, though. She brushed back her hair again and took a deep breath. "Ethelred seems to think that he may be- Dangerous Hands of the Emerald Serpent."
Elrohir, who had returned to his couch, leaned forward. "Who of the what now?"
Jinella looked at him curiously. "Have you not heard of the Emerald Serpent?"
The ranger shook his head. "No, but things seem to be slipping my mind these days." He glanced over at his compatriots, but their expressions told him he was not alone.
Except for Zantac, who had downed his remaining wine in one gulp. When Cygnus said 'a horrible death', he didn't know how right he was, he thought, shaking his head.
Jinella cleared her throat. "Well, I'll start first. Please jump in Zantac, if you know something I don't." The red-robed mage nodded silently.
"As you know, Furyondy is a lawful and just land," the cleric began. Elrohir and Caroline both rolled their eyes at this, but she continued. "Evil groups which might have tacit understandings with their lords to exist elsewhere gain no such succor here. They are hunted down and put to justice as quickly and surely as possible. Thus, those who might yet survive in such an environment would need be composed of the most powerful, ruthless and dangerous individuals in the land."
Aslan frowned. "A Thieves' Guild? Assassins?"
Jinella shook her head. "Not as large, and yet much more, good Aslan," she replied. "No one unifying purpose, at least that which we know of, binds these people together, save that they combine their forces in whatever ill scheme they might envision. It might be extortion, banditry, assassination, service to a dark deity, any number of things. The group itself is quite small. We guess no more than a dozen members total at any one time."
Elrohir's eyes widened. "That small? How are they so successful?"
"Several reasons. Foremost, secrecy. They take the greatest pains to mask any trace of their involvement in their schemes. We know none of their true names, only their self-imposed titles. The organization itself is named after their leader. We know nothing at all about the Emerald Serpent himself. Even divinations reveal nothing."
Aslan leaned forward thoughtfully. The look in Jinella's eye told him she had been thinking the same thoughts.
The cleric continued. "The second reason is that they are rumored to have connections in many powerful quarters."
"Zantac?" Caroline abruptly asked.
The wizard started, and then put his hand over his heart. "You'll be the death of me yet, Lady Bigfellow," he jokingly grimaced, then looked expectantly at her. "Yes?"
"You said back in Willip that we could utilize the resources of your Guild in getting into contact with my husband," Caroline stated.
Zantac nodded.
"I'm willing to forego that help, if we could instead use it to aid our current situation. What could we expect?"
"Well," Zantac looked introspective, chewing his lip. "The Guild library is open only to members. I might be able to find something in there that could help us."
"Could we expect any aid from your fellow guild members?" asked Caroline.
Zantac nodded. "Some. For instance, there's-"
And here he stopped dead. He didn't know exactly why, but something was telling him not to promise anything. He sat still, trying to make sense of this feeling.
The others looked at him, their expressions gradually growing more curious as the seconds ticked by. "Zantac?" asked Cygnus, nudging his fellow wizard gently.
Zantac looked at Cygnus, and then turned his gaze back towards Caroline. "I'm sorry, Lady Bigfellow-"
"Caroline, please," she smiled.
The magic-user smiled sheepishly for a moment. "Caroline, then. I'm sorry, I don't think that would be a good idea at this point."
"You suspect the Emerald Serpent has infiltrated your Guild, don't you?" asked Aslan, in an unusually frank tone for him.
Zantac eyed the paladin with just a touch of annoyance. "No, Aslan, I don't suspect that." Here he turned to look at Caroline again. "But I cannot absolutely rule it out, either."
Caroline nodded slowly. She was disappointed, but at the same time relieved at Zantac's honesty.
"Anyone in particular come to mind?" asked Cygnus.
Zantac looked back at him, a grim smile slowly appearing on his face. "You'll find out soon enough, Cygnus. You are still planning on coming back to Willip tomorrow to train up, no?"
Cygnus looked at Aslan, who nodded.
"We've already gone through this, Cygnus. Training up benefits all of us in ways we desperately need."
Except when Argo needs it, you pompous bastard. Caroline couldn't stop the thought.
Jinella cleared her throat again. "I will be returning with you."
Everyone looked at the priestess.
"Ethelred has commanded my return to report on what I have found. I told you it would be such, although I did not expect it so quickly. Undoubtedly, the debacle at the Prison has the potential to make many people look bad. I suspect the Church is pulling turtle," she explained with a grimace that made it clear she did not approve of such things.
"Will you return?" the paladin asked.
"I hope to, but I have no say in the matter," Jinella finished, her head now hanging down. She made no effort to brush her hair away now.
Elrohir stood up. "Let's turn in, people. All the protective spells possible have been cast. Let's hope for the best and get a good night's sleep."
Elrohir and Talass had gone up the stairs first, followed by Tojo. A few moments later, Jinella had begun the ascent, followed right behind by Cygnus and Zantac.
"I don't get my own room?" asked Zantac in mock outrage. "Jinella does!"
Cygnus smiled and thumped Zantac's chest. "She's a lot prettier than you are, roommate!" Zantac smiled as he watched Jinella momentarily hesitate before stepping out onto the second floor landing. I'll bet she's blushing, he thought. Either that or readying a curse. Cygnus, you scoundrel, you.
As they reached the door of Cygnus' room, the wizard turned to his peer again, seriously this time. "Zantac, what do I do if people at the Guild start asking me questions about Nodyath or the Emerald Serpent?"
Zantac's expression was grim. "Either say nothing-"
"-or lie like a rug?" Cygnus cut in, smiling.
Zantac nodded, while thinking No, Cygnus. That's only if you get caught.