Chapter 1: A Peaceable Kingdom

[Darren]

Leaning towards her, Kalarian gives his best smile. "Whatever you recommend, lovely girl." He seems to have momentarily forgotten the danger of the previous few days. In fact, he seems to have forgotten the rest of the table completely. He waves his hand in front of the girl, a small ball of light appearing and dancing around his fingers.

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Casting Prestidigitation. I assume that's a valid use of it? If not, come up with something else impressive to a commoner that he could do.

[Jeremy]

Goran grins at Kal, shaking his head at the incorrigible flirt.

"Just some hot tea for me, love."

[Joe]

Shaking his head, Streko nevertheless grins.

"An ale for me, young miss. Many thanks."

[Jeff]

Kal casts his spell, giving him the ability to perform minor magic tricks for the next hour, producing a small ball of light.

"Three sovereigns for the lot, then, my lord," the serving girl answers with a smile, then slips away to get the drink. She returns shortly with a massive pitcher, filling your table's oversized "chalice" with honey-scented mead. Then she distributes wooden mugs across the table.

She disappears and returns again with a steaming mug of tea for Goran. "A single crown will do," she tells him.

Taymra fills her mug without looking, absently sipping it. Her attention is fixed mostly on the rogue. "Before we try and revive him, I think we should decide what we all know, what you want to ask him, and what we will do if he doesn't cooperate."

[Joe]

The grin fades from Streko's face. Sitting next to the Rogue, he waves his hands at the barmaid, who obviously has her eyes and attention elsewhere.

"Excuse me! Miss? I requested an ale, please? In case you didn't hear me a moment ago?"

Streko mutters to himself.

Taymra fills her mug without looking, absently sipping it. Her attention is fixed mostly on the rogue. "Before we try and revive him, I think we should decide what we all know, what you want to ask him, and what we will do if he doesn't cooperate."

Streko removes a dagger from his backpack and slides it deftly between the rogue's legs, the sharp tip not quite an inch away from the comatose man's privates.

"He will cooperate. I assure you."

He smiles, but it isn't a happy smile. As if remembering himself, he closes his eyes, mutters a quick prayer to Olladra, opens them and fixes his gaze at Taymra.

"Apologies, My Lady. I am tired, sore and desperate for answers. I'm sick of having to repeat myself several times simply in order to gain the attention of the person I am speaking to and I want a bloody ale, a hot bath and a comfortable bed, so I am in no mood for games, least of which from the likes of one who would have me and my friends dead and silenced. No, My Lady, this Rogue will NOT ignore me or my friends and he WILL cooperate, or he will find himself no more a man than you yourself, may the Host forgive my vulgarity."

Streko tries to smile again, but he just comes across as exhausted.

[Jeff]

The serving girl returns with a lone mug of ale for Streko. She pauses for a moment when she sees the group discussing the rogue, but she dismisses it, then places the mug in front of Streko. "It's a bit watered down, I'm sorry to say, but this one's on the house. Mr. Wolton"—she indicates the halfling barkeep—"says he doesn't get enough halfling customers, so he's happy to provide."

Tangat has been sniffing at the ground since you first walked in. There's so much to smell here; Grafth would concur. His ears go up now, and points his nose in the air. Kal seems to think he's detected something of interest—something beyond just interesting food.

[Darren]

Continuing to entertain the serving girl with his magic tricks, Kal frowns slightly as he looks over at Tangat. Turning to the rest of the group, he points his thumb towards the wolfdog. "I believe he has something. I'm going to go with him, see what he's got. Anyone wish to join me for a moment?"

[Jeff]

Tangat's nose points in the direction of the bar, but he doesn't seem to want to head that way just yet.

Pellorien seems to find Streko's implications distasteful. "Look," she says. "Let's just start with what we know." She glances at Kal, as if to say Now that we're somewhere we chose to be.

She pulls out Gurend's primary possession, the small metal-bound, lockable book. The latch has been opened and was never re-fastened. Pellorien looks to Taymra. "This we took from Gurend, the changeling on the rail."

"I saw him, yes," the Orien heir answers.

Pellorien goes on to describe what she's gleaned from rifling through its pages: it is some sort of journal—written over time and in various inks and by the same hand—of intense arcane theory. There are scrawled notes, formulas, and diagrams throughout. It is extremely complex, beyond Pellorien's understanding of magic ("for now," she emphazies), with twisted runes and diagrams. Most of the symbols are some sort of off-shoot of Draconic, reputedly Eberron's oldest language, the language of dragons and most written arcana. Though the runes do not spell out words of power like a wizard's spellbook would. They are merely notes.

Evidently, on the road back to Fairhaven, Fenwolt looked through the book, too, but he was similarly stumped at its complexities. A sorcerer, wizard, or artificer of much greater power would probably be required to make further sense of the notes.

"The only thing Fenwolt felt sure of is that most of these notes refer to conjuration magic," Pellorien concludes.

Finally, she shows the front flyleaf page of the book, on which is written a single name: Daen ir'Turian. Pellorien shows various pages of the book to everyone at the table (tucking it away whenever the serving girl nears), but she never lets go of the book or allows anyone to peruse it on their own.

Kal feels he may have heard the name ir'Turian before, but it might just be from Lady Korvine's words. He's not quite sure.

"So," Taymra says, casting another hateful glare at the unconscious rogue. "Our friend here came looking for this book."

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Kal's Knowledge (royalty & nobility) check = 10
(He can make a second check if he gains some kind of access to a library that contains any kind of name archive.)
Streko's Knowledge (royalty & nobility) check = 6

[Josh]

Grafth looks at the book as Pellorien speaks, seeming to understand why people find objects so important, even if he doesn't particularly agree with the sentiment.

"If this book is valuable, I can see why people are after it. I'm curious, though... we have encountered several types of attacks thus far. Some merely wish us a speedy death, others seem to have more on their mind."

He takes a gulp from his drink, seeming mildly happy at the result. "If you were after a book, you might stab a man and try to take it from him... but would you blow up the rail car he sat on, risking the damage of the very item you're after?

"I feel as if more than one party might be involved... what say you all?"

[Jeff]

"There is some magic upon this book," Pellorien says to Grafth. "Mostly it was the lock, but I think it may have some preservative spell upon it to shield it from harm. But, if it were hit directly with a blast like...that one, I think it would have been destroyed regardless."

"Perhaps if they can't recover it, no one should?" Taymra asks, thinking. "But if they can follow you, they will. They have. Even an heir of Tharashk*, with the Mark of Finding, can use a spell to track a known object."

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* House Tharashk is a dragonmarked house of humans and half-orcs, bearing the Mark of Finding. They typically offer their services in the form of bodyguards, inquisitives, bounty hunters, and even mercenaries (often competing with House Deneith in the latter).

[Joe]

Turning to the rest of the group, he points his thumb towards the wolfdog. "I believe he has something. I'm going to go with him, see what he's got. Anyone wish to join me for a moment?"

"My Lord, let us wait a moment. We are all tired and hurt. We need more information before running off on another adventure. Whatever is out there, if it is important to us, will not be content to wait long for us to move. Let us glean more information and make some sort of plan."

The serving girl returns with a lone mug of ale for Streko. She pauses for a moment when she sees the group discussing the rogue, but she dismisses it, then places the mug in front of Streko. "It's a bit watered down, I'm sorry to say, but this one's on the house. Mr. Wolton"—she indicates the halfling barkeep—"says he doesn't get enough halfling customers, so he's happy to provide."

Streko listens intently and sips at his ale. He hands the serving girl a crown for delivering him the ale and thanks her. He nods to the halfling barkeep and raises his mug to him in salute.

"I feel as if more than one party might be involved... what say you all?"

"Indeed, that much is certain. What we need to do is found out WHY this book has cost so many lives and why its hunters are so intent to taking more, including our own."

[Darren]

"There may be multiple parties after the book, but there also may be multiple motives for coming after us. I think we need to draw our attackers out into the open. I think, maybe, we need to make it known through various channels that we have the book, and that we want to talk to those who want it. Maybe we should make them think we're willing to make a deal. It seems to be our only advantage right now."

Turning to Taymra, Kalarian says, "Also, what of this other survivor?"

[Josh]

Grafth nods at Kal's words, "Yes, tell us."

[Jeff]

I think, maybe, we need to make it known through various channels that we have the book, and that we want to talk to those who want it.

Taymra nods at Kal's words. "Not a bad idea...but I assume 'various channels' means this man, and would require us to let him go. If that's something you want to consider, we must pull everything out of him at first."

"Also, what of this other survivor?"

"That's him," she says, pointing up at the bar...directly in the direction of Tangat's sniffing nose.

A figure in a plain gray longcoat* sits at a stool, though he is mostly slouched on the bar itself. A head of thick black hair from behind is all you can see of him at first...until he reaches out with one arm to tap a cast iron goblet against the bar. Where the sleeve ends, coarse black hair covers his wrist and hand.

The dark-furred shifter from the rail!

The stools adjacent to the shifter on both sides are empty. At the foot of one of these is a human, who lays sleeping soundly upon the ground. From the man's black eye and slack posture, you don't think he drank himself into that state. The overall impression is that those around him, after some incident, have given him some space.

"From the site of the rail crash," Taymra says. "I tracked him to a village north of the rail line, where the locals said he'd passed out in the village square, but moved on early in the morning. I finally caught up to him just outside the city gates and convinced him to come here. He's been cooperative, if not very forthcoming. Mostly prompted by drink."

"He's not going anywhere soon, so I would leave him be for the moment." She looks around at the whole group. "Will someone tell me your side of the story? I'm getting only pieces of the whole."

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Note: If anyone does wish to tell Taymra the story, you needn't quote the whole thing; just describe what you would include/exclude.

* Basically, a trench coat.

[Josh]

Grafth wipes his mouth with his sleeve. "I'm no storyteller, but I'll tell you straight and simple what happened..."

Grafth tells of taking the wounded Gurend aboard the train, and of the attack immediately after the explosion. Excluding the farmhouse, he mentions that they found Fenwolt among the crash survivors- one of which may have been Streko's sister- and brought him along, knowing he had some involvement in the rail crash. He mentions only in passing that they were attacked at both the crash site and along the path to Fairhaven, likely by the Emerald Claw. He tells Taymra that once in Fairhaven, they sought out Fenwolt's family to alert them of his death, and that is where they encountered her.

He makes no mention of Malov or their meeting with Lady Korvine.

[Darren]

admin said:

I think, maybe, we need to make it known through various channels that we have the book, and that we want to talk to those who want it.

Taymra nods at Kal's words. "Not a bad idea...but I assume 'various channels' means this man, and would require us to let him go. If that's something you want to consider, we must pull everything out of him at first."

"Not necessarily, although sending him back to his superiors empty handed and with a message may work to our advantage as well. But I'm also sure that within your house as well as within mine there are those that have contacts to some shady elements within the city and who could pass the word around." Despite his smiles at the serving girl, Kalarian's tone and posture are completely business-like with the woman from House Orien.

[Jeremy]

As Grafth and Kal finish laying out the story, Goran mentions the charred heap, which was possibly two heads fused together by some magical fire (he's almost certain magic was involved) that he discovered near their trail on the way to Fairhaven, before the attack on the road. He's not sure what they hells it was, but he's sure it's part of this tale.

"One thing we should consider: This man-" he points to the rogue "-and his warforged did not, in fact, attack us, they merely made threats and then fought for their lives when we attacked them! I'm not singing the bastard's praises, mind you, but I think it might be significant."

"After all, there's a huge distance between using threats to steal something important, and a concerted effort to slaughter people. We don't actually know if this man and his rattletrap comrade really meant to kill us."

He looks at Tamyra for a moment.

"Maybe they wanted to kill her, begging your pardon, milady. Maybe, just maybe, they didn't even know who we were. It's possible. I think it's about time we woke this gentlemen and made his life uncomfortable again." he finishes, with a smile.

Goran gulps his tea. His eyebrows raise in a subtle expression of pleasant surprise. Clearly the quality of the tea is better than the last inn. He winks at Kal.

"Sorry my friend, but the inn by d'Orien makes better tea than the one by d'Deneith! As for the ale, I might investigate that later."

Goran is of course, only needling Kalarian. He just can't help himself.

"But I agree with Kal's theme here, I think it's time we confront and take action. The shadows offer us no safety anymore. I think the godsdamn door wardens across town know who we are by now!"

[Darren]

Kal grins at Goran, then uses his magic to send up a flare and attract the attention of the serving girl. "Another cup of tea for my friend here," he says, paying the girl in advance.

"You raise a good point, Goran, but I think it only plays to our favor. They did not initiate the attack. All the more reason to send him back to his superiors with a message that we will not be threatened. We should figure out a meeting place that we choose, a place that we can secure. Then we can find out who they are and what they want. But I want to send that message through more than just this man, because I think we may be dealing with several groups. Perhaps if we get them all together at once, they'll kill each other off and take some of the burden off of us." Kal gives a wicked smile at the thought, seeming to enjoy the intrigue and strategy.

[Jeremy]

Goran nods in appreciation for the tea. Just a glance at his eyes when the prospect of a fresh pot of tea is in the mix, and it's obvious this half-elf is a flat-out tea FIEND. Maybe it's the caffeine?

"Hmm, well, it would be handy and intelligent strategy to play our enemies off each other, but even if we could ensure that would happen, a lot of good people might still get killed. I'd rather know who our enemies are first.

Goran looks carefully at the rogue again*.

"My guess is that this fellow is either in serious trouble of his own making, or someone else's pawn. Either way, Tamyra's right, we've gotta get as much out of him as possible, and then set him loose...though that may be his death sentence. Probably his employers know by now that we have him. He looks passed out still, but for all we know he's listening to us right now, and feigning sleep. So watch what you say. Otherwise he might want to join our merry troop too!"

"We'll need a bargaining chip of some kind, something to offer us at least a little safety, before we stroll into a meeting. My guess is that in this town there are no places safe for us, not even the enclaves. For that, Kal, I am sincerely sorry, and I understand just a little of how you feel. So we'll need to stash the book, somewhere safe. They won't kill us, at least not all of us, until they know they can get their mitts on it. Of course, there are probably others who just want us dead and don't care about the book! For them I have no suggestions, except that even the mightiest foe has a weakness...no one is without a weakness."

Goran makes eye contact with Kal, and presents the dagger.

"The Lady Deneith gave this to me, as we dashed upstairs to see about Cutter, back at the inn. She said it might be of use to us. I take it as a genuine token that she fears for us, and for you, Kalarian, still. She gave it to me, but if you would like it, I will give it to you."

---

* Jeff, is there something I have in skills, etc., that would help be determine if the rogue is still truly passed out, or just faking it?

[Jeff]

Taymra shakes her head at Grafth's tale and Goran's additions.

"For what you've all gone through, House Orien should compensate you. When you ride the lightning rail, your safety is our province. But we were sabotaged somehow. Until the guilty parties are identified and the truth is laid bare publicly, I doubt very much that my house will acknowledge your duress. So...consider my help your compensation. I will use what influence I have with my house to assist you." She looks at the rogue. "And now it's personal."

"I do have an idea about the book. If they are using a locating spell, they must remain in close proximity to the subject. Which means they have to keep close to us, or it. And I've heard there may be ways to block such divination."

Kal, Pellorien, Oss, and Streko knows she speaks the truth. If the magic involved is anything like the Locate Object spell, the range of such "tracking" begins at 400 ft. and there are things that can block it.

"Another possibility is to seek help from a third party. House Kundarak might be able to help us. Protecting goods, property, and coin...that's their thing. If we stash away this book..."

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Oss's Spellcraft check = 18
Kal's Spellcraft check = 14
Pellorien's Spellcraft check = 15
Streko's Spellcraft check = 16

Jeremy: a Spot check (rolled at my end) can determine things like that, just as Spot is used to notice a pickpocket attempt or whether or not an ally is acting under some magical influence. As it is, none of your party seems to think that the rogue is faking it. That said, it is hard to be sure.

[Darren]

Kalarian gives the dagger a good look, removing it from its sheath and examining the blade. (Jeff, whatever kind of Knowledge, Appraise or otherwise check might be appropriate here.)

To Taymra he says, "I think there are already too many people involved right now, as it is. I don't see the need to get anyone else involved. Especially not another house. Know that I have been in contact with members of House Deneith, and while there is no formal investigation being launched, they are as interested to know the outcome as we are. And you're right Goran, we do need more information on our enemies, but as I say, I think that unless we draw them out into the open, we will never even know who our enemies are. If you are concerned about trying to draw them out inside of the city, we could perhaps let it be known that we will be somewhere else at a given time, and look to control the situation there. Somewhere outside of the city, if you choose. But let it be somewhere where WE are in control of the situation. Let us have the area well scouted, and our own people in position to protect us. Let us have a representative who will talk, and others who will watch and be ready for action. Let us no longer be victims to our enemies, my friends."

[Josh]

As Grafth watches Goran pass the blade to Kal, a thought crosses his mind. "You know, this mention of tracking the book... do you think you might have been given that dagger so that we might be magically tracked by Deneith as well?"

He looks to Oss and the others, "While we may have been a bit too mistrusting before, a little skepticism is a good thing, the more I think about it. Is there a way we can negate this type of effect?"

[Jeremy]

Goran nods at Grafth's suggestion.

"That did occur to me, but I also realized that in this town, I doubt very much the Lady would need this sort of prop to locate Kalarian. She would have other ways of doing that. Also, I didn't sense that kind of trickery from her when she gave me the blade."

He glances at Kal with a fiendish grin.

"Now...ah...meeting them outside, in the wild, that would be a different matter. I would be in favor of that."

Goran pronounces the world "Wild" as though a hungry predator....

[Jeff]

Kal takes a good look at the dagger. Certainly a masterwork dagger, something he'd expect to be worth well more than three hundred galifars. But when he draws the dagger out of its sheathe to examine the blade, it glows with a pale white light as brightly as a candle flame. It is rare for any weapon that glows like this to be merely a device of illumination. The sheathe is carved with sigils and the blade—unless Kal is mistaken—appears to be made of silver. Beneath the glow, it's difficult to tell.

He doesn't see any marks on it that suggest that it's any association with Deneith.

[Jeremy]

admin said:

Certainly a masterwork dagger, something he'd expect to be worth well more than three hundred galifars.

D'oh!

Stupid generous nature....

[Darren]

Returning the blade to its sheath, Kal hands the dagger back to Goran. "A bit small for my tastes," Kal says, patting the sharrash at his side. "I imagine the time will come when we will need this weapon. I don't imagine Lady Korvine would have given it to you if she didn't feel that its use would be important. I will ask her about it the next time I see her."

[Jeff]

To Taymra he says, "I think there are already too many people involved right now, as it is. I don't see the need to get anyone else involved. Especially not another house.

Taymra looks at Kal. "You would prefer I stay out of this? I can only back away so much. I am only offering to help you, to be the hand of Orien, if you require its services. They didn't send me to you. My official involvement ended when I first investigated the Ferenthoron residence. We learned what they could, and the rest of that massacre was handled by the city. The rest of the rail incident is being handled by others in my house. I'm not privvy to that. I am only an...honorary member of the Transportation Guild."

[Josh]

"I feel Kalarian was referring more to the entire House as a whole, not to you in particular," Grafth says, attempting to avoid any needless argument. "I for one want to know more from you, and of you."

He pauses, "So, where do we go from here? I would still like to head to Passage, for one. Perhaps we can see if there is more to uncover there. Personally, Fairhaven is feeling a bit... crowded... to me right now."

[Jeff]

Taymra smiles. "And I still don't have your names....except hers." She indicates Pellorien. "Can we start there?"

[Josh]

Grafth introduces the group, only names. After all, that's about all he knows, as well.