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Tales of the Legacy - Concluded
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<blockquote data-quote="Delemental" data-source="post: 2659309" data-attributes="member: 5203"><p>Xu opened the door to her room at The Cedar Grove and saw her roommates sitting together in front of the fireplace. The large room held five beds as well as the sitting area, and normally each was separated by a screen of cedar panels. The panels had been moved aside to open up the room. Arrie sat on one of the couches near the fire, writing a letter. Kavan sat on the floor, with Lanara perched behind her on a chair trying to comb out her hair. Lanara looked up at Xu when she walked in.</p><p></p><p>“Yes, we look like schoolgirls having a slumber party,” she said. Then she cocked her head to the side. “Something the matter, Xu?”</p><p></p><p>“There is something that I think you should know,” Xu said. The others quickly focused on the monk as she crossed the room and sat in a plush chair. “Where is Autumn?”</p><p></p><p>“She went for a walk with Tolly,” Arrie said. “We can fill her in when she gets back.”</p><p></p><p>“I thought she was still out with Kyle,” Kavan said.</p><p></p><p>“No, she got back and then went and asked Tolly to go for a stroll. You were downstairs at the time, Maddie.”</p><p></p><p>“Maddie?” Xu asked, curiously.</p><p></p><p>The elven favored soul grinned. “It’s short for Madrone. It’s my new female name. I came up with it while you were out on your date with Togusa.”</p><p></p><p>“It was not a ‘date’,” Xu said. “Neither of us have many opportunities to converse in our own language or hear news of home.”</p><p></p><p>“Okay, fine, it wasn’t a date.” Kavan turned away from Xu, but not before flashing a surreptitious wink for Lanara.</p><p></p><p>“But Xu was just saying that she had something to tell us,” Arrie said.</p><p></p><p>Xu nodded. “Do you remember some time ago, in that restaurant in Trageon, when I told all of you that I had once been engaged but left when I decided that I did not want to marry?”</p><p></p><p>Everyone nodded. “Yeah, during spring break,” Lanara said.</p><p></p><p>“My account was not entirely accurate. I described my husband to be as a nobleman; a more proper term might be ‘warlord’. However, Lord Hungai was a prosperous warlord, and seemed set to rise in station. My parents, who are merchants, thought it would be wise to establish a connection with Hungai the Great; thus I was offered as a bride. But upon meeting him, I found him to be a repugnant man with few redeeming qualities. Despite the shame I knew it would bring to my family, I simply could not stay and be wed to him. So I ran, and after a time I came here, hoping to elude him.”</p><p></p><p>“But…” Arrie prompted.</p><p></p><p>“But Lord Hungai is as persistent as he is vain. Apparently he has declared that I will be his wife no matter what the cost, and has been searching for me. Tonight, I learned from Togusa that those hunters have arrived on this continent, and are certain to locate me soon.”</p><p></p><p>Kavan’s eyes flashed. “This Hungai can’t make you do anything you don’t want to do. We’ll cut off his balls first.”</p><p></p><p>The other women in the room heartily agreed. Although Xu’s intention in telling her story was only to warn her friends of the danger she might bring upon them, and not to plead for assistance, it felt reassuring to know they would side with her against Hungai’s men. Xu was confident that the men in the next room over would feel the same.</p><p></p><p>Xu flashed her friends one of her rare smiles. “Thank you for listening to my story,” she said. “But in the morning it will be Ariadne who requires your aid, not I. Unfortunately, there are some matters I must attend to immediately in regard to Hungai’s bounty hunters. I must endeavor to find out how long they have been in Affon, and how close they may be. I can do this myself; I see no need yet to ask for your assistance, as the rest of you will need to search for this Neville. I will leave early in the morning, and return when I have learned all I can.”</p><p></p><p>The others nodded their agreement. “Just stay out of trouble,” said Lanara. Then the cansin yawned loudly. “Well, Maddie, there’s not much more I can do with your hair until it grows out a little more.”</p><p></p><p>“Kyle said he might be able to help with that,” said Kavan, who was now Madrone. “He said something about altering a <em>prestidigitation </em>spell.”</p><p></p><p>“Well, you can talk to him in the morning,” Lanara said. “Right now I want to go to sleep.” The bard scrambled into her bed and was snoring within minutes. The other women began to prepare for bed as well, changing into night-clothes or tying back their hair.</p><p></p><p>“You coming to bed?” Maddie asked Arrie, who was still sitting up on her bed.</p><p></p><p>“I’ll wait for Autumn,” she said. “Go to sleep.”</p><p></p><p>Arrie sat and tried to finish her letter, but found she couldn’t concentrate. She folded it up and put it away in her pack, and then sat for a while and stared at the fire, feeling unusually relaxed as she thought about having to hunt down Neville again. This time, we make sure, she thought. The thought made her smile inexplicably, as though it were somehow funny. <em>I must be more tired than I thought. I’m feeling loopy. Tor’s Teeth, I’ve been feeling loopy since dinner.</em></p><p></p><p>She stood up suddenly and went to the pitcher of water that sat next to her bed, pouring herself a glass. “Hurry up, Autumn, or I’ll fall asleep before you get back,” she muttered to herself. “You’ve got something big going on, and I want to know what it is.”</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center">* * *</p><p></p><p> Autumn and Tolly strolled quietly along a wide cobblestone street that ran along one edge of the massive bridge that supported Miracle. The quiet rush of the water far below them was punctuated occasionally by the shouts of revelers or the occasional burst of music coming from the city’s many taverns and narcotic dens.</p><p></p><p> “Disgusting,” Tolly said, as an obviously drug-addled cluster of gnomes stumbled by. “I can hardly believe that people would allow themselves to lose control so readily.”</p><p></p><p> Autumn didn’t respond, but walked quietly next to Tolly, keeping her eyes on the stones at her feet. A cold wind blew in off the river, ruffling the edges of her cloak and causing her to shiver involuntarily.</p><p></p><p> “Here, take my cloak as well,” Tolly said, unfastening the clasp around his neck. But as he began to put it around her shoulders, Autumn held up a hand to stop him.</p><p></p><p> “Tolly, I need to talk to you,” she said.</p><p></p><p> There was a moment of uncomfortable silence, then Autumn looked up at the Ardaran, reaching out and taking his hand in a comforting grasp. “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately, especially with my recent death. And… I’ve realized a lot of things that I should have realized sooner. One of those things was that I had died because I’d put myself in front of Kyle, and died protecting him.”</p><p></p><p> “Kyle has always had a disturbing lack of concern for his own personal safety,” Tolly said quickly. “For one not trained in hand to hand combat, he…”</p><p></p><p> Autumn silenced him with a squeeze on his hand. “I had a lot of choices in that battle. Arrie had just fallen to that acolyte of the skin, and I could have gone to her aid. The priest of Fiel had not yet been challenged in combat, and I could have gone to face him. Instead, I stepped in front of the monstrosity that used to wield the axe I now carry, and…” she let her voice trail off.</p><p></p><p> “I thought a lot about that during my recovery,” she continued after a time. “I chose to go to Kyle’s side; I chose to die defending him. It made me realize something – that I truly loved him.”</p><p></p><p> Tolly made a slightly startled noise in the back of his throat, barely perceptible over the noise of the river and the city around them. He felt his grip on Autumn’s hand tighten involuntarily.</p><p></p><p> “Once, you gave me a token of your affection, Tolly.” She let go of Tolly with one hand and reached into a pocket, pulling out the cold-forged iron rose that he had made for her on the ship to the Haran Desert. “I’m not entirely certain what meaning that held for you at the time, though I can guess your intent. But Tolly, I need to clear the air between us and make sure that we understand one another. I’m going to be with Kyle, but I wish for us to be friends as we always have been.”</p><p></p><p> There was another long silence. “Oh,” was all Tolly could say for a while. He turned and looked out over the water, not really finding any solace in it.</p><p></p><p> “I wanted you to understand that this wasn’t some rash decision I made,” Autumn said quietly.</p><p></p><p> “That’s… good,” Tolly said, with no weight behind the words. “Um, I…um… this is… unexpected. But… I’ll recover.” He turned back to face Autumn, who was holding out the iron rose, offering it back to him. “Keep the rose,” he said.</p><p></p><p> Autumn pulled Tolly close and hugged him, and kissed his cheek. “Thank you for understanding,” she said, “and I’m sorry.” She pulled back after holding the embrace for a moment. “Do you want to walk back to the inn with me?” she asked.</p><p></p><p> “No, I think I would like to stay out a little longer,” he said. “Perhaps walk down by that area over there.” He pointed off in a vague direction into the city.</p><p></p><p> “I understand,” Autumn said. “Good night, Tolly.” She slowly turned and walked away, leaving Tolly standing alone.</p><p></p><p> When Autumn was out of sight, Tolly walked over and leaned against the stone wall at the edge of the bridge, watching the reflection of the moon dance in the water below. He stood there, unmoving, for nearly ten minutes as the world went past around him.</p><p></p><p> Finally, he stood up straight. “So be it,” he said out loud to no one in particular, then he turned and strode off down the street, taking the long way back.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center">* * *</p><p></p><p> The next morning, everyone woke up to the sound of Autumn screaming.</p><p></p><p> “KAVAN!!”</p><p></p><p> Lanara sat straight up in bed, her head wrapped in sheets, and thrashed around trying to get untangled. In the next bed over, Maddie (who naturally had not yet stopped responding to her old name, especially when shouted at high volume) rolled out of her mattress and quickly ran over to where Autumn stood, white as a sheet, over her sister Arrie’s bed. A second later, Kyle burst into the room, and came to Autumn’s side after he saw that no one was being attacked. Osborn was a few steps behind him, and Lanara finally won her battle with the bedsheets and joined the others. Xu’s neatly made bed indicated that she had already left the inn.</p><p></p><p> “She’s… she’s… not breathing!” Autumn stammered. “Kavan, do something! Help her!”</p><p></p><p> Maddie knelt down next to Arrie, not bothering to correct Autumn now. Gingerly she felt the warrior’s skin, and noticed that it was cold and pale. True to Autumn’s word, there was no tell-tale rising and falling of her chest. She quickly intoned a spell and began examining Arrie under its effects. Kyle, standing just above Maddie, was also peering intently at Arrie, his eyes sparkling as he activated his ability to see magical auras.</p><p></p><p> “Strange,” said Maddie quietly to Kyle. “Arrie seems to be neither alive nor dead.” She turned to the sentinel. “Autumn, how did this happen?”</p><p></p><p> “I don’t know,” Autumn sobbed. “She was sleeping soundly when I got home last night. This morning I came to wake her up, and I found her like this.”</p><p></p><p> Behind them, Tolly came walking in to the room, looking like he’d slept poorly. “What’s going on?” he said tersely.</p><p></p><p> “Something’s wrong with Arrie,” Osborn told him. “She looks like she’s dead.”</p><p></p><p> “There’s an odd aura around her,” Kyle said. “Very complex, tricky to make out. It seems to be a mix of necromantic magic and conjuration. Nothing I’ve ever seen before.”</p><p></p><p> Tolly scowled, then cast a <em>detect magic</em> spell of his own and studied the aura as well. Maddie whispered her own findings to him as he worked. “Necromancy and conjuration,” he confirmed, then turned to Autumn. “What is it about your sister that attracts necromancers?” he snapped. “First someone tries to put her grandfather’s soul in her, then someone makes her ‘dead but not dead’?”</p><p></p><p> “She’s not dead?” Autumn said, seemingly oblivious to Tolly’s castigation.</p><p></p><p>“No.” He stooped and examined Arrie closely before Autumn could respond, lifting her arms and legs and pressing his fingers into her flesh. “There is no physical reason for her to be dead,” he announced.</p><p></p><p> Maddie leaned over and peeled one of Arrie’s eyelids open. “The eyes are rolled back as if she were asleep, not staring like the eyes of a dead body.” She stood and looked at Autumn. “I think we should probably tie her up.”</p><p></p><p> “What? Why?”</p><p></p><p> “Just to be safe. We’ll be gentle, and we won’t hurt her.”</p><p></p><p> “I’m not leaving her.”</p><p></p><p> “That’s fine,” Maddie said.</p><p></p><p> Kyle stepped up and put his arm around the sentinel. “Autumn, we don’t know what’s happened to Arrie. The necromancy part of the magic affecting her could be what’s put her in this not quite dead state; maybe it separated her soul from her body. The conjuration could be an attempt to summon something to replace it.”</p><p></p><p> “Or the conjuration is a way to keep her soul bound,” Tolly said.</p><p></p><p> “Fine,” said Autumn, “but I’m not leaving her.” She looked at Kyle. “Isn’t this considered harmful to her? Wouldn’t the person responsible now be banished from the city?”</p><p></p><p> “I don’t think so,” Lanara said. “Sorry, Autumn, but she technically hasn’t been killed yet, and she hasn’t been hurt otherwise. The person who did this knows what they’re doing.”</p><p></p><p> “We all know who’s responsible,” said Autumn.</p><p></p><p> The party began talking rapidly among themselves, suggesting ideas or theories about what to do. Lanara, who for once had nothing to say, went over to get a mug of water. She poured some from the nearby pitcher, and raised it to her lips. Suddenly she stopped, sniffing at the water inside.</p><p></p><p> “Hey, guys? This isn’t so good.” She extended the mug to the group. “Someone want to check this out?”</p><p></p><p> Both Kyle and Tolly stepped forward, peering at the mug with their active detection spells.</p><p></p><p> “Lingering magic,” Tolly confirmed.</p><p></p><p> “Necromancy and conjuration,” Kyle agreed. Then he sniffed the water. “And something else. It smells like… apples and metal. Odd.” Kyle handed the mug back to Lanara, and then walked out of the room, returning a minute later with his belt. He pulled out a few alchemical supplies and began working on the tainted water, trying to analyze it.</p><p></p><p> Lanara watched him work, a frown curling the edge of her mouth. Apples and metal… the combination reminded her of something, something she knew she should know but couldn’t get off the tip of her tongue. Everyone was talking about magic, and spells, and curses… somehow, that didn’t seem right to her. She mentioned this thought to the others.</p><p></p><p> “Huh,” Kyle said, scratching his head, “you’re right, Lanara. There’s something about that smell that’s familiar. I can’t place it either.”</p><p></p><p> “Perhaps this substance was the carrier for the magic affecting Arrie,” Tolly suggested.</p><p></p><p> “Well, that is what Neville’s known for; being able to place powerful spells into potions.”</p><p></p><p> Autumn looked over at Kyle. “Didn’t Arrie say that he was killing off members of the original Hunt?”</p><p></p><p> “Yes,” answered Tolly, “and one body has disappeared.”</p><p></p><p> Autumn clutched her sister’s still form tightly. “No one’s taking her anywhere.”</p><p></p><p> Kyle finished his work on the tainted water. Although he wasn’t able to identify it, he realized there were two different substances in the mug, besides water; the apple-metal poison, and a sediment of very, very fine crystals. A quick check of the pitcher next to Arrie’s bed confirmed that the substance was only in the mug. Kyle handed the mug to Maddie, and asked if she could purify it. After she complied, he scooped a layer of the crystals off the top and shook them into an empty vial. He looked at the others, and shook his head.</p><p></p><p> “I don’t have enough equipment to figure this out here,” he said. “But I can take it to an alchemist in the city and have them take a look.”</p><p></p><p> Lanara walked over to the trunk at the foot of her bed and pulled out one of her magical instruments. “Do you think a spell to halt the poison’s progress would help?” she asked.</p><p></p><p> Kyle suddenly slapped his forehead. “That’s it!” he shouted.</p><p></p><p> “What?” said several of the party at once.</p><p></p><p> “The conjuration portion of the spell!” he said. “It’s a <em>delay poison</em> spell! I didn’t recognize it at first because it’s not a typical arcane magic!” He walked over and picked up the strange-smelling mug. “Here’s what I think happened. Whatever poison’s in this mug should have killed Arrie. But the spell embedded in it is halting the poison’s progress just shy of the point of death. Neville’s smart enough to know not to kill her, or he’d be banished.”</p><p></p><p> “So, she’s in a stasis right now,” Tolly said.</p><p></p><p> “Well, then, delaying the poison further can’t hurt,” said Lanara, who put her fingers to her lute.</p><p></p><p> “No!” Kyle shouted, grabbing her wrist. “Don’t.”</p><p></p><p> “Why not?” Autumn asked, eyes flashing.</p><p></p><p> “Because it might kill her,” Kyle said, trying to sound calm. “Casting another <em>delay poison</em> might act as a counterspell, not as an enhancer, which would end the protection and kill her. The other problem is that necromantic magic in there. It’s tightly interwoven with the conjuration, and they’re in a very delicate balance. Even if casting another <em>delay poison</em> wouldn’t dispel the effect on Arrie, it would throw the balance off. I think that the necromantic effect would then take hold and kill her.”</p><p></p><p> “Crap,” Lanara said, lowering her lute.</p><p></p><p> Kyle shook his head. “Whoever this Neville is, he’s good… very good. The way he’s set this up, if we try to end the spell she dies, and then it’s our fault, not his, and we end up banished from Miracle. He’s made the knife and put it to her heart, but we’d be the ones pushing it in.” Kyle studied the aura again for a minute. “I can’t tell how long the <em>delay poison</em> will last,” he said. “I’d guess we have a while, but I can’t say how long for certain. But most spells like that don’t last forever.”</p><p></p><p> “Perhaps a <em>death ward</em>?” offered Tolly.</p><p></p><p> Kyle shook his head. “Neville would have thought of that. I suspect the necromantic magic isn’t a simple death spell.”</p><p></p><p> “What if we used a <em>sleep </em>spell?” Lanara said. “Maybe it’ll help slow things down more.”</p><p></p><p> “No, a <em>sleep </em>spell only works on weaker creatures. I doubt…” Kyle cut off suddenly, and looked at Lanara. The two of them lit up at the same time as a thought crossed their minds.</p><p></p><p> “Tincture of corundum,” they said in unison.</p><p></p><p> “What’s tincture of corundum?” Osborn asked.</p><p></p><p> Lanara picked up the poisoned mug. “It’s a sedative. A lot of people use it as a sleep aid.” She smelled the mug again. “But not this strong. It’s usually very, very diluted; a vial of it can last a person every night for a month. That’s why it took us a while to place this metallic apple smell; usually when you use it, it’s too dilute to be noticeable. There was probably enough in here to drop a horse.”</p><p></p><p> “Or kill a human,” Tolly concluded.</p><p></p><p> Autumn looked up from Arrie. “Everyone should check their own water pitchers and mugs. Neville may be trying to kill all of us.”</p><p></p><p> “I suspect that he is targeting Arrie specifically because she was in the original Hunt,” Tolly said.</p><p></p><p> Kyle looked worried. “Maybe someone should go to the church of Tor and check on Togusa.”</p><p></p><p> “Right,” said Maddie, “I’ll go.”</p><p></p><p> “I’ll go with you,” Lanara said. “There’s not much else I can do here.”</p><p></p><p> They turned to leave, and the instant they turned into the hallway outside their door they ran straight into Togusa.</p><p></p><p> “My apologies,” he said to them. “But Ariadne was to meet me this morning at the church, and did not arrive. Is everything all right?”</p><p></p><p> “Not really,” Maddie said. “It’s a bit of a mess up here, but I’m glad to see you’re all right. Come on in.”</p><p></p><p> “Wait,” he said, “there is trouble downstairs as well. Apparently the innkeeper’s teenage son is dying. His lips are turning blue and he’s not breathing, I heard someone say. I came up here to get help for them.”</p><p></p><p> Maddie and Lanara looked at each other. “We’ll go. Get someone in there to fill you in.”</p><p></p><p> After the two women left, and Togusa entered the room and was brought up to speed, Tolly turned to Kyle. “Perhaps we could try casting a…”</p><p></p><p> Kyle held up a hand to stop Tolly. “I don’t think we should do anything. I don’t want to just start throwing random spells at Arrie and saying ‘maybe this will help’. Until we can figure out how to dispel this particular spell, I don’t want to risk it.”</p><p></p><p> “We need to find out how the water was poisoned in the first place,” Tolly said. “We should speak with the innkeeper.”</p><p></p><p> “Let’s wait until they deal with his kid dying, shall we?” said Osborn.</p><p></p><p> “It could be related,” Tolly said.</p><p></p><p> “And we’ll find out… later. Right now we should figure out what to do with Arrie.”</p><p></p><p> “Our course is obvious,” Togusa said. “We must hunt down Neville and force him to give us the cure before we kill him.”</p><p></p><p> “I’m not leaving Arrie,” Autumn repeated.</p><p></p><p> “But we may need your assistance in capturing Neville,” Tolly said.</p><p></p><p> “She didn’t leave my side, I’m not leaving her.”</p><p></p><p> “Perhaps she could be left in the care of the church of Tor, or Paccë,” Tolly suggested.</p><p></p><p> Togusa shook his head. “Another one of the bodies of the original Hunt has disappeared. I would recommend that you not…”</p><p></p><p> “She’s not going anywhere,” Autumn snapped.</p><p></p><p> “Do you have any way of taking her with you?” Togusa said.</p><p></p><p> “The cart?” Osborn suggested.</p><p></p><p> “That doesn’t really solve the problem,” Kyle said.</p><p></p><p> “What about your <em>portable hole</em>?” Tolly asked.</p><p></p><p> Autumn glared at Tolly. “You want me to put my sister in my <em>portable hole</em>?”</p><p></p><p> “It would make sense,” Tolly said. “She does not need to breathe while in there, and she would be out of Neville’s reach. And she would be with you at all times, and we could get to her quickly if needed. And if she were secure in the hole, then we would not need to bind her up.”</p><p></p><p> Autumn sat unmoving for a moment, then finally nodded her head. She opened the trunk at the foot of her bed, and dug out the folded square of black cloth. “The weapons and armor we are hoping to sell are still in there,” she said quietly, holding out the cloth.</p><p></p><p> Kyle took the <em>portable hole</em> and spread it out on the floor. “We can leave that stuff here. Come on, guys, help me empty this out.”</p><p></p><p> They worked for a few minutes stacking armor and weapons on the far side of the room, then covering the pile with blankets. Autumn carried Arrie over and placed her inside, bringing a pillow and some blankets to make her as comfortable as possible. As she finished, Kyle climbed down into the hole holding one of his light globes and a sheet of parchment. He set both down next to her, the globe glowing softly.</p><p></p><p> “In case we fix this while she’s in here, and she wakes up,” Kyle explained. “The note lets her know where she is and what happened, so she doesn’t freak out.”</p><p></p><p> Tolly, standing above them at the edge of the hole, watched the two of them talk for a moment, then unfastened a necklace from around his neck and tossed it down. “This necklace provides breathable air,” he said. “Put it on her, just in case.”</p><p></p><p> Lanara and Maddid came back into the room, just as Autumn and Kyle climbed out of the hole. Maddie was holding a wine glass, with a strange red gelatinous lump in the bottom. “Kyle, we need you to tell us what this is,” Maddie said.</p><p></p><p> “What’s going on?” asked Osborn as Kyle took the glass and sat down on a bed. “How’s the innkeeper’s son?”</p><p></p><p> “Alive, barely,” said Lanara. “We got down there and he looked like he was fighting to stay awake. He was so sedated his heart and lungs were failing. I used my <em>delay poison</em> spell from my lute, which seemed to hold things at bay. They’re sending for a healer now.”</p><p></p><p> “We had the family search the inn for anything that smelled like apples and metal, thinking it was that tincture you mentioned,” Maddie continued. “They found a water pitcher with that smell, and also found this wine glass near the boy’s bed. We searched the children’s room in the attic, and found this under the boy’s bed.” Maddie held out a pouch with a single gold coin inside. “Unusual for a boy his age to have a gold coin, don’t you think? I think he’s selling drugs, or maybe himself.”</p><p></p><p> “Or maybe,” Kyle suggested, “someone came up to him last night and offered him a nice shiny gold coin if he made sure that a particular water pitcher ended up next to Arrie’s bed.”</p><p></p><p> Maddie’s eyes widened. “I hadn’t thought about that.”</p><p></p><p> “It was the first thing I thought of,” Osborn commented.</p><p></p><p> “The innkeeper’s wife said that the pitcher we found was from last night,” Lanara said, “and would have been replaced with a fresh one this morning. She had no idea which room it came from, but I think we can guess.” She glanced over at Arrie’s bedside table.</p><p></p><p> “And the wine glass?” Osborn asked.</p><p></p><p> “From last night as well. Mom thinks that the boy snuck an unfinished glass off to his room last night after serving the dinner guests.”</p><p></p><p> “Who else is staying here?” Tolly asked.</p><p></p><p> “Besides us, there was a merchant that left this morning, and a young newlywed couple, who are still in their room,” Lanara said. “The innkeeper was going to check on them, though his wife said that she could… well, hear them last night.”</p><p></p><p> Kyle finished his work and looked up. “It’s a drug,” he said. “It’s called Dreams of Tedros. It’s a very mild sedative and hallucinogen, purely recreational. It’s meant to be mixed with wine, as it doesn’t affect the flavor of the wine or the potency of the drug. Used properly it’s harmless, but this is a pretty large amount. If he got hold of that, and then took some tincture of corundum, the effects would multiply. That’s what’s killing him.”</p><p></p><p> “You should go tell the innkeeper’s wife,” Lanara said, “let them know what they should do.”</p><p></p><p> Kyle nodded and left the room.</p><p></p><p> Togusa turned to the others. “We should report to the church of Tor to let them know of Araidne’s condition,” he said.</p><p></p><p> After spending a few minutes collecting their gear, the party made their way to the church of Tor, picking up Kyle on the way out and handing him his equipment. As they walked, Togusa turned to the others.</p><p></p><p> “Once we report to the church, we can try and find where Neville is,” he said.</p><p></p><p> “I learned last night that he has a townhouse here,” Lanara said. “When he’s in town, he never leaves it. Sends that orc-touched out to run errands and buy supplies. They just call him ‘The Brute’. A lot of people end up disappearing when he’s in town, too.”</p><p></p><p> “Some of the prostitutes I talked to yesterday mentioned The Brute,” Maddie added. “Apparently he’s so foul that there’s only two women in town that will service him. I spoke to one, she said that his skin is cold and he’s covered in scars.”</p><p></p><p> “Do you know where this townhouse is?” Togusa asked Lanara.</p><p></p><p> She shook her head. “Not enough time last night to get that far.”</p><p></p><p> “What else did you learn about Neville?” he asked.</p><p></p><p> “Not much else. He only leaves or enters the city at night. He rides in a big carriage, pulled by these strange, twisted horses. Last time he was here, someone got too close to one of the horses and almost lost a hand. And he’s been coming here for some time – well before you and Arrie shoved him into that river a few years back. After that, no one heard from him for about six months, and for another six months after that there were rumors he was around but nothing could be confirmed. There were confirmed sightings of Neville and The Brute after that. Seems he now comes into Miracle an average of every seven weeks or so, and stays anywhere from a day to a week.”</p><p></p><p> Togusa shook his head. “That monster has been practicing his trade for that long, and we are only now learning of it? Shameful.”</p><p></p><p>“I tried to get an idea of what kinds of things he’s been making,” Kyle said. “Some of the ingredients The Brute buys are used to make common street drugs, but others can be used for things like poisons, or really nasty stuff like Liquid Pain.”</p><p></p><p> “What’s Liquid Pain?” Osborn asked.</p><p></p><p> “The distilled life-force of someone who has been tortured to death,” Kyle said. “It’s used to provide the energy needed to make magic items, so that the creator doesn’t have to use so much of his own.”</p><p></p><p> “To make things like magical potions, for example,” Tolly clarified.</p><p></p><p> Kyle nodded. “I tried to get a sense of what kind of spells thus guy can supposedly make into potions, but no one I spoke to knows enough about magic to tell me for sure. All I can say is be careful what you drink in his house.”</p><p></p><p> “I think that we should purify anything we want to eat or drink,” Maddie said.</p><p></p><p> “Agreed,” said Kyle, who then turned to address Togusa. “So, you and Arrie fought Neville and his servants once before. What can we expect?”</p><p></p><p> “Those who serve Neville are usually merely those who have lost their minds and free will to the narcotics that he peddles. The effects of the drugs make them stronger and faster than normal people, and nearly impervious to pain, but also fairly mindless. We learned the hard way that magics meant to influence or confuse the mind are useless.”</p><p> “So, they’re kind of like the undead,” Kyle said.</p><p></p><p> “Yes, except that they are still living beings, and so a spear to the heart or the severing of an artery will kill them. Besides them, there are Neville’s creations; animals mutated and crossbred with strange animals. The horses that pull his carriage are an example. Though we did not encounter any during our battle with Neville, there is also rumor that he has altered sentient creatures in similar ways.”</p><p></p><p> As Togusa talked, Autumn walked up next to Kyle and took his hand, holding it tightly. He squeezed back reassuringly.</p><p></p><p> The party arrived at the temple of Tor, which in reality was a largish townhouse with a large statue of Tor in the front, and a symbol of a hound’s head carved in marble over the doorway. The party walked inside, and came to a large open room. A middle-aged man sat at a desk near the back corner. Most of the party recognized him as a captain in the church; Tolly recognized him as one of Tor’s Judges, who were charged with setting laws and dispensing justice. It was the Judges who called a Hunt and declared one ended. Togusa, who obviously also recognized the Judge, bowed. Lanara, uncomfortable within the walls of a lawful church, stood near the door.</p><p></p><p> “Captain Barad,” Togusa said, “new information has come to light in regard to the Hunt for Neville.”</p><p></p><p> “Oh?” Captain Barad said, pulling out a sheet of parchment and a pen. “Continue.”</p><p></p><p> Tolly relayed the morning’s events to the captain, who wrote everything down dutifully. “Rest assured I will include this information in my dispatches to the other temples,” he said.</p><p></p><p> “Do you have information as to where we could find Neville?” Togusa asked.</p><p></p><p> “We know the district in which he lives, but no more,” Captain Barad informed him. “From there you could inquire with locals.”</p><p></p><p> “That should not be difficult,” Tolly said. “If it’s a disreputable district, Lanara can usually find a whorehouse and a tavern within two minutes of entering a place.”</p><p></p><p> Lanara glared at the back of Tolly’s head. “They’re great sources of information.”</p><p></p><p> “There are many ways to get people to talk,” Togusa said. “The district will suffice.”</p><p></p><p> Captain Barad regarded the group for a moment, then opened a pouch at his side and pulled out a scroll case made of gold. He pulled out a large sheet of fine vellum that was written in an elegant calligraphy, and began to read.</p><p></p><p> “Be it known that upon this day, on the authority of Tor as given through one of His Judges, that the entity known as Neville, among other names and aliases as are given on this document, has been deemed worthy of execution without trial or detainment. Among his crimes are murder of sentients, torture of sentients not for purposes of information extraction, mutilation of sentients, production and sale of harmful substances without license, production and sale of lethal substances without license, immoral magical experimentation on sentients, and other lesser crimes. The evidence of these crimes has been deemed by a Judge to be irrefutable. The entity known as Neville has been further deemed to be without possibility of redemption or reform, and no lesser sentence can be justified or tolerated. All who hear this declaration are charged with the responsibility of dispensing Tor’s justice, and shall be granted what protection that responsibility entails until such time as the sentence is carried out and its dispensation is confirmed by a Judge of Tor.”</p><p></p><p> Togusa bowed as the Judge finished and rolled up the document, while the others looked at each other uncertainly. It seemed important to Captain Barad that they heard those words, but no one was sure why. Captain Barad gave them directions to the district where Neville lived, and they walked out into the street.</p><p></p><p> “So, that stuff the captain was saying,” Lanara asked. “Does that mean that we can kill Neville without worrying about disappearing?”</p><p></p><p> Togusa shook his head. “The laws of Miracle still apply; Tor’s power cannot override that of Paccë. What it means is that we are authorized to kill him, and that it will be known to be a just act.”</p><p></p><p> “In other words, we won’t get arrested if we hack him to pieces in the middle of some other city,” Kyle said.</p><p></p><p> “Indeed. A Judge would be able to confirm that you were acting under the authority of Tor. Also, if we are successful, then the Hunt can be officially declared ended.”</p><p></p><p> “So, we will have to drag him out of the city before we kill him,” Tolly said. “I can accept that.”</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Delemental, post: 2659309, member: 5203"] Xu opened the door to her room at The Cedar Grove and saw her roommates sitting together in front of the fireplace. The large room held five beds as well as the sitting area, and normally each was separated by a screen of cedar panels. The panels had been moved aside to open up the room. Arrie sat on one of the couches near the fire, writing a letter. Kavan sat on the floor, with Lanara perched behind her on a chair trying to comb out her hair. Lanara looked up at Xu when she walked in. “Yes, we look like schoolgirls having a slumber party,” she said. Then she cocked her head to the side. “Something the matter, Xu?” “There is something that I think you should know,” Xu said. The others quickly focused on the monk as she crossed the room and sat in a plush chair. “Where is Autumn?” “She went for a walk with Tolly,” Arrie said. “We can fill her in when she gets back.” “I thought she was still out with Kyle,” Kavan said. “No, she got back and then went and asked Tolly to go for a stroll. You were downstairs at the time, Maddie.” “Maddie?” Xu asked, curiously. The elven favored soul grinned. “It’s short for Madrone. It’s my new female name. I came up with it while you were out on your date with Togusa.” “It was not a ‘date’,” Xu said. “Neither of us have many opportunities to converse in our own language or hear news of home.” “Okay, fine, it wasn’t a date.” Kavan turned away from Xu, but not before flashing a surreptitious wink for Lanara. “But Xu was just saying that she had something to tell us,” Arrie said. Xu nodded. “Do you remember some time ago, in that restaurant in Trageon, when I told all of you that I had once been engaged but left when I decided that I did not want to marry?” Everyone nodded. “Yeah, during spring break,” Lanara said. “My account was not entirely accurate. I described my husband to be as a nobleman; a more proper term might be ‘warlord’. However, Lord Hungai was a prosperous warlord, and seemed set to rise in station. My parents, who are merchants, thought it would be wise to establish a connection with Hungai the Great; thus I was offered as a bride. But upon meeting him, I found him to be a repugnant man with few redeeming qualities. Despite the shame I knew it would bring to my family, I simply could not stay and be wed to him. So I ran, and after a time I came here, hoping to elude him.” “But…” Arrie prompted. “But Lord Hungai is as persistent as he is vain. Apparently he has declared that I will be his wife no matter what the cost, and has been searching for me. Tonight, I learned from Togusa that those hunters have arrived on this continent, and are certain to locate me soon.” Kavan’s eyes flashed. “This Hungai can’t make you do anything you don’t want to do. We’ll cut off his balls first.” The other women in the room heartily agreed. Although Xu’s intention in telling her story was only to warn her friends of the danger she might bring upon them, and not to plead for assistance, it felt reassuring to know they would side with her against Hungai’s men. Xu was confident that the men in the next room over would feel the same. Xu flashed her friends one of her rare smiles. “Thank you for listening to my story,” she said. “But in the morning it will be Ariadne who requires your aid, not I. Unfortunately, there are some matters I must attend to immediately in regard to Hungai’s bounty hunters. I must endeavor to find out how long they have been in Affon, and how close they may be. I can do this myself; I see no need yet to ask for your assistance, as the rest of you will need to search for this Neville. I will leave early in the morning, and return when I have learned all I can.” The others nodded their agreement. “Just stay out of trouble,” said Lanara. Then the cansin yawned loudly. “Well, Maddie, there’s not much more I can do with your hair until it grows out a little more.” “Kyle said he might be able to help with that,” said Kavan, who was now Madrone. “He said something about altering a [I]prestidigitation [/I]spell.” “Well, you can talk to him in the morning,” Lanara said. “Right now I want to go to sleep.” The bard scrambled into her bed and was snoring within minutes. The other women began to prepare for bed as well, changing into night-clothes or tying back their hair. “You coming to bed?” Maddie asked Arrie, who was still sitting up on her bed. “I’ll wait for Autumn,” she said. “Go to sleep.” Arrie sat and tried to finish her letter, but found she couldn’t concentrate. She folded it up and put it away in her pack, and then sat for a while and stared at the fire, feeling unusually relaxed as she thought about having to hunt down Neville again. This time, we make sure, she thought. The thought made her smile inexplicably, as though it were somehow funny. [I]I must be more tired than I thought. I’m feeling loopy. Tor’s Teeth, I’ve been feeling loopy since dinner.[/I] She stood up suddenly and went to the pitcher of water that sat next to her bed, pouring herself a glass. “Hurry up, Autumn, or I’ll fall asleep before you get back,” she muttered to herself. “You’ve got something big going on, and I want to know what it is.” [CENTER]* * *[/CENTER] Autumn and Tolly strolled quietly along a wide cobblestone street that ran along one edge of the massive bridge that supported Miracle. The quiet rush of the water far below them was punctuated occasionally by the shouts of revelers or the occasional burst of music coming from the city’s many taverns and narcotic dens. “Disgusting,” Tolly said, as an obviously drug-addled cluster of gnomes stumbled by. “I can hardly believe that people would allow themselves to lose control so readily.” Autumn didn’t respond, but walked quietly next to Tolly, keeping her eyes on the stones at her feet. A cold wind blew in off the river, ruffling the edges of her cloak and causing her to shiver involuntarily. “Here, take my cloak as well,” Tolly said, unfastening the clasp around his neck. But as he began to put it around her shoulders, Autumn held up a hand to stop him. “Tolly, I need to talk to you,” she said. There was a moment of uncomfortable silence, then Autumn looked up at the Ardaran, reaching out and taking his hand in a comforting grasp. “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately, especially with my recent death. And… I’ve realized a lot of things that I should have realized sooner. One of those things was that I had died because I’d put myself in front of Kyle, and died protecting him.” “Kyle has always had a disturbing lack of concern for his own personal safety,” Tolly said quickly. “For one not trained in hand to hand combat, he…” Autumn silenced him with a squeeze on his hand. “I had a lot of choices in that battle. Arrie had just fallen to that acolyte of the skin, and I could have gone to her aid. The priest of Fiel had not yet been challenged in combat, and I could have gone to face him. Instead, I stepped in front of the monstrosity that used to wield the axe I now carry, and…” she let her voice trail off. “I thought a lot about that during my recovery,” she continued after a time. “I chose to go to Kyle’s side; I chose to die defending him. It made me realize something – that I truly loved him.” Tolly made a slightly startled noise in the back of his throat, barely perceptible over the noise of the river and the city around them. He felt his grip on Autumn’s hand tighten involuntarily. “Once, you gave me a token of your affection, Tolly.” She let go of Tolly with one hand and reached into a pocket, pulling out the cold-forged iron rose that he had made for her on the ship to the Haran Desert. “I’m not entirely certain what meaning that held for you at the time, though I can guess your intent. But Tolly, I need to clear the air between us and make sure that we understand one another. I’m going to be with Kyle, but I wish for us to be friends as we always have been.” There was another long silence. “Oh,” was all Tolly could say for a while. He turned and looked out over the water, not really finding any solace in it. “I wanted you to understand that this wasn’t some rash decision I made,” Autumn said quietly. “That’s… good,” Tolly said, with no weight behind the words. “Um, I…um… this is… unexpected. But… I’ll recover.” He turned back to face Autumn, who was holding out the iron rose, offering it back to him. “Keep the rose,” he said. Autumn pulled Tolly close and hugged him, and kissed his cheek. “Thank you for understanding,” she said, “and I’m sorry.” She pulled back after holding the embrace for a moment. “Do you want to walk back to the inn with me?” she asked. “No, I think I would like to stay out a little longer,” he said. “Perhaps walk down by that area over there.” He pointed off in a vague direction into the city. “I understand,” Autumn said. “Good night, Tolly.” She slowly turned and walked away, leaving Tolly standing alone. When Autumn was out of sight, Tolly walked over and leaned against the stone wall at the edge of the bridge, watching the reflection of the moon dance in the water below. He stood there, unmoving, for nearly ten minutes as the world went past around him. Finally, he stood up straight. “So be it,” he said out loud to no one in particular, then he turned and strode off down the street, taking the long way back. [CENTER]* * *[/CENTER] The next morning, everyone woke up to the sound of Autumn screaming. “KAVAN!!” Lanara sat straight up in bed, her head wrapped in sheets, and thrashed around trying to get untangled. In the next bed over, Maddie (who naturally had not yet stopped responding to her old name, especially when shouted at high volume) rolled out of her mattress and quickly ran over to where Autumn stood, white as a sheet, over her sister Arrie’s bed. A second later, Kyle burst into the room, and came to Autumn’s side after he saw that no one was being attacked. Osborn was a few steps behind him, and Lanara finally won her battle with the bedsheets and joined the others. Xu’s neatly made bed indicated that she had already left the inn. “She’s… she’s… not breathing!” Autumn stammered. “Kavan, do something! Help her!” Maddie knelt down next to Arrie, not bothering to correct Autumn now. Gingerly she felt the warrior’s skin, and noticed that it was cold and pale. True to Autumn’s word, there was no tell-tale rising and falling of her chest. She quickly intoned a spell and began examining Arrie under its effects. Kyle, standing just above Maddie, was also peering intently at Arrie, his eyes sparkling as he activated his ability to see magical auras. “Strange,” said Maddie quietly to Kyle. “Arrie seems to be neither alive nor dead.” She turned to the sentinel. “Autumn, how did this happen?” “I don’t know,” Autumn sobbed. “She was sleeping soundly when I got home last night. This morning I came to wake her up, and I found her like this.” Behind them, Tolly came walking in to the room, looking like he’d slept poorly. “What’s going on?” he said tersely. “Something’s wrong with Arrie,” Osborn told him. “She looks like she’s dead.” “There’s an odd aura around her,” Kyle said. “Very complex, tricky to make out. It seems to be a mix of necromantic magic and conjuration. Nothing I’ve ever seen before.” Tolly scowled, then cast a [I]detect magic[/I] spell of his own and studied the aura as well. Maddie whispered her own findings to him as he worked. “Necromancy and conjuration,” he confirmed, then turned to Autumn. “What is it about your sister that attracts necromancers?” he snapped. “First someone tries to put her grandfather’s soul in her, then someone makes her ‘dead but not dead’?” “She’s not dead?” Autumn said, seemingly oblivious to Tolly’s castigation. “No.” He stooped and examined Arrie closely before Autumn could respond, lifting her arms and legs and pressing his fingers into her flesh. “There is no physical reason for her to be dead,” he announced. Maddie leaned over and peeled one of Arrie’s eyelids open. “The eyes are rolled back as if she were asleep, not staring like the eyes of a dead body.” She stood and looked at Autumn. “I think we should probably tie her up.” “What? Why?” “Just to be safe. We’ll be gentle, and we won’t hurt her.” “I’m not leaving her.” “That’s fine,” Maddie said. Kyle stepped up and put his arm around the sentinel. “Autumn, we don’t know what’s happened to Arrie. The necromancy part of the magic affecting her could be what’s put her in this not quite dead state; maybe it separated her soul from her body. The conjuration could be an attempt to summon something to replace it.” “Or the conjuration is a way to keep her soul bound,” Tolly said. “Fine,” said Autumn, “but I’m not leaving her.” She looked at Kyle. “Isn’t this considered harmful to her? Wouldn’t the person responsible now be banished from the city?” “I don’t think so,” Lanara said. “Sorry, Autumn, but she technically hasn’t been killed yet, and she hasn’t been hurt otherwise. The person who did this knows what they’re doing.” “We all know who’s responsible,” said Autumn. The party began talking rapidly among themselves, suggesting ideas or theories about what to do. Lanara, who for once had nothing to say, went over to get a mug of water. She poured some from the nearby pitcher, and raised it to her lips. Suddenly she stopped, sniffing at the water inside. “Hey, guys? This isn’t so good.” She extended the mug to the group. “Someone want to check this out?” Both Kyle and Tolly stepped forward, peering at the mug with their active detection spells. “Lingering magic,” Tolly confirmed. “Necromancy and conjuration,” Kyle agreed. Then he sniffed the water. “And something else. It smells like… apples and metal. Odd.” Kyle handed the mug back to Lanara, and then walked out of the room, returning a minute later with his belt. He pulled out a few alchemical supplies and began working on the tainted water, trying to analyze it. Lanara watched him work, a frown curling the edge of her mouth. Apples and metal… the combination reminded her of something, something she knew she should know but couldn’t get off the tip of her tongue. Everyone was talking about magic, and spells, and curses… somehow, that didn’t seem right to her. She mentioned this thought to the others. “Huh,” Kyle said, scratching his head, “you’re right, Lanara. There’s something about that smell that’s familiar. I can’t place it either.” “Perhaps this substance was the carrier for the magic affecting Arrie,” Tolly suggested. “Well, that is what Neville’s known for; being able to place powerful spells into potions.” Autumn looked over at Kyle. “Didn’t Arrie say that he was killing off members of the original Hunt?” “Yes,” answered Tolly, “and one body has disappeared.” Autumn clutched her sister’s still form tightly. “No one’s taking her anywhere.” Kyle finished his work on the tainted water. Although he wasn’t able to identify it, he realized there were two different substances in the mug, besides water; the apple-metal poison, and a sediment of very, very fine crystals. A quick check of the pitcher next to Arrie’s bed confirmed that the substance was only in the mug. Kyle handed the mug to Maddie, and asked if she could purify it. After she complied, he scooped a layer of the crystals off the top and shook them into an empty vial. He looked at the others, and shook his head. “I don’t have enough equipment to figure this out here,” he said. “But I can take it to an alchemist in the city and have them take a look.” Lanara walked over to the trunk at the foot of her bed and pulled out one of her magical instruments. “Do you think a spell to halt the poison’s progress would help?” she asked. Kyle suddenly slapped his forehead. “That’s it!” he shouted. “What?” said several of the party at once. “The conjuration portion of the spell!” he said. “It’s a [I]delay poison[/I] spell! I didn’t recognize it at first because it’s not a typical arcane magic!” He walked over and picked up the strange-smelling mug. “Here’s what I think happened. Whatever poison’s in this mug should have killed Arrie. But the spell embedded in it is halting the poison’s progress just shy of the point of death. Neville’s smart enough to know not to kill her, or he’d be banished.” “So, she’s in a stasis right now,” Tolly said. “Well, then, delaying the poison further can’t hurt,” said Lanara, who put her fingers to her lute. “No!” Kyle shouted, grabbing her wrist. “Don’t.” “Why not?” Autumn asked, eyes flashing. “Because it might kill her,” Kyle said, trying to sound calm. “Casting another [I]delay poison[/I] might act as a counterspell, not as an enhancer, which would end the protection and kill her. The other problem is that necromantic magic in there. It’s tightly interwoven with the conjuration, and they’re in a very delicate balance. Even if casting another [I]delay poison[/I] wouldn’t dispel the effect on Arrie, it would throw the balance off. I think that the necromantic effect would then take hold and kill her.” “Crap,” Lanara said, lowering her lute. Kyle shook his head. “Whoever this Neville is, he’s good… very good. The way he’s set this up, if we try to end the spell she dies, and then it’s our fault, not his, and we end up banished from Miracle. He’s made the knife and put it to her heart, but we’d be the ones pushing it in.” Kyle studied the aura again for a minute. “I can’t tell how long the [I]delay poison[/I] will last,” he said. “I’d guess we have a while, but I can’t say how long for certain. But most spells like that don’t last forever.” “Perhaps a [I]death ward[/I]?” offered Tolly. Kyle shook his head. “Neville would have thought of that. I suspect the necromantic magic isn’t a simple death spell.” “What if we used a [I]sleep [/I]spell?” Lanara said. “Maybe it’ll help slow things down more.” “No, a [I]sleep [/I]spell only works on weaker creatures. I doubt…” Kyle cut off suddenly, and looked at Lanara. The two of them lit up at the same time as a thought crossed their minds. “Tincture of corundum,” they said in unison. “What’s tincture of corundum?” Osborn asked. Lanara picked up the poisoned mug. “It’s a sedative. A lot of people use it as a sleep aid.” She smelled the mug again. “But not this strong. It’s usually very, very diluted; a vial of it can last a person every night for a month. That’s why it took us a while to place this metallic apple smell; usually when you use it, it’s too dilute to be noticeable. There was probably enough in here to drop a horse.” “Or kill a human,” Tolly concluded. Autumn looked up from Arrie. “Everyone should check their own water pitchers and mugs. Neville may be trying to kill all of us.” “I suspect that he is targeting Arrie specifically because she was in the original Hunt,” Tolly said. Kyle looked worried. “Maybe someone should go to the church of Tor and check on Togusa.” “Right,” said Maddie, “I’ll go.” “I’ll go with you,” Lanara said. “There’s not much else I can do here.” They turned to leave, and the instant they turned into the hallway outside their door they ran straight into Togusa. “My apologies,” he said to them. “But Ariadne was to meet me this morning at the church, and did not arrive. Is everything all right?” “Not really,” Maddie said. “It’s a bit of a mess up here, but I’m glad to see you’re all right. Come on in.” “Wait,” he said, “there is trouble downstairs as well. Apparently the innkeeper’s teenage son is dying. His lips are turning blue and he’s not breathing, I heard someone say. I came up here to get help for them.” Maddie and Lanara looked at each other. “We’ll go. Get someone in there to fill you in.” After the two women left, and Togusa entered the room and was brought up to speed, Tolly turned to Kyle. “Perhaps we could try casting a…” Kyle held up a hand to stop Tolly. “I don’t think we should do anything. I don’t want to just start throwing random spells at Arrie and saying ‘maybe this will help’. Until we can figure out how to dispel this particular spell, I don’t want to risk it.” “We need to find out how the water was poisoned in the first place,” Tolly said. “We should speak with the innkeeper.” “Let’s wait until they deal with his kid dying, shall we?” said Osborn. “It could be related,” Tolly said. “And we’ll find out… later. Right now we should figure out what to do with Arrie.” “Our course is obvious,” Togusa said. “We must hunt down Neville and force him to give us the cure before we kill him.” “I’m not leaving Arrie,” Autumn repeated. “But we may need your assistance in capturing Neville,” Tolly said. “She didn’t leave my side, I’m not leaving her.” “Perhaps she could be left in the care of the church of Tor, or Paccë,” Tolly suggested. Togusa shook his head. “Another one of the bodies of the original Hunt has disappeared. I would recommend that you not…” “She’s not going anywhere,” Autumn snapped. “Do you have any way of taking her with you?” Togusa said. “The cart?” Osborn suggested. “That doesn’t really solve the problem,” Kyle said. “What about your [I]portable hole[/I]?” Tolly asked. Autumn glared at Tolly. “You want me to put my sister in my [I]portable hole[/I]?” “It would make sense,” Tolly said. “She does not need to breathe while in there, and she would be out of Neville’s reach. And she would be with you at all times, and we could get to her quickly if needed. And if she were secure in the hole, then we would not need to bind her up.” Autumn sat unmoving for a moment, then finally nodded her head. She opened the trunk at the foot of her bed, and dug out the folded square of black cloth. “The weapons and armor we are hoping to sell are still in there,” she said quietly, holding out the cloth. Kyle took the [I]portable hole[/I] and spread it out on the floor. “We can leave that stuff here. Come on, guys, help me empty this out.” They worked for a few minutes stacking armor and weapons on the far side of the room, then covering the pile with blankets. Autumn carried Arrie over and placed her inside, bringing a pillow and some blankets to make her as comfortable as possible. As she finished, Kyle climbed down into the hole holding one of his light globes and a sheet of parchment. He set both down next to her, the globe glowing softly. “In case we fix this while she’s in here, and she wakes up,” Kyle explained. “The note lets her know where she is and what happened, so she doesn’t freak out.” Tolly, standing above them at the edge of the hole, watched the two of them talk for a moment, then unfastened a necklace from around his neck and tossed it down. “This necklace provides breathable air,” he said. “Put it on her, just in case.” Lanara and Maddid came back into the room, just as Autumn and Kyle climbed out of the hole. Maddie was holding a wine glass, with a strange red gelatinous lump in the bottom. “Kyle, we need you to tell us what this is,” Maddie said. “What’s going on?” asked Osborn as Kyle took the glass and sat down on a bed. “How’s the innkeeper’s son?” “Alive, barely,” said Lanara. “We got down there and he looked like he was fighting to stay awake. He was so sedated his heart and lungs were failing. I used my [I]delay poison[/I] spell from my lute, which seemed to hold things at bay. They’re sending for a healer now.” “We had the family search the inn for anything that smelled like apples and metal, thinking it was that tincture you mentioned,” Maddie continued. “They found a water pitcher with that smell, and also found this wine glass near the boy’s bed. We searched the children’s room in the attic, and found this under the boy’s bed.” Maddie held out a pouch with a single gold coin inside. “Unusual for a boy his age to have a gold coin, don’t you think? I think he’s selling drugs, or maybe himself.” “Or maybe,” Kyle suggested, “someone came up to him last night and offered him a nice shiny gold coin if he made sure that a particular water pitcher ended up next to Arrie’s bed.” Maddie’s eyes widened. “I hadn’t thought about that.” “It was the first thing I thought of,” Osborn commented. “The innkeeper’s wife said that the pitcher we found was from last night,” Lanara said, “and would have been replaced with a fresh one this morning. She had no idea which room it came from, but I think we can guess.” She glanced over at Arrie’s bedside table. “And the wine glass?” Osborn asked. “From last night as well. Mom thinks that the boy snuck an unfinished glass off to his room last night after serving the dinner guests.” “Who else is staying here?” Tolly asked. “Besides us, there was a merchant that left this morning, and a young newlywed couple, who are still in their room,” Lanara said. “The innkeeper was going to check on them, though his wife said that she could… well, hear them last night.” Kyle finished his work and looked up. “It’s a drug,” he said. “It’s called Dreams of Tedros. It’s a very mild sedative and hallucinogen, purely recreational. It’s meant to be mixed with wine, as it doesn’t affect the flavor of the wine or the potency of the drug. Used properly it’s harmless, but this is a pretty large amount. If he got hold of that, and then took some tincture of corundum, the effects would multiply. That’s what’s killing him.” “You should go tell the innkeeper’s wife,” Lanara said, “let them know what they should do.” Kyle nodded and left the room. Togusa turned to the others. “We should report to the church of Tor to let them know of Araidne’s condition,” he said. After spending a few minutes collecting their gear, the party made their way to the church of Tor, picking up Kyle on the way out and handing him his equipment. As they walked, Togusa turned to the others. “Once we report to the church, we can try and find where Neville is,” he said. “I learned last night that he has a townhouse here,” Lanara said. “When he’s in town, he never leaves it. Sends that orc-touched out to run errands and buy supplies. They just call him ‘The Brute’. A lot of people end up disappearing when he’s in town, too.” “Some of the prostitutes I talked to yesterday mentioned The Brute,” Maddie added. “Apparently he’s so foul that there’s only two women in town that will service him. I spoke to one, she said that his skin is cold and he’s covered in scars.” “Do you know where this townhouse is?” Togusa asked Lanara. She shook her head. “Not enough time last night to get that far.” “What else did you learn about Neville?” he asked. “Not much else. He only leaves or enters the city at night. He rides in a big carriage, pulled by these strange, twisted horses. Last time he was here, someone got too close to one of the horses and almost lost a hand. And he’s been coming here for some time – well before you and Arrie shoved him into that river a few years back. After that, no one heard from him for about six months, and for another six months after that there were rumors he was around but nothing could be confirmed. There were confirmed sightings of Neville and The Brute after that. Seems he now comes into Miracle an average of every seven weeks or so, and stays anywhere from a day to a week.” Togusa shook his head. “That monster has been practicing his trade for that long, and we are only now learning of it? Shameful.” “I tried to get an idea of what kinds of things he’s been making,” Kyle said. “Some of the ingredients The Brute buys are used to make common street drugs, but others can be used for things like poisons, or really nasty stuff like Liquid Pain.” “What’s Liquid Pain?” Osborn asked. “The distilled life-force of someone who has been tortured to death,” Kyle said. “It’s used to provide the energy needed to make magic items, so that the creator doesn’t have to use so much of his own.” “To make things like magical potions, for example,” Tolly clarified. Kyle nodded. “I tried to get a sense of what kind of spells thus guy can supposedly make into potions, but no one I spoke to knows enough about magic to tell me for sure. All I can say is be careful what you drink in his house.” “I think that we should purify anything we want to eat or drink,” Maddie said. “Agreed,” said Kyle, who then turned to address Togusa. “So, you and Arrie fought Neville and his servants once before. What can we expect?” “Those who serve Neville are usually merely those who have lost their minds and free will to the narcotics that he peddles. The effects of the drugs make them stronger and faster than normal people, and nearly impervious to pain, but also fairly mindless. We learned the hard way that magics meant to influence or confuse the mind are useless.” “So, they’re kind of like the undead,” Kyle said. “Yes, except that they are still living beings, and so a spear to the heart or the severing of an artery will kill them. Besides them, there are Neville’s creations; animals mutated and crossbred with strange animals. The horses that pull his carriage are an example. Though we did not encounter any during our battle with Neville, there is also rumor that he has altered sentient creatures in similar ways.” As Togusa talked, Autumn walked up next to Kyle and took his hand, holding it tightly. He squeezed back reassuringly. The party arrived at the temple of Tor, which in reality was a largish townhouse with a large statue of Tor in the front, and a symbol of a hound’s head carved in marble over the doorway. The party walked inside, and came to a large open room. A middle-aged man sat at a desk near the back corner. Most of the party recognized him as a captain in the church; Tolly recognized him as one of Tor’s Judges, who were charged with setting laws and dispensing justice. It was the Judges who called a Hunt and declared one ended. Togusa, who obviously also recognized the Judge, bowed. Lanara, uncomfortable within the walls of a lawful church, stood near the door. “Captain Barad,” Togusa said, “new information has come to light in regard to the Hunt for Neville.” “Oh?” Captain Barad said, pulling out a sheet of parchment and a pen. “Continue.” Tolly relayed the morning’s events to the captain, who wrote everything down dutifully. “Rest assured I will include this information in my dispatches to the other temples,” he said. “Do you have information as to where we could find Neville?” Togusa asked. “We know the district in which he lives, but no more,” Captain Barad informed him. “From there you could inquire with locals.” “That should not be difficult,” Tolly said. “If it’s a disreputable district, Lanara can usually find a whorehouse and a tavern within two minutes of entering a place.” Lanara glared at the back of Tolly’s head. “They’re great sources of information.” “There are many ways to get people to talk,” Togusa said. “The district will suffice.” Captain Barad regarded the group for a moment, then opened a pouch at his side and pulled out a scroll case made of gold. He pulled out a large sheet of fine vellum that was written in an elegant calligraphy, and began to read. “Be it known that upon this day, on the authority of Tor as given through one of His Judges, that the entity known as Neville, among other names and aliases as are given on this document, has been deemed worthy of execution without trial or detainment. Among his crimes are murder of sentients, torture of sentients not for purposes of information extraction, mutilation of sentients, production and sale of harmful substances without license, production and sale of lethal substances without license, immoral magical experimentation on sentients, and other lesser crimes. The evidence of these crimes has been deemed by a Judge to be irrefutable. The entity known as Neville has been further deemed to be without possibility of redemption or reform, and no lesser sentence can be justified or tolerated. All who hear this declaration are charged with the responsibility of dispensing Tor’s justice, and shall be granted what protection that responsibility entails until such time as the sentence is carried out and its dispensation is confirmed by a Judge of Tor.” Togusa bowed as the Judge finished and rolled up the document, while the others looked at each other uncertainly. It seemed important to Captain Barad that they heard those words, but no one was sure why. Captain Barad gave them directions to the district where Neville lived, and they walked out into the street. “So, that stuff the captain was saying,” Lanara asked. “Does that mean that we can kill Neville without worrying about disappearing?” Togusa shook his head. “The laws of Miracle still apply; Tor’s power cannot override that of Paccë. What it means is that we are authorized to kill him, and that it will be known to be a just act.” “In other words, we won’t get arrested if we hack him to pieces in the middle of some other city,” Kyle said. “Indeed. A Judge would be able to confirm that you were acting under the authority of Tor. Also, if we are successful, then the Hunt can be officially declared ended.” “So, we will have to drag him out of the city before we kill him,” Tolly said. “I can accept that.” [/QUOTE]
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