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The Fall of Civilization
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<blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 4684474" data-attributes="member: 1210"><p>The party, a protesting Martin in tow, heads immediately to see Colonel Jaxe, intending to lay their evidence out before him. Then- assuming everything goes according to plan- they will move on to Councilor Keflingorn. Hopefully, between the two of them, the party will be able to gain enough support to move in on Millbury- and free General Argos. </p><p></p><p>“But you’re supposed to come with me,” Martin protests again. The party ignores him, and Torinn does not release his iron grip on the servant’s arm. </p><p></p><p>They reach the colonel’s office with only a few funny glances from other soldiers. The colonel’s adjutant informs them that he will be available shortly; when he shows them in, they ask him to “detain this servant- or conspirator.” The major immediately takes Martin in hand and leads him off to a detention center. Martin’s face has gone white, and he babbles protests as he is led away. </p><p></p><p>The party enters Colonel Jaxe’s office. </p><p></p><p>“Colonel, we have the evidence,” Heimall says without preamble. </p><p></p><p>Jaxe cocks an eyebrow. “Please, go ahead.”</p><p></p><p>The party explains what they have put together- that Millbury, Chiron daVoi’s lackey, was the would-be assassin of Feevon Bronze. “Except I don’t think it was a real assassination attempt- it was all about framing General Argos,” explains Kratos.</p><p></p><p>Colonel Jaxe listens, his face stony, as they go on. He plucks a walnut from a bowl on his desk and clutches it in his fist. </p><p></p><p>Millbury poisoned Feevon Bronze and planted the poison in Argos’ chambers, then returned to the Pythock estate and disposed of the plant- except that it remained in the rubbish heap, for Cook to find later. When Argos was arrested and thrown into the Black Tower, Pythock began agitating for the generalship based on some old property disputes with the city- essentially, Fandelose owed him a large amount of money, and appointing him to Argos’ old position would clear the debt. Meanwhile Pythock himself had fallen deeply into debt with Millbury; this put the pressure on Pythock to get the money from the city, or to get the generalship with its generous pay scale and rights to plunder, in order to alleviate his debt. </p><p></p><p>Heimall concludes, “So basically, Millbury attempted to murder a Bronze Councilor, framed General Argos for it and manipulated a completely incompetent person into his place- ensuring that Fandelose won’t be ready when the Six-Fingered Hand comes.”</p><p></p><p>There is a cracking sound as Colonel Jaxe’s hand crushes the walnut open with rage. “I am convinced. We must present your evidence to Councilor Keflingorn immediately.” </p><p></p><p>Vann-La nods. “Yes, sir- and you might want to send some guards to the Black Tower in case anyone tries to assassinate the general!”</p><p></p><p>Sta’Ligir adds, “It wouldn’t do to free him, only to find that we are too late.”</p><p></p><p>“Yes, a good point. I’ll see to it immediately.” He summons a small escort of troops for the party and issues them all horses. Then the party rides through a misty rain to Keflingorn’s abode, where a respectful servant shows them to the councilman. Once again, they lay out their evidence.</p><p></p><p>Knile Keflingorn grows more and more disquieted as they talk. Finally, once they have finished- and have shown him the leaf of the fulcantha plant as well as some of the documents- he is quite inflamed.</p><p></p><p>“So, she’s making a very bold move,” he mutters. “It seems out of character- but it’s the only explanation.”</p><p></p><p>“Who?” demands Torinn.</p><p></p><p>“Bridget Willow,” answers Keflingorn. “It has to be her behind this all. She’s making a power play of some kind. I can smell it!”</p><p></p><p>“Do you think she’s a traitor?” asks Vann-La.</p><p></p><p>“A traitor? No. Dangerously ambitious, though... and even if everything you say and that you have deduced is correct and she didn’t cause the problem, she is taking advantage of the moment to advance her agenda.” He smacks a fist into the palm of his other hand. “All right, it’s time to resolve this. I need you to go to the councilwoman and tell her that I am calling an emergency meeting of the council, immediately. Summon her to the council hall.”</p><p></p><p>The party scurries off again, this time to Councilor Willow’s house. Again, a servant shows them in. Bridget Willow is sitting by a fire, drinking a cup of tea. She smiles at them. “Not as prompt as I had hoped, but at least you are here.”</p><p></p><p><em>Huh?</em> thinks Torinn. </p><p></p><p>“I’ll get right to the point. This so-called ‘investigation’ of Councilor Keflingorn isn’t going anywhere. He’s obstructing justice for whatever reason- but we need to conclude this matter and move on to more important things. I’m glad you all came- and I hope you can help me to persuade him. Say, where is Martin, anyway?”</p><p></p><p>There is a moment of silence as our heroes realize that Bridget Willow is the one who sent Martin to fetch them- to see her! </p><p></p><p>“He is being... entertained,” Heimall says lamely. </p><p></p><p>Bridget Willow eyes the warlord. “Excuse me,” she says, and leaves the room for a few long minutes. When she returns, she eyes the party coldly. “He was on official council business. If you have harmed him, you’ll pay for it. And you will rue the day you interfered with the official doings of the Bronze Council!”</p><p></p><p>“He hasn’t been harmed,” Sta’Ligir quickly replies. </p><p></p><p>“That we know of,” Hkatha mutters under his breath.</p><p></p><p>“Then where is he?” Willow snaps. No answer is forthcoming; and after a moment, she growls, “This is outrageous! He was on official council business. You don’t know what kind of trouble you are in!”</p><p></p><p>Kratos shakes his head. “No, <em>you</em> don’t know what kind of trouble you’re in! The Six-Fingered Hand is weeks away, and it’s going to crush this city and kill us all if we can’t stop it, and <em>you are worried about politics?”</em> </p><p></p><p>“I am worried about <em>justice,</em>” she retorts. “You people have probably assaulted a good man doing work for me and my city, and you’re defending a man who tried to kill my colleague! I’m calling an immediate, emergency meeting of the council to end this pathetic farce today!”</p><p></p><p><em>One way or another,</em> Vann-La answers silently, <em>this farce </em>will<em> end today.</em></p><p></p><p>*** </p><p></p><p>The Bronze Councilors, excepting only Bridget Willow and Knile Keflingorn, receive <em>two</em> emergency summons to the Bronze Hall. This is a unique occasion; emergency sessions are rarely called, and it is unheard of for two councilors to call one at the same time.</p><p></p><p>These are strange days.</p><p></p><p>Heimall presents the evidence; it is as plain as day from her reaction that Bridget Willow is half-convinced herself. Both she and Keflingorn try to take political advantage of the situation, but neither his nor her approach is organized or systematic enough to imply that they set up the whole thing. They are both scrambling to spin things to their advantage, but neither one is doing a very good job. The rest of the Council is divided; after all, they have only the word of the army folks about what has happened. How can they know that this is really a leaf from the plant that produced the poison, how can they know that the party didn’t plant it themselves- there are questions. </p><p></p><p>Then Knile Keflingorn plays his trump card. He is in charge of the investigation; he sends men to go find Styger, the merchant that sold the plant to Millbury, and bring him back to testify. Heimall stays at the council to ensure that things don’t spin out of control. Within an hour, Styger arrives, escorted by Vann-La and Torinn. It takes some persuasion, but he finally agrees to testify. </p><p></p><p>With this added piece of evidence, the Bronze Council retires to vote. </p><p></p><p>Half an hour later, they issue a warrant for the arrest of Millbury and command the freedom of General Argos and the restoration of him to his position. </p><p></p><p><em><strong>Next Time:</strong></em> The arsonist revealed!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="the Jester, post: 4684474, member: 1210"] The party, a protesting Martin in tow, heads immediately to see Colonel Jaxe, intending to lay their evidence out before him. Then- assuming everything goes according to plan- they will move on to Councilor Keflingorn. Hopefully, between the two of them, the party will be able to gain enough support to move in on Millbury- and free General Argos. “But you’re supposed to come with me,” Martin protests again. The party ignores him, and Torinn does not release his iron grip on the servant’s arm. They reach the colonel’s office with only a few funny glances from other soldiers. The colonel’s adjutant informs them that he will be available shortly; when he shows them in, they ask him to “detain this servant- or conspirator.” The major immediately takes Martin in hand and leads him off to a detention center. Martin’s face has gone white, and he babbles protests as he is led away. The party enters Colonel Jaxe’s office. “Colonel, we have the evidence,” Heimall says without preamble. Jaxe cocks an eyebrow. “Please, go ahead.” The party explains what they have put together- that Millbury, Chiron daVoi’s lackey, was the would-be assassin of Feevon Bronze. “Except I don’t think it was a real assassination attempt- it was all about framing General Argos,” explains Kratos. Colonel Jaxe listens, his face stony, as they go on. He plucks a walnut from a bowl on his desk and clutches it in his fist. Millbury poisoned Feevon Bronze and planted the poison in Argos’ chambers, then returned to the Pythock estate and disposed of the plant- except that it remained in the rubbish heap, for Cook to find later. When Argos was arrested and thrown into the Black Tower, Pythock began agitating for the generalship based on some old property disputes with the city- essentially, Fandelose owed him a large amount of money, and appointing him to Argos’ old position would clear the debt. Meanwhile Pythock himself had fallen deeply into debt with Millbury; this put the pressure on Pythock to get the money from the city, or to get the generalship with its generous pay scale and rights to plunder, in order to alleviate his debt. Heimall concludes, “So basically, Millbury attempted to murder a Bronze Councilor, framed General Argos for it and manipulated a completely incompetent person into his place- ensuring that Fandelose won’t be ready when the Six-Fingered Hand comes.” There is a cracking sound as Colonel Jaxe’s hand crushes the walnut open with rage. “I am convinced. We must present your evidence to Councilor Keflingorn immediately.” Vann-La nods. “Yes, sir- and you might want to send some guards to the Black Tower in case anyone tries to assassinate the general!” Sta’Ligir adds, “It wouldn’t do to free him, only to find that we are too late.” “Yes, a good point. I’ll see to it immediately.” He summons a small escort of troops for the party and issues them all horses. Then the party rides through a misty rain to Keflingorn’s abode, where a respectful servant shows them to the councilman. Once again, they lay out their evidence. Knile Keflingorn grows more and more disquieted as they talk. Finally, once they have finished- and have shown him the leaf of the fulcantha plant as well as some of the documents- he is quite inflamed. “So, she’s making a very bold move,” he mutters. “It seems out of character- but it’s the only explanation.” “Who?” demands Torinn. “Bridget Willow,” answers Keflingorn. “It has to be her behind this all. She’s making a power play of some kind. I can smell it!” “Do you think she’s a traitor?” asks Vann-La. “A traitor? No. Dangerously ambitious, though... and even if everything you say and that you have deduced is correct and she didn’t cause the problem, she is taking advantage of the moment to advance her agenda.” He smacks a fist into the palm of his other hand. “All right, it’s time to resolve this. I need you to go to the councilwoman and tell her that I am calling an emergency meeting of the council, immediately. Summon her to the council hall.” The party scurries off again, this time to Councilor Willow’s house. Again, a servant shows them in. Bridget Willow is sitting by a fire, drinking a cup of tea. She smiles at them. “Not as prompt as I had hoped, but at least you are here.” [i]Huh?[/i] thinks Torinn. “I’ll get right to the point. This so-called ‘investigation’ of Councilor Keflingorn isn’t going anywhere. He’s obstructing justice for whatever reason- but we need to conclude this matter and move on to more important things. I’m glad you all came- and I hope you can help me to persuade him. Say, where is Martin, anyway?” There is a moment of silence as our heroes realize that Bridget Willow is the one who sent Martin to fetch them- to see her! “He is being... entertained,” Heimall says lamely. Bridget Willow eyes the warlord. “Excuse me,” she says, and leaves the room for a few long minutes. When she returns, she eyes the party coldly. “He was on official council business. If you have harmed him, you’ll pay for it. And you will rue the day you interfered with the official doings of the Bronze Council!” “He hasn’t been harmed,” Sta’Ligir quickly replies. “That we know of,” Hkatha mutters under his breath. “Then where is he?” Willow snaps. No answer is forthcoming; and after a moment, she growls, “This is outrageous! He was on official council business. You don’t know what kind of trouble you are in!” Kratos shakes his head. “No, [i]you[/i] don’t know what kind of trouble you’re in! The Six-Fingered Hand is weeks away, and it’s going to crush this city and kill us all if we can’t stop it, and [i]you are worried about politics?”[/i] “I am worried about [i]justice,[/i]” she retorts. “You people have probably assaulted a good man doing work for me and my city, and you’re defending a man who tried to kill my colleague! I’m calling an immediate, emergency meeting of the council to end this pathetic farce today!” [i]One way or another,[/i] Vann-La answers silently, [i]this farce [/i]will[i] end today.[/i] *** The Bronze Councilors, excepting only Bridget Willow and Knile Keflingorn, receive [i]two[/i] emergency summons to the Bronze Hall. This is a unique occasion; emergency sessions are rarely called, and it is unheard of for two councilors to call one at the same time. These are strange days. Heimall presents the evidence; it is as plain as day from her reaction that Bridget Willow is half-convinced herself. Both she and Keflingorn try to take political advantage of the situation, but neither his nor her approach is organized or systematic enough to imply that they set up the whole thing. They are both scrambling to spin things to their advantage, but neither one is doing a very good job. The rest of the Council is divided; after all, they have only the word of the army folks about what has happened. How can they know that this is really a leaf from the plant that produced the poison, how can they know that the party didn’t plant it themselves- there are questions. Then Knile Keflingorn plays his trump card. He is in charge of the investigation; he sends men to go find Styger, the merchant that sold the plant to Millbury, and bring him back to testify. Heimall stays at the council to ensure that things don’t spin out of control. Within an hour, Styger arrives, escorted by Vann-La and Torinn. It takes some persuasion, but he finally agrees to testify. With this added piece of evidence, the Bronze Council retires to vote. Half an hour later, they issue a warrant for the arrest of Millbury and command the freedom of General Argos and the restoration of him to his position. [i][b]Next Time:[/b][/i][b][/b] The arsonist revealed! [/QUOTE]
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