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<blockquote data-quote="havenstone" data-source="post: 5453229" data-attributes="member: 61094"><p><strong>Lying Low</strong></p><p></p><p><strong><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">FOR SEVERAL DAYS, </span></strong><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">the party rests and recovers in the Dragon Path safe house, never opening the rune-covered trapdoor. The Laksharis prepared well, stocking the cellar with food and drink enough to sustain them for weeks. No noise penetrates from the street above, and Chandur assures the party that the babies’ crying won’t be heard outside either. From this tranquil sanctuary, it’s hard to imagine the magical and military forces of Tziwan scouring the city for them.</span></p><p> </p><p> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">They pore over the few reading materials in the safe house, including a <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/5453232-post148.html" target="_blank">map of the Xaimani Empire</a> which finally gives them a sense of where these countries they’ve been hearing about are located. (“This one was drawn by the Xaimani priests, not the Legions,” Njitra warns wryly. “Don’t use it to gauge travel distances – they make the subject nations look about half their real size.”) Naturally the escapees also get to know the two young Lakshari men with whom they are sharing the cellar. Both joined the Dragon Path as free men, though they’ve been captured and branded temporarily on past missions. (“Occupational hazard,” winces Chandur). </span></p><p> </p><p> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">Njitra is a proud, charismatic idealist whose lifelong contempt for the Lakshari caste system led him to likewise reject the Xaimani slave system. A mercenary since his teens, he betrayed one of his Szianar employers a few years ago, turning a blind eye while a dozen of the man’s slaves escaped. The Dragon Path team who were facilitating the escape noted Njitra’s aid and discreetly recruited him afterward.</span></p><p> </p><p> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">Chandur, by contrast, is an unscrupulous charmer, brilliant and mercurial. He isn’t moved by the grand vision of a slavery-free world, but was drawn into the Dragons by more personal motives: his beloved sister was taken as a slave by an eminent Maharana. After a failed rescue attempt, the twelve year-old Chandur was saved from the Lakshari lord’s prison by a Dragon Path mage. Unfortunately, his sister was soon sold on, and Chandur has so far failed to locate her again.</span></p><p> </p><p> <strong><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">THE YOUNG SZIANAR </span></strong><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">Shihara remains mostly silent and withdrawn. “I was sold a year ago to Minister Seko’s estate,” she says bleakly when asked about her past. “My old home doesn’t matter. My family would sell me again if I returned.” Rian nods in <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/4884389-post113.html" target="_blank">wordless commiseration</a>. No one asks about the scars on Shihara's face, and she doesn’t volunteer an explanation.</span></p><p> </p><p> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">“I just realized I recognize you,” Chandur tells her one morning.</span></p><p> </p><p> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">“You must be mistaking me for one of the many, many other women of your acquaintance,” Shihara retorts, plainly weary of Chandur’s flirtation with every female in eyeshot.</span></p><p> </p><p> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">“No, really. We were asked to find a fresh corpse of roughly your description last week. Weren’t you locked up and awaiting Radiant Path attention?” Shihara glares furiously at him. “Yes, I thought so. Your Slavemaster thought he’d seen you curdling the milk or causing the cows to run backward or something else vaguely sorcerous. If he’d been able to articulate himself more believably, they’d have sent a mage to check you sooner, and we wouldn’t have got to you in time.”</span></p><p> </p><p> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">“You somehow replaced her with a corpse?” Carwyn says, eyebrow raised.</span></p><p> </p><p> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">“One that now looks like it died from a very badly miscast fire spell,” Chandur confirms. “They’ll pay more heed to the Slavemaster next time, I’m afraid, but you can’t just make a mage-blood slave disappear without a plausible cover.”</span></p><p> </p><p> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">“And how exactly does one go about finding a corpse of a certain description in Tziwan?”</span></p><p> </p><p> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">The young Lakshari gives an almost-amused snort. “Where <em>can’t</em> you come by a corpse, lovely Carwyn? The slave market, the tilehouses and lotus houses of the Shroud qohei, the arena, the vascars... this damned city kills people every day. Pose as the servant of a mage or a priest, and you have every excuse to ask for one.”</span></p><p> </p><p> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">Later, when Rian can approach Shihara in what privacy the cellar allows, she leans over and speaks in a low voice. “How did you know when... when you first found you had the power?”</span></p><p> </p><p> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">Shihara glances at Rian, her caginess outweighed by her curiosity. “It just welled up in me. I felt it like... like I feel my arm, or my breath in my lungs.” She pauses. “And... you?”</span></p><p> </p><p> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">“Reading scrolls. Old scrolls of my grandfather’s.”</span></p><p> </p><p> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">Shihara looks away again, lips tightening. “I don’t read well.”</span></p><p> </p><p> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">“I taught myself,” Rian says matter-of-factly. “Perhaps I can teach you.”</span></p><p> </p><p> <strong><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">A WEEK AFTER</span></strong><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"> their escape, Njitra sneaks out of the cellar by night to reestablish contact with the Dragon Path. When he returns, he is not alone; a frail, elderly Xaimani wearing unassuming gray robes follows him through the trapdoor. This is High Priest Haitze, another of the Dragon Path’s Founders. He warmly welcomes them to the Dragon Path and lays hands on each of the escapees’ shoulders in turn, murmuring a complex prayer to Heal their slave brands. </span></p><p> </p><p> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">“To conceal you Northerners, we’ll obviously need more than an unbranding,” Njitra says, producing a string of small pouches. “These two common spice-dyes will color your skin – the stain sets deep, though you’ll want to renew it every year or two.” The Northern party members have to choose between the light gold-brown <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/5325991-post124.html" target="_blank"><em>tabal</em></a>, which will help them look Chramic or Szianar, or the deep brown <em>kaab</em>-nut which will make them look Lakshari. Carwyn chooses the latter, earning her a wink and an optimistic grin from Chandur. The other Northern party members go with <em>tabal</em>.</span></p><p> </p><p> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">Njitra informs them that the first fury of the manhunt has subsided. While it’s not yet wise for the party members to leave the safe house, more Dragon Path members will be coming to meet them. Their next visitor, arriving around noon the following day, is a middle-aged Szianar with grave eyes and a grey-flecked beard. He carries a solemn-looking baby girl.</span></p><p> </p><p> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">“This is the Dragon Path’s Rumormaster, <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/5370202-post129.html" target="_blank">Chingan Dai</a>,” Chandur declares, beaming. “He’s the man who does the most to keep the world ignorant of our existence.”</span></p><p> </p><p> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">“You’ll already be aware that my young student tends to exaggerate,” Chingan Dai demurs. “I am just one man in an information network spanning the Empire.”</span></p><p> </p><p> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">“The man who did most to create it, over the last decade,” Njitra counters. “Before you took over, with all respect, the Path was terrible at spying. At heart, the Founders are straightforward men.”</span></p><p> </p><p> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">Chingan Dai waves away the Laksharis’ compliments and settles into a long, avid discussion with the party members about slaveless Northern society and politics. Meanwhile, Hamber and the Rumormaster’s little daughter Tiya play happily together in one corner. Rian, who’s mostly left out of the main conversation, brings Tarai over to join the game. </span></p><p> </p><p> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">Tarai squirms away, looking upset and a little jealous. “Don’t like her,” he says, sticking out his lower lip. Rian suppresses a smile. “Tarai, it’s all right for Hamber to have other friends,” she explains. “You should try too.” When Tarai obstinately refuses to play with the other children, she scolds him and sends him to a corner of the far room.</span></p><p> </p><p> <strong><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">SEVERAL HOURS LATER</span></strong><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">, Chingan Dai reluctantly announces that he has to leave. Before departing, he steps over to Shihara and produces a slim, rune-covered book. “We’ll be ensuring you get proper Radiant Path training,” he promises, “but for now, perhaps you could start by studying this.”</span></p><p> </p><p> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">The scarred Szianar girl glances nervously over to Rian. Chingan Dai’s eyes follow hers, and he raises an eyebrow. “I also share Shihara’s abilities, I think,” Rian admits under her breath. Her fear that the Northerners will suspect that <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/5367365-post127.html" target="_blank">she Charmed Carwyn</a> is outweighed by her eagerness to receive magical training. “And the little boy Tarai certainly does.”</span></p><p> </p><p> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">“Is that so? <em>Two</em> new Path members with the Golden Blood, and one very early prodigy – the Archmasters will be delighted.” The Rumormaster deftly gathers up little Tiya and looks at the door to the room where Tarai is sulking. “We’ll make sure your little son grows into his skills. I’m sorry he didn’t seem to take to my daughter.”</span></p><p> </p><p> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">“No, please – I apologize for him,” Rian says anxiously. “He just hasn’t had much experience with other children. I hope he didn’t offend.”</span></p><p> </p><p> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">Chingan Dai laughs. “A child of that age can’t possibly offend. Please, don’t push him on it – if he gets too upset, his powers might manifest in destructive ways. Best to just let it go for now.”</span></p><p> </p><p> <span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">Rian blinks – the idea that Tarai’s magic could conceivably pose a physical risk had not occurred to her, given how gentle her own awakening to power had been. To her mild surprise, the realization strengthens her protective instincts toward the little boy. “You’re very gracious. Thank you.”</span></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="havenstone, post: 5453229, member: 61094"] [b]Lying Low[/b] [B][FONT=Verdana]FOR SEVERAL DAYS, [/FONT][/B][FONT=Verdana]the party rests and recovers in the Dragon Path safe house, never opening the rune-covered trapdoor. The Laksharis prepared well, stocking the cellar with food and drink enough to sustain them for weeks. No noise penetrates from the street above, and Chandur assures the party that the babies’ crying won’t be heard outside either. From this tranquil sanctuary, it’s hard to imagine the magical and military forces of Tziwan scouring the city for them.[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]They pore over the few reading materials in the safe house, including a [URL="http://www.enworld.org/forum/5453232-post148.html"]map of the Xaimani Empire[/URL] which finally gives them a sense of where these countries they’ve been hearing about are located. (“This one was drawn by the Xaimani priests, not the Legions,” Njitra warns wryly. “Don’t use it to gauge travel distances – they make the subject nations look about half their real size.”) Naturally the escapees also get to know the two young Lakshari men with whom they are sharing the cellar. Both joined the Dragon Path as free men, though they’ve been captured and branded temporarily on past missions. (“Occupational hazard,” winces Chandur). [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]Njitra is a proud, charismatic idealist whose lifelong contempt for the Lakshari caste system led him to likewise reject the Xaimani slave system. A mercenary since his teens, he betrayed one of his Szianar employers a few years ago, turning a blind eye while a dozen of the man’s slaves escaped. The Dragon Path team who were facilitating the escape noted Njitra’s aid and discreetly recruited him afterward.[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]Chandur, by contrast, is an unscrupulous charmer, brilliant and mercurial. He isn’t moved by the grand vision of a slavery-free world, but was drawn into the Dragons by more personal motives: his beloved sister was taken as a slave by an eminent Maharana. After a failed rescue attempt, the twelve year-old Chandur was saved from the Lakshari lord’s prison by a Dragon Path mage. Unfortunately, his sister was soon sold on, and Chandur has so far failed to locate her again.[/FONT] [B][FONT=Verdana]THE YOUNG SZIANAR [/FONT][/B][FONT=Verdana]Shihara remains mostly silent and withdrawn. “I was sold a year ago to Minister Seko’s estate,” she says bleakly when asked about her past. “My old home doesn’t matter. My family would sell me again if I returned.” Rian nods in [URL="http://www.enworld.org/forum/4884389-post113.html"]wordless commiseration[/URL]. No one asks about the scars on Shihara's face, and she doesn’t volunteer an explanation.[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]“I just realized I recognize you,” Chandur tells her one morning.[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]“You must be mistaking me for one of the many, many other women of your acquaintance,” Shihara retorts, plainly weary of Chandur’s flirtation with every female in eyeshot.[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]“No, really. We were asked to find a fresh corpse of roughly your description last week. Weren’t you locked up and awaiting Radiant Path attention?” Shihara glares furiously at him. “Yes, I thought so. Your Slavemaster thought he’d seen you curdling the milk or causing the cows to run backward or something else vaguely sorcerous. If he’d been able to articulate himself more believably, they’d have sent a mage to check you sooner, and we wouldn’t have got to you in time.”[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]“You somehow replaced her with a corpse?” Carwyn says, eyebrow raised.[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]“One that now looks like it died from a very badly miscast fire spell,” Chandur confirms. “They’ll pay more heed to the Slavemaster next time, I’m afraid, but you can’t just make a mage-blood slave disappear without a plausible cover.”[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]“And how exactly does one go about finding a corpse of a certain description in Tziwan?”[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]The young Lakshari gives an almost-amused snort. “Where [I]can’t[/I] you come by a corpse, lovely Carwyn? The slave market, the tilehouses and lotus houses of the Shroud qohei, the arena, the vascars... this damned city kills people every day. Pose as the servant of a mage or a priest, and you have every excuse to ask for one.”[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]Later, when Rian can approach Shihara in what privacy the cellar allows, she leans over and speaks in a low voice. “How did you know when... when you first found you had the power?”[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]Shihara glances at Rian, her caginess outweighed by her curiosity. “It just welled up in me. I felt it like... like I feel my arm, or my breath in my lungs.” She pauses. “And... you?”[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]“Reading scrolls. Old scrolls of my grandfather’s.”[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]Shihara looks away again, lips tightening. “I don’t read well.”[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]“I taught myself,” Rian says matter-of-factly. “Perhaps I can teach you.”[/FONT] [B][FONT=Verdana]A WEEK AFTER[/FONT][/B][FONT=Verdana] their escape, Njitra sneaks out of the cellar by night to reestablish contact with the Dragon Path. When he returns, he is not alone; a frail, elderly Xaimani wearing unassuming gray robes follows him through the trapdoor. This is High Priest Haitze, another of the Dragon Path’s Founders. He warmly welcomes them to the Dragon Path and lays hands on each of the escapees’ shoulders in turn, murmuring a complex prayer to Heal their slave brands. [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]“To conceal you Northerners, we’ll obviously need more than an unbranding,” Njitra says, producing a string of small pouches. “These two common spice-dyes will color your skin – the stain sets deep, though you’ll want to renew it every year or two.” The Northern party members have to choose between the light gold-brown [URL="http://www.enworld.org/forum/5325991-post124.html"][I]tabal[/I][/URL], which will help them look Chramic or Szianar, or the deep brown [I]kaab[/I]-nut which will make them look Lakshari. Carwyn chooses the latter, earning her a wink and an optimistic grin from Chandur. The other Northern party members go with [I]tabal[/I].[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]Njitra informs them that the first fury of the manhunt has subsided. While it’s not yet wise for the party members to leave the safe house, more Dragon Path members will be coming to meet them. Their next visitor, arriving around noon the following day, is a middle-aged Szianar with grave eyes and a grey-flecked beard. He carries a solemn-looking baby girl.[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]“This is the Dragon Path’s Rumormaster, [URL="http://www.enworld.org/forum/5370202-post129.html"]Chingan Dai[/URL],” Chandur declares, beaming. “He’s the man who does the most to keep the world ignorant of our existence.”[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]“You’ll already be aware that my young student tends to exaggerate,” Chingan Dai demurs. “I am just one man in an information network spanning the Empire.”[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]“The man who did most to create it, over the last decade,” Njitra counters. “Before you took over, with all respect, the Path was terrible at spying. At heart, the Founders are straightforward men.”[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]Chingan Dai waves away the Laksharis’ compliments and settles into a long, avid discussion with the party members about slaveless Northern society and politics. Meanwhile, Hamber and the Rumormaster’s little daughter Tiya play happily together in one corner. Rian, who’s mostly left out of the main conversation, brings Tarai over to join the game. [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]Tarai squirms away, looking upset and a little jealous. “Don’t like her,” he says, sticking out his lower lip. Rian suppresses a smile. “Tarai, it’s all right for Hamber to have other friends,” she explains. “You should try too.” When Tarai obstinately refuses to play with the other children, she scolds him and sends him to a corner of the far room.[/FONT] [B][FONT=Verdana]SEVERAL HOURS LATER[/FONT][/B][FONT=Verdana], Chingan Dai reluctantly announces that he has to leave. Before departing, he steps over to Shihara and produces a slim, rune-covered book. “We’ll be ensuring you get proper Radiant Path training,” he promises, “but for now, perhaps you could start by studying this.”[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]The scarred Szianar girl glances nervously over to Rian. Chingan Dai’s eyes follow hers, and he raises an eyebrow. “I also share Shihara’s abilities, I think,” Rian admits under her breath. Her fear that the Northerners will suspect that [URL="http://www.enworld.org/forum/5367365-post127.html"]she Charmed Carwyn[/URL] is outweighed by her eagerness to receive magical training. “And the little boy Tarai certainly does.”[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]“Is that so? [I]Two[/I] new Path members with the Golden Blood, and one very early prodigy – the Archmasters will be delighted.” The Rumormaster deftly gathers up little Tiya and looks at the door to the room where Tarai is sulking. “We’ll make sure your little son grows into his skills. I’m sorry he didn’t seem to take to my daughter.”[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]“No, please – I apologize for him,” Rian says anxiously. “He just hasn’t had much experience with other children. I hope he didn’t offend.”[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]Chingan Dai laughs. “A child of that age can’t possibly offend. Please, don’t push him on it – if he gets too upset, his powers might manifest in destructive ways. Best to just let it go for now.”[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]Rian blinks – the idea that Tarai’s magic could conceivably pose a physical risk had not occurred to her, given how gentle her own awakening to power had been. To her mild surprise, the realization strengthens her protective instincts toward the little boy. “You’re very gracious. Thank you.”[/FONT] [/QUOTE]
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