Getting to your question in a minute Jackylhunter, but first, update!
Part the One-Hundred Ninety-Third
In which: we resort to subterfuge, lies, and banditry!
Reyu has to give Lira credit. If she didn’t know that the young sorcerer had the constitution of a horse, she might have actually been fooled by her performance.
Fortunately, the Count’s employees have no way of knowing that Lira is made of sterner stuff than she appears to be.
As Chaidess panics, Reyu takes charge.
“Do you have her? Here, you should sit down.”
As she is moved onto the chef’s lap, Lira groans, and her eyes flutter open.
“Are… are you all right?” Chaidess asks her.
Lira looks blearily up at Reyu. “Can you get Anvil?”
“Of course,” Reyu assures her. She turns to the escort, still standing in the hall, and looking a bit dumbfounded. Reyu takes advantage of his confusion. “Show me to our companion’s apartments. We must hurry.”
The escort looks from Chaidess, to Lira, to Reyu, and decides not to argue with an insistent elf. “Of course. This way.”
Once their footsteps have retreated out of earshot, Lira opens her eyes fully, looks up at Chaidess, and says, “Was there something you wanted to tell me?”
The relief that floods his face is nearly heartbreaking. “Oh gods, yes. You have to help me. They’ve got my daughter. I’d escape in a second, but they say they’ll kill her if I try.”
“Where is she?”
“I don’t know. They let me see her once a week; we’re never alone. It’s a small island, somewhere to the west of here.”
“What’s your daughter’s name?”
“Suell. Please, she’s only fifteen.”
“Is everyone here being held against their will, like you?”
The man shakes his head. “Not everyone. Just people, craftsmen mostly, with skills the Count wants.”
Lira bites her lip. Footsteps are already approaching from down the hall. “We’ll do what we can, but… Do you think you could get us some kind of map—?”
Chaidess hears the footsteps as well. He hurriedly whispers, “I’ll see what I can do.”
Anvil’s voice comes booming down the corridor. “What is going on here?” When he, Reyu, and their escort reach them, Chaidess is helping Lira to her feet.
“Are you alright?” Anvil demands.
“Just a bit faint. I don’t know what happened.”
“I hope it wasn’t something you ate,” the chef says, sounding convincingly worried.
“No, no.” Lira assures him. “I’m sure it was something else. I should probably just lie down for a bit.”
“That is a good idea,” Anvil announces, and then, much to Lira’s surprise, he picks her up and carries her back into her room.
Reyu is left standing with Chaidess and the attendant. “Thank you,” she tells them. “I’m sure she’ll be fine. It’s probably just the badgerbite.”
And with that, she retreats into the room, and closes the door behind her.
###
Reyu does do some canine reconnoitering later in the evening, and once she returns, the party gathers to try to figure out what to do next.
“No wonder he looked so nervous during dinner,” says Thatch when he hears about Chaidess’s predicament. “Still, I don’t know what we can do to help.”
“It raises the question,” Anvil points out, “of whether Barnabus is being held here as well.”
“If the Count can hold him here against his will, how are we supposed to break him out?” Lira asks.
“Maybe he could, but there’s a hostage for his good behavior as well. If we can free the hostages, we can eliminate the Count’s leverage,” Annika suggests.
“Do we even know Barnabus wants to leave?” Thatch asks.
Eva shakes her head. “Something weird was definitely going on at dinner. When Lira mentioned Chi’i’s name, it was like he had never heard of her before.”
“Maybe he also does not feel he can speak freely in front of the Count,” says Reyu.
“We could use the headband to contact him, see if he could talk then,” Kiara suggests.
“But if Barnabus wanted to speak to us privately, why doesn’t he just send to us on his own?” Eva wants to know.
“Maybe he doesn’t know the spell?” A puzzled silence greets that suggestion. Annika looks uncomfortable. “I’m not saying it’s likely, just that it’s possible,” she argues, only a little defensive.
“It’s worth a try,” says Thatch.
“But what if the man we met tonight wasn’t even Barnabus?” Eva points out. “Then we’d be sending to the wrong person, and pretty much telling the Count we think he’s lying to us.”
“Okay,” says Lira, “how about this: the one person we know in all the Halmae who has actually met Barnabus is Chi’i. Why don’t we use the headband to send a message to her, asking if she would please ask Barnabus if he’s meet us and let us know his answer? That way, we don’t tip our hand.”
“Do you think Chi’i will do it?” Annika asks.
“She has no real reason not to, if we ask nicely. Hopefully we can make it clear in twenty-five words how few options we have.”
“Or she’ll teleport here and turn us all into four-armed gorillas,” Eva sighs. “Which would at least solve some of our problems, I suppose.”
“How so?” Reyu asks.
“We would spend the rest of our lives on one of the Count’s little islands and wouldn’t have to worry about finding Barnabus or not.”
The group settles down to trying to compose a sending to Chi’i, which takes some doing to achieve the proper balance of diplomacy versus information. After about twenty minutes, they are interrupted by a scratch at the door.
When Reyu answers it, she finds a nervous-looking woman in service livery standing on the threshold.
“Can I help you?” Reyu asks.
“Chaidess sent me,” she answers in a whisper. Checking over her shoulder to see if anyone else is in the hall. “I’m supposed to give you this.” She hands Reyu a rolled piece of parchment. Reyu takes a quick glance. Great, another “map.”
“Here,” she quickly ushers the young woman inside. “You should come in, and meet the others.”
With a little prompting from the party, the woman, whose name is Simone, points out the island where they are, and the one where she is from originally. She has no idea where Chaidess’s daughter might be being held.
“I could barely believe it when Chaidess told me what was going on. That he was here against his will, that his daughter was being held hostage?”
“It doesn’t seem like the Count?”
“Not at all, but…” she hesitates, “I can’t believe that Chaidess is lying.”
The party thanks Simone for the map, and once the coast is clear out in the corridor, she slips away.
###
The next morning Anvil sends the party’s message to Chi’i, to which they receive the following reply: “I cannot contact him and you again in the same day. I will speak to you tomorrow.”
Anvil is not oblivious to the slight annoyance which permeates her message, and privately hopes they have not erred in soliciting her assistance. Unfortunately, her response, however potentially useful, presents them with the additional obstacle that the Count seems to have every intention of getting them on their way and out of his islands as soon as possible.
And so, when the Count meets the party for breakfast, the group has prepared what they hope is a reasonable request.
“Since Barnabus is determined not to come to Dar Pykos to interview for the Chancellor’s position, and as he appears to be the greatest artificer in the Halmae, we were wondering if we could stay for a couple of days, so that Annika might study with him.”
The Count considers this. “Will your ship not depart without you, if you do not soon return to it?”
“We have some time before they will assume we have been lost,” Lira assures him.
“I see,” says the Count, stroking his chin thoughtfully. “Well, we do not often have visitors, and even more seldom do we have guests. I am prepared to allow you to remain for a time, but I would ask two favors of you, in return.”
“What kind of favors?” Eva wants to know.
“As you are no doubt aware, I own many artifacts of a… unique and valuable nature. I have put in place the most thorough security measures which I can muster, and they have been tested by my staff, but I think they would benefit from a trial by outsiders. To whit, I would ask you to travel to one of my islands, and attempt to commit a theft. This will allow me to know of any holes in my countermeasures.”
A silence falls over the table.
“And if your countermeasures are successful?” Reyu asks.
The Count is reassuring. “The countermeasures can be rendered non-lethal.”
“That would be good,” Thatch mutters, not the only party member who is not quite sure how he feels about this “favor.”
“You mentioned there were two things?” Lira inquires.
“Yes.” The Count nods. “Merely that you do not speak of what you have seen here to those outside these islands. And if you have made any maps to ease your passage, that you leave them here.”
“We will have to report to the King of Dar Pykos, and our Temple superiors,” Anvil points out.
The Count allows the exception. “The King is already aware of my… existence.”
“You may then certainly count on our discretion,” Lira assures him. If the Count notices that she makes no mention of whether or not the party has any maps in their possession, and what they will do with them if they do, he makes no sign of it.
“Well then, if you are agreed to aid me in the other matter, I will send Lord Marmion for you in an hour’s time.” He indicates Annika and Kiara. “You and your young friend, if she likes, will be taken to see Barnabus, and the rest of you can conduct our experiment.” The Count indicates the woman behind him. “Lady Tempeste will accompany you as an observer, and I will provide a small ship and crew, with orders to obey you as if they were your own.” He surveys the party. “Do we have an agreement?”
The party members turn to each other.
“Well, this kind of has ‘challenge’ written all over it,” Lira points out. “Besides, we’ve never practiced banditry before, it could be fun.”
Anvil scowls a bit at that, but makes no objection to the idea either. In short, no one can see any reason to refuse the Count’s request, and so, after the meal is concluded, they return to their apartments to prepare for an adventure.
