Aphonion Tales (New posts 6/13, 6/15, 6/19)

[Ladybird]

[Note: At this point, real-life concerns broke in – there was a huge blizzard coming, and the GM needed to leave. The rest of the session was therefore wrapped up over email. I’ll attempt to turn the brief exchange of emails into something that would be fun to read, because there’s some important information that needs to be conveyed along the way]

The group beat a hasty retreat from the slavers’ encampment before the tiefling could recover from her laughing fit and report to her superiors. “All right,” Kit said, once they had reached a safe distance. “We’ve got the location. We’ll note it so that a larger group can be sent back sometime later.”

“When we can spare the time and people,” Honore cautioned. “Now, I agree that something must be done,” she continued, holding up a hand to appease Alessandre’s incipient protest. “But with the coronation so close, and so many other threats to the Archduke and the crown, who knows when we will be able to spare the people to take care of such a large fortified encampment?”

“I suppose,” Kit agreed reluctantly. “We’ll see what things are like when we get back to the capital. For now…let’s keep following Princess Anastasia. And let’s try to check out some of these so-called nobles who have been setting themselves up.

The group continued journeying towards the southeast, following the course of Anastasia’s airship. This time, instead of skirting around the fortifications that marked the sites of the new nobles’ power bases, they headed towards them. Choosing a spot about equidistant between four small stockades, the group set up their own camp; then, leaving the Tangites behind to stand guard, they split up to start investigating. Kit, Honore, and Toby would cover two of the stockades; Jet and Alessandre the other. Connected by a Mindlink between Kit and Jet, laden with some of the bribe – er, compensation – money that Kit had been given by Dame Esmeralda, and on their guard against whatever they might find, they set off to check out just what kind of societies were setting themselves up south of the border.

**
“Thugs,” Jet declared flatly. “They say that they give the common folk more protection than they would have otherwise, and that might be true, but if that’s what they call protection, well, I’d rather be out on my own.” Anger was making the laconic chef more talkative than anyone had seen him on any subject other than cooking techniques.

“That was only in one of the towns that we saw.” Alessandre was struggling to maintain her optimism, but her soft voice was still pained with the memory of what she had seen. “The southernmost one. Yes, their leaders were horrible. They claim that their people are free, but from what I saw, there was very little freedom in that town.”

“We had one of those, too,” Kit nodded, her expression set in a deep frown. “The smaller of our two towns. Nobody wanted to talk – they were all too afraid. But they’re more afraid to leave, because they don’t want to be without the protection of a lord, even one who deserves the name as little as that horrible strong-man leader does. The first decent contact I found, I paid off and left. I hope she’ll be able to get information out to me. Things looked…pretty bad in there.”

Jet nodded in unhappy agreement. “The people were being beaten in the streets. And the head man grabbed a woman right out of the street – right in front of her husband! and claimed her as his own.”

“We left there very quickly,” Alessandre hastened to reassure the others, as Honore started to reach out towards her with a swift, worried gesture. “I was never in any danger myself. But the poor people who live there….” She broke off, shaking her head sadly. “Are they really any better off than they would have been under the Noldar slavers?”

“We won’t let this continue,” Kit said, still frowning darkly. “We’ll report back to Alistair and get those places cleaned up. When we have time and resources,” she added with a sigh, before Honore could correct her again. “What about the other town?” Kit continued.

“Better?” Alessandre said hopefully. “The leader is someone whose name I had never heard before – someone from the old South Kingdoms, who has never been a leader before. He’s inexperienced, but he seems to be doing all right.”

Jet nodded. “He’s young, but he’ll learn,” he agreed. “Good instincts, that one. And he’s got an older woman advising him – an aunt or some such. She might make a good contact for you.”

Kit nodded. “I suppose our second town was the best of the bunch, then. One of the old South Kingdoms ladies has set herself up in charge. Or what passes for a manor there, I guess. She’s – well, she’s a lady. She’s ruling pretty well. People seem to be happy.” She managed a smile, answering Alessandre’s hopeful optimism with some of her own. “I suppose that in some places, at least, things are actually starting to pick themselves back up here. Tomorrow, I’ll go around and try to get in touch with those contacts. And then we’ll do the same for the other towns that we find along the way. And we’ll make a note of where the bad leaders are, so that we can come back later and clean house. We can’t let that happen,” she repeated, with growing determination. “Not on our watch.”

 

[recentcoin]

Yeah..go Kit!

Girl power!

 

[Ladybird]

They were almost in time.

The voller sat on a broad plain, far below the high hill where the Canberrians watched. The ship was surrounded by dozens of Hanalian knights, all rushing in a frantic, scattered stream towards another, smaller group of people. Twelve figures, their stark black robes pulled up over their heads, surrounded a small, slim woman. The woman’s brightly-colored clothing stood out boldly against the dark robes, and flashed in and out as she struggled against the robed figures.

“It’s the princess!” Jet shouted, already drawing his sword as he started to move forward.

But Alessandre stretched out a hand to stop him, her soft voice high with fright. “No!” she gasped. “Look there!”

As they watched, the destination of the robed figures became clear: an enormously tall, elegantly-garbed figure whose furred snout and ears were impeccably groomed. “A Rat Lord?” Jet exclaimed, staring in incredulous horror. The black robe of one the other figures slipped down, revealing the black armor and fur of Eshen gutter-runners. The Rat Lord reached out towards the still-struggling Anastasia, its manicured claws curling viciously around her arm.

And then the Rat Lord and the Princess of Hanal disappeared.

A roar of distraught anger arose from the Hanalian soldiers, and they sped forward, falling upon the remaining gutter-runners with vicious force. But a few of the knights were moving more slowly, weighed down by armor and age – white hair showed at the bottom of their helms. The older knights staggered to a halt, a few of them bent double with the effort of breathing, and with the effort of enduring after the loss of their princess. With a slow, grieving solemnity, they helped each other out of their armor, and then fell on their swords, punishing themselves for the dishonor of having lost Princess Anastasia.

If there was any doubt about Kit’s origins among the other Canberrians, those doubts were cleared up as soon as Princess Anastasia disappeared. “Dame Katherine” let out a stream of furious language that came directly from the filthy streets of Plurg.

“Right out from under our bloody noses!” she managed to choke out at last. “We were so close! So close!”

Jet was scowling down at the increasingly bloody scene below them. “They’re too old to be out there anyway,” he said, shaking his head sadly at the aged knights strewn over the field. “They can’t be blamed for losing her – and how do they think that that will help them find her?”

Aha!” Toby’s triumphant cry turned all eyes towards him, with curious, hopeful looks. With the air of someone who has just made a great discovery, he declared, “The skaven were responsible!” As the others started to turn away again in exasperation, Toby continued, “And those people look like they’re trying to find them!” And, in fact, a separate group of Hanalians – younger knights, and some wearing the distinctive robes of mages - was starting to fan out across the plain.

“If they’re searching, we need to search, too,” Kit declared, her anger starting to resolve itself into determination. “The princess is a good person, and the best hope we’ve got of a sane leader in Hanal.” Kit wasn’t sure when she had started to call Canberry ‘we’; nor was she sure when she had decided that she knew so definitively what Anastasia was like. But she had the complete strength of her convictions behind her words. “We’ll tell the other knights that we’ve talked to the Duke of Snattercaz, and offer our help in searching for her.” Then Kit sighed, as a new thought hit her. “And I’m going to have to tell Snattercaz what happened, too.” She shook her head wearily, and took out the linkstone to tell the Duke that the princess had been kidnapped.

[End of Session 5]

 

[Orichalcum]

Dame Brionna listened to Kit's report of her mission to the south, keeping an impassive face as much as possible. Once Kit had left to reunite more privately with Alistair, and she was certain that the young spymistress was therefore not listening in on her thoughts, she drew a long sigh.

"I wonder," Brionna thought, "if Kit realizes that detouring to depetrify her friends may have lost her the chance to save Princess Anastasia. I hope not, in a way, although she is very young, and needs to start thinking about longer-term goals. Perhaps that's the difference between us. Kit's very nice; she really cares about individuals, and helping out her friends. Even now, I think she's mostly working at the court because she loves Alistair, although she's coming to love Canberry too.

I would probably have left Jet and Alessandre there as statues for a few days, and pursued the mission, or else gotten help from the court mages back at Canberry. After all, they weren't in any harm, and the long-term future of an entire nation was at stake. And that doesn't make me a nice person. I can't afford to be; we nobles are trained to think of the good of the whole, and of the effects of our actions 10 or 30 or 100 years from now. It's not that I don't care; it's a question of priorities. i'd be sad personally if Alistair died, even if he is a bit of a twit occasionally, but devastated on behalf of Canberry and the forces of Light.

Now I just need to make sure no one mentions to Kit the attractive priestesses of Glordiadel I've been distracting Alistair with while she's been away. I'll ask the chaplain to start rotating them out of the choir at morning services. Kit might think I don't approve of her relationship with His Grace. And I do! But really - she was gone for almost two weeks. Alistair was going to sleep with someone, and much better for it to be people who were reliable, discreet, and pre-screened as good and loyal, than some random chambermaid whose cleavage he liked. Still, much better for her not to know. We can't afford distractions caused by a lovers' quarrel - not this close to the coronation!

 

[HalfOrc HalfBiscuit]

Just thought I'd pop in again to tell you guys that I'm still enjoying this storyhour greatly ... keep up the good work!

... and the daily updates!

 

[Cerebral Paladin]

Thanks to Ladybird for all the great storyhour writing. It's been fun to be a reader in this thread for a while. But now you'll all have to put up with my writing again. On the upside, I have so much storyhour written up and not posted that I'm going to go back to a daily schedule (not just weekdays) AND increase the length of the posts. Without further ado...

Session 6:
Shortly after Kit's return, Alistair and his friends and confidants gathered in his meeting room. Of course, in light of his grandmother's passing, the meeting was formally a security briefing for the Archduke.

Dame Brionna began. "Your grace, we have several issues that we should discuss. We need to make a variety of security preparations for the coronation and the continuing internal threats that could try to disrupt it. We also need to discuss how we plan on dealing with some of the potential external threats."

"Let's begin with discussing the envoys we expect to receive. Some of them create additional concerns, and they're our best way to start dealing with the external threats."

Dame Brionna nodded. "Yes, your grace. All of the major human kingdoms in Southern Drucien are sending important emissaries. Queen Thyastis of Hanal is sending the Hiercov of Magdad." Seeing a vaguely confused look on Alistair's face, she clarified. "'Hiercov' is a noble title, about equivalent to a duke. The Hiercov has a relatively good reputation. I'm certain that he's loyal to Queen Thyastis, but he's primarily known as a decorated war hero. In light of Dame Katherine's reports about the Queen's potential heirs, I should note that we do not know who he would support in a succession.

"The 'Goddess-Empress' of Masque is sending Count Gerring Holt of the Order of the Ocelot. As you know, all of the nobles of Masque and most of the free people are members of an Order. Nobles have the right to reclaim fallen or unused orders as their own, which Count Holt did with the Order of the Ocelot. As a result, he is the only member of the Order. Masque has a plethora of nobles, so Hanal and others may view it as something of a snub that they're sending a mere count, but I do not believe that you should take it that way, your grace. Count Holt is a favorite of the Empress-- I do not know whether that extends to a special private relationship, so I wouldn't recommend trying to use the possibility of a royal marriage as a tool to build ties to Masque. He is also a noted alchemist and an accomplished psionicist, despite not being a member of their Order of the Serpent, which includes most of their most powerful mages and psions."

"I assume that if we are interested in hiring the Order of the Falcon as mercenaries, we should discuss the matter with the representative of the Empress of Masque first?"

"I think so, your grace. For whatever reason, that Order typically does not accept contracts from the government of Masque itself, but I wouldn't want the Empress to draw the incorrect conclusion."

Kit frowned. "I still don't think we should be dealing with them. Their Grand Constable ate someone's arm! Surely, m'lord, they aren't the only option for mercenaries if we have to expand our military resources."

"I'm not sure there are any better options," said Alistair. "There are too many possible military threats. If the Duchy of Brightspan's army is part of a coordinated attack on the Forest of Singing Leaves by Hanal, Brightspan, and the Noldar, we could quickly find ourselves in the midst of a major war with Hanal, and that's assuming that a civil war doesn't break out. Add to that the threats to the refugees in the Sunken Lands, Hanal's continual expansionist ambitions, Brightspan's disloyalty, the skaven, the orcs, and the human barbarians, and we just need more military capacity. We can't ready seasoned regular armies fast enough, and Dame Brionna says that the Order of the Falcon is the only one of their orders that is both large and effective enough to fill our needs."

"From all that we know, Count Sheringar of the Order of the Falcon is very loyal to his employers, so I don't think we need to worry that he would betray us," Dame Brionna continued, although Kit's expression made it clear that she was still not persuaded. "To continue, the less powerful human kingdoms, such as Tang and the Cities of the Gates, will of course also be sending ambassadors, but they are less of a priority.

"The most notable non-human delegations we expect are from the elves, including both Eldar and Noldar. The Forest of Singing Leaves is sending Lord Everglowing Silverleaves. Lord Silverleaves is a bard of unparalleled skill; he may in fact be the most talented bard on Aphonion, as many of the handful of more powerful Eldar bards have gone West. He is an Eldar himself, of course, and will be representing the Queen of Leaves.

"Setilina of House Curini'rim intends to represent the Noldar. She is a Firstcomer."

"What does that mean?" asked Stythus.

"It means that she was one of the elves that the Creator made personally, when they were the only people in Aphonion," explained Alistair. "All of the other Eldar and Noldar, and of course the other elves, are the descendants of the Firstcomers. She chose her side in the war between the Creator and Morgrath and predates the first humans. That also implies tremendous personal power, in addition to her political ties."

"Indeed, your grace. She is a powerful psionicist, as well as having both clerical and arcane magical abilities. She specializes in clockwork automata-- House Curini'rim are the artificers of the Noldar and among the least virulently evil of the Houses. Politically, she has close ties to Region 9 of the Zorplona-Aragoni, which is the region covering Northern Drucien. Her cousin is in charge there. As your grace may recall, Region 9 has stopped engaging in the slave trade and has begun an emphasis on regular trade."

 

[Cerebral Paladin]

"Thank you, Dame Brionna. Kit, why don't you brief us on the threats we've identified within Canberry."

"Yes, m'lord. We're hearing many reports of someone trying to start a riot during the coronation procession. Whoever it is has begun spreading money around the poorer parts of the City, m'lord."

Alistair frowned a little. "Kit-- you don't need to call me 'm'lord.' I'm still just Alistair."

"Not when we're dealing with security matters, m'lord," replied Kit determinedly, eliciting a pleased smile from Dame Brionna. "When I'm reporting to you as the Mouth, I'm reporting to my lord the Archduke." Alistair looked displeased, but seeing that he wouldn't prevail, gestured for Kit to continue with her report.

"We also have heard reports that twenty heavily armed people have entered the city, m'lord. They've been behaving politely and courteously, but haven't announced who they represent and have been doing their best to keep things quiet. Until we know who they work for, we have to assume that they're up to no good.

"Finally, during my investigations in the south, we found evidence of a group of demon-worshippers active in the south, m'lord."

"And then there are the matters that we found out about earlier but haven't dealt with yet. I don't believe we ever confirmed whether the Mother-Superior of the Order of Blessed Hope has in fact been corrupted by the skaven, as was rumored?"

Dame Brionna frowned. "No, your grace, we haven't."

"Unless anyone thinks it's a bad idea, I think we can hand that off to the Archbishop of the Sun to handle. It will save any awkwardness of our dealing with problems within the Church, and I'm sure that he can be relied on to treat it with the seriousness it deserves."

Sister Allessandre nodded. "I think that's best, your grace. If she has been corrupted, church troops are the ideal group to handle the threat as well."

"Good. Sister Allessandre, if you could deliver the warning to the Archbishop? Make sure that the church knights that he sends to investigate it have orichalcum to protect themselves if the Mother-Superior has been corrupted, and ask His Eminence to send us a report afterwards. The more we can coordinate our efforts against the skaven with the Church's, the better.

"We also need to rescue my half-brother Dridall's family from the skaven. The matter is too far afield for us to handle it directly, I think, and an army would be too slow and too visible to succeed. I think our best bet would be to dispatch a team of adventurers to handle it. We can tell them roughly where the Muldar fortress is, since we know that it's in the ruins of the city of Gettings. If we're particularly lucky, that may be the same place that Princess Alexandra of Hanal is being held."

"I can take care of recruiting an appropriate group of adventurers, m'lord," responded Kit.

"How should we proceed on the rest of the issues?"

"Lord Alistair, if it's possible, I'd like to make a trip back to my home plane," said Stythus, Alistair's djinni squire. "My house has been having troubles there. Princes have been set up on all of the elemental planes and are seeking to force all of the noble houses to serve them."

"What sort of princes? Just other elementals?"

"No... they are demonic, elemental princes that have taken on Abyssal energy. And they are seeking to gather more followers."

"Wonderful. We don't just need to worry about Borsh'tro's efforts to take over the Prime, but we need to help stop him in other planes as well," said Alistair. "Of course you can go to help your family however you can. In fact, I'm happy to offer them an alliance, if we can figure out any way for us to help them deal with this new threat."

"Maybe I could convince them to send some other djinn to help out with security for the coronation."

"That would be most helpful. I'm sure that any sort of air elemental could be very effective at dispersing would-be rioters." Alistair paused in thought. "What do your people value? Do you use any sort of money? We should send gifts with you."

"Exotic perfumes, special scents, and other types of precious air are often sought after on the Plane of Air."

"Fine. I'll have someone buy a supply of perfumes from the market for you to bring as gifts. But before you go, I want Lady Constance to look at that rune on your head. We've neglected it for too long, and since I suspect it may involve demonism in some way, it would be best to deal with it before you begin working against demonic forces."

"When we speak with Lady Constance, we can also ask her about the tieflings in service to Brightspan, m'lord," added Kit. "And then I think we need to get some people out into the city to find out more about who's instigating this riot. It can't be difficult to find them-- they're spreading a lot of money around in all the lower class taverns."

Abigail, Kit's page, rapped on the door and poked her head inside. "Your grace? Lady Constance wishes to see you. She has a knight by the ear and is berating him."

"Speak of the diabolist. Send her in, please."

 

[Cerebral Paladin]

Lady Constance stormed into the room, her face twisted in fury. "Your grace, this fool had but a single duty, and he not only failed, he didn't even realize he had failed!" To emphasize her words, she twisted the ear of the knight she was escorting, producing a pained whince.

Dame Brionna held up a hand. "Lady Constance... could you start at the beginning? I recognize the Knight Guardian of the Pillow, but I don't understand the rest of what you're saying."

The aged diabolist released her grip on the Knight Guardian's ear. "The Knight Guardian of the Pillow's duty was to protect a single pillow. But really, his duty was to protect an Eldar medallion with tremendously powerful sustaining magic that was kept on the pillow. The medallion was a gift from the Eldar of the Forest of Singing Leaves to your grandmother, your grace, and it sustained her life and kept her vigorous for years. It was among the most powerful magic artifacts in the entire Archduchy. And then this fool allowed someone to substitute a fake for the actual stone, and didn't even realize it was missing for months!"

Lord Alistair closed his eyes momentarily. "I take it this was responsible for my grandmother's sudden decline?"

"Indeed. I think that Amelia even realized what was happening, but did not want to allow anyone else to know. The Eldar did her a great honor with that coronation gift, and would be displeased if they discovered that we had misplaced it. And, unless my estimate is mistaken, the theft took place during an embassy to Tarsh seven months ago. It would create quite a strain if we revealed that Tarsh allowed a major theft from a visiting head of state."

Dame Brionna glowered at the Knight Guardian, who looked absolutely miserable. "The first thing we need to do, your grace, is make sure that the medallion isn't used in the coronation ceremony. If Lord Silverleaves sees the replacement, he may recognize the switch."

"And then we need to see if we can recover it. It's too valuable a resource to give up lightly. Kit, do you have any assets in Tarsh?"

"No, m'lord. Tarsh is too far away-- all of our resources are concentrated on this continent." She thought for a moment. "I think this may be another matter to send a group of adventurers to deal with. I may be able to find people who can get the medallion back without any other powers knowing that it was ever gone."

"Excellent. Knight Guardian, you're dismissed. For obvious reasons, speak of this to no one. And now, Lady Constance, I was wondering if you could deal with a few matters for us."

"Of course, your grace."

"Quite some time ago, while we were fighting slavers in Enclaves, a hag carved a sigil into Stythus's head. We believe that it has some mystical significance, but we were not sure what and hoped that you could tell us."

Lady Constance examined it carefully. "Yes... it is a scrying mark. It allows the power that the night hag served to observe young Stythus and his surroundings."

"Can you remove it?" asked Stythus.

"I should be able to, if you accompany me to my laboratory. With your leave, your grace?"

"Certainly. And if you can determine who she served, so much the better. But please do return upon finishing. There are some other matters we should discuss."

Stythus and Lady Constance made their way up to her lab. Stythus pleased the ancient archmaga tremendously by showing her a secret passageway that shortened the trip considerably; as she explained, her knees aren't what they used to be, and the long trips up and down stairs and across many halls to get from her tower to the Archduke's chambers can be a bit trying.

Upon reaching her chambers, Lady Constance performed a complicated set of enchantments and then covered Stythus's head with a carefully prepared piece of parchment. She rubbed the parchment against his head, while chanting words of power. After a moment, she removed it and smiled. "There. The scrying power is now broken." She looked at the image left on the parchment, of a pale skinned elven woman. "Give this to the Archduke. The elf, or perhaps Noldar, whose image is on the parchment was the mistress of the night hag and the one who could scry through the mark." She paused. "And now, I think, we'll summon the intermediary to us. Do you think you could convince her to submit to your will? Night hags are formidable foes, but they are used to deferring to more powerful figures in the demonic hierarchy. If she believes you outmatch her, she will likely surrender easily."

Stythus thought for a moment. "I think I could." He began sucking in more air, puffing his size up as much as he could manage in an effort to be more imposing.

"Good. Then stand in that pentagram, while I begin the summoning." Lady Constance carefully checked and augmented the arcane sigils surrounding the pentagram, lit the appropriate incense in the braziers around her lab, drew forth a perfect, unornamented silver ring from a small chest, and then held her hands aloft. "Lilith, Queen of Hell, I beseech you! Command the night hag who marked this young djinn to appear before us!"

A moment later the night hag appeared in the pentagram with Stythus. Before she had more than a moment to take in her surroundings, Stythus scowled and pointed at her, glowering fiercely. "You! You dared to mark me! Now, the time of my revenge is at hand!"

The night hag hesitated for only a moment. Then, with the slightest shrug of her shoulders, she cowered and kneeled before him. "Please, do not harm me. I recognize your might and will serve you as I can."

Lady Constance's lips drew back into a grim smile. "As you swear to serve Stythus, I bind you to that promise." She held forth the silver ring. "Enter, and come forth only when he calls you to serve." The hag bent her head in surrender, and then leapt towards the ring, fading away as she entered it. Lady Constance carefully broke the pentagram. "You may come out of the pentagram, now, Stythus. I've been waiting so long for a good opportunity to use that ring. Take it. You will be able to summon the night hag three times per month, and she will serve you as best as she can."

"How long will she remain?"

"Up to one day for each service. But be careful... if she is destroyed, the ring will lose its magic, and you will not be able to call on her again."

 

[Quartz]

Please keep this up!

 

[Cerebral Paladin]

Canberry Needs You!

Curious about those adventurers Kit is sending to recover the Archduchess's amulet? Wondering whether they will succeed and what wacky adventures they will have? They could be you! The DM of this game is writing an adventure for teams of PCs as they try to recover the amulet, to premiere at AnonyCon 2006 in Stamford, CT, December 15-17. AnonyCon is a terrific con, mostly run by Ladybird and Delbon's player, with help from myself, Orichalcum, and many others. Orichalcum and myself will be running another one of our D&D games as well, and Ladybird will have a Call of Cthulhu game, as well as much other fun stuff, including plenty of LG for people who like that. We hope you'll join us. And the Archduchy needs your help.

Quartz: Don't worry; I've got another 3 sessions all written up, and I'm working on the 4th. That's nearly 100 pages more material! I'll be able to keep up this posting rate for a long time.

I also want to mention that I have a note from the scene with Stythus and Lady Constance that says that the night hag serves the female demon. I'm not sure what this means.

-------

When Stythus and Lady Constance returned to the meeting, they thanked the archmaga for her service. While they did not recognize the face on the parchment, it was a lead that would surely bear fruit soon enough. Lady Constance nodded, pleased. "But you said you had another matter you wished to discuss?"

Alistair gestured to Kit, who nodded. "Lady Constance, when I was investigating the slavers in the south, I saw that the army of Brightspan had been replaced by tieflings. I do not know how many total, but there were definitely more than a hundred. I also found out that there was a powerful group of demon-worshippers active, and I thought that the Duchess of Brightspan might be involved somehow. Do you know anything about where the tieflings might have come from?"

Lady Constance paused, in thought. "Depending on their precise lineage, they might just serve the Duchess out of familial loyalty. The Duchess of Brightspan has a claim within the hierarchy of Hell, as her mother was a half-blood. The Duchess's grandmother was a minor princess of Hell."

"Do you think that the Duchess might be involved in demonism?"

"I wouldn't have thought so. In her youth, the Duchess was a licensed diabolist in Tarsh. She converted for her marriage, more out of love for the Duke than for Glor'diadel, if you ask me. But I wouldn't have expected her to have any fondness for demons. She was a devotee of the Weeping Woman as a child, during the lead up to the Blood War of Tarsh, before her conversion. Few of the Weeping Woman's servants have been corrupted by the offers of demons."

"And, presumably, the Church of Paranswarm would watch any diabolist carefully for signs that they had crossed over into dealing with demons as well as devils," Alistair noted.

"Indeed, your grace. In her youth, the SHH watched her carefully, and with no complaints as far as my contacts tell me," Lady Constance continued, pronouncing the abbreviation of the Society of the Hands of Hell as a long syllable shhhh. "Even after her conversion, SHH sent a member to watch and advise her in Brightspan, but he was assassinated."

"Maybe because there were things she didn't want the SHH to see," said Kit.

"Perhaps," Lady Constance replied noncommitally. "As for the demon-worshippers-- I'm glad that you noticed the coven, as I was going to point them out anyway. They appear to be working out of the sewers and have summoned at least three powerful creatures, including an arcana."

"In the city?" Kit said in consternation. "The arcana I knew of had been summoned in the south, in the refugee lands."

"Ah... then it must be separate, although the coven that called it may be related to the coven here somehow."

"What exactly is an arcana, Lady Constance?" asked Alistair.

"A powerful demon, your grace, principally to be feared for its great magic abilities."

"I see. In that case, may I ask that you take charge of investigating what the arcana in the south, or its masters, seek to do? I think that the threat of the ones in the city is best dealt with by quickly identifying their locations and then simply sending knights to deal with them, but that's harder to do in the Sunken Lands."

"Or perhaps church knights, your grace," interjected Sister Alessandre. "The unholy is best fought with holy light."

"A sensible plan, your grace. And now, if I may ask a boon?" Lady Constance paused apprehensively. "Amelia recognized that my magic was very different from her own and tolerated that difference. We only attended upon each other's rituals once, and that was enough to know that the less she saw of my magic, the happier we would both be. But she recognized that my powers had their uses, and gave me special permission to practice my art, even though your realm does not license diabolists regularly...

"Should you have a different view of the matter, I should know now, at the outset of your reign. If you intend to treat me as any other diabolist, I should like to take my leave of Canberry. Exile seems preferable to burning at the stake, and though this is my home, there are other realms that would welcome me." Something about the way in which she mentioned burning suggested that it was less the matter of execution than her doubts about what the afterlife might hold for her that made her cautious about anything that might shorten her life.

"Of course, Lady Constance. You have served Canberry well and loyally, and in these troubled times, we would not give up your loyal service. You may continue to practice your art as you did in my grandmother's time," Alistair replied, carefully speaking in the formal first-person plural. "The continuing threat of demonism may make a diabolist unpopular among people who do not fully understand the difference. Should the outcry become too great, we may need to dismiss you from our service. But should that be necessary, you have our promise that you will be warned in advance, and you will be dismissed into exile, not death."

"My thanks, your grace, and I will understand if exile becomes necessary, though I hope it won't. With your leave, I will begin my research into this arcana in the south. We should teach demons a lesson about respecting Canberry's domain..."