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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cerebral Paladin" data-source="post: 2087158" data-attributes="member: 3448">Alistair and Stithis soon rejoined their companions.  Dame Brionna reassured Alistair that she would simply guard him on his travels, rather than trying to force him back to Canberry faster than he wanted.  Alistair, for his part, convinced Kit that she didn't need to call him "your lordliness" and that he had no desire to be treated as a lord, and the group settled into an amiable comradery as it continued on the road towards the Archbarony of Ecsilias.  As they rode, Alistair sidled his horse up to Mahler's."I feel terrible about the assassins trying to kill you, thinking that you were me.  I just wanted to make sure Dame Brionna wouldn't do anything unpleasant.  It didn't occur to me that it would lead you into danger.""Don't worry about it.  I can't say that I enjoy being the target of assassins, but none of us were killed.  And it was far better that they attacked the whole group of us than if they had attacked you alone.""Even so... Thank you, and I'm sorry." Alistair thought for a moment.  "If there's anything I can do for you... do you want a knighthood or something?"Mahler smiled.  "Let's not worry about those sorts of things while we're still on the road.  There will be time to figure those things out when our journey is over."The group rode on for several more days.  At night, they carefully withdrew off the road, trying to avoid any dangers.  The road between Ecsilias and Enclaves is usually safe, but the same could be said for the houses of Glittertowers.  They carefully posted watches, and Dame Brionna, Mahler, and Stithis were consciencious about their watches.  Alistair had carefully arranged to share his watch with Kit, and they spent more of their watches paying attention to each other and becoming progressively closer than actually guarding against threats.* * *The City of Ecsilias is the first major settlement on the traderoute to the south of Enclaves.  The Archbaron has a reputation as a fair, just lord, despite the adherence of his family and most of his subjects to the Church of Paranswarm.  After more than a week of travel, the entire group looked forward to the opportunity to sleep on beds in an inn instead of on bedrolls in a rough camp.  The City also allowed them the opportunity to hear the news of the day, and so Alistair and Kit set out to see what they could hear.Alistair went to a fashionable tavern, where he succeeded admirably in his primary goal of finding an attractive lady interested in having a few drinks with him, but learned nothing significant of the world.  Kit visited the poorer districts of the city.  The rest of the group decided that they would draw unnecessary attention and laid low to wait for the scouts to report.Kit hurried into the tavern where Alistair should have been hearing the news of the day.  She spotted him at the bar, with his new-found friend leaning up against him and rubbing her hand lightly on his neck.  Kit scowled and rushed across the room.  She elbowed the woman aside roughly.  "Sorry, sister, but he needs to leave.  Right now."Alistair quickly stood.  "I'd best do as she wishes.  Fair well."As they hustled towards the door, Kit whispered angrily, "While you were busy with her, I found out that we can't stay here at all.  There's a bounty out on all of us.""It's not what you think.  I was simply trying to make her friendly so that she would be willing to share gossip that might include important news." Alistair lied with a remarkably sincere tone of voice.Kit softened.  "Well... I misunderstood.   But the important thing is, we need to get out of here as fast as we can."When they reached the rest of the group, Kit shared the rest of the news: she had found posters offering the staggering bounty of 5000 gold for their capture.  The posters had sketches of all of them except for Alistair and Stithis, with Kit, Delbon, and Dame Brionna's names written next to their sketches.  Mahler was helpfully labeled as "Lord Alistair" and the posters made it clear that his capture was the most important.Dame Brionna scowled.  "5000 gold is enough to have every ruffian in Ecsilias keeping their eyes out and looking for an opportunity to collect."Kit shook her head.  "I don't think you understand how real people view money.  Fifty gold would have been enough to hire half the thugs in a city like this.  A hundred would get you the other half.  For 5000, they'll attack anyone who looks vaguely like any of those pictures, and they'll chase any rumors of us whereever they think we've gone.""Still, the point remains that we need to get out of here," Mahler said.   "I'll put some quick disguises on us, and then we'll ride through the night."Alistair nodded.  "Let's leave through the North Gate, back towards Enclaves.  We should be able to take the side roads to loop around the city, and that way if anyone hears about our suddenly leaving in the evening, they'll assume we've fled back instead of pressing on."They left the city without any indications that they had been spotted.  And instead of sleeping in pleasant beds and actually relaxing, they spent a sleepless night riding as hard as they dared by the light of the moons.</blockquote>

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