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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cerebral Paladin" data-source="post: 2867065" data-attributes="member: 3448">The next morning, Kit visited a knight of the Archduchess who had left a message for her. Dame Esmerelda of the Deeping Wood gestured for her to come in to the organized office. "I am your predecessor as the Mouth to the guilds. I intend to follow the old traditions, when the Archduchess passes. The church has never accepted those traditions, and I do not think the Archduchess would approve, but I will do as I think I should, as my predecessor did before me." Kit swallowed hard as she realized that Dame Esmerelda was calmly discussing her suicide. "But when I became the Mouth, I was handicapped by not knowing what my predecessor had. I do not wish you to have a similar impediment. "You will serve two functions; you are only aware of the first. You will also be the spymaster. I have heard that your relationship with the Prince is also personal. Should that change, you must remain loyal to the Kingdom. The Prince and the Kingdom will depend on you too much-- more than they will ever know." "I understand. I hope that Alistair and I can remain happy, but I'll do what I need to do however things turn out." "Good. See that you do. On to the substance. You will be reported to by four groups. You will never be reported to by the military intelligence, so you must place your own agents there. The military is very jealous of its intelligence. The largest group of your agents is in Hanal, which will be the largest threat, and within your lifetime, unless Hanal and Masque fight each other. The Squire of Panal Valley is our permanent spymaster within the Empire of Hanal. He is not the man he once was, but he is loyal to us. His son will replace him; no one has realized that we replaced him twenty years ago, and no one will realize now. There are cells throughout Hanal but not in the Royal Household, but the Iron Bitch does not move without the consent of at least thirty of the Councillors. Queen Thyastis has determined to not attack the Forest of Singing Leaves although that was originally planned. She intends it to be a human empire and has already eliminated the hobbitish farmers of the upper peninsula. "The second major group has been infiltrated into the orc tribes to the west. Their is a great struggle for succession between Throb, son of Tonguegnasher, and Knee-ripper. Throb is slightly more sane and more moderate. That will be an advantage of Hanal moving further south. "The third major portfolio is from the eastern barbarians. They are united under a warleader again; they call him a khan. The Bear and the Dog have united for the first time in twenty years, but I expect a major assault at endyear. The military knows to expect the raids in the next few months, but not that they plan to attack at endyear. "The final portfolio of external spying relates to the Archbarony of Ecsilias and the City of Enclaves. They are no military threat, but the trade is too important to not study. Nothing important has happened there lately; the Archbishop of Ecsilias recently passed on. It's believed to be natural, but Sir Jervon of the Screaming Lance, our agent there, believes that it may have been poison. "The second half is your counterintelligence. A half-dozen Hanal spies have recently been captured. The royal family must never know our methods. Amelia would never have approved, and your Prince must not know either. Counterintelligence indicates that while Hanal does not view us in the short-run as anything but a trade partner, Masque has agents in the lower class. They may want more trade, but they may also wish to recruit mercenaries for their Order of the Vulture.</blockquote>

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