NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cerebral Paladin" data-source="post: 3419674" data-attributes="member: 3448">A short investigation identified who the traitor within the palace was:  the chief dog trainer.  He fit all of the descriptions, and Kit arranged to see him with the hounds and recognized him from the image in the reverend canon’s mind.  They asked the Eldar if he would be willing to have his people capture the drow assassin when he would seek to make contact with the dog trainer, and the Eldar readily agreed.  Kit pressed on the Eldar the need to be surreptitious to avoid tipping off the assassin, and while the Eldar seemed mostly confused by this idea, his gray elf captain readily agreed and assured her that he would take care of it.As was becoming part of the daily routine, the Chancellor came in with a list of the additional nobles who had arrived, or were arriving presently, to attend the coronation.  The Necropolis of Svanti had sent a representative.  Dame Brionna expressed concern at a representative from a necropolis, but the Chancellor assured her that their emissary, though dead, was very nice about it.  He had only recently noticed that he had died.  Kalinshire also sent an ambassador, although really he was about the lowest ranked noble they could send without creating a diplomatic incident.  The Chancellor explained that Kalinshire was having tensions on its border with the Duchy of Avery; with the differences of religion and so forth making matters even more delicate, and as the nobility of Kalinshire serve directly as the commanders of its army, it sought to avoid disrupting the high command any more than necessary in case open warfare broke out.  The Duchy of Avery, for its part, sent a higher noble, apparently less concerned about any military consequences of his absence.There were also three additional guests of note:  a single male titan from the far north; a religious representative from Holy Cortose, the center of Syrtry’s temple, who they denominated an “observer;”  and Lady Jane Peryton, from the extreme northern coast of Drucien, who hadn’t arrived yet because of delays related to the rebuilding in her lands after the eighteen-month battle that had recently concluded there.  The Chancellor noted with a certain amount of pride that there would be an emissary from essentially every land on the continent and the most important realms of the other continents, with most of the emissaries nobles, and several actual rulers or other high figures.  The Council thanked him, and he left to deal with the interminable logistical work all these guests created.With the morning business concluded, they headed to Aunt Cecilia’s chambers for the lunch with the Princess of Gates.  Kit ducked in, past rather more guards than she was used to in this wing of the palace, to say hello to Aunt Cecilia, then slipped through the secret door into the security passages within the walls, while Alistair and Dame Brionna entered and headed for the back of the antechamber that Cecilia had transformed into a formal receiving room.  Princess Cecilia looked over her nephew with a critical eye, taking in the heavy, military cut tunic, the flashes of armor, the heavy coronet with spikes projecting down in a circle around his head, and the heavy, battle-tested bastard sword.  She smiled approval.  “The crazy old goose from Gates will think you look perfect, dear.”  Alistair decided that it would be best not to comment on the old battlestandards and banners with which his Aunt had decorated her chambers; they had clearly been ironed for the occasion, but the creases from where they had been folded for many years in storage were still obvious.Kit opened a mindlink to Dame Brionna and activated detect thoughts for Princess Cecilia and the guests.  <<Well, if he's wearing that coronet, I guess we don't have to worry about the princess being too impressed with him...>><<It's to her taste.>> replied Dame Brionna.  <<On the other hand, he can legitimately plead a headache.>></blockquote>

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