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Message: <blockquote data-quote="talien" data-source="post: 4751268" data-attributes="member: 3285">Serpentine Path: Part 6b – Shining Patrol HeadquartersThe Shining Patrol headquarters was housed in a huge granite building.  Inside were a myriad of offices serving as embassies for every contributing faction to the Shining Patrol.  A transition area where recruits were processed into the Patrol or released from service took up the majority of space.  A much smaller section housed the permanent local command staff of the Patrol.Kham made his way to the general’s office.  A guard was out front, half-asleep. “Wake up soldier!” snapped Kham.  “You’re guarding the general!”The soldier blinked awake.  “Sorry,” he mumbled.“What’s your name, soldier?”“Yardan.”“Listen, Yardan.  I don’t want to go in there to talk to your commanding officer about you screwing up.  AGAIN.  So I recommend we keep this little conversation I’m about to have with him between you and me.  What do you say?”The soldier swallowed hard.  “Yes, sir.”Kham pushed past him and entered the general’s quarters.The general looked up from his desk.  Kham plunked himself down on a chair in front of the general’s desk and tapped the glittering emerald on his overcoat.  “Hi Muatma.  My name’s Kham val’Abebi and we have a problem.”The general nearly stood up.  “How’d you get in here?”“Not important.  What is important is that you’ve got a politician who wants to interrupt the flow of artifacts from Semar.  Our mutual friends sent me to stop that.” Muatma relaxed.  “So you’re with Falthar and the Society.”“Yes, but that’s not the problem.” He tossed Quablo’s list onto Muatma’s desk. “The problem is that Quablo val’Inares just tired to hire me to stop you.”“Stop me?” Muatama’s face reddened as he red the note.  “That idiot has dug into my budget enough that I had to cancel the work on the moat in favor of continued funding for the watchtowers! That’s why I contacted Falthar…he’s been trading for the relics I found beneath Semar.” He tore the note up into little pieces.“Oh I understand,” Kham said quietly.  “And I think Quablo knows exactly what he’s doing.  I think he wants a war.  We found this.”  He threw Dril’s manifest onto the desk.  “It’s in Ssethregoran.  We were ambushed by a group of well-armed ss’ressen.  They knew exactly what they were doing.”The general nodded.  “That’s not the first caravan to go missing.”“This was different.  Muatama…” Kham leaned forward.  “The ss’ressen ambush used a blast powder trap. Where did they get it from?”The general hesitated.  “I sold some blastpowder to the mercenary company called The Serpent’s Claw.  I never thought I would have to resort to such means just to perform my duties.”Kham was quiet for a moment.  He reached into his pouch and pulled out one of the tabards.  “We found this in the ss’ressen camp.” He tossed the tabard on the desk. Muatama stared at the tabard, stunned. “Althares’ ass!” he shouted.  “I’ve killed my own men!”“Don’t be too hard on yourself.  You’re doing what you have to do.”Mautama pulled a bottle and two glasses out of a drawer.  “I need a drink.”  He poured both glasses and then gulped his down in one shot. Kham took the drink and did the same. After a moment, he finally spoke. “We’ve got to throw this Quablo guy off the trail.  And right now, I have to look like I’m against you.  So I’m going to have to get arrested. Nothing too drastic, but enough to make it look like I muscled my way in here and pissed you off.”“After your arrest, I’ll put Yardan as your guard.  He always falls asleep anyway.” Muatama poured himself another drink.  “As for the distraction...” He reached for the pistol at his belt and pointed it at the ceiling.  “No, wait—“The ensuing blast knocked chips of plaster from the ceiling.  Yardan came skidding into the room, weapon out.“Yardan!  This man just tried to attack me! Take him to the garrison.” Yardan looked at Kham, who had nothing but a drink in his hands.  He looked as surprised as Yardan. “But sir, an attack on you is grounds for execution…”“Damn it, Yardan, do as I tell you!”Yardan stiffened and saluted.  “Yes sir!”  Kham offered his wrists up and Yardan slapped Altherian-made handcuffs on them.  Then he led Kham out.</blockquote>

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