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Message: <blockquote data-quote="talien" data-source="post: 4945128" data-attributes="member: 3285">Fair Salvage: Part 3 – Assault on the TowersThe most impressive part of the Old City’s defenses was the five arcane fire cannons atop each one of the walls’ towers.  “The massive brass and iron armaments were salvaged from a mysterious hulk, found beached on the windward side of A’Val after a savage storm.” Kham climbed the winding outer steps up one of the towers. “It was impossibly large by Freeport standards.  Sea Lord Francisco paid an exorbitant amount of money to acquire what were at first regarded as expensive curiosities.” “Have they ever been fired?” asked Vlad.Kham nodded. “The next marauding fleet that cruised into Freeport Harbor bent on stemming the tide of piracy received a surprising reception. Once the fleet’s flagship was reduced to a floating bonfire by one shot from the top of the Freeport battlements, the rest of the invaders quickly moved on.”Two guards stopped his ascent with large clubs.  “Halt!” said one of the guards. There was a shout beyond the guards.Kham swigged a potion and disappeared.  The guards blinked and looked around.  Sebastian snapped out his wings.  The guards readied their polearms, only to have the dark-kin spiral up past them.That left Vlad.  He smiled.  “Do you know who I am?” He flashed the Symbol of Drac.  “I’m a good friend of the Commissioner.“The guards looked at each other.  Finally, with a unified shrug, they let him pass.Four tall and thin humanoids were stalking up the stairs.  They somehow obscured their appearance, their features cloaked in shadow. Another pair of guards were ahead of them, shield and halberds at the ready. A smoking hole in the wall near the guards was mute testament to the beginnings of a conflict.Sebastian landed behind them.  “Stop!  What do you want with the Siege Cannons?”Vlad stood behind Sebastian, sword at the ready.One of the creatures turned to face the dark-kin, its eyes glowing a bright red.  Its skin was matte black in color. A series of images flashed through his mind. He saw the k’n-yan overtaking the fihali homeworld.  As it was absorbed into Carcosa, several fihali escaped on whale-shaped glass ships.  They warped and shimmered, only to appear in Arcanis. Except that they did not all appear at the same time and place.  One of them appeared two hundred years in the past.  Another appeared only recently.  Of the other ships, there was no sign. When they arrived, the fihali were changed, caught between two worlds. Sebastian was overcome by a great feeling of sadness.  Then, he saw a view of the inside of the great ship, which slowly filled up with strangely-wrought objects of various types, including the metal bowl taken from Aljandros’ collection, accompanied by a feeling of puzzlement.  Next, there was a picture of one of the siege cannons, accompanied by a feeling of anger.  It was a two-way form of communication.  Sebastian’s mind relayed one image clearly: A man sat near a tree with a dog at his feet. He played a lute and sang a song for a woman standing on a nearby balcony. An immature spawn of Hastur was slowly crawling up to the balcony toward the woman. High overhead, a crescent moon shone. The entire image was upside down…The black fihali’s eyes narrowed.  “Halt!” shouted a heroic voice.  “I, Henry Gow, will not let you pass!”  The young-looking wizard shouldered his way past the two guards.  “Back, foul creatures!  Fear my mighty magic! Hypnos regula!”Henry’s outstretched hands flashed a dizzying pattern of bright lights. The color caused the black fihali to recoil.  “No, wait—“ said Sebastian.  But it was too late. One by one, they shimmered and warped out of the air.  “Ha!” shouted Henry. He pointed at Sebastian.  “I do not fear you, monster!  Back, I say, BACK!”“Fool,” snarled Sebastian.  “I was communicating with them!” There was a whip-cracking sound.  A purple welt appeared on Henry’s neck, the aftereffects of Sebastian’s poisonous tail.  The wizard collapsed to the ground, unconscious.“I didn’t know your tail could do that…” Vlad looked down at the unconscious wizard.  “Now what?”Sebastian’s tail twitched.  “Now we pay a visit to the wreckage where Freeport retrieved those Siege Cannons.”Kham appeared next to Vlad.  “You may want to postpone that trip.”“Why?” asked Vlad.Kham pointed.  Dozens of torches bobbed in the darkness. “It looks like somebody’s about to get lynched.”For a heart-stopping moment, the object of the lynch mob’s rage was visible on a torch-lit platform.  A rope was tied around her neck.  It was Bijoux.“Not again!” shouted Sebastian.  His allies didn’t have a chance to ask him what he meant before the dark-kin launched himself off the edge of the tower.</blockquote>

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