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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Emperor Valerian" data-source="post: 1533118" data-attributes="member: 15043">Unwelcome News from Sigil“Aww!” Siabrey complained late the next morning.  A short sleep after last evening’s ‘activities’ had led to more ‘activities’ in the morning that had been rudely interrupted by a note being slid under the door to their chambers.  “But why?”  She rolled over to sit up on an elbow, giving Luke a stare that was simultaneously inviting and commanding.  Get back here!  “Because,” Luke gave her a kiss on the forehead, “they wouldn’t have slipped a meeting request under the door of the Imperial Bedroom chambers unless it was something important.  Especially with the way you were singing my praises a while ago,” he winked.  He rolled away from her and out of the bed, walked towards the door and bent over to pick up the small piece of parchment that now lay just inside the door.  While Siabrey appreciated the view she now had, she was still miffed.  The first time I get to spend some alone time with him since the Holstean mess... barely a few days in, and the government wants to snatch him again!“Hon, I’ll make it worth your while...” she turned her head to the side, and flitted her eyes enticingly when he turned around... she expected him to have a hungry grin upon seeing her, but instead his face was filled with concern.  “What’s wrong?”  Luke was already looking around the room hurriedly.“Hon... where are my trousers?”“I ate them,” she said mockingly, “Now, what’s going on?  For you to take such a serious face to soon after the fun faces you had earlier...”“Mages’ Council,” he proffed the paper towards her, while rummaging through the covers with his free hand.  As she took it, he gave a grin of relief, and a badly wrinkled pair of trousers was soon finding their way onto him.  Siabrey scanned the note, and her own face fell.The messenger from Sigil had returned.Tess, like the other members of the party, had hurriedly assembled on hearing that the messengers had returned.  When she arrived in the Throne Room, she noticed that the room was conspicuously empty, save for Xanny... whom Shaun, the first to arrive, had taken liberty inviting.  Elenya was not there... she had gone to the Temple of Pelor to have the one ‘not right’ child looked at by the priests there.Most obviously absent were Luke and Siabrey... both of whom arrived fashionably late, Luke still donning a shirt.  Behind them, still clad in jerkins and combat breeches, came Siabrey’s new bodyguard.   The image of the two of them running into the room still getting dressed made her not just chuckle... she laughed out loud.  Siabrey stopped just short of the throne, and delivered a death glare.“Shuddup, Tess,” she snapped, which only caused Tess to laugh more.She doesn’t know I’m just as nervous as all of the rest of them likely, Tess reasoned.  The humor was a vague attempt at making herself feel better... inwardly, she worried.  What if he found the staff cannot be destroyed?  What if the staff has focused its power and taken his mind?  What if another person like the Countess took him, and pumped him for information... or what if the Countess returned as a ghost?  The final two made her mind shudder, a reaction that only stopped when the great bronze doors at the front of the Throne Room creaked open.In strode only two people... Aeron and the Chief Court Mage.  And neither of their faces bore any measure of happiness... or even scholarly seriousness.  Instead, they reflected horror and.... Fear? Tess raised an eyebrow.  This isn’t right.  This isn’t right at all...“M’lords, M’ladies,” the Chief Mage bowed hurriedly, his long white beard brushing against the floor, “I am sorry to have called you here this early in the morning on such short notice, but I bring very important news.”A quick glance at Luke and Siabrey, as well as Shaun, confirmed that none of the couples had been sleeping when the messages had been slipped under their doors.  Indeed, Siabrey in particular still wore a very sour expression.  Then again, that might be due a little to the smirk that briefly showed in Tess’ eyes when she looked at them.  Her face was anything but mirthful, though, and she was the first to motion for the mage to continue.“Our messenger returned this morning,” the mage began, but something in his voice raised the alarm bells in Tess’ head to enormous levels.  The mage stopped suddenly, and began to stammer.  “A...a...and... h...he...”“He returned in pieces,” Aeron finished the old man’s sentence.  “Someone cut his arms, legs, and head off, and sent them back to us wrapped up in his cloak.”Tess’ jaw hit the floor, as the party sat stunned.  Shaun was the first to ask, requesting whether any kind of note was left behind... any kind of warning or threat.  Aeron shook his head no.“Sadly, no.  That would have at least given us an idea of who, or what did this.”“Who would do something like this?” Siabrey asked impatiently.  Someone who would murder a Court Mage of the Empire must have a lot of gall... which means chances are that they are either very dangerous or very powerful... not good...“Perhaps devils... perhaps yugoloths... perhaps other demons from the Abyss...” the Chief Mage began, only to be interrupted by a very confused Shaun.“Um... pardon me for being evil-ignorant... but what are yugoloths?  And devils?  Why would devils be after this?  And why would demons be after their own kind?”“Simple,” Aeron laughed sadly.  “Power, good man.  The Dark Staff of Graz’zt is filled with the power of one of the greatest demon lords of the Abyss... one of the most powerful beings living!  Who would not want that power?”“The yugoloths are mercenaries... they serve whatever evil pays them the most... in their self-service, there are more than a few that have heard of the fate of Graz’zt’s staff, and desire it for themselves, for their own petty means.  The devils, enemies of the demons for all eternity, would want the staff to strike a blow against their mortal foes.”“Why would other demons want the staff?  Rescue Graz’zt?” Siabrey asked.“No! No no no,” the Chief Mage almost laughed.  “Demons have no concept of loyalty or the like!  There are many demon princes other than Graz’zt, only two approach him in power... Demogorgon and Orcus, god of the undead.  Both would love to get their hands on their old archenemy Graz’zt, and either misuse him for their purposes, or simply destroy him... and likely they are more than willing to destroy anyone that gets in their way!”“Great,” Tess rolled her eyes.  “Sounds like we are getting into an interpolitical mess between evil factions.  Hooray for complications,” she mockingly swung her finger around in the air.  “Has someone been sent to Sigil or wherever the messenger came from?”“Um... not yet.  We were going to ask you, m’lords, as you represent the most powerful fighting force that we are capable of transporting on this short of notice,” the Chief Mage began, “to teleport to Sigil to find what exactly happened... and if possible, get the locations of where the staff needs to be placed to be neutralized.  Our man was supposed to get it... sadly his soul was destroyed as well... we cannot find out what happened to him.”“His soul was destroyed?” Tess raised another eyebrow.  Someone really didn’t want someone with magical abilities to find out what happened... REALLY not good...  “Do we have any contacts on Sigil we can talk to about this?”“Not as of yet.  We shall keep trolling for as much information as we can.”“Why don’t several of you teleport to Sigil to hunt up information?” Siabrey offered, and both Aeron and the Chief Mage shuddered.“None of us want to go up there, no offense, Majesties,” the Chief Mage finally said.  “We don’t feel safe... not without an exceedingly powerful escort.”“And may I remind your Majesties that Alexander yet needs to be buried in two days,” Xanadu, unofficially a ‘chief advisor’ to the party in matters of government, spoke up.   “Perhaps it would be best if we gave the Mages time to discover what additional information we can, while we take care of this admittedly painful business.”Siabrey saw Luke seem to suck in a huge breath of air suddenly.  It’s still a raw topic for him, she thought, as her husband nodded slowly.  “Luke?  I’ll take care of it, ok?” she whispered silently to him... and while there was no verbal reply, and his face did not betray his interior emotions, his hand snaked from the throne and grabbed hers tightly.“Alright.  Aeron, Your Eminence, we thank you for your work,” Siabrey said, drawing a nod from the two.  “For right now, can you guys just keep looking up as much information as you can?  We’ll decide what to do about Sigil after we handle the state funeral.”  The two mages gave sighs of relief and both bowed at their dismissal.  Before Siabrey could turn, Tess had already asked Xanadu the question of the day:“How do we run a state funeral?” The dragon shrugged.  When the last ones he was witness to were done, it was six centuries prior... and he was not involved with any of the planning.  None in power had been present at the last official state funeral, when the father of the former Emperor Alexius had fell in battle some six decades prior.“In all honesty,” one of the chamberlains offered, “your best chance to find an answer to that question would be to go to Iskeldrun itself?”“Iskeldrun?” Siabrey hissed quietly to Luke.“The capital... about ten times the size of Irulas,” Luke said wearily.  “Over a million souls inside its massive walls.  Its walls have never been breached in their three millenia of existence.  The seat of the Emperors is there... as is likely the Dowager Empress.”“Dowager?”“Alexander’s wife... the ex-Empress,” Luke explained.  “Likely we’ll have to talk to her...” his voice trailed off.“Oh no,” Siabrey said silently.  I don’t want to talk to her... from what Alexander said of her, he loved her deeply and she the same... poor woman...  the last person I want to talk to is the wife of the deceased...“Well,” Tess turned, addressing the party.  While Luke and Siabrey might have the crowns, in their group, Tess still made most of the calls.  “I’d vote we teleport out to Iskeldrun as soon as possible then.  And Luke, in all honesty, it would do you well to get out of the Valley, and away from this horror and death.”The Emperor and Empress merely nodded in agreement with the Baroness.“Where are we going later today?” Vin asked Siabrey as the latter was packing items into her trunk in the Imperial Bedchambers.  “Iselron?”“Iskeldrun, the capital,” Siabrey explained, though without the same lecturing tone that Luke had said to her earlier in the day.  “We have to plan the deceased Emperor’s funeral... what’s wrong?”Vin... or Vinny, as Siabrey had taken to calling her, had stopped in seeming mid movement, her form starting to shudder as another bad memory flooded the girl’s mind.“M... my fath...father was from near there!” her voice wobbled, and she then tumbled into more tears.  Siabrey ran over, and repeated a familiar step... taking her bodyguard’s head onto her shoulder and rocking the girl back and forth, quietly shushing her.  “I...I c...can’t g...g...go t...to the...the capital!” Vinny sobbed.  “I h... have...n...no p...proper... clothes!  M... my father...s...said that I...I should never g...go t...there i..if I d...didn’t... have the c...clothes!” she stammered out.“Don’t worry about that, don’t worry,” Siabrey whispered quietly to her. An idea sprang into the Empress’ head.  “Here...” she lead Vinny over towards one of the massive closets in her room.  Siabrey had no use for two-thirds of those dresses, and saw no reason for Vinny to not grab some.  “Take some of these.... they should fit,” the Empress said hurriedly.  Vinny didn’t stop crying, but did sputter out a thank you.It was near mid-afternoon by the time the entire party, including Grumki (who had been breaking chains with a female cleric at the Kord Temple) were in the teleportation chamber, and whirling towards the heart of the Empire, a city none of them had ever seen....</blockquote>

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