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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JollyDoc" data-source="post: 976340" data-attributes="member: 9546">WELCOME TO CAULDRON:  HE WHO LAUGHS LAST...Pez bowed his head before the tribunal.  The shadowy chambers of the court echoed around him.  He could feel the eyes of his brethren upon him as acutely as he felt their shame.  How had he been brought so low?  Had he not merely done his duty...carried out his orders as commanded?  And yet he knew, as did any who served the Even-handed One, Justice was as swift as it was merciless.  "Principality Pez!", a voice boomed from above him, startling him out of his reverie.  He raised his gaze to the three Seraphim who sat in judgement of him.  "Do you understand the charges leveled against you?" Arch-angel Israfel asked.  " I do my Lord." Pez replied, striving not to avert his eyes from the achingly beautiful light surrounding the representatives of the First Choir.  "And how do you plead?"  "Guilty." How could he plead otherwise?  He had failed.  Somehow, he had failed, and now he awaited his sentence.  "It is the Judgement of this court that you be exhiled!"  'Exhile,'...the word hung in the air.  Involuntarily, Pez' mouth dropped open, and then darkness surrounded him, and the Light of the Platinum Heaven was lost to him...____________________________________________________Salazar and Tilly stepped through the gateway that pierced the high, obsidian wall, and beheld their first view of their new home.  The city lay below them in ever-narrowing concentric circles, until finally it reached the shores of the lake which lie in the center of the dormant volcanoe's cone.  Cauldron...with any luck, a place of good fortune and golden opportunity.  Afterall, it certainly couldn't be any worse than Impiltur.  "Not much to look at, is it Sal?", Tilly asked, the halfling craning his neck and shading his eyes to peer up at his taller companion.  "Well, it's no Waterdeep," Salazar answered, "but it looks rife with possibilites to me."  He rubbed his hands together greedily, and set off down the main thoroughfare, eyes gleaming, "C'mon Tilly, as they saying goes, there's a sucker born every minute, and I'll bet this place has more than its fair share."____________________________________________________"Pez!  Jenya requests your presence in the rectory!"  The acolyte beckoned towards the chapel, and then returned inside.  Pez sighed, and sheathed his greatsword, his practice obviously at an end for the day.  How could he abide this for much longer?  Alreayd he had been in this foul-smelling, dirty city for a month, and it seemed like an eternity.  It's not that he disliked the clergy of this small church, but they were just so...mortal.  Their short-sighted, small-minded interpretations of the great Truths of Tyr were nothing short of madening.  Yet he could not reveal these things to them, for he was bound by the terms of his service never to reveal his true nature.  To them, he was simply Pez, Dispenser of Justice, an elven warrior devoted to greater Glory of the One-eyed God!  Up to now, this service amounted to instructing the acolytes in basic self-defense...and occasionally mucking out the stables.  He strode heavily across the courtyard and entered the sanctuary.  Jenya, the acting high-priestess, stood in the nave, speaking quietly to one of the lower ranking priests named Ruphus.  "Ah, Pez.  I'm sorry to disturb your practice, but I have an assignment for you."  What now?, the archon thought to himself.  Is there some sort of charity bazaar that I'm to bake a cake for?  "You are well aware of the recent...disappearances?", Jenya continued, referring to the string of kidnappings that had been occurring in the city over the past few weeks.  These abductions had spanned all walks of society, from dock workers to minor nobles, and in all cases there seemed to be no evidence of break-in, although many valuables were taken from the homes of those taken.  So far the Lord Mayor and the City Watch had come up empty, and the general populace was becoming more disgruntled by the day.  Pez nodded, curious as to where this was going.  Perhaps his day time wouldn't be completely wasted afterall.  "Last night," Jenya said, "several children were taken from the Lantern Street Orphanage.  This is the first time that children have been targeted.  The kidnappings are escalating, and I have given my word to the city fathers that the Church will do everything in its power to see these perpetrators brought to justice.  In the meantime, I would like you to accompany Ruphus to the orphanage to offer comfort to the children there."  Pez blinked, but thru sheer will, held his tongue.  Now he could add nanny to his list of duties...____________________________________________________"This sucks!", Tilly complained, for probably the twentieth time in the last hour.  Salazar rolled his eyes as his partner once again began to hold forth on their lack of having found ANY form of employment since arriving in town a week ago.  Not only that, but when the pair had thought to fall back on their less 'honest' means of procurring money, they had quickly learned that the more organized 'entrepeneurs' in town didn't take kindly to independent upstarts muscling in on their territory.  They were now down to their last few silvers, and would be damn lucky to find a warm place to sleep for the night and a meal.  "Look," Sal started to say, as he stopped on a street corner and glared at the halfling, planning to tell him that if he thought he could do better on his own, then have at it, when suddenly a sharp cry, followed by a grunt of pain came from an alley nearby...____________________________________________________Oso scuffed his boots against the dust on the dry cobblestones.  What a desolate place.  Not a single tree in sight, and the natural beauty of the lake was marred by the fact that the barbarians who lived here used it as a giant toilet, emptying all the filthy runoff from their city into it.  The ranger had come here on a scouting mission of sorts, leaving his home in the Chondalwood to see something of the more populated areas of the Reach in hopes of gaining some insight into what drove these people to expand their so-called civilization without regard to the damage being done to the environment.  With this trip he hoped to be able to bring some useful information to the local representatives of the Emerald Enclave, and perhaps secure a place for himself within that august order.  Alas, all he had to show for his efforts so far was a knot on his head from where he had been assaulted and mugged on his first day here.  These people weren't worth the effort.  Their only salvation would be if the volcano they had violated with their sprawl suddenly awakened and swallowed them whole.  No great loss there.  What was that?  With a start he noticed that he had stopped walking for some reason.  Perhaps some slight noise had caught his attention?  He stood at the mouth of an alley, and as he turned to look down it, he saw three men, their faces painted in harlequin masks, surrounding a tall elf with a bared blade, and a human wearing a holy symbol.  No need to concern himself, Oso thought at first, but then he shrugged and unlimbered his bow.  He could at least save the elf.  He might get lucky, and actually have found someone who gave a damn...</blockquote>

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