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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Kid Charlemagne" data-source="post: 27323" data-attributes="member: 93">Somewhere west of Ulfang on the north shore of the Retic Sea, February 1st, AE 420The party rushes up the spiral stair, and makes their way out into the cold winter night.   A surprise awaits them.“Hey!” Brennen yells.  “Where’s our ship?!”The ship is no longer anchored where it was supposed to be, and a sleek sixty foot yacht is anchored a couple of hundred yards out from the waterfall.  The search around frantically.“Look there,” says Aris.  “They’ve moved out into the sea, away from shore.  I can just see them.  They must have had to move out there to keep out of sight of the yacht.”“We did tell them to make sure not to be spotted,” Reana says.Just then, Jalea scrambles up over the side of the cliff, and brushes himself off.“Where have you been?”  Brennen asks.  “And who was that on the other side of the doors with you?”“Uh, nobody in particular,” Jalea stammers.Brennen shoots the elf a withering glare, but more important issues are at hand.  They wait to see what the yacht does.  Two rowboats come out from the cavern behind the waterfall and board the yacht, and it sails off.  Shortly thereafter, the party’s ship returns and docks so they can board.“What now?” Aris asks.  “We’ve got the Egg.  Now what do we do?”“I say we take it to the Monastery and lock it back up,” Brennen states.“But will it be safe there?”  Reana asks.“It was safe there for a long time, it should be again, hopefully,” he answers.“I have an idea,” says Jovah, provoking a groan from Gavin.“It’s a long way to Ralt Gaither, and to get permission to go to the Monastery, we’d have to get that from the Emperor.  That’s even further inland from the shore.  It could take weeks if not months.  But, I just thought of something.  It’s risky.  I’ve never been to the City of Clouds, or whatever it is they call their capitol, but I’ve seen pictures, in the embassy in Gujo.“I can fold to places that I’ve only had descriptions of, but the risk of aging from the spell is pretty high, and the amount of aging is pretty extreme – it could be as much as ten years.  I’m a gnome, we live long, so that’s not that big a deal for me.  I can fold to the capitol by myself, and then open up another fold back here.  The second one will be pretty risk-free, and you guys can come join me.”“Isn’t it supposed to be illegal for foreigners to enter Ralt Gaither?” Gavin asks.“Yup, but we’ve got permission from the ambassador, thanks to us helping find the Egg in the first place,”  Jovah replies.They decide to go through with Jovah’s plan, crazy though it is.  Fortune favors the bold, as the gnome likes to say.  Within minutes, the party is standing just outside the Imperial Palace, looking none the worse for wear.  They are soon surrounded by Palace Guards, but Aris explains their presence in halting Ralt Gaitherese (he’s been studying it) and presents their travel documents from the ambassador.  The guards are puzzled and distrustful, but proper paperwork goes a long ways in Ralt Gaither, and they are allowed to go about their business.They find a nice Inn not far from the Palace, and in the morning send off a message to the Emperor, indicating that they would like an audience.  They drop names like crazy and imply that this has to do with the Egg by mentioning the Song Ling Monastery and Lord Masato, without actually using the word “Egg.”“Should we say we’d like to meet as soon as possible?” Aris says, as he dicates the message to a scribe.“No,” says Jovah suddenly.  “Tell them no earlier than this evening.”“Huh?” Jalea says, perplexed.“We’ve got things to do,” Jovah explains.  “Aris, what day is it today?”Aris does the arithmetic in his head since the last time they were in a port.“Umm, it would be February 2nd,” he says.“And something important is happening on February 2nd, isn’t it?” Jovah asks, rhetorically.“Uh, I don’t think… oh my god,” Reana says.  “Samsen is getting crowned Marquis of Fencig today.”“Right-o!  Noon sharp, or so my invitation says!”  Jovah exclaims.  “So get your things together!  We’re  folding out in ten minutes!  Way I figure it we’ll just have time to wash and change!  But we can back by sunset.”Three hours later the party is standing in full formal wear (Gavin is wearing his gilded plate armor), in the Marquis’ Palace in Fencig.  There are hundreds of guests, and Regent Cian Bardson places the crown of Fencig on a stone altar, from which Samsen picks it up and places it on his head.“Samsen didn’t want Cian to ‘crown’ him,” Jovah whispers to Aris.  “Would look bad politically.  They’re not very friendly with each other.”Aris whispers back, “I almost wish he would start raining fire down on all of us so we could just get this over with.  Reksus-worshipping rulers are bad news.”Samsen gives a long, well-received speech, speaking of prosperity, self-sufficiency for Fencig, and many other topics. “Very bland,” Jovah whispers to Aris again.  “He’s not stepping on any toes, yet.  Hey!  Look there behind him!  That’s Malekos, the High Priest of Reksus here in Fencig.”Aris grins.  “I wonder what he’d say if he knew I was carrying around an ancient evil artifact in my pocket right now…”“He’d probably be very interested in talking to you, I’d bet.”</blockquote>

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