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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(contact)" data-source="post: 480449" data-attributes="member: 41">Coldeven 17, CY 59324: The Long Walk HomeThese early summer evenings in Chendl are the province of merry-makers and lovers.  The more ribald celebrations that will dominate the later summer weeks have not yet begun, as the late planting is still underway.  Chendl's working folk are tucked away in bed, resting up for the coming day, freeing up the streets for the idle rich, and the destitute.Jespo and Fräs, however are wide awake, taking stock of their missing belongings.  Jespo is cursing the name of Reine, while Fräs monitors his language, hissing where appropriate."We have nothing.  Worse yet, we have no money.  Fräs-you are a destitute alley-cat!"As Fräs is patiently trying to explain to Jespo why money doesn't matter, there is a knock at the door.  Jespo walks to the door warily, and calls out "Who goes there?""Is this the home of Jespo Crim?" comes a woman's voice."Perhaps . . . or perhaps not!" Jespo wittily replies.  Fräs hisses."Jespo, is that you?  It is I, Keriann Croller!  Let me in, you rascal!"-----Heydricus stands under the lintel of the Provost Marshall's home, pretending to be both sleepy and well-pleased at the same time.  He thinks to himself, looking at the wretched family, how much he wishes Lucius Maturin were with him.  After finally dragging himself free of the clutching bureaucrat, he picks up his pace and makes a bee-line for Jespo's house.-----"Keriann!" Jespo exclaims as he opens the door.  "Why, what are you doing in Chendl?""I have left the nunnery," Keriann says.  "And come to Chendl hoping to see all my friends.  Why, where are Heydricus and Prisantha?""Ah, Heydricus is having dinner with that man.  And Pris is disinterring Esril.  She died, you know."  Jespo leans forward conspiratorially.  "We suspect foul play."Keriann pauses, regarding Jespo with a curious gleam in her eye.  "'That man', Jespo?  Who do you mean?""Reine, the Provost Marshall.  Vile little man.""Ah.  I see.  Jespo, why don't we go get dinner together, right now?""Keriann my dear, I must regretfully decline.  I expect my friends to arrive any minute now, then we are off to Curruth, this very evening.""Curruth," Keriann mutters."But perhaps you might rap upon the kitchen door of the holstery at the corner." Jespo continues, anxious to show off his worldly sophistication.  "If you awaken the kitchen servants, you can force them to make you food.  Why, I used to do so all the time-just use my name, or Thrommel's.""Is the Prince with you Jespo?" Keriann asks."Thrommel is quite safe, I assure you," Jespo says with a smug twist of his mouth.  "But beyond that, I cannot say.  Do get some food, dear, and hurry back.  Heydricus will be so surprised!""Surprised, yes," Keriann whispers distractedly.  "Thank you, Jespo.  I shall return shortly."-----"Open it," Prisantha commands.Prisantha and Dabus are standing over the coffin of Esril, Sword-Mistress to the Royal Family of Furyondy.  The filthy gravediggers hasten to obey, their step lightened no doubt by the gold piece Prisantha gave each one for their troubles.There is a dead woman in the coffin, but it is not Esril.  The woman is older and heavyset, with calluses that betray her status as a common laborer.  She could not have been dead for long, as her eyes are still whole.  Pris and Dabus cycle through a battery of divinations, but discern nothing unusual about the woman's corpse.  Pris scrutinizes the woman's clothing.  Her dress marks her as a 'provincial' - the name used in Chendl to refer to anyone from the South of Furyondy.They make a note of her distinguishing features, and instruct the gravediggers to take the corpse to the Academy of Magic as planned, but return for it the next day.  "Let us join the others, we have much to discuss," Prisantha says.The two make their way through the Chendl streets, and are met halfway to Jespo's home by a wandering minstrel who mistakes them for a pair of lovers and offers to serenade them.  Dabus grows embarrassed, and seems about to send the man along, but Pris offers him a silver coin, and he begins to strum a lively tune.The unlikely trio make their way to Jespo's neighborhood, where they see a strange sight:  a farmer's wagon and its draft-oxen have parted ways, and during the farmer's attempt to re-harness the stubborn beast he has managed to turn the ox sideways, completely blocking the narrow street!"May I be of assistance?" Dabus asks, as he steps forward.The farmer looks curiously at the heavily armed and armored cleric stepping toward him out of the darkness, but his look turns to complete shock when Dabus enacts his Feat of Strength and bodily lifts the oxen over his head, setting the beast down out of the way!The onlookers are so shocked by this that every mouth hangs open for a few seconds before the minstrel yells, "What are you waiting for?  Kill them!"-----Heydricus is taking a shortcut through a particularly quiet stretch of the city when he hears a soft whistling and is struck by a crossbow bolt fired from a nearby rooftop.  As his muscles around the wound clench convulsively, he gasps "Poison!" and draws his sword.A thick, cold mist begins to rise up from the cobblestones around Heydricus as he fights against the bitter venom coursing though his blood.  Through the haze, Heydricus notices a vaguely familiar silhouette running down the wall of a nearby building with disturbingly unnatural nimbleness.  Worse, a sense of vile, unthinking malice pervades the area as it is suddenly desecrated.As the hidden crossbowman glides into view, he is joined by a heavily armored fighter emerging from an alleyway, and to Heydricus' rear, another armored individual appears, his arms and armor bearing the unholy symbol of Iuz.The cleric behind him has a telltale swatch of skin missing from his forearm, and the duo approaching from the front both have strange angles to their faces, as if their skulls were vehemently compressed in some unnatural past event.Heydricus, of course, recognizes the corpses of Lucius, Egil and Aelniir when he sees them.-----Next:  The Liberators meet a few dead friends.</blockquote>

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