NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Iron Sky" data-source="post: 5170612" data-attributes="member: 60965">Session 30, Part 8 Lady Hadral shifted in her chair, sizing up this powerful foreigner.  She could sense the power of the True Stone he carried, could see it stirring his clothing and hair even though he sat in the midst of the Hall.  She sipped her wine and summoned up a smile.  “Tell me stranger, what brings you to our boring little city of Gleam?” The man leaned forward, his meal ignored, his eyes gleaming.  “I come seeking allies for the Crystal Towers.” “The Crystal Towers?” “Even you haven't heard of them?” the man said.  “I had hoped-” “Oh, I've heard of them,” she said with a wave of her hand.  “I was just making sure I'd heard you correctly.  Tell me of what brings your land in need of allies.” The man took a deep breath and she groaned inwardly.  She knew exactly what was going on in the Crystal Towers, the Rising Plague, the fall of the Span, the siege of the Crystal Towers mainland, the fall of the Span Wall, and the immanent fall of the Crystal Towers as an functional nation.She feigned interest as he ranted and raved about the fate and future of his doomed country with the manor and bearing of a fanatic.  She'd encountered enough of those in their long-smoldering “war” with the mad priest-warlords of Charst.  When she'd heard as much as she could bear, she nodded and made some sounds about condolence and passing words that she hoped sounded vaguely of friendship and alliance. “And what of trade?  You talk of friendship between the Black City and the Crystal Towers, is there some way we might exchange the wares of the Crystal Towers for some of the wonders of the Black City?” the foreigner, Harold he'd called himself, said. “Trade?  There is no trade in the Black City, except for between the outposts and farming settlements around the Radianus Sink, Gleam, and the Black City itself.” “What about with the Freeholds?  They are your neighbors on the edge of the Radianus.” “The common muck and dross of the City are told only of the Fae and Charst.  The monsters, bogeymen, the common enemy, and all that.  I must say, it is nice to see someone from the outside.  It gets so boring here.  A few Fae Bent infiltrations and executions, the occasional Fae monstrosity that makes it into the City, the occasional uprising or fire tearing apart a district or two.  But enough of this idle chatter. You must be completely exhausted from your travels!  A servant will show you to your room in the North Wing, we will talk more of your troubled Crystal Towers and what the Black City can do for you after you have rested.” The man nodded and stood up, relief visible on his face.  He looked exhausted.  Perfect, she thought as a servant led him out of the Hall.  With a rapid series of subtle hand gestures, she motioned for four of the dozen invisible, magically-silenced bodyguard-assassins that went with her everywhere to follow this Harold.    He will make a marvelous pet.  Wait 'till I show him to the others in the City, they'll be so jealous... *** Harold was so relieved, his mind churning with possibility, that he didn't notice the subtle poisons until his throat, his hand, and his feet began to go numb.  He stared down at the steaming-hot bath water into which he had been slowly lowering himself in horror.  Poison! He thought.  The door handle, the food, the water! He stepped out of the water quickly, reaching for where his clothing, weapons, and the True Stone lay on a bench ten feet away.  His numb feet gave out from under him the hem of his cloak slipped from his paralyzed hand.  He opened his mouth to shout for help but it was swelling shut.  Some sense told him he wasn't alone and he grabbed his sword weakly, all sensation fading from his sword hand and sending it clattering to the tile. Blows began raining down from nowhere, his feet kicked out from beneath him, invisible cudgels hammering his ribs, legs, shoulders. Then a blow landed between his eyes and he fell backwards into a tunnel of light.</blockquote>

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