The Scarred Lands: Shadows Over Shelzar

[Tuerny]

Hello, welcome to my Scarred Lands Story Hour.

Hopefully I will be providing updates every week after our sessions.

I will be starting off with a prelude session I ran for one of my players, Paul, in order to introduce him to the city since he was from the farthest away.

Also, younger readers should note that there is some mature content in this story hour, so you should keep that in mind if you choose to read it or not.

Any comments and constructive criticism would be appreciated. I will try to get the players in my game to drop by and give their comments from time to time in order to give their prespective on what is going on in the campaign.

The campaign is intended to take place largely in and around the Pleasure City of Shelzar. It is intended to focus on a mix of political intrigue, high adventure, and the darkness that is found at the heart of the Scarred Lands setting.

Every person, no matter how just has their own dark secrets and hidden motivations. Even the nominally pure and just followers of Corean and Madriel are wary in this city. Noone knows when someone who is your "friend" could really be an ally of some dark cabal or criminal consortium.
Only the smart and powerful are able to survive and prosper. Anyone else is either destroyed or pushed down into the mud of the numerous shanty towns beyond the walls of the city.

I hope you enjoy it.

 

[Ruined]

Excellent Tuerny! Consider me one of your first subscriptions.

 

[Tuerny]

Prelude: Ruatho's Arrival

Alright here is the first one. Forgive me for my lack of detail on Rautho's speech. I forgot to write it down. I might be able to update it later after I talk to the player some more. Thoughts would be welcome.

*************************************************

As he walked from the Golden Turtle to the Shelzari dock, Rautho of the Frost Wyrm Tribe of Albadia could not help but wonder if it was a bad idea to have slept with the King of Horat’s youngest daughter those many months ago. Thinking back to the gentle curve of her breasts and the silkiness of her skin he quickly dismissed the thought.

Of course it was worth it! He may have had to fled his homeland and taken a months long sea voyage on Captain Arhaus’ sturdy ship but he had had the pleasure of enjoying her wonderful body. Besides it was worthless to ponder the past. He had more important concerns than that now. He was in a new land and a new city, he had expended the last of his funds to pay for his passage on the Golden Turtle, and now had only a few possessions to call his own. Of course they were relatively valuable possessions but they were still but a small fraction of the luxurious items he was used to in the court of King Mharnev.

All around Rautho were short, dark skinned people, many of which did not even come to the shoulder of the 6’8” tall man. Were he from anywhere but Albadia he probably would be struck by the native’s lack of modesty. Instead it did not give him even a second thought.

Looking around, Rautho got his first good look at the city of Shelzar. It appeared to be a rather dirty, crammed place compared to the cities of his home. Countless people were crowded in the city’s paved streets, fighting their way to do their daily business. A row of shops, warehouses, and residences crowded along the waterfront breaking only to allow one to travel deeper into the city. Of particular note to Rautho was a large tavern that was but a couple of dozen of feet down the street. Thinking that this would be an excellent place to perhaps find a potential employer he walked over in the direction of the building, causing the nearby people to move aside to avoid his intimidating frame.

The interior of the tavern was filled with a variety of sailors, dockworkers, and, at the bar a rather large man. The man, though he lacked Rautho’s great height, more than made up for it with his great girth. Though it appeared that much of his muscles had since given way to flab, probably do to frequent consumption of the liquid that this tavern sold, it was apparent he was still a strong man. Sitting next to him was a much shorter, sneaky looking fellow, thin in both features and frame.

After a few moments the large man and his little friend glanced at each other and walked over to Rautho.

The little guy said, “My name is Fariot and he is Noko.”

The big man grunted in affirmation and Fariot continued, “I don’t like you. He don’t like you either. We suggest you leave.”

Rautho responded, “Well there is no reason to be unreasonable about things, why don’t we go sit down and have a drink. “

At this moment, Noko grabbed a nearby patron of the tavern, lifted him and tossed him aside before reaching over and consuming the patron’s mug of ale and drinking it down.

Fariot said, “Yes, you should buy us a drink if you do not want us to make your face any uglier than it already is.”

Rautho couldn't help but note the nasty scar across Noko's face and both of their missing, blackened teeth, “Well I am afraid I am a bit strapped in cash at the moment, why don’t I take you up on that some other time”

Fariot snickered, “Why don’t you sell your mustache jewelry, it might make you a little less ugly.” With that both Fariot and Noko burst into laughter. All of a sudden Rautho became very angry.

With a growl and a sudden look of determination mixed with rage he roared at both of them “I…am…not...selling my mustache jewelry!”

While the anger radiating from Rautho would normally have intimidated most anyone else, both Fariot and Noko seemed unfazed. “Listen, either you buy us a drink or we will have to break that ugly nose of yours and see how much we can get for your mustache jewelry.”

Rautho seemed to contemplate it for a moment. The bar really did not look like it would have the sort of people that he wanted to meet. So with a shrug he said, “Very well then, I will be leaving” and turned around and walked away.

As he left he made a comment belittling both Fariot and Noko. Luckily for him, his warrior training kicked in just as they tossed a large tavern mug at his head. He was able to move it the fraction of an inch needed to prevent it from striking him. Though inwardly smirking at this, Rautho did not bother to gloat at the pair, instead just walking away.

For the next few hours Rautho traveled through much of Shelzar’s dock district looking to find out where the higher-class portion of town was and if there was any sort of work to be had outside of the dock district. His questions about work were met with an incredulous laugh, “Work, outside the dock district?” was a typical response. Rautho did not quite understand that but he was given directions to the north side of town, where the seat of government was and to Ismarhi Island. Rautho decided to check out the north side of town first. Ismarhi Island sounded a bit too “exclusive” for him.

To reach his destination, Rautho traveled a broad road in the direction of the famous Grand Boulevard of Shelzar. Supposedly it was one of the more wealthy sections of town. As he walked he noticed what appeared to be the largest pleasure house he had seen since he entered the city. Stopping for a moment, he considered investigating further but decided against it upon seeing its name: Belsameth’s Bliss. That was not the sort of bliss he needed. He continued on his way.

As dusk approached he saw the sort of bliss he did need. Standing on the left hand side of the street was the largest building he had ever seen, larger than even the king’s palace back at home. It was an opulent structure, crowned by seven silver-gilt statues each of which was very different from the others yet at the same time very similar. Moving in a steady line into the building was a number of scantily clad men and women, each of which appeared to be rather attractive. He walked over to one of the more attractive women and said, “Greetings, my name is Rautho, what is this place?”

The women replied with a laugh like the gentle tinkling of bells, “And I am Mahiasa. You must be new here, Albadian. This is the Temple of Enkili. We are about to begin a ritual.”

Rautho replies with a deep grin, “Yes, I just have arrived from Albadia. This is a most wondrous building. I feel the need to thank Enkili for allowing me to survive the long ocean voyage from my homeland, do you think I could join you?”

Mahiasa paused for a moment, smiling in amusement, as she looked Rautho up and down, pausing only to stare at his bulging biceps.

She leaned forward slightly while smiling sweetly, “I don’t think that will be a problem friend Rautho, follow me.”

She led him past the line and into a side antechamber where a number of items appeared to be stored in various shelves.
“You are a little bit overdressed for this particular occasion, perhaps you should leave your weapons and armor in here,” stated Mahiasa.

Rautho looked worried for a moment, “Will it be safe?”
“Of course,” Mahiasa replied, “Who would steal from the Temple of Enkili?”

Realizing the sense of her claims, Rautho disbursed himself of his clothes save for his loincloth and followed Mahiasa into the ritual chamber.

* * * * * * * *

A few hours later, Rautho and Mahiasa were sitting in an artificially created pool of warm water in the gardens of the Temple of Enkili.

Rautho realizing the lateness of the hour and his lack of money, attempted to convince Mahiasa to let him to stay at her place.
With his most winning smile, Rautho said, “In my land it is a tradition to host any guests you might have for their first few nights in a new city”

Mahiasa smirked back, “Well my Albadian friend, you aren’t in your homeland anymore are you? I am afraid that is quite impossible.”

With that she slowly eased herself out of the pool and walked in the direction of the temple. Even after her rejection Rautho could not shake off the admiration he had for her body. He couldn’t do anything but mutter a quick insult, “Bitch”, under his breath and gaze fondly at her body as he watched her slowly walk away.

After her departure, Rautho pulled himself from the pool and went looking for his possessions. He was most pleased to find his goods were he had left them and quickly reequipped his gear. He returned to the main room of the temple and could not help but sigh. He had just wasted a few hours he could have been using to find a place to stay. Oh, well. It was fun. Besides maybe he could find a way to stay here at the temple.

Looking around, all he could see was a couple having sex against one of the pillars. Furrowing his brow slightly, Rautho decided to not look over in their direction again. He did however catch sight of a relatively modestly clad woman walking over in his direction. Her white, silk robes covered much of her body, save for a slit running down on either side of her legs. Around her neck she wore an amulet showing a mask with a pair of thunderbolts emerging from the eyes. Thinking back to the religious training of his youth, Rautho recognized the symbol to be that of Enkili, the deity whose temple he was now in.

“Greetings, what brings you to the temple of Enkili this night?” the woman inquired.

Attempting to use all of the charm he had in his body, Rautho replied, “I am but a simple traveler who has found himself without funds in his first night in this city. I figured that Enkili, of all deities would be willing to help those who had been suffering from misfortune. “

The woman smirked at that, “Well I suppose we could host you in one of the acolyte cells for the night.”

Rautho inwardly winced at that. “Do you think I could stay somewhere that had a bed?”

The woman was still smirking, “The acolyte cells have beds.”

Rautho pondered for a moment and pulled a bottle of wine out of his bag, “What if I give an offering to Enkili. I have this bottle of fine, Albadian wine that I could offer to the Trickster.”

She took the bottle from his hand and examined it for a moment. “Yes, this should be suitable. You may stay in one of the guest rooms. “

Deciding that he should try to push his luck Rautho asked, “Do you think I could stay for a few days?”

Before replying the woman pondered for a moment, “I suppose you could stay for two or three days. “

With that Rautho thanked her profusely and she led him to his room which, to his great relief had a large tub and a very comfortable looking bed. Deciding that he could figure out where to get water for bathing later he lay in the bed, welcoming the warm embrace of sleep.

The following morning he awoke to find, much to his joy, that the tub was filled with warm water. After testing to make sure the water wasn’t so warm as to burn his skin off, he took a long bath and then enjoyed the food that a servant girl brought him. Today, he thought, he was going to find a patron.

Unfortunately his determination proved to be a bit optimistic. His lack of funds hindered his efforts in gathering information and it was not until late at night that he found out about two locations where he might find a potential employer: The exclusive gambling hall known as the Jester’s Warren and the governmental seat at Shalamar.

With this information in hand, Rautho returned to the Temple and went to bed.

The following morning was not a good one for Rautho. Peering outside the window of his room in the Temple of Enkili he saw that a strong downpour covered the city. Cursing his ill luck, and requesting that Enkili steer it away from him, he hopped into the warm water of his already prepared bath. After washing himself and eating he decided to see what sort of jobs the Temple of Enkili could give him.

The priests were almost uniformly unhelpful. One smirking fellow suggested that if he found a way to keep all seven of Enkili’s statues on top of the spire dry he would give him 200 gold pieces. Rautho considered it for a while but decided that was probably beyond his particular capabilities.

Around mid-afternoon he encountered a pair of familiar faces. Mahiasa and the priestess who provided him with his room were in the main hall, having some sort of discussion on religious matters. Rautho approached them.

“Greetings, ladies you wouldn’t happen to know where I might find a potential employer or a way to make some money would you?”

The priestess replied with a smirk, “I am afraid that only worshippers of Enkili can find work with our Temple.”

Rautho replied with a slightly downcast expression, “That’s a shame. Do you happen to know where I could find work?”
This time, Mahiasa responded, “I don’t think we could in good heart suggest someone with your lack of,” at this point she looked at his crotch, “skill, to anyone else.”

At that both of the women broke out laughing. Rautho looked puzzled for a moment and than got a slightly annoyed expression on his face. “Look, I am sorry for my rudeness the other night. It was inappropriate.” At that point Rautho noticed that Mahiasa was completely dry. “How did you get to the temple without getting wet?” he inquired.

“That is because, friend Albadian, I live here.” Mahiasa replied with a sneer.

With that the priestess and Mahiasa began to walk away. “If you wish for me to make it up to you, you can stop by and visit me tonight,” Rautho called out to Mahiasa as she walked away.
This resulted in a new round of laughter from the ladies.

With a shrug, Rautho returned to his room.

Luckily the rain did not continue the rest of the day. At about three in the afternoon it began to let up so Rautho decided he would head over to the Jester’s Warren. After following the street for a good twenty minutes, he encountered the resplendent Grand Avenue of Shelzar. Rautho was impressed. Rather than the simple stone that most of the city was cobbled with, the Grand Avenue was paved with marble. To accentuate the impressiveness of the street, dozens of trees appeared to be planted on either side of it, many of which were blooming in the spring air providing a luxurious scent that Rautho could not help but approve of.

The Jester’s Warren was similarly impressive. Standing four stories into the air it was covered with murals and carvings showing beautiful scenes of gamblers at play and the exploits of Enkili. Standing in a line out the door were a variety of people who appeared to be engaging in conversation as the bouncer let them in one-by-one. As he watched the bouncer turned a dejected looking man away from the door. Rautho joined the line.
Standing in front of him was a handsome man with shoulder length black hair and a neatly trimmed goatee. His clothes were finely made silks with intricate patterns on them and at his side was a beautiful girl. Standing off a discrete ways away was a halfling carrying some sort of black case.

Deciding this would be the sort of person he should talk to Rautho asked, “So how do you go about getting into the Jester’s Warren?”

The man replied simply, “You have to pay the 50 ordu annual fee.“

After a moment’s though Rautho continued, “Well I am trying to get into there so that I can find a patron, do you think they would let me in for that?”

“Probably not,” the man replied with a smirk, “besides, why would anyone want to take you as a servant, Albadian?”

While gently stroking his goatee, Rautho said, “Well, I am pretty good at serving as a messenger and agent. Its what I did in Albadia and I wish to make a place for myself here.”

“Ah, so why aren’t you in Albadia anymore?” questioned the man inquisitively.

Rautho replied, “Well I slept with the king’s daughter so I had to get out of town rather quickly and from the tales I had heard it seemed that Shalzar was the place to go. “

“I see,” said the man, “well if you like I can interview you tomorrow. My name is Sazeer Meeka.”

A flash of realization went through his head. This was the man that Captain Arhaus of the Golden Turtle worked for. “Yes, I would like that very much Rautho said with a smile.”

“Good,” said Sazeer, “meet me at the Sazashi House tomorrow at three”

“I will,” said Rautho happily. He had a job prospect!

The bouncer wouldn’t let him into the Jester’s Warren. Rautho was fine with that, he was just doing his job and he decided not to press the issue.

Instead he spent the rest of the evening finding a wine dealer to sell his last bottle of Albadian wine to. He found one and ended up being quite lucky in his bargaining. He was able to get eleven kebir and five ordu for it. Six times what he paid for it!

Mahiasa wasn’t waiting for him at his room when he returned so he guessed she had declined his offer. So with a sigh he went to bed.

The next morning he awoke, just like he had over the past few days, to find the bath filled. After doing his morning eating and bathing he spent the rest of the morning finding information about cost of living expenses and finding out how much it would cost him to live in the local boarding houses. He finally got the figure of ten ordu per week as the best rate he could find. He paid for a week in the Golden Bay Inn. By the time he had finished researching accommodations it was time for him to meet with Sazeer.

Sazashi House wasn’t that hard to find with the directions Sazeer had given him. It stood in a more mercantile area of the town that abounded with the buildings representing a plethora of trade organizations, merchant guilds, and consortiums.

The house itself was guarded by a pair of men with the symbol of a trio of identical jagged lines bordered on either side by a pair of swords pointing in opposing directions. Figuring that this was where he needed to go he went up to the men and introduced himself. After he did so they knocked on the door and the halfling from the previous night popped his head out. With the hearing of Rautho’s name, the halfling noted that Sazeer was expecting him and led him into Sazeer’s waiting room.

After twenty minutes of waiting Rautho was led into Sazeer Meeka’s office. Its interior was well adorned with various paintings of spices and sailing ships. Sazeer himself was lying across a comfortable couch with a pair of lovely girls on either end fanning him with giant, ornamental fans. Off to the side was a scribe who appeared to be ready to transcribe their conversation.

“Greetings Sazeer Meeka” began Rautho, “thank you for seeing me.”

With a smile, Sazeer said, “Please call me Sazeer. Let us get straight to business. Why should I hire you?”

Rautho was both complete and persuasive in his explanation of exactly why he should be hired. Sazeer appeared to be impressed…

“Most impressive, Rautho. I am willing to give you a chance to serve as one of my agents. Recently a book of mine was stolen. I want you to recover it. I can direct you to certain…individuals who have either worked for me in the past or who need something from me in the near future. Inform them I will be paying them 500 ordu for the successful recovery of the book, with a 1000 ordu bonus if they deal with the thieves as well. Jaepho, the halfling will give you the details. Does this sound acceptable to you.”

Rautho’s grin was the only response that Sazeer needed.

 

[Renshai]

Excellent!

Very good material Jesse. I look forward to reading more.

Ren

 

[Tuerny]

Excellent Tuerny! Consider me one of your first subscriptions.

Thanks Ruined!

I hope its half the story hour yours is! ;-)

 

[Tuerny]

Chapter One "The Book" Part One

Rautho was standing outside of Sazeer’s office looking over the scroll Jaepho had given him. Inside it was a list of the individuals that Sazeer expected him to work with.

It seemed to be a pretty motley crew. An aging human warrior by the name of Gebren Farrow, a human woman with abilities that leaned towards the mystical named Izala Meeka, an elven exotic dancer and acquirer of information named Seryn Laramer, and a halfling sorcerer with an unknown name. For some reason his named was smudged on the document he had been handed.

In addition to the descriptions of the individuals on the sheet of paper was a brief overview of what Sazeer wanted them to do. A book, whose cover was covered with geometric shapes, had been stolen from one of his warehouses and he needed it to be recovered.

The opening of a door caused him to look up from his document. Walking into the room was Jaepho followed by two of the individuals he was supposed to be working with. One, Izala, was a lass of no more than eighteen years dressed in relatively simple garb and possessing a shock of red hair that tumbled down her back. There was something alluring about her that Rautho could not quite place. The other individual was an aging but still powerfully built man dressed in a light suit of armor and with a number of weapons about his person. His craggy face appeared to have a perpetual scowl about it and his face had a prominent, white mustache across it. His hair was similarly long and white.

Jaepho quickly introduced the three to each other. As Rautho expected the redhead was Izala, and the aging warrior was Gebren, though he insisted that he should be called Geb as Rautho shook his hand. Geb quickly got down to business.

“So what’s Sazeer havin’ us do for this job?”

“We are to recover a book that was stolen from him,” responded Rautho.

“Alright then, where was it stolen from?” Geb queried further.

“Well it disappeared from the House Sazashi Warehouse,” replied Rautho somewhat uncertainly.

“You are being pretty closed lipped, son, let me see that,” he said grabbing the piece of paper out of Rautho’s hands.

Rautho just stood their flabbergasted for a moment.

“Hmmmm…” pondered Geb, “it appears we don’t have a lot of information here. How much are we being paid?”

“We have been promised seventy-five gold ordu for the recovery of the book and another two hundred if we deal with the thieves.”

“Seventy five gold pieces!?" responded Geb in some shock, "Now listen to me, sonny. I've got a bit of experience in being a mercenary. Seventy-five gold pieces may be enough to hire my services for a day - but that's assuming I don't have to draw my sword. But for a mission like this? I don't think so.”

“Well that is how much Sazeer offered for the mission, I suggest that you go along with it. Sazeer is obviously of great wealth and will probably reward us well for our success.” Rautho then began to stare directly into Geb’s eyes attempting to mentally cow him into submission. Geb took up the challenge, and after a few moments, Geb was forced to look away.

Glancing over at Izala, he inquired, “What do you think about all of this?”

“I have no arrogance such as you have just shown,” was her curt response.

“What are you talking about young lady? Arrogance?” Geb was slightly shocked at her response.

“Yes, we do not know anything of your abilities and skills. Why should we assume that you are worth even seventy-five gold. As for myself, I have no interest in such material things.”

Geb snorted in response, “Bah, I’m leavin’,” and walked over to the door to Sazeer’s waiting room, turning the handle when he got there. It was locked.

He turned and looked at Izala and Rautho, “I’m going to go look for Sazeer. You two can do whatever you want, but I’m not going to go along with this lack of respect. I have worked for his family for a long time, and if he is going to treat me like this I can find better jobs elsewhere. “

As he left to explore the rest of the house, Izala made a quick sweeping gesture in the direction of Geb, releasing a short shower of little stars. Rautho looked a little puzzled about this but chose to keep this information to himself for the time being.

Geb himself appeared to have a sudden change of heart. “I can’t find him. Forget it.”

Rautho shrugged, Izala smiled to herself, and as a trio they left the Sazashi House to go and find their fourth, the elf Seryn.

This lasted for all of four minutes. Suddenly, while walking, Geb snapped out of it. With a curse he stated, "Balsemeth's Balls! Someone was using magic on me!" and looked over Rautho, dressed in a chain shirt and possessing a huge great sword on his back and then over to Izala, an unarmored girl carrying a quarterstaff.

After a moment of thought he said, “The note said you were an observer, do you use magic?”

Her response was simple, “No, I do not use magic.”

After a moment of thought, and a quick decision that she appeared to be telling the truth, he stated, “Well it appears someone used magic on me back at Sazashi House. I am going to have a talk with Sazeer about this,” and stalked off.

Izala and Rautho decided that that sounded rather final and decided that the best thing to was to go and get Seryn.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Shelzar was awash with its usual late-day crowds and numerous merchants and craftsmen made their way up and down the city’s packed streets. The crowds largely chose to part in the face of Rautho’s intimidating frame, figuring that it was best not to anger the large Albadian, so they made good time on their way to the Palace of No Veils, where Seryn worked.

The Palace itself was a three-story structure significant only in the fact that its sign has the picture of a woman dressed enticingly save for the fact that her face was completely uncovered. The interior of the structure seemed dominated by a theme of comfort mixed with sex. Its patrons were scattered throughout the room sitting on sets of cushions, at various tables, or congregating at the bar or around one of the stands upon which the Palace’s exotic dancers moves to the rhythm of some hidden musician’s music.

Rautho and Izala failed to spot any elven women in the room so Rautho walked over to the barkeeper, a thin looking halfling who was drying an empty flask. Izala followed, choosing to stand behind Rautho in order to avoid the barkeeper’s gaze.

Rautho said gruffly, “I need to speak with Seryn.”

The barkeepers glib response was, “A lot of people need to speak to her. What makes you any different?”

Rautho just looked at him for a moment before the barkeeper sighed, “I will go let her know you are here to see her.”

The halfling hopped off the bar stool and headed to Seryn’s room, stating politely as he entered, “Miss Seryn, there is a tall man here to see you, an Albadian by the looks of him. He has a very big sword on his back”

"What does he want...?" Seyrn added a clip to her hair.

"He wishes to ... talk with you." The man hesitated a moment, as if he were uncertain of the man's motives.

Seyrn chuckled, "How many men come here saying they wish to 'talk' to me? Though he sounds interesting. I'll see him. I shall be out in a moment."

As she left her chamber she couldn’t help but worry that he might be the agent of someone whom she had “gathered information” from in the past. After a moment she dismissed the thought. Life was too short to be spent worrying about such things. However, it did pay to be careful. “Will you go instruct the bouncers to keep an eye on him,” she instructed the barkeep before heading out to see her visitor.

When she emerged from her quarters and caught sight of him she could not help but stop for a moment. The halfling wasn’t exaggerating. "The Albadian was big and rather handsome too, though the clash between his bulk and the fineness of his fur garb left something to be desired"

“So what can I do for you?” Seryn asked cordially.

Rautho turned around at the sound of her pleasant voice. She was beautiful! He couldn’t help but gaze at the gentle curves of her body, which were greatly accentuated by the tight garb she wore. It wasn’t just her body either. Her pale, almost ivory skin, enchanting green eyes, and golden hair combined to form a truly captivating image. After a moment of staring he noticed that Seryn was smiling in amusement at his reaction.

He coughed for a moment, and than stated, perhaps a bit too quickly, “Greetings, my name is Rautho and this,” he gestured to Izala, “is Izala. Sazeer Meeka sent me. He has a job proposition for you.”

At the mention of his name, Seryn glanced around quickly and stated in a loud whisper, “Come, we should talk in my private room,” and began to walk over in the direction of the guarded stairs on the near side of the room. Rautho and Izala followed, as did a pair of bouncers who followed Seryn’s quiet command to follow.

At Seryn’s room, one of the bouncers stood outside of the door, and a second followed her in.

Seryn wandered over to a couch and sat down, reclining across it in order to extract as much comfort from it as she possibly could.

“So what does Sazeer want of me?” she inquired in her oh-so silky voice.

Rautho seemed to have regained some of his composure since Seryn had originally caught him looking at her and stated eloquently, “Sazeer Meeka wishes to contract you to join a team in pursuit of a missing tome stolen from the Sazashi House warehouses. In exchange for this he is offering to pay you seventy-five ordu, with an additional two hundred ordu bonus if we are able to destroy the thieves as well.”

Seryn’s brow crinkled in annoyance, “Seventy-five ordu? Has he gone mad? I know he is stingy, but not that stingy. Oh well, I suppose I can ask him about that. There is one problem. We need to convince my boss, Coto, to let me get off tonight. ”

Rautho grinned in response. “Leave that to me.”

Seryn and Rautho’s meeting with Coto was quick and to the point. Rautho was able to convince Coto to give Seryn the night off to have a “private audience” with Sazeer Meeka in exchange for a cut of the profit. This was acceptable to everyone, so Rautho, Seryn, and Izala made their way back to Sazashi House.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

As Geb walked up to the Sazashi House with a scowl on his face, the guards watching vigilantly over the door stopped him. “What is your business here?” one asked.

Geb spat out in annoyance, “I need see Sazeer.”

Deciding it was best to let the mercenary in, they let him pass.
Inside, Geb immediately drew his sword, glancing around in search of any sort of wizard who might attempt to use his power on him.

After but a moment, the halfling Jaepho arrived and looked at Geb’s drawn sword with some alarm. “What may I do for you Master Gebrin?” the halfling inquired.

“I wish to see Sazeer,” stated Geb with grim determination.

“Yes, yes of course,” said the halfling, “please follow me.”

Geb sheathed his sword and did so.
As they approached the waiting room before Sazeer’s office, Jaepho stated calmly, “You will have to leave your weapons out here.”

At that comment, Geb stared at Jaepho for a few moments, idly caressing the hilt of his blade while gazing at the halfling with a scowl on his face.

Eventually he decided, that he probably should go through with this. It wasn’t any different from what had happened in the past.

Sazeer entered into the room only a moment after Geb, did reclining himself on the couch. “Greetings Geb, what may I do for you?” he asked amiably.
Geb scowled. “What’s going on here? Your father never treated me this poorly. What did I do to earn this disrespect?”

A look of mild confusion passed over Sazeer’s face. “What are you talking about?”

“What am I talking about? Seventy-five ordu is what I am talking about. You know good and well that I am worth more than that but yet you insult my history with your family with such a crappy offer. What did I do to deserve this?”

“Seventy-five ordu? I instructed him to offer more…” said Sazeer softly.

“So did I!” exclaimed Geb.

“That is most unusual, I will have to question him when he comes back. I told him to offer you five hundred ordu for the recovery of the book, and another thousand for the removal of the thieves.”

“Well that’s mighty interestin’,” stated Geb with a smirk.

“Yes it is. I will have to question Rautho on it when he comes back,” said Sazeer smoothly.

“What makes you think he will come back?” asked Geb.

“Because I did not give him enough information to complete his assignment,” smirked Sazeer.

Geb nodded, “Also whats with this magic that was used on me? Did you have anything to do with that?”

“Magic?” Sazeer raised an eyebrow at that.

“Yes, magic. Some weird spell hit me while I was in your waiting room, caused my to forget my skills and my pride. I didn’t remember again until I shook it off on the street,” Geb complained.

“That is most unusual. No, I do not know anything about any sort of magic that was used on you,” said Sazeer with a concerned expression on his face.

“Hmmm…maybe those who were responsible for the theft of your book cast it on me. They want me to take this mission for some reason,” pondered Geb.

“Perhaps,” said Sazeer, “it is something worth investigating.”
Geb nodded.

“Anyway, would you like to stay here until Rautho returns? Perhaps in the pleasure room?” Sazeer asked politely.
Geb scowled again. “No, I will be waiting at that tavern you have over across the street.”

“Good. I will have Jaepho come get you when they arrive.”

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

It was a good forty minutes before Geb, who was at this point well into his second mug of ale, spotted the three entering into Sazashi House. Rather than get up and follow them in he chose to wait and see if Sazeer would follow through with his word.

He did.

Within moments Jaepho crossed the street, and informed Geb that Rautho, Izala, and Seryn had arrived. Geb, slightly pleased, threw down the silver for his ale, and crossed the street to the Sazashi House.

Inside he found the elf woman, who he assumed was Seryn, and Izala. He introduced himself to them and discovered, as they introduced themselves to each other and he kissed her hand, that she was indeed Seryn. They informed him that Rautho was meeting with Sazeer so they waited, engaging in pleasant small talk to pass the time.

When Rautho finally emerged from Sazeer’s office he had a slightly embarrassed look on his face. “It appears…that I was mistaken on how much money I was to be offering you. It appears that I was supposed to offer you five hundred ordu each for the recovery of the book with a one thousand ordu bonus if we removed the thieves as well. I was under the impression that were being paid five hundred and one thousand ordus total for the completion of our job.”

“Well that’s a little bit better now, isn’t it?” Geb said amiably to Jaepho before realizing suddenly that the halfling had, once again, disappeared.

“That still doesn’t explain all of these magical happenings though. There is something odd going on around here. Somethin’ that’s messing with my head, and maybe your heads too. We really could use a mage.”

Rautho coughed slightly at this, trying to mask out his laughter. Geb didn’t seem to notice.

“So we should probably get on with this mission, shouldn’t we? Perhaps we should meet back at my place?” Seryn offered pleasantly.

“That sounds good, m’am, let me just take care of my horse real quick. I will meet you outside.” After getting affirmation from Seryn, Geb left the room.

Izala said, “I need to gather some things from my room, I will meet you outside as well,” and departed.

“What about you, Albadian, is there anything that you need to take care of?” Seryn asked Rautho in amusement.

Rautho pondered for a moment. “Actually, there are a few errands I need to take care of. How about I meet you at your house.”

“That sounds lovely,” said Seryn before giving Rautho and extensive set of directions that Rautho barely paid attention to. He didn’t need to. He had the directions on the piece of paper that Jaepho had given him.

About an hour later everyone had finally gathered inside of Seryn’s rather quaint little abode. Fifteen minutes later they were on their way to the warehouse, with slightly more in the way of personal arms and armor. Seryn was now decked out in a body suit that was covering a fine suit of mithral chain and had a number of daggers on strategic portions of her body. Izala was also carrying a crossbow that served as an additional form of personal protection beyond that provided by her quarterstaff.

The warehouse was only a few short blocks from the Sazashi House and it was readily apparent that the structure was large even with the darkness that now shrouded the city. A pair of guards in the livery of Sazashi House stood at attention outside, with falchions on their backs, and scimitars at their side.

Seryn walked up to them, “Sazeer sent us to investigate the warehouse,” she said smoothly.

The guards looked them over, paying special attention to Rautho. “Yes, we were told to expect you,” one of them stated as he reached over to unlock the door.

The interior of the warehouse was very dark so Geb lit up his lantern. With the sudden emergence of light that the lantern brought the group was able to get a general idea of the layout of the warehouse.

On the ground floor was a large area filled with several orderly stacks of crates. On the far side of the room was a set of stairs that ran up a wall onto the second story of the warehouse. The second floor only appeared to cover a 1/10 of the space and opened directly into the area above of the ground floor. A trio of doors was set into the second floor’s wall.

Assuming that the doors would be the best place to start looking, the group began to walk over in the direction of the stairs. As they began moving up the stairs single-file, Seryn who was in the front noticed another pair of doors on the bottom floor that were previously blocked by the crates. She mentally noted their presence and their potential for future exploration.

The first door they encountered was locked, much to their annoyance. Rautho called down to the guards, “Do you have keys for these rooms? We need to check them out.”

One of the guards responded, “No sir, we don’t have the keys.”

Geb yelled, “Who does have the keys. And what do you do if some sort of fire starts up in one of the locked rooms?”

The guard responded, “That would be the foreman,” pointedly ignoring the question about the fire.

Geb continued, “And where would this foreman be?”

The guard said curtly, “Probably at home in bed.”

Geb scowled, “And where would this home be?”

The guard said, “We aren’t told that.”

Rautho interjected, “Why don’t we come back and investigate this in the morning?”

Seryn replied, “No, we need to take care of this now. This was probably an inside job, if we take care of it in the morning then its more than likely that whoever did this would realize that we are onto him.”

Rautho shrugged and walked off, descending the staircase. Izala followed.

Once Rautho was out of sight, and Geb and Seryn were preoccupied with the top floor’s door, Izala called upon her abilities, expanding her senses to detect the emanations that emerged from the world around her. She slowly explored more and more of the structure, stopping only when the walls prevented her from moving any deeper. Eventually, finding nothing, she slowly let her third eye close and returned to her normal senses.

On the third floor, Seryn was having a tough time working the first look. Eventually she gave up. “This lock is fairly new, and is apparently beyond my abilities to pick.” She sighed.

Geb looked momentarily annoyed and began to kick at the door.

“What’s going on in there?” yelled one of the guards.

Seryn called back, “I slipped down the stairs.”

Geb and Seryn looked at each other, shrugged, and moved on to the next door.

This one was a bit easier. Unfortunately, the interior of the room was a bit…dull. A trio of desks and several cabinets were to be found within. Geb and Seryn spent the next few minutes searching the room before they found what they found something of interest. An empty folder entitled, “The Kan Thet Expedition.” Considering it relevant but not quite sure as to what its import might be she stuffed it back into the filing cabinet. Geb decided to check out the cabinet himself and found something that they both found interesting: an employee list. Seryn took it and put it in her belt pouch.

While Geb continued to poke around in the office Seryn went to investigate the next door. She quickly discovered that it was a privy and moved down to the bottom floor, with Geb in tow.

Meanwhile, Rautho had lured one of the guards into the corner were he was vigorously questioning him. “What do you know? Tell me what you know or I will make sure that your life as it is will become a living hell!”

The guard literally quaked in fear at the anger of the large man and sputtered out a number of indiscretions he had committed over the course of his life including cheating on his wife, making off with some cinnamon, and sneaking into the orgiastic rites of the Temple of Enkili. Rautho noted the last one with approval. Before letting the guard, Otis, go back to his post. “Remember, I know about the cinnamon,” Rautho growled as he walked away.

Izala was having similar fun with the other guard, though she went about it in an entirely different way. She reached out with her mind and gently caressed the guard’s mind, making him become favorably disposed of her. Her brief questioning, however, was similarly pointless and resulted in them coming up with little more than what she already knew. The one item of interest was that noone had access to the book, which was stored in the very well locked door, but Sazeer and whoever Sazeer gave direct permission to.

With both of their questioning completed, Izala and Rautho returned to where Geb and Seryn were working on the lock of the first of the first floor rooms.

It proved to be of similar difficulty to the second door on the second floor, and after a few minutes they were inside. The interior appeared to be a more private office with but a single desk and cabinet and a door on the far side of the room. Seryn decided to investigate the desk first and, after springing the lock, she only found one thing of note: a list of missing employees. Sticking that in her pocket she moved on to the cabinet.

When she at last opened the lock, she clicked open the cabinet. Much to her surprise, five daggers were immediately launched at her with dangerous force. Her reflexes and agility were at full-force however, as she was able to make a rapid combination of dodges that allowed her to avoid the daggers completely. With her final landing everyone looked at the cabinet with some slight shock. Seryn merely shrugged and looked inside the cabinet.

Within was a very large, very heavy chest sitting there in a lengthwise fashion. Frowning slightly, Seryn said, “Geb could you pull this out of here?”

Geb nodded, and with a grunt removed the chest, heaving it over onto the desk. As Seryn moved to open it Geb said, “"Hmm...Did I ever tell you the story of Victin…? He was this fellow who had his hand chopped off when... Bah, nevermind. I'll tell you later."

Seryn frowned slightly and began examining the chest; “It appears it has a needle trap in the lock.”

Izala said helpfully, “Let me look at that,” and went over to examine the chest. She got in front of the chest and used her body to block off the other’s view of her activities while she telekinetically used one of Seryn’s loose lock picks to gently activate the trap. When she finished she said, “The needle is out.”

Geb walked over and with a single, final slice of his sword broke the lock’s needle.

Seryn proceeded to adroitly pick the chest’s lock. Thinking it would be better if he stayed out of the room while doing this, Geb stepped into the main warehouse area. Everyone else followed.

When no explosions or cries of pain came from the office, everyone returned to find Seryn leafing through the pages of the book she found inside the chest. After a moment she stopped and read a passage from the book. “Sworn Book of Chern recovered from ruins in the Swamp of Kan Thet. Company of the Sevenfold Sword paid five thousand ordu for said recovery.”

Geb’s natural scowl deepened considerably. “Chern? We are looking for the Sworn Book of CHERN? Suddenly this job is becoming a lot less appetizing to me.”

Seryn merely laughed, “I am merely thinking that we should have been offered a lot more money for this.”

Geb continued, “I am suddenly getting a lot less trusting of our good employer on this. Why didn’t he turn it over to the temple of Enkili? He may be the god of misfortune but he hates the titans as much of the other gods and they could have easily done away with it. This isn’t good at all.”

Seryn shrugged, “I think we can trust him. As long as we are useful to him, we can trust him.”

Geb turned and looked at Izala, “What do you think of this?”

Izala appeared contemplative for a moment, “It is definitely something we should investigate further.”

Geb looked at everyone and snorted in disgust before walking out of the room. Seryn shrugged and proceeded to copy the short passage she found in the book before putting it back into the chest. Her attention then turned to the little, silk bag that was sitting next to the book. Looking inside almost caused her eyes to pop out of her head. Inside were numerous gemstones: diamonds, sapphires, and emeralds.

With a visible internal struggle she gently put the bag back into the chest.

“Rautho dear, could you put the chest back into the cabinet?” she asked him.

Rautho nodded and did so.

The next room appeared to be a records storage room similar to the ones upstairs. The group decided that they had the information they needed and really did not need to be exploring through every single cabinet of records in that room. So, after investigating the adjoining chamber (which turned out to be a meeting room) to the main office, they closed all of the remaining open doors and found themselves inexplicably drawn back to the one door that they were unable to open.

While they examined it and argued over what they should do about it, Izala slipped away, moving down to where the guards stood. She smiled sweetly at them and, while caressing Otis’ mind, suggested to them that she saw a shadowy figure disappear into the locked door and they should go investigate it.

Taking her words to heart they immediately charged up to the door and begin throwing themselves at it.

The others looked around in confusion while Izala said “I saw a shadowy figures slip into the room!”

After a moment the guards knocked down the door and everyone but Rautho rushed into the room. The interior was very chilly, and a cool mist seemed to radiate from the structure’s walls. Several sets of shelves were found on the walls, each of which had several different chests sitting on them. Geb exclaimed, “He must be invisible!” and the two guards took a moment to swing their weapons around, trying to strike some sort of unseen foe.

After a few moments, Geb said mournfully, “He must have gotten away,” and began to look around the room. The others save for Rautho, who was still standing outside of the room, chose to follow suit. Geb moved over to touch one of the chests, and found it cold to the touch.

Suddenly, Seryn cried out in pain. Everyone looked over at her and found that the left half of her body was covered in ice, and that her left arm appeared to be hanging limply in the air. With some panic, Izala, Rautho, and Geb hurried her out of the room and stood there for a moment, staring warily at the room they just exited.

This lasted for but a second before Seryn’s sensitive ears began to pick up the distant sounds of a number of booted feet running down the street, slowly getting louder almost as if they were quickly approaching the warehouse. With some panic she said to the others, “It sounds like we are going to have some company…”

 

[Seyrn Lerramir]

According to Seyrn

Belot 6th, afternoon.

Seyrn fixed the clasps of the silver cuffs about her ankles. Standing before the full length polished mirror, she appraised herself. Her golden hair fell in cascades from various bejeweled clips, framing her face and falling down past her shoulders to end in soft waves that bounced lightly about her hips as she moved. Her eyes were limned with crushed ant eggs -- a cosmetic reserved mostly for the upper class -- which only served to amplify the magnetism of her emerald green gaze. A little oil upon her lips cause them to shine. With a little pout for effect she was pleased with her appearance.

As she was straightening a silken sash under her bosom, a light tapping came to her door.

"Come in."

The halfling barkeep -- his name always eluded her -- stood there. Quickly and respectfully he spoke, "Miss Seyrn, there is a very tall man here to see you. An Albadian from the looks of him."

"What does he want...?" Seyrn added a clip to her hair.

"He wishes to ... talk with you." The man hesitated a moment, as if he were uncertain of the man's motives.

Seyrn chuckled, "How many men come here saying they wish to 'talk' to me? Though he sounds interesting. I'll see him. I shall be out in a moment."

Seyrn was true to her word, giving the barkeep enough time to get out there and pass on the announcement of her decision to speak with the man. When she entered the main festhall, she spotted the man that the barkeep must have been talking about. Tall was an understatement, the elf noticed. The man stood a full foot and a half taller than she! Fur accented his boots, he had fair hair and a matching complexion. Things about him seemed to clash in Seyrn's mind, but that only served to amuse her.

Introductions were made. This was Rautho, sent by Sazeer. The man began to speak in the open room of the reason he was here and Seyrn cut him off. "Come let us go to my private room." With a silken smile she gestured Rautho and his companion -- a young woman by the name of Izala - on toward her room. With a few whispered words to the barkeep, two of the guards of the festhall accompanied her. She placed one outside her doors, and another just inside the room.

"So, what does Sazeer desire of me today?" Seyrn lounged on one of her couches after seating her guests.

Rautho related to Seyrn the story of the missing tome, stolen from the Sazashi Warehouse and Sazeer's desires for her to work with a predetermined group that had already been secured. Then the barbarian quoted the offered pay for the job. "75 gold pieces upon delivery, and an additional 200 gold if the thieves are dealt with."

Seyrn, relaxed as a cat in a sunny window, paused and lifted a single brow at the man. "Mm. 75 gold? Sazeer must be going daft." The man seemed a little put off by this reaction, and Seyrn could only imagine that every other person that Sazeer had assigned for this task had balked likewise at the offer. With a quick wave of her hand she continued on, "Payment will be discussed later. It is no offense to you, but Sazeer pays me more than that for far more simple jobs. Tell me about this book."

It seemed there was little information to begin on. There were no signs of the thief or thieves' passage in the warehouse, no one seemed to know what the book was, who would want it or why. Seyrn frowned. Normally she had at least a scrap to go on. She wasn't exactly a detective. What game was Sazeer at this time? In a short amount of time Seyrn agreed. She would discuss payment matters with Sazeer ... privately.

It took some persuading to convince Coto, her employer, to give her the evening off. A little urging and the promise of gold enough to make up for her missed performances ... and she was released for her 'private employment' with Sazeer Meeka. Seyrn smiled to herself as the trio left the Palace of No Veils. This should prove a pleasant distraction.

Belot 6th, evening.

A mistake had been made in the figuring of income for this particular venture. Perhaps Rautho shouldn't have been put in charge of finances, Seyrn observed. He seemed a little too innocent in the ways of the world to be involved in financial affairs in Shelzar. Nevertheless, it wasn't really her concern. As long as she was paid for services rendered, she didn't care.

The group of them - Geb, an aged but well muscled warrior, Izala, Sazeer's official 'observer', Rautho, and Seyrn - used Seyrn's modest home as a gathering point. Once all had readied themselves for a night of investigating, they traveled to the Sazashi Warehouse. The guards had apparently been told to expect them. Seyrn found this somewhat odd, but it only made the job easier.

After some time and a few small mishaps (Seyrn vowed to learn a little more about traps and how to bypass them), they had gathered a goodly amount of information. None of it was particularly helpful in guiding them to finding the book they sought, but it was enough to make them question whether or not they wanted to get into the matter too deeply. The book they had been hired to retrieve was none other than the Sworn Book of Chern. Everyone knew that dealings with anything that was once of the Titans' was ... very dangerous to one's well-being. Seyrn seemed to care quite a bit less than the others. A job was a job. And as of yet, she saw no reason not to finish what she'd been hired for. What concern was it of hers where the book came from or where it was headed to?

Geb questioned whether they could trust Sazeer in the matter of such a tome.

"I trust Sazeer," Seyrn stated with a shrug. "So long as I am useful to him, I can trust him." And it was true. He had hired her many times, and each time was certain she was well paid for her endeavors. She credited her well-off circumstances to her association with Sazeer Meeka. There was little she could not do just by mentioning his name. Most people about Shelzar simply assumed Seyrn was one of Sazeer's "favorite" dancers. Let them think it.

Belot 6th, midnight.

There was one door Seyrn had not been able to work her way into. The lock upon the door was far too advanced. A design she had never seen before, at that. It was also alarmed, as the group came to find out after one of the guards had burst down the door, having been convinced by Izala that she saw a shadowy form go inside that room and close the door behind it. Seyrn hadn't seen anything, but she wouldn't accuse Izala of lying. The girl seemed to be telling the truth. Seyrn found she didn't particularly care. Mostly because Izala did, after all, get the door opened.

Seyrn felt the chill in the room and noted all the chests. "Special spice storage," she remarked, studying the walls. Suddenly a cold snap seemed to take a hold of her. Ice formed over her skin. Her left arm in particular stung as if thousands of ice needles had been shoved into her skin. She let out a small yelp of pain and doubled over. Noticing the elf was covered in a layer of frost, the others hurriedly removed her from the room. As the others stood about discussing what had just happened, Seyrn began to hear the sound of many booted feet coming down the road. After a moment, she had discerned they were coming toward the warehouse.

"Uh oh."

 

[Tuerny]

Chapter One "The Book" Part Two

After a few seconds of confusion, realization of what was going on dawned with the rest of the group. Geb rushed over and slammed shut the one door that still stood open and the group began to rush down the narrow flight of stairs to the floor below. They did not make it far.

As they reached the bottom of the stairs and began to move across the room for the door soldiers bearing the sigil of Sazashi House began to pour into the room. They immediately began to surround the group, pointing their crossbows at them and aggressively yelling at them to get against the wall. After a few brief arguments the group did so, deciding to wait for someone of authority to arrive so they could talk themselves out of their current “situation.”

They did not have to wait long. After a few moments a tall, muscular man with long, black hair and a smug, sneering look to his face walked in. His plate mail glittered in the light of the torches that lit the exterior of the building showing off the sigil of House Sazashi that emblazoned the front of his armor.

Recognizing him as the chief enforcer of Sazeer Meeka, Seryn immediately raised her voice in complaint, “Maka, dear, what is the meaning of this? We are here under the authority of Sazeer Meeka.”

Throwing his hair back he sneered, “Then why are you in here sulking like thieves in the night? And why is that door up there knocked down?”

Izala cleared her throat at this, “I saw a shadow sneak into there and informed the guards of this. They decided to break the door down.”

Geb growled as Maka turned to walk away, “I recommend you have your guards quit pointin’ those crossbows at us.”

After pausing to think a moment Maka nodded at the guards. They lowered their crossbows, while still retaining them in their hands. Maka then proceeded to walk out of the room.

The four remaining inside exchanged glances, with Rautho glancing over at Maka and then at Seryn. Seryn just shrugged.

After a moment Maka returned to the warehouse’s interior, a look of anger dominating his face. “Tell me which one of you charmed the guard,” he demanded.

Geb said wearily, “That’s probably the result of the villains behind this. They had me charmed until I was able to fight it off, and I think they charmed Izala too.”

“Only way she could have accepted this job at THAT price,” he mumbled under his breath.

Maka strode over to Izala and grabbed her chin, staring into her eyes for a moment before tossing it away. “She is not charmed,” he said indignantly.

He looked around the group one more time, stopping only to look at Rautho who, for his part, merely stared back a look of determination and certainty. After a moment Maka looked away and said, “Very well. You may go. I wouldn’t recommend leaving town though. Sazeer will want to talk to you in the morning.”

Seryn laughed in annoyance, “Why would we do anything like that?”

Maka merely glowered in response and watched as the group slowly filed their way out of the warehouse.

After they were a short distance away, Geb broke into cursing. As the others looked at him with curiosity on their faces, Geb looked slightly embarrassed. “Beg my pardon ladies, I just remembered something. I have heard of the Company of the Sevenfold Arrows before. They are a nasty bunch. Worked out of Mithril for a few years. They got thrown out after they got caught working for some penumbral lords. Nasty, nasty bunch. Wouldn’t surprise me if they were behind this whole thing.”

The rest of the group nodded solemnly. All of them had heard of the penumbral lords before. Seryn looked particularly aghast at the thought, and reached over to rub the smokey quartz statuette of Drendari in her bag.

With that information, the party agreed that they would meet up in front of the Sazashi House the following morning. With that they split up each going to their respective accommodations. Rautho to his room in the Golden Bay Inn, Geb to his room in the tavern across from Sazashi House, and Seryn and Izala to Seryn’s place. The night itself passed uneventfully and each of the group slept soundly, eagerly awaiting their next morning’s meeting with Sazeer Meeka…

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Upon their arrival at the Sazashi House at the crack of dawn the omnipresent Jaepho led them through the House to the waiting room outside of Sazeer’s “office.” Jaepho then disappeared through the door, claiming that Sazeer would see them in a moment. And he was. Rather than questioning them as a group though, one by one the Rautho, Geb, Izala, Seryn, and then Rautho again were brought into the room.

When Rautho left the room for the last time, he told the others, “Sazeer is ready to see all of us now.”

The interior of Sazeer’s office was much the same as it always was. Sazeer was reclining on his couch while the two women who fanned him were positioned much as they always were. Off to the corner was the scribe. Maka stood off to the side with a look of contempt on his face. Geb just glowered at him.

When the group entered, Sazeer smiled at them cordially and said, “Well your answers have proven satisfactory. Geb mentioned that you had some questions for me. What are they?”

Rautho started off. “When did the book disappear?”

Sazeer popped a cherry in his mouth and said, “It was on the 2nd of Belot. The day before the book was in our possession and on the next one it was gone.”

Geb interjected gruffly, “Was the book stored in that cold room? Also, why didn’t you trap the place if such important things were stored in there?”

Sazeer replied calmly with a smile on his face, “Yes, it was stored in there and yes it was trapped. With a little spell designed to freeze anyone who happened to enter there without permission.” He looked pointedly at Seryn.

She simply shrugged and after a moment asked, “Sazeer, darling, what exactly is this book that we are looking for? All you have told us is that it has geometric patterns across its surface and some sort of ugly brown stain across the bottom.”

“Well Seryn, my dear, it is a spell book with a few rare spells in it,” he smiled in return.

“How did you get it? How long did you have it until it disappeared?” Geb jumped in, frowning with his entire face, resulting in a scowl that was even darker than usual.

“Ah yes, I suppose I should tell you that,” Sazeer smoothly state between bites of a peach, “I hired a group of mercenaries with called the Company of the Sevenfold Sword to recover the book while they were in the Swamps of Kan Thet, they did so and I paid them for their troubles and their discretion. Unfortunately not all of them came back.”

“Hmm,” grumbled Geb, “How do you know that the ones who didn’t come back are really dead? Don’t you think its possible that other members of the Company might have came back and stolen it from you? Maybe to get the money twice, one from you, and once from another group? I have heard of this group before. They have a bad reputation in Mithril. ”

Sazeer raised an eyebrow at this, “I really doubt that happened. They have a reputation in Shelzar for doing the job they were paid for and doing it well. Their references spoke highly of their ability to get things done. I don’t care about their past. Besides, I really doubt any of them could have had a hand in it. All of them except for one died when they came back from the swamp. Some disease or another.”

Geb continued, “Where is this one survivor now?”

After finishing his peach Sazeer said, “Altho the Unrepentant is currently under the care of the priest of Madriel in the Hospice of Madriel. Assuming he hasn’t left already, of course.”

Geb made a mental note of that and became silent.

Seryn took up the slack, “Your papers said that three employees were gone. Who were they and what did they do?”

Sazeer leaned forward with a slight smile on his face, “Oh, yes. Them. Oris, was a porter. Fairly muscular fellow who helped carry boxes in. Shera was a secretary she worked in the office. A young girl couldn’t be more than eighteen. The last was Eothan. He helped sort the spices. He was a rather surly fellow. I sent Maka out to check the tenements where they said they had lived when they came for the job. It seemed that the address they gave were fake. We had Maka and some of the house guards “question” their neighbors, but unfortunately that turned out to be a dead end.” With this Sazeer sighed.

After everyone was silent for a minute or so, Sazeer asked, “So do you have any more questions or are you ready to get back to work?”

Geb smiled at this, “I actually have one more question. How do we know we can trust you?”

Seryn responded before Sazeer could, “Of course we can trust him. As long as we are useful to him we can trust him. Isn’t that right Sazeer, darling?”

Sazeer smiled back, “Of course. Plus you can trust me because I am paying you. That is all you should be concerned with.”

The group sat in silence for a few moments before Izala said, hesitantly, “I think we are ready to return to work.”

Sazeer smiled. “Good, I hope to hear of the books successful recovery in the near future.”

They then left.

Outside the group engaged in some quick discussion and agreed that they should go to the Hospice of Madriel. From Seryn’s recollection, she seemed to think that the Hospice would most likely to be found within the confines of the Grand Temple. So off they went, enjoying the sights and sounds of the mid-day city of Shelzar.

 

[Seyrn Lerramir]

According to Seyrn, Part Two

"Uh oh."

All speaking ceased.

"Let's get downstairs, away from this door. Now."

No one argued. As they stood around downstairs, seeming to examine the main shipping floor of the warehouse, armored and well armed guards filed into the warehouse. The soldiers surrounded the group. "Back up against the wall." Their weapons were at the ready and there were well over 15 of them. Slowly, still rubbing her sore arm, Seyrn backed up toward the wall.

They only had to wait a moment before Maka, Sazeer's Chief Enforcer, came through the half circle of guards. "What are you doing here."

"Good evening to you as well, Maka." Seyrn spoke up. "We are here investigating the things that happened here, for Sazeer. I assure that this..." she looked around, " ... is not necessary."

Geb agreed, asking if they would at least put their weapons away. Maka ordered the guards to lower their weapons. That took a lot of tension out of the air. A short discussion and they had told Maka the story of what had happened in concerns to the now unhinged door upstairs. "You will come in to see Sazeer in the morning."

"Of course."

Belot 7th, early morning.

Izala had stayed at Seyrn's house and the two of them traveled to Sazeer's office the following morning. Geb and Rautho were already there. No one was in the waiting room so Geb knocked on Sazeer's office door. His secretary opened the door, peeking out. "He will be with you in a moment."

The four of them were called into Sazeer's office one at a time. Seyrn grew somewhat nervous when she realized she was going to be the very last one called in. It was brief, however. She returned to Sazeer the documents she had taken from the offices the previous night (She had no use for them, she'd made the copies she needed already), and told him simply the 'truth'. Apparently it matched with what the others had already told him. She considered for a moment, leaving the room ... and realized she didn't care if her story matched the others. She had no reason to lie to Sazeer. He had, after all, hired her to gather information.

Sazeer then spoke to them as a group, and told them of the lone survivor from the group of mercenaries that had recovered the "spellbook" from the Swamps of Kan-thet for him. Altho the Unrepentant. He could be found recovering from the ravaging of a plague at the Hospice of Madriel within the Great Temple.

 

[Nightfall]

Mmm man this is FUN! Good stuff Tuerny.