Part the Twenty-Seventh
In which: the party recovers from a night that felt like it lasted three months…
The party gathers outside the ruined building. Even here, the air reeks of smoke, but Reyu gulps the comparatively cleaner atmosphere. It feels like her lungs will never be clear again.
Nearby, Lira coaxes a very wet, sputtering weasel out of her cloak. Euro quickly runs up to her shoulder, and snorts.
No offense Boss, but your hands are freezing.
Lira touches a hand to her face and jumps at the sudden cold. She supposes this is what you get for casting nine
rays of frost in quick succession.
Thatch looks at the devastation all around them. The Academy still smoulders, but the flames are no longer spreading. Members of the Watch run down the handful of enemies who have not already fled the scene. At last, he spots what he’s looking for. There, in an empty space between two buildings, stands his faithful steed, Bob.
Thatch whistles, and the wounded but faithful warhorse slowly makes his way back to his master. Thatch pats him on the neck reassuringly, and looks around to see if there is a healer available.
Instead, he sees a dark figure, standing at the edge of the Academy grounds. With a start, Thatch realizes it appears to be staring at him and his companions.
“Thatch! You coming?” The young fighter turns to see that the others are already making their way towards the street, leaving the final mopping up in the capable hands of the City Watch and fire brigade. He hesitates, looks back at the shadowy figure… but it has already vanished.
**********
Mrs. Blackburn is considerably less than pleased to have three of her boarders coming in after midnight, filthy and reeking of smoke.
“Never in my life!” she exclaims, although the force of her scolding is largely lost on its intended targets. “I run a respectable establishment, I do, and here you are, coming in at all hours, up to gods know what--” She turns to the stairs and spies Tessa watching. “What did I tell you about them?” she demands of her daughter. “I told you they were trouble. Do you want to end up like this!?”
Reyu breaks into the landlady’s harangue. “Would it be possible to get a bath?”
“A bath?!? At this hour? Of all the—“
“It’s that or smoky sheets tomorrow,” Lira offers, managing a vague shadow of her usual charming smile. “If it wouldn’t be too much trouble.”
Mrs. Blackburn continues to mutter to herself as she turns up the stairs to heat the bath-water.
******************
Lira is dead tired. Still, she has enough energy left to be glad that she isn’t dead. She dries off from the bath and slips into her night-shirt, covering the scars that the beast’s claws have left across her belly. Despite magical healing, Reyu and Anvil bear souvenirs of their encounters with the shadow creatures as well. The priests at Anvil’s temple have no explanation, and can only guess that the marks are permanent.
Lira shudders at the memory of the burning claws. One thing she is sure of. Whether by nature or by training, those
things were hunting spell-casters.
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Submitted to His Royal Highness, King Orrin of Dar Pykos, in the 12th year of his reign, may the gods preserve him in good health and wisdom, {etc. etc, etc.}
Report of His Grace, Sir Owen Coldswain, Master of Arms of the City, Capain of the City Watch, pertaining to events transpiring at the Mages’ Academy on the night of Sedellus Ascendant:
At midnight the night of Sedellus Ascendant an explosion was triggered in a sewer tunnel underneath the Mage’s Academy. Watch Investigators believe some fifteen to twenty barrels of firepowder had been deliberately stacked beneath the Academy's Administrative building.
Simultaneously, an unconfirmed number of attackers exited from various staging points at sewer grates on or near academy grounds and engaged with both guards on patrol and academy students and faculty.
It appears that certain groups of attackers had the specific mission of taking four aggressive creatures of unknown nature and origin with resistance to spells and other magical effects, and sealing them inside the students’ already burning dormitories.
Allow me also to note that the students in question range in age from as young as 16 to 20 years of age, at the oldest. The deliberate and cold-blooded nature of this assault can only suggest that the purpose of this attack was nothing short of the destruction of the Mages' Academy and as many of the students and faculty as possible.
A group of operatives associated with the Temple of Justice (see the attached dossiers) discovered advance warning of the plot, and arranged for City Watch to be on double duty. Additionally, they provided for the presence of Pillars of Kettenek and Givers of Life. Members of these organizations provided crucial assistance during the incident, as did the operatives themselves.
In the opinion of this observer, had this assault come with no prior warning or preparation, casualties and damage could have been much greater.
Casualties:
His Majesty’s Officers and other emissaries of the Law
5 members of the Watch
3 Pillars of Kettenek
1 Giver (killed by unknown creature, coll. “shadowbeast” – it does not appear that the instigators of the attack targeted the healers).
Assailants
20 – all bearing holy symbols (or tattoos) not marked with any sect affiliation
(note: Based on the number of dislodged sewer grates and the seeming pattern of four attackers per cell, we believe this was the total number of attackers. Most of these attackers have been recognized as local members of various religious sects, though several bodies have yet to be identified. Attackers were aided by between 6 and 8 “shadowbeasts.” However, since the bodies of these creatures vanish upon their death, exact count is uncertain.)
Civilians
54 Mages’ Academy Students are dead or missing.
4 out of 9 members of the faculty either confirmed dead, or in the case of the Chancellor, missing and presumed dead. Chancellor Edmund Worthington II is believed to have been in the Administration Building at the time of its collapse.
Property Damage
Three buildings (Administration, North Dormitory, School of Artificy) destroyed completely by fire.
Two buildings (School of Alchemy, South Dormitory) half burned.
Fire did not spread outside the grounds of the academy.
I have already ordered the City Watch to remain vigilant over the coming days and weeks for heightened violence against arcanists or possible retaliation from the academy. However, I fear that anti-arcane religious fervor has reached dangerously unstable levels. I humbly submit that Your Highness, as well as the other leaders of the City, must take immediate action to determine what, if anything, can be done to relieve these tensions and prevent the occurrence of another such incident.
