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Message: <blockquote data-quote="spyscribe" data-source="post: 2441183" data-attributes="member: 5808">Note: this update is a whopper (1800+ words), nearly twice as long as I like to make an average post, and with a graphic to boot.  So be forewarned that this is more of a lunch break read than a coffee break read.  However, there just wasn't a good place to cut it in half.  I trust you all will forgive me.Part the One-Hundred FortiethIn which: our journey resumes.Lira rereads the piece of parchment containing the “conversation” she had with Eva the day before.Lira takes the paper and burns it to ash.  She then scatters the ashes out her window for good measure.  Her talk with Eva the night before was… illuminating.  Now, Lira just needs to break the news to the others.The party gathers that morning in the meeting room where they are accustomed to making their headquarters.  Lira times her arrival so that by the time she enters, everyone except Eva is already there.  She wastes no time getting to her point.  “There’s something we need to talk about, and we need to do it now.”“Should not we wait for Eva?” Reyu objects.Lira clears her throat.  “Actually, we really shouldn’t.”“Why?”  Anvil demands.“Because the Fortune Riders have been using her to spy on us.”It takes a while for the general exclamations of shock and disbelief following this announcement to calm down.  When they do, Lira condenses what Eva was able to tell her the night before.  She concludes: “Basically, except for the time that Eva had her holy symbol stuffed at the bottom of her backpack while we were traveling in the Sovereignty, none of us has ever had a private conversation with her.”“Are you sure this is true?” Annika asks.Lira nods.  “I went out of the room and cast detect magic, then came in and checked her holy symbol.  It’s definitely some kind of divination device.”“Why did we not notice this before?” Anvil asks.Lira shrugs.  “Have you ever detected magic at Eva before?  I mean sure, she’s around when we’re looking at other things, but did you ever really look to see if her holy symbol radiated magic?”The party members who can cast such spells try to remember if they ever have, but are forced to conclude that Lira has a point.“Believe me,” Lira points out, “no one is more annoyed we didn’t notice this before than I am.  I mean, how many times have you seen me detect?”“What should we do?”  Reyu asks, ever practical.“Here’s the thing.  Eva believes that if the Fortune Riders know that she knows, there will be consequences, probably unpleasant ones.  She wanted me to tell you what was going on so that we could avoid discussing certain things in front of her that we might want to keep private, but we can’t make it seem like that’s what we’re doing.”“So we have to act like we don’t know what we know because if the Fortune Riders know that we know that they know about stuff, Eva will be in trouble,” Kiara sums up.Lira blinks, trying desperately to parse what just came out of Kiara’s mouth.  “Umm… yeah.”“We should be more careful in the future,” Anvil announces.  “We must regularly check each other for new and unexplained magical auras.”  And as he finishes, he casts detect magic and starts to scan the assembled group.Kiara’s eyes get wide.  “But it would be too late!  If they were listening through one of us then they’ve already heard this conversation and so they’ll know that we know…” Annika breaks in and tries to shush her.“But Annika,” she protests.  “They’ll know all about your fiancé!”The room gets suddenly quiet.“Well, they do now.”Kiara gasps, and her hand flies to her mouth.  “I’m sorry,” she squeaks.Lira tries to cover her surprise by coughing.  “Your fiancé?”Annika sighs.  “It’s… It’s an arranged thing.  His father’s a blacksmith, and he’s going to take over the shop pretty soon.  The families have been talking, and they think it’s a good match.  He’s a good craftsman and they figure that I can enchant things that he makes.”“Do you like him?” Lira asks.“I barely know him.  I mean, we knew each other as kids, but I haven’t seen him in years.  We had a quick visit while I was at home.  He’s… fine.”“When would this happen?” Reyu wants to know.“Not for a while,” Anniks answers quickly.  “Everyone has ‘agreed’ it would be best for me to finish my studies at the Academy first.”Reyu isn’t sure what to make of all this.  Among her people, marriage is apparently different than it is among humans.  But before the conversation can go any farther, Eva walks into the room.After a few seconds of uncomfortable silence, Anvil speaks.  “We were speaking of traveling to Ebis, to return Gemil and to seek out the wizard Manaal.”Eva looks quickly around at the others.  “Right.”###The party decides that it would be best to rid themselves of Gemil before seeking out the archmage Manaal.  Gemil certainly does not object to this plan, and has asked the party to take him to some associates of his in the city of Siunethrit, deep in the Empire’s desert interior.Lira goes to ask Devon if he has found his map of Ebis, but she finds him unavailable to talk when she stops by.  She eventually leaves word with one of his assistants who promises to pass along her request.When Lira stops by the next morning, she finds the map is waiting for her, but Devon is still not in evidence.  Lira finds this unusual, as she has never had trouble before getting in to see the man, but stops short of asking the assistant flat-out if Devon is avoiding her.Even more irksome, the map is clearly incomplete.(see map, attached below)Lira returns to the group and shows it to them.“That’s not going to help,” Thatch complains.  “Siunethrit isn’t even on the map.”“Hopefully Gemil can show us where that is at least,” Lira replies, but she doesn’t seem terribly pleased either.“However,” Anvil adds, “once we have fulfilled out debt to Gemil, it does us little good to know that Manaal lives in the vicinity of Pesshetaup if we do not know where Pesshetaup is.”Lira makes a frustrated noise.  “Yeah, well, and if Devon wasn’t avoiding me, I’d ask him about it.”As usual, Reyu’s voice is one of calm in times of frustration, “Then we will seek another source of information.”“Such as?” Eva wants to know.“We have met a <a href="https://www.enworld.org/index.php?posts/1433753/" target="_blank">citizen of Ebis</a>.  Let us ask her if she knows anything which could be of help to us.”###Hadass doesn’t seem particularly thrilled to see the party, perhaps because last time they came around they were quizzing her on the habits of her friend, Amelia.  Hadass has never heard of a wizard named Manaal, or any Ebisite wizard for that matter.  She equally hasn’t heard of a city called Pesshetaup.  However, she is able to explain the incomplete quality of their map.“Unless you’re in the military, you can’t really get a complete map of the Empire.  They don’t want too much information falling into the wrong hands.”“Like who?” Kiara wants to know.Hadass shrugs.  “Whomever.  You can’t move freely through the Empire the way you can here.  Travel between any of the cities requires a passport.”“How does one obtain a passport?” Anvil asks.“You apply for one from the military and it’s issued.  They don’t need a lot of information just, name, profession, reason for traveling.  And they do use magic to see if you’re lying.”Hadass herself is from Nayarii, a coastal city and the Empire’s main international port, but when the party asks if she would like them to take a message to anyone there, she shakes her head.  “Actually,” she says, “I’d rather you didn’t mention my name to anyone if you go there… wizards aren’t exactly welcome in the Empire.”The party exchanges worried glances.  Travel may take a little… creativity.###After conferring with Gemil as to the location of Siunethrit, the party considers their options.  Most foreign travelers arrive in Ebis via the port of Nayarii.  It is by all reports a cosmopolitan city with many foreigners and other travelers.  It is also along the Halmae coast and several weeks travel by road up to Siunethrit.On the other hand, since Petros has already offered to take them into Ebis, they can arrange to arrive only a day or so from Siunethrit through the desert.  Of course, if they do that, they won’t have the proper travel documents.  Eva, however, comes up with an answer to that dilemma.  By making a few discreet inquiries, she is able to fine someone who—for a fee of 125 gold apiece—will provide them with forged Ebisite passports.  The party agrees that the travel time saved with be worth the fee for the forged documents.(There is some amusement coming up with non-threatening and mostly-honest occupations for certain party members.  Lira and Eva both travel as “temple representatives” while Annika calls herself an “apprentice craftsman.”  Luckily, Kiara is not yet 16 and, as a minor, does not need a job title.)As the rest of the party busies themselves with supplying themselves for desert travel and other odd bits of business, Anvil spends his last few days in Dar Pykos studying in the Temple Archives.  Although he passed his Third Order Examination, Tenacious informed him that it was a close thing.  In particular, he noted, Anvil’s answers on Inheritance Law in the First Century Pre-Confederacy could have been better.Anvil dedicates special time and effort to improving his knowledge in this area.  The duties of a Third Order Justicar demand no less. (DM’s note: for the record, BadMonkeyJeff used not one but TWO actions points in his various rolls to pass his examination—one to study and one on the exam itself.)On their appointed date of departure, Anvil collects Gemil—whom he had left to talk to some of the greatest minds of the Temple of Justice in an effort to encourage him to change from his evil ways.  “I do not suppose you have changed your mind about where you would like us to take you next?” Anvil asks him as he goes to rejoin the others.“Hmm…” Gemil pretends to consider.  “No.”“Have you heard of a city called Pesshataup?”Gemil can’t really frown, but he seems to grin a little less.  “No.  Why?”Anvil slides the skull into his pack and fastens the drawstring at the top.  “No reason.”###There is not a lot of conversation as the party walks out of the city to meet Petros.  The farmers are out planting their spring crops, and the members of the party all have much to think about.Petros greets them cordially, and after examining the map, determines an area in the vicinity of Siunethrit where he can place his tower without raising an alarm. A moment later, there is a flash of white light, and the adventurers are on their way to Ebis.</blockquote>

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