Dramatis Personæ

Brother Mendel (Herodian)
Dane Sardock (Winston)
Gabriel Auditore (Rigil Kent)
Gestlin the Unpredictable (CommJunkee)
Magnifico the Clown (Feste)
Merasiël Alethmist (Melissa)
Rainald North-Hammer (Gigermann)

Of Cats and Mousetraps

5 May 2014

Back at their host’s manor, the Heroes deliberated how they might best get a look inside the Order of Talos’ compound. Brother Mendel tried a Seeker spell, but could see nothing; Gabriel remembered from his encounters with the Order in the past that their “prisons” tended to have magical symbols etched here and there, and supposed that it might be a ward against scrying—or possibly more. After a great many ideas were presented and evaluated, they opted for safety, that Gestlin would use a spell to “possess” a small animal—a cat, in this case—that could wander the compound unbothered, and see through its eyes. It would take a great deal of energy to operate so for even a short amount of time, so the casters would have to work together to support Gestlin’s efforts. A suitable animal was found easily enough, and a discreet location found near the compound to do the spell. Gestlin’s casting, with Smil-Blam, went without a hitch. He (as the cat) moved as quickly as he could, darting through windows and those doors that were open, but he had not enough time to make his way to the lower levels to find the prisoner they sought, and the spell expired. They tried again the next day, and though more progress was made, he was still unable to reach the prisoner. Gestlin was, however, able to describe the interior of the compound such that a map could be drawn, which would certainly aid any future attempts to infiltrate.

9 May 2014

Now seven days after arriving in Bannock, the time finally came for the Heroes to put on their dragon show. There were several gladiatorial bouts that would precede them, but theirs was the main attraction, and those that had ventured outside the estate during the week prior heard much buzzing about it from the locals. As evening drew close, they made their way to the smallish arena just outside the city proper, keeping the dragons under cover to preserve the surprise; they saw a long line of townsfolk down the road approaching the arena, indicating a promising payout for the night’s work. Excitedly, they waited in the tunnels under the arena floor for their turn at the stage, though they remained wary of a potential attack.

Then their turn to perform came, as the sun dropped below the hills, and the Heroes emerged from below to the arena floor. Even as they were being announced, Magnifico interrupted and took over, beginning with a rousing speech to whet the crowd’s appetites. As Brother Mendel began his illusory display, backed by Gestlin’s pyrotechnics, Magnifico began, once again, to tell the story of the Heroes’ exploits in the War in the Otherworld, in grand fashion. Merasiël joined the players this time, dressed in Proximo’s gifted Wazifi garb. Magnifico and Merasiël rode on the backs of Primus and Secundus as the dragons performed a flyover of the grandstands, after which the dragons were secreted back to their cages while their illusory counterparts took over for them, feasting on the illusory flesh of men and Vasa alike as they battled back and forth across stage-center. As usual, the role of Lord Wallace was emphasized, adding the sad revelation at the end that he had gone mysteriously missing after the war.

As the show continued, Dane spotted a stranger enter the dignitaries’ box at the top of the stands; the stranger wore the cross-symbol of the Order of Talos, and spoke quietly to the arena’s master. Just then, Gestlin’s attention was caught by someone rattling the portcullis behind him—their sponsor, Aamir Rahmani, wearing a troubled visage. Gestlin ceased his pyrotechnics to see what was the trouble; Rainald noticed this, and knocked on Gestlin’s wagon to alert Gabriel inside that something was amiss. Aamir informed him that guards were swarming the tunnels, come to take the Heroes by force as they left the stage—they could see guards gathering at the side gates to the arena floor, and Aamir had seen a number approaching from behind him. Gestlin bade Aamir raise the portcullis enough for him to get through, borrowed his turban and cloak to disguise himself, then charged down the tunnels toward the steps leading up to the audience seats, intending to get an overview; he slipped aside of the oncoming guards, pretending to relieve himself in the corner, before continuing on. Meanwhile, Brother Mendel was quietly informed of the closing trap, and he used his illusions to discreetly inform those performing. After a brief conference with Brother Mendel, Magnifico excitedly announced to the crowd that they would share the wealth they recovered during the war with the good people of Bannock, as Brother Mendel created the illusion of coins raining down on the stands around and before the dignitaries’ box, hoping to start a mad scramble as a distraction—the limits of Brother Mendel’s abilities, much spent already on the show, meant the scramble wasn’t quite as mad as he would have liked—as they all backed toward the exit portcullis. At the same time, while Aamir continued to struggle with the portcullis by himself, Gabriel slipped beneath and down the steps to the access tunnel, to meet the approaching guards. Rainald moved the wagon to provide cover for the exit, and moved to join him; Dane scrambled atop the wagon and raised his bow to engage any targets within the arena or in the stands. Gestlin emerged up in the stands and approached the edge, and with Smil-Blam, conjured up a small windstorm. The guards in the tunnel were clearly unimpressed with Gabriel’s dragon-mark tattoos, and attacked; Rainald arrived barely in time to kill one of the guards, as Gabriel slew four others in a matter of seconds. Above, as the guards stormed into the arena from the side gates, Gestlin assaulted one group with his windstorm, while Dane loosed arrows at the other group, felling one instantly. To be continued…

Notes

• There was quite a lot of deliberation over the handling of the reconnaissance of the compound, and the particulars of the show’s illusions, as normal
• Gestlin was limited to about 11 minutes of possession, so he could only get so far before the spell ended
• The arena wasn’t filled quite to capacity, but was well attended; our guess was around 3000-4000
• Gabriel killed four guards in five seconds—and probably would have killed the fifth if Rainald had been a little slower