Book 1, Chapter 3: Blood and Bones

Harragh spends the next couple of weeks at the temple of Torag, hammering away in the forge as he continues to work on turning Tider’s simple rapier into the one and only "Butt Skewer". While he does miss out on most of Korvosa’s social happenings, he also seems to get a modicum of respect from his peers for his continued effort. Which, in the case of those dwarves, means a slight nod of acknowledgment more often than usual.

Abe’s attempts to contact anyone inside the Academy remain fruitless, as the place is still completely sealed up. Instead, he ends up chatting with renegades and ex-students over drinks in Korvosa’s numerous establishments, discussing the rumors about whether Queen Ileosa was responsible, directly or indirectly, for the death (some say murder) of the late King Eodred II.

Tider and Shayaan take the chance to visit Vencarlo Orsini’s Academy in Old Korvosa, where they are welcomed to a tour of the grounds and some sparring sessions against the students, with the finale being a round against Orsini himself. A true gentleman fencer of the old school, Orisini is as comfortable crossing blades as he is reciting poetry or coming up with eloquent insults between series of blows. Once that is over, he invites his two guests for a snack, a bottle of wine and a chat about Korvosa’s situation. Although he does reprimand Tider for still having somewhat of a shaky moral compass and Shayaan for being a bit too "stuck up" and "inflexible" due to her past in law enforcement, he is genuinely interested in hearing their opinions.

About a week after the Cheliaxian Ambassador’s letters were retrieved, the news hits the streets: a beautiful young artist named Trinia Sabor, who painted a portrait of the king not half a month before his death, is identified as the king’s murderer. According to a palace guard, Trinia had been behaving oddly during her trips to the Castle and he saw her slipping a specially prepared poison powder into Eodred II’s tea the night he took ill and her portrait of him was completed. By the time the story has spread outside the palace walls, the guard has repeated his statement in the presence of Korvosan authorities and again, riots threaten to erupt in the streets. This time, however, the cries are not for the Queen’s death, but the death of the king’s "true" murderer. As a final exclamation point while things reach a boiling point, the guard’s suicidal leap from one of the towers of Castle Korvosa cements Korvosa’s anger and further fuels speculations that he was bribed or seduced by Trinia Sabor as part of her plan, if not an agent of foreign powers altogether. Such is the state of things that when Cressida Kroft contacts you again with word of a third mission, she takes you into the solitude of her personal office to speak to you alone, without the prying ears of other officers around.

"You’ve doubtless heard the stories that the King’s killer has been named. Yet there’s something more going on here, I’m afraid. Queen Ileosa could have quietly had this Trinia Sabor arrested at any time, yet the way in which she revealed the information to the city seems to me like she wants the riots to come back. With the city the way it is, the girl doesn’t stand a chance of a fair trial. They’ll lynch her the moment they catch her. Even if she did kill the king, mob justice isn’t the way. Worse, if she’s innocent, the real killer—if indeed the king was murdered at all in the first place—can use this distraction to throw us off the trail forever."

"Before Trinia is captured and executed, I need to be absolutely sure she’s guilty. And that means we need to catch her before someone else does. I’ve managed to determine her last known address—a flat in Midland at 42 Moon Street—but soon, so will the rest of the Guard, and the mob itself, for that matter. These rumors have riled up the locals something fierce, and there’s even bands of Hellknights of the Order of the Nail patrolling the streets looking for her. On top of all this, word is that Queen Ileosa’s not satisfied with what the Korvosan Guard’s been doing to address the situation, and that she’s preparing to disband the Sable Company" she shifts her gaze towards Shayaan "and reveal a newly founded order of specialized guards to help bring order to the city. For now, I’ve still got a fair number of Korvosan Guards who are loyal to me, but the problem is that I’ve got them at work keeping things from getting any worse—and if I were to send them into Midland, they’d trigger a riot."

"I’m sure you can see where this is going. I need you to get into Midland, find Trinia, and bring her back to me so we can deliver her, safe and sound, to somewhere she can be interrogated—preferably with magic, so we can be absolutely sure about her role in Eodred II’s death. Get in there, catch her, and get out without letting the mob or the Hellknights or the Queen’s guards get their hands on her. I’ll have loyal agents and officers nearby to take her into custody. If you can get her to one of them, we’ll be in the clear. Any questions?"

"Uh, just curious, but do you think she's innocent? I mean, it sounds like you're not convinced." Tider will do it either it either way, but he'll feel better about it if Kroft is confident.

"I'm not convinced whether she's innocent or guilty, but like I said, I'm quite troubled by the way all this has been handled. I'd like to hear what she has to say for herself, but the way this is going, she'll probably get lynched as soon as she's found and even if she somehow makes it to trial, the deck's been stacked against her already. I'm an officer of the law, I'd like this to be done the right way."Midland is what most visitors think of when they speak of Korvosa. Located in the southeast quadrant of the city, it is home to the majority of Korvosa's merchants, shops, and financial institutions. The criminal elements who might prey on this accumulation of wealth are kept in check by the fact that both the headquarters of the Korvosan Guard and the Sable Company are located here as well. This means Trinia Sabor is running out of time, fast.

The sewers of Korvosa do exist, but it will be a risky choice. They support a healthy population of otyughs, among other creatures, who feed on the city's trash and excrement to keep the systems clean; Tider's heard more than one story of the creatures breaking free to the surface during these last few weeks in the riots and chaos following Kind Eodred's passing. The network of wooden walkways, ramshackle abodes and shops built on top of the rooftops of Korvosa's most-densely populated areas known as the Shingles might be a better alternative, he thinks, if the group wants to avoid crowds and guards.

Abe tries to determine if the field Marshall is speaking of the girl with familiarity. "Have you met this woman before? Anything you can tell us? Is she flighty and prone to fleeing her guards, for instance?"

"I have not, but with all the buzz surrounding her, I would assume she'd be flighty and mistrustful of everyone. If you can talk her into this, good. If not, you'll have to somehow capture her and bring her to me, incognito. I'll make sure she's kept safe till trial, though I can't ensure said trial will be a fair and unbiased one at this point."

Its not that Tider doesn't trust croft, he's just used to people lying to him.

Harragh has a think about the situation.

"I'm not sure we're gonna have time to do anything too complex. We need to find her without scaring her, and somehow transport her without giving away who she is. You got that disguise kit all ready to go Tider? You got any spells that can help Abe?"

Oh yeah I do. We can also go through the shingles. Those Hellknights in heavy armor will have a hard time following us there and as long as we make her look poor, she won't be noticed.

"Three, potentially. I could Charm her so that she is more likely to follow us for her own protection. If that doesn't work, I could induce magical slumber and we carry her out. Lastly, I can ensnare her in magical webbing to keep her from rabbiting."

Harragh runs his thumb along his jawline.

"Hmmm, I’m not sure I could follow ya in the Shingles Tider, I’m one of those Heavy Armour guys remember? Kroft, do ya think I could get away with just walk-in around in full Paladin of Torag gear? Might make for a good distraction."

"I don't think anyone's going to give you trouble like that" Cressida answers the half orc paladin. "I can draft you some papers to confirm you're working for the Korvosan Guard in case you need them, especially after getting to Trinia, though I doubt the mob will bother to stop and check them. Guards and Hellknights might, though. Oh and I forgot to mention, you'll be paid for your services to the Guard, as always. One thousand gold, upon her safe delivery."

Shayaan doesn't yet know what to think of Cressida and takes a backseat for this conversation quietly mulling over her words.

Talk of the Shingles brings her back.
"I'm familiar with the Shingles. I used to frequent those rooftops, trying to get away from.." she trails off. She tries to rearrange her face again: "So that would work. Otherwise I'm always gain for venturing off into sewers."

"Wait-go back." Tider looks Shayan up and down. "You were on the run? You? You were almost sable company! Who were you running from?"

Shayaan gets red in the face. Trying het best to arrange her face, clearly vexed by her slip.

"Well..., I wasn’t always so well behaved. I know the Shingles from my childhood days, of you must know. We all have our past. What is more important is our future and today. The present. Anything you suggest for a plan of action Tider?"

"Did you think the Guard were grown on trees Tider? I was a tribal before I joined up, that where I got these spiffy tattoos."

"True" Cressida butts in. "Some even join the Guard after a long time of mercenary work, such as yourselves and even once someone's in the Guard, things aren't all sunshine and rainbows. You've seen mr. Soldado, who quit and drunk himself stupid, or the Cow Hammer Boys and their leader who went rogue.

"No, I thought you came from the guard farm up north where they bred the good humor out of you." He thinks for a minute. "I guess we can go pick her up along the main street and then take her up through the shingles after she's disguised. No reason to get fancy. Yet."

"Thank you Cressida. One more thing before we go, can you tell us something about the guard who confessed? Did someone set him up? Or do you suspect someone?"

"I'd rather keep a distance from the rumor mill for now, plus some parts of this are too sensitive information for me to be sharing with anyone but my superiors. Go find the girl and maybe we can discuss this afterwards."

Entering Midland without arousing suspicion is relatively easy, as long as you avoid the main streets, full of law enforcement and angry mobs. 42 Moon Street lies in a densely built section of the city, a place where, at ground level, direct sunlight is a rarity. Above, jury-rigged catwalks, overhanging roofs, lines of laundry, and homemade bridges of rope and boards create a cluttered tangle, a multi-level mess of gutters, upper floors, and rooftops. This is the slum above—a sprawl known as the Shingles. The building itself is an old tenement, three floors high and containing two dozen flats, many of which are homes to artists, singers, students, and artisans who prefer the area due to its low living cost. The main door is open, but from a quick glance, there are no names on the doors or some sort of residents list, so there's no way to know which flat is Trinia's without asking or guessing.

Harragh has a look around.

"We should probably have a couple people watching in case we get a runner.. One up one down, Tider you and Shayaan make sense, you can navigate dese things." He points all around at the Shingles.

"Me and Abe can go in and try and be charming."