Chapter 3 - HQ Interlude

"Mission briefing first, gear and supplies after. That's the protocol. C'mon, let's go!" Nix bounds off excitedly in the direction of Samuel's office.

Aelar stands and cleans off his hands on a napkin, "Sounds good to me. Is everyone ready for the next rescue mission?"

Firn instinctively glances up and sees the ceiling. Blasted rooftops make it impossible to tell whether or not two hours have passed. He shovels the remainder of food down his gullet, but saves two whole apples for later.

"Oh, yes! I am as ready as I can be as of this moment! Although I suppose there is always the opportunity to be better prepared, given additional time. But I recognize that we have a limited time frame. In any case, I have learned so much in the past day! Your lore master Xalph Umemenor, that is the Daggers Lore Master, has been incredibly helpful in pointing me towards these lovely tomes documenting the city and houses of Salar. You are fortunate to have such a valuable resource. In fact, my experience here has been nothing short of... well..." I'm temporarily at a loss for words. I finally settle on "Wonderful. Yes, indeed. I can see now why so many of you are loyal to the group." I nod towards Nix and Firn.

As the group reaches Samuel's office they enter into the office. Across his desk is a map of what appears to be a city. It's an overhead view and you see a large portion of it is blue, representing a large natural spring that the city rests within. It almost looks like a massive floating city on an even more massive lake.

[passing note to Xadira]

As Nix bounds in she is suddenly struck by both audible and mental sound, Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiixxxxxxxx!, the voice chimes in a familiar voice as Phina charges across the room and wraps the gnome up in a hug.

The rest see both Samuel and Bill in this room as well. They are conversing as you enter and Samuel gestures for you all to enter and get comfortable.

Firn is the last into the office, and before he goes in he sees the gensai from the other day. Alnata the earth gensai looks as though he wants to smile and wave to you, but Ainara, the fire gensai, quickly pulls his hand down and says something to him.

Alnata and Celtara both look sort of sad, like they still want to come over and say hi, but they are slowly turned away by Ainata. Ainata, gives you a look that to most normal people could easily be seen as "I don't just hope you die, I hope your entire family and everyone you ever knew and ever loved dies in front of your eyes first...and then you die." Her flaming hair burns a little more deep red and orange.

Firn appears completely neutral (oblivious?) to the intense heat of the gaze. Lack of sleep. Figured that night light was too bright, he thinks to himself.

"Mornin'," he says aloud, monotone, and disappears from view as he enters Samuel's office.

"Phina!!!!!!" Nix squeals, and returns the pigtailed gnome's hug. The two jump up and down crazily before settling down somewhat to listen to what Samuel has to say. The peace is short-lived, however, and only lasts until Nix starts drooling over the map. "Oooh, what a pretty island! Is this where we're going? Do we get to ride boats? I like boats! How come I don't recognize any landmarks? Ooooh lookit the tiny little map people!"

I walk forward, standing next to Samuel and Bill. As I give the map a quick once-over, I turn back towards the group and wait for most to sit before beginning my lecture. Just as I'm about to, Nix runs over and starts peppering me with questions. "I'm sure Samuel will tell us about the details of our journey shortly. As for the map, I can get us started! Salar. The 'Jewel of the Desert.' Composed of these four districts, or wards..." As I mention each, I give a quick flick of the wrist in order to make the 4 distinct, square regions of the map glow briefly in a different-colored light. "...House Sildonis, Vareen, Adonis, and Bakar." I point at a circle that touches upon each edge of the 4 square wards. "This here is the fastest path between the houses." I point towards the palace in the middle of the circle. "And here in the middle of that is, of course, the central hub of business and industry, the Palace of House Greyhand. These are the 5 ruling houses, each relying on one another's cooperation in order to ensure a thriving economy and a thriving city, as a whole. Any questions?"

Samuel stands with his finger raised, as though he was about to start talking about the map. Once Xadira's lecture ceases for a moment he tries to interject, Uh. Oh. Yes. Salar, he says, trying to find something to add, but know that was pretty much as good a summary as he could have given.

B..but, he says, finally finding his train of thought, I should mention things appear to have changed much in Salar since The Bard moved in. He steps in and gestures to the small sigil figures that represent the 5 houses. These are the five houses as they were, it would appear that The Bard has..., he says as he reaches to the middle sigil, a shield with a grey closed fist gauntlet on it, and knocks it over, ...taken House Greyhand, the most powerful of the houses in the city by far. The rest have bent the knee to his power and only are trying to stay out of his way at this point.

He points to the large circular hub of the wards, the ward that the Greyhand's had run, The prince has been last seen being escorted into the Greyhand palace. Our sources say he is most certainly being held in the dungeons here.

"How is that possible? What has happened to House Greyhand's personal militia? Did that entire army... disappear?" I look both alarmed and intrigued at the prospect. What causes an army so large to simply fold to the whims of one man? How are we, then, meant to defeat this one man and save the prince?

"You know people can be made to do things they normally wouldn't right?" Nix says, suddenly serious, her words heavy with meaning.

I'm afraid Nix is right, Samuel says, with a matched seriousness. The Bard so far has had an army of orcs, and goblins. A few sell swords here and there. Nothing that could take such an army in the middle of such a heavily guarded city. We think this might be the work of another with...a similar skillset as your own, Nix.

You will be our resident expert on the powers at work here. The force was dismantled from within, most of the knights and guards either bending the knee to The Bard, or being locked in the house's own dungeon. No one has seen the royalty of the Greyhand house since this take over.

He points out the central hub and how it is the only way to travel between the 4 other wards. He has taken and locked down this entire ward here in the center. It's essentially cut off trade and travel between the wards, and as it is the only way in and out of the city it has essentially cut off the wards from the outside world. They are basically in disarray and chaos. It would seem the once harmonious houses now fight against the others to keep what supplies they have and can obtain.

"This is bad... really bad," Aelar says after studying the map for a moment, "I sure hope you have some plan to get us close to the bard so we can take him down. I don't fancy trying to deal with an army's worth of trained fighters."

Of course, Samuel says and jabs his finger onto the palace of House Vareen. The Sub Way you will be taking will bring you to a hidden chamber in the palace of House Vareen. They are the mage's ward. They had provided much of the city with magical healing and aid. They also have been the lore masters of the city for as long as it has existed. The entire documented history of the city is held within the ward's library.

He traces his finger through the ward in no particular fashion. You will need to cross the ward and make your way to the gate that leads to the central ward. Outside you should find sewer access. The sewers of the city run underneath all of the wards. From these you should be able to gain access to the palace of the Greyhand. Once inside you will need to get to the dungeon to get the prince. I will send my own small force with you, maybe 40 men and women in all, capable fighters and warriors. Once the prince is secure some of them will make their way back to the Sub-Way with him, the rest will aid you in bringing down The Bard.

After he wraps up he looks to the group, I can't entirely be sure what you will encounter inside the palace. No one has been allowed entry to the central ward since The Bard took over. So our intel inside is spotty. It's the best information we have though.

Ütés listens as Samuel provides details and answers some of the others' questions as she carefully studies the map.

"An assault on The Bard should be the priority of our mission" she says quietly continuing to stare at the map. "Rescuing the good prince, while obviously a personal priority of mine, risks us giving up an element of surprise should we be caught in the act. It would make more sense to hit The Bard before he knows we're there."

She slowly looks up from the map and fixes her gaze on Samuel.

"What is the likely hood that we would be able to persuade some of the other houses to join our cause?"

The chances are good that they will want to help. Though since each Ward has been shuttered in getting to the heads of the wards may be difficult. You may also face...resistance. The wards, as it sounds, have descended into chaos themselves. However, uniting the four houses again could prove to be invaluable for your cause. Their forces number in the thousands.

"Very good, then. Is that then plan? Send in an ambassador to unite the wards against the bard?" I jot down notes on my parchment. It seems these plans are much more complicated than what we've done this far, but the Daggers seem confident so there's no reason to panic yet!

"Got a plan for getting to the leaders and who wants to do the talking?"