Chapter One: The Iron Sphere of Sthombo

To Frekki Mornraven and Leth Everwood, he was Uncle Ed, the wandering hunter and adventurer who saved them both from a vicious pair of wilding hill giant youths one fall evening on the road from Dule, with nothing more than a smoke bomb and one well-thrown javelin. He brought them back to his camp that night, cooked them squirrel, and drew out story after story of Frekki's time in the army of Dule and Leth's particular knowledge and insights of the woodlands of Bload's north coast.

To Carillion Tintinnabulum and Felor of the Mountain, he was Mayor Kells, who welcomed them into his tiny village when it seemed everyone else they encountered was telling them to go back to Jerma. He learned conversational Dwarvish from Carillion and spoke it with perfect grammar and a comically bad accent, he spent long wine-soaked nights talking to Felor about his dreams of Fjorgyn and what they might portend.

To Tzipporah Vulgaris and Vad Fekete, he was Edvers Kells, a concerned citizen who vouched for the fact that their dubious enterprise in the back room of the Alehouse of the Intertwined Sea-Worms in Sthombo could, perhaps, be described as a confidence game, but it certainly didn't involve magic, how ridiculous, he had seen the whole thing and there hadn't been any sorcery or witchcraft involved, the so-called "victims" were merely bitter about having been so credulous. He paid the fines their sentences had been reduced to on the condition that they come back to his village and show his daughter Zora a cantrip or two.

So it was on this gray and rainy morning in late summer that these six individuals stood to witness his execution and bear his body away afterward. Of his family, the residents of the tiny village he founded, and his adventuring companions, none dared be seen supporting him in this hour. And it did not go unremarked that only outlanders, outcasts, and suspected criminals would still stand by him now.

For the ancient treasure of Sthombo was missing, the Iron Sphere cast down by nameless gods of the heavens in primeval times, and there were witnesses who had seen Edvers Kells skulking about the shrine where it was kept, and others who had seen him leaving Sthombo by oxcart in the dead of night shortly before the theft of the Iron Sphere and the murder of those who guarded it was discovered, and though his village and his townhouse and his hunting cabins had been torn to the very foundations and nothing had been found, the justiciars hired by the Tetrarchs of Sthombo to investigate the crime found him guilty of sacreligious theft and murder.

Despite the weather, a crowd of about two hundred has gathered in the Old Temple Square to watch the execution. The six who would still count themselves among Edvers Kells' friends stand on a platform off to one side, with a disinterested and inattentive pair of guards posted nearby to keep the crowd from turning on them.

He is unable to walk unassisted to his appointed place; he has been tortured extensively in the hopes he might reveal where he hid the Iron Sphere. One justiciar guides him to a kneeling position while another reads out the list of charges he has been convicted of. High profile as it is, only one Tetrarch has bothered to make an appearance at this execution: apparently Lord Vaun drew the short straw. He stands on the temple steps with his retinue, bouncing on his heels restively.

The third justiciar slices the air a few times with his massive ritual knife, exercising his arm. A few voices in the crowd angrily cry out for Edvers to reveal the location of Sthombo's lost treasure while he still has breath, but most of them just seem to be here for the show.

(You have time for one action, or some observations, before the execution takes place. Please note, for the heroically minded, there is no way to stop this without being set upon by numerous guards and an angry mob, and even if he were saved, it's unlikely Edvers will survive much longer anyway)

Carillion bows his head sadly. "a trial this shoddy would never have been allowed back home. We value Justice rather than vengeance. but i suppose a quick solution for a wrong is required by ones who live less than a hundred years."

"be strong my friend, face your end bravely"

the dwarf shakes his head sadly, and the bells braided into his beard tinkle. Kells feels a strong, comforting hand on his shoulder.

Carillion will cast unseen servant, which will stay on the opposite side of wherever the justiciar is. mainly to lend emotional support, but also to mercy kill the prisoner if this gets out of hand"

Felor recalls that the Iron Sphere is old and round and probably made of iron.

Tzipporah, however, knows that the Iron Sphere has been around since before Sthombo was called Sthombo, that it is about two and a half feet in diameter, and that it has gone through many changes since it was first found. Said to originally have been a solid lump of iron, over the centuries it has smoothed, etched with symbols, cut in half, hollowed, possibly melted and reforged entirely, and kept hostage in Hazard for thirty years. It has been rumored to contain treasures or demons, or to be the egg of a race that dwells beyond the stars, or to contain a perfect replica of the cosmos sealed within it. None of these esoteric theories have much credibility, and the Tetrarchs of Sthombo seem to be treating its loss as a grievous insult and wound to their civic pride, but not an existential crisis.

"If the stories are true about the Iron Sphere of Sthombo it could be an object of great power. But more then likely our friend is dying over pride and ego, Felor. I'd like to find that sphere and use it to bash in the heads of the Tetrarch."

Frekki shifted her weight nervously from side to side. Her brow was furrowed and she frowned severely as she look on the crowd in growing disgust. She wanted to act, to do anything at all, but for once in her life she felt helpless. Locked in, and forced to watch one of the few people she admired be cut down unjustly. She balled her hands into fists to keep them from shaking, hiding in her over-sized cloak, rain rolling off the leather. To Frekki, the rain showed that her gods were present at the execution, though whether or not it pleased them was beyond her ken.

For Frekki, it is all she can do to do nothing. "Damn this all, this whole rotten mess." She spits out, though to no one in particular.

"I'd love to be the one doing the bashing," Frekki smiles morbidly at Tzipporah.

Vad scans the crowd, but nothing unusual catches his eye.

Two priests carry an idol of Mit-Ratu out of the Old Temple on a litter. This god of justice will watch over the execution and see that the departing soul is conducted to its proper place in the afterlife. As is customary, Edvers will be denied formal communion with his own gods in the moments before his death.

The justiciars position themselves; the one who has taken on the role of executioner lines up his swing. The one in charge of the proceedings gives the signal.

A tough old bastard to the last, it takes three solid blows to behead Edvers Kells. The lead justiciar places his head on a wooden pylon and announces that justice has been delivered. Lord Vaun and his attendants quickly depart. Mit-Ratu is returned to the temple. A few of the spectators come up for a closer look, but most of the crowd starts to hurry back to their homes and jobs. Blood and rainwater mixes and spreads over the square. Two of the justiciars discuss the final settling of their payment with a city official while the third wipes his ritual knife clean.

You are required to let the head and body remain here on display for an hour before you're allowed to take it away for burial.

The executioner clicks his tongue. "Would that I had such steadfast friends to look after me were I in the same predicament." He gives you a rueful half-smile as he wraps up his huge knife. "He was a good egg, this old fellow. Cracked jokes with us even as we were making ready to put him to questions under pain. Never held it personal against us. I liked him."

Carillion dismisses the invisible entity with a stamp of his hammer and leans over toward Tzipporah, whispering to her. " do you suppose a reincarnation may be in order? Would his spirit even be willing to pursue that as an option? It's beyond my ability, but perhaps in Banwod has the knowledge and aptitude? If we removed say, a finger and left right now would we make it there in ten days to bring back our friend?"

"Surely we could find the means to do it"

They're a little late, but eventually the gravediggers you hired show up with a handcart to transport the body and a shroud to cover it with. The plan is to head toward what's left of Edvers' village, about an hour's walk north of the city, and find a discreet place nearby to bury it.

Lightning flashes behind the Old Temple; a few seconds later the sound of thunder rolls in. The storm is getting worse.

If somebody wants to take one of Edvers' fingers, they'll need to make a Sleight of Hand roll.

You are seen, but nobody tries to stop you. "Taking a souvenir?" one of the guards jeers.
The gravediggers' eyes widen, and one of them grimaces fearfully. "Witchcraft," he whispers. The other elbows him and mutters, "Come on, let's get this done quick as we can."

Your little funerary procession takes the street to the north gate out of the city. The four towers of the Palace of the Tetrarchy loom overhead as you pass market stalls closed and tarped because of the weather and cross the bridge over the flooded canal. The gravediggers keep casting queasy glances back at Vad. A few women, certainly unaware of the identity of the body under the shroud, emerge from their dwellings to follow behind you, tearing at their clothes and hair and wailing profusely, hoping to make a few coins as hired mourners.

A horse and a dolphin are carved into the cyclopean posts of the city gate: symbols of Nethuns, the chief deity of Sthombo. The guards at the gate inspect your cart and wave you through.