2334th Year of Man, 5th Month, 24th Day:
Wedensday
After listening to both Rascal and Offnaughtus Prime, you decide to make the construct your Lash Master, and inform them both as such. You will figure out the whole Customs Master situation with Jourem and Lenny later; The two know each other well, and it may well be possible to give one the office he wants on the condition he grants the other an important position within the customs department. After Jourem leaves, Offnaughtus gives you a briefing. Apparently he has been keeping the office of the Lash Master running despite the lack of proper leadership.
Offnaughtus has been keeping tabs on Archmage Lee. It notes that the forigner has been stressed recently; The construct does not know the details, but Lee plans on sticking his neck out for the guild in a big way to some of the higher ups from his homeland. He has also been in touch with Fang Gulf, whom Chasity was supposed to marry before the prince stuck his nose into her busniess, although Offnaughtus dose not know exactly what they have been discussing.
He then notes that some of the guild's War Balloon pilots have been launching pirate raids west of the ironheart mountains. The new Armada Master refuses to put his foot down and stop the nonsense until hard proof can be provided. Said Armada Master, Tim Fletcher, is an old lover and apprentice of yours, and you know damn well if piracy is happening on his watch, he has a hand in it, although you decide not to mention this to Offnaughtus.
Lastly, he advises you to instruct whomever your new customs master is to imeadiately conduct an audit of all balloon merchants; Over the years, Offnaughtus has noted that the chaos caused by changing Customs Masters is always exploited by pilots looking to cheat the guild out of some of her cut. You suppose you could conduct the audit yourself if you wanted to - you have been in the Balloon Game long enough to know how such cheating is done and which pilots would likely be doing it. It might be wise to put your foot down and make an example of somebody, otherwise the Balloonists might think that they are above the law because one of their own is running the guild.
---
You call Archmage Lee to your office for a meeting, and first pass along Chasity's message to him, which causes the human to break into a wide grin. "This is good news."
He pauses for a second, "It helps our cause with my superiors greatly. I would think my chances of getting that Archmage I was speaking of for us just increased drastically."
You then bring up the Dryad, and Lee agrees to give her a fair tryout, and also says he would be willing to help find competent underlings for her should you instead want to put her in-charge of the Silver Zone. With that, you call the brief meeting off and send the fire caster back to his business.
---
Mr. Milton visits you in your office at the end of the workday, and requests a ride home with you in your balloon. It would seem that Soren has put the strange orc in charge of running guild operations in Manview, and as you always keep your doors open for friends and underlings, he intends to make his home at Godspike for the time being. This worries you a bit - if Immunity means Chasity harm, having one of her practitioners around your home may not be the best idea; Mr. Milton is an expert manipulator, and could have easily talked Soren into giving him the role if his goddess wanted to keep tabs on you and cause trouble. But then again, the assignment also makes sense; Immunity's divine magic of Shadow, Fear, and Obedience will allow him to thrive in the position, and when you held the post Mr. Milton was your right hand Orc.
You briefly lock eyes with your underling. You can usually tell when somebody is playing you, but if anybody could get away with lying to your face, it would have to be Mr. Milton. After several seconds of seeing nothing but loyalty and exitement for the future in his eyes, you ease up and dial back your paranoia a bit. You purchased Mr. Milton as a slave years ago, and arranged for a demon to program him with an addiction to serving your orders and interests - unless the demon who did the deed was also tied to Immunity, you have no doubt that the agent's loyalty to you is stronger than his devotion to his patron deity. With that in mind, you are fairly confident he means Chasity no harm.
As you are not one to rush into a decision, however, you hand the agent a small bag of coin, and order him to celebrate his promotion in town by treating himself to a hotel room in town and perhaps a few prostitutes. Mr. Milton thanks you for your generosity, takes the money, and hurries out of your office to follow his new orders. You have bought yourself a day to come up with a short term solution to the immunity problem.
---
Ominous clouds and turbulent skies cause paranoid thoughts about Milton to dominate the balloon ride home. By the time you land, you have resolved to at least consider your options for neutralizing any threat he might pose. Deciding to consult Alfierzi on the matter, you head to your labratory, only to find your demonic contact is already on the projection stage, having a fierce debate with your apprentice Amonna Greysteel.
It would seem that an anonymous demon paid Alfierzi a good sum of souls to deliver a Golem Key to you as a gift, but Amonna is refusing to let something from an unknown being through the circle and into your home without your permission.
Alfierzi claims she already examined the key, and there dose not appear to be anything sinister about it. She explains it contains the memories and personalities of several young up and coming Clan Shark orcs who were slain in the war between Chasity's father and the Kinkaids over a decade ago. Golems made from it will carry a wealth of pratical skills and much of the secret knowledge inscribed upon the walls of the ancient Savannah Orc castle Clan Shark calls home. The demon then adds that the primary personality on the key belongs to Feather, a son of the current Chieftain Shark who made a hobby of studying Savannah Orc balloon and airship technology.
You shudder. Clan Shark's patron god keeps Immunity as part of his harem, and now somebody is sending you a gift heavily related to that group of orcs. The key could be rigged to harm you, but you think Alfierzi would have spotted something like that. If Immunity is behind the gift, it is more likely that she is trying to butter you up, or install a spy in your home, than directly harm you with it. The fact that she knows where to find the demons you do business with is also a bit unnerving.
Dismissing your minion, you bring up the matter of Immunity to Alfierzi, as it is both relevant to the topic at hand and you had intended to ask for her help with Milton anyway. Alfierzi knows who the Goddess is, but is fairly confident that she is safe, and that her father has ties to bigger deities whom the ascended drow would be reluctant to cross. She notes the demon who paid her to drop off the key seemed to ancient and of drowish design, however, so your theory that Immunity could be messing with you may not be far off the mark.
Alfierzi notes that she was paid a bit up front, and promised more souls once the key was detected in the Ironheart mountains; Although she will not force you to accept the gift, she notes that if you do she could try to weasel more information out of her mysterious contact when he returns to pay her the rest.
On the subject of Mr. Milton, Alfierzi notes she could arrange an appointment with a memory wipe artist to tactfully remove knowledge of Immunity from your minions head while leaving the rest of him intact. She thinks she could have Mr. Milton penciled in for a Sunday cleaning at a cost of thirty souls, but could also have something ready tomorrow if you were willing to pay more and risk Mr. Milton's mind to a less skilled demon. Noting that Mr. Milton's main worth to you is as a divine caster, Alfierzi also adds that she could find somebody to grant him knowledge of a new god or two, noting that the price and wait time for such a service would depend on the sort of divine powers you wanted to purchase for him.
---
You find Chasity well groomed and in a good state of mind. She has cut her hair short since you seen her last, to conceal her identity she claims, and sent your constructs into town to fetch her some clothes. If it wasn't for her accent and mannerisms, she could pass for a lower class human or halfbreed living among the dwarves.
Starting the conversation on a down note, you mention the situation with Immunity, which, after dragging everything you know on the matter from you, she has some insight on. "This has the stench of the Shadow Blades all over it. They are the second largest faction from the Rising Isles active in The Kingdom, behind only Archmage Lee's group. I don't know much about them, but they have ties to the same dragon who supported the Gulf Dynasty back in the day, and somehow use that to justify peaceful business relations with some orc groups descended from the Gulfs' old allies, most notably Clan Shark."
She sighs. "They are building ties with the Tradewind Guilds, and as such are not our friends. Archmage Lee or Greent would know more than I would on this matter... You need to get Lee to brief you on what the Shadow Blades are up to. If he dose not want to talk to you, bring in one of the Marlowes and have him talk to them."
After a few more questions back and forth, the topic changes to Chasity's identity. You explain that she will pose as a lover you are so smitten with, she was offered an apprenticeship in spite of a total lack of skill. Chasity informs you she knows a smidge of summoning; She can leverage the hex her mother placed on her soul to contact her grandfather or one of the other demons in the family business. You ask if doing so would be a good idea, and she offers a negative reply. "I'm sure they are all in on Joy as heir. All we would accomplish is let them all know the location of your summoning circle..."
Chasity then asks about your current lovers, not wanting to be on the wrong end of somebody jilted by you for her, which causes you to explain the blessing placed upon you to prevent such things. Chasity then asks if you ever used the hex to protect somebody whom you were only pretending to be intimate with before, to which the answer is no. You both agree that faking it isn't worth the risk, and Chasity requests that you invite her to spend the night in your room, failing to live up to her name.
Author
Topic: (SG) The Redleaf Epic (Formerly Widow: A Duchess Scorned) (Read 66561 times)