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[Kashyyk]

A - We should be able to get a favour out of this,  and favours are an important part of a spy masters armory.

[Harry Baldman]

You invite the witches to stay awhile. They seem very happy for the offer - somehow walking around in their sorcerous getup doesn't earn as much respect here as it does back south. As if going over the Ruined Sea wasn't enough, they've had to put up with guff from the common folk like you wouldn't believe. They're especially happy when they see the quality of their accommodations, which you thought reasonably ostentatious but which to them looks like some kind of hedonistic fantasy realm with its readily available maids, noble-grade wine and fresh towels.

3

The findings in your library, however, are not overly encouraging. Witches, as you might expect, aren't mentioned at all, at least not the ones from wherever these women are from (someplace they call Phalen, seemingly not only past the Ruined Sea but also over the ocean from Kudu-Kai). Visions in the meantime are mentioned very vaguely as brought about by supernatural forces, and hardly ever is the quality of persistence ascribed to them - sadly you have no firsthand accounts from visionaries (probably on account of their no doubt prodigiously high mortality rate).

After a solid week of research you have little to show the witches personally. On the other hand you do have your share of other contacts you could lead them to, if you're still inclined to help, and the ladies certainly appear to be liking their stay just fine apart from the ancient one, who seems perpetually restless.

A) The gnomes will know - send them that way, and purchase them an appropriate sacrifice as a consolation prize.
B) Suggest that they ask a demon, and share the extensive information you have on summoning them.
C) Get the Vizier in on this, maybe he can point you somewhere that you haven't thought to look.
D) Regretfully inform the witches that you haven't found anything in your archives, but say they've been marvelous guests and give them an open invitation to return whenever they like.

[10ebbor10]

C

We went looking for that dudes book, he can get us what he needs.

[heydude6]

C

[chubby2man]

C

[Prophet]

C

[VoidSlayer]

B Demons have worked out well so far!

[Aseaheru]

C

[omada]

C Whatever the vizier plans we could have him in our favor (I don't trust him yet)

[Harry Baldman]

2

The Vizier is intrigued when you bring up the matter of the witches to him, and seems to have heard something about visions. He insists he come over and take a look at this vision-stricken witch. When he arrives, two of the witches greet him rather warmly. The ancient one, however, is decidedly less enthused.

THAT'S HIM, shouts the old witch, THAT'S THE BASTARD, GET HIM! The other witches look on in confusion for a moment as the old one raises her hands. There is a crackle of electricity along the walls of the room, and the Vizier raises his arms defensively as well. At roughly that point things get pretty weird as magic the likes of which you've never seen before is suddenly unleashed as demons come alive in the Vizier and the old witch explodes into feathers, claws, thorns and, of course, a great deal of tentacles.

You dive for cover before they start to fight in earnest, so most of what you manage to observe is that the witches' quarters are now largely destroyed, there is no sign of the older witch, and all you manage to see in the distance is the Vizier limping confusedly back to the palace, his limbs bending at odd angles. There is also little sign of the other two witches.

A) Send out your operatives to bring the witches in if they're still alive - you can't allow a security risk to roam free.
B) Send out operatives to keep track of where the witches might have gone, but don't interfere in their business any further.
C) Don't look for the witches, as you don't think finding them again is likely to benefit you in any way.

[10ebbor10]

B

Whoops.

[omada]

B Our rolls here are pretty funny.

[VoidSlayer]

B, we always knew that guy was no good.

[heydude6]

B

[Harry Baldman]

6

The witches aren't very good at covering their tracks, being strangers in a strange land and magical folk to boot - your Jovanastian thieves turned spies find it elementary to trace them by witness reports alone, which speak of them heading north toward the gnomish woods in the coming weeks, and heading straight in when the time comes. All three appear to be very much alive, and the ancient one in particular, though heavily injured by the battle with the Vizier, seems to be healing very quickly and working advanced sorceries day in and day out, the meeting with the object of her quest having noticeably restored her faculties. You post a small number of agents on watch and tell them to pass the message along immediately when further developments arrive so as to not be caught by surprise again.

257 S.I., The Onset of Winter

Reports on the Vizier's condition grow slightly concerning. His wounds that he sustained in the altercation with the witches appear to have failed to heal, and he himself scarcely leaves the lab now. And when he does, he has a certain festering look about him, and eyes like a man possessed. Not unusual for a man in the middle of highly dangerous occult research, but in the Queen's opinion it is nevertheless disconcerting.

You are about to resolve to do something when you are visited by one of your agents, following an appointment he set about a week ago and that you completely forgot about in the middle of considering the increasingly occult state of the court. The man in question is Assante, perhaps not the most talented assassin of the ones your Jovanastian recruitment drive collected, but certainly the most politically active of their lot. Unsurprisingly, this appears to also be why he is bothering you today.

Madam Spymistress, he begins, he comes to you today not just as an agent of the Ortfast crown (may the Queen rule everlasting and all that business), but as a concerned member of the espionage corps and as the unofficial leader of the Alliance of Men and Women of the Clandestine Professions In Her Majesty's Secret Service. He has been examining the structure of this operation and, while he appreciates that a certain degree of looseness is to be expected in a spy network, he feels that there is much benefit to be had in drawing lessons from the expertise of your privatized colleagues in Jovanast, the Twin Guilds. He used to be the Treasurer of the Khravel chapter, you see, and he knows quite a bit about the running of the day-to-day business of a, shall we say, secret enterprise with two or more sets of books and he feels he could be the source of much-needed reform in what he would characterize as a very hidebound and traditional business that all too often loses touch with the great innovations you find in the back alleys of the world powers.

He wants to upgrade the bookkeeping of the state's spy apparatus, you say skeptically.

That, he says, and he also feels he would be an excellent representative of the interests of the uncommon thieves and assassins in your employ, which he assumes would go hand-in-hand with his appointment as the Second Story Man What's In Charge Of Making All The Numbers Add Up.

He wants to replace the secretary then, you scowl.

No, no, he responds! The secretary is a great man, a magnificent man and a hard worker, couldn't ask for a better functionary. But he lacks a certain vision and leadership that Assante would expect from someone expected to make important decisions about the infrastructure of an information gathering effort!

A) Can't see much fault in that. Assante, you are now the official Second Story Man What's In Charge Of Making All The Numbers Add Up.
B) Just go ahead and consider yourself the lieutenant, Assante, it's a lot simpler to explain and probably the same in effect as what you were proposing.
C) You remember having to go to a demon-possessed warlock's summer estate to earn my post, and I'll be damned if you won't inflict the same on anybody hoping to follow your footsteps.
D) Save the double-talk for the field operations, Assante, and maybe come back with a one-pager in a couple of months. You'll give him due consideration in the meantime.