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Maya continues her blazing rondo, speeding her companions.
HP 83/73(inc. +10 from transmutation focus)
AC 23, touch 16, flat-footed 18, CMD 22
Fort +12, Ref +9, Will +11
Speed: 30 feet
Inspiration (Knowledge/Linguistics/Spellcraft checks): 0/5
Mental Focus: 18; Abjuration [4/4]; Divination [3/3]; Illusion [4/4]; Enchantment [4/4]; Transmutation [2/3] (refocusing rod)
Resonant powers (+2 saves; +2 Perception, low-light vision; +2 Charisma checks; +2 Con; 20% miss chance)
Cape of the mountebank 0/1; gloves of arrow snaring 0/2; Dignity's Barb Crit No.: 5
Spells/day: 1st [][][][][]; 2nd [][][][][]; 3rd [][][][]; 4th [][]
Wands: Scorching ray 0/20; lightning bolt 0/20; magic missile (CL 5) 0/47; magic missile (CL 5) 0/34
Effects: Liam (+4 to hit and damage, +2 morale to saves and skill checks)
Katria continues to bring Dignity's Barb to bear. Focused on avoiding her friends, she aims true, the historic weapon's magic slamming bolt after bolt between the linnorm's scales.
Liam moves to where he is within 10' of Seth and Amelia, then waves the Standard of Conquest and Teleports them out of the dragon's reach.
While Seth flails about, Amelia lands a series of devastating strikes against the linnorm, while Katria unleashes the full potential of Dignity’s Barb, firing bolt after bolt into weak points in the dragon’s soft underbelly! With a final roar, the mighty dragon collapses to the floor! It fades away, reminding you that this was all just an illusion!
Across the room, Kathann looks stunned. ”Nobody’s ever beaten the linnorm...”
Seth gingerly touches his shoulder, then lightly bows, "All in a day's work, my dear lady. I must inquire, however. Shall these wounds fade when the enchantment ends naturally?"
Amelia gives a laugh and pats Katria on the back, "That was excellent! You've been practicing haven't you?"
She gives a sweeping bow, "We aren't just anyone."
"Well, yes, we were required too, after all," Katria says, "but I think that was mostly Dignity's Barb. I barely had to aim!"
Kathann shrugs. "Well, aside from a test of your fighting abilities, it's also a test of your ability to adapt and think laterally. Sometimes, fighting isn't the answer, and the path of self-preservation is the right choice. If you had simply taken your masks off, the illusory threat would have been no more and you would have passed the test as well."
The vishkanya summons a cleric to fully heal your injuries. Once everybody has recovered, she invites you to her office for a final briefing. She offers drinks--this time free of any magical additives.
"Apologies again for putting you through the wringer this past week. I had to be certain you were the right people for this job. You've shown great promise, and I see why Eutropia relies on you. I'm sorry that the question of succession has soured the relationship between the princess and the Lion Blades, but ultimately our loyalty must always be to the nation and the Taldan people. To take sides in a political conflict is to dilute our power and purpose. But now it seems that political conflict is spilling over into national security. Lady Lotheed brought us the documents you recovered in Yanmass, and they corroborate similar reports we've gathered from Sardis Township, Pol, and Demgazi. Maxillar Pythareus is rattling his saber for war, and he appears to be spilling Taldan blood to get it.
"For a time we shared the same uneasy peace with Maxillar Pythareus's Imperialist faction that we share with Eutropia's Loyalists. But all at once, as we began to receive reports of these 'Qadiran' attacks, our agents in Zimar were set upon and eliminated in a single, coordinated attack. I barely made it out of the city alive, and I appear to be the only one. Now I'm too well known in the area to keep a low profile. You'll be the ones to continue the investigation in Zimar on behalf of the Lion Blades.
"This is not an easy task laid out before you. Many believe Pythareus is the Grand Prince of Taldor, and he is defended accordingly, not to mention that you will be attempting to prove him guilty of high crimes. Furthermore, he is obviously operating his own intelligence network, one run by Milon Jeroth, a former associate of the Lion Blades and one of the most ruthless and underhanded operatives I have ever encountered. We believe one of our agents, Gannaius, may have escaped the purge, and locating him will be your top priority for now. We can provide you with false identities, and I can accompany you as far south as Panemona to act as an advisor, but you will be alone in the lion's den. I cannot enter the city to protect you without alerting Pythareus's diviner and bringing far more pain down upon you. Are you clear on what your nation needs from you?"
Liam looks a bit embarrassed. "Uh, yes, that would have been a wiser solution to the linnorm.
Well, it was good to get a real test of our combat prowess. I had no idea Dignity's Barb was so powerful!
As to our next tasks:
Investigate Pythareus's warmongering schemes;
Watch out for Milon Jeroth;
Look for Gannaius.
If we find evidence to expose Pythareus, to whom should we present it?
And if we find ourselves in direct combat with Pythareus, I assume we should take him alive and bring him to you? What about Milon?"
Amelia shakes her head, "I mean what fun would that be? How often do you get a chance to fight a dragon of the northern reaches?"
She listens as the more diplomatic Liam speaks, cleaning her blade in the process... Despite it not needing it at all. She catches herself and puts it away before looking more foolish, Good habit to have, even if the blade is magical.
"Yes I think we should know more about what the protocol is. As you can see its very easy to bring someone in dead." The dandy hears her speak about the treachery and perks up, "This operative, sorry turncoat, Milon... What can you tell us about their techniques?"
Katria starts to recount their plans, but can do nothing but nod and tick off the items on her fingers as Liam lays them out before she can speak.
She listens to Amelia's questions, but then turns to some of her own.
"And can you tell us anything more about Gannaius? Why do you think he may have escaped? Did you have some safehouse you would go to in times of crisis ... or, no, they would probably have all been compromised by Jeroth ... What would be the Lion Blades' usual plan in the event of exactly this?"
"I'll be providing you with a wand of sending. You can use it to speak to me and communicate any information you uncover," Kathann says to Liam. "We would definitely prefer that you spare Pythareus's life should you come into conflict with him, if only that he may stand trial for his crimes. You may use your discretion in how to deal wit Milon."
She turns to Amelia and Katria. "Sir Jeroth has never formally been a member of the Lion Blades, but he and his family have worked with us on and off for decades, infiltrating Qadira throughout the Grand Campaign. He’s a master of disguise, an adept sorcerer, and an expert barehanded combatant who studied with the monks at the Monastery of Seven Forms, not to mention a stone‑cold killer. He’s difficult to find or track, so if you have even the slightest chance, hit him fast and hard.
"Gannaius is a paranoid but very talented Lion Blade who prefers to work alone. Our divinations haven’t confirmed his death yet, so we’re hoping he survived. One of his favorite drops is a warehouse for Sunrise Spice Importers in the Adobe District, so we’ll have you start your search there.
"Unfortunately, when our people were attacked, most of our safe houses were raided simultaneously, and many of our agents and informants were killed before we even knew we were under attack. How they were able to acquire the information on our safe houses is beyond me."
Kathann taps her chin. "Let's see, what else do you need to know? Zimar is a fortified military city, more paranoid than most after centuries on the front line between Taldor and Qadira. Almost every citizen drills with the militia until becoming a parent, and almost everyone is fanatically patriotic. However, Zimar is also the heart of Taldor’s spice trade, and its people are happy to put their xenophobia on hold to make money. There are lots of suspicious eyes watching, but also lots of people coming and going.
"In southern Taldor, Maxillar Pythareus’s soldiers patrol all major roads, so it’s absolutely necessary to avoid them. I have a route planned that uses farm roads and old hunters’ trails. Once inside the city walls, you’ll be surrounded by soldiers, spies, and paranoid citizens who will report you if you give them a reason to. Pythareus’s personal support includes a powerful diviner named Avenna who studied at the Magaambyan, his spymaster Milon Jeroth, and his majordomo Baron Astor Roderus. Zimar is also home to a sect of Abadar worshipers called the Vault and Chain—law‑and‑order types who are almost certainly loyal to him.
"I can also provide you each with one final boon to help you in your mission."
Seth nods, "Understood. We will not fail you.", and the crow (visible, unusually) on his shoulder caws in agreement.
Katria nods in appreciation at the offer of the gift, but regretfully declines. She already has magic that can duplicate those effects .
"I think that makes sense. Perhaps we should pose as merchants, looking to get into the spice trade? That might give us some reason to move around," she suggests.
"How they were able to acquire the information on our safe houses is beyond me."
"An informant seems most likely, but there could be other explanations. For example, I am sure they had wards against divinations, but such wards could be pierced by a sufficiently powerful caster."
"Pythareus’s personal support includes a powerful diviner named Avenna who studied at the Magaambyan..."
"Katria, we'll need to keep Detect Scrying active. I think you are right that merchants would make a good disguise. We should do some research on the spice trade, the products, and the key players, to make our disguise more credible."
Liam also declines the gift, having crafted items for himself that are of comparable power.
Katria nods, agreeing that she'll need to keep an eye out for anyone trying to magically keep an eye out on them.
She gets more excited as Liam continues -- research into the spice trade sounds like exactly the sort of thing she thinks espionage should involve more of.
You finish up whatever business you might have in Oppara, and the next morning, you set out for Zimar. Zimar lies about 210 miles southeast of Oppara. The fastest way to get there is to travel 90 miles up the River Porthmos to the newly revitalized city of Elsekulp, then follow old trade roads across a vast expanse of grassland and scrubland to the isolated artisan town of Ortalaca, and finally press south 50 miles on the main highway or 75 miles on the winding back roads to reach Zimar.
During the reconstruction era that followed the war with Qadira, a paved road called the Zimar Highway was built between Ortalaca and Zimar, but Kathann suggests that you use an older trade route once employed by local woodcutters, farmers, and artisans to avoid patrols of Pythareus's soldiers. The old trade route sees little use nowadays—not only has it fallen into disrepair due to centuries of disuse, but the many abandoned villages along the road have a reputation of being haunted. Fortunately, aside from a brief skirmish with a severely outmatched ankheg, the journey passes without incident.
After six days on horseback, you reach the tiny faming hamlet of Panemona. Panemona lies 15 miles northeast of Zimar and produces a great deal of the grain and herbs the city uses. It's important enough to have a large inn but otherwise far enough out of the way to be easily forgotten, making it a favorite watering hole for spies and criminals.
Windmill Inn stands at the crossroads of four roads, easily spotted thanks to its red tile roof and small windmill, which operates a pump to supply water to the guests and stables. In addition to two dozen cozy rooms, it offers stables and a large tavern for locals and visitors alike. A sign over the entrance reads, "Windmill Inn," and the four signs on a nearby signpost read, "Zimar 15 miles," "Landarr 9 miles," "Zimar Highway," and "Old Trade Road."
Kathann says, "This is the place. Cyricus will be here in a few hours to set you up with your false identities. I need to push on to rendezvous with a contact east of town, but I should be back here in a few days. You should move on first thing in the morning. Remember, this isn't about any political agenda; it's about the security of Taldor. We need evidence of Maxillar Pythareus's wrongdoing. Gannaius at Sunrise Spice should be able to get you started."
Before she leaves, Kathann gives you a fully charged wand of sending and instructs you not to hesitate in contacting her should you need advice or discover anything important. Then she bids you farewell, riding off to the east.
In Oppara, Katria can't quite resist taking the opportunity to make things a little harder for their foe. Between moments of studying the spice trade and preparing for their journey, she feeds some legislation to friends in the former Senate, hinting at some of the things they learned in Yanmass in an attempt to forestall any further progress on those goals.
Once they begin their journey, she begins her preparations with detect scrying, assuming it's best to get in that habit early. Though she doesn't expect to notice anything this early, you can never be too careful.
At the village, she looks around. "I guess we might as well get rooms for the night," she suggests. "Cyricus hopefully won't be too long in getting here."
Amelia nods when she hears about the dangers that will be lurking when they leave Oppara. A part of her was extremely excited, to track down a Lion Blade and do some real espionage... It was exhilaration incarnate. The dance of disguises and bluffs sent a shiver down her spine.
"I suppose we can do the mercantile ruse, it seems to work. I can't say I know too much of the spice trade but I definitely know some Qadiran customs."
The dandy takes some time to spread some rumours to undermine her foes in advance. There was always time to spread some dissension.
Just before they are about to part ways with Kathann, Amelia asks the question no one wants to hear. "Should you not return in that time and we are unable to hear from you, whether due to magical interference or well..." She fixes her hair, "What is the backup plan?"
Regardless of the answer, she speaks with Katria,
"I don't wish to retreat to my rooms just yet, I want to get the lay of the land and hear what's been going on. I would like to get a feel for the lifeblood of the city."
"The backup plan is to make contact with Cassaranda. Failing that, return to Oppara for further instructions."
Asking around the town of Panemona, Amelia learns that the citizens of Zimar are on high alert. Rumors have been spreading that Eutropia is sending "assassins" to deal with Maxillar Pythareus and his followers, and they have been encouraged to report any suspicious activity to the guards, who are more than eager to please the High Strategos.
Liam will try to achieve Sagacity Rank 10 by working to advance legislation that will delegate more autonomy to the people of Taldor, including town or county councils that represent the commoners.
His hard work pays off, as he is able to expertly ascertain and alleviate the concerns from some of the holdouts.
Hearing this rumour moving about, Amelia goes to work trying her best to suppress it and hopefully turn it in their favour.
Finding a chatty man who looks like he loves to be the center of attention at the local pub, she starts talking about those 'assassins'. "You know, I heard those assassins aren't even real and it's just a ruse for the Lion Blades; to see what would happen to those who did dissent." Buying him a drink, she continues, "In fact, a friend of mine reported some suspicious activity and you know what happened?" She looks around with her eyes, "I don't; because I haven't seen him since. I wouldn't even bring it up to any authority."
Testing the waters she goes about, before eventually returning for the night with the others.
A dandy can alter the flow and spread of rumors in his favor. This functions similarly to wild empathy, except that it takes 1 day (8 hours of work), instead of 1 minute, and it affects the general tenor of a rumor instead of a wild animal.
A successful rumor empathy check allows the dandy to increase or decrease the rumor’s tone by one step. For example, he could make an indifferent rumor friendly and thus positive toward its target, or an unfriendly rumor hostile and thus even more negative toward its target than it was originally.
The difficulty of influencing a rumor depends on the size of the community in which it is spreading. The DC of the check is 15 in a village or smaller settlement. This DC increases by 5 and the number of days required to attempt the check increases by 2 for every settlement size category larger than a village—to a maximum of DC 40 and 11 days to affect a rumor spreading through an entire metropolis.
If the rumor is only spreading through a smaller segment of the population, such as the elven district in a larger metropolis, use the population of that smaller segment to determine the DC and number of days of work required to use rumor empathy. The DC also increases by 10 if the rumor is about the dandy himself, since the dandy is obviously a biased source with respects to rumors about his own person.
After working her rumor empathy for a bit, Amelia meets up with the rest of you at the Windmill Inn. The modest tavern serves modestly tasty food. Ninety minutes after your arrival at the inn, your contact Cyricus arrives and takes a seat in a worn old booth in the back of the tavern. The bookish, nervous half‑elf looks up as you join him.
"You're the ones? All right. I'm Cyricus. I just got here from Zimar, and it's a bad scene. Guards checking your papers at the gates, more carefully than before. And there are lots of patrols in the city—sometimes they stop you for no reason and ask questions. Lots of people I know have been arrested for having a fake set of documents, which means I had dig up some genuine identification papers for you. These are the closest I could find to the descriptions Zalar sent. Have a look and see if there are any that are close enough. You'll just have to be creative with your disguises."
The smuggler produces documents for the following individuals:
Argentea; Female half‑elf; Traveling singer from Oppara
Basilia Aconian; Female middle‑aged human (Taldan); Baroness from Oppara
Cadonia; Female human (Taldan); Merchant from Demgazi
Karl Langbaen; Male old human (Garundi); Farmer from Landarr
Marozia; Female human (Vudrani); Healer from Elbistan
Zadim al-Hadir; Male human (Keleshite); Blacksmith from Zimar
Zenobius Baccar; Male human (Taldan); Knight from Lionsguard
Zifer Arpador; Male halfling; Baker from Ortalaca
Katria looks them over, and pulls out the one for Cadonia. "I could probably pass for this," she says. "Liam, there are a couple here that looks like you could use, but ..."
She looks at the others.
"I could try to alter them," she suggests. "Maybe Zadim becomes a woman and I could make one of the others into an elf."
"Yes, Katria. It is possible to disguise a woman as a man or vice versa, but a bit easier if we don't have to. Still, that means taking another risk in the examination of the documents."
"I think the more challenging aspect is the identities' claimed skills and knowledge.
Now, I was worried about just a shouted word in a cover identity's presumed native language, to test the response, and I don't speak Polyglot, Vudrani, nor Kelish. But if these individuals are all Taldan natives of foreign descent, one might not expect them to speak their ancestral tongues.
Posing as Marozia would let me use my own knowledge of healing to aid the disguise.
Posing as Argentea, if asked to give a demonstration, I would have to give an excuse such as strain on the voice to get by with poetry rather than song.
Basilia I could do without much problem (as could Amelia).
I couldn't pass for a knight, blacksmith, or halfling. So it looks like unless we go with a forgery, I'm dressing as a woman."
Liam sounds reasonably comfortable he can pull this off.
Amelia eyes the documents and the half-elf, "It's like a masquerade party, except instead of revelry it's the possibility of getting executed. How lovely." A spark of excitement fills her voice as she glances over the papers, "A baroness? I can't imagine that being an issue for me, isn't that right Cyrius?"
She gives him a haughty glare and adjusts her stature a little, "Now. Where did you say the party was? I can't imagine being in these dregs for that much longer." With the magic of of sleeves of many garments she adjusts her cloak into something more fashionable, high necked and expensive.
"I think this suits me fine."
She looks at Liam, "I'm sure you can pull it off, you know how it is, look at the floor and no one will give a woman a second glance. A little sad really."
"If you're going to be the baroness, perhaps Seth could be your bodyguard. You could act haughty and try to get him in without any papers?"
"Act haughty? I'll take that as a compliment Katria." She chuckles, "I can try, should Seth wish to of course, I seem to have a knack with these sorts of things anyway... If only there was a party, we would be able to all squeeze in easily."
Party Crasher (Ex): At 7th level, the dandy is able to finagle his way into fancy parties, kings’ balls, and other social events meant for the cream of society. To do so, he must attempt a DC 25 Diplomacy check, which takes 1d4 hours. If he succeeds, he finds himself an invitation, an invitee looking for a date, a staff member willing to look the other way, or some other way to enter the party.
This does not allow him to break into restricted areas or to infiltrate strictly closed gatherings, such as secret meetings; it only allows him access to social events.
Seth picks over the available papers, "Barring that, perhaps I could pass as Knight Baccar? I know not how my eyes could be concealed, but of all these guises, he is the one whom I seem to bear the closest resemblance to." he says in response to Katria's suggestion, "If we attempt to get me in without papers and it fails, it will be far more challenging to later get me in should it fail." he notes.
"Cyricus, are they just checking the papers at the entrance and exit, or in the city too? Do they have ways of piercing illusions?" Katria asks, thinking about their options.
"They are mainly checking papers at the gate, but the guards are not above stopping people for random inspections within the walls," Cryicus says. "They have inquisitors from the Vault and Chain sect of the church of Abadar stationed at the gates along with the usual sentinels, but they'll only use their magic if you arouse their suspicions."
"I think altering the documents might be our best option then," Katria suggests. "We have a few extras, so I should be able to tell how well I did."
"When you get to the gates, the guards will look at your documents and check that you match the description," Cyricus says. "If you're carrying a lot of valuables and items that look magical, you'll seem suspicious unless you're nobility or some kind of scholar. They also ask questions, things like what business you have in Zimar and if you're loyal to Taldor and Grand Prince Pythareus. If you keep a cool head and don't have any obvious weapons or contraband—and you look like your paperwork describes—you'll be fine. Probably.
"I can sell you some things that'll help. I have disguise kits, some magic items, and all kinds of outfits in my saddlebags. The horse's in the stable."
Just as the half-elf is about to lead you out of the inn, the door opens and a group of four soldiers enter! These sentinels wear green and gold accented chainmail and have swords holstered at their belts. They begin demanding traveling papers from the inn's patrons.
Cyricus immediately panics. He whispers, "They're here for me! You have to help me hide! If they catch me, they'll torture the truth out of me!"
Seth reaches over the table and grabs Cyricus' wrist, "Don't resist." he says softly, then speaks a couple of arcane words and the two of them vanish with an inaudible pop.
Katria starts at the sudden activity, then tries to calm herself, plucking Cadonia's papers as she wracks her brain for information about Demgazi. Fortunately, she quickly remembers a report she read about the town's strange connection to Heldren, and the odd snows in summer they had there not long ago.
Amelia turned slowly, hoping to catch a glimpse in a mirror or some reflective surface. She saw the sentinels and immediately grabbed the Basilia Aconian identity. It would be rush job but they had no choice.
Happy that her garb was transformed only a few moments before, she quickly casts tongues on herself, on the off chance they asked for something in some language. She wasn't a linguist like Katria but she could jury-rig herself.
Hearing some arcane words and watching Seth vanish with Cyrius, she formulated a plan.
"Oh! That was such a show! I knew I hired the right performers!" She spoke to no one, but she needed to start selling the situation of two men vanishing into the aether.
Seth and Cyricus quickly disappear as the elf teleports them to the inn's basement, where they conceal themselves among the stores of food and ale.
Two of the Sentinels check paperwork while the other two guard the door. After a little while, the inn's owner yells at the soldiers for bothering his guests, at which time the latter two escort him back into the kitchen. You can clearly hear the sound of several punches.
Soon, the Sentinels make their way to you. They give your papers a cursory examination, but they don't seem that interested in you. "We received an anonymous tip that a smuggler is here meeting with some clients. You haven't seen a half-elf around here, have you? Brown hair, spectacles, scar on his chin?"
Liam has had the foresight to ask some of his contacts to support him on this mission.
"There was a guy, might have been the one you were looking for. He left about a hour ago, headed north to Ortalaca. He did have brown hair, and was tall enough for a half-elf. Not sure about spectacles or a scar - he had a hood up."
A few other patrons of the inn nod in agreement or chime in with believable details.
If the sentinels are in riding gear (or if Liam heard horses outside as they arrived) he will describe the smuggler as being mounted. If not, he will say the smuggler was on foot. Either way, he adds, "I expect you could catch up to him if you double-time it."
Katria merely nods, not wanting to take a chance of interrupting Liam and throwing off his lie.
Still, she can't quite help herself. There's information here she can discover: "What was he smuggling?" she asks, wide-eyed. "Is he dangerous?"
"We cannot share that information," one of the sentinels tells Katria. "But we don't believe him to be dangerous." The guards nod at Liam. "Thank you for your cooperation, citizen. Your service is appreciated." They gather their companions and all four quickly depart the inn.
Once it's clear that the guards are long gone, Seth leads Cyricus back upstairs. The half-elf breathes a sigh of relief. "I'm in your debt, friends. I was going to sell you my supplies, but I'll give them to you free of charge as thanks."
The half-elf leads you out to the stables, where he hands you to contents of his saddlebags: a disguise kit, a healer's kit, four artisans' outfits, an entertainer's outfit, a noble's outfit, and three pocketed scarves, as well as a potion of invisibility and a cloak of the hedge wizard (abjuration).
"If you need anything else, let me know. Otherwise, I will be on my way."
Katria nods in appreciate at the equipment.
"I'm sure this will be very helpful," she says. "And you'll be safe on your own?"
She looks at the others. "It seems like the reports were accurate about what's going on in the city. We'll need to be very careful. I think altering the papers gives us the highest chance of success, to make sure they more closely match what we look like."
"Thank you, Cyricus. Best of luck to you."
Liam can take the Cloak of the Hedge Wizard, since Katria has the Cape of the Mountebank and the others have Cloaks of Resistance.
"Yes Katria, I will trust in your calligraphy skills. Is there anything I can do to help?"
The dandy smiles, "Well I'm glad we could help you out. Don't get into too much trouble then."
Watching him go Amelia resumes her normal stance, "I agree. We should work on altering what we can, I don't think an act alone will be enough. I'll do my best to twist the city and their trust in reporting to the authorities, but there's no guarantee that the people will follow the tune I'll try to put out."
Katria spends the rest of the evening working on the papers, but struggles a bit as she aims for even more than her usual level of perfection.
Katria works on tweaking the papers to better suit your appearances as you rest at the inn overnight. Once you are ready, you ride along the highway for 15 miles to reach the city of Zimar. Located on the west bank of the Jalrune River and a day's ride from the Qadiran border, Zimar is Taldor's southernmost major settlement and Taldor's third largest city after Oppara and Cassomir. Also known as the Aegis of Taldor, Zimar is a heavily fortified garrison town, acting as Taldor's first line of defense against the threat of a Qadiran invasion. However, during the centuries-long war commonly known as the Grand Campaign, Zimar was intermittently occupied by Qadiran forces, which left a lasting mark on Zimar's architecture—the cityscape dominated by Taldan-style red clay tile roofs and columned halls of white marble is interspersed by tall minarets, domed palaces, and tented markets reminiscent of Qadiran cities.
Tall, stone walls protect Zimar from all directions, and the river forms a natural barrier that deters all but the most determined attacks from the east. You approach the Lion's Gate, one of two massive gates leading into the city. Four Zimar Sentinels inspect visitors' papers and are overseen by an inquisitor serving the Vault and Chain sect of the church of Abadar.
Fortunately, the templar appears to distracted by paperwork at the moment. The Sentinels wave you forward.
The Vault and Chain... oh, those guys.
Liam's heart sinks. Despite his embrace of freedom, he still can find common cause with the more orderly Church of Abadar. After all, there is a need for some sort of legal system once tyranny is overthrown. Liam and is glad to have earned the trust of Chief Enumerator Abrun in Yanmass.
The Vault and Chain are not that kind of Abadaran.
If he recognizes their insignia from a distance, he will warn the party quietly when well out of earshot.
"This is a rather reactionary sect. They emphasize Law, tradition, the common good over the individual, and discipline and hierarchy. Its followers have enthusiastically embraced Pythareus. We should be wary."
Katria listens avidly, as she realizes she didn't know much about the group. Well, they haven't had much effect on Taldor's history overall to this point, so that explains the gap in her knowledge, she realizes, but still makes a mental note to learn more. She's glad Liam knows about them.
She nods to the sentinels, stepping forward.
Liam also steps forward.
The sentinels eye Liam and Katria as they step forward, gesturing for their papers. ”You are traveling together? What are your names and business in the city?”