Domitius notices the heavy door, and gestures to his allies to follow him into the room. He feels an odd compulsion in his mind as he enters the room.
"Us mortals aren't perfect. We seek nothing from you save your 'patient'. Would you care to release her to us?"
"The door is soundproof. If we shut it they won't hear anything that goes on inside." Arani whispers.
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Davina moves into the room. She feels compelled to tell the truth. We have papers that say we can take the prisoner. Please let us have her."
THE HOLDING HOUSE (20 Gozran)
Leora takes a deep breath (Quietly!) and steps into the room. The ktyon's truth aura barely even registers on her radar, so stout is her faith in Cayden Cailean.
"Yeah, the higher-ups want them for something--maybe as bait for a trap to lure out their cowardly lictor, who's still in hiding. Learn anything from that one?" The cleric gestures toward the woman on the rack, trying to ignore her instinct to immediate heal the disfigured woman.
"And I have an arrangement to practice my art on prisoners brought here," the kyton replies peevishly. "Any prisoner...at any time."
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Falina entered the room next before stepping to one side of the door. She felt a strange aura in the room, one that encouraged people to speak the truth, and while she didn't think it affected her she was careful about her wording as she spoke and nodded as she said, "That may well be what the agreement was but it's possible the higher ups could amend said agreement if they felt it was necessary." She gave the being a stern look as she said, "It's probably best not to risk angering them over something so trivial, I mean there are other prisoners here aren't there?"
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T'chazzar doesn't even seem to flinch as he passes into the aura of the torture chamber.
"Are we going to bog this down into a bureaucratic nightmare? The prisoner has been brought here, and now they are being un-brought to somewhere else."
THE HOLDING HOUSE (20 Gozran)
The kyton stares at Falina and then T'chazzar as they speak, almost sizing them up as possible occupants for the second rack in the southeast corner. Then she blurts out, "Oh...very well! You're right--there are others for me to chat with. And this one knows not where her lictor is hiding."
It appears the torturer will allow you to take the prisoner on the rack, but there's one final problem: the female Hellknight is unconscious, maybe dying. And Leora doesn't seem to want to do any healing with the kyton looking on.
Domitius considers the alternatives, then goes to the woman, takes a healing potion out of his belt pouch, and feeds it to the woman.
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THE HOLDING HOUSE (20 Gozran)
After Dom pours the healing potion down the prisoner's throat, her eyes flutter open. They reflect pain, confusion, and perhaps a glint of thankfulness...at least until she notices that Dom wears the colors of the dottari. Then her features sour. When she catches a glimpse of the kyton nearby--still smiling cruelly--a mad fear overtakes the Hellknight, and you can't get her out of the room fast enough.
When she's reunited with the other captive armigers in the cellblock, one of the males asks, "Are you all right, Hortense? What did they do to you?" Upon seeing the woman's missing finger and partially-flensed skin, the armiger mutters, "Monsters!" at your group but none of the captives resists as you lead them from the Holding House.
"Are you all right, Hortense? What did they do to you? ... Monsters!"
"Oi, that's enough out of you, eh?" Dom's hand rests on the sap on his belt, to drive the point home. "We've got orders to transfer you out of here, and if you know what's good for you, you'll keep your trap shut."
As they move, Arani hangs back, fading into the evening shadows as she keeps an eye out for any sign of them being followed.
THE HOLDING HOUSE (20 Gozran)
The armigers comply with Dom's order. Outside, Arani decides that the coast is clear.
Domitius nudges the armigers to the doorway. "In there, please."
Once they're all inside and out of sight, Dom starts undoing their restraints, starting with the mutilated woman, as gently as he can. "Your friend called you Hortense, I think? I am sorry we could not free you sooner, but this city makes many demands of us these days." He turns to Leora. Unsure if these four can be trusted, he decides to go with one of their made-up names for now. "Jenvara, can you do anything for her?"
As he continues undoing their restraints, Dom gestures to several bundles on the floor. "Please change quickly, we have to get moving again." Once all four of them are free, and Dom is sure none of them are still fixin’ to get ready for trouble, Dom moves to keep a watch.
Falina was rather relieved they got the armigers out of the station without a fight. It was always good when the problem could be solved in such ways, especially when they were in a very bad place to get into a fight. As they traveled to a safe place Falina kept a close watch on their"prisoners" as she didn't trust they wouldn't take the chance to break free for their freedom.
Fortunately it seemed the prisoners were smart enough not to push their luck for now and they got them to the Tooth and Nail without incident. Once they had the armigers inside and out of sight Falina made sure they wouldn't be disturbed and then found someplace private to shift back to her real form. When she finished Falina came back down wearing her preferred clothing to see the now freed amigers. "It feels wonderful to be out of that thrice cursed uniform again." She looked squarely at the last one they had rescued and said, "I take it you have some idea of who we are by now," her archaic accent was in full force as she made no effort to hid it now, "and I think it's safe to say we have a common enemy. Just cooperate with us for now and we will talk more of this when w are safe."
OLD KINTARGO SAFE HOUSE (20 Gozran)
Utilizing the same abandoned building used previously as a safe house when some of your group rescued Forvian and his crew from the Sallix Salt Works, your party is able to give the armiger prisoners a fresh set of plain, everyday clothing while slipping out of your own dottari disguises.
Leora/Jenvara does as Dom asks, first channeling positive energy from a distance to heal all the armigers of lingering damage from their imprisonment, and then playing 'alchemist' to further heal Hortense. Leora bumbles her first try but heals up a good portion of the female Hellknight's wounds on her second try. Luckily, the armigers don't know what to make of her flub.
One of the armigers asks, "Who are you people?" but Leora replies, "Not now. We'll talk at length once we're safe."
*************************************************
TOOTH AND NAIL TAVERN (OLD KINTARGO)
A short time later, everyone's safely back at the Tooth and Nail. The proprietress, Setrona, pushes together a pair of tables at the back of the mostly-empty tavern for you all to sit at. One of the armigers, a brown-haired fellow with sharp facial features and particularly penetrating eyes, comments quietly, "Obviously, this is more of a rescue than a prisoner transfer. Again I ask--who are you people? Local rebels?" He addresses this question mainly to Falina.
"You're amongst friends," the short tavernkeeper interjects. "There's another old friend of yours here--I'll go fetch him."
"We happen to be on the same side for the moment," says T'chazzar circumspectly.
Falina smiled mysteriously as she said, "Something like that," she shudders slightly as though it hurts to say it but she continued, "I guess you could say 'friends'." It was obvious she wasn't pleased about saying that but it was true none-the-less.
Falina went and got a glass of wine and returned to the table where she sat primly and sipped her drink. She observed the rescued hellknights cautiously as she couldn't bring herself to trust them at all. When the Aldan entered Falina was curious to see what would happen.
Davina removes her disguise, and takes a seat at the table, "We you'll consider us friends. I'm glad we were able to get you free of the dottari, and that demon. You may have heard of us, though you'll probably not be happy with who rescued you right away. We're known as the Silver Ravens, and we're doing our best to make the Lord Mayor's life tough and free Kintargo from his rule"
Having changed into her armor, and cloak, Arani excercises caution with the rescuees by keeping both her hood and veil up. "You've already experienced first hand just how out of control his oppression can go. We aim to alleviate the suffering of those under his boot heel."
TOOTH AND NAIL TAVERN (20 Gozran)
If anyone was expecting the armigers to be impressed to have met the Silver Ravens, well...only Hortense has heard of the group, and only in passing. In their defense, the Torrent Hellknights had only been in the city briefly when Thrune outlawed their order.
When Setrona returns with Aldan in tow, the armigers become less defensive. The previously doghoused Hellknight quietly gives an account of his rescue, playing up the Silver Ravens' craftiness, courage, and skill at arms. In the next breath, he regales his fellow armigers of how poorly the dottari and Order of the Rack Hellknights performed as a team: "It was basically each unit for itself: no cohesion, no unity. There are cracks in Thrune's hold on the city!"
Still, the conversation eventually turns to Octavio Sabinus, the missing lictor of the Hellknights of the Order of the Torrent and Setrona's cousin. Setrona quietly reminds the Ravens and tells the armigers of her suspicion that her cousin is hiding out in a shrine south of the city. When the four armigers vow to march out and rescue their lictor, Setrona smirks, shakes her head, and states, "Best leave that to these good folks. If there's one thing I know about Hellknights it's that stealth and subtlety are not among their greatest attributes."
Domitius, still waiting for the other shoe to drop, never takes his eyes off the door as he speaks. "If I may ask, what happened to get your order outlawed? Did you do something to anger Mayor Barry?" Turning to Davina, Dom then says, "Sudarynya, we have to get these people someplace safe." He catches himself, shaking his head ruefully. "Is there even such a thing as 'safe' anymore?"
TOOTH AND NAIL TAVERN (20 Gozran)
The youngest Hellknight armiger, Benjen, a wide-eyed fellow with curly sandy hair, does his best to answer Dom's question. "We're not 100% certain, but the Order of the Torrent exists to find and rescue missing or kidnapped people. Our best guess is that the new lord-mayor didn't want us searching for Jilia Bainilus, Shensen, Strea Vestori, or any of the other locals who went missing on the Night of Ashes."
"Presumably it would be politically inconvenient for him," says T'chazzar. "All the more reason for us to find them, once we have you all safely secreted away someplace that the agents of the new government won't be able to come down on you like a ton of bricks."
Dom is starting to get the frowning-concentration face that passes on him for 'I'm thinking.'
"When we find your lictor - Lictor? Is that the word?" Dom quickly shakes his head and continues, "When we find him, maybe he started an investigation of one of those people, it might give us something to work with. That should be our next step, right?"
I think would be a good idea to look for the missing people. We assumed they were dead, but perhaps they aren't. We'll go to the shrine tomorrow. Where to keep them is a real problem. We don't have a place to keep ourselves let alone a group of people. My mother would definitely notice this." she gives the Hellknights a long look, "Yep they don't look like starving students, fellow writers or actors. No way they can stay at the manor."
"Is the Coffee shop back open? I wonder if we can slip back in there. The dottari think they found what they were looking for. It's possible they left the building empty."
"Hmm... that's true."
"How many people knew about Hocum's Fantasmagorium?" Arani asks thoughtfully."There'd be an entertaining irony in us taking over their little secret spot. And it seems pretty defensible."
TOOTH AND NAIL TAVERN (20 Gozran)
Setrona sets up a small refugee camp in her tavern's cellar, complete with bedrolls, lanterns, and a small table with four spare chairs. The Hellknights and any Silver Ravens (or their associates) who wish to spend the night may do so. During the afternoon and early evening, some fellow rebels drop in to report. Sabrina tells everyone that a large contingent of dottari raided Hocum's Fantasmagorium that afternoon, so that's probably not a safe place to set up a new headquarters. Turl the dwarf reports that Laria's coffee house has apparently been sold; a new establishment called Diabolically Delicious Coffee & Pastries will be opening in two weeks.
Setrona says your group can use her basement as a safehouse for now; she adds that perhaps her cousin the lictor might know of a site in the city where you might be able to set up a more permanent headquarters.
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TOOTH AND NAIL TAVERN (21 Gozran)
You all awaken to an overcast 21st day of Gozran. Already criers in the streets and posters nailed to every signpost, hitching post, and tavern door pronounce Lord-Mayor Barzillai Thrune’s Proclamation the Tenth.
POSSESSION OF POETRY OR PROSE WRITTEN BY THE FOLLOWING AUTHORS IS HEREBY FORBIDDEN AND PUNISHABLE BY A FINE OF 100 GOLD PIECES OR IMPRISONMENT:
BOSWYTH THE BARD
CHARLETTA D’VANEP
GHENRAIL OF VYRE
DAVINA ERADON
AMANDA JULIAC
DEKAMUND BOSCOBEL
THE ANONYMOUS MISCREANT WHO CALLS HIM- OR HERSELF THE “POISON PEN OF KINTARGO.”
ALL DOCUMENTS BEARING THE WRITINGS OF THESE MISCREANTS MUST BE TURNED OVER TO THE DOTTARI FOR DESTRUCTION BY SUNDOWN.
With the Fushis and Turl's Troupe dispatched on their missions, it's time for the Silver Ravens' officers to make their next move. Will you be heading south in search of the shrine where Lictor Octavio Sabinus is alleged to be hiding out or do something else (perhaps related to the latest proclamation)?
Boswyth, D’Vanep, and Ghenrail were moderately provocative post-civil-war poets whose works criticized or lampooned House Thrune. All three of these poets have been dead for decades.
Amanda Juliac is the alias Jessibel has been using with the Kintargo Opera House Society after her arrest and doghousing incident.
Dekamund Boscobel, like Jessi, has written some satire not exactly flattering of House Thrune or the new lord-mayor.
The "Poison Pen" is an anonymous poet whose prolific anti-Thrune verses and songs have dried up over the past couple of weeks. There are whispers (s)he may have been found out, arrested, and imprisoned.
TOOTH AND NAIL (Morning, 21 Gozran)
Domitius is pleased with the success he and his friends had in freeing the four armigers. In good spirits, he at first starts talking about the plan to find the lictor...
And all of that turns to ashes in his heart when he catches wind of this latest Proclamation.
Domitius turns to Davina. "We have to get you home. Right now, Sudarynya. We must secure the Manor, and find someplace safer to get your family." Dom is back into bodyguard mode, only instead of keeping Sabrina safe on a night out, now it feels like the whole city is out to get them.
Falina woke that day feeling rather lonely. Jessi and Sabrina weren't around so her bed felt rather...empty. She went through her normal morning routine, bathed, preened, dressed, and went to meet up with the others for breakfast. Unfortunately what she saw was bad. Davina's name on a notice of banned authors and then heard Dom get all worked up and knew there was trouble.
It sunk in for Falina then just what this meant. A place that took her in was about to be over run and she wasn't going to have any of that. Fortunately Sabrina and Jessi weren't there right now but Davina's family was and that wasn't going to happen. "I agree Dom, we need to do something, let's think though, where can we take them and how will we get them out if the place is already being surrounded?"
”Well we can’t take Davina back now,” says T’chazzar. ”The estate’s compromised. They’ll be watching.”
Arani awoke, in different surroundings, something she was accustomed to, and appreciated that she'd definitely slept in less comfortable places.
After half an hour of light stretching, she gets dressed, donning her gear, and traditional cloaked disguise while traveling to meet with the others and discuss their plans. Reading the posted proclamations she frowns.
"He's right Davina, they have you listed by name. They might not know that Jessi is Amanda Juliac, and she's outside the city right now but they'll be coming for you before the day's over. And they'll definitely be watching your home."
Dom turns to Falina. "If it comes to that, 'sister,' I will gladly take the opportunity to start doing some of the make-up work I promised T'chazzar..." He smiles briefly, without joy.
Domitius listens to his friends, and though it's hard, also to the voice inside his head. No time to go flying off, like you have too many times already. He does his best to calm himself, and is mildly successful. He doesn't run off, but he's a mass of nervous twitches, tics, and drumming fingers/tapping feet.
"I don't think arrest is the immediate concern," Dom says, forcing himself to draw a deep breath as he does so. He closes his eyes, frowning as he goes back over the proclamation in his head. Focus! "The Proclamation only talked about the writings of the named people, it didn't call for their arrest." He pauses again, briefly holding his fingers to his temples. "No, what I am concerned about is, I guess 'mob justice.' I don't want any yahoos to get it in their heads that they can take the next step and break into the Manor. We've had trouble there before, remember the business in the garden?" The roses you were going to grow for Zea? A fresh squirt of anger pours into the feelings in Dom’s heart, and he continues. "I’ve followed those CCG jerks, listening to them. Some of them are itching to teach a lesson to the ‘eggheads in the old house.’ If I'm not there, who will stop them from assaulting Davina's family!? I’ve never thought much of Sudarynya’s cousin Bernard but he doesn’t deserve to have Loyalist goons crack his skull open!" Dom looks to Davina, his face a mixture of shame at having spoken ill of her family and anxiety over their collective safety.
TOOTH AND NAIL TAVERN (21 Gozran)
Setrona takes a look at a copy of the proclamation someone nailed near her front door. She looks at Davina briefly before returning her gaze to the parchment while shaking her head. "I'm tempted to congratulate you for making this list," she says with a wry smile. "I think your big friend's right, though: It sounds like Loony Thrune's going after the written works themselves, not the authors...but after the Night of Ashes, that might be a fine distinction to assume. Does this mean you all won't be going to find my cousin this morning? I understand if you put it off, I guess. Family's important, yours as well as mine."
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"It's a fine distinction that matters greatly. We should scout the manor and see if Thrune's goons are there ransacking it, checking papers of people going in and out, or just surreptitiously watching it. Also we should see if there's any way we can talk to the staff - the maids and such - and see if they've been accosted by Thrune with threats, forced to turn informant, and so on. This will give us some idea of exactly what kind of levers Thrune is bringing to bear on offenders. Given how heavy-hand the Lord-Mayor has been thus far, I would expect guards posted at 'known trouble spots' and mass detentions of people suspected of knowing the individuals, followed by tossing the fish back into the sea with a stern warning to report in if they see the suspects in question - so, Davina dear, if you are fond of any of the staff at your manor, be advised that they might have death threats hanging over their head, compelling them to report if they see you," says T'chazzar. It seems that the usually taciturn dark elf has given this particular topic a lot of thought.
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Falina was caught off guard by Dom calling her "Sister" and had a flash of remembered glimpses of her past, of the deal she'd once made, and what she had to do for it. She laughed and said questioningly, "Do you know what I did to the last being that called me Sister?" Falina's smile was more than a little disturbing as she said, "I ate her in a couple of different ways as she lay writhing beneath me in the night." There was a glimpse of her former darkness in her eyes, the corruption of the abyss, that made her what she was, even if those present didn't know of it.
Falina looked deeply into Dom's eyes as she smiled naughtily, "So Dom, would you care to join me in my room tonight?" Her story and expression combined to paint a very...disturbing idea of what she meant.
Arani nods as T'chazzar emphasizes the very real danger. "I I know a few things about inspiring terror and using it to control people. if you been a person's books and leave them alive to continue writing you create a greater demand for their works. Any copies that aren't destroyed become more valuable not just monetarily but to become something to rally around to pass on, or gathering groups to share and learn from. Even more so it makes anything that right from here on out all that much more powerful even people who are apathetic about them before now want to see what all the fuss is about. You turn them into a folk hero." she continues, looking at Davina.
"even worse on the ones on that list that I recognize, are all pseudonyms, including Jessi. Which means that the only one play actually no depended on is you, which also makes you the only one that they can make an example of, to keep the others in their place."
She turns her gaze on Dom. "If I were thinking like Thrune, and I wanted to send a message to every person on that list and anyone else with any ideas of writing dissident material I would capture Davina, and very publicly force her to either recant her work or make sure to do something to her that would make everyone else think twice about ever putting pen to paper against me."
"So Dom, would you care to join me in my room tonight?"
Domitius, so flustered by Falina’s comment, finds himself put on his heels, desperately trying to keep a coherent thought. "Uhh, yeah. Sur-... I mean, no? Maybe? Um, hmm. Can I let you know later?" The distraction seems to have utterly disrupted the train of thought with which Dom had been making himself crazy. He shakes his head, gathering himself.
"Okay, so, the Manor…"
Falina watched as Dom sputtered at her words with a straight face, at least for a few moments, and when he finally asked if he could let her know later she couldn't contain her straight face any longer. She sputtered and began to laugh as she leaned against the table for support. "You should see the look on your face Dom," she managed to get out between her laughter, "that was priceless!"
Eventually Falina collected herself and figured she'd hurt Dom with her laughter. It used to be she wouldn't be bothered by that but it did now as he was a good man. When she had a moment she came up behind him and stretched up as she pressed against his back and reached up to try and guide his ear down to whisper to him.
Falina led Dom to another room and let sincerity lace her tone as she said, "It's been lonely at night with Sabrina and Jessi both gone lately so the offer to join me stands should you choose to take it." She smiled as she said, "And don't worry about the girls being upset by this, they know I have lovers besides them but they are who I care for."
Dom turns to Arani. "Sure. But if I'm thinking like your average Queensman, I'm all 'Yeehaw, I'm gonna go do me a book-burnin' and stomp on anyone who tries to stop me.' The one gives cover to the other."
"T'chazzar, I am part of the house staff, I have as legitimate a reason to show my face at the manor as anyone. I'm just going to go, poke around, make sure nothing is amiss. No one will know I was there. Like a mouse," he nods.
"Yes, but be prepared for the possibility that the dottari are just mass arresting the staff of the Manor and putting the screws to them to get them to try to give up Davina. Possibly with actual torture," the drow says drolly.
"And if that is happening, we still need to know about it, so to plan rescue. But if that looks like it's what's going on, I'll slip away. As I said, like mouse."
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Davina was sitting in shock as she saw her name on the list. Her friends words and discussion swirling around her.
She looks to Dom, "My mother will "die" once she sees this. She might even turn me in to ol Barry himself just to show that she is loyal to Cheliax. My father won't be happy, but he'd go along with it just to please her. At least Kelyan is still away at school. I'd turn myself in rather than have her drug into this." She starts to rock a bit. What a mess this is. I hate that my family might be drug out into the streets to find me. If I go back to the manor, they might call the dottari on me themselves."
She sits quietly for a little while, and the looks to the rest of the Ravens, "My cousins. We need to warn them. They grew up on the same stories of the Silver Ravens, and they might try to do "something" about this if we don't warn them not to. I guess we do need to go to the manor at least to warn Bernard and Sarila."
"I guess we do need to go to the manor at least to warn Bernard and Sarila."
”Okay, so then I will deliver warning to your cousins, to keep their heads down in the coming storm. That is all, right? We are not trying to extract them?”
Domitius looks Davina in the eye. "I have spoken about your mother several times, it was always meant to be in jest, but if I was out of turn, please accept my apologies. Regardless, I will not let Madame Estrella endanger you." Dom pauses, frowning in concentration. "Your aunt and uncle, shall I assume they share your mother’s allegiances?"
"One more thing. It galls me to say this, but it might be prudent for you to travel in disguise."