A Thousand Ships

It’s pelting down and howling. We’re sitting tight. Vasco goes to pay berthing fees for a few more days. He encounters a beggar sitting in a doorway muttering. Throws him some change. He looks up, his face uncontorts to a face that Vasco dimly recognises. A guy who quit the strazi intelligence services in less than ethical circumstances when Vasco was entering. Vasco gives him the name of the inn. He goes back to beggar mode.

Harbourmaster feeds him some syrupy ex-rum and takes his money. Weather looks like it’ll last at least another two nights, and could get worse tonight. Kid went out this morning, six or seven years old, with the idea of doing some fishing. Dropped a net over the quays, hauled it back up, the fish in it were frozen by the time he got it back to the house.

Harbourmaster asks what was going on in the mast. Gossip’s faster than official word. Vasco spills.

“So you think they made off with the ship then?”
“Didn’t say that”
“Well, two of them missing, ship goes missing from the harbour. Gotta be some connection.”
“Two students, make off with the ship -”
“Did yous ee the size of that thing?”
“No. Was planning to see it and buy some spare rope”
“Such a big three master you could have put in a fourth. There’s no way two of ‘em would take it out.”
“So who’s ship was it?”
“Well, tehreby hangs no tale whatsofuckinever. The army don’t appear ot know where the ships came fmr. Far as I can tell, one of the high ups, not the general but the next rank down, got a letter saying a situation to their advantage could be discovered if they went to some godforsaken little cove up the coast. You can’t get from the water to the land in any useful manner there. But they went up there and found between ten and fifteen ships all attached to the names of various, well, fairly notorious pirates for the most part, just sitting there, anchored, unoccupied. They hired a ocuple of people who actually know how to sale and brought them down one at a time for auctioning off. Illustrates how crazy it is round here at th eminute. There’s a war on! What are they auctioning off fully built ships for!They’re building ‘em down the other wya.”

Thump on the door. Another guy. Exchange of berthing fees. Leaves. Returns to Vasco.

“At this point the whole affair is being run by someone whse idea of a military manual is a book of fairytales. What they’re doing bears no resemblance to anything that makes any sense. I’ve seen enoug mlitary stuff over my life to know how it should be done and they ain’t. They’re fuckin’ up by numbers.”
“How are the nobles seen? taking high ranking military jobs?”
“By and large they stay out. When they do go in they get traditionally very rough treatment until they prove themselves. So they nobiity that stay in the army tend to be very respected.”
Vasco’s flabbergasted as to reasons.
“And yet, with all that upfuckery, they took Kalmadiz.”

Thump and rattle from outside. Door doesn’t open. Harbourmaster looks out. There’s a single barrel fetched up against the wall, partly blocking the door. “Where the fuck did this come from?” He picks it up, chucks it into the room and, as Vasco leaves, closes the door.

Vasco returns, and joins us in our private rooms. There’s a knock at the door. Beggar. Nanda: “You’ve a wrong room.” Vasco gives him spare clothes. “He’s had the same treatment as I have.” A moment later, another knock on the door, it’s the same guy looking much more civilised.

Nanda: “Has Vasco sold us to the person who offered the least money?”
Visitor: “No, I’m here to convince Vasco not to sell me, and also perhaps to give me a hand. My name is Vadmill. I knew Vasco in our previous employment. You’re pilgrims, right? You got religion?”
Vasco: “Religion found me.”
Nanda: “What do you want?”
Vadmill: “I’m trying ot make up my own mind on that.’
Vasco: “He’s here at my request. He can sleep in my room. Since you also graciously left me to it.”
Nanda: “No seriously. If you don’t want anything you can go to his little room.”
Vadmill: “Alright. What I want is for this place to start making sense gain. Now I doubt you can help with that directly but maybe we can exchange some information, because even though I quit the military and anything resembling it some time ago, I remain on the edges, I’ve done jobs here and there, and everything round here went crazy about three months ago. Now you folk have just come in from outside, you’re a strange enough bunch of people that you must just by virtue of different points of view have picked up some informatino, and you’ve got VAsco with oyu”
Nanda: “So we’ll hav a panel discussion!”
Vadmill: “I’m sure there are things yuo want ot know too. I can help with those’\
Nanda: “Mainly when this weeatwhe rwill pass”
Vadmill: “2.5 DAYS. I know a wizard.”
Khalid: “I’ve said before and say again ,what is going on and what we are doing has more to do than with just one event, one thing. There are many things going on in these isles. I do not think we can pass any of them by.”
Vasco: “Why’d they turf you oiut?”
Vadmill” Difernece of opjinon on what was ethical.”
“Why yu niot face down in the baty?”
“i’m faster. Been around. Been around a lot. but I came here earlier this year ’cause I heard there was someone here who - tehre were rumours that somebody here would be able to stop this war. It wasn’t like it made any sense, wans’t like there was anything tha tsounded like it was gonna work, but I heard it from four, five different places that there was definitely someone here who had the political swing and the force of personality to make it stop. I came along to see what was here.”
Khalid: “Who was that person?”
Vadmill: “I got here and there’s no one here like that. But ever since, this place has been crazy.”
Nanda; “Since you arrived?”
Vadmill: “A litle bit befor eI think. That was when they chucked out the militia. They took the whole of the town guard, and shipped them out as a unit to nobody knows hwere. Two days later they came back and called up asll the militia. ANyone wh’d ever swung a spear. Shipped them out as a unit. They emrchants went ‘it’s the middle of a war, you took away our [protection’ and so marched in the army. The army fellas they marched in weren’t form workng units, they’re fmor all over the place, but they’ve als een action. Some only once, some only from a distance. But htey’ve all been near a fight.”

Khalid: “So rumours go out someone can stop a war.”
Vadmill: “On the ex military network”
Khalid: “If you don’t want a war stopped..”
Vadmill: “Fucked up way to prosecute it”
Khalid: “There have been a numebr of strange decisions lately, but they have worked. Moving most of your navy to one city seems like bad judgement, but it worked.”
Vasco: “But they don’t occupy the city”
Khalid: “It apears to be cursed”
Vadmill: “It’s EMPTY?”
Vasco gives him a brief run down.
Vadmill: “And I thought they were fucked up here. That’s even — what? Did you hear the same rumours then? That why you came here?”
Vasco: “We’re on a pilgrimage”
Vadmill: “really?”
Nanda: “Really”
Vasco recounts the sotry about the 12-15 ships in some cove being auctioneed off.
Vadmill: “DO you have that form somebody reaqsonably reliable?”
Vasco: “The harbourmaster’
Khalid: “Who runs this town?”
Vadmill: “Dpeends”
Khalid: “NBEfore the army came here?”
Vadmill: “Alkso depended. THere’s a duke. This is the capital of a duchy. That said there’s a lot of merchants int he trown who hold a lot of unofficial power, and there were always a lot of naval posts here. Now it’s the duke, one very confused general, and some very angry merchants.”
Nanda: “SO what exactly do you want from us?”
Vadmill: “Infomation in the hope something will start making sense. Look. I quit th emilitary during hte last war becayse they wante dme to do things so fucekd up I couldnt’ consider doing. A number of us got out before and after me and we trade information, cooperate, and really really enjoyed not having a war on. We wanna go back to that.”
Nanda; “Have you heard of the marmoset?”
Vadmill: “Yes. What’s he got to do with it?”
Nanda; “How much doesh e usually pay you?”
Vadmill: “He doesn’t handle coin which makes it kind of awkward.”
Nanda; “Correct.”
Vadmill: “I got paid once in a barrel of silk worms. Do you know how hard it is to get rid of them? So. Okay Khalmadiz is empty, cursed.”
Nanda: “Some forcefield keeping the Strazi out”
Vadmill “But you could go through it”
Nanda: “With some difficulty.”:
Khalid: “Do you have any notion whot his persoin you were looking for may have been?”
Vadmill: “No. I got it from four or five different sourcs, three within the netwrk and two completely elsewhere, and I came in here expectin gto see posters on the walls and broadsheets out and something wiht a bit of fervour to it, somebody lecturing and haranguing and getting toegether a mass of opinion to people.”
nanda; “Rymorus said male or female?|
Vadmill: Long pause. “I don’t think they said.”
Nanda; “So at no point did they say ‘he is talking about…’”
Vadmill: “No. ‘There’s someone who…’”
Jess: “Eiether the rumour is misinformation, or someone has a lot of faith int his indivudal”
Nandal: “Or they’re hiding”
Vadmill” OR shipped out with the militia. But you’d think that if someone like htat were shipped out, you’d hear about it.”
Jess: “What were you bein asked to do?”
Vadmill: “I do not want to talk about it. And hyou don’t want ot hear about it.”
Jess: “No one else came here?”
Vadmill: “Others from my netwokr, but I sent them away again.”
Vasco: “Where they shipped out to?”
Vadmill: “No one knows. Families here haven’t heard from them in three months.’
Khalid: “Who gave the orders?”
Vadmill: “That’s a matrter of some confusion. Looks like the peopl giving the orders were the naval commanders just before they left.”
Khalid: “But osmeone else must have ordered the navy out”
Vadmill: “Someone else in the navy, yeah. But my network si all ex-army. Tryign to get from that into the navy, there’s very little information coming from there. They went out three months ago, just after that, and haven’t been back. It’s only just become evident why there hasn’t been a huge rqaging problem with pirates since the navy aren’t around. Someone else took out the pirates.”
Nanda: “Someone took care of the situation so they could move the navy out.”
Vadmill: “And for good measure who the hell can operate enough to take out a dozen big pirate ships in three months and not have to come into a big naval base - here - to resupply?”
Khalid stares at Nagan. Nagan shrugs slightly. Khalid: “If they have the technology to take a city, they have the tech to stop some pirates.”
Nanda: “but who are they?”
Vadmill: “Alright. This will sound like paranoid raving, but the only way that i can make snese of the thigns I have seen in this war and paritucular here in the last three months is that there is a gruop of epople who for one reason or another are seeking to prolong the war.”
Nanda: “We’ve been thinking of that’
Vadmill: “Not in a subtle fmor a distance kind of way. These are people high up in the kingdom, nobles, in the navy, in military, wizards, right in there.”
All agreed.
Vasco: “Not a pack of children then?”
Nanda: “we assumign it’s the same crowd?”
Vasco: “not the shafts”
Khalid: “previously chjildren, now they’ve gained influence”
Vadmill: “What?”
Nanda: “Ther’es a sotry that an order of sorts was established as a counterpoint to the church of spires”
“the church of shasfts. yes i twas”
“we’ve sene some evidence lately htat they may be more dangerous than one would have thought”
“The church of shafts dabger0ous?”
“if you consider things like burying people alive-”
“that’s rather furthe rhtan they would have gone before.”
“And ghost ships in our harbour.”
Vasco: “Rose and Chestnut”
Vadmill: “well fuck”
Khalid: “We beleive the church of shafts are almost completely responsible for the possibly restart and continuation of the war.”
Vadmill: “Right.”
Nanda checks his body langauge. Worried confusion.
Vadmill: “A long time ago, before i entered military intelligence, I worked for a noble, not a titleholder, second son, whose job in his father’ sdomain was to make sure that things ran smoothly, and where the titled nobles couldn’t be seen to step ihn he was sent in with a few men to clen up less pleasant situations. One of those was a church of shafts. Turned out to be like you said a numberof disaffected noble children from the next domain over who’d gotten as far as messing aorund with some blood. We told them not to, firmly, and thqt was that. Just faded and went away.”
Vasco: “Don’t tell me that island that we passed, that was just a holy site.”
Jess: “Oh, quite clearly.”
Vasco tells story of the island.
Vadmill: “You peop[le ahve seem some fucked up things. I thought htis place was bad. This place is crazy it’ sjust - not that, whatever that is.”
Jess: “I’m even concerned about whether this storm is natural”
Khalid: “YOu say they were doin gthings with blood”
Vadmill” Cutttin ghteir arms, drawing things in it. THey didn’t knoiw what thye were doing. Had found a couple of books locked up in someone’s library, nbot burnt because they were considered valuable or collectable or something.”
Khalid: “What seems to be happening now is that what the children were doing is now being done by adults, by those who have intelligence and ability.”
Vasco: “Or those who’ve grown up with it.”
Khalid: “AND If they coudl gain power from blood, what happens if you have a place somewhere where you call animals and sacrifice them and every night, or however often it happens, the call of the animals uses - is easier? Takes less than what evil it generates? But that is a matter for a later day. It would appear this war is not being run by who you think. Why remving the navy and militia from this city is important–”
There’s a huge metallic clang of a big bell from somewhere outside. Vadmill’s head jerks pward.
Vadmill: “That’s the fucking invasion bell. Who the fuck is ringing that?”

We can’t see across the street. Outside, glimpses in the snow of people running past. We head out, Vadmill with us. The people belting past are all army, running from guardhouses, taverns, inns so on, buckling on weapons as they run, looking utterly astonished. Many are slipping and sliding as they go, running with that much ice and snow on the street.

At the quays, soldiers are being directed onto the seawalls. The bell continues to sound. Vadmill points at people who might be in charge, two colonels. Khalid goes to check out whose making that bell ring - visibility is way too limited to see an invasion force. Vadmill follows, then Nanda.

The tower is more military than religious looking. Someone’s standing on a balcony with a book in his hands, holding it in one hand, the other hand in the air. Nanda to Vadmill: “Who is that?” “No idea but it’s a wizard. He’s not the wizard I knew was in town.” Other people are about. Nanda grabs a random army person. “Who’s the wizard?” He doesn’t know, and has an argument, where the hell’s the militia? Ah, he’s just been sent in. “They were sent out by orders of the military. You’re here on your own.” “Well fuck. Captain!” Vadmill: “They’ve sent in another unit of the army?”

He charges back out, and grabs Nanda then asks her politely to come inside. There’s a table set off to one side covered in hastily unfurled maps and diagrams. Bunch oif peopel milling around, and a guy hauling ona rope into the celing. He’s being dragged off the floor by it. One man standing in the midst looks utterly calm. Nope, its’ a remarkably pretty blonde woman in the long red military coat of the couriers and a hat. Pistols and sabre. Looks at the three of the party.

Captain: “Waht is happening here? We have literally been sent in by magic from the capital to fend off an invasion. We were told to rouse the militia.”
Khalid: “There is no militia, no town guard. There is your armed forces”
“There were at least some units of the army here, yes?”
“They are doing the job of the militia and town guard”
Nanda; “THE Militia and town guard were sent away three months ago, by the orders of the naval commands just befor ehtey left here.|
CVaptain: “Naval commanders left here.”
Khalid: “Those army units have all set themsleves ready to receive invading forces on the sea wall.”
She granbs someon eelse, also a cpatain by his insignia. “Get that wizard down here now.” He hcarges up off teh stairs looking concerned.

At the quays, Vasco sees they’re directing enough forces at he sea walls to be able to fire crossbows from crates just cracked open. ABout 50pc of those coming down ehre are going ot the walls. But other forces are clearly going elsewhere, into towers or piling in to baots.

Vasco walks up to the colonel. “what do you want with me.” “What?” “been sent here form the cirty” “What unit?” “not with a unit. I’m a additional asset.” “Do yo know wtf’s going on?” “Just ocm einto the city, literally into the city. I heard teh invasino bell so I came down here.” “Right i get you. You! Take over.”

Collonel: “Do you ahve any msgs for us?”
“just assist”
“that maeks 600 of us that were told nothing”
“Your folks up there in the tower at least”
“Another unit just came in and I don’t know where they cam efrmo but” - he looks mildly respectful - “Amastancia’s there, so, follow orders, you know?”
“Where’s the general?”
“No idea. He should be at the tower. I assume he’s at th etower. But he’s been driven half way crazy over hte last three months anyway. Could be in a bathtub with four bottles of whisky and a dead sheep. If you need to report to him, go right ahed.”
“what’s the invasion?”
“The bell just says invasion. we’re carrying out plans for invasino with no informatino. The incoming unit had a wizard wiht them”
“what are the overland passes like?”
“Jammed. Sbnowed up. Can’t get through em”
“If you have amage with you?”
“but hte tajis don’t send their mages to the— never mind.”
“Tajis don’t keep their mages behind making weaposn like us. Peel a coiuple of squads off those walls, ikeep them ready to run up the hill if needs be. I’ll go up to the hill, if I see something, I’ll send someone down.”
Wow, that worked.

In the tower, the wizard comes down from above. There’s a brief exchange. She’s pissed off. The wizard is protesting back he’s kjust following orders and there’s a major invasion coming in off the sea right now.
Nanda: “Gentlepeople, there’s no time to argue”
Wizard: “No, there is an invasion coming in > I’m trying to do my work captain, please let me do it. I have spells for the deteciotn of such things, and right now there is a force of magic coming in across the sea, not at a great pace but seeadily toward this place|”
Nanda: “Force of magic. Anythign about its nature?”
Wizard; “If I try to detect its nature I will not be able to tell anuythuing else for some time.”
Nanda: “We have encountered a force of magic elsewhere. A wall –” describes the thing around Kalmadiz. “KNocks off spellcasters. PREVENTS people like that form entering a particular area. Oh yeah, and this was around Khalmadiz btw.”
The woman rturns toward her. “You were at Kalmadiz”
“Yes”
Captain: “Hiavin, have you still got htawt scroll? Hodl on to it, keep it somewhere safe, with all the stuff going out here I may need it. Now get back to your damn wards. madam, do you have a name? I am Anastazia. What happened at Khalmadiz?”

Vasco arrives.

Nanda: “That is another party member of ours.”
Vasco: “So you’re in charge. Two colonels don’t know their arse fmor their elbow”
Anastasia: “Who are you? There’s only one group talks like you do, so unbutton. What’s happening. You were in Kalmadiz as well then?”
Vasco melts. “What have you said?”
Nanda: “The wizard says there’s a force of magic comign form the sea. It reminds me of nothign more than the field of magic we encountered htere.”
Vasco: “Anyone that can sense metal from a distance? cause that’s waht it was. It was sustained by a spohere”
Kahlid: “It was stil there after we stopped that sphere”
Nadna: “Something had landed in kalmadiz. From somewhere above. It made noise, a buzzing sound that drove people out of the city, and killed people who went there to disable it. They did manage temporarily”
How?
Vasco: “You touch it, you get some brave sod to touch it, killing him, he opens a panel around it” Khalid: “You jam the mechanism. It is fatal to touch.”
Vasco: “btw the general is int eh mental equivalent of a bath full o f whiskey.”
Anastasia grabs osmeone else. “Find. The. General.”

Vasco thought this person was a myth. Vadmill is here, but faded into the background.

Nanda: “This will be theu nderstatement of the yera, but tehre are things happenig that are not right. Beisdes the war, there are worse things ahppening around here right now.”
Anastasia: “Alright. The militia of the city were sent out three montsh ago by naval comanders who went out too. The town guard also.”
nanda; “They were replaced by soldiers who had seen battle elsewhere and go tbored here. ONe of the colonels got a msg saying that if they went to particular place on the caost teh situatoin would turn to their advantage. They found 12-15 notable pirate ships abandoned and anchored there. Somebody had sorted out the pirate problem but no indication of how and why, and they ahve been auictioning off those sh–”
The veteran captain comes in, skids to a halt, salutes. “Ma’am, the general’s dead. Bathtub, ma’am. Throat cut.’ Vasco: “Self inflicted?” Didn’t hagn around long enough to look, Sir. I’ll go back and check.” Nanda sends Vasco over as well.

Anastasia: “Is anyone of you actually in cahrge?”
nanda: “no”
Anastasic: “Excellent. That’s the way I like it.” She sends someone to get an update form IAvan.
Nanda: “they are auctioning the ships off. Only apaprently one of them was stolen last night int eh storm.”
“in THAT? I know one man who can sail in that kind of weather, and I know exactly where he is.”
Khalid: “Who?”
Anastasia: “IAvan” (the wizard)
nanda: “There weer apparently magical murders copmmitted here last night.”
“IAVAN! FUCKING CLONE YOURSELF! Where is trhe wizard(s) assigned to the unit of the army that were here?”
nanda: “I don’t know”
Anastasia drops back into rapid fire military strazil, demanding info no the wizards assigned here. No one knows anything.
Kahlid: “What’s the bets they weren’t sent with any wizards.”
Anastasia: “Vasco, was it? Vasco. Vasco. Vasco. Vasco. I thouth I knew all the spooks, but no. Alright.”

Vasco’s in the general’s house. There’s chaos. Vasco asks a servant: “Who’s not needed here?” “Anyone except you and me, Sir.” Vasco grabs a cadet and gets him to get rid of a bunch of military. Grabs a servant, gets them to organise a bunch of others, and another cadet to organise a bunch of military. The senior servant looks pleased. “Nicely done, sir. You will no doubt have some questions.”
“What happened, who did it? Throat’s cut? who found him”
“I did, sir. The general has been in a rapidly decaying state of growing insanity for the last three motnhs. I have sent leters to the more senior members of the armed forces, the nobility, the king, in person to the duke. It has been enitrely ignored. Letters ahve not been acknowledged. At this stage the general was absolutely obsessed with keeping clen. he spent 18 hours a day in teh bath. Six hours sleeping, at which point he would wake up screaming and dive back into th bar. he conducted interviews with people from his bath. In teh last few days he has begun to insist on being left alone in his bath, and it was at such point just after lunchtime today when the bell began to ring. There were clear orders not to disturb him into after supper, but in the circumstances I thought it wise to go see him. I found him as you now see him.”
Vasco orders people around and goes to check on teh general. Definitely not self inflicted. Windows all closed. Bathtub’s a nice big one. A few old scars on teh general, but he’s been magically healed many times. Evidently not an armchair general. Mid seventies at least. Stubs of candles under hte4 bathtub, and by it a nine branch candelabra with candles still burning down.
Teh captain returns. “Sir. The soldiers here have been receiving orders directly from the general. They are contradictory and nonsensical. I’m sending them donw to the tower.”
Butler: “The servants have been assigned, Sir. Most to home., others to make sure the fires in the balding remain burning” Vasco tells him to send some down to the tower to be put to proper use. Vasco: “How well did you know the general?” Butler: “I have been his batsman for some 37 years now, sir.” Vasco: “What’s his name?” Vasco gets a very suspicious look. “Cilenco, sir.” A legend of the last war. The guy they callled in for hopeless situations, and he sorted things out. He’s lost maybe half his weight, and cleanliness was never his thing. Vasco: “That’s not him.” Butler: “No sir. That is the remnant of the general.” “I served under him.” “I don’t recognise you, Sir, but if you say so.” “I’ve been outside the military for a few years.” Suspiciouis look. There’s a scream and a thud upstairs.

In the tower, Nanda’s explained about the murders. The level of chaos is dying down rapidly. Some servants arrive from the mansion to help. Then Iavan comes belting donw the stairs and charges out the door shouting “IMMINENT.”

We follow the mage (and captain behind him.) The mage is now flying. The captain is shouting abuse at him for being a flash arse. She’s picking up way too much speed for this hill in this weather. She gets to the bottom of the hill, corners around a hanging lamp and continues along the quays. Headed for one of the seawall towers.

The wind has stopped. It’s snowing very lightly. The bell is now being run extra-frequently. Vasco’s off up the stairs.

Khalid manages to catch up with Anastasia. Skids to a halt at the end of the wall. Peers around it. “have you got anything thta fires a decent sized missile?” “No.”

Walking on the water is a fully robed Taji mage of some considerably high rank walking across teh surface of the dead still and apparently frozen water, with his hands full of fire. She aims at him wiht a gun and pulls a trigger. Nanda throws herself at Anastasia and barrels into the water. They splash. The frozen area is advancing ahead of the mage, four yards ahead of him.

Down in the water, Nanda is sinking. Some distance from her Anastasia shoots toward the surface. Khalid shakes the ice off some rope and he fires one end into the water. Anastasia grabs onto it and hauls her way along it. Nanda surfaces nearby.

Anastasia scrambles onto the pier, dumps both guns, pulls ou tthe sabre. “I woudl advise against that.” “I’m going to asume you have some reqason for behaving the way you’re behaving, but there’s an invasino out there and i have been completely disabled in the way of missile fire.” “He’s walking on water with fire in his hands” “So was the last one.”

nanda makes it up, Khalid gives her his rope.

Nanda: “No”
A: “What do yo mean no? He’s going to wreck the entire place.”

The frozen ice is 20 yards away. Khalid runs and aims for the ice. Anastasia does the same thing. Nanda shouts in Taji: “Stop!” along with some oaths. He comes to a halt. He doesn’t look human anymore. Fire in his eyes, his mouth, his hair. The robes must be asbestos. His hands are small suns on the ends of his arms.

Nanda staggers to the end of the pier. Frozen ice now below her. Given the amoun to fmagic he’s carrying, it msut be one of three mage princes, or the mage king. We know one of the princes.

Anastasia is preparing to run him through with her sabre. “Stop it. Ata is alive.”

The fire dies down by several levels, and he vanishes and reappears beside Nanda. He snaps his fingers. She’s dry and warm. In educated Taji: “Say that gain.” “Prince Ata is alive. We have spoken wiht him. PLease, we’re trying to sort things out here. Thigns are not as they seem. There’s an awful lot more going on that seems to be the case at first glance.” “Very well.” He hands her a small glass disc. “When you are ready, come and speak with me in Taelcard.” He claps his hands and disappears.

Khalid, conveniently, has been sprinting from the moment he teleported.

The ice below melts instantly, and the wind starts to howl again.

Taelcard is the training centre for the Taji mages. Out in the desert, no one’s seen it.

Anastasia: “Well, my apologies. You staved off the invasion. Now can we get back to somewhere warm, and somebody, who is not me, is going to make sense of all of this.”

Up in the mansion, in the upstairs corridor, there’s a maid on the floor unconscious. There’s a slightly open door in front of her. The wind is just a breeze atm. The room is empty. No furniture, no dust on the floor. Window’s open, curtains fluttering, snow drifting in. The butler’s coming up the stairs. He picks her up and leans her against the wall. “She is one of those that I sent up to check on teh fires. Peculiarly, the one in here seems to be out as if it were never there and all the furniture is gone. This was teh general’s bedroom.” Vasco: “Wake her up.” He does so, brings her in holding her upright.

Vasco: “What happened?”
Maid: “I came up to check on the fire, sir, and I opened the door and tehre was — I don’t know hwat it was sir, it was all like, teeth and fur and splinters and all just … I don’t know sir.”
“how big?”
“The whole room. Full of it”
“rags?”
“no sir.”
“Just teeth fur and splinters, everywhere.”
“Sir, like dust devils on the street, only the hole room, and teeth and fur and splinters. I don’t feel so good sir.”
Vasco to butler: “The only people to go in this room are those who specifically come to you saying they’re going to this room. No one else, till the mage take sa look at it.” He sedns the maid away.
Butler: “Will there be anuthing more sir? There appears to be an altercation at the harbour.”

The wind’s picking up again. Stepping back up to full howl.
Vasco: “You’re going to have to tell me, not quite everything.” “I need some more general guidelines than that Sir.” “Why was Cilenco sent here?” “I don’t know sir. Neither did he.” “What sent him over the edge? Surely he could deal with three months in this cushy little number” “I would have thought so sir. As I said I sent many letters to many authorities. I did everything I Could shnort of leaving my post.” “What’s your name?” “Ivan, sir.” “Ivan. My name’s Koenig. Don’t call me sir, I’m not with the military.” “Would you prefer my lord? Because you are getting one or other.” “In my last official position I was referred ot as mister.” “I have great difficulty with civilian terms, sir. Can’t see the point.” He proceeds to be a cheeky little sod.

A cadet barrles down the hill. “Sir. Are you Khalid Sir?” Salutes when he sees Anastasia. To Jessen. “Are you Arcvanin or Jessen? Asenior military man siad something has happend in the genera’s mansion similar to last night, and he wants you there immediately.” We barrel.

The butler holds open the door for us. To Vasco, “May I provide refreshments, sir?” The dead general can be seen behind Vasco. Anastasia goes take a look. “That’s fucking Cilenco!” “That’s what I said too.” “Somebody, somewhere, is going to bein a lot of pain unless I get a clear explanation very soon.”

Vasco explains to Jess and Arcvanin about the room upstairs. The general’s room with all the general’s papers. Anastasia: “All evidence of what his orders were have been taken up in a whirlwind. Well, great.”

Jess checks out the general. Pretty open and shut. Last rites. Vasco sorts him out with being removed and put somewhere dignified. The butler brings Jess and Arcvanin up to the empty, clean room. The curtain rail, with curtains still on it, are all that remain. Arcvanin closes the window. Some spellz. It’s an empty room, no different to what you’d expect.

Vasco wanders upstairs. Arcvanin: “They swept it clean. Not even soot here.” Vasco: “Tell me, youse two, being priests and hwat not, hair cutters. Barbers. Is it true what they can do with hair?” ? “I was always told listening to squaddies that you always cut your own hair or someone you trust really well, then you burn your hair because people can do stuff with your hair.” Arcvanin: “That is true.” “Anything got to do with that?” “The most that I’ve ever heard of being done by the use of sympathetic magic like that is to make somebody ill, and in an extremem case make them ill enough to kill them. But if you’ve got someone’ shair, the spell you can work is on them, not on their room. Maybe a powerful spellcaster ciould have cut his throat form a distance, but…”
Vasco: “Okay, different idea. The stories I read strike me that wizards seem to be all these powerful guys, chucking fire around”
Arcvanin: “Taji wizards, yes. Ours are spectacle wearing weaponsmiths.”
Vasco: “Then you get the stories about witches, anything form that? If I was a mage, I wouldn’t have teeth an dfur and twigs, I’d just snap my fingers and make it all disappear.”
Arcvanin: “There always has been a level of hedgemagic across elbenstraz, I assume elsewhere, people who have a few spells and a little innate ability. What happened here is well above that. Even if I said down, pooled all my magic with all of Jessen’s, it would ake all our magic, all our effort, for a couple of days. Not sure I could do it quite so cleanly.”
“Is the stuff still here?”
“Unless it’s been shifted out to the astral, the etheral or something”
“No seriously. Could it just be the case we can’t see it? That big show was for show?”
“I don’t know any way to determine that. You really need a wizard for this.”
Jess: “There is a wizard in town”

We talk about the general’s hygeine kick, and Rannon. Anastasia asks hwo’s Rannon. Another of our group. Thump at the door, the mage staggers in covered in brick dust and snow. “Captain, we’ve eh” - Anastatsia grabs him by the side of the neck and he slumps to the floor. “I put him out. He’s about to say ‘Captain we have a new assignment’ and I don’t want to hear about that just yet. I get sent wherever there is a really bad fire that needs putting out.”

Nanda explains what took place at the quay.
Anastatsia: “What di dyou say to him?”
Nanda: “I’m not going to tell you.”
Vasco: “So we have a rather powerful Taji wizard, oen fo their heavy hitters, walk single handedly– WALK?”
Nanda: “We have an open invitation to go to their place to discuss matters”
Vasco: “Where they can stab me?”
Anastatsia: “Their place?”
Khalid: “One presumes he was here in an act of thoughtless revenge for Kalmadiz. He was persuaded this act of revenge shouldnt’ take palce.”
Anas: “It’s unlike the Tajis at that level of power to do anything htoughtless as such, but the rest seems reasonable.”
Khalid: “Did the people who denuded this city of most of its defenses know about this or was it happenstance? You should be able to find out where the navy commanders who were here went. Someone needs to.”
Anas: “I’m going ot be doing a lot of shouting up along the line.”
Vasco: “Get them to send wizards out here.”
Anas: “What happened to the wizards assigned out here?”
Vasco: “What wizards. There was no backup for these lads.”
Nanda: “it’s like they wanted this place to fall.”
Anas: “How do yuo prolong a game of chess? You allow one piece to be taken for every piece you take. If it was taken as intended, there would be a crater here.”
Khalid: “which would encouage the Strazi to go further and would not be a Taji occupation on this island.”
Anas: “While you’ve taken out the naval forces.”
Khalid: “What was the basis of assembling this group here?”
Anas: “They put Cilenco in charge of it, because they wanted him out of there as well.”
Khalid: “Did these people ahve something tha tmade them more wish to be sacrificed? Were these people wjho spoke out aginst the war?”
Vasco: “Where’s Val?”
Last saw him when we belted out of the tower.
Anas: “Who?”
Vasco: “The youngest of the houseboys here.”

Vasco gets the actual youngest of the houseboys. “Grab a coat, get yourself to that tower, look for a man called Vadmilll, tell him I don’t care who’s here, get over here.” He drops a coin into his pocket. Kid’s pocket goes “chink.”

Vasco tells the butler. “This was not something I expected. When he comes back I shall inquire.”

Vasco: “He’s probably going to bolt when he gets here though.”
Anas: “he’s another spopk I don’t know, isn’t he. This upsets me. Alright. Before this Vadmill gets here, is there anything else anybody has to add to the situation?”
Nanda: “Try not to give ehtm what they want.”
Khalid: “I like you. You seem like a useful person. So I tell you this for your own safety and for ours. The war you are fighitng is not being run by the poeple you think are running it. We are not sure exactly who it is, but we believe they area acting as, or represent, the church of shafts, a new gorwn up church of shafts. They are fighting htis war and prolonging this war. They will use you and everything else they can to reach an end of which I am not sure but am reasonably positive it involves the dominatino of as much of the owrld oas the can mange.”
Anas: “next change i get, i’m going to get hte king and th espiral togehert in the same room, adn establish whether either one of them i sinovled in this. If they are, i”m going to gut them. After I’ve estabiedh they’re not, I’m going to hae them root this out from the top down.”
Khalid: “When you are pronoiunced to be a criminal and sent on the run, please seek us out. We can work well together. If you do that, you put yourself in extreme danger. If you revela anything about us, you’re poutting our lives in even more extreme dangefr than you now.”
Anas: “I won’t reveal who tyou are.”
Nanda: “We dealt with an ethark called Oakenshield” ANas knows him, good and useful man. “He went ahead to Kalmadiz to try to sort thing s ooutthere, but tehre was no one there when we got here. We got a message from the Ethark here yhesterday saying ‘I am alive and I know what you are at’
Anas: “That is as close as you get to approval from Oakenshield.”
Houseboy returns. Can’t find the man. No one seems to know him.

A couple of moments later, the butler returns with the boy lookgin slightly concnerned.”Gentlefolk. Will yoiu please tell these folk what you told me?” “Ladies and genetlement. I have been attempting to cvarry letters for the general for the duration of his stay here. The general would write letters when he was in the bath and he paid me to get them delivered. Many of htem came back and he shouted about this a great deal and hid them in the fireplace.”

Anastatsia climbs up the chimney and drops back down with a bundle of papers in her hand. There’s a ledge up there. Well made writing box too.

They catalogue a descent into madness. First one respectfully addresed to the military lords saying this posting makes no sense, and I have no wizards here. Please assign clear oreders and wizards. Letter after says wizard they sent is a most peculiar man, contineus in that vein, asking them to assingn someone else. Next one says he is utterly convinced the wizard they sent, still unnamed, is doing very peculiar things, moreover seems otb econcealing himself from toehr people such that very fwe of the military have even seen him. next letter says none of the military have seen this man at all, wtf have you sent me, wtf’s going on, where ar emy orders. Next, sending all my letters back to meunopened is beyond unreasonable, I am going to do something against my principles if this is not rectified immediately. That’s the last one that makes any sense. The rest are babbling about fur, teeth and splinters and having to wash them all off.

Vasco: “here’s something you can’t let out. he’s not dead. He’s omehwere else but he’s not dead. They want this giant of our military dead. We can’t let that news out. We still want Colemco to be alive in the minds of the soldiers. He kept me running.”

Anas: “he’s been assigned where I’m going. Ivian! Wake the fuck up!”
Ivian: “You did it agian. Cpatain, we have noahter assignment.” She explains that he’s teleporting the deceased as well somewhere very quiet and distant before proceeding.