IceAndWave/SavingTheNight

Saving the Night

In which pretenders are exposed, allies are called, and the sun's might remains caged...

The 27th Day of Resplendent Fire, Realm Year 763

The winter streets of Icehome are dark, dusty and largely empty, the sound of foot traffic above fills the tunnels with a constant echoing rumble that drowns out any conversation below a low shout.

Sian doesn't quite trudge along (his stride is a bit too large for that), but it's close.

"This should be the guard station..." Cassia anounces after a while.

"Mrm? Oh." He stops, and looks up at it.

From the winter streets it looks like little more than a sturdily built tower, made from fitted stone, and with very thick walls. A single iron door pierces the wall, as well-made as the rest of the building.

"So, errm, the bombs should be buried below it, right? I guess we should look for loose stones..."

"Mhrm. Outside, first, though it's not very likely." Sian shrugs, after looking carefully for a few minutes. "Doesn't appear to be anything. Inside we go, I guess."

"Just walk in? Venia said one of the Generals was theirs. They must have taken some precaution against something like that..."

"Then what do you suggest?" He turns to look at her.

"I'm not sure... maybe I can sneak in... have a look around without making a lot of noise."

"Feel free."

Cassia moves up to the winter level door, testing with her essence to see if she is observed, then listening. She reaches into her clothing, pulling out a small roll of lockpicks. She studies the door, trying to work out if she thinks it will make a noise as she opens it, then starting to pick the lock.

With a barely audible click the lock opens, the door swinging silently inwards. Sunlight from above spills down through a trapdoor, illumining this empty lower floor with a faint glow. Cassia creeps in slowly, starting to look around for signs of digging below the floor, her footsteps leaving no impression in the dirt

The floor, while dirt, appears well-compacted to Cassia's eyes, with no sign of any recent excavation.

Cassia slips back out again, "I couldn't find anything..." she sighs.

"Plenty of other guardhouses. One of the spiders we had was probably supposed to go here."

Cassia nods. She carefully locks the door behind her.

Another guardhouse is easily found, and since it forms part of the exterior wall this one is even more sturdily built. Again, since this is the winter level the iron door appears to be locked. The noise of traffic above is even louder, rendering speech below shouting pointless.

Sian searches again! Not surprisingly.

Cassia does her best to pick out any sounds in the room beyond as Sian searches the area around the tower and then draws out her picks once more. She finds, much to her surprise that the door is already unlocked. The number of surprised people increases dramatically when, as the door slides open, four guards look up to see who has joined them. Three of them hold spades, while the fourth stands up to his waist in a large hole dug in the floor, a bright, golden light illuminating them all from inside the hole.

Cassia looks surprised to say the least. Then she recovers. "What's that in the hole?" she demands in her most imposing voice (a lady she once new in Tideholme), deciding it's best to look like she belongs here.

The guardsmen look up and, in the light from below, reveal in a number of small ways (poorly buckled armour, dangerously placed scabbard, etc...) that they not guards at all, but are merely wearing their uniforms. The faux-guards' eyes narrow, and they reach for their weapons...

Sian steps in past Cassia, having been alerted by the sounds of digging, taking one long stride over to the pit and neatly kicking one man in the side of the head. He looks over at Cassia as the others recoil. "Don't kill them." and the impostor's shovel goes flying, which Sian catches cleanly, using it on the backswing to smash another 'guard' in the temple. Unfortunately he slips on loose earth and his swing goes wide, heading straight for Cassia!

Cassia's dagger finds its way into her hand, spinning to present the pommel for clubbing. She twists to hit one on the side of the head, then is suddenly wreathed in smoke as the shovel goes wide, the magic turning the traitorous blow as her pommel reaches out for another head.

The assault is as brutal as it is non-lethal. In a space of seconds the four "guards" go down hard, bleeding from minor wounds as they lie unconscious on the dirt floor.

Cassia gives Sian a mildly reproachful look, then peers down into the hole.

Sian shrugs, mildly apologetic. He looks too, though.

At the bottom of the hole is a construct identical to the orichalcum devices that Sian examined on the way up, only this one has a blindingly-bright glow emanating from its core - the light seems like that of the sun, but there is a malice to it. Sian shields his eyes as he climbs in. The light pulsates slowly, rhythmically, and while the warmth it emanates is welcome, the destruction it represents is most surely not.

Cassia starts to search the 'guards' clothing for items of interest. The false guards bear no papers or any other devices that might identify them, but each of them is missing the little finger from his left hand - cleanly cut off.

Sian studies it carefully, trying to find the difference between it and the deactivated version, knowing there must be a way to turn it off. Only idiots create devices that can't be stopped once triggered.

The essence bomb has an intricate mechanism on top of it that registers a particular position of the sun - it is set for the twilight hour, when the sun is halfway below the horizon. This appears to be the weak point in the diabolical device's design - if it could be set to a time already passed, then it would deactivate.

Cassia studies the device over Sian's shoulder. "How do you deactivate it?"

"Very slowly." He starts to tinker with it, but oh-so-delicately, not wanting to explode Cassia even if he might feel himself deserving of such a fate.

"Hey, are you guys still dow... what the...?" A guard starts to walk down the stairs from above, sees the scene before him and instantly draws his sword, pointing it alternately between Cassia and Sian. "You! Stop what you're doing in there!"

Sian just turns slowly and glares, obviously not in the mood for this. "You; piss off. Unless you want this bomb to go off before I can stop it."

Cassia looks innocent, her dagger long since concealed.

"B... b... bomb?" the guardsman steps back a couple of paces, "W... what do you m... mean?"

Sian just glares a bit more, and turns back to the device, leaving Cassia to explain things to the moron.

"It's a bomb. If he doesn't disarm it, well, come sunset it's going to explode. Like more around the city."

"M... more?" the guardsman's face goes white, and then he jumps with the loud *click!* that comes from the hole. "Oh dragons, no!"

"But at least this one is safe now," she informs him helpfully

Sian removes the main portion of the device, and taps Cassia on the shoulder, ignoring the man. "See this?"

Cassia turns around to look at the device.

Sian demonstrates the procedure for disarming the device, slowly, giving her time to record it all. "I need you to do that on the next few. I'm going to get the chest from the inn, and then I have something to do. Can you manage that?"

"Who... who are you people?" the guardsman says, looking between the two Dragon-blooded and the four unconscious bodies on the floor.

Cassia watches the movements carefully, committing each and every one to memory. She nods "Easy."

Sian nods to Cassia, and fixes the man with his gaze again. "You. Go with her. Flash your badge or something, be useful."

"Wh... what about them?" he points, "Assaulting the Guard is a serious matter."

"They're not actually guards. Do guards usually have their fingers chopped off? All the same one?"

"Some of the older ones do have scars, but... no, that does sound odd. Who are they, then?"

"Death cultists. Now get going, both of you." He hauls himself out of the hole, and brushes past the man.

"Er... yes, sir!" the guard snaps to attention, as his recent training asserts itself.

"See you later," Cassia says to Sian then slips out and down the winter streets, along to the next guard tower.

Sian does indeed go back to the inn!

Cassia moves around the wall, seeking the next guardtower, repeating openning the door swiftly, looking for the hole where the bomb is hidden. Her next excursion inside a guard-tower is somewhat faster and easier than previously, the young guard with her making everything much easier. The uncovering of the bomb, some three feet below the dirt floor makes things easier still.

"See?" she picks up the glowing device, her fingers going through the motions of disarming. Cassia hands the disarmed device to the guard, smiling at him reassuringly, then moving on to the next tower.

The disarming goes remarkably well and without any real incident. The sun continues on its arc across the sky, and things begin to get a little more urgent as the western horizon starts to redden and there are still two devices missing.

"Ma'am," one of the guards that have been impressed into duty says to Cassia, "We know where the last two are, but... we can't get at them. They're under the towers of the League Gate, and they've been locked and sealed from inside. We think there's cultists in there."

Cassia curses fluently, "Well, you're going to have to get some rams then. Unless there is another way in. One that doesn't involve the front doors."

"They're part of the defence of Icehome," the guard smiles wryly, "Multiple entrance points would compromise that defence."

"That was what I thought." Cassia sighs, "Well, you'll need some battering rams then, I guess."

A shadow passes overhead at that point, a large eagle circling down carrying a large club that crackles with lightning in one claw. Its prismatic plumage shimmers in the late sunlight and it caws, "I was called. There is battle?"

Cassia blinks in suprise, looking at the thunderbird with awe and wonder, "...Err, yes, there is. Once that door is opened."

Sian picks this moment to show up, of course. "These the last ones?"

Cassia looks away from the large bird, "...Yeah, last two. They've holed themselves up in here."

Sian nods to the spirit. "Inside. The less dead, the better... we need some for questioning."

The thunderbird sparkles and blurs, changing into a handsome bald man who hefts the club in one hand. He walks up to one of the doors and, with a powerful overhead strike that rattles the town like a colossal stroke of thunder, shatters the door into a thousand pieces. "The door is opened." With that the elemental strides through the shattered doorway, the large warclub held casually in one hand. Moments later a loud scream is heard that ends abruptly in a horrible, wet crunch. One of the soldiers winces.

Cassia looks at Sian with a raised eyebrow, then hurries in after the Thunderbird. Cautiously. In case it decides she's for smashing too.

Sian doesn't much react to her look, wandering into the building without worry.

Lying in the floor is the body of one of the cultists with his head a shattered ruin spread over most of the wall behind. Between the tightly-fitted stones of the ceiling comes a flash of bright light, followed almost instantly by a thunderclap that shakes the whole tower.

Sian shields his eyes from the dust that filters down, and looks around for any disturbed flooring. "We'd better find that bomb."

"Ungh." Cassia says softly, then continues deeper into the guard tower... until the thunderclap sounds, and then she starts to move upstairs with a little more speed, still alert for cultists and the strange elemental both.

"Or I could do it by myself." He shrugs slightly, and goes to locate it.

At the base of the tower, on the winter levels, the dirt floor shows signs of recent disturbance, albeit somewhat covered up. The screech of triumph from above resounds through the tower, as the thunderbird claims his right of victory from the body of his fallen foe.

Sian gets to moving the dirt! Glad that he brought along a shovel from that first tower.

Cassia looks up carefully into the room above.

The elemental, back in its natural form of a large raptor, has its bloody beak buried in the corpse of the cultist, and with a long, wet tearing sound it pulls the heart free and swallows it hastily. Meanwhile Sian uncovers the bomb, the glow from this one brighter than the others, as it builds to the release of its stored Essence. He doesn't hurry, knowing how delicate these things are, especially when so full of power.

"..." Cassia tears her eyes from that sight, looking around the room for any one else, but sees that the thunderbird shares the room only with the corpse, and the scorched remnants of the wooden furniture that was intact prior to the elemental's assault.

Slowly, carefully, Sian manages to disable the device, the mechanism that would catastrophically release the Essence stored within is removed and the bomb made mostly-safe. He wipes his forehead, and stows it away carefully. One more...

Cassia is careful not to look too closely at the thunderbird, nor disturb it's rest as she starts a methodical search of the tower, looking for signs of recent disturbance, her anima lighting the way for her to see.

A thorough search of the tower locates the bomb at the very top, nestled against an old stash of weapons for the guards who usually occupy it. The light of the setting sun bathes the whole scene in bright red light, while the golden glow from the device pulsates slowly.

Cassia takes a quick glance towards the setting sun, and then starts to work on the device, moving swifty and carefully through the motions to disarm the bomb. Preferably before sunset.

Sian works his way up the tower after searching the lower levels, eventually reaching the top to find Cassia already at work. He doesn't interrupt, knowing how little time they have.

With a *click!* that seems far too loud the device is disarmed, the release system coming free just as the sun begins to sink below the western horizon.

Sian lets out his breath. "Nice work."

Cassia smiles and sets the bomb down again. "Thanks."

"What is that... bird downstairs by the way?" Cassia asks after a small stretch.

"We'd better get back down... I imagine some people might want to know what's going on." Sian shrugs, "Oh, that. I called in a favour. It's a thunderbird."

"Oh." Cassia nods "Do they always eat people?"

"Sometimes, yes. Sorry... it's difficult to tell them no."

"Right." She picks up the bomb again.

Sian doesn't bother telling her to be careful; he knows she will. "Come on."

Cassia takes another look at the sunset, then heads off with Sian.

In the summer streets, the thunderbird (back in human form) and the soldiers stand waiting, the latter giving the former a good amount of space. "Is it... Are we...?" an officer asks.

Sian affirms, "You're safe; he's under orders to only attack who I say, and that was the cultists."

"Oh. Good." He takes a deep breath, "And the city?"

"Also safe. The bombs are all disarmed." He holds up the one he pocketed.

"Thank you, both of you," he bows deeply. "I'll inform the city council and Oligarch Gull at once!"

"Iron Gull?" He lifts an eyebrow.

The soldier nods, "The Oligarchy has given him responsibility over security within the southern League."

"Mind if we tag along? It would be a great honour to meet him."

Cassia smiles at the guard, "A real honour, yes."

"Of course. I'm sure that the honorable Gull would be pleased to meet the people who had saved our city." The officer barks a quick set of orders and the soldiers form up as an escort around the two Exalted.

A shadow passes overhead, the thunderbird following from up in the sky.

Sian just gives Cassia a wry smile, and walks along with the soldiers around him.

Cassia raises an eyebrow minutely, but walks along quietly, taking in more of the city's sights.

The palace of the Oligarchy is a large and imposing construction, built more for functionality and defensibility than Asura's palace in Tideholme. Guards can be seen patrolling the walls and a particularly large airship hovers overhead, the glint of weapons in the dying light of the sun giving it's military purpose away. The leader of the escort talks to the guards at the palace doors, before he returns looking slightly apologetic, "I'm sorry - they won't let you into the Palace unless you surrender your weapons," he says.

Sian shrugs slightly, and hands over his javelins. "My guard comes along, though."

Cassia draws forth the red jade dagger from it's hiding place. They'd seen it before, and she didn't especially want them to search her.

With a nod the soldiers lead the three into the palace, along draughty corridors and eventually to a large, well-furnished room with an elderly woman sitting behind a desk. "Captain Dezcer and our saviours, I take it? Oligarch Gull will see you right away," she gestures at the doors, "Go right in."

Sian nods to her, and does so, letting the thunderbird come up behind them.

Cassia steps inside too, feeling reassured by the presence of thunderbird this time.

Iron Gull is a tall, lean man with hair the same colour as his name, dressed in the finery one would expect from a successful merchant and Oligarch of the Haslanti League. He turns from his view out of the window and nods to his vistors, "Sir, Lady, please, have a seat." He turns to Dezcer, "Thank-you for bringing them to my attention, Captain," he smiles thinly, "I shall recommend you receive a commendation for this."

The Captain salutes and moves to stand in the back corner. Gull turns back to the three visitors, "On behalf of the city of Icehome, and of the Haslanti League, I thank you all for the tremendous service you have performed for us. I shudder to think what would have happened had you not been here."

Sian offers a pleasant smile. "Yes, the city vulnerable to the forces of the Dead. How terrible."

"I agree. Although our excellent airships and strong soldiers would have been a more than strong enough defence, I am sure, it never hurts to be prepared for the worst." Gull sits down at his desk, filled to overflowing with papers and folders, "Now... my sources tell me that you came from Tideholme, but that you," he looks at Sian, "are from Whitewall. A representative of the Syndics, no less."

"That I am."

"While the pretty young lady has been seen in the company of the Cynis Asura, Satrap of Tideholme," he shuffles through his papers a little before looking up again, "Illustrious guests, indeed."

Cassia smiles in greeting to the Gull, but remains quiet for the moment.

"So, I find myself wondering what are two such doing in our city, and how did they discover a plan to destroy our fair city that our own soldiers and... other sources were completely unaware of until this morning, when... you broke into a guard tower and knocked the soldiers within senseless."

"We have our ways." He palms the bomb, and starts idly tossing it from hand to hand.

Gull blinks a few times at that and then continues, "I'm sure you do. Also, I am sure that you can understand given the... chill between our two states that a certain degree of suspicion is to be expected," he nods to Sian.

"Mhrm. A friend directed us here... V'neef Gosul? You know him?"

"I have heard of him, of course. The Exalted merchant who, supposedly, owns most of Tideholme. He does some business here, I believe, although that kind of information isn't really a part of my portfolio."

"He's been supplying the cult with these. I think it rather is your job." He twirls the device once, and resumes his idle throwing.

"That is news to me," Gull blinks, "So why is your friend supplying cultists with the means to destroy our city?"

"Presumably, he is a member. Or stands to gain from it, somehow."

"Either way, this is worrying in the extreme," Gull nods, "I shall inform the other Oligarchs of this situation immediately, and we will discuss what is to be done about this situation." The Oligarch scribbles something on a scrap of parchment, "I suspect that some of my subordinates would appreciate a chance to have a word with this Gosul to discover the exact extent of his involvement."

"Most likely, they would be more interested in knowing about the traitor in their ranks."

"Yes, the 'soldiers' that you uncovered this morning. Your... guard," Gull indicates the thunderbird, "was quite thorough with him elimination of the suspect in the gate-tower. I have people interrogating the prisoners already, I expect we shall uncover any traitors in short order."

"I doubt it. Cult leaders never tell the lower ranks who's in charge."

"Perhaps, but if we can work our way through the ranks then we should be able to clear them out, or at least severely hamper their efforts within the League."

Sian shrugs, "I am fairly sure I can speed this up for you. General Joster. Councillor Sella. And the third name is...?"

There is a gasp from the corner, "General Joster!" Captain Dezcer exclaims, "Are you serious? He's the commander of the southern League military!"

Iron Gull's face darkens, "Remember yourself, Captain!" he barks. The Oligarch turns to Sian, "You have direct information as to the identities of high-ranking cultists within the League?"

"I am quite serious, and yes, I do." He turns back to the Oligarch, and though his expression may be neutral, his eyes are not. "This goes surprisingly deep."

Gull nods, "Captain, please contact the Winter Company and direct them to put General Joster under tight security. Give them this," he throws a silver ring to the captain, "for authentication." The Captain hesitates, "Move, solider!" Gull barks, and Dezcer does just that.

Sian stops throwing around the bomb, just holding it in one hand. "You must have worked hard for this position, Oligarch."

"Many years, yes. The League doesn't allow fools or failures to lead it, hence our many successes," Gull nods and then sits down, "You were saying something about a third traitor..."

"I was, but that can wait." He runs a thumb over one of the controls for the bomb. "So you are proud of what you do?"

"I work for the betterment of the League, and have been asked to look after its security here. It is a tremendous honour to be given such a task and I do everything I can for my home." He stands up and walks over to a small desk at the side of the room, "Can I interest you in a drink? And why do you ask?"

"No particular reason." A golden glow lights the glasses on the desk, coming from Sian's hand.

Gull sits down with a small glass filled with a dark liquid, "Anyway, where were we? Oh, yes, I am proud of what I do, in short." He takes a sip from the glass.

Sian lifts an eyebrow, and casually places the device on the desk. "Nothing to say?"

Cassia's eyes widen just slightly at the sight of the bomb.

Gull's eyes widen, "Is that... one of the bombs? Are you mad?"

"Possibly. Turn around, and take off your shirt."

"What? No! Deactivate that thing immediately!" he gets up from his chair and makes to grab a rope hanging from the ceiling.

"The bomb will still go off if you call in guards; only my companion and I know how to stop it. Turn around, and take off your shirt." He remains seated, and apparently calm.

Gull pulls the rope frantically, "Guards!" he screams at the soldiers who burst in, "Arrest these lunatics, and someone take that... thing out of here and send it on a courier boat out of the city! NOW!"

"It won't get far enough. It won't make it out of the palace, you know ... look at the sunset ..." Cassia points out of the window to the west.

"Listen to her. You have one minute! You think you can get it out of this building, let alone the city, before it goes off?" He stands, and glares at the man, leaning on the desk. "Show us your back! What's wrong? Something out of place?"

"What? No! You're insane!" Gull's eyes are wild, and he grabs a small sword from under his desk, "Deactivate it now!" he points the sword at Sian.

Sian looks to the thunderbird. "Hold him. Don't hurt him."

Cassia moves between Sian and the guards. She looks small and innocent, but like she'll try to stop them anyway.

The thunderbird nods and, in an eyeblink, has grabbed Iron Gull in a tight hold, it's inhuman strength making it impossible for the Oligarch to break free.

The guards rush forwards to grab Sian and Cassia, "Release the Oligarch," one hisses, drawing a sword.

Sian looks the man in the eye, freezing him with his terrible gaze. "Look at his back." He nods to the thunderbird.

Cassia leaps backwards from the guards, landing beside the thunderbird, pulling the Oligarch's shirt up without ceremony.

Iron Gull's pale back is revealed as well as the invidious metal contraption embedded in his flesh near the base of his spine. The guards recoil in horror, while Iron Gull redoubles his attempts to break free. The thunderbird holds him, although not without effort now.

Sian breaks free as the guards draw back, grabbing up the bomb from the desk and going quickly through the deactivation sequence, even as he speaks. "You see?"

"What... what is that... thing?"

"It's a control device. The Oligarch here is under the cult's control."

Iron Gull screams incoherently, and struggles still harder against the thunderbird. The elemental frowns, "This human is very strong."

"Just hold him for a few more moments." He walks around, and crouches to look at the spider, trying to remember how they were supposed to work.

Sian starts to carefully work with the device, slowly at first, though quicker as his memory refreshes. He takes up an unused quill from the desk, sliding it inbetween metal components and into the core, hopefully severing the legs from the main essence reservoir.

With careful manipulation Sian deactivates the insidious creation of soulsteel, iron and brass, and it withdraws itself from the Oligarch's back, while the unfortunate man suffers through palsies and spasms. With a soft *click* the spider falls off Iron Gull's back and he passes out. Sian catches it easily, and looks at the foul thing. Unpleasant.

Sian looks up at the thunderbird. "You can release him now. And your service is complete. You have my thanks; tell Ketari that he does too."

The elemental nods, and blurs into its bird form, before flying out of the open window and heading out.

The guards rush forwards to Gull, "Is he... is he alright?"

"He should be, now." Sian crouches with them, helping the unconscious man into a somewhat more comfortable position.

Cassia frowns at the small spider on the desk. Hopefully Sian could do the same for Sella...

Gull bucks and shudders against Sian, before settling down into what appears to be a deep sleep.

Sian looks to the man who held the sword earlier. "There a room around here he can rest in?"

"Yes, his apartments are in the south wing of the palace."

"Help me carry him there?"

The guard nods and hefts Gull up in his arms, telling one of his men to go ahead and inform the local medick.

Cassia waits in the room, looking out into the sunset.

Sian aids the man as best he can, nodding slightly when they get him to a bed. "Joster and Councillor Sella will both have spiders that need to be removed. Can you have them brought here?"

"I can try. The General is out of Icehome at the moment, though. I'd have to check his schedule to see where Sella is. It can be done, though."

Sian's voice is hard, "It needs to be done fast. If they find out about this, they might run, and we can't let them escape." The soldier nods and heads out of the room at a trot.

Sian waits for the medick to arrive, and for Cassia to return.

Cassia listens carefully, checking to see if she is being observed, and then spends a quiet few minutes searching the room, looking over any of the papers that she can find, returning them exactly where she found them.

The medick, a young woman with her auburn hair tied back in a tight bun arrives, "What's wrong with the Oligarch?"

"Not sure. The device we removed was implanted here..." He gestures to the man's back. "Then he just passed out."

"Device...? Oh, how awful. How long was it there for?"

"I don't know. Days or years, I have no idea."

She nods, "I'll watch him for you. I have many herbs and unguents to help him recover."

Cassia's searching uncovers a great deal of information about Icehome and southern League security issues, all of which her rapacious mind devours. She also uncovers a small heavy lockbox with the personal device of Iron Gull on it.

"Thank you." He gives her the address of the inn. "Could you send a message when he wakes? I need to talk to him."

Cassia carefully rolls out her picks, then checks once more for anyone coming or watching. Then she starts to pick the lock silently and swiftly.

She nods and sits on the bed next to him, checking his forehead and going through the routine of medicine.

Sian thanks her, and goes to locate the missing Cassia.

Cassia sighs and rolls up the picks, concealing them once more about her person. She resolves to sit on windowsill until Sian returns, the tail end of the sunset looks good...

Sian manages to catch the last of it as he wanders in, offering her a slight wave. "Hey. Thank you for all your work today."

Cassia looks at him as he walks in "I would have been lost without you. I'm glad we did it though."