IceAndWave/ChasingShadows

Chasing Shadows

In which illusions are dented, rumours are followed, and the Dead come to town...

The 17th Day of Resplendent Wood, Realm Year 763

Once again stalking unseen and unheard through the corridors of the Iceflower Palace, Cassia attends the gaudy building on Asura's invitation, this time noticeably less cold and formal.

Cassia waits for the meeting Asura is having to finish, before she slips into the hall. She courtseys as she makes a noise to alert Asura to her presence, "You wished to see my lady Asura?" she smiles.

"Ah, yes, my sweet Cassia," Asura slinks up to the girl and kisses her forehead, "It is good to see you again, and looking so pretty, too..."

Cassia smiles, "Thank you, you are looking wonderful as always." she stands gracefully

"I asked you to come here because I need you to keep an eye on something, or rather, someone..."

"Oh?" She tilts her head curiously, "Who, Lady Asura?"

Asura's demeanour has changed, all of the customary lightness and the effortlessly-seductive movements have gone from her frame, "Sian Nerivus, the Whitewall envoy. I have been hearing things about him over the last couple of weeks that have lead to me consider revising my opinion on him."

"Oh." she picks up on this rather disquieting change of demeanour, "What has he done?"

"He has been treating with some of the gods of the North, and has been doing so in a way that creates advantage for himself. It looks like he might be trying to build himself a powerbase somewhere, and I don't think I could allow that."

Cassia nods, "I see." She considers, "So you would like me to distract him?"

"For the moment, no, although sowing seeds for the future would be a good idea. For now, I just want you to keep an eye on him, and report any... unusual activity to me," Asura frowns, an almost foreign expression on her perfect, unlined face, "I like him, I think, but I cannot allow him to interfere..."

Cassia nods, "Of course not my lady. I will watch him for you." She murmurs, "I hope he leads an interesting life."

Asura looks at Cassia, her amber eyes deep and mysterious, "He tries not to, I believe, but his masters keep him busy. He left here for the Blessed Isle three days ago, probably headed for Othakaar," she sighs deeply, "I cannot go there, but you can. He left with that loudmouth boorish Ragara, although I have been unable to discover why."

"Company? It must be a pretty boring voyage?" she hazards then shrugs her shoulders, "I can try and find out where he went from there, my lady."

"I can get you on a ship leaving on the evening tide, it should arrive in Othakaar two days behind him," she smiles broadly, "The captain is an old friend of mine and will sneak you on without asking too many questions. You'll have to stay hidden once on the ship, though. There is no telling what those rough sailors would do to my sweet Cassia."

"I can look after myself. Though, I imagine the ship does need a crew to sail..."

Asura grins, "I imagine that they do, so be careful with my gift... which reminds me!" She reaches out to a table and rings a tiny silver bell, Solace appearing from behind a tapestry a few seconds later, "Bring me the red case from by bedchamber, Solace." He bows and turns, just as Asura says, "And tell Ibis that I am in urgent need of his exquisite services." Solace nods.

Cassia looks at her extremely curiously, though she doesn't actually ask.

A minute later Solace returns, carrying a red felt-covered case which he gives to Asura, leaving as silently as he arrived. She turns to Cassia, smiling broadly and offers the case to the girl, "Another gift. For you."

"Thank you my lady!" she looks inside the case.

Within the case is an exquisitely carved necklace formed from hundreds of tiny segments of red jade, perfectly carved to create the appearance of a dragon, wrapped around the neck of the wearer, the head dangling down low and holding a thumb-sized blue-white diamond in its jaws.

Cassia gasps! "Asura! Thats's... It's... so beautiful!"

"Then it suits you perfectly. While you wear it it will keep you looking as flawlessly perfect as you do now." Asura smiles, "Go on, put it on."

Cassia carefully picks it up and fastens it behind her neck. She looks around for a mirror. Perhaps unsurprisingly, there are several large mirrors in Asura's chamber. Flawless sheets of silver that reflect perfectly, showing Cassia the image of herself wearing the new gift.

Cassia spends an indulgant few minutes studying her reflection, "Thank you!" she hugs Asura.

Asura hugs back, a little tighter than propriety would allow (not that that has ever bothered her), "Anything for my dear, sweet Cassia."

Cassia hugs her for a time, before she gently starts to try to pull away.

Reluctantly, Asura opens her arms to let the girl go free, a strange, slightly hungry look in her eyes. At that moment a perfectly-polite cough shatters the potentially awkward silence, as Solace announces the arrival of Ibis. Asura sighs, "Oh, praise the Dragons! Ibis, I need you. Now. Cassia, the ship is departing from the harbour in just over three hours, I suggest you get what things you need and talk to Captain Kioren."

Asura reaches up behind her neck and undoes the tie holding her dress up, the cloth falling to the floor and leaving her naked as she slides over to a pile of cushions and lies down. "Oh, Ibis, I need your hands..." Ibis, a huge man walks uncommonly quietly up to her, and begins to massage the naked Dragon-blood.

Cassia is used to such things and doesn't blink, "I will see you soon, I hope, Lady Asura," then she slips away and out of the palace to the small room she calls home.

The sun hangs low on the horizon as Cassia leaves the Iceflower Palace, the red light colouring the city as she wends through streets and back to her home. She spends a little bit of time sorting out her things, packing some shirts and skirts in a small bag, along with a couple of knives. She adds a little more money to her purse, and a roll of lockpicks to another pouch. She considers, then finds a cloak that will hide the shineyness at her neck.

Captain Kioren's ship, the Scarlet Hunter, is a sleek, Imperial-rigged cutter, obviously built more for speed than for carrying cargo. Normally such a ship entering the waters of the Realm would be at great risk of being stopped by a smuggler patrol, but this ship flies a flag bearing the mon of House Cynis, something that will mostly guarantee an interference-free journey.

Kioren himself is a small, wiry man in the twilight of his years, silver hair at his temple glowing blood red in the evening sun. He meets Cassia at the dockside, concealed behind a pile of canvas-covered crates. "You're the one I'm to slip into Othakaar? Aren't you a little young?"

Cassia lets a wash of red flash over her features, "I'm used to taking care of myself, Captain."

The man's eyes widen with a sharp intake of breath, "Obviously. I apologise for any offence."

Cassia smiles and shrugs, "None taken. Nice ship you have there, she looks fast."

"She is. One of the fastest in the Inland Sea. Plenty of nooks and crannies to hide... a small thing like yourself, too." Kioren looks around, "I'm not sure how I can get you on board without being seen, though. It's late, the tide is in less than an hour, so it's busy here."

Cassia grins, "I think I can manage to get myself aboard."

"Oh?"

"There are two ways a girl like me can survive here, and I've yet to sell my body."

"Very well," Kioren nods, "Do you need any help at all?"

"If you could leave one of your portholes open, and make sure the crew aren't below decks about ten minutes after you do?"

"Can do," Kioren smiles, "I'll see you shortly, then." He bows slightly and heads back to the Hunter, to supervise the last-minute loading of less-than-legal cargo.

Cassia waits in the gathering shadows until ten minutes after the porthole is opened, stripping off her cloak since it would only get pulled off. She checks to see no-one is watching, before she leaps lightly, easily covering the distance from dock to ship, pushing her bag through the porthole, then following after it, her shoulders twisting into a distinctly unhealthy looking shape as she squeezes through.

The cabin is sparsely decorated, with a large table bolted to the floor and a single bunk against the starboard side, while a hefty, iron-bound chest rests underneath the porthole that Cassia squeezed through, providing a useful place to stand.

Cassia resists the temptation to mess with the lock, though she does cast a quick glance over the papers on the table. Then she closes up the porthole behind her, and picks her bag up, listening at the door.

Kioren's stentorian voice resounds through the door, "Make ready to cast off, we have to catch the tide or we lose the money." His footsteps, loud on the wooden planks, approach the door.

Cassia sits on the chest. Very still.

The door opens slightly, and Kioren's figure is visible, etched in shadow against a blood-red sky, "Are you in?" he whispers.

"Yes." she whispers back.

The captain steps inside and closes the door, an eyebrow raised, "I'm not sure how you got in through the porthole, but I'm glad you're in safe."

"Thanks. Now, is there anywhere I shouldn't hide on your ship?"

"Well, the crew quarters, obviously. Apart from that, well, there's several places in the holds where you could hide, although they're not exactly comfortable."

"How long will the trip be?"

"We should be arriving at Othakaar in about three days, the weather gods permitting," the captain looks a trifle abashed at his minor blasphemy.

Cassia nods "So, what am I going to do about food?"

"I can slip you some food. It'll just be sailor's fare, nothing like you're used to, but it'll fill your belly."

Cassia shrugs, "I'm sure I'll cope." She looks thoughful, "Do the crew ever come to look in the holds?"

"Not usually. We're too busy running the ship to do that. Well, except for the chef, and he only goes into the food stores. Stay out of there and you'll be fine."

Cassia nods "I guess I'll see you at the next meal, then. I'll go find a place to hide."

Aboard the Scarlet Hunter, Cassia waits in Captain Kioren's cabin, having snuck onto the ship just before the evening tide sweeps it out of the High Port and thence south towards the Blessed Isle. The sounds of the crew getting ready to sail leak into the room, keeping the young girl acutely aware that this will be her first real journey outside Tideholme.

Cassia considers her situation for a brief moment, waiting for the captain to lleave, then sneaking out of his cabin, following his directions to the holds. Outwardly there is nothing to see, a slightly deeper pool of shadow in the poorly lit below decks, but inwardly Cassia is thrilled. She'll get to see the realm, see how it really is, see how the Dynasty live their lives.

The voices outside reach a crescendo of activity, and then the ship slowly, ponderously, begins to move. The beams creak as the half-rolled sails fill with air, as the steersman gets the ship ready for the rush of the tide. Suddenly, the ship lurches forwards, the force pushing Cassia backwards into a small chest in the cabin, as the tide catches the Scarlet Hunter, and the other twelve ships waiting, and pulls them out down the mile-long channel as fast as a man can run.

Cassia gasps in shock and sudden pain, grabbing onto the chest to steady herself as the ship travels down the channel, pulling herself up to the porthole to look out at the city streaming by. The ship speeds down the channel, sails out and billowing in the wind, and in a bare few minutes it is clear of the city and out into the sea, the city and kingdom of Tideholme receding rapidly astern.

There are three knocks in quick succession on the cabin door. Cassia makes herself scarce under the bed. or in a chest, or something.

Captain Korien walks in and shuts the door behind him. "Are y'still in here, girl?"

Cassia folds herself out from under the bed. It probably looks quite disconcerting to the captain. Joints just don't bend that way. "Yes."

Korien blinks twice, "Huh..? OK. We're underway, should hit Othakaar harbour in a day and a half going flat-out, which we are." He nods, "There's a couple of spaces in the aft cargo hold you can hide, I put a couple of blankets and some food in one."

Cassia smiles at him, "Thank you Captain Korien. How safe is it to make light in there?""

"It's right at the back, near the rudder. Don't make too much light and you'll be fine."

Cassia nods "I guess I should get there then, before your crew starts to come below decks. I'll see you later."

Korien nods, "The aft cargo hatch is just to the left of this door as you leave. It's unlatched. Just head sternwards once you down and you'll see it." He reaches over and grabs a large book from his table, "I'll see you later then." He walks back out through the door and on deck.

Cassia nods after him, then slips out of the room with her bag, closing the door behind her, silently opening the hatch, closing it behind her, then dropping down into the cargo hold, landing with barely a sound.

The hold is small, barely 5' high, forcing Cassia to hunch as she works her way around the boxes and crates that were loaded onto the Scarlet Hunter in port.

Cassia lights her skin to give her something to navigate by as she walks and crawls over or shimmeys under the various crates and boxes that bar her way, eventually finding the small cavity the captain said that there would be, the small packet of food and the blankets.

The ship reaches the deeper waters of the Great Inland Sea and begins to really run. The sails above stretch taut, and the huge beam of the main mast creaks down in the hold as the wind tries to pull it free. Pitching heavily as its strong keel slices through the waves, the ship makes good time towards the Blessed Isle.

Cassia occupies herself in the small hollow she has with her carvings, slowly scrapping away the bits of bone to fashion the design of the comb into a snow leopard about to pounce.

Time in the stuffy hold passes rapidly, light leaking in through cracks in the deck above show Cassia the passing of day and night and then day again. The sounds of the crew change then, becoming harsher and Korien's stentorian bellow can be heard more than once. The ship's movements even out as she heads inland, and the smells of land make themselves known to the young Dragon-blood.

Cassia takes a deep breath of the landsmells, drawing them all in to savour them, before she carefully packs her small supplies away, folding the blankets and gathering up any of the larger scraps of food she might have left lying about. She starts to make moves toward the door of the hold, listening carefully through it.

The crew curse and swear as they move crates and boxes and rolls of cloth out of the hold and up onto Othakaar's docks. Luckily the things they need from the aft hold were stored around the door, the quick look Cassia managed to get at the chart suggesting that the Scarlet Hunter is also due to head for Port Calin and Nexus, presumably some of the cargo is destined for those ports.

Cassia remains small and quiet in the hold then, as the things are being unloaded, waiting for it all to quieten down before she moves again. It takes about an hour for the hub-bub to die down, cargo being hauled by ropes and sweating sailors.

Once it seems to be quiet, Cassia slips out of the hold, and up the ladder and back into the captain's cabin.

His cabin is empty, the table cleared of the charts and anything else that might be incriminating or useful to a rival. Everything except a small note, "Good luck with whatever you're doing, girl. The porthole facing the dockside would be your best way out. - Korien"

Cassia takes the small note, and leaves the blanket carefully folded on the bed, then listens carefully through the window. The sounds of the dockside ring loud through the small round window, but Korien chose his berth well, since the window cannot be seen from the land, due to a large tarpaulined pile of crates lined up against the edge of the quay.

Cassia quietly throws her bag out onto the dockside, then squeezes herself out of the porthole, rolling up onto her feet, and picking the bag up. She casts her eyes about to make sure she is still unobserved, then starts to walk off the quay

Othakaar, at least the dockside, is not quite what Cassia's image of a city of the Realm should be. It has a slightly rundown air to it, the people grungy and talkative and loud. Soldiers in grey and blue livery walk around in groups of four or five, and everywhere is a cacophony of a hundred languages, the streets leading into the city itself packed with people.

Cassia simply melts into the crowd. Clad in unassuming clothes as she is, and wearing a hooded cape, nothing stands out about her. She considers briefly how she is actually supposed to find Sian in all this.

The streets that lead from the dockside are lined with businesses designed to appeal to the low tastes and small purses of sailors. Cheap food and cheaper brothels abound, with some of the latter's workers lounging outside, quite the contrast to Asura's refined sexuality.

Cassia considers. There are always people who watch the ports for coming and goings, and where and when people go. They shouldn't be too hard to find, in fact that man over there... A tall and more-than-a-little disreputable man leans with a certain air of proprietorship against the corner of a sailor's tavern. He looks down at Cassia and shrugs, "Yes?"

"I was wondering if you could help me, perhaps?"

He looks more closely, his eyes widening slightly as he takes in his questioner, "I probably could... whether or I will depends on what you want and what you'll give me for it."

"As to what I'll give you, I'm sure we can come to some arrangement. I'm looking for someone, a traveller from the north."

"We get lots of them. Most likely looking for some warmth and company," he chuckles crudely.

"He would have come in yesterday, I think, on the ship from Tideholme." She ignores his implications.

"Tideholme, eh? Yeah, there was a ship arrived from there," he looks down at Cassia again, "And that's all you get without giving something back, girlie."

Cassia nods and considers the right payment for the kind of information she might want. She offers half of it, "There will be some more when you give me the information I want."

"That's better, give a little to get a little. Yeah, a ship from Tideholme came in yesterday. Buncha cargo and a few passengers. Anyone in particular you're looking for?"

Cassia gives a brief description of Sian and Kerzoro.

"Oh, those two," he snickers, "Good luck finding them here. Word has it they got in trouble with the Immaculates almost as soon as they landed, kicked out last night they were. Wherever they are, it ain't here."

Cassia lets out small curse to the dragons. "Thank you." she gives him a little "I don't suppose you might have heard what vessel they left on..?"

"It's possible," he nods.

Cassia nods and offers him a little more of her not-that-large stash of jade. "I would be grateful if you could tell me the name and where I might find them."

"Ship was called Sea Dragon, although she's more of a scow than a dragon. Captained by a man calls himself Ghost, missing his left hand, although he's never said how he lost it. Odd... they left yesterday, but were back this morning," he chuckles, "Your friends might just be feeding the fishes out in the bay."

"Perhaps." She pays him the last little bit of money she feels she owes him for the information, "Thank you for your time, and your information," then vanishes back into the crowd.

The information broker blinks, and nods at his payment and then goes back to watching the ebb and flow of society.

Cassia returns to the dockside, looking for the Sea Dragon. She soon decides she has little to no chance of finding it, not really knowing what a scow is, nor the port itself. She grabs a passing kid on the shoulder, and kneels down holding up a jade bit. "I'm looking for Ghost, captain of the Sea Dragon, can you take me to him?"

"The Sea Dragon? She's berved over at the Black Oak Docks. Her cap'n's prob'ly wiv 'er. Yeah, I c'n take yer there." The child runs off back towards the harbour.

Cassia follows her? him? through the crowd and to the Sea Dragon

Sea Dragon, for such is her name, is a small vessel rather like those Cassia sees dock at Tideholme on a regular basis, a small ship designed to hug the coast. The adjective "scow" was more likely a pejorative, since there are few vessels that the Dragon-blood has seen in her short life that have been uglier, dirtier or worse maintained.

...Maybe he was right about them being thrown overboard. She hands the kid the bits, and then with a thought back to how she was at that age, another few bits, "Captain Ghost?" she calls out in Low Realm

A short, ugly man with his right arm ending at a nasty-looking stump gets up from the crate he was sitting on while smoking what, from the smell, appears to be qat. He stumps over to Cassia, his eyes at about the level of her chest, "S'me. Whatcha want?" His eyes don't appear inclined to look up.

"I'd like to talk to you about a couple of your passengers, please." She ignores the looking.

"Pass'ngers? Sea Dragon's a cargo ship. We dun take pass'ngers."

Cassia smiles reassuringly at him. "I'm sure you don't." She tilts her head a little, "In that case, I want to talk to you about the cargo of two living people you took on last night. Please." The please stressed just a little too much to make it a request.

"Hmm... what's it to you?" Ghost looks up for the first time in the conversation - perhaps he got bored of the view?

"I'm looking. For a friend."

"Well, yeah I did take on a couple pieces o'walking cargo yesterday, sure."

"And then?" there is the brief flash of jade in her hand. "What did you do with your cargo?"

"Hrm..." Ghost looks at the coinage, his eyes calculating, "My memory's not what it was. Drink does that t'a man, y'know?"

Cassia slips coins, seemingly out of her sleeve, one at a time with a measured interval, watching his face.

After another couple fall Ghost says, "Yeah, well... cargo wasn't any good, see? Had to turn around n' drop it off again. Didn' get back 'til after dark."

"And did your cargo mention anything about where they might be going?" she lets the coins continue their dropping.

"'Fraid not. Just that they had some trouble with the law here, but needed to get back. It's not like they're difficult to see, though - the red one had a sword as big as you are."

Cassia sighs softly and drops the money into his hand, then turns and melts into the crowd once more, considering her next move. They were here, and then they left, to escape the legal trouble, one presumes. Before returning. What in Mela's name could they want here? And where in Malfeas were they now?

The sunlight, already waning when Cassia made it into Othakaar has, by now, faded entirely. The docks are much quieter than they were, the crowds far thinner, and in the distance, in the richer part of the city, light crystals can be seen coming on. Around the docks, the only light is from the occasional burning torch shoved in a wall-side sconce.

Cassia considers her next move. She should probably find an inn for the night, or some other place to stay. Which they must have too, one presumes. Though the number of inns near to the dockside. Cassia doesn't like to think about how many that is. She finds herself a room in one of the nicer looking inns and turns in for the night, concealing her move valuable things where they cant be found without moving her.

Morning's arrival is heralded by the raucous sounds of gulls, and the noise of a common room filled with dockworkers and stevedores getting a quick breakfast in. The red light of dawn leaks in through cheap shutters to confirm this impression, shining right onto Cassia's face.

Cassia wakes at the noise and the light, unused as she is to the strange bed in the strange city, the voices from the street below filtering up, words she could understand but accents she was not used to. Time to try and find Sian again ... after some breakfast.

The common room is packed solidly, benches and tables laden down with cheap food and cheaper drink, to the point where many people are leaning against the walls with a bowl of soup and a cup of thin wine. The overworked innkeeper and his staff rush around, taking orders and delivering food at a breakneck pace.

Cassia considers the food, then ducks out of the Inn into the fresher and much less packed air outside, wandering a little back from the docks to find herself a quieter, slightly more high quality establishment.

Away from the dockside, patronised by the populace of Othakaar, one such place offers relatively cheap, decent, clean food, without having to deal with a packed room and a noise level so high as to be almost painful.

Cassia takes a seat and orders as she considers her options, eating the food as she considers how to carry on her search ... While from his drescription, Sian's companion wouldn't be hard to find, it wouldn't do to alert anyone else who might be looking for them that she was too ...

The early morning crowd of the city begins to build up as the sun rises, the streets slowly filling with workers and artisans, soldiers and thieves. The sounds of a city waking up and getting on with its business. Cassia finishes her breakfast, leaving some jade for the server, then slips into the swelling crowd. She isn't sure exactly who she's looking for, but she knows the type to a 't'

Gossipmongers are, by their very nature, quite easy to find, and Cassia does just that - a shady-looking woman with dark eyes and ruffled hair sits in an abandoned shopfront, surrounded by scraps and pieces of paper.

"Hello." Cassia says softly as she melts out of the crowd in front of the woman. "I was wondering if you could help me find my friend..."

Looking up and squinting the woman says, "Anything is possible, young one. Sit down," she pats a stool that had until moments earlier been home to large pile of paper, "and tell me about this friend."

Cassia seats herself quickly, and though she doesn't show it to the outside world, warily. She starts into a description of Sian's companion, adding as much detail as she can.

"Hmm... let's see..." she ruffles through her 'library', scanning piece after piece of paper, "Your friend was seen in the Street of Promises two mornings ago, where he was picked up by some soldiers." She grins at Cassia, "He stands out a bit, your friend. Anyway... oh, interesting... he was seen there again that night, where he had a fight with some odd folk." She grimaces, "Tongues cut out."

Cassia winces at the sound of that, not looking pleased at all "... Could you give me any idea where I might find him now?"

She shuffles through her papers for a few more minutes, "The last thing I can find is that someone fitting his description was seen in the Old Quarter... not long after that fight, it looks like." She shrugs, "Sorry."

Cassia sighs softly, "Could you tell me where in the Old Quarter and how to get there?" Cassia says as she subtly moves to transfer some money from her purse to her hand

"That I can do, although be careful. The Old Quarter is a maze and a young girl like you..." she makes vague gestures, but proffers a scrap of paper with the name of a street on it.

Cassia takes the paper and offers her some jade in exchange "Thank you for your time and your help." she smiles sunnily, then melts back into the crowd, moving away from the table, before asking a young man for proper directions to the old quarter with a hopeful smile.

Directions are provided with a surprised blink, and Cassia soon finds that the description of the Old Quarter as a maze was literally true, with narrow alleyways, barely cobbled streets and open urinals.

Cassia isn't worried about getting lost, so much as taking forever to find where she is heading...

The street given by the gossipmonger is found in short order, in a particularly deprived area of the city, where many of the houses appear to be abandoned, with collapsed roofs and other signs of neglect.

A complete lack of people on the street lends an eerie quiet to the area, although a sense of being watched does pervade it. Cassia starts to look around for signs of the violence dealt to Sian and his companion. She is wary about the possibilty of people approaching her, though again, this doesn't show in her movements.

Luckily the lack of general foot-traffic helps Cassia to classify the footprints in the dust of the street, soon locating those of the large ex-soldier still wearing his army boots, and accompanied by the smaller, lighter tread of Sian. Strangely, there are three sets of prints, as if the pair had travelled down the street, back and then down it again. The last pairs of bootprints are both very recent and accompanied by a third set.

The intense examination given to the street means that when Cassia's sense return to the world around her she realises that there is a low, constant rumbling sound that fills the street. At first it sounds like thunder, but it rolls on for too long, and it seems to come from the ground itself.

"That is ... odd." Cassia states to herself then starts to nonchalantly follow the bootprints through the city, keeping her own footsteps light and fast. While she didn't know Sian was the source of the rumble, she was willing to place bets ...

The rumbling, almost below the range of hearing at first, grows louder as Cassia trots down the street. Heads poke out of broken doors and shattered windows as old roof tiles begin to rattle and fall to the ground.

Cassia moves away from the buildings, for her own safety mostly, picking up her pace a little more

A loud *crack!* resounds from the earth before the young Dragon-blood, followed by a roar like that of an angry dragon as a pillar of green fire erupts from the ground, rising some ten yards into the air. Several other similar sounds echoing down the labyrinth of the Old Quarter suggest that this has happened in more than one place.

Cassia swears fluidly in high realm, leaping back from the pillar of... green flame, then tries to find a way around it...

The pillar of fire burns silently and without heat, pulsating occasionally as if to the beat of an inhuman heart. A new sound does emerge from the fire, however, as arms burst from the ground beneath it, arms that pull bodies up behind them. The Dead have come to this part of Othakaar.

Cassia tries to duck around the pillar, through the nearest building, before the zombies can fully pull themselves from the ground, moving on to follow the trail. The risen corpse pulls itself fully from the ground after Cassia slides past it, following the trail that hopefully leads to Sian. More cracking sounds resound across the streets, and a sickly green glare from several side-streets suggests that more and more of these pillars of fire are bursting through the ground

The footprints lead into (and apparently through) a small, open square - or at least a square that would be open were it not for the quintet of zombies currently populating it. Cassia glances around, and then with a burst of flame, leaps up onto the nearest rooftop and proceeds to move around the square, dropping back to street level a little past the square. She carries on deeper into the maze.

The footprints, now somewhat harder to see due to the ground's shaking moving everything around, lead further, deeper into the Old Quarter. It stops dead at a wall of green flame that surrounds a small, tumbledown house.

Cassia frowns at the wall of flame, circleing the house, looking for any break in the flames, or even if she thinks she can leap the flame, but she does not see any gaps and the wall is too tall even for her Essence-powered jumps to cross.

Cassia curses once more, at the size of the wall of flame. For some reason she doesn't think her anima will protect her from it ... After studying the wall for a few more seconds, she decides to settle down somewhere hopefully out of sight of the zombies, to watch the house.

The flame bursts and gutters, forming a pale green barrier around the house. Over the cracking sounds of the earth there are screams of panic and terror.

The confused sounds of battle resound through the narrow streets, orders are barked out and metal slices through decaying flesh revived through some necromantic ritual. This goes on for some time before there is what could only be described as a burst of silence. The flames explode into twice their height, consuming every scrap of sound, and then vanish as if they were never there. The earth itself closes up over the cracks, leaving only tiny marks to show where they were, and the wall of fire around the house dissipates with it.

Cassia listens for a moment, then slips from her hiding place, moving quickly and quietly over to the house, seeing what, if anything is left of it.

The house was left untouched by the green fire, and the tracks of the three Cassia followed can be seen leading up to and through the remnants of a door, and then down a passage that appears to have been cut through the foundations of the city itself into somewhere... deeper.

Cassia considers, then, after checking her dagger is easy to draw, makes her subtle way down the passage

The passageway leads down, into the depths below the city. It's arrow-straight line cut straight through an ancient crypt, the remains within long-since defiled, and down still further. Ahead of her, however, come echoing voices and a faint light, both growing in strength.

Cassia looks about for cover in the crypt, eventually spying an open sarcophagus, and behind it a pool of shadow created by the propped-up lid. She slips into this shadow, drawing her dark cloak about her.

The voices and lights resolve themselves into Sian and Kerzoro, and a third Exalted - a short and stocky woman with close-cropped black hair and an obvious wound on her neck. There is a sense of relief from the trio as they head back into the city above, talking about inconsequentialities.

Cassia tries to catch a name or anything they might have talked about, waiting a few moments then setting out to follow them slowly and carefully, hanging well back.