Chapter 6: Signs of Conspiracy

Gent 18th (day)

Synopsis
After a considerable breakfast at Starhome, the party split. Roza followed some leads in the Blue Ward, uncovering a startling threat to the fragile peace between nations involving magic and the fey. After Nel and Cassie finally managed to drag Iorwinn out the door, they discovered the Speaker may no longer be in charge of her offices. A ledger won by the priestess and a note found by the explorer suggest a conspiracy that involves the local mages in The Tower of the Peryton and an old sourpuss of an assistant in Sabrient Hall. After breaking into the Speaker's office, Cassie is now a fugitive from the Havenean law. Meanwhile, Ilshana delivered food to the hut and met Aiden's new companion Kurn, a blink dog won from the petty prince apparently betrothed to the bard! The truth was at last revealed about Ilshana's heritage and the meaning behind her slow vanishing. It wasn't long after the hut was chased away from the city gates by 'official' messengers of the Speaker in the form of peryton mages and their ensorcelled war shrike. It seems the closer the five get to the truth, the more some hidden, half-suspected power in Haven seeks to expunge or silence them. Are the striga involved? And is the Festival of Kites some sort of d-day to plots as of yet only guessed at?


Notable NPCs
Kurn- Blink dog won over by Aiden during his duel with a sidhe prince.
Cloak Bryce Kazmer- Brightcloak investigating the attack in Frog's.
Eda Petreke- Server at Frog's and eye witness to the events that transpired in the cafe. She places Dorban at the scene before the attack, and claims some pretty bizarre things...
Loc (mentioned)- Cook at Frog's and eye witness to the events that transpired in the cafe.
Dorottya Tuirn (mentioned)- Proprietor of Frog's, though not an eye witness to the events which transpired.
Assistant Lemin Vincze- An elderly, tightly-wound assistant to the speaker (secretary) who barred a meeting between the Speaker, Nel, and Cassie. She had Nel ejected, and Cassie made a fugitive (though the girl did break an entering). Lost a potentially important ledger to Nel. Also possessed unusual strength for a woman her age.
Captain Mira Beltremieux (mentioned)- half-elf captain of the Brightcloaks, whom the Brightcloaks at Sabrient Hall refer Nel for formal complaints... if they can find her. She's very busy.
Arsei Fyodor (mentioned)- Lord of the Tower of the Peryton and most distinguished wizard in Haven, with the exception of the gifted Speaker herself. He was the Speaker's last appointment over a week ago.
Dorban Erszi (mentioned)- Son of the leader of The Amber Guild. He was implicated by Eda in the events at Frog's.


Notable Locations
Frog's- Small restaurant in the Blue Ward, currently cordoned off due to official Brightcloak business. Two cloaks were murdered there a week ago. Yet Roza uncovered the trouble goes even deeper...

Blue Tenements- One of the converted warehouses from the times when barging was lucrative in Haven. Thin partitions have created apartments out of the drafty, cold space and provided housing for poorer Haveneans. Roza and Bryce questioned Eda here, after the cloak was able to convince the guard placed at the door to take a few.

The Kaalga Gate- Main gate of Haven, situated in the Red Ward and fashioned to look like a giant hawk. Rather, fashioned to look like a war shrike, the party in the dancing hut realized as peryton mages and a trained war shrike (giant raptor) chased them away.

Sabrient Hall- Civic offices of Haven, populated by legates, couriers, and assistants to the Speaker. Nel and Cassie were ejected from the place for asking the wrong questions and voicing problematic demands. Cassie caught a glimpse of the colorful third floor and managed to steal something important out of the Speaker's desk before leaping out a window to avoid arrest.


Havenean Factions II
Office of the Speaker- The Etherias-aligned government of the city of Haven (also known as Osta) and de facto leader of the villages, farmsteads, colleges, and monasteries around the base of The Holy Mountain, the office is headed by a speaker chosen by the High Priest of Etheria. The speaker is obligated to act as democratic mayor of a body of representatives drawn from the major factions and city wards. The offices are served and protected by the Brightcloaks, who double as city guard and border patrol alongside a rotating assortment of mercenaries (meant to discourage corruption) including The Roosters, Braga's Few, and The Might of Yor. All who make their homes and livings within lower Etheria owe allegiance to these offices, supported by a staff of legates, diplomats, ministers, assistants, couriers, and unofficially spies. As such, the offices possess an incredibly long reach, providing and enforcing the rule of law to half the nation. Admittedly, Brightcloak numbers are far too small to adequately man or defend the entirety of the mountain's foothills beyond token forces. In the relatively peaceful country, this is enough. If it comes to war, less so.

Tower of the Peryton- In the teleporting tower currently rooted in the White Ward, cut down the middle half pearly white and half glistening onyx, the resident mages live isolated lives dedicated to the study of the arcane. Only pulled into politics during times of crisis or great need, their efforts are usually self-centered. They inhabit a vague space between foreigner and citizen, though the tower has been on Etherian soil for eighteen years now and considered by most Haveanean. The order draws from three main pools of regional magic-users, least of these half-orc shamans of the greater Dawnspears who were shunned from their mountain tribes for their weak blood (in other words, managed to escape with their lives). Given shelter and resources to tap into their ancestral blood-magic, the half-orcs provide weather-based and beast-dominating magics (for example, the war shrike at the Kaalga Gate). Secondly, a family of air genasi sired by the sorcerers Kiro-Sulos and Kari-Ula joined not a decade ago to the day. A fertile lot, the amount of sons, daughters, nieces, and nephews is extensive, making Kiro-Sulos the unofficial second-in-command of the order for the youthful numbers at his beck-and-call. However, Lord of the Tower of the Peryton is a title for the most accomplished wizard of the bunch, Arsei Fyodor, leader of his majority of Dawer wizards drawn from the human families of the hills, valleys, and habitable mountains stretching modern Etheria, Izolda, even corners of the Lands of the Bastard Kings. The number of peryton mages is unknown, though suspected about 40-70 members. Given the estimations, it is supposed the tower holds extradimensional space within. And why they raise the gruesome peryton as their namesake and standard is completely unknown.

The Amber Guild- Richest of the Havenean guilds based out of the Indigo Ward, they could be called The Etherian Miners' Guild, however their most lucrative extract is amber. It is plentiful in The Holy Mountain and the prime export of Haven, alongside good granite and marble (and mead, though they have no control over that). The guild keeps close ties with its sister guilds, The Gem Cutters and Masons, together forming a triad of strong business-savvy and economically-sound organizations which sustain building and expansion across lower Etheria. They are the economic heartbeat of lower Etheria, their gauld allowing for Haven and the Brightcloaks to exist as they do. And the Master of Amber, Otto Erszi, knows this. He is guild master, the most powerful member of the speaker's council (and perhaps more powerful than the speaker), and the richest man in Haven, a boyar in all but title. While not a particularly unreasonable, arrogant, or greedy man, he gets what he wants more often than not. When he prospers, as he so often puts it, Haven prospers. The Amber Guild supports hundreds of miners, prospectors, appraisers, refiners, merchants, transporters, and armed guard.

The Note
found in a hidden compartment of Speaker Melane-Kirk's Desk

Summer is cold. The sun shines amber in the sky. Our Four Friends empty their purses before N and W.  In the woods where the bear can see the city, a white shadow searches for a problem.

Yours under the mallet,

                      - K

The Gent Ledger
Gent 1
- Rees Duilbrood, Marshall of Lower Etheria
- Captain Mira Beltremieux, Captain of the Brightcloaks
- Stenn Magnar, Templar of Fire's Claim, Red Ward
Gent 2
- Uncle Gorski, unofficial 'Boss of Kranik Square', Orange Ward
- Ikinias the Lesser, Thessolonian Philosopher, Selale Representative
- Blue Bill, Representative of the Blue Ward
Gent 3
- Magmac Cuhul, Randal Mystic of Green Ward
- Sir Rendor Ulrik, Knight of the Lily-Grave, Randal in Violet Ward
Gent 4
- Artificer-General Raziel Kirk (all day)
Gent 5
- Dame Tzigana Filipina, Lady of the Hydra's Fang
- Matyas Janeska, Priest of The Morning Chantry
- Virag Graznya, Proprietor of Chilvary's Grave Drunkbarn, Red Ward
Gent 6
- Sasa Nastusia, Priestess of Moonbower
- Captain Mira Beltremieux, Captain of the Brightcloaks
Gent 7
- Ambrus Karrolin, Proprietor of Grayhouse in the Red Ward
- Captain Mira Beltremieux, Captain of the Brightcloaks
- Tal-Or "The Wall of Ehud", Mitha in Violet District
- Sunblind Heliodoros, Thessolonian Seer of Selale
Gent 8
- Brother Lorant Jordan II, Lord of the Brother-Knights
- Iber Birdsclaw, Aven Priest of Chroma, Red Ward
- Proprietor's Meeting (innkeepers and tavern owners of Haven)
- Captain Mira Beltremieux, Captain of the Brightcloaks
Gent 9
- Captain Mira Beltremieux, Captain of the Brightcloaks
- Captain Mira Beltremieux, Captain of the Brightcloaks
Gent 10
- Artificer-General Raziel Kirk (all day)
Gent 11
- Macaul of Rivenroost, Circle Druid of Green Ward
- Captain Mira Beltremieux, Captain of the Brightcloaks
- Arsei Fyodor, Lord of the Tower of the Peryton
Gent 12
Gent 13
Gent 14
Gent 15
Gent 16
Gent 17
Gent 18