We're the Soldiers of the Queen, my lads

The Curse of the Crimson Throne



Part 4: Guard Duty



After our meeting eith the Queen, we were escorted to Castle Volshyenek, the headquarters of the Korvosan City Guard. We were introduced to Field Marshall Cressida Kroft, leader of the Guard. She told us that the rioting in the city had stretched the Guard to its limit, and she was very happy to have some new agents that she could rely on.


Our first mission was that of desertion. When the rioting broke out, many of the Guard broke from their posts to help protect their families and loved ones. One man, however, had deserted, and had managed to persuade a handful of other men to join him. The Field Marshall wanted us to find this man - called Verik Vancaskerkin - and bring him back to the Castle for questioning and rehabilitation.


Verik and his men had holed themselves up in a butcher's shop called "All The World's Meat". The shop was open and, apparently, doing business. Quietly, we broke in through the back of the shop, where a lonely cow and a few pigs wandered aimlessly around a yard, waiting for their inevitable slaughter. We entered the main slaughter floor. The smell of death and blood was overpowering. We were met by two of Verik's lackeys, both covered in blood stains from slaughtering animals. One got angry and attacked. The other seemed nervous and afraid. After knocking out the aggressive one, the other told us that he was sorry for the killings, and just wanted to help the less fortunate. Killings? What killings? This soon became clearer. In the storeroom we discovered many cuts of meat for sale. However, some of the cuts were from humans. These people were slaughtering people and selling them to the public!


Reg the Paladin was furious! We encountered two more men, and Reg flew into a rage, killing them both. And then we stormed into the offices and encountered Verik. Holding Reg back, we spoke with Verin, confronting him with our findings. The poor man broke down in tears. He had deserted the Guard so that he could open the shop and sell cheap meat to the less fortunate and the victims of the riots. However, the men who had deserted with him had, unbeknown to him, started to kill people when the cattle deliveries ran dry. He returned to the Castle with us, ashamed of what his men had done.


Our second mission was more unusual. There was an ambassador from Cheliax who hated the city and said it should be abandoned. He was up to something suspicious, but the Field Marshall didn't know what. Our mission was to find some incriminating evidence on the ambassador that the Field Marshall could use against him, should he start anything against the city.


Our destination was a places called Eel's End - a collection of five ships moored together at the end of a pier. The ships provided various "services" for paying customers to indulge in. We had been told that the ambassador had been seen there many times. When we arrived, the place was full of nighttime revellers. there was a brothel, a drug den, and a fight club plying their trade on the ships. Our goal was to talk to the owner of Eel's End - a man known simply as the King of Spiders.


When we confronted the King, we realised why he had the title. His cabin was covered with webs, and hundreds of spiders of all shapes and sizes crawled across them. Even the man himself had a few large spiders on him. The man was serious and unhappy to see us. However, it was Sabelle who got us through this one. The Oracle used her womanly charms (and a bag of gold!) to seduce the King of Spiders. After a while, Sabelle and the Kingwere good friends, and it didn't take long for him to admit that the ambassador was having an affair here, and that the King had "acquired" some very scandalous letters that the ambassador had written to his lover. The King gave us one of these letters, and, with a promise from Sabelle that she would return one night, we left and returned to the Castle.


With two missions successfully completed, we were given some time off.


And it is here that I will pause the story, for I, too, need some time off. Return in a while, and I shall continue.