Peasants and Kings

The Curse of the Crimson Throne

Part 14: The Emperor and the Arkonas

As we emerged from Vencarlo's house, we were approached by a young man who seemed familiar to us. His name was Amin, and we realised that he was the young nobleman we had rescued many months ago from a mob during the riots. He told us that he had been a guest of Vencarlo's at his fencing school ever since the quarantine of Old Korvosa happened. He said that the school had been attacked by Red Mantis assassins and then burnt down. Vencarlo had fought off the assassins, but then fled. Amin said that Vencarlo had had several meetings with an artist known as Salvatore Scream, a man who was renowned for painting disturbing and horrific paintings, and perhaps we should seek him out as to the whereabouts of Vencarlo.

We found Salvatore's studio down by the river. The house was in disarray, with signs of many people entering the house. We also discovered a rather unusual woman sat waiting for us. She was an elf named Laori. She was clad in figure-hugging chainmail, which was adorned with spikes, and she carried a spiked chain as a weapon. She smiled cheerfully at us, and said that she, too, was seeking Salvatore, but he was not here, as he had been captured several days ago by the Emperor of Old Korvosa. She said she was interested in his muse, wanted to know how he came up with the ideas and inspriation for his art. Ever suspicious, Reg questioned her thoroughly, and was shocked to discover that she was a cleric of Zon-Kuthon, god of pain and darkness. She was a very cheerful person to be a cleric of such an evil deity. Reluctantly, the party let Laori join them. Laori then produced something for us that she had found in Salvatore's studio - a piece of cloth from a jacket. We recognised the insignia on the scrap - it was the jacket of the Seneschal! The man who could oppose the queen's rule had been here! We needed to find Salvatore at once and question him.

We made our way down to the docks of Old Korvosa, where the Emperor resided. We were soon invited up to his court by some of his lackeys. And there, on a rooftop overlooking the docks, we met the self-proclaimed Emperor of Old Korvosa. He was a weedy, unkempt man in theatrical robes to make him look like a king. He was pathetic. However, he was surrounded by a dozen or so men, and behind him stood a very ornate guillotine that looked as if it had been used many times before.

Our petition to the Emperor fell on deaf ears. Despite Reg's diplomacy and Adam's intimidations, the Emperor was not going to let us see Salvatore. Just when I could see that the group looked as if they were about to draw their weapons, the Emperor clapped his hands and gave us a proposal - we were to play a game of Blood Pig against some of his men. If we won, we could meet Salvatore.

Let me tell you of this barbaric sport that the Emperor had devised. On a flat roof, an area had been marked off for the teams to start in. At each end was a small cage, and a pit in the floor. When the game commenced, a live pig appeared in one of the cages. The idea of the game was simple - grab the pig and get it into the pit at the opposite end of the field. Of course, this wasn't as easy as it looked. The pig put up quite a fight, and wriggled and squirmed in the arms of the players. The other team also punched and kicked us as we tried to play. We also discovered that the pits each contained a ravenous wolverine! The poor pig was to be eaten alive all in the name of sport.

So, the game commenced. At one point, Reg picked up one of the other players and hurled him off the roof, which brought whoops and cheers from the crowd watching. In the end, it was Adam's quick reflexes that got us the winning point. Begrudgingly, the Emperor lead us to see Salvatore. The Emperor then made one fatal mistake - he accompanied us to Salvatore without any of his men. He was quick to defeat, and soon Salvatore was released from captivity.

Salvatore had much to tell us. Neolandus, the Seneschal, was his friend, and had turned up at his studio a few hours after the King had died. He told Salvatore that the queen had murdered the king, and had entered into a pact with the Red Mantis! Salvatore knew that the queen would be looking for the seneschal, so he suggested that he should seek asylum with House Arkona.

House Arkona was one of Korvosa's oldest noble houses. They had an exotic palace overlooking Old Korvosa. The Arkonas had always been champions for the poor of Old Korvosa, and they were highly regarded by the people on the island.

So, with this new information, it was time to pay our respects to House Arkona and enquire of the Seneschal. Before we left, Laori said her goodbyes and escorted the artist off the quarantined island and to safety. I had a feeling that we would see her again.

The Arkona's palace was immense. It was decorated in the style of the Vudran palaces that I had read about when I was a child. Peacocks, tigers, elephants and monkeys were carved around doorways and windows. The smell of jasmine filled the air. The place was very grand. The Arkonas were certainly very wealthy.

We were shown in to a waiting room. Eventually we were met by Bahor Arkona himself. He was a well dressed, handsome man. He was very polite and every bit the gentleman that we had heard. However, there soon emerged a darker side to him that came as a surprise to us all. Firstly, he refused to tell us anything until we had defeated the Emperor of Old Korvosa. When we told him that it had already been done, his eyes lit up and he was very excited. He then told us that the Seneschal was indeed in the palace, but he was being held in a place called the Vitrified Labyrinth, deep beneath the house. The man was a prisoner here! Bahor then said that if we wanted to see him, we should adventure down into the Labyrinth and find him. He warned us that a large monster lurked within the Labyrinth, and that parts of the dungeon moved and rotated.

What was going on? Why was the Seneschal being held captive? Was Bahor going to watch in amusement as we explored his Labyrinth? We had no choice but to enter the dungeon. And so we descended a secret staircase that lead to the Vitrified Labyrinth, determined to find Neolandus and escape this peculiar place.

Devil Woman

Finally, the last entry for our last mega-gaming sunday.

It's getting quite exciting...

The Curse of the Crimson Throne

Part 13: Into Old Korvosa

A week after our discovery of a cure for Blood Veil, most of Korvosa was returning to normal. However, the island of Old Korvosa was still under quarantine, without any sign of it being lifted. No-one knew what was happening over there. The people must be running out of food. It was as if the oldest part of the city had been severed and left to rot.

Suddenly, we were told that there was going to be an announcement by the Queen - her first public appearance since the beginning of the plague. We made our way up to the Palace and stood in the courtyard with the rest of the cityfolk.

Queen Ileosa appeared, wearing a new crown, that seemed to be made of teeth or bones. Next to her stood Sabina, her bodyguard, now dressed in the armour of the Grey Maidens. Also with her was a fat, sweaty, balding man, whom I had never seen before, Field Marshall Kroft, and Commandant Marcus Endrin, head of the Sable Company - Reda's commanding officer.

The Queen made a speech about the plague coming to an end. She introduced the fat man as Togomor, the new Seneschal of Korvosa. She also said that due to the losses in both the City Guard and the Sable Company, the Sable Company were being disbanded and merged into the City Guard, whom itself would be under the control of the Grey Maidens. She announced that Sabina was now the commanding officer of the Grey Maidens.

She then asked for Commandant Endrin to hand over his badge of office to her. Marcus raised the badge and threw it at the Queen. Stunned, the queen looked at him aghast. And then, with a swift movement and a shout of "You must die!", Marcus Endrin drew out his crossbow, pointed it at the queen's head and pulled the trigger. For a moment Queen Ileosa stood motionless, a crossbow bolt protruding from her brow, a thin trickle of blood emerging from the wound. But then she reached up and pulled out the bolt. With lightning fast reactions, she grabbed hold of Commandant Endrin around the throat and lifted him off the ground. As he struggled to breathe, the queen took hold of the bolt that had been in her own head and with a sickening crack she thrust it into Endrin's head, between his eyes. His body convulsed, and he died right there in front of us. With a look of defiance, she turned to the crowd and said "This is what happens to all enemies of Korvosa!" As she said it, she looked straight at our group and glared at us. Then Togomor came up beside her, took her hand, and with a flash of magical energy they were gone.

Stunned by what had been seen, the populace returned home. We left the palace, not sure of what to do. A few hours later, we received a message to meet with Field Marshall Kroft.

Cressida Kroft was very agitated. She couldn't believe what had happened to her friend Marcus. She then told us that a few days beforehand she had received a letter from Vencarlo Orisini that had said that he had found some disturbing information about the queen. She may have made a pact with a devil! At first, the Field Marshall hadn't believed the letter, but after the show that the queen had given us a few hours earlier, she was starting to think it was true.

Vencarlo's letter had also asked for us to come and see him. However, his home and his fencing school were on the quarantined island of Old Korvosa. We were going to have to break the quarantine and get across to the island somehow.

So, in the cover of night, Reda used her hippogriff mount to fly us all over to a quiet part of the island where there were no guard patrols.

Old Korvosa had descended into anarchy. Food was almost gone. People were scared. Mobs and gangs had started to stalk the streets. We even heard that someone claiming to be the Emperor of Old Korvosa had taken control of the island. The cityfolk were in a desperate state.

We made our way up to Vencarlo's home. However, no-one seemed to be at home. Our knock went unanswered, and when we tried the door, we discovered that it was unlocked. Cautiously we explored Vencarlo's home, trying to find any sign of him. When we reached the upstairs rooms, we we ambushed by a pair of Red mantis assassins!

Let me tell you of the Red Mantis. They are known throughout the world as the finest assassins that can ever be hired. They dress in red and wear helmets that resemble insect heads. They are fanatics and promise that once a contract has been taken out on someone, that person will remain permanently dead.If a victim is raised from the dead, the Red Mantis seek them out and kill them again.

The assassins were no match for us, and they were soon disposed of. Searching Vencarlo's home, we found no sign of him. However, what we did find surprised us all. Hidden in a secret compartment in the bedroom we found a box containing a set of black clothes, a black cape and mask, and a silver rapier marked with a "B". Vencarlo Orisini was Blackjack!

Where was Vencarlo? Why were there Red Mantis assassins at his home? We were about to find out, and we were also about to have an audience with the new Emperor of Old Korvosa. But that, my friends, will be told in the next installment of our tale...

Thieves in the Temple

The Curse of the Crimson Throne

Part 12: The End of the Plague

The City Guard had arrested everyone in the hospice, and it was time for us to descend into the hidden temple of Urgathoa beneath it. By this time, Reg was furious. "We're taking no prisoners" he told the others as we descended in the rickety old elevator.

The elevator opened into a complex of rooms that housed a number of the Royal Physicians and priests of Urgathoa. We also encountered the necromancer we had heard so much about - Rolth. He was experimenting on helpless cityfolk who were chained to their beds and injected with new and deadlier strains of Blood Veil. The fight with him was intense. He was a powerful wizard. And just when Reg and Adam thought they had him cornered, he cast a spell and stepped through a magical door that appeared behind him. In a flash he was gone. I had no doubt that we would meet him again.

Further into the complex we came across a huge room with three enormous metal vats. It was here that the priests were brewing the disease that had affected the city. With sword and spell the priests and physicians were dispatched. We had temporarily stopped the production of Blood Veil. It was now time to find the leaders of the operation.

We soon found one of them. He was experimenting on a young Varisian man. Ruan! The missing musician from the masked ball at Carowyn Manor. The man experimenting on Ruan was no ordinary man. When he turned to face us, we saw that we were up against a Nosferatu - a powerful vampire from Ustalav. However, as we geared ourselves up for a big fight, he calmly turned to us and began to talk. We discovered that he had been hired to help develop the plague, but had no interest in the evil plans of the Queen. He was merely interested in it from a scientific point of view. He even told us that he had discovered that 1 in 10 Varisians were completely immune to Blood Veil, and that a cure could be made from their blood. The vampire also realised that with adventurers infiltrating the temple complex, his experiments would be ending. So, without cursing us or attacking us, he simply collected some of his belongings and bid us farewell. Dumbfounded, we just stood there and let him leave.

At the far end of the complex we entered the main temple to Urgathoa. In the centre of the room stood a fountain with a statue of the Goddess of Disease - a beautiful naked woman with long blonde hair, but from the waist down she was just a skeleton. There to meet us was the high priestess who arrogantly introduced herself as Lady Andaisin. Reg was not listening any more, and with holy power, he charged toward her, ready to strike her down. She put up a brave fight, hurling spells at us all. But in the end, good triumphed over evil, and Lady Andaisin was struck down. The evil had come to an end. Or so we thought...

Suddenly, a ghostly image of Urgathoa appeared in the room above the high priestess's body. Unholy light shone from the goddess onto the body. With a hideous noise of cracking bone and tearing flesh, Andaisin's body tore apart, and from it emerged a ghostly figure of the high priestess, infused with unholy energy. We had just witnessed Divine Intervention!

Without a break, we had to fight on. The new Lady Andaisin was powerful indeed, but we fought with every ounce of strength and every iota of magic in our possession. Then suddenly, with a blow from Reg's holy blade, an unholy scream echoed through the chamber, and the ghostly figure vanished. We had finally slain Urgathoa's chosen one.

With the leaders of the temple dispatched, the production of Blood Veil came to an end. With the notes we had discovered, alchemists were able to come up with a cure for the disease. The party had become true heroes of the city. Even the Queen herself acknowledged our work and rewarded us. In time, the city would be free of any signs of the plague.

However, despite a cure being found, Old Korvosa remained cut off from the rest of the city. And a few days later, Queen Ileosa surprised us yet again, but this time with something more horrifying than the Blood Veil...

Down with the Sickness

Another super mega gaming sunday as occured, so there will be a lot of blog entries written in quick succession. I have a lot to catch up on!

The Curse of the Crimson Throne

Part 11: Plots and Plagues

We arrived at Carowyn Manor, hoping to find someone who could tell us what had happened to the Varisian musician. A masked ball seemed to have been held a few days ago. It also seemed that every single person at the ball had died of Blood Veil. Bodies were dotted in the rooms, still wearing their masks and fancy costumes. We then discovered that not all of them were dead. Several of them had been raised as zombies, and were still going through the motions of being at the ball. They had been animated by a crazed elven woman named Jollistinia. When we encountered her, she tried to flee, but we soon caught her and interrogated her. She had been sent to the house to murder everyone in it, by a man named Rolth. Rolth? That name was familiar. Where had we heard it before? The Dead Warrens! He was the necromancer who had bought the body of Thousand Bones' grandson. We were told that the Varisian had been taken away by Rolth and the Grey Maidens to an unknown location. At least we knew he was alive.

While deciding where to look for Ruan and Rolth, we met a young woman who desperately wanted to see us. Nervously she told us a big secret - she was a wererat. Stories were told of wererats living in the sewers, but few people believed them. The woman told us that once the plague began to spread, several workers at the docks decided to go on a wererat hunt, for they believed it was they that were spreading the Blood Veil. The dockworkers, however, encountered a wererat who was not afraid of the humans. One by the name of Girrigz. Girigz was gathering a small army of like-minded wererats and were going to invade the city and take revenge. The young woman pleaded with us to find Girrigz and persuade him that what he was doing was wrong.

So, much to our disgust, we headed down into the Korvosan sewers. We found Girrigz and his followers holed up in a small cave system. He was not happy to see us. However, our paladin has a way with words, and managed to talk some sense into the wererat. He even managed to set up a meeting between Girrigz and Field Marshall Kroft so that the wererats could become a useful asset to the City Guard.

When this was completed, the young woman told us that some of her brethren had watched the ship sink in the river a few weeks ago. Soon after the ship had sunk, they found boxes full of silver coins floating in the river, but sensed that the coins were tainted somehow and pushed them back into the river. It was time for us to brave the cold waters of the Jeggare river and examine the wreck of the sunken ship for ourselves.

Using potions of water breathing acquired for us by the wererats, we swam out to the wreck. The ship was called The Direption. On board we found many boxes floating in the hold. Each box contained silver coins, each tainted with Blood Veil. We also found documents in the captain's quarters detailing that the ship belonged to none other than Doctor Davaulus - the new Royal Physician!

With all of our evidence, we met with the Field Marshall. She was aghast at what we had discovered - Queen Ileosa had hired Doctor Davaulus to spread Blood Veil across Korvosa to kill the entire population! Why did the Queen want to kill all of her subjects? The Field Marshall wanted answers. She told us that Doctor Davaulus and the Queen's Physicians had taken over a nearby warehouse and had converted it into a hospice for Blood Veil victims. We were to pay the doctor a visit and bring him in for questioning.

However, before we set off to confront the doctor, Queen Ileosa ordered the island of Old Korvosa to be quarantined. All of the bridges that linked Old Korvosa to the rest of the city were destroyed, except for one. This bridge was heavily guarded by the Grey Maidens. No-one was allowed to enter the island, and no-one was allowed to leave.

At the hospice we met no resistance to our intrusion (once again, thanks to Reg's excellent diplomacy skills), and we confronted Doctor Davaulus with the evidence. Under our interrogation, the man cracked. He told us that the Blood Veil had been created by followers of Urgathoa, Goddess of Disease and Undeath, and that a temple to the infernal goddess had been built beneath this very warehouse!

So, with the doctor handed over to the City Guard, we made our way down into the hidden temple of Urgathoa...

Soul Contamination

Have I really reached part 10 already? And only just over a sixth of the way through. This is going to be a big blog...

I just want to say a big thank you to all my players for coming up with such great characters and making this a cracking campaign.

Ok, on with the show...

The Curse of the Crimson Throne

Part 10: Pestilence!

With considerably less resistance than anticipated, we managed to escort Ishani the priest to Castle Volshyenek. When we got there, however, we discovered a large meeting taking place. All of the Korvosan City Guard and the Sable Company were gathered in the courtyard. On a stage stood Field Marshall Kroft, a few of the other ranking officers of the Guard, and some very peculiar figures. A group of figures were people in oily black coats and wide brimmed hats. They also each wore a goggled mask that came to a point like a beak. They stood clutching canes or bags. Among these figures was a middle-aged man, quite good looking, clutching a doctor's bag. The last figure was very imposing. It was a woman, clad head to toe in shining armour, her helmet sporting a long red plume.

The Field Marshall suddenly quietened the crowd and made a speech. She introduced the middle-aged man as Doctor Davaulus, the newly appointed Royal Physician, and the masked figures as the Queen's Physicians. She said that the Queen had appointed these people to help stem the plague that was sweeping the city, and that the Guard was to escort the Physicians on their duties. She also introduced the armour-clad woman, saying she was a member of a newly formed group of soldiers known as the Grey Maidens. These warrior women took orders directly from the Queen, so the Guardsmen and the Sable Company Marines had to follow any instructions that the Maidens gave them.

With hushed murmers of dissatisfaction, the Guard dispersed to their duties, and Field Marshall Kroft, Doctor Davaulus, and the Physicians adjourned for a meeting. Before she left, the Field Marshall told us that she would call on us in a few days, should she have any missions for us.

Over the next few days, we watched the numbers of Blood Veil victims increase dramatically. Even some of our number - Sabelle, Adam, and Reda - succumbed to the disease. Fortunately, they managed to receive a cure at the temple of Abadar. Bodies were starting to pile up in the streets, and mass graves were being dug in the city's graveyard district. The Queen's Physicians and the Grey Maidens patrolled the streets, entering houses and checking for plague victims. Here, in the spirit world, I could sense the arrival of the newly dead. So many souls. Hundreds of people were losing their battle with this terrible plague. I felt such a sadness all around me.

We then received a call from the Field Marshall. She told us that some of the lazier plague carters (the men who wandered the streets collecting the bodies of the dead and taking them to the graveyard) were dumping the bodies instead of transporting them all the way across the city. We were to investigate a likely spot, known as Racker's Alley.

.

In the alley we discovered a large pile of bodies, dumped and left to rot. We also found a gang of vampire spawn, feeding from the decaying bodies. However, this gang stood no chance against the holy might of our paladin's devotion, and they were quickly sent to oblivion. The only unusual thing we could find was a bag of coins the spawn were carrying. The coins were minted in Ustalav, a country far to the east, known for its vampires. Why were there Ustalav vampires here in the city?

A few days later, we received another mission, this one from Ishani the priest. A perfumery in The Heights was selling a cure for the Blood Veil. We were to investigate and see if it was true. We discovered an incredibly long queue of people waiting to buy the cure. As Reg, Reda and Veyron tried talikng to the proprietor of the shop, Sabelle and Adam, our two more stealthy members of the group, broke into the owner's private quarters and discovered the secret of the cure. It was a sham. The cure was nothing more than river water with a few herbs added to make it taste nice. With her con exposed, the owner of the perfumery fled the city, never to be heard from again.

We were then approached by a young Varisian woman named Deyanira, deeply distraught. She told us that her brother, Ruan, had gone missing. Ruan was a talented young musician who had just been been given a contract to play at a masked ball that the Carowyn family were holding at their manor. He had not returned home from the party, and when Deyanira had gone up to the manor to inquire what had happened to him, she discovered the manor locked and seemingly deserted, with the smell of death coming from within.

So, we headed for the South District and to Carowyn Manor, to investigate the place. What we found was very disturbing...

Shake the Disease

The Curse of the Crimson Throne

Part 9: Blood Veil

Several weeks passed since Blackjack rescued Trinia from execution. In that time, nothing was heard from the Palace. It was as if the Queen had gone into hiding. Life was slowly returning to normal in Korvosa. People still spoke of the riots, but only in passing.

The only thing unusual to happen in the two weeks was on one night. We were woken up by the sound of a thunderous boom echoing across the city. It happened three times, then stopped. In the morning, the city was abuzz with what had happened. The gossip said that a ship had sailed up the Jeggare river past the city, and when the guard had signalled to it, they got no response. After several more attempts at signalling and not getting any reply, the City Guard opened fire on the ship with one of the trebuchets on the city walls. The ship sank into the river.

Two days after that incident we were approached by Grau Soldado, an officer of the City Guard whom we helped during the riots. He informed us that his niece, Brienna, was suffering from a strange illness. His sister-in-law, Tayce, wanted to get a cleric from the temple of Abadar to have a look at her, but their fees were too expensive for the family to afford, so Grau sought us out, hoping that we could help.

We accompanied Grau to Trail's End, a small village just outside the walls of Korvosa, on the edge of the Jeggare river. In their small house we met a young priest from the temple of Abadar, named Ishani Dhatri, cooking up a herbal remedy in the kitchen. He explained that Tayce had gone to the temple and asked for help, but had been turned away because she couldn't afford the fee, but he took pity on her and came to see what he could do for free.

Upstairs, we were introduced to Brienna. She was only six years old. Her face and neck were covered in a red rash and painful looking red spots. Spasmodic coughing punctuated her ragged breathing. Ishani explained that he had never seen anything like this disease before. He thought it could be cured with magic, but the tenets of his religion forbid him to cast cuartive magic without a donation to the church.

Gruffly and disapprovingly, Reg gave the priest one hundred gold pieces, and the priest attempted to magically cure Brienna's disease. Instantly, the spots and marks faded, and the girl sat upright, seemingly unaware that she had ever been ill. Tayce and Grau were ecstatic. Tayce hugged us all and then insisted we all stayed for lunch as a thank you for all we had done.

A few days later, we got a message from Vencarlo Orisini, another of Field Marshall Kroft's contacts. He is the founder of the Orisini School of Fencing. We visited his place to discover that he was hiding Trinia Sabor in his school. He told us that Blackjack had visited him after rescuing Trinia, and asked him to hide her. Orisini had finally decided that the best plan of action was to get Trinia out of the city to some of his friends who lived in the country.

So, while disguised, we managed to escort Trinia out of the city. During our ride through the city, we noticed a few people with red spots and rashed on their faces, similar to what Grau's niece had suffered from.

A day later, we were contacted by Ishani. He said he had something urgent to tell us. When we arrived at the temple of Abadar, we found it besieged by hundreds of people, most of whom were suffering from this peculiar disease. The temple guards were only allowing in those who could afford the temple's healing fees, and those on other business. We pushed our way through the crowds and into the temple. There we met the priest, and he told us that this new disease that we had encountered a few days ago, was spreading like wildfire through the city. No one knew how it had started. Brienna seemed to have been the first case, but then people from Old Korvosa had become infected, and then some workers at the temple. It seemed to affect mainly the poor, but several merchants had also caught it.

The disease had also been give a name. Blood Veil.

Ishani said that the heads of all of the churches were meeting together to collaborate their efforts in trying to heal the afflicted, but with the speed it was spreading, they fear there would be just too many for the priests to cure. He asked us to escort him to Field Marshall Kroft, so that he could organise bodyguards for the priests as they walked through the streets, so that they were not mobbed by hundreds of people demanding cures.

So, with Ishani surrounded by us, we set off through the crowds towards Castle Volshyenek.

Off With Her Head!

The campaign is coming along nicely. The first book of 6 has been finished, and now things start to get ugly for the citizens of Korvosa...

The Curse of the Crimson Throne

Part 8: Blackjack returns

We continued our exploration of the Dead Warrens, but found no sign of the necromancer named Rolth. We did encounter a couple of his lackeys though - a huge brute of a man who was hideously deformed, and a powerful spell-wielding Derro. Both, however, were defeated, thanks to Reg's holy power, Adam's deadly fists, Reda's bow, and Kemar's elemental power.

We also managed to find the remaining pieces of Gaekhen's body. His head had been attached to a hideous creation of mismatched body parts to create a humanoid monster. His torso and right arm had been partially animated, and we found it thrashing helplessly on a workbench.

And so, with a gruesome collection of severed body parts, we returned to Field Marshall Kroft to tell of our success. She thanked us for completing the mission, and then told us of a development that we had missed while being in the Dead Warrens. Trinia Sabor, the young artist accused of assassinating the king, had been found and was due to be executed at sunset. It was to be a big gathering of nobles and important figures from across the city in the public courtyard of the Palace. The Field Marshall felt that something was not right, and wanted us to attend the execution.

We pushed our way into the Palace courtyard. Filling the space were the upper class, the high priests, the generals and captains, and all of the cream of Korvosa's citizenry. In the centre of the square was a platform, on which stood a masked executioner wielding a large axe.

A lone trumpet sounded from above, and looking up we saw Queen Ileosa and her bodyguard appear on a balcony. The trumpet sounded again, and murmers rippled through the crowd as Trinia emerged from a door, surrounded by royal guards. She was lead up to the platform and forced to kneel before the executioner's block. The Queen stood and delivered a speech about how the execution of this assassin would help the citizens of Korvosa to move on and help rebuild the city after the riots. She then gave the order for the execution to commence.

As the executioner raised the axe, he stopped. He reached round to his back, and brought his hand back suddenly. From our vantage point, we could see that his hand was covered in blood. He twitched again, and slowly he dropped to his knees and fell face first onto the platform, two daggers sticking out of his back.

Suddenly, running through the crowd onto the platform came a masked and hooded man dressed in black. "By the gods, it's Blackjack!" someone shouted. Excited chatter filled the crowd as Korvosa's hero stood on the platform, releasing Trinia from the block.

Let me tell you of the hero known as Blackjack. Over 150 years ago a masked hero appeared in the city of Korvosa, rescuing the wronged, and dealing out justice to those who deserved it. He has been seen in the city ever since. No-one knows who he is. Some believe he must be an elf, or some other long-lived race to have been around for so long. Others believe that the role of Blackjack has been passed down through the generations, and has been a number of different people. Either way, Blackjack had not been seen in the city for over a decade.

As Blackjack released Trinia, he looked up at Queen Ileosa, calling out that she was not the heir to the throne, and that Korvosa would be better off without her. Looking momentarily shocked, the Queen rose from her chair and fled inside the Palace with her guards. The crowd began cheering and yelling. Some wanted Blackjack dead. Others were agreeing with what he had said and were crying out for the Queen to be removed from power.

Blackjack stood, waving to the crowd, almost like a showman acknowledging his adoring public. What he didn't see was the executioner, standing up again behind him, and raising his axe above his head. I suddenly felt a strong wave of heat pass over me, and noticed that Kemar's eyes had flames in them. He looked at the executioner, and a ghostly hand composed of ethereal fire appeared above the executioner and gripped his axe. Surprised, the man could not bring his axe down on Blackjack, for the ghostly hand held it fast. Blackjack heard the man's sound of surprise, turned, drew his rapier, and stabbed the executioner through the chest. With a gurgle, the executioner dropped to the platform once again.

With a graceful movement, Blackjack scooped up Trinia and deftly climbed the courtyard wall. Once at the top he turned to face the crowd and saluted. It was almost as if he was saluting at us. Then, with a graceful bow, he and Trinia disappeared over the wall and away.

Trinia had been rescued, and the Queen had been publicly humiliated. This would be something the people of Korvosa would be talking about for a very long time. However, it wouldn't be long before something else would be occupying their thoughts...