Realms of Dread [IC] Chapter Three

[Ken of Ghastria]

Balzar sighs "Listen to me, I am Rardi's closest and most dearest supporter and friend. We can sit here and argue and waste precious time or we can act. Alain can talk to this gnome while we do whatever Rask asked us to do."

Balzar moves towards the exit and looks back, waiting.

"Reluctantly, I agree. And Shana, we can't make plans to free Rardi and Ino until we know where they end up. If they're being put on trial today, we won't have a chance. Let things settle down and the guards around them disperse. Then we'll act." He gets up and joins Balzar. "And Jamethon," he adds with a rueful smile, "I'll pummel whomever I like. Although in my case, it's more zap than pummel."

[steveflam]

Balzar looks at Blaise with a twinkle in his eye, patting his steel shield and axe "You can zap all you like, leave the pummeling to me. I'm come from a long line of pummelers if you must know! Though tis only been on orcs, goblins, giants and a vampire or two!"

[steveflam]

Gaol......

Rardi finishes her meal. Looking at her guards, she asks "Scuse me sirs, I'd like a priest to administer me lass rites an I'd like ta do a will if I kin. It''s be appreciated."

[kintire]

Shana shrugs impatiently:

"He obviously wasn't Delthrin's ally before the incident, he just switched sides when he found out the situation. But our new friend is right: It'll waste more time arguing about it. Fine, talk to the Gnome. In the mean time, what's the rescue plan? We need to know where the trial will be, and where the execution will be. We will have to ambush either th convoy from prison to trial, or from trial to execution."

Glances at Blaise

"err... "end up?" they'll "end up" on the gallows. If the trial's this afternoon Rardi and Ino will be dead by sunset, or tomorrow at the latest, if they want to draw a crowd."

[VAN]

Ino doesn't touch her food. She is very sad to eat. She prefers to keep the chains, the armour was very heavy and she could hardly move.

The short time that has passed with Archedius was enough to appreciate him as person. Even if they have verbally fought a couple of times Inovidil knew that he was interested in the group and wanted the best for them. He was a really nice man Archedius.

[ewancummins]

Jamethon frowns on Shana and Blaise. He states, very firmly:

''I won't be part of a rescue attempt that seems likely to harm the guards or innocent bystanders. Have you considered that the guards and jailers are men with families, men who are simply doing their duty? In the past, we've been too ready to shed blood...and look where it has gotten us. Come up with a bloodless plan, something subtle and cunning. The guards and agents of the court are men, not monsters, no matter how much we may disapprove of certain of the laws of this kingdom- laws which they did not write. ''

[kintire]

At that, Shana flushes more deeply, and her voice begins to rise.

"Don't you spout that kind of thing to me, Jamethon Moorkroft! Have you been talking to that forked-tongued Gnome already? We offered violence to no living being except a devil and a diabolist. The only exception being Ironheart, who attacked some men after they had shot him with crossbows for no reason. You dare to lecture me? We met those men completely peacefully. Ino and Rardi allowed themselves to be bound, and were shot and stabbed after they were tied up. Ironheart offered no resistance, sat down, and was shot in the chest by a crossbow. I cast no spell that could even potentially have harmed any of them, and was rewarded for my restraint with instructions to kill me on sight and rip my heart out! How dare you claim we used too much violence? How DARE YOU?!!"

She takes a couple of deep breaths and gets herself under control.

"Grr. This isn't getting us anywhere. Less pompous lectures, more planning! First question, do we move before the trial or give "justice" a chance to work? Does anyone know how long its likely to be between trial and execution? Its short notice to get a plaan together before the trial."

[ewancummins]

Gaol......

Rardi finishes her meal. Looking at her guards, she asks "Scuse me sirs, I'd like a priest to administer me lass rites an I'd like ta do a will if I kin. It''s be appreciated."

One of the guards answers-

''Aye, that we'll do. There's a priest here from Morningmist Hall, come about you and your freinds. Bailiff says it's allowed for you to see him. I'll get him now.''

[steveflam]

"A ... A .. a priest from me Temple? I'll see him an be glad fer it."

[ewancummins]

The Old Shell



Jamethon's voice drips with sarcasm as he answers Shana-


''Yes, Shana, I'm certain that the nervous, half-trained militia on Fishgut Rock are experts at spellcraft. No doubt they instantly recognized your spell as something perfectly harmless. It couldn't possibly be that they, ordinary men confronted with a desperate band of trained killers and powerful spellslingers, were a bit jumpy. After all, years of living next door to a fiend summoning necromancer must have left them with the impression that most mages are harmless eccentrics whose spells are just illusion and trickery suited to the amusement of children. Of course.''

Jamethon laughs at Shana and then exits the door.

[kintire]

As he leaves, she calls after him sarcastically

"Aren't you upset it didn't occur to them that we might be people with families, just doing our duty?"

[steveflam]

Once outside and on their way, Balzar whistles lowly. "Yeah she maybe purty, for a human, but breakin the law aint what I had in mind. I'd love ta rescue Rardi but the law has to be respected even if I don't agree with it."

[ewancummins]

As he leaves, she calls after him sarcastically

"Aren't you upset it didn't occur to them that we might be people with families, just doing our duty?"

Jamethon wheels. There's no sarcasm in his voice now, just cold anger.

''You have no duty, witch! The rest of us took the star to uphold and enforce the laws of this kingdom and this city. If my companions shared my sense of duty and my respect for authority, we'd not be in this bind. We'd probably be going, even now, to arrest Delthrin on charges of smuggling, and we'd be going as a full team- not with one in the grave and two on the way to their deaths at the gallows! ''
Jamethon slams the door and departs, now, without further word.

[ewancummins]

Once outside and on their way, Balzar whistles lowly. "Yeah she maybe purty, for a human, but breakin the law aint what I had in mind. I'd love ta rescue Rardi but the law has to be respected even if I don't agree with it."

In the hall, Jamethon replies to Balzar-

''Yes, she is quite lovely. She's also half-mad. Women.....''

[Ken of Ghastria]

''You have no duty, witch! The rest of us took the star to uphold and enforce the laws of this kingdom and this city. If my companions shared my sense of duty and my respect for authority, we'd not be in this bind. We'd probably be going, even now, to arrest Delthrin on charges of smuggling, and we'd be going as a full team- not with one in the grave and two on the way to their deaths at the gallows! ''
Jamethon slams the door and departs, now, without further word.

Blaise stares coldly at Jamethon. "You're a fool, Jamethon," he says through gritted teeth. "To so blindly cower before laws after all that we've seen, all that we've experienced ... well, that takes a special kind of stubbornness. Should the others have gone off on their own to Delthrin's home? Probably not. But they DID. Whining about it now won't help anyone. I'll follow my own leads. I've got a smuggler to meet." With that, he goes back inside.

He walks over to Shana, his normally jovial mood replaced by one of complete seriousness. "All right, enough time has been wasted, my love. Let's find out how long a period there usually is between sentencing and execution. If there's time, I may be able to get evidence from those smugglers I met two days ago.

"And if that doesn't work, then we'll find a way to get Ino and Rardi out. The fact that they're on the island makes this doubly difficult, but if we have to do this ourselves, we will."