Bandaluthia Session 31

Bandaluthia: Session 31

That night in the Purse was spent wholly by only Coolio. Whilst the halfling spent the night worrying about the turn of events and protecting Shaniqua’s ashes, the others went looking for answers. Ratsel went to 22. He found that the house had been ransacked. The windows were all blown out and there were blood stains adorning the floors, wall and stairs. This did not bode well for the occupants.

Jacob went back to Cooper’s. A pub in W.Bexley where the Bounty Hunters found their jobs. Before Jacob could by a drink, an old hunter caught him and whispered that this pub was no longer safe. Indeed the last guy to ask questions was found in the alley with his throat slit. Jacob’s questions to him were stone walled.

Lupa turned into a dog and went back to the wizard tower in Monterey. She waited for a while in the bushes nearby. Here she witnessed three people coming and going. Two she did not recognise (although one turned out to be Thelonius) and the other was familiar to her, but Lupa could not quite place him. The man even spoke to Lupa, as the dog. He obviously knew her to be Lupa as he asked about Rubins. He told Lupa that she should tell her friends of him and that they should meet.

Elodee had charmed the barman, and suggested that she could distribute some letters to some people for him. The barman agreed, and handed them over. There was one to Ratsel, alias Jonny Appelseed summonsing him to the hearing of D’Jarra-Leon’s trial. The others were from Thelonius. He had written a code which said to meet him at The Sword of Orlathry at dusk.
Elodee also tried to find out what had happened by shifting her shape to one of her trusted guises. She asked all the right questions in the most tactful ways, but Elodee was treated with suspicion. She tried to gain favour with the new Councillor for Monterey, but they were not hiring, in fact she was subtlety threatened. The subtlety was not lost or ignored.

The following morning Coolio had a letter on his bed. It read:

Brother,

It is regrettable that I have to write this, but on Mars 27 things were put into motion that no one saw coming. A friend had been infiltrated by the power that cannot be detected. Our friend had been suspected of dual conflict of interest, but he was just the victim of this power. He had some knowledge of the greater scheme of things and that knowledge was used as bait. His conqueror had just recently been inserted into an elevated position and our friend had been betrayed. The greater scheme of things tried to have our friend eliminated as are little acquaintance was, but it was a trap, and the eliminator too was captured. The consequences of this downfall are far reaching, even to our little niche that some of our circle belong. I suggest that, for now, you trust those closest to you, and few others. There are some within our circle who would see the downfall of not only the greater scheme, but our very own niche too.
I know that there is at least a few others that I believe you can trust, and one of those you helped to… see things in a different light. By this I mean they were too tightly wound, and managed to help them to relax. I know that this person will be in the establishment that you considered buying before you left these shores. They will be there from dusk each day for a couple of hours. I suggest you meet them, and find out more. I would also suggest disguise to be paramount, but also caution. Our enemies may see things truly, so vestment is of high importance, but spells and magic may not work as we would wish. Others you can trust are in your employ, and by luck or good judgement you have found a fiercely loyal team.
I take great risks by using our mutual brothers’ message deliver service, but I have little choice.
Do not return home until you know it to be safe.
V.

The Animals swapped their respective stories over lunch. The mulled over their findings and many a wondrous theory was debated. After lunch, Coolio and Lupa went to visit the taxi boys. They found Panther Carriages up and running and doing rather well. A brief discussion with the office worker found out little more than they had surmised. A disturbing point that the office guy, Tony, said was that he was certain that Gus had not made it out alive, and that he thought that at least 2, possibly 3 of the girls had lost their lives too.

The Animals did go to the Sword of Orlathry and here they met Thelonius, who told them his side of the story:

Mars 27.

We, the inhabitants at 22, were just getting ready for the first appointment of the day. It was about 10 in the evening and the Four had just gone back to their quarters after a nice meal and chat. All the girls were home, and Antoine had given Carly the night off. Carly had done 17 days straight through and she was a little tightly wound. For my part I had been all but begging Chloe to leave this business. I had fallen for her and I wanted her to be with me. Chloe told me that she planned to retire in just a year or so, and that this would also give me time to finish my studies and become a named wizard. I wanted her more than my scholarship. D’Jarra-Leon tried to convince me not to push to hard with regards to Chloe, push a little, but not too hard. He said that she didn’t want the life anymore, but the financial rewards would more than set us up for a very comfortable life. This is where this juncture ends.

The first customer arrived, a man called Giovam Linden and he was a client for Saffron. He’d been a few times, and was very gentlemanly. Saffron enjoyed his company. As he came through the gates, he attacked Antoine and paralysed him. Within a mere second there were twenty of them. The Four came out and started doing what they do. Gus defended the ladies, Hollenlord also weighed in. D’Jarra-Leon started his repertoire of situation diffusers. The twenty or so intruders came in hard. I helped the Four and held the door, but I am not as calculating yet as my master, and I took two of them out with a lightning bolt. There was minimal structural damage, but I believe that the noise alerted the guard. The intruders took down Gus, Hollenlord and three of the girls, Aphelia, Opal and Naomi.

This is where D’Jarra-Leon let rip. He destroyed about 6 of them in a blast; the resulting effect took the windows of the whole house. If the law had not been coming, they were now. More intruders then came in through the back doors. The Four could not contain the front, and were in grave danger of being overwhelmed. I took the remaining girls upstairs, and killed two intruders on the stairs. They were up there too, so we ran back down and in to the back way of the Fours rooms. I’d lost count of how many intruders there were.

Then half way up the stairs I heard “Stop, in the name of the Law!” D’Jarra –Leon shouted at the four to go, to get away and contact him here (The Sword of Orlathry) in 24 hours. The intruders saw that the upper hand had been lost and turned on the Guards. D’Jarra-Leon stood by the guard and fought with them. He killed no guards. I came down to help, and the girls fled with the four. Within minutes all the guard, about 11, lay dead. There were about thirty or so corpses of the intruders and in the dead lay Hollenlord, Gus, Aphelia, Opal and Naomi. Antoine was not dead, but not conscious. Before I knew what was happening D’Jarra-Leon teleported me to his study. Not mine, his. On the desk lay a note atop a book. It simply said, “Thelonius; read me.” So I did.

An exert from the diaries of Thelonius De’Marquess
Mars 28.

D’Jarra-Leon has not returned, and I have completed his 12 assignments. I will clean the tower and write up my lesson notes for the college tutors.
I had a visit from The Grand High Wizards Inquisitors this morning. They asked me all sorts of bizarre questions about the whereabouts of D’Jarra-Leon. They were accusing him of such nefarious deeds as cavorting with the Thieves Guild!?! Murder of 11 guards! Illicit sex? Harbouring criminals? (Possibly guilty of unlawful magic!) Mass murder of another guild in some sort of turf war! They tried to say that I MUST have known that because I am his apprentice I must know of his activities. They asked me the whereabouts of Jonny Appelseed! Who the hell is Jonny Appelseed? They obviously did not believe me because they arrested me (ME?) and took me to the college to the Grand High Wizard himself and the High Priest Symon Dota. Colonel Virgil was also there. They cast spells about me. They asked me my name, and then asked all the questions put forward to me by the Inquisitors and then more. I told them all the truth. Nothing more, nothing less. They let me go on the promise that I let the Inquisitors have full access to the tower. The College then told me to stay in the Titan’s Maul for a few days. A pub? I was too scared to be outraged.

Mars 29.

I book was on my bed this morning, with a simple note. It read “Thelonius; Read me.” I did, and awoke on the floor some two hours later. I remembered everything. It was obvious to me that D’Jarra-Leon had saved me from prison. Maybe try and save him somehow too. I will, or die trying.

I found the Four and the four remaining girls. They were in a safe house which the four had bought just a few days ago, from the money that the Lady Azul bought them. Then I made contact with Bernhard. Forgive me, but I charmed him as he was uncooperative and I just knew that you guys dealt with him. I encouraged him to deliver letters to all the pubs that were not Guild or other known organisations. I then broke back into the tower. I knew D’Jarra-Leon had a safe room, and I took the money. (The Sword of Orlathry now belongs to me, or at least Jarred Madrid.)

I investigated and found out that Davorius had indeed been seeing Anastasia, but not as we suspected, to be double crossing the Guild, but because he had fallen foul of her womanly charms and gotten himself in love. I sympathise totally. She had been using a scrying device whilst he slept, and she knew all he did. She works for The New Thieves Guild and have now made a play for dominance within Bandaluthia. The network that D’Jarra-Leon had set up was severed, but not completely destroyed, and sources said that Siberius made a play to kill Davorius. The assassin sent was captured which lead to another large slice of the Guild being cut down. The sources also said that D’Jarra-Leon had not spoken. He had not denied nor confirmed any part of his involvement. He had not even said that he had not killed the Guards. I also found out that the Grand High Wizard and the Royal Wizard P’Trice Sinnde had tried and failed to infiltrate my masters’ mind. Unsuccessfully I might add. The Grand High Wizard was furious that one of his apprentices could be as, if not more, powerful than he. (D’Jarra-Leon is my idol. The man is so cool, maybe this is what Chloe would like to see in me?)

After this night, the Guild had lost over 70% of its power, and the remainder was scared. So in reality, the Guild in Bandaluthia has folded. A scared power is no power at all. The Serpents know it, The New Thieves Guild no it; they all know it and they will come to clean us completely.

I can get an audience with Jo-Arne and Siberius if you need to. Freddie Carver has fled, and Louis Silverblade died trying to collapse the Goral Island network. The Bandaluthian guild is in disarray, but I will stay. I will find a way to rescue my master and to put the Guild back on the map.

Thelonius then set up a meeting with Jo-Arne, Siberius and N’Thaal-Dar. Another person came to the meeting and was introduced as Gemma, The Assassins Guild head. Gemma is Siberius’ boss. Jo-Arne stayed quiet as Gemma ensured that the ragtag group before her were up to the task at hand. She insisted that there would be killings, and the Animals insisted that they would kill, but not without justification. They assured her that they will kill for retribution. To exact revenge upon those they held dear and those who had helped them. Gemma decided that she would give them a chance to impress.

N’Thaal-Dar held Thelonius’ belief that D’Jarra-Leon was a priority. He was to be rescued. With this rescue The Animals would need help, and N’Thaal-Dar offered his aid. Vic of the Four turned up with Wendy. They assured the Animals that they would help wherever possible. Jo-Arne arranged a town house for the Animals to operate out of, and set the take over of Bandaluthia in motion. She added that if Bandaluthia was not in Guild possession by the end of the year, she would be executed for failure. The guild was about 40 million in gold down, and Ruth was not happy.

The Animals have to break into the Wizards College to rescue an Arch-mage. The Animals must help recover what has been stolen from the Guild (and themselves as The Purse was robbed during the meeting)

Can the Animals take this on? Found out in the next exciting instalments of Bandaluthia.

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