“Are you sure the Mayor isn't going to also be affected by the mind-magic?” Richard asked as they walked through town.

Teodric nodded. “Fairly sure. Mayors of free towns and cities wear a Livery collar, a chain of office they always wear around their necks, which along with showing that their position was granted to them by the King, also includes multiple magical protections specifically to ward against things like that. It would be much harder for anyone to enchant him while he was wearing that, especially if they were trying to be subtle. In any case, we're here.” Teodric said, stopping in front of a large building on the northern end of town, “Town Hall”.

The Town Hall was a large wooden building with a high roof, it was painted white on the outside and had a large set of double doors in the front, which were unlocked as Teodric led them in. The main room of the building was large with several rows of chairs fixed to the floor, with a raised area up front that had a long wooden table with several chairs behind it. The room was currently mostly empty, with a few guards standing around near the door in the back of the town hall.

“This is where they hold the town council meetings. The mayor's office is through that door in the back.” Teodric explained to Richard.

They walked to the back of the room, and upon seeing him, the guards quickly stood up and gave him a small bow. “Prince Teodric, what can we help you with?”

“I need to speak to the mayor.” Teodric said.

“I'm afraid the mayor is in an important meeting right now, sir, but I'm sure he will be glad to...”

“This can not wait. I have important information about a threat to the whole city. We will likely be attacked in hours.”

The guard nodded. “The Warped Men? If you have information about that, the mayor may want to you join this meeting...please, sir, give me a minute.” The guard turned and went in, with the other guard standing out by the door.

“Prince Teodric?” Richard asked. “You hadn't mentioned you were a prince.”

Teodric nodded. “Yes, but it's not important.”

“It's not important?” Richard said, with a raised eyebrow.

“Teodric is the eleventh son of the king of Venetia,” Reneth said. “In his family, younger sons like him are expected to either go out and prove themselves in the world or become priests.”

“And you're...his bodyguard?” Richard guessed.

She smiled. “I'm a retainer of the family, yes.”

The guard came back. “They're ready to see you now, sir.”

Teodric, Richard, and Reneth were led down a hall into a meeting room. The walls were hung with beautiful tapestries, and large glass windows allowed a lot of light to shine into the room. In the center of the room was a long table and seated at the table were the Captain of the Guard, Jehan, Harry, and Kateryn, while an older man in a black robe sat at the end of the table. He was wearing a heavy gold chain around his neck, with a silver leaf emblem around his neck that Richard assumed was a symbol of office.

He looked up at Teodric and nodded. “Prince Teodric, thank you for joining us. I was told that you have information about the monsters that threaten the town?”

Teodric nodded, and in some detail gave a report of what they learned and had observed.

The Mayor responded, “How certain are you that the Duke is responsible for this?”

Teodric hesitated, “That I can't personally confirm. Richard?”

Richard cleared his throat. “One of the guards that they had defending the warehouse was the same person I personally saw in the Duke's uniform just a few days ago. I also overheard the enchantress saying something along those lines.”

The Mayor nodded. “I'm sure you're correct, but that's nothing I can use as proof...I'm sorry, what was your name?”

“Richard.”

Teodric spoke up. “Richard was the adventurer who with that priest fought the warped ones in the tavern, and he also fought several of them outside of town a few days ago. He and his friends then further investigated and discovered the warehouses full of warped ones. I believe he is...reliable.”

The Mayor nodded again. “I'm sure he is, and I'm sure he is correct, but I need proof.” He stood up suddenly, and walked away from the table, his arms crossed behind his back. “Earlier today, I received a letter from Duke Walter De Rudhale, informing me that he had...heard...that we had a monster problem, and further informing me that he and his army were already in the area on...exercises.” He walked back and forth in front of the fire. “The honorable Duke also informed me that he would be glad to assist us with our problem, and that all we had to do was to request that the town be put under his official protection, with the usual oath of fidelity and so on that that implies.”

Teodric hissed through his teeth, and the room went silent.

Richard spoke up “So if you agree to this, he would...rule this town?”

The Mayor nodded. “Yes. Asking for his protection and swearing loyalty oaths would make the town part of his feudal estate. As a free town, it would be our decision to do so, although that would be the last decision we would be able to make. And in fact, my guards have already spotted the Duke's army, less than half a mile west of town. They are not making any secret of their presence.”

The Captain of the Guard spoke up. “He has several thousand soldiers with him. A solid spear line, archers, fire mages, and so on. Even if the town guard were at full strength, we would not be able to hold the walls against him if the Duke decided to take the town by force. Our walls are fine for keeping monsters at bay but can be scaled quite easily by people even without siege equipment, and we don't have enough men to hold the entire length of the walls.”

“So why didn't he just attack?” Richard wondered out loud. “Why go through all the trouble of summoning warped men inside the walls?”

The Mayor responded. “Because if he attacks a Charter Town, that's an act of rebellion against the King, and would force the King to raise an army against him. But if a Charter Town asks protection from a nobleman because it can't defend itself against monsters, well, that's a different story isn't it?”

Teodric raised his voice. “We can not give that man what he wants! He is using forbidden magic, using a corrupted summoner and a mind mage to do his bidding! If he takes your town, do you think he will stop using them?”

Rather than respond to him directly, the Mayor turned to the Captain of his Guard. “Captain, can we stop them without the Duke's help?”

The Captain looked uncomfortable. “Normally, we might be able to, but...as I was saying, the guard is very much under strength right now.”

“How much?”

“We managed to retake the command structure at least, most of the Sergeants have been cleansed of any mind-magic, with the help of Jehan and a few other priests.” Jehan nodded his head. “But a lot of the other guards had mind-magic enchantments on them as well, and we haven't had the resources to clear most of them yet. A full third of them are currently in our jail cells, until we can clear them. And in the process of restraining them, about twenty-five of my other guards were injured, and two were killed.” He paused again. “And that's just the ones who had the implanted command to go berserk when they heard anyone suggest they might be under mind magic. There might still be other guard members who had more subtle commands, and it's going to take more time to confirm that. Even though these Warped Men seem to be slow...if they exist in those numbers as the Prince described, and they are in both of those warehouses, we just don't have the numbers to hold a line against them, especially since those warehouses have multiple doors. Our men would quickly be surrounded and swamped.” He hesitated. “If we had to fight them, my advice would be to...knock down houses, use them as barricades to block off all the streets around the warehouses, post archers on the rooftops around there, and try to shoot as many of them as we can before they spread out into the rest of the town. And hope they don't manage to find their way up onto the rooftops.” He shook his head. “I'd like to evacuate the civilians out of town first, but it sounds like we don't have time. So, assuming we don't stop all of them, I would expect civilian casualties to be...high. But if we don't let our guardsmen be killed in the initial rush, perhaps we could use our organization and discipline to hunt them down after they spread throughout the town, and slowly clear them out. Fighting would likely last for days or weeks.”

“If we started tearing down houses around them, would they react and attack early, before we were ready?” The Mayor asked.

The Captain shook his head. “I have no idea, sir.”

The Mayor sighed. “If it comes down to it, I would rather swear fidelity to the Duke and let him rule this town rather than see it destroyed, which your plan would amount to. In fact, I'm pretty sure if we let these monsters destroy the town like that the Duke would end up intervening anyway, for our own protection.” He shook his head. “Unless anyone has a better plan?”

“I...might.” Richard said. Everyone turned towards him. “Although for my plan to work...Mayor, I'm going to have to ask you to pardon Evelyn.”

“Evelyn? Isn't she the corrupted summoner? You want me to pardon her?” The Mayor said.

“Evelyn is apparently not the corrupted summoner.” Teodric responded. “Apparently, the Magelight Academy put that warning out about her because she had learned some wild magic.”

“Wild magic?” The mayor sighed. “Has she hurt anyone?”

“No, she has not,” Jehan said, speaking up for the first time since Richard had come into the room.

The Mayor nodded. “Fine, gods know I've pardoned worse crimes than that over the years, so long as she doesn't use any wild magic in my city. The Academy isn't going to be happy about it, but we have bigger problems right now. So, what's this plan of yours?”

“I still have to work out the exact details, but the key is that the corrupted summoner made a huge mistake earlier today, and we have a chance to capitalize on it.” Richard turned to the other people in the room. “Harry, I'm going to need you to run to the Adventures Guild and get Bertrand, he's still there trying to recruit adventurers to help protect the city. Oh, and while you're there, get them to give you that map they have of all the streets in town and bring that back here, we're going to need that to work. Kateryn, I'm going to need you to go and get Evelyn out of...where she is...and bring her here too, we’re going to need her for this.” Richard smiled. “If this works, the warped men won't be our problem anymore.”

Quest received: Get rid of the Warped Men in town.