Another seemingly quiet day while the trade talks continued the party set about more rigours training for the local defenders. Martin had a group of hunters with a rickety collection of alchemists weapons, they had a series of boards and logs set up as targets Martin drilled them though he did spend more time on how to keep them clean and functional than how to perform a tricky shot.

Vivian had a number of junior guards and militia she put them through their paces. Her drill Sargent ability kicked in and she hammered home the training in record time. One poor militia archer almost got a literal hammering when they count get the basic techniques right.

David had the obstacle course back in place; however, the guards were now running it with backpacks full of rocks over their shoulders. Alice allocated so much of her magical reserves to increasing her mana lance spell. She burned through two thirds of it in a very short time but was able to push her spell over its defined limit twice. She would be able to reliably boost her spell over time. It was a great effort, but it was tried and true practise with cerebral as well as physical skills.

Martin and Alice eventually moved over to David's training apparatus where the last few guards crawled over the finish line from their final lap. Martin set about checking their conditions using his healing blessings as Alice used her own healing magic.

The training had given them a real appetite, not that they didn't have a really strong appetite anyway. The duchess was trying to charm them again, her personal chef had cooked the breakfast it involved a great number of eggs and was exquisite.

Martin was called to the hunter’s house. The local master Francis bid him sit and gave him a glass of IP. the strong alcohol had been mixed with a blue crystal powder to give it a bit more of a kick. Martin could appreciate the strength of the drink. It would have been a powerful poison to most. But to one like him a light refreshment.

The master hunter was deathly serious, “hunter friend, your faith should command you deliver the keys”. He shook his head and finished his drink, “Francis see it my way, I protect the church by holding onto them, would the church be served if we did something that drew a response form the nobles. If someone did something desperate to breach the vault and released the golems un-commanded to run rampant”.

He was calm, “The church is the only legitimate authority”. “The church has not withdrawn from the triune; we just make ourselves weaker when we end up fighting each other”. The hunter held up his holy symbol, “we swore to be obedient to the church”. Martin held out his mark showing he was an agent, “I swore to serve bishop Alexius, though I am grateful to Bishop Gyfford, I have paid the healer by ending the vampire prince”.

He gripped his holy symbol tightly, “listen to god”. Martin was sincere in his voice it was unshaking, “I have, I feel no compulsion to act either way”. Francis stopped considering his own position. Martin continued to lay out his perspective, “I am zealous for the fight. There is nothing left to fight now, I do not seek to be mired in bureaucracy”.

Francis was puzzled, “If you do not seek to be mired in bureaucracy give up the keys”. He explained, “To give the keys to one leader of the local triune. Is to invite the duchess and the trade commissioner to bury me and my friends in red tape and antiquated recriminations, attacks we have no defence for. I am no scribe advocate; let peoples blood cool they will work out a compromise that all three are happy with. Then we will move forwards a few more days my friend and we will share a drink and forget about this affair”.

Martin was summoned to speak to the bishop he brought the rest of the group with him. Crusaders and monks let them pass a considerable number of the church militant, extra security or an implied threat it was up to the observer to judge.

A smiling deacon lead them through the cathedral to meet the bishop Gyfford in his herb garden. He was drinking some aromatic infusion warmed over a small stove. The deacon poured four more cups of the honeyed brew. Some cheese and bread was brought out to them. The bishop thanked them for taking the time to listen to him.

“I implore you, to do what is right for the triune and hand over the keys, only in this fortress of faith this bastion of god. In the deepest part of this cathedral will they be safe from misuse”. Vivian cleared her throat a look around the table drew three bland stares. “Eloquently put father but the triune is a majority consensus. I am afraid that one person even a bishop cannot decide a matter like this unilaterally, we hold a defence for this city in our hands the decision to use it test it should be one for all who represent those inside the city walls to decide together”.

The bishops face twisted in a knot of bitter pain, his posture rose up, “the others do not see the necessity of this course of action. The golems represent more danger to us than anything else. They area a defence I would not rely on, they are more of a liability”.

“You have spoken with the elven ambassador” Martin phrased it as a question not quite an accusation. “Yes” he admitted, Vivian tried to steer him to a more reasonable course of action, “why not try to speak to the others together to get a consensus”. He sounded frustrated, “the merchants take this to lightly and the duchess will never bend”, he had already tried this course.

Martin made a little leap in his thinking, “do you think that someone could sneak into the city and turn the golems on us from the inside, to attack us that way”. “Yes, they are an unpredictable weapon, why do you think that the first king never used them, but kept them locked them in a vault and forgot about them”.

Martin probed the argument to see if he was missing some piece of the puzzle, “we have never heard of the golems being turned into a weapon by the vampires”. “No not the elven golems, they are sentients that the vampires cannot overcome. There is nothing of blood magic necromancy or sorcery in their construction so nothing for the vampires to latch onto. The golems hear are not sentient but and a very important, but we are not sure how they are controlled. Are the instructions in the vault would they follow the orders of the first thing to walk through the door”?

Vivian was calm but direct, “We are Alexis's agents we swore an oath, we were sent hear with his orders. We defend this place from enemies external and internal. We have no orders or desire to pick a favourite amongst the triune”. “Search your hearts your souls can you not see my point”? “We would need to have orders from Alexius”. “I could speak to the patriarch on this”, Martin nodded “it is your prerogative to send a message, I don't think you have done so or we would have orders, one way or another you are perhaps not certain where he would draw the line”.

The bishop considered his arguments, “Let me tell you a tale, it will reveal to you why I have such misconceptions over the duchess path. If you trace back the vault keys, they were at one time held by the descendants and supporters of the warden of the long sea. Effectively they were held by several noble family's with interest in the naval affairs of this nation, a vault intended to be a last defence of our strategic harbour city”.

“Many years back the local duke's right hand man was a Barron. he was passed one key for safe keeping. A few generations down the line a descendent of his was slain by the vampire prince. The enemy gained the key and stopped this town from being able to use that defence. Even though I am not sure we still had the skill to use those golems back then. You killed a vampire wizard in the local elder vampire’s service. I am sure if they had got the keys, they would have found a way to get those golems on their side just like the wizard working for sandy rose was able to command one”.

“The vampire must have held onto the key in anticipation of getting the other three keys, they must have had some idea of what they could do with them. It gets worse the lady Amicia Cheyne Teach our current duchess had her key stolen by the hidden hand, right from under her nose. That was the last one to go missing and personal to her. The reason she is so adamant to correct the mistake. Why she was so determined to force the hidden hand out, which you have done. Why she is determined in collecting the keys back”.

“The lich you killed took one of the keys from a knight in the service of the duchess farther. Fifty years ago, before the lich had built up her forces. This action further eroding the duchess claim to be the warden of the long sea the keeper of keys. The fool of a knight actually took it with him to battle. The lich if she could have gotten agents into the walls might have been able to take over the golems, if a wizard with a talent for enchanting could do it a lich could definitely do it”.

“A hundred years ago the circle of sorcerers had a sea lord a noble seduced by a succubus for his key. They had some knowledge of enchanting, a way into the city. They could have also made it work for them. Rather than summoning a demon lord they could have opened the vault and let the golems lose on the population”.

Alice brought up one further point, “The nobles have kept that vault hidden for a very long time, do you think the king, or the royal family might know more. Perhaps in the royal palace's library they might have an operation or maintenance manual for these weapons”.

The bishop dismissed it, “It is a risk to use magic like that. We don't use summoned demons we don't use archanist constructs and we don't use necromancy, not just because they are unholy things but because they can be turned on their creators. For the undead a more powerful necromancer or lich can seize another's work, that goes double for a vampire”.

He drained his cup, “A demon’s contract with one sorcerer can be overwritten by a more powerful sorcerer. I am concerned that if we did have an army of golems, even one we control a more potent enchanter could control them. Even one of the free golems that would be a nightmare if they could control what was under our feet”. Vivian had a counter argument, “What about tamers and the creatures they use”? “We have had thousands of years to perfect that art, we know almost zero about golems and risk much if we try to learn”.

Vivian looked at the bishop, “talk your concerns over with the duchess she may understand,”. “I could make an offer, but I suspect you would not be interested”. David was interested three others were not interested in the ramifications that would go along with that offer. Vivian was the voice of reason, “as long as no one acts rashly this will be resolved in some amiable fashion”. “I have other duties to attend to, I wish you good day may you get a bit of rest after all the fighting”.

David looked at the group, “Do we owe anything to anyone”? Vivian shook her head “we owe ourselves the option of not carrying the blame for anything that goes wrong hear”. Alice verdantly reiterate the point, “Our best option is to wait until we get a specific order from the bishop Alexius or someone more senior”. The hunter added, “or until those three put their heads together and come up with a working compromise, that's the most likely scenario”.

They returned to the duchess's residence the guards slammed the doors behind them. The duchess was there waiting. A dozen guards twice as many knights and men at arms. Behind them assassins’ archers a few tamers with huge war hounds and the old mage that had been disrespectful to Alice.

The duchess had some magical item with the voice enhancement effect, her voice was loud. “Give me the keys, give me what is mine”. She tapped her foot waiting there her guards and troops looking nervous at the four problems in front of them.

Vivian held out her agent’s identification, “you would threaten us with violence”? Martin used his focus ability to move a step forwards. He seemed to blink, and he was there. Lightning crackled across his left palm as he gently depressed the switch on the hand of Tesla. Not fully activating the device yet. The duchess looked back astonished, “you would threaten me with violence”? Vivian's golem eye scanned over the group unnerving them, “only if you attacked us”.

Martin looked with his monocle gauging the strength of her forces he lowered his hand releasing the trigger, “it’s a bluff she would have her own agents next to her. These are weak not even veterans, I bet she rushed whoever she could find at short notice to intimidate us”. The duchess dismissed her forces with a wave of her hand. The men and women breathed a sigh of relief.

The duchess led them into a study. “fine let’s talk about price, I have silver gold whatever you want. I sit on the trade routes to the world. I have connections to all the noble houses, there armouries and archives. I can get some rare and powerful items. It would be worth the expense to guarantee this city's defence”.

She looked around the room. “a more powerful octium blade for you David how about that? Some ultramite arrows for you Vivian, Martin I can help you track down another artefact of your order. Alice what do you want knowledge a better mages staff, some sort of rare artefact a bag full of spell scrolls”?

Vivian gave the duchess a salute, “At least you have gone to the effort of finding out about us. To tailor the offer to your audience”. Alice tried to caution calmness, “think of the talks going …on at the moment what could disrupt them. Think of the triune how this could sower relations. Think of the good of the city if we had an army of golems that recognised no master”.

Her response was blunt “Give me the keys”! David's response was equity as blunt, “you could not hold onto even one of these keys”. He realised what he had said seconds after it was out of his mouth. The duchess became red, her eyes wide in outrage her fingers knotted. They got a very angry reaction.

“How dare you filthy plebeians criticise me. I have been working for this city since I was a young girl looking over my father’s shoulder. I have a family duty that must be continued. You have no idea of the pressure of holding the line for 300 years. You who have been hear a little over a month. I have been trying to fill dead men's shoes, to stand up and to be measured against legends”.

Acid and bile filled her voice, “To hold back the cursed tide from this corner of the world. To judge me to make a statement about one dam mistake how dare you. I can and will correct it now”. Vivian hit David across the back of the head with enough force to bury him face down in the floorboards. He picked himself up adjusted his helmet and dusted himself off. Vivian had a calm reasonable voice, “how do you think that you can control the golems”? The duchess calmed down she looked quizzical, “why do you ask”? Vivian pressed on, “if we understood more perhaps, we could find a solution”.

She weighed the pros and cons of revealing what she knew. “I have a book of shem commands, these golems respond to orders no independent thinking, go there smash that then return”. David a little more politely pointed to the obvious, “with respect, if you have the command book. What is to say others do not know the command phrases, how secure are your records”.

The duchess own conviction that she was right stopped her seeing any other outcome. Other than the old golems working flawlessly. Alice had a neutral tone, “what do you believe is down there”? The duchess maintained her level of confidence, “I found a diary form one of my ancestors. From a thousand years ago, it briefly describes the repair and maintenance of the vault’s contents, it was four Damascus siege breaker golems and four dozen granite siege golems”.

Alice chose her example, “the prototype we saw just assumed we were hostile and attacked, enchantments can degrade over time. Look at the golem sandy rose had; it was dug up from the same place. As tough as it was it could barely move without an enchanter standing behind directing it. We are more likely to find a broken weapon, that we have to fight or a broken weapon we cannot repair. Why not leave this until after the trade talks are over”.

The duchess screamed at them, a deep-seated fear of being court unprepared bubbled to the surface, “don't you see it is not over! There is more to come more to happen. The vampires won’t just let it be. We slew their local forces. They must have something else planned only the warriors of my family's legacy under my command will save the walled harbour city, I am the warden of the long sea the keeper of the keys, it is my birth right”. The vampire hunter looked at her, “you may well be right, but these are not the weapons to put your faith in”. The duchess gave them an ultimatum, “give me what is mine or get out of my house now”.

They found that their belongings had been searched through. They packed them up and left as civilly as possible despite the violation. David looked stunned, “She threw us out” Vivian looked back, “lets seek out the merchant’s guild, they can put us up for the rest of our stay hear”. They moved off the duchess could do little more officially or unofficially they hoped. While they were agents of another and while the trade talks were being held.

There new lodgings were as Alice described “Not the best place in the world”. They ended up sharing two sets of bunk beds in a small room that was at least secure. They had their belongings ready and were about to leave. There was a knock at the door, Martin opened it his pistol in one hand. “hello, Ghost we will not hand over anything yet, it is for the local triune leaders to decide we cannot act unilaterally on the orders of one member, the keys are not with our belonging so don't even bother”.

Ghost greeted them in their new lodgings, “if you were to hand out the keys, we could find you better lodgings”. “Not today” she nodded and left. Vivian sighed, “without an external threat or a clear leader we are reduced to this petty bickering”. Alice held up a book, “it is not so bad, we have three leaders, the dwarves have dozens of clans in a parliament of elders. The central plains are split into 50 single cities. Each ruled over by a merchant or prince. The southern lands have no united government. The confederated colonies have one vote per citizen”. David asked, “how many citizens”? “About 200 landowners qualify, but this book is old so the number is probably higher”.

Vivian nodded, “lots of work for mercenary's, most of those places settle disputes with drawn blades when they cannot settle them with words”. Alice spoke wryly, “we are civilised, we throw stacks of paper at each other rather than rocks”. David shrugged, “at least with rocks it would be quicker.” Ghost was suddenly beside them, “the scribe arbiters will make much money today and no decisions good bad or ugly will befall this city”.

They watched her walk away again, Alice's brain had another little suggestion, “the local mages tower is sponsored by the ... crown. But the chapter master isn't political let’s talk to her, she fitted the golem eye to Vivian she must know a bit more than the others on what would make the golems work, wouldn't it be worth asking her”? Vivian started to walk. “It cannot make the situation any worse”.

Anne Thornton received them, “officially I am meant to extol the virtues of surrendering the keys to the duchess, so that she can open the vault. Unofficially I know how much maintenance even a few golem parts can take. Even one modified to work on mana not aether. the resources that would be taken up on this fool’s errand would cripple us”.

Vivian's golems eye focused in on her, “I am not so sure, that prototype worked fairly well. The golems under the duchess residence might still be quite functional”. “Don't be so sure I examined parts of that prototype golem, it was very close to running out of power, the enchantments were not efficient, perhaps a safety feature. That golem didn't have its own power generating core. You were looking at a lamp with the last oil burning away at the bottom. That fight was the last flicker it has in it”.

She had a diagram that was hastily sketched from the recovered remains of the golem, “it has to be manually charged and frankly the spell shield around the city is a far more efficient use of our time and enchanters”. Alice queried her assumptions, “you could be wrong, the production models could be more efficient, with their own mana. I mean aether generation. someone mentioned them responding to a shem a code of actions”.

Anne put out the worst-case scenario, “you could have a complete degradation of the interface, it would be best to drain the aether from them. To dismantle and reassemble them, while you were at it you could change the command codes. Though the only ones that could do that were the elves or the golems they made”.

The mage continued, “Neither of those sound good options. Any means to contact an elven spirit is necromancy and forbidden. The golems themselves would be even more hostile after you smashed twenty of their number. They are not known for being forgiving”. Martin relayed the bishop’s fears, “could an external force make these golems a weapon against us”? She thought on it, “a good question having a weapon is no good if the moment you un-sheath it your enemy takes it and uses it against you”.

“we do it quite often with bits of golem, it would not be impossible but the numbers of people that could do it is zero, the sorcerers dead, the necromancers and the lich dead the wizard sandy had locked up now, the vampires wizard is dead”. “Still if someone knew the command phrases it would be a disaster another reason to keep the vault shut”.

They met up with their former squads and had a few drinks. David started to play a few rounds of dice losing some, then losing others. Vivian challenged a few to a little shooting competition and Alice chatted away with an apprentice mage assigned to one of the ships in the harbour. Martin reached out and seemed to grip air, “Nice try ghost but the key isn't in that pocket”. “How did you know I was”?

“This monocle gives far more information the closer I get to something, so I noticed you just now. Vivian would spot you with her enhanced perception. Alice could fry you with a spell if you spooked her and David you would have to strip him of three layers of armour to get near to the key, he would notice that”. She went to the bar and got herself a drink.