Act III

Before Vanemar had returned to Raverna, he had witnessed the unthinkable. Not only did Ulstairos approve of his leadership but the man was also offering a helping hand in his fight against Spidon. Vanemar was relieved, he was coming to Raverna alive and with a ship filled with Reptiloyan cultists just as bloodthirsty as he was.

The city of Raverna had had a sudden change since the last time Vanemar had been. It wasn't something that could be known visually, but being familiar with the place made it stand out easily. That's why when guards began to approach the ship Vanemar became nervous. "Don't let them see me." Vanemar told Ulstairos as the three soldiers began to walk across the bridge to the ramp.

"Oh my, how come your reputation is so poor?" Ulstairos asked as Vanemar pulled down his hood. "Another one of those things you can't say?"

"You already know." Vanemar answered as he turned away from the soldiers.

The guards stopped as soon as they reached the bottom of the ramp, "By decree of her royal duchess, you are ordered to identify your ship and yourselves." The soldier at the front ordered with exhaustion in his voice.

"We are merchants from Newsavas. We have decided to stay in your city for a while to indulge ourselves."

The soldier nodded his head quickly, the skin below his eyes was darkened. "Alright then, you must register your ship at the harbor post unless you want to be an object of suspicion. Be careful while you're here, the guard's captain has been killed and there have been some murderers for the past few days."

Vanemar turned to face the guards in confusion, "The guard's captain killed? I can’t think of anyone besides Spidon having something to do with this." He was quickly pulled out of his thoughts by a pat on his back.

"Don't worry about anything besides Spidon." Ulstairos said. "We’ll have everything else covered. Silves!" He called to the man giving orders in his place. "Go with Vanemar, you'll be our diplomat while we're here."

"You're not going?" Silves asked.

"I've got things to do. It's not like my presence will do much to change their minds and if it does Spidon may already be in a coffin."

"Alright then, I'll do my best sir!"

"Good luck you two! We’ll make sure that Spidon doesn’t pull anything." The two men left the ship and headed towards the cultist headquarters through streets now full of both civilians and soldiers on edge.

The cultist headquarters had not changed since the last time Vanemar had seen it, it was still quite the sight. "So this is the Honean headquarters, in plain sight for all to see." Silves said.

"It's a surprise that the Duchess hasn't done anything about it considering cultists were being killed in these streets not too long ago." Vanemar said as they went up the clean stone steps. "Must be all those political connections. Or maybe no one has cared to see what was inside the place." He knocked on the door.

The cultist that opened the door for them looked at them before looking at a list in his hand. "Ah, you must be Vanemar."

"Yes, I've got something important for the boss."

"Fantastic, and who is this guest you bring with you."

"An ambassador from the Reptiloyan sect."

The cultist glared at Silves in disdain. "I will tell Spidon you are here." He said with some resentment before leading them upstairs.

The two men waited outside the room as the cultist notified Spidon of their presence. "Takes some patience to not go for it now." Silves said as he shuffled about nervously.

"Yeah, well don't say that in front of anyone else. If it were that easy it would already have been done." He whispered the last part came open.

"He's ready to speak to you." The cultist said, gesturing them in.

Spidon sat at his desk with documents thrown about. It took a second for him to turn to them, with a mischievous smirk on his face. "Have you brought it?" He asked.

Placing the geokey on the desk, Vanemar folded his arms and continued to glare at the man. "What a surprise." The man said with a chuckle. "You truly are a formidable man Vanemar! And who is this you've brought with you, someone from the Reptiloyan sect I assume."

Silves introduced himself with a bow, "I am Silves Kaje Hajim, second in command to Ulstairos sir." he spouted quickly in order to avoided the aftermath from the silent duel occurring between the two humans.

"Wonderful, it should have been obvious to me that those people would send someone to see such a momentous event.” His words were kind but his tone delivered the opposite. “Now that everyone has returned from their journey we can move on to the main event. The meeting will be tomorrow in the hall. I expect you there. Now go get yourselves some rest, I'm sure your journey to the Spikel Republic and back was nothing less than stressful. Ask one of the servants if you need a room Silves, this place is large and has little occupants."

Deciding it would be best that they were both informed, Vanemar invited Silves to accompany him to speak with Jioh. "That man is more than trouble." Silves said as they walked down the hallways. "He carries himself like a good man and speaks like one too. Now I know why you do not have many allies." Vanemar did not respond. Within the walls of the headquarters he only felt secure within his room, the place that had suddenly become a laboratory. Jioh, the alchemist shuffled through a reference book on the couch which likely involved all the magic jars and documents thrown about the desk in the center of the room.

"Vanemar!" The man said as soon as he noticed them walk in. "In the flesh and in one piece!"

"It's not like I can die yet, I've still got a job to do." Vanemar said as he began to throw his things beside the bed.

"And who's this you bring with you?"

"I am Silves Kaje Hajim." The reptile said with a bow. "A pleasure to meet the acquaintance of such a great man."

"You can trust him.” Vanemar tiredly told Jioh. “He wants Spidon as dead as we do. That goes for the rest of the Reptiloyan cult as well, they have a ship in town with men ready to give us support."

"Well..." Jioh said in overwhelming surprise. "I didn't expect you to be that successful, but I could have also said the same when you walked in. It's good to see that you managed such a feat in one piece and with brand new equipment as well.”

Vanemar looked at himself, the Reptiloyans had outfitted him in chainmail before he had left. "Just some things from their armory. What’s with this sudden sympathy you're showing me anyway? After all, you're the one who forced me into this mess.”

Silves looked around uncomfortably as Jioh fumbled a reply. "Well you're an important part to this plan you know. It’d be bad if something happened..." He chuckled nervously.

Vanemar nodded. “Of course. You only care because I’m part of your plan.”

“Wait that’s not what I meant!” Jioh grunted as he began to scratch his head. “Nevermind...”

The room filled with an unnerving silence until Jioh spoke out of awkwardness. “Did you make good use of that Magiglove I gave you?”

"I've been practicing wind magic almost everyday since I left.” Vanemar answered passively. “I've even had one of the mages from the other sect help me on the way back. I can go a few seconds without getting a headache."

"Then I think it's about time you started using this." Jioh reached under his bed and grabbed the magic longsword that they had taken from the Brighthawk soldier. "Want to trade? A magisword isn't much different from a glove really. Casting magic with a sword relies more on the swing than the mind. So while you'll have less control, you'll be able to use much more power easily."

"I'm much better with a sword anyways." They traded things and Vanemar unsheathed the weapon to give it a good look. "Gonna be hard to learn how to use this thing well with the blade being cut in half. Hard to thrust."

As Vanemar returned Jioh’s things, the man shrugged causally. "Not being able to thrust won’t matter as much if you can throw people around like that one soldier did to us." Vanemar winced from the memory as Jioh turned to him. "Using a magisword will wear you down physically quicker than a normal sword, even if you don't swing it much. I've got faith in you though since you're quite strong. Trust me, once you learn how to use that thing you'll probably make any opponent soil their pants."

Vanemar grinned as he fastened the new weapon to his belt. "I think I'll have to see how it works before I even think of that happening."

"Well we don't have much time then! Take a seat, we need move to more important matters."

The two newcomers took a seat side by side on the nearest bed, "First." Vanemar said. "Can you tell me what happened while I was gone, I'm the last one to show up and it doesn't seem very different around here. Emptier I suppose, but that doesn't tell me much."

"You're lucky to have shown up when you did. We had an emergency meeting a few days ago about leaving early since we have all the geokeys we need. Seems everyone met some resistance along the way; Brighthawks, Honeans, and not to mention those knights with the white banner."

"I met some of them myself, Honean's for the most part. I think I may have seen those knights you were talking about briefly before I left. A whole city went on lockdown when a group of their warships appeared."

"Good thing you didn’t get to see them in person. They're ruthless, killed a few of my men. Two of whom you've already met, took a while to forget about that. I was nearly a goner too. They're magic was terrifying." He frowned for a brief moment. "That's about everything important that happened over the past week. I wanted to talk to you about something I saw a few days ago, I think it'll help us figure out what Spidon is up to."

"Keeping yourself busy?"

"Not much else to do besides picking out books from the archives. Spidon wanted everyone to stay here until the rest came back. The guard being let loose around the city acted as an incentive.

"What's the deal with that anyway, who did the guard captain piss off to have that happen?”

"The answer is obvious. The guard has been watching the cults movements for the past few months after they received an anonymous tip of our existence."

"So it is Spidon..."

"Yes, Spidon. You’ve experienced first hand what he does to people in his way. Back to what I was talking about. For the past few days I've been trailing him and the rest of his associates. That's when I ran into something important. I found a hidden door within the building."

"A hidden door?" Vanemar raised a brow. "What ki-"

"It's hidden behind a painting at the left end of the building. Almost nobody goes there except for servants that occasionally clean the place and guards making rounds. It's the perfect place for there to be a door like that."

As he stood up, Vanemar laid his magisword on the bed gently. "So what you're saying is that we should go now."

Jioh grinned and jumped out of his chair. "I like your attitude. What about you Silves? Care to join us?"

Silves' face twisted into an expression of concern. "Is it okay to do that? What if we're caught."

As he grabbed a dagger from off the table, Jioh shrugged. "Slit Spidon's throat I suppose? Running away is always an option too."

Vanemar raised a brow. "I thought you wanted to save killing him until we were done with this mess."

"Don’t take it so literally. What I said was a last resort."

Holding onto the door handle, Silves looked at the two bickering men with anxiousness. "Sorry to bother, but can we get going?"

Jioh sighed in relief. “No use arguing over my frequently poor choice of words. Shall we get going?"

Vanemar nodded but he still eyed Jioh cautiously. He found his irrational trust of the man was concerning. While the man had thrown him around into many terrible situations, he had yet to lie.”

With the exception of servants going about their duties, the hallways continued to be empty. Jioh quickly led the trio to the very back of the hall where he had mentioned the painting had been. Placed in an unusual position between two staircases was a painting of a blond noblewoman with a gentle expression. Vanemar had no idea who it was and did not care to know. Jioh gripped the frame and pulled it open like a door. There was a door behind it, a normal wooden door like all the others in the building. "How did no one notice this before?" Thought Vanemar as he saw its shape. For something that no one had noticed or spoke of it took up quite a bit of space in the corner of the building. "They must have all been fooled into thinking it was part of an art gallery."

Jioh opened the door to the room and they scurried in quickly and quietly. The place was lit by a single orange magic lamp that poorly illuminated the square space. It was a storage room, things were thrown about without much care and it was relatively empty. In the back was what interested Jioh the most. A writing desk with provided quill and ink. Jioh grabbed one of his magic jars from his bag and placed it on the desk to give some light. He sat down and began to sift through the papers as the other two came behind him. It did not take him long to find something interesting. He sighed as soon as he finished reading.

"What is it?" Vanemar asked.

Jioh handed him the letter and Silves began to read through it with him.

Sir Marta,

I have delivered the letter as requested. I hired the runner captain and brought some company to ensure that I was not followed. The captain informed me that it would take him two weeks or less to reach the desired location in Tavaranea.

Regards

Devikus

"Who is Sir Marta?" Vanemar asked.

"It's Spidon." Jioh answered as he stood up. "That's his last name. And that Devikus fellow." He pointed toward the bottom of the letter. "That's his messenger."

Vanemar now looked at the letter with some unease. It appeared short and uninformative when he had first grabbed it but he now had many questions. "So he's working with Tavaranea is that right?"

With a shrug, Jioh took the paper and placed it where it originally was. "Could be, could also be something else. We just learned of a man who could tell us more though, even if he would try to resist doing so."

"Devikus." Vanemar said as he laid a hand on the hilt of his sword. "Where is he?"

"Don't get too hasty. We should come up with a plan first. If he tells Spidon what we asked him you won't be the only one on his list of undesirables."

"Fine, what do you have in mind? I was thinking of using my last syringe of Fatigueroot."

"That may be a good idea but it wouldn't work if he remembers what happened. Now if we threatened him well enough, he would be too terrified to speak."

"Why would that happen?"

"He may be close to Spidon but he's quite the coward. Why do you think he brought a guard with him to deliver whatever message he mentioned? He's paranoid that something will happen to him. He's done it on more than one occasion too, I saw him walk out with a guard to deliver a message to some visiting politician. So if we can scare him enough I think that he'll give us what we want no problem."

"Fine, but if he turns out to be the opposite we’ll use my plan."

"That's fine, I think three men will be enough to restrain one."

"Not always the case but he is the messenger." They went to the door and Vanemar gave a peek outside before signalling to the others that the hallway was clear.

After asking a few servants for directions the group finally managed to find Devikus’ room. They waited for the servant who helped them to walk out of sight before finally knocking on the messenger's door. "Just a minute!" Exclaimed a hurried voice as the sound of scuttering about could be heard. They had taken their positions, with Jioh at the front and the other two hiding at the sides of the entrance to not be seen. They mentally prepared themselves as the door opened. "Oh Jioh, It's you. Need something?" The man was shorter than them but older with a brown mustache and beard around his mouth. He didn't seem dangerous, at least not to Vanemar. The man had a purely welcoming feel about him which showed no hostility.

"Mind if we can come in?" Jioh asked as he forced the door to open.

"Sure but why do you need to do that?"

"Not something we can talk about in public."

The man's eyes widened at the site of the others that Jioh was referring to. "Do they need to speak with me too?" He asked with a voice that revealed his discomfort.

"They're friends, they already know what this is about."

"And what is this about?" The man began to back up slightly.

"I've noticed that you have a very good relationship with Spidon. So good in fact that he tells you things that no one else knows about, is that right?"

Devikus was practically on the other side of the room as he attempted to form an answer. His face began to sweat and he began to look around frantically as if searching for an escape. Vanemar found it humorous, Jioh's observation had proved to be more accurate than he could have imagined. "I don't have the right to say that!" He said in an outburst.

With a hand on the hilt of his weapon Vanemar stepped closer to trap the man.

"Well that's fine." Jioh said. "I wasn't expecting you to answer on the first try anyway. That's why I brought my friends here. If you'd like this could turn into an interrogation."

As Venamr began to Unsheath his blade Devikus began to cower against the wall. "Why are you doing this!" He pleaded. "Aren't you a friend of Spidon's too?"

"Not as much as you are." Jioh said as he pulled the chair from under the man's desk and sat on it backwards. "You should know better that he kills those that he believes know too much. So here's the thing: I know a thing or two about your little letter to Tavaranea."

"You do!" sweat began to trail down Devikus’ face in greater volume.

"Yeah, but I want to know more. If you don't tell me, my friend here is going to make you. You know who he is right?" The man nodded but didn't speak. "Then you already know what he's capable of if you don't answer. I want to know more about this relationship that our leader has with the Tavaraneans. Care to enlighten us a bit?"

Vanemar began to worry about the paleness of the man’s face. "He's friends with the leader of the cult there. I don't know exactly how well they are acquainted. That’s all I know!"

Jioh scratched his scalp, "That isn't much to go by." He said disappointed. "What was the last message he sent the Tavaranean's about then?"

"He told me it was to stop the Honean's. I don't know how or why but that's from his own mouth."

"Stop the Honeans? So that means..."

"Means what?" Vanemar asked as Jioh fell silent.

"That they may have some geokeys as well..."

"Makes sense, when I tried to get my geokey, they were already there. That means they probably have enough as well." He said to himself with a sigh.

Jioh quickly got out of his chair "We're going back to our room." He said sternly. "We already have all the pieces we needed for the geokey to work. If they point to somewhere in Tavaranea then Spidon might be trying to get them to attack the Honeans. That's just my theory, if it turns out to be anywhere else we're safe. But he may just start a war from that. Whatever comes tomorrow, let's make sure we come back alive. The world may just get worse if we don't"

"What are you talking about?" Devikus asked.

"Don't go telling Spidon now." Jioh said as he quickly turned to face the man. "Or we'll make sure that that mouth of yours won't tell again."

Vanemar gripped the hilt of his weapon to drive the point. "Alright!" the man said with his hands up. "I won't, just leave me be!"

"Only if you stay out of our way." Vanemar said as they turned to leave the room. He was starting to get even more worried. If Spidon was really trying to start a war then a whole new weight was keeping him tied to Jioh and the cult. Perhaps this is the reason the alchemist had forced him to come along. Because he would never have the temporary peace he wanted without doing terrible things for it. Curse his compassionate heart. Even if it was so small it could be the reason why he would never have the peace he craved.