Turn 128

"That many?" ibn Fadil replies, hopping lightly onto the deck with a sigh of undisguised relief. "Seems a bit excessive."
    At the exact same moment Emmett glances towards town. "Is that all?" He shakes his head "That's an awfully big mobile force for a town that size."
    Once the two are aboard, they rise swiftly until they are well out of range of any ground observation.
    "Well?" their acting captain looks at the two of them expectantly; the full crew except for Alais is gathered, anxious to hear about what happened after Lynden left them.
    "As short a fight as I could arrange, sir," is all ibn Fadil has to say.
    Emmett is quick to look at Lynden. "Did you get out OK?" Seeing some indication of the affirmative, he turns his gaze back to Yestin. "Sorry for the fuss. I underestimated how deeply they'd penetrated the Artificer's Guild, and had to take some drastic action to keep them from locking us in and killing Lynden. I went to lengths to make it clear that I was part of a planetary force rather than an off planet one - I figured that if I got caught providing a distraction you'd pull me out when you pretended to be a Victor & Sons ship, as we'd discussed."
    He looks back at the half elf. "Not that I'm not grateful for the more rapid save, mind you, but it does throw a cog or two off on that plan." At the sound of his name, the half man's parrot flutters across the room and lands on his shoulder. Even if Alais manages to melt those mechanical ravens, I think they'll know by now that we have a ship."
    "What mechanical ravens?" Yestin wants to know.
    "The little black dots circling overhead wherever the mechanical spiders showed up. I'm figuring they're related."
    "I see. Excuse me a moment." He dashes off toward the bridge to let Alais know that he should be on the lookout for aerial observers, and soon returns. "If there were two, they're gone now."
    The Zakharan is inspecting his knife, which seems to have lost some of its edge. "Indeed," he replies absently, fishing a small whetstone out of a hidden pocket. "I'd say our first plan is now insanely dangerous, instead of just absurdly so. We'll have to make do with what we've learned so far. Or perhaps drop in on one of the neighbors, to see if they know anything?" The last is directed more or less toward Yestin. While the giff considers the suggestion, ibn Fadil starts carefully resharpening his blade.
    "Not a bad thought, captain," Emmett says. "I think we now know enough to go back to the High King with a clear conscience, but if we can find more with no real risk, so be it."
    "You may return to report but I cannot abandon these people." Lynden is sadly shaking his head, concern etched clearly on his face. "I was charged to find my brethren and while I fear they have met untimely ends I have no proof of this. They deserve more from me, as do the townsfolk." He looks directly at Yestin. "Captain, I was imposed upon you and cannot demand that you stay though I entreat you to do so. Should you determine to depart I ask you to set me down to continue my search."
    He feels a sudden, strong sense of vertigo, as if the deck had suddenly moved beneath him, but no one else seems to notice anything untoward; there is a distant yet thunderous sound of hoofbeats in his ears. There is something yet to be done here.
    Emmett lowers his head to disguise the small grin of admiration. _Regardless of anything else,_ he thinks, _the kid's got guts._
    Ibn Fadil stops his sharpening. "They'll likely be questioning any stranger who shows up there now," he observes. "They're controlling the people through fear and intimidation; I doubt they'd hesitate to kill, or worse, anyone who seems the least bit suspicious."
    Yestin spends a few moments weighing their opinions, then heaves that familiar gusting sigh. "We have some information, yes, but not enough, I think. They appear to be building up something of a cavalry force, but its size is difficult to gauge. These mechanical creatures you have seen are skillful tools for assassination, perhaps, but not war." He looks at Nyala.
    "Earlier today, in the valley where we concealed the ship, we discovered a small force of men working with very large smokepowder weapons," she reports in her usual austere manner. "I have never heard tell of anything like them. One wonders what else they might have in there."
    Yestin resumes, "There is no doubt more we could learn here, although we would certainly have to be careful." He gives Lynden and Emmett a mild look. "It would be best, of course, although certainly difficult, if we could enter into that fortress and thus make an estimate of their strength. Perhaps by approaching from one of the settlements outside of Durrell's lands, under the guise of native travelers or traders. Or from what ibn Fadil and Nyala reported of the spider's movements, it seems there may be some sort of secret entrance.
    "It might be worthwhile as well to, ah, 'speak with' the local representative of Victor & Sons, and see if we might discover how much materiel His Lordship has purchased. Also," and his small eyes gleam with unmistakably giffish enthusiasm, "I should like very much if we could acquire one or more of these new weapons."
    Emmett starts chewing on his lip during this, with the unmistakable look on his face of someone weighing options. "OK, if we're gonna stick around, we can kiss the native traveller thing goodbye. I just don't think we have the time, since our last major advantage is travel speed.
    "Ibn Fadil, if we had a way to get you into the city without being spotted tonight, do you think you could get the information from Victor and Sons and get out clean? Since they watched us ride away, I doubt their focus will be back on the town, or at least not past the perimeter? Or..." He's thinking about a discussion he had with Alais once, a while back. "If we make you invisible, then we can get you right into Durrell's fort if we think that would be better."
    "How would we do that?" the giff inquires.
    The half man pulls the silver ring from his finger and holds it up, "That's easy--drop him. While ibn Fadil is getting that information, the rest of us can make a rapid run at that weapons testing ground. Use some fire magic to detonate their smokepower stores, generally thrown them into disarray and mess up their timetable. Maybe snag one of those weapons and powder for our own use.
    "The spiderhole might be a way out, but I don't want to tangle with those things again without some poison protection. I don't think they're too tough, but that venom is nasty," at this, Emmett rubs a spot on his arm where they bit him, "and they're tenacious little buggers."
    "I cannot counter their venom but I can lessen the immediate effect of one sting." The young priest offers this knowing that it is offering very little. With one hand gripping a nearby rail to steady himself he continues, " As to moving around the fort or town? I regret that I did not consider this before as although a woman's access might be more limited few would take note of her or what she looked like." A momentary pause before he nervously adds, "Besides, no-one would look for a priest of Gerik dressed as a woman..."
    Emmett shakes his head "That's only if were going to be here for a while - that sort of stuff takes time, and I think right now we should aim for speed. Besides, the only women's clothes we have here are Nyala's and Inez', they're both shorter than you are, and even if you *could* pull off running in a skirt, Nyala's won't fit you, and I don't even want to think about what Inez would do to the remaining parts of my anatomy if I let someone mess up the one good dress she has in storage."
    Slow nods go around the room; it's a bold plan, but not a bad one. They spend a few minutes refining it; ibn Fadil wants to know more about the invisibility spell's limitations, and to suggest that before the ship leaves the area they stop by V&S for a bit of light kidnapping.
    "I've heard that the man spends most of his time drunk - he might be bitter and disaffected enough to cooperate, and even if he's not we might get something useful out of him."
    "We'll do that. You should bring someone with you, " the acting captain suggests; they are already on course toward the fortress.
    "I'll take Michal," the half-elf decides -- much to the lad's surprise (he's been keeping out of the way and quiet since their departure from Narain), to mention Nyala's; her eyes narrow, but if they are to put this plan into action there is no time to waste in arguments. For his part, Michal seems nonplussed but willing.
    "We're looking for information, not trouble. If anything happens, stay out of sight and get back to the ship. Remind me to start teaching you how to fight," he notes to the young human, handing him a knife as they look down at the fortress a dizzying distance below. "Ready when you are, Alais."
    * * *
    The young mage casts his spell; the two slight figures fade from vision. They have nearly an hour to spend that way; they jump. At this relatively leisurely rate of descent, ibn Fadil has some time to study the fortress, its blunt bulk occupying the entire width of the pass, with an imposing tower at each corner and two more marking the gates on the north and south faces. Lights burn in all of them.
    [GM: I am going to arbitrarily designate compass directions here, in hopes that this will be helpful. North is the pass, south is Toll and the lands within Durrell's domain proper.]
    From above, the stronghold can be seen to be divided in half by a marked path, which is bounded by low stone walls that segregate any traffic passing through from the fortress proper. There are several buildings on each side.
    They come to a landing near the south-eastern tower. The building nearest them clearly houses a large forging operation, to judge from the noise and the bitter smoke it emits. Beyond that is one with many torches lit and many men milling outside it, arming. Beyond that, the last building is dark and silent. Since it hasn't snowed in the past few days, the ground is rutted, muddy, and tracked all over, making it that much less likely that anyone will notice that more footprints have joined the mess.
    Preceded by a torch-bearing lad and followed by two guards, a pair of men approaches, apparently headed for a door leading into the southeastern corner tower; a single man stands guard there. The noise from the forge makes them difficult to hear until they are quite close.
    "I want to know who they are, Piero," the bigger man growls, one hand playing over the hilt of his sword. "Guilds or godfools are one thing, but if those sniveling tradesmen have betrayed us--"
    "It does not matter, my lord," the other man says soothingly. He matches Emmett's description of the arrogant young man from the guild hall. "We will have them back in view soon, and then it will be a simple matter to bring them for questioning. And then...."
    "The icon?" His tone is of anticipation.
    "Nearly complete, lord."
    They are about to pass out of hearing range.
    * * *
    Meanwhile, Mission 1 having been dropped off, the ship veers off sharply.
    [GM: I will use the same directions here.]
    The valley is a long spearhead cutting into the mountains, its tip pointing north and its sides nearly sheer all around. A road cuts along its eastern side, overshadowed by heavy forest, running all the way to the innermost end, where a small bridge leaps a narrow river whose course spills down the north wall and then runs off toward the valley center.
    Nyala's earlier reconnaissance revealed several buildings, built flush against the valley wall and taking advantage to some extent of natural cover. On the eastern side of the stream, before the road crosses the bridge, is the largest, which appears to be where the people working here live, keep their stores, and stable their animals; she reckons about twenty men all told, guards and workers. To the west is a low, heavily built structure with deep wheel ruts leading to and from it, past another, similarly heavy building close to the west side of the valley. South of that is the meadow where the weapons were fired. There is no sign of anyone moving right now.

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