Tee and Ranthir, on their way back to the Ghostly Minstrel, met Tor at the mouth of Delver’s Square. The Barundian grinned. “Did anybody order some clothing?”

Tee was eager to see her new dress, but not as eager as Elestra. As the elf headed back to her room, the young girl dashed out of hers: “Tee! How do I look! Do I look all right? Do you think it’s okay if I bring my viper?”

Tee looked her up and down. Then she considered her words carefully. “No. I think you should leave the viper here. It’s rather… large.” Then she guided Elestra into her room and carefully fixed up her make-up and the back of her hair.

Tor, meanwhile, was dropping off Agnarr’s clothes from Nestor’s. After a moment of consideration over the barbarian’s generally unkempt appearance, he decided to drag him down to the Row Bathhouse.

After that, all of them were busy getting ready.

TO CASTLE SHARD

When they were done, they looked like the richest cream from the sweetest milk of the Merchant Houses of Arathia.

Tee was dressed in a stunning dress of mossy greens with her dragon sigils worked into the sleeves with copper thread. These complimented the matching pendant of silver which she wore about her neck. On her hip she wore the elegant black leather bag of holding that Lord Zavere had gifted to them, carrying in it not only her own longsword, but Agnarr’s greatsword (at his request).

Tor was dressed in emerald velvet, cream silk, and supple black leather.

Ranthir was dressed in his most elegant dress robes from his days at the university in Isiltur.

Dominic wore his holy raiments, along with his Vehthylian holy symbol.

Elestra was dressed in simpler clothing, but they suited her body well. She, too, wore a holy symbol of Vehthyl.

Agnarr had polished up remarkably well. He wore shirt and breeches of black silk, with the symbol of a rearing red elk. Tor had seen to both his bath and his fashioning at the Row Bathhouse, and he cut a rather handsome figure in his elegant clothes.

They had asked Tellith to summon a carriage for them at 7:00, and as the hour drew near they headed down to the lobby. Many of them could not deny a certain nervousness at the evening that lay ahead: Tee, who had grown up in Ptolus, knew how famous the parties of Castle Shard were. She and Elestra (who had long since heard of their reputation) had told them all of the fame and the wealth which would be awaiting them there.

During the carriage ride, Tee and Tor did their best to drill Agnarr on proper etiquette. This didn’t seem to have much effect, but they did discover what Agnarr’s “etiquette face” looked like.

The carriage arrived. Tor offered his arm to Tee and helped her up into the carriage. He did the same for Elestra. Agnarr, seeing what was happening, stepped forward and held out his arm for the same. Tor smirked and helped Agnarr up into the carriage. Dominic shook his head and climbed into the carriage by himself.

As the carriage pulled up to Castle Shard, they saw Kadmus waiting for them at the foot of the lowered drawbridge. The servant stepped forward and helped Tee and Elestra down from the carriage, but turned his back on Agnarr (who put on his best etiquette face).

“Lord Zavere has requested private conference with you before you join the party.”

The party exchanged a set of somewhat nervous glances at this, but followed as Kadmus led them through the entry hall. (Tee and Dominic both noted that the bas reliefs on the walls here had changed from their last visit – they now depicted flocks of birds flying in every direction.)

As they approached the far end of the hall, the great doors of blackoak silently swung wide. Beyond the doors lay an octagonal chamber of purple stone. Passing though the door and looking up, they saw that this chamber ran all the way to the top of the castle – its roofless top looking out onto the starry sky. In the center of the chamber an enormous purple stone – reaching from the top of the castle almost to its floor – floated in the air.

This was the famous Shard of Castle Shard – a powerful artifact of magical puissance whose true powers were known only to the Lords of Castle Shard (and perhaps not even them). Tee and Elestra knew that only the closest friends of the Lords of Castle Shard were allowed into this chamber.

As they passed through the chamber, the Shard slowly rotated, letting loose the occasional crackle of purplish energy. Then Kadmus led them through another door, down a hall, and up to another door.

Beyond this door lay a conference room of sorts. A large, heavy table of polished oak filled the middle of it. The walls were covered with a variety of maps – some of Ptolus in various levels of detail; some of Arathia; some of the Southern Sea; some of the Five Empires; and so forth.

A dangerously handsome man with jet black hair, a well-kept goatee, and a dark complexion stood on the other side of the room, studying one of the maps. He wore simple yet elegant clothing – a black shirt with an upturned collar and black pants. He carried a thin longsword in a scabbard at his side.

On the map he studied, Tor noticed some writing: An area had been marked “The Cold Coast” along the coast of the Southern Desert several hundred miles south of Ptolus. Near that notation was another, a word he didn’t recognize – “ATAPI”.

As the group entered, the man glanced over his shoulder, and then turned back to the map. With a wave of his hand, the notations disappeared. Then he turned to face them fully.

“Welcome to Castle Shard. I am Lord Zavere, and I am pleased to at last make you acquaintance in person.” He crossed the room and shook each of their hands in turn. “Master Torland,” he said, in particular. “I have heard of you, and you have my thanks for the aid that you have given me without even hearing the sound of my voice.” Then he took them all in with a glance. “How have you all been since we last spoke?”

Tee reflected that she hadn’t spoken to him since the Aristocrat’s Table. That had only been a week before, but so much had happened… “Busy,” she said.

Zavere smiled. “Indeed. Well, I must confess that the only reason for this meeting is that I wished to personally escort you to the ballroom… if that would meet with your approval?”

They all readily agreed that it would and so Zavere led them out of the room and back towards the Chamber of the Shard.

AWKWARD INTRODUCTIONS

But as they approached the doors of blackoak, Tee’s sharp elven ears caught the sounds of an argument from the far side of them. Zavere at first moved to take them past the doors, but then he, too, seemed to hear the argument. With a scowl he waved his hand and the great doors parted and opened.

Looking down the length of the entry hall and across the drawbridge, they immediately caught sight of an immense carriage. Painted all in dark blue, studded with fixtures of solid silver, and pulled by two elegant white chargers it was clearly the carriage of someone rich or powerful or both.

In the entry hall itself, Kadmus had placed himself between two men and the doorway leading to the side chamber.

One was a tall, lean man with a mane of white hair down to his shoulders, a moustache, and goatee. He wore a monacle in one eye, contributing to his regal appearance; a dark blue tunic trimmed with gold; and a matching cloak trimmed with ermine. A heavy sword was strapped to his side and he wore several military honors upon his breast.

Tee instantly recognized him as Commissar Igor Urnst, the leader of the city.

Standing beside the Commissar was an older man with thinning, silvered hair. Although none of them could name him, he wore magnificent robes of woven silver which clearly marked him as a Silver Fatar of the Imperial Church.

Zavere’s voice was suddenly thunderous as it cut across the argument. “What is happening here?”

The Commissar and the Silver Fatar turned, but Kadmus was the first to speak: “The honorable Commissar insists that I admit Fatar Rehobath as his guest, although he has no invitation.”

Zavere smiled thinly. “My lord Commissar, you must know that no one is given admittance to Castle Shard unless they are a guest of a Lord of the Castle.” He paused… delicately. “But I suppose there is no harm in offering my invitation to Fatar Rehobath as my personal guest… in the harvest spirit, of course.”

“Of course.” The Commissar’s smile was more than brittle.

“Then if you will follow me.” And Zavere stepped forward and carefully extended his arm to indicate that the group should precede him.

Tee, who had been made increasingly nervous by the entire affair – this was the Commissar – had no desire to earn any displeasure to herself or her companions. She stepped forward, and bowed low to the Commissar. “Mistress Tithenmamiwen of Narred is most pleased to make you acquaintance, honored Commissar.” The Commissar thanked her and returned the courtesy. And in this manner she carefully joined her group to the Commissar and Rehobath, so that they could proceed together into the Castle. As she straightened from her bow, she saw Zavere wink at her.

Zavere led them to a grand staircase which led up to a massive ballroom which must have filled most of the second floor of the castle. The floors of the ballroom were of blackoak polished to a gleaming shine. The walls were paneled in the same to perhaps chest height, and above that the purple stone of the castle could be seen. What at first glance appeared to be a large column in the center of the room, they quickly realized, was actually the outer walls of the Chamber of the Shard.

The entire chamber was dimly lit by crescent moons which floated here and there among the several dozens guests. (These were holy symbols of Tohlen. Also known as Tohlen’s Scythe, the crescent moon was a symbol of the harvest.) As Zavere came up the staircase and into the room, the lights near him brightened and his booming voice attracted the attention of anyone who hadn’t already turned to look at him: “Guests of Castle Shard! I have now the pleasure of introducing guests deserving of much honor, for their recent service to both myself and to the interests of the City of Ptolus. Mistress Tithenmamiwen, Master Torland of Barund, Master Agnarr of the Northern Tribes, Mistress Elestra of Seyrun, Brother Dominic, and Master Ranthir of Isiltur!” And then he led a round of applause.

Tee hadn’t missed the fact that the Commissar and Rehobath, standing in their midst, had been deliberately overlooked. Nor did she miss the unmistakable glower which passed over the Commissar’s face. And she doubted she was the only one to notice. She tried, once again, to think of some way to smooth over the veiled insult that Zavere had put them in the center of… but nothing came to mind before the Commissar and Rehobath moved off into the crowd.

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