SESSION 19C: SHILUKAR’S END
April 13th, 2008
The 8th Day of Kadal in the 790th Year of the Seyrunian Dynasty
TORTUROUS PLANNING
They left the Foundry. After a brief discussion they decided to take Shilukar to Greyson House: They didn’t want to take him to the Ghostly Minstrel. They didn’t think they should take him to Castle Shard until they’d gotten the secret of the cure out of him. And, given the fact that it was one o’clock in the morning, there didn’t seem to be anywhere else they could take him.
But it was also decided that someone should take word to Castle Shard. For this task, Ranthir volunteered. They performed a cursory search of Shilukar’s body, removing anything that seemed valuable or mysterious – a magical potion, two vials of alchemical fluid, a ruby ring concealing a magical pearl, a minor spellbook – and then packed Ranthir into the first carriage they could find. A few minutes later they found a second carriage to carry them up to the North Market and Greyson House.
When they arrived, Tor and Agnarr bundled Shilukar up to the house while Tee paid the carriage master a rich sum to make sure he’d “forget he’d ever seen them”. (“Of course, mistress.”) Then she moved to join the others.
But as she crossed the porch into the house, Tee noticed that there were large scrape marks – as if something heavy had been dragged here. She followed them into the house and saw that they led towards the trapdoor in the kitchen (which led down to the cellar and, from there, to Ghul’s Labyrinth).
There was a moment of panic, but then they remembered that they’d deliberately sold the knowledge of this place to the Erthuos. (At least, they hoped that’s who it was.)
In any case, they did a quick survey of the house to make sure they were alone, and then sat down to a serious discussion about what methods of torture they would use to loosen Shilukar’s tongue. The general consensus was ear-eating and hand-chopping. The shock they had once felt in seeing Agnarr bite a man’s ear off had disappeared. Life was hardening them…
ALTERNATIVES TO TORTURE
Ranthir, meanwhile, was arriving at Castle Shard. He had been somewhat delayed at the Dalenguard – no doubt due to the late hour – but some of the papers he kept in one of his many pouches soon resolved those difficulties. With a wry grin he noted that Kadmus was waiting for him with the drawbridge down. Nothing seemed to faze the doughty servant.
Lord Zavere awaited him in a small, indescript room furnished with a simple, yet elegant, table and chairs. Despite the late hour he looked refreshed and well rested.
“Master Ranthir. To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“We have captured Shilukar.”
“Excellent.” Zavere smiled. “I see that he’s not with you.”
“No. The others have him under guard. We thought it best not to bring him here.” Ranthir quickly explained everything that had happened that night.
“And who did you buy this information from?” Zavere asked.
Ranthir hestited. “I’m not sure that I’m at liberty to say.”
“That’s fair enough.” Zavere said. “How much did you pay?”
“Seven thousand marks.”
Zavere nodded and let him proceed with the tale. Ranthir quickly finished, saying, “And so I brought everything he was carrying. If he wasn’t at the Foundry, perhaps he had it with him. If not, we’ll have to… question him.”
“Come with me.”
Zavere led him through the chamber of the Shard, taking him to an alchemical and magical laboratory at the far end of the castle. Lady Rill was waiting for them. Lord Abbercombe stood in his petrified doom in one corner of the lab.
One by one they tested the items Ranthir had brought, returning each of them to Ranthir as they turned out not be the cure. More than an hour passed in taut concentration and effort.
But, finally, Rill smiled and her face suddenly radiated with beauty (and Ranthir realized that he had never seen her smile before that moment). “We have it,” she said simply, holding aloft one of the vials of alchemical fluid.
She carried it delicately to Lord Abbercombe’s side and, with a silk cloth, rubbed it gently on his limbs, as though she were polishing his golden features. And then slowly – almost inexorably – Lord Abbercombe began to move!
His motions were almost imperceptible, but after a few moments of careful observation Rill confirmed that the cure was taking effect: “Within six or perhaps seven hours he will be fully recovered.”
Lord Zavere took Ranthir aside. “Castle Shard is in your debt. And we do not forget such debts. In addition, I am not unmindful of the sacrifices that you and your friends have made for us in this endeavor. Hopefully this will serve to mitigate your losses to at least some degree.”
Kadmus appeared, carrying a bounty of 140 platinum pieces. “I will take you out, sir.”
As Ranthir was just about to leave the laboratory, he turned back to see Rill and Zavere bent in thought upon Abbercombe’s slowly moving form. He had one last question to ask: “Lord Zavere… what should we do with Shilukar?”
“Arrest him.”
THE OTHER BOUNTY
Ranthir returned to Greyson House. The others had grown increasingly worried – his journey to Castle Shard had taken much longer than they had anticipated – but were glad to hear the news he bore.
During his absence they had performed a more thorough search of Shilukar, turning up one last item of interest: An odd strap-like device that had been bound around his upper arm. A thin cord leading from the device had been plugged into a strange hole in the back of Shilukar’s upper spine. This they yanked out before pulling the device off of his arm.
They decided to not even bother waking Shilukar. They simply hauled him out to the carriage Ranthir had brought back from Castle Shard and carried him up to the major watchhouse along the Dalenguard Road in Oldtown.
There they answered many questions and became the center of attention for a dozen or more of the city watch while they completed the bureaucratic niceties of collecting the 5,000 gold piece bounty on Shilukar’s head.
When they had at last extricated themselves from the affair, they took their carriage back to the Ghostly Minstrel and collapsed into bed. It seemed as if the days were getting ever longer and harder, and the nights ever shorter…
