Set in Motion

The afternoon crawled by and when the sun began to sink towards a bank of angry red clouds, Rue led the way to the governor’s mansion. It took them a while to get past the guards, and it wasn’t until she demanded they go get Guy that they were allowed to enter.

Guy met them at the massive double doors and escorted them to the large, high-windowed meeting room. Sunset spilled through stained glass, lending a golden hue to the colored light playing over the dark wood rafters and gray stone walls.

Vev sat at the head of a long table, flanked by the captain of the city guard. The two entrances to the room were sentried by one guard each. A little orc girl leaned on the armrest of Vev’s seat, looking up at him and giggling. As they filed in, Vev looked up from his daughter and was immediately all business.

“Dolip, sweetie, it’s time to go, I need to talk to these nice people.”

The little girl gave him a quick hug then turned obediently to leave. She looked curiously at the group, then fixated on Oda, who waved at her. The guard at the far door let her out as she shuffled reluctantly away.

Vev ran an appraising eye over the party, then raised a brow. “Rue? I’m surprised you decided to join us this evening.”

She put a hand on her hip. “Yes? I was in the fight and you asked to see us so…”

“Interesting.”

Why was he - ah. The Zandeer ship she saw that morning. Of course Vev would know of it. And of course that was the one day she decided to skulk around the harbor. “Love ya too, Vev.”

He gestured for everyone to sit. “I believe the first thing we need to address is the writing in the sky we all witnessed this morning.”

“What writing?” Oda chirped.

They all paused to stare.

“Really?”

“I don’t pay attention to things like that,” she said brightly.

Vev cleared his throat. “For those of us who do remember, Realtam was an island kingdom that years ago was ravaged by a wizard with an undead army.”

The fate of Realtam will be the fate of Alkenpo .

Guy interrupted, “If I may, this might reach back farther than that.” He looked around the table. “Vev and Rue know that I am a veteran of the great wizarding war, and I suspect the wizard responsible for the destruction of Realtam was a remnant of the wrong side. The mage today was a warning. The same thing happened then.”

“Which is why the undead are especially concerning.” Vev added. “Y’all have obviously dealt with them, and we can use all the help we can get. But we need to be able to trust all of you.”

“I’ll vouch for each one of this crew,” Guy said, “Except the tabaxi.”

“Oda.” Oda corrected. She smoothed her whiskers and told the same story to Vev and Guy as the others had heard earlier, down to the proud lift of her nose when she explained exactly how she’d dispatched the captain. “...and Ides said that Zandeer is a big deal so that makes it even more impressive!”

“Impressive… or that much more unbelievable?” The captain asked sarcastically.

“Hey, back off her,” Rue snapped. Even if she didn’t fully buy into Oda’s story, she’d dealt with the captain’s derision before and it raised her hackles. “She’s been through a lot.”

“Sounds like some of your… misadventures.” He smirked at Rue.

“I said back off!”

Vev, in a low voice, told him to stand down.

Rue glared at the man. The loathing was fully reciprocated.

Ides, ignoring the exchange, looked thoughtful. “Do we know the name of the wizard that destroyed Realtam?”

Guy sat back in his chair, brow furrowed. “...Gedon? Gedon Coe. Possibly. Haven’t thought about that name in years.” A humorless smile flickered over his face. “I thought that fight was over a long time ago.”

Eridin leaned forward. “What I want to know is who sent that ship into the port? Who was steering it?”

Vev scratched his chin. “We don’t know. What little we could find aboard were old weapons and evidence of a failed ritual, which we can speculate little about. But our best bet right now? Zandeer. I’ve been trying to flush that organization of sea rats out of Tralco for eight years,” he cast a sidelong glance in Rue’s direction, “with a mixed measure of success.”

“We need intel and possible locations.” Guy rested both hands on the table. “Rue?”

All eyes turned to her. She stared back at Guy, mouth slightly agape.

“I- I’m not sure. Zandeer isn’t big on staying in place.” She meant the fleet of constantly roving ships, but if they wanted something resembling a headquarters, she knew exactly where they’d want to snoop around. And she was not about to volunteer that information.

Guy’s eyes were hard. “But you know where they’ve been in the past.”

Rue shifted in her seat, her heart beginning to gallop. Guy knew full well what she’d come from but had never broached the subject. Now he was calling her out in a room full of strangers, and she’d never had to face this side of his menace. “That was two years ago! Even if I wanted to, I can’t tell you anything about where they are now.”

He didn’t relent.

Her throat went dry. “I haven’t spoken to anyone since I landed, I promise!”

“Yet you were there the day a Zandeer ship entered Tralco for the first time in six months.” Vev said from his place at the head of the table. “You care to explain that?”

Rue half-stood, gripping the ornate, heavy edge of the table. “I. Didn’t. Know.” She ground out through gritted teeth.

“Oda claims that it was a Zandeer captain that held her captive; do you have any idea who that might have been?”

“No! All the captains I knew looked down on trafficking as a dirty way to earn dirty money.”

Guy gave her a look she could only describe as parental misgiving. She hated it. “I’m trusting you.” He turned away and began discussing alternative channels of information with Vev.

Rue sank back in her chair, folding her arms tightly across her chest to hide her shaking hands.

“You worked for Zandeer?” Oda’s green eyes grew round, and she gasped as she caught up with the exchange. “Are you a mole?”

“Am I, kitty?” Rue snapped “You ought to know a rodent when you see one.”

“That was offensive,” Oda muttered.

She took a few deep breaths and refocused on the conversation as Vev was saying something about a wandering druid circle on the edges of the Wild.

“No,” Guy said firmly. “We’re not wasting our time chasing druids all over Alkenpo. And I’m not going after the she-bear.”

“We may very well need her-” Vev started.

“No she-bear!” Guy slammed his metal hand on the table.

Her ears pricked. This was a story she’d not heard before.

“Fine!” Vev shouted, then took a deep breath to compose himself. Then, he turned to address the tabaxi. “It’s… Oda, right?”

She grinned. “Yep, that’s me, I’m Oda!”

“Where did you say you were from again?”

“I was taken from Gullwing, if that’s what you’re asking.”

Rue’s stomach dropped. She’d deflected and made everyone suspicious for nothing. Oda had spilled the beans immediately. Gullwing. Of course that’s where she’d been kidnapped. Her story was sounding more legit by the second.

Vev glanced at Guy. “If Zandeer has anything to do with this, Gullwing is probably the place to start searching for some answers.”

“How would we get there?” Eridin asked, “I’m not familiar with this area.”

Vev thought for a moment. “With horses it’d be… a week’s trip down the coast? Or a few days by boat.”

“Find a ship and you have yourself a captain.” Rue leaned forward, a bit too enthusiastically. The last thing she wanted to do was hunt Zandeer, but she needed any excuse she could get to get out of Tralco. The sprawling city was suddenly much too small.

“Right,” Guy laughed. “We’re going on my ship, under my orders.”

Rue huffed. “I am one of the best sailors in Tralco. I can handle this.”

“You could. I’d rather come out of retirement.”

“Guy-.”

“You might’ve grown up on a boat, but I have at least thirty years more experience on you, little girl.”

She did the mature thing and stuck her tongue out at him. Little girl.

Across the table, Ides whispered, “Geeze, how old is this kid?”

“Shut up,” she mumbled.

Guy scrutinized the party one by one. “Let’s see, we’ve got the ship, I can get the crew, but this group here is looking rather motley, wouldn’t you agree, Vev?”

Vev rubbed a hand over his face and motioned for the captain of the guard to open a small chest that sat in the corner.

“500 gold for each of y’all. It should more than suffice for your needs, but seriously, don’t spend it all in one place. Shops can get pricey around here.”

Guy nodded to Rue. “Show them around, will you?” A short guard entered through the side door with an armload of papers. “I’m going to be here awhile.”

Rue distantly heeded his order, weighing the proffered bag in her palm. She’d seen gold in this amount before and much more, but it'd been years since she'd had so much in hand. With this amount, she could disappear tonight and never again be seen in Tralco. The notion was incredibly tempting.

“Better get going,” Vev said, “A lot of the market closes up after sunset.”

____________________________________________________

The group once again followed Rue as she led them back to Merchant’s Quarter, pointing out shops and giving suggestions of where to explore the market.

Blank had no idea where she even wanted to start, there was too much potential in the amount of gold that now sat in her pocket.

Eridin stopped Rue as the party passed through the more expensive row of businesses. “What’s that place?” He pointed to a squat hut down the street, its chimney spewing purple-tinged smoke.

Rue spared it a glance. “What, Dixon’s smithy? That’s only Tralco’s most expensive business. I wouldn’t bother, unless you feel like spending all your coin and then some. There’s a better place a few streets over, next to the poisonry.” She turned slightly as if to encourage them that way.

“Firstly, why does Tralco have a poisonry?”

She raised a brow.

“Guess that doesn’t really matter. Secondly, can we stop here?”

She shrugged. “Sure, but like I said, I wouldn’t bother. It’d take most of our gold together to afford something from there.”

Both Eridin and Ides were determined however, and Blank, Oda, and Rue trailed behind them.

From the outside, it looked like a typical smithy, but instead of a hot, sooty hovel, they entered a beautiful showroom bristling with metal and magic.

A gnome in an impeccably tailored suit and a monocle appeared in front of them. “Welcome! What can I do for you?”

“Hi,” Eridin stepped forward. “Great place you got here, could we possibly speak to Dixon?”

The gnome blinked up at him. “Mister Dixon is a very busy dwarf. But I can assist you with any of your needs; is there anything here that’s caught your eye?”

Ides motioned to a glass display table full of daggers. “What kind of enchantments can you work into one of these?”

Their salesman tapped the glass, smiling suavely. “Pick one you like and we can talk magic.”

Blank had a sneaking suspicion they were going to be there a while. Standing between her and Rue, Oda was giggling to herself and looking for all the world like, well, the cat who caught the canary.

Two of the smithy guards walked towards them.

“May we help you, ladies?” The taller one asked gruffly.

“Just browsing!” Oda said brightly, clicking her nails together.

The two men backed off a few feet, but kept a close watch on the tabaxi.

Blank wandered for a bit, scrutinizing enchanted armor and weapons, stopping for a bit at a particularly pretty little crossbow. She caught sight of the estimated price and moved on. Tedium quickly set in.

Oda’s claws clacked incessantly. “Just browsing!” She’d remind the guards, who glared back at her.

Blank stepped out to let Pina fly around a bit, and Rue followed her, bored. They stood in silence as the pseudodragon swooped over the stores and stalls that were now shut up against the night.

Finally, Ides and Eridin were done and everyone unanimously agreed to complete the rest of their shopping in the morning. They were all exhausted and ready for a meal.

It felt good, Blank realized, being this tired. She hadn’t used this much of her power in a long time, and she’d kept it under control. And it seemed like she might have some new friends to boot. If nothing else, she’d saved lives and her purse was full again.

She paused for a moment, listening. The silence in her head had gotten quieter.

____________________________________________________

They made their way back to Guy’s. Rue settled at the bar, Oda following to perch on a stool next to her.

Cats. Rue rolled her eyes. She saw Thane behind the counter some ways down and motioned for two plates.

A half hour crawled by. As Rue was about to make a quiet exit, Guy returned, much to the relief of the remaining patrons.

Guy greeted and reassured his customers that “All is well, everything’s being handled.” He checked up on the staff and ate a little before heading out again.

Rue was right behind him, and, unfortunately, so was Eridin.

“Yes?” Guy asked tiredly, looking over his shoulder.

“I’d like to go through those records with you,” Eridin said, “I’ve been thinking over some things.”

“Me too.” Rue said.

“Very well.” Guy led the way through the nearly-empty streets.

Rue matched Guy’s pace and pulled him forward, trying to put a little distance between them and Eridin, who, thankfully, did not try to catch up.

“Why the hells did you call me out like that?” she hissed. “You’re making me look suspicious in front of people who very much do not trust me!”

Guy shook his head. “We need information about Zandeer, and the threat that they might be involved in what happened today. You know- knew them well. I’ve done my best not to pry but now is the time…”

“I left Zandeer, Guy, in case you forgot.” With the full intention of returning but that’s not the point, “The whole point of me leaving was to cut contact with them! I’ve told you before I have heard nothing from any member since I got here.”

“I want to trust you. I really do.”

Rue stopped short. Her carefully woven story was more threadbare than she cared to admit, and was threatening to unravel before her eyes. “Well. If that’s how you really feel.”

Turning back towards the in, she brushed past Eridin, catching his expression. He’d heard. How much, she didn’t know. But he’d heard.

Hells.

____________________________________________________

Thanks for reading part four of my (as of yet unnamed) ongoing series! It chronicles the long-running D&D campaign that I've been participating in for over 2 years.

Part One

Part Five