the "king's citadel" are the topmost authority in breland and they deal with threats to king and country
they have 4 inner divisions:
the "king's shields" protect the royals and those close to them
the "king's swords" handle especially difficult military stuff
the "king's wands" advise and assist in anything related to magic
the "king's lanterns" make sure the others are doing what they're meant to in the ways they're meant to
today our group of 6 were summoned to speak with one of the king's lanterns
we accepted a geas to never reveal their identity
...
i can't even write it here (what an odd feeling!) so i'll refer to them by the alias "fire lens"
fire lens gave zer' something to bring to his people for study – a box containing commendation ribbons colored with breland blue dye
that dye is almost entirely made at the reidran trade mission in galethspyre
then they gave us the bad news
they found records with irregularities then questioned the soldiers responsible ... but all were under geas or had memory gaps
each had recently received a commendation ribbon from either the head of the swords of the head of the lanterns
further investigating revealed more dubious actions
like building a secret base to make treaty-violating titansuits and slipping emmer sykes out of prison so he can help
anyone in the military could be compromised so fire lens is asking an outside group – us! – to go in and shut it all down
so we will
we have 4 objectives at that base
look for and document anything related to magical research or made with it
ruin all that stuff so it's inert but recognizable
use as little force as possible to keep anyone there from getting in the way
and apprehend sykes such that he also will be inert but recognizable
in 4 days we'll travel to the blackcaps on the same airship that carried us out of aundair the last time we encountered sykes
the base is carved into the face of a cliff so they'll keep the airship cloaked above it and we'll descend into it by rope
...
there's no way i'm shimmying down a rope at great height over sharp rocks without at least taking the opportunity to mine for quartz afterward!
fortunately we'll have 3 days to get everything done
after that zer' needed to take the box to the "high house of light" in adar to have the contents examined and he invited any of us to come with
i needed a way to distract myself from thinking about the rope thing and somehow i'm fine with teleporting to distant unknown places at a whim so i volunteered
it took several hours for the scholars to do their part and zer' was happiest taking the time to meditate in a familiar place
so i explored a little
since i left the everglow i haven't felt safe going anywhere outside the heart & hammer without at least one other person i know along with me and nearly every place i've gone has involved something that easily justified that feeling
i've only just recently felt comfortable going it solo in myshan gardens and that's after three months of trying every eatery in the area
but the monestary didn't make me nervous at all and everyone seemed friendly
i wandered for a while with frequent pauses to sketch whatever looked interesting
being at the peak of a mountain would make the high house of light a chilly place except for a magic barrier surrounding it that keeps the climate mild and prevents scrying
outside the perimeter all is snow and rocks but along the inside is a thick field of "trifle yarrow" so i also spent a long while just ... relaxing
it felt a bit like being back home
trifle yarrow is a summer perennial with soft leaves and bursts of little flowers in three tiers of pale pink and grey and lavender
it has a subtle scent and a gentle calming effect and most towns have at least one park full of them where ponies go to relax and be quietly social
it was bred not long after the queen's coronation – the second everglow native plant i've seen out here!
how has it become so strange to see familiar things?
i felt very refreshed by time i heard from zer'
according to the scholars the medallions on the commendations are psionic traps – our best guess was correct! – but they'll need more time to figure out how to disable the things
so we're back at the h&h for a thankfully calm evening
tomorrow we'll be part of a "stakeout" to catch badberry in the act of exploding another building
it's likely to be noisy