Session 46: My Brother's Keeper

General Summary

Working Ship

38th of Wintercrest 22nd year of the Second Era
The morning after Serenity arrived in Palhas City Thradreg Duskchin asked Malcolm if he would like to find some work for the ship. Malcolm told him to be back in a week. 
The party proceeded towards the Lucky Hawk Inn but Malcolm was beckoned into an alley but a woman in exceptionally non-descript clothing. The party followed only to find the alley blocked behind them by a similarly dressed woman.  The party could now see that under the common clothes of both woman was the same red leather armor, and also hidden under their bland traveling cloaks were longbows and belt fastened quivers. Zuko prepared to defend them and the first woman pointed out 6 more similarly dressed women on the rooftops before revealing a tattoo on her neck signifying she was part of the Order of the Crystal Eye. She then pulled a magic hand mirror from her belt and handed it to Malcolm. After a moment Alexandra Nordheim appeared. She informed them that she recently learned the vision she showed them of the elder vampires may have been effected by the difference in the flow of time between the Mortal Realm and the Realm of the Dead. Malcolm  explained that they already knew, and filled her in on everything that had happened since they went to find their tomb. 
Alexandra was relieved they were able to eliminate to of the vampires in spite of her mistake, and though she advised caution in dealing with Silas she also didn't want them to write off the possibility of using him as cautious ally. 

Deserters

After checking in at the Lucky Hawk and learnign of a recent massive movement of the Earrenian Imperial Vanguard, and shopping at Al-Hai's Bazaar, the party headed to see Jarl Rupert Wasser. On the way, Meara was contacted telepathically by Lara Jennings, the navigator for the The Solia. Lara asked for their present location and confirmed they would be able to meet later in the week to discuss something she needed help with. 
When they arrived at the Jarl's home, Barros, one the Jarl's personal guards was noticeably absent. The Jarl had invited them to inform them of political and military developments that could impact their efforts to have Palhas secede from the Empire. All regiments of the Vanguard in Palhas Province and Frielos Province were on their way towards Nanshi Province, leaving the west coast provinces undefended. Many other regiments in the Empire were being moved as well, seemingly in the general direction of Hame. Further evidence to this end was a report from Sebastian Braun that vanguard perimeter around Hame had been breached by the forced of Orcus. 
The Jarl had mixed feelings on the abandonment of the vanguard. On one hand it would mean no imperial forces within the provinces to attempt to stop the secession. It also meant the new kingdom founded afterwards would have virtually no military. However, there were a great number of Vanguard soldiers that formally objected to leaving the provinces undefended, and they were transported to a new large prison complex in Frielos as deserters. He believed that these "deserters" if freed, would be willing to help from the new Palhas Royal Army, but he wanted the opinion of The Regulators before making any plans. 
They agreed it was a good plan and they would do what they could to help. Before leaving, he introduced them to his fiancée, Ludwika Sliwinska, which they recognized as the Jarl(rank:7d05acb8-6af0-4458-9025-2eefbd6d6be5) of @[Frielos Province. He explained that the engagement is a secret since they are both the sole heirs to Jarldom of their provinces, but that would not matter once both provinces are united as a new kingdom separate from the empire. 

Blood Magic

After leaving the Jarl, the party proceeded to visit Lord Ozin Lorimer to see what he knew about the brand Meara received from Silas. He was disturbed by the mark, as it was considered a form of magic even darker than Necromancy, though he hadn't seen it used since the first Great Guild War (see: A Brief History of the Great Guild Wars ).  
He was certain he could remove it, but did not know enough about that school of magic to turn it against its user. He did point out the strategic elements of leaving the brand in place: They always knew where Silas believed Meara to be, and if they intended to parley with him, keeping the brand would be a show of good faith. 

The Cartel

42nd of Wintercrest 22nd year of the Second Era
When The Solia finally arrived, the party met Lara at the dock. The immediately noticed the ship had been badly damaged and repeatedly repaired since they last saw it. As Lara guided them to the quarters of Captain Marcus Sheppard, they also noticed other things out of character for the ship and crew: a hold stuffed with gunpowder and cannon balls as well as what appeared to be stolen valuables, a crew member bribing the port master to ignore irregularities in the manifest, and teh upper deck littered with additional cannons that appeared to be from a variety of different ships. 
When they finally reached Captain Sheppard, it took him a moment to recognize them, and when he did he chastised Lara for misleading him about their reasoning for coming to Palhas. Lara then explained that the Captains brother, a legitimate successful cargo airship magnate, had been kidnapped by the Pétagma Cartel, so they could use his legitimate business to assist in their criminal enterprise. 
The Solia had been involved in a drawn out campaign against cartel ships in an attempt to find the cartel's headquarters. Though, Lara admitted, the attacks seemed to be out of pure malice. She believed after what The Regulators had done for them in Anexa  (see: Session 8: Fort Anexa ) they were the perfect people to help them infiltrate the headquarters without simply getting The Solia destroyed and the whole crew killed. The gold from the fenced cargo from the cartel ships, and the bounty on the cartel leader's head should be more than enough to pay The Regulators help. 
Malcolm proposed using The Solia and Serenity to steal a cartel ship and use it to infiltrate the headquarters without engaging in air to ground combat against the cartel's cannon defenses. Lara and Captain Sheppard agreed to the plan and would wait for Serenity to return before departing. 
To Be Continued...

Report Date

07 Mar 2021