Riordeg doesn't want to interrupt Rita, but Lord Deward's comment about Quintiniacum being weakened strikes a chord with him. "Perhaps that was part of their plan, Lord Deward. I think we should get you back to the city as soon as possible so you can take charge. It would also make sense to question Melissa somewhere secure, rather than out here in the open."

He notices Melissa's expression when she talks of him resembling someone, and sighs. The girls always fell for Theoderic, with his blond hair. He could never understand why that made any difference, but it was really annoying.

"If you want to increase your defences, the king may be willing to lend you a detatchment. I can't make any promises, but it might be worth asking him if you feel it necessary to safeguard Quintiniacum."

Something niggled at his mind, and he turned back to Melissa. "Wait a minute. 'So close'? Was the plan to replace Lord Deward and his sister with yourself and Jontiag as rulers of the city?"

The suggestion, from Rita, that Melissa might actually be a noblewoman brightens her mood.  A lot.

“You think so?” she asks.  She answers her own question:  “I am.  I should be.  Duchess of Tailor's Alley.  You know the place?  The center of Lutetia Parisiorum, next to the palace, the great cathedral, there's also a little row of shops and houses, and one of the little alleys coming off it is Tailor's Alley.  But there aren't any tailors there, anymore.  You know what's there?  Women who sell themselves.  I was born and raised there, and that was my life.  My first chance.  Not much of a chance, but it was how you made a living.  And here was the nasty part:  the men we spent our nights with.. or sometimes just an hour.. sometimes less... they were big men in the Cathedral and the Palace and the rich merchants of the city.  They'd go back to their families, and tell everyone how awful it was they we were there, right in sight of the cathedral, how we were filthy, awful creatures that ought to be driven from the city.  But they never did, because they wanted us there, of course, close enough so they could slip off and visit us when the felt like it.

“We learned to hate them, me especially.  When you hate someone you don't mind stealing from them, and I learned a few things here and there.  When the Huns took over, they recruited a few men I knew, rough men, to be their enforcers, and they knew about me, they knew I had some skills so they recruited me, and the Huns gave me more- and asked less- than the great men of the Palace and the Cathedral ever did.  So that was my second chance.  You see the Huns as terrible, but to me, they picked me up out of the gutter and treated me with more respect than priests ever did.  I don't care if they are terrible.  They did well for me.”

While outwardly keeping a poker face, Rita is genuinely moved by Melissa's story--even though this is the very sort of background she had always suspected Melissa to have come from. But that was always an abstract idea. Hearing it from Melissa's mouth makes it real, something staring her in the face.

The Cathedral from which the priests Melissa mentions came was a temple of Juno that also hosted clerics of Jupiter and Mars. Rita remembers how the high priest of Jupiter in Lutetia Parisiorum had become a puppet of the Huns. How many priests of that temple had gone bad even before the Huns arrived? she wonders. And at the same time, she is grateful that the offenders apparently did not include priests of Pluto.

"That is despicable behavior for priests," she says out loud. "No wonder the high priest of Jupiter in Lutetia Parisiorum has since become a puppet of the emperor.

I see that you had very few choices," she says, her voice betraying at least some sympathy. "The skills you have--do you mean in use of magic? What about the other five chances you had? Once you had learned to use magic, you could have fled Lutetia Parisiorum and found other work somewhere else as a wizard or sorceror. Did you ever try to get away, once you were with the Huns and found out how terrible they really are?"

She notices Riordeg's sigh when Melissa says, "you look like him," and she wants to reassure Riordeg that he is a handsome and desirable man in his own right. Many women are instinctively attracted to princes due to their position alone. Theoderic's being a prince, plus his having the Merovingian good looks, with which Riordeg also is blessed, likely made him a magnet for women. But these things are personal, and she cannot talk about them now in front of Melissa and the whole party.

Immediately after hearing Riordeg's sigh, she briefly turns her head to him and gazes into his eyes with love, hoping he will understand her intention. Not wanting to provide any distraction, she quickly turns back to Melissa, resuming the poker face, to hear the rest of her story.

Vagrenk tends to the horses and remains nearby but stays out of the conversation unless he's called upon. He's not sure how this will end up and still has mixed feelings about it. Is forgiveness really worth the risk he wonders. From his perspective no but he wasn't the one making the decision.

Having answered Rita, Melissa gets to Riordeg's much simpler question:

"Replace him!  No, impossible.  Not with his uncle in Laodunum!  But... he's unmarried... men generally do not resist my charms.  As I said, I would have made a good noblewoman."

Then she returns her attention to Rita.

"Magic..and magic of a sort.  Men are easy to manipulate... most of them... if you're willing to do what you have to do.  And the Blackguards are all men.  What an opportunity, to be allowed to join them!  I don't think anyone's done as well as me, as fast as I have!  As for the Huns being terrible.. everybody is.  They're just more obvious about it.  Huns don't like to stab people in the back or be treacherous, that's why they have Blackguards."

He notices Rita's look towards him, how could he not? And his face blushes slightly at the emotion he sees in her eyes. So different from how Melissa is talking of her own dealings with the opposite sex.

Riordeg glanced at Lord Deward, wondering how he was taking the revelations. Killing his father and then seducing him - he also wondered what Deward's sister would make of all of this.

"Treachery indeed, planning to marry Lord Deward and then sell your husband out to the emperor. You do realise you aren't making a very good argument for us letting you live, don't you? You're just too dangerous to risk the possibility of you escaping."

Vagrenk nods his agreement to Riordeg's statement not sure if anybody saw it. While he did believe in forgiveness in small matters this was on entirely different scale. This person had committed multiple wrongful murders willfully and took away the free will of others, and most likely engaged in torture as well. To him, that was more than enough to justify a death sentence. He thought perhaps a quick death would be more than enough generosity rather than a long painful one. He certainly did not want to have to watch such a dangerous foe. Even being able to resist her charms she still was plenty dangerous. And would any prison be able to hold her for long...not likely.

Deward decides to add his two copper pieces.

"If you wish to take her, I will give her up to you," he says.  "A captured agent of the Emperor might be a problem I do not need.  But by right she is my prisoner.  If you do not wish to take her, she will be thrown into my prison."

He looks at Rita.  "But it is you who should make the decision.  The death of a priest is a matter for priests, first and foremost.  She is mine by right, but I would acknowledge a superior right of the priests of Arras to resolve this. Your prisoner, or mine, I leave it to you."

"But you do like to stab people in the back," Rita says to Melissa before Deward gets involved in the conversation. "I asked you what were the five other chances you had, and you have yet to answer. Did you throw those away because you enjoyed the duties of a blackguard too much to give them up?"

The one thing for which she is least prepared is for Deward, the lord of the city, to put Melissa's fate in her hands. She is downright stunned.

"Lord Deward, I...I am a junior priestess. I am not in any way an official representative of the priests in Arras. I am not even the leader of this adventuring party. And I have little knowledge of battle strategy. I could make the wrong decision and compromise everything.

I ask that this be a group decision," she says, looking almost pleadingly to Riordeg. "Melissa may still have information we can use. The gods healed her, and to me that could very well mean she should be given a chance to turn her life around. My concern is her spiritual wellbeing. I do not in any way wish to abjure my responsibility, but this is not something I can decide alone. There is too much at stake."

She looks to each one of the party members. "Do we give her as a prisoner to King Theoderic? Or is that too risky? What if she tries that domination thing on him?"

She wants to hear what the others have to say. There is one more thing she can do before making any decision.

"There is something I can do that could help me decide what the right choice is. I can cast an Augury spell to ask whether bringing her as a prisoner to King Theoderic will bring good or ill."

She prays the gods will give an answer through the spell, as right now, she is completely overwhelmed.

“Five?  What... oh”  Momentarily puzzled, Melissa comes to terms with Rita’s habit of taking many things literally.

”Figure of speech,” she explains.  “You know… rhetoric.  I never counted.  But it depends on how you look at it.  How many times could I have gone on my knees to the gods and told them I’d be a good girl?  Every day?  So maybe every day is a chance I didn’t take.  Or did, depending on how you look at it.”

Rita manages her augury spell.

There are times when the fates roll the celestial dice, and there really is no better way, because of the way the dice are weighted.  Higher risk, higher rewards, lower risk, lower rewards.

That is what the spirits tell her about Melissa.  Leaving her with Deward is the low risk, safe alternative, but then, there are no possible rewards that way.

Riordeg shrugs at Rita's question. "What Melissa tried on me was an effect of her ring. You have the ring now, so I would assume Theoderic would be safe from that. Of course, if she tried anything else I'm sure Aelasuria would scratch her eyes out."

He doesn't know the result of Rita's augury, so is going with his own thoughts.

"Let's take her to Theoderic and see what he says. That way Lord Deward can work on repairing the damage in Quintiniacum without worrying about her."

After a short deliberation, the decision is made for the party to take custody of Melissa.
Rita protests that she does not speak for Arras, but quickly realizes, that is exactly what Deward needs her to be, for his own “political cover”.  He cannot tell everyone Melissa was a criminal, and he let a bunch of strangers walk away with her, but if he tells them he released her to the custody of a Priestess, who had come because of the murder of the Priest, that is an entirely different story.  Much more acceptable.

Little white lies, as much as Rita might dislike them, seem to be part of leadership around here.

Of course, this means that someone in the small party must now be watching Melissa, as she’s a crafty one, but as the group expects to reunite with Theoderic soon, it shouldn’t matter, should it?

Deward gives them all food and drink, and provides shackles for their prisoner, and they head off the next day, into a new thread: The River Lys.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:26, Wed 28 Mar 2012.

Rita shares the results of her augury spell, which, if she is interpreting correctly, seem to support handing Melissa over to Theoderic. She makes sure to get the party together in private to avoid any chance of Melissa overhearing.

"The message I got is, leaving Melissa with Lord Deward is the lower risk option. It is safe, but it will not yield us any rewards. The higher the risk we take, the higher the chances of reward. The gods are saying her capture only has a chance of bringing us good if we bring her to King Theoderic, as Riordeg suggests."

The thought of Aelasuria scratching anyone's eyes out, even Melissa's, is inconceivable to her. Aelasuria is one of the most gentle souls she has ever known.

The whole "political cover" thing is confusing to her. "Why would Lord Deward need a cover? He's not letting the prisoner go with strangers; he's handing them over to a group on a mission for King Theoderic. Shouldn't the crime of killing the high priest be judged by the king himself?"

She is torn about the issue of speaking for Arras. Things just aren't done this way, not where she grew up. Only the bishop or his designee speaks for Arras. Falsely presenting oneself as a reprentative of the priesthood or even of one's order is considered a serious violation that could get a cleric in serious trouble.

"If the bishop or any of the high priests in Arras hear of this, I will be the one facing judgement," she protests to Deward. By now, there is a good chance Bishop Garrax knows of her alliance with Theoderic, in violation of Arras' signing the peace treaty with the Huns.

But she doesn't seem to have a choice in the matter. Deward is the lord of this city, and she cannot defy him either.

She will do her part in watching Melissa. "We will have to rotate watches, as someone must guard her at all times," she says to the group.

Riordeg reassures Rita, before heading to the new thread. "I understand why this is necessary. Lord Deward needs not only to satisfy his own people, but also his uncle Gaffrig. They are officially neutral at the moment, so for him to hand over a prisoner to Theoderic would be unwise politically. Handing Melissa over to a priestess gives him deniability, even if you take her straight to the King. Lord Deward handed her over to the proper authority, how they dealt with the problem is not his concern."

Riordeg will thank the Lord for his help, and the supplies, and making his best guess leads the group towards the current position of Theoderic. He hopes.

Alara has been quietly troubled by Melissa's story, though it doesn't show much through her stony expression. The very idea that the Huns could offer hope is unsettling, but the situation Melissa found herself in was similar enough - still markedly different, but similar enough - to the tales of many who joined the mercenary camps, including herself, to make the half-elf wonder.

Still, she doesn't dwell on it. This isn't the time, she tells herself firmly. The priestess has made the decision to spare the woman, and needs someone to guard her. And war is coming, when they will need soldiers.

"There thhould be two people watching her at all timeth." Vagrenk suggests.

---

"Riordeg, a detect magic thhould be performed on that...woman..and thhe thhould be thripped of everything...and I mean everything and given a thimple tunic to wear. Ath you already have theen they hide weaponth and magic anywhere and everywhere."

---

Vagrenk prefers to have her gagged when he has to watch her. He doesn't want to risk any possibility of her using some sort of verbal magic. He didn't like the situation one bit and wasn't going to sleep much or well as long as she was around.

Riordeg agrees that either a gag or hands tied together makes a lot of sense. "Most spells have hand movements, don't they?" His eyes widen at the idea of stripping her bare naked though.

"Good idea about checking her garments. Uh, I think Alara and Rita should be the ones to strip her, though." he says, blushing.

Rita can easily perform a detect magic to see if Melissa has any magic items on her.

"She doesn't need to be stripped naked," Rita assures Riordeg. "The spell will easily show any magic she has on her. Most spells do require hand movements, but there are some that have only verbal components. Unless she is a sorceress who casts from memory, she must have a spellbook with her among her items. From that spellbook, we can easily determine what spells she knows and is able to cast."

Having two people guard Melissa at all times makes sense.

"She needs a cloak along with the tunic to protect her from the cold. We should make sure none of the clothing we give her has any pockets where she can hide weapons. I think tying her hands is probably enough."

She turns to Melissa. "How do you cast your spells? Do you use a spellbook, or are you a sorceress who casts from memory? You don't want to lie to us," she emphasizes sternly.

"A cloak can hide poithonth, bladeth, potionth, lock pickth, noteth, familiarth, and who knowth what elthe. Anything thhe wearth thhould be thoroughly thearched. It'th jutht eathier to take everything and give her thomething to wear. It ith the thmart thing to do. Propriety meanth nothing to thomebody who ith all too well ready to thab you in the back or thlit your throat while you thleep."

"I'm not thinking about propriety," Rita explains to Vagrenk. "I'm thinking about providing her sufficient protection from the cold weather. Of course we will search everything she wears. But we cannot allow her to freeze either."

Over time, Rita will attempt to gauge whether Melissa is open to the option of reforming her life. She will talk to her and try to find out if there is any chance Melissa may really want to start a new life.

Melissa is surprised when Rita asks about casting spells from memory, with no book.  It seems she's never heard of people who can do that, other than clerics.  Not wizards.  The spells have to be memorized!

”You can do that?” she asks.  “It’s very hard.  But there is a trick the Orcs know, which is why their own magicians don’t need books… oh, don’t be surprised, they have wizards too.  They bind the magic on their own body.  Special ink.  They are their own spell books.  They can’t get it all down, that way, but they get some.  Critical spells they never want to be without.  I have a book.  Which… Deward will probably get his hands on, sooner or later.  It’s back in Quintinacum.  Don’t feel bad that you didn’t find it.  When you grow up around thieves you get really good at hiding your valuables.”

She is very curious about this “new life” Rita keeps talking about.

“What kind of life are we talking about?” she asks.  “Serving who?”

Rita is relieved to find out that Melissa is not capable of casting spells from memory.

"There are sorcerors, similar to wizards, but their magic is innate. My sister told me about them. She is a priestess of Minerva, and they're well-versed about the many types of magic in the world. Sorcerors cast from memory, but they are more limited in the number of spells they can cast. I don't think I've ever met one personally," she says.

She hopes Melissa's curiosity about what a new life would be like means the woman actually might be interested in pursuing such a path.

"Most importantly, I'm talking about a life where you would not serve the blackguard or the emperor or the Huns or their demons," she begins. "Perhaps you could offer your skills, knowledge, and information to the service of King Theoderic. Of course, it would ultimately be his decision whether or not to accept such service. You would have to prove that you've changed, that you've renounced the blackguard and their brutal ways.

A new life is not just about changing loyalties. It is about the direction of your soul. You have to be willing to turn your back on everything you've been as a blackguard. But if you truly want to change, I can and will help you. You would not be the first to leave the blackguard and turn your life around to the service of good. We've met at least one other person who has done it," she says, thinking of Dalmar, but not taking the chance of speaking his name in front of someone who may still be loyal to the emperor.

"Let me see if I understand you," Melissa replies.  "You want me to offer my abilities and in return you'll go easy on me.  Doesn't sound like too much of a change for me.  Different day, different buyer, when the price is agreed to it's still me they're buying."

She considers Rita's offer.

"So... I guess you're offering 'not dying' as incentive**.  Good, good, very hard to top that one.  Thank you for the cloak.  Most people wouldn't have bothered.. or they would, as long as they got something in return.  It's funny.. I still think the Emperor will win.  You're convinced his iron warriors have a weak spot, but they don't.  One went nutty, the first one, but after that, solid as steel, all of them.  They are going to lead the attack into the Elves, you see, and the Elves don't have anything that can stop them."

"Oh, it would be a big change for you," Rita responds. "You have to turn away from all the things that you embraced as a blackguard--cruelty, treachery, betraying others. There is no place for that in this new life.

You're not being bought and sold like a slave," she reassures Melissa, distressed by the very thought. "You are in our custody because you confessed to having murdered a high priest, and you chose to surrender when your attempt to defeat us in combat failed. Many rulers would see this as justifying a death sentence, but in this case, you are being offered an alternative. Instead, you are asked to offer assistance, both magically and in terms of information, each of which could be quite useful to King Theoderic."

Melissa's comment about the cloak makes Rita realize the woman had probably never experienced kindness in her entire life.

"Most you know wouldn't have bothered to give you a cloak without asking for something in return. Therein lies the difference between those you serve and us. We do not seek to be cruel. We care for one another whether or not there is something in it for ourselves. My guess is you've never experienced kindness. Maybe now that you have, you could consider the true value of the new life you are being offered."

Melissa's contradictory comments about how the iron warriors have no weak spots even while admitting one went "nutty" intrigue her.

"What do you mean when you say one of the iron warriors went 'nutty?' Something clearly went wrong, meaning there is some type of vulnerability. Perhaps there is a way of making more of them go 'nutty,' as you say. What do you know about how they were created? Were they created by wizards, clerics, or both?

You may think what you like, but there is much you don't know. The elves may very likely have a lot more to work with than you or the emperor realize," she adds, making sure not to let on that the elves have allied with the humans, dwarves, fey, and lycanthropes against the Huns and their emperor.

“Treachery is only treachery to the other side,” Melissa says.  “Otherwise it’s just being clever.  Didn’t you ever use a trick or a lie to do something?  Cruelty… well, I will tell you this, most of the Blackguards enjoy it.  Some really enjoy it.  They scare even me sometimes.  I was never cruel just for the joy of it.  Revenge, sometimes.”

”I see you never heard the story of the one that went nuts?  Just before the peace treaty signing.  It wouldn’t obey orders.  It kept insisting it was somebody else.  And then it escaped from the Awful Tower, at the signing.  It caused a lot of damage.   But that wasn’t the Blackguards in charge, that was the Demon shamans.  They do most of the magic for the Emperor.  We just manage people for him.”