Queen Ileosa sits upon the Crimson Throne. She is a vision of celestial beauty despite the black mourning dress and veil she wears in honor of her husband’s death. A small silver coffer sits in her lap. The throne room itself is pristine but strangely empty—an open area with a vaulted ceiling, stained glass windows of past kings and queens looking down from the eastern wall, and crimson tapestries hanging along the others. An immense fireplace offers additional light and heat to the hall, and a silk carpet provides a gently arching path to the throne’s base.

Sabina takes the brooch from the the pair hands it over to her queen with a flourish, then takes up a position at the throne’s left side as Ileosa stirs to address them.

"This brooch was stolen from me some time ago...I had not expected to see it again, truth be told. And yet, here on my darkest day, you come before me with kindness. The return of this brooch is much more than an honorable deed. It is inspiration. It is hope.

I love Korvosa, as my husband did before me. His death has shocked the city as it has me, but I will not see his legacy destroyed in death, and I shall not see my city torn apart. All Korvosa stands at the precipice of a disaster wrought by her citizens. These riots cannot continue. You have already done my heart a great service in returning this bauble to me on this dark day, and you shall be rewarded. Yet, perhaps you can serve your city more.
"


She arcs an eyebrow at the pair. A vision of power and commanding authority and overwhelming beauty.

"The Korvosan Guard is stretched thin, and it can certainly use the aid of heroes such as yourself. If you so choose I can have Sabina send an escort to ensure your safe journey to Citadel Volshyenek along with a letter of personal recommendation. I'm sure Field Marshal Kroft will take that into heavy consideration when deciding how best to use your considerable talents. While I hope that the good deed of helping bring order to the chaos of recent times is opportunity enough, I'm sure Field Marhsal Kroft would be able to compesnate you quite well for your efforts in aiding the guard.

 Now, I need to retire to my personal quarters...my grief has drained me.
Again, I thank you for the kindness you have shown me, and I
hope your days of serving the crown are only just beginning."

With this the Queen departs rising up and leaving through a curtain behind the throne but leaving the tiny silver coffer behind on her throne. Sabina picks it up and delivers it to Ayeesha and Kraw.

Inside the chest are 12 gold ingots stamped with royal seal of Korvosa. A rough estimate would say that each bar is worth 100gp while the box itself could probably fetch another 50gp. Sabina stares at the pair, waiting for their response to the Queen's recommendation.

Kraw regards Ayeesha, saying "her majesty is generous, both in reward and opportunities. I for one wouldn't mind helping keep the peace. And this reward is enough to get us some improved equipment to help us survive the current....troubles. What say you, Ayeesha?"

She watched the queen go, trying not to look too stunned, like a bumpkin from the tribes. She didnt' really succeed.

"What?" she replied to Kraw as he broke her from her daydream. "Oh.. Yeah, what else we going to do? Don't think we need an escort though, do you? Unless the mighty Sabina is taking us herself?"

Kraw looks at the Iron Lady. "well madam, it seems you have your volunteers. Do we have time to get these assessed and sold, and pick up new tools and equipment?"

Sabina glances out through a window at the position of the sun, still high in the sky.

"I shall have your escort swing by Irons Street en route. There will be plenty of shops along there that should cater to your needs and so long as you do not dally then you should still arrive on time."

OOC: Just PM your purchases.
This message was lightly edited by the player at 21:20, Sun 27 Jan 2019.

Ooc: When Kraw gets the ingots sold, he divides the money with Ayeesha for new equipment. That comes to an added 625 gold each.

Ayeesha leaves the throne room with another curious glance back at Sabina. She makes a few minor purchases at the markets, then follows their escort to their destination.

When Kraw is finished with his purchases, he seeks out Ayeesha. As they stride towards their destination, Kraw utters a command word and his clothing shifts to finery fit for a nobleman. Snugly-fitting, as well.

Citadel Volshyenek is located in Midland, overlooking Jeggare Harbor, where it serves as the base of operations for the Korvosan Guard. The Citadel currently operates on a skeleton crew, as almost all available guards are hard at work in the city, desperately trying to keep order.

Two nervous guards stand at the entrance to the Yard, but as the queen promised, Kraw and Ayeesha are expected. They quickly wave them through, and one guard escorts them into the
central keep, where a harried and tired-looking woman rises from her desk to greet them.

"Ah yes...you are the ones sent by Queen Ileosa. Greetings, my name is Cressida, and heroes of your caliber are exactly what Korvosa needs now. You’ve been on the streets. You know better than me how bad things are out there. It’s breaking my heart to see Korvosa tear herself apart like this. Every little bit of aid we can get from upstanding citizens like you helps. If you’re willing, I’d very much like to retain your services as agents of the Guard. I don’t need to say, of course, that you’ll be well compensated for these services.

Korvosa’s got enough troubles as it is without my own men losing their way and going rogue. As much as it pains me to admit, though, this has happened several times already. Many guards have deserted their posts, more concerned about friends and family than the city. I can understand this, yet not all of the deserters have family, some of them are simply using the riots as an excuse for personal gain. One such man is Verik Vancaskerkin. Worse than a lone deserter, he’s convinced a small group of fellow guards that Queen Ileosa is going to ruin the city.

Whether she does or doesn’t isn’t the point, right now, we’ve got a city-wide crisis on our hands, and I need all of my guards working with me to see us through. A deserter is worse than a lost resource because it’s an infection. I can’t afford to pull many of my other patrols off duty to deal with Vancaskerkin, and I’d rather not expose any of them to him anyway, since I neither want Vancaskerkin to infect more guards with his talk of secession,
nor do I want some overly patriotic guard killing Vancaskerkin outright. I need impartial, skilled talent. Like you.

You won't be alone though. There are two among Vancaskerkin's squad that refused to follow him and reported his activities to me. They've been stationed in the barracks while we could verify their report but I would like to send the pair of them with you to help take Verik down.

Vancaskerkin and his men have holed up in an abandoned butcher’s shop up in Northgate, t e place was called 'All the World’s Meat'. I need you to check out the place. Try to avoid killing any of the deserters if you can, but if you must, they brought it upon themselves when they threw in their lot with Vancaskerkin. For him, I’d really prefer it if you could capture him alive and return him to me for interrogation, but if he makes that impossible, I’ll accept his body as well. Finally, see if you can find out why Verik deserted, if there’s more to it than simple personal politics, I need to know immediately. Bring me Verik alive, and there’s another thousand gold in it for you. Dead, he’s only worth half that."

This message was lightly edited by the player at 21:44, Sun 27 Jan 2019.

Kraw says "wish I'd known this was to be a non killing mission. Do we have time for me to buy a couple of saps from the market?"

Cressida sends an aide to fetch the two guardsmen from the barracks before nodding at Kraw.

"Sure. While I expect you to resolve the issue as quickly as possible that doesn't mean rushing in without proper preparations. If you need to take a day shopping or scouting by all means."

The aide soon returns with two unusual looking guards. One has dark, almost black skin while the other is not wearing any armor, just the tunic of the watch. Cressida nods to both of them.

"Kyra. Figus. These are two operatives sent by the Queen herself to assist you in capturing your former commander."


Cressida points to a giant map of the city tacked to the wall.

"Apparently Vancaskerkin and his men have formed a gang operating out of an abandoned butchers: All the World's Meat. The previous owner was arrested for tax evasion so the shop has apparently just been empty for the past year until Vancaskerkin moved in. The local patrol has been hearing rumors that Vancaskerkin is shaking down the locals for protection money but beyond that we don't have a lot of information. With all the riots and damage recently our patrols are working overtime to keep things settled and we just can't spare anyone to kick the cockroaches out of their nest. That's where you four can help me out. You two are mercenaries or heroes or whatever and you two don't have a current assignment. Go to the butcher's and bring Vancaskerkin back to me."

OOC: Kyra, Figus feel free to start posting

Figus places his right hand with a closed fist over his heart and nods his head "At your service."

His face is impassive and is hard to read, but he looks ready to explode at any moment. It is easy to guess that Figus is taking Vancaskerkin's treachery very personally.

Kyra just nods to her superior and the two newcomers, with her best impression of a poker face. "Shall we get started?"

Does anyone have a pair of manacles in their gear? If not, could Kyra borrow one from the guard armory before they move out?

The bird man waves a feathered arm. "Welcome to the team. I'm Kraw. Got to get some Non-Lethal gear first. A pair of saps, maybe a net and some marbles. Might not be good using a net as a weapon, but I might be able to rig a trap outside a door that might slow an escapee down."

Kyra speaks up again when they leave Cressida. "It would be best to prepare for this, yes. I do have an idea that could give us an edge as well. This lot we are moving against, they are not the best and brightest the city has to offer, not by a longshot. We might be able to take advantage of that by, say, buying some strong wine and having it delivered to our brave fighters against injustice." She delivers this with barely a trace of sarcasm in her voice. "Then we just wait a bit before moving in."

If someone has questions for the Marshal Kyra will wait until they leave her office before speaking.

"World of Meat might have a smoker. It'd be inactive now, but the chimney would provide an unexpected entry point" the tengu points out.

"A chimney may be good, but is likely to be too narrow ... unless we get some potions of reduce size or gaseous form, I would advise against it. We should scout out the place for sure. They are likely to have multiple entrances."

after a moment Figus adds

"I have a canine partner. He may be of use to us in this."

"I'm not really much of a precision mission sneaky kind of girl, sorry," Ayeesha admitted as the talk of deception and subterfuge went on.

"I can try to get a .. I don't know an earthbreaker? In the market? Doesn't really help, does it? Or you know, we can just bring bandages and maybe a cure wand? bring em back from the brink?"

"I wouldn't worry too much about it. As long as you don't go out of your way to finish them when they are down, I can probably keep them alive. Probably. Of course, they are not likely to be as considerate to us, so we should not pull too many punches."

Kyra hesitates for a moment before continuing.

"I don't know how much details the Marshal has given to you, but in case she did not mention this, there are likely 4 other watchmen with Verik. And as said, they and Verik are not the sharpest tools in the watch shed. If they had any sense they would have already fled or at least kept their heads down, instead of continuing to flaunt their desertion like this."

Are we moving on? I would like to give the get-them-drunk-first plan a shot before we go in. What time of day is it anyway?

"I'm all for getting 'em drunk or drugged. Who's going to deliver the wine though? Seems dangerous," she shrugged.

"Think we should stick together after we leave here though. It's open riots out there, and we've been jumped by sewer monsters once already. Cressida herself says the watch is overwhelmed, we should assume it's not safe to travel in the city until things settle down."

Focus nods in agreement with Ayeesha "If things were normal, then it would make sense for some pretty face to make the delivery, but under current conditions we may have to tie them up first before we can have them take any drugs or liquor.

I say we hit them hard and fast. That would be our best chance."

Kyra shrugs as she explains her idea. "Was thinking of just hitting the nearest wine shop while the rest of us are looking for gear, and have them deliver a small barrel to the address, compliments of an anonymous lady admirer of the brave resistance fighters against the tyranny of the Queen. This group strikes me as juuuust foolish enough to fall for this. And if not, nothing is lost apart from a couple of coins."

"You really think that there is a wine shop that delivers, or even just open in the middle of all of this nonsense? Even if we manage to get a keg, or some bottles, who will bring it to them?"

"Can't hurt to try while the rest of the team is busy buying their gear somewhere. It's not like wine shops, taverns and various drinking holes are in short supply around here, and some of them are bound to be still standing."

Isn't it a couple of days from the start of the riots by now? Things may be slowly returning to normal by now, and if so taverns would be the first thing to open. People like to drink, and this mess has given them even more reasons to do so.

"Hard and fast is okay, but why invite injury? If I get in to scout ahead, I can speed up how fast we take them down." Kraw points out. "Besides, taking them alive means using more Finesse than brute power."