10 Tilden 1120

The Ronin

Of all the characters the party had met in their time, only a handful had the kind of psionic ability that they would need to complete the recharging of the galadiir. Chandrakar was either hopelessly insane and lost in the Far Realm or dead; the surviving spawn of Azazel, Gadreel and Ramiel, had done their part and could not be approached again; the ulitharid Shendrothar was working for the enemy. That left one possibility, and a remote one at that: the Emperor of the Jade Islands.

The heroes did not know for a fact that the Emperor was a psion. All they had was Mrs. Wilkins's impression, based on a short encounter with him, and the information she had gathered at the time. The Emperor, they knew, was young-looking and human in appearance but either immortal or ageless; he commanded absolute loyalty, to the point of self-sacrifice, even from men who themselves led armies; he traveled freely, albeit discreetly, with few if any bodyguards. It seemed reasonable to conclude that he had impressive powers. If he was, as they suspected, an elan, those powers would certainly be psionic in nature.

Even with their limited knowledge of diplomatic protocol the heroes realized they could not just knock on the Palace door and ask if the Emperor was home. They planned to present themselves as dignitaries, and therefore should present a gift before asking for assistance. Strontium suggested some kind of exotic plant as traditional and appropriate. A visit to an exotic nursery in Marhaven turned up a good specimen, a gilded jasmine bush. Mrs. Wilkins negotiated an excellent price and Quinn ensured that they had adequate supplies to keep the plant healthy in transit.

It did not occur to anyone to check for held mail.

The Chimera pulled in to the docks at Kaito as spring began to make itself felt across the lands. Mrs. Wilkins briefed them on the process of applying for visas and led the group to the appropriate office. A bored clerk took their applications and contact information and told them the wait would be three to five business days.

Figuring they had time to kill the party split up. Strontium, Caenus and Melian saw to the ship, ensuring they had provisions and arranging for dock fees and such while the rest of the group went in search of inland transport. They rented the six best horses they could find and obtained supplies for the trip to the Palace.

Surprisingly, a messenger from the visa office found Strontium and company at the dockmaster's office less than an hour after they'd left their applications. Their visas, the messenger said, had been approved and could be picked up at the party's convenience.

The group reassembled and returned to the visa office. The bored clerk was still there and admonished them slightly. "You should have told me you'd already applied in advance," she said to them. "Penworth-san was very displeased that I made you do the paperwork again."

The name Penworth struck a chord with Caenus. He nudged the others and quietly reminded them of their visit to the Central Bank of Nessen, where a manager named Penworth had handed Aria a package containing the Daneth's gloves she wore now. They asked to speak to Penworth-san.

Penworth appeared, the very picture of civil service middle management. Mrs. Wilkins detected a flash of recognition in his eyes before he regained his composure, which was odd because he looked nothing like the Penworth from the bank. In response to polite questions Penworth said that their visa applications had been filed on 10 Shyrdus and approved on 13 Shyrdus -- about two and a half weeks prior to the day they arrived, and a good two weeks before the party even knew they would be coming to the Islands.

With Mrs. Wilkins signalling that Penworth seemed to be hiding something, Strontium volunteered that they would be leaving in the morning for the Palace. Penworth, surprised by the look of him, asked whether they would first call on Shogun Sakai, as his office had arranged the visas for them -- hadn't the party received a message in Marhaven?

Strontium made a quick decision to play along and accept Penworth's suggestion. Of course they would stop at the Sakai estate before the Palace, he allowed; that went without saying. After they left the visa office he explained his thinking to the rest of the group. Penworth was clearly trying to steer them to Sakai, as the Bank's Penworth had steered them toward Aria's home village and the discovery that her parents were alive and serving the enemy. That unseen actor, whomever it may be, seemed to be on the party's side; if their benefactor was pushing them to visit Sakai it probably meant there was something there to help them. His companions expressed reservations at this mysterious "someone" who seemed to know what they intended to do before they did, but agreed with his logic.

In the morning the party saddled up their horses and headed inland toward the central island, Chuoshima. They took the ferry across the channel, spent an uneventful night at a comfortable inn, and approached the gates of the Sakai estate at mid morning.

The samurai guardians were indifferent to the group at first, but the combination of Strontium's logic and Mrs. Wilkins's diplomacy got them admission to the compound. They were escorted into the main house to a parlor, where they met Ishikawa, Sakai-kyou's right hand.

Ishikawa was absolutely polite and unhelpful. Sakai-kyou, he explained, was not available and to the best of Ishikawa's belief had no knowledge of or interest in the party. He was at a loss to explain the visas, which would have been arranged through him if they were truly sponsored by his master.

Though his manner remained smooth and professional, Mrs. Wilkins felt certain that Ishikawa was lying to them. When charm and diplomacy failed to budge him, Mrs. Wilkins used Strontium's arguments as a cover to cast dominate person on Ishikawa. The spell took hold and the heroes compelled Ishikawa to reveal the truth: that Sakai was in residence but had ordered that he not be disturbed for any reason. Sakai was with Matsui, a samurai who had been carrying secret communications between Sakai and Yoshiro Tamura, the disgraced ex-samurai who had refused to pledge his allegiance to Sakai and been stripped of his lands and title in consequence.

Why Sakai was in communication with a wanted outlaw Ishikawa did not know. He believed that their business had something to do with the failed assassination plot against the Emperor but could not explain why his lord and the exile would be collaborating. He did know, however, that Matsui would be departing after nightfall by the western gate.

After giving Ishikawa orders sufficient to prevent him revealing what they had learned or how, the party made a visible and polite exit from the compound. They took to the road and circled around the estate, making their way to the west gate. Sure enough, as they approached the gate they spotted a pair of men hiding in the bushes. Quinn used an entangle spell to ensnare the men where they hid; one escaped and fell almost immediate victim to a dominate person from Mrs. Wilkins. The other soon succumbed as well.

These new thralls revealed that they were Matsui's travel companions, a pair of junior samurai. They accompanied Matsui on his trips to and from Tamura's camp, which lay in the eastern reaches of the Kyrthul Jungle about a day and a half away from the estate. They did not know the nature of the messages Matsui carried or Tamura's business with Sakai. They did know that Tamura spoke to his men of a quest to end espionage and treason against the Emperor by some third party group.

The party took their own positions in hiding and waited for nightfall. As expected, soon after dark they saw and heard Matsui, alone and on horseback, come through the west gate. Mrs. Wilkins cast an immediate dominate person and took control of yet another samurai mind, at which point she commanded the messenger to hand over the message he was given.

Melian carefully unsealed the scroll and unfurled it to reveal a message written in cypher. Strontium used a comprehend languages to read it. The message, from Sakai to Tamura, listed the names of several Illumians of Loreguard Cabal, the illumian settlement in Nessen. In the message Sakai named the leaders of the cabal's Black Table (the group who rules the cabal) and suggested a time and location where they could be easily abducted and taken for questioning. From the message it was clear that Sakai blamed the illumians for the failed assassination attempt and was prodding Tamura to commit an act of war against the cabal to confirm his suspicions.

The party consulted and a decision was reached: the message would be delivered, but to the Emperor rather than to Tamura. Melian carefully resealed the scroll and they headed north toward the Diamond Palace with their enthralled messengers in the lead.

At the Palace they easily talked their way past the first set of guards by showing them the seal of Shogun Sakai and claiming the message was for them to deliver to the Emperor. They were ushered into a lavish waiting salon and joined swiftly by a well-dressed man who introduced himself as "Sonozaki, His Majesty's servant." They handed the message to Sonozaki and waited while he retreated to examine it, enjoying fresh food and drink provided by servants as they waited.

When Sonozaki returned it was clear that the message had been decoded and read in full. Sonozaki asked, in a polite and respectful way, what the party sought in exchange for this information. Strontium explained that they needed a favor from the Emperor, something requiring great psionic ability and that would help to defeat the actual force responsible for the assassination attempt and the unrest in His country. Sonozaki withdrew for another consultation and came back with the Emperor's answer: the Emperor would grant their request, but first he asked that the party bring him Yoshiro Tamura alive.

The heroes agreed and asked Sonozaki to provide a letter of safe passage they could show Tamura to prove that he would not be harmed before seeing the Emperor. They spent the night at the Palace and left in the morning bearing both the original message and Tamura's safe-passage guarantee, which bore the Emperor's seal. They crossed the channel into the western province and located the messenger's boat to make the longer crossing into the jungle.

By midday the next day they were approaching Tamura's camp. A newly-constructed wooden fence marked the perimeter with a gate guarded by two warriors. The party walked right up to the guards and showed them Tamura's seal. The ronin questioned the presence of strangers, but the controlled Matsui explained that they were to assist in the planned raid and that satisfied the men.

Inside, they made their way to Tamura's tent. The tent guardians allowed only two of the gruop to enter: Strontium and Mrs. Wilkins.

Inside the tent they found Tamura, a middle-aged woman in wu jen's garb, and an older man who they guessed was Tamura's shugenja advisor. Stronium presented Tamura with both messages and waited while the soldier read both. Tamura sent them out of the tent while he consulted with his advisors. They waited patiently, expecting that Tamura would reach the only sane conclusion.

Sure enough, a short while later Strontium was summoned back into the tent. The shugenja cast a circle of truth and Tamura questioned Strontium about how he came to possess the message from Sakai. Strontium's answers -- and the dwarf made a point of declining to resist the spell -- seemed to satisfy the warrior's doubts. Tamura told Strontium that when the assassination attempt happened, he had immediately realized that the goal was not really to kill the Emperor but to force Kamakura to take his own life, creating an open position in the power structure. Tamura had suspected Sakai or his master, Shogun Takagi, of being behind it. However, during the siege of Tamurashi Sakai's men had presented Tamura with a message from Sakai implicating the illumians, whom many suspected of subtle meddling in world affairs, and suggesting an alliance to end the interference. Tamura had accepted and Sakai's men then "defected" and enabled their escape. He still believed that was true, but Tamura said that he would accompany the group to the Palace as his Emperor ordered.

The return journey ended near sunset of the next day. The party was ushered into the same lavish salon, where they were only slightly surprised to encounter Ishikawa and to learn that Sakai had been with the Emperor most of the day. Sonozaki appeared to greet the party and to bring Tamura (whom he addressed as "Tamura-sama," a measure of significant respect) to the Emperor. The party enjoyed a splended meal and then Sonozaki returned, alone, to invite them to stay the night and to inform the party that the Emperor would see them in the morning.

Immediately after breakfast Sonozaki himself met the heroes and conducted them to the Emperor's hall, giving them advice on protocol as they walked. He presented them as "the adventurers of Castanamir's Island" and ushered them into a breathtaking hall of white granite with gold and jade accents. A set of four pillars marked off a dais on which sat a youngish-looking man with pale skin and red hair -- the Emperor.

His Majesty sat inside an area defined by faint, shimmering fields of force that resembled to Strontium's eye an Otiluke's resiliant sphere. The Emperor greeted the party and thanked them for their assistance. He explained to them that Tamura had told them the truth about his reasons for refusing the oath, and that Sakai had confessed to the plan against the illumians. The Emperor for his part would have believed them both had he not heard Betty's story for himself and had the party to confirm it. Tamura, he told them, had agreed to take the oath and serve Sakai and would have his honor and lands restored. He then asked what the party would have him do for them.

Strontium explained about the galadiir and what they had learned of its power and the method for recharging it. He also asked for any assistance the Emperor could provide in locating a mage high enough in level to complete Castanamir's binding spell, which would be needed along with the galadiir to seal Azazel in his prison for all time.

The Emperor took the galadiir, examined it, and told the party he would do as they asked. They were to remain at the Palace as his guests while he charged the stone, and then the Emperor would see to their second request.

As they left the Emperor's presence, the heroes felt a sense of relief. It was momentary, though, as they now realized that with the galadiir fully charged Azazel would be all the more motivated to destroy them before they could use it.

<MR>
1/26/2010