We made our report directly to the Royal family, handing over the cultist's diary as the first piece of evidence against the Duke. The King was still in shock about the betrayal of his trusted advisor. The Queen, of course, was already prepared for such news.
Queen Ginger made it clear that our help was still needed, "In light of this betrayal and the real probability of an ongoing conspiracy against the crown and against the people of Panos as a whole, we ask for your continued diligence. Whatever plan has been set in motion by Duke Harrington and the doomsday cultists of Koroth must be discovered. If it is still a credible threat, their plans must be foiled. Our material aid will continue to be made available to you. Should you require financial or martial resources, you need but ask."
Putting her money where her mouth had just been, the Queen issued Ames 50 gold coins to cover any research expenses. After taking our leave, we stopped at the front gate of the palace to get organized.
I said, "Someone gotta tell Hemitath. Rest gotta find out more stuff and things."
Rick nodded. "I'll get word back to the Headmaster, but Sorch... you need to rest and recover. It's dawn and you're drained."
I grunted. "No time. Kitty look after me. Will rest after next stop."
Ames squeezed my shoulder. "Where's that Sorch?"
I pointed south. "Where all shady people go."
As Rick headed back to the teleporter, we made our way to the docks. They were remarkably similar to the ones in Limt, just on a more massive scale. We started with the public shipping manifest, trying to see if there was somewhere in particular that the Duke might run. I paused when I saw a certain name.
"Blue Briar."
My companion peered at the manifests. "I don't see that ship on the manifest, what is it?"
I shook my head. "Not what. Who." I poked a finger at the line of the manifest that I was talking about:
'The Sea Devil - Captain Blue Briar - Destination: Limt - Dock: 43C'
I explained, "He guy who ship to Shaman for me. He friend of bartender I know. Gots eyes everywhere on coast."
Ames glanced at the map hanging next to the manifest. "Dock 43 is east of us. Let's go."
We made our way past over a hundred ships of every size and shape imaginable. I still appreciated the ocean and those who sailed her, however unlike the view from my apartment in Limt, the sheer volume of ships made the Royal Moffit port seem horribly cluttered. Details were more difficult to pick out. A lot of the charm was lost.
We reached Dock 43. The Sea Devil was easy to spot because, unlike most of the rest of the port, there were only a couple of ships in their berthings. As we approached, one of the human deckhands called down, "What ye fer then?"
I shrugged and looked to Ames. The feline called back, "We need Captain Blue Briar."
"So does every bitch in every port we visit, and they all leave satisfied but limping. This gonna be that kind of visit?"
Instead of answering verbally, the were-cat held up the small bag of gold that we had been granted by the Crown. The feline jingled the coins loudly.
The man peered down at us for a few long moments. Then he disappeared from the railing area.
I frowned. "If he come back with crossbow..."
Ames slapped my shoulder. "We can dive under the boat. You can swim, right?"
"I no tell about Silverfish?"
"Wasn't that more pulling on a rope than swimming?"
I grunted. "Sure. But yes, can swim."
Suddenly, there was an orc staring down at us. His salt and pepper hair was wild, as in if the wind had been blowing in it for years and he never bothered to comb it. He had a green-gray complexion and brownish blue eyes. The word that best described his overall appearance was 'salty'.
Blue Briar stared down at us, then focused all of his attention on me. "Wat you want?" he barked, in Orcish.
I answered in my native tongue, "You know Shaman in Jeywafa clan, yes?"
The captain grunted. "Yeah. So?"
"He friend. I send money to him with you."
The other orc's eyes widened a bit. "Oh. You _dat_ orc. Weirdo. Giving away shinies. Wat you want?"
"Want yer smarts. Will pay."
Another grunt. Then the gangplank was lowered and we were welcomed aboard. Well, we were allowed on board.
Captain Blue Briar took us into his cabin and closed the door. It was a small, spartan room. The walls were covered in maps and charts. Oddly, the room was lit by a blue glass canary sitting on the captain's desk, enchanted with a Light spell. I figured that, much like my pot, this was one of those minor magic items that apprentice mystical craftsmen make. It cast the entire room in an azure hue.
The other orc switched to the Common tongue for Ames' benefit. "Don't need spare change. Help crazy orc as pity case. Ask."
I wondered if after so many dealings over the years, this orc had developed a friendship with Shaman and I was reaping the benefit. I didn't question our good fortune aloud however.
"Koroth cult in bed with Duke. Duke on run now, but say bad things gonna happen. You hear about bad things?"
The Captain looked between Ames and myself, then sighed. "Should have known it be dangerous question. Yeah. Heard about bad things."
My feline companion rumbled, smoothly, "It goes no further than this, nobody will know you spoke to us. What bad things?"
The other orc rubbed his chin. "Dunno detail. Just know leaving in morning, before all goes wrong. Listen. Parade perfect time for thief, yes? People, money, tourists. Then why thieves leave city? They know what we dunno. "
I tilted my head. "Thief tell you dis?"
Blue Briar nodded. "And I see with own eyes. Flood of scum pay for ship out. I tell other ships around, they go. Soon next dock hear, and next, they all go. Fine for early leave nothin' compared to dyin'."
Ames asked, "Are there any thieves left that we could... persuade to give us details."
The Captain smiled suddenly, perhaps seeing an opportunity to get a little payback. "Yes. Oh yes. One. You say you gots gold, yes?"
Because of the nature of this potential informant, half of our research money ended up going to the Captain as a matter of formality. After getting the name and description of our target, we bid Blue Briar a good voyage, and left the docks. The two of us headed just north of the warehouses and fish processing plants, to where the bulk of these big buildings created a perpetual shadow. I stayed far behind Ames so that my less subtle nature wouldn't intrude on the feline's expert skulking.
It was well into the afternoon now. After hours of stalking and hunting, we found our quarry. If you were to pass this particular human on the street, you might consider frequenting higher quality streets. The mousy brown hair, pocked face, and often-broken nose did the man no favors. He was leaning up against the side of an abandoned warehouse, waiting for someone.
I approached him from the right, not bothering to hide a menacing glare. Those sharp eyes widened. The human turned to run, but ran headlong into a mass of fur and leather.
Ames snarled, "Hello Earl. Blue Briar sends his regards."
And with that the were-cat drove their short sword 3 inches into the human's left leg.
The man screamed and fell down on his ass, raising both hands to shield his face from what he presumed was an oncoming beatdown. Ames rolled their eyes, and slowly extracted the blade from Earl's cedar pegleg.
When no pain followed the attack on his false limb, the lowlife peeked out from between his fingers. I had joined the were-cat at that point, folding my arms across my chest and peering down at the pitiful excuse for a human.
"Waddya want?! I told Blue Briar I'd pay 'im back! I't only 20 lousy gold. I woulda had it to 'im last week but he weren't here an' I spent it on... uhhh. My next batch of product."
I looked at Ames and said, gutturally, "Let me crush it."
The were-cat smiled, all sharp teeth and malice. "Not yet killer. Let's see if he plans to be useful." Ames crouched a bit so that the human's vision was mostly filled with pearly white fangs. "We bought your debt from Blue Briar for 25 gold after factoring in the vig. We paid a premium because we _really_ wanted to have this little chat with you. If you prove yourself useful, we'll forget about your debt to us entirely. If not, I feed you to him." Ames jerked a fuzzy thumb up at me.
I commented, "I likes the eyeballs best."
The human quickly made efforts to get on our good side. "O-o-of course! You tell me what ya need, I'll make sure it happens."
Ames straightened their back, and then imitated my posture by folding those fuzzy arms over their chest. The swaying of that fluffy white tail was a slight distraction for me, but Earl was wholly focused on Ames' words. "The rats are fleeing the ship, Earl. There's no way all of these lowlifes are leaving town just before every tourist, noble, and country bumpkin floods into town. Not unless something big and unfortunate was happening. What is it?"
Now Earl looked truly frightened. "If anyone knows t-that ya heard it from me..." he trailed off into silence.
I asked Ames, "I eats now?"
The man quickly made up his mind. "This festival thing is bad news. Everyone's getting out of town cause we hear there's gonna be a body count, see? Some kind of magical trap or something, can't be avoided. It's supposed to be an inside job. So you see? There's no leverage for us. It's all danger, no upside. I'm on a wagon out of here tonight, after I dump the rest of my... product."
I frowned. "How you know trap magical?"
Earl looked surprised. I might have been breaking character a little bit by showing that much intelligence. But he was already terrified of us, so he answered rapidly.
"Cause that bigwig that's on the run, that Duke guy. He was hiring guys like us, but only if we knew magic!"
Ames turned to me. "Like the illusionist spy."
I replied, "Dorris Pine."
The feline's eyes widened, "She worked with street criminals to try to rehabilitate them. The woman even taught some of them the basics of magic so that they might pull themselves out of the gutters. She would have known exactly the types he wanted to hire; might have even been mistaken for a potential recruit on the streets. She found out."
"Died for it."
We both looked back down at the peglegged human.
Earl looked back up at us owlishly. "So umm... can I go now?"
We cut the human loose and hurried back to the Palace. The King and General were both unavailable, but the Queen was happy to see us right away. We met in our staging area. When we told her that the Arcane University's celebration might be the stage for a massacre, she was not happy.
The country-born monarch drawled, "Y'all convinced me, don't worry. But I kin hardly send millions of folks packin' because someone somewhere might be fixin' to blow some o' them up. It would be chaos, hundreds would die, tens o' thousands robbed or worse. And seein' an evacuation, they might jus' start killing innocents while they scamper anyhow."
She had several good points.
Ames paced between the rows of beds. "We don't have specific names for you, or how they plan to do it. But you're right, we have no idea what happens if we cancel the celebration. It's probably safer if the enemy is unaware how close we've come to the truth. We need to find the real threats."
Ginger nodded. "I'll order th' army ta help the city guard. We'll start with huntin' street crooks who're still around. That ain't out of character b'fore a big celebration. We catch th' right ones, I reckon they might lead us up th' ladder."
I grunted. "We get all back together. Find way to hunt them down. Gots list of components needed."
The Queen paused, concerned by my primitive manner of speech. "Get some rest, sugar. I'll get word ta Hemitath, get yer mage friend sent back. And I'll send carriages ta scoop up yer other two companions and whatever ya need on that there list. Everything an' everyone 'll be here early in the mornin'."
I was about to protest, but Ames squeezed my shoulder. A gentle nod was all it took to convince me that the were-cat's judgement was probably better than my own right now. Ginger gave Ames a little peck on the cheek. Then the monarch took my list of material components and made her exit.
I laid down in the nearest bed and fell asleep within minutes. The drain and lack of rest had both taken their toll, leaving my mind helpless to defend itself against the vivid nightmare that assailed me. When the Engine consumed the world this time, I actually felt relief. At least the oblivion would end the nightmare and allow me to rest.