A halfling walks a fine line...

[Coan]

With that, Kimuriel looked for a couple of minutes Pieter's picture, memorized it and then concentrated, closed his eyes and sent his mind's eye to spy on this mysterious lord.

Kimuriel's eye scanned the house and his vision was led into that of a grandiouse audience room, resembling that of a theatre. Ahead lay the deep scarlet curtains and row upon row of chairs. Above in a balcony a huge light focussed on the curtain's centre and the silhouette of a man could be seen moving up the stairs onto centre stage.

Moving his vision forward, Kimuriel saw the man kneel down and lower a large briefcase onto the wooden floor. Opening it he took out a marionette. Hooking up the strings to large gruesome hooks all over the body of the mannequin the man stood up and -manipulating the figure with his left hand, was copied by the puppet. His back was still to Kimuriel's eye, though he could tell the man wore a colourful overcoat of green silk.

"My lord we have the latest matter of state to discuss. The Church requires a new law to be passed." a voice somewhere off in the aisle sounded, bold and knowledgable but slightly hesitant

The man sighed and the puppet rose it's little hand to its cheek in a sign of frustration.
"Chief Visor you have been told to attend your duties and not distrub us." the marionette said waving an outstretched finger in a disiplinary action "There are larger problems at hand. Ivana is still at large and the prisoner is not co-operating. Perhaps she will die?" this time the puppet's mouth flickered open and closed as a squeaky choking laugh escaped it. Moving its head up it looked up at its master who controlled it through the strings above "Pieter? What should we do?"

The man turned to face forward his intense eyes locked ahead.
"Oh I don't know... I'm sure I can think of a few things."

then he and the puppet smiled together, both their lips rising at impossibly long angles.

[Bela]

The otherworldly woman watched the strange trio climbing the mountainside. Her feelings were decidedly mixed. Her loyalty demanded their capture, specifically one who was no longer among them. Still, ther was something about the unfamiliar one...something like kinship, but moreso.

Soletta looked at herself in the cold pool she bathed in. Her skin was criss-crossed with veins that were blue and visible beneath her flesh. Her lips were jet black, as was her hair, and her eyes perpetually bloodshot. Most men were startled by her odd appearance, but few found her beuatiful, depsite her perfect figure. Still, those that did found the frighteningly pasionate woman beneath the huntress.

Again, Ameli Soletta watched the strangers. They would lead her to her prey...and then, she'd make her decision.

[Jason of the Fraternity]

Pyrtuma arrived in Vallaki sometime in the middle of the morning. It was difficult for her to determine just what time of day it was, but she knew that she had been traveling most of the night and a few hours since sunrise. Looking up at the sky, the tiefling bard knew that it wasn't quite noon. Her stomach, however, reminded her that she hadn't eaten breakfast and lunchtime was growing close.

Cautiously moving through the unusually crowded streets, the disguised woman made her way to the inn at which she hoped to find Desilda and Rook. The inn was very easy to find. Unforunately, it was badly damaged and townsfolk were swarming everywhere.

"What happened?" she asked a young boy, who walked by while carrying a bucket of water.

"The inn was attacked by a demon," the youth replied as he continued carrying the bucket of water toward the inn. "Some strangers had come by this morning, and they were attacked by the creature. The demon ran off when one of the Morninglord's clerics arrived, though."

Pyrtuma didn't bother to thank the busy youth for the information. She needed to find her companions before this cleric caught them. While she wasn't sure just who or what this demon was, her father had told her enough about Rook to give her at least one good guess.

Ignoring her stomach's angry complaints for food, the bard loaded her guns and followed the path of destruction.

[Jason of the Fraternity]

After an hour of searching and traveling, Pyrtuma came upon the carnage of the Barovian battlefield. Mangled corpses and pools of coagulated blood darkened the small clearing. While the smell hadn't attracted the wolves as of yet, the air was thick with flies. Even through she wasn't a trained tracker, it was relatively easy to see that the trail from the village ended here.

Covering her mouth with a fold of her cloak, the young tiefling began searching for her missing companions. Her stomach, which had been noisely arguing with her about not eating for so long, had temporarily ceased its complaints. The stench of death and the stickiness of mostly dried blood drove all ambition to eat out of her.

"Rather grisly isn't it," a familiar voice mentioned from the outskirts of the corpse-laden field. Pyrtuma spun quickly, a gun in each hand before she was even facing the young man said standing there in his dark blue cloak. The bright sunlight reflected off of the near perfect complexion of his lightly purple skin. Shaking his head lightly, silvery blue hair fell down to his shoulders in long, straight locks. "Come now, Pyrtuma. You wouldn't shoot your own brother would you?"

"Half-brother," Pyrtuma curty corrected the young man. "We might share the same mother, but our fathers are not the same person."

"Yes," Janus responded as he nudged the head of the nearest corpse, "but that is a technical matter. I mean our fathers came from the same person. It just happens that he isn't quite himself lately..."

"What do you want?" Pyrtuma hissed as she replaced her guns and continued checking for either Desilda or Rook.

"I merely wanted to give you some brotherly advice," Janus said with a smirk. "Your friends are here. All of these people are Invidian soldiers. No, your friends are with the Fir Darrig..."

"He finished them?" Pyrtuma said in a hushed tone.

"Afraid so, little sister," Janus replied. "You'll need to hurry to the mountain caves if you hope to rescue them as well. Things are starting to become rather complicated around here..."

[Bela]

Soletta skulked into the high caves, silent as death. Her wounds had healed, and she was at full strength again. Still, her soul was in turmoil. For the first time in her life, she asked herself "why", instead of simply following orders. Aderre wanted this Desilda woman, although considering their past, Soleta would prefer to simply stick a stilletto through her throat. Or would she? Was her hunter's edge begining to dull. She found herself wondering what the harm would be in letting her go...but still she followed Desilda's friends. They weren't far ahead now. and so Solletta slipped into the shadows and crept forward.

[Jason of the Fraternity]

The yellow skinned man walked out of the Kartakkan wilderness and jabbed the pole of his halberd on the soft soil. With the weapons firmly rooted, Sarinjo was able to use both hands as he pulled a small, strange-looking orb from his belt pouch. Holding it aloft in one hand, he poked and pordded it with the others.

Obviously, the man from Rokushima Taiyoo was no wizard or sorcerer. However, the item eventually succumbed to the inapt attempts to divine his prey's location. The small orb grew cloudy, and a small clawed hand appeared within the misty confines. It turned and turned until it eventually pointed eastward.

Placing the orb back into his pouch, Sarinjo pulls his halberd loose and continues onward into Hazlan.

[Jason of the Fraternity]

I might be growing old and my hand might not be as steady as it once was, but it is my mind that I worry about the most. It would not be an exaggeration to say that I have had a difficult life to live. I've experienced more than most travels would in their own lifetimes, and I've endured worse tortures than most prisoners. Despite my trials and tribulations, however, it has become very apparent to me that the world is drawing to an end...

If you are reading this, then I must have been wrong. Unfortunately, my being wrong only means that I am correct in my other assumption; I am going insane. Now, I am not some raving lunatic that rants and raves. Nor am I some sort of deranged fool that screams and slobbers. No, I am the type that suffers from horrendous visions that I cannot divide from my day-to-day life.

I see all sort of terrible things, but it is impossible to tell just where the nightmares stop and the real world begins. If I am fortunate, then perhaps one of these days I won't wake up to the half-dreams that haunt me so. Speaking of which, I grow weary and the day is coming to an end.

Perhaps tomorrow will prove to be better...

[Coan]

Meanwhile in the room the singular clock ticked and the room was finally wrneched open.

Storming in were at least a two dozen well armed guards dressed in the yellow black tunics of Lord Pietor. Holding rifles, pistols and swords ready they entered Artemis' private quaters. Training their eyes over the objects the guard nearest the door saluted as two others entered.

One was a hunched figure on all fours sniffing the room hurriedly. He or she? Was dressed in rags and held by a chain leading to the other new entrant. This other was obviously an officer of some rank. He stood with a military bearing and his full plate mail, though outdated in this country, was frightning in its appearance. Turning to the saluting guard he spoke.

"Where are they?" his accent betrayed an Invidian background though there was the slightest hint of someone who had spent much time in Falkovnia
"We ...dont know sir. She said they would be here."
"Obviously you are mistaken." he yanked the chain and the creature on the other end yelped "Find them! Tear this place apart if you have to but I want those people!"

The beggar on hands and feet nodded and began sniffing the area, Hearing something it tilted its head and let out a growl. The clock suddenly stopped and a fuse went off.

"Out! Everybody out!" the leader yelled. But it was too late.

The explosion first let out a massive burst of flame, disintergrating those men nearest. Shelves and items were consumed in seconds and the entire room was bathed in fire. With only one open exit the flame consumed all oxygen in the room before thrusting itself outside into the corridor so as not to die.

The men outside screamed as the bathroom tiles cracked in the heat and paint bubbled and melted. The stucture of the hidden room could not take the released heat and energy and gave way as its foundations were blasted and turned to ash within the blink of an eye.

The lead casing collapsed in on itself and entire rooms nearby had their walls crack and break down without the load bearing support of the beseiged room.

The entire house shook and moved as if it too were about to give way. From the sky it looked like a flash of fire and then a crater began to form as a part of the mansion simply fell apart.

The seating place of Borcan power groaned as a part of it died.

[Jason of the Fraternity]

"Wake up," Janus said as he prodded the sleeping halfling with the toe of his boot. "We have work to do."

Banob groaned slightly as he rolled over on his staw matress and pulled the blanket tighter around his small frame. The bed was old and uncomfortable, but it was still better than having to wake up and face another day in this terrible world that he lived in. Today, like most mornings, Banob cursed his longevity.

"Come now," Janus said sharply as he reached down and gave a hard tug on one of Banob's ears. "It is nearly time for you to get that revenege you so dearly desire..."

Banob opened his eyes and glared at the young wizard. A faint red glow burned deeply within the otherwise blue depths.

"I thought that would wake you up," Janus says with a smirk. Releasing the offended ear, he stands up and walks to the cave entrance. "Hurry up now, we need to get to work and restore the 'balance' around here."

[Coan]

The room was rubble, fires were everywhere and what would once have been one of the greater magical resource librarys of the core was now destroyed.

Soon men and women's cries for survivors were put out. But only silence replied. What few had survived the inferno had had all the oxygen ripped from their lungs as the fire grew.

"Hello? Is anyone alive in there?" a guard, conscripted into rescue work, yelled out.
There was a shift of rubble.

Running forward the man got down on his knee's and shifted rock, wood and other debris out of the way.
"Hello? Hello? Can you hear me? Is anyone there?"

An Invidian accent answered him.
"Yes I can hear you... and I am alive."
And then the voice began to laugh, a large rumbling laugh that caused the rubble to move with it.

[Jason of the Fraternity]

Malocchio Aderre looked out of the window in his study and watched the sky to the northeast. A small blast of fire could be seen far off on the horizon only a few seconds ago, and now a trail of black smoke drifted up into the sky. While the tyrant didn't know just what had been destroyed, he smiled nonetheless. Borca had already been crumbling, and explosions were a good sign that Invidia might be spreading border again very soon...

[Jason of the Fraternity]

Pyrtuma brushed a lock of curly red hair away from her eyes as she looked down into the depths of the mountain caves. Her vision was acute, even in the black bowels of the earth, but even she could only see so far in the dark.

There had been fighting. The blood and magled bodies proved as much. She didn't find many human remains, though. A few chewed bones, and a recently severed arm being the most prominent.

However, her companions could not merely vanish into thin air. They must have traveled deeper into the caves. And that meant that she needed to start descending in order to reach them...

[Coan]

Kimuriel's mind's eye scans Misecordia and is drawn towards what he believes to be the target of his investigation...

Lurzed wasn't enjoying himself, there wasn't any food around or women to talk to. Instead he'd been standing around in this cold stone hallway for almost an hour. His tuxedo was starting to get damp and dusty. Putting his hands deep into his pockets and scowlling like a school boy sent to detention, he scuffed the floor with his shoe.

He was a short man, with potbelly and all the other features Deidry had described. It was only by Kimuriel's highly trained mind that he recognised the man -it was the shy person who had interrupted their conversation wtih Lord Rechio before.

Behind the nearby door he could hear the screams of a man being tortured. Lurzed smirked slightly at the sound as he was finally allowed to pass into the private chambers of someone Kimuriel sensed was highly important. Yet when the gangly man walked in the half-elf's vision fazed and dimmed to grey and then to nothing. Wards obviously protected the room from prying eyes.

[Coan]

Somewhere out in the world Banob Brin was escorted into a dark room. The door was closed quickly behind him leaving him alone, or so he thought. Faint at first, the halfling could make out a few lit candles in the distance. He walked forward reflecting on what had happened to him most recently.

The past decades had been poor Banob, where in 755 his hair was light brown now it was showing mostly grey. His face was wrinkled slightly, not just from age but what he had seen in all his life. Drakov had been executed and Malocchio Aderre had taken his place becoming an even greater tyrant. To the east he had been told the Dukar's plans had come to fruition and now an occupational force of mindflayers had invaded. Suffering was everywhere and more had died in the past 10 years than the last 100 alone. Starvation and betrayal, how the halfling wished he could just be home.

Home... he had forgotten what it was like.

Now near enough to the candles Banob could make out a table and several figures sitting nearby -not all of them humanoid in shape.

"What do you mean?" a voice said
A strange sound assaulted Banob's ears, like some kind of outlandish music but aggresive and flat in several tones.
"They move faster than we anticipated..." another voice, this one a woman's "How do our agents progress?"
"One closessss in on themssss asss we speaksss. We have lost contactsss with the southssss."
A yellow light suddenly glowed in the air and moved to point at Banob, a short fog horn like sound burst forward.
"I had him brought here." the first voice said "He is a person of importance in the future. Banob Brin?"
He couldn't help it, he answered "Yes?"
"Tell us please... of this world you know of."
Banob cleared his throat. He may as well cooperate there seemed to be no alternative.

Not now.

[Coan]

Xerxes stood looking down into the blank eyes of his test subject. The formulae had failed to take effect again. He had hoped to have contained the problem by now, but the contagion was spreading at an alarming rate. Soon it would not be in his control at all.

It was astonishing the work he had uncovered over the past years. Clues left behind by an intellect he both revered and feared.

"How goes the work?" a now familiar voice asked from the shadows

"I cannot guarantee anything. But we are making progress of that I am sure."

"I run out of patience Xerxes! Have the first three sent south to reinforce our operations."

"Of course." Xerxes nodded before returning to the body. It was disapointing they no longer showed pain...