===== The Black Knight and the Confused Devil =====
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After subduing [[farne:actors:jain talpin|Talpin]] and suppressing his death-enchantment, we got the constables to come in and arrest the guy and haul him off to the clink. [[farne:protagonists:grey:index|Grey]] wanted me to sit in on any interrogation that they would allow me to, and furthermore, after the gov't was done interrogating him we could ask him questions too.

It seems that he was the primary contact to [[farne:actors:sanria_veris|Duchess Veris]], and that the other two electors (who did get killed by their death-enchantments) were recruited by [[farne:actors:jain talpin|Talpin]] later. They were pretty much just being delegated actions and tasks by [[farne:actors:jain talpin|Talpin]], whereas [[farne:actors:jain talpin|Talpin]] was getting his actions/tasks from [[farne:actors:sanria_veris|Veris]].

So, upon interrogating [[farne:actors:jain talpin|Talpin]] we found out some interesting bits of info. He has been smuggling redheads for about the past 3 years. He has kidnapped about 50 or and delivered them successfully. He gets his lists from [[farne:actors:sanria_veris|Duchess Veris]]. He hadn't successfully delivered any more after we began our interference. They would be taken to Samprin Hills, whereby they would be transferred to some local [[farne:actors:larkis|Larkis]]-types, who would then put them on a ship that would take them to [[farne:locations:upper thalia|Tusbel]]. 

He has 4 or so other [[farne:actors:larkis|Larkis]]-types working for him in the larger cities in [[farne:locations:alestia|Alestia]] in order to kidnap these redheads. We got these guys' names, as well as the names of any of the redheads that he did successfully deliver that he could remember.

He didn't seem to know why [[farne:actors:sanria_veris|Veris]] wanted these girls, nor what the deal with the red hair thing was. The last time he visited [[farne:actors:sanria_veris|Duchess Veris]]'s place, there was nothing out of the ordinary with a bunch of red haired girls. He has not heard of any girlfriend chick hanging out with [[farne:actors:sanria_veris|Veris]] that he knew of.

The two devil girls that were hanging out with him just randomly showed up at his house one day as "gifts" from [[farne:actors:sanria_veris|Veris]], and seemed to know everything about his treasonous behaviour with her.

He met [[farne:actors:sanria_veris|Veris]] at his cousin's wedding, where they hit it off quite easily. This was maybe 10 years ago, long before she was in power. There, they established ties and [[farne:actors:sanria_veris|Veris]] held on to her arrangement with him until she needed him. Which was, presumably, beginning around the time where her parents were killed and she took over the Duchy.

Following our interrogation of [[farne:actors:jain talpin|Talpin]], I inquired about if they would be seizing [[farne:actors:jain talpin|Talpin]]'s lands and assets. [[farne:actors:philip madrigal|Philip]] told us they would, but that most likely they would remain within his family if possible. I kinda harrumphed about this, and surprisingly, [[farne:protagonists:grey:index|Grey]] was also interested in this information.

Furthermore, [[farne:actors:philip madrigal|Philip Madrigal]] had proposed some kind of motion in the Electorate to recognize the stuff we did for [[farne:locations:alestia|Alestia]] and so they gave us 100,000gp. I thought i would probably try to find a small townhouse downtown, or maybe we could pool our funds and get one largish sized house for all of us, so that we wouldn't have to keep gating in and out of the [[farne:locations:occluded rainbow inn|Occluded Rainbow Inn]]. I figured eventually, our actions would catch up with our family there, [[farne:actors:bagram fossil|Bagram]], [[farne:actors:doak fossil|Doak]] and [[farne:actors:liri fossil|Liri]], and that they may come to harm.

But before I could get to that, we got a message from [[farne:actors:philip madrigal|Philip]] that he wanted to meet with us, and that it was kind of urgent. So we met with [[farne:actors:philip madrigal|Philip Madrigal]] in the back room at the [[farne:locations:occluded rainbow inn|Occluded Rainbow Inn]] that evening. His urgent matter turned out to be the fact that we had prices on our heads of 20,000gp each in whatever amounted to the [[farne:locations:city of alestia|Alestian]] underworld. He wasn't sure who put out the hit on us, but they would look into it. I let him know a few additional things that we had been "up to" that might also be behind the hits. Anyway, he suggested that we lay low for a while, and if we wanted a job to do in the meanwhile, he knew someone who had a task well-suited for our talents.

We agreed to meet with her, and 20min later we were speaking with [[farne:actors:nicele hames|Baroness Elector Nicele Hames]]. She in her 60s and was the sole ruler of the [[farne:locations:fellarch|Barony of Fellarch]], out near the [[farne:locations:Samprin Hills]]. She told us that she had a problem, and that if we could help her solve it, that she would essentially adopt us which would make us patricians (which had the later possibility of becoming a Patrician Elector, I noted to myself).

So onto her problem. One of her towns had gone incommunicando, and she sent her knight captain out with 100 troops to investigate and he was the only one to return. He had mentioned some kind of supernatural creatures who had attacked them. It didn't take us long to decide about this, so we agreed to look into this for her and headed out to the [[farne:locations:fellarch|Barony of Fellarch]] the next day.

With the note from [[farne:actors:nicele hames|the Baroness]], they let us into her keep and showed us to the dining hall. It was so blasted cold outside, I felt I was about to freeze to death. I huddled up by the fire in my huge fuzzy coat which was pulled tight, and sipped from a bowl of hot soup gratefully while the others puttered about the room. Actually, it seemed [[farne:protagonists:grey:index|Grey]] was not present; dunno where he went. But, a few minutes later the door opened and a large imposing figure stepped into the dining hall.

The man was fully armored in magical black scale-mail armor, carried a large, magical grimscythe, with a very warm-looking fur-lined cloak about his shoulders. I wonder that he walks around the keep all day like that. He removed his helm to reveal the face of a surprisingly young, attractive, probably 25ish year old "kid", with long blond hair and blue eyes, and a rather stern expression on his face, and introduced himself as [[farne:actors:searn dreval|Sir Searn Dreval]]. He was very obviously a Manifest, of which [[farne:protagonists:trent:index|Trent]] would later inform us that he was most probably Death/Time. I guess I was just surprised that a Knight captain would be so young, especially given what we saw of the Knights of [[farne:locations:Runearch]].

Anyway, he seemed to know why we were here and [[farne:protagonists:grey:index|Grey]], who appeared suddenly, prodded him into disclosing his story about what happened when he went to investigate the village named [[farne:locations:Manderbel]].

He explained that they expect weekly deliveries of information from all of the villages within [[farne:locations:fellarch|the Barony]], and when nothing showed up from [[farne:locations:Manderbel]], they dispatched a runner who also did not return. And so, in response, [[farne:actors:searn dreval|Searn]] left with a troop of 100 and headed to the town. They found it completely empty and found a big black stone set up in an altar-type thing in the mayor's office of the town hall. They camped for the night to investigate more the next day but they were attacked that night.

[[farne:actors:searn dreval|Searn]] said he had to fight his way out of the skirmish, and that he noticed that the weapons of his troops seemed to be useless against the attackers. But his weapon was not and so he was able to survive the encounter. Upon his return he dispatched an urgent letter to the Baroness and have been since awaiting further instructions about what to do about this incident since.

During his story, I began to notice some rather odd behavior from [[farne:protagonists:boyce:index|Boyce]]. [[farne:protagonists:boyce:index|Boyce]] would interject braggardly comments now and again and between that and his body language, I began to wonder if he coming on to this [[farne:actors:searn dreval|Searn]] guy. It sure seemed like it. While I found [[farne:actors:searn dreval|Searn]] rather attractive, [[farne:protagonists:boyce:index|Boyce]]'s interest in him was... creepy. And off-putting. So I was kind of at a loss of what I should do on that front, so I decided just to remain quiet and do nothing for now.

Anyway, we made plans to head out the next morning, just the 5 of us.

Along the way, we were waylaid by kobolds. Well, they were trying to waylay us. Or rather, anyone traveling along this road. But [[farne:actors:searn dreval|Searn]] made minced meat of them, quite awesomely I would say. I was able to fell a couple of them too, including one of the shaman (although I admit he was already hurt). It looked like [[farne:protagonists:boyce:index|Boyce]] was trying to show off for [[farne:actors:searn dreval|Searn]] the two seconds I was paying attention to him. It seemed this was more important to him than taking care of the kobolds. All I could do was shake my head.

Once we got back on the road, I chatted a little with [[farne:actors:searn dreval|Searn]]. He joked with me about [[farne:protagonists:boyce:index|Boyce]]'s behavior, saying that "the kid" simply admired him, insisting he wasn't trying to actually get into his pants. Really, [[farne:protagonists:boyce:index|Boyce]] wasn't. Was he? It was kind of funny how he seemed vaguely embarrassed by [[farne:protagonists:boyce:index|Boyce]]'s attentions.

I did also find out from [[farne:actors:searn dreval|Searn]] that he wasn't sure where he got his manifest powers from, but he thought it was some kind of ghost. His family title of knight was old, but he didn't know who his ancestor was or what his ancestor did to earn it. He said their family didn't really have any wealth, they just had the title. I didn't really prod him for information on his family members, although he did mention offhandedly that he had a brother a few years younger. Mmmm... interesting.

Once we arrived outside of the small town of [[farne:locations:Manderbel]], we decided to hole up in a nearby cave for a couple of hours until dawn, during which time I spent "getting to know" [[farne:actors:searn dreval|Searn]] a little better.

After sun-up, we headed into town to investigate. We found some magical runes over the door to one of the houses. We spent an unnecessarily large amount of time studying it. [[farne:protagonists:trent:index|Trent]] said it was a magical trap. [[farne:protagonists:grey:index|Grey]] insisted that it wasn't necessarily a trap. The two discussed it for a while, so I thought I'd look at it in the meantime. I stuck my hand through the doorway. Nothing. I stepped all the way through. Nothing happened. The two watched, and then each got in one more comment about it before we finally headed off to the town hall. [[farne:protagonists:boyce:index|Boyce]] shot me an icy look as [[farne:actors:searn dreval|Searn]] fell into step next to me.

In the town hall, in the mayor's office, there was a black gem set up with some sort of altar-looking accessories. My Mind senses told me there was one mind present in the room. The boys investigated it a little while I went outside to take down and pocket the mysterious banner with the winged individual wielding the curved sword upon it. When I got back, [[farne:protagonists:boyce:index|Boyce]] was doing some Time magic thing to look back into the past and observe the altar being set up in the middle of the night. He described some ninja-like people coming in, setting it up real quick, disappearing in a flash. [[farne:protagonists:boyce:index|Boyce]] played it up as he spoke, purposefully imposing himself between [[farne:actors:searn dreval|Searn]] and I as he regaled us with what he had seen.

[[farne:protagonists:grey:index|Grey]] cleared his throat and then suggested we pick a nearby house that had obviously been occupied, where [[farne:protagonists:boyce:index|Boyce]] could do that trick again, in order to see what happened to residents. It took a little while for him to pinpoint the exact moment, but when he did he reported that they simply "disappeared". For, as it turns out, one moment they were there, the next they were POOF! Gone. Nothing left at all. Very strange. He then leaned over to [[farne:actors:searn dreval|Searn]] and asked him, didn't he have similar capabilities in this manner... couldn't he have done this? [[farne:actors:searn dreval|Searn]] shrugged and said it didn't occur to him. Plus, there wasn't a whole lot of time before night had fallen that night.

I interrupted the buddy-buddying and suggested we head back to the mayor's office and watch the gem at the same time those people disappeared. [[farne:protagonists:boyce:index|Boyce]] frowned at me and trudged off in that direction, the rest of us trailing along behind him bemusedly. [[farne:protagonists:boyce:index|Boyce]] indicated, once we arrived behind him, that the gem had gotten really bright, with a humming intensity in instance those people disappeared.

He looked over at [[farne:actors:searn dreval|Searn]], and we all exchanged glances. After taking in those events, [[farne:protagonists:grey:index|Grey]] decided he would upset the altar. We stepped out of the room while he walked around and put the four candles out, shifting the rest of the pieces of the altar, and finally knocking the gem to the floor. Suddenly, we heard [[farne:cosmology:kaz|loud footsteps from above us, and a voice yelling, "what have you done?!"]]

We headed out into the meeting hall of the town hall building with our weapons drawn to prepare to do battle... or at least see what it was exactly that was coming for us. But then suddenly, [[farne:cosmology:kaz|it]] was outside, standing out in the open. [[farne:protagonists:grey:index|Grey]] headed out to parlay. [[farne:protagonists:boyce:index|Boyce]] disappeared, reappearing somewhere behind [[farne:cosmology:kaz|the guy]] outside.

While [[farne:protagonists:grey:index|Grey]] talked to [[farne:cosmology:kaz|the guy]], it became clear that circumstances were very... strange. [[farne:cosmology:kaz|The guy]] asked who we were, what we were doing, and [[farne:protagonists:grey:index|Grey]] explained what we had come to the town to do, what had happened to the town, and what he later did to the altar. [[farne:cosmology:kaz|The guy]] didn't seem too upset by his desecration of something someone out there obviously considered holy. More... curious, than anything. The rest of us headed out into the open to join the conversation. Even [[farne:protagonists:boyce:index|Boyce]] reluctantly came out of hiding.

Delving deeper... [[farne:cosmology:kaz|the guy]]? Was apparently an imprisoned god. Who didn't know anything about who he is or was, although he thought he may've been human or devil at some point. His garb, to me, reminded me a lot of [[farne:actors:koga akira|Akira]]. He may've been [[farne:locations:masayume|Masayuman]]. But he was speaking [[farne:locations:upper thalia|Thalian]]. He couldn't get his helmet off to reveal his face. So, I don't know. And neither did he, really. He didn't recognize the banner I had retrieved from above the town hall, although he thought it was possible that he could be the winged figure on it.

[[farne:protagonists:grey:index|Grey]] prodded him more about his god-hooded-ness, and he said that he could hear people asking him for their prayers to be answered, and he just *knew* what to do to answer those prayers. And so, he did. Even though he didn't really want to. He did seem to have something in the way of powers, but not like ours. He said he didn't know what happened to the village or villagers, that he hadn't seen them. Apparently, we had been sucked into the gem that had been sitting in the mayor's office, and that it was this guy's prison. Wow.

[[farne:cosmology:kaz|The guy]] mentioned that he could probably get us back out again, but he wanted us to agree to help him figure out who he was, in exchange. Well, at least he didn't want us to agree to free him; don't really want to make that kind of promise to someone whose character I don't know. Although... I did notice [[farne:protagonists:boyce:index|Boyce]] looking the guy up and down, evaluating him. His interest in [[farne:actors:searn dreval|Searn]] seemed to have shifted to this new stranger. I was silently happy about this. Muwahahaha oh.

Anyway -- we agreed to his terms, and, to my mind, reluctantly. [[farne:cosmology:kaz|The god]] mentioned that he thought the prison was moving now. He said he could allow me to view outside of it so we could see what was happening. It was dark. It seemed the gem was in a bag or pocket or something. Despite being difficult to use my powers, I was able to sense some minds about.

I spent a bit of time getting a feel for the surface thoughts of those carrying the gem, and it seemed to me like it was those three "friends" of [[farne:actors:sanria_veris|Duchess Veris's]] "[[farne:actors:anzja_of_the_rivers|lady lover]]". How annoying. I loosened the straps of the saddle of [[farne:actors:grave|the big guy]]'s horse, the one who was carrying us, and then suddenly, my consciousness was pulled back.

I let everyone know what I'd seen and my conclusions. We decided to stay put until the gem stopped moving, and then we would try to escape, absconding with the gem. And so.... we waited. While the boys played cards with [[farne:cosmology:kaz|the imprisoned god]], [[farne:actors:searn dreval|Searn]] drew me aside and we found a more private way to spend the few hours before finally, our prison came to a halt.

I took a peek out again, and sensed no minds around. I took a chance and made what I thought was the "bag" holding the gem come apart so I could see. It did, and I saw that we were in some kind of room in an inn. There were minds about distantly, but probably in the common room. I did not sense the devilish minds of those who had been carrying us anywhere around.

Once [[farne:cosmology:kaz|the god]] pulled my consciousness back into the prison, I indicated to everyone to get their stuff together, it was time to go home. And we braced ourselves, waiting for [[farne:cosmology:kaz|Mr Amnesia]] to send us out.