So after getting an Inn in Endelbar, I first scryed Hilda to make sure things were okay with her. Just wanted to make sure we weren't double crossed by Nuladit, and that she and her companions hadn't broken out of their cells and captured Hilda while we were investigating Braith here in Endelbar. The second thing I did was to weave a connection to a back alley so we could gate back here from wherever in just a couple of hours rather than taking the long ass trip through wyvern and bandit infested deserts.
Once that was done, we learned some disturbing news regarding Alestia. We knew about the unrest in Upper Thalia and how it spread to Shesslia, sparking food shortages and riots in both countries. What we learned was that the troubles extended all the way down the coast, even to here in Endelbar, and that there were riots and wot-not occurring in Alestia now as well. Apparently, Thalian refugees were trying to seek asylum in Alestia, trying to get in through the Shesslian border. The Alestian border guard turned them back, and there was an incident, and a bunch of deaths were involved. So refugees already within the city got upset and there's been trouble in the streets ever since.
But apparently, Jain Talpin is using these problems to perhaps make a play for power. He called for a vote of no-confidence in Prince Merwin and the Council of Electors is now split pretty evenly between the two. But the city seems to be at a standstill because Talpin has his propaganda machine working on overdrive, telling people that Merwin is no longer the legitimate ruler, and that the military should not follow his orders because they're unlawful. So the rank and file has no idea what to do and meanwhile the city is getting burned down one building at a time.
Once I heard parts of Alestia were burning, my heart skipped a beat. I was a little worried about Liri, so I immediately checked in on her to make sure things were alright. Well, with her father and brother as well, but I figured if something had happened to them I would see it on her face. But it looked like they were okay.
With that matter pressing on our minds, we hoped we could get this unsavory business of trying to find and question Braith done as quickly as possible. Cassie use her powers to make onlookers think she looked like Nuladit, and she and Grey separately entered the bar Nuladit said she met him at, while Trent watched the front of the place with his spirit companions. Meanwhile, I skulked around the back alley of the place in case the guy slipped out the back. The whole thing was a wash though, as the dude never showed up. So Cassie-Nuladit asked the bartender if he knew Braith and knew how to get in contact with him, which he did, and to have him meet us here in two days. Then I opened a gate back to Alestia to check in on things there personally.
While the others went to the docks, which seemed to be where the rioting was contained, I went to see Judge Falric. I was hoping he would be able to arrange us compensation if we were working on behalf of the state to calm these riots, but apparently he doesn't have the juice. And my other reason for visiting, to see Sina and hopefully get the chance to eventually talk my way into her pants fell through also. While he certainly welcomed me volunteering to help protect his daughter (I may have exaggerated the threat a little), with the troubles in the city, he was just holing up inside as well, so I doubt I could get anything to happen while he was around.
It was still a little early in the day anyways, so I told him I could come back later when night fell to help guard Sina, but in the meantime I would help the others quell the rioting. His unintentional cock-block left me with some frustration that needed venting, so I was going to work it out on these ingrate refugees. But damn, it would prolly be bad for Alestia if I slaughtered them, so I set my saber to “stun” and not risk making a bad situation even worse. The city guard warned me against going in, which I thought was quite quaint. I think I can handle a few starving bums, thankyouverymuch. Sure enough, the first group I came across tried something. My blade was out in a flash, knocking out two of them in the blink of an eye. The rest ran away, but I chased them down. I continued in this fashion for a while, then eventually met up with the others.
Trent had spent the day trying to thin out some of the nasty spirits floating above the city and exacerbating the situation, while Cass and Grey apparently put together a plan to get food to the rioters to hopefully get them to stop rioting. I kinda zoned out when they explained what they wanted to do. They didn't need my help with it so I let them do what they needed to do. Since Talpin was probably involved in all of this, it was decided I should try to sneak into his place and spy on him. Perhaps even weave some threads to somewhere in his house so I could gate us back in and we could arrest him in a surprise attack if we wished. So I sent word to Judge Falric that there were other pressing matters at hand and I couldn't help guard his daughter, but that I didn't forsee anyone trying to re-kidnap his daughter.
Trent came with me, and its a good thing he did, because there was some spell on his walls and all the gates. (not to mention large, dematerialized infernal creatures with wicked flaming swords stationed around all over the place!) He managed to suppress the magic on the wall temporarily so I could climb over and quickly run to the house. The house had the same wards up around it, but at that point I could just look in through the windows and dimension door in. So I did, sneaking around to find Talpin to see if I could find any juicy tidbits of information that could be helpful to our cause. Sure enough, I found him with his two companions in tow as per usual, talking to a General Zod about some plan coming along quite well. I didn't know the exact details, but apparently Alestia moving the bulk of its troops from the Thalian border to the Shesslian side was part of it. I guessed perhaps this was part of some plan to have Thalian troops break through the border and invade while Alestia was busy dealing with the chaos currently happening.
After a while, I snuck into a closet to use as a jumping in point should we need to raid his place. I held my breath when I heard the two ladies approach. I held my breath and waited for them to pass, and once I was confident they were gone, I slowly opened the door to leave. Only they were still standing out there a few yards away! The two of them definitely saw me, as indicated by the blond clearing her throat at me. I quickly went to run out of there- I may have faced down a wyvern, but in my countless hours of research on my bloodline, I knew devils were not things to be trifled with. Those devilish monsters outside were big and scary, but I was more worried about the two women. If they were what I think they were, they could just mesmerize me and I'd be toast. I mean, they were both pretty hot, I wasn't sure I could resist.
I was out of there in a flash, crashing through the front window. Not fast enough though, I felt a fireball singe my back, and then there were two of those big things in front of me, trying to block my exit. I couldn't really get around him, so I was hoping to cut them down as quickly as possible. I dealt a decent blow to one of them, but not enough to take him down, and the two hotties were catching up to me. Luckily, for some reason the other creature started attacking its fellow whatever it was (I would later learn I had Trent to thank for that), giving me enough time to get around them and run. I tried cleaving the lock and bursting through the gate, but as soon as my blade touched it, a huge shock coursed through my body. It stunned me for a few seconds, but I managed to get my wits about me and open the gate (whatever that ward was, thankfully it was apparently only a one time thing) before the brunette caught up to me. Trent was dazed as well, apparently he touched the wall and received the same shock as me. I snapped him out of it and we took off with utmost haste, being sure to destroy the threads I had just weave so they couldn't use them against me since they saw me come out of the closet.
The next day, while Cass and Grey did whatever plan they had going, Trent and I visited Philip Madrigal. After telling him his daughter was safe and we were still working on finding out who was responsible to bring them to justice, I told him what I had overheard, and how General Zod wasn't to be trusted and perhaps this whole thing was a ruse to allow the Upper Thalians to invade. He said he would bring it up with the council.
Since this was the day Cassie-Nuladit was supposed to meet up with Braith, I gated us back to Endelbar and Cassie met up with him. Cass tried to pump information out of him under the guise of the dark elves negotiating a better deal for themselves, but either he was suspicious or thought the new price was outrageous, and he left. I jumped him outside and quickly knocked him out with my blade. Even though it was set to stun, I guess I am just too good and hurt him a little too much, but luckily the others were able to stabilize him.
We interrogated him, managing to figure out he was most likely hired by Talpin, and that he actually had two more of the girls tucked away in a warehouse by the docks. Apparently he said something he shouldn't have, as a greyish liquid substance began bleeding out of him before he went up in flames. Grey managed to quell the fire before it spread, and thankfully Cass got a mental image of the warehouse before Braith died.
We went to the docks and she used her life sensing ability to narrow down the area, and we eventually found the place. It went down almost exactly the same way it did when we rescued Sina and that other chick. This time, Grey only opened up a hole in the wall large enough for me to see through, and looking through I dimension stepped inside. The guards saw me and went for their weapons, but I was too fast for them. One second they were charging towards me, the next they were collapsed on the ground, the lifeblood flowing out of them through crimson streaks on their neck.
Once we got the girls cleaned up and saw they were okay, we got them back to their native villages (they were taken from close by) and warped back to Alestia to take care of the pressing matters there.