A Demon’s Impossible Task

See Also: Bardic Knowledge

Charles, knife in hand, goes running out through the longhouse and into the night. Amer Terrante chases after him yelling to all that the demon is getting away, but the confused crowd simply stare at him as the others stagger out of the caverns. Charles leads Amer on a merry chase, eventually leaving him over a snowy precipice. When he offers one last time for Amer to give the knife to his cousin, Amer freely accepts. Charles laughs as he disappears while Amer hides the knife and trudges back through the snow.

In the longhouse Rakul Shaleem, Brizanthimus, and Xarth realize that something very wrong has happened. An elderly man and woman do not just own the longhouse, but in fact they are the longhouse – bonded to the spell that creates the cavern and the Steward of the Tower. They are the first test and no Master can survive the corruption without passing all of the tests. Amer only passed the test of will – he grasped for the power for his own self-aggrandizement – and so doomed those in the valley. Rakul is okay with this as long as the ale continues to flow – the cold dark await us all.

Xarth leaves the longhouse to search for Amer, but does not return before Karina finds Briz. She had a map of this village and when she heard that the testing was coming she immediately came here. Briz knows there is no way she could have known the previous master died in time to come here since it has been less that two days – but he cannot argue with her presence in the village. She has a map to return to Bornheim and a wagon full of stuff she found – just in case Briz wants to travel with her.

By the time Amer and Xarth return they both have some questions, but the woman and man refuse to answer more. They say with the new choosing they are no longer needed and all will leave in the morning to await the next death. They cannot offer any words of wisdom other than predictions of death as the new Master is already corrupted by demonic influence.

A scholar named Owen says that he is newly arrived in the village, but has already amasses a great deal of knowledge about the towers – and there is so much more to learn. Most of the houses are unoccupied and falling into ruin, but there are still many scholarly works among the ruins. He says that Tminir Tower is but one of five towers built by the gods to seal off a powerful demonic host from the world. The other towers do not fully exist in this land, but Tminir Tower acts as their anchor to the seal – The Steward sacrifices his soul to heal the stain of mortality – The Master strengthens the Steward and keeps his soul from passing on.

Before the first rays of light can touch the village, Briz, Xarth, Amer, and Rakul leave the village for Tminir Tower. Corina leaves as well, her wagon laden, heading for Bornheim.

As the troupe passes over the bridge they see two new watchers on the lake. The first is an extremely beautiful woman they recognize as Mistress Eva LaGrange – she is screaming in unending terror. The second is the quiet sentinel of Father Ernst whose body kneels in respectful contemplation. Amer retreats to the Master's room, while ensure the servants see to every need of his companions.

For several days Amer and the servants help Briz and Xarth comb through the vast library of the tower. Unlike previous Masters, Amer knows almost nothing of his duties nor responsibilities. They discover that Owen was almost correct. The other five towers exist fully in the Shadow Realms, from which mortal magic flows, and would be destroyed if Tminir Tower did not anchor them to this world. Second, this tower is also anchored in the Infernal Realms – native realms of the demons, devils, and other foul abominations.

Once their research is as complete as it can be without spending weeks in the tower they prepare to leave. Amer dismisses the servants – allowing them to take what material wealth they wish from his rooms. He charges the Steward with dismantling the lake and setting the tortured souls free. Briz is worried as the Steward's staff is made from the magic of the ancient dwarves, but it is not serving its true purpose – he does not know what the true purpose is, but its not right.

They reach Bornheim and the city is buzzing with activity and rumors. Countess Beatrice Hapsteng is holding a grand party in honor of the birthday of Baron Donat Lange, Lord Marshall of Bornheim. More interesting, and also more problematic, is a growing rumor that Crown Prince Corwyn Reiner potentially has a male heir from the time he spent in Krandryia. The boy would an undeclared bastard, but the Crown Prince was well loved by many and his murder by orcs is still mourned. The Western Lords are already grumbling over the extensive war with Irill – if this rumor is true it could mean civil war.

As everyone settles in Amer visits his Girardino da Liovia only to find that he does not actually want the knife and refuses to take ownership of it. His plans calls for Amer to carry the knife into the Countess' party where he has a man on the inside. Amer, the eligible son of a house that the Countess is courting for an alliance, would not be scrutinized too heavily. His man will find Amer and after an exchange to code phrases would arrange to take possession of the knife.

Amer is displeased as this leaves him unable to meet Charles' conditions and also satisfy Girardino. To make matters worse, his cousin arranged for them to meet inside an office within the Palace District. This arrogant display of power shows just how untouchable he currently it in this city. It would be difficult to move against him at this stage of things.

Amer attempts several other avenues of fulfilling his obligations, but each one meets in failure – even the vulfgrau_trading_house refuses to intervene unless doing otherwise would cause Girardino's plan to fail. It is a frustrating two days to chasing people down only to find doors closed in his face. It almost seems as if someone or something is acting against him, but who or what that is remains unknown.

The others have far more luck. Rakul acquires a large bottle of lye along with several barrels. His plan is to kill Girardino and dispose of his body in The Wash. His second plan involves the ship that Girardino has anchored in the bay.

Briz has spent several hours along the taverns and whorehouses near the docks and is very confident that the men coming ashore from that ship are not sailors – but move and act as trained soldiers. Each group comes with one or two minders that is not above cracking some skulls when their charges get out of line.

Xarth, rather nervous in this large city, discovers several ways that they could escape this city should the need arise. The spirits in this city are agitated and occasionally making trouble in small ways that would go unnoticed by the normal population. He can see darker and far more troubling spirits lurking in corners and alleys waiting for something. That something is in Borulli Bay and it is very powerful and beginning to stir.