Hansen, Ariella and Reital

After the eloquent captain left, Surya and Hildraft resumed their drinking, while Sack turned in early. Slightly put out that - while by no means staring or being provocative - the garrison soldiers in the pub were quietly keeping an eye on them - the pair looked around at the other patrons in the bar.

Their attention was drawn to one end of the bar, where a young travelling bard was starting his show. Clearly being careful in the rather tense atmosphere, he restricted himself to harmless but appropriate rural ditties; spring and summer songs. Surya called over to him: "Sing a song about Elves and Dragons!"

There was something of a silence, then the young minstrel struck up with an ancient air - translated rather well from the original Elvish - telling how the hero Galoriand slew the "last dragon". The song, always popular, went down well.

When he'd finished that, the two heroes beckoned him over. Teasing, they asked if he'd heard any other songs about the slaying of dragons. He had, but clearly regarded them with a healthy pinch of salt. "It's so implausible," he protested, "How would a dwarf get high enough to hit a dragon in the head with an axe?" he queried, "did someone kick him up or something? And who the hell would use a glass axe? Axes are made of metal, like," he gestured down at Hildraft's hip, and his voice slowed as if something was running down, "like...that...one...."

There was a soft crunch as Hildraft placed the Axe of Glass on the table, where it lay glowing slightly. Surya tapped the startled bard on the arm.

"But what about the first blow?" he asked. "Who was the first warrior to wound the Dark Beast in a thousand years? And with what?" He drew the Sword of the Dead Legions, and at the sight of its' dire, ever-bloodied blade the pub went suddenly silent. The soldiers moved their hands closer to their weapons as they watched, wondering at the bard's likely fate.

Slowly, it was dawning on the bard that maybe, just maybe, these people might be who they looked to be. Producing a notebook, he asked some more questions, scribbling notes in increasing excitement, and was finally convinced.

"We've been to the depths of the Underdark!"

"What's it like?"

"Dark."

Awe spread over his face, and he begged the companions to allow him to accompany them, to immortalize them in song or saga. Thinking of the unfortunate Vollun, Hildraft tried to dissuade him, describing the hazards of accompanying the doom-hunted friends. The bard dismissed this; "The art is worth the risk," he declared. He begged hard, and promised to help where he could, agreeing to learn to polish armour for Hildraft, and finally the companions agreed.

"Have you a horse?" asked Surya. "Yes," said the minstrel, "more or less." Surya scooped a handful of gold from his purse, and dumped it into the hat the bard had been solicting payment from the pub-goers with. The worn fabric tore. "Get yourself a good horse," grunted the Tellaran.

Next morning, the group set off from the inn, the bard riding jauntily with them astride a fine horse he'd purchased from the landlord - the Duck and Ferret being Oterto's only stables as well as its' inn. The weather was fine, and the party made good progress, snatches of cheerful song easing their way. The bard - Hansen by name - proved a good travelling companion and a fair singer, and was always ready to listen to tales of the group's adventures.

Later in the day, travelling through a wooded region, Sack suddenly became aware that people were following them through the woods to either side. Calling a halt, the adventurers challenged the watchers to show themselves.

Directly ahead of them, four people stepped out of the forest. Though heavily armed, they made no hostile moves, allowing the travellers to get a clear look at them. Three were men, and some of the most disreputable-looking, banditly men the travellers had ever seen. The fourth was a young woman, blonde and pretty, and - they realized - resembling the missing Delgarde rather strongly. That thought sparked other memories, and Surya realized he'd met two of the others before, on their first visit to Oterto, in the company of the revolutionary Delgarde.

She introduced herself as Ariella, Delgarde's sister and second-in-command. She and her force had been watching the village since the party's return, waiting for them to show up in order to ask their help. After their precipitate departure the last time, Delgarde had formed the incorrect idea that they'd been captured, and had set off for the capital, Reital, to rescue them. Unfortunately, he had himself been captured by the forces of Vane, and taken in chains to the capital. Ariella begged the heroes to assist her and rescue her brother. When they agreed, she chose two of her best men, and with these made ready to accompany the party to Reital.

Two days later, the strengthend group breasted a low ridge and looked down on the city of Reital.

Once the capital city of a proud Norton country, Reital had clearly suffered in the Invasion by Varkar's forces. The strong walls that had ringed the city were gone over nearly half their length, as were two of the three gates to the city.

Nonetheless, as they mingled with the market-day crowds and made their way over the Fortified Bridge and through where Bridgegate had once stood, the overall feel of the city was of a bustling, prosperous place. Merchants hawked their wares, citizens shouted greetings to each other, drovers argued over their beasts. Only Hildraft felt ill at ease. Beyond the surface peace, a growing perception of a deeper emotion was coming to him. Underlying the whole city, deep in its' stone bones, was a strong undercurrent of fear. It flowed out and wrapped around the dwarf like a river of cold mist as he followed the resistance fighters to the preset rendezvous.

Deep in the Poor Quarter of the city, they halted outside a grubby-looking tavern, whose dingy board proclaimed it to be the Dark Blade. Entering, the group took a table, and, following Ariella's lead, settled to wait for the pre-arranged contact, who they were told would respond to a specific secret recognition signal.

After about an hour's waiting, a man - unexceptional, not apparently armed - ducked in at the door and carefully surveyed the inside of the tavern. As his eyes passed across the group at the table, they slowed, just for a fraction of a second. Then he had turned, and left the premises.

Instantly, Surya was after him. He was out of the door before anyone could speak to him. Hildraft considered pursuing him to tell him what he'd seen; but realized there was no way he could catch the lanky Tellaran if he was moving quickly. He shook his head; this meant trouble. As the man had turned to leave, the dwarf's quick eyes had noticed two tiny red marks on his neck.

The mark of fangs.

Following his quarry down the streets of the city, Surya made no attempt at quietness, and the man soon knew he was being followed. He put on a spurt, and Surya, weighed down with his armour, began to fall behind. He gripped his Amulet and cast its' Bull's Strength spell. Running up behind the man, he called out "George! George, you forgot your wine," in a loud, cheerful voice. Gripping the man's arm and preventing him fropm producing a small dagger from his tunic, he put on a fine display of pretended amicability, and at an appropriate moment clouted him with an armoured fist. Grinning, and occasionally commenting on the strength of the local wines, he "helped his sozzled friend home".

Back at the Dark Blade, the unfortunate spy was lashed into a chair, and Sack's expert attention focussed on him. Sure enough, he was a thrall of the Sons of Cain, enslaved by his love and hate for the creature that drained his life. Attempts to revive him proved futile; Surya's blow had been heavier than he'd thought, and a healing spell from Hildraft was required to bring him out of his coma.

At first he was stubborn, but some less-than-subtle hinting from the party about the different ways they were thinking of killing him broke his resistance and he told them who he worked for.

Like many cities, Reital had a city Watch, a police force, entrusted with keeping order and enforcing the law. The was divided, as is usual, into a Day Watch and a Night Watch. The man they had captured worked for the Night Watch, and it rapidly emerged that a significant proportion of this body was made up of vampires. As an agent of the Night Watch, the townsman had been instructed to watch the Dark Blade for people displaying the recognition signal of the resistance, and to report back if they appeared. Some more details on the Night Watch were extracted, and then Sack escorted the spy out to the back of the inn, and disposed of him.

Ariella was disconsolate. "My brother must have talked," she said sadly. "Our contact with the resistance is gone, and any survivors will shun us as a security risk."

Sack, Hildraft and Surya went to scout the home of the watch, Debtors' Tower. While Sack examined the outside, the dwarf and Tellaran went ethereal and drifted through the structure. Each floor was exactly what they expected. Surya had actually been here before - a thousand years before - to bail out a mercenary comrade - and all was as it should be; day watchmen doing their jobs, some prisoners in the cells, the store cellars. The only thing that caught their eyes was the unusually robust window shutters - but that was perhaps not unexpected in a police station.

Leaving the Debtors' Tower, the pair soared over the city. Below, Hildraft could see odd disturbances in the planar structure, distortions of reality, here and there. Then they attempted to travel to the palace - and encountered strong wards. Not pressing them, they returned to the Dark Blade.

The next move would be at night....