Jason Heaps wrote:
> Greatings to my dear Yzara
>
> I am grieved and disturbed by the news. For cultist and daemon spawn to control a merchant house in Kaeir holds great potential for disaster. This has caused me great concern. This seems to be a new move for the cultist. Always before they tried to prepare the cult world for Ice Daemon invasions, and then they have always gone into hiding after the defeat of the Ice Daemons.
>
> In accordance with your request I have requested some blood from our dragons. They have agreed to your request. And by doing so have provided a quart of blood. My resources suggest that the best results would be to apply it to clothing as they are being made. The applying of dragon’s blood to a person is dangerous and unpredictable. Dragon’s blood usually takes effect when applied to something that is being created.
>
> Due to the value and the potency of the object, our son Prince Niotrosa will deliver it to his son Grand Duke Lorenica who will be instructed to deliver it to you in person. Neither shall be provided with the information.
>
> Mir will and its magical might will stand behind you if it is indeed discovered that the house Angrix-Kiviri is a deamon spawn. We must eliminate them before they control the life blood of our nations.
>
> Again I wish to express that we might know be facing a new type of cult. One that has turned away from there daemon armies and towards a more subtle way to bring back there dark gods.
>
> Yours sincerely
> Eubratosa Celamyrsa, Archmage of Mir
>
"Do you have a minute, Your Majesty?"
Emperor Arden looked up from his work. "For you, certainly, Lorenica;
and please, when we're in private, call me Arden. As my brother-in-law,
you can be familiar with me. What's on your mind?"
The Grand Duke, looking slightly bemused, was holding a medium-sized
casket in his hands. "My Grandfather, the Archmage, gave this to my
father, who passed it to me, with instructions to give it to Empress
Yzara. Since she is dead, I give it to you." He set the casket down
carefully on the Emperor's desk.
"Do you know what's inside?" asked the Emperor.
"No, neither my father nor myself knows what that is," was the reply.
Lorenica smiled ironicly, "Indeed, there doesn't seem to be any obvious
way to open it."
Arden frowned, and ran his hands over the lid of the casket. Suddenly,
there was a soft and the lid popped up a fraction of an inch.
The Emperor raised the lid a little more, examining the casket's
contents, then he closed the casket, and turned to Lorenica, saying,
"Tell your grandfather that his gift arrived safely, and send him my
thanks. Now, I'm afraid that I must return to pressing business . . ."
After the Grand Duke left, slightly puzzled by the whole affair, the
Emperor rang a small bell to summon a page. To the young man, he said,
"Take a message to Minister Ronir-Varros. Inform him that the special
package has arrived, and he is to come at once by the back stairs to
pick it up."
* * * * *
"It doesn't look like much, does it?" remarked Minister Ronir-Varros.
The alchemist laughed. "Try reaching for it with your senses, Minister."
Ronir-Varros shut his eyes and concentrated. After a minute, he opened
his eyes and said, "Incredible. It's as if the jar were empty."
"That's the great power of dragon's blood," said the alchemist. "Silk,
rowan wood, and lead, they all block Spirit senses, but you can tell
that something is blocking you. Dragon's blood, though, with dragon's
blood there's nothing there at all--to Spirit eyes, anyway. It won't
help you hide from normal eyesight."
"I see," said Ronir-Varros. "So, how are you going to use it?"
"The Archmage, in the accompanying letter, recommended impregnating it
into cloth and making articles of clothing--it's unpredictable when
ingested, inhaled, or injected," replied the alchemist. "Apparently, you
don't need full coverage, such as with a cloak; a simple scarf should do."
"How many scarves?"
"Eight to ten, depending on how careful we are. We'll need to keep
wastage to a minimum, and of course, working with dragon's blood does
pose a certain hazard. But we should have something by the end of the
summer, I think."
"Very good," said Minister Ronir-Varros. "Now, you said you had
something else to show me?"
"That's right," replied the alchemist, turning to a different workbench,
"It's a pilot project, but it might tie in nicely with the dragon's
blood." He picked up a tray, upon which rested several crossbow bolts,
and carried over to show Ronir-Varros.
The Minister examined the bolts, then picked one up for a closer look.
"Silver-tipped," he remarked, spinning the shaft between his fingers,
"and finely engraved--is that Glyphica Arcana?" he said with surprise.
"That's right," nodded the alchemist, "Glyphica. As you know,
'enchanted' weapons are normally energized by the will of the wielder,
but that requires the wielder be in contact with the weapon, which
doesn't work for bolts and arrows. Well, we have a work-around,
although," he said in a lower voice, "it's a bit . . . eh . . . it
borders on necromancy."
"You're joking," Ronir-Varros said flatly. "The Coronites would have our
heads if they found out."
"Oh, don't get me wrong!" said the alchemist hurriedly, "it's not really
necromancy, it just cuts close to the line, as it were. You see, the
glyphs act as a spell /in potentia/ as it were, waiting to be activated.
But instead of being triggered by a person's will, the trigger is, well,
blood. Blood from a living target."
Ronir-Varros carefully set the bolt back down on the tray. "So, what,
exactly, are these bolts supposed to do?"
"Well, the ones with the red shafts explode, very impressively and
messily. The ones with the white shafts discharge a large amount of
electricity into the target. And, in theory, the blue-shafted bolts
should incapacitate a Shadowspawn that's given itself over to its demon,
breaking the ties that let the demon control the human's body, while at
the same time, trapping it in the body for easy disposal," said the
alchemist.
"'In theory'?" said Ronir-Varros disbelievingly. "What do you mean, 'in
theory'?"
"Well, we could test the others on pigs, but it's not as if we can just
step out the door and grab a Shadowspawn for a test subject," protested
the alchemist. "It's not like they sprout off vines, sir. But it should
work."
Ronir-Varros sighed, "I may regret this, but go ahead with the bolts and
the dragon-blooded scarves. I have a feeling we'll need them both."
* * * * *
[Action 4 will be done tomorrow night.]
Andrew
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