CHAPTER XLVI
in which a Sentinel Dies
A Friendly Contest
On the day of the match, the citizens of Encatus head over to a remote desert pit that will serve as the arena. Some in the rowdy crowd want to fight the follower of Shuls who have also come to see the match but the Army is able to keep things in check. Glad ventures over to the Shul side to talk with a few of the redscales gathered and find out more about their pillar. Then joins the rest of the Foxes who have chosen to watch the fight from the sky on Doug. Encis enters the pit and is soon joined by a tall, completely armored humanoid. When the bout begins, Maus places the two under an illusion, making the pit look like an arena on an epic scale with the two sentinels fighting before their respective dragons. The Shul Sentinel dispels the effect, and the fight begins. Encis seems to take the early momentum in the bout, but over time, the changing tides of battle begin to take a toll on Encis who seems perplexed by the Shul Sentinel's ability to keep up with everything he throws his way. Some investigation by the Foxes reveal that the Shul Sentinel is reaping Encis' magical effects, but unfortunately, that's not against the rules. In a last ditch effort to take down his opponent, Encis enchants himself with a fatal effect that the Shul Sentinel also reaps. It proves to be very effective and Encis, unable to mitigate the effect, succumbs to his own magic and dies. The Shul Sentinel has a few minutes to savor the seeming win and then he too dies.
Everybody pretty much panics at this point. The Encatus residents are in a frenzy, wanting to avenge Encis, and probably unnerved because no replacement sentinel has been selected. The army wants to as well. Glad retrieves Encis' body. A Chitter retrieves his sentinel's body. And Red throws up a giant earthen wall to separate the two pillar's factions. After some deliberation, the Foxes and Encis' second in command agree that Encis' should be buried in Chracio's pit in hopes of that fixing whatever went wrong with everyone's connection to Chracio. Before they leave, they fire off some counter attacks to help out the Encatus fighters who are foolishly charging the Shul followers uphill. As Haas flies everyone to Chracio in dragon form, Gaskim, the Archon of Chracio, appears. He escorts them to the pillar and helps Glad lay Encis to rest in the pit. Though the match was a draw, everyone agrees that someone should visit the pillar of Shul to ensure the terms that Encis set are honored.
Haas flies everyone back to the arena where they see the aftermath of the battle. Their are many dead on both sides, but the Encatus people roundly won the fight. They also find that Imbri has killed Ixidor as he was contracted by them to do. They loot his body and find a reaping gem. Maus, Red, and Glad fight over what to do with it. Later, while Glad and Haas are in the spirit world, Red attempts to steal the stone from Glad and crush it. But Glad wakes and catches him in the act. In the end, Haas is given the stone for safekeeping. In the spirit world, Glad and Haas encounter Encis' spirit. He explains what he attempted during the match and is made an offer by Glad to raise him from the dead.
Burying the Dead
While the rest of the Foxes head back to town for some much deserved rest, Glad stays behind and attempts but fails to raise Ixidor from the dead. The next morning, the Foxes help with the burial of various individuals. Glad notices, through his necromatic skills, that one body is actually still somewhat alive. He doesn't have the skills to revive him but Red provides medical attention. Seeing this, a grieving sister persuades Glad to try resurrecting her brother. Though he revives the body fully, Glad is unable to summon the soul back. So instead, he lets the girl watch her "brother" die a 2nd time and provides some consolation by making up some last words that her brother had for her from beyond. With the Encatus side buried, the Foxes group the Chitter and bug corpses into a pile and hold a giant corpse bonfire. This spectacle is watched by a good sixty or so people. The Foxes discuss next steps, hammering on an idea to somehow use the volcano near the Shul pillar to destroy the pillar or make it inaccessible. Believing they'll need more than earth magic and copious explosives, they try to recruit an earth evocation user at the bonfire but he laughs off the request.
There's A New Sheriff in Town
With everyone on board the wreck Shul's pillar plan, the gang decides they need to know the full terms of the dual so that their next steps don't invalidate the peace Encis died for. They mosey on over to the keep to ask Encis' 2nd in command. The lieutenant isn't in though. And the guard seems restless and anxious. There's a new banner flying over the keep and it belongs to the new boss, Ohta, a large redscale who has taken control of the town by force, intimidation, and opportunistic timing. He meets with the Silver Foxes, but he doesn't know the terms of the arrangement. He does offer them a lackluster earth evocation user and clues them in on his plan to march his army on the Fissure and the Pillar and wherever else the Shul supporting redscale traitors are holed up. Of course, he can only do this after he shuts down the faction of the army still loyal to Encis. The Silver Foxes recognize that a bloodbath for control is going to happen, but don't intervene. Maus and Glad are all for using Ohta's marshaled forces to their advantage in the fight against Shul. The shitty earth evoker joins the group anyway, eager to get out from under Ohta's thumb and whatever is going to go down in Encatus the next couple of days. He leaves to take care of some business but promises to meet them in the morning in front of the tavern.
In a 2nd bid to figure out Encis' terms, the group travels to the dreaming where they meet Weaver. He helps them by bringing in another Dream Wraith who happens to communicate with Chracio from time to time. The new Wraith mentions that Chracio is licking his wounds but did manage to successfully defend his territory. So while he doesn't know the terms their representatives in the fight made, he provides some more meta-analysis. He tells Glad how he can help Chracio heal ... provide more recruits for the Pit ... and that Glad is in the clear as a lone individual who is not an official representative of Chracio and that he knows that Shul has turned his attention on another of Mercayen's children. He doesn't say which, but he says we'll find out soon. The Weaver also mentions that the Trader is dead and little more than one of his weaved pictures. Glad tries to raise Encis from the dead but it's just a spirit construct. Satisfied, the gang wake.
There's A New New Sheriff in Town
Not long after, they hear a commotion from outside the inn. Someone is yelling on a street. Two factions of the army squaring off against one another, each four men apiece. Ohta's underlings have been ordered to compel the others' service or execute them if they refuse. The Foxes go outside to observe. Glad watches ambivalently and invisibly from the sky. Red preaches to the soldiers and uses sand to separate them when they break out into a brawl. He is unable to reason with them and it soon looks like he'll become a casualty of the fight as well. Fraxinus pulls Red back with his vines. His very presence there causes everyone to pause and he is almost intimidating enough to stop the fight, but Ohta's representatives are very set on carrying out their orders. At this point, Glad reveals himself, a sword in each hand. He makes it clear that this is a fight no one wants and the Ohta group backs off, but not before ominously threatening to tell Ohta about this. So Glad releases the effect on his obsidian blade, scaring the living daylights out of that group and threatening to come for them personally if they tell Ohta about what happened here ... including running into these Encis loyalists.
With the brawl stopped, the loyalists fix themselves up and by the Foxes drinks at the inn's tavern. The loyalists explain the situation. The lieutenant is MIA and none really can vouch for him to lead. He's a good strategist but not much of a leader. Encis' personal bodyguards, any of the four, cold do, but they're not in the city. Glad asks hypothetically who would lead the city in the interim if Ohta is deposed, since those five or missing. The rescued loyalists say that he's already got their loyalty for saving him and that they'll vouch for him if he takes down Ohta. Glad is still pretty ambivalent about the idea and wants to wait for morning to declare a duel. But everyone else pushes for settling this as soon as possible given the tenuous power structure in the city. Ohta only took the city because the keep was unawares while everyone else fought Shul's people on the hill. He'll be mercilessly targeting loyalists until his grip on the city is secure. So Glad, Red, and Maus stage energy in preparation and walk over the keep.
The stone gate is closed. Red pulls it down. A guard inquires about what's going on. Glad tells him to deliver a message to Ohta's mom. The very scared guard, scared of Ohta who has a crazy eyes look about him, short temper, and large stature, refuses to send the message, so Glad shouts it inside a few times. Ohta comes out in a rage and Glad provokes him into a fight by talking about his mom some more. When the six and a half foot tall redscale moves to stab Glad in the face, he blasts him with a lightning bold that sends him crashing into the wall, using all the staged energy from their preparation. In the moment it takes Ohta to recover from that attack, he slices off Ohta's sword hand. Ohta grabs for Glad's throat with his other and begins crushing it. Glad let's him and nonchalantly shocks him through contact. Then he blinks out of Ohta's grasp, toward where the severed hand fell and roasts it with fire breath to send a message. Ohta doesn't yield and makes to run inside. Glad blinks in his path, coats him with a threatening rush of water, and insists on Ohta yielding. He refuses and tells Glad to finish it. Glad obliges.
While all the guards and soldiers look on, Glad claims the city and demands everyone outside in the next ten minutes. Even after Maus pantses Glad in the middle of his rallying speech, Glad keeps a calmly threatening demeanor and ushers everyone outside. He burns Ohta's banner and flies his cloak in its place. Then he offers amnesty to Ohta's people so long as they let this slide and a contest to anyone who has a problem with him taking charge. With that settled, he has a soldier retrieve the lieutenant from his cells and has him treated. The lieutenant says that Encis' former bodyguards should be returned soon from their contingencies. Glad plans to let him and the bodyguards rule the city as a council when everyone is returned, and in the interim, he will claim Encatus.
What's on Your Back?
The next day, the Foxes reconvene in Encis' office where they discuss their new plans now that Ixidor is dead. Glad plans on handing the keep back to Encis' guards once they return. And in the interim, he has Nisos, the lieutenant, begin work on two projects. The first is the establishment of an orphanage that focuses on training the willing youth of Encatus in the arts of war and preparing them for an eventual atunement to Chracio. The second is a recruitment drive to find willing, of age, attuned individuals to atune to Chracio now. Haas, meanwhile, convinces the group to abandon their pillar destroying volcano plan in lieu of the a new, more immediate threat to Emeri. To make sure that everything in the area is on the up and up, the Foxes blink to the pit of Chracio using enchanted items looted from Encis' office. There, they spirit walk. In the spirit world, they discover that Maus has a spectral something hanging about him and he disappears when questioned on it. They're able to determine in the spirit world that Encis' spirit is stitching up some of Chracio's wounds and the deal made between the sentinels was for the Shul followers to simply leave Chracio's territory alone. Upon waking, they interrogate Maus who reveals that he's been training under the Weaver and that his suspicious disappearance was because he wanted to keep that to himself.
What's in the Box?
Back in Encatus, they meet with Encis' guards. They reveal that they've ensured that the other side is upholding the terms of the agreement and are caught up on what's transpired since by Glad. He mentions Ohta's brief glorious reign and subsequent disposal. He also has the Foxes take credit for getting rid of Ixidor. After returning the city to Encis' people, he offers them aid if needed and gives them a journeybook. With no business left to take over, the Foxes prepare for their journey to Kingsport, ruling out the quick root through Theruk and deciding to travel south to Thisius where Cadence can provide transport.
Glad remembers that Vormyllean Merc accused of doing something shady to that orphan kid's brother. He asks around about they guy at the Keep and the Merc is confirmed to be a shady but useful citizen. Ra'jira leaves to do his own recon. He finds the guy's house and cleans it of some ledgers and a hidden box. Glad and Haas show up shortly thereafter. In an alley, Glad examines the ledger and points out the name of the kid's brother and how that one record doesn't match the style of the others and looks edited after the fact. He kinetically opens the box. Inside they find fingers with some sort of magic enchantment. Haas and Ra'jira return to the home in search of more but find only gold. Glad revokes one of the fingers and tests out the runes on another. He stumbles upon a duplicating enchantment of some kind and decides to write down every rune enchantment for further research. After, he prepares to revoke the fingers.