The King of Thieves

Cy 4863 10^th – 11^th Janos

The party take Syldith’s boat to Smugglers Bay, a small inlet close to the harbour at Hell’s Bay. The queen of the sea remains on board as Taryn leads the party along with Calandrin and his son Arvial onto the shale beach. In the depths of a small cave they sense a figure.

Viator Varkos – the King of Thieves – greets them warmly, offers them a place round a small fire in the mouth of the cave. Fuls, Meklor and Garsh sense he is a powerful sorcerer. Viator wears simple robes. His face is sharp, his eyes even sharper and despite the grey hair he is a man of considerable presence.

Initially Viator explains why he disappeared from the throne of Myrid, admitting that Valadain Raikos makes a much better ruler. (The synopsis of this explanation – in Viator’s words – can be read in Viator’s Twenty Year Plan). He goes on to outline the plot he has uncovered by Illyanth – queen of the Elenorians – to destroy Van Myride, Valadain and even Calandrin and Arvial.

Calandrin thinks the idea preposterous, he clutches his young son closer as he listens to – and refutes – the words of Viator Varkos. He tells them that he is prepared to return to his mother, unable to believe that he is in any danger.

"That will not be possible," Viator says. The atmosphere becomes tense around the fire. Calandrin eyes the king of thieves with hatred in his eyes; his hand strays to the hilt of the katana at his side.

"Your father and I hatched this plan to get you out of Van Myrid," Viator continues, "it was the only safe thing to do. With both heirs to Myrid out of the way we have a chance – if Illyanth has her way you, the entire Myrid population and your father will perish. The Elenorians must not be underestimated; remember what they did to the Marraqs."

"I will return to my ship and we will be gone," Calandrin says firmly.

"I will steal your son if needs must," Viator says calmly.

Calandrin is incensed and reacts violently. Unbelievably however his blade is gone! The king of thieves has already snatched it and bangs it down firmly in front of him. The blood – and fight – drains from Calandrin.

"You are our guest here," Viator says. "Until you come to realise the truth."

"I will look after him," Taryn says.

Back in the tavern prince Antigor speaks to a stray cat and tells it to get close and be friendly to the young boy Arvial. The harbourmaster gets word to Taryn that a strange Elenorian has landed on board a Myrid merchant vessel. Traumbrenner sends Lopez to take him out as they continue to talk to Calandrin in the tavern. Still the man does not believe what he is hearing.

Later word reaches them that Lopez and his shadow have been nailed to the harbour wall. The party go and cut the two men down; they are still alive but badly beaten. The perpetrater, a lithe powerful looking Elenorian called Lutheliar, taunts them at the other end of the harbour. With towering arrogance the elf strolls towards them. Meklor and Fuls Brett casts dispel magic at him but their spells fail. Traumbrenner hurls a shuriken, which embeds itself in the elf’s chest.

In anger Lutheliar hurls a lightning bolt at Traumbrenner but the magic strikes the harbour wall harmlessly. It seems that Lutheliar offers no resistance or defence. One single arrow from Antigor punctures the elf’s eye and slays him.

The party now realise the true danger as the wispy, smoke-like soul of Lutheliar emerges from the corpse. Powerful and charged with energy it makes its way towards the party. Taryn is first to react. He rushes forward, arms outstretched, to meet the danger.

"She will have your souls!" Lutheliar screams as he meets Taryn head on. The inner fire burns the soul instantly, unable to cope with Taryn’s power. Within seconds Lutheliar is gone.

Fuls Brett searches the body. He finds six magical arrows with runes inscribed on each one. Antigor speculates that each arrow will have but one target. Fuls takes them to a blacksmith and destroys them in a nearby forge. Calandrin examines the body, informs them that the elf was a high-ranking official in Elenoria; a Huntsman, a prominent position within the palace of Queen Illyanth.

Later Antigor converses with rats. They inform him that twenty elves (he suspects Elenorians) have slipped into the sewers beneath the North Gate and are hiding beneath it. They inform the druid that each was carrying at least three heavy waterskins. Antigor leads the party to a grating above the North Gate. After a second conversation with the rats it is clear that the Elenorians are preparing a bomb. They have stacked the waterskins under the gate.

Taryn Bzar returns to the tavern and gathers Calandrin and Arvial. "Time to take a little walk," he tells them. Soon the ranger is above the town of Hell’s Bay, he scrambles up the near sheer cliffs of the Olshay Range. Fuls Brett casts invisibility and fly – he too has doubts about what is happening. As his friends – led by prince Antigor – descend into the sewers, he ascends high above Hell’s Bay.

Batista and Traumbrenner scout ahead. When an Elenorian face peers round a corner Traumbrenner spits a dart into his thigh. The elf yelps and returns to his comrades. Round the next corner the twenty Elenorians have built a barricade of fallen stone and discarded furniture. Behind them is an Elenorian with a torch, behind him is the pile of waterskins filled with combustible material.

The party face longbows and swords before they can reach the Elenorian, who is about to light the fuse. Meklor however reacts first. He launches a fireball at the Elenorian, the ball of rapidly-growing flame engulfs the target. But the flame expands into the confined space. The party look on in horror at what Meklor has done.

Meanwhile Taryn is high above Hell’s Bay when the North Gate erupts. Stone, wood, and flesh are ripped to pieces. A huge section of the harbour wall collapses as gouts of tendril-like fire reach up to the heavens. Shortly after the initial explosion the South Gate erupts, followed by smaller explosions; more targeted but equally devastating. The taverns, the whorehouse, the harbourmasters, the warehouses all vanish, within minutes the entire town is alight.

Taryn knows instinctively that his friends are gone. He recalls painfully the last catastrophic explosion, when a large chunk of the Olshay Range was unmade, an event he survived.

Calandrin pulls his son Arvial tightly to him as if to protect him from the fire below.

"And so it begins," Taryn says grimly…