May 10, 2026
29 Khordrak
As the march north continued, the party became better acquainted with the Cave physicker, Samuel Drexler. He proved to be yet another former Hellstalker; he had seen the war out, but was discharged at the end of the war. He made his own way back to Dastrux City, and finding Calloway there joined her camp.
They got to know the other Cavedwellers, too. Evelyn Letalova turned out to be an illusionist with a two-year degree from an obscure local university.
Frustrated with Calloway’s successful compartmentalization, Aida got a job working in the commander’s tent. She worked late into the night, picking up scraps of conversation to the effect that the army would continue on its current path before doubling back and trying to lose any observers in a forest.
The army stopped at Hundstein, a small city a few miles upriver from the coast. Oskraks, Annais, and Sam went into the city.
Annais stopped at the Golden Talon chapter and bought a few scrolls to expand Sam’s spellbook. She made it clear that she expected him to pay her back. She also bought an estoc for herself, for use in tight hallways.
On their way out of the city, they found a man whose shop windows were being broken by a gang of thugs. Spurred into action by his oath, Oskraks attacked and knocked out most of the thugs, while Annais killed the rest. An observer began to slip away.
The merchant wrung his hands, saying the rest of the gang would come to kill him. The gang leader had bribed his way into being deputized as an agent of the courts for the district, making him legally untouchable.
The Cave crew followed the observer back to a house in the bad part of town. A couple of fighters guarded the front door. The man they were following slipped through a cellar door.
Circling the house, they found an open window with a card game being played inside. Sam threw a grenado into the room as a distraction, and the party followed their quarry into the basement.
He had finished loading a crossbow, but they rushed and killed him. The basement was a torture chamber with two prisoners chained to the wall. They cut these down and got them to agree to testify against the gang.
Surging to the ground floor, the party cut their way through a parlor where most of the gang had gathered, including the guards from outside.
They pushed up to the second floor. First they burst into what proved to be a money-counting room. Then they breached an office that held the gang leader and his axe-wielding bodyguards.
The leader triggered a switch in his desk that launched a fusillade of poisoned darts. Sam was struck and nearly killed by the poison. Annais and Oskraks cut down the bodyguards and the leader, who proved to be no fighter.
They grabbed some of the money from the counting room and hauled the ledger back to Calloway to redistribute. They also dragged the surviving gang members back for her to hang on the testimony of the rescued prisoners.
Hundstein began to whisper about how General Calloway came to dispense the law when not even the crown deigned to protect them…
