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Chapter 2 Update 21: Shadow of the Nighthawks            "He is leader in name only. However bitter a draught Delekhan may be for your kith and kin to drink, magician, his rule is black poison in the gullets of me and mine. Already he enslaves my cousins and rapes the land." "Bloody his nose, Prince of Krondor. Blunt his swords and the unified tribes will cast him down in wrath. Let him cross your Northern border, however, and ten other clans will join their strength to his and the legacy of Murmandamus will but a spark next to his glory." "Where would you have me send my troops? If indeed he intends a strike against one of our northernmost possessions, which castle shall I garrison for the attack? Highcastle? Ironpass? Northwarden? If I am to fight a war, by my teeth tell me where would you have me fight it!" "Would that I could tell you! Delekhan holds in good confidence only a handful of cowering dogs and, among them, only a few are privy to his war plans. his private councils are restricted to choice individuals, his advisers Narab and Nago, his mistress Liallan, his son Moraeulf and --- Nighthawks!" "He keeps foul company that leader of yours..." "Your highness, if you give me leave, I believe I can find the evidence of Delekhan's intent. i will need someone to accompany me to Romney and supplies for my journey and a small parcel of gold." "Romney? What do you think you can find in a provincial river town in the heart of the Kingdom?" "I aim to catch a bird in flight. of late Delekhan has emptied a good deal of his treasury to revive the service of the Nighthawks. In exchange he has demanded tactical information about Kingdom holdings..." "He's turned the Guild of Assassins into a guild of spies?" "Only for a time. Although the payments have been left in various hidden locales, the messengers were always sent to a rendezvous in Romney. If I go there, I may be able to intercept information concerning a forthcoming attack. Would such evidence suffice?" "Perhaps." "drat me but I don't trust you Gorath. How do I know that this isn't a plot of yours? We can weigh the evidence to our hearts content and your cousins could be slitting the throats of my serfs as we sit dawdling..." "Go to Romney, but you will provide for yourself. if this is part of some secret moredhel scheme, I'll not look the fool before the world. Pug, unroll the map for me..."     "So an attack at Northwarden seems unlikely." "Leaving Highcastle." "Which is a viable alternative, but neither target seems to have an obvious goal. I know you are no field strategist and you hate to become involved in state matters but I should like you to delay your return to your home at Stardock for a while. I feel... ill at ease." "You are not alone in that. I too have sensed something unusual in the air, but I won't ascribe it to anything as dire as magic. More likely we suffer from bad soup." "James will send word to me there." "What of the garrison?" "Now we wait. Gods help Gorath if he betrays us to the moredhel." Control is returned to us at this point. Chapter 1 is done, and now our mission in Chapter 2 is... another escort mission.    Actually it's not so bad. We are saying goodbye to Locklear for a bit, and now have control of James instead, as well as Gorath. (nobody cares about Owyn) Enemies in this chapter start to get a little bit tougher, you'll continue to face the standard fare moredhel and rogues, but now you also have to content with nighthawks, and a few other surprises depending on which way you go. Right now we are inside the palace, and this woman wearing her bathrobe is looking placidly at us. Might as well say hello. It's what Locklear would have done.  "I am glad to see you safe again in Krondor."   "You've just missed him. He and Makala went off to discuss magic someplace and if I know my husband, that means I won't see him for a few days. Even on holiday, he can't seem to take his mind away from the art for long."Typical artists, am I right?   "In many ways, he and the Prince are much alike. Where is Arutha anyway?" "Out with his twins and the Princess Anita. It seems your famed luck is running thin today." "Quite the contrary, for I still have your company. If I may have a moment..." "As much time as you need. What may I do for you?"GAMINA "So, when do I get to meet this stunning daughter of yours? I've heard quite a bit about Gamina, but I've been too busy to make the time to meet her." "I imagine you will see her as soon as I do. She's more than likely trailing Pug and Makala about the palace. Any opportunity to hear her father discuss magic and she's immediately at his side. Then too, it may be she's hiding away from Arutha's twins. She's not quite interested in boys yet."Take that as a hint, James.  MAGIC SUPPLIES "I know that quite a few of the artificers in Stardock have begun exporting their goods from the Academy. Are there any good places to buy magical items near here?" "The most notable one that's close is a little place called Stardock Annex at the Abbey of Ishap at Sarth. officially they have no ties with the Academy, but there's not much we can do to keep them from using the name. There's also a fellow by the name of Dabeh who buys from us, but he lives a long distance from here, out north of Romney if I recall."Lucky for us then that we are going to Romney!  There isn't much else to do in the Palace. There is a room here that we can enter, we can also go back down the sewers or exit out the front way, but as we are trying to be somewhat inconspicuous, we'll not go out the front. Still, let's check out what is in the side room here.   Indeed Locklear does. Everything that he was carrying on him is left behind in Krondor after Chapter 1. we can make good use of this to grab his items either for James to use or for the party to sell later on. Additionally, this side room is always available and useful for dropping things off that you want to keep. As you can tell, we have just James and Locklear in this chapter. (again, nobody cares about Owyn) We also get to keep all the gold from the previous chapter too, and at 1400, we're sitting pretty comfortably right now.  James is kind of 'Meh' overall. His speed is good but that melee score needs improvement. The only place where he really stands out is his lockpicking ability.  We'll get a better sense of the kind of man he is as we continue on in the game though. That's it for now though, next time we'll go back to the sewers and start making our way to Romney.
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| ← # ? Aug 5, 2013 20:53 |
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