[Stomoxys]

I woke up in the morning and found Grogg and Hylda in the common room. There were too many apeoids for Wolfram and Nuur-karif and Yana were nowhere to be seen. We found them all by the wagon and Nuur-Karif told us that the agent had showed up in the night. The agent had told them that they had intercepted messages between Tivito and someone at the palace or temple area about a prisoner exchange. The messages had started up the night before, and Nuur-Karif thought it was Iloro's doing, which sounded reasonable. Nuur-Karif and Wolfram wondered if it was some kind of trap. While I am suspicious of their motives, I believe the plans of the Azura priest and now Iloro are larger than the spat with Tivito and that they were genuine in their offer of help.

Wolfram had Iloro's pebble, but nothing had happened with it and they wanted me to study it. It felt odd in my hand, as if I could pinpoint exactly where it was. When I asked Wolfram, they confirmed they had felt the same, but the feeling had gone away when I picked it up. It could be interesting to study Elik's techniques. Looking closer, it indeed look like a Vaxo stone, but it was much heavier. Gently probing it, I got a warm sensation and the stone and threads of energy were intimately entwined. These were not threads of star energy though, but felt much warmer and were so firmly attached to the stone that they would last a long time.

I agreed to study it closer and Wolfram and I went to my room. Drawing on energies from the surroundings and the shimmer coin, I poked and prodded at the pebble for over an hour. There were two spells on the pebble and the first I discovered appeared to be rather simple. The threads on it reminded me of earth and stones and they would affect the wearer, making them extremely aware of the presence of the pebble. The other spell was much more delicate, entwining and disappearing under the threads of the first spell, making them much more difficult to trace or even detect. However, the threads gave off a strange impression of heat that revealed their presence and patterns. In the end, I determined that whoever had made the spell could connect to the pebble from afar. This would cause the pebble to emit a small flame that could be trained at at specific point. While my impression from the threads was more from flames than Ajaw, it would require a spark to ignite it, so it would not work anywhere Ajaw had never shone.

I was tired from the analysis, so I sent Wolfram and the pebble out of the room and went back to bed. Grogg came by at some point and wondered if everything was fine and I reassured them. Somewhat later, Hylda came by for writing materials so they could draw Grogg and Wolfram. Luckily, there were some in the drawer, so I did not have to leave the bed.

I got perhaps two hours of sleep before Wolfram showed up again. They had put the pebble in their lantern and now it was burning with a small, flickering flame. Looking closer at the flame, it was predominantly flickering northwards. Possibly in the direction of The Golden Arrow. We packed up our weapons and I guided the drivers of the wagon in the direction the flame pointed.

As we got closer to our destination, the flame steadied and pointed consistently in a direction. We decided to circle the area it pointed to and it turned out to be a closed inn. Two apeoids were standing outside and from their weapons and garb, they were clearly mercenaries. The inn where I had delivered the bottle was a few minutes further east and the drivers said they could wait there while we got out.

Nuur-Karif approached the mercenaries and one of them knocked on the door and we were let in. The room inside was large, but there were only four apeoids inside, also mercenaries. Nuur-Karif suddenly rushed out and stopped the wagon. For a second, I wondered if they had decided to run, but they soon returned, stashing away their pouch.

The most well armed of the mercenaries introduced themselves as Ragon, the leader and said they were eight in total. They were there to assist us in the prisoner exchange and the counterpart was at The Golden Arrow. Nuur-Karif wondered who had paid them, but they would only say that whoever it was had lots of gold. Usually in prisoner exchanges, someone would come over and and identify the prisoners and then the exchange would be made. To communicate, we could send a mercenary with a letter.

Wolfram and Nuur-Karif were suspicious of the mercenaries and we asked them to go to the adjacent kitchen so we could discuss in peace. When Ragon was gone, it was clear that Nuur-Karif's murder lust had gone to their head, as they proposed a suicide attack on The Golden Arrow to Wolfram's delight. I pointed out all the reasons why it was idiotic, but it did not penetrate. It is obvious that Wolfram's control on Jori is slipping and such an attack would be just in line with Jori's aspects. Nuur-Karif is more surprising though. I suppose it could just be their love of killing getting the better of them, but is it possible that Gritt did more than implant the bizarre obsession with Yana?

It was clear that Wolfram and Nuur-Karif was impervious to reason and Grogg would happily follow them. If I had simply refused, I believe they would have stormed off then and there, so I decided stall as long as possible and try to figure out what was going on. It would be unfortunate if my companions died, especially Grogg, as we were going to hunt dragons.

The closest source of information was the mercenaries and I got the others to call Ragon in again. After a bit of back and forth, it became clear that Ragon's orders were to follow our instructions and try to keep us alive as long as possible. This set off Nuur-karif even further and they concocted a plan that involved them going to The Golden Arrow and checking into their room without anyone recognizing their disguise. They would then smuggle eight heavily armed mercenaries as well as Grogg and Wolfram up to their room unnoticed. Then they would somehow find all the entrances to the third floor, post mercenaries at all of them and storm the floor and kill Elanos. Interestingly, Nuur-Karif was happy to let Audria and the other ashtarites that were imprisoned get executed in the process.

I convinced them that we should send a letter to keep up appearances since Nuur-Karif would have to put on a disguise anyway. They reluctantly agreed and I wrote a letter were I accused the recipient of kidnapping, but the letter writer was willing to give themselves up in exchange for the safe return of the prisoners. However, they needed proof that the prisoners were alive. One of the mercenaries ran off with the letter while Nuur-Karif went to the wagon. I wonder if they remembered to stay discreet, after all, they were wanted by the authorities. Either way, they got back before the mercenary, looking like Platikon.

Luckily, the mercenary returned with two letters before the others could set off towards The Golden Arrow. One of the letters were signed with 'E. L.' and gave assurances that the prisoners were safe while in captivity. The other said that everything went according to plan and was signed by Iloro. E. L. was presumably Elanos Larma, and if Iloro was with the prisoners somewhere else, like the palace, it would explain the delay.

Nuur-Karif wanted to go immediately. I doubted we would ever see them again if they left for The Golden Arrow and I was of half a mind to let them go, but the mercenary said it could be difficult to get in. They had not even been allowed to enter the foyer, consistent with Elanos' increased security concerns. If they actually feared for they life, they could not risk The Golden Arrow maintaining their lugubrious arrangements. The mercenary agreed and said it appeared nobody were allowed to come or go without strict controls.

I convinced the others that we should send another letter to maintain the illusion of negotiations. In the new letter, I asked how the recipient proposed the prisoner handover was going to take place. A mercenary was dispatched and I managed to argue with Nuur-Karif long enough for the mercenary to return. In the letter. E.L. said they had to personally identify prisoners in cases of suspected demonology or necromancy. This made Iloro's plan clear and even Wolfram relented on the need for a suicide attack.

Initially we considered an ambush at the inn we were in, but decided that the lack of hiding places made it difficult. Instead we could ambush them on the way in one of the smaller streets. This would give more space to manoeuvre and getting away easier, assuming none of the king's guards got involved.

We presented this plan to Ragon and they said it could work. However, they would expect Elanos to send someone to scout the way before coming themselves. To keep this from happening, I wrote in the letter that the writer would only stay if Elanos came themselves. If they sent someone else, they would assume foul play and escape. I also wanted to suggest a maximum number of soldiers they could bring with them. The others thought this would scare Elanos, despite being what I would expect from a bunch of cultists afraid of foul play. Instead, Nuur-Karif wanted the mercenary leading the Tivito to take them in the wrong direction and then claim they had received a symbol to abort. Ragon said this was likely to make Tivito call off the whole exchange, to which Nuur-Karif responded that then we would simply storm The Golden Arrow. Ragon looked shocked for half a second when they heard this, but I think I saw Wolfram lick their lips.