[hider=The Alchemist's Spectacle]
“So sister, how does it feel to be a married woman”? Alasdair said as he lifted a goblet. He was currently seated in his sisters chambers; a small room but filled with many riches. Alasdair was seated across from his sister, a short wooden table lay between them. It had been two days since Isabel had been married to Goodwin and this had been the first time Alasdair had had a chance to talk to her since the event. While Alasdair had attended the marriage, the couple had left to be with each other for the night before he had an opportunity to talk to either of them. Isabel indicated to the servant who had been standing in the corner to fill her goblet with wine before giving a second indication to leave the room. As the servant left Alasdair noticed that he had not seen her work in the castle before. Was she new? A private servant of Isabel’s perhaps? Alasdair quickly put the question out of his mind, it was irrelevant after all. Once the servant left Isabel responded

“It feels like my bed has suddenly gotten a lot more crowded” She said as she slowly sipped from her goblet.

“So what do you think of your new husband” Alasdair said with a small smile

“I believe he will prove to be very useful to furthering the De Reimer’s goals” Isabel replied bluntly

“Yes but I mean, how do you [i]feel[/i] about him? Are you...happy with your new husband”? Alasdair said hesitantly, he doubted his sister would ever truly be happy with her spouse, regardless of who it was. Isabel paused for a moment as she thought carefully. Finally she answered

“So long as if he remains loyal to our name, which is now also his name, I shall be...satisfied with this partnership. You needn’t worry about me brother, worry about him and what I will do to him should he ever betray me”. Alasdair let out a quiet sigh, he supposed that was the best his sister would ever be with such a arrangement. “Besides” Isabel continued “you should be more concerned with Patricks wedding. Soon we will all have to travel to Alenius and from what I gather the Blackwell’s will not be very welcoming to us”. Alasdair nodded in agreement as he reflected on his own brief encounter with Eli and how unpleasant he had found it. Worst of all, this time the meeting would take place in Alenius, the Blackwell’s home, somewhere that the De Reimer’s would be at a disadvantage.

“It has been a pleasure as always dear sister, but I am afraid I must be elsewhere” Alasdair said as he stood up from his chair

“O? Pray tell” Isabel said with a smirk.

“Either I am about to witness a weapon that could secure the empires victory. Or I am about to watch a madman waste my time and gold”

***

The smell of animals and manure filled Alasdair’s nose as he left his carriage instantly causing him to cover his nose and mouth with the perfumed handkerchief he held in his hand. Though he despised the smell and filth of Nyhem’s field district there had been a reason he had asked Ignocious to conduct his experiment here. For a start he had no idea how destructive the gunpowder was going to be and he would prefer the keep didn’t get damaged in its demonstration. Secondly, after finding the threatening note on his desk and the escape of Pearl Mazeltof, Alasdair could no longer rely on the keep for security. While the spy likely left the keep after they rescued pearl Alasdair couldn’t know for sure. He didn’t wish any of his enemies to learn of this weapon. The field was small, surrounded by trees and hedges, preventing anyone from outside seeing what what going on. Ignocious had already set up his demonstration and three dummies in dented plate armour stood at the far end of the field along with a hand-sized, tower shaped object located in the middle of the field with Ignocious making some final adjustments completely ignoring the arrival of his emperor. As such it was Lynus who greeted Alasdair instead

“My emperor” He said with a low bow “I am glad you have arrived. I beg for your forgiveness but it would seem we may have to wait a few minutes longer. Ignocious quickly wanted to make a final check over his experiments before demonstrating”.

“I suppose if my livelihood held in the balance I too would want to make sure there were no complications” Alasdair said with a cold smile, reminding Lynus that he could destroy Ignocious’s reputation in an instant if he wasn’t impressed and that to try his patience wasn’t a good idea. To this Lynus bowed once more before running off to Ignocious to try and hurry him up. 

It was at that moment that Arianna arrived, escorted and guided by two members of the Steel Fist. She was dressed in her finest clothes, elegant and exotic fabrics from across Formaroth woven into a deceptively rugged and practical garb. It was finery worthy of an Admiral, as befitting her lineage, with none of the restrictive elements of classic Nyhem high fashion. At her side, a short sword, as much a tool as a weapon, and fairly unnecessary for self defense. High boots ensured the filth of the field district had little chance of ruining her clothing.

She had requested an audience with the new Emperor, on behalf of the Tide Masters and the King of the Summer Isles. She had expected to meet him in his palace, making a meeting in the fields rather a surprise. Yet, from what she could see now, there was going to be some kind of demonstration. She could only assume that the Emperor wanted her to witness it as well.

“Your Majesty.” She said as she approached Alasdair, stopping at respectful distance and bowing low.

“Ah lady Zerrikan” He said as he pulled his handkerchief away from his mouth “I am glad to see you have arrived in time for the demonstration. It would be good to have both an expert on magic and ship combat to judge the effectiveness of Ignocious’s weapon” he gestured to Arianna to stand as the two steel fist mercenaries walked back over to resume their position as Alasdair’s bodyguards. Originally Alenius was supposed to have escorted Arianna here but she had not returned to the keep this morning, leaving Alasdair to the mercy of the two morons Claus had left him. Trying to work with those two conversing outside his door had proven to be most difficult. Never before did he think two individuals could have a three hour conversation about the taste of cheese.

Arianna looked around quickly, slightly confused at the mention of a weapon being demonstrated. She could see several targets, but no sign of any weapon large enough to be relevant in ship to ship engagements.

Turning to the King, she spoke. “I would be happy to observe such a display, but your majesty, respectfully, I see no weapon here large enough to have a meaningful effect on a ship. Has Ignocious devised some new form of magic?”

“Likewise” Alasdair said blunty, even he was starting to doubt whether investing in Ignocious had been a good idea. “Though it looks like he is finally ready for us” Alasdair finished as he saw Ignocious smugly walking up towards them.

“Addressing his majesty and...all the others” Ignocious said while waving his arm in a dismissive way, causing Lynus to cover his face with his hands “What you are about to witness, is history, a weapon that will alter warfare forever” He said waiting for applause, though he received none as everyone simply looked at him with blank faces. Though this seemingly did nothing to hinder Ignocious’s enthusiasm “But for course actions speak louder than words so allow me to demonstrate” He said giving a over exaggerated bow before walking over to the cylinder shaped object in the center of the field. He gestured to the side of him as an assistant handed him a smoldering torch. As he took it he lit what looked like a long piece of string hanging off the tower shaped object causing it immediately to spark. After a few seconds it shot up high into the air causing Alasdair and his entourage jerk their heads quickly towards the sky. There it exploded into a bright red light for around ten seconds before gently burning out.

“As you can see, with this new technology we no longer require mages to send up flares into the sky allowing any ordinary scout to signal the army from miles away.” Ignocious said proudly. Alasdair’s face remained unchanged. While indeed a useful tool, it alone was not worth the amount of money he had spent to fund this research. Ignocious had to impress him in his next demonstration.

Arianna was somewhat surprised when the barrel lurched into the air, but the resultant flash of color was hardly noteworthy in her eyes. She’d seen second year illusion students under Lanaya achieve a similar effect. She glanced over at the Emperor, and though she did not know him, even she could see that he was not impressed.

This time Ignocious seemed a bit disheartened by the lack of interest shown by the emperor, however this had been nothing compared to what he had planned, and he knew his next demonstration would not disappoint “but of course this wasn’t what you were hoping to see this-” Ignocious said as he pointed to two of his assistants who were carrying what looked like a giant ceramic vase filled with a dark sand like substance. From a distance another man with a bow (a sellsword based off his appearance) readied a flaming arrow. “-is what you were hoping to see. This weapons will render castle walls useless, make plate armour trivial and counter even the finest of battle mages. Originally based on the weapons used by the Riogail Sovereignty, this will put the empire at an advantage over any enemies it may face. While it may be a bit big now with further funding I will easily be able to reduce it to a carriable size.” Ignocious said with a smile, conveniently forgetting to mention that reducing the size will also greatly reduce the explosives power.

As soon as the assistants placed the vase in front of the plate armored dummies they immediately sprinted away. Once they were out of range Ignocious gave the signal to the Sellsword who after lining up his arrow, fired his bow. The arrow landed squarely in the vase causing a instant explosion of massive proportions. The dummies were engulfed by fire and smoke, the ground around it was flung into the air and the vibration caused Alasdair to shrink back in fear. Lynus himself fell backwards upon it’s detonation. Ignocious by comparison simply stared into the explosion unfazed, simply admiring his work. Once the smoke cleared the dummies were gone and the steel plate lay scattered in hundreds of pieces on the ground amongst the huge crater it had created. After a minute or so of admiring Ignocious turned back around to face his emperor. Alasdair simply responded with a smile, it was clear he had succeeded in pleasing his emperor. 

Before the blast, Arianna had braced for something large. Seeing men sprinting away as they did had made her wary, and thanks to that she barely staggered at all. The blast was significant, indeed rivaling the spells of destruction channeling covens or master destructionists, just as Ignocious had promised.

Yet she could already see problems.

Once Alasdair had recovered, she turned to him and calmly began to speak. “Your Majesty. I would caution you not to be overawed by this strange powder.” She turned a little to the side and spoke louder then, to make sure Ignocious could hear. Her tone was a mix of professional excitement and disdain. “How will I get this onboard an enemies ship? And once there how will I light it? A rune bolt, conventional catapult shot or pitch shot all cause consistent, reliable damage to hostile ships. But a multi stage weapon? Impressive only against fields and scarecrows. Furthermore, this man has displayed two seperate devices to accomplish only a fraction of what a single mage can do.”

“My my, only one demonstration and already the circle is getting nervous” Ignocious said with cocky smile, clearly happy with the results of his experiment. “I can assure you that with further funding I will make this weapon far easier to use. I hope to mirror something that the Sovereignty have already developed, a throwable explosive that has proven to be quite effective against the elven mages who, as we know, are far more skilled than anything the circle can offer”

“If you can do what you claim then such a weapon would be a great asset to the empires arsenal and as you have shown today you have already lived up to your word once” Alasdair pondered as he turned to Arianna “Don’t misunderstand me, I understand the usefulness of mages, on the battlefield and elsewhere. However magic is a gift that only a handful of us are able to use”.

Arianna shot a cold glance at Ignocious for his comment, but refused to satisfy him with a direct response. Instead she turned back to Alasdair and spoke again, this time forgetting who she was speaking to. “Do you really want power akin to that wielded by mages in the hands of whoever pays that greedy little man?”

Ignocious through a cold glance back at Arianna “I am not simply a ‘greedy man’, I have no interest in money unless it can be used to further my research. I am a alchemist and the only lust I have is a lust for knowledge”. At this Alasdair raised his hand

“Enough, I have already made my decision” Alasdair said with clear annoyance in his voice, it seemed that both of these individuals had forgotten who that were bickering in front of “I gave you my word that I would continue to fund all your projects if you delivered on your promise, which you have done. Very well Ignocious you are now on the crowns payroll, I hope you continue to be a asset to the empire in these perilous times” To this Ignocious and Lynus gave their emperor a bow before walking off to collect their equipment, before he left however Ignocious gave Arianna a smug smile, just to annoying her one last time.

“Now Lady Zerrikan” Alasdair said as he turned to face Arianna “What was it you wished to discuss with me” 

If this had been a tavern on the docks, Arianna might’ve continued the argument with a sharp retort. If she had had a few to drink, she might’ve turned it into a brawl. But this was an open field in front of the Emperor of all Formaroth… It was not the place for pettiness. Instead, she dismissed Ignocious with a haughty flick of her head, ignoring him and focusing on Alasdair.

“Yes your Majesty.” She replied, then waited until Ignocious was thoroughly out of earshot. “I am here in Nyhem at my fathers behest, to represent the King of the Summer Isles, and the Admiralty of the fleet.”

“I see, then it seems we have much to discuss. Walk with me” Alasdair said as he made his way towards the carriage. As he approached one of the steel fist members opened the door for him and he stepped inside. Once seated he turned his head to face Arianna again “So, what is it the ‘king’ of the summer Isles has to say” Alasdair added emphasis when mentioned the king. In truth the man was hardly even a ruler, with next to all of the power in the summer Isles residing in with the circle.

Arianna followed him into the carriage, taking a seat and feeling right at home couped up in a tiny box. She wondered if Alasdair was aware that in the Summer Isles, referring to King’s authority was typically a euphemism for the complicated interlocking power structures that governed the island.

“The King would like to know what his place, and the place of the Isles, will be in the new Empire.”

“I see, well if king Leohart and the circle are worried about losing their power they needn’t so. As long as if Leohart, and in turn the circle, swear the same oaths of loyalty to me when I was king I doubt the Isles will see much change”. This was in fact only partially true, Alasdair did eventually intend to take a more direct control of the circle. However for now it was too risky; if he started to exert more control over the Isles then there was every chance they would defect over to the Blackwells, a possibility Alasdair did not want to entertain. “However it is not the empire the summer Isles should fear, it is their own detachment from the rest of the empire that will be their downfall. Even you cannot deny the circles impartibility when it comes to dealing with matters outside its borders. It is why alchemists like Ignocious and Lanaya’s mage collective are gaining so much influence as of late, and the more important they become the less influential the circle will be”.

“The King is not concerned with Lanaya.” Arianna began. Technically, what she said was true. The King, the nobility, the traders and the admiralty were not worried about Lana. But Arianna had no way of knowing whether the Circle leadership was becoming concerned. She was not privy to that level of knowledge. Not that she would’ve told Alasdair, as she was herself nominally loyal to Lana.

“But he will be pleased to hear that you do not intend to change our arrangement. The Isles are not fond of change. Especially not when the rest of Formaroth is so… unstable.” Arianna realised only after she said this that it could be taken as an insult, but she chose to push on either way. “The King would like to be kept apprised of Imperial efforts to counteract the Johannian Heresy however. This is a matter of great importance to the Isles, and they would prefer to see the Heretics remain disorganized and weak.”

Alasdair raised his eyebrow as Arianna mentioned the chaos that Formaroth was currently in, but decided to ignore it. “If he, and I suppose as an extension the circle, are so concerned with the heretics perhaps they could contribute to heretics downfall. I recently got word that the heretics in Uzgob, under the leadership of a man called Fenick, have seized the castle town of Medea. From there they continue to spread chaos across the already fragile north. My brother has taken an army northwards to put down this rebellion, though it will take him a while to mobilize his forces. Perhaps the summer isles could send a battalion of battle mages to prevent the spread of the heretics until my brother arrives. The closeness of the summer isles combined with the relative small numbers means that the circles mages can arrive in Uzgob long before the Cawanor army can”. 

While a battalion of mages would definitely be useful in stopping Fenick and his supporters, this was also a good way of getting closer with the circle. By having them fight a common enemy together, the circles opinion on him would likely improve and give him a foothold with the mages, from which he could start to manipulate the inner workings of the circle so that they favoured the empire. 

Arianna thought for a moment. She could only recommend the deployment of battlemages to the Circle, but thanks to her name her recommendations did hold a great deal of weight.

“Yes.” She eventually said, somewhat unsurely, before gaining a little more confidence again. “Yes, that is a  good idea. Given the nature of the enemy, I will also recommend they be guarded by several units from the army. Beyond that though, the Zephyr Fleet is uniquely positioned to make the journey around the cape to secure Fort Scarab before it can be taken by Heretics. If you wish your majesty, I could even take my own flotilla there within the next few days.”

Naturally, she was already thinking of this as a way to perhaps make a name for herself and become famous on her own terms.

“I appreciate your enthusiasm, however as far as I am aware fort Scarab is already well protected by the Uzgobian army. Your involvement shan't be needed”. Alasdair paused as he considered something “Tell me, you know Lady Dionisa, do you know of her current whereabouts”?

Arianna looked slightly dejected at Alasdair’s rejection of her idea, but quickly moved on. “Does anyone ever?” She jokingly said in response to the question, before realising it was a serious question. “I do not. I was expecting to meet her again after the party, but her seneschal informed me she didn’t return that night. I assumed she had taken to the wing and ventured out of the city for some time away.”

“I see, she was absent from my last council meeting a couple of days ago. I had hoped she would have returned on her own by now but it seems I will have to send someone after her. Though if she isn't at her home I am unsure where to look”. Alasdair pondered for a while, this seemed remarkably similar to what had happened the night Aurelia went missing, would Lanaya too soon turn up dead in a ditch? It seemed Nyhem was becoming increasingly dangerous with the passing of time. 

“It is always possible she has decided to take a long break in the wilds nearby, but I find it unlikely she would be so out of touch for so long. I always heard that she despised having to sleep outdoors. I will task my familiar with searching for places accessible only by air.” Arianna was beginning to get concerned, and suddenly found herself wishing she knew more about Lanaya’s private life of late. Knowing as little as she did, she was forced to go on the elder mages reputation from the College instead of providing more useful, accurate information. “As a master illusionist, if she does not want to be found, then we will not find her… But I find it unlikely she would abandon her duties so. More likely something has happened within the city limits. Perhaps she somehow fell victim to the rising anti-mage sentiment?”

It was then that Arianna noticed they were already well and truly back into the city. They would be passing the docks soon, and she glanced out, then back at the Emperor, wondering if he had any more questions for her.

Alasdair paused as he considered what Arianna had said. Given the current heresy situation it would make sense that they would be a likely suspect. However had they caught Lanaya they would likely be making it known to the population of Nyhem rather than keeping it quiet. “I suppose what you say does make sense. It is certainly something to look into, still I do wonder…” Alasdair said as he trailed off into thought. 

Arianna respectfully waited for the Emperor to continue his thought. When the moment passed and there was no continuation, she simply said. “Your Majesty?”

Alasdair looked towards Arianna in response “It is nothing. It would seem I will have to send out patrols to look for her, it wouldn’t reflect well on me if both of my magisterial advisors ended up dead under my rule” Alasdair said sullenly.

“I sincerely hope Lanaya is alright.” Arianna replied quickly and genuinely. “I will have my crew aid in the search of the area around the city. I am not the only one who can take to the sky for a better view.”

“Very good” While his tone remained neutral, he greatly appreciated the additional help, the sooner they found Lanaya the better. “It would appear we are passing the docks, if you wish I could command the driver stop the carriage so you may get out?”

“Yes, thank you your majesty.” Arianna waited until the command had been given, and once the carriage pulled to a stop she opened the door and leaped to the ground, not waiting for the driver to lower any steps into position. She was no soft noble, and wanted to get back to her ship - she had work to do.
[/hider]


[@TheDuncanMorgan] [@Sundered Echo]