[u]New Items Acquired:[/u]
[list]
[*]One-handed spiked steel club
[*]Parrying dagger
[*]Utility knife
[*]Javelin with sling
[*]Steel helm
[*]Steel chestplate
[*]Steel buckler
[*]Studded leather boots
[*]Leather tents
[*]Waterproof fire starter kit
[*]Small bag of coal
[*]50 feet of silk rope
[*]50 feet of hemp rope
[*]Reinforced steel torches
[*]Whetstone set
[*]Steel pike
[*]Sack of leather scraps
[*]Shortbow
[*]Quiver with 20 arrows
[*]Medicine kit: painkillers, antidotes, healing salves
[*]Canteens
[/list]

Servants took down the requests and went shopping. By the time the sun rose to high noon, everyone received their requested items.

"Thank you, Your Majesty," Winter said, and offered a respectful curtsy.
The king folded his arms and smirked. "You can thank me when you return from your journey."

As they turned to leave, the king began to cough and clutch at his throat. Suddenly, he dropped to his knees and vomited blood onto the floor. "What's...happening to me?" he groaned.
Winter raced to his side and materialized a gauntlet on her hand. She traced it over him, and paled when she learned the truth. "What the living hell?!..."

"He's melting. Inside out."

What were once the king's legs were now bags of skin. His sickening retches and groans filled the palace. Beyond pity and disgust, Winter felt a chill through her very soul. [i]Magic. It must be.[/i] She glanced around and spotted a guard leaving through the front gate.

[b]"After him!"[/b] she cried.

At that, the guard broke into a sprint and ran straight into the city, where chaos reigned. The magical energies from the chasm finally reached Midhaven, and people from all walks of life explored their new powers. Fire and ice, gale-force winds and cracking earth, clones and golems, magic of all kinds erupted throughout the city. Even the guards left behind their weapons to join the chaos. Tracking the assassin would be difficult.

Winter balled up her fists as she watched the party chase him out the palace gate.

[i]I know who you are.[/i]

[i]The time has come to settle old scores.[/i]