SPQT -- Ding, dong, Quintus is dead!

2/3 - My confessor thinks "rend the sovereign soul" is justified in the circumstances. Still - I really don't like to use it. Perhaps tomorrow. Q- Is Quintus Valerius in league with the Gilded League? A - More rudeness Q - What was the ultimate purpose of the doppelganger plot? A - Power. We're supposed to be removing people who oppose the Valerii or, if that wasn't practical for some reason, undermine their support so they don't have the power to be a threat. The ultimate goal is to make the Valerii so powerful that they become the power behind the throne. Q - Not likely. The power behind the throne is traditionally someone the Emperor likes. Taking away everyone he truly likes doesn't make him like the ones that are left. What are your methods of communicating with Quintus? A -They don't have to be likable, just indispensable. He talks to me by sending spell and there are various agents who have access to magical communication in I need to initiate contact.

After the above exchange, the Sunshine Boys gagged him, while I explained that we were moving him to a more convenient location. I assured him that we were taking his good clothes and he'll be allowed to wear them as soon as he cooperates. I hope if any of my people are ever afflicted with a geas, they'll behave more sensibly than he is. I deliberately made the thing as easy as possible to comply with. But I suppose if he doesn't think his master can survive a face-to-face encounter with us he must do as he thinks best. I wonder how long, in a reversed situation, Quintus would permit himself to suffer pain for Synon?

But he's got nothing to do but think about it and fantasize grandiose plans in which leading us to Quintus involves leading us to our downfall. I'm afraid that I've all but set a trap for myself and now I'm pressuring Synon to trigger it; but I really don't see any other way to get Quintus off our backs besides tracking him down and turning him into a slug. We are safely ensconced at the villa, and everyone has been sent on vacation, except the griffin master, who is to remain in the stables with the griffins. I've made another sanctuary potion and set some animal spies.

Corvus borrowed Decimus's Helm of Teleportation and returned to report to Hrolf that we were about to remove Synon to the villa, as well as other half-truths which we hope will be effective. Hrolf offered him money to assassinate or release Synon, and he refused on the grounds that he's not be allowed in the same room with the prisoner. This is true enough - I trust him not to kill our bait, but it would be unfortunate if his resentment overcame his sense of right and wrong and he committed torture.

2/4 - No disturbance in the night. I finally cast Rend the Sovereign Soul, for all the good it did.

Mind Raid- What would you do if you escaped our custody?
A - Look for people friendly to the Valerii to communicate with Q; send Publius (the nondescript mage) to communicate with him.
Q - How can we locate Publius?
A - Rudeness.
Q - What do you expect to happen to you from this point?
A - Quintus will try and rescue me. I'm useful to his cause, if nothing else. If he doesn't rescue me, then he'll make you regret it. If he does, then that will depend on Quintus's needs - but I will exact my just revenge.
Q - With whom is Quintus in the most regular contact?
A - Publius - He uses him for a go-between a lot.

Robyn and Decimus spent a lot of time roaming the countryside today, and returned with a quantity of striped toadstool, which they assure me will make tomorrow's interrogation easier. I've made another sanctuary potion.

2/6 - I was much too exhausted to write yesterday. I'm not positive I'm not too exhausted to write today. Let's see if I can remember all that happened.

First thing in the morning, Decimus whipped up a delicious-smelling striped toadstool omelette, which I spoon-fed the prisoner prior to interrogation. He seemed suspicious, but after the rather plain fare we've been serving him the last few days, he was unable to muster the fortitude to spit it out. The results were the first of many dramatic effects we were to witness today - he fell into a deep and troubled sleep! I was forced to use up a scroll of Lesser Restoration on him in order to wake him up.

The toadstool had left him quite childlike and, if not exactly eager to assist us, inclined to accept whatever course of action was offered to him in order to get his clothes back. As a conversationalist we still found him lacking, inclined to stray onto topics of personal grooming or burst into song. He agreed to lead us to Quintus, so I Sent a message to Uncle via Gaius. While we waited, we talked to him about his colleagues, Publius (he informed us in between choruses of "Sweet Aechean Lady," a song I used to like rather) is "trash from Tarantium," rescued from the streets and used primarily as a courier. The man who teleported out of Decimus's web is Proculus, and Fratak the Bull is Quintus's half-orc bodyguard. We were extremely interested to learn that the Hrolf Corvus reported to was not Hrolf at all, but the doppelganger!

We had reached this state of information when my animals spies warned of someone entering our orbit. Robyn and Corvus proceeded to the roof, whence they reported four intruders approaching stealthily in camoflage. I manacled Synon to a rail, in case anyone tried to snatch him away, and had to spend a good deal of time soothing his anxieties. Decimus, at Alfredus's request, cast Stoneskin, and proceeded to the roof. Alfredus awaited Robyn's signal behind the door. This came soon enough, in the form of an attack on the intruders when they reached the front steps.

The encounter was short and bloody, with five of the (as it turned out) six would-be rescuers/assassins dead or unconscious before they could strike back. Alfredus caught the sixth as he attempted to flee, offering to let him continue if he reported his purpose and employer. He said he was sent by Q to rescue Synon, and directed us to his escape route - a teleport circle in that grove on the edge of the property, the same one where Decimus was ambushed.

We naturally were eager to explore this circle, staying only long enough to pen a note to Uncle and hobble Synon. I wanted to take him with us, in case this was a mere diversion to get us out of the house while the real rescue went forward - Quintus wouldn't think twice about sacrificing six employees - but the others thought we didn't need him anymore and he began another chorus of "Sweet Aechean Lady," so I decided we would leave him. After all, I expected Uncle to be coming through shortly, and he's perfectly capable of foiling a rescue; while, if we vanished, he would still need Synon to help him track down Q and rescue us. I drank one of Synon's potions, of Cat's Grace, and Aelfredus drank one of bull's strength, and ran ahead of us.

Off we ran to the grove, which I will be calling Ambush Grove from now on, because that's what happened to us. It appeared at first as if the trees were shooting at us, and we also were caught in a fireball, which singed Decimus rather. Robyn's dogs were not fooled and were of great assistance, helping Robyn locate suitable targets. I placed spell resistance on Decimus, and he quickly spotted the spellcasters and cast a web on them. He only caught one, but that greatly reduced our difficulties. Unfortunately, the remaining spellcaster also had a web spell, which caught Alfredus before Decimus dispatched the mage with a Manaspear. I cast Aura of Light so as to reduce our danger, standing close to Decimus so that the arrows would be deflected from him as well, freed Alfredus, and used my Remedy Wounds spell to heal Decimus. Corvus also came to his aid, fighting the unit's apparent leader while Decimus turned a large half-orc into a toad.

Just as I was realizing that we had to save our spells for Q and needed to end this quickly, Corvus's superior fencing ability dropped the leader. Taking this as the correct psychological moment, I drew my mace and appealed to reason. After all, they were not our enemies, and their employer was deliberately sacrificing their lives in order to render us weak when we finally caught up with him. Although my friends refrained from attacking while they considered this, one of Robyn's dogs emphasized the point that we were more dangerous than the job was worth to them, by tearing out one of their throats. They negotiated to take their dead and wounded, and having ascertained that they were mere mercenaries whose surviving spellcaster could not take us any closer to Quintus, and that the teleport circle did indeed exist, we agreed. They didn't know where they were, so we told them, instructing them not to go to the villa, and to smile and be friendly if we ever encountered us again.

We left them freeing their remaining spellcaster, who was also their healer, from the web, and hurried to the circle. Here I cast "Bless" on us all from a scroll, Decimus cast "frost weapon" on Robyn's dogs, and Alfredus leaped through. I thought of all sorts of other preparations we should have done as we followed him, but after all, you can't think of everything.

We found ourselves in the center of a large cobbled courtyard, surrounded by high stone walls and ten guards. Proculus and a sizable Ogre stood near a set of double doors leading into the villa. If they were less startled to see us than they might have hoped, at least we were better prepared for them than they might have wished. Decimus snapped off a lightning bolt, catching Proculus, the ogre, and the doors to the villa. Proculus cast a spell, which Decimus and I fortunately both recognized as "spell-turning," and the guards advanced with long spears, hoping no doubt to keep out of reach of our weapons. I obliged them by giving them, and the ogre for good measure, a Greater Command to flee. This seems to have been part of the general inclination, for the only ones who didn't were Proculus, the ogre, and one intrepid guard who deserved a better fate. Robyn, the dogs, and Corvus attacked the remaining guard and Proculus. The ogre attempted to smash Alfredus, whose stoneskin spell stood him in good stead, with a gigantic sledgehammer and Proculus rose into the air, the dogs snapping fiercely at his trailing robes and Corvus shooting at him, from which vantage he cast a spell with which I was not familiar, but which caused large, vicious black tentacles to grow out of the pavement and grab for anything within reach.

Ignoring the guard who was attacking him, Robyn whistled for his dogs and ran for the door; I cast Sanctuary on myself and did likewise, calling for Corvus to do the same. Alas, he bravely stayed for one more shot at Proculus, not realizing that he and the guard were now the only viable targets for the tentacles. It took me a moment to realize he was not with us, for first I was caught by the ogre's hammer, which was extremely painful; and then Proculus threw a chain lightning spell, which bounced from me, to Robyn, to Decimus, to Alfredus before it winked out.

I summoned a celestial eagle to peck at Proculus's eyes and distract him from spell throwing, as the ogre followed us, intent on smashing us to pieces; and it was only at this point that I noticed Corvus was wrestling with a giant tentacle. Decimus's dispel magic had no effect and he told me he had no other options. I had no choice but to cast Antimagic Field on myself and rush past the ogre again, getting hit again on the way. As soon as I got within range of him, the tentacle holding Corvus winked out and back we ran again, Corvus savagely attacking the ogre from behind and felling him as Robyn shot Proculus four times in rapid succession and brought him fluttering down from the sky. (Decimus says that Proculus tried to polymorph Robyn, and failed, and at some point he tossed down a potion vial which smashed apparently ineffectually - I still wonder what that was about. ) I think the poor guard had been squeezed to death by the tentacles by this time. I wish he had run when I told him to!

Robyn, the dogs, and Alfredus hurried into the villa while I lapsed my antimagic field and hasty cured wounds on Corvus and myself and Decimus took flight. Following Robyn's lead, we searched the offices. Corvus, invisibly, found a terrified maid hiding in a study, but we began to fear that Q had given us the slip again. The fleeing guards had left the doors standing wide open and people had begun to gather curiously, so Alfredus waved to them cheerfully and barred the doors. We proceeded to the private atrium, where we suddenly came upon Q, who strolled in and cast a spell at me.

The power of Orus protected me, however, and the burning chains with which he had intended to bind me dropped away harmlessly. Robyn, Corvus, and the dogs attacked without mercy, and Decimus seized Alfredus and teleported with him into the room beyond so that they could attack from behind. This was the moment I had been longing for ever since Gaius was boobytrapped, and I lost no time putting my plan into action, casting Dimensional Anchor. Decimus says it's not my fault that it didn't work, that he had a displacement spell on him - but the fact remains that it was my only dimensional anchor spell, and if I'd had another, things might have gone very differently. A dimensional anchor to hold him still, a quest to submit to the authority of Tarantine law, a couple of Rend the Sovereign Soul spells to make it easy for him, and by the time he could teleport again he'd have been sending himself into the arms of the vigiles as sweet as you please. But there's no point pining over what wasn't to be.

Taken aback by the amount of damage we were able to deal him within a few seconds, Quintus decided that he had overreached himself and tried to cast Dimension Door, sparking another flurry of attacks, which caused him to miss his chance. However, a contingency spell was activated, and off he teleported. I'm afraid we used rather intemperate language as we organized ourselves to teleport back to Aquitania, where Synon now again represented our best hope of tracking Q - assuming Publius hadn't rescued him. I borrowed Decimus's teleport helm and between us we created an arrangement whereby we could all teleport with one charge of the helm and one spell from Decimus. We were ready not a moment too soon, for a great many men in the uniform of the Freeport vigiles came bursting in shouting that we were under arrest. I'm glad we were in Freeport rather than the Empire, for I would have had a conscience about teleporting away from an Imperial arrest.

Back we went to the villa, where we fell apart in frustration. Amazingly, it was still morning - I felt as though we'd been fighting for a week at least - and Uncle hadn't arrived yet. I had to ask two or three times for someone to go fetch Synon out of the baths, and didn't even consider that Corvus might not be the best person to go - I was busy trying to get an inventory of hurts. Before I could heal anyone, we heard Corvus scream. I was still wearing the helm, so I teleported straight to the tepidarium, where I saw only Synon, naked and hobbled, running toward a corner which looked empty to me. I was soon convinced otherwise, though, when a spectral gladius attacked me. (I learned later that, on being hit by many magic missiles, Corvus turned invisible and retreated to the frigidarium.) Robyn and the dogs burst in and started casting about for a target, with Decimus following. He cried: "Quintus!" and cast polymorph other; then, cried out: "He has spell-turning on!" Fortunately, Decimus managed not to be caught in the reflection of his own spell. Alfredus, raging fearsomely even for him, charged in and attempted to hack at empty air - I think he succeeded, too. At any rate, when I cast invisibility purge he looked much healthier than when we'd seen him a short time ago, but was bleeding from new wounds. I didn't have much time to observe him, however, for there was much confusion, especially with Synon hopping around yelling whatever he was yelling and trying to attack people with his bare hands.

Quintus turned Alfredus into a statue and the spectral gladius was still hacking at me, though by this time I was so sore and so angry that I could only think that I must save Alfredus. I pulled out my rod and ran to break the enchantment on Alfredus, and failed! At which point, beleaguered by Robyn, the dogs, Corvus, and some daggers which Decimus had enchanted to hack at him, Quintus pulled out a wand of lightning, and I don't remember anything but a great deal of pain, and a tunnel, and a light. I think I saw Pater, but I didn't get a chance to talk to him, if so.

They tell me I was dead about a quarter of an hour. Quintus should be dead a little longer than that. They tell me it was Robyn who laid him low at last, though everyone did their best to hurt him, and that Synon ran, as best he could, screaming into the countryside. They let him go. He won't be hard to locate under the circumstances.

I felt weak and light and strange, and I knew that much of my power had been drained from me; however, I was able to heal everyone, even myself to a certain extent, using up almost all my remaining power to do so. Decimus rifled through Quintus's things and found a "flesh to stone" scroll, Praise Orus! He also found a battered wooden holy symbol, but I could barely be troubled to look at it.

Despite the dreadful satisfaction we could not help taking in the sight of Quintus still and cold and bloody, we grew worried as time passed and Uncle still did not arrive. It was almost an hour after Robyn used the rod to raise me that he finally arrived, in some disarray and anxiety. He informed us that Quintus Valerius's forces had staged a daring daylight raid on the villa in Ayzidas, and though they were beaten back, when the dust had settled, they found that Gaius had never emerged from the room where he had gone to see a halfling who came with information for me. They had to break into the room, and it was empty.

At once I dug out that holy symbol; and sure enough, it was the same one that I gave to Gaius when I first hired him. All my satisfaction vanished, and I used the last charge on Decimus's helm to teleport with it straight to my crystal ball. But I couldn't find him. Cassandra was in the villa - she had arrived just too late to warn us that Q was back in town - and she couldn't find him. I changed hastily so that Mater wouldn't see the lightning burns - she'd had a bad enough day already, poor love, and I'm afraid she's angry at Uncle Lucius yet, though I keep trying to reason with her - and went downstairs to talk to the prisoners, but I met Robyn coming up, looking grim, having already accomplished the same errand. The prisoners are of no account - Freeport mercenaries - and they didn't know anything about Gaius, but they were supposed to return to a certain villa in order to go home.

There was no time to be lost, and we hurried, with the Sunshine Boys, toward the place whence we lost Quintus the first time. We went through the streets this time, and I'm afraid we didn't pay much mind to the laws about carrying weapons in the streets, but no one accosted us. Possibly the fact that Decimus had polymorphed into a pit fiend discouraged them. We found Publius and a street urchin waiting at their leisure. I walked in holding Decimus's wand of magic missiles and demanded to know where Gaius was. Publius tossed a note at me, said "Sorry, kid," and began to cast a spell.

The Sunshine Boys were on him faster than I could pick up the note. The urchin ran away, Robyn in pursuit (but it turned out he was only supposed to carry the note to us). Decimus, in pit fiend shape, found restricting Publius's movements to be easier than usual. The note said: "We have the page where you can't find him. If you don't release any and all prisoners, bodies, and equipment to us within 24 hours, something very bad will happen to him."

Publius made another attempt at a spell, and I barely stopped the Sunshine Boys from killing him in time, reminding them that I won't be able to speak with dead until tomorrow, but I could speak with live today. Despite his situation, Publius attempted to bargain, until Robyn grew impatient and force-fed him the last of the striped toadstools.

In addition to not being a very nice method, these striped toadstools have the drawback of leaving the victim rather scatterbrained; however, under their influence, Publius was able to tell us that Gaius was in Kadesh, the stronghold of the Avsharites, but not able to give us coherent directions. Gaius was guarded by Fratak and his location, for all Fratak had to do was cry that the Orusians were invading, and we would be facing angry hordes. Since we couldn't scry Gaius, we could not teleport straight in to find him - though Publius could. If Publius did not return soon, Fratak would deliver Gaius up to the local authority, telling him exactly who he was and how he could be used as a hostage.

Robyn then pulled us aside for a conference. It was his idea that two of us should alter our appearance to resemble that of the Kadeshites, turn invisible, allow Publius to teleport them in, seize Gaius, and escape to a location from which Uncle could scry them and spirit them away. I immediately agreed to go, but Robyn said he was thinking of himself and Alfredus - and since I barely had the strength to cast a cantrip, I saw the sense of this.

Back home we went, Publius in tow, attracting even more attention. I'm afraid we'll be the subject of gossip for weeks. Actually, at the moment, I find I don't care. Let them talk, as long as they say that the Valerii endangered my page and suffered for it. Uncle looked grave when we told him the plan, pointing out that it was reckless and dangerous in the extreme. I pointed out that Publius was already late and it would be much harder to rescue him from the Imam; also that he trusted us and we could not in conscience let him down; that he was only in this trouble because of service done for us and the Empire; and so on. I'm not sure how long I went on, but Uncle agreed.

In the event, it went without a hitch - they didn't even need the Tongues spell I cast off a scroll for them when I realized we were sending the only two of us who don't speak Leaguer into a place where nothing else would be spoken. Publius, who seemed dimly aware that this was his big chance to escape, cooperated, and teleported them straight into the room where Gaius lay in an enchanted coma - "Sequester" is the name of the spell, and it should have made him invisible as well as undetectable, but Quintus had taken steps against it. (Decimus is going around complaining to anyone who will listen that Quintus didn't have his spellbook with him when he came to free Synon.) Robyn picked him up, throwing his cloak over him, and directed Alfredus to knock at the door to attrack Fraytak; but when no answer came, Alfredus grew impatient and kicked open the door. They found themselves on a mezzanine with Fratak, attracted by the noise of the door being kicked in, approaching the stairs cautiously. Publius, credit where it's due, did nothing to tip him off, and they rushed down the stairs and past him before he could block their way, about the time we made our first scrying attempt. As soon as Uncle saw the empty space where they were, he turned invisible and teleported. We saw a pebble land at Fratak's feet, and then they were home. Uncle tells me the pebble was a delayed blast fireball, intended to distract Fratak so that it would be some time before he realized his hostage was missing.

Uncle used greater dispel on Gaius, in case of boobytraps, and he was back among us. I was so relieved to see him awake and whole I hugged him, which startled him, but he hugged me back. He had nothing much to tell us, having been unconscious most of the time.

This is not what I had in mind when I hired him. This job may be too dangerous. I wonder if I should send him to school somewhere - somewhere safe and beyond the reach of the Valarii. Is there such a place?

The vigiles have Quintus's corpse. The Valerii are doing what the Valerii do in such cases, and I'll have to give evidence and I don't want to, but I will. If there's any ill consequence for all this, it must fall on me. I'm very tired, and there's a smell of smoke in the air today. The abandoned villa burned down last night. No doubt the Valerii were destroying evidence.