Godkiller Chapter Summary - 17 - Fight Dirty

• Chapter begins on the mid-to-late-afternoon on the 18th of Spring, Annum 4466
• Cyrus couldn’t resist the allure of sneaking out, and had managed to get himself seated between Kalimae Sky and Gideon Gain.
• Gain toyed with Cyrus for a bit, but eventually hinted that he knew who he was. Apparently Kalimae’s cat had been keeping watch on The Street Dogs for the entire day.
• The exact purpose of her surveillance you are not sure of, but Gideon said that they were merely “protecting their investments”.
• Though Gideon wasn’t offended or concerned by Cyrus’ antics. If anything, he seemed amused.
• Their discussion becoming more open with Cyrus’ identity known between them, they discussed the tournament and the hidden connection between Master Colin Coinge and Rozwald.
• Apparently, Coinge had created an upset in the field of artificery. Something that would “resolve” the issues most of society had with warforged. Gideon was vague, but hinted at creating a sort of “need” for immortal machines. A method of control.
• Cyrus pressed for more but was interrupted by the next fight beginning. A bout in which Coinge’s Lot swept the floor with their foe. The crux of their strategy seemed to be protecting their star mage, Kael Starstrider, and allowing him to demolish opponents with a giant, magical hand formed of sand and stone.
• At the end of the fight, two of Kael’s opponents were carried out on medical cots. Well wishes were shared by Conan Cacergy, the arena’s announcer, and the twist for the next fight was shared. Hidden treasures and a perilous twist to the beginning of the match.
• Soon after the announcement, chaos broke out amongst the stands. Apparently there was a second terrorist attack during the previous match, and a major bridge had been destroyed. In response, Master Colin Coinge was having all suspects of his investigation arrested.
• Back in the lounge where the rest of the street dogs were naive to the greater situation at hand, a… clever distraction was set. A close bathroom door mixed with magically produced sounds of defecation. This proved a suitable stand in for Cyrus as guards came to arrest you, but opted to wait for Cyrus to finish his “business”. A delaying tactic at best, but luckily it was all seen by Lady Skye’s cat.
• Cyrus, in a bind, found himself being lectured by the mysterious noblewoman. Fortunately, she needed this fight to continue. An enigmatic claim similar to her admission of having something to do with the mayhem at The Beast’s Ball a few nights prior. As curious as it was, Cyrus was in no place to dig deeper. He had to get back to his lounge, and soon.
• Begging a favor of Lady Skye, Cyrus found himself teleported into the closed bathroom of the lounge. This wasn’t done for free. Lady Skye was keen on him “owing her one”.
• The tournament was suspended and the suspects were then taken to the dungeon. But only the suspects. Mallory Boseman was not guilty of anything more than getting caught in the crossfire.
• Down in the prisons, belongings were revoked and Dimeritium bands were placed on Cyrus and Rozwald. As they were being led to their jail, a stone basement carved into the very edge of The Grand Nothing’s cliffs, Sherman sensed something. The very same feeling he felt in the basement of Septurn Manor during The Beast’s Ball.
• The majority of The Bladehammer Guild’s dungeon were occupied by The Alshor. A self defined peaceful community of warforged. All of which Sherman could somehow feel. Each was like a ribbon in the wind, save for one who was more akin to a tangled knot.
• However, those weren’t the only neighbors down below.
  • Lord Grant Septurn was there. Pleased to see his enemies brought down to his level, the young lord was thrilled for a chance at being a great displeasure. Apparently he was working out a plea deal. A contract in which he was sharing information from his family’s extensive, secret spy network. Supposedly the biggest in the city.
  • Master Willem Bellard himself was locked up as well. The seemingly antagonistic artificer was soon found to be a fairly reasonable fellow. A fellow who was not in fact anti-warforged, merely anti-everyone. His past run in with Sherman wasn’t rude because Sherman was a Warforged, it was because he was dressed like a sheep! The old artificer was raised on a wool farm and apparently hated the creatures. He lacked a Dimeritium band of his own because he suffered from a Curiosity. Heavy Metal poisoning, Dimeritium poisoning to be exact. This prevented him from using most forms of magic, and required a great deal of regular treatment. This regular treatment was actually the very alibi which removed him from being the prime suspect in Master Colin Coinge’s investigation.
    • He also spoke of the acid which had brought him under suspicion. Apparently it would be an absurd thing to create in the volume that the Warforged Rebels seemed to possess. Necessitating a suspicious amount of salt, water, and simple acid.
  • Sharing the same cell was a barely conscious drunkard. Albus Borg, the guard who had been accompanying Lord Curtis Renaull on his train ride to Tenzentak when our heroes first encountered him. Apparently this individual had been let go, and used his payment to waste away in the taverns and brothels of the city. A relatively useless person, but he did mention the investigators asked a great deal of questions about the party. Also… he was pretty sure there was a man with a Saen accent present during his interrogation. Presumably Tardich of The Three Fools who were suspiciously absent from the dungeon.
  • Two of the Warforged were also willing to converse. Azmodan, a wizened, paternal automaton, and his younger companion Coop. Coop seemed a little off, and was the source of the strange “tangled” impression Sherman had noticed. He also had a tendency to call people “shit-birds” similar to how X12 called people “dog-fuckers”. Neither of them were very knowledgeable about the greater situation it seemed. They had been in the dungeon for the last 7 days. Though Azmodan did mention other communities like The Alshor in Zessgorn and Ka’thoor. As well as two that were a little similar, but more controlled (due to the high concentration of Artificers) in Rails and Deepspell.
• Outside of the dungeon, Mal was caught up in the whirl of people that were responding to the attack.
• In the chaos, he made his way over to “The Hall” and sought Master Coinge. The only logical step he could come up with at the moment.
• He found them in a grand conference room, but was forced to wait outside in a seating area with lots of important looking individuals. Though he could hear through the grand door.
• The argument had two sides:
  • Those in favor of Guild Mind Master Coinge’s actions.
  • And those who thought he was a self-serving narcissist capitalizing on a disaster.
• The disaster itself was notably destructive, though few had perished. Many were injured, and there had been a shockwave that shattered a great deal of windows. At the center of blast, the middle section of a rift bridge was completely vaporized. Somehow only four people were killed. Likely because the attackers made themselves intentionally known prior to setting off the 1-5 Potentium explosive.
• Fortunately, the group of high ranking guild members managed to quickly decide upon a coordinated response to the attack. They then moved on the their secondary topic: the suspended Tournament of the Brave. A long-winded, and heated discussion.
• Eventually, Mal was called upon and introduced as the individual hired to accompany the other, suspect Street Dogs. Inside the room he saw the two sides of the discussion:
  • Master Colin Coinge’s side consisting exclusively of Kerketh mages. Arguing that The Street Dogs were too close to the crime to let out in a time as dire as this.
  • On The Street Dogs side, consisting of The Corsair Twins, Guild Mind Persephone Drone, and of course Old Abby, it was argued that Coinge had no just cause for arresting them. They claimed he had done it in an attempt to get the only competition his lot would face disqualified. The tournament was not only an honored tradition, but a legitimate means for organizing their guild. Impulsive alterations to it was wrong, and set a bad precedent.
  • In the center of it all was the tired, Guild Master Helg Corsair. Likely buzzed from the day’s festivities, Corsair did his best to stay level headed.
• Corsair asked Mal about his role in all of this. It became quickly evident that Coinge had not gone through the proper channels to hire him. The act was odd to say the least. it could have endangered Mal, or possibly had some more secretive motive behind it.
• When Mal produced the 1-5 Potentium detector he had been given, a device that supposedly worked through altered, and amplified magnification, it sparked confusion on some of the group’s faces.
• Mal was then told to take a seat as a flock of lawyers, the individuals he had shared the waiting room with, entered the chamber. There were 11 in total. Surprisingly three had been sent to defend The Street Dogs. A fat, sloppy human man, a Tall thin elf man, and a grim faced human woman. No one knew who sent them, and no one asked.
• After a long bout of spewed legal jargon, one of Kerketh’s lawyers produced three documents. Two of which were the Guild Tickets of Cyrus and Sherman. Both of which were apparently counterfeit. Fortunately, Corsair was not perturbed by this. According to him a lot of people join the guild through fake tickets. Why would they turn away a huge portion of prospective heroes?
• The other document was one directly relating to Mal. According to the lawyer, Mallory Boseman was a convert of another organization. The University. Though he was not a student, or something of similar station. Mallory Boseman was a solider of the West’s Military Underworld. Operating under a figure known as Dairo The Hunter.
  • While the document marked him a convert, the lawyers claimed that a solider of his kind was not one who respected borders, or other masters.
• Mal, blindsided, tried to defend himself. Fortunately Old Abby was there to vouch for him. The protective professor refuted the claim and stomped out of the room with Mal.
• In the hallway, Old Abby took the “detector” and broke it open. It was suspicious to him as potentium wasn’t magnetic. He discovered that it wasn’t a detector at all, but a tracker. Colin Coinge had been following our heroes’ every move.
• This, paired with the rest of the poor optics around Guild Mind Master Colin Coinge, was enough for Corsair. He removed Mal from Coinge’s service. Removed Coinge from the investigation, and set The Street Dogs free. For now at least. They were still discussing things, but they’d fight their final round.
• While Colin Coinge seemed to have made a bad call, he was still a clever man. He may have gotten away with it if not for Mallory Boseman’s honest heart. The arcanist had lost the chance at the second half of his promised payment from Master Coinge, but he had gained something of much greater worth. Friends.
• Back in their lounge, our heroes caught each other up to date. They were suspicious of many things by now, but had more pressing matters. The First Ring.
• Our heroes entered the arena for a final time, much later than was originally scheduled. Waiting for them was an audience burning with passion, a sky filled with stars, and one cage that didn’t open.
• Chapter ends two hours after sunset on the 18th of Spring, Annum 4466