[CHAPTER 1] [CHAPTER 2/3] [CHAPTER 6] [ZONE 1]

"I thought I recognized you."

SAFE PASSAGE

LOCKLEAR: I've just returned from a military assignment and it's imperative that I get south as soon and as inconspicuously as possible. Are there any places you think we should avoid?

ISAAC: At all costs, you'll want to avoid the road from Eggley to Tanneurs. There is a festival to be held in Eggley and it's likely your elven companion would be spotted right away.

LOCKLEAR: What makes you think we're off to Krondor?

ISAAC: Elves don't come much out of Elvandar and they are even less likely to travel in the company of a boy and seigneur when they do take to voyaging. Whatever you three are about, I assumed it must involve the good of the Kingdom. Krondor would be the only logical place for you to go.

LOCKLEAR: These roads seem littered with those anxious to anticipate our movements. Do you know of anyone in this area that seems to have unusual skills? Some one who seems like they know your thoughts?

ISAAC: No... For a fact I can't say that I have, but a certain pokiir player that I lost a great deal of money to in Eggley comes to mind. Name of Devon, I believe. It took me quite a while to make up the funds I lost during a single night playing against him. He very nearly took every sovereign I'd made in a month's time.

LOCKLEAR: Did you by any chance purchase a ruby from Keifer Alescook in Loriel? He told us he sold it to someone named Isaac and the description he gave us sounded like you.

ISAAC: Why? You want to buy it from me? It's not like it's the only ruby in the world you know...

LOCKLEAR: The ruby he sold you was stolen from a Tsurani magician who was passing through LaMut. The Garrison would like the stone back. We were hoping we could talk you into at least returning it to Keifer to get your money back.

ISAAC: I'm sorry to hear about your dilemma, but I had no idea the stone was stolen when I paid Keifer's price and I have my own little problem. I need the stone so I can pay off a sword crafter and get my blade repaired.

LOCKLEAR: Can't you pay him with gold?

ISAAC: He specifically barters in gems and the ruby will cover my costs plus a little more. I should have enough left over to eat for a month or more.

LOCKLEAR: What if we can repair your sword for you?

ISAAC: What, here? In the middle of the road?

LOCKLEAR: Since I don't have a workshop, I don't see that we can do it anywhere else.

ISAAC: Well...I suppose. My blade is fairly expensive and I'd hate to see it further damaged. It's conceivable you could do more harm than good, so unless you're really skilled at weaponcraft...well... Do you really think you're that good?

WEAPON REPAIR (if Keifer)

LOCKLEAR: So where is this miracle working weaponsmith you were talking about? It might be worthwhile to go and have our own weapons repaired.

ISAAC: There's a shop in Highcastle called The Battleworks. It's a long way to go, but their work is impressive.

LOCKLEAR: We met your pokiir playing friend in Eggley and he told us a bit about the match he played with you. He told us about the elven friends that came along with you, but as you pointed out before, elves rarely come out of Elvandar and would be very unlikely to be travelling from town to town playing pokiir. Talk, Isaac. Why are you working with the moredhel, Isaac? What are they doing in the Kingdom?

ISAAC: I don't seem to be the only one keeping company with them, seigneur...

LOCKLEAR: I'm not in a mood to be trifled with, Isaac. Talk!

ISAAC: Seeing as how they've seen fit to dismiss me, I can't see it will hurt matters. They're operating out of a barn near Yellow Mule. I found an old farmer there who wasn't particular about who rented his land and harbored loyalty to neither his lord nor to the Prince. A moredhel named Nago moved in there and has been using it as a base of operations to hire Quegian mercenaries.

LOCKLEAR: Makes sense. Mercenaries would be able to move in the Kingdom without being noticed. What are they planning?

ISAAC: I made it a policy not to know. Knowledge has a tendency to shorten your life, especially when you're working with lunatics. Think what you like, but this was purely a business transaction. They paid me and I made the pick-ups and drop-offs to the moredhel lockchests. That was all I did for them.

LOCKLEAR: You said this Nago fellow was using a barn as a base of operations. What could we expect if we run across him?

ISAAC: Trouble. He's a magician, well armed, and was carrying enough gold in sovereigns to hire several dozen Quegian Mercenaries for months. Rowe nearly fainted when Nago handed over a pouch with four hundred golden sovereigns.

LOCKLEAR: Rowe?

ISAAC: The old man who owns the barn. If Nago is half as ruthless as I suspect, he may have hired the old fellow to work for him, but I couldn't be certain.

LOCKLEAR: What were your last orders before Nago released you?

ISAAC: I released myself. I had the feeling I was coming to the end of my usefulness to the moredhel and I made my plans accordingly. When they asked me to pick up a ruby from Keifer Alescook and deliver it to a specific moredhel lockchest, I realized they were planning to take care of two problems at the same time. The moredhel courier would an assassin. They had planned to kill me and, at the same time, erase any evidence to whom the ruby had been delivered.

The following three dialogues may be invalid:

LOCKLEAR: Seems like I've heard of Hawk's Hollow before...

ISAAC: If you've heard anything about it lately, I imagine it was a warning not to spend the night there. It was nice little village until a prowler moved in that they've named Smokefingers. Isn't a lock in town that he hasn't found a way to get past.

LOCKLEAR: For whatever reason, someone has gone to a great deal of trouble to make certain we stay clear of the eastern side of the Orseinnes. We found traps on the road leading east.

ISAAC: You assume those traps were laid for you. Perhaps they were laid there to prevent someone in the east from slipping west. I can't see any real advantage in keeping some one out of Hawk's Hollow or Loriel, but I can see a very definite advantage to keeping someone out of LaMut. I think you would be better advised to move south and west, away from whoever is laying them out.

LOCKLEAR: If you've picked items up from the moredhel lockchests, then you must know how to open them. I want the passwords, Isaac...

ISAAC: It would be like nailing the lid shut on my own coffin. They're already looking to silence me. They've got assassins combing the mountains.

LOCKLEAR: Give us the passwords and we will try to clear a way south for you.

ISAAC: Why help me? Aren't you afraid I'll turn around and tell the moredhel where you are?

LOCKLEAR: You've already taken care of that problem yourself. They might invite you down for a friendly chat with the leader who will forgive all, give you a hefty slap on the back, then lop your head off. Kill the spies. It's always the first step in an invasion.

ISAAC: Invasion? Don't be absurd! The Northlands are in a state of civil war. They would be completely incapable of making an organized assault.

LOCKLEAR: Why the efforts to hire the Quegians? Why so many moredhel assassins placed inside the Kingdom? You're smarter than that, Isaac. Just give us the passwords and I see to it that none of this is ever mentioned to the Prince.

ISAAC: Very well. There were...five? No, six of them. I can't remember which goes to which but they were shadow, candle, stranger...no...die, spider, key and...what? Shadow...candle...stranger...spider...key... I'm sorry, but I can't remember the sixth one. I know one of the moredhel had problems remembering the same one and carved the name onto one of the headstones near LaMut.