Mission 11: The Rat that Caught the Canary

Prelude

After the assassination of General Ibal Nevzaryan, the influence of the White Veil Society in the Scavenger Lands began to wane, and the Veil War approached a stalemate. Roughly a year ago, a beggar in the Range Home villages revealed himself to be an agent of the White Veil Society while some made members were visiting The Training Grounds. Shortly after proclaiming his identity, he decomposed spontaneously into a storm of white feathers and a single strip of parchment with the word "Truce" scribed on it. This privately elicited a sigh of relief from the Elite Fiends and senior members of the Order - the Veil War was beginning to severely strain the group's resources. In an effort to rebuild them, the Order decided to lay low for awhile and re-establish its reputation for elegant, low-key jobs. This, in turn, would rebuild the Order's trust in the eyes of its many associates.

And so things went back to the way they were for awhile. As the next year passed, the made members of the organization grew used to working on their own again, running low-profile assassination and thievery jobs. This gave the Order some breathing room, and the damage from the Veil War began to heal. That's when things got more interesting.

Setting the stage

A Delzahn man went through the proper channels to initiate a contract with the Grass-Spiders. One of the idiosyncrasies of the Order was that it was often easier for an average mortal to contact the Fiends than it was made members of the organization. Gyoki met the man and was incredibly intrigued by his offer. The man told Gyoki he was a contact for the White Veil Society, but had learned something about their agenda, and was impassioned to stop it. When pressed for his identity, he revealed himself as the son of Chiaroscuro's Tri-Khan and the city's heir apparent. He would not reveal what details he had, but said he needed the Grass-Spiders' help to pull off a stunt he felt would deter the White Veil Society from its goals significantly.

The Job

Client: An insider from the White Veil Society
Target: The White Veil Society
Type: Espionage
Mission background: The Ironclad, a yearly gladiatorial tournament between major city-states in the South, approaches. Of particular interest are Paragon and Chiaroscuro, whose top gladiators are favorites for the competition. It is precisely these city states which the informant is interested in. According to the informant, the Perfect of Paragon and the Tri-Khan of Chiaroscuro are both in contact with senior members of the White Veil Society. He has also independently corroborated the information provided by the Imperial senator kidnapped during mission 9 - the White Veil Society is trying to locate a world-changing artifact. The Grass-Spiders, having searched Atlas's old records, have good reason to believe this artifact is the Eye of Autochon.

The man who hired the Order believes the Delzahn horde is in possession of the artifact, although they are unaware of its true power. He claims the White Veil Society has made plans to obtain the artifact through a trade agreement. The artifact will first be traded to the Perfect of Paragon, who is more deeply connected to the White Veil Society than the Tri-Khan. From there, it is anticipated that the WVS will have no trouble obtaining the artifact. The trade is anticipated to take place at this year's Ironclad.

The traitor from inside the WVS has hired us to intercept this trade - it is believed that this may shed light on the location of the artifact or yield possession of the artifact this itself. This will almost certainly force the WVS's hand more directly and will likely reveal significant motivating factors for their quest to obtain the artifact. Working with our insider, the Order has determined that its best shot is controlling both ends of the deal. The tentative plan follows:

0) Find out whether or not the trade is the actual artifact, or a map to its location.
1) Convince the Tri-Khan that the Perfect has been killed. Convince him that our impostor is his heir, and that the deal must be conducted rapidly (perhaps because the leaders of each nation are in danger from assassins). Try to force the deal and receive the artifact.
2) At the same time, convince the Perfect that another impostor is the Tri-Khan's heir, so that he accepts a fake artifact or map. Again, emphasize the danger of remaining at the tournament - national leaders are being killed off by assassins. We want the Perfect to be long out of town when he realizes the artifact is a fake.
3) Abscond!

Team: The Circle With No Name, Moon, Naru, the Crew of the Geronimo

Critical Notes

• The Perfect keeps the appearance and gender of his heir a secret. The Delzahn horde likely has no idea what the heir looks like.
• The Tri-Khan's heir is a male, but has had little exposure to Paragon's culture - this is by design. The Tri-Khan does not trust the Perfect, and tries to limit his son's involvement in Paragonian society. The heir is known to take both male and female lovers.
• We have both a dummy artifact and a dummy map prepared, depending on what is actually being traded. The map was forged by Leviticus and the fake artifact created by Iron Shatters Oak - they are both near-perfect forgeries.
• The Ironclad has grown corrupt in the Time of Tumult - a bribe to the officials is sufficient to get a combatant entered in the tournament who has no national affiliation. Victorious gladiators from each day of the tournament attend a banquet with national leaders each evening. This would be an excellent place to gather intelligence and set up meetings with the leaders of interest.
• Watch out for Sidereals from each Faction and agents of the First and Forsaken Lion - if the artifact truly is the Eye of Autochon, we're probably not the only ones looking for it, and we're certainly the least powerful.

Mission Status

Job: Complete
Dates: Descending Fire 19 - 22, R.Y. 777
Theft: None of the involved parties counted on Zealot's acquisition of the legendary Amulet of Shadow Walking, granting him the ability to teleport anywhere within his line of sight. Thanks to some clever espionage on behalf of Ash and Fay, the group got an opportunity to snatch the chest which was the target of the mission. Thanks to Zealot's newfound teleportation ability, they were able to capitalize on that opportunity. While Opal, Mesa, and an unknown third party kept the city enthralled with a spectacular duel in the Ironclad's first round, Ash, Fay, and Zealot intercepted the first stages of the trade. They managed to steal the chest during its move to a holding area which would precede its trade to the kingdom of Paragon. As usual, things didn't go as smoothly as the Circle would have hoped. The master socialites of the group were spotted as they sneaked up on the convoy transporting the chest. A fight broke out, during which two unexpected participants showed up - one a man seemingly from the Delzahn horde but wielding bizarre technology made of an unknown magical metal, the other was Orchid, a former Grass-Spider and assassin suspected to be in the employ of the White Veil Society. Despite the initial confusion, it became clear the Delzahn hordesman was no friend to the White Veil Society, and with his last minute assistance, the group apprehended the chest. By exploiting the inherent strengths of their martial art form and working in tandem, they also managed to incapacitate and capture the fearsome Orchid. At the end of the day, the Geronimo flew away with a comical number of assassins and priceless artifacts literally in tow.
Quote of the night: "I can stab a guy!" (Ash)
Exp. Awarded: Base - 6 EXP