Precipitous Flight
Seventeenth Day of the Fourth Month 294 AC
There are some reports you receive with joy, some with quiet appreciation, some with frustration, and others that merit a long suffering sigh. Then there are those for which the people involved should be commended despite awakening a dull ache behind your temples which no magic you know of can quite stymie.
Perestan. A name that is scattered over dozens of inquisition reports and other writings that do not even have a formal standing, because no one who is not warded against all forms of divination for a moment may read them. Still, for all the headaches this causes, Ceria and her companions performed their task admirably and should be congratulated for it.
Even beyond the discovery of the far-traveling archmaester, fey willing to work for something as commonplace as coin are not to be dismissed, especially as your conversation with the virulently acerbic Swift-Eye reveals how exactly he was able to function as an information dealer in
Oldtown of all places. The flickering sprite is far more adept than Ceria's initial estimation of him implied, based, you suspect, on her first meeting with the quickling years ago.
Swift Eye's Class Revealed: Quickling 4/Rogue 1/Trapsmith 1/Swiftblade 8
"Legends grow slow in the shadows, Dragon King, but they grow true. You know it better than most, do you not?" he asks, trying to needle you.
"Yes, I do know quite a lot about shadows and what can be done therein?" you reply, fixing him with eyes sharpened until you can follow his uncanny swiftness. To tell the truth, if Swift Eye were anything other than one of the fey who must keep the letter of their word unto pain of Unnaming, you would hesitate hiring anyone with his temperament and especially his deeds.
Fortunately, you have experts in writing contracts to bind for eternity on hand these days. Your expression does not outwardly shift when you introduce the quickling to Malzreth the Harbinger and two of his entourage of legal scholars, but you suspect the devil himself understands the sentiment.
"How much are you willing to pay for the services of these entities, Your Grace?" he asks punctiliously.
[] Write in
***
Alas, Swift Eye is able to shed scant light on the business of Archmaester Perestan. Firstly, he acquired a month and a day of the karek's services, either because he believed he would return in that time or because the charade would not serve him beyond that date. Secondly, the Maester arrived at the meeting in some disarray, having broken his own chain, hence the origin of the link that first alerted your agents to his presence. According to the Alp who 'got the best sniff of him', his despair tasted sweet.
"So we are not only hunting a man who cannot be divined, part and party to a mad conspiracy to muzzle all magic, but also one who feels his back is to the wall," Zherys interrupts your account. "I must confess the prospect of chasing down a lady of the fey through the depths of her realm suddenly seems more pleasant by comparison."
"There is a bit more to follow up on," you explain. "Swift Eye has heard Archmaester Perestan had contacts with the Azure fey, what is now the Azure Court. Apparently, he was seeking a comprehensive
solution for the darkness below the High Tower as far back as Lord Leyton's death. He attempted to broker a comprehensive exchange of knowledge, but the trade fell through, apparently due to the intransigence of the maesters."
"Just knowledge, or did the maesters want to go somewhere by the fey paths?" Maelor asks thoughtfully. "Maybe he decided to make a runner now that there are fewer eyes on the paths..."
"Which gets us no closer to knowing where the bastard went," Ser Richard rumbles. "Do we ask the blue fey or try to track him from where Criston and his fellows last tracked him."
"Or perhaps we should first reveal the false archmaester first," Amrelath offers darkly. "Chaos among our foes can only serve us well, and such a revelation would be nigh impossible to trace to us if done well."
What do you do next?
[] Speak to the Azure key about Perestan
[] Try to track the archmaester through the feywild
[] Reveal the karek in Maester's robes
[] Write in
OOC: I have a sheet for Swift Eye too for next month. I was expecting to run him as an enemy. Not yet edited.