imp

Ander Vale

Ander plants himself on the dry stone of the threshold and does not take one step into the grease. Shield covers the doorway. Sword stays down. He looks past Gullian to the thing in the puddle. "The King's Road captives. Named. Alive. Walking out. That is what we came for." A beat. "Right. You can hear that without steel through it."

DM

Five broad heads surface ten feet from the doors, spears level, but none jumps. Captain Gullian draws himself up. “An audience with Her Murkiness requires a fee, and naturally all negotiations pass through—” “Quiet, Gullian.” Sootmurk lifts her black head from the pool. The captain stops mid-price. “You want names attached to breathing bodies. I want every magical object from the haunted chambers. Bring them to these north doors, and every King’s Road captive walks out alive. That is the price. You may keep your steel out of it.”