Session 2
1 July 1999, 6:30pm
Attended by: Jason, Chris, Merwin, Steve, Ken
StoryGuide: Ken
Logged by: Chris
Game
Persuaded by Aurelia's arguments that the apprentices had neither been explicitly commanded to remain in the room nor explicitly forbidden to leave, the group set off to explore the city of Constantinople, with the goal of taking in a chariot race at the Hippodrome. On the way out of the covenant grounds, however, Iseus was waylaid by Socrates of Bonisagus, intent on lecturing him; the others made a hasty exit so as to spare themselves his fate.
Making their way through the streets of the city, the group arrives at the plaza in front of the Hippodrome--which is a truly magnificent structure. As they make their way through the crowd pouring through the entrance gates, the apprentices come to the realization that they will be expected to pay for their admission. Grumblingly, Purros produces his money pouch and begins counting its contents, prepared to pay for those who cannot cover the expense themselves. The flash of gold in Purros' hands attracts the attention of a gang of cutpurses, and the group never actually makes it inside the Hippodrome.
Jostled repeatedly by the strangers around them, Purros quickly realizes that these are not the random bumps and shoves of other race patrons, but rather a coordinated assault on his person. He tucks his money pouch inside his tunic, but too late--a scuffle ensues. Claudius demonstrates that his staff, non-magical as it is, nevertheless has its uses, driving away would-be thieves with well-placed blows. Aurelia accosts one of the cutpurses, whose cloak begins to smoulder where her hand grips it. The thief produces a knife, intent on stabbing his captor, but the other apprentices spot the weapon and attempt to intervene on Aurelia's behalf. Purros casts a spell with lightning speed, and the thief's hand begins to shake so violently that he is forced to drop the knife. Claudius, acting a split second later, bonks the thief on the head, sending him crashing to the pavement. The remaining cutpurses flee.
A crowd begins to gather, with whispers of "magic!" flying back and forth (Purros' spellcasting did not go unnoted, it seems), and Purros urges that the group move away quickly before they get even further ensnared. Kurpat, however, refuses to leave the fallen thief, and sets about providing him what medical care he may. It is not long before guards from the city watch arrive, and--holding Purros in particular at spearpoint--take the entire group into custody. The thief is taken away to St. Stephens for medical care, and the apprentices are bustled off towards the "high tower," as Claudius calls it.
The guards conduct the detainees to a dungeon in a palace, where their possessions are confiscated and they are placed in a cell, to await questioning. The cell is bare, unadorned, with a single small window set high in the back wall, through which murky light penetrates. Claudius and Marcus debate the best means for inspecting this window more closely; Purros quickly tires of this discussion and sets about demonstrating the best means by casting a spell on himself and levitating to the window's height. The window, he learns, does not look directly on an outside courtyard, but rather merely opens onto a narrow light shaft, with the actual ground level yet an indeterminate distance above.
An officer of the guards appears shortly thereafter and briefly questions the group, who do not deny that they are magi. He goes away again, and shortly after that interview the group is conducted from the dungeon to another room, of significantly improved quality, where they are again instructed to wait--and advised to freshen their appearances as best they may.
Having changed hands many times (from city guard to guard officer to yet a higher-ranking officer of the military), the group is now approached by somebody who is clearly not of the military at all, and is just as clearly some sort of court functionary of no small importance. Following a brief exchange (during which Claudius is overheard to say, in Latin, "The knowledgeable man speaks Latin," to which the courtier responds, switching from the Greek he has been using to Latin himself, "the ignorant man knows no Greek") he conducts them from the waiting room, through the palace. The path the group follows is circuitous--not out of any intent at deception, but rather because the palace is truly enormous. At one point the apprentices are led across a walkway suspended in the air between two buildings; where the first building was sumptuous, their new surroundings are truly magnificent. The floor and walls are of marble, the windows glazed with genuine Venetian glass of exquisite clarity and quality. Passing through a solar in which all manner of plants are growing, the group is led into an audience chamber, where they are received by a young man girt in resplendent robes upon which the figure of a lion is emblazoned in what are clearly genuine precious gems. A sword hangs at his waist, but no other clue to his identity, physical or verbal, is offered, either by himself or by the courtier before the latter withdraws, leaving the apprentices alone with their unidentified interlocutor.
The man proceeds to grill the apprentices closely about their purpose in the city, their identities, their status within the Order, their relations with the Emperor, their plans for the future, and so forth (a typical probing question: "What if the Emperor orders you to crusade against the Saracens?"). He also reveals that the penalty for performing magic within the city walls is inhumation--being buried alive, a process almost certain to prove as deadly for magi as it is for mundanes. The apprentices are given a choice--they can either admit to having used magic, and have the matter dealt with sub rosa, or they can protest their innocence which will lead to a court trial in which they will almost certainly be found guilty anyway and be subjected to the aforementioned punishment.
Realizing that they have little real choice in the matter, the apprentices agree to the former, and give their parole to the stranger that they will present themselves at the palace gate in three days' time, when the manner of their penalty will be decided. The stranger places one condition upon their parole--that they tell no one, not even their parens, of this initial meeting or their pending appointment. Kurpat is reluctant to agree, saying that he will not lie about his actions and/or wherabouts this day; he and the stranger reach a compromise with Kurpat promising not to volunteer any information, unless directly and explicitly questioned by his parens. The stranger presents the group with a sealed document--for which Kurpat assumes sole responsibility--which they are to present to the guards at the gate when they return to fulfill their parole.
And so, with the distinct impression that they are now pawns in some byzantine game of intrigue, the apprentices are allowed to depart the palace. They return to the covenant, where they find Socrates still lecturing the hapless Iseus ("And so, young Iseus, we come to the second of the Five Pillars of Wisdom...").
Updated on 4 August 1999
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