The Green Guard

Day 11- Our group was put under arrest today. Not as bad as it sounds, let me explain. A guard approached us and told us we were under arrest, for no conceivable reason. I felt the need to protest this injustice, but the guard winked at us and gave a half smile. I noticed he wore a green ascot rather than the red of most guards. Obviously he wasn’t a true threat, so I let him go about “arresting” me, as did the others. We were taken to a room where an elderly Samsaran awaited our arrival, very formally dressed and polite. His name was Marius and he apologized for taking us away in such a manner, but he didn’t want anyone catching on to them.  He had heard of our deeds and assumed with such a reputation, we would be interested in a more serious job for the city’s sake. The prostitution ring that we uncovered and made a dent into the other day has been a widespread problem for some time, trafficking women from all over Caelum and centering itself in Fastigium. The top men of this operation were, unfortunately, also high standing men of the community. Their own captain of the guard was heavily involved, as were two prominent nobles. Which was why this matter was so delicate. Marius couldn’t just send his Green Guards in and arrest them, there are too many political flaws in that. There was much talk of how to deal with this problem, and we decided to convince them into a duel, all of them using poisoned blades and killing each other. Marius gave us each suits of Green Guard armor to get us close to the men. Upon completing the mission, he would also pull a few strings and give us one of the fallen noble’s mansions for our own use. For the time being, we helped an innocent girl caught up in the sex trade.  The Green Guard already had her ready to escape, all we had to do was drive the carriage through the east gate. Zedaythe traded clothes with the girl to better disguise her. No one would suspect a fellow guard of possibility being a suspicious character. We were stopped, almost as planned, and our aasimar companion convinced them she was a noble on her way to Anmera. There was quite a bit of dialogue and in the end we left without even being searched. The girl was incredibly thankful and insisted she could make her way to a safe house without escorts. We pressured her to take a small amount of gold, which she hesitated in accept. We reported back to the Green Guards and were paid a fair amount for our efforts. Now to focus on the leaders of the illegal ring….

But first we spent some time reveling with the Green Guard in their headquarters (which mysteriously had tiny crabs all over the grounds outside). I’ve found that I enjoy this delightful drink they call dwarven fire ale. Not quite as spicy as one would imagine, but it warms me up far more than any other drink. Late into the night, there came a loud pounding on the front door, completely unlike the coded door knock the Green Guard typically enter with. The doorman let it a tall sergeant of the typical Red Guard. The man shouted throughout the base “Where is Marius?!” After a moment, the old samsaren came from his quarters and gave the newcomer a cautious look. The stranger smiled at the sight of the Green Guard commander and untied his red ascot, presenting it in a balled up fist for everyone to see. “My name is Antony, and I want a green one!” He yelled, dropping his old sergeants ascot to the dusty floorboards. Marius looked surprised but smiled after a moment “Welcome aboard, good sir! Get this man a green ascot!” The other guards looked pensive, but willingly handed the newcomer his green ascot as well as his new membership in the Green Guard. There was much rejoicing and drinking the rest of the night. Personally….I don’t like him. And I find it awfully convenient how well he was received into the Green Guard. I’ll be sure to keep an eye on him.

Day 12- Our group made a trip into the market area. Akai made a bargain with a dwarf blacksmith on some hammer-like gauntlets. Arliim bought a seemingly unending list of items, not sure what he plans to do with all of that. I found a good pair of sunglasses that hide the golden glow coming from my eyes. Hopefully these will help me blend in as a common human in the future. Not long into our shopping trip, a raven swooped in our direction. Arliim managed to get it to land on his arm, then looked quizzically at it for a few seconds. The raven perched on his arm, completely still during this whole ordeal, then slowly took flight back in the direction it came from. Arliim told us that it gave him a message: “There is a traitor among the Green Guard.” We rushed back to the headquarters, hoping we were not too late. Nothing seemed awry, even the crabs surrounding the building seemed unperturbed (by the way, I tamed a few of them. 5 in total. Named the big one Henry, even placed my arcane mark upon him so I can always find him). We found Marius and Antony interrogating a guard down in the basement, supposedly this was the traitor. Zedaythe cleverly sparked a Zone of Truth over the room. WE questioned the trapped man, but he proved innocent. We turned our attention to Antony, the mysterious and untrustworthy newcomer. He admitted to being a spy for one of the lords we were after. Fucking knew it! He of course tried to escape. Akai and Sumi attempted to grapple him, but he evaded both of them and weaved through us, dropping caltrops as he sped towards the door. I whiffed with both sword and spell, as he made it out the room and sliced the throats of two guards outside. It seemed like everything we threw at him failed. I nailed him pretty hard with a lightning infused scimitar slash, but even that barely phased him. He ran out into the night and over a steep wall. Arliim quickly launched a grappling arrow and Zedaythe quickly climbed along its length. Even so, it was too late. That traitorous rogue got away, ready to spill our plan to his lord.