Rise of the Tyrants – Session 5

SCENE 1
When: Late at night. Third day of Thesmophorios
Where: Outside the Captain’s Rest tavern, Gela, Sicily

After spending the evening with Kalliope I made my way back to the Captain’s Rest. I felt kind of happy, which was a little strange. Such emotions had lain dormant for so long that I was slightly confused by their re-emergence. After all, nothing had changed. Alcmene was still dead.

With my thoughts well and truly elsewhere I could easily have missed the body in the alleyway but, just as I was entering the tavern, I noticed it.

For a moment my mind played tricks on me and I thought it was Alcmene. She’d died just like that; haemorrhaging, face down on the cobbles, just out of reach.

I fought back the visions of that day and cautiously went over to investigate.

As I drew nearer, I could see it was a man. He lay in a pool of his own blood. A trail of it led back into the alley. It seemed he’d dragged himself there from somewhere deeper in the shadows. Tentatively I lent forward and turned him over. To my dismay I discovered that it was Thanos.

“Somebody help” I shouted as loud as I could, “Send for a healer”

I desperately sought for any sign that the gladiator still lived. To my relief I found that he did.

Moments later figures disgorged from the tavern. I recognised Cyrus and Philomena among them.

“Rhadamanthus is that you?” Cyrus called, peering out into the darkness.

“Fetch a healer” I urged once again, “It’s Thanos, he’s badly hurt”

I did what I could for him, which wasn’t much. He had multiple stab wounds and the shaft of an arrow protruding from his abdomen. There was a lot of blood and he was in a bad way. He needed a healer and quickly.

Philomena sent Ophelia, one of the barmaids, to fetch a priestess from the Temple of Asclepia, while we carried Thanos inside and made him as comfortable as possible.

Ophelia must have run pretty quickly for, despite the Temple being all the way across town, she soon returned with a healer named Carena.

After a cursory examination, Carena sent everyone out of the room except for Philomena, who refused to go.

Then all we could do was wait.

“Does anyone know how this happened?” I asked.

“The last we knew he’d gone outside to chase off a drunk” shrugged Cyrus.

It was almost an hour later when Carena eventually emerged. She looked pale and drawn but reassured us that Thanos was stable and would recover from his wounds. By the will of the goddess Asclepia much of the damage had been healed.

She informed us that she would come back to check on Thanos again the following day. I thanked her, paid her fee of seventy silvers and she left.

SCENE 2
When: Morning. Fourth day of Thesmophorios
Where: The Captain’s Rest tavern, Gela, Sicily

Early the next morning Carena returned as she had promised. She re-examined Thanos’s injuries and, to our relief, informed us that he was doing well and should soon regain consciousness.

If for some reason he did not continue to improve we should contact her again but otherwise, with rest, he would heal of his own accord within the next week or so.

We thanked her and she departed.

Shortly afterwards Hesperos, one of Philomena’s friends and supporters amongst the members of the Guild of Inn and Tavern Keepers, arrived.

“This is terrible!” he exclaimed. “Philomena, I am mortified. Are you alright?”

“Yes Hesperos. I’m not the one who lies injured” a slightly haggard looking Philomena assured him. She’d had no sleep, having remained by Thanos’s bedside throughout the night.

“What villains could have stooped to such gratuitous behaviour? There is certainly nobody within the Inn and Tavern Keepers guild who wants the position of Guild Master badly enough to do this.”

“You believe this to be a warning then?” I asked him. “You think that someone is seeking to deter Philomena from standing as the new Guild Master?”

“What else could it be? Surely the timing isn’t merely a coincidence? Did they make any threats?”

“We don’t really know what happened” replied Cyrus. “Thanos has yet to regain consciousness”

“Perhaps it’s someone on the High Council” Hesperos speculated.

“Why do you say that?”

“Well, the Professional and Craft Guild positions on the High Council are rotational. At the end of next month the Inn and Tavern Keepers Guild Master will take their turn as the Professional Guild representative, occupying the seat currently held by the Carters Guild Master. As one of the Oligarchy, the council of fifteen who govern Gela, they get to vote on city policy. So it is an influential position to say the least. Others might well seek a representative who is, shall we say, more likely to vote in their favour.”

SCENE 3
When: Morning. Fourth day of Thesmophorios
Where: The Captain’s Rest tavern, Gela, Sicily

A short while later, after Hesperos had left, Cyrus showed me a broken arrow fletching made from white twine and a black goose feather. It was the arrow that had been removed from Thanos’s abdomen.

“I thought maybe you could find out who this belongs to” he suggested.

I took it and headed out into the city.

Somehow I didn’t think it was likely that Thanos’s assailants would have left such an obvious clue if it would lead us to them but it was worth looking into nonetheless.

SCENE 4
When: Morning. Fourth day of Thesmophorios
Where: Around Town, Gela, Sicily

I asked around, both about the assault itself and the fletching of the arrow.

There were many stories to be heard. Few if any sounded plausible. One man told me that Thanos had been attacked because he had refused to fight in the arena, but that turned out to be false.

The fletchers I spoke to informed me that here in Gela it was deemed unlucky to use black goose feathers for fletching. Nobody local would have made or used such an arrow.

SCENE 5
When: Noon. Fourth day of Thesmophorios
Where: The Captain’s Rest tavern, Gela, Sicily

When I eventually got back to the Captain’s Rest I was surprised to find Thanos already up and about. He was sitting in the bar with Cyrus, looking very much better than when I’d seen him last. Miraculously his wounds were nearly healed.

“Hey Thanos, good to see you’re alright. How are you feeling?”

“Much better” he smiled. “Runelord Stavarkhos arranged for the priestesses of Asclepia to hasten my healing still further so that I might continue to protect Philomena. She has already turned the other guardians he sent away, for she is reluctant to accept the temple’s charity and thus become indebted to them.”

I nodded, momentarily considering both the Cult of Agonius’s apparent interest in safeguarding Philomena and Thanos’s allegiance to them. Since he’d arrived in Gela the gladiator had dedicated increasing amounts of his time to ‘Temple duties’. His devotion to the Cult was evident. I made a mental note of it in case a conflict of interests was ever to arise.

“So, what happened in the alley?” I asked. “Who did this to you?”

In reply Thanos told me how he’d been lured into the alley by a drunkard who was causing a disturbance outside the Captain’s Rest. He’d gone to chase the miscreant off but having pursued him into the alley he’d been accosted by two or three armed Northlanders, who had waited in hiding and then jumped him from behind, stabbing him until he collapsed. It had all happened very quickly and, being both surprised and unarmed, he had stood little chance.

When he was down, the drunkard, who had obviously been merely play acting, had warned him to stay away from the Captain’s Rest and then, as a final reminder, as if he needed one, had shot him at close range with the arrow.

After they’d gone, Thanos had dragged himself towards the street but at some point had lost consciousness. He remembered nothing more until he woke up in bed and found Philomena watching over him.

It was a testament to the gladiator’s great resilience that he’d survived at all. A lesser mortal might well have died from such injuries.

Hearing that I’d paid for his healing Thanos insisted on giving me fifty silvers, which was pretty much all that he had. I told him not to worry about it but he would have none of it.

Afterwards I spoke to Cyrus and let him know what little I’d learned from my enquiries.

SCENE 6
When: Afternoon. Fourth day of Thesmophorios
Where: Simonedes’s Business Premises, Gela, Sicily

Later that afternoon, Cyrus came to tell me that Simonedes had sent word for the two of us to go and see him.

“Any idea what this is about?” I asked.

“I believe Simonedes has some information for us” Cyrus replied somewhat mysteriously.

We made our way over to Simonedes’s business premises in the Trade Ward and were met by his aide, Calantha. After escorting us up to her master’s office she was instructed to “allow nobody else upstairs”. Simonedes then led us to a private area on the roof of the building where we could talk without being overheard.

“I’ve been making some enquiries” Simonedes began. “My purpose was twofold, firstly to answer some questions that Cyrus posed regarding threats to Philomena should she stand as the next Inn and Tavern Keepers Guild Master, and secondly to delve more deeply into who was behind what happened at the lighthouse. In so doing I’ve arrived at certain suspicions, which I think you both should be aware of.”

Choosing his words carefully Simonedes informed us that he believed Lord Maloch had ordered the setting of the trap at the lighthouse and that he and his cohorts could well pose a threat to Philomena.

Maloch was the most powerful of the oligarchs and heavily influenced the city’s politics. The Head of the Watch, the Harbourmaster and the consortium of Arena Owners were very much his lackeys, and the other Residence Ward oligarchs, the Roman exile Cagnius Aquilus Memnus and Lady Hyacinth, were seemingly his allies.

So, including his own vote, he could normally count on six of the fifteen available. At any given time, in order to control the majority and dictate the council’s decisions, he need only convince two of the remaining nine oligarchs to vote in his favour.

And rumour had it that he had of late been working hard to win over the aged representative from the Temple of Zeus, taking advantage of the old man’s senility.

Three members of the oligarchy openly opposed his politics: Nerissa and Parmenio, the heads of the Cults of Asclepia and Agonius respectively and Geraznovar Stonefist the Dwarven Master Mason of the Castle, who was also the longest serving council member.

The remaining oligarchs, the representative from the Temple of Poseidon, the Craft Guild Master, who was currently the Guild Master of the Carpenters Guild, the Head of the Stevedores and the Guild Master of Simonedes’s own Guild, the Merchants, were very much looking out for their own interests. They had their own agendas and could vote either for or against any given proposal depending on what they felt most furthered their individual causes.

Given Philomena’s reputation as a lady of compassion and integrity, and her staunch representation of the interests of the common people, she would certainly be an opponent of Maloch’s. It is unlikely that he would be agreeable to her joining the Council.

“Something is definitely afoot” Simonedes concluded. “There is a bad smell to it but I cannot say exactly what skulduggery has been set in motion. It has been clear for some time that Maloch wishes to wrest control of the city away from the oligarchy and do away with any who would oppose him. Perhaps he is making his move. We must be vigilant if we are to prevent this.”

He paused and shook his head. “These are dangerous times my friends; I suggest you exercise a great deal of caution. I am sad to say that I act alone in this. The Merchants Guild are unlikely to support me, for Maloch’s rule would bring greater wealth to the rich and prosperity for us merchants. And yet it is the price of that prosperity concerns me. I for one could not stomach it but there are many others who will find it more palatable I think. Of my people only Calantha can be trusted. She is loyal to me”

Before leaving I asked Simonedes whether he knew anything about an increase in Northerners within the city. Thanos had said that he was attacked by “Northlanders” and I had discovered that the Tuskans were most likely staying at the Tuskan Lance, which was owned by a northern barbarian. Also, when Krateros had posed as the merchant Menelaus, I had a vague recollection of a northerner entering the Captain’s Rest and then leaving shortly afterwards. Surely this was not mere coincidence.

Simonedes said that he had no knowledge of any increase. There were often some northerners in the Dock Ward but in no great numbers.

SCENE 7
When: Afternoon. Fourth day of Thesmophorios
Where: Returning to the Captain’s Rest tavern, Gela, Sicily

When the meeting with Simonedes was concluded we set off back to the Captain’s Rest.

“What say you we go check out the Tuskan Lance and ask this Orath a few questions?” Cyrus suggested.

“I’m not sure that asking questions would be a wise move” I observed. “These northerners are tight-lipped and would cleave your skull as soon as look at you. It is said that Orath managed to get himself adopted by Tuskans which doesn’t suggest that he’s an easy-going fellow. That said however, if we keep our mouths closed and our eyes and ears open it might be worth paying the Tuskan Lance a visit. We could see or hear something useful”

“Very well” Cyrus agreed, “You sound like you know what you’re talking about. We shall do whatever you think best”

“Get a hood” I told him “and make sure you’re wearing something that looks like you’ve slept rough in it for about a week. I’ve got one or two things to attend to first. I’ll meet you this evening outside the Captain’s Rest”

SCENE 8
When: Afternoon. Fourth day of Thesmophorios
Where: Around town, Gela, Sicily

So saying, I left Cyrus and went in search of two or three individuals who I could trust to keep an eye open and report anything they saw. I settled on Hipponicus and Menandros, who were known to me, and Pherenike, who was a friend of Kalliope’s that I’d met briefly the night before.

I paid them ten silvers each to spend some time in the Dock Ward over the next few days and keep their eyes and ears open. I didn’t want them drawing attention to themselves by asking questions but I wanted to know if anything was going on there, particularly if there were more Northlanders around than usual.