The City of Ravens

The City of Ravens by Richard Baker is a Forgotten Realms novel published by Wizards of the Coast in December 2000. It is the first book in The Cities series and focuses on Ravens Bluff in Vast.
=== Plot ===
Jack Ravenwild, a thief in Ravens Bluff with natural magical abilities, and his ally Anders Aricssen attempt to steal five rubies from the five Kuldath brothers. When they encounter the brothers and a guardian demon, they only escape with one. Jack is separated from Anders during the escape and approached by a woman named Elana, who offers him 500 gold to find the Sarkonagael, a magic book once owned by a mage named Gerard until he died. Jack consults the sage Ontrodea, where he encounters Zandria, a Red Wizard, investigating a mystery involving a dead dwarven brewer, Cedrizarun. Later, he reunites with Anders, who insists that he be given the ruby to fence and divide the profits. Shortly afterwards, Saerk and Morgath, mercenaries working for the Kuldaths, threaten Jack, but he slips away. 
Jack meets with Lady Illyth Fleetwood, who agrees to look into Gerard in exchange for Jack becoming her partner in the Game of Masks played among the nobility. Jack then becomes a member of the Wizards Guild, where he discovers that after Gerard’s death, a wizard named Durezil Nightcloak was sent to attend to his affairs, before Durezil himself was killed by trolls. He encounters Zandria again and decides to investigate her mystery as well, and is then accosted by Marcus and Ashwillow, Knights of the Hawk, who accuse him of associating with Myrkyssa Jelan, the notorious warlord who led an army against the city.
Jack begins the Game of Masks and learns from Ilyth that Iphegor the Black, another mage, bought most of Durezil’s books. Jack meets up with Tharzon Brewhammer, a dwarven acquaintance, for help breaking into Iphegor’s tower, and on the way discovers that Zandria seeks the Guilder’s Vault, where guildmasters of Sarbreen such as Cedrizarun stored their greatest creations. Jack successfully steals the Sarkonagael from Iphegor.
Jack hides the book and continues to attend the Game of Masks, where he overhears two nobles plotting an attack of some kind, although with their masks he only knows them as Lady Mantis and Lord Tiger. Anders then reunites with Jack and splits the profits from the stolen ruby. Jack recruits Anders and Tharzon to help him rob the Guilder's Vault. They did discover than an inscription left by Cedrizarun, copied by Zandria and again by Jack, contains runes around its border, meant to be transcribed onto paper and wrapped around a bottle of Maidenfire Gold (one of Cedrizarun’ finest vintages) to reveal a hidden message. In Zandria’s initial consultation with Ontrodea, Jack learned she had a bottle, so he strikes a deal with her to share the treasure, although plans to steal it all with Anders and Tharzon.
Jack delivers the Sarkonagael to Elana at a ship full of warriors from Wa. When she offers him membership in a scheme that will tear down Raven’s Bluff and rebuild it for the better, he accepts, but when she reveals herself as Myrkyssa Jelan he flees immediately.
Jack returns to the Game of Masks only to discover a man identical to him assaulting Ilyth. He wounds the other man, who flees. He then joins up with Anders and Tharzon and learns Zandria is attempting to rob the vault with her adventuring party. The trio follow Zandria’s group, which enter the vault. Zandria retrieves a magic item, the Orb of Khundrukar. A deep dragon interrupts both groups before Zandria’s group can retrieve the treasure or Jack’s group can steal it, and Jack teleports his companions away with only a small portion of the treasure.
Jack is hunted by Saerk, Morgath, Marcus, Ashwillow, and Ilphegor, and learns his double is causing chaos across the city, attacking his allies such as Anders and Tharzon. He attends another part of the Game of Masks with Ilyth, unmasking Lord Tiger as Toseiyn Dulkrauth of the Storm Dragon merchant house. Later, Zandria accosts Jack, demanding a ring and dagger he claimed from the vault, both of which she says are magic items. They negotiate a division of the treasure, including an offer from Lady Mayor Amber Lynn Thoden of ten thousand gold and a noble title for the Orb of Khundrukar. The duplicate of Jack sabotages the deal, however, wounding Zandria. Jack kills the duplicate and escapes with the ring and dagger.
At the next night of the Game of Masks, Ilyth solves the game, but masked figures with wands of lightning attack, killing many attendants. Jack and Ilyth realize Toseiyn Dulkrauth and Lady Mantis are behind the attack, but Lady Mantis tells Ashwillow and Marcus that Jack was responsible for the attack, leading to his arrest. Jack is accused of many crimes, some fabricated, some committed by the shadow simulacrum, and some real. One of his accusers is Lady Mantis, unmasked as Milyth Leorduin. Tordon Sureblade oversees the trial. He is willing to investigate Milyth but since Jack is guilty of most of the crimes he is accused of, Tordon sentences him to death.
Amber Lynn Thoden visits Jack in prison, unmasking herself as Myrkyssa Jelan, who also captured Ilyth. She explains that Jack’s powers are a manifestation of a corrupted mythal from a drow city, built in the days before Sarbreen, and that she seeks to use him to control the mythal and conquer the city. The group travels to Sarbreen, where Jack escapes with Ilyth, encountering Marcus, Ashwillow, Zandria, Anders, and Tharzon, having united to address their various pieces of unsettled business with Jack and grudges against Myrkyssa Jelan and the simulacrum she conjured of Jack. They confront Myrkyssa, who reveals that her actions were done to free herself from an antimagic curse laid on her bloodline. Jack forces her into the mythal, causing her to vanish, and Zandria teleports them away. While Jack is recovering, a woman in blue appears and tells him to oversee the power of the wild mythal.
===Appendix===
===Gallery===
ZANDRIA.png|Zandria, not a typical Red Wizard.
===Further Reading===
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===References===
Category:Novels
Category:Books
Category:Works by Richard Baker
Category:Published in 2000