03/12/2019 - Time to plan

## A Stubborn retreat

Inside the Upper City, Nika  and the orphans, who had by this point linked up with Christo , listened in awe as the two waves smashed into the Upper City Walls, all grateful they had managed to find refuge. After 15 minutes or so had passed, the young Captain who had permitted them entry initially approached them. He explained that the tidal wave had gone, but that the King, furious that so many Lower City folk had infiltrated the Upper City, had sent forth his garrison to forcibly remove everyone from the Upper City who shouldn’t be there. The Captain then requested that they leave the Upper City now, before the rest of the garrison arrived and he got in trouble for letting them in. Nika  and Christo  were unmoved by this, and stubbornly refused to move. However, after a few minutes Nika , using her giant-owl fore recon, realised that the young Captain was telling the truth, and a large band of guards were moving their way. Nika  then cast a darkness spell over the group and moved everyone (including the unconscious Gawdnus and Eiranna) towards the now open gate. As the group milled just on the Lower City side of the gate, the Captain of the larger band of guards approached the gate. Shouting furiously at the young captain, he ordered his men to shut the gate. Nika  and Christo  tried to stop this, but there was nowhere for them to go, and they eventually found themselves standing back in the Lower City, with destruction all around them. But hey, at least the children were still armed…

## A willing retreat

Like Nika  and Christo , Rowan also heard the two mighty wave’s crash into the Upper City walls but, un-phased, continued casting his reincarnation spell on Emilia. After another 15 minutes Rowan gasped as he felt the surge of transmutation energy leave him. He watched as young Emilia seemed to shift and mould in front of him, returning to life, but in the form of a young Halfling. Emilia immediately went into a panic, but Rowan, being unable to calm her down, decided just to walk away and leave the people dropped off by the Owl and Griffin to care for her. As he walked off, the kind Captain who had granted him permission to stay in the Upper City and save the girl beckoned him over.  The Captain first enquired after the girl, clearly relieved to hear that she lived. He then went on to tell Rowan that the King had ordered his guard to forcibly remove all Lower City folk from the Upper City. He said that he would do all he could to slow them down so that Rowan and the others could make their way out safely. Rowan thanked him, and then proceeded to guide everyone back out into the Lower City. As Rowan went, the Captain called out to him, apologised for what had happened, and said that he didn’t think he would remain a member of the City guard for much longer…

## A nervous retreat

Back at the main entrance into the City, Khathraa and Unit now found themselves trapped within a large mass of people, surrounded on all sides by City Guards who were penning them into a small area next to the open but force-wall blocked gate. Khathraa and Unit watched as the now furious Commander walked back up to the top of the wall and carefully surveyed the mass of people below, clearly looking for someone, before calling some guards over to him and whispering something to them. The Commander then shouted to the group of Lower City folk that the King had ordered them to leave the City immediately. He told them that he would soon remove the force-wall, at which point everyone was to move out in an orderly fashion. He then raised his hands and collapsed the fore wall. At first, no body moved, but a few prods from the guards soon got people moving forward. As they shuffled forward, Khathraa and Unit realised that the Commander was still scanning the crowd, presumably looking for the trouble makers that had broken the gate and then attacked him. They also noticed that several guards lined the exit, looking closely at people as they left. Realising he was in danger of being found, Khathraa covered his face with his cloak and attempted to hide as best he could within the crowd of people. He nervously approached the guards, just waiting for one of them to call him out, but, to his intense relief none seemed to notice him, and he and Unit made it safely back out into the Lower City. Corus , who for all of this had been hovering a safe distance away, flew over to join them.

## Recovery

Now all back in the Lower City, the group were for the first time able to properly witness the scale of the destruction that had been wrought on the City. At least one in every five buildings was completely destroyed. A thick layer of debris-filled mud covered every surface. Bodies, some drowned, some bludgeoned, lay in almost every nook and puddle. Survivors were now pouring out of their various places of refuge, screaming, crying, and searching for lost loved ones. Eventually, with the help of Nika’s  giant owl and Corus’s  Griffin, the group managed to reconvene.

Over the next three days, the group set up temporary camp in the Temple of Tyr , which, like the other temples in the Lower City, had opened its gates to refugees. The group spent their time resting, recuperating, healing others, looking after Eiranna and the orphans, and rebuilding where they could. However, by day three it had become apparent that the situation across the Lower City was desperate.  Having received no help or supplies from the largely unaffected wealthy Upper City, the Lower City was rapidly running out of food and clean water. People were beginning to starve, water-Bourne diseases were running rampant, and the people were on the verge of riot.

## Deception

On the evening of the third day since the tsunami struck, Rowan received a letter addressed to the entire group. The letter was signed by the High Priest of Tyr  (Father Cleftjaw ) and requested the group’s presence at a meeting of influential people, including the ships and merchants guild, with the aim of finding a solution to the Lower City’s problems. The group agreed to go, though Rowan, offended that Father Cleftjaw didn’t deliver the letter in person, ensured the group were 30 minutes late as a sign of his displeasure. However, on the group’s arrival, it quickly became apparent that Father Cleftjaw hadn’t sent the letter. Indeed, Father Cleftjaw had been told that they had requested his presence at the meeting! Confused, the group investigated the letters and realised their signatures had been forged. They had all been deceived. Khathraa then realised that the only people to know their signatures and be capable of such forgery were the Venusto’s . Even as he came to this conclusion, the more perceptive among the group realised that two unwelcomely familiar figures were stood at the door: Vanessa  and Vasilis  Venusto.

## The Plan

After some very angry mutterings had subsides (particularly from Father Cleftjaw who has a long history of hating the Venusto’s), Vasilis  explained the reasoning for his and his sisters deception. He outlined that they believed the situation in the Lower City was bad enough that old hatreds had to be put aside, and new alliances formed. He and his sister had a plan to take down King Bharabesi and his Commander (Lord Durandail ), thus ensuring the Lower City got the supplies it needed, and that a new age of fairer power-sharing could began across Merchendale . Unimpressed by this monologue, Unit left to go back to the orphans, but the rest of the attendees begrudgingly agreed to keep listening.

Vasilis  then outlined his full plan, which involved a small group sneaking into King Bharabesi’s Fortress via the old, partially abandoned Venusto  tunnels that run under the Upper and Lower Cities. Once into the fortress, the group would find the King, subdue him, and force him to stand his troops down and open the gates. Normally, such a plan would be suicide as hundreds of the King’s guards would usually be garrisoned within the Fortress. However, thanks to the disaster, most of the Kings guards were deployed to the walls, making such a sneaky plan feasible, if challenging. Once the gates were opened, Father Cleftjaw and his priestly warriors would enter the City, peacefully remove the weapons from the stood-down guards, and then proceed to the Fortress to arrest the King and Lord Durandail . Rule of the City would then transfer to a new council, including representatives from all portions of the City, whilst the king and Lord Durandail would face justice for their crimes. On average the group agreed to this plan, though the group and Father Cleftjaw added the stipulation that if the Venustos  were to be part of this new council, their illegal activity must stop.

With the plan more or less sorted, it was agreed that the group, plus Captain Theodore of the ships guild, and one priest of Tyr , would go into the tunnels and subdue the King, whilst Father Cleftjaw  and Vasilis  prepped their forces to enter the City and ensure a peaceful transfer of power once this had happened. The only slight problem was that as Rowan was well aware, the tunnels they were to travel through had various undead entities within them. Getting into the Fortress may not be as straightforward as Vasilis  implied…