14: The Missing Glaive

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## Summary

### Lockdown

Back at the gladiator arena, the party decides a long rest is in order after a long night of excitement. As they settle in to sleep, a radio transmission plays: it’s Mayor Bosco, reminding Ashta’s citizens that they’re under lockdown until the Glaive is found.

The next morning, the gang awakes to another transmission announcing the weather forecast, and they begin discussing their next moves. Cat recalls reading that the Glaive was passed down through royal bloodlines in what used to be a kingdom spanning the Malabar region, but he doesn’t know how its history—or the history of a long-dissolved kingdom—translated into the fractured region they’d traveled to today. Thinking they’ll find the mayor at the big event that evening, they decide to shelve their plans to find the Glaive for the moment and put their downtime towards shopping in the City Square instead.

### Shopping in the City Square

At the square, Luca picks up some new books, and the rest of the gang upgrades their armor with a little help from Mujie’s dogged bartering. Next, they take a stroll through the fish market, where they see a multitude of stalls presumably operated by the Fishhook Gang, an Ashta political faction with ties to villages on Malabar’s south coast. In an attempt to get more information on the state of the city’s politics and clues about the Glaive, Cat buys a fillet left over from the morning’s haul. The fishmonger happily accepts the party’s bribe (with a little push from the Suggestion spell), but doesn’t seem to know much. He can’t tell them who stole the Glaive, or whatever happened to the recently quiet Night Guild, but he does assure them that they can expect some funny business at the SCGL clash that night.

### Private Eyes

The gang returns to the arena after their shopping trip, but are soon followed by an unexpected visitor. Mayor Bosco, with his Night Watchmen in tow, has arrived ahead of schedule, and requests that Imta gather her gladiators for a lineup. A watchman picks out Lita, Nell, and the entirety of the party, and Bosco gives them a chance to bargain for their freedom. Though Luca responds with hostility, Mujie flips Mitro’s coin and is filled with confidence. Knowing that Bosco likely fears an uprising from rival factions, the party manages to convince Bosco to exchange their continued freedom for help finding the Glaive and their protection at the event that evening. For their trouble, he tells them that the Glaive derives its power from an enchanted moonstone—one which he still possesses—and that he expects the thief to return to steal it. The only lead Bosco has on the whereabouts of the Glaive is the two travelers from the east, but it seems to be a dead end. He’s certain that the knight was with him the entire time, and according to Bosco, his young companion would have been too weak to lift the Glaive.

The party follows Bosco and his Commander to the Compound near the City Square to investigate the scene of the crime. In his reception hall, they get a glimpse of a portrait of Bosco wielding the Glaive, and they’re certain that there’s some artistic liberty at play. Meanwhile, they learn that the Glaive was stolen from Bosco’s private office, where a guard was found poisoned. The party canvasses the room and finds some muddy boot prints, which they track down the hallway to a window. There, they find a scrap of gray fabric snagged on the splintered wooden frame.

Bosco mentions that the only other person unaccounted for the previous morning was an unidentified groundskeeper. The party pays her a visit, noting that she is also wearing gray, but that her robes are intact. She claims to have been on a break when the knight was meeting with Bosco and the Glaive was stolen, but she did see his traveling companion in the garden.

### Blockbuster Night

With more questions than answers, the party returns to the arena to prepare for the event. They find the girls in the powder room warming up with a three-tiered bench press to get hyped up for their clash with the K’nafay fighters. Eventually, Bosco’s security detail arrives, and they form a perimeter around the arena, with the Commander stationing himself at the entrance to a hallway leading to the back rooms. The party splits up—half seated with Bosco, half near the main entrance—and the event begins in earnest.

### Lights Out

The Ashta girls slug it out with the fighters from K’nafay as Bosco rattles off SCGL stats like a bookie, inadvertently endearing himself to the party in the process (to their horror). But with the fight reaching its crescendo, the lights are snuffed out with a loud bang. Civilians rush for the exits and chaos erupts, as smoke bombs go off around the arena and bodies fall from the rafters. When the party’s eyes adjust, they find that members of the Night Guild scattered around the arena and hiding up in the rafters have cast off their commoner’s clothes and now wear the all-black robes indicative of their loyalties. And towards the back, before they’ve even gotten a chance to react, the Commander lies on the ground, unconscious.

The Night Guild grunts take their chances at hitting Bosco from the rafters with poisonous throwing stars. As the mayor shrieks in terror, Mujie convinces him to pass off the stone, and disguises himself as Bosco to create a diversion. Meanwhile, the Night Guild is caught off-guard—they had neither recognized the party, nor expected them to back up the Mayor—and refocus their efforts near the entrance, where Bran, Luca, and Cat are tangling with a few grunts. Mujie hands the stone off to Pim, and Bosco hides under the seats.

### Smash and Grab

Up in the rafters, the Night Guild’s leader reveals himself, drawing Tira to climb up to engage with him in close quarters. But as the fight between the party and the Night Guild grunts comes to a close beneath, a thief drops from the rafters and snatches the stone from Pim before rushing for the back exit. Pim gives chase, and they cross blades briefly in the corridor, while the Night Guild Leader calls for his gang to cut their losses and scatter. Caught between two adversaries, the thief drops a flashbang, blinding Bran and distracting Pim, before dashing out to the alley.

As Pim pursues the thief, she finds Imta hanging on by a thread in the powder room, but she presses on for the stone. Visibly frustrated, the thief throws the stone at Pim to shake her off, and flees into a panicked crowd.

Back in the corridor, Cat comes to investigate the spent flashbang, and recognizes it as the work of his old cohort back in Lhoam—the Celestine Collective.

## Quotes

### *RUDE RADIO:*

> “This is your Mayor speaking, coming to you with a friendly reminder that the city is on lockdown until further notice. No one leaves the city walls, and no one enters. Sleep well, sweet citizens! Love, Bosco.”
>
>

*—Bosco*

### *WANTED: LOST ROCK:*

> “I’m rather expecting to be visited again. You see, the Glaive may be gone, but it’s missing its pair: the moonstone that fits into its socket. Without the enchanted stone, it’s just a pretty blade. Luckily, I always keep it hidden on my person.”
>
>

> “It’s a relic of the Malabar Region’s past as a Kingdom, thousands of years ago. When the stone is socketed, it has a mysterious power. Some even say it was blessed by a Goddess. Rest assured, it is a fearsome weapon that only the strongest leaders—like myself—are suited to wield.”
>
>

*—Bosco*

### *A MAN OF FEW WORDS:*

> “He was an emissary from the Meranhi Empire, or so he said. Seemed more like a brute than a diplomat. In any case, he was sent here to gauge my interest in opening trade routes. They must be getting desperate if they’re finally looking to open their borders after 300 years of isolation. He left me with some charming diplomatic gifts, though.”
>
>

*—Bosco, on the Meranhi emissary*

### *PICK ONE, YOU BASTARD:*

> “Without the Glaive, you’re nothing! We, the Night G—I mean, *Noctum*!!—will reclaim this city by force!”
>
>

*—Leader of the Night Guild, or Noctum, or whatever*