Summary – Part 3

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Hell's Rebels. Summary of the intelligence reports. Part three of four.

♪ Fanfare “Ave Barzillai”

Intelligence report of House Thrune. Classified. Part Three. The Silver Ravens go on the offensive.

With gold from Vyre and half a dozen nobles behind them, the insurgents now turned their attention outward. Against the strongholds of House Thrune itself. A bold idea. For a gang out of a coffeehouse cellar.

What follows is an account of a campaign, a massacre, and the loss of one of our own.

The Menador Campaign

Their first target lay high in the mountains. Menador Keep, a watchtower over the pass out of Cheliax. Its commander was Lucian Thrune, cousin to His Grace, the Paracount.

The road there was long. They overcame a hill giant, stopped at the Oakrib Inn, and sabotaged a trade caravan’s wagon to delay it. Then they climbed to the pass and infiltrated the fortress, floating and invisible.

They butchered guards in their sleep, spared a captive djinni, and fought a pale erinyes. The alarm sounded. When Lucian Thrune intervened, only a magical shield of force saved the exhausted gang from the end it deserved. Saved by a spell. Not by their skill.

The Fall of Lucian Thrune

At last, Lucian Thrune faced them one final time. High in the saddle of his wyvern Zailosorn. Element Q was dragged into the depths and survived only thanks to a snowdrift.

And when the battle was lost, Lucian Thrune chose to plunge to his death to spare his house disgrace. A worthy son of House Thrune. His guards surrendered, and the slaves were freed.

Behind a secret door, high in the fortress, the insurgents found the dwarven Anvil of Unmaking, guarded by celestials. They persuaded the guardians and triggered its self-destruction. All of Menador Keep collapsed. The pass to Cheliax was lost to us.

The Ambush

On the return journey, an invitation reached them. To the Ruby Masquerade at the opera house, the social event of the winter, delivered by young Victocora’s messenger.

On the night before Element V’s birthday, our loyal Zella Zidlii struck. With Hellknights of the Order of the Rack and Skinsaw cultists, she fell upon their camp. A hard fight. In the end, our people lay dead, and Zella escaped with the words: We will meet again.

An interrogation of the prisoners revealed how well our intelligence service already knows their network. We know their names, their hideouts, their habits. During this time, Element C announced that their rebel goddess Milani had ascended to true godhood. The gang observed a moment of silence. A bad omen.

The Ravens’ Crypt

Before the ball, the Elements scouted the opera house. Through the pond in Aria Park, they found a hidden crypt. The tomb of the original Silver Ravens.

Inside, a song set in silver. A scroll of resurrection. And an empty sarcophagus. The sarcophagus of Jackdaw herself, who once founded the Ravens.

Take note: The insurgents now have the words to the Song of Silver. And their founder Jackdaw is not dead, merely missing. They will look for her. We know where she is. They do not.

The Ruby Massacre

The Ruby Masquerade. Element C danced and won the Dance of the Damned. And at midnight, Barzillai Thrune himself removed his mask.

What followed was the Ruby Massacre. Doppelgangers and devils fell upon the invited guests. Bearded devils, an erinyes, a bone devil, hell hounds. And the former Lord-Mayor Jilia Bainilus, now a vampire.

Element G slew the Paracount with his own hand. Except it was not the Paracount. It was a doppelganger, presumably a transformed devil. A decoy. His Excellency had, of course, foreseen the evening’s events. The real Barzillai Thrune lives. And laughs.

One hundred twenty-five dead. And yet, to our displeasure, the insurgents saved one hundred seventy-five. They freed the bard Shensen from stone, raised Jilia Bainilus from the dead, and won her over to their cause.

Retaliation

Now House Thrune struck back. The mercenary leader Tombus Regegious stormed the Lucky Bones with Queensmen and Skinsaw cultists disguised as aquatic elves. The cultists were led by Hei-Fen, once one of the leaders of the Gray Spiders.

It was a mistake. Element G dispatched Tombus in a swift surprise attack. The cultist Hei-Fen brought down Element L with a single thrust and escaped. Our allies fell by the dozen. They bleed out faster than we can replace them.

But the Ravens paid as well. The Solstine brothers fell. Of the aquatic elves, only Aava survived; of the performers from Villegre, only a handful. Their network bled that day.

The Coven

A beauty from Vyre, Roga, sought out Element L. She proved to be a spider demon and fell.

The trail led the Elements into the sewers, to a coven led by a certain Natsiel. They fought green hags and freed the long-missing Strea Vestori and the captive priest of Milani, Hetamon. Natsiel, as it turned out, was his own mother, who had robbed him of his powers.

And Element G slew the cultist Hei-Fen. A contract was found on her person. A contract proving that the Paracount had knowingly tolerated the murders committed by her Skinsaw cult. This document must never come to light. It has already persuaded Auxis Aulorian to remain with the Ravens.

And while we lost allies, the gang captured its first city districts. Three districts of Kintargo now answer to the Ravens instead of us.

Assessment

Let us take stock. Menador Keep fallen. Lucian Thrune dead. A doppelganger of His Grace slain. Three districts lost. And Hei-Fen’s contract with the Paracount in enemy hands. A document that could prove dangerous to us.

The threat level posed by the Silver Ravens remains high. And continues to rise.

May the Paracount forgive us our grief for his cousin. The files are to be updated. For the Queen. For House Thrune.