Downtown Druid

Jacopo stood on one side of a small hill in Uptown, holding the saber that had been provided to him for the duel. He tested the edge against the flat of his thumb, and found it to be quite dull. Someone trying to tip the duel in the consort's favor? It didn't matter. Just another of a long line of annoyances. All of the underhanded nonsense in Uptown was exhausting.

Vampa was in the center of the hill negotiating with the consort's second, another young man who seemed to want to throw his life away as much as his friend did based on how he was yelling in Vampa's face. Jacopo had wanted to kill the man, but Vampa had insisted that negotiating was the proper thing to do before blood was drawn. He didn't particularly care if Jacopo did kill the man, but he wanted to make sure it wouldn't hurt his standing. The fact that the killing wouldn't hurt his standing as much as ignoring the rules and traditions of a duel was just another thing to add to the long list of absurdities among the Two-Legs.

Eventually Vampa and the other man broke away. Vampa shrugged lazily as he reached him. "Just make it quick. The fool is determined."

"I'm assuming his lady explained to him that we didn't sleep together?"

"She did, but you were going to be the latest in a long line." Vampa shook his head. "Peacocks always think the lady picks them out of love and their own feathers will never lose their luster."

"Peacock?"

"Big bright bird."

"Tasty?"

"Depends on how they're cooked."

The witness went to the center of the hill, he looked at both sides, and at the crowd that had gathered. "The seconds have not been able to come to an agreement that would satisfy all parties. The duel will proceed."

He stepped back and Jacopo and the consort strode toward the center. The consort was a large man, young, and seemed very comfortable with the blade he was holding. He sneered at Jacopo as he approached, but Jacopo's expression didn't change. It wasn't that he was keeping his expression neutral, he just didn't particularly care about what his face was doing at any given moment. No real point without whiskers.

The witness counted down from ten, and before he'd quite finished saying one, the consort lunged at Jacopo.

Jacopo dropped his dull saber, stepped into the slash, grabbed the arm holding the saber, and flipped the man onto his back.

The consort's sword rolled down the hill a few feet from him, and he started to scramble toward it.

Jacopo took one step and jumped high in the air. He extended out his elbow and brought it down, along with all of his bodyweight, on the back of the man's neck. There was a loud crunching sound, and he went still.

Jacopo stood up, and started walking back toward Vampa.

"The.. the duel was meant to be by saber," said the Witness.

Jacopo looked at him blankly, then went to pick up the dead consort's much sharper blade. He rolled him over with a kick, and drove the blade into his heart, then started back toward Vampa a second time.

"Good fight," said Vampa simply.

"Better than the party that led to it."

Vampa looked at the sun, gauging the time. "We should be able to make the committee meeting without trouble." He pulled a kerchief from his pocket.

"You've got some blood on your right hand."

…

The civic center buildings in Rendhold were some of the only ones that were uniform and planned. The whole district had been rebuilt after a devastating fire several centuries prior, and the council chambers had been a particular focus of the construction. It was a large circular room with the council seated in the center, whatever committee was needed to speak with the council seated on the outside, and secondary committees outside of that. Surrounding all of that were seats in which other magisters could sit, and any noble that wished to raise an issue. Every seat and section had a spell that would allow a person's voice to carry crisply throughout the entire area, and it was managed by an ancient mage sitting in the back observing everything. The room itself was surprisingly spartan for being in Uptown, but all of the tables and chairs were elfwood of the finest make, and if one looked closely you could see beautiful carvings everywhere, showing the gods, scenes from the city's history, or even important figures of its past. There were a half dozen of the council chamber meetings, and all were regularly used, though the council itself could be in any one of them, or none of them. Oftentimes reports and transcripts would be sent to them after the fact.

Committee meetings were typically dry affairs. Those nobles who had been elevated to magisters were placed on committees ranging from beautification, to sewage, to war. The more important the committee you were on, the more important you were. Still, most nobility never attempted to become magisters, but they were still able to attend any committee meetings they desired, and make comments in them. Most didn't bother exercising this privilege, but with the enemy at the gates and everyone's lives in danger, they all suddenly became very interested.

Jacopo and Vampa arrived in the midst of a heated debate, and took their seats next to Dantes's pet magister Desha. She had been diligently taking notes, and continued to do so even as they sat down.

"Surrender is absolutely out of the question! You've seen what Frasheid does to its own people? You think they'll treat us any better?"

"Their terms were fair. They want thirty percent of the population as slaves. We'll simply give them the refuse that has holed up in our walls like rats! They'd be doing us a favor!"

Jacopo's fingers twitched for a moment, and he could feel Dantes's ire rising a bit as well.

"Not much progress," noted Vampa to no one in particular.

Desha shook her head. "There was some agreement on additional attempts to reach those within the academy and attempt to break their seal. They also freed up more funds to pay the mercs and adventurer's guild for additional muscle. I'm of the opinion that we could've gotten them for cheaper, but some think they'd accept money from the outside for betrayal. As if the head of the adventurer's guild isn't on the council."

"Have you made the suggestion yet?" asked Jacopo, nibbling on his nail.

"I'm not so eager to commit political suicide yet. You can do it, and I'll support you if it has any agreement. If you're alone, then I don't care what Dantes has done for me, I won't give up what I've gained so far."

Jacopo leaned close to her. "If you want to die, that's fine."

Before she could respond, Jacopo stood.

"I have a suggestion!" he shouted, his voice carrying easily over the crowd.

Everyone turned to face him, and a series of whispers began.

One of the men on the committee, an orc with graying hair wearing a rich red brocade and spectacles fixed his sleeve as he addressed him. "De Fosse, I know you're new to our city, but spectators are usually called on to speak at the end of the meeting, not the beginning."

A younger dwarven woman to his right spoke up. "I say let him talk. Poor bastard has the worst luck of anyone here to come to Rendhold when he did. Let's hear it."

There was a general murmur of agreement amount the committee members

The older orc shrugged. "De Fosse, at this point your idea is as good as any."

"You have a bunch of men, fighting aged men, down in the Pit right? Why not offer them freedom if they fight for the city?"

The young dwarven woman nodded along a bit as he spoke. "That's not a bad suggestion. There's even some mages down there right? Seems like a waste of resources to just leave them down there."

A few of the other committee members started murmuring in agreement.

"Are you serious?" said an older human man, "Those men are rapists, murderers, and thieves? I will not have them back up in the city proper."

"Finn, there may not be a city if we can't drive these invaders away. We're only dealing with Frasheid now, what do you think is going to happen when Viscent arrives?"

"Nothing so bad as letting that scum back on the streets. If anything, we should be putting those refugees from outside the walls down there with them. Keep ourselves safe for when they decide to come to Uptown's walls."

A few of the other older men on the council nodded in agreement.

Desha stood up. "I'll back De Fosse's proposal as a magister, so that it can come to a vote."

The older orc nodded, taking a heavy stone and wrapping it on his desk. "Those on the committee in favor of the proposal?"

He himself raised his hand, as did four others.

"Against?"

Finn and four others raised their hands as well.

"As Finn has seniority on the committee, the proposal fails."

Jacopo remained standing, even as they began to move onto other business, and Desha grabbed his arm and had him sit down.

"Damn, that was much closer than I expected it to be."

"So it's done?"
She shook her head. "We may be able to put forward another vote. I can actually draft the proposal and put in more specifics that may sway one more person to our side… It'll be a tricky thing though. Finn's got a lot of power on the committee, and he's riding high on it. The war committee was a joke until recently, that's why there aren't any elves on it. I'll also need to get the buy-in of someone high on the Justice committee to co-sponsor it."

"Contact Lysandia for that," whispered Vampa to her.

Jacopo sat there, listening to more prattling as he sent Dantes a mental summation of what had happened. As he did, he saw a young noblewoman walk by. There was something familiar about her that he couldn't place, and she was wearing a gold necklace with a large green stone.

…

Jacopo was sleeping on a comfortable nest he'd made himself from a pile of lint, a piece of the curtain, some feathers from the pillows, and a silk handkerchief when Vampa walked into his room and pulled open his curtains. Jacopo insisted on holding his eyes firmly closed, keeping himself completely still.

Vampa opened several more, causing more piercing beams of light to come into the room, and even more infuriatingly, bounce off of Vampa's armor causing the beams to shine even brighter throughout the room.

"The next committee meeting is in two hours."

Vampa's tone and expressions never changed no matter what form Jacopo took. He'd also assumed from the start that Jacopo could understand him no matter what form he was in. He even had an incredible ability to find wherever he was hiding in the room. It was maddening.

"Desha managed to get the proposal finalized. She made it so any Pit recruits are sent straight to the front where they're most likely to die. Smart move. Lysandia also provided strong support, and got the rest of the Justice committee to agree…though she's expecting a reward from you for that. I can't keep writing enticing letters pretending to be you without us eventually giving her what she wants."

Jacopo continued to remain still, stubbornly holding his eyes closed even though Vampa was now standing directly over him looking down at him.

"Finn, who'd been against the idea, was killed by the Uptown murderer last night. The new senior member on the committee is Yon, the orc, who is in support of it. It should go through, which means our time here is coming to a merciful end soon."

That made Jacopo's eyes open. He started to squeak at him as a rat, and the blank expression on Vampa's face was no different from the one he usually wore so it took Jacopo a moment to remember he couldn't understand him. He shifted into his two-leg form.

"Too lucky," he said as he stretched out.

"Was it a hit?"

Jacopo shook his head. "Dantes didn't order it."

"Hmmm. Doesn't matter. Get dressed. I need to pick up something from a Jeweler here in Uptown before we leave for good, or the city burns down."