The Dauntless IV: Fury Road

"We can only hope that Mengkare kept him alive, or perhaps even that he is with Mengkare. Otherwise, well, Mengkare's story made it clear that he is not above killing people whose knowledge may interfere with his plans," Antoinette states.

The group advances into a strange, seemingly empty chamber. Suki begins scanning with magic and determines that a hidden arch in the room actually functions similarly to a bag of holding. With this knowledge, Antoinette attempts to conjure the box Emaliza described from within it. She pulls out a golden box inscribed with religious imagery, specifically the iconography of Aroden. Antoinette cannot figure out how to open it. "Huh, unusual. Possibly a gift from Iomedae, assuming it is actually something very important to him."

After checking the vault to make sure there's no further shards and storing the shard they found in it, they make their way out, pulling up Jonivar's file on the way, and discovering he's held in the jail, which is beneath the Guard's Quarter of the Citadel. To make sure it's clear, Nova sneaks up the stairs first, and after she confirms the coast is clear, the rest of the group follows and makes their way out of the citadel, towards Inizra's office again.

Inizra is still in her office, having cleared her schedule for the day. "Well? Did you find what you were looking for? Or what happened to Jonivar?"

"Yes and yes, and neither is good news," Dorrak replies. "And another piece of worse news. First, Jonivar's in the jail beneath the Guard Quarter of the Citadel. We have a plan to get him out tomorrow, but we need Django to prepare the right spells. Second, Emaliza is Uri Zandivar's sister. She has the Orb of Gold Dragonkind."

"... no. Emaliza? I..." Inizra stops. "Well no, actually I can entirely believe that. Like, I couldn't see her scheming in the shadows to overthrow the government but she's definitely got the kind of cutthroat edge that if she is, stealthily reassembling something like that would be the way she did it." Inizra sits back down and steeples her fingers. "So what are you going to do about it? And what's the plan for rescuing Jonivar?"

"For Jonivar, Django will prepare spells that allow us to enter the prison area completely undetected, then once we're in there, we can break him out and then use another cast of that spell to escape," Dorrak explains. "As for Emaliza, historically we've resolved things like this directly. Do you know where we can find her?"

"So, small hitch in that plan; I'm in the prison fairly regularly. Jonivar isn't there." Inizra frowns. "No one's ever in the prison but the regular dissidents and foreign lawbreakers and y'know I'm saying it out loud and hearing how that sounds, and wondering why I never questioned this before. Anyway if Jonivar is in the prison, it means he has some sort of secret prison within that even I don't know about."

"The spell we use allows us to pass through walls freely," Dorrak explains, "If there is a secret prison, that should help us find it. And we're no strangers to finding secret passages. And it would make sense if Jonivar is imprisoned secretly - Mengkare wouldn't have wanted you to find out about him. The archival records certainly said he was jailed."

"Honestly, given everything I wouldn't be remotely surprised if Mengkare has a secret prison he keeps from me." Inizra sighs. "Well, that'll be tomorrow. For today, Emaliza has an office in the Fisher's Neighborhood. Never understood how she could get any work done around that smell but she says she likes the restaurants close enough to deliver."

"Thank you," Antoinette replies. "Any chance we could get some backup for confronting her? I highly doubt it will go peacefully. At the very least we need a promise that your guards won't get involved if she starts a fight."

Inizra shakes her head. "I would really rather you didn't fight her at all, if I'm being honest. She might be a slaver's sister and plotting to mind control Mengkare but she's still my friend and I'd like to give her a chance to explain herself, and there's no way my guards can know whether you started the fight or she did."

"I'd prefer it not to get violent, but we killed her brother. She also had no second thoughts about trying to use us as pawns in her plan," Antoinette replies. "I don't trust that she won't try anything else with us. If it comes to blows we can do our best to keep her alive, but I just can't guarantee it won't come to blows."

"Well, then, I recommend you keep any fight that happens away from the guard," Inizra shrugs. "I couldn't stop it even if I wanted to, the guard are bound by obligation to protect citizens from non-citizens in every situation unless they see if wasn't the non-citizen's fault, and Emaliza has special privileges besides as the High Councilor. The most popular High Councilor in history, I'll add, so, y'know, there's also every other citizen to consider. Short of Mengkare coming back and publicly denouncing here there's nothing that can really change that."

"And if he does come back we probably have a whole other issue to deal with," Suki says, nodding. "Well, as said, hopefully it won't come to blows. Ideally she'll come peacefully."

"Alright then. We'll have to go talk to her no matter what. If we reach an agreement with her, we'll let you know," Antoinette states. "Hopefully we can come to an agreement peacefully. Then we can focus on rescuing Jonivar."

Emaliza's office is in a relatively modest building on the edge of the water. It is, in fact, the entirety of that building's top floor, as with Inizra's. A plush blue carpet fills the entire floor, with rows of bookshelves taking up three of the four walls. The fourth is made up entirely out of windows overlooking the ocean. Emaliza sits behind a lavish desk of red oak and smiles warmly at you all as you're brought in by her secretary, while Rinnarv stands behind her shoulder.

"Hello, friends. How was your meeting with Inizra? Have you thought more about what I proposed?"

"We didn't think on it, we did it. We also found some very interesting information while we were down there. You attempted to play us, and we're not exactly fond of that," Antoinette replies. "You know exactly who Uri Zandivar was because he was your brother, Emaliza Logner. We found the genealogy records. The same ones you found that had you contact him for your schemes in the first place. Where are you keeping the orb? That monstrosity should never have been reassembled."

"Ah. I see." Emaliza leans forward, frowning softly. "You're right. I did lie to you, and I played you. One does these things when their brother's mortal enemies, who control a portal to your back door that you know for a fact they have the means to use after killing him, arrive and you have no idea what they think of you, in the likely event they know he has a sister at all. One also does these things when they're orchestrating a coup against a tyrant bent on genocide who has absolute dominion over their free will, and is also a dragon. It's unfortunately become second nature to me to keep my cards close to my chest and to be somewhat manipulative. It's a survival tactic, and quite probably the only reason that I am still alive."

”Your plans don’t stop at Mengkare, do they?” Dorrak asks. ”We also played cards close to our chest around you, we read your brother’s journal and your last letter to him. We know you have a plan for the aspect of Dahak. You can understand why that makes us extremely concerned.”

"I'm happy to go against a tyrant and stop a genocide, but your methods need work," Antoinette replies. "By the way you're talking, I'm going to guess that you've somehow read Mengkare's personal notes to some degree and understand the true purpose of his 'glorious endeavor.' That also means you probably understand just how abhorrent that orb is as a plan to accomplish anything. You should also be aware of just how much ill your brother caused in reconstructing that fucking ball of evil. The actions of his guild directly led to the reactivation of the gates and the acceleration of the release of Dahak's manifestation within them. They killed or enslaved countless individuals and caused major incidents for the Ekujae and the citizens of Ravounel and Kovlar. They attempted to burn and enslave a whole fishing village for fuck's sake. When we confronted Uri he kidnapped a fucking Pactmaster of Katapesh! All so you could construct an abomination artifact in hopes it could actually stop Mengkare. I don't care what good you were trying to accomplish here, by setting things in motion the blood of so many innocents is dripping from your hands. Now we aren't here to kill you. You can serve whatever punishment the other citizens of this island think right, indeed if they think you should be punished at all. All we care about right now is stopping Mangkare from doing what he plans to. If that means working with you then we will, but the orb will not be a part of that plan."

"I'm not responsible for my brother's actions," Emaliza puts forward bluntly. "The man was a monster, and short of revealing his activities to Mengkare there wasn't anything I could have done about it. I might have even done that if I were certain it would accomplish anything, but given that he had so effectively cut the appearance of ties with Hermea and knew nothing of his plans I doubt the Glorious Master would have done anything more than fully banishing him.

"Do I regret whatever harm came from his actions in what I tasked him with, absolutely. Do I hate the notion of using the Orb? Of course I do. If there was a poison or a single shot in the world that I thought could have a chance of killing him, I would use it. If I hadn't seen with my own eyes how ruthlessly Mengkare puts down and "disappears" those who oppose the Glorious Endeavor, I would have tried to talk him out of it. I have looked for another way as best I could without tipping my hand to him, and the most, the longest shot I have come up with is that damnable box that I couldn't retrieve myself, or bring in reliable outside help for without seeming suspicious. That you came in, unbeknownst to Mengkare while he was away, so shortly after Inizra tipped her hand to me? I thought it must be fate, giving me a sliver of hope at an alternative.

"Now, as for the questions from the rational one," she turns to Dorrak. "When I first spoke to Uri of Dahak, I wasn't fully aware of what he was. I had only just become aware of the anima invocation when Mengkare asked me to review his notes on the gate, and I learned that it had a great deal of power trapped inside and toyed with the idea of harnessing it, either to kill Mengkare or as a source of energy, possibly even one that could give Mengkare what he wanted without massacring us all. After I learned more about its nature, it became a... useful fiction, let's say, to allow Uri to think we were going to use it as a weapon to gain wealth and power. He was hardly an unintelligent man but he could care less about the people of Promise and grew to fear Mengkare less and less over time, so a little motivation never hurt anyway. I, for my part, am not so foolish as to believe that anything but ill can come from Dahak or the ring, and once everything is resolved I fully intended my next project to be its destruction."

Dorrak takes a deep breath as he listens to Emaliza's response, considering that he has no confidence in his ability to discern the truth from what she says. "I'll reiterate what Antoinette said, we'll have no part in any plan that involves using the Orb, even as a backup. It's a vile creation, and to make it worse, was reconstructed through unacceptable means - Uri enslaved the most talented jeweler in Katapesh and intended to have her sold to the Plane of Fire when she finished." He pauses, weighing what he has to say next, "I do believe Mengkare can be redeemed. We read his journal, his life story. It's among the most tragic tales I have ever heard, and I can understand how he came to the conclusion he did, repugnant as it is. But if he can be presented with evidence that, contrary to his belief that 'tomorrow must burn', that tomorrow does not need to burn, perhaps some spark of the dragon who loved Iomedae can come back. If he can't, he has to die, but in a straight fight, not while being dominated an artifact made from the soul of one of his ancestors."

"Your confidence in your abilities is admirable," Emaliza replies wryly. "I want you to convince him. I would vastly prefer you to convince him. But if you can't, I'm not going to bet my life and the lives of everyone on Hermea on you four being able to best a thirteen-hundred year old great wyrm in direct combat. If it will make you feel more comfortable, though, then we do not have to work together. I have nothing more to offer either side of your plan. You can do your very best, and I will wish you all the luck in the world and deny any knowledge of your crimes and sedition to Mengkare's face if your bodies end up charred corpses on the floor of the Golden Citadel."

Dorrak frowns. "I have trouble taking you at your word now," he explains bluntly. "You've deceived us already, and none of us could tell. I have no confidence that you aren't still lying, possibly with the intention to use the Orb on Mengkare when he's distracted with speaking to us, or to use it to do more than just stop him from using the anima invocation to destroy Hermea. Or some other plan that you've kept hidden. We need some tangible assurance that you will not interfere with a good faith effort to talk Mengkare out of this madness first."

"What would you have me do?" Emaliza asks. "Because while your distrust is completely understandable, anything involving the Orb leaving my possession is a non-starter. If you have another suggestion, I'll be happy to hear it."