EPISODE FIFTEEN: Growing Concerns

As the party enters town, Adeth quickly becomes awestruck at the modern-ness of this village that, by his perspective, didn't exist until a few hours ago. Soon, Danika noticed he seemed to be deep in a trance, not really responsive to anything else except his amazement at the cars, buildings, and the electric lights lining the streets. On the way to the Trithal home is a medical clinic operated by a close friend of theirs. Danika and TRITHAL thought it would be wise to get Adeth examined, so they make a quick stop and drop Adeth off. TRITHAL asks the doctor to contact them when he's finished.

A few minutes after they leave the clinic, they are back at their house on Black Car Place where, sure enough, there was a black sedan that resembled a Mercury Grand Marquis, bearing Mount Sabretooth government license plates. Upon being spotted, a tall person wearing a dark suit, sunglasses and an earpiece emerges from the vehicle and confronts the party in the front yard.

Official: "Would you be Mr. Trithal the Divine Wind?"

TRITHAL: "Who's asking?"

Official: "My name is Zebra. I am a detective in King Midus' Secret Service. I was sent here by His Majesty to deliver a message of the utmost importance, and to collect your response."

Zebra withdraws a fancy-looking leather portfolio with the crest of Mount Sabretooth on the cover and holds it presentation-style in front of the party.

TRITHAL: "Ok then, 'Zebra', let's step inside and out of view of the whole fucking neighborhood"

Zebra: "Very good."

TRITHAL and Danika show the official inside their home, followed by TRHAX and Anri. Everyone finds a place to sit inside the Trithal's decent-sized living room. Danika volunteers to get anyone interested a beer. TRITHAL, THRAX and Anri take her up, but the official declines. When she returns with the 4 beers, TRITHAL says, "Okay, Zebra, make with the message"

The official opens the portfolio and begins to read:

To Mr. and Mrs. Trithal the Divine Wind, 503 Black Car Place, Village of Laurenstown, Valleys of Morgura Prefecture..

TRITHAL: "Yeah, yeah, we know all that already. Skip to the good part!"

Zebra: "ahem..."

First, the Tanchi-Sabretooth Royal Family would like to congratulate both of you on your recent marriage. May the Gods bless you with eternal happiness.

Danika: "We'd feel more blessed if they would share some of their money with us!"

TRITHAL chuckles as the official said, with a rather annoyed tone, "Will you please allow me to read this message without interruption?"

TRITHAL: "Sorry, man. Go ahead."

Now to business. It has come to the attention of my military's intelligence team that an outside force from beyond the sea to the East plans an imminent attack on the United Prefectures. We have not been able to ascertain the extent of the threat at hand, or exactly who intends to attack us or why.

TRITHAL chuckles at the obvious short-comings of the Kings resources. The official continues,

We have not been able to locate any other member of your party, so I come to you with this request: I would like to humbly ask if we may call upon the services of you and your party to go and investigate, and report back to us what you find; and suggest how we can defend ourselves against this threat. Myself, along with all the people of the United Prefectures will be in your debt... and of course you will be compensated for your work.

Since this matter is of the utmost importance, I request that you issue your response to my messenger and make haste for the Eastern shores. If what we believe to be happening is happening, then there is no time to lose.

I send this with my highest regards. Dictated, not read, King Midus of Mount Sabretooth.

Zebra: "Now then, What shall be your response to the King?"

TRITHAL: "Give us a second to discuss this, Zebra."

Zebra: "Of course."

TRITHAL, THRAX and Danika huddle together and begin conversing in the Macha language:

THRAX: "Obviously Midus has come across a copy of the note, and his pin-head advisers must've not been able to figure out exactly what it says."

TRITHAL: "Either that, or he knows exactly what it says and doesn't think we've seen it or something."

Dankia: "Whatever the case may be, what are we gonna say in response?"

The three continue their discussion in the Macha language while the official asks Anri, who's obviously on the sidelines, "What are they saying?"

Anri: "Fuck! I don't know! I don't even know what language that is!"

After another few moments, the trio turns back to the official, and TRITHAL says to him, "Tell King Midus that we appreciate his blessings on our marriage, and we certainly understand his sense of urgency. However, the party he once employed was disbanded more than a year ago. One member has passed away, and the other 3 have scattered and pursued their own interests. Our party, in essence, has ceased to be. Therefore, I'm afraid we must decline his request."

Zebra: "That's too bad. The King was prepared to compensate you to the tune of 100,000 GP for your troubles. Are you sure you want to turn him down?"

Danika (to TRITHAL, whispers): "That's alot of money, Tsutaru! We should take it!"

TRITHAL (to Danika): "True, but that 100,000 GP is intended to be split 4 ways between me, Thrax, Axem and the late Chris. We're not the party King Midus is asking for help, so it would be wrong to take that money. (to Zebra): Tell the King to use that money for a better purpose, like, say, improving social services in the rural areas of his prefecture... namely the Village of Dale Gorge. Tell him to prove to his people that he's not the pompous money-grubbing sonofabitch that many perceive him to be."

Zebra: "The King will be disappointed, but I do understand your position. I will return to the Mountain Castle with your response. Thank you for your time this evening."

With that, Zebra shows himself out the front door.

THRAX (to TRITHAL): "Hey Trithal! Are you sure it was wise to turn down that money? Truth-be-told, you'd probably never get a chance to see that much GP ever again."

TRITHAL: "True, and I'm sure I'll regret it later... but I'd much rather not be a pawn in whatever stupid shit Midus is cooking up. He's not very trustworthy, and history has proven how trigger-happy he is. I, for one, refuse to be caught in the middle of his tomfoolery."

THRAX: "Good point."

TRITHAL: "Besides, we're already heading there on our own. Why do we need to be sanctioned by Midus, especially when he is the object of Vankar's aggression? That would paint a big orange bulls-eye on us."

THRAX: "That's a good point, too."

Danika: "So, what do you think will happen now... I mean, when King Midus learns we declined his request? Do you think he'll try to launch a preemptive attack on his own against Vankar?"

TRITHAL: "Who's to say? Knowing him, there's no telling what his next course of action will be."

THRAX: "I seriously doubt Midus has the manpower, let alone the balls, to go and pick a fight with the most-powerful Draconian Lord still in existence."

TRITHAL: "True, but we still shouldn't put it past him to pull something as brainless as that. Therefore, I propose we waste no more time and move out as soon as we can. If we can get shit settled before Midus - or anyone else - tries something stupid, then the whole Land of Fantasy will be better off."

Anri: "What about that guy Adeth? Are we gonna bring him with us?"

TRITHAL: "Might as well. He did say he was a soldier for his former lord. He might be useful."

Anri: "Yeah, but he seems creepy, all spaced-out all the time, and he seems pretty flaky. I don't know how trustworthy he would be in a crunch."

TRITHAL: "He doesn't seem any more flaky than Thrax... besides, with Axem still AWOL we'll need all the help we can get. Speaking of which, I wonder if he's done at the doctor's?"

TRITHAL withdraws his cellphone and proceeds to call his doctor friend and inquire about Adeth. The doctor notifies him they are about done, and can come get him at any time. TRITHAL and Danika then proceed to the doctor's office. Once there, they are informed by the doctor that Adeth seems to have a slight attention deficit disorder, and prescribed him a medication similar to Ritalin. The doctor instructed TRITHAL and Danika to administer a dose of the medication if it appears Adeth is 'spacing out' as he was earlier.

On the way back to the house, Adeth seems more attentive to the things happening around him, and was even carrying on a conversation with TRITHAL and Danika. When they got to the house, they brought Adeth up to date as to what was happening, and everyone agreed to get plenty of sleep that night, and get up early the next morning and prepare to depart.