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People of Pavis report - Naranthan| Sebastien Tissier | Karial the Pure, High-Priest of Yelmalio |
| Pascal Wilhelm | Belvani, Light-Captain from Sun County |
| Emmanuel Ponette | Haloric Goldbrow, Light-Captain of the Temple |
| Christoph Koring | Sederic, head of the Eiskolli family |
| Leon Sucharov | Varanthis, Count of the Sun Quarter |
| Susanne Ruehling | Morganeth Runestar, Priestess of Yelorna |
| Xavier Spinat | Chukel the Clever, Master Thief |
| Volker Wagner | Grandpa, leader of a thief ring |
| Bazz Hoftijzer | Andor, leader of the Dolphins gang |
| Christian Klass | Harli, leader of a thief ring |
| Gwendolyn Mott | Robon, Queen of the Javis clan of trolls |
- Fire/Truth/Fire, High Holy day of Yelmalio. Confession.
Call me Naranthan.
I am putting this scroll into a sealed urn, having let only sunlight see
what is written on it, for only my God should read it and judge my deeds
and my misdeeds.
For, should my priest know, I would be sentenced to death by fire, which
is the fate of hazia dealers and traffickers. And this is exactly what I
am: I am the most important hazia dealer in Pavis, leader of the now
powerful God's Own street gang, and trusted servant of the Suntown
authorities.
I write this to relate the events that happened during the last Sea
Season in Pavis, events that lead to a complete victory of Yelmalio's
name and servants, as well as to a much more personnal victory. In those
events I had a role to play, and I take pride in it for I am always
yearning to help my cult and my people.
An example of this is that I never sell hazia to cult members, for it
would weaken the cult, and this would go against my principles.
Yes, you can be a street gang leader and drug dealer and have principles.
My God should be my witness.
The events I am about to relate began two days before the elections. The city was bustling with activity, and there was a strong sense of expectation in the air. You could feel that things were going to happen, and I could feel that this was my chance to make things move. Having reached the status of gang leader a short time before (not bad for a street rogue coming from a poor family), I was determined to achieve new goals: hazia monopoly in town and recognition of my street gang by the cult authorities were among them.
My first move was to get a curfew pass. My "job" requires a lot of night-time work, so I needed to be able to roam the streets unhindered. Jorjar the Quick, the constable, turned out to be a corruptible and greedy fellow: he pretended to listen to my invented reasons, took my gold, and got me a pass. It amused me to see that so-called official authorities had less honor than members of my street gang. Yelmalio is the only way.
Since money proves to be handy when you are about to do grand things, I
needed some. So I went into the Oldtown, and I met Grandpa, unconstested
leader of the Pavis underworld, and proposed a deal. I would sell him
hazia in big quantities at a very low price, and he would agree to buy
hazia only from me. He agreed, and I had made my first step towards
hazia monopoly.
Afterwards, I sold him my hazia many times, not wanting to give up my
whole stock in a single deal. That allowed me to keep the upper hand,
luring him by promising him more stuff to come. And when my stock was
eventually all gone, I only had to get some more from my relatives
living down river.
When Grandpa was eventually made a tool of the Lunars, I saw an
excellent opportunity to take profit of the confusion that reigned in
the underworld.
When I came back to the Suntown, new elements awaited me. First, Haloric
Glowbrow the Light Captain, a brave and honest man, introduced me to
Belvani, sent by Count Solanthos to inquire about hazia traffic. I
felt the net tighten around me, so I quickly tried to befriend him and
win his trust, offering him my services and my help. As it turned out,
the unsuspecting Belvani was about to become one of my best allies in
eliminating my rivals...
The second thing was an unsettling rumor that had come to Haloric's
ears. According to this rumor, the Suntown was about to be attacked at
night. I then recalled a conversation I had spied in the morning between
two Lunars, talking about putting some of our buildings to fire! I told
Haloric about it, and he asked me to help him secure the streets of
Suntown at night. Haloric knew about my gang, and about my loyalty to my
cult. I was glad to prove useful indeed, but it also gave me the
opportunity to put many men in the streets watching for a potential
attack by another street gang, against which I had been warned. Haloric
even got me a lance. It was a good thing because I needed a weapon, but
it was also an important symbol of trust.
Night came and my curfew pass proved handy, especially since stinking trolls had been entrusted to watch the streets at night! An attack did occur that night, and some buildings were indeed put to fire, but with no serious consequences. It was obviously a plot from the Lunars, desiring to acquire even more of the Suntown for their own people. They thought that fire would incriminate Yelmalions, which showed how pathetic their knowledge of our cult was.
When morning came, Haloric asked me to use my influence and my contacts
to be sure that everybody in town knew the part the Lunars had played
in these events. I did just that, and I also tried to gather information
about my rivals. The Dolphins street gang was one of my concerns, because
I had heard that, due to their connections with the river, they were
smuggling hazia. But it turned out that their leader had decided to take
advantage of the current events to change career, so the Dolphins were
not a threat after all.
Other gang leaders were rivals, however, so I soon tried to turn
Haloric's and Belvani's investigations in their direction. I did my very
best to incriminate them, and I even set a few traps, selling them some
hazia and then turning them over to the authorities so that they would be
caught in possession of contraband...
The same day, I was asked by Karial the Pure, High Priest of Yelmalio,
to serve as a translator, for Karial the Pure has been blessed with a
geas that forbids him from speaking anything other than Firespeech. Since I am
learned in Firespeech and almost fluent in Tradetalk, I was glad to
oblige, and to prove that I was honest and trustworthy. Moreover, it was
a way for me to get much information from the high authorities of
the town, especially concerning the upcoming elections. Karial was
trying to help Sederic, Count Varanthis' nephew, to be elected, for the
glory of Suntown and Yelmalio.
I also helped in a conversation between my priest and the Yelorna
Priestress, a very charming lady if you ask me. Of course, such a lady
would never notice a worm like me, but I thought I could see a romance
blossoming between her and my priest, both of them being blessed by
light, truth and chastity. They would have made a pretty couple.
In any case, Karial got her vote and many others for our candidate.
Later, Belvani asked me about an item called the Golden Scepter, and said he was looking for it. My investigation revealed that the Scepter, a powerful relic found in the Big Rubble, was in Karial's hands. But I never told Belvani, for I was not going to betray my High Priest, especially to an outsider whom I didn't trust, nor even like.
During the next night, I witnessed a strange and secret meeting in Badside between the Count Varanthis himself and a suspect fellow (who turned out to be a friend of mine, Chukel the Clever, in disguise). I felt that something was amiss, and I was afraid that something bad would happen and tarnish Sederic's image, which would have been bad for the elections. So I went to Karial and told him the whole thing. It seems that I was right to do so, for it turned out that Varanthis was a hazia addict, and he admitted it under the questioning of Karial and Haloric. He was later cured of his addiction with the help of some healing herbs and Karial's magics, and the scandal was hushed up. Chukel the Clever was now under investigation because of me, so I did my best to warn him and help him out, but his disguise skills allowed him to avoid any further problems.
The next day, the day of the elections, was marked by many important events.
In the morning, I lead a frustrated Belvani to the last of my rivals, a
cunning fellow called Harli, who had successfully evaded my traps.
Belvani challenged him, but Harli was helped by his troll allies, lead
by the Troll Queen. A fight began, in which even Karial the Pure got
involved, and the trolls were eventually utterly vanquished. They fled
and were banned from town by a city judge. Harli managed to flee during
the fight, but his power was broken, his friends had been thrown to jail
and his troll allies driven away, so he was not a threat any more.
I was now rich and powerful, having eliminated most of the other
street gangs that represented a threat and I had attained a hazia monopoly
in Pavis. Belvani left without the slightest hint about my true
activities.
Later in the day, Sederic won the elections, and the Suntown militia was
given the duty of protecting the city, becoming its official guard, the
Lunars having failed to prove trustworthy in that task, made useless by
their own inner conflicts. It was a great honour for the Suntown
authorities, and I was proud that I had a role to play in it. Moreover,
the cult authorities, Haloric Glowbrow and Karial the Pure, granted me
the official recognition of my street gang, as thanks for our deeds.
I know that I have sometimes sinned, but I have exerted myself for the good of Yelmalio, and my God has shown me the right way when sometimes the path was dark. Bless His Name and His Holy Light.
Naranthan.
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