[Lawrince/Cari]

Lawrince Ournel sipped at the hot kaffe that the waitress had brought, and
weighed his answer. There seemed little use now in denying who and what he
was, and he felt very tired. "The body is of my secretary, Netit Vanit,"
he said, but the way he said the name indicated no particular fondness
for the deceased. "But as to who murdered him or why - here in Montfort,
that I don't know. If it had been in Bleckner I could have at least named
one or two - his wife being the most likely suspect. But no jury would
have had the heart to try her."

::So you're our missing envoy,:: Cari sent, ::But why didn't you just go
to the authorities?::

The envoy eyed her and said, "Its been my experience that most local
authorities aren't to be trusted. And I had, still have, no idea why Netit
was murdered. If it was directed at him or at me, as a visiting
dignitary."

Cari nodded, but didn't add that she had to agree with his assessment,
except for the part about the Guard; much to her annoyance they were too
honest to take any type of bribe. Or to have any dirty laundry.

Lawrince looked over to where Lovvorn was studying mysterious bits of
paper, and said, "Despite what I personally think of Netit, I want to have
the answers to why he died, and will be willing to pay a reward for any
aid rendered."

He looked back at Batista and Eric Hood and added, "The only other thing I
know of Netit's days in Montfort was that he was seen feeding tidbits to a
white cat on his last evening. One of the waitresses at the Dragon's Inn
said that it belonged to a local mage, but she couldn't remember which
one."

Cari sipped at her tea and said nothing. She knew of one mage in town who
had a white cat - Bryce Amberghylles. A mage that the Company would dearly
love to have a tight handle on. Maybe this as the opportunity they had
been waiting for, though she would put more money on his upcoming wedding.
Or planned wedding - there promised to be fireworks that day.

[Eric/Lovvorn]

At the mention of the cat, Lovvorn looked up from his papers and
wrinkled his nose.    He leaned over and whispered to Eric:

"Amberghylles has a cat like that, but that certainly wasn't his magic
I detected."

"Could he have disguised it?  Made it seem like someone else?"

Lovvorn nodded.   He had no intention of going up against
Amberghylles on this night or any other.   At least not without
reinforcements.   He reached into his robe and fingered a
single coin in his inside pocket...

"Not now,"  said Eric.  "Wait until we're sure."

"With Amberghylles... by the time we're sure, we could be dead.
I say we call in Spooky and the Boss and let THEM deal with-"

"No.  We're doing this.   Can you track his 'port now?"

Lovvorn gulped and nodded reluctantly.

Eric turned back to Lawrince.

"Well, now we've got TWO leads.   The first is you and whatever
information you got locked away in that head of yours.   The
second is the guy that attacked you.   Lovvorn thinks he can
track him now-"

"-AFTER I finish my beers!"

"-so let's say we take you and Lovvorn on a little tour and see
what turns up?"

[Lawrince/Cari]

"I'm afraid I little else 'locked in my' head as far as clues," Lawrince
regretfully said; the fact that Netit had been involved in some type of
deal in Montfort _did not_ need to be discussed with this unlikely crew of
rescuers. He had also noted that the mention of the cat had caused a bit
of a disturbance - and that the two gentlemen had their own secrets. And
he didn't doubt that the same could be said for the unpreturbed Miss Dyer.

"However, I'm more than willing to accompany you on tracking the
murderer," Ournel said.

::As am I,:: Cari added, having already noticed her exclusion from the
hunt, but she wasn't going to let the envoy wander loose without an
escort. And while this alliance with Lovvorn and Mr. Hood was proving
useful in tracking the actual killer she wasn't about to leave Ournel in
their care.

[Eric/Lovvorn]

"Good.  Let's move...uhh..."

Eric glared impatiently at Lovvorn as the pudgy mage gulped down
his four drinks in rapid order... one after the other.

"Ahhhhhh!   Okay... let's catch us a scoundrel!"

Lovvorn started toward the door.   Eric waited for Lawrince
and the woman... he obviously wanted to bring up the rear.

[Cari/Lawrince]

Cari lay some coins upon the table and went to walk beside the envoy. She
hadn't bothered to check her cloak this time, and smiled a "thank you" as
Ournel helped her on with it. Already she was preparing a containment
matrix - should they find the murderer, and making sure her two offensive
ones were still ready - in case of difficulties.

Unfortunately, none of her psionics were geared towards tracking magical
spells.


[Eric/Lovvorn]

They arrived at the scene of the earlier attack.   Lovvorn motioned
the others to stand back while he took a position near where the
attacker had vanished.

The mage rolled up his sleeves and threw his arms into the air...
nothing happened.

"Damn.   Well, let's try THIS one..."

He cast another spell, which provided some nice purple sparks
from his fingertips... but nothing else.

"Hmmm...."

After three or four more tries, Lovvorns efforts were rewarded with
a thunderclap and a jolting blast of white light.    A crackling
portal formed directly in front of him...it threw off small bolts of static
electricty that were like miniature flashes of lightning.

"Impressive, no?"  said Lovvorn, clearly pleased with himself.

"No."  said Eric.

"Hmph!"

"Were does it lead..."

"To wherever that other fellow went.   Supposedly.   Why don't you
check it out for us, Eric?"

Eric Hood hesitated, and then stepped up to the portal.

"Go on."  Lovvorn prodded.   "There might be traps..."

Eric frowned and stepped through.   The thin man disappeared with
a flash of light, and then reappeared a few seconds later.

"Looks safe.   Let's go."

[Cari/Lawrince]

While Lawrince was eyeing the crackling portal with an obvious discomfort
Cari stepped forward. She had wardings ready to activate and wanted to
make sure for herself that the other side was safe before letting the
envoy through.

She daintly stepped on through - finding Eric Hood and the quiet of the
deep woods on the other side.

The envoy took a deep breath and followed.

Once through Cari began to scan the area, but when she found no one -
except the natural wildlife - she sent, ::He's not in the area now.::

The dense foliage of the trees made it hard to see the stars, and thereby
hard to get a sense of direction. But the trees themselves gave Cari an
idea roughly where they were. She added, ::For the trees to be this thick
we've got to be at least a mile or two beyond the blast radius. If not
further.::

Lawrence Ournel gave her an odd look.

[Eric/Lovvorn]

"She means the big boom."  said Lovvorn.  "But don't worry... the
city probably won't be destroyed again for another few weeks at
least!  Your royal envoyness will be safely out of town by then... either
that or dead."

"Which way, fatboy?"  said Eric.

"Uhhh..."  Lovvorn frowned.  "Hmmm."

Lovvorn cast a spell to remove the anti-tracking wards their
quarry had used.  It took several tries, but finally a trail of
footprints appeared in the dirt.

"That way-"  Lovvorn pointed through the trees.

As the group followed the prints into the distance, Lovvorn's portal
crackled and began to close.   Just before it disappeared, J'Hasp
leapt through from the other side and vanished into the night.

[Lawrince]

The envoy studied the dark woods with the same look one would give a newly
hatched dragon - a combination of curiousity and fear that it was hungry.
"I sincerely hope," he said, "That Monfort stays in one piece for awhile.
Those explosions were hell on the bookkeeping."

::Well, six months and more is a record for it,:: Cari sent, ::So there's
hope you'll get an accurate headcount this year.::

[Eric/Lovvorn]

"But they generated LOTS of business for the magically inclined," said
Lovvorn.   "I am an expert on explosions, myself... but I'm afraid I can't
take credit for THAT one."

The trail of prints faded as it led onto firmer ground on the outskirts
of town.   As the group entered a run-down section of the city, the tracks
vanished altogether.

"Oh, well."  said Lovvorn.  "No more footprints.   I need a beer... let's
go back to the-"

"He went THAT way-"

"And how would you know that?"

"'Cause that's where the fire is."

Lovvorn looked, and sure enough, a faint flicker of orange danced
between among some dilapidated buildings a few blocks away.

"As I was saying,"  Lovvorn said.   "He went that way..."

[To be continued.]