Lady's Grace, cutters!

 

„Curiosity killed the hellcat – but not the Sensate.

At least not all Sensates.“

Baatorian proverb

 

 

First Clerk Day of Retributus, 126 HR

Erin Montgomery sat in the library of the central wing of the Civic Festhall, a stack of newspapers on her lap, and let her mind wander. She had taken a walk through the Festhall garden with Lady Faith around the Last Light. She had always got on well with Sarin's wife. Although the philosophies of their factions were very different, they had plenty to talk about, partly because they were both priestesses and both very interested in art and culture. Despite the drizzle outside, the large garden had been as inviting as ever: dry, pleasantly warm and filled with flowering plants and chirping birds. An invisible, magical dome over the beautiful park and the efforts of numerous gardeners, botanists, zoologists and druids made sure of that. Erin had, of course, invited Faith to the premiere of Galados' new opera. Her friend had enthusiastically confirmed her attendance - and had also regretfully informed her in advance that Sarin would unfortunately have to work that evening. Erin had jokingly called him a rascal who let his wife cheat for him because he wasn't allowed to. To which Faith had laughed heartily and explained that her husband just couldn’t acquire a taste for modern gnomic opera. The Factol of the Sensates had instructed Faith to deliver her reprimand to her husband for not showing up and then had to wonder. Was she taking things too far with Sarin? It was just an amusing game for her - but one that she had admittedly stepped up since the deepening of their factions’ relationship as part of the new alliance. But she definitely only wanted to tease him, not annoy him - which of course also applied to his wife. Although she had used this kind of game for such purposes before and would certainly continue to do so in the future, it was not her intention with Sarin and Faith. And she was smart enough to check the thickness of the ice before she stepped on it. But Faith had just laughed and assured her that her husband could take it. Or even needed it, since factols were often in danger of losing the ground under their feet. Erin could only agree with that. She had led the faction of the Sensates for a good three years now, and the amount of power that came with the office could be dizzying. Sigil being what it was, she controlled not just parts of a city, but parts of the gateway to the Multiverse - and therefore parts of the Multiverse itself. And that didn't just include her immense influence on Arborea and in the parts of the Outlands surrounding Sylvania. No, factions were active all over the planes. Even as a factor, she had only had a vague idea of what the office of factol meant. But it wasn't just a rush of influence and power, it was also a great responsibility. A responsibility that still frightened her on some days. A single misstep in that game of factional intrigue so aptly known as the kriegstanz could have catastrophic consequences. She could not deny that she was sometimes flattered by the fact that even many highly experienced participants called her a master of this dance. Nor could she rid herself of the pride of knowing that it was true. An unerring instinct for political situations and currents, for the social climate of the Cage, for intrigues, opportunities and dangers had led her to this office. Together with an unfailing knowledge of human nature and a very reliable instinct for when she would be betrayed or when she could trust without hesitation. She was not a great warrior, not an impressive wizard and, unlike Faith, not a particularly powerful priestess. And yet the unofficial title of "second most powerful woman in Sigil" was undisputedly hers. At the age of thirty-two, she had already experienced a great deal - including many things she didn't like to reminisce about - and she could only guess what the coming years or decades might bring. But she didn't worry too much about that because, like many Sensates, she liked to live in the moment - all the more so because her job often required her to look at least into the medium-term future. At this moment in her life, she was in this place and in this position. She enjoyed it and she loved it. Nothing else mattered, especially not her past. At least she hoped so ... Her thoughts drifted back to the conversation, to the moment when her factotum Naghûl Ka'Tesh had joined them. In response to Faith's comment, she had jokingly instructed him to bring her back down to earth if she ever got carried away. The tiefling had smirked and admitted that he didn't know exactly how to do that yet. But that he would think of something. Then Faith had said goodbye and Erin had taken a seat with Naghûl by a fountain in a quiet corner of the garden. Her factotum had told her about the investigations in the Hive, about the things she had not yet learned from Terrance and Ambar: the conversation with Derioch Ysarl and Blackhoof of the Bleakers, the miraculous resurrection of Tylaric Stormwing and the encounter with Eliath in the Black Sails . He had told in great detail about Sgillin's body swap, about the mark behind Eliath's ear and about the resulting fear that someone might be trying to wrangle some kind of sleeper agent in the factions. In the context of Toranna's list, a copy of which she had received from Ambar, this was a worrying thought. The fact that the list included some high-ranking faction members, including her own deputy and companion Da'nanin, naturally made her wonder. Either this list spoke of arrogance and megalomania if the authors thought they could gain access to such prominent and powerful people. Or the group behind all of this had some huge aces up their sleeves. Clearly, Erin would have preferred arrogance and megalomania in this case. At least she could say with certainty that Da'nanin didn't have the aforementioned mark behind his ear - or anywhere else on his body. So perhaps only those who had already been "resurrected" had this mark. Despite all this alarming information, Naghûl had also brought an amusing story, as befitted a good Sensate factotum. He had told her that because of Jana's vision in the Slumbering Lamb , Sgillin now had Legate Killeen Caine in mind as a suspect for the Hive Strangler Murders. She had laughed heartily at the idea of the group telling Sarin about this suspicion, and Naghûl had promised her that she would be allowed to watch the scene in his sensory stone if it came to that. In fact, Killeen was not the typical legate of the Harmonium. He was very affable and very interested in women - but in a charming way. Still, the thought of linking him to the murders in the Hive had been one of the highlights of the day. The Legate of Arcadia, however, was not the reason why she was now sitting in the library with a pile of newspapers on her lap. No, Jana's vision about the Factol of the Harmonium was. Since she firmly believed that these visions had something to do with the God Machine and the Ring Prophecy, there obviously had to be a connection between these things and Sarin's past - although Sarin's past and that of the Harmonium might be one and the same here. So she had gone to the library to take a little journey into Sigil's recent history. According to Jana, Sarin had been about ten years younger in her vision, so she'd had the archivist Montague bring her all the issues of SIGIS and the Tempus Sigilianus from 115 to 117 HR. Basically, she didn't have time for this pile of paper - but since it might be about the Deus Machina, she didn't want to involve outsiders in the research. So Da'nanin would probably have to grasp the nettle and help her with this task. But she had decided to spare him until the next morning. So she began her journey into Sigil's past alone, or more precisely, into the past of the Harmonium. Terrance had already shared his fears about Lord Valiant, so she set herself to scouring the newspapers for anything that had been written about the Harmonium and the tensions in the faction at the time. Quite a lot, as it turned out ... Since she hadn't been in Sigil herself at the time and only knew a rough outline of this matter, it was certainly interesting information. By the Lady, the situation in the Harmonium in those days had been anything but harmonious ...

 

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(based on the role play with Naghûl's player on April 22, 2012)