332
When consciousness returns and you prise open your eyes, to your dismay you discover that you are lying upon the straw-covered floor of a prison cell. Prince Karvas is lying unconscious at your feet. Carefully you raise his head and, by the use of your innate Kai healing skills, you are able to coax him back to full consciousness.
Through the bars of a high cell window you can see that night has fallen. The noise of raucous celebration is being carried on the evening breeze, and it is a sound that strikes a chill into your heart, for it tells you that your mission has failed. Sadanzo has been crowned King of Siyen, and in every tavern throughout this capital his robber knights are celebrating their leader’s rise to power.
The iron door clangs as its bolt is pulled. It creaks open and a grim-faced gaoler throws your Weapons and equipment into the cell. ‘You’re free to go,’ he growls, ‘not that you’re likely to be free for long now that Sadanzo rules the roost.’ The gaoler turns you and Karvas out onto the street, and as you walk dejectedly away from the gaol, you witness a band of Sadanzo’s robber knights looting houses and shops. They pillage the homes and livelihoods of the innocent in defiance of the city guard who are now powerless to stop them.
The sight makes Prince Karvas’ blood boil and he resolves to do something about it. ‘Come, Grand Master,’ he says, excitedly. ‘We may still have one chance left to triumph over Sadanzo. We must seek out Phedros—the Marshal of the Realm.’
