MIGHT OF THE EMPIRE

When the chosen night arrived, Firefly was easily able to infiltrate the military district with her legionnaire disguise. Pigeon and Beaver had a slightly harder job of it. The first obstacle was the city wall, but that was easily scaled with the help of a ladder which they pulled over with them and hid in a nearby field. Though the wall was guarded, the pair stuck to the shadows and evaded the roving patrols. Once they were out of the city proper, there was nothing between them and the legion camp sprawling over the edge of the city like a rash. The pair of took up position on the outskirts and settled in for a stakeout.

Everything was going to plan, but no plan survives contact with the enemy.

A gunshot rang out through the night air. While legionnaires meandered like animals, Firefly took advantage of the confusion to grab a legion gun from a supply tent. She then glanced in the direction of the noise and saw a crowd beginning to coalesce. After pushing through the wall of onlookers along with everyone else who wanted to gawk at the latest excitement, she emerged abruptly into open space. Ahead, Cecil loomed over a legionnaire lying sprawled and supine on the grass. Cecil stepped over to the corpse and wrenched free the knife still embedded in its neck. He then grabbed the corpse by a leg and dragged it casually into his personal tent, his two lieutenants trailing after him.

Once it became clear that any further developments were likely to be much less exciting, the crowd of legionnaires dispersed and Firefly was able to leave the main camp to reconnoitre with the others. Once she had explained what had transpired, everyone concluded this didn't influence the plan. Pigeon and Beaver continued lurking around the latrines waiting to ambush Cecil, while Firefly kept an eye on Cecil's tent in case he decided to wander off.

While the discussion inside the tent was vociferous, the tent itself muffled it enough to render it unintelligible at a distance. Moving close enough to understand it would draw unwanted attention, so Firefly was stuck straining her ears ineffectually from the shadows. Eventually, Cecil and his subordinates emerged, still arguing. Once they were outside it became clear that the point of contention was how to dispose of the body. Firefly saw that Cecil was now carrying the body in question in a manner that was only a token improvement over its previous mode of transport.

Cecil strode towards the lights of the city, leading his posse out of the camp. Firefly now had a time-critical choice to make. She decided that in all likelihood, Cecil would probably come back to the camp that night eventually, so maintaining her disguise was more important than tracking his every move. All the group had to do now was hurry up and wait. Pigeon and Beaver held position, while Firefly blended in with the legionnaires.

Cecil did return, now without the corpse and with only one lieutenant, and retired back into his tent. It was that threshold time between late night and early morning when he finally emerged once more.

The latrines area comprised a row of cubicles serviced by a pit sealed with tar. The light sources here were heterogenous and sporadic because most of the good lighting fixtures were being used further into the camp. Throughout the entire time Pigeon and Beaver had been waiting there had always been at least one legionnaire nearby or using the place for its intended purpose. No queues formed, however.

As Cecil lumbered up, Beaver slinked through the shadows, then struck him with a blow to the head from behind. Cecil staggered, and began to turn. Before he could catch a glimpse assailant, a soothing yet uncanny incantation filled his ears, and he slumped to the ground asleep.

The spell would soon wear off, so everyone began to act without hesitation. It took all three of them to drag Cecil's limp form towards the river. Once there, Firefly and Pigeon scurried off into the darkness. Beaver alone remained by Cecil's immobile form

A second gunshot pierced the night air. This one was followed by a muted splash as Beaver retreated into the river. There he began to wait beneath the surface. Legionnaires were quick to the scene, but even so Pigeon and Firefly were long gone and Beaver had left no clues as to his hiding place. Several minutes later after, having dumped the gun at the bottom of the river and put some distance between himself and the crime scene, Beaver swam ashore. From there he was easily able to reunite with the others.

With Cecil dead, the group's primary objective was complete. Even so their difficulties were still not over as they still had to re-enter the city undetected. The ladder was still in the field where Beaver had left it, so they retrieved it and used it to scale the city walls once more.

Although Pigeon and Beaver were able to disappear into the city streets unseen, Firefly was not so lucky. The ladder scraped audibly on the ground as she adjusted it on her way down, and one of the patrolling guards approached to investigate. Atop the wall he spotted her hastening away at the edge of the torchlight, and took chase. Unfortunately for the guard, Firefly's head start was enough for her to duck into a dark alleyway. There, courtesy of a few stagecraft tricks, it was not a legionnaire that the guard found waiting for him, but instead only the mild-mannered Jesse. The guard was utterly taken in by the switcheroo, and Firefly had no difficulty deflecting his questions in this other persona. While this was taking place, Beaver backtracked to the wall and grabbed the ladder, thus sewing in the last of the loose ends.

The next morning, the entire populace was gripped with consternation. It appeared the legion had been subjected to a spate of killings. In addition to Cecil himself, at least three other legionnaires were also dead, as well as a fourth who was merely attacked and stunned. Worryingly, this left at least one corpse unaccounted for. At the same time, the freshly agitated city zeitgeist presented a new vector for attacking the Empire's morale.

Back under the alias of Lady Ambrosia Seinfeld, Firefly began innocently asking around digging for more information on the dead legionnaires. After getting an idea for what persona was likely to gain the most traction, she prepared a new identity: Carol the middle-aged mother. Engaging with concerned citizens in the guise of one of their own turned up numerous rumours, mostly sensational in nature. In addition to more banal theories, some attributed the recent killings to ghosts; others regarded it as divine punishment for the legion's transgressions.

Mundane threats seemed like a better bet for fomenting unrest, so Carol's rumour-mongering revolved around the death of the one person who could keep the Penitent Legion in line. Clearly the legion murders had legion perpetrators, and it was only a matter of time before they tired of inflicting their violent inclinations on one another. These theories gained traction incredibly easily, and Carol gathered a substantial following almost immediately. The only limiting factor for Firefly was preventing Carol from becoming the centre of attention in her own right.

Meanwhile, Pigeon was pursuing her own line of inquiry regarding the spy house. Prior stakeouts had already revealed that one of the neighbouring houses was empty during the day. After picking the lock telekinetically from across the street, Pigeon nonchalantly stepped inside. Meanwhile Perceval perched on the roof keeping watch waiting for one of the regular visitors to arrive. Pigeon's telepathic spellcasting abilities were quite limited so it would be valuable to cover multiple individuals with a single casting.

The man previously established to linger in the house for hours at a time arrived and entered the building as anticipated. With all her targets in position Pigeon cast the spell and combed through the surface thoughts of those next door at her leisure. Paradoxically her most potent magic was the least detectable when used conservatively. The visitor spent the entire time ruminating about the recent murder. The woman who lived there was focussed on deciphering a code, but had not yet succeeded in doing so when the spell's duration ran out. Interestingly, neither paid any attention to one another. Pigeon concluded that there was nothing further to be done here right now and left as inconspicuously as she had arrived, possible follow-ups churning over in her mind.

It was around this time that the new general Tanya Daguerrochev arrived. The presence of her army attracted little fanfare in the city, and Tanya herself remained an enigmatic unseen figure. A party celebrating her arrival was scheduled a few days from now, but the mood around it was subdued.

Pigeon met up with Beaver and the two of them discussed plans of attack for the spy house. In the end, they settled on a simple plan - wait for everyone in the building to go to sleep, then break in and search for clues. The following night, they waited for a gap in the guard patrols. Following the murders the city watch was on high alert. The patrols followed a regular pattern, so once a suitable opportunity presented itself the two stole across the street with their trusty ladder to enter via one of the upper storey windows.

Pigeon set up the ladder against the house wall and clambered up to the window. As she tested the window itself, the hinges ground with a sickening screech. Muffled steps emanated from inside. Beaver vanished into the night while Pigeon hastened back down. Despite her best efforts she wasn't quick enough to completely avoid being seen - she heard the window open fully as she dashed for cover. At that point, the two of them decided to cut their losses and wait to see what developments Tanya's welcome party would bring.

The group's approach received no modification for the second party. Firefly had managed to secure a spot performing at this party as well, although this time she had competition from other acts. The venue was a different noble's house in the same street, so Beaver was able to set up a sniping position in much the same manner as last time.

The opening act was a singer, who warbled ineffectually to the apathy of the audience. Despite not being exceptional by her own standards, Firefly's followup performance was much better received. Once that was over and done with Firefly could scout the social landscape for leads on the new general.

Tanya herself was not present. Sent in her place were her two lieutenants. Those with passing familiarity with her had not been warned of this yet nonetheless were not surprised. One lieutenant was a conspicuously bubbly woman named Visha Serebrikov. The other was a wiry man by the name of Neumann who was treating the event as a contractual obligation. According to Visha, Tanya's absence could be attributed to the recent controversies in the capital. The debacle with the previous general was a great incentive to stay out of the public eye.

In the days after the party, everyone resumed pursuing their own angles for sabotaging the Empire's war preparation. Beaver radioed home to arrange a dead drop for some poison to taint the army's food. Pigeon spied on the security checkpoints into the military district to gather information on the sorts of paperwork that was required to get in. This venture was briefly interrupted when a clerk noticed Pigeon's familiar and shooed it out of the office, but she eventually had enough for Firefly to collate into some suitably convincing documentation. Firefly was also working on ways into the military district, investigating what sort of roles were expected to enter irregularly yet legitimately.