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We were all gathered in Osterman's temporary office in the field headquarters just inside the Goldenton gates. It was mid-morning of the day after all our training had been successfully completed and Randy had been smugly boasting of all the new amazing "tricks" he could now do. Something to do with doors and pretty lights, or glowing doors, or something like that.
"What if the girls aren't invisible now?" asked Bookem, "the invisible screamers wont give any indication of visible spies would they"
"Oh" replied Osterman, "I guess not. I had better get them to watch for pretty girls then"
"There are quite a few girls in Goldenton" noted Opera "perhaps we could assist in this operation. Our unique talents would perhaps be more successful than the conventional thicko male troops... oh sorry; I mean the more traditional militia forces"
"Mmm, perhaps so" mused Osterman reluctantly "you go ahead and look after the spy aspect of things then. Keep me updated of any developments. And try not to get into too much trouble"
We retired to our rooms and discussed tactics to track down the spies that were sure to be about. Obviously the militia and their invisible screamers would take care of any invisible spies, but given Antonio's talents we were sure that they wouldn't be using their standard invisible disguise in town.
"And we can't just arrest all the pretty girls" stated Opera.
"How can you tell a wizard?" asked Lon.
"Well, pretty easy if they are in traditional velour" noted Stanley "but none of the girls we've found have been have they"
"No" mused Bookem, "but they are all charmed"
"Detect Charm, of course" stated Opera.
So, we set of to scry the town using the Detect Charm spell. Unfortunately the range wasn't particularly large, and the duration wasn't particularly long, so the process was a bit inefficient. Bookem and Opera took turns casting the spell and we patrolled round likely areas where people would hang out. As we entered one of the local bars for lunch we had our first detection.
"Over there at the bar" pointed out Bookem.
"Where?" yelled Jabu, "I'll kill the wizard bitch"
We were all clustered in the door, Bookem and Jabu having entered first and there was a large number of people at the bar.
One of the female patrons standing at the bar turned towards the party and cast Sleep. Bookem and Jabu slumped to the floor and people started screaming and running about.
"This might get messy" mused Lon, slipping into the crowds and moving towards the bar.
"Die" cast Opera.
The crowds at the bar parted, revealing a slumped female figure. Dressed in inconspicuous leathers, the only distinguishing features on the body were a certain natural beauty [ +1 ] and a familiar set of earrings and necklace. Lon quickly removed the jewellery, gagged her, and trussed her up. Once Jabu was slapped awake he slung the girl over his shoulder and we trooped back to the militia headquarters.
"First one" reported Bookem as we dumped the girl in front of Osterman and headed back out into the town.
We next headed over towards the town gates where Opera quietly pointed out a stunning looking Luln girl chatting to a militia patrol.
"Charmed" Opera said, "Bookem, drop her before she spots us."
"Die" cast Bookem.
The militia patrol were initially quite upset when she dropped to the ground in front of them, but Bookem explained the situation while Lon took care of the jewellery, and Opera kept a look out for any other girls that might be around. Jabu threw her over his shoulder, took a tight grip, and we headed back to headquarters.
"Nice ass" stated Jabu.
"Second one" reported Bookem as Jabu gently put her down in Osterman's office.
"Good work" he replied "I hope there aren't too many more or we might have a problem"
"Well this one didn't have a chance to report in to Antonio, and I'm pretty sure that the first one didn't either, so he probably doesn't know that we know that he might know about our attack" noted Bookem.
"Huh?" wondered Jabu.
"Right then, well keep looking" requested Osterman.
It was getting pretty close to nightfall by this time so we scanned a few streets and a couple of bars then retired for the evening. It looked like Antonio was gathering intelligence on Goldenton and the militia plans for the invasion. We decided that we would check up on critical aspects of the invasion plan and make sure there were no weak links that Antonio could exploit if he found out about them.
"Tomorrow" yawned Opera as she headed to bed.
The next morning we covered quite a bit of the town but didn't locate any further Charmed individuals. Stanley made quite sure that he thoroughly looked over all the pretty and stunning looking females we spotted, but neither he nor the Priests found any spies.
By midday we were just about to give up on the spy scanning when Bookem discretely coughed and indicated a stunning looking female hanging round one of the militia tent camps.
"Charmed" he whispered.
"Die" cast Opera.
"Nice" stated Stanley.
"Third one" noted Bookem as we dropped her off with Osterman, "We found her hanging round the camps. We'd take a look out there but it's probably time to get the local churches to give a hand. It would be more efficient if they had a few priests team up with the militia wizards and a few troops and gave the camps a good going through. We have been using Detect Charm."
"Good idea" replied Osterman, "I'll set that up and you, ah ... you do whatever you think would be best. Do you have any, er ... ideas?"
"Yes" confirmed Bookem, "But it's probably better if you don't know at this stage. We'll report back each evening, and if we uncover anything important"
"Why don't you use one or two of these girls, and without alerting them that you know what they are, feed them a bit of disinformation?" suggested Stanley, "If Antonio has gleaned word about the timing of the attack he may well be ready for us, or he may even try something to thwart the attack. What would happen if the portal structure was destroyed for example?"
"Another good idea Stanley, I'll put my men onto that too. It wouldn't be good for us to walk into a trap when we do launch the attack, and only three days to go now"
"Nice job this" noted Randy as we left the building, "just tell the boss he doesn't need to know what we're doing; sweet. What are we doing?"
"I think we'll just nose around and see what we can find out" replied Bookem, "keep your eyes and ears open, and we'll still be on the lookout for these girls, hopefully he hasn't "recruited" any guys as well; That would sure confuse things!"
"OK, if that's the plan lets head over towards the Klib gates, we haven't spent much time up there" suggested Stanley.
Just out of the Klib gate was one of the big militia camp areas. Rows and rows of neatly erected tents marched across the grassy paddocks, temporary boardwalks had been erected between the tent rows to keep the mud under control, and squads of militia were training in roped off arenas. Sounds of shouting and the clash of weapons echoed round the area. Guards stopped us and asked for ID twice as we crossed the region between the town gates and the first cluster of tents.
"Good work men" commended Bookem as he presented our papers, "we'll be taking a look round to make sure the enemy spies can't sabotage the attack efforts. Carry on"
"Yes Sir" they snapped and waved us through.
"Too easy" muttered Lon peering out from under his hood, "anyone could fake a bit of paper"
We couldn't miss the portal construction site. A huge circular ring, about ten paces in diameter had been constructed within a fenced off compound in the centre of the camp. The ring was made of timber logs, braced off a tower at each side. The towers doubled as guard posts with a platform at the top and half way up with a squad of militia at each level. They were all armed with crossbows and looked alert and capable. Men were scrambling all over the ring, attaching bits of silvery tape and small objects that looked like shiny rocks.
"Crystals" noted Bookem, "I wonder what they do?
"Well" stated Randy, "the crystalline structure of naturally occurring minerals is often used as a psionic amplifier and power store. This is a well documented fact, and these crystals will be required to allow the portal to be constructed this large, and also reach all the way to the castle. I've been learning all about Portals, Dimension Doors, and Dimension Walking now that I have the ability to create most of these effects. I would imagine that to achieve a portal this large, even with all these crystals, will require a powerful Psionicist to create the portal, maybe Mr. Carpel Tunnel himself. Maybe I can meet him?"
Randy peered hopefully round the compound in the hope of meeting the head of the Specularum Psionicists' guild, but alas, he wasn't there.
"Oh well" sighed Randy, "I guess he'll show up at the last minute"
"What would happen if he wasn't around to cast the spell?" asked Opera, "perhaps we'd better check out his security arrangements"
"It's not a Spell" growled Randy, "and if he wasn't around, then the portal wouldn't be able to reach the castle"
"OK, sounds like we need to look into this" commanded Bookem.
We completed our inspection of the portal site without finding any spies, or observing any obvious weaknesses in the arrangements, and headed back into town to check the security round Mr. Tunnel. Randy said he knew where he would be staying, so we followed him through a series of back streets towards the centre of town.
"Maybe he'll lead us to the hidden Psi guild" mused Bookem to himself, "That would be a choice piece of knowledge!"
"Ta-da" stated Randy shortly, "The Golden Wheat Sheaf, and the best Inn in town. That's where I'd be staying if I was old Carpel."
Somebody important was certainly staying there; there were squads of militia all over the place, complete with grumpy looking wizards in their militia velours. Lon slipped off to check the rooftop security while the rest of us tried to approach the Inn.
"Sweet" chuckled Stanley, "I bet those militia wizards are pissed at having to guard a Psi, he he"
Despite Bookem waving our Special Squad papers at various militia officers we were unable to get close to the Inn, and Lon slipped back and reported that the rooftop approaches were also well covered with a number of concealed guards and elevated guard positions.
"Well" stated Bookem, "things seem fine here then"
Since the town bell had recently struck One Bell, we returned to headquarters and reported on the day's activities to Captain Osterman.
"Fine work" he commended, "and just for your information, our spy patrols using Funken and Vingt-et-un spotted a further four girls today. We've got them covertly watched and are feeding them false information; as you suggested."
"Excellent" beamed Bookem, "but it may be prudent to delay the attack slightly just in case Antonio has already found out about the timing and prepared some nasty surprise for the troops. Without letting too many people know of course"
"Sounds a bit paranoid" replied Osterman, "but I'll discuss it with the Attack Committee tonight"
"It's better to expect the worst, and be pleasantly surprised, than be killed!" stated Stanley.
"Quite so," Osterman agreed.
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