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No words were needed, Tatherus wiped the tear from her cheek and gave her a nod, he then proceeded to climb the ladder, and with a push he opened the manhole cover and looked around. When he was sure the cost was clear he pushed the cover off the manhole and climbed out, the others including Mishra followed not knowing what they would find. It didn't take long for them to get their bearings and set off in search of the Chancellor and the rest of Tatherus's family.

Time past in silence apart from the gentle chink of the knights heavy armour as they worked their way through the corridors making sure not to alert the guards that patrolled them. Tatherus was about to round a corner when he heard the sound of a patrol walking toward them, he froze and giving a quick hand signal he and the rest of the group darted into a nearby room. The guards walked right up to the door and stopped they didn't enter the room as per standard guard protocol but stood outside and started to have a quiet chat.

"Hay did you hear that they captured the rest of the Red Claw family?" one asked the other "I hear they will get the special treatment from the Slave guards before they are shipped out, and get this rumour has it that the girl is still purer, no one has given her a good pounding in the target zone yet"

"Yes I have, and frankly I'm just annoyed that I was stuck on hallway patrol instead of the courtyard, and another thing how the hell did lord Nagrath stop the Mages from attacking us? I mean there was an entire Cabal here and several Clerics too, and they were all powerless" his fellow replied Tatherus recognised the voice as being from a large feline of some description.

"I don't know, maybe he found something that gave him the edge" the first guard said back speculatively, "come on we need to finish this sweep then were off duty, I'm looking forward to having the biggest flagon of Ale you have ever seen and some alone time with that Minx slave down at the Fire Ants Nest"

"You still go to that dingy dock side Tavern? you know it's where the thieves guild like to pick there marks" the second guard said with a twinge of disgust in his voice before walking down the hall away from the door, Tatherus couldn't pick out much after that, but now the group knew where to go.

Tatherus looked around the room they were in and was almost hit flat on his rear end when he realised where they were, the office was smaller than he remembered after all he was a child the last time he entered this room and just like it was back then the desk was covered with loose papers and scrolls. Something within Tatherus told him there was something here that would shine some light on what the guards were talking about, he began to search the documents on the table making sure he didn't disturb anything many of the papers were little more than Tax documents and Council meeting transcriptions but one object stood out, Tatherus picked up the small leather bound journal and opened it finding a name scribbled in the top left hand corner of the first page 'Nagrath Shadow fang' this was what he was looking for he hoped that the journal had what he needed.

By this time Talon was getting antsy again, the guards had moved on and now Tatherus was looking at a book, "hay Tath, the guards are gone, are we going to move or what?" he asked trying to not let the volume of his voice go any higher than a calm word.

"just a moment, I think there's something in this journal that will explain a few things, like how Nagrath was able to overwhelm a large gathering of Mages and Clerics" Tatherus replied still looking through the book, much of the writing was badly done almost bordering on rushed scribbles and not carefully written words. Flipping over the next page the Komodo Dragon's eyes opened wide almost to the size of dinner plates "found it!" he said with an elated coo, the rest of the group except for Talon congregated around him to see what he found.

Tatherus pointed to a paragraph and began to read out loud 'The secondday of my preparations has come to an end but I still am missing a crucial item. It's not a question of where to find it but how to get it, my good friend was scheduled to deliver it to me but he ended up getting killed by bandits, lucky for me the object was recovered by the Crimson Eye and now resides in the hands of the Mages. If they find out it is the fabled Orb of the Reaper they will destroy it, I cant let them do this for I Necromancer Lord Nagrath and soon to be king of Obsidias will have this fabled artefact and learn its secrets this I swear.'

"That how he did it, I remember father telling me the story of the orb but I thought it was a legend" Tatherus flopped down in a nearby chair his eyes full of disbelief.

"But if this book holds the secrets of a man who wants to gain power through deceit wouldn't he hide it better? I mean it could be a trap, why leave it here to find?" Talon speculated still watching the door.

"Because I wanted him to find it" came a gruff voice, the group jumped and looked to where the voice came from. From a shadowy corner the group could make out the form of a wolverine in heavy plate armour, he stood leaning up against a book case his eyes locked firmly on the group near the desk "and I wouldn't be so hasty drawing your weapons in the presence of a god".

The Wolverine moved into the light revealing himself in all his glory, an almost golden light seemed to envelop him making him hard to look at, he held a massive two handed claymore in his left hand like it weighed as light as air itself and his eyes glowed a vibrant orange. The group found themselves dropping to their knees and began to pray, Talon didn't get the memo until he turned around and with a gaping beak he began to stammer uncontrollably, it didn't take him long to follow the others example.

"Arise young champions" he commanded and the group complied, "I've been watching you for some time now and I feel it is time to act" he waved his hand and conjured up what looked to be a replica of the Orb "we need to stop him from using the orb, if he uses it all of life will in danger" he snapped his finger causing the replica to disappear like smoke in the wind "and the only way to do this is to shatter it"

"But how will we shatter it? If we are going to destroy the orb we can't do it with it with mundane weapons, and we don't have an enchanter nearby to imbue the ones we got" Tatherus asked trying looking at the situation logically.

"you just leave the logistics of that part to me, besides there are many people in the court yard who need to be saved, that is your top priority" the god replied, "I only have a finite amount of energy to work with, when it's depleted I will return to my realm so I can't help all that much, most of the heavy lifting will be done by you and your companions"

The group gave a nod and proceeded to the door, after a quick check the group made their way through the maze of corridors till they found the court yard, all the while making sure that they didn't alert the guards. Tatherus moved quickly through the door into the open space and moved into a perfect hiding spot with the best view, the others soon followed and began to assess the situation but what they saw made each of them shiver. The once beautiful garden of the court yard was completely changed into a space of debase sex and torcher, several slave cages lined one side each filled with three to four slaves that were ether taken from the citadel or shipped in for Nagrath pleasure or appetite while the other side was converted into an alchemists work space, at the work bench an old and very sleep deprived mole worked on a blue liquid in a conical flask, the poor thing had a collar around his neck and his feet were shackled to one of the many stone pillars that made up the court yards architecture.

"Damn them, they go Magrenos!" Zarasha whispered to Tatherus her voice was saturated in hatred "and they have him mass producing the potion I gave you the day before we were initiated"

There was some movement from one of the cages that the group was unable to see properly followed by an evil snigger, as the group watched three people walked out into the open causing Tatherus to give out a quiet hiss. Gorgon gave a grunt of anger as the two identified the three individuals, the first two were grizzly bears that were stark naked the other figure was a very familiar black rhino but all were moving something into the court yards centre where a strange contraption sat, it was obviously to tie down something while having it suspended in mid-air almost like a tanning bed bit it was too big for simple leather work and there was too many winches and pullies making it clear that it was a torcher apparatus. The group watched as the three men places someone into the device and winch her up so they were upright; it was only when the three individuals were satisfied at their work and moved away to choose their tools that the Knights were able to see who they had strung up. The female Komodo dragon's batted and stripped form slumped slightly in the device while her head looked around exhaustedly eventually she managed to look in Tatherus's direction giving him a view of her eyes, his mouth dropped open as he saw the beautiful Emerald green eyes of his twin sister.

"By the gods! No, Not Jade!"