Veritatem Cognoscere (Mission Notes)

Executor: Aerivandor Rhydane

We finally have some solid suspicions that there is more to Tigris than the beautiful and prosperous kingdom House Taif would like us to think.

A request from Lord Hayal, approved by House Yilmaz, was sent to the Viveni branch. It asked for 4 senior members as trainers for their adolescent children while their parents were busy engaging in business. Their money was good and nothing untoward was in the request given our experiences with Lord Gravewood.

The party found themselves facing a few familiar faces, particularly for Kaladin. This Lord Hayal is a man named Derrick, running a spy guild that competes with the Casus Loca of House Taif. He is married to a forge master from Kish, a minotaur named Bassel. These two helped the original party acquire the legendium links necessary for the kimliks. And now, they used subterfuge to test our mercenaries.

In two separate spars, they tested the limits of our mercenaries, with Bassel as a judge or referee of some sort. Kaladin and Cheldric were taken out but not without eliminating two of the combatants. Then Æskaiser and Sycamore were alone with what were the more deadlier threats. But the match was called off when one of the opponents, Callum, refused to compete any longer. The minotaur agreed and they were led back to the villa of Lord Hayal.

And it is there that some of the ribbons we have been pulling have finally reeled something in: House Taif wishes to control Sammu-marat through their marriage to the Appointed Heir, Princess Esfir. The mercenaries were told the heir is ill and Lady Mahin of Taif will be the true power behind the Enlightened Throne. I only know that the Solesian match with House Taif was meant to be one of trade and culture. But this Derrick claims other matches were for military power and to end the ceasefire with Qilin so that Sammu-marat could finish their subjugation of the other islands. Their most worryign claim was that their ambition and greed will not stop with Tigris. I do not know what this Lord Derick Hayal's future plans are or how much of this information we can trust. For now, I will be looking over the contracts from Tigris with an ever finer comb.

I know you do not want to be involved in the politics of Myrias. We are a mercenary guild and we go where we are paid and do what we are told. But I fear the repercussions of these decisions nonetheless. Tigris is now refusing to be locked in its corner of the world and I have an equal mix of dread and wonder when I imagine what it will bring to Myrias.