Ghost Rage, Episode 6a – Vote now!

Results for the previous episode: “Hippodrome” and “Catacombs” tied at 38%, so a coin toss chose “Hippodrome”.

“The Countess bade me,” you tell Korthion, “to meet her at the hippodrome, by the western entrance.”

Korthion stares hard at you, and then grunts. “Makes sense, for her to choose a public location. The easiest place to hide is in plain sight.”

He has no idea how right he is.

Cenorix swears. “But today is the first day of the Provincial Tournament. There will be a hundred thousand people at the hippodrome. How are we going to find her?”

Korthion gives him an irritated look. “As I said, it makes sense.”

“The Countess said she would be disguised as a sausage vendor,” you say, thinking of the hordes of peddlers who sell food of very dubious quality to the racing spectators, “near the western entrance.”

“Good,” said Korthion. “We’ll proceed to the hippodrome. Cenorix, you’ll arrest the Countess on the pretext of selling tainted meat. Then we’ll take her back to the Magisterium’s chapterhouse and kill her at leisure.” He looks back at you. “And you, my dear, will be free of the Countess’s clutches, along with your husband. Unless you betray us, of course.” He beckons to Cenorix. “To the hippodrome, then. Have your men keep a close eye on our informant. Kill her if she causes any trouble.”

You follow Korthion and Cenorix to the hippodrome, a dozen militiamen in a loose ring around you. Soon you leave the Rose Inn and the Grand Market behind, and arrive at the sprawling stone pile of the Imperial Hippodrome. You hear the rumble of the chariots spinning their circuit within the hippodrome, and the constant roar and babble of the assembled crowds. Statues of long-dead Emperors, generals, and magi stand in arches in the Hippodrome’s high walls, and the usual crowd of peddlers, sausage-sellers, idlers, pickpockets, whores, and thieves throng the market square below the Hippodrome.

Soon the militamen have trouble beating a path through the crowd.

“Where is she?” says Korthion.

You slip a hand into your belt pouch.

“There,” you say, pointing at a fat, bearded man selling sausages from a sizzling tray. To judge from the smell, you suspect that the sausages contain a higher than usual percentage of rat meat and sawdust. “She’s right there.”

Cenorix squints. “That…is a remarkable disguise.”

Korthion frowns, and sudden rage flashes over his face as he realized that you tricked him.

Too late.

You pull a handful of silver coins free from your belt pouch and throw them into the air. They spin overhead for a moment, flashing in the sunlight, and then fall against the paving stones.

Hushed silence falls over the nearby crowds, followed by a sudden roar as everyone dives for the coins at once. Several of the militiamen are knocked from their feet in the rush, and in a heartbeat a small riot has broken out around you. Korthion whirls to face you, snarling, and you feel the sudden tingle as he summons arcane power. But you duck into the seething crowd, and break free before Korthion can hit you with a spell. You start sprinting, and soon you put the riot, and the militiamen, behind.

You’ve gotten away. Now what?

You still need to visit the Temple of the Hearthmother, find the name of Julian Trimogena’s betrothed. You could proceed there at once; it’s only a short distance from the Imperial Hippodrome. But Korthion and Cenorix will still be hunting.

But the Ghosts have a bolt-hole prepared near here, hidden in the back room of one of the stables catering to the Hippodrome. Supplies and weapons are hidden there, and you could equip yourself with a different disguise, hopefully throwing Korthion and Cenorix off your trial.

Even as the thought comes to you, one of the men moving through the crowd catches your eye. A common mercenary, you think; stringy black hair, leather armor, a broadsword and a dagger at his belt. He’s drinking from a skin of wine, and belting out an incoherent, drunken song in the Szaldic tongue. He looks little different from the thousands of other revelers milling about the Hippodrome.

Except for the facial tattoo covering his right cheek and jaw.

It looks familiar, and then you recognize it. It’s the symbol you saw painted in Julian Trimogena’s blood, the symbol that had held his betrothal ring.

Though the symbol tattooed on the man’s face is upside down, compared to the one you saw above Lord Julian’s bed.

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