• Solo • The Chancellor, Part 5

[Doran]

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

Ymiden 24, Arc 720

“Master?“ Elias, Doran’s mortal servant that had worked for him since Etzos asked in obvious confusion when he hurried past him, into his private laboratory and proceeded to put reagents as well as a thick book, a treatise on magical maladies, into his domain bag.

Elias had just gotten up and left the servant quarters that were on the other end of the hallway in order to start a fire in the various fireplaces as well as make breakfast for his employer when he had noticed the commotion and immediately decided to investigate.

He had hardly ever seen the son of Ziell so worried before. Doran was not usually someone who showed his emotions openly which made him wonder what was going on.

“Don’t leave the Obsidian Prism to-trial”, Doran informed the mortal curtly while he closed his domain bag and put his cloak that had been imbued with certain protective properties on. “The wards should be able to keep you safe for the time being, but I can’t make any guarantees in case you decide to go outside. I …” He hesitated for a few moments, wondering how much he should tell the other man. Elias had always been trustworthy, but there might be people that tried to take a look into his mind.

“There is something potentially concerning going on in Viden. The Chancellor’s condition is only a small part of it, at least that’s what my guest claimed. She is staying in the salon. Make sure that she stays there and doesn’t leave, for whatever reason. If she requests food or something to drink, give her what she wants. She is not lying, but she is prone to irrationality, and she might start to panic”, he explained to the mortal who looked even more confused, if such was at all possible.

For a moment it seemed as if Elias wanted to say something, but then he just inclined his head, having come to the decision that it might be better if he didn’t know a lot about what was happening.

A moment later, he remarked, “I wish you good luck, professor, wherever you are going.”

[Doran]

Viden was still the same, Doran observed as he hurried through the streets, towards the Infirmary. The atmosphere was noticeably subdued – the news of the Chancellor of the Academy being in a coma had spread like wildfire, in spite of the government’s attempts to keep things under wraps – but there was nothing that hinted at the presence of a faction that wanted to make the city theirs – and ultimately kill Yvithia herself.

For a moment, he wondered if he had been too paranoid when he had told Elias to stay inside that trial. The chance that someone was investigating him and would subsequently target his servant was small, at best. If they had noticed that he had met with Smoke, they would likely already have made their move rather than giving him time to prepare.

Besides, there was always the chance that the information that Smoke, who had given a truth serum, had was incomplete or inaccurate, that her assessment of the current situation was somewhat faulty, even though she believed herself to be telling the absolute truth. A truth serum rendered you unable to lie, nothing more and nothing less.

In the end, he decided that it would be better to err on the side of caution, and act as if he were dealing with a worst-case-scenario. With that thought in mind, he entered the Infirmary, nodding at the guards that stood left and right of the entrance and that had been posted at regular intervals in the hallways as well.

The Infirmary was not normally heavily guarded, but this was an extraordinary situation. The Chancellor was one of the most important men in Viden, and he needed to be protected as well as possible.

[Doran]

“Professor, we didn’t expect to see you again so soon”, Doctor Evelyn Grey who was an Eidisi in spite of her human sounding name remarked when he entered the Chancellor’s room. The elderly Eidisi by the name of Sheud Fahe was still lying there, in the single bed that was in the room, unmoving. His eyes were closed, and his skin had an unhealthy ashen tone. His chest was raising and falling fairly regularly though, which was came as a small relief. He had to admit, he had been worried that he might have taken a turn for the worse again,

“I think that I figured something out that might improve his condition and bring him out of his coma”, Doran told her somewhat vaguely as he approached the bed. He did not think that Doctor Grey was involved in the conspiracy that Smoke had talked about. She had been there when he had saved the Chancellor (he had been in critical condition, but one of his potions had at least prevented his death), and she had been quite helpful.

He did not want to reveal too much (or speak about his meeting with Smoke) regardless though.

With that thought in mind, he unpacked his potions, put a pair of protective gloves on and prepared a syringe. The combination of substances that would hopefully counteract what the Chancellor had been poisoned with – what Smoke had told him had made it obvious to him that such was the case – would work faster if injected directly into the bloodstream. Hopefully, it would not be too late. Almost a trial had passed since the Chancellor had suddenly broken down in the middle of a staff meeting and lost consciousness.

“If this works, he won’t return to normal immediately”, he explained to Evelyn who looked at him questioningly – the woman might not be familiar with how exactly his potions worked. “There should be clear signs of improvement within breaks though as I’ve added reagents that will strengthen the effect and speed up the alchemical reaction. I will stay here for a while and watch him myself”, he told her.

[Doran]

The Chancellor slowly started to regain consciousness approximately two breaks later and tried to speak. As he had half feared and half expected, asking him about what had happened in the time prior to his losing consciousness did not reveal anything that he didn’t already know. Sheud Fahe had been at the Academy since the early breaks of the morning and interacted with a wide variety of people during that time. One of them had likely poisoned him – a replacement had been found when Smoke had managed to escape, due to the fact that the device that had been implanted into her had malfunctioned – but who?

And how was he supposed to find them? They were unlikely to return to the Academy, if they were halfway intelligent, and using his Attuning device to search the city would take forever.

Leaving the Chancellor who had fallen asleep before long gave him a bad feeling – it was possible that Sheud Fahe would be targeted a second time, in spite of the guards that had been posted across the Infirmary (while he had few doubts when it came to Evelyn’s allegiances so far, he was not sure if all of them could be trusted) – but he needed to return to Smoke. Everything that the Yludih had told him so far had been true.

He did not know how the two of them (and whatever allies they managed to gather) would be able to stop an entire faction of conspirators, protect Viden and thwart their plan to murder his aunt, but he did at least have to give it a try. As long as there was a sliver of hope, he couldn’t give up. He couldn’t let such people win. Viden was too beautiful a place to leave it to them without a fight.

With that thought in mind, he entered his apartment, feeling some relief at being surrounded by his protective wards once more and subsequently went into his salon to check on his unexpected guest. Smoke was still there, sitting at the table in front of the fireplace, a mostly empty plate (apparently, she had indeed requested something to eat from Elias) in front of her. When she noticed his entrance, she looked up from her food.

“He’s doing noticeably better”, he told her and quickly closed the door behind him. “We need to discuss what we will do next now”, he continued as he took a seat opposite of her, briefly pondering the strangeness of the situation at hand. Smoke had poisoned numerous people the arc before which had led to him getting her arrested. Neither of them had been particularly fond of the other one, but she was, probably, his closest ally now and the one that he could trust the most, apart from Elias and the rest of his servants.

She had as much reason to want to stop them as he did. They had experimented on her and abused her.

[Pig Boy]

Doran

Experience: 10 no magic xp

Knowledge: none

Renown: none

Skill Usage: none used, non-lucid dream

Loot/Losses: none

Injuries/Conditions: none

Consequences: none

Comments: Well this was a bit of a cliffhanger for the end to the first part of the series! What of the plot to kill Yvithia? They didn't catch the killer yet! I want to know mooore.

That said, this was still a pretty entertaining series, and a fun way to test some rather 'out there' alchemical ideas and artifacts. I hope to see more in this series next cycle, then, at any rate.

It was an interesting twist that the main suspect became one of Doran's closest allies in the search, I wonder if she's as innocent and cooperative as the truth serum has made her out to be though... Guess I'll find out next cycle

Enjoy the points!

If you have any concerns about this review, please PM me about them.