A plan is put in place to assassinate the Leader incarnate as the city of Serradis is swept up in the carnival of masques.

The party first head to Serradis aboard one of the boats belonging to the southern islanders swinging far out into the deep flux in order to avoid any Serradic patrols.

As the flare from the teleportation settles the party find themselves in a dark cavern surrounded by shadowy figures who quickly move in converging on Faria Carver and the small child. Jimmy and the others quickly shout the civil service welcoming committee down explaining that the leader is no longer within the child an exercise which is helped by several members of the civil service confirming that no God appears to be present.

After this Jimmy and Penelope set about making the dying Vincent as comfortable as possible. This doesn't stop Jimmy pocketing as many Tender blood soaked bandages as possible or Penelope using a traitor infused miracle to pocket the heart of Arcus Blackthorn before anyone else notices however. Vincent is quickly transported back to his church and dies surrounded by his congregation merging with the being who is the Tender. His Body is buried in the Garden surrounding his church and from the patch of ground grows a clump of rose bushes with blood red flowers. A rumour spreads through the city that the petals taste of blood and salt and that consuming one and spilling blood upon the ground allows one to commune with the tender herself. This remains mere curiosity however as a squad of Church Militant is assigned to stop the resting place being desecrated.

The funeral itself is attended by all the notables of the city. Penelope declares a day of mourning on the day and preaches to her congregation about how Vincent's last days,

“We all have to make hard choices. Some of those choices are harder to make than others; some of those choices have serious consequences. Vincent Cargan was a man who faced the hardest choice: to lose his life but to save so many more. Vincent made that hardest choice: respect that, and remember his name.”

Penelope and Jimmy agree to take the girl to the Tender church to recover once she is better Jimmy arranges for a new life for her in Strasbourg where he hopes her infamy as the leader will not follow her promising that she and her family can stay as long as they want. A promise which Penelope feels the need to check with cease your deceptions.

In the council Jimmy is able to use his mayoral powers to get through an interim peace treaty with Serradis and some diplomats are quickly dispatched to arrange things. Fortunately it seems that the majority of the serradic pantheon were convinced of the benefits of peace at their summit and the diplomats are if not warmly received cautiously excepted. Both sides seem keen on the idea of a set of Games to test the martial prowess of warriors from the two nations as well as the exchange of non-magical knowledge and other cultural products. Eventually a grand event is agreed upon to take place in the city of Liarus, which remains for now under Serradic control. The event will feature tests of martial skill, plays and other examples of the two peoples cultures, and hopefully a great exchange of knowledge. Committees are swiftly put in place to attempt to make sure this actually happens. In the meantime a tentative peace settles over the continent and trade between Acryn and the Serradic empire swiftly picks up aided by Jimmy Hoskin's and Marius Callis' mutual love of great profit as they begin a highly profitable trade agreement. One further thing which emerged during the talks is that the majority of Serradis seems to be under the impression that the Blood of the empire has returned and is in favour of peace.

Faria Carver is tried and convicted of treason, during the trial many of the Leaders less patriotic acts are also laid at her door and the leaders reputation starts to improve within Acryn. Particularly after Jimmy and Penelope both give stirring accounts of how the force which had corrupted him was driven out by the tender. Perhaps remembering a time when a large chest of gold was snatched away from him Jimmy calls upon his personal power and curses Faria Carver to be consumed by her own failures as she runs over them again and again in her head alone in her cell.

There is some debate amongst the civil service about whether the original mission was actually fulfilled but after some forceful arguments put forward by the party they eventually agree to part with most of the agreed upon amount.

Saffron uses he savings and earning to set herself up as a Madame of an inn called the Lovely Peacock, abandoning the Saffron persona as she assumes it has been rumbled by unit 03 and adopting a new one as Sapphire. Some associates of Marius contact her there as agreed she puts them in touch with some of her more influential clients as they begin to set up their trading endeavours within Acryn. In return for a share of the profits of course. This combined with Jimmy's trade as well eventually leads to the establishment of the East Empire Company as a conglomerate which seems to control significant amounts of the trade between Serradis and the East.

Unit 03 does some things which require an uptime encounter to resolve so will go unspecified for now.

The Leader meanwhile as been returned to something more akin to the man he once was before treachery soured his heart. The Leader and the Tender have however made a pact to be revenged upon the traitor.

• 350 riel
• Contacts East Empire company and Church of The Blood of the Empire.
• An extra 30 riel incomes per adventure from Trade concerns with Serradis.

• 350 Riel
• Contacts East Empire company and Church of The Blood of the Empire.
• An extra 30 riel incomes per adventure from Trade concerns with Serradis.

• 350 Riel
• Some stuff I need to talk to Dan/Grover about.

• 350 Riel
• The heart of Arcus Blackthorn.