Duke sat upon his throne, having changed into a more everyday outfit. He was here for answers, not courtly ceremony so he wanted to be comfortable. Surrounding him were his closest advisors and friends including Baslin, Aurelia, Borondar, Madrigal, and Hargwaetch.

The looks of trepidation on the emissaries’ faces briefly fluctuated to looks of relief when they saw Duke sitting upon the throne. He gestured towards the chairs set up before him. “Please have a seat.”

Lord Greengold was brought in after the emissaries were seated. It was clear that he was trying to remain calm but having difficulty given the setting. “Lord Greengold, please have a seat as well.”

The three men stared at Duke, trying to read his emotions but were not picking anything up from him. Protocol did not allow them to speak until given permission and Duke was playing that angle hard.

“Gentleman, as you are well aware, there was an attempt on my life tonight. We have the assassin in custody and clearly, I attempt failed and I am well. There is one among you that knew this was going to happen. What do you have to say about that?”

Both Lord Aaron and Lord Sleisthak spoke up simultaneously. “I knew nothing of this, Your Majesty.” They looked at each other suspiciously and Duke was able to read them easily. Both were speaking honestly and were openly suspicious of each other.

Lord Aaron continued. “But the assassin came from my staff and Ansky must answer for this.” His face grew stern as steel, and he continued. “I offer my own life as recompence for this terrible affront to Stormstride.”

That brought a gasp from many of the people in the room before Lord Greengold spoke up. “Your Majesty, I knew that Lady Pedroia was an assassin. I tried to get warning to you, but it appears that I was not successful.”

Duke smiled. “Lord Greengold, we are going to have a long talk about this as your warning came in plenty of time. I simply did not care to prevent the attempt on my life and, as you can see, I am a lot harder to kill than they expected. I know who the assassin was working for and their motivation. What I do not know, and I now suspect you, Lord Aaron, don’t know is how this assassin infiltrated your staff. Oh, and no, I’ll not be taking your head in recompense. You have questions to answer, but this is not a matter between Ansky and Stormstride. It is a matter between Stormstride and Pahst.”

That last statement saw Lord Aaron relax visibly before speaking up. “Your Majesty, there are people I must speak with including my Emperor. He must be informed of this treachery from his own ranks and be allowed to investigate as well.”

“I would expect so. This attack was designed to pit our nations against each other and had it succeeded, it likely would have done just that. I give Pahst credit for being clever and conniving, but she will answer for this. Now, Lord Greengold, it is time for you to share what you know.”

“Your Majesty, I would ask that we speak in private about this as it may reveal some secrets that might be better left concealed.”

“That’s pretty ballsy of you after all this. I’ve already dealt with one assassination attempt. What makes you think I’m going to take a private meeting with someone I don’t fully know and trust?”

“Because I warned you about the assassin. That should be enough get me a meeting.”

Dammit, he’s not wrong. But who the fuck is this guy? We think he came from Ansky originally but that could be some sort of cover story. The Ansky emissary doesn’t seem to know who he is. Should I even be worried about another attempt? I seem to have figured out how to beat poison…barely.

“Very well, you will have your private audience. As for everyone else. Your respective staff’s will be questioned.” Duke pointedly looked over to Borondar. “Gently and respectfully.” He waited for acknowledgement from the Guard Captain before continuing. “Lord Aaron, Lord Sleisthak, please continue whatever trade negotiations you have begun or other diplomatic matters you have before you. We shall have another meeting in the coming days. Thank you.”

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The seasoned diplomats heard the dismissal and thanked Duke for his mercy and grace, quickly departing the room. Duke gestured for everyone else to carry on before he looked Greengold directly in the eye and TELEPORTED them both to a room in the Lake Front Dungeon. This was a special room that had no exits. Two chairs quickly formed from the floor and Duke took one of them.

“You will not find a more secure room in all the world, but it also means that unless I personally let you out of this room, you will never leave. No one else can reach this room or even knows where it is for that matter. My patience for a great many things has run out. Speak plainly and truthfully. I’ll know if you lie even a little bit. Who are you really and what is your connection to all this?”

Greengold looked around the blank stone walls of the room and then back to Duke. “OK, here’s the deal. I have one hell of a story and telling anyone may put me in tremendous danger. But I see what you are doing in this kingdom and my conscience drove me to this point. Might as well go full-bore.”

“I’m sure you heard my backstory that I came from the Ansky Empire and happened to be here when things went to shit with Chopie. That story is complete bullshit. I visited the Empire once before coming here but I am from the kingdom of Pahst. I worked for the queen’s spymaster and was sent to infiltrate Chopie’s court. I had gotten in far enough to see that he was an even greater terror than her. My former, and I want to emphasize that word, FORMER, queen is a jealous bitch. She wanted everything that Chopie had. Everything he had built, she made a copy of. It was really sick.”

Greengold paused, gathering his thoughts before continuing. “I was raised in service to her spymaster from when I was a young child. He trained me to be a spy, how to quietly gather information, how to turn someone into my agent and how to keep them from flipping back. I was spying on Chopie when you came onto the scene. After his embarrassment in the arena, he was obsessed with killing you to the point that he forgot nearly everything else. That is how Duke Negron rose to such a high position so quickly. He offered Chopie ways to hunt you down and kill you that his longstanding court mage could not.”

“You made it a point to say former there…”

“I was raised by a sadistic bastard. I only knew life under both him and Pahst and it was brutal. Then I saw the Ansky Empire and actually saw some happy people. Then I returned to another cruel place under Chopie. I understood that to be my lot in life and nearly gave up. When you came to wipe Chopie out, I didn’t know what to do. What I was duty-bound to do was to flee back to Pahst, but my heart told me this was my chance to break away from Pahst so I chose to just plain flee the capitol. They would have no way to know if I lived or died. In doing so, I joined the crowds fleeing ahead of the battle. I was lucky and made it into Havenreach and everything changed for me there. I found my ability to read people helped me find work under the Mayor and, for the first time in my life, I loved what I was doing. Connecting merchants with crafters and crafters with resources and adventurers with crafters and all that is just so much fun. And everyone was genuinely happy to work with each other. It changed me.”

“I understand. Now tell me about the assassin.”

“I recognized her from my work with Pahst’s spymaster. She is a master poisoner and when I say master, I mean Master. You should not have given her the chance to strike you. It is a miracle that you survived.”

“Yes, a miracle. Do you know all Pahst’s assassins and spies?”

“A great many of them. There may be a few that I don’t know but they would be at the lowest levels. The spymaster was grooming me to take over once my assignment was complete, so I was in the meetings with the vast majority of them.”

Duke could tell that Greengold was telling the truth. His body language sang out with sincerity and Duke was sure he could believe the man. Now came the part that Duke was really not sure of.

“Thank you for being so upfront and honest with me. Now I have an additional question for you. I have a problem and you seem to be someone who could solve it for me. I am in need of a spymaster.”

Greengold immediately responded. “I can’t do that. I just don’t have it in me anymore.”

Duke nodded, changing tack immediately. “What I am asking is for you to work with my Trade Minister and be part of all the negotiations. While doing so, you will inevitably hear things. I am asking you to share what you hear. That’s all.”

Greengold’s face brightened. “You want me to work with the Minister of Trade and negotiate on behalf of our people?”

“Yes, that is the primary role I am looking for.”

“Oh, yes. I can do that. Gods yes, I will do that. And I will share any gossip I pick up as well. Yes, that is perfect. Thank you!”

“Then I shall make arrangements to put you in place. Are you willing to swear an oath of loyalty to the nation and its people?”

“Not an oath to you?”

“No, I want Stormstride to survive even should I not. The people and way of life I am fostering here are what need to be preserved and loyalty to the nation is greater than loyalty to any one individual.”

“Your approach is so far from either Chopie’s or Pahst’s that it’s beyond belief. I will gladly take such a vow.”

“Excellent. Let’s take care of that and get you in with Lady Hargwaetch so you can start fleecing our neighbors.”