Legum walked up to Gunther, who was standing near the ramp leading down from the Golden Sunset to the Nol dock. He tried to control his nervousness, but assisting in cutting a man's throat was a little out of his normal line of work. Luckily, Guther seemed engrossed in his own thoughts. Legum was close enough now for the device to work, but he waited a few seconds for the Hectlac cultist, Marson Braize, to get into position. Then he triggered the ring Marson had given him.

Gunther looked at him, alarm springing up on his face, but it was much too late. Marson clamped a hand over his face, and sliced through Gunther's neck with the razor sharp dagger. Gunther fought for a few seconds, then his eyes glazed over. The last thing he did was to carefully mouth the words "You are a dead man" to Legum. Then he was dead. A nearby sailor began to yell "Murder! Murder on Deck! "in a loud voice. Marson pulled a small crystal out of his pocket and tossed in on the deck. A wall of fire sprung up almost immediately, cutting off the weapon drawing deck hands from the two of them and the body. The ship caught fire, adding smoke and more billowing flame to the confusion.

Legum had enough. He ran down the gang plank to the dock. As he carried the ring generating the anti-magic field away from Gunther's body, he heard Marson curse. He glanced back just in time to see Gunther's body vanish. He and Marson moved rapidly away from the scene, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible.

When they reached a reasonable distance from the confusion, Legum confronted Marson. He had not taken into account the possibility of Assassin's cult reprisal until hearing Gunther's threat. Marson was not particularly sympathetic, but finally if reluctantly agreed to part with a magic bracelet that would allow Legum to speak with a direct subordinate of Archpriest Vanderhoven in Bythe ten times in order to compensate for Legum's new notoriety. Legum was still bitter, but sensed that he would gain no more by arguing with Marson. Legum retrieved the dagger, giving it to Marson, who promised to sink it far out at sea.

Legum spent the next week waiting for the rest of the party to join him in Nol. He was also getting more and more concerned about Elwood, who had not been seen in a few days and who failed to make an appearance during the week. About the time everyone else arrived on a Kethem merchant, a ransom note had arrived at Arab Mycain's tent It demanded that the group trade the STAM crystal for Elwood. Who would know about the STAM crystal, and not know that Fra Rentec had teleported it to Bythe, was a mystery to the group.

They went en mass to the meeting site, a inn that was frequented by Kethemers, finding it apparently deserted. They entered, determined to retrieve Elwood. A fight ensued, during which they trashed the other group. The leader was recognized as Bearcaw, who had been with the original expedition to Nostrilia, when the hidden weapons cache that contained the STAM crystal had been first found. They had met Bearclaw when he was attempting to persuade Fra Rentec that he should hire him and his group rather than them. It was now clear that Bearclaw had killed the leader of the first expedition and had planned the same fate for Fra in order to capture the STAM crystal for himself. Unfortunately, Bearclaw managed to escape during the battle.

The party decided it was time to try allying themselves with an outside group since Kethem was becoming a hazardous place for so many of them. Legum, and more than likely Nial, were targets for the assassins cult. Legum was thought to be a murder and an arsonist. Ziwa had to avoid Baldar. Tallow was persona non grata with his old lord, and Rocky needed to be watchful for Kanday spies in Kethem attacking him in retribution for killing the old King's grandson.

Legum was ready to try joining the Ibisi, who demanded the head of a Chen Kunda taken in single combat as an initiation right. This was enough to daunt him, and the group decided instead to try the elves.
A week later, an elvish ship pulled into port. The group shared the fate of the Elvish Ambassador who's rotting corpse they had discovered in the sewers of Bythe, as well as describing the strange symbol that had been on the amulet controlling him at the time of his death. The ship's captain, Manorisien Plelellan, looked on the symbol with horror and told the group it was the same symbol inscribed in the handle of the sword Changling. The group recalled Hotherial's story of the sword and how Morgaine, daughter of one of the people who had been slain by those envious of the sword's powers, had taken it three hundred years ago with a promise to "throw it from the ends of the earth". She had never been heard from again... until now.

This information was sufficient to ensure passage for them on Plelellan's ship to the Evael trading port They, like all non-elves, were only allowed on the small island just off the coast of the Evael forest. Even here, the power of the elves was clear as countless small spells were used for everything from lighting to warding off rain. The buildings, like all elvish work, were slim, graceful towers, so fragile in appearance that it was hard to believe they could stay standing.

Hotherial met them here. They talked for a time about the sword Changling. Hotherial explained that it was not in and of itself an evil weapon, but a very powerful one. It gave the wielder the power to open gates to other worlds, other dimensions; one could sweep a group of enemies to elsewhere in a single swing, or call forth an army from apparent nothingness in a short period of time. The problem was the envy it induced, even among as mature a group as the elves. The wielder could not constantly guard themselves, so they all, sooner or later, fell to assassins or "friends" who slit their throat while they slept.

They also traded stories about the black ship. Hotherial, given the information about the elvish derelict and some details about the black ship, was able to surmise that the magic engine from the smaller elvish vessel had been salvaged was was being used to drive the massive Kethem warship. He warned, however, that such misuse of the engine would result in a powerful magic field that would cause unexpected results, like mutation of lower life forms. The sudden appearance of the poisonous variety of yellowfin in Kethem was thus explained. Hotherial agreed to use elvish influence at the highest levels of Kethem government to stop the experimentation with the elvish engine.

Legum, determined to ally the group with the elves, asked for a communications bracelet that would allow him to communicate with Hotherial for ten one minute periods. Hotherial, convinced of Legum's good intentions, agreed. He also asked for the elves to teach him the next level of detect magic. Hotherial frowned, then reluctantly agreed. "This is in exchange for the information you have brought us" he said. "This one time I can help you, but no more than this is in my power." Legum, surprised at the reluctance, pressed Hotherial for a stronger commitment to teaching the group spells in the future. Hotherial apologetically shook his head. "Elves have survived thus far by the strength of our magic" he explained. "We must be very careful about raising magic levels outside of Evael. We do teach spells to non-elves sometimes, but the person must have performed some great act for the elves, and there must be a good reason. I would have to argue greatly with the high council to allow this agreement, and chances are good that I might loose that battle. It would be better to wait until you have more leverage to make that kind of attempt."

After Hotherial's and Legum's conversation, Ziwa took Hotherial aside. "I don't understand" she exclaimed. "The elves in Bythe wouldn't even talk to me. Why is it different here?"

"They did not know the current situation with you" explained Hotherial. He kneeled down, looked into her eyes. "Ziwa, I am very old, and have many ... things I have learned over the years. One of these is the ability to suppress another elf s capability to send. You would be deadly for almost any elf other than myself. I have transferred this capability to Facinalethvree. Now, the sword protects you from harming other elves." He stood again. "I'm afraid the elves in Bythe should not find out that this is true, even if it causes some difficulty for you". Ziwa looked at him oddly.

"I don't understand" she said.

Hotherial began walking, a frown on his face. "Ziwa, this problem with your send... it is not a natural artifact. Like I explained, I can suppress your send. But there are only a handful of elves that could. It is not an easy thing to do. Yet someone... or something... has not only managed to suppress yours, they have twisted it into a curse. Why this was done... this is something that must be determined. With magic of this caliber... well, it appears that there may be an enemy out there that can match or better us in our strongest area. This worries me. Now you and your friends bring this news of Changeling, and that it is somehow connected to the disappearance of our lead ambassador to Bythe. This worries me more. If these people have the kind of power to do what they have done to you, and to gain control of Meridalian, who knows how much information they can gather from the elves in Bythe. I do not enjoy keeping secrets from elves... but I think in this case it is wise". He looked at her carefully. "Daughter, I could probably correct this... problem of yours. But I dare not, for the same reasons. Whoever did it must know that this capability exists here. Until we know more about who they are and why they did this too you, I cannot risk allowing you to join us as a full elf. There is a story about a Tojan Horse I should tell you..."

Ziwa and Hotherial joined the rest of the party. The group's decision was to try and reach Veskavar, the dragon, and talk to him about the new information they had received from the Ibisi scouts prior to leaving Nol. The Ibisi were spying on the old Chen-Kunda teleportal that the Urakai were using. The Ibisi determined after a long reconnaissance that Urakai groups teleported on the fourth day of each month. More alarmingly, they had established a small camp at the site of the teleportal with about twenty Urakai maintaining a permanent presence. The camp was on the border of the Vulf and Kodor tribe's territory. First, however, they would take the time to learn the spells that Hotherial had promised.

The week and a half flew by. The lessons were difficult, but the elves made excellent teachers [note - no chance of failure on learning the spell], Hotherial graciously made Manorisien Plelellan's ship available to them for transportation, and they were on their way to Nol.

After they pulled in, the group stayed belowdecks until nightfall, then tried to leave the ship as quietly as possible. A short time later, they join Arab Mycain in his tent. To their surprise, Arab Myina was there, apparently recovered from his wounds. They traded stories, and when Legum explained the plan to travel over land to Smaegan, the ancient ruins that made Veskavar's home, the two Ibisi nodded.

"We will be more than happy to guide you" they explained. "In fact, we were about to head in that direction ourselves. You see, we have lost contact with the scouts who were scouting the Urakai camp."