"I carried the summons personally, hoping to find Lady Marin returned to Crossroad Keep with a plausible explanation in hand, but..." Nevalle paused, looking about at all who had gathered in Crossroad Keep's war council chamber, unused since the search for the Knight Captain had been called off three years before. Casavir restlessly paced the length of the room while Khelgar sat at the council room s round table, muttering darkly in dwarvish to himself as he glowered at Gann, who sat calmly with his feet up on the table.

Sand looked up from where he stood just behind the dwarf, where he had been pensively tugging at his lip as he considered possible courses of action and their likely implications. "Marin rarely does anything expected, although her actions usually turn out for the good, in the end."

"Be that as it may..." Nevalle sighed then, heavily. "There is nothing else to do. I must return to Neverwinter immediately and disclose all to Lord Nasher, including my own indiscretions in the matter."

"But surely if you tell Lord Nasher the reason, the justice implicit..."

"I should never have agreed to such secrecy," said Nevalle regretfully. He shook his head then, a wry expression crossing his face as he looked across to Casavir, "But then, the Lady Marin can be extremely persuasive when she chooses."

"You should have heard her when we were on the Fugue Plane, bargaining with the god of the dead for the return of her soul," said Gann. He leaned back easily in his chair, delicately cleaning his nails with a dagger. "That was something else to experience, I tell you."

Casavir threw the hagspawn an irritated look as he did whenever Gann referred to his adventures with Marin, but refrained from saying anything in response. He was about to speak to Nevalle when a familiar tingling sensation swept his skin. He looked expectantly to the door as it opened, hope rising, only to see Neeshka standing in the doorway, not Marin. As she entered the familiar tingling sensation of Marin's presence grew, but then the prickle of the tiefling thief's presence reached him and the feeling was lost. Casavir shook his head, screwing his eyes shut and pinching the bridge of his nose. It was happening as before in the Host Tower; he could feel she was near, or else he was losing his mind. The frustration drove him to speak of it, "Neeshka, is Marin not near? I thought for a moment there I could sense her presence."

"No, Casavir. There has still been no sign of her," replied Neeshka. She was about to say something else when she suddenly seemed to realise something. She glanced over her shoulder, then reached out with a trembling hand and carefully shut the door. When she spoke, her voice was carefully controlled, "Bevil's got scouts combing the surrounding area, and two patrols are sweeping the northern reaches. All we can do now is wait."

Casavir struck the table in frustration. "We should be out there, searching for her as well! To just sit around..."

"Before we go any further I think I should draw your attention to at least one silver lining I believe you've all missed in contemplating the dark storm clouds hanging above our heads," remarked Sand. The comment drew all eyes to the moon elf and he habitually rolled his eyes at them before elaborating, "That Lord Nasher has sent for Marin suggests she ultimately managed to evade capture by the Host Tower and escaped. If she was dead or in their hands, Luskan would have had no reason to involve Neverwinter."

"Unless Luskan seeks further embarrassment at Lord Nasher's expense, by showcasing the indiscretions of one of Neverwinter's nobility to all and sundry," said Nevalle. "I wouldn't put something like that past them."

"I don t think so," was Sand's response. "Such would require a level of subtlety usually lacking from most Luskan plots. I believe they have resorted to these rash actions because they are desperate. Think about it: their grand plan for revenge against Marin through Casavir's torture and execution is thwarted by none other than Marin herself literally snatching him out from under their very noses, and then to add insult to injury she gets away from them!"

Neeshka suddenly giggled at that. "It does sound about right for Marin, doesn't it?"

"Aye, when you put it like that it does make some sense, said Khelgar. Although I can'na believe she went off and had all that fun herself without inviting us."

Sand actually smiled, making no attempt to hide his glee at the misfortunes of the Host Tower. "The magisters must've been absolutely fuming. Oh, what a sight it must've been!"

"Be that as it may, we still don t know where she is," interrupted Casavir, with some heat. "She may be wounded. We should be riding out right now to find her, not wasting time in council."

"I must leave directly for Neverwinter, but before I do so I want a promise from each of you that you will abide by the Lady Marin's wishes in this matter, as she is the one who instigated all this," said Nevalle, looking to Casavir and Khelgar in particular. He reached inside his tabard and produced a parchment with Lord Nevalle scrawled on the outside in Marin s characteristic handwriting. "The Lady Marin left this with me before she left Neverwinter for Luskan, in case she did not return."

"Well, come on then!" said Khelgar impatiently. "What does the lass say?"

Nevalle broke the seal, unfurling the parchment and clearing his throat. "She says that..."

A ruckus erupting in the corridor outside, interrupting him, and a moment later Captain Kana opened the door to the war council room, announcing, "Lord Nasher Alagondar, ruler of Neverwinter!"