Player Perspective for Holland Novak, Part 2:

The next morning, Holland wakes early, over an hour before sunrise. He prepares his equipment, half-plate mail consisting of steel plates interspersed with leather and chainmail to allow more mobility, and a broadsword which he attaches at his waist.

He heads out with his horse toward the gate and is the first to arrive. He Leans against a wall to wait for the others to arrive, idly grasping the necklace which he still wore from Touka. He would use this as an opportunity to hopefully find a hint about her whereabouts, or information about those that kidnapped her years ago.

After a few minutes, one of the guardsmen approaches Holland and recognizes him as a knight, starting a bit of small-talk and then inquires about why he'd be standing around as he is. Holland answered, and the man responds, "An expedition? Usually they give us notice ahead of time, I didn't know the knights were doing anything until next week." He takes a look around the street, still mostly empty as the sun hasn't risen yet, "It seems you're quite early, sir knight. Is this expedition something special, to stand so long waiting on the rest of your party?"

Holland shakes his head slowly, "No, I just like to be early, 'cause I am just that kinda guy." The man nods his head a bit, and there's a little more small-talk that happens. Eventually he walks away and returns to his post. After about 30 minutes or so, the other knights begin arriving with their horses.

Just before the sun rises, two wagons approach, and those in the wagons are wearing the distinct robes of the Mages Guild. They stop a few yards in front of the knights, and Tranan comes down from a wagon and speaks, "We've got enough supplies for everyone until Gellantara, where we will restock. There is room in one of the wagons so half of you can alternate days to prevent your horses from tiring out. It's six days to Gellantara. Is everyone ready to set out?"

Everyone nods and looks over their equipment one last time. After Holland checks his gear, he reaches into his tunic for his necklace, thinking again of Touka and of what happened in Dalhurst. The knights decide amongst themselves how to split into two groups and separate. Holland is in the second group and ties his horse to the rear wagon before climbing inside. The sun is nearly fully visible now, and the group is ready to leave the city.

However, the gate is still closed. Normally it is opened at sunrise each day, but for some reason they have not yet opened it. After a few moments, Belkas approaches one of the gate guardsmen and asks about it. The guardsman takes a moment, and then says, "That." He points down the road leading toward the center of the city. He says this loud enough for nearly everyone to hear, and so everyone begins looking down the road.

Approaching the group is the unmistakable figure of Lord Davben atop his steed, flanked by a retinue of his Elite Guard and a few other individuals. There have been various processions where he has made similar appearances, but this is quite odd.


Holland and the other knights and mages in the wagons slowly step down onto the ground, all of them confused at the situation, and the knights on horseback dismount. As Lord Davben nears, everyone kneels to the ground. He stops his horse about 10 yards away from the nearest person and speaks, "Who among you is orchestrating this venture?"

Tranan speaks in reply, "My lord, I am Archmage Tranan Chandler of the Mages Guild. I am the one leading this field research endeavor."

Lord Davben continues, "From what I have heard, this expedition went from a simple concept to you all now standing before the city gates in mere days, and this timing has caught my attention. If you would be so kind as to satisfy my curiosity then we can both be about our day, Archmage."

"Of course, my lord. At the Mages Guild, I have a very specific field of study, something known as the magical aura. In my study, I detected a disturbance in the aura and wished to investigate, but to do so I must leave the city and go to a place where other magics will not interfere. The area around Triln, due to the Mages Guild being here for centuries, is satiated with magical energies, and I am unable to determine the cause of the instability within the aura. As such, I set up this endeavor. Our goals are purely academic, my lord."

The lord considers this for a moment, and then speaks again, "And where in this lies the urgency to spur it into action so quickly?"

Tranan answers, "I fear that if the cause of the instability is not corrected, it may negatively affect all magic uses in unpredictable ways, and if left unchecked could lead to magic becoming uncontrollable and dangerous for the city as a whole."

Lord Davben's eyes widen a bit at this, and he looks to his left, where his son Adolin is flanking him. Adolin looks around at the knights and mages, and Holland realizes he made eye contact with Holland, reminding him about what he was asked to do during the expedition. Adolin then speaks, "Archmage Tranan, if the city was potentially in such danger, why was it not immediately brought up to my father?"

Tranan responds after a moment, "I do not believe that the city is in any immediate danger. It could take months or even years before any effects are seen from this, but I cannot tell for certain without getting away from the interference around the city. I did not think it worth your time to hear of a single man's thoughts that haven't even been verified yet, and are mostly theories at this point. Once we return from Tarmikos, we shall immediately explain our findings in full."

Adolin looks back toward his father, who speaks once more, "You said you were headed for Tarmikos. That's quite a distance away. How long is this venture expected to last?"

The Archmage responds, "We plan to spend about three weeks in Tarmikos before heading back, meaning we would return to Triln in about six weeks. If we make an important find earlier, we may send a messenger immediately, or leave early, to ensure you are informed as fast as possible, my lord."

Look Davben looks over the gathering once more before speaking. "I will be expecting the full details when you return. You are all free to go." They all turn to head back toward the Citadel. As Adolin turns his horse, he once again locks eyes with Holland and gives a slight nod before heading back toward the heart of the city.

Several of those in the group breathe sighs of relief, and after a moment return to preparing to leave. The gate opens, and the expedition sets off a trot, toward Gellantara, passing through the gate.


Due to the massive growth Triln has undergone in Holland's lifetime, outside the walls are thousands more buildings, circling the city. Mostly homes, with shops, stables, forges, markets, and more scattered around as well. With the recent growth, land inside the walls has vastly increased in value, and the growing population spurred vast construction projects outside the wall. In some ways, it's like another town across the wall, but the people still identify themselves as citizens of Triln, and passage through the gates is free for everyone during the day.

It's still early morning, so the streets are mostly unoccupied, but people are waking up, getting ready, and beginning to start their day. Holland, Darvyn, and Shalak are riding in the second wagon with their horses tied behind. None of them expect anything to happen for the first few days, as any bandits that close to the city would have been routed and killed years ago, which is part of the reason the that living outside the walls is considered safe.

As the buildings thin, ahead of them are vast farms with the occasional farmhouse, barn, shed, and granary. It takes a few hours, but eventually even that starts to end and trees dominate the horizon. The entire region between here and Gellantara is sparsely forested with rolling hills. The rest of the first day is uneventful.

Camp is made on the side of the road. Holland's group handles the watches that night, which passed uneventfully, and in the morning they spend the day on horseback, sometimes scouting ahead but mostly riding alongside the caravan.

This continued on for several more days. The expedition made fast progress and was unhindered. Eventually, on the sixth day, Gellantara was only a few hours ahead. Instead of riding in the wagon, all six knights were on horseback. The trees thinned and became farmland, and the city walls of Gellantara were ahead of them all, along with the ocean visible to their right.

One of the other knights, Darvyn, whistles and says, "Would you look at that..." Likewise, a few of the other knights and some of the mages make short statements about it. Triln is many miles from the sea, and several others have never seen it before in their lives. Seeing the city and the ocean brought back many memories in Holland. He was able to see dozens of ships out at see, some he instantly recognized as fishing boats and others as merchant vessels.After a few moments, the group continues forward, reaching the city and entering it.

Tranan leads the caravan through a few streets to a large inn with adjoining stables. The horses are attended to, the wagons stored alongside the building, and rooms in the inn are purchased. Tranan, addressing the group, says, "We leave in the morning, so don't get too comfortable. You've got the rest of the day to do what you want, go sight-seeing, whatever, but be ready to leave at dawn."

Some of the knights decide to see the harbors, while most of the mages decide to stay at the inn and rest. Holland takes a long stroll around the city, trying to get an idea of how things have changed from how he remembered Gellantara. Heading through the streets in his full armor, the townsfolk give him various looks and some whisper amongst themselves. Triln and Gellantara haven't had good relations, especially these last two years since two of their dignitaries were labeled as conspirators. Holland and the others wouldn't be very welcome here.

He took a circuitous route around the city, eventually ending up walking around a bend and seeing before him the harbors. The harbors are the part of the city he remembered best, and also where the memories of his father were strongest. He realized that the harbor seems less busy then it used to be. Fewer ships are docked and unloading cargo. Because Triln has grown in recent years, Trannyth, another port to the south of Gellantara, has been receiving more and more sea trade every year, which has been hurting Gellantara.

The raised tensions due to this were originally why the Gellantaran dignitaries, Mark and Burnett Anders, were in Triln two years ago. They were trying to work out agreements to use Gellantara for sea trade instead of Trannyth, but the negotiations took a turn for the worse after the assassination attempt was made and since then Trannyth has had a monopoly on any trade from Triln that needed to go out over the sea. The current state of the harbors Holland was looking at was pitiful compared to his memories...


Breathing in the ocean breeze was a bit refreshing, but he turned away, trying to ignore the feelings it brought to the surface. He finally noticed that near the other side of the harbor were several of the others knights. They had come to take a look at the harbors, and he could see them speaking to one of the Gellantaran guards.

He started to head in their direction, but after a few moments longer they turned and started heading down a street away from the harbor. Holland felt no need to catch up to them, so he simply continued at his current pace. The path they took was in the direction of the inn, which was where he would have been headed anyway. As he rounded one bend in the streets, he saw that the knights had stopped moving ahead. Someone was speaking to them.

Holland was too far away to hear what was said, but the conversation was brief. Perhaps they were merely asking directions back to the inn, because afterward they continued on their way, the man stepping out of the path. However, after a few more seconds, the man begins to follow the knights down the road, and Holland realized he was intentionally using crowds to hide and stepping into doorways to remain hidden if the knights glanced anywhere close to his direction.

Holland narrowed his eyes and continued forward. The man was focused forward, ensuring he didn't lose sight of where the knights went, and Holland was able to stick behind without much difficulty since he knew the path the knights were taking. He considered approaching the man and interrogating him, but figured he'd observe a bit longer to see what the man did.

This continued until they arrived at the inn. While his fellow knights went inside casually, the strange man ducked into an alleyway, obscuring him from sight but remaining near the edge so he would see anyone entering or leaving the inn they were staying at. Holland stays well away and around a bend in the road to remain out of sight as he waited to see what the man would do next.

After a few more moments the man decides to go inside the inn. He casually approaches the front door and walks inside. Scratching his chin a bit at the curious actions of the man, Holland follows suit and enters the inn and going into the common room. The aroma of cooking food reached his nose, and several other knights were sitting around a table, as well as some of the mages around another table. A few other people were scattered around the room, and the strange man that Holland had been following was sitting at the bar near the innkeeper.

Holland grabs a drink and takes a seat at an empty table. All of the knights except for Cypha were in the room, chatting amongst themselves mostly, and after about 10 minutes of this the main meal is finished and the other knights begin grabbing bowls for the stew, and Holland just gets some bread instead. After sitting back down, Darvyn comes and sits down beside him and without a word begins eating. Between some bites he begins whispering, indicating the man at the bar, "That man's been here for awhile...he spoke with us out on the street earlier...claims he's from triln...wanted to know why we're here...must've followed us back to the inn."

Holland nods, "I know, I have been following him around since you two were talking. He looks too shady by my standards."

Darvyn raises his eyebrow slightly, but then nods. "For now we're just gonna keep an eye on him, but keep your sword handy just in case." After another minute or two, the man seems to rent a room from the innkeeper and stands up to head upstairs. After he walks up, Cypha walks down the stairs unarmored, seemingly not having recognized the man. She begins to get some food of her own.


Not wasting any time, Holland finishes his food and heads up to his room as Darvyn heads over to where Cypha is filling her bowl. Holland's room is on the second floor of the four-story inn, and after stepping up the floor above the looks around but sees nobody. Holland sighs and enters his room. It's been a long day, and he'd leave it up the others downstairs to deal with the stranger. He begins taking off his armor and while pulling off a his greaves he hears a knock on the door. "What is it?" he says gruffly.

After a moment, a voice comes from the other side of the door, "Sir, I have to clean the room right quick."

Holland sighs and shakes his head, "The room is clean enough." He proceeds to take off his boots, setting it at the side of the bed alongside the rest of his equipment.

The person beyond the door insists, "Sir I'm sorry, but I have to make my rounds. It shall only be a moment then I will be on my way..." Grumbling and sighing slightly, Holland stands and opens the door, instantly recognizing the man standing before him as the stranger that had followed Darvyn and the others. However, he gives no sign of his recognition and lets the man inside. Holland takes a seat in the corner of the room, keeping his sword nearby and watching what the man decides to do.

After walking around the room briefly, the man steps by the mantel and while passing nearby Holland he suddenly jumps close and tries to bring his fist down on the side of his head. The strike is quick, but Holland was alert already and leans back in the chair as he raises his arms defensively. The blow comes down near his ear, but by warding off the man's arm it has little power and does not affect him. Holland attempts to grasp the man and shove him back to allow him to draw his blade, but the man avoids it and they both grapple back and forth for several moments.

After a brief hesitation, the man makes a quick, focused jab with his hand straight toward Holland's exposed throat. The training the knights received did not focus heavily on hand-to-hand combat, but the great grip strength he developed from sparring with Adolin allowed him to simply grasp the man's upper arm and stop the blow cold. After successfully getting a solid grip on the man, he was able to plant is other hand on the man's chest and half-shove, half-throw the man several feet back to the edge of the bed, buying him enough time to draw his sword and ready it.

The man barely manages to stay on his feet, and as soon as he realizes that Holland was drawing his sword he turns and runs for the door. Holland begins following him, and once the man reaches the door Cypha steps up from the stairs onto the landing, directly in the path of the man that just attacked Holland. The man doesn't hesitate and yells out, "Look out he's a madman!" in an attempt to delude Cypha.

However, Holland responds by calling out as well, in a serious tone, "Cypha! Stop that man!" Without hesitation, she turns and attempts to grab and trip the fleeing man as Holland runs out of the door. The stranger ducks and barely manages to avoid the grasp and is able to get past her, making it to the top of the stairs. He hesitates a moment, and then proceeds to run up the stairs toward the third floor. Holland hears a bit of commotion downstairs, certainly the other knights responding to the sudden yells.

Holland runs up the stairs following the man, and after reaching the next floor he rounds a corner in the hall just in time to see the man leaping through a window. The glass shatters as he does so, and Holland rushes to the window to look at the street below, in time to see the man sprawling on the ground below, seemingly unscathed somehow. A nearby guard in already moving in the direction of the man on the ground, "Hey, what happened? Are you alright?"

Holland thinks a moment and then yells out to the guard below, "Guards, he is a thief!" The guard looks up toward the broken third-story window, hesitating for a moment as he steps toward the man. However, the delay allows the man to jump back out and reach and begins sprinting down the street, quickly turning into an alleyway as the guard begins pursuing him, yelling out to notify nearby guards and Holland can hear the chase continuing through several alleys and streets.

He shakes his head, dissatisfied that the man escaped and they still had no idea why he had been after information about the knights...