>>5728291“I do not know,” Albacete responds. “With my disguise compromised, I was not called upon… Or perhaps Roth simply didn’t know where to find me, now that I have forsaken my old identity.”
“My thinking is that the Serpent Priests must have issued an order before the forward base collapsed,” Oluwdamilare suggests. “I’ve seen this sort of undertaking in other places… In the south. When a kingdom, sultanate, or confederation becomes too dangerous, gets too close to the truth, or becomes rebellious… When they just outlive their usefulness… A mas undertaking is enacted. All Infiltrators in the realm are deployed for a final strike—a decapitation strike, a heist of some precious artifact, an act of sabotage so indiscreet and dramatic it cannot be hidden. Then, the operatives all abandon their identities, and the place, and let it collapse upon itself or be swallowed up by neighbours.”
You consider this carefully. A weak and broken Hawksong is one that will be all the more desperate for a strong hand, and a comfortingly familiar face… Like that of the Paladin King’s daughter, in the absence of her father and both brothers. Then again, she would be ruling—you BOTH would be ruling—over a weakened, fragile polity, rather than wielding inherited authority over the trade and military networks of a realm united under the great peace of a shining city and a powerful throne.
What will you do?
>Seek out the other Infiltrators, to learn what they are doing, and to aid—or impede—their efforts>Focus on the matter at hand—a mission from the Dark Gods to slay Prince Rufos>Forget both these matters for now, you have a THRID thing that you need to attend to [write-in]Do you have anything else you wish to discuss, or ask of your fellow operatives, while you’re here in the restaurant?
>Get their opinions on the matter of the assassination>Ask them their views on Hawksong, and its continued usefulness>Muse aloud about the Dark Gods’ ambitions and attitudes, and what it might mean to—hypothetically—betray them>Offer Albacete safe haven in Bloodrise, and send her to join your big brother in the hills while she waits>Something else… [write-in] 