>>5138826With the Magus Auctor thoroughly ‘tricked out’, there is still Felman to deal with. Inquisitor Felman has been waiting, patiently, standing at attention for some time. With a bemused smile, you give him permission to speak.
“What hass happened with the invessstigation?” you ask.
“Two major developments have occurred,” he says. “The Inquisition has determined that several Southerners were behaving suspiciously, and were at the Gala with false papers and under assumed identities. This is being investigated, though none of them have yet been located and none of the Tower staff tasked with staffing and supervision, nor the guests to whose entourage they were said to belong to, can say where they have gone.”
Good. The other Degenerates have no doubt gone to ground, or left town entirely. Well… Except the infiltrator called Chika, of course. They will, sadly, never find Chika.
“Secondly, we—the Inquisition, that is—we have been forced to… Accept aid.”
“Aid?” you ask, raising an eyebrow. “Aid from whom?”
“The Paladins,” he says with a sour expression.
‘Oh,’ Irinnile says. ‘Oh fuck.’
Oh fuck INDEED. The Paladins are a small corps, as you understand it, but each of them is said to be a warrior with access to great skill, to be outfitted with blessings and with holy arms, and armaments, and each senior member has a gryphon mount. You’ve also heard rumours of nobility getting special treatment, and of nepotism, so perhaps some tales overstate things… But the Paladin King and his father achieves their great fame and wide base of power by SOME means. These paladins, they are a grave threat to demons, and more terrifying even than owlbears to one such as you.
“They have gifted us Sir Chase,” Inquisitor Felman continues, “a young and, so they say, gallant member of their gryphon corps. He is liaison, and he is tasked hunting down and destroy the escaped demons. King Archos has demanded it. Further Paladins have been assigned to safeguard the Palace and the Tower.”
You remember a brief encounter early in your stay in Hawksong—no, at the gates, prior to arrival! A somewhat-blandly handsome human on a terrifying cat-bird-monster, in shiny silver armour and with an eye for peasant girls. Yes, Sir Chase…
“Have they found any of them?” you ask.
Felman hesitates, then answers :”I don’t know. I was attending to my orders, and then… Here, awaiting instructions.”
Well, this is a dangerous twist. What do you do?
>Summon Siz-Gamid to you, and ask her for the location of the other demons>Send Felman to steer Sir Chase away from any useful avenues while you seek out the demons>Go to this Paladin, Chase, and end his threat yourself>Abandon the demons—let the Tower and Paladins hunt them, you have done what you need to do and the pact is not your primary concern>Write-in 