Sunday Excerpt, "Crucible"

We finally learn the truth of Dirk Grithinshield’s fate.

Linvin’s eyes grew large and his mind began to race.  The picture was becoming all too clear.  “Now this Grithinshield fellow was a man of some importance in Sartan and through his connections had long since possessed the staff and key I sought.  Though the staff held some importance, Necromancer assured me it was the key I needed to open the chest.  Grithinshield had them since before the War of the Unclaimed Territory and had been searching for the chest for more than ten years.  “It was a difficult situation.  My agents searched his work with no luck but his house was like a fortress.  A break-in there would create undesirable exposure.  The last thing I wanted was another war with Sartan.  If a theft from or the murder of one of their most prominent citizens were to be traced back to me, I could forget about Romadon.  So long as he was in Sartan, we could not touch him.  “Then we devised a way to coax him into coming to us.  Word was sent that the chest was in Ravensburg and its owner would be willing to part with it for a fee.  Knowing he would be traveling through the Territory, we put every bounty hunter and bandit on alert with a price on Dirk Grithinshield’s head.  He took the bait and was captured by some bandits in the Eastern Forest.  Much to my dismay, however, Dirk had not brought the staff and key along on his journey.  Since the bandits killed him during his capture, it was impossible to interrogate Grithinshield. “Being highly frustrated, I sent a team of assassins to Sartan to research the matter further and attain at least the key.  They could use whatever devices they wished so long as they could not be traced back to the Empire and me.  Gathering all the information they could, they reported Grithinshield’s widow, Jelena shut herself up in their estate and was exceptionally difficult to reach.  Her brother, Anvar Greenlith, lived on the edge of town and was her lone visitor.  Figuring Dirk to be a cautious man they determined Greenlith would be an unlikely custodian of the artifacts. “Then a piece of intriguing news came to our Team Leader’s attention.  Grithinshield had a son named Linvin.  He was sent away right after Dirk obtained the staff.  At first we thought it was banishment of an embarrassing offspring but we soon discovered otherwise.  He was sent to study in Valia with Sedemihcra, the Master Teacher of Warfare.  It was proposed the boy had been made the guardian of the items and we may have better luck exploring that direction.”