Session 3. 

_A Campaign of Hearts and Minds_
The Musician's Guild dealt with their ongoing efforts to build up public support, and to start beefing up their guards and thugs for the coming time of struggle. Mostly, this was a wash-- Tulia got chased away from recruiting mages, Hulcion provided ample muscle, Ardl shmoozed (see below), and Rugo spent money like it was water. They did, however, manage to turn aside some of the growing support for the Performers, inspiring many on the streets to question, "why aren't these performers part of the Musician's Guild?"

_The After-Party and the Alley_
Ardl attended the performer's after-party and spent the evening cozying up to Nina, a beautiful (and apparently dangerous, assuming what she slipped into Ardl's cup with poison and not, say, a breath mint) leader of the performers. Tulia tried to join in, but got caught up with an "old friend" from the Mage's guild, who led her to an alley at knife-point. Tulia ducked away, and her wolf, Fenrik, dealt soundly with the fool.

_A Romantic Interlude_
Both Tulia and Ardl got a little hint of uneasy romance. For Ardl, this comes when a meeting (and Rugo's grand play announcement) is interrupted by the return of the spy, Mino, who shockingly confesses her love for Ardl. Ardl doesn't trust her, and coolly rejects her... for now. For Tulia, the uneasy hint of romance came when she interrogated a thug from the Mage's guild who had attacked her. The thug revealed that certain higher-ups in the Sage's guild want to hurt Satavo-- which includes hurting his ex-lover.

_The Road to the Manor House_
It was decided that whatever had been stolen from Satavo, it needed to be investigated. Rugo visited his manor house, and was disturbed to see that some of the guards at his house had been... corrupted. Rugo luckily got out without incident, and informed the others. Ardl, Rugo, and Hulcion gathered up a posse and set out, fearing the worst. They were intercepted on the way there by a large group of torch-wielding toughs from the Sage's Guild led by Satavo. Apparently, Satavo's lieutenant Urla had been killed, his head sliced cleanly off, and Satavo believes that Rugo may be a Dindavaran spy (patently ridiculous, of course). There's a tense stand-off, but Ardl eventually heads off the situation, leaving Rugo and Hulcion to lead the troops onward.

_Fire and Silver_
Rugo and hulcion find a situation that seems safe and normal... at first. The confused seeming guards let them in to the manor, where they discover the Mercury being guarded by possessed guards-- and the guards they passed by were feigning ignorance, and were possessed as well. Damn! A battle begins, both for their lives, and to reclaim the silvery fluid. Rugo uses his skillful rapier to reduce a possesse to a lifeless wreck, while Hulcion prefers to smash them to bits with his two weapons... his fists. Both Rugo and Hulcion were stabbed by the silvery ichor coursing in the possesse's bodies, and are forced, later, to painfully burn it out. On the plus side, they do regain possession of the jar of fluid. Oh, and they find guards with heads sliced cleanly from their bodies, and a piece of paper sharp on all sides, which Rugo burns.

_A Heated Argument_
Hulcion rushes the jar to Satavo's, where Ardl is already debating with Satavo and confronting him over Mino, who he summoned to join them. Mino admits her theft (and her failure to thieve), as well as the knowledge that the wise Ob-Lob woman of the Trafficker's set her to this task. When Satavo discovers that the jar of Mercury has been hidden from him in his own office, he speculates on who would do this to him, and refuses to take the jar back. Finally, Ardl and Hulcion convince him to keep it and destroy it, and Satavo bids them farewell.