The Archmetamagician: The Weave Collapses Again

There was definitely something wrong with House Cassalanter, and it wasn't anything minor. Otherwise, there would be no need for all this secrecy.

Anser immediately cast Sending. {Liam, Rezo is aboard a ship at the fishing town's docks to the south. Apparently, he's fleeing to the Korinn Archipelago...}

A few seconds later, Liam replied, {How do you know? I'll bring people over right away...}

Anser didn't answer. Instead, he entered Rezo's room and emerged onto the Material Plane.

The distracted Rezo sensed something amiss. He turned, spotted the figure behind him, and opened his mouth to shout.

Anser flicked a finger, and Hold Person instantly fell upon him.

Rezo toppled backward with his mouth half open. Anser caught him with one hand and lowered him onto the floor.

"Don't resist, okay? Otherwise, I'll get angry."

With that, he focused on Rezo and cast Etherealness.

The glow of magic descended over them. Anser grabbed Rezo by the collar and gave it a hard tug, and the two vanished from the cabin at the same time.

Anser could feel Rezo resisting. He wasn't a "willing creature," but he had no ability to fight back and was forcibly dragged into the Ethereal Plane anyway.

"Know where we are?" Anser waved a hand and dismissed Hold Person, an amused look on his face.

Rezo floated in midair, staring at the gray haze all around them, both shocked and frightened. "Are you going to kill me?"

"If I wanted to kill you, you'd already be dead," Anser said calmly. "Your family's affairs have been exposed. The Griffon Cavalry will be here soon. Before they arrive, I want to ask you a few questions."

Rezo looked alarmed and uncertain. "I don't know anything. I'm not even among the top ten in the line of succession. All I have in my name is a winery and a few properties..."

"Enough." Anser raised a hand to cut him off. "I'm a Sorcerer who multiclassed into Paladin. I have plenty of ways to make you tell the truth, but I don't like that process. You understand?

"Now, I ask, you answer. First question: which fiend has House Cassalanter made contact with?"

Rezo's pupils dilated. He lowered his head, not daring to meet Anser's eyes. "I don't know."

"What are the terms of the deal?"

"I really don't know. I've never left Waterdeep, and those things couldn't possibly appear in Waterdeep either."

"Oh~ So what are you plotting in the Korinn Archipelago?"

"A fief. The family wants a fief..."

"House Cassalanter has more money than it can spend. Why would you possibly care about some worthless backwater like the Korinn Archipelago?"

"...All that wealth is nothing but a boat floating on water. The Council of Lords can overturn it whenever they please..."

"..."

Perhaps Anser's blunt strike had shattered Rezo's psychological defenses outright, because he haltingly divulged quite a few secrets.

After House Cassalanter had been dealt with in the past, they had indeed behaved themselves, because the Council of Lords never relaxed its surveillance of them.

It took more than a century for that situation to improve. Time dulled everything, and people were forgetful.

House Cassalanter rose to prosperity once more, yet everyone in the family still felt utterly insecure.

We have more wealth than we could ever spend, yet we're forced to obediently follow those harsh laws. We can't raise a private army, can't possess territory, and can't even become one of the Masked Lords.

Not a shred of power or privilege!

A single new policy from the Council of Lords could take away the hard-earned dragons of the family under the guise of taxes or any number of other pretexts.

Anser could understand the feeling. Rules protected the weak, but they also restrained the strong.

And House Cassalanter clearly considered itself strong.

So after the Weave fell into disorder, while Waterdeep's authorities had much of their attention and resources tied up with the dungeons beneath the city, the Cassalanters resumed the devil-summoning rituals they had secretly preserved and reestablished contact with the Nine Hells.

Aside from Lady Matilda, the head of the family, no one knew the terms of the deal.

Quite a few Warlocks had appeared within the family. They rarely showed themselves in Waterdeep; instead, backed by the family's immense wealth, they secretly made their way to the Sea of Moonshae.

Pandira, which currently controlled the Korinn Archipelago, was using it as a springboard to seize more islands, with the ultimate goal of making a move on Alaron.

After the merging of the realms, the southern part of the Sea of Moonshae had merged with Abeir. The Moonshae Isles now occupied a crucial position, and since there happened to be no unified government there, they became House Cassalanter's first choice.

'Now that's pretty explosive.' Anser chuckled inwardly.

Still, House Cassalanter hadn't been brought down even after their last deal with devils. This time, unless evidence surfaced that they were trading souls on a massive scale, the family still wouldn't fall.

After all, Warlocks were hardly anything new, and having a fiend as a patron didn't necessarily mean someone would do evil.

Scheming to acquire a fief wasn't a crime either. More than half the nobles in Waterdeep had the same idea, and some had even put it into action long ago.

In a way, this also demonstrated just how powerful Waterdeep was. Even a family like the Cassalanters could only pursue their schemes elsewhere.

Strangely enough, no matter how ambitious the nobles were, none of them dared set their sights on Waterdeep itself.

'I'm a Paladin. Fighting evil is part of the job, after all.' Anser stroked his chin, sinking into thought.

The Korinn Archipelago was a good place. Waterdeep's laws had no reach over the Sea of Moonshae.

Just as Anser was delighted to have found himself a place to gain some levels, the cabin door was suddenly thrown open. The Arcane Trickster and the captain barged in together, only to find the room completely empty.

'Looks like the Griffon Cavalry is almost here.'

He carried Rezo onto the deck to wait, watching in amusement as the crew frantically searched everywhere for him.

When they failed to find Rezo, the captain actually looked somewhat relieved. Perhaps as far as he was concerned, Rezo escaping was still better than falling into the hands of the Griffon Cavalry.

Anser noticed that the Arcane Trickster had turned invisible and slipped onto the docks, hiding among the crowd as he watched what was happening aboard the ship.

At that moment, a Griffon Cavalry rider entered Anser's view and landed on the docks, followed by a second, then a third...

Anser immediately ended Etherealness on Rezo and casually tossed him back into the Material Plane, sending him sprawling onto the deck.

Everyone around them froze.

The captain immediately rushed forward, only for a loud thud to ring out as a lance slammed into the deck, blocking his path.

Liam leaped onto the deck, grabbed the utterly despondent Rezo, and tossed him backward toward the docks like a chick.

Two Griffon Cavalry riders caught him in perfect coordination, shackled him, and threw him onto the back of a griffon.

Anser suddenly felt a little sorry for Rezo. Today was probably the longest and most unforgettable day of his life.

"These people are suspected of harboring a fugitive. Until the matter has been fully investigated, no one is permitted to leave port. Who's the captain? You're coming with us." Liam's expression was cold, the very picture of stern impartiality.

Without Anser, he probably would have gone back only to be mocked by his colleagues again.

The Griffon Cavalry called over the town watch to seal off the White Bird and took the captain away on the spot.

The onlookers were astonished. This was a ship belonging to House Cassalanter, yet the Griffon Cavalry wasn't showing them the slightest consideration.

Anser paid no attention to any of that. He immediately went after the Arcane Trickster, who was hurrying away.

The Arcane Trickster didn't return to Waterdeep. Instead, after leaving the town, he sprinted eastward at full speed, his footfalls light and his movements agile—a veritable little prince of parkour.

'For someone this powerful, couldn't he get himself a mount?' Anser grumbled inwardly.

An hour later, the Arcane Trickster dropped his invisibility in the middle of the countryside and kept running, eventually entering an enormous estate.

By then, they were at least a dozen kilometers from Waterdeep.

The estate was hidden amid lush greenery and looked unremarkable from a distance. Only after entering did it become clear that quite a few people were inside. It appeared lax on the outside, but security within was extremely tight and the guards were everywhere.

Anser ran a hand over the hilt of his sword as he followed easily behind.

'Looks like I'm in for quite a haul today.'

If the man had returned to Waterdeep, Anser couldn't exactly have attacked him in the middle of the street. That really would have been a slap in Waterdeep's face.

But if Anser found concrete evidence here, there would be rivers of blood today.

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