184

The troopers tie your hands with cord before they take you and Karvas to Cavalia under close escort. As you ride through the city’s grand west gate, the guards on duty here come stiffly to attention. The Gate Sergeant salutes the Knight Bachelor with great exaggeration, and some of the older guards bow and doff their helmets as he passes, but their actions are not born of a respect for him or rank. You sense that they despise the haughty knight, and this is their way of mocking his insufferable arrogance.

Beyond the gate, you enter a wide avenue flanked by a well-ordered collection of houses and richly-appointed public buildings. Cavalia is a wealthy city, yet many of the citizens that you glimpse in passing have a strained and uneasy look about them. At length you arrive at a fortified citadel—a huge, square, moated edifice built on four levels around a central courtyard. Its upper floors contain the Baron’s luxurious personal chambers, as well as other apartments used by those who have his favour. The middle level is occupied by provincial officials and the ground floor by the Citadel Guard. There is also an underground level, which is used for the imprisonment and torture of Sadanzo’s enemies. Vaingloriously the Knight Bachelor leads his horsemen across the citadel drawbridge and through a torchlit tunnel that gives access to the central courtyard. Here, you and Prince Karvas are pulled from your saddles by Citadel Guardsmen and dragged away to the dungeons where you are thrown into a dark, windowless cell.

If you possess Grand Weaponmastery and have attained the rank of Kai Grand Sentinel, turn to 306.

If you do not possess this skill, or if you have yet to attain this level of Kai Mastery, turn to 113.