The Trouble Below

The fight took place in and around an old underground Moderator's Council chamber in an area of the city vaults that had fallen into disuse, yet was not entirely ruined (before the battle). Stairwells, corridors, recessed chambers, chimneys and the inclined planes of old access ramps were all part of the stage on which events played out, allowing the combatants into the dark spaces where swords, pikes, flame and spells settled matters between them.

Largely conducted in the dark, the battle was illuminated by flashes of flame and belts of coloured smoke from a variety of combat spells.

From start to finish, the entire skirmish took no more than one bell. No side gained a decisive advantage but the Unbound proved to be much more difficult to overcome than the orthodox forces had anticipated and suffered fewer casualties. Eventually the conflict boiled over onto the surface level streets of the city but there is dispersed rapidly. The Quarowl High Guard was able to bring in reinforcements to restore order and other combatants melted away.

Lady Penelope Northberry was killed by the Unbound and the casualties they inflicted on the orthodox forces of the city, shocked the leadership even if they eventually succeeded in bringing the situation under control. Melody Harrington went missing. Clarise Vabatan was able to escape the conflict and fled to Myruthea, but she succeeded in obtaining the secrets necessary for the production of Synaptic Unbinding Potion.

Both the Arch Baron and the Arcane Chancellor were replaced shortly after the conflict and the Unbound were able to manipulate elections and events to put more sympathetic leaders in place (or it was rumoured, even members of the organisation itself).   Gilden Weaver, the Arch Baron who had ordered the Quarowl High Guard into the action, was deposed the very next day. Asrum Silver, his replacement, had been waiting for an opportunity to take over. Supported by the Unbound, he made an impassioned speech at the Baronial Moot which bundled up a whole load of grievances and used the breakdown of law and order as the catalyst to seize control.   Daramin Colleck fled into exile at Greystow, a final humiliation for an already humiliated Arcane Chancellor of the Institute of Magical Analytics. His successor was Haldam Sutterby, an ambitious professor with secret links to the Unbound which he openly declared after his appointment. By this time, even if the Synaptic Squeeze had not made it obvious enough, it was now crystal clear that the Institute of Magical Analytics was run by the Unbound. They had transitioned from a disreputable cult into the de-facto leaders of magical academia at Quarowl and elsewhere. The Deep Perceptor set the agenda and could have assumed the role of Arcane Chancellor himself if he'd wanted to.   Only the Golkinites held out against the Unbound to some limited extent at Greystow, but even there, the Unbound had a firm grip on the Provost of the Free Union of Magical Scholars and his policies.

The Trouble Below marks the start of a long conflict, both covert and sometimes open between the Unbound and the Sisters of Vabatan which would take centuries more to resolve.