Spar: A dwarf, played by Andy. Spar has been masquerading as a short human by the name of Jasper for a while, undercover for The Processors, the trash processing magic guild, who believe he can talk to stones. They're wrong, of course. Spar was recently given a Dagger of Betrayal, a terrifying artifact belong to The Cult of the Leviathan, who want him to stab it into the back of Caius.
Caius: The erstwhile head of The Processor's Guild. Spar had saved him from being framed for murder, and so Caius feels he owes Spar, who he knows to actually be a dwarf.
Salt: Spar's daughter. She's currently standing around with him, staring at the Dagger of Betrayal, wanting to run like hell.
Aelinus and Agrippa: A pair of assassins from The Unemployed, a group of magical assassins that's not supposed to be exist, hence the sarcastic slang term "unemployed". Last we'd heard from them they had just been released on bail after they had tried to frame Caius for murder. Tara had put a stop to that.
Tara: Spar's human lover. She has a plan to help the dwarves rise up out of their dire straits, but it's insulting to the dwarves. Spar's ashamed of her.
Lucius: A human drinking buddy of Spar's who has helped him with a few of his cases before.
Arianna: A girl kidnapped by The Unemployed as a child, away from her true love Severus.
As Salt declared her intention to run they both heard screaming and a crash. Spar looked out the window; two freakishly huge plants with teeth and human eyes had smashed through a building and were attacking dwarves in their slum! The one had Agrippa's voice, the other Aelinus'; their screams were heard by all. From the hole that the plants had busted through Spar saw Arianna sneak out and away, running down the street. Spar ran off the other way, saying he would get The Processors involved. Salt balked; the dwarves could take care of themselves and Spar had sworn an oath to Onyx, Salt's mother, that he would always make sure the strength of the dwarves was felt. Going for help would break Spar's oath. Spar rejoined that the dwarves had no experience with huge talking plants and The Processors were the only mages who were allowed to set anything on fire! Salt protested, calling him an Oathbreaker, but in the end Spar was able to get away.
Spar saw Chloe, a prominent Processor, standing in the street, watching the unfolding carnage in horror. He talked to her, asking if she knew anyone important in The Processor's infrastructure, hinting that he knew Caius and that Caius would want to know about what was going on. Chloe agreed and said she had an idea of where Caius would be at that moment. They ran uptown, to a warehouse with The Processor's coat of arms on it.
The door slammed shut behind Spar and six crossbows were brought to bear on him. Tara came out from a balcony above Spar and gloated at capturing him. She explained that The Kami Guardians were going to take over The Processor's business, and that the plants had been fabricated to resemble Processor casting, with all the appropriate paperwork forged. With this very public debacle of illegal genetic tampering The Processors would be finished. As Spar goaded Tara into gloating he edged toward a window. He made a break for it, ducking under whistling crossbow quarrels. Out the window he went and hit ground, running. Spar ran into the crowded human streets, trying to use the crowds as cover. But Tara and her entourage followed, shouting into the crowd that a dangerous dwarf, who was responsible for the trouble going on in the slums, was amongst the crowd. All eyes landed on Spar, who took out his Leviathan knife and laughed evilly, trying to scatter the crowd through sheer terror.
Spar was dog-piled; the Dagger of Betrayal was knocked from his grasp. Spar tried ducking through the crowd to a weak point in the mob, but it was no use; he was beaten down. The mob picked him up and surged toward the town square, where the gibbet stood. As the rope was tied around his neck Spar called out that he was being set up, that he was innocent. His plea fell on deaf and terrified ears.
Spar's neck did not break when they dropped him. Swinging in the air and gagging he began to black out. Flames parted the mob; Caius had found him. Caius cut Spar down, asking what had happened. With what voice he had left Spar tried to tell Caius that The Processors had been set up. Caius couldn't make it out, however. The police arrived, looking for Caius, whose name was all over the paperwork authorizing the misshapen plants' creation. Caius was taken away in shame.
Spar wandered back toward the slums The two plants were dead, surrounded by Kami Guardian mages. Dead dwarves were strewn about the streets. Salt sat nearby, with a wounded leg. Spar told her it was all a set up; The Kami Guardians had played a perfect coup. Salt coldly asked if his human lover Tara, who had just introduced herself to Salt, was involved. Spar said it was. Salt told Spar that Onyx would have been deeply ashamed of him, and that she was as well. In a loud voice Salt called her father an Oathbreaker for trying to rely upon humans in a situation where the dwarves could have prevailed on their own strength, not to mention sleeping with a human! She told Spar to get lost.
With nowhere else to go Spar hobbled over to find Lucius, who was at a local bar. Lucius realized Spar was the dwarf who was almost lynched earlier that day... Lucius realized that Spar was a dwarf. Spar begged for a place to stay and Lucius, confused, agreed. They found a doctro to see about Spar's neck, throat, and head injuries. It costed Spar more money than he thought he had. It mattered little: the scars on Spar's face would never fully heal.
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