Wind Whisp led rebellion with encouragement from ToHS. They exchanged coded messages. Wind Whisp is now imprisoned, as is ToHS, Saltwithers secret police Rubber Hose nabbed ToHS with encrypted messages and Wind Whisp with another copy. They deny everything and have an innocuous message. Rubber Hose informed Saltwithers of course but developed a bad case of the deads shortly thereafter, having been bumped off by Sparkle Cone (the fat unicorn) using a poison supplied by Qorra (under duress). Sparkle Cone was caught and imprisoned as well. Saltwithers trusts Rubber Hose's belief (rightly) but doesn't know the code himself.

Saltwithers: Dear Shadow Wing,

My situation has changed considerably. Saltwithers got into his head that I supported a rebellion against him. I am to be killed when the mood strikes him, probably soon. Would appreciate any help you might offer... Claws of Commercially Pure Aluminum, true to form, is too scared to do anything if he could.

- Teeth of Hardened Steel

Scarflanks arrives

ToHS

9 rye planting Arrived today: Sootstreaks. Evening: RB

Feedback loop with EL's device in GL's quarters??

Consider having Baleful Gaze attempt to kidnap Akasha &/or Qotho when they are shopping.

10 rye planting Day after: Geldbit, Malign Gaze, Scion

11 rye planting After: Scarflanks

12 rye planting: Saltwithers (late)

13 rye planting Morning: opening speeches. O

Caravaneers.

Blue Pilot, matriarch. Gusty Gale, her husband, a puller. Fearsome Gale, a son; Blue Haven, a daughter; pullers. Torque Spec, a mechanic and puller. Little Spec, Torque's daughter, piloting because she isn't strong enough to pull yet.

The inside is of the glider is illuminated with a trench-whale-oil lamp in a red-lensed lantern to avoid ruining the pilot's night vision. (And for that matter that of the ongoing pullers when they go out.)

Puzzle involving magical darkness! Work in Qotho's dad somewhere? Or mom? Might seem contrived, maybe better to stick her on TearDropI?

Sights about town. Main streets: Market Street, Tower Street, Broom Street, Gryphon Street intersect with Main.

Gryphon street: The Gryphons sided against Malign Gaze Sr in favor of the overlord before her, Iron Pin; Malign Gaze genocided them when she prevailed. There is a statue of a gryphon in the street which says "ERECTED BY MALIGN GAZE IN MEMORY OF THE GRYPHONS OF NEVERSHYED, WHO SIDED WITH IRON PIN AGAINST HER, AND WERE JUSTLY EXTERMINATED FOR THEIR POOR JUDGEMENT, SO THAT NO ONE WILL FORGET WHAT BECOMES OF THOSE WHO OPPOSE HER EVERLASTING RULE." Mostly residential now, a few shops. Most of the gryphon-built structures are not inhabited by pegasi, and one dragon, Claws of Commercially-Pure Aluminium, "it doesn't really sound more menacing in draconic." Who is kinda wimpy for a dragon, maybe be afraid of Shadow despite being larger.

Broom street: a few food factories here, where food is decanted from big broth cultures used for "nutrient recycling" and rations are dispensed to citizens. The citizens have ration cards. The food is actually pretty tasty, but the texture is boring. There are also more houses, including those of the elites, which are fenced and caged to keep pegasi out of their private gardens where real food is grown in raised beds. There are also a few farms growing food in raised beds for profit.

Tower street. At its intersection with Main St is the tower of the three wizards. There is also, opposite it, the ruins of an old tower, which is sealed off, but has dungeons continuous with those of the new tower (not widely known) and could be a point of infiltration. There are also more residences and some shops, and the inn, "Equus: the Hooves of Fate." The proprietor is a goat, Mewcloven, who has a winged cat like Kele, also a winged flying squirrel, ("very maneuverale biplane design") also a female, and used to make them for Scion until he quit because Scion wasn't interested in making cute abberations. Mewcloven has a cousin, Newcloven, who makes steam engines and lives in Irongate. He is a polygamist.

There is a sketch there of M. Dawn, with a sign saying "do not serve this unicorn."

Market street. Shops selling various sorts of things, including a vendor from Scion Fleshgrafter who sells "bodily enhancements", pets and slaves.

A place selling weapons and armor. An alchemy shop, pretty well stocked, only the one in Salt Pillars is finer (by the admission of the proprietor). They sell premade potions, ingredients, totems and so forth. They have those unicorn horn totems for sale.

Job board: Poster. WANTED. "RUBY RUSE" Baleful Gaze offers a bounty of 1000 liters of virgin pudding, or the value of the same of gold, for the person or corpse of the aforesaid unicorn illusionist, and half as much again for her distinctive multi-armed monkey familiar.

Advertisement for spectacular books RARE BOOKS SOUGHT. Spectacular Books on Market Street in Nevershyed will pay handsomely for rare books. Precatastrophic books and works on applied magic are of particular interest. Booksellers to the wizard-lords of Nevershyed, to the great lich Risen Bones, Lord of Tears, to the archmage Malign Gaze, overlord of Witch Point, and to other highly esteemed patrons.

DOWN ON YOUR LUCK? STARVING? Get a great deal by becoming an indentured worker! Free room and board, limited terms of indenture, generous signing bonus. See Soulpeddler, Gryphon Street.

FOR SALE: Thriving public house with restaurant and inn. "Equus: The Hooves of Fate." See Mewcloven at the same establishment, Tower street. All reasonable offers considered.

Wizard-lords of Nevershyed. Two powerful unicorns and a pegasus who rule Nevershyed.

Genius Loci, brother of Numinous, unicorn, studied at the crooked tower when Emerald was there though their time did not overlap much (she'd remember him if at all as a random upperclasspony.)
Probably a psychopath. Very ambitious.

Numinous Spirit, sister of Genius, pegasus, mostly taught by her older brother.
She is mostly just going along with the others.

Baleful Gaze, unicorn, estranged daughter of Malign Gaze Sr, who deposed her from the overlordship of Nevershyed with the help of Genius and Numinous. (Malign Gaze's other daughter, Malign Gaze Jr, now rules in the remaining part of her mother's territory.)
A sociopath.

Though not as evil as some, the wizard-lords are pretty bad - they manage Nevershyed for their own long-term benefit and not for the welfare of its population. Unlike Malign Gaze Sr, though, they aren't doing wicked experiments to make pony aberrations and invent new types of undead, though.


MALIGN GAZE Jr, Unicorn, "Overlord of Witch Point and Nevershyed." She hates her sister, Baleful Gaze, with a passion, and wishes for nothing more than to take over Nevershyed, to whose overlordship she is a pretender.
Although not totally without empathy or morality, she is very self-centered and petty and would be hard to turn.

Geldbit, Baron Saltpillars. A stallion, an earth pony zony and alchemist in a very classical vein. He likes gold and other precious metals. He's comparatively benign, if not benevolent; he is very greedy.
His mortal enemy is Scarflanks. Turning him would be mutually exclusive with her.

Scion the Fleshgrafter, a unicorn, likes making abberations, has "recreated crystal ponies" with crystal forest experimentation. RBO spies raided him eight years ago and he is still pissed at Risen Bones a lot, and made two of them whom he caught into abberations.
He has extensive knowledge of psychic magic as well. Nova wants him extra dead.
He is pretty much a complete monster. Is a bit of an abberation himself, added pegasus wings to himself, but they don't work other than for limited gliding.


Scarflanks the Callow, a featherless pegasus wizard who is the way she is because of magical war wounds on campaign against Geldbit, who had mercenaries from Scion the Fleshgrinder.
She could probably be turned, but it would be hard, and mutually exclusive with Geldbit since they are mortal enemies.

Saltwithers, an earth pony wizard, who got her start leading a peasant uprising against Scarflanks after being her general.
Could easily be turned; RBO failed because he doesn't trust RBO.


Freetown is an elective dictatorship, currently under Chief Sootstreak, a unicorn fire mage who rebelled from Nevershyed after initially supporting the disposal of Malign Gaze Sr when reform failed to materialize fully. He is already collaborating with Nova.

The soil of the area is poor and a high population cannot be supported. Intensive cultivation, raised beds, recycling of fertilizers, and summoning of extradimensional food by wizards are popular. Lately produce from Teardrop island has reached them as well, though the overlords have tried to suppress this to some extent since they don't want RBO propagandizing their subjects.

The wizard-lords have a tower in Nevershyed which is by far the tallest structure in the NE Dusts.

There is an annual summit of eminent wizards in Nevershyed, which Risen Bones formerly attended. He has not in some years (the last year he attended was 3327 before his destruction) but has sent word that he will attend this year. It's whenever the party is in town. Parades will be rehersed and so forth for them to notice. People may think Emerald is a delegate.

This is part of EL's plans. She is planning to assassinate the other attendees and occupy/liberate (depending on your POV) the NE Dusts. The casus belli will be the 'destruction' of Risen Bones at the summit (while he is giving a controversial speech calling for reform of the overlordship system), a false flag operation to be pinned on Malign Gaze Jr. EL/RBO will be assisted by troops from the NW transported over the crystal forest by the stolen missing aeropony ship (who have been moving them from the NE; RBO has promised to aid them in achieving a peaceful succession from New Equestria as part of the to-be-founded Harmonic Dominion of the Ashen Sea, and to destroy the forces of The Swift One. The Northwesterners also did most of the capturing of the aeropony ship, RBO supplying the antichangeling weapon which is also pretty much how Ruby got one.)

EL is likely to ask the party to help provide security for her and Flint to keep them near _after_ the assassination; she won't want them to see it go down.

Risen Bones being "destroyed" will allow EL to officially take over; the occupation of the NE Dusts will allow it to take place at a high point.

The question of why RBO obviously prepared (the NW troops) is legitimate. The claim will be that they were gated in, an incredible feat of magical prowess intended to overawe potential enemies of RBO. The person who explains this will believe it is true; EL obviously knows it isn't, and is willing to confide in the party of asked privately (hopefully Akasha doesn't just shout "YOU LIE" at her in front of a bunch of people... a risk I guess)

RBO's delegation will be very visible giving out fruit and treasure. (Coins minted with the image of the new princess, naturally., "HARMONIC EMPIRE OF EQUUS")

• IMPERIUM HARMONICUM

Reverse UNUM FRENUM Numeral 1 in a six-pointed star. CIVITAS HARMONIAE

Obverse ANNO RESURGENTIS XVI Profile of Princess Nova wearing a grass crown woven of flowers and cereals. NOVA, CURATRIX EQUORUM

RES HARMONICA f 3dec CIVITAS HARMONICA EQUORUM

Party could accept the geas for the summit and have to trust Nova to remove it, simply stay out of her plan, or report it to the wizard-lords.

civitas harmoniae

Scarflanks - featherless pegasus, scarred wings, flightless, has a prosthetic feather coat that is obviously fake

Saltwithers - kinda an ass, won't reverse first impressions easily, does not like Scarflanks telling him who not to rob, looking out for his own, thinks unfair that they are stuck with Halls of Halite, in which there is starvation now and chronically, the cause of the breach with Scarflanks, and the cause of the failed rebellion since Saltwithers hasn't fixed it (not that Saltwithers admits it even to himself that this is the reason.)

Wounded, attempting to hide it, bandaged head.

Teeth of Hardened Steel, dragon, female, Saltwithers thinks she gave Cupcakes (unicorn mare) and Wind Whisp (pegasus stallion), rebels, information about his movements and security precautions, allowing the rebels to ambush him as he prepared to travel.