This city... steeped in a spell that blinds its citizens to what is truly going on around them... the horrible slaughters by nobleslooking for blood sport... the protection money seemingly taken by mobsters who were in fact guards disguised by the spell. Bryant North was, for some reason, immune to this illusury spell and saw the truth of the world. He would bring down this corrupt Empire if it was the last thing he did... but he needed help. Help that, due to the illusion, would most likely never come. He did manage to find a necklace with an enchantment on it that would break the illusion on somebody permanantly... but it only would work once. He needed to be very careful about who he gave it to. That was why he was on his way to a free clinic in the slums. A skilled healer worked there... someone he believed would be helpful since he had no skill in the healing arts. As he approached the small clinic he noticed a few guards harassing the brothel girls next door, the illusion appearing as a transparent film around them to him. Deciding to ignore them for now he stepped into the clinic, his cover for coming here was to aquire some healing salves and he would pay for them with the necklace which was made of gold and rubies... unfortunately this whole plan hinged on the healer putting the necklace on. "Hello?" He called out as he walked in "Is their anyone here?"

Bryant nodded to the young orc woman. She seemed the perfect person for what he needed. He only needed to fgure out a way to get her to wear the necklace for the spell to take effect.

"My name is Bryant and I require several things." He told her "I need several healing salves of various strengths, some antidotes to common poisons and some bandages for wounds."

He pulled out a list of supplies he needed and handed it to her. The amount of supplies would come out to being quite costly... and the necklace he had would be enough to cover the price of what he needed. Despite it being a ploy to find a healer for his cause he truly needed what was on the list. He was low on healing supplies and now he could take care of two problems at once.

After placing all the various jars and supplies into a satchel he pulled out the necklace. This was the turning point. After this... he would start things in earnest and the Empire would crumble. He just hoped the young orc wouldn't be angry at him for getting her involved in this.

The future would be very tough, filled with conflict and pain. He needed to find someway to break the spell that blanketed the Empire and made the populace blind to what was actually going on around them. That was the first goal of his. Otherwise it would be impossible for him to achieve his goals.

"I have this necklace." He told her as he held the necklace out to her "I found it in some ruins I was exploring recently... it should be able to pay for what you gave me easily."

He just hoped that she would try it on first and trigger the necklaces spell. Placing the gemmed necklace in her hand he placed his left arm across his chest in a salute before taking a step back.

"Thank you for helping me out." He told her before turning and leaving.

Bryant was in fact quite closeby. He was about three blocks away leaning against a wall. He was waiting... exactly what he was waiting for he wasn't sure. The girl fleeing? Guards rushing towards the clinic? He had no idea what to expect. He would however go back towards the clinic if nothing unusual happened in the next few minutes. Eventually nothing happened and he started making his way towards the clinic.

As he approached he instantly knew something was up. Several guards under the thin veil of the illusion were entering the clinic rapidly and shouting orders to eachother. He drew his sword and entered the building only to see three of the five gurads move out a back door and into an alleyway. Moving up behind one of the ones left he thrust his sword into the mans back, before moving back and swinging his blade, removing the mans head.

Before the other guard could move to draw his sword Bryant swung his blade, cutting deep into the mans right shoulder and killing him. Moving forward he entered the alley just in time to see the guards turn a corner.

Bryant had heard everything the female orc had said. He didn't needher to figth even though it was evident that she could be quite formidable. He needed a healer and she was a skilled one. Rounding the corner he saw the state of the three guards and moved forward. Deciding killing them would probably be counter productive at this moment, knocked them out with a hit to the head with the pommel of his sword and turned to the scared orc.

"I'm sorry you had to see the truth... but I need your help." He told her "I plan on revealing the truth of the empire to the citizens and then bringing it down for the numerous crimes perpetrated by the nobles, guards, and even the Emeror himself. But I need a skilled healer to do so. Will you help me?"

He hoped that now that she had seen the truth she would join him... but he was rather doubtful about it. She may just wish to have nothing to do with him and try to leave. If she did he would have to escort her to wherever they she needed to go... for her own safety of course. He would feel horrible if anything happened to her because of his actions.

Guilt. He felt it. He had shattered her world and ow he would lead her into fire and death. But this was the fate of those who would save the empire form itself. He was glad that the orc was willing to join him but that didn't make him feel any less guilty for what he had doen. Shaking his head to focus himself he smiled warmly with a hint of apology.

"My name is Bryant." He said with a bow "And I will change the Empire. You are now my comrade and as such I will stand by you until the end, through fire and flame, through pain and defeat, through joy and victory, I will protect my comrades till my last breath, and remember them when all is done."

He sheathed his sword and walked towards her with his hand outstretched. He liked what he just said. Maybe he would make that the oath he had everyone say when they joined his group from now on. He needed something that would instill a sense of comraderie.

"Once we get your Axe and we get to the hideout I will tell you my plans." He said to her.

"I found it in some ruins that predate the Empire by at least fifty years." He replied quietly as he followed behind her "I was searching for some information on the mass illusion thats over the Empire but only found a few scraps... and that necklace. It only works once unfortunately."

He had hoped to find the source of the illusion or information pertaining it. All he ad found were tidbits about crystals that made absolutely no sense whatsoever. He hoped to find some information by raiding an Imperial Academy but hadnt thought of a way to get in or out.

"I believe that th crystals that are everywhere have something to do with the illusion but how they're involved exactly I have no idea." He told her quietly "I've smashed a few to see if it broke the illusion but nothing changed."

Bryant pointed to a glowing white rystal orb that could now be seen a few feet up a wall out of reach of anyone. These crystals were everywhere and were hidden by the illusion that covered the Empire.

"I mean those things." He said before turning to leave.

He lead Mozari on a long and complicated path through the city, exiting the ghetto and crossing through the Merchant district before entering a different ghetto area. He then lead her down a long and seemingly dead end alley that stopped at a natural stone wall. He knocked on the wall in a very specific manner and when he was done the wall seemmedto vanish.

"This wall will reappear in ten seconds so we need to get through quickly." He told her before entering the tunnel behind it.

Bryant shook his head slowly.

"Unfortuantely I don't know enough about the Crystals to be able to form a plan to deal with them." He told her regretfully "I need more information before I can act. And as I said destroying them don't seem to do anything."

He wanted to break in the forbidden archives of the Imperial Magic Academy but wasn't sure how he would accomplish that.

"I have a plan but I'm not sure I can pull it off." He told her as they walked down the tunnel "I need to get into the Archives at teh Imperial Magic Academy to see if I can find anything but I'm not sure how to gain access to them right now."

Bryant actually smiled at that. He hadn't known she could use magic of any kind. He wasn't sure what kind of magic she used but it would still be useful. Now that he knew she could use magic a plan began to form in his head. While nonhumans were treated as second or third class citizens, the Imperial Magic Academy didn't really care about race and would admit anyone who could use magic.

Sure the nonhumans were occasionally mistreated by some of the more racial students but the teachers genreally issued harsh punishments when they caught this happening. They even permitted a servant to come to the academy with their master, if they had any servants.

"I'm begining to formulate a plan." He said before they reached the end of the tunnel "This is home."

A large cavern easily more then a hundred yards long and fifty yards wide spread out before them. It was lit by several torches hanging from the twenty foot tall ceiling and had several dozen doors set in the walls. Scattered through out the chamber were several sets of old dusty stone tables with cobweb covered wooden sat around them. Several empty book cases also filled the chamber. Only one table wasn't covered in dust; maps, notes, plans, and books covered the large table.

"This place predates the Empire." He told her "When I found it by mistake I found only one book that was almost buried by the amount of dust covering it. While faded with age I was able to learn a bit about this places history."