WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:24.240 Music. 00:00:24.246 --> 00:00:30.306 Karch sat at his desk, the sounds of Jasper's shuffling march out of his office a distant echo. 00:00:30.786 --> 00:00:36.346 The city was a chessboard, and he had just sent a pawn to secure a vital flank. 00:00:36.666 --> 00:00:41.966 But a larger problem remained on the board, the empty throne in Craft Tower. 00:00:42.446 --> 00:00:46.286 A headless guild was a dangerous, unpredictable beast. 00:00:46.646 --> 00:00:52.046 His first instinct, the one Larson would have followed, was to install a puppet, 00:00:52.666 --> 00:01:00.726 Find some pliable senior craftsman, flatter him, bribe him, and make him guildmaster in name only. 00:01:01.286 --> 00:01:08.726 It was what Orion had tried with Keris, and the result was a dagger in the ribs and a cursed office. 00:01:09.466 --> 00:01:14.766 Karch dismissed the thought. A subservient craft guild would be a guild simmering 00:01:14.766 --> 00:01:19.706 with resentment, its loyalty a lie waiting for the right moment to turn. 00:01:20.706 --> 00:01:27.326 No, a weak but independent craft guild was a far more stable neighbor. 00:01:27.806 --> 00:01:31.566 That led him to the next piece on the board, Polo. 00:01:32.526 --> 00:01:36.546 The old guildmaster Harvest was the city's center of gravity now. 00:01:36.946 --> 00:01:41.526 Should he send an emissary to Harvest House, a gesture of peace, 00:01:41.726 --> 00:01:44.706 or would that be seen as a sign of weakness? 00:01:45.486 --> 00:01:51.106 Perhaps he should go himself, a meeting of the two most powerful men in Ness, 00:01:51.366 --> 00:01:53.326 to decide the city's future. 00:01:53.706 --> 00:01:55.666 It was a tempting thought. 00:01:56.306 --> 00:02:01.406 Together they could convene a proper guild council with the drunken fool Saxe, 00:02:01.466 --> 00:02:05.866 and legitimize a new craft guildmaster with a formal vote. 00:02:06.526 --> 00:02:13.606 And what of Saxe? He was unpredictable, but also malleable. he would be well 00:02:13.606 --> 00:02:18.746 served to reach out to him immediately, which brought him back to a guild council. 00:02:18.906 --> 00:02:27.166 That would calm everything down and present Karch in a position of authority, if not power. 00:02:27.706 --> 00:02:29.346 But that was okay. 00:02:29.886 --> 00:02:35.546 Power could be attained later. It was the wise path, the correct path. 00:02:36.006 --> 00:02:39.366 Still, it was also dangerously unpredictable. 00:02:40.746 --> 00:02:44.166 Karch detested leaving his fate in the hands of others. 00:02:44.566 --> 00:02:49.586 He realized that entering a guild council with a name in hand was the best path. 00:02:50.106 --> 00:02:54.746 No other guilds were as close to the craft guild as the merchants. 00:02:55.486 --> 00:02:59.286 Him having a name for a guildmaster would be taken seriously. 00:03:00.366 --> 00:03:04.366 He paced back to his desk, mentally listing the handful of senior craftsmen, 00:03:04.886 --> 00:03:09.126 who could reasonably be considered for the role. There was Bertram, 00:03:09.466 --> 00:03:13.486 Orion's former tower captain, too loyal to the old regime. 00:03:14.126 --> 00:03:18.706 There were the heads of the various sub-guilds, the masons and the weavers, 00:03:19.066 --> 00:03:23.586 all competent, but all with their own agendas and deep-seated rivalries. 00:03:24.597 --> 00:03:28.657 He dismissed them one by one. Each was a predictable problem, 00:03:28.937 --> 00:03:31.177 a known quantity of future headaches. 00:03:31.737 --> 00:03:38.717 And then an unexpected name surfaced in his mind, a ghost from the old conflict. 00:03:39.357 --> 00:03:46.697 Vesper. He was the craft blade, ruthless, efficient, and beholden to no one but his own ambition. 00:03:47.057 --> 00:03:49.137 Could a blade be a guildmaster? 00:03:49.517 --> 00:03:54.257 The idea was absurd. Vesper would be desperately overmatched. 00:03:54.597 --> 00:03:58.677 "'a killer thrust into a den of politicians and merchants. 00:03:59.137 --> 00:04:03.937 "'He knew nothing of balancing ledgers or negotiating trade rights. 00:04:04.137 --> 00:04:10.977 "'He only knew how to create widows, and that, "'that was precisely what made him so appealing. 00:04:11.217 --> 00:04:17.337 "'An overmatched guildmaster was a malleable one.' "'Karch stopped his pacing. 00:04:17.617 --> 00:04:21.137 "'For a moment, he allowed himself to entertain the thought. 00:04:21.557 --> 00:04:26.037 "'Vesper on the craft guild throne, with Karch's hand on his shoulder, 00:04:26.457 --> 00:04:28.157 guiding him, controlling him. 00:04:28.357 --> 00:04:31.017 It was a perfect, elegant solution. 00:04:31.417 --> 00:04:34.397 But it was too soon, too risky. 00:04:34.917 --> 00:04:40.377 He pushed the thought away. A formal meeting of the guildmasters was the proper 00:04:40.377 --> 00:04:42.637 move. It was the safe move. 00:04:42.917 --> 00:04:47.917 He would reach out to Polo and begin the slow, tedious work of politics. 00:04:48.977 --> 00:04:55.757 He would shelve the idea of Vesper. Yet, as he sat behind his desk and began 00:04:55.757 --> 00:05:00.577 drafting a message to Harvest House, the idea refused to be dismissed. 00:05:01.077 --> 00:05:07.037 It gnawed at him, a whisper of a possibility that was as dangerous as it was brilliant. 00:05:07.457 --> 00:05:13.097 The thought of a ruthless killer, a former blade, sitting on a guildmaster's throne. 00:05:13.397 --> 00:05:16.397 It was an idea he couldn't seem to let go. 00:05:29.840 --> 00:05:41.200 Music. 00:05:38.557 --> 00:05:40.857 A podcast alchemy production.