The Founder’s Gala of 1763 was two nights away. This prestigious event is held once a year to commemorate the establishment of Kerkrad as a city and the formal movement of the seat of power of the Koncord of Kieros to the floating island of Xylte.
The members of the soon to be established task force were scattered about the city, some like Oisin were dreaded their duty to attend the gala while the general atmosphere of the city was that of celebration. At the gala would be all ten of the Forum delegates, most of the heads of state from the member nations of the Koncord and lots of other nobles and business people from all over the Great Basin.
As fate would have it, the future members of the task force were all seated together since members from different cultures are expressly encouraged to mingle within the diverse group of attendees. Entertainment was provided in the form of a short play from Wilfred Montmore depicting brothers lost in a magical jungle encountering all sorts of oddities that had an unusual romantic element to it with both protagonists choosing to stay in the woods with their loves.
The Herske of the Forum, Bur Harcosa gave the keynote speech, going on for a long time about the benefits of the Koncord when its members are in jeopardy, recounting the tale of the Immolation Crisis from his own nation the Principality of Vi. (Oisin was enthusiastic to know the solidarity of the Koncord towards its members).
After the speech, the climax of the entertainment was to be had, a fireworks show with interpretive dance from the Kerkard Dance Troop. However, during a small gap in the fireworks, a large explosion was hear and seen with debris blasted over the top of the Forum building. The guards immediately reacted to protect the attendees of the Gala which did include locking them into the courtyard. The Krig Marchi Elenek took a team of guards from the Bastion of the Sky into the Forum building to investigate. Seeking to gain information, Redfern sent Blue Eyes skyward to see the damage to the building and saw a large hole in the back of the building though which Marchi could be seen with a person who was later revealed to be Eaton, the head of the investigative department of the Bastion of the Sky.
Determined to help, particularly after learning that Dr. Luna was a bomb expert, Oisin tried to lead the party into the Form Building. Meet with four guards and a guard captain, Oisin cast suggestion on the captain to get everybody into the building.
Upon entry, it was quickly pieced together that the explosion occurred in the chamber were the delegates meet to conduct their business. Walking in at sword point, our adventurers were confronted by Marchi and a very short human wearing black clothing and a red cloak named Eaton who introduced himself as the investigative head of the Bastion of the Sky. He was unimpressed with Dr. Luna’s deductive skills and insisted that he did not need help in the investigation. Marchi agreed and escorted the group out to make a preliminary statement and dismiss the gala attendees with the exception of the party.
Instead she held you all their for an hour before giving you summons to appear before the Forum the next day. Reporting as ordered, you learned that the Forum had come to an agreement late last night. Since you knew that the Sword of Divinity was stolen, you were assigned to the task force to investigate the thief and recover the sword. The thing is, officially you are only to investigate and punish those behind the bombing since the lost of the sword is very much classified. Each member state was given the chance to assign somebody to the task force, with all of your governments picking you. This is how the other governments reacted: - Empire of Xylte: Disavowed the investigation entirely, stating that they didn’t believe that a multinational task force could possibly conduct a fair and just investigation. - Niven Imperium: Stated that they will cooperate with the investigation, would not be assigning a member and will be launching their own investigation. - Commune of Atrxous: Tried to assign a member, Hynek Linhart, a shoemaker from Plumlov and was overruled following a grievance from Barno of the Eichen Kingdom. - Atreides Duchy: In order to maintain neutrality they also declined to assign a representative. - Principality of Vi: Was interested in assigning a member, but did not have a representative on hand.