[Dragaera] Seventeen Maybe Different Jhegaala Spoilers

[Jon Lincicum]

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From: Philip Hart <philiph at slac.stanford.edu>
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> On Mon, 14 Jul 2008, Scott Schultz wrote:
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> > *spoilers space that won't do you any good if you get the digest...*
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> >> 2. Ok, dumb question, but how again is it that the Organization finds
> >> out about Vlad?
> >
> > Locating someone with sorcery is considered to be fairly simple, as I recall. 
> > Vlad is paranoid about removing the gold phoenix stone because he assumes, 
> > especially in the time-frame of Jhegaala, that House Jhereg is so pissed-off 
> > that they've got someone making the attempt pretty much 30/5. The gamble Vlad 
> > took was that they would have some difficulty traveling to Burz even if they 
> > located him there. He lost that gamble, though it was in part his own fault 
> > for not leaving immediately after the Working.
> 
> He takes off the gold stone for just a moment, incidental to taking off
> the black stone - and we have seen in _Orca_ that Loiosh will detect
> a locator spell, and anyway Vlad was still wearing Spellbreaker.

Loiosh DID detect a locator spell. Or, more specifically, he felt SOMEthing. That may have just been the coven getting Vlad's name. But remember that while the Empire couldn't employ a witch powerful or subtle enough to get past Loiosh, the Left Hand surely must contain some sorcerers who have the necessary skill. 

This is soon enough after /Phoenix/ that it makes sense to assume the Jhereg are going all-out full bore to find him. (They probably envision his assassination as being a matter of days or weeks, only, at this point.) 

In terms of Spellbreaker, Vlad has been teleporting all over the place with Spellbreaker for years. We have ample evidence to show that despite being made of Gold Phoenix Stone, it doesn't stop sorcery around Vlad the way the amulet does.

> Also, I don't understand how an assassin is supposed to find out enough
> to bribe a servant of the Count and then try to subvert Dahni without
> making, or certainly risking, a big ripple of gossip.

The Jhereg assassin hires a teleport service to take him just over the Eastern Mountains. Finds a horse, rides to a nearby village, but not one so close that anyone in Burz can sense his presence. Then, it's just a matter of spreading gold around around until he can find someone to go into Burz for him. I would imagine even an elf wouldn't have any serious problems finding ample volunteers interested in earning twice their yearly salary for a few hours work going into town and setting up a meeting with a representative of the local lord (Dahni) on a "no-questions-asked" basis. 

He might not even need to go all the way into a neighboring town. Just meet some fellow on the road, as Vlad did before he got to Burz.  No witnesses. No hubub. 

Majikjon