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Tricks assasssin into poisoning herself

Jan 17th, 2026
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  1. “The Hazas sent you here to clean up,” she said. “But the real mission
  2. was to get back that damn reagents key—the one filled with the cure for
  3. dappleglass. You learned from one of Kaygi’s many dirty sources that Nusis
  4. just happened to have a reagents key that had been recovered from Rona
  5. Aristan. You knew right away what it was. And with the leviathan
  6. approaching, there was no time. You got desperate. You went to her office,
  7. forced her to open the safe, and killed her—unaware that she and I had
  8. already swapped out the keys, and I had the real one in the chest in my
  9. rooms. Right upstairs, right now.”
  10.  
  11. - The Tainted Cup, Chapter 37 pg. 339
  12.  
  13. ---
  14.  
  15. “What in hell?” said Miljin. “She vanished?”
  16.  
  17. “No,” said Ana, standing slowly. “She did not run away, I believe. She
  18. went up, rather, climbing the tower.”
  19.  
  20. “Up?” said Vashta. “What the hell did she climb the tower for?”
  21.  
  22. “To get into my rooms,” said Ana. “The twitch is here for the reagents
  23. key, after all. I said just now that it was in my chest, in my rooms—but this
  24. was a lie. What the twitch will instead find there should be greatly
  25. surprising to her.”
  26.  
  27. “We must go up!” said Vashta. “We must go up and catch her!”
  28.  
  29. “No,” said Ana. “She will come down, and soon. And then she will
  30. perish. Let us go the atrium to meet her. For though we might not survive
  31. the day, let us at least take comfort that the evil folk among us will not,
  32. either.”
  33.  
  34. We exited the adjudication room in a dazed stagger, the bells ringing in
  35. our ears, Miljin leading the way with his sword drawn. Fayazi Haza began
  36. bawling that she wanted to go home, to go home, but Vashta told the
  37. Legionnaire to clap a hand on her arm and not let her go.
  38.  
  39. Then we heard a scream from high above us, and the slam of a door
  40. bursting open.
  41.  
  42. We looked up. A figure was staggering down the stairway, sobbing with
  43. rage.
  44.  
  45. “What…” choked the twitch’s voice. “What have you done to me?”
  46.  
  47. Vashta drew her own blade and stood beside Miljin and the
  48. Legionnaires, waiting. I stood before Ana, my sword held high. Then
  49. another volley of flares rose, and the tower was filled with green light, and
  50. we saw her.
  51.  
  52. The twitch was descending, her nose and mouth pouring blood. She
  53. coughed, and yet more blood came, sloshing down her front.
  54.  
  55. “What did you do to me?” she spat. “What did you… what did you…”
  56.  
  57. Yet I recognized what I was now seeing. I had seen such a
  58. transmutation before, when Miljin and I had found Ditelus on the Plains of
  59. the Path.
  60.  
  61. “Dappleglass,” I said softly.
  62.  
  63. “Yes,” said Ana quietly. “I told you I was worried someone might try to
  64. poison me, Din. I took three of your hairs and stuck them to the lid of my
  65. teapot, just in case. Yesterday evening, while you were at the banquet, I
  66. found them gone—and a tiny leaf stuck to the interior of the teapot with
  67. resin. Dappleglass, of course.”
  68.  
  69. The twitch stumbled down the last length of stairway, her eyes now
  70. leaking blood.
  71.  
  72. “Last night I lined my chest with leather, creating a seal,” said Ana.
  73.  
  74. “And then, this morning, I snipped off the tiniest bit of the leaf, placed it in
  75. my teapot, and started it boiling at a low heat in my chest, and shut it. Not
  76. much---but then, twitches don’t need much. They’re very vulnerable to
  77. contagion…”
  78.  
  79. - The Tainted Cup, Chapter 38 pgs. 343-344
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