Follow the guard cheerfully and ask the guard in an absent sort of way.
"What can you tell me of your master? He is a man of power here that much is very clear but what more can you tell me?"
Muse to myself as I wait for the guard to respond
"Hmm a man of wealth and power, This has a great deal of potential."
The guard offhandedly mentions that Lord Stonewood is keeper of the Pact, and a more terrible and stronger man than he's ever known. He volunteers little information, but brings you straight toward the palace where his lord is busy in negotiations with Prince Richard. Word on the street is that the war may well be over.
As you pass through a secluded alleyway, you can't help but feel you are being watched...
"we have to show Aveline this! It clears both the Prince and Regent of the crime! This civil war could end! And so not worry, friend, I am here to assist in any way. We will get some revenge on this Assassin."
Karas carefully grabbed the cloth, and slowly went to Aveline's office
"We have found the method of poisoning. it appears to be a piece of iron coated in it, small enough to go unnoticed. Saer Talinth, sadly, has been infected. We need to tell the Regent, the Prince, every noble! We can stop this stupid civil war!"
Finally, Karas felt as if he was doing good. No more blood spilt by brothers, and this sensation was unusual.
Assassin's identity unknown, have to assume similar abilities. Another assassin with a bow, recruiting and army isn't good either.
Make sure Saer Talinth is watched by me or a Bravo. Trind to find this third Assassin, recruiting an army, to talk.
[Chronological note: Talinth and Karas' investigation happens three weeks before the armistice. To reconcile chronology, several weeks were spent originally in search of information following the king's sickness rather than the few days implied by rolls, followed up closely by Talinth's fate. Bloody malleable time in this world.]Aveline is impressed with the evidence you have secured, but insists that she needs proof of who sent the scarf for the investigation to close fully - right now, there is every reason to suspect it might well have
been the Regent or Prince who ordered the attempt. She hands you the scarf back for now, in case it helps with your own investigation, and promises that when you have proof of the real culprit you will have the full support of the kingdom in eliminating them personally. She is quite willing to send a Bravo to watch over Talinth, who starts tailing the knight with caution. [?] Unfortunately, your own investigations turn up little evidence beyond what you already know. You spend several weeks chasing dead ends and in several cases what you suspect to be deliberately false ends; whoever the assassin in blue was, she is good at hiding her trail.
Weeks later, after the armistice.[5] It takes you nearly three weeks, but you follow the trails left by the
other would-be assassin asking questions and eventually wind up tracking a rumour that he was arrested by one of the Hangman's guards. You tail them into a narrow alleyway, where the young man is being followed by a soldier with a sword and basic armour. In testament to the guard's folly, he has not even bothered to disarm the assassin of the strange, oddly shaped bow at his back. Probably, he thought he could kill the assassin before he could draw and string it (a very reasonable assumption, unlike your crossbow).
The same thought, with one slight variation, occurs to you. [2 vs 4 vs 1] The assassin pauses for a moment, as if sensing your approach somehow. The guard, however, doesn't seem to have noticed you at all.
"Fair enough. I will give signals to everyone about the cessation of further hostilities."
The Regent declares the end to all hostilities against forces of Prince Richard and his allies. He declared himself to do the same.
Stormstead keep is chosen as the site for the council and negotiations. Security detail will be handled by Edgard's bodyguard and Bravos, but each noble is allowed to have his bodyguard close to him.
Richard just heard of new evidence and surrendered. He agreed to call for white peace and to negotiate.
Cease all agression against his forces and do not destroy any more bridges or buildings. The conflict is over.
Come to Stormstead for negotionatiopns and withdraw from Altaregia.
Edgard
[?] Parnoth sends a missive back by fishing boat that he will remain and hold Shipbreaker until a formal peace treaty has been signed and ratified, in case of treachery, but he is lifting the embargo on naval traffic so that supplies can reach Altaregia and Stormstead. He sends his congratulations on your success, his son-in-law. He trusts that you will negotiate wisely in his stead.
Talinth stared at his hand for a while before putting his armored gloves back once again, sighing and leaving the room after Karas sped off with the scarf with obvious glee in his voice. No more time to waste; his remaining time before the symptoms hit him full strength would be short, and he didn't want to die before completing his investigation.
He wondered if Karas would keep following him and showing the same behavior with any and each discovery made during the course of his investigations. In fact, he preferred to conduct those with Sahainn as his sole companion, as it was the way he was used to doing things. The assassin probably had good intentions, but he was somewhat...too enthusiastic.
The chain of events, the machinations that caused the King to fall ill, all seem to point the Grey Death is not just a common plague which simply appeared due to the whims of the gods or even nature, but that if it is something manipulated by men, it may as well also have been created by men.
Keep investigating into matters; try to discover the origin of the scarf and search a cure for the Grey Death in the process.
Training action for the season: Polearms/Blunt by himself.
[5] You have a few words with wool merchants, describing the pattern and style of the scarf. It is of a common make native to a particular valley in the Pact, of a rather rougher Pactish wool; in fact, the scarf still has tiny grains of dirt in the yarn where it has not been properly washed. The particular shade of dye used is one reserved especially for curses, tokens and iconography of Liodnya and comes from a mine in Arendalis where it is crushed from local semi-precious stones. As you return from the market, you pass the local temple of Liodnya. Most of the offerings from the merchants have been placed
outside the temple on small altars. Generally one does not go in lightly.
On the other hand, the Liodnyans might well be the key.
You walk on, determined to hold off until you have investigated further avenues. This reticence proves to be your undoing, as that very evening you find yourself shivering and your forehead beginning to heat up. By midnight you are confined to bed and by morning Barran has you under guard in one of the palace garrets, Mary at your side nursing you.
Days pass, your body wracked with pain. The colour drains from your irises and sweat beads on your horribly pale skin. The hair on your head goes white at the roots. The pain continues, and you are only vaguely aware of the outside world; Mary brings you food and water, Barran prays at your side. Karas comes in on occasion; he seems dispassionate about your sickness. He talks about his investigations but you don't really hear. Instead you are plagued by dreams and nightmares; beasts, fire and metal revolve in your consciousness. One in particular keeps returning to you.
The dark man hammers the metal on the anvil, still red-hot from the forge. He beats it again and again, shaping what looks to be a club. He is a silhouette, against which the brilliant night sky stands in stark relief. The moon rises behind him, and the worg upon its surface looks down with cold blue eyes. She opens her jaws and howls, an axe falling from her fangs. Where it strikes the ground, wheat grows. Beyond the wheat you see a cave with a broken bow above its entrance.
The dark man continues hammering, and the metal in his tongs looks more and more like a human being. He inspects his work and looks back to a great pile of misshapen, broken pieces behind him. Upon the great scrap heap of discarded metal, a horned steel cobra lies coiled and waiting for its next prize. The dark man places the metal back upon the anvil and continues to hammer.
The hammer is not a hammer, but a silver badger curled up upon a shaft. The dark man continues to strike the metal with the badger, but she simply ignores the trauma as if protected by some invisible shell. At last the dark man raises his work to the moonlight; a figurine in mail with a hammer at its side, riding on the back of a wolf. He makes to throw it onto the pile, but the badger uncurls and wraps around it. The dark man unwraps the badger and instead places the figurine onto the ground and kneels.
The dark man speaks.You sit bolt upright, gasping for air. Mary and Barran are staring at you in shock. Mary recovers first and starts wiping your brow with a wet cloth, but the sweat is dream-sweat not fever-sweat. You swing your legs off the bed and stand, unsteadily. You fall gracelessly back onto the bed a moment later from your weakened legs, but the lack of dizziness confirms it; the fever has broken and you have survived the ordeal.
Talinth survives the Grey Death, although the sickness forces him into a fugue state for nearly three weeks. Although he will recover to full health, his eyes will never regain their colour. The grey eyes are unnerving, but some will no doubt consider them and his recovery a sign from the gods.[14512 = 0 skill points.] You start training your muscles back up again once you have had three solid meals in your stomach. You find yourself just going over the motions of what you learned in your initial schooling rather than having any fresh revelations, but an unexpected chance does offer itself. Barran himself is an expert maceman; although he admits to his wrongdoing and worked to care for you these past weeks, it is clear that he is still burdened with pride.
Barran asks you to duel him for his honour and your silence. Should he win, you will give your word to remain silent of his wrongdoing and preserve his honour (perhaps at the cost of your integrity). Should he lose, he will give his daughter up to Mary and acknowledge her as his wife in name and practice, in addition to helping you find the training you need. This would additionally restore the honour of Mary and her daughter.
The duel is only to yield or unconsciousness, but honour and reputation are at stake for all.
Whatever you choose, there is still the question of Liodnya to be answered. His temple sits like a coiled serpent at the end of the market, waiting for you to come.
Should you visit the temple, Nuke will handle the scene."I wonder why my fellowman, Harald, is accusing Richard of using foreign envoys and forces for his own gain without any tangible proof. While it may have been on the spur of the moment, insisting isn't a good sign, especially when being called out on it."
Renart adjusted himself in his seat to focus more on the man.
"Just a thought, other than that I've nothing else to add until I personally ask the Bravos."
Inquire on the King's Status, who else is working for his aid, if I can contact any of them -- hedge knights, mercenaries...the like. From the bravos, of course.
The king is still in a deep and uneasy sleep. He seems able to perform basic actions such as eating soft food, drinking and relieving himself, but is not in the slightest bit coherent. Some of the physicians believe he is subject to visitations by the gods, though often he calls for his mistress Ria. Neither she nor anyone save the physicians and the prophet Jitpau have been permitted to visit the king, all after being thoroughly searched by the Bravos who guard him day and knight.
Aveline, the king's personal bodyguard, informs you that she has an agent the king hired personally for junior treasury work (you once recall Rakon mentioning off-hand in his Royal Advisory capacity that this was the Iron Queen's favoured term for any job she didn't want people to know about) out searching for evidence. He apparently brought in a blue scarf with a distinctive metal pin or thorn in it, which he believes was used to poison the king. At this point she has no concrete evidence as to who conducted the poisoning, though; given the suspicions flying in all directions she judged it best not to say lest either the Prince, Regent or some other noble turn out to be behind it.
She also mentions that the Bravo Captain, Barran, an ambitious and capable man in line for a knighthood in the future, was conducting his own investigations. She has not yet heard any conclusive reports back, save the capture and interrogation of some thieves who had been sneaking into the palace. She suspects that Barran is keeping the evidence close to his chest for the same reason she was, though; his loyalty to the king is beyond question.
"And you," he tacked on without a moment's pause, attention shifting to the guardsman, "See our lady clothed, and led back to...the tavern, or wherever in Ziamdaka's name I found her."
Review personal assets and the assets of County Oathbreaker.
As you are well aware, the Grey Death struck your uncle, his brother, your cousin and your own father within a week of each other (you shut yourself away in a brothel and covered yourself in dried rose petals to keep the miasma away until the sickness passed), dragging you from fifth in line to the Comteship to first. The Regency conflict then broke out and you panicked, ordering Alistair to get all of the able-bodied men in the fort trained and ready and (he quotes) "hang the expense".
You are slightly regretting that last turn of phrase. While you do have three regiments of Disciplined Archers (all busy drilling in Lorvese, where you are presently staying courtesy of Marquis Tengrim). This has drained your treasury from eight ducats to a mere fifty crowns, and when the new year comes you'll need to pay another 7.5 ducats just on upkeep for your new soldiers.
The simplest option will be to disband them when the time comes, as if the Regent deducts tax
before upkeep costs, your men will desert and possibly go bandit. On the other hand, you might want to wait until you are absolutely sure the war is over before you disband them.
The total income of Oathbreaker is eight ducats a year, purely from land. The region is a little short on resources, but the local marshes provide ample furs and the plains have always been good grazing land. If you established new trade routes to the capital you could see fresh income flowing into the fief.
You aren't married, and your sister is your next-of-kin and heir, but at last the Conricht usurper is off your family throne. The future is yours, if you can survive the winter.
Ril awoke with a start, trying to push himself up, out of the cheap, straw-filled pallet he slept upon, only to collapse back, blood pouring from the number of wounds covering his thin, malnourished form.
He coughed out some blood, giving a pained whimper, that caught in his throat, making him cough up...blood and scabby mucus. Warm blood began to run down his throat, the bandages around his neck staining dark red.
Not like this...not like this....
Two sets of rough-hewn boots hurried their way to the prone young man, a hand wrapping around his throat, stemming the bleeding with fresh, thick bandages of rough-hewn wool a Ril slipped back into unconsciousnesses.
He healed fast, when all was said in done, the stitches keeping his chest cavity from gushing blood could be removed after a month, the ones keeping his throat from drowning him in his own blood were removed a week later...he was on his feet the week after that, repairing his clothes and armor, planning and plotting on revenge on the man who sent him to die. A few days later, he convinced the red-headed brother and sister who took him in to come with him, leave this hellish country behind...
....Your head will decorate my mansion, Regent.
Ril has been MIA for two months, after an ambush killed his men and nearly killed him, leaving him with a few physical scars..
Head back to Stormstead.
You cross the border back to Windheath, [6] bribing and sneaking your way through Arendalis to avoid any more soldiers like the ones that preyed on you and your men. Word spreads about some rich noble making his escape, though, and by the time you reach the border the news is already ahead of you. [6+1-1 vs ?] You become aware of horsemen in the countryside as you return, and a quick talk with some peasants reveals what you feared; these men are hunting three 'Arendalian fugitives' crossed over the border. There is no indication of who they are or who they work for, but you remain hidden even as you cross Drachengraab.
When you reach the bridge to Lorvese, your heart sinks. A dozen cavaliers are camped at the bridge, very possibly of the same ilk as those hunting for you. [6] They do not appear to have seen you, but the river is too wide to
safely swim. Your only other options to get to Stormstead will be by boat (probably from Lorvese) or by crossing the Red Spear to get into the northern Stormstead plains. Or, you can take the long route and go around Spiritusaer, but this still forces you to go through the northern Stormstead plains.
Spy network check
[6+1] It comes to your attention that several bands of horsemen are roving around in Drachengraab. Details on their precise location are short, as they are apparently very good at killing scouts. They do not seem to be claiming allegiance to any given party and are wearing chainmail but no livery.
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Topic: You are King III: Spring 938 AAL (Read 133310 times)