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<blockquote data-quote="havenstone" data-source="post: 4731762" data-attributes="member: 61094"><p><strong>Revenge of the d’Aramants</strong></p><p></p><p><strong><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">ASH AND MEESHAK </span></strong><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">spend the stormy night trying to get a clear story about what has become of their other friends. It soon becomes clear that Agerain is dead, and there are rumors flying about a disguised Atrix d’Loriad and someone else infiltrating the d’Aramants. However, Meeshak and Ash can’t find Carwyn, Darren, or Atrix anywhere in the camp, and Kyla and Ontaya are unreachable inside the besieged d’Loriad wing of Guardwatch. The dwarrow don’t know what’s become of Darren; the merchant wagons of Porphyry and Kendall are shuttered and apparently deserted.</span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">Before dawn, Ash is summoned to join several hundred other scouts in the muddy courtyard of Guardwatch. The rain has stopped, and the castle has been brought under control after the night’s outburst of d’Aramant rage. A tired-looking Sarquin d’Loriad addresses the assembled trackers. “Scouts of the North. You are about to be sent out ahead of all the other forces to clear the land of Arawai eyes from the east to the west. They will have their own trackers watching for our approach. The barbarians will think nothing of killing you if they see you, so use your bows well! None of their spies can remain alive to carry news of our movements back to the rest of their horde.” </span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">Ash notes that Ontaya is standing next to Sarquin, looking similarly exhausted and unhappy. Ontaya spots Ash as well, but they have no chance to communicate before the squires are dispatched to the field.</span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">Back in camp, Meeshak wakes up to the hissed sound of his name. An unfamiliar Chramic mercenary with long hair and black leather armor is crouched at the entrance to his tent. Meeshak takes only a moment to recognize the voice. “Nina?”</span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">“Not any more. Nor Anseron, either,” Nina says bitterly. He fills in Meeshak on everything that just happened. “Carwyn was taken by guards early in the evening. I’m going to try breaking into the dungeons to get her out.”</span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">“We can’t leave her to the Sistecherns,” Meeshak agrees in fervent tones. Pragmatic to the core, he doesn’t spend any time delving into the rights and wrongs of Nina’s murder of Agerain, but gets down to planning the rescue.</span></p><p></p><p><strong><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">MEANWHILE, ONTAYA AND</span></strong><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"> General Sarquin head up to a dawn council with the d’Aramant generals and Astacius of the Sistecherns. “We have a confession from Atrix d’Loriad’s brother,” the inquisitor informs them with evident satisfaction. “He admits to having conspired to kill Agerain d’Aramant, and his answers hint at a deeper conspiracy. However, he has not yet told us where his brother’s body was hidden last night, or who concealed it. We have so far only had time to briefly begin the interrogation of the woman Carwyn, so she has not yet contributed any useful information.”</span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">“Has Jonathan’ d’Loriad’s confession been confirmed by a priest who can Detect Lies?” Ontaya demands hotly. She feels cruelty permeating Astacius like a rot, and finds it hard to believe that the priest has not yet lost the blessing of Ain. “One who is not of your Order?”</span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">Astacius fixes Ontaya with a stare of loathing. “Do you dare to imply that my priests would let a lie escape them?” They argue fiercely for several minutes while the Generals from both Families look on without intervening.</span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">“In a matter of such gravity,” General Sarquin finally interjects, “the d’Loriads would prefer to have the boy’s confession repeated before Ambar, High Priest of the Dethasian Order.”</span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">Astacius falls poisonously silent. The d’Aramant Generals consent to Ambar as a neutral figure and the highest-ranking non-Sistechern priest in the castle. However, messengers sent to find the High Priest report that he is not in his quarters and can not be found. Most of the morning is spent futilely looking for him. After several hours, one of Astacius’ subordinate priests hurries into the tower to whisper into his ear. “I regret to inform you that it would now be fruitless to trouble the Dethasian,” announces the Sistechern in a frosty voice. “Jonathan d’Loriad just committed suicide. He opened his wrists when alone in his cell, and my brethren did not find him in time.”</span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">Ontaya’s outrage is too great to allow words. Sarquin turns to Mercon, blood suffusing his cheeks and neck. “Halt the interrogations, d’Aramant. At once. You’ve claimed one victim; let that, and last night’s violence, slake your thirst for now. We’ll continue this when we get back, under the eyes of proper Senalline priests, not these Caragond butchers. And when we do, I’ll have questions of my own about what’s just happened.” </span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">General Athriam begins to bluster, but Mercon once again cuts him off. He inclines his head to Sarquin. “As you insist, d’Loriad. Guard captain: move the surviving prisoners to secure cells, and cease the questioning until we return.”</span></p><p></p><p><strong><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">ONTAYA STALKS OFF</span></strong><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"> to the quarters of Ambar the Dethasian. When she knocks on the door, a quavery but still strident voice calls back, “Enough wasting of my time!” Ontaya eventually convinces the aged High Priest to let her in. It emerges that the affronted cleric was called out urgently in the morning to carry out a healing deep in the d’Aramant wing of Guardwatch. He was kept waiting for hours without seeing the supposedly urgent injury; when he tried to leave, he found the door securely locked. Eventually a d’Aramant informed him that due to a misunderstanding, the injured person had already been taken to a different cleric for healing. When Ontaya explains the background to this charade, the High Priest looks fit to explode.</span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">“Your holiness,” Ontaya says grimly, “with your permission I’ll send some of my cousins who aren’t joining the main army in Arawai to protect you for the next few days. The evidence strongly suggests that the Sistecherns and d’Aramants are capable of murder in this affair, and to be candid, my sense of evil around the whole lot of them is growing strongly. After we defeat the Arawai, we are going to need to investigate what has transpired here. Your aid would be invaluable. I’m afraid the d’Aramants know this.”</span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">The kindly Ambar’s face is dark with anger. “By Ain, they don’t frighten me. Anything I can do to help, I will do.”</span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">Ontaya bows and takes her leave, only to find Atrix’s cousin Kay waiting outside the door. “M’lady Kay,” Ontaya greets her in surprise. “My condolences for your family’s loss.”</span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">Kay’s expression is blank, almost lifeless. “Thank you, Ontaya.”</span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">“Forgive me, but were you looking for me?” Ontaya says, still slightly confused.</span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">“No, I’ve come to find the High Priest.” Kay cranes her neck to see around the door while speaking in an undertone. “Is he... does he know what has been happening?”</span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">“He knows,” Ontaya says bleakly. “The d’Aramants all but abducted him this morning to keep him from clarifying the circumstances of Jonathan d’Loriad’s murder.” When Kay looks up in shock, fresh tears starting to her eyes, Ontaya realizes with horror that she hadn’t yet heard about her <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/4420793-post27.html" target="_blank">young cousin</a>’s death. “Oh, I’m so sorry – the Sistecherns... I’m so very sorry. Kay, when the war is finished, we will get to the bottom of all of this. The High Priest has said he’ll help however he can.” The promise sounds feeble even to Ontaya’s own ears.</span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">“Good,” whispers Kay blindly and pushes past Ontaya, closing the door behind her.</span></p><p></p><p><strong><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">THOUGH CARWYN IS</span></strong><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"> moved to a solitary cell and spared further torment, Nina and Meeshak’s effort to rescue her fails dismally. They manage to slip into Guardwatch and immobilize the guards outside the dungeon entrance with Meeshak’s charms and Nina’s potions. Unfortunately, once inside the dungeon area, their efforts at stealth fail, and they rouse more guards than they can possibly overcome. Both are overwhelmed, knocked out, stripped of all weapons, and dragged into cells of their own. Meeshak is securely gagged and his hands bound to prevent him invoking the power of Ain.</span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">As evening falls in the d’Loriad wing of Guardwatch, Kyla is frantic to do something to defend her outlawed friends. However, Gareth and Adgar refuse to let her leave. “Kyla – all three of us are now prime suspects for <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/4490145-post38.html" target="_blank">our involvement</a> in Atrix’s scheme,” Gareth repeats heatedly. “It’s all Sarquin can do to keep us from being handed over to the Sistecherns as well. We won’t even be able to ride tomorrow with the army. There is nothing we can do that won’t make matters worse.”</span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">Kyla pounds her numb fists against the wall. “This can’t be how it ends.” She’s never been closer to despair. With Atrix dead, Carwyn captive, Darren, Meeshak, and Nina missing, and Ash and Ontaya bound for the Arawai battlefield, her little group of friends has been scattered seemingly beyond recovery. “Damn the Five Families and their schemes,” Kyla says inaudibly, shaking off Gareth’s attempts at consolation. “We should never have left the Rim.”</span></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="havenstone, post: 4731762, member: 61094"] [b]Revenge of the d’Aramants[/b] [B][FONT=Verdana]ASH AND MEESHAK [/FONT][/B][FONT=Verdana]spend the stormy night trying to get a clear story about what has become of their other friends. It soon becomes clear that Agerain is dead, and there are rumors flying about a disguised Atrix d’Loriad and someone else infiltrating the d’Aramants. However, Meeshak and Ash can’t find Carwyn, Darren, or Atrix anywhere in the camp, and Kyla and Ontaya are unreachable inside the besieged d’Loriad wing of Guardwatch. The dwarrow don’t know what’s become of Darren; the merchant wagons of Porphyry and Kendall are shuttered and apparently deserted.[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]Before dawn, Ash is summoned to join several hundred other scouts in the muddy courtyard of Guardwatch. The rain has stopped, and the castle has been brought under control after the night’s outburst of d’Aramant rage. A tired-looking Sarquin d’Loriad addresses the assembled trackers. “Scouts of the North. You are about to be sent out ahead of all the other forces to clear the land of Arawai eyes from the east to the west. They will have their own trackers watching for our approach. The barbarians will think nothing of killing you if they see you, so use your bows well! None of their spies can remain alive to carry news of our movements back to the rest of their horde.” [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]Ash notes that Ontaya is standing next to Sarquin, looking similarly exhausted and unhappy. Ontaya spots Ash as well, but they have no chance to communicate before the squires are dispatched to the field.[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]Back in camp, Meeshak wakes up to the hissed sound of his name. An unfamiliar Chramic mercenary with long hair and black leather armor is crouched at the entrance to his tent. Meeshak takes only a moment to recognize the voice. “Nina?”[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]“Not any more. Nor Anseron, either,” Nina says bitterly. He fills in Meeshak on everything that just happened. “Carwyn was taken by guards early in the evening. I’m going to try breaking into the dungeons to get her out.”[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]“We can’t leave her to the Sistecherns,” Meeshak agrees in fervent tones. Pragmatic to the core, he doesn’t spend any time delving into the rights and wrongs of Nina’s murder of Agerain, but gets down to planning the rescue.[/FONT] [B][FONT=Verdana]MEANWHILE, ONTAYA AND[/FONT][/B][FONT=Verdana] General Sarquin head up to a dawn council with the d’Aramant generals and Astacius of the Sistecherns. “We have a confession from Atrix d’Loriad’s brother,” the inquisitor informs them with evident satisfaction. “He admits to having conspired to kill Agerain d’Aramant, and his answers hint at a deeper conspiracy. However, he has not yet told us where his brother’s body was hidden last night, or who concealed it. We have so far only had time to briefly begin the interrogation of the woman Carwyn, so she has not yet contributed any useful information.”[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]“Has Jonathan’ d’Loriad’s confession been confirmed by a priest who can Detect Lies?” Ontaya demands hotly. She feels cruelty permeating Astacius like a rot, and finds it hard to believe that the priest has not yet lost the blessing of Ain. “One who is not of your Order?”[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]Astacius fixes Ontaya with a stare of loathing. “Do you dare to imply that my priests would let a lie escape them?” They argue fiercely for several minutes while the Generals from both Families look on without intervening.[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]“In a matter of such gravity,” General Sarquin finally interjects, “the d’Loriads would prefer to have the boy’s confession repeated before Ambar, High Priest of the Dethasian Order.”[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]Astacius falls poisonously silent. The d’Aramant Generals consent to Ambar as a neutral figure and the highest-ranking non-Sistechern priest in the castle. However, messengers sent to find the High Priest report that he is not in his quarters and can not be found. Most of the morning is spent futilely looking for him. After several hours, one of Astacius’ subordinate priests hurries into the tower to whisper into his ear. “I regret to inform you that it would now be fruitless to trouble the Dethasian,” announces the Sistechern in a frosty voice. “Jonathan d’Loriad just committed suicide. He opened his wrists when alone in his cell, and my brethren did not find him in time.”[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]Ontaya’s outrage is too great to allow words. Sarquin turns to Mercon, blood suffusing his cheeks and neck. “Halt the interrogations, d’Aramant. At once. You’ve claimed one victim; let that, and last night’s violence, slake your thirst for now. We’ll continue this when we get back, under the eyes of proper Senalline priests, not these Caragond butchers. And when we do, I’ll have questions of my own about what’s just happened.” [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]General Athriam begins to bluster, but Mercon once again cuts him off. He inclines his head to Sarquin. “As you insist, d’Loriad. Guard captain: move the surviving prisoners to secure cells, and cease the questioning until we return.”[/FONT] [B][FONT=Verdana]ONTAYA STALKS OFF[/FONT][/B][FONT=Verdana] to the quarters of Ambar the Dethasian. When she knocks on the door, a quavery but still strident voice calls back, “Enough wasting of my time!” Ontaya eventually convinces the aged High Priest to let her in. It emerges that the affronted cleric was called out urgently in the morning to carry out a healing deep in the d’Aramant wing of Guardwatch. He was kept waiting for hours without seeing the supposedly urgent injury; when he tried to leave, he found the door securely locked. Eventually a d’Aramant informed him that due to a misunderstanding, the injured person had already been taken to a different cleric for healing. When Ontaya explains the background to this charade, the High Priest looks fit to explode.[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]“Your holiness,” Ontaya says grimly, “with your permission I’ll send some of my cousins who aren’t joining the main army in Arawai to protect you for the next few days. The evidence strongly suggests that the Sistecherns and d’Aramants are capable of murder in this affair, and to be candid, my sense of evil around the whole lot of them is growing strongly. After we defeat the Arawai, we are going to need to investigate what has transpired here. Your aid would be invaluable. I’m afraid the d’Aramants know this.”[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]The kindly Ambar’s face is dark with anger. “By Ain, they don’t frighten me. Anything I can do to help, I will do.”[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]Ontaya bows and takes her leave, only to find Atrix’s cousin Kay waiting outside the door. “M’lady Kay,” Ontaya greets her in surprise. “My condolences for your family’s loss.”[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]Kay’s expression is blank, almost lifeless. “Thank you, Ontaya.”[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]“Forgive me, but were you looking for me?” Ontaya says, still slightly confused.[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]“No, I’ve come to find the High Priest.” Kay cranes her neck to see around the door while speaking in an undertone. “Is he... does he know what has been happening?”[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]“He knows,” Ontaya says bleakly. “The d’Aramants all but abducted him this morning to keep him from clarifying the circumstances of Jonathan d’Loriad’s murder.” When Kay looks up in shock, fresh tears starting to her eyes, Ontaya realizes with horror that she hadn’t yet heard about her [URL="http://www.enworld.org/forum/4420793-post27.html"]young cousin[/URL]’s death. “Oh, I’m so sorry – the Sistecherns... I’m so very sorry. Kay, when the war is finished, we will get to the bottom of all of this. The High Priest has said he’ll help however he can.” The promise sounds feeble even to Ontaya’s own ears.[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]“Good,” whispers Kay blindly and pushes past Ontaya, closing the door behind her.[/FONT] [B][FONT=Verdana]THOUGH CARWYN IS[/FONT][/B][FONT=Verdana] moved to a solitary cell and spared further torment, Nina and Meeshak’s effort to rescue her fails dismally. They manage to slip into Guardwatch and immobilize the guards outside the dungeon entrance with Meeshak’s charms and Nina’s potions. Unfortunately, once inside the dungeon area, their efforts at stealth fail, and they rouse more guards than they can possibly overcome. Both are overwhelmed, knocked out, stripped of all weapons, and dragged into cells of their own. Meeshak is securely gagged and his hands bound to prevent him invoking the power of Ain.[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]As evening falls in the d’Loriad wing of Guardwatch, Kyla is frantic to do something to defend her outlawed friends. However, Gareth and Adgar refuse to let her leave. “Kyla – all three of us are now prime suspects for [URL="http://www.enworld.org/forum/4490145-post38.html"]our involvement[/URL] in Atrix’s scheme,” Gareth repeats heatedly. “It’s all Sarquin can do to keep us from being handed over to the Sistecherns as well. We won’t even be able to ride tomorrow with the army. There is nothing we can do that won’t make matters worse.”[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]Kyla pounds her numb fists against the wall. “This can’t be how it ends.” She’s never been closer to despair. With Atrix dead, Carwyn captive, Darren, Meeshak, and Nina missing, and Ash and Ontaya bound for the Arawai battlefield, her little group of friends has been scattered seemingly beyond recovery. “Damn the Five Families and their schemes,” Kyla says inaudibly, shaking off Gareth’s attempts at consolation. “We should never have left the Rim.”[/FONT] [/QUOTE]
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