Aphonion Tales: The Archducal Council -- Unedited notes; later posts are edited transcripts (posts MWF, update 3/1/23)

[CPaladin]

[Session 122, cont'd]
Kit talks to Grandmaster Farsensor about talking to the Blessed Wood.

“They only have the Eldarborn Lord, his consort, his son, and one other Eldar. Since you wish them to commit their ships—you will have to speak to the Lord of the Wood. You will be talking to the Eldarborn Lord Tha’indri’al.”

He creates a psionic connection. The elves speak in Eldar for a while, and then he says, “He tells me that you have need of the Blessed Wood.”

Kit tells him that our holiest city is under threat from a great enemy and that we humbly asks their aid in stopping this attack that is coming by air.

“What is this enemy?”

Kit gets a strange word in her mind, probably from the Grandmaster Farsensor. She struggles and forms the syllables by force of will, and the Eldar and the wood elf attendants gasp.

“Lady Katharine, we rarely interfere with the younger races, but that the ancient abominator has come again requires extraordinary action on our part. I will commit our vollers—all five of our fleet—and 100 archers.”

As he fades out, his attendants strap on crystal armor.

* * *
Alistair has several priests perform divinations—"should we expect a significant attack on Canberry (excluding the people within the Holy See) within the next day?"
Yes.

Divination:
"How best can we defend against the attack on Canberry, without Alistair or his entourage returning to Canberry?"
Look far to the South, they attack where weak, open your mouth, armies there seek.

Commune:
Is Canberry City itself in imminent danger? No.

Is the expected attack on Canberry in the former South Kingdoms? Yes.

Is it targeted at their effective capital? Yes.

Is the South Kingdom colony in the southern continent going to be imminently attacked? Yes.

Can Dame Katharine, the Mouth, raise armies to defend? No.

Can the Empress Kaitlyn raise armies to defend by her speech? No.

Is the primary way to defend by providing warning of the attack? Yes.

Will the attack be by air? Yes.

Is it an attack by Zorplona-Aragoni? Yes.

(Unasked because ran out of questions: Is it an attack directly by forces of the Unspeakable?
Is it an attack by Skaven?
Is it an attack by humans?)

* * *
Alistair reaches out to Lady Zel’est’ra Moriquendarim through a human Farsensor.

They negotiate. She agrees to engage the enemy and to provide 8000 uruks (eight elite legions, with permission for the Glordiadelians to proselytize to them) to defend against the surface troops. She identifies the airfleet as Hanalian; Alistair promises a reasonable fee for their services, as well as any prize ships that they take (and he says that they’ll turn a blind eye to what happens to any prisoners taken beyond the borders of the Holy See.)

She points out that there are also 57 surface ship troop carriers.

They also talk about whether anyone can bring the Seventh Region to heel. Alistair gave her the information about the Prince of the Cities of Pain. She said that the head of house Moriquendarim could stop Quinliart’s brother, and would if Alistair talked to him and explained the problem. She also, without any prompting, promised that they could have any ten slaves from the Zorplona-Argoni that they request.
[End Session 122]

 

[CPaladin]

Session 123 (February 17, 2021)

25 Ras (cont’d)

They get a report from the Militant Order of the Knights of the Misty Dawn; troop transports have landed 50 miles away. [Attached]. They also review a map of the area surrounding the Holy See.

They send a sending to Tottenheim:
Holy See expects attack in 4 hours by 200 Vollers, 250 naval ships, footsoldiers. Defense plans/ key relics stolen. Elven/Noldor vollers intercepting enemy vollers.

He responds:
In brutal negotiations with warlords Khamista. Consult adjunct - General Lord Thaddeus Devondale in See. All orders militant active. Thaddeus command. You command secular. Light Endures!

They find Lord Thaddeus Devondale. “We must immediately convert the cathedral for its secondary purpose—hospital. That should be put under the authority of the Brotherhood of the Archangel Parantholial the Healer and the other healing orders. Some of the orders need to be protected. The Ever-Virgin Order of Tophiel can fight—Tophiel expects no less.” He mobilizes the orders. “Do not get into arguments with the Knights Resplendent. They don’t follow orders anyway. I will personally activate the Templars of the Tower. They will guard His Holiness’s chambers.”

“Do we have any means that my voice could be heard throughout the defense?”

“Some of the clerics can. I will send the Father-Superior of the Order of Gavriel. He can. I will send the Oblates of the Utter Mother into the sea to try to stop the ships.”

They estimate that there will be 20,000 to 50,000 enemy troops. We have about 2500 troops, plus the 8000 uruks. They ring the bells, ordering the civilians to flee west. They don’t dare bring them into the Holy See for fear of bombardment. They plan to try to break any mind control.

They expect any non-fanatic human captains to break when engaged by elven vollers, but the fanatics will continue. They arrange for people to be brought within the Holy See itself, and to have their blood checked as they come in.

* * *
Kit has a psionic contact in the Southern Kingdoms, a lady who is usually part of the Empress’s entourage when the Empress is in the South.

“Oh, my lady.”

“We have urgent news. There is an attack coming from Zorplona-Argoni.”

“I thought they had stopped.”

“So had we. Do you want to speak to the commander?”

“Yes, probably best.”

“Cat among the pigeons again, eh? We’ll have to see if we can show them what for. We have built some new artillery.”

Empress Caitlyn says, “I’m not sure our artillery will be able to deal with a Noldar voller—or more than one.”

Kit talks about other resources they have—some mages, some of the cat lords who have been helping them rebuild the capital. They also talk about reaching out to the friendly mage in the Mountains of Mages.

Kit has farsensors trying to get a count of the enemy numbers. They have to be extraordinarily cautious. “They’re closing with an armada, a man-of-war, and eight scows; the scows are carrying troops, probably about a thousand. They have a single vessel behind—likely a fast courier, either to report or for a favored prisoner.”

They could be aiming to capture one of the Empress’s body doubles if they don’t realize they’re doubles. “They could also be going after our military leaders, such as we have. There’s a member of the great council of Skree that has been willing to trade with us. They might be willing to assist. They might be willing to throw some of their lesser clan rats at the enemy to stop them, viewing any losses as advantageous to eliminating excess population.”

Farsensors link to him—the white Skaven that we’ve met before. “Grain farm idea working.”

“That’s wonderful, wonderful. But we have a favor we would ask of you.”

“I listen! I do not understand your idioms, but I listen.”

Empress Caitlyn explains the situation.

“Two warlord clans near border can reach you before they do. I send them now-now. They skitter-skitter up to you and they fight for our trade alliance. I go now.”

“Well, that will help. I have no idea how many are in those clans, but they will help. They may swamp the uruks, or may be a small aid.”
* * *

Kit talks to Princess Anastasia. “The troops will not make a dent, but the vollers… I will talk to Cov Snatterkaz immediately.”

* * *
Lord Davion is penning calligraphy in an elegant hand using silver ink on paper of beaten adamantium.

“We have another emergency. I’d love to speak to you someday when we’re not having an emergency, but…” Kit brings Lord Davion up to speed.

“This tells us a great deal. Firstly, it tells us that the One Other is convinced that his two colleagues will never be able to enter this plane. He is now acting on his own.”

“How does this tell you that?”

“He is doing one thrust with most of his forces. That is not something you do if you fear that you may have to use them for something else. What he hopes to do, if he is alone here, he cannot consume everything. However, if he can consume enough, he could elevate himself to ruling god status. He needs gods. Glordiadel would be a lovely start—that is his goal. If he can conquer the Holy See and destroy the center of the Church, he hopes to use that to seize what power he can. He will completely shatter the Temple of Sytry within the next few years. The devotees of the Blue Star will follow him into oblivion. He will draw into a pantheon those who ally with him. He has betrayed his fellows. Otherwise, he would try to get them in while that is still possible. He will be unlikely to consume Sytry, but he will break his church. He might try to consume Borsh’tro. He knows he could not consume the Creator alone. So he tries to merely control everything. That is what the First Age tells me. So we must defeat him in detail now. It will not destroy him, but it will put him in a place he does not want to be. It will take him millennia to rebuild his temple. Should I apport to the South Kingdoms to… advise?”

“If you think that’s where you can assist the most.”

“The Empress’s commander in the South Kingdoms is a competent captain, but no general. Perhaps I can advise him to be competent.”

* * *

Alistair has a human psion link him to the Prince of the House of Moriquendarim. As soon as the link is made, it’s as if we’re standing in the room together. He is seated on a half throne, but the filigree adamantium doors that are being closed are to an enormous chamber of Noldar of House Moriquendarim, Twilight Elves, and others are all having animated conversations.

“If there are no slave carriers, this is not a raid. That suggests that Quinliart’s brother may have fallen from the House.

“House Moriquendarim is the weakest but most numerous of the Noldar houses. The Aragoni are a faction within the house, but only a faction—one of six. They capture slaves and sell them, sometimes in ways that the House does not approve. Sometimes they are put in their place. They pay 20% of their profits to the House for our let and approval. The majority of House Moriquendarim are not slavers—the largest position is the ridiculous idea that it is our place to help prepare the elevation of the lesser races that will replace us, ridiculous as that idea is. The few holdings we have outside of Krashmere are not devoted to specific sects. So for example, the Enclave formerly Zorplona-Argoni is now in the hold of a Sustainer, one of the other factions. That Enclave will never again take slaves unless the Argoni take power there someday in the future. Quinliart’s brother made enormous wealth during the Day of the Dead, and has said himself that the ‘cattle’ should be given some centuries to recover. If there are no slave carriers—I think he will not obey my orders but will turn renegade instead. Some of his twilight elf officers may turn against him.”

They provide a metal medallion of Adamantium inlaid with laen. Alistair sends that to Lord Davion, sending it with some of the people who can resurrect that they sent to Kit.

* * *
Alistair goes to speak to the Utter Mother, Goddess of the Ocean, going to her shrine. There’s only one oblate left there.

She makes odd burbling sounds, and smooth, cold water shows up. Alistair finds himself floating, flippers holding him in place, and large eyes float in the ocean.

He asks for assistance.

“I will send water spouts. Some it will wreck. Some will reach the shore. I will pay particular attention to the eight in the rear. They do not carry troops. They carry death. A little dollop of death in the sea washes out in the water.”

Alistair asks if she wants anything, and she says that she is not like her brother and sister. Her oblates have taken other forms, and she will strengthen them.
[cont'd]

 

[CPaladin]

[Session 123, cont'd]
A group of vollers come in very fast and disgorge uruks from scows. Their drowan officers are literally whipping them into shape, forming them up and disciplining them.

* * *
Alistair and the Patriarch quickly set up a new system of acting Archbishops and of an emergency council if the council is destroyed and needed. The bishop of the senior diocese of each province is to be the acting archbishop of the province, but cannot succeed to the archbishopric directly. The emergency council would be any surviving members of the council, any surviving archbishops, the acting archbishops for any province whose archbishop does not survive, and the Protector of the Light.

* * *
Dame Brionna works on adjusting and revising the plans on the fly so that we’re not doing specifically what the plans suggest.

They deploy the archers concentrated on the seaward approaches. Dame Brionna leads a rapid response force—18 Knights of Valor, and 8 Knights of Hegatha (who are famed for ferocity). She also has them prepare boiling holy water for the wall defenses.

They also contact the Council of White Mages, and they get three dithering mages who can help, and can be directed. The mages are archmagi, so they do have plenty of spells.

* * *
Alistair and Dame Brionna can see the waterspouts from where they are, as a flotilla of Eldar ships arrive, and on the other side of the city the uruks and the Lady of the Fifth Region of the Aragoni.

Two hundred human vollers blackens the sky. They are arriving at the same time as the ships, at about the same time the landed troops engage the uruks.

Alistair inspires the whole defense efforts. Some ships do make it into port, landing 130 additional ships worth of troops while the rest are destroyed.

As the vollers come in, the elven vollers start cutting them down from above. There are a couple of ragged volleys. A few captains do withdraw; a few have munities on deck; but most continue on.

At the same time, in the South Kingdoms, a large horde of clan rats arrive and await the attack. And yes, the Noldar lord ignored the command from his prince. The skaven greatly outnumber the uruks, although the uruks are more individually powerful and much more disciplined. The humans backing up the skaven start engaging them. And then Lord Davion reveals himself fully, and his armor lights up, as does the Moriquendarim medallion, and declaims in Noldar. His aura causes many of the uruks nearest him (and some of the skaven nearest him) collapse in worship. Some of the officers seem startled, and one exchanges words with him in Noldar. Those officers, both Twilight Elves, slowly kneel and lay down their weapons in front of him.

The oblates and the sharks are now swarming and eating anyone coming off the ships that are sinking. The combat is fierce.

A monk approaches Dame Brionna. “A small group just cut their way through over one of the towers and the sidewall. We don’t know where they came from, but they seem different from the others in front of them.”

Dame Brionna rallies her team, and flies over on her horse. A volley of darts flies at her, with some dozen missing and three striking her. She indicates where the attack came from, and a mage purges invisibility. There are about two dozen figures, most human, some translucent, and one wielding one of the tentacle rods. She charges the rod bearer. She kills him outright with an enormous blow.

Lord Davion hews his way through the uruks, still talking, and the two Twilight Elf officers now strike their own former troops. The drow try to avoid him while still moving their charges to the place where Empress Caitlyn stays while down there. Nobody here gives ground. Everyone fights to the death, so it’s a savage fight.

Back at the Holy See, Dame Brionna keeps doing dives. The enemy vollers are now over the city. The elves ask Alistair what they should do, and he says better to have their wreckage fall on the city than their weapons. Finally, they identify the enemy flagship and a group of glowing and shining elves descend on the flagship, levitating down. A couple minutes later, a beautiful elven maiden in crystal armor holds up the head of an admiral, and using declamatory mode, declares psionically. “Your admiral is dead. On behalf of the Overqueen, I command you to surrender your vessels or withdraw from this place, or you will all be destroyed.”

In the South Kingdoms, the uruks are fighting to the death, even though the tide has clearly turned against them. Lord Davion has stopped killing them, while others continue killing them. The uruks are now being driven back, especially when two rakshasa knights join the battle. The skaven were absolutely slaughtered, but provided a cushion. Finally, in despair, the drow attempt to attack Lord Davion. This does not go well. And suddenly another voller shoots northwest.

Meanwhile, Dame Brionna and her group of knights bring down the band from the Underdark, with minimal casualties, despite their power. There’s some spell throwing on both sides. Lord Devondell is correct about the Knights of Hagaratha, who are like killing machines when they get started. The secret force, which was part of the whole attack, fails.

About a half-dozen of the Hanalian pilots are setting their vollers as close to the ground as they can and abandoning them. They’re porting their weapons and striking their colors.

The ground troops are the biggest problem, and the battle lasts for hours. The cathedral is full of wounded. There are vast numbers of dead as well. Dame Brionna deploys some calm emotion effects on the enemy, which seems to shake a fair number of the ground troops almost out of a trance. At that point, many of them look around and wonder what they are doing.

Some sea ships withdrew. Some vollers fled as well, and the elves let them go, although the Moriquendarim may not.

It is effectively over, though the cost in human lives was severe.

* * *

In the South, Lord Davion and the general who nominally was in charge for the whole time repulse the enemy. Lord Davion lays laen links around the necks of the two Twilight Elves. Once the situation is secure, he apports them to Dame Kit, and commands the two Twilight Elves to their knees before Empress Caitlyn and Dame Kit, “the special companion of the Emperor.”

“These two surrendered. I wish them to be granted leniency.”

“We accept your surrender," says Kit. "While we await official decision on your fate, we ask if you have any information on what else comes in the South.”

“We heard a rumor that the Prince had communicated his dissatisfaction with our lord. We did not believe that. But he was preparing his own fast voller before we left—we believe he may have gone to join his brother. For if he truly defied an order of the house lord, he is finished in the House, and while there may be a place for a renegade Aufaugautharim, there is no place for a renegade Moriquendarim. His brother was with us for a time after he fled Enclaves. He then departed with his forces and a group of strange creatures—the tall, humanoid figures translucent with blue fire in their bellies. Once they arrived, Lord Quinliart departed, but his brother sheltered him for weeks, and they were always close. Those strange beings felt of something unclean, but one does not question a Noldar lord. He emptied the region house for this attack. And I do not know why he picked the day he picked and I do not know why he commanded it. He abandoned—scuttled actually—the slave transports.”

“Were there any slaves on board?” asks Kit.

“No. We have not taken any slaves since the fall. There was no need. But he must have known that he was not returning. We thought it was a senseless act, but he could have bought new. There was even some talk that he might be following the lead of the northern kin, but we knew that was not. We have seen the vigor with which he gathered slaves in the old days.”

Her questions answered, Kit turns to the Empress. “Empress Caitlyn. These are your prisoners.”

“If Lord Davion wishes to grant them mercy, I see no reason not to. I would wish that they not be armed, and not be permitted to rejoin their master. For their other crimes, I will defer to my husband. Did you take slaves of my people?”

“Yes, many times after your kingdoms fell.”

The Empress's face darkens. “Yes, it is best that the Emperor decide your final fate.”

* * *

Back to the Holy See, where a rapidly marching legion of secular troops from a nearby city arrives. The battle continues for 18 hours. By that time, more legions of foot have arrived, and a couple of legions of horse, and the elves from the Blessed Wood have hacked their way through the enemy, and suddenly the ragged remains—only a couple thousand left—surrender as if someone dropped their reins.

The highest ranking enemy officer is a lieutenant.

Even the uruks are down to about 2500. The Knights of Hagaratha went from 8 to 3. Most of the holy orders holding the walls did okay. The elves did fairly well.

The Eldarborn lord extended himself. “There was a malign presence that was indwelling all of them, and it suddenly let go, in an instance. I have never seen the like. It was not psionic, exactly, nor magic, exactly. It was almost un-divine.”

“It was surely eldritch, as your people use that term.”

“Yes, but it had something else to it as well. Perhaps we should remain for longer than we had intended. We will encamp beyond the walls.”

The image of the highborn Eldar appears. “That was vigorous.”

“We thank you for your indispensable defense.”

“You were right to call on us. Without our aid, the city would have fallen. I apologize for beheading the admiral. What must you think of me. I would have rather spoken to the trees, but we spoke to the trees for too long last time.” She sends a redactor to assist in the healing in the cathedral.

Eventually, someone brings the lieutenant to Alistair.

He accepts their surrender.

“We were put on the ship. We weren’t told where we were going. As the voyage progressed, we became like animals. We felt compelled, that we had to get in to that building, within those walls, and kill everyone. The city is in such disarray. They’ve released the blood-driven into the streets, and they’re killing everyone. The city is emptied, with the only survivors those hiding in destroyed homes. And we did nothing… why did we do nothing?”

He has a nervous breakdown, but the elven redactor prevents disaster. “But… the thing that was driving them? We need to shield them against it.”

Grandmaster Farsensor says he can shield against it.
[End Session 123]

 

[CPaladin]

Session 124 (March 3, 2021)

26 Ras
Alistair and Dame Brionna meet with the general of the Holy See and ask if he wants to claim the half-dozen captured vollers. He says no, that they would be better in Canberry's navy than here.

Alistair makes a pitch to the surviving uruks to convert and remain. About 1000 agree to line up and convert, once he says that he can arrange for them to have uruk women as well.

Alistair speaks to the Lady of the Aragoni region, who expresses that she is more than happy to dispose of female uruks, because she only needs enough to match her number of males and has just lost many.

The light elves do a full probe, looking for additional threats.

There appears to be a long, shallow tunnel under the sea, heading away to the northwest. They don’t sense anything unusual within it, but that may have been how the assassins got here. The main tunnel exits in the center of the island.

* * *
A runner hurries in to Kit. “She said to tell ‘er, there here, she’s got them, and if you want to question them, it ought to be soonish.”

Kit thanks him, and tells him that she will go to Dame Constance as soon as possible.

She heads over to Dame Constance’s chambers. She has two homunculi, one kind of cute, sitting on a table. “It’s in your best interests and everyone’s best interests if you just answer her questions.” She whispers to Kit. “They’re not full grown homunculi. It’s the equivalent of using children. I’ve never seen them used this early. They haven’t developed full loyalty to their maker.”

“That’s good. That means we can get them to inform on him, and give them homes where they will be better treated.” Kit turns to the homunculi. “Good morning.”

“Good morning, ma’am.”

“We need to ask you questions about where you used to live and who you used to work for.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“What were you doing when you were called back?”

“He was having us scavenge, like he usually did.” It dumps out its pouch, which contains the deadliest ingredients for the deadliest assassins’ poisons.

“This would have been the last time for a while, but in the summer, he had us going out every week.”

“What did he do with them?”

“Made a liquid in the basement. Don’t know why—he never drank it. There were a couple of alchemists with gardens about three days west of the city as we travel—we don’t need to sleep.”

Kit points them to a map. They indicate a place that Kit would view as six days away on the map.

“Did he ever ask you to do anything else?”

“Spy on people—mostly church officials. Movements of couriers, changes of priests in different parishes, and anything that involved any of the Archbishop’s secretaries.”

“How long have you been doing this?”

“About three years, since we were made. We don’t think it’s morally right—we’ve listened to the priests—but we had to do what he told us. Not because he whipped us, though he did, but just because we had to…”

Kit asks them to provide a list of all the people they’ve spied on.

“What about your boss? Who were his associates, and who was he working for?”

“We only saw the big boss once, and he hid us when he came. But he didn’t tell us to not watch secretly, so we did.”

Kit asks them for permission to put up a mind-link, and gets the image of the thinnest knight she’s ever seen. His armor says he has to be a knight, but he has no color, no anything.

“He was meaner than my boss.”

“What did he talk about? What did he ask your boss?”

“He demanded a lot. Said that the gems weren’t enough, couldn’t summon fast enough. That the new ruler was bound to the land, and that shouldn’t have been permitted. And that they wanted to arrange for the Bishop and Archbishop to go away. He was mean—he made us feel weak, and he made the master feel weak too.”

“Did he say why he wanted them away?”

“He said that the great servant would soon have to leave his home, and that the Archbishop was too watchful. He said the plan would have to be set into motion soon. But he didn’t say where he was.”

“When did he say this?”

“Seven or eight months ago? But then this last time, he sent us away because he knew there wasn’t much left. I think he sent us away because someone else came to give him orders.”

“Did he ever take you where he went to give the liquid and such?”

“He would ride west, to the capital of Westmarch.” They give Kit an image of the building in the capital of Westmarch. She gets an image of a group of people unlike any she’s seen in Canberry. They’re clearly assassins, with guild stuff on them, though she can’t recognize a specific subsection of the guild. The men hand him more of the gem chips that were used for summoning.

“Did they say anything about what their next plans were?”

“No, they didn’t talk at all. They looked at the stuff, and then they pulled the gems out of the wall, gathered up the stuff, and left.”

“Did the boss ever take you to a place that would give you a bad feeling, like when the thin man was around?”

“Oh, that’s easy. The sub-sub-sub-basement of the cathedral. No one ever goes there, but he did. He worked for the cathedral so he could.”

“Did you meet with any priests that gave you that feeling?”

“No. He hated being in the cathedral. He used to mutter about it all the time. But he didn’t hate it when he went down, down, down.”

Kit asks if they need a new boss, and they say they do. Kit agrees to become their boss, giving them a drop of her blood and promising to teach them things.

Dame Constance does the appropriate invocations.

* * *
The ships come back with 4500 uruk women, some pregnant, none with any children. Alistair and Dame Brionna organize some social interventions and getting some people in place to regularize them as Glordiadelian while also being flexible.

The Church agrees to bring in a canon from the Animal Barbarians, since they have similarly lop-sided gender dynamics and will understand how to be flexible.
[cont'd]

 

[CPaladin]

[Session 124, cont'd]
Alistair and Dame Brionna teleport home and join Kit and Empress Kaitlyn.

Alistair orders Dame Brionna to not leave the palace to prevent her from haring off to investigate the cathedral.

The Grandmaster Farsensor searches beneath the cathedral. The stairs beneath the cathedral are warded against psionics. Some time ago, there was an altar that was demonic or something similar beneath the sub-sub-basements. There are no people there, nothing living there, but it appears that the altar is set up to speak to the abyssal planes. There is no exit, except up to the cathedral, and it’s dozens or a hundred years old, though not part of the original cathedral design. Getting it in has to have been a herculean task. The sub-basement above it has books. Large ledgers, and that sort of thing.

They send some of Kit’s people plus two of Brionna’s regular squads, with the Grandmaster Farsensor accompanying them. The basic report back is that the ledgers are ledgers, and they have been studied recently. Two of them are modern ledgers with different figures from the official documents. The altar is clearly a demonic altar to open a communication to something on the other side. It appears to be set up, based on Grandmaster Farsensor’s conversation with Lady Constance, to communicate with two different demon lords—the Lord of Goats and the Abomination of Shurr. This altar is older than the treasurer. His predecessor must have put it in. He may be the second archdiocesan treasurer to be corrupt.

The Council starts vetting all of the assistants, treasurers, and privy secretaries throughout the entire Empire, starting with people with ties to the old treasurer. They also decide they need to carefully vet the school where they are trained.

They send Lord Davion and a strike force, along with people to dimensionally lock the area. They set up a cordon in advance, and then appear dramatically, to see who flees.

Alistair, Kit, Empress Kaitlyn, and Kaitlyn’s companion, Ingra Rafyelle, begin having regular private dinners. Alistair also elevates Ingra to baronial rank, so she has appropriate status (she was a commoner, a seamstress, before her involvement with Kaitlyn). He also offers to help them have a private family if they wish to.

Grandmaster Farsensor sees the mental image of the higher boss. “He is a Twilight Elf, though he has disguised himself as a human and clipped the top of his ears. It may have looked focused on demons, but a Twilight Elf would not conspire just about demons. The former Noldar lord of Zorplona-Argoni became corrupted by the ancient abominations. We do not know if he corrupted some of his staff, but this indicates that he did.” He says that he could find out if he saw their records, but that he cannot search for him with farsensing—it could cause issues with the Noldar.

He’ll prepare and can do it the next morning. He asked Dame Brionna to have some people watching over him while he searches, for the offchance that the Twilight Elf is a farsensor.

* * *

When Lord Davion and 300 troops head over to the grounds of the scribal school, there is no reaction until he enters the grounds of the school. One figure turns into a bird and flies straight up. A few archers and Lord Davion shoot it with bows, and it turns back to a person and tumbles back to the ground. Three others, all instructors, get rounded up. The Headmaster, a very elderly priest of St. Dillygaff of the Fields, comes out in great confusion.

“Are there any other faculty that aren’t here?”

“My assistant headmaster. He’s in his office.”

“I’ll go to him. Where is his office?”

Lord Davion kicks in the door. “Well, that’s thorough. It appears he put the tip of a fireball wand in his mouth and then fired it. The whole room has some burns and blood smears. None of the students, interestingly.”

One of the students does suggest that he should come back with them as well.

On Dame Brionna’s prompting, he searches the basement. “I am no vintner, but no one should drink this wine. Look through my eyes. Do you see the slight glow over these barrels? The wine has been tainted. It’s very slow, but over time it will twist their minds.” It’s imported wine, from just this side of the border with Hanal—an area the church wanted to support in preparation for the inevitable invasion by Hanal. There are no non-corrupt barrels. They are in nobody’s territory, historically neutral, and the very body of the wine is corrupt.

The Council decides to deploy some church knights and treat this as a matter of unholy corruption. They ask Archbishop Humbert the Holy of Enclaves to dispatch church knights to deal with this.

Lord Davion brings the prisoners and the boy back. They send over some of Brionna’s people, Aunt Cecilia, and Dame Brionna herself. “Well, what do you know. Three entirely corrupt old farts, and a completely innocent boy who doesn’t think he’s innocent because people talked to him. All three of them, fully corrupt, but nothing implanted in them. Just greed, and something odd in the blood, like something they drank. I think they drank a lot.”

“Boy, what did people say?”

“The assistant headmaster was talking to me, both when he was there and when he was not there, always saying the same thing. That there were better ways to serve, that I could serve the Light more fully than I was being taught, and that the Light would bless me and I could go anywhere, but that I couldn’t tell anyone. I was never sure, but the voice was so insistent, and it told me that my brothers and parents had walked away from the Light and that if I went back to serve there after I finished my training, perhaps I could guide them to the light.”

“Who were your family? Nobles, perhaps?”

“Minor nobles, my lady. Youngest son of the Baron of Bonesthrow. I have five older brothers and three older sisters.”

He turns out to have a touch of the gift, but to be clean. His uncle used to be able to figure out what people were thinking—he died suddenly. They send a squad of people to investigate the death, which they presume was a murder.

Aunt Cecilia finds a powdered packet in the shoe of one of the teachers. It was a deadly, fast-acting poison. They also have them interrogated.

Another student, another young noble, reports the assistant headmaster showing him a special light—a beautiful blue flame that he had in a special compartment under the floor.

Lord Davion returns to retrieve it—he didn’t sense it because it was in a lead box. As soon as it’s removed from its box, Grandmaster Farsensor says, “that’s linked. It’s directly linked to the divine planes.”

Alistair reaches out to House Moriquendarim to offer it to them, so they can track it back to where Arthranax is, so they can try to rescue the Prince of the Cities of Pain. They send a voller to pick it up, and they feel they owe Canberry a debt of honor.

The young noble is terrified of servants of the royal house. Apparently, the assistant headmaster convinced him that the royal household was to be feared. He also told him that “the royal household displaced our duke hundreds of years ago, and that when anyone resisted, they just killed him. And they said that the lady’s life was so long because she used dark magic and was probably now undead somewhere. And he said that the Archduke is trying to do what was done to us to the whole continent and become the Emperor of the whole world. And that our house, guided right, could get our duke to get his courage back. But I don’t understand how that could be, because we don’t have a duke anymore.” (This is the third son of Baron of Penhome.) He’s a vassal of Grimcliff, but at one time Mountainmarch was a duchy. They became vassals to Canberry a thousand years ago.
[End Session 124]

 

[CPaladin]

Session 125 (March 17, 2021)

27 Ras
Dame Brionna is approached by a guard. “There’s an odd little woman wandering through the lower city.”

“Odd how?”

“She’s wandering through the market squares, looking at women, and saying ‘You’re not pregnant. You’re not pregnant. You’re not pregnant.’ as she looks at them.”

Dame Brionna orders the guards to pick her up and take her to the nearest shrine of Gunnora, and to send a message to the high priestess/chief midwife of Gunnora to assist.

The midwife-priestess of the shrine says, “Gertrude! I thought you were up north of the mountains.”

“I’m looking for tainted pregnancies. The Ecumenical Council sent me south to look here, after we had matters under control in the city of Enclaves and the surrounding farmlands. Haven’t found any tainted—a few pregnant women, but no signs of taint. Damned demon cultists, and I mean that in every sense of the word.”

They begin reaching out through the midwives of Gunnora, among the nobility (there are a couple of pregnancies among the high nobility and many pregnancies among the petty nobles, especially in the mountain marches), and through the Order of the Stag. For example, the lady of Mount Smalldownbig, a gnomish baron, is pregnant. They also reach out through the old busybodies of the parishes, looking for reports about women who are pregnant, especially ones that rarely or never attend church. They also reach out to any reported sexual assault victims, and among the refugee population. (They realize that Gertrude is a very senior Gunnoran priestess—likely roughly equivalent to a bishop of Enclaves, though of course the Gunnorans would never think of it that way, and slightly junior to the high midwife in Canberry.)



There were three Ram cults in Enclaves. But there were also various women who had become pregnant with demonic congress, who the High Inquisitor was dealing with.

“I meant to speak to your archbishop when he got here, but he seems to be absent somewhere.”

“He’ll be happy to speak with you when he returns.”

“I’m glad that we have a good relationship with the Archduchy, and with the Church of Glordiadel. It’s something good that has come out of the Ecumenical Council.”

“Do you think there are bad things?”

“Well, we were more leery of the involvement of the Paranswarmians and the Morgrothians than most. But it is important that we work together against the problems…”
[cont'd]

 

[CPaladin]

[session 125, cont'd]
Dame Brionna begins organizing screening of any baby presents for security purposes—with Empress Kaitlyn’s delivery likely imminent, the presents are already beginning to arrive. Aunt Cecilia and Dame Brionna’s sister take charge of this—one for reasons of security, the other to avoid any issues of courtesy. Aunt Cecilia also reports that she thinks this is at most two or three days out.

Empress Kaitlyn’s family has a history of easy births, although there were tremendously difficult births among the old ruling house—the Overkings of the Southern Kingdom, when Empress Kaitlyn’s family were the monarchs specifically of Stormwatch.

They begin having some conversations about naming and about wet nurses, and Alistair resolves to go speak with Empress Kaitlyn.

The most striking of the gifts is a gift from the Tor—some form of small child, intended to be a fluffy companion. It is an enormously fluffy, three headed puppy. The puppy’s middle head, which is smarter than the others, is thinking loudly about this being the palace where they were sent. <<We are here to protect the babies, love the babies, and if necessary to raise the babies.>>

<<Do you have a name?>>

<<Not yet. The babies will name us.>>

<<That may take a while. Can someone else name you in the meantime?>>

<<For a use name? Sure. The babies will give us our true name, though.>>

Princess Kaitlyn describes another one as tremendously powerful, but dangerous. It was a gift from the Noldar. It’s a talisman of a scout voller—when the command is given, it will grow to full size, like the most awesome feather token ever. It seems to have been selected by Princess Curinirim.

Lord Davion gave a large pile of woven silk diapers.

Nothing has arrived from the Queen of Singing Leaves yet—she probably doesn’t have a grasp on the time scale humans operate on, and unlike Princess Curinirim, she does not maintain a human servant to track times of things happening among humans.

And every noble in Canberry has sent a gift.

Alistair goes to talk with Empress Kaitlyn. Alistair suggests for the son, who is expected to be the elder child, “Emil Elric Duncan Alistair,” with the Alistair simply in case he wishes to use Alistair II as a regnal name. The names are a masculine form of Alistair’s grandmother’s name (Amelia), Kaitlyn’s father’s name, and Alistair’s father’s name. They agree that “Elric” will be his use name, and that they’ll use an imperial and royal princely style, with the traditional title of “Marquis Belconnen,” the title of the Archducal heir-apparent. When he reaches his majority, they will make him Duke of the Duchy of Canberry.

For the daughter, both agree that they should honor Alistair’s mother, a daughter of the Duke of Tusslefield, and her mother. Her mother was named Madison, which is more typically a girl’s name in the South Kingdoms but more frequently a boy’s name here. Still, they decide to use Madison (her mother’s name) Margarite (Alistair’s mother’s name) Amelia, with Princess Amelia as her use name for the political value of linking her to Alistair's grandmother.

They also discuss the fact that the birth will need to be semi-public, with high nobles present.

She plans on primarily nursing the babies herself, but we decide to have two ladies in waiting as wet nurses, one from her court and one from a ducal family of Canberry, after appropriate vetting.

They talk about the situation in the South Kingdoms. She mentions that there were no elves in the South Kingdoms before it fell. There were abandoned fairy tors, and one that was perhaps not abandoned but that everyone avoids without knowing why.

She then waddles out to the baby shower.

Grandmaster Farsensor gives a divine repeating scroll of sleep, powered by the First Daughter.

The dwarven kingdom sent something that Aunt Cecilia laughed at. It’s a pair of perfectly matched, baby-sized war axes.

While all of this is happening, Alistair sneaks off to pursue a secret plan.

Alistair and Kit discuss their child, and name and such. They agree on Lord James (her father’s name) Derrick (his grandfather) FitzAlistair-Lyneham; they discuss a plan for avoiding any succession problems with oaths of loyalty and disclaiming any claim on Canberry or the Empire of Southern Drucien for the House taken repeatedly, first by Kit. Alistair also talks about how he plans on giving their child the status of the eldest son of a duke, ranking with but after the eldest sons of dukes, in the same way that Kit will be a countess with the style of Her Grace and ranking with but after duchesses.

Alistair also discusses how Kit should begin hosting her own social events, especially among people with slightly unofficial connections and awkward status among the nobility—mistresses of nobles, illegitimate daughters of nobles, and the like. She’s concerned that this will be too public, but Alistair discusses using it as a form of hiding in plain sight—the more people think of her only as Alistair’s mistress, and her proximity being because of Alistair’s appetite, the less they think of her as an actual member of the Council and wonder what she does.

Unlike Kaitlyn, Kit is enthusiastic about the idea of a wet-nurse, although somewhat amazed at the idea that she would employ a wet-nurse, when some of her friends used to work as wet-nurses. Alistair says that someone with a bare title as a lady, with no actual noble title but as a lady-in-waiting would be appropriate. They then discuss that she would need to either be dumb as a post, or someone Kit would want to recruit. Kit decides that this will be a step in establishing the Jeweled Necklace, internal security within the palace.

They then check on Kit’s family and find that they have not made it to Canberry. The voller they sent is docked in Glitterdomes, but no crew on board. The farsensor then finds the captain, who is recovering in a hospital. The crew was attacked by cultists of the Ram and badly hurt, but apparently because they were from Canberry without knowing about Kit’s family. The farsensor finds Kit’s family who were fine. They reach out to Humbert the Holy to send their parish priest to tell them that they’ll be picked up by people from Northern Aurelian, who will keep them safe. They also send a message to Northern Aurelian asking them to keep them safe until the Council can arrange to bring them back to Canberry.
[End Session 125]

 

[CPaladin]

Session 126 (March 31, 2021)

28 Ras
Starting just after midnight, Empress Kaitlyn goes into labor. Her labor is straight forward and without any risk, but lasts for 14 hours.

Starting at 2 AM, a gathering of every single fae from the Tor start singing to the new babies from outside. Dame Brionna goes to check.

“The Tor Lord’s Lady says that the baby is coming! We wanted to sing the baby’s birth as we would one of our one.”

Dame Brionna contacts Alistair, who is rather preoccupied with the ongoing labor. She wants to keep them out, but Alistair is worried about offending the fae, so tells her to send them in to the room adjoining the birthing chamber.

The fairy godmothers, a handful of other fae, and a strange multilimbed musical instrument animal comes in. They continue singing, and start supporting Alistair’s singing, alternately inspiring courage and inspiring greatness.

The male child was born first. The fae grandmothers bestow a series of increasing fae blessings on them.

“You are very fortunate. Your line will reign for a long time, and these two are already bound to the land.” The fairy godmothers kiss each child. They then give Kaitlyn a full days sleep, and hurry the rest of the fae out.

Alistair orders that a new flag with the arms of the Empire of Southern Drucien with a label on it be run up, and that fireworks be set off, and the people cheer and begin celebrating.

After an appropriate amount of time with the children, Alistair sneaks off to continue work on his secret project.

Two days pass peacefully.

30 Ras
The Moriquendarim voller arrives to pick up the Blue Star link. A very harried looking drow woman arrives from the Moriquendarim embassy—none of us realized that we had a Moriquendarim embassy, as they didn’t dare present themselves.

Lord Davion points out that it is a merchant voller, though staffed with military. The captain, who is a Noldar but of Moriquendarim, pales as he sees Lord Davion’s crest. Lord Davion announces Alistair and his companions.

“I have been asked to receive from you the Blue Star. Your valor and bravery will be sung in the halls of the Noldar as I am sure they are sung in the hearts of the people.” He then switches to common. “We appreciate your efforts against our common enemy. Only their destruction can preserve our world.” He instructs the Twilight Elf to put the casket in the special vault that was prepared.

“House Ashberry has sworn to see the Blue Star destroyed, for we agree entirely.”

“Do not hesitate to call on the resources of House Moriquendarim in pursuing this goal.” They then depart as fast as possible.

The Council speaks with the ambassador, who represents the Enclave of Moriquendarim-Zorplona. They ask about the Twilight Elves that served Quinliart; she says that Lord Alvinas is the most dangerous, and has taken on characteristics of the eldritch that make him more powerful than he should be. He has taken onto himself a resistance to nearly all forms of magical assault, though partly vulnerable to fire, with complete immunity to lightning, cold, or poison. "And he has increased his psionic potential by consuming the potential of any child that they can capture. This is not unheard of, but it is anathema to my people and worthy of execution, even without the involvement of the eldritch. He also can wield the power of the eldritch to cause mutations, at will, to a victim within sight. Powerful Noldar can sometimes resist, but it is very potent against the younger races. Other than Lord Alvinas, the Hand certainly fell. We do not know if he still lives, but if still alive, he will also have developed more capabilities. A very potent Coercer, and used for assassination." (Lord Alvinas is a Redactor, though Redaction can be twisted. His armor was left behind—possibly deliberately, for it fought him for control.)

Kit suggests that maybe his armor could be used for bait, if it was not deliberately abandoned. The ambassador says that it likely would, but only if it was not deliberate. We suggest asking the armor, and she says they will do so, which should work.

The ambassador shares an image of Lord Alvinas (after realizing that Kit is “mildly” psionic); it is indeed the one leading the problem. She also gives the address of their embassy, in the merchant quarter.

They decide to provide that information to Grandmaster Farsensor, although without details of its provenance.

“So, we know that we are pursuing the right person. If we could only figure out how to isolate him…”

Kit mentions the possibility of luring him in with the armor, if it was left behind accidentally.

“That might work. Or if it believes the armor is susceptible and his enemy. He might wish to destroy it, which is notoriously difficult. He might try to steal it if he does not want to take it—even to sell it would be very valuable, especially if it is laen.”

Kit says they will use many paladins against him.

“All available forces should be deployed against him if you locate him. I take it he is more powerful than a typical Twilight Elf?”

“Yes. He has enhanced his psionics, and is a Redactor, plus his eldritch powers.”

“It should not be done here. He could level a significant portion of the city in extremis.”

“We will choose a spot isolated from people.”

“If the armor is available, I could be ready to lay the trap quite quickly. I am surprised, as that would mean no one of rank took the armor. I think he is the most dangerous figure at large. I believe Quinliart is no longer mobile. I can perceive his signature, though not him directly. It is not moving at all. Even if he were to walk around it would move. Do you know what happened to some of the Eldron?”

“Yes. Is he doing the same?”

“I suspect he is binding himself to the world in some eldritch way. He will likely plan to use it as a gate, and corrupt it. But at some point in the process, as the Eldron do, he will lose the ability to move. You have certainly months. He will need a huge sacrifice, that is certain.”

“So we need to prevent the sacrifice as well.”

“Yes. What I cannot tell you is if the sacrifice is denied him, if the ritual will consume him. They had passed this point the last time before it was noted. This time, the actions are known, but how they play out is not known. I have also noted that the corrupt spots elsewhere have not declined. I have located them all, and they are static.”

“We’ll deal with Lord Alvinas, first, and then Quinliart.”

“That seems wise. Of Lord Alvinas’s four servants, one has been destroyed. There is a powerful lycanthrope—a werewolf turned dire; a summoner of surpassing power for a human, a demonologist; and an assassin, who is in the north but better at concealing themselves. They are also all humans. The one who died was the only elf, and that cost House Moriquendarim to eliminate him. They are also interwoven with the Cult of the Ram to an enormous degree. It may explain the growth of the Cult of the Ram. The Ram has only one interest, but his allies have other interests, and will grant power to the cultists if it helps draw in those who only want power.”

“We know that the other points of corruption are linked, so if one were disrupted all would be. Would Quinliart be affected?”

“No, but if they were still active, when Quinliart finishes his process, he would gain control of all of them.”

“Disrupting Quinliart is the most important, then.”

“Ultimately, yes. None of us want an additional Shadowland situation. Once Quinliart is taken care of, we need to address the fact that at some point, the Hastur will be no more. If you eliminate Lord Alvinas, it will slow or stop what Quinliart is doing. He needs Lord Alvinas.”

Alistair tells Lord Davion that if we can locate Lord Alvinas, he will need to lead the assault. In the meantime, they need him to rest and heal and get ready. He agrees, and asks if they expect it to be soon.

“We do expect it to be soon, but in the way that House Moriquendarim reckons soon, not in the way humans do.”

He trots off to put himself in skin to heal.
[cont'd]

 

[CPaladin]

[Session 126, cont'd]
They plan a public day of celebration for the twins’ baptism on the eighth day. The baptism will be at noon, with the morning as a time of rest, and the afternoon a celebration and public festival. (Dame Brionna believes that the morning should be a time of prayer, and sets up all of the bells in all the churches to ring starting at dawn, and morning services in all the churches.)

1 Ke-Ras
A halfling messenger from Rolling Hills arrives, having ridden hard. He says he will only deliver his message to the Emperor. Dame Brionna goes to scrutinize him with young Lord Brightspan, who tells her that he is nervous but fine. “His Highness the Duke of Rolling Hills, Lord of the Broad Fields, has gone into the Light. His heart failed. The Lady Duchess is beside herself with grief.”

The Minister of War, Lord Broad Fields, and Canberry's chief field marshal, is his son and heir. The Council sends for him, puts on mourning, and calls him to a throne room.

“Dearest cousin, Your Grace the Duke of Rolling Hills, I bear terrible tidings.”

“He has passed, then. I knew his health was failing.”

They discuss the mourning, and his need to go home. Alistair suggests that if he is willing, he would suggest that the Duke might continue as Minister of War, leaving the Dowager Duchess to administer in his place, but the crown would of course release him if he wishes. He would prefer to continue serving, but it depends on how his mother is doing. He muses about renouncing the title, but Alistair commands him to not do that, because there is a clear succession and they will not destabilize matters for imperial service.

They also discuss Hanal; he expresses that there will be mass starvation among the peasantry in the areas controlled by the usurper. He mentions that it would be enormously valuable if the voller works could be captured, now that their voller fleet is depleted, but that would require Canberry to commit forces directly. The Council asks whether the Archbarony of Ecsilias has substantial forces; they have six elite field armies. They suggest asking the Inquisitor General to ask the Archbarony of Ecsilias to attack the voller works, with Canberry offering to guarantee Ecsilias's protection. He thinks that might work.

The new Duke of Rolling Hills has three daughters, 10, 6, and 1. The Council offers young Lady Broadfields a position as an archducal page after the mourning, which he supports. He also apparently has a poor relationship with his wife, who wanted him to stop serving and come home. But he is far too devout to take on a companion, and there are no rumors about their children’s parentage. We are concerned about how his wife will respond to her daughter coming to court.

They contact the Inquisitor General psionically. He approves of the plan thoroughly. They also discuss using vollers to drop food to the villages behind the usurper’s lines, where otherwise there will be mass starvation. They also decide to reach out to the elves.

They contact the Queen of Singing Leaves, explain the situation, and she immediately declares that they will send their vollers to deliver lembas and similar light food that can sustain greatly. The Council also agree to prevent any contact with the Aufaulgautharim man of war.

4 Ke-Ras
The day of the baptism arrives. The whole empire is awakened at dawn by all of the ringing bells.

The Archbishop is dressed in his most elegant finery as he officiates at the cathedral. Dame Brionna is there with a host of paladins, expecting trouble. Kit remains safely within the wards of the palace. The Prince is baptized and dipped four times, and then the Princess, and then mass cheering breaks out outside the cathedral. As the ceremony ends, palace staff begin laying out the enormous banquet tables of free food.

After the ceremony, Alistair announces that he has a gift to the Prince and in honor of the Empress, and the choruses and orchestras begin to play the piece that he has been secretly working on for the last week and a half. (Hey, sometimes it’s good to be a high level bard.)

The piece is in several movements. It begins in the musical style of the South Kingdoms, with the themes of patriotic songs of the old monarchies used as the basis. It's also in an old mode, so it sounds slightly odd and old-fashioned to modern ears.

The next movement is discordant and represents the fall of the South Kingdoms.

The third movement represents Princess Kaitlyn's actions and defense of the South Kingdoms after the fall.

The fourth and final movement has a combination of Glordiadelian church music themes, complete with choir and organ music, and then becomes a counterpoint between patriotic music of the South Kingdoms and an Archducal theme, representing the merger of the families and the bright and Glordiadelian future--so it does things like repeating themes from the first movement but shifting them from other modes to a major key.

Alistair then commands that it be played throughout the South Kingdoms.

They then ride through the whole city, in an open carriage (but within a spherical wall of force), while footmen throw handfuls of silver into the crowd.

Everything looks as they expect (although there’s strange graffiti of a giant mouse chasing after a humanoid cheese). Except for occasional slow downs because of the press of the crowd, the tour is uneventful. They eventually make it back to the palace hours later.

The Emperor and Empress also declare various promotions, honors, and noble titles, including Lord Brightspan receiving an earldom in the old South Kingdoms.
[End Session 126]

 

[CPaladin]

Session 127 (April 14, 2021)

5 Ke-Ras
Kit suggests, when told about the upcoming Greater Festivals of Mists, that they do divinations to find out what their enemies are planning.

They’re waiting to hear back from the Moriquendarim about Lord Alvinas’s armor.

They also discuss the resettling of Kit’s family when they arrive.

They also receive a letter from the Emperor of the Isles in the North [attached]. It refers to Alistair as “Lord of the Fifth Gate.” This is an archaic title, referring to a time when the Pachek and Chullik gate was located in Canberry in Furthings. The Fifth Gate closed centuries ago, when the Sixth Gate opened in the Valley of the Unknown in the Perimeter Mountains.

The First Gate was in the Southern Confederacy; the Second Gate was in the Spice Lands (that’s where the rakshasa and rakastas came from). The Third was in what used to be the tribal lands; those weren’t peaceful, unlike the rest. There’s a remnant of them; they were immediately attacked. They resemble humanoid crustaceans and were attacked immediately, and settled in the Ul-Rennki Domains. Fourth Gate's location was unknown. The Fifth Gate mostly released humans, who were very fecund. There are significant populations of them, mostly in Furthings and around the mines.

The Gates have each lasted for a longer time. The current Sixth Gate has been open for more than a century; from the pattern, it may be closing (and presumably moving farther north on Drucien) soon. They ask the Ministry of Magic to try to figure out whether there is a mathematical or arcane pattern in the times and places.

Dame Brionna speaks to the Mistress of Protocol about the family of Julius Thrace, the Emperor of the North. He is a “nice young man,” the oldest of nine brothers and sisters. His parents were tragically killed when their flagship was sunk by Hanalian voller when he was 13. He has just come to power at 16, after a regency by his aunt. Principal exports are whale oil, blubber, furs, and exceedingly fine wool. He would surely be interested in fostering some of his younger siblings and cousins; his aunt and uncle-in-law have five as well. It is said that a certain number of them have tremendous martial abilities. His father did, though no rumors of such about Julius. Good people; many Glordiadelian paladins come from the Empire of the North. Some priests, many warriors—they have been fighting Hanal for centuries, and are largely the reason that the cities on the north coast remain at least somewhat free, because the Empire raids Hanal by sea regularly, and thus it is advantageous for Hanal to maintain them as client states instead of incorporating them directly.

Dame Brionna also talks about the Duke of Rolling Hills’s death; the Mistress of Protocol asks who will lead the delegation (Dame Brionna says Princess Cecilia and Sir Derrick Brightspan), and whether they had sent the traditional 13 black roses. They had not, so Dame Brionna asks her to attend to it. Also, Princess Cecilia should have an appropriate escort, presumably an older general.

“There is some tension between the new duke and his wife?”

“There certainly is, and they are both justified, which makes matters worse.”

“Will it make matters worse if he remains Minister of War?”

“No; she will expect it, though she may be disappointed.”

Julius Thrace is not yet betrothed; the Mistress of Protocol mentions that the last four generations of the family has married out of the same house of the Cities of Light, their royal house. At this point, they are basically the same royal house, though the crowns have never merged. They seem to be immune to the problems most of the other royal houses have.

They then ask Dame Constance, Grandmaster Farsensor, and one of Dame Brionna’s teams to examine the demon corpse the Empire of the North sent us, which they hypothesize is eldritch. Almost immediately after the chest is opened, Grandmaster Farsensor sends a message directly to Kit.
[cont'd]