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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(contact)" data-source="post: 480448" data-attributes="member: 41">Coldeven 16"And with that," the new Holy Liberator of Tritherion says between mouthfuls, "I came to.  My equipment and gear were gone, I was wearing this armor, and I had these new weapons in my hand."  Heydricus reflects silently on the fact that he was given the arms of his God, save one-- the scepter of office.  To his mind, the meaning is clear:  If he is to rule, he must earn it himself.The other Tritherion priests have listened attentively, enraptured by the tale of the Liberator's meeting with their God.  Suddenly, Dabus leaps to his feet and throws himself to the ground before Heydricus."Wherever you go," Dabus exclaims, "take me with you!  Let me stay by your side and fight your enemies.  Let me take the field with you and do battle!""Why, of course," Heydricus says with a smile.  "I would like nothing better."If Halrond seems displeased that his number-two man wants to jump ship, the ensuing argument can do nothing to convince Dabus otherwise.  Tritherion demands free will in all things, and in the end, Halrond is forced to acquiesce.  Dabus will go where Heydricus goes, in the name of Liberty.After the meal, Prisantha asks about the whereabouts of King Belvor, and is told that he is touring the South of Furyondy, meeting with his Southern Lords, and trying once again to convince them to back his plans for war.   Benwyn is dispatched to work her contacts in the Court, and determine Belvor's exact whereabouts.  She returns, saying that he is meeting with Baron Butrain in Willip.In the meantime, Halrond tells the party of a small township situated outside his ancestral estate just west of the Bandit Lands and South of the Occupied Shieldlands.  Halrond's cousin has been helping the Church of Tritherion funnel weapons and money out of Furyondy in order to arm and train Shieldlander refugees who might be interested in making a push north to liberate their homeland.  Now that the mines of Curruth are producing for the cause of Good again, perhaps Halron (the township, not the cleric) would make a suitable destination for the ore.Heydricus and Prisantha take their leave, and use her one remaining telelport spell to transport themselves to a roadside inn half an hour's walk from Willip's gates.  They head for the city, and run into an able-looking Captain of the Guard by the name of Thurvil.  Thurvil tells them that he is a veteran of the Great Crusade, and was part of the forces that liberated Crockport.  He witnessed first-hand the depredations that Zinvellon reveled in, and wants to take a minute to shake the hands of the adventurers who killed the vile cleric.  His admiration is plain on his battle-scarred face, and Heydricus tells him that he will be issuing a general call to arms.  Heydricus explains that he will need one hundred stout fighters to hold the mines at Curruth, and the old campaigner instantly offers to join up, bringing with him as many men of Willip as will come. Thurvil bustles them past the security-points in the palace, and within minutes, the King has called a recess to his audience, and the Liberators of Tenh are allowed in the room.  Belvor sits with Magister Illipse, one of "The Four"-- the arch-wizards charged with advising and protecting the ruler of Furyondy.Belvor is shocked by the news of Esril's death, and suggests that if the Liberators want her body, the Academy of Magic at Chendl can use a long-forgotten law to order an exhumation.  But the King has news of his own.  Thrommel is back, resurrected and well.  He is kept in a safehouse near the palace, and awaits only the arrival of the Liberators to be turned over to their safekeeping.  Belvor voices again his hope that Thrommel may prove himself through adventure, and relates this shocking secret: When the Prince returns to Chendl, Belvor intends to abdicate his rule, and pass the crown to his son.Belvor looks Heydricus and Prisantha in the eyes, and tells them that he is not only entrusting them with the life of his son, but the integrity of Furyondian succession as well.At Belvor's request, Magister Illipse gives Prisantha a secret letter for the Dean of the School of Magic, instructing him to aid her in any way he can, including giving her the requisite gold necessary to pay Jespo Crim's debt.  Illipse also belittles Crim, pointing out that once Thrommel becomes King, the boy will have The Four to look after him.Pleased with their success, Heydricus and Pris spend the night in Willip and take in the play Six Halfling Brothers (a slapstick farce meant to illustrate the halfling virtues of Inquisitiveness and Loyalty), while sitting in the box with Baron Butrain himself.Prisantha spends the play arguing with the Lord about his non-involvement stance relating to the war up North.  She destroys his argument at every point, but he is stubborn, and refuses to abandon his core contention: The King overestimates the threat Iuz poses to Furyondy.  Disgusted, Prisantha bids Baron Butrain a cold farewell once the final curtain falls.The next morning finds the two adventurers back in Chendl, reunited with Dabus and knocking on the office door of the Provost Marshall Reine, with forty thousand pieces of silver, weighed in gold, and Heydricus in the lead.The Provost-Marshall proves even more obsequious than the party remembered him, and in his haste to convince Heydricus to dine with him at his home, practically forgets to stir the unbelievable amount of cane sugar he pours into his watery tea.  Reine obtains a reluctant (but charming nonetheless) acceptance, and drafts the papers releasing Jespo personally.When a beaming Heydricus and Prisantha arrive to free him, the bumbling summoner practically leaps from his cot to embrace his friends.  "I simply knew you would come for me!  Oh joyus day, I'm free at last!""You smell worse than an ogre's hindquarters, Jespo," Prisantha says, wrinkling her nose.  "And this ill-kept beard does not suit you at all."But Jespo does not seem to hear her, so preoccupied is he over a reunion with Fräs.  Tears well up in his eyes as he blathers on about Fräs' goodness, steadfastness and virtue.  Heydricus leads the group to the estate of the wealthy widower Maia, and as they near the place, Jespo can make out a high-pitched mewling, and he practically bowls over the seneschal in his mad rush for the door.He emerges a few seconds later, trying to hold on to a squirming Fräs.  Fräs, for her part is trying to leap from his hands."Yes, Fräs," Jespo stammers, "Of course I haven't . . . Well, they don't have baths in . . . but it's supposed to be barbaric!  . . . Yes, I know your sense of smell is ten times . . . but, Fräs . . ."        The Baroness Maia, is overjoyed to see Heydricus again, and after instructing her servants to see to Jespo's hygiene (using whatever force they deem necessary), the voluptuous mistress of the manse coyly inquires as to how Heydricus plans to spend his afternoon.  "Why, right here with you, of course," is the reply.Pris and Dabus round up Jespo and Fräs, and prepare to leave.  Pris casts a dark glance over her shoulder at the licentious Baroness, and boards her carriage with a "hmpf!" and a toss of her hair.  Jespo is dropped off at his house, where he takes an inventory of his belongings (all gone) and determines what the Provost-Marshall has left him (nothing)."Alas, Fräs!  We are penniless!"Pris and Dabus travel to the Court's graveyard and present their disenterral order to a pair of lecherous grave-diggers who ignore Dabus' disapproving gaze and do their level best to look up Pris' skirt at every opportunity.Meanwhile, Heydricus is woodenly smiling his way through the most excruciating torture of his young life:  Dinner with the Provost-Marshall Reine, his hen-pecking miserly wife and his horse-faced daughter.   That the lass did not wish to attend the dinner is obvious, but after gazing at Heydricus' noble features and heavily muscled body, she warms up quickly enough.The dinner is a drawn out water-torture of limp jokes, self-important name dropping and the kind of congratulatory conversation reserved for those public officials who, like Reine, achieved their position only by being the least threatening candidate in the eyes of everyone involved.Heydricus debates stabbing himself in the knee in order to duck out early, but manages to keep his hands off his sword.  As onerous as a dinner with him may be, the Provost-Marshal has a unique position in that he regulates the finances of Furyondy almost completely without oversight. Thank Tritherion for the crucible of the Temple of Elemental Evil, or else Heydricus' willpower would not have received the temper necessary for him to make it all the way to dessert without committing violence.-----Next, Tau suffers a crisis of faith, the Liberators have an Unplesant Reunion, and we find out which one of the Liberators doesn't have amorous designs on Heydricus.  The answer may shock you!  Read on!</blockquote>

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