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Message: <blockquote data-quote="spyscribe" data-source="post: 3054495" data-attributes="member: 5808">Part the Two-Hundred SixthIn which: Barnabus finally gets to have his conversation with the Count.The surrender of Etienne and the death of Lady Tempest serve to illustrate to the few remaining guards that perhaps, surrender is the preferable option, and the last of the Count’s forces are soon secured.Those outside the keep, anyway.Kiara flutters about excitedly.  Since she’s in hybrid form, the fluttering is literal.  “Back at the beginning of the fight, since I was in swallow form anyway, when Lord Marmion ran back into the keep, I slipped in under the eaves.”  Kiara pauses to catch her breath.  “And there were all these guards in there, and warmages, and the Count’s sons.”“Did you see the Count?”“No, but it looked like the important people were falling back to the throne room.”“What about the unimportant people?”“I think they’re waiting for us to break down a door.”Eva makes a frustrated noise.  “Well then, let’s not do that.”“Etienne?”The mage clears his throat delicately.  “If they are going to make a stand, the throne room is probably the place for it.  I wasn’t privy to any meetings on the topic—”“I can’t imagine why not,” Thatch mutters.“—but it’s one of the most defensible rooms in the keep.  Only one entrance, heavy doors—”“Barnabus?” Reyu asks.“Hmm?  Yes?”“Can you open a passageway directly into the throne room?  So we don’t have to deal with everyone else in the keep?”“Oh yes, of course.  I have passwall prepared for just such an occasion.”Thatch flexes his hand around his sword hilt.  “Then let’s get moving.”With a last check to make sure everyone is healed back to full strength, that’s exactly what they do.###Barnabus’ wall of stone has already sealed off the front doors of the keep, but since the throne room is located against the back wall, this is more of a problem for the keep’s defenders than for the party. The only potential point of egress from the keep left is a kitchen door along the right side of the building.  As the party dashes past, Thatch plants his immovable rod against the door, holding it shut.Reyu gives the door a kick on her way past.  As a voice inside calls, “Hold your ground!” she grins.  That ought to keep them busy for a bit.###Once at the back of the keep, Barnabus casts passwall* opening a tunnel from the courtyard directly into the throne room.(*For the duration of this encounter, as well as the battle in the courtyard, the players ran Barnabus’ spells as well as their own characters, more or less by committee.)Immediately from the inside, shouts can be heard.  Kiara goes flying in first, still in hybrid form, as Anvil calls ahead.  “We demand parley!”There is a pause, and some speech that is too quiet for the party to make out.“Very well.”As the party cautiously makes their way into the throne room, Reyu notices that their passage intersects with another one—a small servant’s corridor that appears to run around the perimeter of the throne room—and instead of proceeding to egress in the throne room with the rest of her companions, the she steps off to the side to better investigate.  After all she thinks, given the Count’s history of duplicity, better to exercise caution.  She notices that Kiara has done the same.  So much the better.The party and Barnabus find quite a welcoming committee waiting for them.  There is the Count, of course, his son Gaston, Lord Marmion, several guards, two warmages, a well armed stranger, his armor covered in odd holy symbols, his sword blade made of a dark metal, and a man who looks shockingly like Etienne.  (Anvil takes a quick look behind him to ensure that the wizard is still waiting outside as he promised.  Indeed, Etienne stands at the other end of the passwall, following what happens with some interest.)Eva lets out a small sniff.  The Count would have identical twins for his Court Wizards.The Count’s second son, Guy, and the Contessa are nowhere to be seen.As Barnabus enters the throne room, he takes in the welcoming committee, and casts a globe of invulnerability, standing so that most of the party members fall within its sphere.The Count makes no comment until Barnabus finishes casting.  “Really, Barnabus, I thought we had a better relationship than that.”Barnabus nods soberly.  “So had I.  But that was before I learned of some of your less savory practices.”“Less savory?  Have I ever been anything but a generous host to you?” “The objects you brought me to enchant for you were made by slave labor.”The Count smiles rather patronizingly.  “Did I ever tell you they weren’t?  Barnabus, you never cared about that sort of thing before the intrusion of these…” he makes a gesture of distaste towards the party, “interlopers.”Barnabus’ voice takes on unexpected steel.  “Count Agramont,” he says, “it is my intention to leave your service.”“Are you quite certain about that?”“I am.”The Count sighs.  “I was afraid this day would come.”  He gestures for the well armed man the party does not recognize to step forward.  “So, you see, I took certain precautions.  For instance, I enlisted the aid of this gentleman, Munzir von Shreicthelm.  Or, as they call him in Dar Und, the Anarcanist.  They say he has slain more arcane casters than any man alive.  A true artisan when it comes to killing wizards.  So, of course, I simply had to have him.”The so-called Anarcanist sneers at Barnabus, his hands shifting on the hilt of his sword, his dark eyes fixed upon the wizard.“Of course,” the Count continues, “it doesn’t have to be this way.  You can return to your island, surrender these renegades to me, and we can forget this entire incident ever happened.  Come now, what do you say?  Our relationship has always been mutually beneficial.  Are you really willing to throw it all away?”When he is certain the Count is quite finished, Barnabus clears his throat.  “In addition, upon my departure, I will require the return of all of the items I have enchanted for you.”The Count’s face darkens.  “I see.”He turns and shoots the barest glance towards Gaston.  And an instant later a black bolt is shooting from Gaston’s fingertips straight at Thatch.And that’s when things get interesting.</blockquote>

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