The Path to Narrer's End, Part 3.
Jun. 1st, 2012 11:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
matt_doyleHow we got here from there.
So. After our party first heard of these assassinations, and after Lord Lutaignan Sandfall hired them to investigate his royal half-siblings deaths, they had a great manyreasons for starting at the Royal Weatherworker's Tower, not least of which was that Baroness Darista was there, testing the burned bodies to identify them by bloodline, gathering an accurate casualty count.
On the trip there, while passing through Baroness Raicaselle's stolen lands, Eustacious killed Raicaselle's swordsmaster in a duel, and was promptly offered his job -- which came with a raise in pay and prestige, and centered around his talent for fencing. Eustacious promptly deserted (his player left town for the summer, and this provided a neat exit which can later be reversed after another change in his fortunes).
According to the Baroness, she found Princess Majtalona, and the princess's 6-year old daughter, the High Lady Roederlee, early on the first day. She found no trace of her niece Savtalona at all.
As the party now has reason to know, this is a lie. Majtalona escaped; Savtalona did not. However, using a physical resemblance as a basis for disguise, and a similar name as a plausible alias, Majtalona is now lying low under Savtalona's name. Her bodyguard discreetly informed the Baroness of this, and she consented to the ruse. The party would not have known better, save for the fact that in the course of their murder investigation, they stumbled onto Castarleone's trail... which lead after the fleeing, incognito princess. Discovering the truth and fearing for her safety, they traced them both to the isle of Narrer's End, where they discovered the short-tempered, volatile, entitled Princess had granted Castarleone a royal pardon and enlisted him as a bodyguard. Being guardspeople, and conversant in legalese, the party is more than aware that she has no legal right to grant Royal pardons unless she is a seated monarch... and she's the least plausible and supported of six potential heirs. Nevertheless, this is not going to stop her, and her considerable mastery of storm-magics makes her dangerous to argue with.
She has also stated that she cannot let the party leave, because she cannot let her survival become more broadly known, and she has no reason to trust their word.
The party's argument is that they have more important things to do -- besides the murder investigation, they have discovered that the contract between the human monarchs of the kingdom and the King of Oak and Holly, which grants them all some protection from the fey, is only valid as long as an heir of the blood is seated on the Throne. In other words, this Interregnum means that it's open season on humanity. Most fey are indifferent, or their perception of time is such that they will not take advantage of this situation unless it continues for more than a season. But volatile wildfey are already crossing the Wall... the party wants to contact a renegade fox-spirit, the one Adrastus struck his bargain with, and send him as an envoy to the King of Oak and Holly to negotiate. However, in order to do so, they may have to cross the Wall, which is a death sentence from both sides.
Majtalona grants them a compromise. If they'll prove their commitment by doing her one little service, she'll authorize them as her embassy to the fey, making crossing the Wall a hypothetically legal act... though again, since she is not a seated monarch, this is an over-reaching of her authority. However, the Princess argues, she can get off on a technicality -- she shares a name with the first Queen of Antarion, the one who made the Contract... a contract which authorizes humanity to hold these lands under the rule of Majtalona (the original) and her heirs.... and, Preincess Majtalona says, she's definitely Majtalona AND Majtalona's hier. Problem solved.
This questionable venture in jurisprudence tabled because arguing with this woman is a lost cause, the party asks what service she wants done.
Simple, she says. FInd a way into Narerrant's dungeons, descend the path to Hell, and find the old mage's remains. After nearly being murdered, she wants Narerrant's Staff as a protetcion against further assassination attempts.
So. After our party first heard of these assassinations, and after Lord Lutaignan Sandfall hired them to investigate his royal half-siblings deaths, they had a great manyreasons for starting at the Royal Weatherworker's Tower, not least of which was that Baroness Darista was there, testing the burned bodies to identify them by bloodline, gathering an accurate casualty count.
On the trip there, while passing through Baroness Raicaselle's stolen lands, Eustacious killed Raicaselle's swordsmaster in a duel, and was promptly offered his job -- which came with a raise in pay and prestige, and centered around his talent for fencing. Eustacious promptly deserted (his player left town for the summer, and this provided a neat exit which can later be reversed after another change in his fortunes).
According to the Baroness, she found Princess Majtalona, and the princess's 6-year old daughter, the High Lady Roederlee, early on the first day. She found no trace of her niece Savtalona at all.
As the party now has reason to know, this is a lie. Majtalona escaped; Savtalona did not. However, using a physical resemblance as a basis for disguise, and a similar name as a plausible alias, Majtalona is now lying low under Savtalona's name. Her bodyguard discreetly informed the Baroness of this, and she consented to the ruse. The party would not have known better, save for the fact that in the course of their murder investigation, they stumbled onto Castarleone's trail... which lead after the fleeing, incognito princess. Discovering the truth and fearing for her safety, they traced them both to the isle of Narrer's End, where they discovered the short-tempered, volatile, entitled Princess had granted Castarleone a royal pardon and enlisted him as a bodyguard. Being guardspeople, and conversant in legalese, the party is more than aware that she has no legal right to grant Royal pardons unless she is a seated monarch... and she's the least plausible and supported of six potential heirs. Nevertheless, this is not going to stop her, and her considerable mastery of storm-magics makes her dangerous to argue with.
She has also stated that she cannot let the party leave, because she cannot let her survival become more broadly known, and she has no reason to trust their word.
The party's argument is that they have more important things to do -- besides the murder investigation, they have discovered that the contract between the human monarchs of the kingdom and the King of Oak and Holly, which grants them all some protection from the fey, is only valid as long as an heir of the blood is seated on the Throne. In other words, this Interregnum means that it's open season on humanity. Most fey are indifferent, or their perception of time is such that they will not take advantage of this situation unless it continues for more than a season. But volatile wildfey are already crossing the Wall... the party wants to contact a renegade fox-spirit, the one Adrastus struck his bargain with, and send him as an envoy to the King of Oak and Holly to negotiate. However, in order to do so, they may have to cross the Wall, which is a death sentence from both sides.
Majtalona grants them a compromise. If they'll prove their commitment by doing her one little service, she'll authorize them as her embassy to the fey, making crossing the Wall a hypothetically legal act... though again, since she is not a seated monarch, this is an over-reaching of her authority. However, the Princess argues, she can get off on a technicality -- she shares a name with the first Queen of Antarion, the one who made the Contract... a contract which authorizes humanity to hold these lands under the rule of Majtalona (the original) and her heirs.... and, Preincess Majtalona says, she's definitely Majtalona AND Majtalona's hier. Problem solved.
This questionable venture in jurisprudence tabled because arguing with this woman is a lost cause, the party asks what service she wants done.
Simple, she says. FInd a way into Narerrant's dungeons, descend the path to Hell, and find the old mage's remains. After nearly being murdered, she wants Narerrant's Staff as a protetcion against further assassination attempts.
