Stone Soules Summary XV: Griffon Castle Is Taken
After much arguing and debating we finished the castle attack plans. Ludo
had discovered that the Duke was gone but would soon be returning with more
troops about the time the Councilors passed on through. Due to this
concern, we decided a quick attack staged as soon as possible was best.
Then, Faranyn was contacted magically by a member of the Democratic Front
who made it plain that he did not like Faranyn as a Royalist, but that we
had mutual enemies in the Duke. He assured Faranyn that the "Duke would not
be going anywhere any time soon." He claimed that the Duke was beside him
and could not do anything to stop our plans. He then proceded to tell him
to make sure the mission was done "right." He urged us to get every piece
of evidence we could.
Other than the common soldiers, we knew that a Dwarf was in command. No
spellcasters of any kind had been sighted. We formulated a plan.
We captured the patrol, with relative ease. Then, we moved into position
and Claude stood guard over the patrol. We attacked the keep. The wall
guards were for the most part taken out instantly, with _Holds_. Faranyn
flew in ready to confront people in the courtyard but no one came out.
Xavier observed, waiting for people to come out when the alarm was sounded,
with spells. Xavier got the Dwarf and his Crossbowman, before Faranyn could
really deal any damage to them. Faranyn's sword Baleful did the rest of the
work, along with the spells, cajoling the rest into surrendering very quickly.
The Dwarf was annoying to us, but the rest were cooperative. A full search
and magic check were undertaken. All this while, Nym had gone to get the
Councilors. A couple of days of searching revealed a few things among the
trap removal:
1. A box of letters from Eldrin was in the Duke's room. These were
extremely incriminating, but all references to the Duke had been removed.
2. A set of symbols and so on from the Archbishop's garb.
3. A magical (level 5) book, which Eli immediately reached for when we
looked at the shelf in the Study, causing the shelf to burst into flame.
The other magic theory books were destroyed and Eli had to read the title
page. The title page vanished as he managed to close the book. Thinking
this might be a book of vast magic, Alegra used an _Augury_ to determine
whether Eli should read further (would the book's magic be lost if he did
not continue to read it?). The question was whether it was to the party's
advantage to have Eli keep reading. The answer was, "Short term losses will
be offset." So, Eli began reading and could not stop but to eat and sleep.
We placed him out of the way and continued searching.
4. Ludo found a cleverly hidden secret door in the study. It contained a
high magic Nevronian symbol. It was the Archbishop's Badge of Office. It
was a turning point in the case against the Duke.
4a. We had noted that the Dwarf had a magic head but could not identify
why. The mystery (unfortunately) did not resolve itself until later.
5. Also, we found a complete set of journals of the Duke, written in a
runic code we could not understand. The Badge was given to Sir Barnaby,
Paladin, when he arrived, for safe-keeping, and the books were loaded on the
horses of the councilors.
The Councilors arrived with Sir Barnaby and shown around. After the study,
we came to show them the room in which the prisoners were kept. We did not
anticipate trouble, and the Dwarf laughed when we entered and his head
exploded. Simultaneously the Andevarian banner, and the secret door
compartment also exploded (the books and symbol had already been removed).
The blast however, levelled the councilors, affecting the rest of us little.
3 of the 5 died instantly. Alegra _Death's Doored_ one of them, along with
Ludo. Sir Barnaby _laid hands_ on one that it was possible to save. Alegra
then used her _Raise Dead_ scroll on the Sectone councilman, since he was
Faranyn's closest relative.
This provided all of the ammunition necessary for the conviction of the
Duke. A forty-person Central Government detachment came to assist us and
take the keep. We left once Eli had finished the book, advancing through 2
possible levels instantly and gaining another Magic Theory proficiency. He
couldn't remember exactly who wrote the book though. The book was True Neutral.
The keep was prepared for turning over to the government of Kelburn after we
left.
Later, the Duke and some associates were convicted and executed. The Duke
had arrived earlier in Blue Crystal, probably from our Democratic "friends."
A new Duke was appointed earlier than the usual Founders Day. Previously
the High General of Dunador had occupied Andevar. No real resistance was
found. Kirkroy pledged allegiance to the new Duke.
We received money from the Sectone family for saving the councilor and from
Kelburn for returning the keep. We were put up in Dunthrane for the
duration of the trial. Ceydric was sent for for Founders Day and Theo
returned to Middle so Ceydric could come. Jerem was sent to be trained and
Cassana went along to return to Middle.
Canstin planned to enter the archery contest during the largest festival
Faranyn or Ceydric had ever seen. Dignitaries from EVERYWHERE (except
Drake) arrived (Gram was there, too). It was then that King Maynell I was
crowned King of Dunador. He had been picked by the Pope of Nevron from the
ORIGINAL founding royal family of Old Dunador. He had been living among
nomads as his family had for generations. He spoke only dialectical Human
and Nomad.
Aria and Xavier, near-native speakers of Human, noted that the translation
of the King's speech was made up to be even MORE fanatical than the Human
version of his speech (i.e. "Infidels" was changed to "Non-Nevronians," etc.).
And so, much still has to be straightened out from that entire time...
Thursday we will play a shorter game to help do that.
Kyle/Alegra