Session 53

The Shroud continued their discussions of the fate of the Duke.

Using illusion magics they spoke with the Duke's heir, to see if they had a suitable replacement with a sour relationship they could exploit.  What they found was a teenager angry at his confinement who knew little of the Duke's motives.

They discussed trying to get the Duke on board.  But Emmerick refused to let the Duke be his heir.  And they found likely little else to bribe the powerful noble with.

In the end, Emmerick resorted to blunt threats and stated the Duke would be "volunteering" half of his mercenaries to the Crown.

It was clear the Duke hated the order, and the man who gave it.  But backed in a corner with little options, he conceded.  Though he was quick to stick the Crown with the costs of keeping the forces.  And worse, the Duke said nothing, yet the rest of the Nobles in Talengarde were shocked and enraged at the King's flagrant disregard for the Noble class's right to protect themselves with "house-hold" guards.  At least all the Nobles save those backing the Crown already.

The ham-handed approach by the King alienated potential allies & emboldened enemies.  Much to the dislike of the rest of the Shroud.

It was the first sign of a totalitarian regime was forming and the nobles weren't thrilled.

The Shroud moved on to Daveryn where they held a brief ceremony to open the rebuilt city.  And while there, they offered the coveted post of Duke of Daveryn to Wasyli's "Aunt", Baroness Vanya of Veryn.  The Baroness was as surprised at the boon as she was quick to take it.  Even when Wasyli added the requirement that her secret magical alter be gifted to the Crown, the Baroness eagerly agreed & became a Duchess.

The tour finally arrived at their final destination, the village of Varyston, and the near-by prison of Branderscar.

As they reached the hotbed of resistance two events caught the Shroud by surprise.

The young boy, Stefan, who led the flock of children to the vale before being tricked by the Shroud into being a squire of the king, was dead.  Apparently he died in a horsing accident.  But a small part of the populous believe foul play.

But worse, the townsfolk showed signs of infection of the Tears.  And reports were cropping up from across the southern heartlands of the Tears returning.

The Shroud notified their organization and the other instruments of the Kingdom at their disposal to start quarantines & isolation as best they could.

Still, the death of Stefan seemed too convenient to have happened right after he arrived as a squire in the capital.  So as the order to quarantine went out the Shroud turned to investigate the death of the Stefan.  The propaganda and bolstering of the resistance seemed too perfect.  Mardus asked if perhaps it was a plot by the resistance.  Wasyli wondered as well.  Brother Summit suggested they go & do an investigation at the capital.  Yvainne offered a speak with dead to see if it was indeed murder and Mardus said they could raise him from the dead to show how good they were.

The Shroud continued to discuss if they thought it was murder & how they could tell until finally Emmerick spoke up.  "The divinations will show he was murdered."  Mardus responded "but how can you be so sure..."  "Oh I'm sure." responded the King.

The rest of the Shroud stood dumbfounded as realization set in.  Then thye broke out into angry argument at why the King would do it.  Even the death priestess said "But it was a boy!"  in horror.  Mardus too was particularly angry as he spend all the time to solve the problem, just to have it ruined.  Brother Summit mostly fumed with anger.

In the end the King was indifferent to their complaints.  He was King, the decision was done.  The potential future threat was neutralized.

The Shroud, angry though they may be at their seemingly blood-crazed King, turned to the matter at hand.  A bunch of plague infected political dissidents.

Spending some time speaking with the villagers they confirmed the majority of the town truly did hate Emmerick.  Though, since some of the Shroud felt the same way, they decided to show some unexpected mercy.  And instead of making an example of the town, they poured in resources to treat & aid the town.  Hoping that acts of kindness might stall the die-hard resistance movement.

In the end it helped the sentiment of the town a little, but not nearly as much as hoped.  And worse, it was doing nothing to stop the plague, as it became clear the plague originated further to the south.

With little good coming from their visit, the Shroud headed south and found the epicenter of the outbreak.  The town of Barrington, where there recently appointed Baron was located.

They found there the plague was rampant & already spreading to the surrounding areas.  Including from the great mass of children who visited the Vale of Valternae to see the sheppard boy, Stefan.

The Shroud tried to determine what happened.  Quell asked Yvainne if she still dominated the Baron and the vampire confirmed she did.  But the Death Priestess also pointed out that at no time did her thrall alert her to the outbreak or it's severity.  Further investigation revealed the Mayor and some other public figures tried to be overly caution early on & issue a quarantine only to have the Baron dismiss them as overly worried and instead only implementing half-hearted efforts.  Instead saying that trade & tax revenue would be adversely impacted.

In the end, the half-measures were not enough, the plague spread like wild-fire all across the land.  The town would be nearly impossible to save, as would the Kingdom unless the Shroud could do something, and something big.

The Death Priestess pointed out she could not cast a miracle to stop it as her god would likely be in favor of the plague.  And Mardus too questioned if Asmodeus would step in.

Then they had a stroke of genius.  The anti-plague plague.  The one that the great worm silver dragon made.  It saved the island before, perhaps it could be used again.  They are quick to find some of the commoners they found who had it before.  But the disease seemed to have died off after killing the Tears off.  Perhaps some might still live, but it didn't look promising.  Still an unorthodox option was available.

Resurrect the disease.  It was a risky move as the spell might fail.  But with the death and agony all across the island, the King had little choice.  Mardus cast the spell & managed to be successful.

Starting at the epicenter of Barrington & spreading out from there, the anti-plague worked wonders.  All rejoiced save one.  The death priestess was worried, she wanted to preserve a Tear.  It was too glorious of a gift to let die off yet again.  But the rest of the Shroud would not have it loose on the island.  So they came up with a clever idea.  They took two beggars, one infected with the Tears, the other with the cure and the turned to stone both of them.

The cure statue was stored safely by the forces of Asmodeus, the Tears statue was stored by the forces of Zon-Kuthon.

Finally the Shroud managed to break a string of bad luck & celebrate the end of their grand tour in peace at the capital.

The old Palace was alive for the next week as a great feast was held in the honor of the warrior King Emmerick and his conquest of all the isles.  And a new holiday was celebrated, Unification Day, so the commoners, still recovering from the ravages of the Tears could enjoy something.

During the feasting, the members of the Shroud noticed something interesting.  This was the first time in a year the King was finally back at the Palace hosting social entertainment and all around were young single noble lady's.  One radiant foreign beauty caught even the eye of the normally dour King.  The Lady Jezerael Della Torre, a woman from a powerful merchant house from the decadent lands of Taldor.

Still, the Kings advisor's did worry about getting sucked into the politics of another major power of the Inner Sea.  Still, in theory it was safer than the deal Galen tried to make for them with Cheliax.  But the King wasn't quick to push the issue, instead fine with a more prolonged courtship.  As he considered his options so he kept Lady Jezerael a little at arms length.

After the banquet & party were over, the King returned to the duties of ruler-ship.  And with Count Barca in his ear, he turned his attention to his old Knighthood, the Knights of the Alerion Order.  It was little work to gather a group of men to storm the chapter house in the capital.  Still, the King wanted to be there himself, and so he & the Shroud gathered a force & politely arrived at the Chapter house to see what they could find.

There Emmerick came face to face with his old leader, the Knight Commander Errol Greymantle.  Errol didn't bother with pleasantries, instead drawing steel & attacking his accursed student.  Emmerick blocked the attack with his shield & didn't bother even drawing Helbrand, instead simply touching the old man & and doubling him over with nausea and pain.  And then his casters mentally controlled him & forced him to reveal all his secrets before being handed over to Yvainne's "tender" care.

And those secrets were nothing short of the entire roll of Knights still on the islands.  What followed was a purge of all the knights of the Alerion order.  And of course what would the Crown do with all that Knighthood gear.  Well, give it to their good friend, Count Barca & the Knights of the Griffon.  If the Princess ever did return to her island, she'd find no help from any Knights.

Shortly after that, the King got an odd message.  A song bird found the King.  The woodland creature delivered a message from the Druids of Taigh Eolach.  The King should come.  And quickly.

The Shroud worried it might be a trap so they came prepared. What they found surprised them.  There, in the court of the druids was Brunhild Sturmdottir.  The druid who attacked them at the Horn.  Twice.  And who was last known to be travelling with the Sons of Balentyne & the Princess herself.  And she did not look happy.