Reluctant to upset the law of the land immediately, yet needing to be crowned, the Shroud manage to secure the reluctant support of the head of the Mitrian church and crown Emmerick in a lavish coronation ceremony following the Darian tradition of Mitrian worship.
The multi-day affair is well receipted by the common folk. The overt ton of reconciliation with the Mitrians in particular lowers fears of petty retribution. Not only is the common folk well represented, but most major noble houses manage to send at least some representation. Though, the Duke of Ghastenhall is not in attendance and his attendants and a magical trinket gift to the new King are not enough to assuage the concern in the King's inner circle at his absence.
At the end of the multi-day festivities, well past any involvement of the Mitrian church, the Shroud does introduce a prayer to all other gods. The opening gambit in their attempt at true religious freedom in Talengarde.
While this was going on Quell had an odd discovery what he thought was simply odd whispers he heard during the festivities was actually the powerful ring the Shroud took from Thorn's lair. It was trying to talk to him. Then it clearly spoke to him, about how, to grow in power it needed the blood of an angel, a fiend and a titan.
With the immediate take-over done and a small group of supporters, the Shroud works to further solidify their power base.
The shrouds organization starts to spread out through the land and over the coming months slowly remove monuments and other items glorifying the late King & his daughter. Starting in royal holdings and lands around the capital before spreading out.
They also make pushes on the spiritual front. Throwing together a ceremonial speak with the backing of some of their noble allies, the Shroud puts forth the case to lift the illegality of religion in the land. The support of the nobles is won, though the common folk seem uneasy.
Also, the King picks a spot on his palace grounds for a new shining cathedral of Asmodeus. To further push pro-religion & make Asmodeus more of a state religion.
And then the Shroud is confronted with their largest problem. A lack of funds. The Princess fled with whatever she could and with one of the three metropolitan hubs of Talengarde in ruin the Crown was sorely underfunded. They could prepare the site for the Cathedral, but before any major construction initiatives could be started the funding would need to be corrected.
One option Mardus and others mention is trying to establish trade with the outside. Yvainne points out sailors dislike traveling to Talengarde though because of the Kraken. This brought looks of confusion from the other Shroud members until Yvainne explained it's an old sailor tale that the route to Talengarde is inhabited by a Kraken. Speaking to the local nobles like Count Barca get a dismissive note. But speaking to the Sixth Shroud, formerly the Sixth Knot corroborate Yvainne. The price to ship mercenaries to the isles was inflated due to that cost. Further some well questioned divinations removed all doubt. There was a Kraken.
With some intelligence and powerful magic, the Shroud easily pinpointed the location of the beasts nest. They then took the King's flagship and made a show to go out and hunt a Kraken. And once safely out in open water, transferred operations to a less valuable ship and sailed out to the location of the lair.
Arriving at the spot, the Shroud considered an alternative option. What if they tried to simply barter with the beast? Using a host of protective magics they descended into the watery depths.
There far below the waves they found a massive fissure in the ocean floor that was the entrance to the beasts lair. Quell's ring whispered "a titan draws near". Which made the elf eager to kill it.
Using lights that shone brilliantly in the pitch darkness they announced their presence peacefully & were greeted by bobbles and a rumbling voice echoing from the depths of the fissure.
What proceeded was an odd conversation. The Shroud tried to get the beast to turn down it's savagery and wait peacefully. The price they got in return was exorbitant. And some of the Shroud members wondered if the beast would even honor the deal.
Still there may be some way to get the vain beast to help. They asked if the creature would enjoy feasting on a princess and her army. This got the creature interested and with a small tribute it agreed. As the Shroud dropped the goods down into the depths they spot a massive tentacle reach out, grab it & drag it down into the darkness.
The Shroud left the depths unsure if they'd made the right decision. There would be no fan-fair of victory, and the trade lanes would stay chocked off. And the kingdom still needed money.
The Shroud turned their attention to other options to improve their finances.
Looking over the books they saw clearly there was a massive financial lose in revenue when Daveryn was lost. Using their minions they got a report of how much it would cost to repair and repopulate the city. The price was staggering for it seems Fire-Axe's destruction of the city was severe. Still, if it got back up & resettled it would help greatly with the finances of the Kingdom and perhaps also improve some moral.
The Shroud considers speaking with Wasyli's Aunt, but Wasyli urges caution. He still doesn't trust her or her intentions and so if they were to bring her in, they'd need to understand the implications. The rest of the Shroud agrees so they table that decision.
And the Kingdom remains underfunded.
While all this is going on an underground war is brewing. Yvainne, appointed as the head of intelligence has been sending out shroud members backed by their Ogre Magi Lieutenant to try to run down the Princesses followers in Talengarde only to see the more pressure they apply result in the opposition slipping further underground.
That is when a minor noble, Lord Gaius Richter the uncle to the late Sir Richter, warden of Branderscar, approached the King. He stated he could help in dealing with the underground resistance. Clearly what the Crown as doing was not working. He continues to talk about how the efforts are failing, unaware of the insult he's leveling at Yvainne. Or unaware of the great deal of delight it is giving Emmerick. He further claimed to have found a resistance safe-house. He simply wished to serve in a greater capacity, as a Baron of the small town of Barrington, what with the former noble dying heirless in the war. And help the Crown bring down the resistance movement.
As he finished the Shroud considered what to do.
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