Aftermath of the Doctor’s Murder

The Progress got off to a confused, late start the morning after the disappearance of Ser Andro Valador. His revelation as the man behind the murder of the physician Ser Petral, and the likely cause of the assassination attempts on the Earl, had the entourage in a great turmoil.

Lady Milosia, the fled man’s wife, was in a state of near collapse after her questioning by a deeply furious Earl Darhelim. But Vulk and Mariala were able to independently assure him that she was innocent of her husband’s treason and other crimes., and she was eventually put to bed in lady Lania’s wagon, with a sleeping draught.

Lady Lania herself continued to show almost miraculous improvement as Drake carried on with her treatment. The Earl, while grief-stricken at the violent death of his trusted friend and physician, was relieved that the man had thought to keep the balorium-infused potions near to his patient. He spent much of the traveling time to Zutlin Manor in her wagon, holding her hand.

On nearing their destination, however, the Earl was all business. Zutlin Manor was the family home of his wife’s people, governed by her oldest brother Ser Kiros Valador as vassal to the Earl. Lord Clarin, shaken by one brother-in-law’s betrayal, was disinclined to assume the loyalty of the other. The Progress’ arrival was more like a military occupation, with the Wyvern Guard, supplemented by the Hand of Vengeance, taking quick control of the house and grounds.

Ser Kiros, at first confused and outraged, quickly paled when his noble brother-in-law explained to him the treason of the knight’s younger brother. The outrage that had turned to fear and consternation returned in full as he realized what his brother’s murder of her physician might have meant for their sister’s fate.

“My lord, I am innocent of any knowledge of my brother’s actions or plans,” he declared when the full story had been laid out. “I publicly disavow him here and now – he is cast out from the clan, named outlaw and traitor!

“Furthermore, I submit myself to whatever examination my liege requires to be certain of my and my family’s continued loyalty.”

Saying that, he slipped a silver chain with a crystal amulet over his head and handed it to a servant, drawing a gasp from the crowd watching this fraught meeting. Giving up his protection against arcane mental intrusion was a strong indicator in itself of his innocence, but it didn’t stop the Earl from nodding to Ser Vulk (and casting a second, more subtle glance at Mariala).

In full cantor’s regalia, as a representative of the Church of the Eldar, Vulk invoked the blessing of Kasira and of Agara and proceeded to question Ser Kiros in the light of the Immortal’s power and justice. Off to the side, Mariala used her own arcane abilities to gauge the truthfulness of the now stoic knight as he responded.

When it was over she nodded fractionally to Vulk, who turned to the Earl and loudly addressed both him and the crowd.

“My Lord, in the light of Truth granted to me by my Immortal patroness, I declare that Ser Kiros has spoken the truth in these matters, and has held back nothing.”

The tension in the Great Hall of the manor house, where this meeting had taken place, was immediately broken as everyone present released a collective sigh of relief. The Earl visibly relaxed, and moved to embrace his brother-in-law.

“Let us take this to more private chambers, Kiros,” he said.

As the party settled down for the three or four days they would be staying at Zultin, the Hand of Fortune, as Drake had taken to calling their group of adventuresome friends, gathered to more closely go through the possessions that Ser Andro had left behind, looking for some clue as to his whereabouts.

But no amount of study or arcane tinkering brought to light any indication as to the direction the disgraced and outlawed knight had taken. In the end they returned his belongings to his wive, who remained in shock. She responded to Mariala’s efforts to comfort her badly, turning her face away in embarrassment and motioning her away violently.

♦ ♦ ♦

The next morning Mariala and Drake accompanied The Earl, Ser Kiros and a number of courtiers as Lady Lania, still ensconced in her wagon, made the short journey to Rivona Abbey, the Maran retreat famed for its healing mineral waters and the skill of it’s cantors. The Earl was bringing her there originally to pray for a miracle.

“But the miracle came upon us unexpected,” he said that morning as Drake administered the next to last dose of the potion he and Ser Petral had developed. “It seems the gods sent you and your friends in my family’s hour of greatest need… you may be sure I shan’t forget that!”

The cantor’s of Rivona had been told of their noble patient’s dire condition, and had prepared accordingly, their best rooms and most skilled healers being set aside for the invalid lady. They were clearly surprised to she her sitting up and interacting with those around her. The Earl took the Abbess aside, along with Drake, and explained the nature of the treatment that Ser Petral had been pursuing, with Drake explaining about the Balorium.

The Abbess was impressed, and once the Earl made clear that he had no intention of revoking the gifts he had promised the abbey, even pleased. She soon drew Drake aside, along with her top healers, to discuss in detail the nature of Ser Petral’s Torazin and Drake’s Balorium; they seemed little concerned with the fact that both used arcane, rather than holy, magics to achieve their results.

“Whatever works,” shrugged one elderly cantor-physician when Drake mentioned this. “That’s our motto, at least in practice.”

♦ ♦ ♦

As the party was preparing to return for the evening to Zultin Manor, and the Earl was taking leave of his wife, she suddenly reached out and grasped his hand, however weak the grip.

“Stay my lord,” she whispered, smiling up at him.

The astonished Earl immediately returned to his chair beside her, and bent to speak quietly to her. If anyone present noticed a sheen to his eyes, they discreetly failed to mention it. It was quickly decided that Lord Clarin would spend the night at the Abbey, while all but his immediate guard returned to the manor.

Drake offered to stay as well, to administer the last dose of the healing elixir in the morning, while Mariala was tasked with seeing that Maid Carissa made it safely back to Zultin. Even in his joy at his wife’s improving condition, he did not forget the (inappropriate, to his mind) fascination his daughter had with becoming a cantor of Mara; he wished to ensure she spent no more time than was needful in the presence of the Maran healers.

While the Lady Lania was being settled into her convalescence at Rivona, Devrik, Vulk and Erol joined Colith and the Hand of Vengeance, as well as elements of the Wyvern Guard, in riding out in all directions to seek news of the renegade Ser Andro. Vulk rode north with Colith and some of the Hand, Devrik joined Ser Kovar, Captain of the Wyvern Guard, as he and his men rode south, while Erol joined Marik and another contingent of Hand mercs to the east. Cris was dispatched with the Wyvern Guards that searched west.

It was to the south, on the road to Dorinsel Keep, that some news of the fleeing nobleman was finally heard. A farmer reported that he had woken at sunrise two mornings past to find a well-dressed man just leading a horse from the farmer’s barn. It was obvious the man had spent the night, without so much as a by-your-leave, in the barn; but when the farmer tried to speak to him the man leapt on his steed and almost rode the peasant down in his haste to escape.

While he didn’t see the face clearly, there was little doubt from the description of both horse and clothes that it was Ser Andro. Devrik said nothing, but he smiled quietly to himself. The night before he had cast the Flames of Xydona in the tent he shared with Raven and Black Hawk, and by those visions he had been certain that the traitor had fled towards Dorinsel. That was why he had volunteered for this particular scouting party.

♦ ♦ ♦

By the next afternoon, the 25th of Emblio, the group was together once again, gathered in Vulk’s tent outside the manor house’s walls. Using the slips of Mariala’s magic parchment, the members of the Hand of Fortune had been summoned from their various tasks. The Earl had been made aware of the news of his traitorous brother-in-law’s sighting, and had sent Ser Kovar and his party on to pursue the trail.

But he had agreed that the Hand of Fortune should pursue their own course in seeking out the runaway knight.

“You have proven your worth,” he told Vulk that morning. “You may be… Unconventional… but you get results.

“With my wife safely installed and recovering in Rivona Abbey, and the threat to my own person apparently removed, I task you now, if you are willing, to track down Andro, by whatever means at your disposal. I want him alive, most assuredly I do. And not only for the information on his accomplices he will be made to part with…

“I know you have your own agenda, concerning the Constable of Dür, and I continue to share that concern. But the evidence of peculation my agents have already gathered is enough to disgrace him and see him removed from office, once I present it to his liege. But this matter of Andro touches my honor deeply.

“Will you pursue my renegade brother-in-law? If so, I will pledge all my resources to finding evidence of capital charges against Dür, once Andro is caught.”

A Murder, and a Conspiritor Revealed

Our heros continued on with the Earl’s Progress, leaving Kar Urkonis,the seat of the newly-rescued Earl of Yorma, on the morning of 18 Emblio. On the way to Dolint Abbey, the seat of the Kleros of Gostrial, the cure that Ser Petral (who apparently also answers to the name “Petras”) and Drake had developed began to show some effect on the Earl’s wife.

The two days at Dolint were spent relaxing, mostly, and going over the pieces of the mystery that seems to lurk behind recent events, while the Earl met with the Kleros in private conclave. Some unfortunate excitement came on the second day, during the garden party held by the Kleros in honor of his noble guest.

The Earl intended this event as a means of introducing his youngest daughter, the Maid Carissa, to various eligible young bachelors of the district, in the hopes of getting her excited about the prospect of a marriage. Unfortunately, one of the youths, the newly-knighted Ser Methwin, scion of a minor noble family, got obnoxiously drunk and loudly made a number of crude and cruel remarks about the girl within her hearing.

She fled the party in tears, and her father, who had also overheard the remarks, was enraged. But propriety and the quick removal of the drunken lout by his embarrassed friends prevented any immediate reprisal. The Earl, however, was not content to let this be; he approached Devrik and requested that he seek out Ser Methwin later in the evening, and teach him a stern lesson in manners. Preferably one that involved a number of contusions, and if bones were broken, so be it.

Devrik was surprisingly squeamish about outright assaulting someone, even though he was also upset about Maid Carissa’s embarrassment. Erol might have had no problems, but he was out prowling the town, looking for hints of the drug smugglers or other elements of the Zalik-mal. Fortunately, when Devrik confronted the stupid young rake, the dolt seemed determined not to take a hint, and actively pushed Devrik’s buttons. The resulting thrashing was not fatal, but as the cavalcade left town the next morning, it was obvious to all (including a blushing but pleased Carissa) that Ser Methwin wouldn’t be doing… well, much of anything, for quite some time.

Belthin Keep was the next stop, and before they arrived the Hand of Fortune (and kudos to Davey for coming up with the informal name of our little band of adventurers) worked out a plan to smoke out the evil-doer behind the various murders and attempted murders that have plagued the Progress. They let it be known to a select few suspects that they had suborned an informant who would be meeting them in Belthin to blow the lid off the conspiracy. Ser Andro and his wife were at the top of the list…

Once the seed was planted, Vulk and Drake went to the faux meeting, in the local cemetery, where the others had hidden themselves earlier. But the hours passed with no hint of an attack. Eventually the group gave it up and went back to the castle, only to find it in an uproar. Flames leapt from a tower window, and they soon learned that it was the room given to Ser Petral.

The group rushed up to where the bucket brigade was attempting to douse the flames, only to see the physician’s prone form laying in the middle of the room. Devrik attempted to control the flames, and his fears, and rushed in to try and save their friend. Mariala took a minute, but soon realized she could use her water elemental to fight the fire… as she summoned it, water leapt in a chain from bucket to bucket up to the roof cisterns, then back again in a rushing cascade that smothered most of the flames.

Sadly, Ser Petral wasn’t just overcome by smoke – he’d been stabbed in the back! The fire seemed to have been intentionally set in his traveling case of potions and papers, all of which were destroyed. Vulk tried valiantly to revive the doctor, even to the point of collapsing in aural shock after attempting resurrection. But it was not to be. The fire was soon put completely out, and Vulk taken to his tent to recover, while the Earl pulled Drake aside, distraught that the potions that seemed to be curing his wife had been destroyed along with his friend.

But Drake was able to relieve him of that fear, at least, as the potions had been stored in Lady Lania’s wagon. They were checked, found to be safe, and guards posted on the wagon. Later that morning Cris brought something to the group’s attention – his groom friend, Esar, had a bandaged hand at breakfast this morning. Further investigation revealed he had burns, which he claimed to have suffered while fighting the fire. Certainly others had suffered similar slight injuries, but no one could actually remember Esar being present at the bucket brigade.

Furthermore, the tip of his dagger was observed to have been broken off. When Vulk was sufficiently recovered to examine Ser Petral’s body, he found a small triangle of metal lodged in one of the man’s ribs where he’d been stabbed. This was good enough for the Hand of Fortune, and they made arrangements to get the groom alone in the stables for questioning. He stuck to his story, at first, but both Mariala and Vulk were wielding their arcane truth-sensing abilities, and when the metal from the doctor’s wound exactly fit the end of his dagger, the surly lad broke.

He fingered Ser Andro as his employer, revealing that the knight had recruited him to help arrange the Earl’s death, promising great rewards when Ser Andro’s weak nephew came into the earlship, with Andro himself as the power behind the coronet. He feared his sister’s recover would weaken his position after the Earl’s death, as she would likely wield more influence than he, and so had Esar commit his first murder…

Esar thought that Ser Andro had others who were helping him, people the knight seemed afraid of; but the groom knew nothing more than that his lordship sometimes met secretly with strange men in odd places. Ser Vulk instantly alerted the Earl of this development, and despite his initial incredulity, Ser Andro was order to appear before him. But his brother-in-law was nowhere to be found. His weapons, traveling clothes and best horse were also missing, along with a large sum of money and most of his wife’s jewels. Forced to divest herself of her arcane protections common to the nobility, truth-sense questioning soon revealed that she had nothing to do with her husbands plots; she is a broken and bewildered woman at this point.