War for the Crown #3 - The Twilight Child

Game Master Kittenmancer

”Be better if ‘is face were a dog. Noblest and most majestic of creatures, we are.”

Shendra cocks her head and puffs out a little ring of purple smoke. I've never met a dog with the personality of a cat before. I wonder if that's what you truly are and this is just YOUR mask? Shendra wonders mentally aloud.

"The personality of a whot now?!? 'Ow dare you call me one of them...things."

The disgust is clear in the hound's voice.

The psychopomp, now clad in the form of a burly middle-aged Taldan man, ignores the commentary and bickering, instead striding purposefully down the road.

It takes roughly two weeks to return to the Palace of Birdsong, unless you have the means to expedite this travel. Xan can cast Tireless Pursuers, so that Xan and 4 more people can at least hustle - but since you have horses and carriages this should not be needed.

The next morning, Xan approaches Marius, their posture stiff and expression unreadable behind the red leather mask. "You said that you would submit to any oaths or spells I think necessary. It is a wise precaution, but it is not you who is my target. I wish to cast a mark on the boy and forbid him from trying to flee from me. To be clear, I am not asking you for permission, merely informing you of what will happen."

Unless stopped, Xan will cast Mark of Justice on maybe-Carrius.

Elmar can't help but overhear. He nods with a small grimace. "Please understand that due to the nature of what was done to him, he may not be...fully mentally present. He may inadvertently trigger your spell without meaning to, or may not even fully understand the repercussions of it to begin with. I suppose it's not lethal though...so shouldn't be an issue. We'll need to do our best to explain it to the poor kid." Elmar rolls the idea around in his head for a moment, then reaches for one of the pastries he had picked out for breakfast. "Scone?" He asks, offering to Xan.

Marius nods slowly, already thinking about ways to try and slow or thwart Xan should they decide to kill the boy after all. "I understand."

It doesn’t take very long before Kela has started to say goodbye to everyone in Marius’ and Rose’s troupe. She especially pays care and thanks to the service people who guarded their prisoners, through this process, though, she watches the new “companion” carefully for any signs of aggression towards Carrius. Within a few days, Kela augmenting herself with glibness, rides north on a horse, if possible, also glamered, using spell kenning away from the group, with strength of purpose.

The next day, Faenia appears again, just before they return to the palace. She greets Marius, Rose, and Barcos merrily, and then sizes up Elmar, ”who is this you picked up in Yanmass?” and with an even more surprised reaction, says ”and is that the… Prince? Please - tell me everything.” She smiles cheerfully, and though she is on edge a little, she seems eager for someone to tell her a story.

1d20 ⇒ 3
1d20 ⇒ 7
1d20 ⇒ 19

During the trip...
"Xan," Marius says suddenly, half-turning to face the disguised psychopomp. "Your explanation before inspiring many more quesions, and I need help to understand. You said before that the boy's soul had been judged, but fled and 'mutilated' other souls. Were these souls awaiting judgement as well, or already sent on to their rewards as well? Were these...victims, did they seem random or specific and targeted?" He glances at the carriage where maybe-Carrius is riding and drops his voice lower. "Were those poor souls eaten or merely destroyed? I need to know better what we're dealing with before I put him in a room with Princess Eutropia."

When Kela & Faenia pull a Superman...
"Unknown, though Kela seemed convinced," Marius answers wryly. "Ride with us, Faenia, we can fill you in at the same time we inform Lady Lotheed and the Crown Princess." He maneuvers to walk beside the Ulfen woman as she falls in with their group. "How have things been here, in our absence? Yanmass was a tangled knot of intrigues and sabotages, but we seem to have cut through the worst of it--literally in a few cases. Keep a close eye on the boy, for anything unusual. He may not be what he appears."

With Xan

The psychopomp's thick eyebrows gather together in an expressive gesture. "I found these frayed shadows in what you call the Astral Plane. They might have been souls on their way to receive Pharasma's judgment, but the remaining shreds did feel... old. So perhaps they were something else." Xan rubs their jaw under the mask. "I did not stop to investigate them very closely, being in pursuit of the perpetrator, so I do not know if they were attacked at random or not. They were neither eaten nor destroyed, but badly damaged."

Faenia spurs her horse on, and falls inline beside Marius. She cracks open one of her many ledgers, and asks... "yes, I am curious for what happened." She hesitates, and says, "I had matters to attend to for my father." Glancing towards Elmar and the prisoner, quite obviously so Marius can see she adds, "he's always fighting giants or something, I mean, I guess you don't know him very well, but he is." She waves her hand, "it's sort of... adjacent to the ... Princess' matters." She taps her books, "I've collected all sorts of useful information, and he needed some of it, that's all."

I assume the warning from Marius about Carrius (lol) is telepathic or quiet.

Barcos gives a wave and a friendly nod to Faenia, "What ho, friend! Good to see you again."

Faenia waves at Barcos and nods quietly, "indeed. It's been a little while. I hope you have fared well."

Feel free to continue conversations, either with Kela or with Faenia.

As the group enters the county of Meratt, the Dalaston Highway takes them towards Lotheedar and the Palace of Birdsong. They pass Lake Pensaris on their left, the home of "the General", supposedly a catfish of enormous size and over a hundred years old. Then they pass Lauchlein Lake, where they had met the fey swan Atratus and helped preserve the wild beauty of the lake.

Where the highway forks, one branch continuing north and west and the other south towards Lotheedar, Martella awaits, accompanied by her trusted bodyguard. She hails them as they approach on horses and in carriages, raising an eyebrow at their considerably larger group.

"I see you made some friends along the way. Welcome, new faces, I am Martella Lotheed, chief advisor to Princess Eutropia." Taking Rose, Marius, Faenia and Barcos aside, she whispers. "I came to meet you here because I got word about who you are bringing with you, and I don't want Eutropia to get her hopes up before we can establish the identity. So, I rented some rooms in Lotheedar where we can have some privacy. Come along, now."

As they meet with Martella, Elmar inclines his head respectfully. He also looks to the bodyguard and give a smell nod of acknowledgement. Otherwise he keeps his peace while the others decide to talk to the side.

After a moment he steps over to the bodyguard, making idle conversation as he looks out at the landscape. "How have your travels gone?"

Barcos smiles to Faenia, "Quite well, I'd say! Found a...person of no small amount of interest in Yanmass. You'll meet him soon, I expect."

When they meet with Martella he nods, "Discretion's a fine plan. Let's be off."

Marius' instinct is to hover near Possibly Carrius--or more specifically, Xan, since he feels the psychopomp would need only seconds to kill the boy if it decided it should. It takes an effort of will to resist that urge, and he thinks he does a passable job of behaving normally during the return trip. Insofar as anything can be 'normal' when you're traveling with one of Pharasma's soul shepherds and possibly the prince of the realm reborn after so many years, in a country teetering on the brink of open civil war.

During the trip he mulls over Earl Merkondus' actions in Yanmass--arranging for fiends to stalk its streets and inducing treason in its Horse garrison were shocking tactics, but also perhaps a sign of desperation? Or at least hurry; Marius didn't know if Merkondus would have gone for such destructive tactics if he though he'd have time to work the Council around to his way of thinking. What, then, was putting such pressure on the High Strategos camp? Perhaps matters on the Qadiran border were more tense than he knew...or perhaps Pythareus had his own schemes in play and was on a time table.

He shares these thoughts with Martella and his companions once their little caravan reaches Lotheedar and the rooms Martella rented for them.

Faenia listens to the others as they recount their adventures, writing down notes all the while. She asks few questions and nods along quietly.

When introduced to Carrius, she confidently approaches the young man, though she bows deeply, and says, ”good day to you, young man. My name is Faenia. I am a storyteller and bodyguard - of a sort.” She hesitantly asks, ”I was made to understand that you believe, that all of you believe this to be Prince Carrius, returned?” She asks the questions to the group, and then turns to Martella.

”While I understand your inclination towards caution, it sounds to me like he’s been er, ‘vetted’ as much as one can be in the circumstances.” She seems apologetic to Carrius. ”In whatever capacity I can, I serve Queen Eutropia. Grabd Princess Eutropia.” The honorific is deliberate, for other PCs benefit and to signal whatever to the NPCs.

She clears her throat, and while she does not quite appear strident, she does seem to deeply believe what she says next, ”the Queen should be informed immediately when we get to the Birdsong. She can make the decision about what to do with the information - you don’t need to protect her feelings. Unless we for some reason our collective estimation of her wisdom has for some reason dropped?” She looks around questioningly, then turns back to Martella, ”explain the situation; explain the risks, explain that he has a … guardian of a sort. Let her decide. She deserves to know.”

Martella shakes her head. "What people believe and what the reality may be are two separate things." She scrutinizes the teenager as well. "He does look like Carrius, but that doesn't prove anything." Addressing the boy directly, she asks "Do you believe you are Prince Carrius, resurrected?"

He hesitates. "I'm... not sure? Mister Vaddrigan kept telling me I was... I am. But I don't remember much of my life before..."

Martella turns back to Faenia, head cocked and eyebrow raised in the universal expression of 'See?'. "I asked Lady Paril to bring additional genealogy notes, and she can also cast some divinations to help us settle the matter. At this point, I do not believe it is necessary to involve Her Highness."

"To involve me in what?" A familiar voice calls from a few dozen paces within the forest bordering the road, and Taldogis bursts forth from the underbrush wagging his tail madly.

Princess Eutropia, astride a roan mare, emerges into the road, dressed in a hunting outfit. "Genealogy notes? Divinations? Why w-" At that point, her searching gaze comes to rest on the boy, and her voice catches in her throat.

The lad's eyes are also captured by the princess, and he begins to speak hesitantly "Mo- ?" but then shakes his head. Eutropia dismounts in a flurry of skirts and half-stumbles, half-runs towards the boy, catching him by the shoulders and staring at his face as tears stream down hers. "How- how is it possible...?" she asks huskily between suppressed sobs. "C-Carrius, is it you? Is it really you?"

Martella winces, reaching out to pat Eutropia on the shoulder. "We don't know for sure yet. Come, let's not linger in the road. We'll go back to Birdsong and talk, yes?"

Faenia looks like she’s about to argue in the way she does, and in some ways her dulcet voice’s velveteen cadence, while not soporific, would be a welcome sound in the forest trail for the weary travelers. Finally an opinion that made sense, her erstwhile companions brains start telling them as she opens her mouth to try to convince Martella that, of course, Martella’s very own opinion is that the Grand Princess should meet her brother, and that what she said moments ago was mistaken.

But the moment never comes. Eutropia appears and Faenia is surprised for a moment, reflexively bowing to her mistress.

Faenia definitely does not look, for the barest of moments, like she was smirking at Martella. For if they did see the smirk, they realize quickly that they must have been imagining the large woman being smug. Her earnest demeanor would be spoiled by such an expression, and despite her underbite and physicality, her handsomeness would be marred as well. So any such undignified expressions would obviously be unbecoming. So it must not have happened.

The woman moves to Eutropia’s side and scans the forest, alert and attentive. She is at rest, but wary, and seems immediately ready to protect the Grand Princess with her life. She reaches down to the dog and scratches it behind its ears, but it’s clear that the woman takes her charge seriously.

Baron Barksley approaches Taldogis, sniffing the other hound and saying in the language of dogs, "Oi, chap. You on the level? Proper bloke, ready to fight for your pack?"

He thinks to himself, "Doubtful he's smart as me, but hopefully he's got the minerals."

Barcos eyes his dog's meeting with Taldogis briefly before turning to the reunion between siblings. Earnestly happy to see a family reunited, his normally crooked half-smile spreads to cover his whole face.

He stays quiet, not wanting to disrupt the clearly powerfully emotional moment. There would be time for words, assuredly many of them, but that time would be later. For now, he is simply happy for a sister reunited with a brother she thought long lost.

Elmar's face sharpens with a complex mix of emotions as the princess bursts forth. He bites his tongue, noticeably, and simply nods to the suggestion to go and talk in a more secure place.

Taldogis interposes himself between Baron Barksley and Eutropia, lowering his muzzle in a warning.

"Got no pack, only this two-paws here, but if you even think about messing with her I'll rip you to shreds."

"You... Eutie?" A slowly dawning realization shifts across the boy's face. "But- don't you hate dogs?" He shakes his head. "No, not hate, you're scared of them!"

Eutropia grins as she wipes her tears with one hand and reaches for Taldogis's scruff with the other, giving the hound an affectionate pat. "Oh, you'll find that quite a lot has changed since... well." She clears her throat. "Come. Let's not stand in the road like this." Once she is satisfied that her younger brother is safely ensconced in the carriage, the princess mounts on her horse again and spurs it towards Lotheedar, Taldogis running at her heel.

As soon as they arrive at the Palace of Birdsong, Eutropia and Martella usher everyone into the upstairs parlour; Carrius walks around with his usual dazed expression, a slight frown on his face as he takes in the surroundings. With cups of tea and trays of finger food promptly served by the palace staff, they all settle on the sofas and armchairs overlooking the driveway.

"I am so sorry that I cannot let you rest after your long journey, my friends," Eutropia begins, her gaze fixed on her brother as he stuffs a biscuit into his mouth. "But I need to know everything, everything that has happened in Yanmass, and how you came back with my brother. How he came back, after..." She breaks off, reaching for a cup of tea.

"Pff, how uncivilized." Shendra touts from her high perch on Elmar's shoulder, turning her nose up at the snarling dogs, knowing full well they can't retaliate due to the height and the obstacle of Elmar in the way.

Once at the Palace of the Birdsong, Shendra happily starts working on a sweet that she swoops up from the tray of food. As the others begin recounting the story Elmar stays uncharacteristically quiet, even during the talks about magic, prompting Shendra to turn and look at him with a frown of concern as she nibbles away. After an obvious pause she chimes in. "And he was using memory erasing magic, even hit Elm with some of it!" She gives an annoyed flick of her tail at Elmar being targeted. "Normally it's short term and used to unravel the magical connections made during study, nasty little trick! But we have a theory that long term exposure could possibly lead to what the maybe maybe not prince is going through. Maybe." She shrugs, eyeballing another sweet. "Certainly possible, but would take time, much more time. Or maybe one of those old wizards that knows everything and likes to sit around reading all day, they take forever but tend to know things."

Baron Barksley gives a hearty wag of his tail to Taldogis before saying, "Wouldn't dream of it, mate. 'Fact, that was just the answer I was 'oping for. Good on ya."

Marius assists in recounting the tale of maybe-Carrius' discovery, politely and euphemistically explaining Xan's presence and their agreement with the single-minded psychopomp.

"Your Grace," he says haltlingly, expression pained. "I cannot imagine what you must be feeling right now, the gods know that if I found myself in your shoes regarding one of my sisters I'd be a wreck--but I must advise extreme caution here. The threat of this 'Circle' is unknown but should be assumed to be enormous. Duke Panivar Lotheed's reputation is...considerable. Alone he would be a lethal threat, but as part of a cabal of like-minded immortal mages, I shudder to think what they're capable of."

He hesitates, then takes a deep breath and plunges ahead. "I've been mulling over what Vaddrigan told us, and what he couldn't. I'm sure he hasn't told us everything but I don't doubt that he's been kept in the dark about the Circle." He squares his shoulders and looks Eutropia in the eye. "I think they set him up, specifically so that Carrius would be found. He's perfect, irresistible bait--to what end, I don't know, but there's far to much strangeness and power swirling in his wake, and it's my gut tells him this is no happy coincidence. Please, I urge you to be extremely careful."

Eutropia does not immediately respond, although her nostrils flare in anger at the mention of memory-erasing magic and the alchemical drugs that the Cult of the Twilight Child have been using on her brother. She keeps hold of one of Carrius's hands, as if afraid he might disappear from in front of their eyes.

Instead, Martella speaks up as she moves aside some of the tea cups and pastry trays to lay out a map of Taldor, different coloured patches overlaying the familiar geography of mountains, plains, rivers and cities.

"Hopefully Lady Paril can help His Highness regain some of his memories, she should be here presently. And I will send word to Viscountess Octavia Nicodemus, her Endless Repository might have some information about all this. There is also the matter of my- well, my great-great-great-something uncle, I suppose. I am surprised he hasn't paid us a visit here yet, although if he does we are no match for him." A frown of concern creases her forehead.

"You are likely correct, Lord Erallan. The prince was bait for both Pythareus and us - and now we shall have to wait and see what the Circle's next move is. But that doesn't mean that we will sit idly by."

She runs her palm over the map, smoothing out the creases. "When this entire mess started, everyone and their cousin rushed to claim a piece of the pie. Now, many of the smaller factions have been swallowed up, or banded together, as you can see. Our main concern is Pythareus, of course, but we cannot ignore the others." Martella points to a red patch in the northern reaches of Taldor, south of Yanmass. "Count Merkander has lost some ground to Duke Nazezi - who seems to have allied with Grand Duke Heskillar - but they're both still holding on to their claims as cousins of the Stavians. We might be able to negotiate with one, or both." Her finger moves over the Verduran Forest. "Countess Starborne is emphatically not making a claim on the throne, and we know she supports us already, but the gnomes of Wispil are using the current situation to push for more representation in the Senate. I don't see a problem with that, so for now we are not concerned about them."

Tap-tap-tap of an index finger on the southern part of the map, where a spreading yellow area threatens to engulf a much smaller red one. "Pythareus has all but claimed the south; he strong-armed houses Cyris, Phaeben and Tarq into swearing allegiance to him. House Kiu was conquered outright. Grand Duchess Destelita Solari, the ruler of Ligos Prefecture is a ruthless, cold-hearted schemer - she has formally declared an alliance with Pythareus. I even hear rumours of a future marriage, which would be a smart move that would benefit both of them. That only leaves Grand Duke Thestro Briarsmith, who has been using the chaos to try and expand his brutal tyranny beyond the Porthmos prefecture; as you can see, Pythareus is NOT inclined to let him do that, but I do fear that eventually they will become allies."

Martella points to the western part of Taldor next. "Now, for the good news. We have been making inroads with House Lawsus and I think they are close to formally declaring allegiance to the princess. And while the main branch of House Vort stubbornly maintains their claim, we have a friendly ambassador in their midst - if you remember Baronet Caphridius Vort. His family doesn't hold him in particularly high regard, given his... proclivities, but he's one of them nonetheless. And with Yanmass formally declaring for us, we will be controlling Avin prefecture as well."

Sorry not sorry for the politics lore dump. For reference, this was the faction split after the Senate Mssacre, and this was the faction situation throughout most of Book 2.

Martella gazes at the map for another long moment before taking a deep breath and looking around the assembled group. "But these are matters for the princess and myself to work on. For now, I want all of you to know that you have done extraordinary work, even if we don't fully understand the consequences just yet. If nothing else, we know that Pythareus isn't just playing dirty; it sounds like he's trying to fan the old flames of hatred with Qadira and maybe even drag us into a new war, which would certainly benefit him. You have earned some rest while I work out the details of your next assignment."

You have some downtime if you wish, around a week or so.