Calendar/986/September/15-Lothar

[Thu Dec 20 19:15:28 2007] : GM: Ok, so after some time, Lothar, the guards are the same--they give you little food, scowl at you, and generally ignore you.
[Thu Dec 20 19:15:48 2007] : GM: A few times you lean against the door and try to call out to the "priest" as before, but no answer arrives.
[Thu Dec 20 19:17:21 2007] : GM: Finally, after days of waiting in complete isolation--for even your attemots to be obnoxious to the guards gain you little more than a cuss word spit your way--you hear someone approach, metal scraping on metal, and the door is unlocked, the key opens the door.
[Thu Dec 20 19:18:09 2007] : GM: (You are down by 4 FP at this time--very weak and tired, barely able to walk even with assistance--despite your attempts to stay fit in the cell)
[Thu Dec 20 19:18:44 2007] : GM: Two guards stand at the door. One is a "typical" guard, but the other is new to you.
[Thu Dec 20 19:19:06 2007] : Soldier: "Come with us."
[Thu Dec 20 19:20:02 2007] : GM: They lead you up the stairs, and the sun is painful to your eyes as you rise from the basement.
[Thu Dec 20 19:20:14 2007] : Lothar: (( they in the same livery as the normal guards? ))
[Thu Dec 20 19:20:31 2007] : GM: ((Yes, both wear the colors of Fish Side))
[Thu Dec 20 19:23:59 2007] : Lothar: (( ok, I'll follow for now ))
[Thu Dec 20 19:24:03 2007] : GM: As you come to the top of the stairs and are lead through some guard rooms and such, you are lead to a foyer where stands three more men. One is just another keep guard, and another is a page or footman who wears the apparel of Aeneus--although the patterns are unfamiliar to you. He is obviously from another location--and judging from his traveling clothes and the smell of horse about him, he just arrived in Fish Seide.
[Thu Dec 20 19:24:52 2007] : GM: The third man is the "multi-colored" man: Archienioux's emisary, the man who instructed you on behavior upon your arrival in the keep those weeks ago.
[Thu Dec 20 19:25:15 2007] : GM: Now he looks worn and ragged, his face grim and pale. He is bent over as if in pain.
[Thu Dec 20 19:26:13 2007] : Man: "You have been released to this man's custody, Lothar of the Aenean Knights" *cough! cough!* "You will leave with him presently."
[Thu Dec 20 19:26:39 2007] : Lothar: "Not without the Old Priest also."
[Thu Dec 20 19:27:47 2007] : Man: "By the orders of" *ahem, cough* his Imperial Lord Archienioux, you shall not return again to the ancient city of Feasiddex without announcing your presence. And at that time you will bring what fees and fines levvied upon you by our sovereign."
[Thu Dec 20 19:29:10 2007] : Man: "You may not treat with me, Pollexian. You are freed, by the hand of our Aenean Royal See in Sepal." *wheeeeeeze*
[Thu Dec 20 19:30:48 2007] : Man: "The obligation of the payment in gold must be fulfilled, however. Do not forget, lest you risk stern punishment by our majesty, who has instructed me to warn you that he shall find any who cross him, howsoever far they may flee."
[Thu Dec 20 19:31:13 2007] : Man: *ahem, cough, cough*
[Thu Dec 20 19:31:17 2007] : Lothar: "Then be it on your lords name that I refuse to leave to attend to his Imperial Lord while there is someone here being deprived of food and water apparently due to some action of mine."
[Thu Dec 20 19:35:27 2007] : Man: "The man of whom you speak is not of your concern, he is nothing in relation to your crime. You shall go. This is beyond any of our control, having been ordered from higher authority than you. Now go, and return with the moneys owed by the time the winter fair is held in this city--whether cancelled due to plague or not." * to the guards* "Take him to the gates." *To the foreign rider* "And I advise you to leave our lands immediately."
[Thu Dec 20 19:37:48 2007] : Lothar: moving over close to the man "And here I would have presented you as amiable, however I can see now that you are one in the same."
[Thu Dec 20 19:38:02 2007] : Lothar: "I will have my full possessions returned before leaving."
[Thu Dec 20 19:39:26 2007] : GM: "Your possessions are at the keep's portcullis. But remember--" *cough cough cough cough cough--ahem--cough hack hack--spit....
[Thu Dec 20 19:40:51 2007] : GM: "You will pay the gold in full, Lothar of the Pollexian Knights, or else be hunted along with your--" *hacccccck* "companions until you be brought to rot in the Imperial Lord Archienioux's dungeon!"
[Thu Dec 20 19:47:14 2007] : Man: "And your seafaring vessel is in our possession, in partial payment of the debt you owe. If you wish to purchase it back when you return in the winter, you might."
[Thu Dec 20 19:40:57 2007] : Lothar: "I see you are coughing a lot. Do you also feel sick in the stomach and dehydrated as if you can't keep down even water?"
[Thu Dec 20 19:41:26 2007] : GM: "I am no concern to you. Now go." *turns and leaves*
[Thu Dec 20 19:41:58 2007] : GM: The rider says to you, "Come, good sir, let us leave this place--and quickly."
[Thu Dec 20 19:42:27 2007] : Lothar: I shuffle over presenting myself to the rider "I guess I am in your care now."
[Thu Dec 20 19:42:34 2007] : GM: The soldiers escort you out into the (blinding) sunlight of a later afternoon, then across the keep's courtyard and to the gates.
[Thu Dec 20 19:43:22 2007] : Man: "No, good sir, I am but a messenger and escort. Let us keep quiet until we leave this city."
[Thu Dec 20 19:44:21 2007] : Lothar: nodding at the rider "As the other indicated, I need to stop at the gates and recover my possessions."
[Thu Dec 20 19:44:11 2007] : GM: The soldiers return you your equipment--all in tact, as you see it was removed from a satchel--and shut the keep gates behind you.
[Thu Dec 20 19:45:27 2007] : GM: As you two walk out of the shadow of the high walls, you come across a dying wretch in the street. He lies on his side, and his face is in the dust of the street. You can see he expelled liquids from both ends of his body--he is completely soiled.
[Thu Dec 20 19:45:34 2007] : GM: Upon closer inspection you realize he may be dead.
[Thu Dec 20 19:46:28 2007] : Lothar: I take a closer look
[Thu Dec 20 19:47:16 2007] : Lothar: (( do I see anything distinctive? other than the soiled look ))
[Thu Dec 20 19:48:16 2007] : GM: The man's vomit is a black-green color, and his lips are bloodily chapped. You guess he is dead. His tongue--which hangs out of his mouth--seems to be covered with a moss of some sort.
[Thu Dec 20 19:48:36 2007] : Man: "Come away, sir, come away! We must leave this place immediately!"
[Thu Dec 20 19:49:04 2007] : Lothar: I move away with the rider as quickly as possilbe
[Thu Dec 20 19:50:46 2007] : GM: The page has a second horse for you, along with provisions enough for the journey, so you immediately head out--the page at as full a tilt as he can spur Lothar's mount to go.
[Thu Dec 20 19:51:39 2007] : GM: The city seems quiet. Not many are about, even on this fine afternoon.
[Thu Dec 20 19:52:24 2007] : GM: Once you hit the highroad northwest, you see camping about periodically are groups of people along the road.
[Thu Dec 20 19:52:29 2007] : GM: Lots of them.
[Thu Dec 20 19:53:30 2007] : Man: "We had not heard of this in Sepal. I wish I had known!"
[Thu Dec 20 19:54:29 2007] : Lothar: "Nor do I know what it may be. It seems as some sort of plague." I say absent-mindedly while looking off into the distance with my good eye
[Thu Dec 20 19:54:45 2007] : Man: "Am I traveling too quickly apace for you, Master Lothar? I would like to be far from this shore before nightfall, but I was told you have been immured for some time, so please bear with me."
[Thu Dec 20 19:55:31 2007] : Lothar: "I believe I can survive it. If it becomes unbearable, I will tell you."
[Thu Dec 20 19:55:41 2007] : Man: "I must get to the capital to tell my lord that Fish Seide is beseiged by sickness. And if the gate guards there were right, many are dead."
[Thu Dec 20 19:56:07 2007] : Man: "The Lord Mayor will want to know this news!"
[Thu Dec 20 19:56:31 2007] : Lothar: "So, the chamberlins words seem to indicate that the Imperial Lord and Lord Archiounix are not on good terms?"
[Thu Dec 20 19:56:57 2007] : Man: "Oh, no, Master Lothar. They are not, and I knew of this. I think most do."
[Thu Dec 20 19:57:02 2007] : Lothar: "Aye, things do not look well."
[Thu Dec 20 19:58:32 2007] : Lothar: "So, if you would indulge my curiosity, what are the troubles?"
[Thu Dec 20 19:58:57 2007] : Man: "Archienioux is the King's nephew by marriage. And the lands of Fish Seide were not to the Lord's liking, Archienioux having designs on a powerful rule, you see. Thus, they were at odds beforehand, and the granting of Fish Side to him has made them even worse."
[Thu Dec 20 19:59:35 2007] : Man: "And, as I think I can say to you without risk of offense, our Imperial Majesty the King is right in believing Archienioux an ass."
[Thu Dec 20 20:00:13 2007] : Man: "All his people despise him. I thank Naevella that I was not sent to intern in his court."
[Thu Dec 20 20:02:07 2007] : Lothar: "Good sir, forgive my lack of courtesy, I am Lothar Xiphas, Knight Sergeant of the Order of Anean Knights."
[Thu Dec 20 20:02:11 2007] : GM: By now you have cantored past the citizens seeking refuge outside the city walls and are making you way into the hills toward Trin. The shadows are lengthening as the sun lowers in the sky.
[Thu Dec 20 20:02:33 2007] : Man: "Oh, I know you, sir! I know you right well!" *face beams*
[Thu Dec 20 20:03:00 2007] : Lothar: "Might I ask, how it was that his Imperial Majesty knew of my ...." pausing for a moment to choose words "...ransom."
[Thu Dec 20 20:16:06 2007] : Lothar: (( looked at guard quizzically wondering how he knew me and how his lord knew of me ))
[Thu Dec 20 20:16:13 2007] : Man: "My master, Rhactein, Lord Mayor of the capital city of Sepal, sent word to our king of your plight and unfair punishment!"
[Thu Dec 20 20:16:28 2007] : Man: "The King in turn allowed that my master send a man--me!--to present papers on your behalf to Fish Seide, ordering your release into the custody of the Lord Mayor."
[Thu Dec 20 20:16:39 2007] : Man: "And I hold it an honor to be in your company, good sir, knowing what a great man you to be!"
[Thu Dec 20 20:16:51 2007] : Man: "In fact, there be many at my master's table anxious to meet you. I was told to speed you back with haste for a feast in your honor at my master's table!"
[Thu Dec 20 20:17:03 2007] : Man: By nightfall you arrive at the inn located on the branch-off of the road to Trin. There is no room at the inn (nor even in the stables, for that matter) so crowded is the place with men of means from Fish Seide, come here to escape the plague on their city.
[Thu Dec 20 20:17:19 2007] : GM: But the page shows his garb and letters to the innkeep, and soon a room is cleared for you. Lothar gets the first good night of rest, hot meal, and peace-of-mind in what he now believes is at least three weeks of imprisonment.
[Thu Dec 20 20:19:45 2007] : Lothar: "It is curious as to how I appear to be so well known."
[Thu Dec 20 20:20:39 2007] : Man: "Why, it's from The Fitful Ire of Fish Seide! The most marvelous play ever performed--and you its star!"
[Thu Dec 20 20:21:23 2007] : Lothar: *cough cough* "Excuse me? The Fitful Ire of Fish Seide!?"
[Thu Dec 20 20:21:48 2007] : Man: "So moved was the Lord Mayor by it that he sent magistartes in the midnight hour to the King's palace to wake guards, open gates and doors, and await his majesty's earliest rising to present the letters he himself had written as to your release!"
[Thu Dec 20 20:24:31 2007] : Lothar: "I see. So I take it that this was a tale your Lord Mayor heard at some inn?"
[Thu Dec 20 20:26:25 2007] : Man: "Yes--although after seeing it performed at the Immaculate Mantle, he commissioned a private performance for many lords and ladies of the Sepal court in his very own hall. It is marvelous, Master Lothar, marvelous. Never have I seen something so funny, moving, and exciting. And the bard who told it...I cannot even describe his telling! It's beyond language!"
[Thu Dec 20 20:27:04 2007] : Man: "You truly must be a man of great renown to have such stories told of you and your companions!"
[Thu Dec 20 20:28:40 2007] : Lothar: "Nay my good man, I am nothing more than a merchants son out to earn his position within the OAKs, which as I am sure you have seen, is no longer viable with this bum leg."
[Thu Dec 20 20:30:23 2007] : Man: "Oh no, sir, you are too modest, I am sure. Your story has made the career of that bard, and in return he has made you of interest to the aristocracy. I know not what you did in battle with OAKs, but I imagine it was of great note indeed!"
[Thu Dec 20 20:30:48 2007] : Man: "Does it have something to do with the war in Pollexia, if I am not too bold to ask?"
[Thu Dec 20 20:33:01 2007] : Lothar: "In a very round about way. I first heard and learned of the OAKs while in Lognia. It is at that time that I lost my eye, due to my own cowardice."
[Thu Dec 20 20:34:07 2007] : Man: "Oh, the war with Lognia, I see. But what of the current conflict? Were you present at the burning of Nary? Rumor suggests it was burned to the ground?"
[Thu Dec 20 20:34:32 2007] : Lothar: "However, I destroyed my leg attempting to save my companions."
[Thu Dec 20 20:34:57 2007] : Man: "See? You are a great warrior!"
[Thu Dec 20 20:34:58 2007] : Lothar: "Burning of Nary? Nay, this is the first news I have heard of this."
[Thu Dec 20 20:35:23 2007] : Lothar: "When? What other news have you?"
[Thu Dec 20 20:36:33 2007] : Man: "They say Flackton's Copper Knights lead a seige and burned the place to the ground! They say the Wyrm is again unleashed, and it flew overhead the entire time, like a great, armored bird of death, and routed Nary's troops!"
[Thu Dec 20 20:36:50 2007] : Man: "The wyrm! It's incredible!"
[Thu Dec 20 20:37:28 2007] : Man: "And I hear the troops continue marching against insurructions all across Pollexia, especially in the northeast."
[Thu Dec 20 20:37:59 2007] : Man: "Have you seen the dragon yourself? Was it incredible?"
[Thu Dec 20 20:38:16 2007] : Lothar: "Insurrection?! The wyrm is relased. What portents are these events."
[Thu Dec 20 20:40:03 2007] : Lothar: "Nay, I have never seen the dragon. As I said, I am meerly an OAKs Sergent. I was hunting for the knight that provided my letter of introduction but had been missing for months and did not make it to support my promotion."
[Thu Dec 20 20:40:15 2007] : Man: "You truly know nothing of the Pollexian civil war?" *seems surprised, then a bit disappointed*
[Thu Dec 20 20:41:29 2007] : Lothar: "It is unfortunate news that you provide me about events in Pollexia, and it is even more grave the news that I will return to the order to report the knights death and now even my own application's withdrawal."
[Thu Dec 20 20:42:06 2007] : Man: "Oh." *...uncomfortable silence*
[Thu Dec 20 20:43:27 2007] : Lothar: looking at the man's face "I knew that something was coming, but my search for the knight took precedence. My companions and I were on our way back to report the death when I was held in Fish Seide. Had I known of those events...." I leave the comment hanging
[Thu Dec 20 20:44:23 2007] : Lothar: "Well, when I was detained in Fish Seide. Now, this news of actual war within Pollexia bothers me."