Recollections by Amon
Our recent encounters with Baron Zevane have largely been through fighting proxies or dealing with possible co-conspirators in his inexplicable vendetta against us. And yet, unlike many of the foes who have troubles us in the past, we know next to nothing of him, aside from his noble status and the location of his lands. Someone with the kind of political connections a member of a noble house of Solace might have isn't someone we can move against directly with the sort of violent finality we in the order tend to employ, and yet he presents a problem that must still be dealt with in a way that can brook no further challenge. To that end I have called the others together to help investigate the good Baron, and get to the bottom of just what his goals, resources, and long term plans might be, and how they involve us. Jeroy, Ci, Ember, reliable as ever, answered the call. As I was laying out the case for our current quest, Cassio happened to stumble into the room, and I was unable to come up with a good excuse to reconvene elsewhere.
My first thought was to venture into the ruins of Solace and seek council from others within House Blue whose information resources might skew towards the political situation in the surrounding area. As luck would have it, Serie happens to be in town, attending a play put on by several of his offspring at Vanivachi. I drop in, and with a carefully crafted coded conversation and a bit of assistance from Ci am able to ascertain that there is to be a party hosted by Baron Zevane at his keep to the west of us, though the manner of our entry to the party is for us to secure. Ci suggests we can use his status as master of the keep, along with a gift of a ring crafted by Ember, to allow us access to the party, and from there gather what information we can.
Taking off on horseback dressed in our most formal attire, we pass the 80 miles between our keeps without incident, coming upon a fairly nondescript and utilitarian stronghold surrounded by an armed gathered host. Cassio Cassios his way into the troop's hearts and minds. They toast to the return of the old gods. The soldiers are part of Zevane's house guards, but not all of the troops belong to the Baron. They seem to be more like mercenaries in terms of gear and stance. They get defensive when Cassio brings up the lodge party that we mysteriously burned down but things don't devolve further. He and Jeroy return from their carousing and update us. Cassio suggests he could crush them like a soft quiche.
The entrance to the keep is a raised portcullis connected to a drawbridge over a moat. We hand over our invitations and they check out. The herald blows a trumpet and announces Lord Ci and his assorted company. Near as we can tell there's no real reaction to the announcement of our arrival, which largely fell on deaf ears. We enter and start to take scope. It's a simple and unadorned grand hall with tons of food and drink. Baron Tedor sits prominently on one side of the room. There are stairs that lead further up into the keep. Nothing dire pops out from Cassio using his magic and perversion of magic sense.
Ci sneaks his way upstairs and finds a number of hallways with closed doors and muffled conversations. He overhears someone talking about some political logistics and gathering support for something. They seem to be carefully avoiding talking in specific names, as if they were complete amateurs at coded conversations. He continues up to the third and final floor and ends up on the roof of the keep, with tons of guards (24) keeping watch over the crenelations. He singles out a door with no audible voices behind and ducks inside. He opens the door and hears a female scream from inside. The torchlight from the hallway floods into the room and he sees a dressing divider and some hasty commotion. He hears footsteps approaching the hallway from one of the rooms he did hear conversation behind. Thinking quick he makes his way to the stairwell and hides there.
A well dressed man in rich looking livery steps out and then immediately goes back in. Ci rejoins us and fills us in on what he saw. We decide to make our introductions to the Baron. Jeroy casts see invisibility but can't spot anyone invisible around the room. The party seems to mostly be middle class merchant types, with few nobles in attendance. A lot of people are dressed in sigils of small time houses.
Cassio recalls that House Zevane is a fairly old house, though Tedor isn't particularly well known or notable. We grab some drinks from servants and mingle among. Cassio attempts to go introduce himself to a few partygoers but instead trips, catches himself with his sword, and slices a table in half. I try to be a little more charming. I insert myself into a conversation between two attendees. We have a pleasant non-coded conversation. One of the snooty douchebags introduces himself as Arryn Mace. He's a soldier or mercenary of some sort who probably needs to get sniped by magic missiles at a later date.
Jeroy has considerably more luck making friends. Jeroy finds out that Drunk is in fact a language. House Benthe to which this minor noble belongs, is beholden to House Zevane. He hits a stumbling block when the drunk guy doesn't believe he's from House Lenkins to the east. He finds out that they're organizing something but not what.
Having found out tons of stuff, we decide to finally make our introductions to the Baron. Ci introduces himself as Lord Ci of Shianju Keep. Zevane directs him to approach. Ci hands over the gift and the Baron accepts it awkwardly. He looks like a relatively young human in his early twenties. He appreciates our token, which is lord speak for "please blast me with divine fire". He claims to not remember inviting us. Ci notes that we more or less invited ourselves, suggesting it was high time we met, and asks as to his intentions. Zevane says they're quite clear. He gives us leave to enjoy the festivities. Ci informs him that his intentions will be frustrated and that he'd do well not to understimate us, and the good Baron says that we should not understimate him. He seems openly angry with us for undiscernable reasons.
I mention having talked to Arryn and point out he's still in the crowd. Jeroy talks to him and uses his visions from Rezik to convince him to give up some information about Zevane's worship of the old gods. After some deliberation we decide to leave. On the way out I cast Arcane Eye to try and get a view into the room where the finely dressed man went on the second floor, but something prevents me from moving the eye into the keep, even from the room, incidating it's warded.
We make our way back to Shianju. We talk to Serie, who informs us that six years ago Zevane failed his vigil to join the magistery. His brother was a magister, who died during the battle of Solace. He has a grudge against the magistery for both his failure to join and the death of his brother. Nearly all of his family passed away during the assault while he was off on some adventure, who has risen to power simply by dint of survival. Ci informs him about the blood orgy. We also find out the identity of the well-dressed man, Duke de Vries, who's a well liked celebrity in Solace and a well known philanthropist. Ci remembers that he was one of the people named at the lodge, though no present. It seems likely his presence there was incidental. The Duke is in line for the Emperor's throne if the right casualties were to occur.
Recollections by Cassio
Recollections by Ci
Master Li once told the story of a young fish named Tanlan. Tanlan was born into a large family and a large and plentiful pond, rich with resources. From a young age, Tanlan always wanted more of everything than his brothers and sisters: more food, more space, more attention. Often he bullied his family to receive more than his fair share. As a result, he grew faster and bigger than the other fish, which only increased his belief that he deserved more than the others. As he grew, he used his size to bully more fish and gain more food and grow even larger. "I am the strongest Fish of All!" claimed Tanlan. "I should have the best home!" Thus, Tanlan was allowed the best shelter in the pond, beneath an old log surround by lush grasses. "I am the Biggest Fish of All!" cried Tanlan, "I should have first choice of the best food!" Afterward, Tanlan ate before all the others and always took the largest share.
It happened one day, as he swam around his pond, Tanlan came upon his younger brother Mingzi. Mingzi was nibbling on a large worm that had come to rest on the bottom of the pond near Mingzi's home. "Mingzi! That worm is much too large for you. As I am the strongest and the biggest, you should give it to me" said Tanlan. Mingzi replied, "Tanlan, this worm may be large, but it is not for you. It will feed me and my family for many days if we are careful. You are much too large to nibble on this worm. You would eat it all at once, and that would be dangerous for you, brother." "Nonsense! Nothing can harm me in this pond! I am the biggest and strongest! Swim aside, little one before you get hurt!" and with that Tanlan swooped in and snatched the whole worm in his mouth. No sooner had he done so, than he felt a sharp pain in his mouth and he began to be dragged towards the surface. Before realizing what had happened, Tanlan was out of the pond and gasping in the bottom of a fisherman's boat. As he lost consciousness Tanlan heard the Fisherman exclaim "Finally! A fish worth catching! I have fished here many days, and only have seen small fish that nibble at my bait, and refuse to be caught!"
This story was on my mind as we looked in on our neighbor Baron Zevane. His aggression towards us and his apparent ambitions put me in mind of the naked greed of the fish Tanlan. I hoped we might be mistaken about his intentions, but alas, Zevane only confirmed our suspicions. He desires Shanjiu, and is willing to do anything to acquire it. He has amassed quite a following of smaller houses and may have as many as 10,000 warriors at his call. More than that, he seems to act in service of something he calls "The Old Gods" and fears neither The Eternal Order, not the Magistery. This fact, combined with his apparent connections with both political figures in Solace and Devils of The Abyss, represents a major danger at least to Shanjiu, if not yet all of Eomas.
I must confess I now wonder if it is not I who am the fish Tanlan, and Zevane the fisherman. We may have swum into waters much too large for us, and encountered a doom we cannot escape. Yanji teaches that anything that can be lost was never truly ours, and anything that we deeply cling to only imprisons us. But it also teaches that when men do not stand up for good, they have already fallen. What we have built at Shanjiu, we have built for the good of all, not only ourselves. We cannot bargain to hold on to things that please us while relinquishing things that do not matter to us. So with the good that may come of Shanjiu we must bear the burden of Zevane's greed. We are not without weapons in this struggle. We have made many allies, and will certainly make more. We have a spy in Zevane's household, thanks to Rezik and now Amon. We are now certain of his intentions, and begin to investigate his motives. And we have our strength, faith, and will. I pray they will be enough for this challenge and the others that are sure to come.