Previously, Quentin and Emrys found Prior Benedict camped outside Kingsport, who agreed to bless the heroes before their confrontation with Epidemius but declined to serve as a power source for the binding circle. Meanwhile, Neamhan confided in Esmeralda her fear that Virulencia’s claim she was a mother might be true, though Esmeralda found no evidence of altered memories and urged caution in trusting the devil. The group then visited Father Devon, who arranged an audience with High Priest Selwyn, and Emma at the Sacred Baths, who offered the power of the river Lyn in place of the inexperienced Bláthnaid, leaving the question of a power source within the palace unresolved.
Tenth Day, Second Ride, Autumn Twilight, 1262
(Silvermoon is waning, Bloodmoon is waxing, Darkmoon is waning)
After having spoken to Emma at the Sacred Baths of Sedna, the heroes decide to head back to the Careless Wanderer. It was just after fourth bell, and Chakuq was curious to see if he could gain some benefit from the baths and steam rooms, and decided to stay to enjoy Sedna’s waters. On his return to the inn he passed by Steward’s Square and saw that the crownsguard were enforcing the curfew by breaking up the crowd which had gathered in front of the cathedral to pray for salvation ahead of Epidemius’ arrival.
The others had arrived back at the inn and discovered that besides Falka, and the handful of guests that seemed to have hunkered down at the inn for the winter, as well as the occasional guest passing through, Ser Croy and Dame Pauline were at the inn looking to speak to Quentin. Ser Croy was warm as ever, and Dame Pauline was reserved as ever. Quentin tried to get Pauline to relax and drop the honorifics, but she continued to find it difficult. Quentin queried why he had found Beauclairois wine in the hands of an important person, referring to Prior Benedict, though not by name. Dame Pauline revealed that she had worried that Quentin had forgotten that it was expected of him to present guests at the celebration the following day to lend credibility to his character, and so she had arranged a guest list on his behalf. She mentioned that this may have been the reason why some of the delegation’s wine had ended up in people’s possession.
The reason for the two to pay a visit to the Careless Wanderer was to share the itinerary for the celebration. At tenth bell, Quentin was to arrive at the Black Alder Farm to brief his lord father about Epidemius. His father was worried at having lost two of the Morvrayne riders in the previous incursion of the fiend and was eager to find out how his house would be impacted upon Epidemius’ return. The losses had further put the Morvrayne family at a disadvantage among the delegation, despite the riders having fought valiantly.
At noon the celebration would begin. Then at first bell a ceremonial arrival of Quentin and his delegation would be held at the gate to Black Alder Farm. At third bell the games would start. At fifth bell the guests were formally introduced, and at sixth bell the banquet would start. At eighth bell the betrothal would be finalised.
“Your father is a shrewd man,” Ser Croy started, “and I think he’s quite pleased. He was astonished that you had set out on the quest, then astonished when word reached Albancourt that you had surfaced in Kingsport, successful. All the flabbers were gasted. Your father is very proud of you,” the old knight continued, “and amazed at how you lived up to the name ‘Quentin’, your father’s older brother.”
“I don’t want to do this,” Quentin said stubbornly.
“Everybody gets cold feet sometimes. Even when they are to marry a beautiful woman from a good house,” the old knight placated.
“How can I even think about marrying one who was so sorely disappointed that I had succeeded”, Quentin lamented,”Have I actually succeeded? I am not the same person I was when I left. I found people, purpose, power. Now this?”
“Do I need to be locked back inside my family’s legacy, and the expectation people have of me?”, Quentin asked. “I broke free. I don’t want to do this,” his voice trailing off.
“I’m just a simple man. I accidentally achieved the rank I hold,” the old knight said softly, trying to excuse himself, “I cannot fathom what it must be like for you. Unfortunately, I cannot advise you on this matter,” he said while putting a comforting hand on Quentin’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze.
Quentin returned the warm gesture. “You hide behind being a simple man. You’ve known me ever since I could hold a practice sword. You must have thoughts?”
“Carrément!” Ser Croy said firmly, “I have thoughts, of course I do, but I reserve the right to hide behind the fact that I am a simple man. You are the future, m’boy.”
The games had piqued the interest of several people and both Croy and Pauline shared that there would be games of strength, agility, daring, and endurance.
Le Grand Jet was a game where a decorative, iron cannon ball was hurled as far as possible, with competitors using flamboyant forms of showmanship as much as they used raw power. La Colonne was a tug-of-war organised over a pool of water or mud, so that the loser of the competition would get drenched. This could either be organised as a one-on-one competition or a group competition. La Course des Échasses was a footrace on stilts through a winding course of logs and hay bales. Le Vole de la Flèche was a theatrical archery contest where targets were suspended from kites, making them sway and drift on the wind.
Le Défi du Duelliste was a fencing display where competitors were not just judged on points scored, but also on style, aggression, and crowd reaction. Some discussions followed on duelling as a way to settle scores and to adjudicate feuds, which seemed by what the Beauclairois were telling them quite common to the other heroes. According to Croy it was leading to friction within the delegation.
La Tour Téméraire was a free climbing race up against the exterior of a tower or scaffolding structure. La Marche du Chevalier was a race across an obstacle course where the competitors were wearing heavy suits of cumbersome armour. And lastly, Le Banquet du Brave was an eating competition which saw competitors eat copious amounts of increasingly richer food. At that, Luca suggested that Astrid should enter that competition, and as if he conjured her by mentioning her name, she walked through the front door of the inn, coming in from the cold accompanied by Wulf, one of the children she had earlier that day set out to return to his carer.
After coming in and assessing the tavern room, Astrid walked up to Emrys and demanded his room key, which the jovial sorceror gave. She marched Wulf upstairs and disappeared. Some of the heroes were joking that Astrid had spent much of their stay at the Careless Wanderer in the common room, then once she acquired her own room promptly gave it up to an angry goose. Now that her room was occupied, she need another room.
When Astrid returned she explained the situation. After dropping off the two other children at the orphanage in Grimsdown she was on her way to Lewisham to bring Wulf back to his mother. Suddenly, Wulf started to speak to her in a curious fashion and demand to be brought to Luca, as he had a proposition for the heroes. Everyone decided to go up to Emrys’ room where Astrid had left Wulf. When they arrived the boy sat calmly at the small salon table in front of the lavish, four-poster bed.
After some back and forth, it became clear that Wulf had been possessed by Sadwick, the imp they had recently banished from Céleste’s wine cellar who at one time was the familiar to Atilesceon the Artificer before the heroes defeated him in his realm. After Atilesceon’s defeat he was finally free to explore the realms, but then got caught up in a plot to destroy the stock at Céleste’s wine cellar and was banished back to the Nine Hells in a confrontation with the heroes. He wanted to trade information on Epidemius’ attack which he had discovered for lifting his banishment.
The heroes were divided; Quentin was against it on principled grounds, and Chakuq did not like the idea of accepting the imp’s largely unverifiable intelligence. Luca like the idea of getting more information, and Neamhan believed that dealing with the imp while gaining an advantage over Epidemius was the lesser of the two evils. In order to whet the appetite, Sadwick asked if the heroes knew what a Subliex was. Most of them had not heard of a Subliex, and Sadwick’s attempt at manipulation almost failed, until Neamhan recalled an old story from grandmother Morrí; a Subliex, she remembered, was a gargantuan fiend.
A deal was struck, and Sadwick shared that Epidemius had changed and escalated his approach; he had discovered that a binding circle was in the making, and would continue to create a portal onto Steward’s Square as before, but at the same time he would create rifts at the River Gate, the Circle of Magi, and at the Careless Wanderer, sending through a Subliex through each rift, capable of transporting dozens of fiends. Wulf turned his head to Chakuq and Sadwick said that a very particular barbed devil had developed an unhealthy interest in the hunter, and would come for him. Epidemius would try to take out the three sources of power, and thus diminish the power funneled into the binding circle.
The heroes needed a moment to digest what had been shared, and they had a lot of questions on how Epidemius had found out about the binding circle. Sadwick could only share that Takhisis, the Dark Queen that ruled over the Nine Hells, had agents and cultists all over the Verdant Kingdoms, including Kingsport. The information must have come through the Dark Queen’s network of spies.
The bargain was upheld and Sadwick was released from his banishment. The fiend departed, leaving Wulf confused and sad after the possession for a second time that day.
When Quentin came down the stairs he was frustrated and annoyed. He sat down at the table with Ser Croy and Dame Pauline and demanded to know what they knew about the wine. Pauline was caught between her loyalty to Lord Dorian and her loyalty to Lord Quentin, and asked Quentin to be specific about what he wanted to know. When Quentin did she shared that she had been ordered to go into Kingsport and buy up all the stores of wine she could. It was an order that came from Lord Dorian, but it was by Monsieur Beauregard’s design. She confessed that she did not understand the reason for the order.
Quentin shot back that despite depriving the city of its wine stores that just outside of Kingsport a saint was found with wine brought by the delegation. He demanded to know whether has father was trying to curry favour with important figures, and Pauline admitted that this had been her decision, without Lord Dorian’s knowledge. Dame Pauline explained that perhaps Lord Quentin had forgotten some Beauclair ways in his absence from home. He was expected to present guests at the celebration which would be stand in support of him as a suitable match to Lady Gwenaëlle. In absence of Quentin compiling the guest list she had done so on his behalf, using the wine of the delegation as gifts of thank you for their support. When asked who, she rattled off a dozen names of important people Quentin had met and befriended since his departure from Beauclair.
Quentin interrupted her cascade of names, realising that she had acted, as always, in his best interest, and thanked her. She made a point to inform Quentin of one more name; Durand de Palmerin, the écuyer to the legendary Ser Estienne d’Epines, whom Quentin shared a body with in Old Llygad. Quentin was grateful for her help. The more dignitaries stood by Quentin’s side, the better the position he would be in to negotiate the retention of Róisín.
The conversation drifted, and Chakuq and Ser Croy spoke about the duels that would be held at the games, while others spent time understanding the social intricacies of Beauclair nobility. It turned out that one of Lady Gwenaëlle’s friends, Madam Séverine de Châtillon-Sarlovèze, a chevalière and youngest daughter of a prominent noble house, was causing unrest in the camp with her ongoing feud with Monsieur Pierre Dupont de l’Étang, chevalier in service to House Montbéliard. They further learned that the Black Alder mansion was used for preparations, and that the yard would be used for the celebration, while the fields and the camp were designated for celebrations and games. A dozen troubadours are rumoured to be among the revellers to entertain.
