Shattered Shield

19 Flaurmont 990AC (Black Knights Keep)
 
After some discussion about what to do next Sorin and I decided to take a walk around the Keep while the other spoke to the families in the tents to glean any information. There wasn’t much on either side of the castle but behind the castle was a nice copse of trees and a beautiful garden. I would definitely like to visit that area and spend some time there if allowed but there would be no time for that. There was also the kitchen with a woman working furiously at, I'm assuming, making dinner for the guests. Sorin didn’t seem to want to say anything to her (“what would I ask?”) so I asked her pretty bluntly about any hostages she was taking care of. She said yes, an eldery woman that she was taking great care of. Well that was very likely definitely Grandma Gertie. I asked about a second young lady but seemed confused at that. She also said a few times she couldn’t really say anymore without getting in trouble. Perhaps the two were not connected at all?
 
We met back up with the Durbin and Dram and explained what the woman in the kitchen had said. I should also note that it was Revit’s wife. She seemed like a very pleasant woman married to a very creepy man. Little did I know what that actually semi good hearted man set in motion. Well it wasn’t his fault (nor mine!) but that will come in a bit. I thought this would be a good time to try and explore the Keep a bit while everyone was super busy outside and I had just the trick to distract the guards inside. I explained the plan to the others and they were somewhat reluctant but agreed. We would enter the hall, I would pause just inside and the others would continue on. I would cause a distraction and we would slip into the door by the dining room.
 
We made our way into the Keep and a light change in plans as Bryon and Erik were coming out. They acknowledged us and continued walking out. I nodded to the other to continue on and stopped to look at the statue. I shaped the air inside and changed its properties to a vile stench that even these orcs would not like. That went off easily and I rushed to the end of the hall with the others. The door was locked (of course!) but both Sorin and Durbin could detect some entropic presence beyond the door. A very powerful presence. I scrambled to think how we could enter this door without leaving damage behind but we had nothing. Out of desperation I said run out coughing and gagging and just ran out through the cloud.
 
There was a crowd growing outside with one orc passed out and another gagging (ha!). The Black Knight rushed up to get the situation under control assuming that the orcs got into something they shouldn’t. Well that was pretty easy to get out of. He had his orcs basically fan out the area to get the stench out. Well that wasn’t helpful but we learned one thing was there was definitely something evil going on here beyond just mere orcs and kidnapping.
 
After the commotion many of the champions came in and went to their rooms I assume to get ready for dinner as we were getting close to that time. We spoke to Bryon about what we had found but he kept repeating the “Laws of Hospitality” and we shouldn’t be going into places expressly forbidden. This whole situation was confusing for me. Openly working with Orcs, kidnapping people and now the presence of some entropic immortal or entity and the humans keep pressing on about “Laws of Hospitality” as if that explains anything. I can only imagine how Durbin feels surrounded by these filthy beasts that are trying to destroy his home.
 
After the fiasco of the locked door I decided we seemed to have a few days to unravel this so it was time to relax and think about this calmly. Revit came and notified everyone that dinner was ready so we headed out to the main hall. It quickly became apparent that only the champions and their man at arms were going into the dining hall. So it appeared we would not get a chance to sit with the fiend. Oh well no big deal. I retired to the parlor where there was food and wine. I brought out my lute and some papers and continued working on several songs that I had in the works. The others went into the game room or did whatever they were doing. I wasn’t too worried about them and we could try to poke around the Keep later at night.
 
After some time, Dram came in and started asking me about my ability to shape stone and make it look the same when I put it back. Of course I can’t have any rest! He wanted me to make a hole to look through to the other side of the parlor room. The others were there as well so I assumed we were just going to go through? I was somewhat conflicted though. Everyone kept talking about this “Law of Hospitality” so it must be something big among humans and going against it could be detrimental. At the same time there was far too much here to simply ignore for some trivial formality.
 
I explained that when I opened it we would have about thirty seconds to decide what to do so I had enough time to close the hole. We decided to do it behind a couch to cover up the evidence if I couldn’t make it look similar to the wall. The other problem was it was flagstone and mortar so I couldn’t make it look the same unless I made a hole just in one piece of stone. I gave Dram a light stone and told him to be ready. It is so difficult to manipulate stone and takes a lot of power to force the mana into the stone to get it to move but I did so and created a decent size hole to see through. Dram looked in and sure enough a few seconds later an orc showed its face and started squealing.
 
The others started debating about what to do but no decision. Whatever, I closed the hole, slid the couch back and went back to working. The others were quite concerned about everything but we had time to look into this and figure out what was going on. They left and I stayed behind enjoying the decont wine and food left out for us in the parlor. I must admit though that the proximity of the orcs, the art in the hallway, the entropic presence and the lack of any care by the other humans was wearing on me making me a bit restless.
 
After some time and making some good progress on my music I heard shouting from out in the hall. Disgruntled, I got up and walked out of the room to see what was going on. Tristram and Erik were out there arguing with the orcs making a huge ruckus. Down the hall I see Sorin, Dram and Durbin running over to the door at the end of the hall. I wasn’t sure what they were up to but I made my down there nonetheless. When I got down there they were using a key to open up the door. You could feel the malice pour out of the room when the door was opened.
 
Inside was a man dressed as a clergy member. Turning around he was quite surprised to see us instead of his “master” whom I am assuming is the Black Knight. There was a very brief fight and Dram nearly took out the man's throat. I don’t know why he did that as we kind of needed him as a witness. We bound and gagged him and the realization sunk in of what had happened. Someone went to get Tristram and show him what was going on. He stormed in at first angry and then horrified at the site of the room. There was a dark altar of some entropic deity or entity. A banner hanging on the wall made from human hair and skin. A bowl that had what we assumed was human blood on the altar. Nothing in this room was good. At this time Revit came in and said something along the lines of, “oh what a mess, this shall have to be cleaned up later.” He turned around, walked out back to his room and locked the door behind him. Dram explained that he gave us a skeleton key and not just the key to Tristrams room.
 
Tristram stormed out to go tell Gustavon about this and the evil doings inside the keep. Dram told me to follow him so I did. I wasn’t sure why that would help but I did so in spite of my gut feeling. He stormed out past the dumb founded orc guards and went straight to Gustavons tent. They argued a bit back and forth and suddenly there was a great commotion. I could see the Orcs on the walls gathering and loading their crossbows. This was not going to be good. I ran back to the Keep to warn the others of what was going on.
 
Upon entering the hall Erik was still distracting the orcs. In a fit of fury (a poor choice looking back) I pulled Barrik’s dagger and tried to stab an orc in the neck. While I did hit, I am just not strong enough to penetrate their armor. I shouted out for help and Erik engaged the other orc. I backed up retreating into the parlor and using quick mana shifts to help evade the orcs' blows. Thankfully I was not harmed and Dram came rushing out and the orcs were dispatched. I blurted out everything happening outside and that we were in real trouble. I grabbed Durbin and we sealed off the Orc rooms by the game room with a wall of stone.
 
After a short discussion we barred the front door, the back kitchen door and the kitchen windows. Erik was satisfied they would hold for some time and would watch the hall while we explored the rest of the Keep quickly. We went back to the shrine room and went through the door in there which turned out to be the Black Knights room. Inside was Adraianna, the woman kidnapped earlier that was Dram and Sorin’s friend. She was quite calm about being kidnapped and she confirmed that she was indeed kidnapped. She mentioned something about a dress and keeping it. Dram was surprised she would wear a dress and then she said “a woman can always change her mind.”
 
Well that kind of scared me a bit. I asked her wait, can a woman just change her mind about anything at any time? Like even a wedding proposal? She said of course it’s a woman's own right to choose what she wants. I was very concerned now, not just for our current situation but would Rhiannon just simply change her mind at any time? Dram tried to explain to her what had happened between Rhiannon and myself and she was quite intrigued by that. I started to explain how we met over the book and she loved that it started over poetry and lamented the Black Knights own poem which she claimed was hideous. She also sensed quickly that I was a mage. Thankfully Dram brought us back quickly to the present and said we needed to press on. He was definitely right, this conversation could happen later.
 
 
There were no other doors which seemed odd as there was obviously more to the Keep then this and the others thought the same. Adrianna thought there may be something behind the large banner hanging on one wall. Sorin said a prayer and began examining the wall closely behind the banner and quickly found a secret door leading to a hall. We went to the right and opened the door at the end. More Orcs, of course! There were only four of them and the three went in to fight. I created a sphere of ice and when I went to throw I merely dropped it. They seemed to have the fight under control so I just watched the hall behind us to make sure nothing surprised us coming from behind.
 
After taking care of the Orcs there seemed to be a crypt beyond another door. From Barrik’s Keep we learned to just close the door and stay out of that room and keep moving. There didn’t seem to be anything else at that end so we went to the other end of the hall. There were three cells, two empty and one that was furnished nicely that Grandma Gertie was in. She was kind of confused about what was going on but seemed fine and even complacent in this whole thing. So now I was really confused about this. With all the things the Black Knight has done it seems maybe we are in the wrong for going into this area because of “Law of Hospitality”? Though Revit gave us the skeleton key which allowed us to go anywhere. I don’t know, the whole situation is confusing for me.
 
Dram wanted me to bring down my wall to deal with the orcs behind it but I wasn’t too concerned. Erik said the orcs were hacking at the back door and we should reinforce it. I decided to The final door went into what looked like an armory. Adrianna came out with us and said there was definitely magic in there. I warned them to stay out as it was obviously a trap. I went over to the parlor to have a glass of wine as the other ignored my warnings. I invited Adrianna as well but she wanted to “see if the others would be killed” as she thought I was right. There was another door in the armory Dram was concerned about but I cautioned them that they were pushing their luck.
 
By this point they were ramming the front door and trying their best to get in. I am assuming they were trying to get in the back as well. Well we were quite secure for a while so I might as well enjoy some wine while we wait for whatever is going to happen next. After a bit the Black Knight called for a parley. I wasn’t too interested in what he had to say but it ended up being that if we sent out the dark “priest” he would let Adrianna go free. I don’t think any of us were going to let that happen as the Black Knight would just likely try to kill us anyways. We closed the door again and things went back to them trying to break in. Sorin suggested we open the door and fight on our terms rather then waiting for them to burst through. The orcs were also hammering at the stone wall at the other end of the hall so we were going to have to do something now.
 
We lined up and opened a single door and the Black Knight and orcs were already there waiting. He demanded we surrender and I mocked his magical armor though he didn’t believe me. I suppose if you never really used your armor in true battle maybe he just couldn’t notice the extended properties of the armor. We exchanged more words but it was no use. The following melee was chaotic. None on our side could really penetrate his armor and he seemed to be just delaying, likely to allow the other orcs to burst in behind us. I used my cloud of stench again but it did not drive them away. I used apportation to put a bright light source in his face but that didn’t help either. It was time to use the most difficult spell. I hoped to try and surprise him and shaped the stone behind to try and capture him but unfortunately it did not work and they jumped out of the way. I shaped the stone into a nice smooth ramp and let the spell go.
 
He of course called me a coward so i replied back that hopefully I didn’t get murdered in my sleep by a coward. I brought Adrianna in as well to mock him too but it was not successful to draw him back in. The Orcs behind us were going to get through. Sorin was going to use everything he had to try and shoot the Black Knight directly in the visor. We could try but the cloud of stench was still there. I would use as much power as I could put into an ice sphere as well. While casting I had a horrible sense that things were going to go VERY wrong but it disappeared and my spell simply failed. I swear I felt the touch of Ilsundal assist in something that would have been very bad. I simply recast it and we waited. Sorin wanted to shoot first which was fine. Problem is the cloud of stench was still there. It is very thick. I used my senses to best determine where the black Knight was and purified that air to create a channel to where I thought he was. It worked! We both aimed and Sorin let fly and a split second later I let my sphere of ice fly. Sorin hit but it just pinged off his armor. My sphere of ice on the other hand knocked him down and backwards. He tried to block it but it was just too strong and shattered his shield and put him down.
 
We all, on both sides, seemed a bit stunned. Dram and the others weren’t sure what to do but to stay here was to die. I yelled out to them to rush out! Finish off the Black Knight and while they did that I was yelling out to the crowd to help us, the Black Knight deceived them all. Dram was hit by a few bolts but they didn’t slow him down. The orcs started freaking out and some were just stunned and others turned and fled. Some did stay and fight but we made quick work of them. Sorin and I used our respective ranged weapons to support and then Bryon came in at the end to help finish off the Orcs. The Orcs on the walls and others retreated and ran away. Durbin was smashing the Black Knights head with his hammer but Bryon pulled him off.
 
There was a flurry of confusion now. Of course we were accused of everything until we showed them the foul room with all the foulness in it. Of course they went right to the “Law of Hospitality”! I brought up that we were given a skeleton key so, logically, we were given access to any location inside the Keep. Even though we all put forth great effort to defeat the Black Knight I suppose technically I knocked him down and out so I “won”. I took down the banner, painting and shattered weapon and wrapped them up to give back to Rhiannon’s family. It’s the least I can do, I just wonder if this whole fiasco is going to cause any issues.
 
Even though everyone seemed to be relieved the orcs were gone, Adrianna found and the evil under control we were still under “arrest”. Revit backed us up as well that there was great evil here and the young man (the old Black Knight's son) really changed after his father died. Basically when the dark priest (i forgot his name already) showed up the boy started to change and would not take Revit’s advice. A sad story really I suppose. In fact, Revit was even a bit scared to come out unless the Black Knight was actually dead.
 
20 Flaurmont 990AC (Black Knights Keep/Melinir)
 
Valum said we were going back to Melinir under escort and supervision to be put on trial. It is a bit odd to know you did the right thing but yet still people were upset. I told them to just have their tournament anyways, the cheater had been taken care of! It seems that the whole incident was too much for everyone and they were all leaving too. The Church and Master Pickman were being called down to investigate what had happened here. Though we broke the “Law of Hospitality” most were happy enough that the orcs were gone and an evil had been banished so I think that should help us. If all else fails perhaps Prince Elladin can get me out of this and maybe help the others?
 
We arrived back in Melinir and were kept under guard. Not exactly thrown in a cell per se but it’s not like I could wander about town. It would have been nice to be able to go out after having to be in that Keep all night. Rhiannon and her Father came to see me (and the others too). She flipped between being angry at me for being a fool and almost getting killed to crying that I was still alive and how happy she was. I didn’t try to explain what actually happened, it just did not seem the time. I just tried to comfort her the best I could. Her Father was standoffish still so I don’t know if this would help or hinder his view of me. Though we weren’t gone that long the thought of dying in that Keep made it seem like alot longer and it was good to be with her again.
 
21 - 27 Flaurmont 990AC (Melinir/Trial)
 
There was a lot of back forth about exactly how things went down. In the end it boiled down to yes we did break the Law of Hospitality. In this case it did seem warranted though to actually do so we should just have gone about it another way. The idol that the priest (Perin was his name!) was worshiping was not even an Immortal, it was some entity of some kind. That actually really helped our cause too though “technically” we were still guilty of breaking the Law of Hospitality. I suppose there is not much to do about that.
 
The soul of the old Black Knight had to be put back to rest, apparently it wasn’t happy with what his son was doing. In the last room we did not explore (that I told them to stay out of!) there was an animated suit of armor that was pretty deadly. Renk (who Sorin and Dram did not like) tried to claim the Keep as their own but that failed and the Church took control of it. We were not given much through the trial, basically let off with a warning.
 
The Church on the other hand was very pleased with our efforts. They let me keep the banner and broken weapon, gave us some coins from the treasury and are allowing us a pick of one item from the armory. That was all nice but I was just happy to be let free and to return these items to Rhiannon’s Father which I did so promptly. I turned them over and let him know because of our deeds I would understand if he did not wish to give his blessing. He seemed to actually smile a little and told me the Black Knight was a thorn in the valley and he’s glad that he’s gone. Well that was reassuring!
 
I suppose it’s time for a break before the next thing happens that we get roped into.