A Royal Disaster

It seems Shelyn did not keep us. The dinner itself was passable, and the king annulled the contract with the White Sentinels. Sergeant von Kalvar was happy to relinquish command back of the 14th. However, the king informed us that Nakor was a prince of the Kang dynasty and former ambassador to Aeryon. Not only that, he did not spare details regarding the prince's insubordinate, rash, barbaric, disrespectful, and distasteful viewpoints and behaviour. Naturally, the king held him in high regard. After dinner, the king introduced the prince's favourite recreational activity - ingesting illegal substances in high dosage. I do not recall if he even offered me, but given the king's low opinion of women in general I believe he avoided it. The Headsmasher, the prince, and Dormaruk - who is now the commander of a ship, so I will refer to him as captain, as is customary - all went into a back room where the city's pleasures of the flesh were made manifest, apparently. As the final piece in this cascading catastrophe, the king revealed a long grudge he had with the prince - evidently he had an affair with the queen whilst he was ambassador. The king wished him dead and used vanguards from my unit to beat him. The prince retaliated by channeling the power of the so-called "son of heaven." If only he knew how ineffective that power is on the battlefield, except for a hasty retreat. Regardless, the king became frozen in fear and the prince assaulted and branded him in retaliation. I ordered my men to fall back, informing them of the cancelled contract with the crown. Two held their ground, though they were from the 7th Crossbows and do not answer to me. When I told the prince to stand down, he spoke with such idiotic zeal and overconfidence that I almost thought he had become a paladin - sworn to himself. He ignored my orders. Even if he was right to strike back, this course of action was inadvisable.
 
I had everyone from the 14th gather in the dining room, and had everyone collect evidence, mostly the "party drug." Captain Dormaruk managed to convince the almost-paralysed queen to come with us, which was a wise initiative, considering that the king also, apparently, wished her dead. He then went on to loot some expensive trinkets, as did the Headsmasher, which was not a wise initiative. I would have them dishonourably discharged from duty, but they are not soldiers, nor am I their commanding officer. Still, some restraint would be prudent. I suppose the king already have enough reasons to hate anyone within the prince's circle of acquaintances. At the end of the prince's vain attempt at intimidation, he seemed to regain his memories. The Headsmasher is probably in disarray.
 
We marched in formation out, or my unit and I did, the rest walked with. We went to the Merandure trade office, and I believe that monsieur Rapapo has had enough of Aeryon by now. He promised to aid us get out. Captain Dormaruk owes this title to the financial sponsorship of this small office, because he had a contact in town who just happened to have recently lost a captain of a ship. The formalities were short. The departure came early. I only had a few hours to assess the crew, who all knew Captain Dormaruk since before, and they seem like a good sort, albeit disorganised and careless. This will change. The Headsmasher kept digging deeper in whatever he is currently doing. I will toss him overboard unless he speaks with truth tomorrow. The folksguard apprehended us before we left, but a spell by the son of the businesswoman made most of their bolts miss, There were a few injuries, no permanent loss. Except from the genasi crewmate who seemed to interpret my "do not return fire" as "cast fire" which left at least one folksguard seriously wounded or killed. A creative reading, but not recommended nor necessary in this situation. After that, we were off.
 
The ship is adequate, but needs expansion and improvements. My unit is being trained in rudimentary ship maintenance. We are headed for Ponvarus and the Chancellery, which will hopefully sort out the situation for the queen - she needs a safe haven and a formal divorce, and I do not think the "Swift Mermaid" currently housing a renegade manic prince and a certain sham artist jötun qualifies for the first nor do we have the authority for the second. After that, I will have a few errands to run in the city, in my capacity as acting commanding officer - perhaps sergeant-captain? captain-sergeant? something less confusing, like grand sergeant? - of the 14th Section of Infantry of the White Sentinel Free Company. I have to ensure that the new responsibilities and logistical needs of this contractual change in the unit's organisation are communicated and the titles appointed. Sergeant von Kalvar as vice commander, Corporal Vérany as aide-de-camp, corporal Lefrankois as quartermaster, ensign Schneiderman as acting instructor, soldier Kythos as first scout, soldier Rashida as chief surgeon. It is in the company's interest to coordinate this with Captain Dormaruk and his crew.
 
A few days at sea awaits.