This might seem short, but there was a lot of LARPing at the table - I had 3 of the party members play the councilors and 2 of the party played themselves (1 was missing this night). The LARPers had a brief 3 minute run down of the councilors and their wants and desires and then I let them run - however the game ended up, I wanted it to be organic and let them direct the way it was going to end up. Was very pleased!
Follows:
Watch Sergeant Valad and his people finished escorting Shimlagesh and his 11 orphans across the southern section of Erylond, attracting the attention of many passerbys along the way, some of them who were related in some way or another to a few of the kids in question. The populace was kept back, but a decent crowd did follow until we joined up with the Wall Guard and Sergeant Barrim. An explanation of what occurred to all parties and for the next hour and a half, the party was debriefed as well as a number of the kids interviewed.
A few things were resolved at the end of it. Firstly, the children were going to be taken to the Cleric’s Guild (Ecclesiastic Court) for a further debriefing, along with Hisvild. A representative from the Wall Guard would let the Council know of the group’s success and a positive action report and writ of completion would be waiting for us at the Greater Rand Sellsword Adventuring Guild. Thirdly, based upon our testimony a 2nd Writ of Intent would be commissioned by the Ducal Council and allow the Wall Guard to enter the Sunrise Rabbit’s Orphanage and soon to arrest the Practicals and see to the disposition of the staff still on the premises.
Exhausted and hurt, we made our way slowly up to the Adventuring Guild, Vulwulf suffering the most from his wounds. Eventually we arrived and did have conversation with Pha-iyr Carom. We had been marked as successful and in addition, were given 20 crowns a piece for our part. The use of the Guild’s hospice was offered and a number of us took up the opportunity to stay on site and heal up.
The Facilitator had another request of us. At some point, the Gorokian Underthane and/or his retinue will arrive shortly and the thought is the 14 (15?) kids were special in their own way – and it was not impossible to think the dwarf’s would make an attempt to abscond with them. If we could remain on close by and protect the kids; or at least thwart the dwarf’s most likely attempt to take them.
We hoped to get Brendon, the dwarven cleric, involved to help out and Pha-iyr agreed, adding his potential stipend to the pool. About half of us opined to stay at the Guild and rest in the hospice, looking to maximize potential healing. As for watching the kids, the feeling is that Pha-iyr would do what he could to arrange to get us to stay at the Ecclesiastic compound to make it possible for us to watch over them.
We rested, had some healing, and restudied some spells. There was a council meeting today and was to discuss the party’s actions, Hivild and the other staff of the Sunrise Rabbits, the Practicals, what occurred, and ultimately what was to become of the font. From our group, they requested Eoghan the Bowman and Vulwulf Stormcrag to represent the party, based upon their employment and guildic affiliations. We asked about others to show as well but were gently, yet firmly, rebuffed.
So it was 10:30 when our 2 party members went to the Ecclesiastic Compound and met with the Arbiter of this meeting: a middling years human named Esquire Tharbin Fungarson. Representing the interests of the clerical community and also the overseer of the Orphanages, was Patron Guilly MacBorren, a large woman with a penchant for scarves and an interest in sugary treats. From the Mage’s Guild was Magister Fortenhouse, a dwarven magic user from the tower known as the Donjon of the Crag. The Magister had been the person on record who had originally examined the font and was also a professional supporter of Hisvild. Lastly was Chancellor Angars Dovecote, a high level functionary in the Duke’s council and besides having signatory powers on the tax rolls, had also been the final approval for the mission that was used to hire the party to enter the Orphanage.
The councilors explained their positions and it was pretty obvious that Patron MacBorren and Magister Fortenhouse were on opposite sides of things. The Patron wanted the Font (currently removed from the Orphanage and in the vault of the Duke at this time) returned, Hisvild may keep his position but would most likely not get elevated to Headmaster, and a resolution as to why it was ok for the Chancellor to sign off on an outside group to enter clerical lands with impunity.
Magister Fortenhouse was a different story. Hisvild acted decidedly and had the kids first and foremost in his thoughts. He should not only be commended, but elevated to Headmaster. As for the font, it needed to be further investigated and having it on Orphanage property was going to make it difficult.
Chancellor Dovecote stood by his decision to go in. Clerical land or not, people were being possibly hurt and children needed to be saved. The Orphanage would need to be restaffed and whether it was Hisvild or not, was up to discussion. As for the Font, the Duke did not want it but he had concerns about it – if it was to be returned (Must be! Interjected the Patron)…would the Headmaster and/or Taskmaster continue their taking of children off the streets? And what does the Empire of Gorok want with all this.
The Arbiter had the party fill in many points both during the final raid into the Orphanage but also how this all came into being in the first place. We learned that Ghalen had survived – the Practicals made sure that at no point, were any personages in the Sunrise Rabbits actually killed. Hurt, crippled, brutalized – yes. With over 70 percent of 3rd degree burns on his body as well as two broken ankles, he was going to be retired and given an advance of a year or two stipend on his salary. About a third of the rest of the staff was not going to come back either – which meant the need for a Headmaster as well as at least 4 other household staff.
Patron MacBorren was not sure that Hivild, as a mage in his own right, would be an effective Headmaster but Magister Fortenhouse found every instance in Hisvild’s action to be in the best defense of the children. The story continued on and we also learned that after the Second Writ of Intent had been drawn up and exacted, it was learned that the 4 Practicals had left the Orphanage. The City Watch could not indicate that the 4 dwarves had left the city out of any gate, and the assumption was that the Emissaries from Gorok would be here tomorrow – at which time both sets of dwarves would get together again.
Worry was about how the dwarves would react to the children being missing, and the thought of the 50 crowns per children being taken was boggling. Talk had gone to the Chancellor to raise the stipend for the Orphanages to cover their supposed shortfall. The Magister kept circling back to the font and the Chancellor wanted it off the vault’s roster. The best result discussed was to have the font in the Duke’s vault for the next month, allowing the Donjon of the Crag and Magister Fortenhouse that time to investigate the font in depth. As for Hisvild, even though the Magister pressed for him, he would not be given the title of Headmaster, but would instead get a lateral move that would entail him continuing to use the font but in a more open way in accordance with the parents whose children might be affected. The thought was that if the font was still to work after all this, the goal of saving children still counts but to do it in a way that minimizes the loss on the family and/or the children.
With the meeting ended, the Esquire had invited the Vanguards of Ragnarok to come and stay for the next few days at the Ecclesiastic Compound and help advise Hisvild, Patron MacBorren, and more importantly, based upon a request from some other members of the Council, to have the group on hand since they already engaged with the dwarves before (Thanks Pha-iyr).
Eoghan and Vulwulf were thanked for their help in this matter and it seemed fair – not one party got all they wanted, all factions got some points and lost others. The two men went back to the party and shared what occurred, and the group at 1 PM on Icemonth the 21st, gathered up their belongings and whatever they thought they would need for the next 3 or 4 days to keep themselves on Clerical property.
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