“Surtova!” grumbled Boris, “They certainly don’t waste any
time, do they?” said Hugo.
Otto sighed, “We’ll what do you expect from them snakes!
Sorry Miro!” responded Vaneer, Miro rubbed his chest remembering the wound he
received from his family spy at a young age before replying “Not to worry, that
house is long overdue their comeuppance, I just would prefer it to be us that delivers
it” as the Halfling smirked.
“I have an idea which will wipe the smugness of their faces”
declared Natalia,
“Go on,” encouraged Otto,
“Well, Surtova are here to claim Varnhold as the citizens
have gone missing right, so instead of releasing the soul jars that we’ve
collected in town why not release them here and march into Varnhold with nearly
a thousand citizens and declare that the No-men tribe helped rescue them?”
Natalia suggested to the group.
Vaneer smirked, “It certainly would put the wind in their
sails”.
So one by one the group took each Jar out of the portable
hole and after a bit of time half of the Varnhold populace stood before the
group where between them they explained what had happened to Varnhold with the
lich and now that they had been rescued with the aid of the centaurs they are
coming to home to find house Surtova is trying to lay claim to their lands.
And so they marched the last mile and about as a mass of
near a thousand over the hills towards Varnhold, a sight that could not be
missed even by the most sight challenged.
Shortly a small group of riders could be seen heading
towards the group and greets them to enquire the matter of business that
requires such a large number of travellers. Once the riders where informed that
this group were the missing residents of Varnhold they agreed to escort them
back into town to see Lord Nirion Surtova.
Nirion Surtova, cousin to the King Regent Noleski Surtova. A
charmer with feathered hair and angular features exited a large tent as the
group arrived in town.
“So! What’s this then?” Nirion expressed towards one of the
escorts.
“Sir!, this is Lord Otto from Wyvernshore and his party sir!
And hmmmm….” Responded the solider,
“Spit it out man!” Nirion demanded,
“And the residents of Varnhold sir! Lord Otto claims to have
found and rescued them” the solider spluttered out finally.
Nirion’s expression noticeably changed from that of childish
interest to annoyance, “Oh has he now??? well that’s great news, well done my
Lord Otto.”
Otto smirked and waved the residents to return home, “Well
we can’t take all the credit we did have a little help from the No-men centaur
tribe to be honest”.
Nirion’s expression quickly changed to that of disgust and
worry, “Well that’s……NICE! We had wondered where they had disappeared to and
obviously wanted to make sure their town was protected for when the returned.”
“Obviously!!” snorted Miro
“Vaneer!?” a female voice shouted from the tents entrance.
The cleric looked in the direction of the voice and saw none
other than his wife Alyanna and her youngest brother Henry Varn.
“Alyanna! You’re a sight for sore eyes! But what the blazes
are you doing here?” Vaneer exclaimed whilst walking over to embrace her and
greet Henry.
“I got worried, so we wanted to see what was going on” she
replied,
“Have you been…” Vaneer started to ask,
“Lord Nirion has treated us well my dear so please no need
to worry” replied Alyanna pre-empting her husband’s question.
“Though…” she continued “there is one worry, there’s this
female that’s being trying her best to impress herself upon Henry but we can
deal with that shortly, please tell us what’s happened, where’s father?”
Vaneer, Natalia and Otto began to recount the story of
Varnhold and the events that led up to them making friends with the No-men and
the discovery of the Lich and his lair to the fate of the Varnhold council.
Hugo then kneels in front of Henry and presents the
youngster with his father’s sword.
“Don’t we think it’s a bit soon to be letting this youngling
rule?” interrupted Lord Nirion “surely Lord Henry should wait till he is of
age, in the meantime Surtova would” He continued …
“Surtova, would what?!” Vaneer aggressively interrupted
“marry off a young boy without his knowing to usurp his rulership?”
“What! No never!, You just want to do the same for Lord Otto”
exclaimed Lord Nirion,
“Ha! You wish that were true!” Vaneer then turned to Henry,
“Henry, listen. The path ahead won’t be easy but I speak the
truth when I say only you can decide Varnhold’s fate. I can’t tell you which
path is best, I would truly hope that you would either accept Lord Otto’s help
or stay independent like your father did.”
The cleric then turned to everyone gathered,
“To that end, I would suggest that we give young Lord Henry
a month to grieve the passing of his family and then a month today all those
wishing to express interest in Varnhold can present their hearing to Henry whom
then can decide the fate of Varnhold himself”.
“We will send an small number of guards to keep an eye on
matters here and Lord Nirion you are welcome to do the same but under the
instruction that no one tries any underhanded business to buy favour.” Finished
the cleric,
“But…I’d rather you stayed Vaneer” squeaked Henry whom then
looked at his sister Alyanna whom was still trying to hold back the tears of
her fathers passing.
Vaneer looked at Otto and the Lord nodded in agreement,
“Well, if the young lord requests it then who are we to refuse! We shall stay
the month and make sure things return to normal” boasted Otto
Otto then turned to Natalia, “Could you send a message to
Wyvernshore? Let them know what has happened and what is happening here, tell
them know that we’ll return in over a months time and that they should send
carpenters and builders here immediately.”
Natalia nodded and sent an animal messenger.
Lord Nirion insisted that he also be allowed to stay till
the meet in a month’s time and the group agreed that in the sake of fairness
this would indeed make sense.
Miro then handed young Henry a ring and asked him to wear it
before taking the young lord away for a chat about the birds, the bees and the
risks of strange women flinging themselves at you.
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