It is now WinterThe Storms for which the Coast is named have blown. Their strength is spent, and the air is calm. But no peaceful spring mornings await us; the still air cools, snows blow down from the eastern mountains, bringing with them the sound of marching boots, and the drums of war. [3] The winter is average.
[4] Tales spread from border villages. The Dragon Empire has mustered forces, and an army marches for the Storm Coast as we speak. It is not a massive invasion, but rather an expeditionary force. But that is the Empire's way; should the general be at all successful in his conquests, reinforcements will surely be quick to arrive.
Things that happened this autumn:
-A metric shit-tonne of stuff.
-The Archbishop of Moun emerges to be more zealous than expected. He employs a mercenary captain as a 'Peacekeeper', and, having executed the leaders of the Eastern Shrine Church, sends him to Ligoria to track down those who fled its destruction.
-Lady Tala joins the Ligorian army and commences training.
-The weylandish mercenary receives the consequences of his actions. He dies in Galam, and his actions have little effect on the political arena of the Storm Coast.
-This Druid fellow gets employed by a herbalist
-William heads north, into unclaimed lands. He has an... adventure in a small castle, which ends with the former baron dead (suicide), the baroness dead (william, made to look like it was the baron), half a dozen priests dead (william and entourage), the steward dead (william), half the guards dead (...william), the castle seized (william), the remaining guards and townsfolk who tried to reclaim the castle dead (william's soldiers), and finally with the castle and associated market town in William's hands, renamed Vale. Oh, and the fossilized skeleton of a massive reptile.
-Kathos Thunderblade manages to acquire some land from an unaligned noble through peaceful means.
-Retcyl makes contact with some... shady people. In the end, they agree to a mutually beneficial business relationship; the criminals help the lizards, and in exchange they can use the embassy (and its various secret areas) as a base. Should anyone ask why people spend so much time at the embassy, they have converted to the Hacturi faith.
-Someone burns down part of the Royal Library. It appears they were targeting books on the Queen's family line.
-Avitus the scholar gets permission to found a university. He also makes an objectively terrible offer to surrounding nobles to join Ligoria, which no one accepts.
-William speaks with the rest of the -understandably upset- unaligned nobles. He manages to convince them that Queen Laythe would be crazy enough to try to take their lands by force, causing some of them to accept his offer to join Ligoria, and some to join Shola for protection.
-A mage arrives in Talama. Of course, he doesn't let anyone know he's a mage.
-The Queen steals Retcyl's idea to curry favour with the poor by building poorhouses and handing out food.
-Hugo does some detective work trying to track down the Lord of Crows.
-Avitus tries to get students for his university. With no staff or facilities to speak of, his attempts fail.
-Thomas the mage is employed as the Mayor of Vale by William.
-Ligorian forces make a show of strength at the border, to scare the unaligned nobles.
-Max (The Mounish Peacekeeper) is arrested trying to sneak weapons into Talama. Why did he not try to ask the Queen's permission to hunt down the cultists? We may never know.
-The Queen's birthday party happens:
-Hosted by Tala Alanis. Venue and decorations by Hugo van Vissersdorp. Guests from all over the kingdom.
-People talk a bit. The Queen receives several interesting gifts. There is a play, which seems to suggest some strange things.
-The Lord of Crows passes by, and kidnaps Retcyl. Pretty much everyone decides to hunt him down.
-Folks chase the Crow, but he isn't caught. But they put in a lot of effort. Avitus and Nikephoros seem to have a lead, in the form of a ruined tower, but it turns out to be nothing.
-Retcyl is found, along with a lot of the Crow's other stolen objects, in a hidden stash in the lower city. Retcyl was forced to promise that the Hacturi would leave the city in order to get rescued.
-In order to find the crow, the city is locked down. The lockdown lasts a week, and the people are not happy.
-Max escapes prison, and hides until the lockdown ends.
-William has a little chat with the Queen. The Queen is not happy with his shenanigans, and decides to strip him of his titles and have him banished. Sparks fly. William allies with the Hacturi in order to avoid having to return to Lonemine, where his family awaits with loving arms full of knives and poison.
-The Lord of Crows... accidentally removes his trousers when trying to steal William's. He puts them back on, but fumbles and gets shot. He tries to take Tala Alanis hostage, but she turns the tables on him. However, she lets him go, and he escapes once more.
-Kathos Thunderblade, man of honour, buys a
high-tech firearm known as a 'pistol' from an illegal gunsmith.
-Tristan, a man from the southern island of Dalannor arrives in the city; a trained watchman, sent to serve the Queen as a gesture of goodwill. He gets settled in, speaks a little with folks around town.
-The bandit 'attack' on Fiumefurt continues. They integrate into the city.
-Before ending the lockdown, the Queen places a large bounty on William's head. In order to escape, he 'sells' Vale to Tristan for a single ducat and buys passage on a smugglers ship.
-Various folks talk. Several people seem concerned with the Queen's policies.
-Possibly some other stuff, but I think you can forgive me for missing it, given how much happened.
Previous Season (autumn 415a),
Next Season (spring 416a)