And…Stuff

Our heroes found themselves in a dining room near the Great Hall of the Frieberg castle called Eisenwulf’s Den. Imperator Eisenwulf had stayed in the hall with Vittoria while Matteo had left in a bit of a huff with the others. It was in that room that one of the Imperator’s close friends and a known follower of Javier Soldano had come out from the shadows to tell them a number of things they weren’t necessarily prepared to hear. Among them was the notion that Matteo’s and Vittoria’s mother was Isabel Villanova, the daughter of Theus and, in fact, Fate. Some people had an easier time getting their heads around this than others. The Seamus’ both seemed perfectly fine, even thrilled, with the concept. Angeline thought the whole idea was crazy. It would be like someone saying their mother was Happiness. Pierre took the opportunity to say some fairly disparaging things about Matteo’s mother and while Matteo didn’t react much, Kurt mostly politely explained that calling Isabel Villanova a harlot was a fast road to the executioner’s block. Kurt might have gone farther, but he was limited in his reaction by what the Imperator would think of him harming his son’s companion. Matteo assumed the entire thing was false and when the Imperator came into the room to chew Willy out, Matteo called on him to verify what had been said. The Imperator refused to discuss the matter in public. Matteo rolled his eyes and asked if they could discuss it on the other side of the door so that he could then come in and tell these people anyway. The Imperator was strangely fine with that suggestion and so they left for a few moments. Kurt took the time to introduce the two women he’d re-entered the room alongside. He explained that they were there for the protection of the group during their stay, and also as representatives of the Imperator should a need arise for proof later. The first was Griselda Rothstein, a member of the Wolves. She responded politely to everyone and walked up to Pierre, asking him if he could teach her the appropriate depth of the bow he’d been discussing. She admitted confusion as she was merely Eisen and he was Montaigne. While Pierre rambled on about the whole thing, she slowly slipped her hand into a large, elbow-length metal gauntlet she was wearing. When Pierre was finally convinced to show her an example, as he bowed down, she brought up the gauntlet it a wicked uppercut. She then stood over him and explained that he might not make it to the executioner’s block if he ever dared to insult the Imperator’s wife again. The second was a Vodacce woman named Constantina Gallili. She acknowledged, to those who figured it out, that she was indeed part of the Gallili family of old, though most didn’t much believe her claim. After all, the Gallili family had been dead for centuries. When the group asked about her, she admitted to being a sorcerer, but said that she was not a Sorte Strega. She discussed some of what she could do and admitted that it was all because of Lavementa, the dragon the group had met in Vesten. She then proceeded to heal Pierre’s wound by merely touching him. If they hadn’t seen it from the dragon, they’d never have thought that kind of magic possible. So, they had much to talk about, getting to know each other. There was some more discussion in the room for a while until Matteo came back in alone. He seemed haunted. When they asked him why, he said that the Imperator verified the identity of his mother and that the Imperator was not lying when he did so. The implications were staggering to what the group knew of history and it should have seemed such a massive moment for such a powerful influence to be so close to them. But, Diego put it all in place by reminding everyone that it made sense for someone like that to follow the legendary Javier Soldano, making it seem like the only daughter of Theus was still less important than a man they’d met by chance on the streets in Vodacce. Castillians.
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This is just a write-up as a holdover until the official one comes out sometime later. All events are skewed by the perspective of the player and it’s darn likely things went differently or that I missed important things entirely. That’s what the comments section is for, so please use it

Our…err…not intrepid so…bodacious (yes, it’s actually an allowed synonym for intrepid, how awesome is that) samurai were in the Wolf camp with their long time friend Rei. Seigun felt it was time to see Toturi-sama? And therein was found the trouble. Papiiro and Bortei were very much struggling with the use of “sama”. They decided it was best for them to wait outside and let the rest of the group speak with Lord (that part said through nearly gritted teeth) Toturi. Rei got everyone else in relatively quickly and so it was that they all entered, treating Toturi for all the world as if he was still the head of the Lion. Toturi was happy to see his former rescuers and so the greeting was warm, though not as whimsically laid back as it had been with Hoturi. Seigun and Magokoro managed to get through to Toturi that they were there to offer “assistance” and Toturi seemed pleased. When he asked for further details Magokoro politely wondered if such things might be better discussed in private. Toturi understood and dismissed the others in the tent. From there the group laid out what little they knew and asked what Toturi might know about what was happening. Toturi was able to offer almost no additional insight. Finally, Magokoro asked after Lady Tsuko. Toturi seemed troubled by that topic and recommended that they speak to the one closest to Tsuko, Chieko. (It was at this point that the player remembered, somewhat incorrectly, that Tsuko had crucified Chieko when this was not the case, but I digress). With that the group excused themselves.
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The heroes were ready for their opponent, Mœva, who still seemed to wish a fight, despite the odds stacked against her. She seemed willing to fall so long as she took some of them with her. The battle ensued and Mœva certainly held up her end of the fight. Angeline and Grisha did the most to help bring her down, Grisha trying to get her to swing at him whenever possible. Even so, Mœva’s attention was turned to Angeline during the fight and an axe came down with lethal force on Angeline but was deflected at the last moment by Diego of all people. The small sorcerer seemed more proficient with his fiery stick than anyone had surmised. Angeline returned the favor by hitting hard into Mœva before the Vesten could swing on Diego. During all of this, Mœva kept yelling about how the group didn’t stand a chance at stopping the plans of something called Novus Ordo Mundi. She also said that it was too late to save Kurt, who would be dead in a matter of days. Between the heroes, it wasn’t long before Mœva was on the ground, disarmed and badly injured, but alive. The heroes had their prisoner and their proof that someone was taking the ships, but they wanted to know more.
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This one was entirely a combat, so the write-up will be pretty short, but in some ways that’s good because we were missing a key player for what follows, so hey, it all works out.

The heroes were facing down the largest woman they’d ever seen. Easily more than 7 feet tall and wide as a carriage. She was wielding what should have been a two-handed axe with ease in just one hand. She roared out her challenge as she landed on the deck and the heroes responded quickly. Angeline was already standing near the edge and as Mœva issued her challenge, a pistol already pointed and she fired it. She knew it had to have hit the viking because she could see the hole in the leather jerkin, but all it seemed to do was make Mœva angry. Then the fighting began. All of Mœva’s men charged after Little Seamus, angry at him for the arrow that ultimately destroyed one of her ships. As the ten brutes ran forward, Little Seamus knocked five arrows at once and fired, downing half the attackers. The other five stumbled a bit in shock.
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Ok, this is a really short write-up because not a whole lot happened this time. AJ’s fault for being so distracted, but thanks are owed to the players who put up with a largely unproductive evening.

Our heroes got what sleep they could in the Lavender Axe. Some fared better than others. They all worked to get themselves around in time to meet the tide, which corresponded nicely with the dawn. Getting Pierre out of bed was difficult and he refused to budge even under the prodding of Grisha until word came that Johannia, the attractive Montaigne woman who worked for Helga Keller had arrived. Pierre came flying out of his room fully dressed, though he still had his night cap on. When Johannia pointed it out, Pierre made an attempt to say it was his work to blend in and Angeline helped to cover for him.
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