Council of Leaders (April)
The Council of Leaders
Yuri Kavlor has called an early meeting of the Council of Leaders in response to the death of Oltslaf Magnusson, Mayor of Luandar. Leaders arrive in Lyssan, to discover that they await the arrival of the Deputy Mayor of Luandar, who has a report on how the Mayor died.
Lobbying for Broken Hill
While they are in Lyssan waiting for the Council to be called into session, the Leaders are lobbied by Radyar Falcon, asking them to support the Mayor of Broken Hill becoming a member of the Council, but he finds little support.
Are Woman Allowed?
Eventually, the Deputy Mayor arrives and after a private meeting with Yuri, the Council convenes. Yuri, the Chairman, begins by welcoming everyone but asks if Careine is supposed to allow women to become Mayor. Mara Mantel replies that she's here, isn't she? Yuri then says this is man's Council where they discuss important issues. There's no room for crying and emotional outbursts. Mara tells him to start the meeting and we will see who starts crying first.
The Murder of Oltslaf Magnusson
Yuri tells everyone that he is very concerned about the death of his friend Oltslaf Magnusson at the hands of foreigners. He introduces Lukas Tremaine and tells the “boy” to inform the Council what happened.
Lukas explains that a Lord from the City of Anuire and his entourage arrived by ship, having made a deal with the Mayor of Luandar to get his help. Then they turned on him and killed him.
They have now fled into the marsh lands north of Luandar. Sal Magnusson, son of the Mayor, took some of his men and went after them. Lukas does not think they find them and are more likely to end up dead.
Action is Required!
Yuri demands immediate action. He tells Lukas to turn out the town militia to hunt down these murderers. He then turns to the new member, Mara Mantel, and tells her to send some of her militia from Careine to help. She is reluctant to do so and he tells her that members of the Council are not there to talk but to pull their weight or go away. He expects her to send 50 men.
He tells Hari Bourne that he is not far and he should help too. Hari suggests he could spare a few men. Yuri insists he could spare at least 20 men.
Offers of Help
Vlad offers a 100gp reward to any farmers in his area who can help track down the invaders, although he lands are on the other side of the Iron Peaks.
Denerick Stormsinger offers to sail his ships up the River Qatil to assist in the search, although they will not be able to set sail until he returns to Mhowe, which will take a day or more. Charrek asks if he has carrier pigeons, but Denerick says his ships would not sail on the orders of a pigeon. As the Admiral, he would need to be there to command them. Yuri laughs that Denerick is Mayor, a “Prince” and now an “Admiral” too. He gets more titles every day.
Further Questions
Charrek starts to question the details of the story. How do we know they are Anuireans? Lukas says that was obvious from their dress and how they spoke. Do we know he’s a Lord? He had Anuirean heraldry. Do we know which Lord it is? There are no experts on Anuirean heraldry known to live in the Chimaeron.
Hari wonders why assassins would advertise their identity. Charrek suggest that they could be imposters, deliberately using the Heraldry of a Lord to try to implicate that Lord in the murder. Yuri is disgusted that they could be in the middle of some political fight between two Anuirean nobles.
Charrek suggests that it would be good to take these foreigners alive and find out more about them. Yuri says that depends if they resist being captured, in which case they will be killed.
The Marshes
They discuss the likelihood of the foreigners being caught. If they cross over into Coeranys, that would make things difficult. Denerick, the Ambassador of the Chimaeron, tells them that relations with Coeranys are cool, they are not friends. He offers to write a letter asking for their help.
Yuri asks what the marshes are like and Lukas mentions they are the home to tribes of Lizard Men, who are fiercely territorial. They may kill the Anuireans, but if not they will make life difficult for city militia. They will need better soldiers.
Hiring Help
Vlad suggests that they hire some adventurers and Yuri says what if they used the reward he was offering. Vlad initially points out that reward was just for farmers in his lands. Aiden Shalon, the Treasurer, points out that 100gp would not be enough to interest adventurers, it would have to be at least twice that. Vlad agrees reluctantly to double his offer and Charrek says he will match that, so they have 400gp to offer adventurers.
Yuri says they need someone to hire these adventurers and tells Mara that her nice City is the best place to do it. It is time she proved herself. Mara agrees to do some advertising and see what happens. Yuri reminds her she will judged by results.
Yuri points out that the Red Eagles, a mercenary company, is currently in Rohrmarch, looking to find employment in that country’s civil war. If they had 1,000 to 1,500gp they could probably hire them. Aiden says that the Treasury does not yet have that much money spare. Charrek says he has accumulated 5,000gp towards the debt he agreed to pay, an amount that surprises Yuri, who immediately agrees that he should bring that money to the capital. He will open negotiations with the Red Eagles in the meantime.
Ending the Meeting
Yuri is then satisfied that they can do something about these foreigners and brings the meeting to a close. He says he still expects Careine and Salviene to send militia to help Luandar until the mercenaries and possibly the adventurers can be hired.
After the Meeting
The Council members linger and chat amongst themselves in the Council room. A lot of them spend a little time chatting with Mara, hoping to get to know this new member. She puts on a façade of friendliness. Lukas is expected to stay by Yuri, who will look after him, but Lukas soon moves away to make friends on his own.
Extending the Deadline
Charrek has a quiet word with Yuri, asking as he won’t have the 5,000gp to help raise the rest of the money he owes the Council, he be given more time to raise the rest. Yuri is unsympathetic and tells him he is too late, he should have mentioned it at the Council meeting. Charrek then asks everyone present if they think he should be given more time to raise the rest of the money and there is a slight murmur of agreement, but most look to Yuri, who is not looking impressed.
Aidan discusses with Charrek the logistics of getting the money to the Treasury and they agree he will send it in 5 loads of 1,000gp to avoid the risk of losing it all.
Social Event
That evening there is a social event in Lyssan for the Leaders and their invited friends. Yuri is the host and he brings along his rough-looking friends who lead Lyssan’s criminal gangs. One of them, his right hand man, Billy Harkin, is also Captain of the Militia of Lyssan. They dominate the gathering.
Denerick drinks and flirts with Mara. She is polite but uninterested. Charrek has with him two other Dwarves, both of whom have shaved heads. Vlad is accompanied by a beautiful girl who is stick thin and tiny compared to his huge figure.
Radyar Falcon manages to get into the gathering and approaches Lukas, asking if he formally proposed to the Council that he be allowed to join. Lukas suggests this as not a good time as they had an important issue to discuss.
Vlad bumps into Radyar and suggests if he wants to make friends, he could offer some of his city militia to help search for the foreigners who murdered the Mayor of Luandar. Radyar thanks him for the tip and goes to talk to Yuri.
Election for Mayor of Luandar
New comes through from Luandar that Lukas Tremaine has been elected Mayor. He beat his opponent, Sal Magnusson, son of the previous mayor, by 500 votes to 300.