Council of Leaders (May)
The Council of Leaders
The Council assembles in Lyssan for the May meeting. Denerick and Lukas travel together from Luandar.
Yuri Kavlor welcomes them and has Lukas Tremaine give his report of the pursuit of the Anuireans, while mentioning that he was elected Mayor of Luandar.
The Hunt for the Anuireans
Lukas tells them that he lead the militia force up the river into the swamps searching for the Anuireans. They encountered a woman with ape servants who lives on a large rock, who gave them information that the Anuireans had crossed over the river into Coeranys and they did not want to follow.
Yuri says that he expected a bit more done than that. Do we know where they are now? No. Does he have people looking for them? A few but there is no sign of them.
Yuri says the Red Eagle company was not that keen on working in the Chimaeron and wanted to see the money up front. Yuri had to wait until Charrek Ironfist delivered the 5,000gp he promised last month, which he did. However, the Red Eagles have yet to commit.
Did you Cross the Border?
Yuri then specifically checks if Lukas at any point crossed the river into Coeranys. Lukas suggests he was not in command, but Yuri counters that he has been told he was. Lukas says it was a joint affair and he did not cross the border, he cannot guarantee that no one else did.
Yuri says the reason he is pressing the point is because the Ambassador from Coeranys is in town and wants to meet them. He has not said what he wants to talk about, he will address the whole Council. The chances are he wants to discuss possible border violations.
The Three Brother Mages
Yuri continues to press Lukas about the border, until Lukas mentions that he was told the Anuireans had gone to see a wizard in a tower across the border. Yuri is annoyed that the “The Three Brother Wankers” are involved.
Charrek Ironfist has no idea what he is talking about. Yuri explains about the Three Brother Mages, three Khinasi wizards who are contesting control of magic in the Chimaeron with the Chimaera herself. One has a tower in marshes where the Anuireans are, just on the border in Coeranys, the second is somewhere in Mhowe and the third is in the mountains in Hamein.
Vlad points out there are no mountains in Hamein, he must mean Salviene. Yuri says that is just what he has heard.
Denerick says if one of them lives in his city, he does not know who he is and anyway, there are many Khinasi citizens in Mhowe. Also, he cannot just arrest him for no reason.
Yuri ponders if the Three Brother Wankers hired the Anuireans to kill the Mayor of Luandar. Hari Bourne says that is a long way to come just to murder someone. It would be much easier to recruit someone local.
Yuri suggests that Lukas, Vlad and Denerick make enquiries in their provinces to find out more about the Brother Mages.
What about Broken Hill
Lukas mentions Broken Hill and suggests that they could help find the Anuireans, which Vlad agrees with. Yuri is sceptical and Hari Bourne says they are just a bunch of miners with no particular skills.
Vlad and Hari get into an argument and exchange personal insults when Vlad asks if Hari has found the Anuireans and Hari counters that Lukas was the one charged with finding them. Hari send militia to help him do that – how many militia did Vlad send?
Yuri says trying to get nine time wasting idiots to come to a decision about things is hard enough without adding another member to the Council. Charrek asks what if they remove the least productive member of the Council. Yuri proposes removing the shortest member or how about the fattest member who takes up two seats anyway?
Charrek then points out all they are proposing is to hold a vote – no guarantee it will pass – if Broken Hill can find the Anuireans for them. Yuri asks if that is acceptable and all members except Hari Bourne agree.
Wanted – Alive! 500gp Reward
They then discuss other measures to try to catch the Anuireans and Yuri remembers that Mara Mantel was supposed to be hiring adventurers. She reports that there were not many enquiries and those that did were not suitable.
Yuri reminds Charrek he pledged 200gp and has not delivered it and the Dwarf says he was focusing on the 5,000gp and forgot. He will do it this month.
Yuri then says what about if he added 100gp? That would be 500gp, which could be offered as a reward for the Anuireans who murdered the Mayor of Luandar - dead or alive. Mara says all that will result in is someone killing the nearest Anuirean and ask for the money. They are needed alive for questioning and Yuri agrees.
Earthquake!
All of a sudden the room begins to shake and this grows stronger and stronger, as a significant earthquake strikes Lyssan. There is a lot of panic and concern until it passes.
Yuri looks out of the window and sees there has been significant damage to the City of Lyssan below them, although the Tower of Watch appears mostly unscathed. One city building in the North Side district is on fire.
Yuri says the meeting over, but someone reminds him about the Ambassador from Coeranys. He swears and thinks for a minute, then says there will be a two-hour break for lunch, then they will resume. He pledges to bring the Ambassador back with him and promptly leaves.
Lunch
Charrek tells the remaining members he has brought enough food for all of them to have lunch here. Vlad is not impressed and heads downstairs to go to a local café, only to discover that the earthquake has caused considerable destruction. A wall has collapsed here. A column fallen over there. People are trapped and property damaged. The café is closed.
Vlad returns to the Council Chamber and eats a lot of the ham that Charrek has brought with him.
High Sceptor Aidan Shalon makes a long speech saying how he follows a Goddess of the Sea and does not know a lot about these earthquakes. He suggests that the priests of Gods of the Land clearly are not devout enough and have been found lacking by their Gods. Charrek points out earthquakes are caused by movements of rock underground and are nothing to do with the Gods, but Aidan simply preaches more about the legacy of the Battle of Diesmaar and the creation of the new Gods.
Coeranian Ambassador
Yuri returns with Maggio Glain, Ambassador of Lady Eluvie Cariele of Coeranys. He has come to discuss the important issue of piracy and the constant attacks on Coeranian shipping and trade over the last year.
There has been a lot of evidence, from survivors who described the dress, accent and manor of the attackers and the fact that the attacking ships were short range, that point to the most likely source coming from the Chimaeron.
Only last week, two ships from Coeranys were attacked off the coast of Salviene. One ship was plundered for its cargo and the second one sank, which was actually carrying over 4,000gps.
Tempers Flare
The Council members do not react well to this and there is a general murmur of disapproval and denial. Hari Bourne points out that Salviene does not have any ships big enough to attack others. Also, he is a brothel and casino owner, he does not engage in piracy.
Ambassador Glain says he is not accusing anyone specifically. He is looking for a commitment from the Council of Leaders that they will take this issue seriously, stop the pirates and offer recompense to Coeranian ships that are attacked.
Charrek points out that an investigation is required to establish evidence. The Ambassador, losing patience, insists there is evidence and that they are the Council of Leaders. Either they are involved in this or know who is.
Charrek counters that they need to also eliminate the possibility of them being forced to make payments when the allegations are false. The Ambassador is outraged by this and tries to interrupt to insist that is not the case, but Charrek firmly points out that he is talking and the Ambassador should not interrupt. The furious Ambassador storms out of the meeting in disgust.
Pirates Need to Behave
Yuri tells Charrek he fucked that up and then suggests that whoever is behind this piracy should calm it down for a while and stop annoying the neighbours. It is having diplomatic consequences.
Denerick Stormsinger stands up at that point and announces that he is sick of the insinuation that he is behind this and insists he is not a pirate. He owns trading ships and he has been working to try to stop the pirates.
Yuri says his comments were not aimed at anyone in particular, but he is the mostly likely person to be involved or know who is, as he is the only ship owner on the Council. Denerick continues to assert that he is not involved in piracy and suggests other possible culprits. Vlad (or was it Charrek?) asks why he waited until now to make his denials. Why has he not offered to help find the pirates? Denerick counters that he was going to until Charrek upset the Ambassador and he left.
Treasure Hunt?
Yuri winds the meeting up at that point, reminding the various members of their commitments. He then leaves in a hurry, clearly concerned about the aftermath of the earthquake. Hari Bourne follows him out.
Hakim chats with the remaining members, lamenting that Charrek made the Ambassador leave before they could find out more about where that ship with 4,000gps sank. While neither he nor Vlad are in a position to do much about it as they are on the other side of the country, Mara or Lukas could try to find the ship. That sort of money could make someone rich.
Aidan begins to talk about how with Nesirie’s blessing they may be able to deal with this pirate problem and the other members make their excuses and leave.
Mountain Pass Blocked
As members of the Council leave the Tower of Watch, they all see the scale of the damage in Lyssan. There are now two fires in the city. They head back to their home towns.
Denerick travels with Lukas, as his ship is docked in Luandar. He continues to deny that he is a pirate. They both discover that the pass through the mountains from Lyssan to Luandar has been blocked by a rock fall. They return to Lyssan for help, but realise that the citizens are too busy dealing with the damage to the city.
They encounter Vlad, who has taken his time leaving. He offers to travel with them to Hamein and then he will provide a ferry to get them both home, which they agree to. Along the way, they encounter a group of travellers saying they have been attacked by goblins from the mountains.
Earthquake Aftermath
As each Leader reaches their home town, they have all been affected by goblins, gnolls and orogs coming out of the mountains and attacking residents and travellers. It is clear that this has been caused by the earthquake.
Careine
Mara Mantel soon discovers that orogs have been attacking travellers on the Careine / Lyssan road. At a meeting of the Merchants Guild of Careine, they discuss the City’s response to these attacks. Most of the members just want the militia to drive off and kill the orogs, but one member, Alias Mainz, says this could be an opportunity. Orogs would make powerful guards and their strength could help with manual labour jobs. The other members say having orog guards will damage the reputation of the City and discourage other humans from trading.
Mara has Mainz lead a delegation to go to the orogs and offer some of them employment if they stop attacking travellers, asking Captain Ost to appoint a good man to protect him.
Mainz returns to tell Mara that the orogs left their mountain refuge because it was destroyed in the earthquake, but also their shaman said the mountains had been tainted by magic and it was not safe to stay there. They want food and somewhere to stay. Mara agrees to provide food and let them settle in an area away from the city.
Lyssan
It becomes common knowledge that Yuri Kavlor refuses any goblin entry into Lyssan, despite a large number of them turning up over time. Over 200 of them form a refugee camp outside the city, but after a week Yuri send in the militia to break that camp up and move the goblins along. This causes the goblins to migrate into Barniere and Hamein.
Hamein
Some farmsteaders in the west of Hamein complain to Mayor Vlad that groups of goblins have been raiding their farms and one family have been driven off their lands. Vlad is not that bothered about these non-tax paying settlers and sends a token force of 10 men to try make it look like he cares, but not to do much. However, the men he sends are ambushed by goblins and slaughtered to a man.
Later when 40 goblins migrate into Hamein from Lyssan, Vlad decides to deal with them personally and meets them with 20 militia. These though, are refugees with women and child, in a poor state and not really a threat to anyone. Vlad meets with their leader, a goblin called Vrak, who tells him they are just looking for food and shelter. Vlad says if they can help protect his farmsteaders from the goblins in the hills, he can help them. Vrak agrees to this and Vlad allows them to settle near Hamein and give them food for the time being.
Luandar
Lunadar is not really affected that much, except for reports of a few goblins around the mountains, where few people live. Lukas arranges for a gang to go up to clear the mountain pass to Lyssan.
Salviene
Like Luandar, Salviene is not particularly affected as most of the area around the mountains is uninhabited.
Rourke
Charrek discovers that Rourke has sustained a significant amount of damage during the earthquake and there are a significant number of goblins raiding settlements. The Mining Guild holds a meeting in which they want to know what the mayor is doing about both problems. Charrek does not have much spare money as he is in the middle of re-paying the money owed to the Council. He offers 300gp from his personal wealth to help with the repairs, which the Guild members accept.
He then says that he will consider what to do about the goblins. He consults his Brother Dwarves, pointing out as double rejects from dwarven society, perhaps they should re-evaluate their natural hatred of goblins. His Brothers agree, it is likely that goblins have for too long lived similar lives to slaves.
Charrek sends one of his Brothers to negotiate with the goblins. He returns to say that they are amenable to the idea of finding work in the mines, perhaps they could form their own gang. He also mentions that they have left the mountains because of the damage from the earthquake, but also their wise men said that the quakes were caused by dark magic.
Barniere
Barniere is not by the mountains, but when the goblin refugees from Lyssan arrive in his province, Mayor Hakim welcomes them and offers to help them.
Mhowe
Goblins are reported to have left the hills in central Mhowe and started harassing the surrounding areas. No word comes during May though about how Mhowe or Tulear have dealt with this problem.
Pirate Investigations
Vlad sends three men to go to Salviene, Tulear and Mhowe, find work on the docks and report any information they get or things they witness that may indicate pirate activity.
Lukas also tries to be friendly with Denerick while they travel home, hoping to get more information out of him. This backfires when Denerick thinks Lukas is coming onto him and stops wanting to talk to him.