15/08/2023 - Escape! (3)

Interrogating Brother Gregory

While he is waiting, Malcolm bumps into Prince Edmund and he updates the Prince on events and some of the details of the feud between the Allardice and MacRuaidhri clans.

The Companions meet up again after Sam’s conversation with Gordon to discuss what they are going to do next. They focus on the dagger first, wondering its powers and origins. Samuel wonders about interrogating Brother Gregory and Malcolm agrees, so they set off for the monk’s room.

Brother Gregory’s Room

They find Brother Gregory is in his room. His room is sparsely decorated, apart from a holy symbol of Haelyn on the wall and the monk is kneeling on a mat in front of it, praying.

He rises to answer Logan’s questions, who asks about the dagger and that it was originally in his possession. The monk initially denies owning any weapons, until they explain further it was a special dagger. He then looks in a special box under his bed and discovers the dagger is missing.

Cursed Dagger

Brother Gregory immediately realises that Gordon Allardice took the dagger. That is not good because it is cursed and he does not know fully what the nature of curse is. It was given to his monastery a long time ago for safe keeping and he has been working to try to understand its abilities and how to break the curse.

He mentioned it to Gordon Allardice because the boy accidentally found it and Brother Gregory has taken a policy of never lying to the boy or hiding anything from him. This is why Gordon trusts him, because he is the only one who treats him with respect and like an adult.

Gordon had sworn not to reveal any information about the dagger or to touch it. Banquo wonders why Gregory did not think that if someone had been stabbed it could have been with this dagger. The monk points out daggers are common place weapons and it is not common knowledge that a special dagger was involved.

History of the Dagger

They tell him that Gordon killed in the name of Haelyn and Brother Gregory points out that is contrary to everything he has taught him.

Banquo asks more about the history of the dagger, but Gregory says there is not much to tell. It was given to his monastery years ago, known to be cursed but little else. He has been talking to wise men and wizards to see if they can tell him more about it.

He does know that the curse gets into your mind and tries to influence you. He has touched the dagger before now and dark thoughts crossed his mind that do not normally do so. Putting the dagger down was harder than he thought it would be.

I’d like to Talk to the Boy

They tell him about Gordon being unable or unwilling to let go of the dagger, which was why his hand was cut off. He offers to go to speak to Gordon. They are uncertain about this and Banquo does not like the idea. They head outside to talk it through, while Brother Gregory carries on praying.

Sam tells his friends he recalls from his youth that the monk was a stern teacher who was quick to give a wrap on the knuckles, but only when deserved. He did not approve of magic though, so Sam did not have a good relationship with him.

Banquo does not like the idea of letting him talk to the prisoner. Logan wonders if he's as religious as he makes out and is suspicious of the monk. Malcolm suspects that Gordon was coerced into using the dagger to commit murder.

Malcolm proposes allowing the monk to speak to Gordon, but he will hide and listen into the conversation. They agree to this course of action. Malcolm heads down to the cells ahead of time to hide and then Sam takes Brother Gregory down to talk to cells, while Logan and Banquo will search the monk’s room.

When they get to the cells, Sam remembers that Fraser MacRuaidhri is still in his cell. He realises this lessens the chance that they will have a private conversation, but it’s too late and he leaves them to talk.

Malcolm overhears Brother Gregory talking quiet formally to Gordon, he has done something wicked and seems to be very disappointed with the boy. Gordon says he did it for the clan, but the monk points out that does not justify murder.

The conversation continues, with the monk telling Gordon he has violated everything he has taught the boy and that he has failed him. Gordon is apologetic and repentant.

The monk then gets Gordon to tell him what happened. The imprisoned boy says he killed “the MacRuaidhri whore”, but afterwards he could not let go of the dagger. He had to kill more, so he went to Logan’s room, but was overpowered by his friends and his hand was cut off.

Gregory tells him he has made a lot of mistakes and he will not be able to do much to help the boy. He must atone for his sins. It is likely that he will hang for this.

The conversation ends there and Brother Gregory leaves. Malcolm leaves the cells shortly afterwards.

Meanwhile, Logan and Banquo enter Brother Gregory’s room and search it. There is very little of interest in the room. There is a religious book that the monk is in the middle of reading. He has also been recording on a scroll the hours of meditation he does every day, but otherwise there is nothing of note.

They check the box that the dagger came in and see it is quite a posh box with a velvet lining and a polished wood exterior. Banquo suggests taking it as evidence, but Logan persuaded him it has no value and will only make the monk suspicious.

Logan and Banquo move onto Gordon’s room, where they find a guard on the door, but he allows Banquo to enter because he is member of the Guardians. The room is a bit of a teenagers mess, though there is a Haelyn holy symbol on the wall, similar to the one in Brother Gregory’s room. A lot of his clan regalia clothing is strewn about.

They do find his hand-written invitation to the wedding, on which Nairne’s name has been cut through several times.

They leave and meet back up to exchange details of what they have found. They conclude that they have a lot of suspicions but almost no hard evidence, much to their frustration.

Samuel is still suspicious of the monk and wonders about his monastery and whether it would be worth going there to check out his story. As it is in the county of Belaldruor though, it would require a day to travel there and back, so they decide not to do that right now.

Their discussion dries up as they have run out of leads for now. They decide to go their separate ways for the rest of the evening and think about what to do next and meet up again in the morning.

Sir Simon Montrose catches up with Banquo to ask further about why he thinks his relation Liddell had decided to leave. Banquo can only suggest that he is a thoughtless prick who does not care about anyone else.

He then asks Banquo about the investigation and Banquo tells him about their suspicions about Brother Gregory, but they have no evidence. They don’t really know what to do next, so they end up splitting up and doing separate things for the rest of the afternoon.

Count Torien Calls a Meeting

That evening, Count Torien calls a meeting of all the senior nobles present, including the Companions. The Baird-MacGregors are not there, nor is Cormac. He laments the death of Nairne and Simon Montrose is leading an investigation. He stresses he needs everyone to pull together and keep the peace.

He confirms there will be a trial for Gordon Allardice and that Fraser MacRuaidhri will not be released until he cools down.

During the meeting, Logan watches Minister Malcolm Greenwood. He wonders if he was the idea behind the wedding and if he made a mistake or planned all along for things to become worse.

Gordon Escapes

That evening, the Companions are about their own business. Malcolm happens to be seducing a nice serving maid that he has had his eye on, outside the main building.

Suddenly there is a commotion nearby at the stables and suddenly he sees someone with only one hand taking a nice horse and moving away. The portcullis appears to be open and there are no guards are duty.

Malcolm recovers from his surprise and heads over to where the stables are, seeing that Prince Edmund from Cariere is there, having been attacked. The young Prince says he saw Gordon going for his horse and tried to stop him, but Gordon hit him and took the horse.

Gordon has opened the gate and is riding off. Malcolm heads back and sees Simon Montrose, telling him what happens. Simon tells him to get Banquo and follow Gordon.

The Companions are mustered and they get what horses are ready to follow. Prince Edmund insists on coming with them, as he wants he horse back. He rides with Malcolm. Logan is last to get ready and has to follow as best he can.

Pursuit

Malcolm leads the chase but he is soon overtaken by Banquo, who is a very experienced rider. They are able track him enough to know he’s taking the Northern Road, partly thanks to some instinctive decisions by Banquo.

When the road splits north and west, Banquo has to stop to try to see which way Gordon went, but he struggles. The others catch up and Logan is able to use his tracking skills to discern that he is heading east.

Castle Bridge

They resume the pursuit. Banquo has a sinking feeling as they approach Castle Bridge and realises Gordon has headed into Baird lands. The gates to Castle Bridge are closed and they are forced to pull up and call for the guards.

The guards tell Banquo the gates are closed by order of the Laird. Banquo asks them if a rider has passed this way and they confirm that. Banquo points out the rider was an escaped fugitive.

Then Liddell Baird-MacGregor appears on the battlements above. He asks what Gordon has done and Banquo tells him he knows what he did - he was there. Liddell tells him that it is quite obvious that other parties are behind the murder and it was safer for him to get out.

Banquo says it makes him look suspicious, but Liddell laughs this off, point out he had no horse in that race. The Laird refuses to open the gates though, asking what’s in it for him and dismisses the “gratitude” of the Guardians.

Banquo tries threatening him and then asks him what he wants. Liddell has his swear on his honour as a Guardian that he will carry out a favour for him in return for opening the gates. Frustrated and desperate to continue the chase, Banquo so swears.

Before he opens the gates, the old man points out he knows where Gordon has gone, to Highpoint, in the mountains in the north of the Laphroaig lands. He also hints that he thinks that agents of the Gorgon himself is behind events at the wedding.

End of Episode Three