Upon leaving to meet with Skotha Orin. I found myself waylaid by a messenger giving me an order and a warrant from the Duke to go to the docks and arrest Magnus Sedrig. I’d heard rumors of a missing son of the family, it seems he’s resurfaced.
Luckily the arrest was without incident. Some representatives of house Sedrig where already waiting. It appears my attendance in the arrest was required only to add weight and as a favour. Regardless one of House Sedrig’s men Vallo appeared to have some personal stake of vendetta against Magnus. I stepped in and ensured that Magnus was treated appropriately as befits his house. Though the man was clearly maddened, and kept raving about our doom or something of the ilk. So perhaps the gesture was wasted.
Regardless I left him to be taken by the guards while I left to proceed with conducting the business of the day.
Skotha gladly granted me an audience at his lodgings. With him was his dwarven advisor, Kharak. Taking the direct tact, I told him that I had knowledge of his assassination plans. At first he denied it as most men would. But with a small nudge he revealed it to be true, I fear the wound is too fresh for him to ignore. I tried appealing to his sense of logic. But it appears to have abandoned him. Blinded by a lust for revenge he refused to care that his plan could ignite a war. The man even refused to stop his plan after I spoke of beginning talks of creating a bond of marriage between our houses. A shame for him. His house would have prospered greatly if he had cleared his mind of this folly. However as it stands, I feel the house may soon fall into disgrace.
This meeting was not un-fruitful though. As Skotha begged his leave, Kharak made it clear he wished to speak to me. He told me of Skotha’s descent into what he fears madness. And that his son was no fit match for a Redgard woman. This information surprised me. For surely things must be bad for House Orin if their adviser speaks ill of the family.
Father and me had talked about securing House Orin’s support because of their dwarven allies. Kharak made it fairly apparent to me without outright saying it, that House Orin wouldn't be required to get these dwarves on our side.
He also revealed his knowledge of the plot Skotha had started with the insurrectionists “The Blood of the Dragon” as well as their current location. Rarely does such a good lead fall upon one's lap.
But before I left I hinted to Kharak that my sister remains unmarried and that perhaps there was a Kurgun suitor. He brushed off the idea, but did hint himself that they relied on House Orin for land. If that's the case then I’m sure after explaining to father, House Redgard could find a suitable location for them to settle if they no longer wanted to rely upon house Orin.
Wanting to act quickly I went back to the prison with an intention of pardoning the Redgard guerrilla forces that did not manage to smuggle themselves in successfully. My Huscarls would not be able to assault the building with our current numbers.
However I was met by Magnus being escorted out of his cell, and by Arik. Who apparently was hoping to find me, and by good fortune was accompanied by the men I had assigned to him. Quickly counting numbers including the town guard escorting Magnus, I figured we would have enough men as it was.
Since I now had a solid lead I revealed to Arik my knowledge of the second assassination plot to kill his brother. Naturally he jumped on the opportunity to go and deal with these men. As we marched he informed me of his limited success with the other plot. He had learned of a woman who is not familiar to me, and that some poison was brought into the city to be used. Magnus also followed our march. As tempting as it was to have him removed from the scene when I pulled in a town guard patrol to create a barrier around the house; I was also interested to see if he had any magical competency to him like many in his House.
Arik immediately began formulating a plan. I haven’t yet measured the man, so I commanded the troops to defer to his decision in the matter. His brother's life was at stake here, so I felt him worthy of my trust.
With quick action and overwhelming superiority we made short work of any resistance. Each and every man proved themselves in the assault. Magnus included, perhaps I was wrong about him?
As we took stock of our captives we identified a man called Sven Ar Dor as the leader. The coward was more than ready to provide information to us, perhaps in the hope of a lesser punishment. Disturbingly though he revealed that Vijur was not among them, that he had been expelled and was planning to kill the Jahzir alone. Before taking the captives to a cell I made sure to praise the men for what they did. Arik showed himself at that point to be a somewhat detached noble.
“They performed their role”
Or something of the ilk. Making sure they will be justly rewarded for going beyond “Performing their role” I will recommend the guards to their superior and make sure each man drinks well at the tavern tonight.
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