[Day 9, Mid Aft] Prisoners of faith and respite

[Loreia]

*Kevan meeting with Loreia and Jorah*

Soldiers with the Coldbrook entourage take it easy at the inn and relish in their victories and triumphs. Guards with houses yet to depart wash away bad blood from the night prior in drink and easy conversation. In a lone corner on the second floor of Masha Heedle's fine establishment, Jorah and Loreia enjoy a little meat and potato stew, one light serving each at Jorah's insistence. Regardless, the servers gladly avail themselves to top off their beverages - provided the two of them have the coin for it, of course. Loreia's dog pants underneath the table, happy as a fool that his master returned whenever she went off without his watchful eye to follow.

At some point, Loreia manages to catch Brenna's eye and nods silently.
[url=Empathy - Brenna, Day 9][/url]: 4d6k3 16

"
A hard week more like, ser,"
Loreia says between sips of ale. "
I thought we'd have our work cut out for us over the business with the Tullisons. It almost feels like Lionel followed us all the way out here. I'm happy he finally got sent to his just reward."


While Jorah responds, she notices a familiar beard hanging from the jawline of a familiar face - Kevan Lyras.

[Ser Jorah Holt]

"
Ser Lionel was a parasite, looking for any way to justify his hate. A tournament like this attracted him. Quite why he fixated on Lord Tullison he might take to the grave with him though."

[Kevan Lyras]

Kevan walks up the stairs to the second floor of the huntsman, when he sees the two familiar figures. "
Jorah! Nice to see you!"
and turning around to the guardswoman: "
And you too, Shieldmaiden"
, added with a smirk. "
I have to congratulate you both, for your spectacular showing in the melee and you, Jorah, for sending the ex bethrothed of my future wife to the wall! Do you mind id I join you for that meal? That stew looks delicious!"

[Loreia]

Loreia beams at the man who had the honor of choosing the queen of love and beauty. "
Pull up a chair, ser! Let's have one of the servers come 'round with a bowl and a cup to tide you over till our host's final supper."


"
Jorah an' I were just restin' here, thinkin' back over the events of the past few days. You must be proud yourself Kevan. I heard you've got the Aurochs to thank for showin' his aged clemency after the joust final. Future wife, you say? My, that was fast."


*Sorry, didn't realize we'd be staying for dinner. Oh well. Saw Jorah post in that thread, so I decided if he's staying for that, I guess all of House Coldbrook is too.*

Edmund comes up the stairs just behind Kevan and smiles politely around the table at the other two guests. As the chair is offered, Edmund bows slightly as he introduces himself.

"
A pleasure to meet you both, I am Edmund Lyras, Kevan's nephew."
Quietly sitting down among the three, he looks across at Loreia, "
I understand some congratulations are in order. Sadly, I missed much of the tourney due to illness, but have already heard of your exploits, as told by Ser Kevan. Well done, indeed."
He says warmly.

He turns to Ser Jorah, "
And to you, Ser. A fine job ridding the land of such an individual. The Wall may be too good a fate."


"
Hearing of some of the more underhanded goings on of late, I thought I could perhaps assist friends in whatever manner that is appropriate."

[Ser Jorah Holt]

"
Good to see you both again,"
Jorah smiled at them both, looking none the worse for wear after dueling Ser Benjen.

"
There will be plenty who will be glad to see him gone, but others not so much. The looks I have been receiving from House Bracken tell me I have made no friends there."

[Loreia]

"
I understand some congratulations are in order. Sadly, I missed much of the tourney due to illness, but have already heard of your exploits, as told by Ser Kevan. Well done, indeed."
He says warmly.

"
Well-received, thank you,"
she smiles back. Even godly praise would be too little after all that noise I had to deal with.

He turns to Ser Jorah, "
And to you, Ser. A fine job ridding the land of such an individual. The Wall may be too good a fate."


"
Hearing of some of the more underhanded goings on of late, I thought I could perhaps assist friends in whatever manner that is appropriate."

"
Good to see you both again,"
Jorah smiled at them both, looking none the worse for wear after dueling Ser Benjen.

"
There will be plenty who will be glad to see him gone, but others not so much. The looks I have been receiving from House Bracken tell me I have made no friends there."

"
Hang 'em all, ser. You did your duty, and you did the gods proud,"
she bolstered, dismissive of whatever hard feelings the Brackens had surely begun to harbor. "
They just need someone to be angry at. I think we've had the end of underhanded business here at the end of events, Edmund. The Frey deserved some ill fate, but I'm satisfied that they didn't choose it for him, between what was offered."

[Ser Jorah Holt]

"
Hang 'em all, ser. You did your duty, and you did the gods proud,"
she bolstered, dismissive of whatever hard feelings the Brackens had surely begun to harbor. "
They just need someone to be angry at. I think we've had the end of underhanded business here at the end of events, Edmund. The Frey deserved some ill fate, but I'm satisfied that they didn't choose it for him, between what was offered."

"
I did, but any action of this sort will always have far greater consequences. As long as you can live with them, then you will be fine. I can live with these. House Bracken were never going to be fond of me anyway."
He smiled at the two Lyras men, "
Please Sers, take a seat. How are you both today?"

[Reader]

*Kevan meeting with Loreia and Jorah*

Soldiers with the Coldbrook entourage take it easy at the inn and relish in their victories and triumphs. Guards with houses yet to depart wash away bad blood from the night prior in drink and easy conversation. In a lone corner on the second floor of Masha Heedle's fine establishment, Jorah and Loreia enjoy a little meat and potato stew, one light serving each at Jorah's insistence. Regardless, the servers gladly avail themselves to top off their beverages - provided the two of them have the coin for it, of course. Loreia's dog pants underneath the table, happy as a fool that his master returned whenever she went off without his watchful eye to follow.

At some point, Loreia manages to catch Brenna's eye and nods silently.
[url=Empathy - Brenna, Day 9][/url]: 4d6k3 16

"
A hard week more like, ser,"
Loreia says between sips of ale. "
I thought we'd have our work cut out for us over the business with the Tullisons. It almost feels like Lionel followed us all the way out here. I'm happy he finally got sent to his just reward."


While Jorah responds, she notices a familiar beard hanging from the jawline of a familiar face - Kevan Lyras.

There are faints signs of purpose - Brenna is happily ignorant of the political maneuvering that took place in the great hall during Ser Benjen's trial. All she wants his justice, and having expected none, even the faint glimmer of hope is more than she expected.

Ser Jorah, as the Seven's champion, is served particularly attentively and receives alarmingly generous portions of whatever he orders, but the girl lacks the courage to address the grand knights present directly.

[OOC: won't be weighing in on this scene too much as we wrap things up, but she's bearing up as well as can be expected, given all she's been through. As noted previously, she doesn't actually have any family in Riverrun, so has already demonstrated a great deal of fortitude to simply survive.]

[Kevan Lyras]

Kevan takes a seat opposite of the two Coldbrooks and offers the one next to him to Edmund. He waves a servant over and orders the same as the others eat for him and his nephew as well as two mugs of beer.
"
Yes I am quite happy with the turn of events. You know the political mills work at their own pace, sometimes slow other times fast. Lord Blackwood agreed to marriage this morning, and ol' Ser Derrock's gesture definitely helped. Oh yeah the Brackens.. as you can imagine, they dont like me either.."


He gestures to Ed. "
Yeah the underhanded business my nephew mentioned, it is what Id like to ask you about:
The Darry bandits we faced during the trial of the faith, understand you interrogated the prisoners before we headed out and also had a word or two with the ones we captured there. Have you had any success in getting information out of them?"


*just figured you were eating per your first description*

[Loreia]

"
Right, I'll start,"
Loreia answers, sitting up from her comfortable perch against the back of her chair. After days mulling it over, she was ready to spill her thoughts about it to the good ser. "
First, we spoke to Holy Harry, the one who tried to escape the day before the trial.

"
Our 'Holy' prisoner said that there were about 200 of them holed up in a nearby hold, with 20 knights, but that bandits had overran the place, an' that they've been in pockets spread out over the area among villages an' towns, usin' craven ambush tactics to terrorize an' recruit. He didn't really know for sure, and he didn't know how many were left after the bandit takeover. A hundred'd be generous, but I believed the part about the number of knights. After our meetup at Harren's Justice, I'd wager ten knights left - no true knights, you mind. Lionel had been recruitin' among the unproven smallfolk. I wouldn't count on more than a handful of the ones left bein' truly 'knightly' in battle.

"
Interestin' thing is, only one man were watchin' Harry when he faked ill, a fresh-faced recruit. Odd, that. Either someone didn't place much importance on Harry, or someone knew just who to leave guardin' him. Or, mayhaps the guard was a rebel supporter. We didn't talk to him personally, they said his name was Stuart."
She thinks back to the guards' whining about not getting enough support from Tully coin, and chalks it up to a likely perspective they'd have, an excuse to go hand in hand with the placement of an inexperienced guard.

*More pending, see Meeting Grounds thread*

[Ser Jorah Holt]

"
We managed to get some information out of them as Loreia explained, though it does appear they tend to return to Durain's forest during the winter."

[Kevan Lyras]

Kevan listens attentively, as Loreia recalls what they had found out.

"
That seems to be in line with what Eustace Darry told me yesterday, when I visited him in his cell. He talked about a force of 320 men, twenty of which he dubbed true knights. He also mentioned additonal cells in Sulla and Market Town"
he strokes his beard as he repeats what he has learned from the prisoner the day before.

As the guardswoman mentions the escape of the prisoner and the light guard, he raises one eyebrow and turns to Edmund: "
Interesting, what do you think Edmund? Maybe you have time before we leave to have a short chat with that Stuart? We sure can use all the leads we can find..."


He is interrupted by the server, bringing food and beer for the two newly arrived. He raises his glass to Ser Jorah and Loreia before taking a first sip.
"
I am glad to have met you both at this Tourney. Do you already have plans for the upcoming months?"



[OOC: Not gonna repeat everything, here is the original information: viewtopic.php?f=71&
t=1331&
start=10]

[Loreia]

*We'll get to the off-season question, I just want to hear what your characters think of this first, and whether you players might be open to this during the off-season to get us started on really going after the Darry rebels when the time comes.*

Loreia grins like a cat with a crow just walking out in front of it, when she hears of the news of the sept. "
Well well, isn't that lovely news. Why don't we make an agreement, right here? After you gather what else you can from the one who was on duty, and any other leads, you come straight to us when you're ready to jump out of the bush, as it were. Hide behind the Crone's cloak, you know? The Seven's devoted, when 'enlightened', can be dangerous when the Warrior joins their side, armed with the Crone's generous wisdom."


Translation: An ambush of our own. Gather what information we can arm ourselves with and visit Finch's sept to convince him of the true danger and to cooperate in hiding warriors to lay in wait. Then, spring a trap on the rebels when they next come to visit. It was only too perfect.

OOC: Arm the man with words not his own, and mayhaps a skilled nave to help, lure the harassing band of rebels in question on the false promise of cooperation. Hopefully no information you have yet to gather would be a warning against such an action. It would be good to know if we were the ones being baited for a real trap.

Edmund nods his head in agreement at his uncles suggestion and quietly replies, "
I'll see what I can turn up."


When the food arrives, he pushes it aside with a slight grimace as he listens to Loreia's plan. As she finishes with clear excitement, Edmund sits back, pensive and reserved.

"
That is certainly a plan with some merit."
, he says, looking at Loreia, nodding. "
I am intrigued."

[Kevan Lyras]

"
Hm... a trap. That could work if planned out diligently. I agree that the cell in market town is probably the most important base of operation of that we know of. Especially, with an armory there. Which house is currently in charge of the town? Before any trap springing we'd definitely have to send somebody investing the situation in its entirety. But once we are ready to root out these outlaws, your help is definitely welcome, so I am all for such an agreement."


"
But even if we destroy the cell in market town, I fear eventually we have to go to Rugar's hold anyway to remove the root of all of this"


Kevan looks sympathetic at his nephew as he shoves the platter away: "
Still feeling ill, Edmund?"

[Loreia]

"
Of course. Our lord was very pleased to hear news of Lionel's death. He'd like nothin' more, I'm sure, to aid in stampin' out the rebels victory-by-victory. The prisoners we take might have more useful knowledge towards puttin' an end to them."

[Ser Jorah Holt]

Ser jorah listened to all that was being said

"
If a cell is operating in Market Town, then considering its independence from any house, simply marching in and destroying the cell there is not a simple affair. The Mayor jealously guards their independence and any move we make might provoke a worse response from Lords fearing we seek to change that."

Edmund nods slightly at his uncles inquiry, trying to put his discomfort out of mind.

Ser jorah listened to all that was being said

"
If a cell is operating in Market Town, then considering its independence from any house, simply marching in and destroying the cell there is not a simple affair. The Mayor jealously guards their independence and any move we make might provoke a worse response from Lords fearing we seek to change that."

"
Some infiltration might be in order."
Edmund interjects. "
It is also perhaps worthwhile to speak with the Septon at Shattered Rock."

[Kevan Lyras]

"
That is true, Jorah. But if the cell in Market Town is as important to their operation as we think, we have to take action regardless, with or without the consent of the mayor. Maybe we have to negotiate with the relevant houses in advance. But overall, we arrive at the same conclusion again: We need more hands on information. Me personally, I will be quite occupied with dealings in the vale in preparation of our campaign against the clans. Maybe Edmund here, or Lady Gwyneth Marsten would find time to sneak arround that town. It is unlikely anyway that we can deal with the whole movement in just a few months anyway..."

[Loreia]

"
Lady Gwyneth?"
Sneak around town? This explains some things, she smirks. "
But with the founding of Baelon's bannerhouse comin' up, with less an' less time to perch on the fences, mayhaps it should fall to you?"
she proposes, addressing Edmund.

Edmund, looking around the table at those assembled says, "
I guess that's it then."


He continued, "
Might I suggest that while I am working my way into the Market Town cell, that you lot maybe find an excuse to speak with the mayor, or the local lords?"
Edmund smiles at Kevan adding, "
Surely, the is above the board work that could be done as well? Maybe a recently married couple traveling the countryside and taking refuge finding their way into a lord's house?"


Turning his gaze back to Loreia and Ser Jorah, "
I also still think that it would be worth speaking with the septon at Shattered Rock. He refused to take part in the rebels plans and may know valuable information."


He shrugs, finally taking a sip from his mug.

[Ser Jorah Holt]

"
I am certainly too obvious an individual to investigate Market Town, but if I were to go speak to the Septon at Shattered Rock, that would not be an oddity for a knight such as myself to visit. Loreia will also be known to them as I imagine there will be some of the Faith Militant here at the Tourney. How else would they have known about Marei?"

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