Don Henley

June 16th of Albanus 1.  Morning.

In response to his sending, Severus told Father Dolorus to tell Sir Terrens that there were traitors afoot, they needed his help, and they were hiding at the hunting lodge (thus, they hope, luring him into a trap). Severus also asked him to send a message to Abbot Micarius of the Abbey of Logos (Marius' abbot), asking him to send to them directly to arrange the disposal of Marius' belongings.

When Micarius responded, they instead told him that aunt Surilla, adviser Magnus Tillaford, and Leyna's father Martialis were all implicated in a demonic conspiracy, involving a creature called "Lil".  Could he help their father Arius and uncle Larentius?

Micarius contacted them a few minutes later with dire news: their father was being tortured. Count Arius ordered them to leave Rostilla at once.  The temples, the Tower (of Magi), and the king were all involved in the plot, he said, and they would not be safe in Rostilla. Marius, who received the sending, got a bit overwrought and exclaimed something like, "Father's being tortured?!? Where... what... what.... where???"  Alas, abbot Micarius did not respond. (Not unusual, since it would require yet another spell.)

Meanwhile, Gaius followed the tracks in the valley and discovered that they led a little ways up the track towards Lanshar's Gap. About half a mile above the turn-off to the hunting lodge, they left the road and cut through the pine forest to a clearing perhaps a quarter of a mile from the road.  A couple disreputable looking men in leather armor lurked out by the road, hidden behind a boulder; there were a dozen more back at the clearing, including one man with decent (banded) armor.

The quiet members of the party (Gaius, Severus and Corvina -- thanks to a spell) crept into place, while the remaining noise generators remained off in the woods. (Cassius and Leyna were assigned to horse-guarding duty.)  Gaius climbed a tree that gave him a good view over the clearing; Severus attempted the same and got a sharp stick in the eye for his troubles. Corvina then dropped a very effective entangle spell on the clearing, which snagged darn near all the bandits. When the screeching and hollering broke out, the folks downhill came running up. Alas, they had stayed so far down the hill that most people didn't arrive till the fight was over. The exception was Sir Titus, who charged up on his warhorse, Sinister.

The fight could have gone very badly, for once combat was engaged the party discovered an awkward detail:  almost no one was properly armored.  Cassius, Severus, Corvina, and Marius hadn't a stitch of armor between them.  Poor Marius hadn't even brought a weapon from Surrexus.  He was carting about an over-sized boar-spear he found at the hunting lodge, a weapon he picked up because Titus said it made him look like a man.

Despite this, things went very well. Gaius dropped two or three bandits from the safety of his tree. Severus displayed a marked facility for shooting people in the back. Corvina did get wounded (before Gaius and Severus brought down the bandit who menaced her) but her dog, Fluffy, killed a bandit. And Titus and Sinister charged into the middle of things, drawing all the bandits' fire. Titus got hurt quite badly, but lived.

Titus urged the bandits to throw down their arms and surrender, and when most of them were dead, the remaining handful suddenly decided this was a good idea. The leader fought until he was nearly dead, then screeched for quarter too. Which Titus granted him. He offered to tell them anything they wanted to know -- in exchange for freedom. After a moment's thought, Titus agreed. (Severus -- a firm believer in the virtue of torture -- ground his teeth, but was a silent and dutiful younger brother.)

The bandit told them that he worked for Sir Terrens. The last time they met was two weeks ago, when Terrens told him that Count Arius was a traitor and was going to be "taken care of". Terrens told the bandit to take his men up into the hills and prevent anyone noble (particularly Leyna and Severus, whom he could recognize) from entering Lanshar's Gap. The bandits saw Corvina and Titus when they came down from the Gap, but left them alone because they didn't have any orders to stop people from coming in to Surrexus -- just from leaving it.

With that, Titus told them to be on their way. Severus interrupted, insisting that since they'd lost a combat, their armor and weapons were forfeit. Titus agreed but let them keep one long bow, so that they could hunt. The party told them that if they ever set foot in Surrexus again, they'd kill them. Then the surviving bandits headed off into the sunset, leaving the party with a moderate pile of crappy armor and weapons, weevil-infested rations, and 12 sway-back nags. Marius and Titus patched
everyone back up to full health.

At the very end of the session, Leyna received the sending from pontifex Aldus of High Hold.  Countess Matina had been discovered in infidelity with King Albanus. Count Arius assaulted the king and was killed by his guards.  Matina, overcome by shame, took the knife. General Martialis was teleporting to Rostilla now and told the Surrexus children to come to the capitol and swear fealty to the king, to show that  they weren't traitors.