Graf Silth's Mission
Graf Silth of Khazdan’s
Mission
You are Graf Silth son of
Sithen, a dwarven aristocrat from the Forest dwarf Kingdom of Neradh. You own a
large estate around the village of Khazdan. You are a courtier at King
Granbold’s court in the fortress of Naug. Long ago it had been agreed that when
your daughter Shalaka came of age (at 50 years) she would marry Slepe son of
Silo. Silo was only of Gentry rank but owned large and profitable areas of
forest. Shalaka had become a lady in waiting to Princess Griselda eighteen years
ago. Princess Griselda, 322 years old was the eldest sister of King Granbold and
since he was unmarried, took on the duties of his consort when necessary. She
with Bhorin Bishop of Bikon were his
principal advisers though all of courtier rank could have a say in council.
Bhorin haled originally from the cave Kingdom of Varadh where the dvaus or vraus
(female dwarfs) were given little freedom. In the south-western part Neradh
dvaus were used to harvest the Valuable roots and herbs because the mangete
insects attacked only males. This was the result of a quarrel
Bikon had with
Tarantula the Magha of insects. Even
so Princess Griselda and her ladies almost never left the Dvaunana in the caves
beneath the Fortress at Naug. Contact with the outside world came via the weekly
market when food and other supplies were bought. As a courtier your duties are
to advise the King and every so often serve a week’s duty as Commander the
fortress guards. At court you had a feud with Graf Lukin of Dardens who had
wanted his daughter Lisle to marry Slepe. He was always belittling your advice
and fawning around Bishop Bhorin. As a consequence and because of your
daughter’s position you were a supporter of Princess Griselda in most palace
disputes.
Shalaka
became of age in 705ATN (50 years old) but Slepe
made no move to arrange the wedding, although King Granbold had long ago given
his consent. Slepe was serving away in Granbold’s army and felt that there was
no hurry. Pressure was put on Silo his father, who suggested that the marriage
could take place on New Years day 707ATN. However in 706 Sir Anger Orange Beard
and his dvau of Aroar Castle were poisoned with all the other Lawic Lords of
Hamora at Caphtor. Aroar Castle was
held by Neradh dwarves and paid taxes to King Granbold. It was part of the
reward for their part in Prince Eudes victory of Lungstrete in 702ATN. The
dwarves of Vahrad were alloted Heshbon a castle near the Chaotic border.
Granbold’s council suggested that if Aroar
were well supplied with Dvaus, in time, say a hundred years, Heshbon might be
assimilated into Neradh control. In 706,
King Granbold joined King Eudes of Thentis in the campaign to drive the Chaotics
back out of Hamora. Slepe son of Silo played a prominent part in the fighting at
the sieges of the Soubarb of Hamormaz and Chemosh Fortess. As a reward King
Granbold made Slepe Commander of Aroar Castle, where he had stayed ever since.
When nothing was heard from him around New Years time you were particularly
affronted as in dwarvish terms, Shalaka would be marrying beneath her. You spoke
to Princess Griselda hoping for her support. She said “Granbold is not likely to
assist you. He does not wish to marry himself and is sympathetic to likeminded
others. Without his order Slepe will stay single or perhaps marry someone else.
As you know Bishop Bhorin’s influence took all the ladies he considered too pert
from me, to live in Aroar. Two of them are of ‘named’ rank and suitable for
marriage. I myself take it as an affront that Slepe is avoiding his
responsibilities, as Shalaka is one of my ladies and I am fond of her. Yes, we
must find a way of forcing the issue. I write most of Granbolds diplomatic
letters so I could easily forge a letter ordering Slepe to marry Shalaka. If we
took it with her to Aroar he would likely feel obliged to do it there?”
You
replied “But it must be a proper wedding! One that can be accepted in the
genealogical records! I am afraid that Bishop Bhorin is not going to let one of
his priests go to Aroar for tthat! He does not like me at all! There is no
priest at the castle.”
“But what about other priests? The
humans have all sorts of them.”
“For the wedding to be listed in the
records, marriages by humans are not going to count! You know what a stickler
the Librarian Royal is!”
“We do have the Arch Druid Morguff son
of Morgen! A marriage by a Druid of
Irminsul is perfectly respectable! I am sure I can bribe him into providing
us with one. Perhaps he could then stay as Aroar’s chaplain.”
“Yes that is a good idea but we have to
keep our plans secret. If Graf Lukin or Bhorin ever guesses our intent we will
find soldiers trying to arrest us. You in particular your Royal Highness, for
deserting the Dvaunana! You ladies will not be able to move fast! Especially as
at present there is near a het of snow on the ground outside!”
“We must delay the action until there is
no suspicions of what we are up to! We must not mention the
marriage problem for moons, so as to make them forget it. What are the
dates of your Guard responsibilities?”
“From the 8th to the 14th
of each Moon.”
“Splendid! The 14th of the
Fourth Moon is Leyns Day. Just the feast we need to drug King Granbold and his
warriors to sleep. We must have no killing or serious injuries when we leave! I
suppose the mead could be drugged in the cask but how to ensure they all drink
it at the same time? Having only half of them down would raise the alarm!”
“Melda one of the Dvau cooks comes from
Khazdan and would help me if I could give her a bright future! But those on
guard duty will not be all my men.”
“Splendid. I will approach Melda much
nearer the time. But the guards we will have to treat differently. Most
importantly unless the Alarm Bell Ringer is one of your men, I think I will have
to deal with him. I shall offer him a drugged drink and if he refuses I shall
bag him.” She drew a bag out of her muff and handed it to him. It weighed
heavily and in fact resmbled a cosh! “It is filled with coins and sand. In early
years I used it to instill respect amongst the dvaus
but do not need to now! I suppose I might need to silence Lady Laia, Graf
Lukin’s sister. She tell tales about the rest of us to Bishop Bhorin. We speak
in Edin when she is around, as she has not learnt it yet. I hope!”
So keeping things on a need to know basis closer to the time, the Muletress Pouth was informed that she would be going on a journey out of Neradh soon. She was used to collect supplies bought at the market and to take them into the Fortress. She was given goods to deliver to the Lamphern Lodge. This, owned by the muleteer Lamphern was a mule depot and had a lodge for people hunting on the nearby Cragkreis preserve. He was well paid to assist the Graf of Khazdan, without knowing exactly what was implied. The Graf expected that the forged Kings letter would be accepted by him. It was deicded that the party would consist of eighteen dwarves. Three mules would be used to carry the ladies wedding clothes, camping equipment and enough food supplies for five days. This was estimated as to how long it would take to circle round the eastern end of Neradh and up to Aroar. So the mission is to enable the Princess with the bride to escape from Naug Fortress, convey them safely to Aroar Castle and induce Sir Slepe to marry her!