telerib | 7th Sea: Signed, sealed and delivered

After resting in the Eisen village, the group set out again. They were not long down the road when a dead and leafless tree suddenly lurched toward them, threatening to fall on Esperanza and her horse!

Thierry reacted first, striking the horse with his sword to spur it out of the way. The horse indeed raced off, but without Esperanza! The Castillian scholar was not a good rider and the sudden jolt threw her from the saddle. Magnus and Leon turned their horses toward her; in split-second timing, Magnus crossed from the left, reached down and tried to pull her up - but succeeded only in pulling himself out of the saddle. Leon came in from the right even before Magnus had finished falling and grabbed Esperanza's other wrist, successfully pulling her up behind him on his horse. She pointed to her steed, which was making haste down the road. "After it!" Thierry paused, thinking to help Magnus, but really - how long can it take for a tree to fall? The tree was nearly atop the Vendel and there would be no more horses dashing underneath. Thierry also turned to chase the errant horse.

The gunsmith quickly pulled out his grappling gun and fired it, entangling the grapnel in a nearby, rooted tree. The cord retracted, pulling him out of the path of the falling tree in the very nick of time!

Down the trail, a cloaked and hatted figure was trying to pace the excited horse, reaching for its bridle. Seeing another horse with two riders approaching rapidly, and Thierry behind them, it seemed to think twice and leapt into the roadside brambles and disappeared. The horse (and item, which was in its saddlebags!) was re-acquired, and the three returned to Magnus, who announced that the tree had been cut down.

(The Glamour mage, Colin, seemed to have been caught entirely flat-footed by the entire proceedings, only making the surprised comment, "Tree!" well after it was down and across the road.)

Mr. Cloak and Hat returned a day or so later, firing a musket into the group. Leon saw the glint of light on metal before the shot was fired and warned everyone down. Esperanza's unfortunate horse took the bullet; whether it or she was the intended target wasn't known. Thierry returned fire, hitting the fleeing figure; Leon gave chase on foot. The would-be assassin leapt onto a horse of his own and took off, but not before the pirate put a knife into his shoulder. It hit hard, and the man was leaning hard on his steed as he rode off.

The only further incident being a chance encounter with some of the waisen, or war orphans of Eisen, the group made it to Gottkirchen. General Keppler thanked them warmly but did not have their payment (although he did have the pardons for Colin and Leon); the sum was too much to safely transport from Heilgrundstat, the Eisenfurst's castle. But, if they would come with him, the Eisenfurst would like to thank them personally and they would be paid straight from the castle's coffers.

Stephan Heilgrund was indeed glad to see them. Quite a young man for his station, he questioned Esperanza closely about the device, its operation and abiities, and what the party had learned. Thierry mentioned that August Bisset du Verre had been contracted by the Explorers' Society to obtain it; the prince was familiar with the name but seemed puzzled that the Explorers would be so involved.

Audience over, the group was taken away to be paid in full, then given whatever attentions they required for the feast that evening. As the guests of honor, they attracted quite a bit of attention from the guests...

Antonio Noticelli (?) was a Vodacce merchant trying to get a toe in the door with the prince. Leon chatted him up and tried to help out.
Gretta Johannson, a member of the Vendel Merchants' Guild, nearly attacked Magnus as he came through the door. The Vendel League really should, she informed him, stop the Vodacce from breaking the Vendel trade monopoly in Eisen. Noticelli had some secret "in" she hadn't been able to figure out yet, and she hoped the League Seat Holder would be able to queer the deal.
Odel Somethingson was one of Heilgrund's advisors. Scalped and missing his right arm to the elbow, he knew Esperanza and the two had corresponded quite a bit about occult and scholarly matters. She asked if there might be a permanent position for her at Heilgrundstat; Odel seemed to think this was a fine idea and said he would propose it to the Eisenfurst.
Cesar Marceau, Admiral of His Imperial Majesty Leon's Navy, was desperately trying to get a short, simple audience with Heilgrund to negotiate permission for the Montaigne to sail patrol boats through Eisen territory. Thierry had come to speak to his fellow countryman about news from home, but the Admiral went so far as to ask for a favor. After all, Thierry and his companions were the Eisenfurst's favorites tonight; did he think he could arrange an audience?
Colin immediately gravitated towards the two giggling Montaigne girls on their first trip abroad without Mummy and Daddy.

The maneuvering and politicking went on for some time. Leon, who had been keeping a discreet eye out for a man with a bandaged shoulder, finally noticed someone with an unseemly bulge under his shirt heading determinedly for Thierry. "Thierry! Port side!" The Montaigne turned left just in time to receive a glove to the face from August Bisset du Verre. Thierry returned the challenge with his fist, staggering the nobleman. Still, he had enough presence of mind to ask if that first sally meant Thierry wanted to settle matters with lowborn fisticuffs, "or do you know how to use that sword you're carrying?"

The duel quickly became the focus of the room. The combatants moved out of the main hall and more than half the attendees followed to watch.

The show was quite worth it. du Verre was shot, stabbed, and now nursing a dislocated jaw, but he was a Valroux Swordsman and worthy of the name. Although wounded, he had a bag of tricks that made it challenging for Thierry to keep up. But younger and stronger, Thierry made the nobleman give ground, backing him up the stairs to the battlements atop the castle.

There, their blades danced back and forth as the combatants skidded on the rain-slicked flagstones. Both kept up a steady stream of invective, Thierry calling du Verre a murdering batard and August intimating that the younger man was an ignorant meddling sot who couldn't keep to his proper place. Finally, with an elegant beat-feint-lunge, Thierry drew August's blade far out of position and struck, sinking the blade in up to the guard.

August swayed dizzily at the low rampart wall, looking a little surprised at losing. "You bloody idiot," he gasped as he used his last strength to wrap his arm around Thierry's neck and shoulders. His legs gave out and he tumbled over the wall, taking the former Musketeer with him!

The audience surged forward to see twin splashes appear in the Rotstrom River below; almost to a man, they turned and thundered down the castle steps. Would either have survived? Would they be found, or would the sucking mud of the river bottom keep the bodies? What was that all about, anyway? Search parties (one of which included Leon) went out, but nothing was found. The Eisenfurst announced the evening's festivities over, and ordered his guards to determine how du Verre had gotten in in the first place...