A knock at the door

The freezing cold at the begining of the winter then then the unusual warmth right after spoke of ill omens. Lionshold was a bustle of activities as craftsman and cook were preparing for the festivities of winters court. No one, knights, man at arms or kinfolk knew of the danger approaching. Everyone was tending to his duties.

when suddenly came a knock at the guards gate.

h r p: this is a roleplay quest that will foreshadow the events that will take place at the upcoming winters court. Everybody is encouraged to play with us if they want, even if you know certain details pertaining to the court this is new and no one but me knows the detail, remember that your caracter doesn t know these details.
i will try to make this a fluid as possible and will use mp to make thing known to certain people and you may talk to the dm privately using mp. for everything else use this post to add to the storyline.

sir hector

As the knocks fell heavily on Lionshold's gate, Sir Darius was standing on the wall, watching over the realm covered in snow. He noticed a strange man, trembling under his cloaks.

"Guards! Open the gates and let this man in!"

upon looking at the man from up on the wall darius could see that he was not well. He was very old. His clothes were in ruin has though he had been attacked wild animals. He was leaning on the doors has though he could barely lift himself up.

where were the guards to open the door...?

Deagon rushed to the main door to let inside the old man. As he aid the stranger entering the hold, he yelled for help from Laikas for her to attend to his wound.

...but Lady Laïkas was nowhere to be found, so Sir Darius tried to help the man as best as he could, invoking the guidance of St-Vorador. Although not as versed in the art of healing as the mother of the Lions, Darius would at least try his best. He put his hands on the old man's chest, mustering all the strength he could gather. It seemed pointless, the man was still dying...

"Where is she?! Man-at-arms! Find Mother Laïkas at all costs!"

the man had entered into the hold but imediately colapsed on the ground. has darius tried to heal the man. he found that troughtout his body was a meshwork of scars that almost covered him. he carried with him a long sword made of a black iron that feels very cold to the touch. the blade and it s owner have clearly seen a lot of battles.
the man look very sick. he seems feverish and his skin is clamy.

he then uther these words : " help me, help us all".

then he faints.

As he walked leisurely into the front courtyard, Roland could not help but hear Darius' call for Laikas.
With the huffing and puffing that always accompanied a hurried effort, he set to padding across the many paving stones of the hold.
Whenever he crossed someone, he would press them with the question "Where is Lady Laikas?!" - but not before the third kinsman did he get an answer.
"You will find Dame Laikas in the Chapel."

More quickly and with some certainty in his steps, Roland came upon the Chapel doors - massive, ornate, and riveted with castle-forged steel - and gently pushed them open. Inside, he spied Dame Laikas conversing with a few sisters of the Church. No doubt she was regaling them with choice passages of scripture - and Roland was not keen on interrupting her. However, a man's life was possibly on the line, so the squire walked up to Dame Laikas, bowed, and declared:
"Dame Laikas, Sir Darius has called for you at the gates. A Stranger seems to be suffering from a terrible weariness..."

At his forge near the gate, Guibourg - distracted away from his work by the commotion - noticed that Darius had descended from the watch tower to assist the stranger, quickly assisted by Deagon. He also saw that Roland was racing towards the church. This was good and well, quite consistent with a kind and generous nature, of which the Knight Captains would wholeheartedly approve but they had also given the order that a watch must be maintained at all times.  Seeing that the stranger was being tended to as much as could be until Lady Laikas was summoned, Guibourg moved to the stairway leading up to the guard post, which he briskly climbed.  
     He turned away from the scene and looked out, scanning beyond the plain, far out in the distance.
 

as guibourg stands on the watchtower he scans the countryside for any sign of trouble. but all seem calm.

he then starts looking to see if he can find the direction where the man came from , to help him refine his search effort.

he look to the forest on the norther part of lionshold and sees track leading from there. it is odd since there are no roads in that direction.

Cassandre who was taking some mystical images of the landscape with her magic black box saw Darius and Deagan trying to help the man at the door. She ran to get some water and some bandages to help them. She came back with all her stuff and asked Darius if she could help.

Le baron noir suivait de près l'agitation nouvelle, qui se passait dans le Lion's Hold. Ce genre de scénario n'était pas nouveaux, beaucoup d'étranger sont venus demander par le passé la puissante protection des seigneurs Lion. Fidèle à la tradition, Sir Hector et ses deux lieutenants ne fessaient pas exception à la règle. Sir Darius ... p-ê qu'il a oublié vus que son ascension est nouvelle ou bien, cela ne marchait peu-être pas.


- SIR DARIUS, s’écriât le baron.
-Avez-vous essayé vos pouvoir de Saint-Vorador sur cet homme ?

As I was finishing talking with the sisters about the banquet for winter court, I noticed Rolland wainting for me. I heard about some comotion outside but thought best to wait if my aid was required.

Rolland told me what was happening and we ran to the door.

the arrival of the stranger had caused a great commotion but the lions had reacted with the typical acts of compation expected of them.

laikas arrived at the gate and found the man being tended as best as he could but to no avail. some of his wounds seemed to be very fresh and cassandre was bandaging them to keep him from bleeding to death.

to the lions present she said: " give me some room i shall try to save him."

she laid her hand on the suffering man and called forth the power of her faith to cure the man. a strange feeling coursed through her, she felt has though she was trying to heal a man trapped in a mirror. she felt has though someone was forcefully preventing him from escaping.

the mans breathing calmed somewhat and laikas opened her eyes " this is as best as i can do. he s better but he will still die soon if we don t do something"

"Sir Xathor, Roland, would you kindly bring this man inside and find him a suitable room. Dame Cassandre, please keep an eye on this man until he comes to his senses."

If this man is beyond Dame Laïkas' powers, we need to hurry. Who knows what magic is at work here.

So basically, the power of the Unique doesn't work ? Well, I guess I'll try to contact Dillios, maybe someone in the college might have a lead on how to treat this man.

luckily deagon had invited some of his friends from the college to come to winters court. one of the delegates was a skilled doctor and came to see the man.

after examining the man he said "he is sufferring from the ozamian flu and i have the remedy with me."

he then prepared an infusion and gave it to drink.

the remedie was acting very fast and the man seemed to be getting better but suddenly his skin began to become more livid and boils appearred on his flesh. the doctor baffled said "now it look like he has the marienbourg plague i don t understand."

Deagon then looked at Auguste and whispered:

Collège Royal: 1
Inquisition: 0

Brotor still in is bedclothes passed by the room where the old man was being treated and ushered  a few words quietly to make sure lady Laikas was not disturbed.


"sup fgts"

brotor got there just in time to hear the doctor say:

"the mariebourg plague is highly infectious and i don t know the cure. but he showed completly diffrent symtoms a little while ago this is not normal."

Now worried by the stranger's magically augmented ailment, Roland immediately pulled the collar of his tunic over his nose and put on his gloves.
Hoping that the disease was not airborne, he motioned for the doctor's attention:
"We might have to limit the people exposed to him, and those who handled him might need to go through cleansing to avoid any taint of disease."

Roland then realized that he himself had helped to carry the man inside, and as such was under risk from more than just airborne infection.
He would need to be very careful with whatever he touched now.

- May I suggest that Roland, myself and Cassandre take care of the treatment for this man. We should not expose anymore lions to this illness.

The baron slowly move is head in the direction of is youngness lieutenant, with a genuine smile.

- Don't start that, is not a competition !!

Cassandre said that she would take care of the man but she replied: You better find something to help him and maybe everybody. I think that we have to find out where he came from...

"I'm gonna go scout around the hold" Brotor replied while scratching his groin. "I Haven't left this fortress since the snow came and i'm dying to stick the pointy end of my new sword into something else than tranning dummies"

Walking intro the courtyard covered in sweat with linens fresh draped over his shoulder after a hard training session, Bear Blackspear is shocked to see so many worried faces in Lionshold with Winter Court so near.

Lighting his pipe and blowing smoke-boats (a technique he had recently mastered in attempt to one-up Sir Darius), Bear walks through the crowd of Lions and tries to see what they're all staring at.

Late to the party as usual he says: "Hey guys, watcha lookin' at? Is it food? Can I eat it?"

Roland took a good look at the stranger's sword, that he had brought with the stranger when they had carried him in.
It was made of a dark iron, cold to the touch and had clearly been used in quite a few battles.
He ran his gloved hand along the edge, bumping over nicks and gouges in the blade.

There was no helping it now. If the Lions kept coming in and exposure to the stranger proved unavoidable, they would have to do their best to identify and treat the ailment. While he was wondering about the possible epidemic, Roland realized that the sword was colder than normal.

"Hmmm... Perhaps there is a curse on the stranger's blade? It feels strange to the touch."