[Fenrir and Reinward have been tasked with staging a coup in the city of Westgate to stop the evil vampire lord the Night King from doing the same. Just recently Fenrir gave all his captured enemies over to the Night Parade.]
DAY 546 (Shieldmeet)(August) cont ...
Back at home, in the evening Fenrir gave everyone that still worked at the house a 5gp bonus for putting up with all the recent events. Since that was 25 people, the total cost was 125 gold.
DAY 547 (1st Eleint)(September)
There was a big festival in Westgate today. It was an end of summer celebration local to the Dragoncoast area.
In the morning Fenrir woke up wondering what could be done "pseudo-legally" to bring the king back. He wasn't sure and thought he would have to speak to one of the judges.
He contented himself with hunting out Yntar Shieldblazon and asking a few questions.
'Do you bards all talk to each other?' he opened.
'Of course,' said Shieldblazon.
'Cool, cool. How much would it cost to start putting out the word, in songs and stuff about how awesome it would be to have a king again?'
Shieldblazon went as white as a sheet. He leaned in. 'Listen! I've a fair idea of what you are up to - and I don't want my head on a spike thank you very much!'
'What have you heard?' asked Fenrir.
'Enough to know that yours schemes may well not succeed!'
'How about for 20 gold?' asked Fenrir (who had recently been giving out bribes of 50,000 gold!) Shieldblazon stood up. 'Lovely seeing you again - byeeee!!'
Oh well, thought Fenrir. Don't I have a spy master or something, what was his name again? He went to the Watch Barracks to find him. He was looking for Reogeg Eysmile, who you may remember was not a spy master as such, but the leader of the Watch rogues ("The Fingers") and also in charge of 'internal affairs'. Fenrir had previously been warned by Dresdelle (his old boss) not to go anywhere near Eysmile.
Eysmile had an office in the barracks, but his secretary said he wasn't in today.
'Huh, well let him know I'm looking for him,' said Fenrir.
Later in the day Fenrir and Reinward went to the Temple of Lathander. This was the largest temple in Westgate and it seemed like a good idea to start getting the churches on side.
It is known as the "Morningstar Haven" and the current head cleric is Lady Sunrise Tylanna of the Seventh Rose. The temple is also home to 24 other clerics of Lathander.
Lady Sunrise was very happy to be visited by the Crownbearer of Ilmater.
'To what do we owe this honour?' she asked.
They requested a meeting in private and Reinward said;
'We are here to discuss, I am here unofficially... erm... envoy... as the chosen one of Ilmater. I want a high level meeting to discuss a temporary alliance to combat the vampire threat to the city...'
'And the corruption inherent in a power structure that has been infiltrated by the undead,' added Fenrir.
'Well,' she said. 'The Church of Ilmater and Lathander are already allies. If there is anything we can do to help the rebuilding of your Temple...'
'The biggest threat is the vampires...' Reinward went on to say.
'Yes, but we are...'
'Don't interrupt me!' cried Reinward most rudely.
Lady Sunrise gave Reinward a very dark look then said, 'I apologise, please continue.'
Reinward had already forgotten what he was saying and sat in silence.
'We do fight vampires,' said Lady Sunrise. 'We do everything in our power to fight evil in the city. What more do you suggest?'
'Ahhh... I think we should get a grand alliance of all the Temples together. Unite and fight!' declared Reinward.
'Yes,' she agreed. 'That sounds like a wonderful idea. If you are organising that, then you can rely on us.'
Reinward had been counting on someone else to do all the work for that though and said;
'But, you are the most powerful church in the city, surely...'
Perhaps Lady Sunrise had already had dealings with crack-pot prophets in the past and was used to dealing with them.
'Who better than the Crownbearer of Ilmater to guide us? To form the lynch-pin of a grand alliance?'
Reinward gave up. I'm not sure what he had been trying to achieve exactly, it was not a bad idea, but would have required a great deal of diplomacy, a skill that he was lacking in. In addition there was precious little time left for such an ambitious scheme. They needed to get straight to the point and start signing more people up for the coup, which was possibly what Fenrir realised when he stepped in to the negotiations.
'Can I rely on your discretion?' he asked.
'Yes of course...'
He went on to tell her, in broad strokes, the threat to the city from the Night Masks and the Night King. She was aware of the Night King and his dangers.
Fenrir mentioned Sharkchum and the Eldreth Veluuthra. She didn't know about them. She didn't know how Reinward had got the crown either and Fenrir thought about telling her but stopped when Reinward made a throat cutting gesture.
'What do you think about kings?' blurted out Reinward.
'I, well, it depends on the king I suppose,' she replied.
At this point Reinward became a little tongue-tied, talking about prophecies and kings.
Fenrir stepped in. 'You, ah, must excuse the Chosen One, sometimes the pure goodness of Ilmater can be a little overwhelming. I think what he is trying to say is that, based on his divine sources that an "event" will happen soon in the city and we want to be sure that you are an ally when that time comes. Things have gotten out of hand in Westgate. *sigh* I have tried to bring back honour, to bring back integrity, but alas it is a losing battle. Unless... the prophesied event comes to happen. And in that situation we would want your church and followers to be on the side of Ilmater and his representative, the Chosen One.'
(Rollo notes here: Honour and Integrity is a bit rich coming from Fenrir, unless he counts kidnapping people, putting them in barrels and then selling them to creatures of nightmare! And also I should say, only Fenrir and Reinward refer to Reinward as the Chosen One, his official title was the Crownbearer. I admit there is a reference to the "chosen one" in the prophecy and some fanatical followers refer to him as thus, but as I say, it was not "official" although I can see why they would try and use it, it has a more powerful ring to it after all.)
'What is this prophesied event?' asked Lady Sunrise.
'From what we can interpret, its the corruption in the city being ended by the return of divine royalty to Westgate.'
Lady Sunrise appeared to be baffled, or at a loss as to how to respond to such a bold statement.
'To put it plainly my lady,' said Fenrir. 'Vampires are planning to usurp the council, and install the Night King as king of Westgate. We want to prevent that by installing our own good and very heavily prophesied king.'
Fenrir is a supremely charming fellow and he turned it all in Lady Sunrise's direction now. They talked for much longer and a deal was thrashed out.
She would support the coup in return for:
1. Reversing the outlawing of the worship of Kelemvor.
2. Ban the worship of Cyric and Shar.
'Can you bring in more support?' asked Reinward.
She agreed to bring in 50 paladins and "some clerics" from Cormyr and be prepared to fight in their cause for a donation to the Lathander of 100,000 gold. They could be sent for now and arrive in a matter of days with that level of funding behind them.
Lady Sunrise was becoming animated and anxious. 'Can this be real?' she mused. 'Am I really plotting against the city? Should I not pause and consider all the things that may go wrong?'
Fenrir smoothed things over, calming raw nerves. 'Time is of the essence my lady! The sooner we strike, the greater the chance of success!'
'Yes,' she agreed. 'If it's any help, may I suggest you put together a list of other people that are worth bribing... I mean making donations to?'
'Excellent suggestion,' nodded Fenrir. 'And also perhaps you could aim your sermons in the direction of kings and that sort of thing? Paint them in a good light.'
Other things were discussed and here Reinward proved useful, in his usual scatter-shot way, asking more questions about the city mages and the city treasury. (The city treasury was underneath the Merchant Tower.)
Once they were finished at the Morningstar Haven they returned to the Watch Barracks but found that Eysmile was still not there. The streets were bustling with the Summer Festival, with crowds of people dancing and drinking. The market and the docks were the most busy, with crowds heading into that area from all over the city.
They didn't want to join the celebration though, thinking it would be too dangerous to be out at night, what with all the vampires out to get them.
Later in the evening though, they went and paid an unannounced visit to the house of Jenner Fields, a female half-orc and also considered to be the cleverest, wisest and most objective judge in Westgate.
While Reinward got stuck into her dry sherry, Fenrir asked about the 'vampire laws' that were being introduced and how to change the laws to allow worship of Kelemvor and the outlawing of Cyric and Shar.
Normally laws like that took a year or two to filter through the courts, but it could be sped up by greasing the wheels. 2000 gold would have the laws pushed to the front of the queue and passed within days.
'I can make that happen,' she said with a knowing look on her pale green face.
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