Bring Forth the Huntsmen, 2
Story Emits
Another ship sails, this time an Ostrian ship hired by Lord Valerio Mazetti, with Prince Aiden Grayson and Cybele on board. They were headed north, and when they returned they came a little wiser than they left, with tales of the First Children who are now gone, well-warned and flying to safety, returning only if the danger to them can be stopped.
Meanwhile in the Gray Forest, Marquis Rymarr Deepwood's army has been busy. Today as they returned to the base camp, they told a tale of cultists trying for a sacrifice to the Horned God, one of the First Children about to be sacrificed, and perhaps most importantly, a prisoner escorted back by Lord Killian Ashford and delivered into the hands of the Inquisition.
The Inquisition, for their part, welcomes the prisoner with open arms, inviting him warmly into their House of Questions and inviting him to take a seat. Senior Confessor Faye is even there to sing to him to ease his worries. By the time the Master of Questions comes to share tea and cakes with him, everyone is in a relaxed and cheerful mood. A few hours later Laric and Faye emerge, looking quite satisfied. And if the first thing he does is to go look for a way to clean blood from his hands, it was probably just that Laric slipped on a knife while cutting those fine cakes.
A scouting force heads out from the Gray Forest base. There have been a lot of these of late - small groups, meant to find shav, to treat with them as possible, to stop any flocking to the Horned God's banner. Tonight, Arianna, Joslyn, Zenix, Olivia, Kaldur, Silas, and Faelan are headed into the Forest. When they return, it is with a single shav and tales of the hideous creatures that were going to eat the woman's dog (and possibly the scouting group too). They are bloody and battered but alive. And hopefully the very grateful woman who is now swearing dutifully to the Compact is willing to give them information on the movement of the Horned God's armies. And the dog? The dog lived.
The diplomatic expedition headed north out of Arx contains some of the best diplomatic talents in the Compact - Radient Selene Whisper, Princess Donella Redrain, Princess Valencia Velenosa, Duchess Lydia Nightgold, Eilonwy Thunderoak, Branwen Stormfeather, and Maeve Aisling along with Prince Darren Redrain went to negotiate with some of the larger tribes of shav, bringing them into the Compact and preventing them from aiding the enemy. The soldiers who witnessed the diplomatic endeavor report back that the ladies were the ones that did the talking, treating with the tribes with skill and kindness, and succeeding in their mission with grace and dignity. And a very, very bad example of a typical shav greeting. But it all worked out in the end, after all.