Ballad of the Pigeon God #31: Mage Trap

The Five Day Festival of Yule - Chateau d'Echelon, Barony of Eding, Kingdom of Crosedes
The Village of Eding celebrated the appointment of cleric and pigeon lover Echelon as the new Baron.  Better yet, Eding celebrated their land no longer being some petty estate overseen by some non-hereditary lord knight appointed by the King of Crosedes.

Eding was to be the Baronial seat of power which included many smaller estates, such as the one owned by Christiana Caldwell, but also the halfling villages of Elmshire, Lowdale, and Welldale. The village was just picking itself back up after numerous calamities, but Echelon and his friends had been there to help everyone. Hope (and a good selection of mulled wines) inspired the villages over the five day Yule that brighter days might be around the corner. 

The Grand Wizard Cesmir, Headmage of the Hydincall Lyceum and Minister of the State (and distant cousin to the King) Nobquin Silvershield, had named a recent graduate,  Mellandria, to act as official Baronial scribe.

Mellandria, paid internships ain't what they used to be...

She was immediately attacked "romantically" by Talis Makolin, bard and self-proclaimed lover extraordinaire, and when that failed he teamed up with a strange wizard  Benverho to exchange some spells between the three of them.  Talis was not please by the trades being struck, but Mellandria and the stranger had no issues.

As part of the documentation presented to him by the King, Echelon understood that he himself needed to venture to the Royal Noble Notarary near Pojunct to have all paperwork sealed by the Grey Sag Poipon.

5 UnDec 1071- On the road to the Estate of Poipon, East of Pojunct,  Kingdom of Crosedes
Echelon:  Peculair cleric of an eastern god of the sea and expert on raising pigeons.  He has a charmed wolf, Pathfinder, and fell into the estate by the sheer talents of his hirelings. Recently named Baron of Eding

Mellandria:  young wizard fresh from the Magic University in Hydincall.  Named Baronial Scribe to Echelon

Ashe:  highly skilled elven ranger,
Talis Makolin, bard and self-proclaimed lover extraordinaire

Norm Dingleberry:   Dim-witted dwarf. failed mushroom farmer turned adventurer.  Speaks in an outrageous French accent.

The trip to Pojunct was almost as long as the journey to Hydincall, but with poorer roads and six inches of snow.  The trip itself was  uneventful a young woman darted in front of the horses.  The men in the party ogled her and quickly offered to escort her to Poipon's estate, where she could get proper medical treatment.  The young woman, Ariel, accepted the kind gesture, and struck up a friendly conversation with Mellandria.  

They arrived at Poipon's estate to encounter a group conducting a ritual in the study to obtain a scrying carpet.  Poipon, a nutty old wizard if ever there was, had other guests with him, 

Mellandria:  "... a fat boy, a paranoid man in armor and twin slimy wizards. I'm starting to like the baron and his friends a lot more.....What could go wrong?"

6 UnDec 1071- The Estate of Poipon, Kingdom of Crosedes
News quickly spread the estate that Poipon had died overnight, without officially sealing Echelon's paperwork for Baron.  He died in locked room, with seemingly no way in, at midnight, with no witnesses. 

Mellandria: "We're faced with the choice of leaving or solving this thing. Guess which we choose?"

7 UnDec 1071- The Estate of Poipon, Kingdom of Crosedes
Halfway through the third day at the estate and just about everyone who escorted Echelon wanted to give up their investigation, travel to Hydincall, and bribe government official to notarize the baronial papers in less than two months.  However Ashe, Ariel, and Mellandria were too stubborn to quit. 

They eventually figure out the "two slimy wizards as the assassins.  They were in the hire of rivals to the Baroness Laurencia of Poitou.  The scrying carpet was being constructed for her by Poipon.  With no magistrate or sheriff nearby, they strung the wizards up a tree and left them there to suffer by the elements.  Poipon's servant affixed the royal seal to Echelon's papers (He had been doing it for Poipon for twenty years.  No one ever noticed).  

Mellandria: "All the way home, Norm was smiling and babbling about being a Count (Mercadia paperwork... or Rowand) Who understand dwarfs anyway? So now Echelon's officially Baron, everyone is happy, but I (Mellandria) haven't gotten paid. I 'd better sit him down and discuss this soon before he spends the entire budget on Pigeon Chow or something."

DM Notes: Getting things notarized in the modern world is a pain in the butt, so why make a fantasy world any different?  The short murder mystery notwithstanding, the main focus of the session was to have our PCs interact with one another, with mixed results.  It's so inconsequential, that in fact, I never determined the Baroness of Poipon's enemies.  Heck I hadn't even named her until I wrote this post (a few weeks ago).  

Ariel will become a new regular as others drop out, some by actions (Babette is still pregnant) others by eventually inaction/ semi-retirement.

And our feebleminded French dwarf Norm and the paperwork?   As Poipon's servant left the office, Norm snuck in and rummaged around the paperwork, until be produced credentials naming him the Count of Roward (a real place) and Duke of Mercadia (an imaginary place).   I don't think he ever confronted the real Count of Roward about this, but it was mentioned often to peasants and the hoi polloi.

Edit x2:  With the discovery of Echelon's journal and the official papers of state, I realized in my ret-con editing I may subconsciously added some duplicates.  While the Grand Wizard Cesmir is listed in the original paperwork, I also made Cesmir the name of the first King of Crosedes. Considering I also called King Nevin IV King George  (with the name crossed out and corrected) isn't too much of a surprise.  

I'm still going through the paperwork, but Nobquin Silvershield does not appear in the proper journal.  The extended Silvershield family should have some estates around Hydincall, and I do have Nobquin's Keep on the border with Markovia within the County of Ferrand, so that part of the Silvershields (Nobquin's father) are responsible for the original ancestral Fereasean claim.  

"Mage Trap" came from Pyramid Magazine #26

NEXT #32 - Baronial Justice!