Midwinter, December 1022TA - The End.
Leo throws a wobbly, demanding to know where Luther is. Alexa admits that they are in Midwinter. Cursing, Leo grabs a camel and rides of to Midwinter. Esla then teleports the rest of the party and the monks to their old house in Norn Hill. After arriving Rowley and Ash announce that they plan to find and kill Amos Cressmar tonight. Aaron and Ladron agree to help. Bruce decides to escort the monks and the mothers to the Cathedral to find Luther and Amaia. As they leave the house and in the distance they see a large army surrounding the city. They recognise the banners of Hawkwind and the other 'rebel' lords. The city is under siege.
Bruce heads off to the cathedral with the monks and mothers in tow. When he enter, he sees the lower ranked priests watching Luther, Amaia and the high priestess Karess Stallen arguing in the middle of the room. Luther is trying to get the high priestess to intercede between the government and the rebels to negotiate a peace. Luther twinkles his eyes and Karess agrees, suggesting that they all get a couple of hours sleep and meet with the high council in the morning. Bruce tells Luther that the others plan to kill Amos. Luther is worried that this may disrupt his peace plans, but decides to sleep on it.
Meanwhile, Rowley casts a spell to try and locate a sleeping Amos somewhere in the city. He locates him the other side of the city, probably in his house. Ash, Esla, Rowley, Aaron and Ladron teleport to their house in Beaconsfield. There they find three Academical Society allies. Ash speaks to them and discovers that Hawkwinds army arrived two days ago and they spent the previous day bombarding the city. Hawkwind has called for the surrender of the city, but Amos Cressmar and Jensen Scarblade (head of the council of lords) have refused to step down.
The five go invisible and fly to Amos' house. Rowley uses Presence to detect who is in the house and they work out that Amos is asleep in a room with one other person. Aaron unlocks the window and Rowley scans for wards etc. He finds nearly 20 active spells. He casts several radius enhanced Dispel Essence spells at succeeds in disabling the spells. Before entering, Rowley suggests that they take Amos' head and deliver it to Hawkwind. The others agree.
Ladron bursts through the window seeing Amos and an unknown woman asleep in the bed. He attacks Amos. Ash follows him through. Ladron fails to kill him with his first attack, leaving him gasping for breath. The woman awakes and screams. Ash smacks her with his falchion and Aaron kills her with a thrown dagger. Ladron hits Amos again and fumbles. While Esla waits with a teleport, Aaron Jams the door, Ash and Ladron smack Amos and Rowley Ice Bolts him. As Amos' last breath rattles from his body, two robed men teleport into the room. Esla looses her Teleport and zips them away back to the house. Realising they forgot the head, Esla flies back to the house where on of Amos' men is trying to revive him. She teleports the body back to the house.
Ash suggests a celebration and opens a couple of bottles of wine. Rowley insists on delivering the head to Hawkwind while Ash wants to wait until morning. After a brief discussion, Rowley heads off to the cathedral to see what has happened to Luther. Luther is awoken by an acolyte and taken to Rowley. Rowley tells Luther that they are at the house in Beaconsfield. Luther tells him that they are all OK and are staying here overnight. Rowley says they will meet later and returns to the house.
There, they decide to head to the siege encampment and find Hawkwind. They are met in mid-flight and escorted weaponless to Hawkwind's pavilion. He seems genuinely pleased to see them alive. Ash presents him with Amos' head and tells them that they succeeded in their quest and that they found the flame and that they killed Frobisher. In the ensuing discussion Hawkwind tells them that Frobisher had set off on a spying mission four months ago and never returned, they presumed he had been captured or killed. Since your departure four months ago Hawkwind's army have crushed the government forces in a series of battles leading to the siege a few days ago. It seems that since Frobisher's disappearance, Hawkwind's fortunes have taken a turn for the better. Hawkwind suggests that they offer to parley with the city.
Next morning Luther, Bruce, Amaia, Rayne and Karess awake and go the the palace to meet the remaining members of the high council. Before they are able to discuss their actions, a page arrives telling Scarblade that Hawkwind has appeared at the gates under a flag of truce. They all meet outside the city gates. Hawkwind is accompanied by Ash, Esla, Rowley, Aaron, Ladron and the other seven rebel lords. The High Priestess Karess, Marshall, Admiral and Scarblade are joined by Bruce, Luther, Rayne and Amaia. Hawkwind presents Amos' head to the council, leaving Rayne in tears knowing that her ex-lover and Luther's father is dead. Hawkwind calls for their surrender. The Marshall, an old family man, waivers while Scarblade and the Admiral refuse. Luther steps forward, imploring the government to negotiate.
After negotiations, the government agrees to surrender. All members of the previous government will be pardoned. The Guild Council, Merchants Council and the High Council will be disbanded and power will lie within the hands of the Old Families. An accord is signed by all parties. The gates of the city are opened and Hawkwind and the rebel lords enter the city in victory. The join in the parade behind the lords, taking their rightful place in the celebrations
