House du Brierüst is the first to initiate a payment to the Shademarsh colony, of 10,000 Regals, while also sending 10,000 Regals to the State to assist in plague control. du Brierüsts leadership is meanwhile also used to send forth an attempt by the Thorn Company to intercept the Vampire carriage carrying the Artifact Coraveau to Regalia. Eleonora du Kirsch, Mae Draylas and Qalhata Sarnai use the many resources of the Thorn Company to track down the caravan, marking the most likely route, and laying in wait near the small hamlet of Girbundenstein in the Genevaud Cantons. Surrounded by measows and flanked by snow-topped mountains, the temperature high up in the mountains near Girbundenstein was frosty, given that Mae Draylas had to resort to her fire magic to keep the group warm. As the dew melted, the Vampire wagon arrived, speeding down the only dirt road that ran through the small hamlet where the locals had yet to wake for a morning of thrashing the harvest. Perhaps a bit obviously so, the carriage was speeding at breakneck speed, while it was followed by a murder of ravens, a surefire sign Eleonora thought to presume they had tracked down the artifact. With a quick order, the trio got on their own carriage, and gave the signal to intercept along with the other riders, mostly Thorn Company men outfitted by du Brierüst. As soon as the horses galloped in action, the Vampire carriage was made aware, and increased its speed, while Arwen’elda Tordove climbed next to the driver from the carriage to keep an eye on her chasers. A race ensued while the carriage sped into the mountains, the horses driven by some sort of Vampiric Magic to speed ahead of the chasers. As both groups climbed, the temperature dropped, and soon enough, both were ploughing through a thin sliver of snow on a narrow path next to a deep valley. This path was no doubt used by the shepherds to move their flocks to new grazing lands, and was not intended to host a break-neck speed chase through the mountains. Arwen’elda Tordove used her magic to turn into the Infernus form, spewing magma forth in streams behind the carriage as it took dangerous turns and even some air-time with little regard for the stability of the wagon. The streams of magma caused a number of horses to break the chase, fearful of the hot liquid, while the carriage carrying Eleonora and the others continued to speed along in hot pursuit. Mae Draylas was held up by the others as she started pelting the carriage and Arwen'elda with her fire magic, both exchanging fire and magma back and forth for nearly an hour. The carriage race eventually made its way into the Zillerhof valley, leading just out of the Genevaud Cantons and into Drachenburg's Dragenthal realm. The carts were both badly damaged, creaking on all sides, but somehow held together as if the living embodiment of the drive on both sides to acquire the artifact. Just as the carriage and the riders crossed the border however, they were met with a number of Drachenwald riders bearing the Drachenburg house colors, brandishing sword against both the Vampire carriage and the chasers, led by Harald von Drachenburg. The Vampire carriage continued to dash through the forest, this time flanked by Vampires dashing in the high dark treetops above, which descended on the Drachenburg riders and the chasers led by Eleonora alike, while the Drachenburg riders attacked the chasers also, essentially producing a chaotic three-way battle. They continued riding on until this struggle reached the Höhewald gap, a cavernous ravine that stretched somewhere deep in the forest, with a single bridge covering it. By this time, the carriage Arwen'elda was riding had been reduced to a smoldering heap of wood, where she was barely holding onto the driver's seat along with the driver, while Eleonora's carriage had to be abandoned along with Mae who was exhausted from casting magic, while Qalhata and Eleonora continued on the horses. The Drachenburg chasers had meanwhile broken off, consumed in a struggle with Vampires further in the forest, leaving only these two left to chase the limping wagon. As the bridge came into view however, Arwen'elda and the driver jumped onto the lead horses and cut the cart, each driving in an opposite direction, yet close enough so both chasers could tell they were definitely not carrying the weapon. In fact, the ravens continued to fly with the carriage now out of control and speeding for the cliff side. Sure enough, the carriage drove off the cliff side, giving a very unceremonious orchestra of cracks and wooden splinters, eventually coming to a stop at the base. After about an hour or so, Mae finally arrived to the scene, whose immunity to fire was used to scout the wreckage. Unfortunately, she confirmed her suspicion: While there was a crate, and while the ravens were still present, the moment she opened the crate, the ravens disappeared with a purple smoke, and the crate turned out to be an illusion. They had been had, it turned out the Vampires had used their subterfuge to send out 3 different carriages, they only caught the one that was too obvious. Somewhere else, The Nameless rode his carriage to the Crown River and managed to smuggle aboard one of the ferry vessels to Regalia, safely delivering Coraveau to the Abyssal Pact, while Arwen also made it home safely eventually. In other political news, House Delmotte paid 10,000 regals to attempt to recover the local economy after the storms, able to do so to some degree. The rest of their efforts were involved in the Rakkai candidacy in the Hellatian City states, more so to produce dirt on all candidates save for the one backed by House Typhonus. This ended up netting Delmotte some money, but also definitely securing the victory for the Typhonus puppet to the local city state, making a considerable boost to the political influence of House Typhonus in the Hellatian City States. The Shademarsh Colony was set to work to help cure the influenza outbreak in Lorhauser, receiving the funds from the State and House du Brierüst to do so. Their work was made incredibly difficult however, due to the activities of House Peirgarten. House Peirgarten closed their docks, making export products from abroad no longer welcome, closing the tide of potential medical merchandise from abroad, while also shutting down the commerce of the local craftsmen. While House Peirgarten offered a financial buffer from their own income, no Regals were actually attributed, and as such, the economic stability of the Grand Revainate of Lorhauser started decreasing. Furthermore, The Duchess instructed her Duke Consort Rodrigo Peirgarten to lead her Chancellor's Contingent of Tenpenny troops to deal with the minor riots that had occurred recently, using force where necessary in the villages where they occurred. Naturally, military force or presence would not easily be tolerated there, and while the majority of them complied, some villages resisted, resulting in violence and deaths, which remained an unavoidable side effect of using military force on one's own subjects and force compliance. Because of the violence and deaths, the soldiers presence caused movement of citizens that the state could not control, and movement of soldiers that contravened the quarantine put in place by the Shademarsh Colony and their medical attempts to remedy the situation. The people escaping these villages and hopping the border to neighboring provinces essentially spread the influenza from the Venetinez region to Lorhauser itself and even Valentino, accelerated by the groups of people fleeing the violence from their villages, and soldiers moving around in erratic patterns to follow their commander from village to village, assisting in the spread, thus nullifying the efforts of the State and the Shademarsh colony to contain the disease in Venetinez, albeit with the silver lining that shutting down the ports stopped the merchants of Venetinez from spreading the disease elsewhere. Along with the 50,000 extra Regals used to pump into the disease combating, further spreading of the disease from Latinarra and Ragulia was prevented, at least for now. House Typhonus meanwhile published a public denuciation of House Viduggla, citing: "Typhonus makes a public damnation on the Secretary for the War, for both docking soldiers pay at the front, and forcing high amounts of conscription rates. House Typhonus promises to cover Typhonus liege-lord soldiers pay within a week if the State fails to do so. The Duke Regent claims Viduggla's high conscription rates "Bled the Entire Realm of Coin and Souls alike". The Duke Regent also Promises to "bring down an iron fist upon this northerne weasel", a name well deserved for the Viduggla." House Yaotl received 20,000 Regals from the state, which is pocketed, while 20,000 of their own is used to expand the docks and export capacity of the Hadarian merchants. The immediate result here is that the Hadarian commerce economy improves, over the back of common cough, gout and poultice medication, while the merchants avoid influenza medical products, due to the relative volatility of trade in these resources, favoring more stable continuous sales. House Black gives 10,000 Regals to the state, while also investigating the Void Cult within their lands. The investigation yields results, but nothing of noteworthy interest: The Void Cult merely exists to spread its own influence and convert locals to the Void Cult. There is no grand scheme beyond the intention to sacrifice people to the Void and attempt to get people infested with possessions. The State grants another 20,000 to House Tyrannian, which immediately uses to more closely investigate the source of the influenza. Eventually, the source is tracked, but it seemed a rather pointless venture in hindsight. The merchants responsible for bringing the influenza to Regalia were Qadir merchants from Al Alus, one of the Farah'deen states. The Influenza occurs infrequently there, and the investigators settle that there was no direct intent, or grand scheme behind this infection, and that the spreading of the Influenza was merely a random occurrence of a Qadir merchant who made port in Latinarra first to pick up coal, and then brought it to Port Ouronne to offload for the local mint and gold smithies. The locals in Al-Alus also report influenza among their local populace, so the investigation is concluded with the conclusion of no ill-intent, and the whole situation merely being a byproduct of accidental lack of hygienic care of that one Qadir merchant. Finally, Viduggla engages in a dialogue with the faith lost principled people, which turns out to be a huge failure. Only a few people ever show up to watch what they amount to cheap parlor tricks, done by only a few people who barely have a regal to spend for their travel or assistance, eventually turning into a semi-comical duo who aren't even able to reach a fraction of the people affected by the event. Furthermore, Viduggla grants complete amnesty to the philosopher from Kinwry, earning the immediate damnation of the Church of the High Pass from Gallovia, who were guaranteed to execute the philosopher. The Philosopher turns out to decrease the political stability in Norrland, but increase the financial stability on account of his radical theories that contravene faith but improve finances. In Alracusa, the Vicii Republic, publications of Obscuranism cause riots and sentiments of Jacobinistic growth in a province that is already relatively liberat due to its republican tendencies. In Montferme, part of the Pays Sud, Skilled Privateers are captured, belonging to a different band than the ones House Tyrannian captured, but with equal skill. The Local Viscount has yet postponed doing anything about them, instead locking them up in prison. In Morvinia, the Duchy of Thessaly, local curates of the Etosian Church begin preaching heresy against the Etosian church, proclaiming that the right to declare herons should be derived from the people, not from the clergy, as it is the people who should define what models of worship and virtue they should strive for collectively as the Union of Unionism. In Certi-Marsala, the market value of Dye soars rapidly due to a shortage in Regalia, tripling the value overnight (since no players control any provinces with Dye, this has no effect besides boosting the economy of Coivra and Vicii). In Bragalacao, the capital of the Coivra Duchy, the Creeds have been translated by a wayward translator and curate into Daendroquin. The act is immediately denounced by the local church and the curates who are not excommunicated by the Synod, but the local Creed copies spread rapidly among the common people who have never read the holy scripture in Daendroquin, irregardless of whether the translation is actually accurate. In Ostyr, the capital of the Ostyr Baron League, a Divine Maiden of War is discovered among the local populace, proclaiming she will be the shield maiden to lead the Ostyrian people to great victory in war, and reclaim their respectable nature in sight of the Norrland Confederacy.
