The ides of March

[Raetus]

Raetus sits upon his stony throne letters are sent to each of vassels, delivered by men who appear as if the devil himself walks behind him.

[Alfonso Valencia]

The large dark Templar is the first to arrive, and he offers his liege a graceful bow before taking his seat.

"Greetings, your grace. My knights should be along shortly, and they will no doubt be able to add to this conversation but I wish to begin if I may be so bold."

"First, business. I have met with the Legate, and I have learned much. With Morrigan's aid believe I may have a way to predict the movements of the traitor Nicodemus should her studies bear fruit. Simply put, he is collecting holy artifacts and profaning them. The ritual he will perform with these items and the skull will enable him to tear open a portal to the pit. He already has a piece of the true cross and a lock of Saint John the Baptist's hair. If Morrigan can further decipher the ritual, we may be able to predict what he still needs and set up and ambush."

"Secondly, the personal matters. This blatant respect from Libach cannot stand. We take them in, feed them, heal them, and we receive nothing but insults and disrespect in return. This must be answered!" Alfonso slams his fist into the wall, and the stone crumples beneath it with so little resistance that it appears to be paper. "We would be better off without that misbegotten court of dog-fucking mongrels, but we cannot disregard the Ard Rhi so casually and deliver unto them the deaths they so deserve. But still, they need to be cowed. My former Knight Nunsio suggested marshaling our respective forces and putting their villages and farms to the sword. If you feel it just, we can turn their formerly-fertile lands into vast plains of ash-covered corpses."

"Lastly, this Malkavian, Balaam claims to be Doge. And yet, I cannot recall him swearing fealty to the Ard Rhi in front the Court, nor can I recall him having the required vassals sworn to him. So this lowborn cur, this lunatic, has the FUCKING GALL TO CLAIM TO BE ANYTHING MORE THAN THE LOW CLAN WORM THAT HE IS!" Alfonso shivers visibly as waves of anger radiate from him. "He forgets himself, thinks he can challenge the conduct of a High Clan Kindred in public! He calls you liar when he possess not the status to do so even if he was Doge!"

"He has a convent outside Triest. Upon your word I will every dark aspect of my being upon its inhabitants.  I will rape his nuns with sword and paint the walls with their vitae.  After I am done there will be naught left but the weeping and gnashing of teeth."

"This court must be reminded of why you are worthy of Prince, of the fear you command. They are bold, we must show them how misplaced their bravery truly is."

[Morrigan]

Morrigan walks in, again appearing to be deep in study. "Sir, do please calm yourself before you bring the walls down on us...again. I will be contacting the Chamberlain asking for advise on the matter of the so called Doge. As for Laibach, they are a wealthy domain and can afford a larger contingent than we can muster. Not to mention that if we move now, we would only incur the wrath of the other domains, leading to war. Let the matter rest for now, we have nothing but time."

[Raetus]

"I am interested to hear from the entire retinue of Trent before I make decision upon where we proceed. Perhaps our knights will grace us with there presence soon and we can then discuss the matter fully. We may also discuss the matter of domain duties for the proceeding year."

[Alfonso Valencia]

"Klagenfurt holds no love for Laibach, and they were reported quite disgusted with their conduct at court. If approached I believe that they would aid such an endeavour. The men that I and your new Knight command with be sufficient to drown their Kine in an Ocean of Blood, but combined with the Germanic hordes that Klagenfurt possess, well all the wealth in the world would not save them. Nunsio could dress it up as banditry or some dispute between mortal rulers, I do not wish to speak entirely for him but last we spoke he had informed me that he had acquired some manner of influence over these things."

(OOC combined we'd have 7 dots of military with just us two)

"With enough blood I could summon enough darkness to swallow entire villages. Let their people cower fearfully in their houses as the creatures of darkness reap their bloody harvest."

"Morrigan, I respect your intelligence and acumen, but if we do not answer this we will appear weak."

"In any case, the Knights should be along shortly."

[Raetus]

"One speak for war one for diplomacy and patience. Both have there value and disadvantage."

"While we wait perhaps we will discuss the first matter which involve neither. The Legate Baron are you sure that this personage is a Cainite? He is renowned for his close proximity to the Pope which I presume means he has gone to Rome. A place awash with true faith if the rumors are true. Indeed the Legate himself demonstrated signs of manifestation by scorching some with his touch."  

[Alfonso Valencia]

Alfonso nods. "As you wish, your grace."

"The man is Holy, that much I will grant. His personage is mortal I believe, but I sense the puppet strings of my Clan in his movements. He made no remark when he saw right through my Obtenebration at the gather, which leads me to believe that he is at least familiar with our kind."

"At any rate, he was able to tell me a few useful things. Morrigan mentioned that the journal we acquired from the church contained within it a ritual. As I said earlier, Peter of Capua was able to confirm that two holy artifacts were missing from notable churches in the area. I believe that if Morrigan can decipher what he still needs, we'll know where he'll be going next."

"I also broached the topic of the Brotherhood of the True Cross with him. Apparently its leader, Brother Eadric had been know to have strayed into some possibly heretical dogma in his later years. If my suspicions are correct, then he may have been influenced by infernalism. It may be worth looking into him as well if you get stuck Morrigan. As always, you will have the aid of my knight. He is learned in the ways of the Infernal and should be a great help in your research."

[Raetus]

Did the legate speak of the crossbow assault that attacked the stables the night of the gathering?

Note: All can plainly see one of the bolts resting upon the arm of Raetus' throne.

[Alfonso Valencia]

"No, by the time I steered the conversation that way he discovered that the lock of John the Baptist's hair had been stolen and fell into a deep shock."

(OOC meant to post this a bit earlier but forgot)

"As a side note, in case the idiotic charges that Balaam brought up make it to the Ard Rhi, here are my thoughts on said matters. Number one, at the time, there was no master of the Domain and thus no domain. The second tradition requires that one announce one's self when entering a Domain. In this particular case, who should I have announced myself too? What if one resident permitted my entry and another refused? How would that be resolved? Quite simply, with a master Domain cannot be upheld, thus it cannot be violated. I did the only thing that could have been done when I flew my banners for all Kindred to see. Not once was I asked to leave or explain myself, not that I needed too. I inflicted no damage on the city, nor were the mortals truly aware of the forces behind the soldiers or their purpose. We were the Dukedom best equipped to deal with the threat of Nicodemus, and we took every step necessary to move towards that goal. No traditions were violated in the process."

"Even if, and this is a rather large if, the Ard Rhi rules in favor of a Low-Clan Madman that pretends at rulership my Crusade will wipe the slate clean."

[Raetus]

"Morrigan regardless of the Legate's nature we will require his knowledge of the Christian faith. Cooperate with this man to discover the next relic to be targeted but try to ascertain in the meanwhile his agenda."

[Alfonso Valencia]

(OOC I've informed the others they should get on post, should hopefully hear from them today

Edit:  Got Nunzio registered, he should say his 2c soon but I believe he's pro fuck Liabach)

[Holy Man Healh]

Healh treads in slowly, wiping a bit of blood from the side of his mouth. "Most grevace appoligies for my delay. Travel from the monastery was by foot, and I've had to deal with all of the tending of day to day." The Salubri bows, nodding to Morrigan and Raetus, before sitting beside Alfonso. "What has my delay caused me to miss? If I might ask..." He smiles softly, looking that his three superiors, before setting a bottle of wine on the table. "A gift, the monastery's finest."

[Alfonso Valencia]

"We were just discussing the twin matters of Laibach's insult and the Traitor Nicodemus. The former can wait until Nuzio and Symeon grace us with their presence, but now that you're here we can move forward on the latter."

"I will tell you the short version. Basically, there are two avenues of knowledge that may lead us to the Infernalist. The first is a little more barren. I had some belief that the Lay Brotherhood that constructed the Church in Trieste where he laid his head may have been turned to the worship of the profane. There stated creed of worshiping Jesus rather than God as a supreme being smacked of a Kindred misrepresented himself as a god, and I feared that they may have been part of his cult. Unfortunately, most of them were rounded up and executed by the Papal Legate not long ago. So, we may need to work with Klagenfurt's Cappodocian if we want answers there. Of course, it is possible that there are others out there. Looking into their literature or history may prove fruitful as well."

"The second path is a bit more complicated. Nicodemus has been traveling Europe stealing genuine Christian artifacts from places of Holiness. He already as a piece of the True Cross and a lock of John the Baptist's hair, as well as something from the Principality of Capua. From her study of the journal, Morrigan was expertly able to determine that it contained a ritual. I have spoken to the Legate, and I believe that this ritual is meant to open a portal to the pit with the aid of profaned artifacts."

"Fortunately, this means that if we can determine what he still needs from the contents of the Journal then we may be able to find the bastard or set an ambush."

"Knight Healh, your service to me shall be to aid Baroness Morrigan in her research."

[Holy Man Healh]

"Of course, my lord, I will aid her however I can." Healh starts thinking. "We can not let this traitorus demon worshiper be free. And with the help of the legate, We might be able to put an end to him." Healh grins wickedly. "And put an end to the other traitors in the crossfire. Get the legate and the defiler fighting and liabach might get caught in between..."

[Symeon of Jerusalem]

*Makes his way into the cave and bows his head* My apologies my lord, how may i serve you?