Innsbruck

[Storyteller]

Dorthia gleefully stands up and glides toward Didaskalos, "may I see the correspondence?"

Didaskalos hands the letter and the slip of paper to Dorthia who begins to read it. As she slowly scans down the letter her face changes from glee to a completely horrified look of shock, "Duke Raetus is this true?"

[Raetus]

"Yes I believe so"

[Alfonso Valencia]

Alfonso turns to the Ard Rhi. "Your Grace, they have violated the Traditions of Domain and Destruction numerous times. They have to kill myself and my vassals on multiple occasions. In both Klagenfurt and Trent they have lost themselves to the beast and thrust upon us their powers of their blood."

[Storyteller]

Dorthia steps back dropping the letter back onto the table before looking at the scrap of paper.

"Your vassal is alive and is healing the plauge in Laibach," Dothia says, "he is repaying a debt owed by himself in accordance to prestation."

Didaskalos holds up his hand.

"I will ask this question once," he says, "do any of you know what happened to Father Balaam? Where any of you involved?"

[Jaak Alemayehu, Shango Kholo]

*grinds teeth*

"Despite my status as an Outsider to Gaul, until my alleigances become official, I may have some information as conveyed to me by the Lady Isis of Triest. However, where I come from we say Travellers Belong and therefore are beholden to the leige of the domain they are in.

This information is of a sensitive nature, as we are concerned due to both her Predecessors having been assassinated.

Lady Isis was travelling with Father B'Lam back from Laibach when they were beset upon by bandits. Two Children of Kagn were amongst them, though she did not recognize them.

Father B'Lam sacrificed himself to allow her escape. They suspected collusion from enemies within Gaul, though he had not identified with her who he suspected."

[Storyteller]

Didaskalos looks up to Jaak and nods, "so he was attacked by two Cainites?"

Didaskalos studies Jaak before speaking, "as you are aware the travelers obey the tenants, I ask of you the secrets must be kept when not around our kind obscure your maw. As I am the Magaji you shall keep no secret from me I ask were you involved in this attack?"

[Jaak Alemayehu, Shango Kholo]

*grinds teeth*

"The Secret Must Be Kept. I hide from mortals, and have two Servants who represent me when it is needed. The Power of Kagn grows within me, and soon I shall be able to have mortals see me as I choose.

No Secrets From The Magaji. I had entered Gaul, first meeting the Chronicler who directed me to Klagenfurt's Tournament. I had no prior interactions with any of your vassals, nor was I involved with the destruction of your Herald.

You are my Magaji, and while I roam your lands my alleigance and loyalty is to you foremost."

[Storyteller]

"As you clearly see I respect the Guruhi and what they mean to the land and understand the tenants that bind you," Didaskalos says, "for the time until you find a lord or continue your journey I offer my protection."

[Jaak Alemayehu, Shango Kholo]

*bows slightly, hand in fist*

"My actions are yours to command. After I serve my commitments to Klagenfurt, Lady Isis has requested me to defend Triest as her General."

[Raetus]

"I believe we have nothing else to contribute to this matter perhaps I may leave, the nights are short and the ride back to Trent is a long one."

[Alfonso Valencia]

"Agreed my Duke."

[Storyteller]

"You have failed to answer my questions before you leave," Didaskalos says, "do any of you know what happened to Father Balaam? Were any of you involved?"

Didaskalos stands and holds up the letter and begins to read it aloud for everyone to hear,

"My Lord Ard Rhi,

It is with heavy heart that I write this letter. My Baron Alfonso has confessed to me that he was the one who ended Father Balam. He had done this without my knowledge and even against my express order, making him forsworn. He did not mention, nor implicate any others, however I am uncertain he did it entirely alone.
I offer myself to your worthy judgement. I will not tell him of my confession to you, nor anyone else, save my sister. I shall be travelling to your court shortly with him under the ruse of addressing wrongs done against him.
Should anything happen to me, I beg of you, suspect Alfonso. Protect my sister as would protect me, for she is the only one I can trust in this moment. She will know it all.

Your Loyal Duke
Raetus"

Didaskalos looks toward Alfonso, "You come to my court claiming victim hood? Your Duke charges you with the destruction of a unifying force within my domain. What do you have to say for yourself?"

[Alfonso Valencia]

Alfonso's expression does not change. "That I am not responsible your Grace, upon my oath as a Baron and my Lasombra blood I call this letter a lie. Perhaps Duke Raetus fears my ascent and wishes me gone before I am a threat, Elder Narses has already invested a great amount of responsibility into me. Perhaps he is responsible for the Herald's destruction and now needs a pasty to throw under the wagon. It is known that the judgement was levied against himself, he is the one that cause to kill Baalam not I.

Also, consider this. I am a Knight, and it is known that I walk the Road of Honorable Accord. You know what this means. I am not capable of such independent action for to act in such a fashion would cause me to lose myself to the Beast in relatively short order. I require order, laws, a hierarchy just to function. The idea that I would act outside of that structure is simply ludicrous.

I did not kill Father Baalam and certainly did not confess to Duke Raetus that I did  I will however find the person responsible and render them onto your judgement."

(OOC expending Titled)

[Storyteller]

Didaskalos looks at Reatus expecting a response.

[Raetus]

Raetus listens to the Barons words and pauses for moment.

"You are indeed titled and therefore have the right to rebuff my words therefore the Ard Rhi who must consider the weight of the two claims. In truth I suspected that your admission was indeed the truth as you shared with me a distinct dislike of the Doge and therefore would likely be motivated to carry through with this plan. However I did hold some hope that this was in fact a construct in planted into your mind by one of our enemies; indeed this solution may still be true. That being said this solution does not explain this accusation that I lie, unless you in turn believe that this conversation was in fact implanted in my mind. This proposition is too convoluted to be rationally considered, therefore we must assume if I am telling the truth that you are simply attempting to cover this crime with a lie. 

Therefore let us consider the three possible solutions. 

I have perpetrated this crime and now attempt to accuse you hoping to remove two potential rivals for the price of one.  Therefore it was in fact I that stood upon that road with sword in hand and mask on face with an accomplice to slaughter the Doge. I can only assume you would presume that I did not use my powers evidently as I feared that someone might observe my transformation and mark the assailant as a Tzimsce.  I am however confused by two key problems why wear a mask for I am a Tzimsce and capable of looking and sounding like many without the benefit of mask ( as Raetus speaks his visage and voice  changes to copy various members of the court).  Secondly I have grown up in a hunter gather society which had little use for swords in fact I am afraid I have never acquired the skill at all. In truth Father Balam might have found me a rather poor brigand if I was constrained to these rather restrictive boundaries. Lastly who is that accomplice surely I would have turned to you Baron my sworn vassal who so shared my hatred of this man but then again why did I not mask your face also?

Next we consider the possibility that someone else has performed this crime and I plan to take advantage of this and destroy my rising star vassal.  I bank upon the crime remaining concealed as the true criminal will remain quiet hoping that the Baron's death will lay rest suspicions.  Therefore I create this lie and then lead you to the Ard Rhi hoping that he will do my dirty work for me destroying the rising star.  This is a possible solution and certainly makes a little more sense than the first, however it does have a few problems.  The Ard Rhi is a Lasombra and I am fully aware capable of extracting the truth with domination therefore this is risky and if discovered immediately implicates myself and puts me at the Ard Rhi's disposal for interrogation.  Would it not be easier to kill you and then accuse the ashes left behind or simply wait and see if the rising star falls to the holy war. I have waited several centuries once to defeat the Roman legionnaires at my door do you think that waiting a year was much?

The third option is well unfortunately easy to imagine.   

You talk about roads restricting you but we all know that men fall by the wayside sometimes. Perfection is an elusive objective and one must experiment to come closer to this objective. Perhaps you experimented with the idea of calling another master, and neglected your duty to the first?