22 Late Night Plots

In a secluded room, there were several dozen people together, engaged in intense discussion. These were the nobles of the Central Region, the last remaining nobles in Graycastle. They had come for the coronation of Roland, and it was of course mandatory for all of the nobles to attend. This also ended up having the effect of gathering them all together. Now, the night after the coronation, they were talking with one another, speaking words that could perhaps be classified as treasonous.

"You all know what we must do", said Earl George Nery. "Roland is a threat to us all. While he lives, we will never be able to have a single moment of peace."

George took out several letters. "My informants in the Eastern Region have told me about what happened there. I am sure many of you have heard as well. Roland had the nobles killed, making up some reason about them being traitors. Then he had their lands seized. If nobles can be arrested so arbitrarily, then what security do we have? Sooner or later, he will come after us. You would have to be blind to not know what is happening. Roland is going to destroy the foundations of our kingdom. The feudal system that has lasted us all these years is going to disappear, just like that. We see before us a king with no respect for tradition, a tyrant."

"Roland has not done a thing to hide his malicious intentions", George continued. "His actions here in Neverwinter have been toward building a society without nobles. We can see where he is going with this. Even in his speech today he repeatedly praised the commoners and told them how power rests in their hands. It's blasphemous. And he says not a single word about us nobles. He treats us like trash that is no longer needed. If we do not oppose him then we will surely be doomed."

"It is quite unfortunate that Roland held his coronation in Neverwinter", said Guye Yurianne, Earl of Tririver. "We have no power here. If we were in King's City I am sure we could have acquired some agents to do our bidding. But we are here, in the center of his power. How do you expect to act against him here?"

"We will have to bide our time", said George. "We will have to lure him to our lands, where we can ambush him and take him captive. Roland has set himself up as an autocrat, uncaring for the powers of nobles. His state is founded entirely on himself, without him they are nothing. Do you really think those commoner rabble could win without him? Once Roland is gone, his army will have no nobles to lead them. Without nobles, there is no way they would be able to be organized."

Baron Huth spoke up. "But he is the king. To rebel against the king - such is a grave matter."

"Feudal obligations go both ways", replied Earl George. "We are indeed oathbound to serve the king, but he is in turn required to respect our rights. With the king so blatantly disregarding his obligations to us, we shall not be bound to him."

The other nobles agreed with this point.

"Furthermore, Roland has shown himself unfit to be a king", said Earl George. "He has made witches his queens. Everyone knows witches are sterile and cannot have children. Even if we agree that witches are not the tools of demons, this marriage is still unacceptable. If he has no heir, how can the stability of the nation be maintained. We can see that Roland is unfit to be king and must be removed."

"What of his achievements here in Neverwinter", Huth said. "We have all seen the city, it is something out of a dream. Roland seems to have done the impossible. Maybe he is right and he does know the way forward."

"Bah", spat Earl George. "I see it now, Roland is clearly working for the demons. That is the only way that he could have made all of this. The witches, they are the ones who corrupted him. There is no way that Roland would have agreed to marry witches otherwise. It is clear that Roland has become their pawn."

"But hasn't the church already said that the witches are innocent?", said Earl Delta. "They aren't related to the demons at all."

"Do you really believe that?", said Earl George. "The church has hunted witches for hundreds of years, how could they have been wrong all this time. It is inconceivable. There is a plot. Even I was fooled at first, but now I see the truth. The witches have taken over the church. That is the only explanation for this. The witches have infiltrated and suborned even the mighty church. The pope may be controlled by a witch, the pope may even be a witch!" Earl George continued expounding on his conspiracy theory. Ironically, he was actually correct.

The nobles were whipped into a frenzy and many of them declared their full support toward the cause. The plot began to take form. There were many suggestions on how to deal with Roland. Finally, they decided to invite Roland to Redwater city, where they could then ambush him with prepared knights. By trapping him in an enclosed space, there would be nowhere for him to run. Furthermore, the terrain would prevent Roland's soldiers from making use of the range of their guns, allowing the knights to defeat them. Then, they would take him hostage and watch as Roland's kingdom fell apart. It was a foolproof plan, they thought.

********************************************************

Two men were speaking to each other.

"Is it confirmed?", the first one asked.

"Yes", answered the second person. "It is as his majesty suspected. The remaining nobles have all gathered together tonight. However, we were unable to ascertain what precisely they talked about."

"It doesn't matter", said the first person. "This is all that we need to know. His majesty will be informed in the morning."