Fort Weyr

The frequent rain that spring has brought with it might have been fun for any dragons with a fondness for playing in the mud, but the whole affair became distinctly less fun for everyone at Fort when, early morning on day 9, month 3, the weather’s onslaught resulted in the collapse of the earthslide occupying the southwest of the bowl. Thankfully, nobody was hurt, though a number of the Weyr’s herd lost their lives in the incident.

With the earthslide having collapsed, a sizeable portion of Fort’s bowl lies open, with debris scattered down the slope to the weyr and through the bowl itself. At present, the lake is little more than muddy soup and its shore will definitely need cleaning-up in the near future. Word has it that candidates are being set to clean-up duty in place of some of their usual chores, alongside riders and anyone with a spare hour willing to donate their time. As some semblance of order is restored, the Weyrleaders are seeking assistance from Smiths and the Minecraft, looking to the Halls for options. Will the bowl wall be left as is? Dammed up? Or might there now be access to something worth exploring?

Though the bowl itself has altered quite dramatically, images for Between remain notably unaltered, being that the star stones and tooth crag that serve so often as reference points for travel to Fort are still intact. Any riders using a broader image are being advised to stick to using one of the two aforementioned features for now.

After days of hearing testimonies and deliberations, Astivan, Heir of Fort Hold, along with his mother, Astrella, pronounced their sentences upon all parties involved in the conspiracies which had gripped Fort Hold over the past several months. Before a general convocation of all those involved, Astivan relayed the decisions reached by himself and his mother.

• Esraval of Fort Hold, Eidee of Ruatha River and Rivellan of Fort Sea Hold were convicted of conspiracy. Esraval and Eidee were sentenced to exile, however, Rivellan, having been fingered as the instigator behind the conspiracy as well as the murder of Lord Savilan of Fort Hold and the attempted murder of Astivan himself, was sentenced to be executed immediately.
• Leoren of Four Sons was convicted of conspiracy to murder and attempted murder and sentenced to exile. Rumor has it Astivan himself favored execution, however his mother convinced him to agree to exile, perhaps out of respect for Astivan’s betrothed, Leoren’s sister, Fiorella.
• Jaeyi, Journeywoman Baker, was found innocent of the charges of treason for which she was imprisoned and given a complete, unconditional pardon by Astivan and Astrella, who also beseeched the Craft to accept the pardon and allow the baker to retain her rank and position at Fort Hold. It was made known at that time that the journeywoman would be taking a leave of absence for an unspecified amount of time to recover from her recent incarceration.
• Isobel of Fort Hold, wife of Esraval, was also found innocent of her husband’s machinations, and both she and her son were offered asylum at Fort Hold.
• A number of Fort Guards were also convicted of conspiracy and raiding, and were sentenced to be exiled. Those responsible for the murder of the crew of the ‘Scudder’ were sentenced to execution.

Though the trials and sentencing helped to clear up much of the confusion surrounding Fort Hold, some questions still remain. What will Isobel do with herself and her son with her husband exiled for life? What will happen between Astivan and Fiorella now that her brother is to be exiled for attempting to murder her betrothed? These questions and others may yet be answered in the months to come, as the grim task of picking up the pieces falls upon young Astivan’s shoulders.

The rumors have been pointing to it happening for a little while and on the 14th of month 12, the rumors have turned to reality. Lord Esraval was detained first thing this morning, put under arrest by his own guards no less and then marched over to the Harper Hall for questioning. News from the hall points to a nasty web of lies, deceit and collaboration between the former Steward and Holder Rivellan of Fort Sea. As a result, both men are now being kept in lockup, replacing jailbird-now-flown, Jaeyi.

With these detentions, Astivan as Heir, takes control of Fort Hold again with the support of Lady Astrella. Word has it that the young acting Lord will pronounce judgment on the conspirators and that he is already moving to ‘clean house’ at Fort Hold and amongst the guard corps presently terrorizing Fort’s roads and small holds.

On the 10th of month 12, Rivellan was put under house arrest, with a guard contingent from Fort Hold on watch and riders from the Weyr put on special watch to keep the Holder of Fort Sea from escaping his own hold. The rumor as to why? Apparently, he’s behind the heir’s recent bought of ‘illness’ which wasn’t illness at all, but poison. The trail of evidence also implicates Leoren of Four Sons, Fiorella’s older brother. To add insult to injury one might say, three days later, the traitor Jaeyi vanished into thin air from her cell at the Hold, amidst a rising tide of resentment and frustration over increasing crackdowns by Fort guards in the entire region to ‘keep everyone safe’.

It might take a few days to notice, but after the evening of the 22nd of month 11, Fiorella, the Weyrleader’s foster-daughter starts turning up around the Weyr again and seems to be staying with the Weyrleader or in a room in the dorms, depending on whom you ask. Harpers are often more frequent visitors at Fort and several groups of riders have been dispatched to fulfill special duties, keeping track of guards on the roads, while others have been set to keep a close watch on the port at Fort Sea. What’s that all about? Aren’t the troubles with that hold long over? Either way you slice it, it can’t be pleasant to be hanging out in the late autumn weather as the cold closes in around the more northern stretches of Fort Weyr’s coverage area.

It might take a few days to notice, but after the evening of the 22nd of month 11, Fiorella, the Weyrleader’s foster-daughter starts turning up around the Weyr again and seems to be staying with the Weyrleader or in a room in the dorms, depending on whom you ask. Harpers are often more frequent visitors at Fort and several groups of riders have been dispatched to fulfill special duties, keeping track of guards on the roads, while others have been set to keep a close watch on the port at Fort Sea. What’s that all about? Aren’t the troubles with that hold long over? Either way you slice it, it can’t be pleasant to be hanging out in the late autumn weather as the cold closes in around the more northern stretches of Fort Weyr’s coverage area.

It might take a few days before the news makes it all the way around the entire Weyr, but it does eventually make it. Apparently on day 12 of month 11, Jaeyi’s firelizard Sugar turned up at the Weyr squawking like crazy and trying to get anyone’s attention that he could. Efforts to communicate with the lizard were frustrating, but eventually yielded the idea that the Baker was in some kind of trouble. Reaching out to contacts at the Hold would quickly reveal that the Baker was caught lifting important Hold papers out of Esraval’s desk, a crime of treason which has seen her sent to the Fort Hold lockup with a strictly controlled visitor list.

The Weyrleader has been beyond grim-faced since and his usual cheer is utterly lacking though he continues to carry out his duties without fail.

It could be seen as rather convenient that just a few days before Fort’s major mid-summer gather, a group of minor holders from around Fort came to the Hold, not just for the gather, but to petition Lord-incumbent Astivan to re-negotiate their tithing percentages to the Weyr, citing the decreasing size of the dragonrider population in the interval and other reasons. Astivan, however, refused their proposals and rumors are running wild that he was either drunk, or seemingly high on something during the meeting, per the injudicious words of some of the staff.

That could be why in the days that followed, a formal request from a large number of Fort’s small holders was put to Conclave to replace Astivan with the much more rational and capable-seeming Lord Warder. After all, didn’t he handle the raiders once and for all? He’s a hero!

The upshot all comes to a head just after mid-summer with the request endorsed by Giarnon of Ruatha, Rivellan of Fort Sea, Trevor of Gar and Leoren of Four sons. The verdict from the emergency Conclave session? A clear majority in favor of Esraval, though several notable Holders were against – not unanimous by any stretch of the means, but enough for the motion to pass.

Day 8, month 13, turn 21 of the 10th Interval
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Just when things were starting to look up with more and more raiders getting rounded up, raids on the decline due to both Fortian efforts and the increasingly cold and snowy winter conditions in the northern part of Fort’s coverage area, tragedy strikes again. After a brief bout of stomach flu, Lord Savilan seems to have developed appendicitis and the surgery to remove his appendix in time failed. All of Fort Hold is in mourning for the reserved, but capable Lord. Amidst such sorrow however, questions swirl: who will take up the mantle of leadership at Fort Hold? Her Lady? Her Steward? Or will Astivan step up with a Warder to help and guide him?

While the Weyrleaders haven’t been saying much about actual plans to deal with Vanissa’s abduction, reassurances have been tendered that the matter is being handled, including the demands from the ransom letter received at the Weyr just a few days after the weyrling went missing.

Search parties continue to go out on a regular basis every day, combing the areas on the maps highlighted by Dashaya and other Peyton allies. Recently, all searchers have been instructed to focus on one area in particular and to look for movement in any clearings within those hills.

One thing that the Weyrleaders have made clear is that there will be no negotiating with raiders and with the deadline for meeting the demands in the note passing, many might be wondering what will happen to the missing weyrling or even how the Weyrleader, her own brother, could let her hang out to dry like that.