A bit concerned

Does anyone know where Caelvan and Khala went? I know there were a few guys looking for a magic vault and the two of them might have followed them accross the rift. If anyone knows where they are it would be appreciated.

Caelvan took Khala on a scouting mission, though it is his discretion to express what about.

Has anyone heard from them since??
I tried to get into contact with Caelvan and no one's seen him since then, apparently. Does anyone know where my cousin is??? He came back from the scouting mission, aye?

-Kin Killulah

Caelvan usually spends his time at his Grove, or in Selendrias. And I know he has been taking Khala with him.

Kin,

Peace, please. Caelvan's a survivor. He will be fine, and we'll hear if he needs rescue in the event he is not well. Feel free to drop by my house in Kaladonia if ye need to talk. I know well that feeling of concern for family.

-Father Donald MacFhionnlaigh

Forgive my intrusion. I’m afraid your friends were captured as spies while attempting to infiltrate the camp of one of my associates. Unfortunate that they choose to sneak around, thankfully no one was hurt. They are safe for the time being, but will be detained. I can assure you they will be afforded every comfort of a prisoner of war.

That being said, things are always…. Negotiable. I’d be willing to arrange for the release of these two, along with twenty one other prisoners in trade for the sum of 5,000 gold pieces. If you find this arrangement agreeable, and wish to send a contingent to facilitate the trade, I will send an envoy to bring you to a meeting. They will be waiting in the Dragon’s Claw Inn at 10:45 AM on Saturday the 14th.

Ser Osric Von Kerr,
Knight of the Kormyrian Empire

To my fellow Travancians,

Very disconcerting.
This should be taken up as a matter of war, since prisoners of war are concerned.
Proper authorities in the chain of command must be notified in order to seek a just solution.

Yours in Light,

Father Ephrem,

The safety of the people of Kormyre and her allies are of the utmost importance to me in this time of war.
We will see them returned safely to their families and friends.


Ser Osric,

Your terms have been heard.

Ahhh Aleister you don't know how to haggle,

Khala is in exile.
Kelvin is a knight of selandrias.

Have the elves pay the druids price, and as for Khala... she doesn't fall in your privy.

2500 gold is a much better price for those other prisoners.
So Kerry? Does this sound fair?

Forgive my intrusion, however I was led to believe that this conflict was merely a Civil War. Do you, Aleister, intend on dragging Selandrias's forces into a direct conflict with the Empire? As it stands, they have merely engaged with allies of the Empire to protect an already upstanding trade agreement with Travance. Nothing more, nothing less.

As an addendum Aleister, you yourself have, on many an occasion, informed the populace, as well as the nobility, that we Travancians do NOT negotiate with terrorist under ANY circumstance.

This IS a form of terrorism, and as such, all due diligence should be exhausted.

Allow me to start,
The Hells is a terrorist?

Now I will educate.
In chivalric warfare it is proper conduct to ransom back nobility in the event of their capture instead of jamming a rondel through their visor. I am pleased to see that a few knights of Kormyre, even those turned traitor, are still observing these codes of conduct. With these formalities however, it behooves the Empire to produce proof of life before any interested parties can get together a fair sum in return for Selendrian Asset.

Furthermore it is good that Moostrav has corrected this knight in the actual standing status of these individuals in our forces. I'd be interested to hear Ser Von Kerr's possible addendum to these negotiations with this news as we move forward in good faith.

I'm not entirely shocked to say Moostrav isn't wrong. Though I'd like to know how we intend on getting them back. Also seriously, no one ever listens.

Osic Kurry,
Actually thinking about it, a fair price would really be 2600 gold. We're not trying to undercut you here. Just a fair appraisal.

Mister Moostrav,
Firstly-- Caelvan. His name is Caelvan.
Secondly-- kindly shut your everloving gob. Unless you're personally throwin' down the gold to free any one of the of folks currently prisoners of war, one of them being my cousin, then leave it to the folks doin the negotiating.

THIRDLY.
Mister Inquisitor makes a fine point-- proof of life would be finely appreciated at this point in time.

Kindly, Kin K.

There are no fair appraisals nor fair prices for the worth of someone's life. Were this to come down to a determination and exchange of gold coins, let there be an appraisal of shame to follow.

~Nalick DeMarche

Kin,
We could, but will not. Just trying to save these idiots a copper. Do you think selandrias won't shill out 2400 gold for your cousin? If he's their knight we'd expect them to do so immediately... but if you like slinging mud, big man, please keep throwing, it makes us feel oh so warm inside.

Isaiah,
We're still having lunch tomorrow yes?

Nalick,
We have no shame. It's what they are worth in comparison. Coins.

Post Script.
It is odd that a prisoner exchange isn't being explored, but I suppose wars and backup plans to lost wars can prove fairly expensive.

One would hope there is a common interest to be found in these negotiations that has more long term growth for all parties then a handful of coins. The Kingdom may even have use for wayward knights who choose to take the right course of action at the right time.

Post Post Script
Nalick. Men's lives do have costs. I have a chart. I can show you the chart sometime.

Signed

Moostrav, yes we are still on for lunch tomorrow at our usual place.

We have some of their people trapped in Anoch. As in standard war protocol perhaps trade those that are trapped in exchange for our prisoners of war. As the war is still on going a prisoner exchange is more fitting then profiteering by a single knight. This would be the proper etiquette, my response well Aliester is well aware of what I would do in this situation.

Robert, it surprises me none you bear such a chart, but do show it at your leisure.


~Nalick

Nalick,
One has to be actually sane to feel shame. Let us pity Moostrav instead.

Moostrav,
We don't feel family are things to be spoken ill of, or bartered. Kin's fury is understandable, and I feel it just as keenly.

Kin,
You should know well the reputation of my sept and Clan. This is part of war as the Sassenachs wage it. There will be a time for fury. I promise it. Come to my place and have a dram, please, and we shall talk.

-Father Donald MacFhionnlaigh

Magistrate,
Could we be in agreement about how to proceed? Recognizing a knight who is "wayward' to the Duke's cause might prove beneficial to us - and demoralizing to the enemy.

Yours,

Ephrem,

Might also backfire and galvanize the gits. I'd file that away for later use. Might work for Gaaldron, but this the head of the way too Sauer Kraut Empire has mind control.

-Father MacFhionnlaigh

Considering our prisoners and theirs, would it be more beneficial to us to trade for gold or prisoners? The Knight did put two wayward Travancians along with the Twenty One others at 5,000 gold, not a small sum by any means, and that was by his measuring of their worth, not ours. We are also unaware of whether he made this measurement before or after learning of the "status" of both Caelvan and Khala as Knight and Outlaw, respectively. What would the worth of our own prisoners be? I am not stating this for the sake of measuring more human lives by their weight in gold, but in earnest to contemplate what military value our own prisoners are worth? A gaggle of peasants, in a time of war, have less value to our own forces than spies, soldiers, etc. I know decorum insists on a prisoner trade, I would only suggest we reassess our own needs with regards to our coffers and our prisoners. So far Sir Von Kerr has only requested gold. Perhaps it is in our best interest to give him what he asks for?

With all due respect,

Ahh it's no surprise Django understands.
Firstly we don't need the outlaw. A sentence is worth nothing if you fall back on it, you're not fit to stand for anything if you can't stand for your own decisions. Kelvan is worth the price, that we stated, out of convenience in the least, the nice part is we get someone else to front the gold.

Then there are those dear common folk the most of you don't truly care about, asides from Ephrem. 2600 gold is about how much they combined will produce in taxes within their lifetime assuming they are farmers.

The average life of the common breed is around sixty years or so,
let us assume them reasonably all twenty to make up for their age differences,
that gives them around thirty more years of work,
making around five gold a year, that is quite literally their worth...

Now he speaks in actualities, we're saying you should listen

or at least the lot of you shouldn't follow in the example of that degenerate drunk,
this is not a conversation on pride or family,

it's simply easier to pay men sometimes, now again... we're not... but if this were to be a deal you explore, that's what you should pay.
Though roberts proposal is fairly interesting, to have kurry pay him. Could prove some merit.
Either way, you're probably going to solve this with violence,
except for the drunk who will fein violence then claim merit.

Kin he's being a bit harsh, but honestly boy, just go tell the elves, stop associating with that drunken "Embasitor" ultimately here we're, and subsequently my other is, right.

Hahahah also, don't glance over the glommite symbiote, he is also not wrong; in this puzzle that could have been solved had you people respected Mazo's concerns over the whereabouts of an ally. Do you not have eyes everywhere? We do.

Django,
"Only requesting" implies there lies nothing beyond a transfer of an amount of coin for those prisoners' safe return: no philosophical meaning in the ask; no broader ripple effect by returning a subject of the Kingdom to their family, especially in a time of war and political turmoil. You say it may be in our best interest to hand over the coin, but I need to ask one question.

What do you believe to be our interests?

~Nalick

This is absurd. Have none of you participated in a war before?

The Warlord makes the decision here.

Exchange prisoners for prisoners if you deem them worth the trade. Not sure if we have something worth Caelvan as a prisoner. He is gonna be the only one worth gold. Outlaws are worth nothing, and we don't know who else they have. If we have a knight or two locked up that's a simple trade.

If not, pay up the coin. For plenty of Travancians that will barely make a dent in their purse, let alone treasuries.

Seth is correct. The Warlord makes the decision.
Making a decision is easy; the difficult part is collecting all the information and having the experience to make a good decision. A good warlord certainly listens to the counsel of those with knowledge and experience added to their own, and then to discern well between wisdom and folly (and all shades between). All be it, in war some decisions must be made quickly - at the drop of a coin sometimes.
I trust our military leaders in discerning well from the full spectrum presented here.
Yours in Light,

If Ser Osric Von Kerr truly does have prisoners of our people, we are getting them back. That is not a question, and never will be so long as I have anything to say about it. It is not a matter of what coin they may or may not be worth. I, personally, have a variety of reasons to want them all back, not the least of which is they are ours and I will not see them abandoned when such a simple possible method to retrieve them has been presented to us.

For those of you who wish less philosophical or "good" reasons, consider this: these are all people who were either spying on or have now been inside enemy territory for a long time. We don't know what information they may have gleaned before or during their capture, and that information may be incredibly useful to the war as a whole.

As some of you have already pointed out, it's already very strange that he's asking for money and not a prisoner exchange, or isn't just killing the prisoners outright. If I were him I'd demand a trade for one of our own knights and put political pressure on us concerning Selendrias to go through with it.

And let's not gloss over the most interesting piece of the puzzle here: this does seem a wayward knight, or at least not acting in our enemy's best interests. How is he doing that when we know our enemy has been mentally influencing the nobles on his side? I'd gladly pay 5000g of Warlord Demirosz's money - which he has graciously offered up for this situation - for the answer to that question, let alone the safe retrieval of our own people.

The Council has been discussing several of the possible permutations of this scenario, and we are still in the information-gathering stage. Ser Nesterin is taking point on this. You will hear more about specifics from him once we have more information. If you have any additional information or sources of such, please reach out to him with them. We understand that it may take some time to check things out, and it does not seem as if Ser Von Kerr is going to suddenly change his mind, so be thorough ((OOG: PM Justin Whitmore for any additional actions concerning this)).


Post-Script to Cyan specifically:

Anoch is its own pile of disaster right now. I do not believe it is currently possible to offer the enemy's soldiers that are currently holed up in there in exchange. It's more of a hostage situation than anything else. I obviously have some personal stake in safeguarding The Library for my Goddess, and have some ideas on that front. I think you'll like at least one of them. We can speak further at the next Feast.