Hell Hath No Fury....

[Dhugal]

Walls summoned from the earth in single night and Myrken Town entirely
surrounded by them?

Fidelius shook his head in a mixture of awe and disapproval after young
Mathias had finished his report. The novice who had played “Candy
Sweetumsâ€

[Dhugal]

Early the next morning, Fidelius sent out Mathias and a few
other novices to see what the state of Myrken Town was today.
They were back in three hours after talking with some of the
nearby farmers and a quick survey of the new walls.

A rather redfaced Mathias had to admit that his earlier report
of how far the magical walls extended had been a bit overestimated.
Fidelius sat back in his chair and listened until the boy finished talking.

“So the Remedium and the tavern are still outside the Wall. Well, it’s
nice to know there are limits to Cinnabar’s plans. But we should be
prepared to render assistance to any wounded if fighting starts.â€

[Dhugal]

Discussions between the novices and monks and some of their farming
neighbors take interesting turns. Mostly it was the farmers who did the
talking although the novices through in a comment or two. After all,
they were Myrken born and bred just as much as anyone and they
had their own views on all this.


“Ain’t right, doin’ tha’ wi’out a word t’ nae oone about it aforehand.â€

[Euphemia]

Elspeth had some time to herself, some time to spend as she might wish to. There had been mention of certain performances in talks with her few 'neighbors', none of whom had much physical proximity to her home. And so she'd stood and watched through their spiel, stood and watched with a faint, sorrowful frown. Perhaps people would grow used to the wall, eventually. Perhaps they'd come to even give thanks for it, should it shield them from dangers as it was meant. It was only at the play's end that she finds herself meandering towards stage and players as they prepare to leave. "Excuse me," she offers softly, with a timid but tender smile. "I've never quite seen entertainment of this sort before. I'm curious why you put on performances of this nature. Do you think you might spare a bit of time?"

[Dhugal]

As it happens, it’s the amiable Mathias once again that looks up at the
lady stranger. “Hullo there. New here are you?â€

[Euphemia]

"New yes, I've only been in town for some weeks. And you'll have to forgive me, I've led something of a.. sheltered existence up until now, so I am trying to expand my knowledge of local culture and the arts. I have never borne witness to a 'farce' before, no. I am of the understanding that other types of plays such as the 'drama' or 'comedy' are well received. Is it so with the 'farce' as well? And why is that you perform this particular type of performance, and not another? Or perhaps you do, and I have merely not been about to see it?"

[Dhugal]

“Fair enough question. Well, farce, satire, parodies, they ARE comedies,
do you see? As for tragedies, folk in Myrken have enough real tragedy in
their lives already without seeing a fictional one.â€

[Euphemia]

"I suppose you have a point there. Many of the people I've met have warned me that Myrken Wood can be a somewhat terrible and frightening place, but I confess I have not seen such myself. I am quite enjoying my time here, so far."

She considers his tapped head with an expression of curious puzzlement. "It gets them thinking? Perhaps I am simply not familiar with the current events in this reason, but I fear much of your performance simply went right over my head. Perhaps you might explain to me what I ought to be thinking about?"

[Dhugal]

“With all due respect, Mistress, you’re newly come to Myrken Wood,
so most of it would go over your head.â€

[Euphemia]

She listens to him, ever so attentively, a properly concerned frown coming to her lips. "Ah, the Councilors? I've never met a one, so I wouldn't know anything of them. Are they really so bad as that? I've heard something about the Governors that came before the current, and they seemed.. much worse, to me at least." She offers the wall a speculative glance. "That seems like a very.. wallish wall. What history is it that he should have been aware of, if you don't mind the asking. And have you heard anything about the builder? I don't much about Governor.. Cinnamon, was it? But I haven't heard any rumors attributing him with fantastic magikal powers."

[Dhugal]

Mathias shakes his head. “As far as I know, the Governor has no
magical gifts. No one saw those Walls go up. He probably brought in
some mage from outside, and I don’t know of any in the area that might
help do something like that.â€

[Euphemia]

"No one at all? Hm. And no, I hadn't heard of those things. I've been a bit too busy to immerse myself in local culture. An evil thing in the ground, and a giant sword as well? Curious. Most curious." She turns to regard the wall again, gloved fingers rubbing lightly at her chin. "The earth at the base isn't disturbed. There's no real evidence that it actually arose from the ground, but I see your point."

Back to the man, then, and she smiles. "I am only an ignorant girl from places far away, but it seems to me that it'd be impossible to judge whether or not the cost of it was worth the protection. On some days this might be true, on others the protection might be more than worth what was paid. As a true answer to this is impossible to determine, it seems a flawed argument at best, but I can understand that problems might arise."

"Ah. Perhaps he ought to have told the Council, yes. But didn't you say it was full of buffons or men with their own agendas? It seems somewhat pointless to tell them, if that was so. Perhaps he didn't tell anyone because of that army..? I've heard there's one to the north of us, on Myrken soil, threatening to invade. I can't guess at his reasons, but perhaps he was worried that they would occupy Myrken. A wall seems somewhat useless if the thing you're using it to protect against is on the inside, no? I also confess myself somewhat confused. The governor doing nothing is bad.. but the governor trying to resolve a crisis is also bad? What would you have done differently, in his place?"

"And.. ah.. I don't know what it will do? It does seem like the most efficient way to protect the greatest amount of people possible. And I don't know how this will change everything and everyone?" She shrugs with some befuddlement. "That's why I'm asking questions. How is it that this will destroy Myrken? If Myrken is to be my home, then I might suggest that it *is* my problem after all. No apologies are necessary, but a few more explanations might nicely clear things up."

[Dhugal]

“Two wrongs don’t make a right, neh? Just once, just once, I’d like to
see the people who run this town think something through.â€

[Lent]

There were a great many interesting people viewing plays as of late, weren't there?

In this case, it was a balding, red-faced man. He wore nice clothes and a stern look. He did not laugh even once, not even at at numpties and whatever else they wished to do with Treadwell, a man that he did not like much at all. No, cold, hard eyes gazed through the players for the whole performance. To his great credit, he only seemed openly upset once or twice.

At the end, he rose and walked off, mumbling something about always wanting to invest in some farmland. It was time to arrange a meeting with the Governor.

[Euphemia]

She laughs. "If I had something better to do, perhaps I would be doing it? I enjoy talking with people and your stories not only contain much useful information but are interesting besides."

"I cannot comment on how much or how little they think things through." A faint shrug from her, then a gesture towards the wall. "However I do not imagine that something like this would come about as the product of a whim. Uhm.. as far as armies are concerned, isn't Myrken forming one of their own? I thought I saw a poster for it last week or some such. Also, it seems it would a bad time to find out someone was hostile when their military force was occupying your city. There have been rumors, and if the Duke was here on a diplomatic mission did he really need to bring all those soldiers with him? I've heard he has fearsome war-sorcerers besides, the ones that burned the good men of Derry down."

"Ahh.. move them out? By.. hm.. by paying them? I can't imagine the Constabulary or the Government would allow those with better means to just *take* something or remove someone by *force*. And perhaps the Governor has a means in mind of mitigating that effect of the wall? Who can say. Well, I mean besides the Governor himself and whatever money hungry mage he's pushing coins at. As for those outside the walls. Ah.. they have somewhere safe to run, if there's trouble? Unless they prefer death. ..do they prefer death?" She gives him a searching, curious look. "Do those outside the wall feel like it's a barrier to them, even with those impressively large gates? Or is it because they feel like it means the people in Myrkentown are too good for them, even though there's plenty of people here without much in the way of food or yearly revenue? Or is it something else I'm just not seeing?"

"I hesitate to point this out, but having seen several maps of this area of the world, I would say Myrken was already a strategic point. We sit in the middle, and could serve as a crossroads to any other point in the area. Perhaps this is why the Duke has brought his army to come have a bit of tea and crumpets. As for the people *inside* the wall being killed, perhaps the governor thought of that? I mean if he has some coin-hound of a magister out building walls, maybe this magister can build other walls to protect against.. mmm.. destructive balls of flame and the like."

"..ah.. you've got people that are in need of work, so defending the walls provides them a job? Are jobs bad here? That would be most troubling. I've no idea what the government coffers look like, so perhaps taxes will need to be raised. Perhaps someone ought to ask the Governor about that. I've no idea *what* he thinks about, mind, so perhaps he *has* put very little contemplation into the issue. Or perhaps he's thought about it far more than you or I. Who can say? ...besides the Governor."