After the attack on the crater on the Vorokhoi side of the border and the repeated failures of her troops and allies, Mother Coranthe resorts to skullduggery to be rid of the PC's. She dispatches a messenger from Korastown to Mekranov, delivering a message to Lord Teodor, the Earl's Chancellor and stand-in. The letter details the ways in which the warriors of House Caratillus have been crossing the border and attacking settlements. They apparently blame the Empire for their own inability to keep the peace on their side of the border, or perhaps wish to stir up trouble for their own arcane reasons. Perhaps it is their priest that drives their fanaticism. She implies that if the Chancellor wishes to maintain peace with the Empire, that he had better resolve the problem before she does. While the Earl has no great affection for House Caratillus, he is generally a brave and honorable man, and would not toss the family to the dogs.
This is not the case with Lord Teodor. He is a venal and cowardly sort and a cousin to the lords of Entarod. This plus fear of the Empire will lead him to scheme to remove Caratillus. He cannot simply do it by fiat, he has neither the means nor the authority. He can, however, have the PC's arrested and brought to the castle. As they are the closest to New Osterling, the matter will be handed off to Lord Pult, who also has ties to Entarod. If Caratillus were to lose New Ostering, it would probably go to Pult. So Lord Teodor and Lord Pult will scheme to arrange for an end to House Caratillus.
Brother Geth will be staying in the castle at Mekranov as a "guest" to ensure that the matter is addressed. He and Mother Coranthe have "Sending Stones,", so he makes a nightly report of the progression of things.
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Brother Augustus and Laurana go to Mekranov in order to testify against Brother Geth, Mother Coranthe, and the Vorokhoi plot. They will have an exciting court scene, and will see that Lord Teodor is leaning towards cooperating with the Empire.
The Vorokhoi claim to have no knowledge of the slavers, saying that it is "not their responsibility to police the eastern side of the river, nor is it their fault that Caratillus cannot police their own lands." The Vorokhoi delegation will state that Caratillus has raided across the border countless times, and that the Empire has ignored the raids in the interests of peace. Once they realized who was directing the raids, the ghouls were indeed dispatched to quietly send a message. Now that Caratillus raiders have attacked a fortification and holy site, risking the personage of no less than a personal confidante of the Emperor himself, the Empire must demand that the rebels be dealt with. If Lord Teodor will not deal with them, the Empire will be forced to. This will jeopardize the peace between the Kingdom and the Empire. They will breezily dismiss any evidence to the contrary as clever forgeries, signs of how desperate Lord Caratillus is to have hostilities. Brother Geth will goad them into a fight, hoping to get them imprisoned or at least discredited, as an example of "Caratillus belligerence and desire for war".
Lord Teodor will use any pretext at all to detain the PC's as a threat to the "Earl's Peace", locking them away in the stone dungeon in cells across from one another under constant guard. He will then dispatch Sir Alveetus of Pult to bring Lord Caratillus to court. If they try to escape, it will be seen as more proof. If they remain in their cells, assassins will arrive within a day, assassinate them, and set up a scene whereby they broke out, slew the guards, and escaped. Their bodies will be smuggled out and reanimated later.
Lady Yana and Ash remain at New Osterling to guard against further incursions. Sir Alveetus (Knight in chain mail) and two squires (Thugs in chain shirts), accompanied by a Scout and twelve soldiers (Bandits), have come to take Lord Caratillus to Mekhranov. Sir Alveetus is itching for a fight, and will try to provoke one by ignoring matters of protocol and being heavy-handed. They are accompanied by Acolyte Yarandus from the Empire. He is along merely as an observer, but will constantly be working to undermine Caratillus, recruit locals for the Empire, and generally steer the situation to the Empire's favor. Regardless of how the fight goes, a fight is what they want to happen.
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When all is said and done, the PC's should find themselves fugitives in their own lands, as House Caratillus is declared to be in rebellion. The lands will be temporarily placed in the custody of Lord Pult, though only the Earl can formally reallocate them. If anyone of noble rank was slain by a PC, they will all be declared outlaws. There are plenty of peasants who will be willing to assist them, and Lord Pelost will provide horses and supplies, but none can harbor them for long. They will have to make some choices about what to do. Reasonable choices include:
Go north and join the Earl and the King at the front, and plead their case there.
Go south to the coast, get on a sailing vessel, and become jolly pirates.
Stay and fight a guerilla war.