Grettir has been employing researchers in Chittagong to scour old manuscripts in the city’s libraries for mention of ancient sites in and around Sequarl. They discover that there was another noble house to the west of the Sequarl, the House of Bagurn. Unlike Sequarl, they had no Black Rock keep to allow them to resist the hordes of orcs and other creatures and so they did not survive the Years of Destruction that followed the fall of the Old Empire. Reconassaisance in the area by the Rangers suggests that the site was now occupied by a considerable band of orcs who were responsible for much of the orcish activity in the region. Grettir forms a plan to assault this orcish stronghold with his own troops and as many Rangers and adventurers as were willing. He is mildly surprised when amongst the adventurers he sees Aradan the Uncanny who had not visited Sequarl since the Hogarth the Red incident.
The assault on the orc den went as well as might be expected. There were many scores of orcs, led by a huge uruk, wielding a deadly black morningstar. It fights his way to the Sequarl banner and strikes down Almaric who is carrying it. However, the Sequarl men and their allies stand firm and at length the uruk is slain. At the death of their leader, the orcs break and endeavour to flee, leaving their foes the field and considerable quantities of treasure.
That night there are celebrations in the camp. Much to Grettir’s surprise, his huscarle Aliena, appears to be in a flirtatious mood. Never one to resist the temptations of the flesh, Grettir retires with her to his pavilion where he dismisses his attendants. She produces wine and they drink a toast together. Unfortunately for Grettir, it turns out that he is not her primary employer. She is a professional assassin hired by his rivals the House of Akurr. The wine contains Purple Lotus Flower which renders Grettir conscious but completely paralysed and unable to move a finger. Another figure enters the pavilion. It is Aradan the Uncanny. He is plainly not here to rescue Grettir. Indeed, he urges Aliena to slit Grettir’s throat immediately and be done with it. However, Aliena seems to wish to savour her triumph and succumbs to the temptation to gloat over her victim as she and Aradan help themselves to Grettir’s equipment and treasures, while he sits in helpless horror at his predicament.
However, there is another witness to this scene. Whether alerted by his arts, or by sheer chance or because he has his suspicions of Aradan, the magician Nickar the Dangerous is lurking outside the pavilion. He works up a spell and throws himself upon Grettir, teleporting him away from the scene in the blink of an eye to the King’s Palace in Chittagong. Aliena is quick and deadly. She manages to strike out with her scimitar as her quarry disappears. Grettir sustains a deadly wound and only the swift arrival of the King’s physicians prevents him from expiring. Nickar swiftly returns to the House of Bagurn to raise the alarm, but Aradan too can teleport and he and Aliena are gone, taking with them most of Grettir’s personal equipment and possessions. The Sequarl forces pack up and begin the march back to their castle. Unfortunately, others are there before them.
For Aradan by his arts is at Sequarl already, spearheading the assault upon the castle with a strikeforce of elite mercenaries hired by Akurr. Sequarl’s depleted garrison are outnumbered and outmatched and have no answer to Aradan’s sorcery. Only in the Black Rock Keep is there any serious resistance. Grettir’s brother, Gram, a huscarle called Juliana and Salrod mount a spirited rearguard. The time they buy allows Grettir’s wife Kisten, 8 months pregnant, to escape with his twin daughters, Signy and Katla, in a basket, down a rope made of bedsheets with the assistance of just a maid servant. She takes refuge in Sequarl Town where she is hidden by the townsfolk. Gram is slain defending his sister-in-law and nieces. Juliana and Salrod are taken prisoner, but Aradan in a fury at once again being cheated of his quarry slays Juliana out of hand. He would have meted out the same treatment to Salrod had the mercenaries, uncomfortable with killing prisoners and its long-term consequences, not intervened.
A couple of days later, the Akurr still holds Sequarl Castle, but there is an army of Sequarl men and adventurers in Sequarl Town – Kisten with them. Grettir is severely wounded but alive and conscious in the King’s Palace in Chittagong. The only prisoner of note held by Akurr is Yithmak. He laughs out loud when he learns that both his daughter and his son-in-law yet live and says they can do what they like with him. The King communicates his displeasure at open warfare between two of his Lords. He berates Dargan Akurr for his unprovoked and treacherous attack, but makes it clear to Grettir that he must make peace with him.
In the end the Akurr forces vacate Sequarl, permitted to leave with whatever loot they can carry – which turns out to be quite a lot. Grettir enters a future non-aggression pact with Akurr and takes an oath to foreswear the pursuit of vengeance against those involved. Grettir tries to have Aradan excluded from the terms of the oath but Dargan stands firm, saying his life would become overburdened by oaths if he was not included. Knowing that there would be others with scores to settle against Aradan, he reluctantly agrees.
When they meet again, Yithmak embraces his son-in-law and congratulates him on having dealt with the crisis in a sensible and mature fashion. He announces that he now has the confidence to abdicate forthwith. Grettir is no longer the heir, he is Lord of Sequarl.
Grettir still has his wife and daughters and Kisten has brought forth a son who he names Thorfinn. (Thorfinn’s twin brother dies in the womb – another casualty of Aradan’s plot.) He also has a hoard of Imperial silver blocks, too heavy to be moved en masse from the treasury, and his share of the loot from the House of Bagurn. He begins to set his mind on how to rebuild and develop the Lands of Sequarl.
Ref: A30
OE Date: July 677
Characters: Grettir, Sho Rembo, Zalgorin, Gerindar, Nikkar, Aradan, Bargin, Rigon, Bremmin, Salrod (at Sequarl). NPCs: Gadan, some other Rangers, about 30 or 40 Sequarl huscarles and soldiers including Huron the Steady, Aliena, Almaric; At Sequarl – Gram, Juliana, Kisten, Signy, Katla, Thorfinn, Yithmak
Real World: When – end of 3rd Term 1981 ; Where – St Andrews (Whitehill Terrace)