Thunder rumbled through the sky as Lord Duncan made his way to Arthos the Tanner's lodging. He reached the door and knocked three times. Arthos opened it, "Lord Duncan, to what do I owe this honour?"he said. "The rumblings of war..." Duncan replied, as another peal of thunder shook the sky "...I think it best we talk inside."
Arthos and Lord Duncan sat by candlelight around the family table inside the tanner's humble abode. Duncan began "The King is dead. Loreesi and Lenfald point the blame and talk of conspiracies and war and the Jarl wants answers before Garheim is dragged in as well".
"And how might this involve a simple tanner?" Arthos interrupted "I am too old for wars".
"Lord Duncan raised his eyes to meet the Tanner's, "I was hoping you might still have contacts in the south that might be, shall we say... useful?". Arthos looked sternly at the Lord "Contacts that I wanted to leave behind my Lord". Duncan stared back "We took you in Arthos, during a storm much like tonight's. A loreesi 'merchant' so far from home, no questions asked. You married one of our own, you became an important part of our village. But you will always be a loreesi". "And for your hospitality I am grateful" Arturo replied "but that was almost 20 summers ago. And any 'contacts' I had are likely dead, or still want ME dead. I cannot go back. I will not!".
"Then we send the boy" Duncan suggested. "Esau?" Arthos replied "He has already been enlisted to your militia, and besides, people would recognise him as my son before he opened his mouth". "Then send the other" said Duncan. "Jaykob? He's a dreamer!" retorted Arthos, "He fought in our conquest of the Magic Isles*. And survived..." replied Duncan "He will do. We have forged a treaty with Lenfald, he should be granted safe passage until their southern border. We need only a messenger, not a warrior".
Arthos shook his head "If anything happened to him, it would break his mother's heart." Duncan stood up preparing to leave "Then may the Jarl smile upon his journey..."
LCC - The rumblings of war by
andhe 
, on Flickr
Just a little prelude to my GC4 entry.
edit: And I should have said this is a freebuild for April in regards to points
