Geoffry Ravenut

Geoffry Ravenut is human male NPC in the Emeron campaign.

Geoffry Ravenut was born in Lurinlund City to Born Jonathan and Talya Ravenut, though sadly Talya died in childbirth. Geoffry's grandfather was the famed hero Baron Christopher Ravenut. As the sole heir to the Barony of Lurinlund Geoffry was trained in combat, nobility and rhetoric from a young age.

When Geoffry was a teen, Lord Varger Loxton, the ruler of the estate of Orik, made an effort to wed his daughter Vonya to Geoffry. In truth such a match was unlikely to succeed as Orik was a small and rural estate with little to offer in a marriage alliance.

## Vital Statistics

### Eye Color

Blue

Geoffry, attractive and somewhat arrogant as a teenager, did not find the rather plain Vonya especially attractive or interesting. He displayed every courtly nicety to Vonya, but privately made his lack of interest clear to his father, dooming an already unlikely pairing.

The Ravenut crest, created by Baron Christopher, is a raven in the upper right and a chestnut in the lower left.

## Baron of Lurinlund

In 1129 Geoffry was on a hunting trip with his best friend Cufa Borix. They were ambushed at night and kidnapped by a small group of Spider People. They secreted the two away in suspended animation in Horsehead Peak and took the forms and identities of the two men. They would continue to secretly masquerade as the two men for decades, seemingly with no one the wiser.

In 1140, Baron Jonathan Ravenut died of a sudden heart attack and Geoffry's impostor ascended to the Baron of Lurinlund. He made several changes, the most controversial of which was the removal of the Sir Reyny Indsott as First Knight of Lurinlund in favor of the dimmer and more pliable Dame Vonya Loxton.

Baron Jonathan's assignment of Sir Reyny had been controversial in it's own right, as the knight had been only 18 at the time and "Baron Geoffry" publicly argued that he meant no slight to Sir Reyney, but felt he was too young for such an important decision. For his part Sir Reyny, ignorant of "Geoffry's" true nature, accepted the decision with grace and vowed to continue to serve Lurinlund and it's Baron as best he could.

During his reign Geoffry's impostor made overtures to the Royal Court, especially to Queen Merey Woodbridge. In 1155 there was an incident involving a tariff on ale and spirits imported into the Barony of Lurinlund that caused unrest in the town of Hardale, and threatened to bubble over into an incident with the Thorgain Kingdom. Geoffry's impostor personally met with the Thorgain ambassador, Throt Goldaxe, and negotiated a settlement.

The Crown was quite grateful for the successful effort, especially in light of the King's plans to work with Thorgain to build a bridge over the Grand Chasm. At Queen Merey's suggestion, King Koris offered the hand of his eldest daughter, Joycie, as reward for "Geoffry's" efforts and they were married the following year. In 1156, in a large and lavish ceremony in Emeron City.

## The Death of King Koris

The health of King Koris Woodbridge had been in decline rapid since 1156 and rumors had started to swirl that he was being slowly poisoned by Queen Merey Woodbridge, Crown Princess Joycie and "Baron Geoffry" or some combination of the three in some sort of coup attempt. There was little in the way of proof of these rumors and all three dismissed them as ridiculous and ghoulish gossip from ill-informed commoners. Privately Queen Merey blamed Duchess Sybeth Talsar for the rumors, though the she had no more proof of this than the gossipers had proof of ill intent in the Royal Court.

Unfortunately the king finally succumbed to his poor health on the 14th of Unicorn, 1159. Unrest and eventually riots broke out in the city as the rumors of ill intent spread and the belief that the good king had been murdered by those closest to him took hold. Ultimately the City Watch led by Emerald Knights were forced to restore order. "Baron Geoffry" went on a relations offensive, giving speeches and posting flyers around the city swearing to the good intent an innocence of himself, his wife and his mother-by-law of their innocence and determination to continue the prosperity built by King Koris. The effort seemed to work and unrest died down and order was restored to Emeron City.

Joycie Woodbridge was crowned as Queen of Emeron on the 16th of Unicorn, 1159 at the young age of 23. Never especially intellectually curious or well studied in statecraft, she relied on her husband and mother for political advise. As is normal, she called her direct vassals, the dukes and land holding Royal Knights, to Emeron City to offer her oaths of fealty.

## Attack on Strade Hall and the Sinister Seven

On the 22nd of Griffon, less than a month after Joycie took the Throne, there was a massive explosion atop Strade Hall. The few witnesses who survived reported a trio of individuals who magically teleported to the top of the tower and performed some sort of ritual that caused the explosion.

Two days later the crown announced that the attack was an attempt to attack the Crown and undermine Queen Joycie's rule and, more shocking, that Duchess Sybeth Talsar and her heir Dame Malia Waerblue were behind the attack. The two were immediately arrested, stripped of title and imprisoned in Castle Finarte's dungeons to await trial for high treason. Queen Joycie, as ignorant of his true nature as everyone else, named "Geoffry" as Duke of Emeron to replace Sybeth Talsar.

On the 28th of Griffon, before a trail could be held, Sybeth and Malia were broken out of prison by Sir Imlott Ebberholt, Sir Lazrith, Sir Aladhos Drake, Sir Reyny Indsott, and Sir Arocan Gialiadin II. Many noted that these nobles had not yet offered oaths of fealty to the Crown, or the newly made "Duke Geoffry." The seven now renegade nobles were dubbed the Sinister Seven by the Crown.

## Assassination Attempt

On the 10th of Lion, 1159, a band of assassins managed to infiltrate the Royal Chambers of Castle Finarte. Announcements by the Crown indicate that they targeted Queen Joycie Woodbridge, "Duke Geoffry" and Queen Mother Merey Woodbridge. The Emerald Knights slew the attackers promptly, but not before Queen Mother Merey was killed. Some reports indicate that Queen Mother Merey was attacked far later than Joycie and "Geoffry", but the Crown explained later that this was mere confusion about a fast paced and chaotic event.

"Duke Geoffry" publicly announced that there was proof that the assassins were sent by Princess Atril Etiamond, Joycie's younger sister and her husband of Duke Riffin Etiamond of Antyoch. As "Geoffry" and Joycie had no children, Atril was next in line to the throne, and thus if the assassination were successful Atril would be the queen of Emeron.

"Geoffry" advised putting the rebellion down immediately and suggested that Queen Joycie order a large army of Royal Forces to march on Antyoch to arrest Atril and Riffin. The queen agreed and on the 15th of Lion Royal Marshal Sir Pirsym Julitt led a force of ten thousand men into Antyoch.

## Hunt for the Joined

Starting in the spring of 1159, "Geoffry" had quietly put out the word to a number of spies to be on the lookout for a number of individuals who would turn out to be the Joined of Vesper, the Joined of Guya and the Joined of Yotia, and to attempt to arrest them if possible.

On the 24th of Lion one of those individuals, Joane, turned up in Emeron City and turned herself in. She promised to turn in the Joined of Vesper and the Joined of Yotia as well as a number of high profile individuals who were helping them in Emeron City. For this information she demanded a great deal of gold and to be rid of the magical effect that was binding her to the Joined of Yotia. A bargain was struck and she named a number of individuals, including two renowned professors in the Emeron Wizard's College, Jon Sumnim and Jaymes Chickwood, and the Royal Mage himself, the Great White Wizard Dillman. She also explained that the Joined of Vesper and some of the Joined of Yotia would be trying to effect a prison break at that very moment.

"Geoffry" organized several hasty raids to take place at the same time to arrest the people named, and personally led a force along with Dame Annill DeWard to the dungeons of Castle Finarte. Once there he indeed found a prison break being affected. Unfortunately the magic of Froderik Penderghast was able to keep him from entering the battle and stymied most of the jailers and city watchmen long enough for the criminals to escape.

## Rescue

The real Geoffry Ravenut, and several other individuals, were found and rescued from their suspended animation by the Joined of Vesper on the 12th of Bear, 1159, 30 years after he'd been kidnapped. He requested that they escort him to Thorgain City, where he made little secret of his intent to raise an army, retake Lurinlund and slay the creature that had taken his place.

During the Journey he frequently attempted to keep tensions from rising with the Joined of Vesper and the only other noble who had been kidnapped, Sir Alain Dudoc. Sir Alain was arrogant and officious and deemed the commoners who rescued him as naturally subservient. Geoffry immediately realized that the Joined would not tolerate such behavior and would be more likely to beat or slay Alain than deal with him. As a result Goeffry used his own noble status to prevent as much contact as possible between Alain and the others during the trip back to Thorgain City.

## A Royal Meeting

While in Thorgain City, Ambassador Throt Goldaxe arranged a royal audience for Geoffry Ravenut, the Joined of Vesper and Sir Alain Dudoc. Edella Montfort brought King Farim Ironbreaker up to speed on matters, and Geoffry respectfully asked for the king's aid in raising an army and retaking his barony.

King Farim stated that he believed the tales told to him by the Joined of Vesper and expressed an interest in aiding Geoffry, but explained that unless there was some gain to be had for his kingdom, his Thanes would not forgive him unilaterally plunging the nation into war. He stated he would call a Council of Thanes, but warned that such things took time. In the meantime, the King granted Geoffry a large loan from his personal coffers and provided a letter of introduction and recommendation to Yorgrin Rockhammer, the commander of the dwarven mercenary company the Hammer Slammers. Geoffry thanked the king and moved to hire the mercenaries immediately.

## Campaign to Retake Lurinlund

While, in theory, Geoffry believed he could take Lurinlund City, the capital of the barony, with the forces he had at his disposal and the Hammer Slammers, he wanted to ensure he had the support of the lords of the barony before taking such an action. Politically this was a wise move to prevent future possible difficulties from those he intended to rule, but militarily it was also a sound strategy as he would be able to add their strength to his.

To that end he began sending out emissaries to treat with the various lords of Lurinlund to attempt to secure support. He traveled to the estate of Fulton himself, where the Joined of Vesper and the court of the missing Sir Lazrith had captured Dame Vonya Loxton, who had been assigned by the Crown to rule the estate as well as her own ancestral estate, Orik. After speaking with her, he was able to convince her of his true identity and secure her support and the forces of Orik.

For the estate of Uffgul, Lord Geoffry had hoped to locate Sir Reyny Indsott and have him return to the estate to take command, as he was confident that the noble knight would support his claim. Unfortunately Sir Reyny had been slain in the Battle of the Bridge, so he sent Chancellor Ronerios of Fulton and a few soldiers to secretly treat with Lady Idet, Sir Reyny's widow, who had been placed on house arrest by the Crown's military governor there, Captain Cidiri Sulward. After secret talks with Lady Idet and her court, they agreed to support Lord Geoffry and they raised some men and attempt to arrest Cidiri Sulward without blood. Unfortunately it turned into a brief but bloody battle where Cidiri Sulward and most of his men are killed along with Uffgu's marshal Lynna Prinell.

For the Estae of Pakus Lord Geoffry knew he had a challenge ahead of him. Pakus was ruled by the nine year old Relling Olirbeth II. As a result his mother, Lady Annan, was the regent and true power in the estate. Lady Annan had been promised by the Crown that Relling would be named as heir to Lurinlund once “Duke Geoffry '' and Queen Joycie had their first child, as their children would rule the Kingdom, effectively leaving the Baronial seat open.

Lord Geoffry sent Baram Vallerad and a small unit of men to treat with Lady Annan. Though he could not counter a baronial seat for Relling, Baram was able to convince Lady Annan that even if the rumors of “Duke Geoffry” being a spider person (who therefore could not conceive a legitimate heir with the queen) aren’t true, that the Crown was in open warfare against one of their own duchies (Antyoch), had alienated the Church of Akana and the most powerful wizard in the land (Dillman) all while the kingdom was being attacked on all sides. He convinced her the Crown wasa losing proposition. To sweeten the deal, he pointed out that Idet Indsott, the Lady of Uffgul, was a widow with no living children and her husband, Sir Reyny, was dead, technically leaving the estate open. He promised that if Pakus sided with Geoffry he’d grant the estate to Lord Relling after the war. Annan ultimately agreed.

Geoffry sent Lord Arocan Gialiadin III to Yadfim in secret with some stout men to convince the court to follow Lord Arocan III until his father (Sir Arocan II) returned and to back Geoffry. Arocan III was captured by his sister's (Dame Ellel) men but before anything can be done with him the young lord was able to convince Marshal Garret Agrel to take his message to the court. The court ultimately decided to side with him. The resulting fight in the halls of Leydford Citadel was bloody and one hundred men were killed in the fighting. Worse, Dame Ellel managed to escape with two hundred men loyal to her and five of the estate's ships, sailing for the capital. Word was quickly sent to Sir Arocan II who indicated he would be returning to Yadfim promptly.

The estate of Vynrib, an estate tehnically ruled directly by whomever held the Baronial seat, proved to be an easier acquisition than Geoffry had anticipated. He sent his best friend Cufra Borix and Brother Larad Omanna were sent to treat with Mayor Calyn Grekorel, whom Geoffry's imposter had put into position to rule the town. The two men were easily able to convince the mayor of Geoffry's true identity and to back his claim.

This left only the estate of Kedub, which was difficult to reach and insignificant in terms of resources and political power, and Lurinlund City itself, not directly supporting Geoffry. By this point it was late autumn of 1159 and Geoffry decided he would use the winter to train his men and strike as soon as the winter snows thawed.

## Personality and Appearance

In his youth Geoffry was considered a charming and kind, if sometimes impulsive and hotheaded young man.

The impostor of Geoffry claimed that age had tempered him though he was described as more careful and calculating. He was still loyal to his word, but gives it much more tentatively and with more stipulations spelled out than he used to.

Physically "Duke Geoffry" stood at 5’8” and weighs 155 lbs. He had blue eyes and has graying hair with and a prominent, graying mustache.

The Real Geoffry is the same height and weight but his hair is ungreyed and worn longer and other than the occasional stubble he wears no facial hair.