Epic of Baron Magnus, The

Four friends hunt down one of their number's kidnapped bride-to-be, the lovely Maria. But nothing is simple when you are a dashing swordsman in Venice.

The hook-handed Baron Magnus was a swordsman of no minor skill, a consummate seducer, and a gold-medal winning horse gymnast, yet his life of tempestuous affairs and stolen kisses was drawing to a close, for he had found the only woman who could possibly be a match for his appetites, the equally vivacious and rakish Maria.

However, a few days before they were to be married, the villainous Arnoldo, an ex-lover of Maria's, stole her away, and the Baron's closest friends joined him in pursuit of his ladylove.

Cristobal Colon, an assassin who operated under the twin identities of The Spaniard and El Muerte, a church assassin. Previously helped to kill the Baron's brother at the his request, an adventure that saw the Baron's hand lost, and Cristobal's life saved by the Baron.

Sebastian Barnett, a Holy knight who previously hired the Spaniard to discourage the Baron from romancing Sebastian's sister. The Spaniard did end up breaking the Baron's arm, but fortunately, the Baron did not recognize him. Sebastian and Cristobal have a long-standing disagreement on the matter of killing for the church - Sebastian disapproves, while Cristobal commonly carries out such deeds under the guise of El Muerte.

Robert the third, disgraced, 5th in line was a peculiar character who joined the Baron's group of friends due to some political issues back home he'd rather not talk about. It is heavily implied that the Baron is effectively offering him political asylum, lest his troubles catch up with him - and catch up with his riches. The man's weighed down with gold!

Possibly this contributed to his unusual swordplay - at times, Robert showed skill rivaling the Baron's, but his technique often lapsed quite severely, making the Baron the better fighter.

The hunt began with the four friends chasing a carriage through the rain, and rapidly losing its tracks. Cristobal and Magnus led the group to Arnoldo's old school of swordsmanship, where they themselves had learned from him in days past, and broke in, finding a number of pertinent leads to Maria's whereabouts in his papers and the ashes of the fire.

Upon finding the mark of a rival assassin known as the Venetian, Cristobal led the group to a place known as the Candlewick hotel, an unassuming stone structure that turned out to be a lavish hotel on the inside, sporting magnificent wooden carvings, and catering exclusively to assassins and their like, to the degree that the flags above the front desk showed which ones were in. Cristobal marched the group to the Venitian's rooms after stopping by his own, and found the Venitian quite aware that such a party was on their way. The Venitian, for his part, lounged in his chair, let the cigar smoke curl through the air, and deftly avoided the group's questions until the lot of them left in disgust, still unsure of whether he was even involved in the escapade.

The other lead turned out more promising. The Baron led the group to Maria's apartment across the city, to which he had the key, and searched it for clues, finding a most telling note from Arnoldo, begging Maria to reconsider her marriage to the Baron and come with him to his villa on the coast. Magnus summoned a carriage from his own estate, and the hunt was on!

The group did their best to come upon the villa unexpected, and were met at the door by a nervous manservant, who tried his best to leave the group downstairs, but was followed in secret by Cristobal, who wished to satisfy everyone's curiosity about why the man was so nervous, and found that Arnoldo himself was upstairs! Cristobal lunged at him, and Arnoldo dove out the window and slid down the drainpipe to escape. Cristobal did the same, and the three left downstairs saw them through the windows on the lower level and came racing after them, the Baron whistling to his horse, whom he had left with the carriage.

Arnoldo made for a staircase cut into the rock of the cliff, and hurtled down it, making for a cove in which a small sloop was moored. His pursuers ran after him, and slipped and slid on the wet steps, leading to the loss of the Baron's precious horse, who plunged into the waves far below.

As Arnoldo reached the ship, the Spaniard lept at him, and the two of them began to duel fiercely, blades flashing in the sun, and red staining Cristobal's shirt. However, his body had barely fallen to the deck when Baron Magnus stepped into the fray and began duelling Arnoldo, stabbing him through the heart as Robert and Sebastian caught up to him. Sebastian went below deck to search for Maria, whom he discovered trapped in a wooden box, while Magnus mourned his dead friend, and was suddenly stabbed in the back by Robert! His political trouble at last became clear... he was a member of that most notorious of families, the consummate traitors and blackguards known to the British as the Trayors! Baron struck down, he launched into a villainous monologue explaining his actions, claiming that the Baron's vanity had been what killed him. However, all was not lost!

Even as the light faded from the Baron's eyes, he saw Robert paid in full for his treachery by Sebastian, who came up from below decks and struck him down, proclaiming "Vanity isn't the only killer."

Thus avenged, the great Baron Magnus departed from this life, a smile on his face.