Season Two

213 Thicker than Water
Kath'lar, to M'Kress: He will die in the honour duel with the champion of house Mauro. ... will die in the honour duel with the champion of House Jej'vagh. And in the meantime, we will go and buy you a dress.

K'ral and Kath'lar visit house Mauro to make their accusations. The guard refuses to let them in unless they recognise the honour of house Mauro, and Kath'lar and K'ral reply with accusations about poisoning. The guard fights, and Kath'lar escalates it to disruptors. One dead guard later, they meet Lord Mauro's son, Kahl. The meeting does not go well - when Kath'lar calls his house a bunch of poisoning Romulan-friendly cowards, Kahl punches her. He mentions a massacre, but the conversation does not dwell on it.

M'Kress goes to her father's house, Quilain, and argues with her rival brother, Uchang, about the issues that have divided them their lives.

Kath'lar and Loras begin to research alternative culprits for the posioning, and question the bard K'noff about the reputations of the various houses. They discover that Jej'vagh, like Duras, have a reputation for dishonour and dealing with Romulans. They decide that K'ral's rival brother did it, probably to prevent him ever inheriting the house. Kath'lar secretly contacts Kahl to apologise - "I have accused a great and noble house of low poisoning. I am very sorry" - which she repeats, kneeling, in person. Kahl accepts the apology.

K'rals party go to the gates of house Jej'vagh to make their accusations. A brawl ensues, and M'Kress challenges House Jej'vagh's son. A duel is arranged with the champion of the house. Later, M'Kress and Kath'lar go shopping for a dress for Lord Quilain's celebration.

The duel between K'ral and Kahl takes place at the citadel of House Mauro. K'ral fights bravely, but is defeated by Kahl. Rather than deliver the killing blow, Kahl recognises K'rals honour and returns the Dak'tagh instead of killing him. He also hands them a tetryon device that will shut down surrounding energy fields, should House Jej'vagh try to use any dishonourable traps against them. He doesn't mention that the tetryon device also signals House Mauro.

Predictably, House Jej'vagh do use tricks and traps against M'Kress when the duel is not an easy win for their house champion. And an open fight breaks out in their house sanctum. When Mauro and their allies (including house Qulaine) reach the inner sanctum of the Jej'vagh citadel, the Jej'vagh there surrendered. M'roff (the treacherous younger brother of K'ral and favoured son of Lord Jej'vagh) blamed the posioning on Lord Jej'vagh and pledged loyalty to Mauro in an attempt to save his neck. K'ral got angry and killed Lord Jej'vagh. Kahl ordered M'roff to kill himself. He tried to talk his way out of it, saying that it ".. would not bring honour to house Mauro", so Kath'lar slit his throat. Uchang tried to convince the victors to have K'ral killed, but Kath'lar pointed out that K'ral was no longer Jej'vagh, but had proclaimed his own house. (Kahl knew this, but didn't seriously expect Kath'lar to turn down de facto control of the seat on the High Council that K'ral could now claim as his own.) Kahl offers K'ral a Jej'vagh/Mauro alliance. Kath'lar and K'ral offer one with house K'ral instead. Kahl tries to look pleased about that - he would have preferred another ally on the High Council - but still, House Jej'vagh is left completely at his father's mercy. The house is dispersed, with some killed outright, vassal houses pledging their loyalties elsewhere, and many joining the outer reaches of House Mauro. Some consider transferring their fealty to House K'ral instead ...

There is much feasting and celebration, and our heroes return home.

The offscreen head of House Mauro, the half-human Kieran Mauro, was a character in the preceding USS Darwin campaign. The player - as a GM and a player - was fond of using Tetryons as a plot and tactical device.

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