Vermont Eman Porvis

Vermont Eman Porvis is the baron of House Porvis in the Sürgün Günlükleri ("Exile Chronicles") campaign, the husband of Baroness Ramona and the father of Adeline. His house kept a grand mansion at its rural seat of Eskiyurt and an older family house in the forest, nearer at hand, where it stayed at that time of year; his wife spoke of the family as living by forestry.¹²

A contact on the road told Kemp Corvus that the common folk were deeply attached to the house, that as the region's wealth declined the house had begun to blame the taxes and the legion, and that in the time of the baron's father the fortress of Riverguard had been taken from the house over failures of security and given to knights. Some two months before Kemp's arrival the baron had hired fifty or sixty men of the Bloody Coin, a regional company of former soldiers and brigands, though his house normally had soldiers of its own.³²

At the forest house

At dinner he was openly affectionate with the young Mathilda, who sat at his table; his wife held that she used his good will to get money and gifts. He said that his daughter was in the countryside, did not like the air there, and would join them when they returned to the winter house. Asked about the Bloody Coin, he said he had needed them against elven separatists and other threats, as his house did not train many soldiers; he complained of their coarseness and praised his nephew Sir Kleber for settling matters with them. When the talk turned to Mathilda, he said his house was open to everyone, but not to those who asked for money without need, and rose from the table.⁴⁵⁶⁷⁸

The bargain

The next day Kemp asked to tour the legion camp with him, and in the middle of the camp, over tea that passed for small talk, the baron admitted that he did not know whom to trust in his own house and that his every step reached the other side. He said they had meant only political pressure, such as delaying the tax and seeking a hearing through an elector count, but that Adeline, stirred by grievances such as the taking of the fortress in the past, had joined the rebellion of her own will. She was not its leader, he said, and he did not know who was.⁹¹⁰

His house, he said, no longer backed the rising willingly; he kept silent to protect his family. He asked that his daughter be pardoned if she repented and swore fealty, or at least taken alive in battle, and feared that if she married another rebel noble, that man would gain a lawful claim to the lands. Once his family was safe he would give the names spoken at the meetings and stand openly against the rebellion; for now his word and his daughter's divided the people, and the mercenaries outnumbered his men and the legion together two to one. He trusted only his wife and his mage, Klobus. He spoke of an ancient teleportation circle near his winter house in the city that Klobus could use, though there was no ready way to reach it from the forest.¹¹¹²¹³

Ephorus proposed that the baron and his wife come to the camp invisibly and hide among the goods in the wagons, while the company packed up as if leaving. As cover, Kemp arrested Kleber at the house, and the baron played at protesting; he had not wanted to leave his nephew behind. With his wife and Klobus he reached the wagons unseen, and in the fighting that followed he and Klobus were lightly wounded. Mathilda was not among those who left with them.^14151617

The road to Sarpyar

He joined the convoy with six of his household guards, wishing to reach his winter house and declare that his house did not support the rebellion; the plan was to rest at the village of Vadiyurt and at the fortress of Sarpyar, half an hour beyond it. In return for his rescue he promised to mark the rebels' supply roads and camps, and to issue a proclamation from his winter house cutting the rebels off from lawful use of his resources.¹⁸¹⁹²⁰

He told the company that there had been no dealings with the elves in the early tax politics; the mercenary go-between who dealt with them was, he said, the illegitimate son of a noble house of merchant origin. He had heard Hermann's men speak of someone called Karga, and believed the rebellion's military wing answered to him. The tax had been raised about a year and a half before, after which they had begun to plan; then new people came to the meetings, some nobles vanished, and before he could secure his family he found Hermann's men at the door of his summer house.²¹²²²³

He had sent his daughter away on various errands; she did not come back, and a letter arrived in her name declaring her devotion to the cause, though he could not tell whether she had written it. The thought that she meant to marry was entirely his own guess; he feared some man had swayed her. The lord of Sarpyar, Verdun, was his marshal in war.²⁴²⁵²⁶

The siege

When the dwarf Grom Kızılsakal said that the men who bought weapons from his mine had shown papers bearing the Porvis seal, the baron thought the seal might have been taken from his daughter, but would not believe she could have taken part in burning a village.²⁷²⁸

At the war council he argued for a bloodless end, reminding the others of his ties to rebels who had shed no blood. He did not know the full purpose of Kemp's mission and was content to leave the final choice to him. He would not have Kleber stand as champion in the duel, not wanting a member of his family to die.^29303132

He told the company of the Boldvar family: the father of Marcus Boldvar had been hanged some years before for stealing from the empire again and again, and the baron had thought it better to strip him of headship of the family and pass it to his son. When warned of a plot against someone in the fortress, he accepted more legionaries as guards, and Ephorus took on his protection in person. He asked that his wife be guarded too, as he valued her life more than his own.^33343536

Spoiler: That nightRevealSpoils: Sürgün Günlükleri #21; Sürgün Günlükleri #22 · Say what you have read

That night the legion officer Malecris caught one of his own legionaries carrying poison. The man confessed that he had been forced to poison Baron Vermont so that a captive brother would not be killed; under the usual watch rota he would have stood guard over the baron two days later. He had been reached by magic and given things only he could know about his brother. He was not seen again, and was later said to have died.^37383940

In Tal'gard

Tal'gard has no single lord: a council of five great noble houses, each ruling the countryside around it, governs the city, and Vermont, by his title of baron, ranks first among equals. When his banner was shown the gates opened, and although he was expected at the castle he held the meeting at his own house, a walled stone mansion with a broad courtyard and garden near the guard post, kept by some twenty household guards.⁴¹⁴²⁴³

He supposed that the council had sympathised with the rebellion in its first, peaceful form and had kept quiet believing him a willing ally. He explained that the city guard was a guild-like body paid for by the families, not a true military force. At the evening council he took the head seat, presented Kemp's company as his rescuers and told of his captivity; young Palberd said they had taken him for a rebel because his daughter was with them. He then asked the lords to give no support to a violent rising.^44454647

The council issued a decree ordering rebels to be seized or reported, treating those who helped them as rebels, and offering eight silver for true word of where they were. Vermont asked that Kemp and his company be regarded in their inquiries as his own representatives. When Kemp's company proposed lifelong support for the families of city guards killed on duty and the other lords put it off, the baron said he would bear the cost himself if need be, and it was accepted.⁴⁸⁴⁹⁵⁰

Afterwards

He later told Kemp that his daughter was alive and among those who had fled, though he had no word from her. Thanks to a document of pardon the prince had granted his family, if she were taken alive she would be handed to him without trial, to be punished within the family.⁵¹

When Kemp came to him to renew the freedom papers Ephorus had lost, the baron said he could not issue new ones without seeing the old. He proposed instead to record that Ephorus had been Kemp's slave and was freed the following day, and to draw up a paper showing that Ephorus worked for Kemp as a free man for wages. Ephorus agreed, and the baron had the papers prepared.⁵²⁵³⁵⁴