The Long Road of Retribution - The Journal of Marcel de Renault

[Vallaki Justice]

25th of March, 777:

The only good hawk is a dead hawk.  I learned that when I was young.  Rumor spreads around Dementlieu that this grain deal with Borca might spark a war with Falkovnia.  Good.  My uncle was reluctant to give me his blessing to leave the estate and I know why.  These foreigners, heathens and peasants might hard to bear, but I will suffer them if it is the only way to do what I must. 

Yesterday, I shot a rifle for the first time.  The black powder smelled the exact same as I remembered it the night of their deaths.  I hoped I would feel powerful, but all I was reminded of was the fear I felt when I was helpless.  I know now the only satisfaction and power I will find is when I can strike that same terror into the heart of Drakov himself.  And I will be ready to gladly do so.

I pray one day I will atone for my sins, for having strayed from the path my family walked.  But if justice will not be dealt then I will find my own justice.

—Marcel de Renault

[Vallaki Justice]

26th of March, 777:

I have come to a breakthrough with some preliminary explosives.  Distilled essence from fiery mandibles beetles of the beetles that live in Barovia have shown use when mixed with a viscous compound and turned into a varnish.  The mixture itself is extremely volatile and can easily produce a small incendiary force when thrown upon the ground.  However, I fear that they will never sufficiently work alone for what I need.

From the black powder I have tested, the force it produces is small and controlled.  A controlled force is what is necessary for firing a precision shots, though precision isn't necessary with the use I have in mind.  I have begun to wonder if I were to assemble my own black powder and produce a more powerful and unpredictable explosion if I could not perhaps assemble a handheld explosive device, using the fire varnish as a primer. 

Though, I should put aside this notion until I begin to experiment with black powder itself.  Sulfur, saltpeter... I'll need to get a proper list before I can begin tinkering.  Maybe a medic as well, just to be safe.

—Marcel de Renault

[Vallaki Justice]

29th of March, 777:

According to Sieur Jacques, traditionally made black powder is fifteen parts nitre, three parts coal, and two parts sulphur.  The formula is hard to tweak.  Too little sulfur and the reaction will not work properly.  There needs to be a sufficient amount of sulfur to ignite the coal.  However, hypothetically a substitute could be used to increase the quantity of coal and sustain the reaction.

My initial thoughts are that an incendiary varnish could be used to do this.  There was some suggestion that stability may be an issue.  Indeed, the components would need to be kept separate through a triggered release mechanik.  I would not be able to use this as a substitute for black powder in normal musket discharge, at least not practically without damaging the weapon.  However, I think it would be perfect for creating incendiary ordinance.  After all, it does not need to be stable for long if it is used properly to blow up Falkovnian Soldiers.

I have a rough idea in mind on how to accomplish this, but first I will need to acquire the necessary alchemical reagents and discover if I can make any minor tweaks to the Black Powder formula.  Firstly, that comes down to acquiring these crystals from Har'akir, a modest shipment of sulphur, and then a simple matter of acquiring some charcoal.

I will record my findings, and perhaps draft up a preliminary design for the explosive.

—Marcel de Renault

[Vallaki Justice]

1st of April, 777:

I received a very informative file on how to make gunpowder from Dame Adeleina Norville.  It was extremely comprehensive and well-documented.  I will consult these documents with my notes when I eventually get my shipment of sulphur and nitre crystals.

The trial for the de Bellavance woman went as expected.  I am grateful that justice was finally dispensed, my only qualm is the transfer of Madamoiselle de Bellavance has not occurred yet and there is the threat that insurgents may ambush the escort to the asylum.  This incessant crime and need for the poor to engage in revolutionary behavior has been a drain on Dementlieu and our political stability.  To think that during her trial de Bellavance would invoke Falkovnia for her unsuccessful attempts at insurrection and arming the Ouvrier appalls me.  All of this behavior from their malcontent way of living clears the path for another invasion of Falkovnia.  All of it.  Just like when Port-a-Lucine was occupied by the Hawks, it was because the so-called "revolutionaries" paved the way for them to do so.

They will not like my approach to justice, but I will not allow the integrity of Dementlieuse sovereignty will not falter because of the beliefs of uneducated, slack-jawed commoners.

—Marcel de Renault

[Vallaki Justice]

-A schematic is appended to within the journal, with a few annotations loosely scrapped together on a piece of parchment.-

[...] ...incendiary primer released through the trigger.  Flint and steel paper fuse igniting on the trigger mechanism as redundancy... [...]

Impact force ruptures glass flask, exposing explosive compound to the primer... [...]

[...] ...minimum of ten to fifteen meters or suffer collateral damage.

Throw immediately.

[Vallaki Justice]

4th of April, 777:

I blew myself up tonight.  It was like the last time, I saw the fuse fizzle out and thought I needed to re-light it.  If I was any closer to the powder keg, I might have lost a limb...

The explosives I used must have been ineffective.  I need to tweak my formula more.  Unless I strapped a damn Hawk to the barrel, it would do little to people with adequate space from it.  I doubt that it would have even been efficient as a breaching charge.  And, this was with me lacing the explosives with incendiary compounds.  The number of applications from wasting so much blow powder for such fruitless gains is slim.

I am considering that it may have been a faulty keg, the wood potentially waterlogged.  It was not a very high quality barrel, though I did not consider the moisture content or wood to be a factor.  The only way I can imagine the potency increasing is by three means: using a sturdier and drier wood for the keg, increasing the amount of black powder and number of kegs, and tweaking the formula and using more volatile incendiary compounds.

Every ounce of supplies must be used efficiently with supply logistics in mind.  When we go to war with the Hawks again, supplies will not be readily available for me.  Therefore, what I have must be made to count.  The second option is not practical, and when it comes to bombs utilizing incendiary compound, the shell needs to be burn resistant and sturdy  during transport...

It will soon be time to build the prototype.

Tweak the black powder formula.  Distill the incendiary primer.  Acquire a porcelain shell. 

I'll get it right this time.

—Marcel de Renault

[Vallaki Justice]

7th of April, 777:

I had the nightmare again last night. 

We are back by at the cabin along the Musarde and papa is still alive.  Mother scolds him for spending the day taking me hunting and leaving her alone all day in the cabin.  She does not like to be cooped up all day, but papa is adamant that the sights of killing and sounds of gunfire would be too much for her frail constitution.  I  remember lamenting about how much I wish the three of us could go and do activities together that did not involve the chaplain.

Mother and father were on the porch, too busy shouting and fussing to notice the boat crossing the river.  The guard does not notice either due to all the commotion, his back was turned to the water.  They tell me to stay inside while the adults speak.

The first shot is silent notice it at my mother's shrieking through the window.  One more bolt in papa's neck, and two more in the guard's chest.  Every time it is the same twisted gurgling "Hide!" that ekes out of his throat.  Papa frantically pulls out his flintlock and misses, limp on the ground.  Mother hushes me and ushers me under the floorboards, and the last I see of her face is wrought with terror.

As they thunder in, the floorboards creak and I make out what I know to be the King-Fuhrer's Hawks.  The first slits my mother's throat and takes her jewelry.  The others raid and pilfer before lighting the cabin ablaze.

I think now what I thought then: if only they knew to look for me while they could.  If I am fated to relive my nightmare, then I will become theirs.

—Marcel de Renault

[Vallaki Justice]

9th of April, 777:

They ambushed the convoy to the asylum.

These destitute malcontents do not know what they bring upon us.  She would have been spared death and rehabilitated, yet they would not leave good enough alone.  Every action they take towards the instability of our Republique weakens us against our less than cordial neighbors east of the Mursarde.

For what?  What is it they hope to accomplish?  Will they establish a new revolutionary state for Falkovnia to sack again?  This is how it begins.  There may not have been powder kegs beneath the Quartier Savant like Mdme. Arielle de Bellavance suggested, but there is one massive sitting beneath the Ouvrier.  Without this matter put in order, I know war will soon be waged on two fronts: within and without.

I will enforce law and order any way I know how to prevent that from occurring.  If I must put down a few rabid animals to ensure that Falkovnia never gets that chance, then I will. 

They will not make us susceptible to the Hawk... Though no matter what happens, I will be watching for them both.

—Marcel de Renault

[Vallaki Justice]

18th of April, 777:

Order is a necessity for any functioning society.  It is what separates us from the barbaric governing that the foreigners subject themselves to.  We see it with how they are reacting over that criminal woman—lawlessness, rule of mob mentality.  They have no one to keep them in check in that tent city they have made up in the mists.  Strength governs there, not civility or society.

Order keeps Dementlieu strong.  It keeps us safe.  When all the pieces fall in together, we can focus our attention on the threats outside of us.  Order can not be afforded to slip.  If we give up order for convenience, then we will become like meek animals.  Prey for the Hawk.

So long as I can keep order established, then I will do so.  Those who step out of the order of civilization will be corrected and put on the proper course, or they will be eliminated from the chain. 

—Marcel de Renault

[Vallaki Justice]

1st of May, 777:

To display a sister's corpse in front of a woman to be executed?  It is barbarity.  I walk the line of justice and retribution at many costs, though I have found the line I deem too far.  I must reign in control of myself so that I will not devolve to become sadistic like the Hawk.  There must be some degree of separation between us.  To become cruel and heartless like those backwater savages in red and black will mean that I have become like my enemy.

I must remind myself of why I walk this lonely road, less when I kill every Hawk the only one left is the one I see when I look in the mirror.  Justice cannot be cruel, less it ceases to be justice entirely.  In arbitration, there is judgement.  In judgement, there is order.  In order, we thrive as a civilization.  All the pieces must fall in place, every person must fall in line.  This must be true about our society as it is for law and order.

We are better than them.  We must be.

—Marcel de Renault

[Vallaki Justice]

9th of May, 777:

I knew it to be a matter of time before their faces would show up, just as I did.  They begin to talk about the specifics of the grain initiative this week, I know damn well why they are here and out and about making public appearances.  The Hawk thrives on fear, they want people to see the Kingfuhrer's brand in their minds at night as a reminder.  To strike fear into the hearts of our aristocracy who supports this deal.  To remind the meek of their cruelty.  But, they made their mistake in reminding me.

You may have your victory in chess, Monsieur le Ambassador, but you will not have your victory over Dementlieu.  I needed the reminder of my purpose; I had become complacent.  But you stirred within me that feeling I recall a long time ago and now I know what I must do.

I did not come all the way down here from Lyonnais to teach the Hawks lessons in humanity.  A Hawk has no humanity.

—Marcel de Renault

[Vallaki Justice]

5th of June, 777:

It has been a while since my last entry.  Things have been complicated from my original aims, but I will still continue as I must.  It all is for one cause, in the end.

She is being abused, the Hawk girl.  I've shown what compassion I can stomach to her, but it has brought me no satisfaction.  I had hoped that mercy might bring the ache for revenge to some ease, but it has done nothing to fill the numbing rage in my heart.

There can be no forgiveness for them, only retribution.  It is a righteous fury I feel.  I know the ambassador wants for me to break my composure, to give in to my anger.  But I shall thwart him within the constraints of the law and the bounds of what is expected of me as a Gendarme.  If it is war we have: good.  I will seek that bald bastard's head. 

Until then, I bide my time.

—Marcel de Renault

[Vallaki Justice]

15th of June, 777:

What is order?

I have begun to understand that it is not indistinguishable from law.  When we seek to preserve "law and order," order always follows.  We have to specify that what we are preserving are two different concepts, two vastly different ideals. They are not mutually exclusive, though sometimes there is even fortunately a bit of overlap.

When I allowed the Le Scerris to plea for clemency, it was not justice I was seeking for them.

The lawful thing for me to have done would have been to allow the delegation to have Stella Seifert as their sacrificial lamb, but I did not do that. 

When I suggested to the sargent that we cannot prosecute the Borcan delegation if they were responsible for her death, it was not preserving the sanctity of the law that I concerned myself with.

Every time I see that Hawk bastard's gleaming head, it is not the law that keeps me from painting his brains along the walls with my musket.

Anger burns within me in a white-hot intensity, yet I contain myself.  I assumed it was because I followed the law and tenets of my faith.  But now I see it is because I must keep everything in order.  I will not have the vengeance I seek otherwise.  Bombing their embassy would be instant gratification, but what is my two seconds of fame if my head is allowed to be parted from my shoulders afterwards?  What would it amount to?  There would be a new ambassador and a new embassy building, or perhaps a war that I could not fight in because I became known as a terrorist and a criminal.

Keeping matters in order will keep Dementlieu secure.  We will be prepared and focused when the next war comes, and then I will strike Drakov's army with that righteous fury that it is owed.  Keeping that order, right now, means making sure this Seifert mess does not escalate any further; we'll have to put her down as quickly and quietly as possible.

—Marcel de Renault

[Vallaki Justice]

14th of July, 777:

Distractions.

I have managed to find myself wound up in distractions from my mission.  I have allowed chaos to interfere with my duty.  Not the duty I hold to the one and true.  Not the duty I hold to the Gendarmerie Nationale.  Nor the duty I hold to my family as a de Renault. 

Rather, I found I have lost my duty, given to me that night by the Hawk.  I lost my way in my cause chasing things such as propriety and justice, marriage, or children.  There is only one thing that matters and now I see it clearly now more than ever.

Retribution. 

Andre de la Cour, as twisted and perverse as his mind was, knew this city was poison.  And, I had drank from the very same poisoned wellspring that had done him in.  I will seek my penance for my transgressions, and through its sting to my flesh I will purify that poison.  Chaos and rebellion will not grapple my mind again.

Tonight marks the beginning of the return to these iron chains called vengeance.  So, as I left that cabin alone that fateful night, so too shall I walk alone into this valley of darkness.

—Marcel de Renault

[Vallaki Justice]

17th of July, 777:

What is one embassy full of Hawks worth?

Maybe I could get away with it.

And if I didn't, I do not need the world's approval to have do what should be done.

—Marcel de Renault