“Good sir, I fear you are asking me the end of a story to which I know no beginning nor middle. Who is your sister, and who am I? Regrettably, it seems that I left her… under what circumstances? I have more questions than answers, as you have undoubtedly learned already. I and my companions appreciate your willingness to assist us in these strangest of times.”
“By Larani’s sword, what happened to you, sir? What wizardry befell you? You went off to catch a murderer. That was last summer. We have not seen or heard from you since. You did not attend the royal council, and my sister had to go in your stead. She has been managing your affairs ever since, and I must say that she has been doing a great job of it. You, sir, are Sir Sedris of Meleken, Earl of Osel. Your wife is the Lady Thilisa, daughter of the Earl of Vemion.”
"Truly, you have eased my burden considerably. I am most grateful for your kindness.
What wizardry, indeed? I and my companions are in search of an answer to the very same question. We have learned only that we traveled in a party of five in one direction, and returned four. Where we went, or what happened there, none of us can say, as we remember nothing of the journey.
Will you accompany us to Gardiren? Perhaps on the way there, you can tell me more about this murderer, in the hope that it may restore my memory."
“Your tale troubles me. No. We will not journey to Gardiren. We make for Minarsis. My father will straighten this out. I am Sir Merik, and these are my retainers, Moe, Larry, Curly, and Shemp. What are the names of your companions?”
“Can you not tell us?”
Pssst, Jimmy. Me and Glee know our names, but we are in hiding. (Little help on what they are if you have it handy tdn?) Make something up so they don’t look at us too hard. Rugger…I don’t know what to do about probably best that he isn’t looked too closely at either, and Koldanar… he wouldn’t know as Kold is a barbarian(ish).
(Way ahead of you, brother. But if he knows as much as he seems to, he might already know who you are. In which case I’d be lying to him and he’d know it).
Gottcha. 
Urian. Not Merik. His name is Urian Caldeth.
This is what happens when you read fanon instead of canon.
He’s young (early 20s), big, and burly.
He doesn’t seem to, but it wouldn’t be hard for him to find out. If you go with him to Minarsis, all of your identities will be revealed. And it looks like he’s going to try to make you go. OTOH, if you go to Gardiren, you’ll be found out there as well. If you want to stay incognito, you might want to avoid the castle towns and stick to the “suburbs.”
In any case, the notorious Earl of Osel has been found. Once word gets out, it’s going to be huge news. The entire kingdom will know within a few days.
Pony Express, when you absolutely positively need everyone to know overnight.
Well, it seems our cunning plan has been blown.
Crap.
So…I want to see my sis, he wants us to go with him…any chance that you can talk him into going with us to see my sis first Jimmy? (I would do it myself, but I want to do my best to stay incognito if that is still possible.)
“Sir Urian, we have errands in Gardiren. Will you not accompany us there, or must we part ways for a time so soon after our reunion?”
“Who do you know in Gardiren, and what are your errands there? My father can give you help. Lord Curo will seek to exploit you to his own advantage.”
Do we know anything about the names Curo, Urian Caldreth, Earl of Osel, or Minarsis? Have I remembered anything?
Really only what I told you before, but I’ll restate it in the light of what you’ve learned:
Curo: The Earl of Neph at Gardiren. NAF’s sister’s husband.
Caldeth: The Earl of Vemion at Minarsis, south of here. Urian is his son, Thilisa is his daughter and your wife.
Meleken: The Earl of Osel at Qualdris, very far south. You.
What sort of help does he think we need. I mean, we need help, but other than the amnesia…why does *he *think we need help?
Hrmm.
“Excuse me sir, might our party speak privately for a moment? It may be best if we travel with you for a ways at least.”
What do you think Jimmy? Do you have a trusting feeling from this guy? He seems to think that my sister and Curo are dangerous people.
Some major political events have happened recently. The king just died. There is trouble in Olokand. Several major figures have gone missing, and one just turned up.
It may be that he thinks someone other than you needs help. Turning you over to his father might be his way of controlling the situation.
Just a thought.
“Of course.”
I don’t particularly think running off to Minarsis at the moment is the best idea. No, I don’t particularly trust him. He obviously didn’t like me before I showed up, which could certainly be because I ran off, but it could be that he’s manipulating us. I don’t see how, if he really has good intentions, we couldn’t go to Gardiren first, see what we can find out, and then travel to Minarsis if we still think it’s a good idea.
And, I mean, if my wife’s in Minarsis, you know. She might be hot.
I’m more inclined to trust your sister than this guy. Plus there’s Santo, who I think is the real emergency here.
Anyway, I typed out a whole response to Urian earlier but held off posting it. Here’s what I was going to say, you guys can tell me whether you’re behind it:
I think Gardiren is, as far as we’re capable of determining, the destination for our two most important missions – you have to go home, and we have to get Santo checked out. Now we have this guy popping up to turn us around. I don’t see how it’s to our advantage to do so.
Ok, agreed. I like your post too, I say go for it.
(Koldanar, Glee, Rugger…you guys still playing this thing?)