The dishevelled man's eyes look down the oubliette of Leonardo's barrel, and he swallows; but given that you have elected not to blow him away immediately, he is able to plead his case.

Il faut que tu m'aides, Briant! Margot, elle n'est pas elle-même! Elle... Il y a un daémon qui s'est emparé d'elle!

Some of that slides by you; but daémon does not.

The woman - Margot - wails in protest, new tears moving down her reddened and miserable face.

Ne lui faites pas de mal! Il ment, mais il n'est pas lui-même, c'est lui qui a le daémon!

An explosive shouting argument follows, with both Donallo and Margot vociferously pleasing their cases over each other, and Briant shouting back at them, trying to rightly direct his outrage even as it diminishes in his chest. You catch enough of it to put the predicament together.

Donallo claims that Margot is under the sway of a daemon. Fearing what would happen to her if this information got out, he sent away most of his house knights on a fabricated errand to bid the visitation of an enchantress who lives in the capital to give her blessing to the repairs of the run-down grail chapel on the road through his fief. His most trusted trio of knights received the truth, and a desperate mission to seek out a damsel in the surrounding Duchies who could attend with discretion. All but his most loyal men at arms have been sent to stay with their 'for the winter', while his handful of most loyal were told only to board up the keep from the outside, lock the gates, and allow only the returning house knights to enter.

Margot's claim is similar in the regards to the dispatch of the keep's knights and men to keep them in the dark, but she claims Donallo was overcome by a dark spirit weeks ago, after which he has kept her prisoner and ensured no one could disrupt his tormenting her. Despite this, and her terrible physical state, she begs that no harm should come to him - she knows the man she married would not do these terrible things.

By the time you have put this all together through the torrent of gallic bickering, Bella is back at your side and learns of the debacle from your rundown.

"A nightmare..." she whispers, "how do we know which is telling the truth?"