He grabbed her by the thigh and she deftly incapacitated the offending hand by swinging the scepter.

 “Now stop that, Hercule!” she commanded.  He quieted down and she looked into his eyes.

 Deeply.  A few moments of quiet.

  “I know you are still in your right mind, Hercule and are struggling to free yourself.”  She unscrewed the scepter and called for the Guards.  Ordering them to hold him down and force open his mouth she mixed powders and liquids and when he was prepared, she poured the viscuous mass down his throat.

 “This should not take long”, she said and it didn’t.

 He had three major convulsions and then became stiff as a menhir, falling back against the prophetess.  She lowered him to the floor “Oh Hercule”, she said sarcastically, “I had always wondered how you felt about me.”  The guards chuckled but were silenced when Lady Gandolfyn mentioned frying them with magic for a week.

 Now the Marquis lay still and asleep.  And snoring.  And smiling.  Lady Gandolfyn instructed the guards that no one was to see the Marquis save herself and Lady d’Ascoyne.  Not the King,, not even his daughters.  She returned to the Baron.

 To Baron Huebold and Lady Dianne she explained in chambers that she had found what had caused the Marquis abrupt descent into madness.  Mushrooms called Sparkling Dreams by the elves.  Hallucinogenic to elves they led to insanity among other races.  She went on to explain that she found traces of Lycaetcheum and Hippocrallus in his sweat and earwax.  These were slow acting poisons which killed over a ten day period.