Warnings, Witches, and Warriors

On By ravonlockeIn Journal, TristiaLeave a comment

The voice in the mist says we must pay the price to pass through her swamp. We must Find Her.

I rush to Marybeth , and pull her body back to our camp. Major Dalish decides we’re going to finish our rest before heading out. I barely rest, lying beside my lifeless friend. Surely this witch, Mistress of the Undead, can do something.

In the morning, I send to the Lt. to tell him we were attacked by an arcanist in the swamp, and we’re going to take care of her on our way to the plantation. He simply replies Okay, but in a way that makes me think he’s confused, or busy. The group sits to confer on where to go next. I simply stare at Marybeth, as they argue about heading to the plantation, as our only landmark in this awful place.

Nat leads us forward, but after a very short time, says that we are lost. Remy looks around at the magic of the swamp and sees all schools. We spend the entire day walking in circles because Major Dalish won’t admit we need a different plan than heading for the plantation. Remy spends most of the day arguing with him. That evening, the guys go to take care of the soldiers, but I can’t leave Marybeth. Klyce has carried her with us all day, and I spend the evening before sleeping praying to the Dawnmother that there is a way to bring her back.

We gather up to plan for the next day. Should we try to use Natty’s divination gifts to set us on the right path? At the very least Augury our plan before setting out the next morning? Do anything but keep heading for the plantation? Mid-discussion, shouting breaks out among the soldiers. Giant toads are attacking and eating our men. We burst into action, and it’s a bit of a mess, but between Klyce, Remy, and Dalish, we manage to organize the terrified soldiers enough to help. Unfortunately, we do lose two in the battle, unable to save them from being eaten before we dissected the toads.

I go through the wounded and gather the most greviously injured together. First I tell them about the Dawnmother, and how her light shines upon us, even in this dark swamp. Then I invite them to pray with me and her light heals their deepest wounds. I tell them where the church is in New Gnosis, should they ever wish to worship once the war is over. Then I return to Marybeth and the discussion of plans. Dalish thinks to mark the direction the toads came from, for tomorrow’s march.

I take second watch with Nat, who says there are zombies all around us in the water. But they aren’t moving. This is super creepy, but not unexpected. Somehow, I manage to sleep through til morning. Nat Auguries our path and gets a yes and no, so seems better than just plain no. We go with it. After I report in to the Lt. about our losses and new plan. Klyce takes Marybeth again, and has the soldiers form litters for their fallen, as well.

We find a banyan tree which seems to have eaten an old plantation mansion at the edge of a pond. There is movement in the water as we go around to reach the door. Once on the stoop, the voice bids us enter, but just us, our troops must stay outside. Remy takes them to a dry patch nearby to set up camp. We note dangling mage corpses near the door as we enter.

Zombie servants greet us silently in a row, and a young woman in fancy dress with wild hair descends the stairs. She stops short when she sees us.

You’re just kids!

She apparently can’t see through her undead and did not realize she was attacking children. She is horrified to have done so, and especially to have killed Marybeth. We all agree that our government is terrible for sending us to war, as children. She is at a loss, clearly, but insists that we must still pay the price to cross her lands. Sure, of course, we’ve made enough deals at this point. What does she want? Power, bodies, spells… Klyce immediately offers up three spellbooks for her to choose from. Everyone has copied down all the spells they wanted out of them, we have no use for them anymore. She chooses one and we discuss how different we are and how most mages wouldn’t be so generous.

What about Marybeth? She takes her, and Nat away into a back room. Remy goes out to check on the troops, figuring we’ll be a while. And we are. It is quite some time before she comes back in and escorts us outside, to a brackish pool behind her home.

She pushes Marybeth’s body out into the water and begins chanting. Storms and mists roll in and build. Her chant rises to a crescendo with a clap of thunder and she collapses. The mists part and Marybeth is standing in the water before us. Next to her corpse. The corpse stands up, a glistening, rubbery, black body with fangs, horns, and glowing red eyes. It looks at us, then at Marybeth and smiles. Nat rushes betwen them, but Marybeth walks right past her, towards it. It walks away from the both, casts a spell, mutters something to Marybeth and then disappears. We can hear it running away through the water, but we stand helpless, too far away to stop it.

Our stunned silence is broken by the witch waking up. She stares at Marybeth, terrified. What’s wrong with you girl?! Get out of my Swamp! Now! All of you!

We hustle away as Remy appears around the corner, drawn by the clap of thunder just moments before. We turn him around after he hugs a very confused Marybeth, to get the troops moving. Nat drops back to talk to the witch woman for a moment, but we hustle out as quickly as we can.

Two hours later, we hit the edge of the swamp and the beginning of fields. Marybeth fills us in on what the thing said to her. She believes it was her grandfather, back from the dead, and that he is going to kill her. Nat tries looking into her head, and gets a vision of a hazy conversation with an old man, but not much detail. It doesn’t seem to be like the others. We camp on dry land and send Heyhey out to scout the path ahead. He finds skeleton and zombie scarecrows in every field.

The night is peaceful, and then next day, as we march. The boys entertain themselves by tying up any zombie or skeleton that takes an interest in our troop. Afraid that killing them will alert their creator. Heyhey is able to scout all the way ahead to the mansion that night. A big old Grecian thing surrounded by woods to mark it off from the fields. There are loads of soldiers with big guns and they are fortified for a fight. We push the men forward to within a quarter mile of the place and dig in for the night.

Dalish casts Invisibility on Remy and Nat, who sneak closer for a better look at their defenses. It is some time before they come back, without Heyhey, and with bad news. They know we’re coming. The mage is looking forward to it. Klyce tries to sign at Nat to make a mind palace, but she can’t see without her Heyhey. So, I tap it out in her hand for her. We have to plan in secret.

Military Service: Genocide or Treason

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We sink into the mire of military service. Ten hours of marching a day, under spells that make us go further than we should and longer than we ought. We are instructed to use as much mana as possible to stress test the device. Our first goal is Gainswood, and then on to the south. Dalish takes a turn on the machine, while Remy heads off to find Aranea.

When Remy gets back, he gathers us all up to talk. We have to destroy the machine, he insists. We have to do it in a way that doesn’t seem like sabotage, so they think the design is faulty. We discuss various transmutation options with Klyce. Using various spells to mask what he’s doing, so he can weaken the machine and then we can quickly destroy it. We decide to start in the morning.

Nat looks into our futures the next morning, just to see. She stop the plan in its tracks. Our plan is a Bad Idea. Simply blowing it up with fireballs, as suspected, is also a Bad Idea. Remy decides to try and have a chat with Lt. Colonel Durance. I really don’t understand why he thinks this will work, but it’s Remy. He goes to try.

He returns and gives the expected answer — do your job, and also, Durance has been spying on us, and heard the entire conversation last night. We’ll have to be more careful. Then it devolves into a political discussion about systems of oppression, and one being just like the others. Someone suggests turning everyone into mages, for equality and Dalish pipes up. He says he’s been feeding bits of flesh that used to be Garion to people and it gives them magic for a short while. What the hell, Dalish??? I don’t want to hear any more about this, and engage Nat in conversation about where her Grandmother’s caravan travels, and if Canada is nice this time of year. She brings up the darkness and the six stars, and we try to remember the names of all six gods from the cave so many months ago.

Nat decides to scry on her brother, but similar to my messaging, nothing goes through. She tries her parents, but quickly drops the spell, and doesn’t try anymore for a while. Then she tries a new spell, pulling us all inside her head for a chat. It’s super strange. Remy and Klyce do not have good time, but it could be useful later. Nat and Marybeth decide to dream together, so I sit up and keep watch for them. Marybeth does not seem to be having good dreams, but at least no one goes wandering off, and they both wake up in the morning.

Once we’ve been traveling for a while. Durance lets us know that the Mage Corp will be splitting off from the main force, and splitting up. He and the other three will be going after one target while the rest of us go aver Gainswood Plantation. Our orders are to assess their strength and determine if there are any mages. If there are, execute them. If there aren’t, just leave the troops and civilians alone. We are mage hunting, nothing more. In two weeks, we will meet up on the other side. The Majors will be in charge, and are expected to handle any disputes like well-reasoned adults. The mana tanker will be traveling with the main force while we’re on assignment. We will have forty soldiers in our detachment. We are to keep them safe.

We gather up and head out. Sargeant Clem is in charge of our soliders, and he seems reasonable enough. We march through hot, sticky, wet swamplands. It is awful, but I do my best to keep the wind moving for us. The first night, while on my watch, I hear things all around us. I shout for everyone to get up as zombies charge in. We keep them men out of the fight, the zombies are focused on us, and we don’t fancy getting shot, or losing any of the men. Marybeth falls in the fight, and before we can help her, darkness gathers round.

“Who dis who has trespassed in my swamp”? the darkness asks.

Homeward Bound

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We decide to tell DeRudio what happened, so I send him a message saying that Chirina took the package, and asking what he wants us to do. I also ask if she was working for him. He replies back that she wasn’t and to catch her if we can, but to come back to Rome either way.

So, we have another discussion about how we could possibly find her. She was the only reason we made it as far as we did around this country. We could just go back to Rome and see if she shows up at her “uncle’s.” Maybe our hosts could get us off Sicily and back to Rome? Remy asks. In return, he asks for all our remaining mana, but Mr. Young speaks up and he agrees to get us to Rome at no charge. Mr. and Mrs. Young are going to come back with us and get back home with Philomena whil we conclude our business. Our host lets us know that if we ever need to deal with the Family back home, to contact Santo Costa in New Gnosis. He’s as trustworthy as they come in the Family. Mr. Young says Santo is the reason he was able to get us free passage.

In short order, we are bustled down to the docks, onto a fishing boat and ferried off to Rome. The first night on the boat, Nat dreams of blood and fire in an alabaster city, with no way to stop it. The second night out, Chirina appears to us in a flash of light. She apologizes for running off the way she did. We toss questions at her. No, he’s not her uncle, but also no, she didn’t hurt him. She suggests we abandon our path, because the man we have a contract with is not who he says he is. She is taking the research back to its rightful owners – the Keepers of the Pact of Silk and Iron. She has made arrangements for us to get home and left a package with the boat. We will receive the package whether or not we take the boat. She thinks the best way to fight this knowledge is to spread it around, so copies have been made and we will be getting one. She suggests we find the Liquidita with Captain Gio Zamora when we get to Rome and just get out of Italy. She insists she’s alright and to call upon the Black Swan should we ever need her.

Once in Rome, Philomena and her parents say their goodbyes and head off to book passage home. Klyce insists on hanging out at the docks until he sees them board the ship and the ship sets sail. After that, he insists that we go meet our contact, whoever he may be. He doesn’t want to be looking over his shoulder, rather sit right down in the trap. First, though, we decide to go check out the Liquidita, and see what Chirina has left us. So, we go meet Captain Gio Zamora and First Mate Joanie Rivera. The captain is ready to leave whenever we want, and brings us out a chest. It is full of gold, a doodle of Ceres, a copy of the research, and intelligence for our “American masters.” We lock it all back up and head to our meeting.

We are welcomed much as before, to a banquet hall. A strange man joins us and welcomes us. He confirms that we were unable to get the research from Chirina. Yes, sorry. He says that he has found out that she was working for his employers, so the job is done. He has lost some face for not getting it done himself, but it worked out in the end. He couldn’t tell us until we were face to face, and apologizes if we felt threatened. He offers his hospitality, but encourages us to get out of Rome as soon as possible, so we head back to the ship.

The crew all thought we wouldn’t be back until morning, so they’ve all gotten drunk. That’s alright, we set watches and get some sleep ourselves before sailing out the next day. On the way, Nat practices picking the locks on some manacles, and Remy reads over the political papers. It’s a long sail, but we help as we can. We head into port in New Gnosis, and Remy gave the captain some money to get someone on the dock to deliver our trunk to the house. He looks at us oddly until we explain we’re likely to be arrested as soon as we dock. Which we are. There are eighteen police, three mages, and Marybeth waiting for us when we sail in. They take us to the Tower of Justice.

Aleria, Etherion, Weist, Pyrus, and Rictus are all waiting for us there. Klyce takes the lead on the report. Explaining the situation, as well as everything that happened. Remy offers up the research and the political reports, explaining that this is just a copy of the research. Klyce tries to take all the blame for us going against orders, but Rictus isn’t buying it. He enumerates our crimes against the government. He’s mostly angry that we have attracted the attention of the Pact of Silk and Iron, decades before they were ready to face them. He says he wishes to avoid imprisoning us and has a compromise if we will agree. We do, the rest of the Primes do. We are sentenced to three years in the service of the Mages Corp, at the rank of Captain. Dalish, who he forced to go, and Marybeth, who didn’t go, will be awarded the rank of Major, to keep us in line. We will be shipping out soon, and are dismissed.

Klyce, Remy, and Marybeth all head to their respective families to convey the news. I write my parents a letter. Nat asks me to send a message to her Grandmother about getting more tea. She wants me to send to her brother as well, but I’m not so sure about that one. Baba says the mushrooms under cow patties are what Nat needs, so when she goes hunting. Nat offers to help Klyce’s sister the same way she helped Mrs. Youg, but it doesn’t work the same for her. When I try to send to Nat’s undead brother, nothing happens. I’m not sure which of the various reasons is the problem.

We report in to our new commanding officers the next day. Colonel Bronson and Lt. Colonel Durance. They tell us our responsibility will be watching over a new machine. It is a double-sized tanker wagon, with a familiar console up on top. It is a Mana Resupply Device and will be full of mana, so we are to keep it from being shot. Our job is to keep it safe and full.

Oh, Dawnmother! What have they done?!? Nonononono! We can’t! It can’t! Oh No!

Remy goes up to the console, and sets his hands on it. It looks just the same. I go up to the tank and put my hand on it. It hurts! Oh Dawnmother, it Hurts! I try to scream, but they have built a silence spell into the whole thing so no one can hear the horror that is happening inside. We have to stop this. We can’t do this! We have to convince them not to do this! We have to convince them it’s wrong so they don’t make more of these.

Dragging ourselves away from this horror, we meet the other mages in our group. Providence, Rebecca Nash, and Victor Strang. But we’re in too much shock to talk much to them. We are heading south to find Royalists, and stray mages that stand against us. Eventually, we’ll get to New Calais, the alabaster city which Nat says will burn to the ground.

Healing, Research and Betrayal

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While Dalish and Gerhardt research the stone, Remy and I take a look at Mrs. Young. He can see the physical ailments caused by the curse, but to me, she just feels Green. Green like that awful place where we found her. The fae have a strong hold, still. Nat takes a deeper dive into her head. She says that the trauma is buried deep down, and the potion is only layering bandages over it, higher and higher. It might collapse at any moment. Dalish comes up from research to say it all seems very much like Garion’s research, but with people instead of the fae creatures, and a lot messier. Nat dives deeper and finds a green miasma all woven in with the trauma – the curse. Exhausted, we all go to sleep, most of us in the warded room with the Youngs, but Remy takes Aranea to a private room, as does Klyce with Philomena.

We wake in the night, wrapped in bands of iron. Chirina running out of the room holding the research and the stone. I send in various directions until I find Remy, to let him now. Nat breaks her bonds and teleports out the window Chirina used to chase her. Gerhardt, Dalish, and I struggle with our bond to no avail. Gerhardt does manage to dispell his, eventually, and ends up with a small metal ball. By the time Nat and Remy get back, Klyce has arrived and is able to break Dalish free. I want to keep mine, so I convince them to let me be until someone has a dispell in the morning. We all go back to sleep after a quick check on the household, which has a few dead from a multi-front attack.

In the morning, after Gerhardt dispells the bands on me, we have a deeper conversation. Who were the other attackers? Why did Chirina mention an international incident? What do we do now? Do we chase her or just go home? We have to fix Mrs. Young, and we have to get home. They did manage to capture on of the attackers, so if we talk to him, maybe we’ll figure out if the chase is worth the trouble. We decide to start there and get our host to translate for us.

The guy’s name is Antonio, and last night, he was drinking in Palermo. Five shadowy guys hired him and his buddies to come and make a ruckus with them. He doesn’t know who they were, or who they represented, they just gave them money to do a job. Didn’t even tell them it was the Magia they were attacking. This guy is useless, so we let the Magia take him away.

Okay, we have no leads, let’s see if we can remove the curse from Mrs. Young. Nat offers her some of the special tea, and they drink while I begin praying to the Dawnmother. As they slip into the mind-sharing trance, Gerhardt casts Remove Curse. Nat guides the magic down into her mind. As I watch, green goo starts dripping out of her ear, just like the worms. I guess it actually worked, but she doesn’t wake up with Nat does.

With that done, we take up the arguement again. Go after Chirina, or just go home.

Sailboats and Sicily

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We head south, looking for a boar to steal, I mean borrow, no, I mean steal. The villages all have soldiers on the docks or in the bays. No one is getting a boat out of Italy without them noticing. So, we make a plan. Klyce will go out and sabotage a boat while Remy, Chirina, and Dalish prepare a boat for theft. Then they’ll swing close enough to the coast for the rest of us to catch up and get aboard before we sail away.

So, one more day of rest, and at dusk, they all head out. There’s some noise and shouting from the docks, but eventually, a boat comes slowly sailing along. Nat, Gerhardt, and I head out, but I can’t keep up. I have to fly up to get on the boat before it leaves me behind. I give us a favorable wind and we head in the general direction of Siciliy, with HeyHey as our scout.

As we near the coast, there are patrols ahead. We have another big discussion about swimming, pretending to be ghosts, and setting the boat aflame. In the end, most of us just hide in the hold, and Remy, Dalish, and Ceres slide us in between the patrols. There is, however, a cannon on shore that tries to sink us. We help them out by sabotaging our own boat and swim into shore underwater, away from their position.

Nat finds us a cave to sleep in, and we plan our next steps. Dawn has arrived while we sailed, so we need to rest and decide where we’re going. Italy is still bombing, so they haven’t made landfall, yet. We decide to head for Palermo to see what news we can find. The Sicilian rebels are camped all around the city, which is half on fire, and stll being bombarded when we arrive in the evening.

Chirina, of course, will lead us into the city, with stories of refugees and looking for family. When we approach the gates, soldiers come out and insist on taking our weapons if we wish to enter the city. Remy refuses, so we leave him and Aranea outside with any important weapons.

Inside, there aren’t a lot of people left. Most have headed for Syracuse and Messina. The shelling has been going on for weeks, and the entire dockside of town is destroyed. The government has fled the city, leaving only the Magia to care for the people. We discuss talking to them, despire our colorful past.

Chirina leads us to one of their soup kitchens. The tough in charge offers us some food, but says he doesn’t know anything about Americans being around. Chirina asks if there is someone else she could speak with, and the guy nods, then keels over. A thin green mist fills the room, and more fall to the ground, only Nat of our group is actually unconscious. Dalish, Philomena, and I stare around for the source. A voice calls out, “Time for the hunt to end.”

We fight in the fog, our attacker seemingly enjoying himself quite thoroughly, though we do manage to drive him off before he kills anyone. Afterwards, we all lay down to pretend we were knocked out like everyone else, though Chirina and I stay alert in case he comes back. When one of the toughs wakes up, we are all gathered up and carried away as suspects to a dark dungeon of a room.

A while later, it’s hard to tell how long, an older man arrives and speaks to us all in English. Klyce explains our situation simply, and says that the assassin was trying to stop us, and find the couple before we could. The man says he knows of the people we are looking for, that a lot of people are trying to find them. Klyce admits that they are his in-laws, and that a man must do as his wife bids. The man asks who the rest of us are, so we introduce ourselves and mention that Remy is waiting outside of town with our weapons. He says he will fetch him, and leaves us. We all relax and take a proper rest, having no idea the time of day or night in this cell.

When the man returns, he says he knows where the Youngs are, and he has an offer for us, given our history with the Magia. He will take us to them if we agree to not try and pull anything, and if we agree to stay out of Family business back in America. We all agree, so long as they stay out of fey business, we should have no need to tangle with them. He leads us up into a new building and a steward takes us up to the room where the Youngs are staying.

Mr. Young, predictably, is still mad at us for even coming. Mrs. Young is awake though, that’s good news. He wanted to disappear, and let Philomena go home and take over the family business. Of course, he didn’t tell her that. What nonsense! We ask how he’s done with the formula. Mrs. Young needs it every day to be stable. It is still incomplete. We offer to help. We want to heal Mrs. Young and Chirina’s uncle, and get out of Italy. Remy, Dalish, Gerhardt, and Nat dive into the research to see what they can figure out inside a private sanctum spell to keep prying eyes out.

Turns out it’s for a catalyst stone, to help create the potions. It took some 1,000 deaths to make the prototype!!! What would it take to make the real thing? This is ludicris! We can’t finish this, it’s awful! Taking a different tact, Remy asks if they’ll let Aranea look at Mrs. Young, since it was a fae that ruined her, but they will not allow it. Too afraid of what she might do.