Previously, the heroes visited Réonan at the Circle of Magi to discuss the possibility of using the recovered Book of Woe as a receptacle to trap Epidemius in, as well as binding the fiend to the mortal plane in order to vanquish him without the ability to revive back in the Nine Hells.
Seventh Day, Second Ride, Autumn Twilight, 1262
(Silvermoon is waning, Bloodmoon is in low sanction, Darkmoon is waxing)It was around fourth bell and the dark had started setting in when the heroes returned to the Careless Wanderer. They had just returned from the Circle of Magi where they spoke to the grand archmage and arranged for a laboratory to be made available to them for research purposes. The heroes were intending to brief each other of their progress for the day, and then head out to the College of Bards to get an audience with the headmaster; the legendary troubadour known as Le Papillon.
Quentin shared that he had spoken to doctor Arkenward, who had still not recovered from the injuries he sustained keeping the queen in stasis during her illness. Due to the curse that Epidemius had put on the city of Kingsport his health had not improved. The doctor was willing to help the heroes develop a binding ritual, but was limited in the work he could perform for them. Furthermore, Quentin was worried that it was only five more days before Epidemius’ third arrival, and that his previous incursions left a lot innocent people dead; crownsguard, Lyrian knights, and his own Morvrayne riders.
Astrid and Neamhan returned from the crownsguard garrison and got a briefing of what was discussed with Réonan and Arkenward. In return Neamhan shared that Epidemius had a sister named Virulencia, and she had met her at the garrison earlier that day. Falka, who was just coming down the stairs with a collection of books, confirmed Neamhan’s finding, and adds some information on Virulencia; another member of the Seven Proctors of Pestilence, and considered the Lady of Plagues and Mother of Plaguemaidens.
When Neamhan had shared the story of her encounter with Virulencia, including that the fiend had tried to convince her to hand her the Book of Woe, appealing to her sensibilities as a mother. Neamhan was quick to inform the others that she had no children. When Chakuq asked Astrid whether she had children, her face turned dark and she quietly answer that she had children, past tense. When Emrys asked after Astrid’s children she bluntly stated that they had died and then promptly stormed upstairs. It was clear that touched a very raw nerve with Astrid.
Chakuq felt it was important to go and talk to Astrid and convinced the others to come with him in order to show Astrid that they were there to support her. They found Astrid in the common room, together with two other guests at the inn, each laying on a separate cot, minding their own business. Astrid, too big for the cot she was laying on was drowning her sorrows in a pitcher of bad wine she had taken upstairs.
Emrys asked her how she was doing, and Astrid accused the heroes of letting two seasons pass without ever asking anything about her. She reckoned that they could wait another two seasons until Astrid had the sun on her face and there was spring in the air before she talked about her children. Neamhan thought it was a good idea to take the situation literally and used her connections to fill the common room with a bright daylight. Astrid, annoyed by Neamhan, threw them out of the common room; “Heimdall give me strength.”
Feeling a bit foolish, Neamhan wished aloud that Gabhan was with her. Chakuq asked who that was, and she responded that Gabhan was her husband, that he was at home, and that she was not with him because she had answers to find, and points to prove. At the risk of prying, Chakuq let the matter rest.
When the rest of the heroes came back downstairs, they settled back around their usual table. They had spotted Wojciech talking with Ramsey in the kitchen earlier, but this time he approached the heroes. He said that he had a proposition for Quentin regarding his horse, Walor, the golden stallion he was gifted by the Sheridans, but that it could wait until another day. Instead, he was more keen on sharing that he had a strange encounter with one of the street urchins that he often talks to. They always travel in groups, he said, because the streets of Kingsport can be a dangerous place for the orphaned and the uncared for, but Sander came to him by himself, his eyes completely black, and said to pass a message to the Heroes of the White Eye that “My access to the Dreamweb has been revoked by Pazuzu,” after which the boy promptly took off again.
Luca spent some time thinking about how the heroes could set a trap for Epidemius. He was hopeful that Neamhan’s connection could attempt to root Epidemius to the mortal plane, and whether Emrys’ ability to disrupt translocation magic could prevent planar travel. Chakuq, keen to help out, asked whether Emrys’ ability was related to the harmony that Réonan had been talking about. Emrys said that he could not rightly say, but after a moment said that the influential Senhadrim by the name of Mohiam, who start a magi-religious cult which orchestrated the bloodlines of humans and elves in such a way across generations to create Emrys’ ability could be considered as the orchestration of instruments to cause a certain resonance.
When Luca asked Neamhan whether she could use a ghost orchid, a flower of great but dark power, to fuel her magic, she immediately recognised it from one of the scary stories her grandmother used to tell her. She knew them to be flowers that grew in places of tremendous sacrifice. The flower’s source of power was antithetical to her own, Neamhan felt, and was immediately repulsed by the flower. She asked where the heroes got the flower, and they confirmed that it was a reward for returning Memra’s sight, which had been taken from her by Xamael when he created the infernal fetish which nearly killed Queen Isabella. One was used to save the queen. One was given to Ecgbrith the herbalist in repayment of his help, and one was kept by Luca for future use.
Falka decided to share what she had learned at the Library of Ioun; while she had not found anything useful on the Arms of the Senhadrim yet, she did find many tales about the bargaining of souls on crossroads at midnight. Chakuq mentioned that Steward’s Square could be considered Kingsport’s most important crossroad. Falka said that she would continue her research the following day.
As everyone got ready to depart for the College of Bards, Wynn managed to convince Neamhan to take him with her, hidden away in a pocket of her traditional aen gwynt clothes. Neamhan, initially hesitant, turned to the whimsical Emrys for advice, who gave it no thought at all, agreed that Wynn could come along.
At the College of Bards the heroes were directed to a ballroom that had seen better days. Overhead chandeliers provided ample light to the four scores of people in attendance. Mostly students and staff at the college, a collection of many cultures, they were sat around debating, composing, practicing music, or performing other acts like juggling, or dancing.
The majority were sat around a small stage upon which stood a pillory, with Lord Andrew locked in it. Le Papillon was pacing up and down the stage behind the pillory, encouraging them to make fun of Lord Andrew. As they did so, hurling funny insults at the man, Lord Andrew had to come up with quick retorts.
“Lord Andrew is proof that nepotism is alive and well at the college; his lack of talent in the fine arts is made up for the number of crowns he pours into the college coffers every semester!” said Soren of Hungerford to the stomps of the feet of those in agreement.
“It is true; my lord father thought it more cost-effective to keep me at the college, rather than pay for the upkeep of all the bastards I would sire in the Riverlands. Can you imagine having a bunch of little me’s running around? It would destroy your career! At least now, you are the only bastard who looks, and sounds, and acts like me!” retorted Lord Andrew to roarious laughter.
“I, for one, like seeing Lord Andrew pilloried. Normally a person must pay admission to see this sort of entertainment. Now that he’s tied up perhaps he can keep his hands off the female apprentices for a chance!” said Morina, known as the Voice of Kenton, to many nods from the female students in attendance.
“My dearest Morina, you are right. I do regret my indiscretion. After the afternoon we spent together in the Spring I came back to my room at the college and hit myself over the head with a fireplace poker. You see, I needed an objective frame of reference by which to judge the experience of your company. I place it between four and five blows,” returned Lord Andrew, drawing much laughter.
The roasting continued and enjoyed by all, regardless of the target of a joke, or the truth in the words. The climax came when the crowd threw spoilt food at the pillory, covering a grinning Andrew in waste.
Le Papillon came to speak with the heroes. The man, well into his fourth decade, dressed mostly in black, cast a slender figure, made from wiry muscle and limber sinew, he looked like a gifted dancer with incredible control over his limbs, and an economy of movement which reminded Neamhan of a great hunting cat. He bowed before the heroes very deeply, with his forehead almost touching the ground.
When the heroes asked him about Epidemius and the Liber Bubonicus – the Book of Woe – he said that he had assumed that one of the Arms of the Senhadrim in their possession must know more about that topic than he would. When Emrys explained that the spirits in the weapons had not fully awoken, nor had obtained their full memory. Toruviel and “his” memory would grow over time. This drew a surprised look from Le Papillon, and he asked; “Toruviel the Aeromancer? ‘Her’ memory, no?” This was news to Emrys, and he did not decide to indulge the headmaster.
Le Papillon told a story about two Senhadrim brothers who laid the foundation for transferring the soul of a person and fusing it into a powerful receptacle. One of the Senhadrim betrayed the other by breaking a pact of morality and took the research into a much darker direction. The other transferred their soul into one of the arms and vowed to seek vengeance for the betrayal. At that, Luca noticed that Blackstar was humming furiously. Unbeknownst to Le Papillion he was recounting part of the legend of the animosity between Blackstar and his rival, Maltorius.
Another detail which stood out was that the transferal of a soul into an object was infernal in origin. Only devils dealt in, negotiate with, and bargained for souls as if they were currency. The suspicion was that the Senhadrim’s ability to transfer souls into objects was bargained for with the devils of the Nine Hells.
Le Papillon granted access to the college’s archives and said that Briona Amberstill, the archivist, would provide assistance. He also suggested that another good source of information would be the crusaders that the heroes liberated from Old Llygad; they were there during the creation of the Arms of the Senhadrim, and the likes of Prior Benedict McAllister, or Ser Florianus Ironwood, or Ser Kadagar Ashbeard, or Ser Gregorian Longshadow might know more.