Author: Dennis

Previously, previously spoke to the grand archmage of the Circle of Magi in order to learn more about the possibility of trapping Epidemius on the Book of Woe. They visited the College of Bards to talk to Le Pappilon, the legendary bard and headmaster of the college, to continue their search for myths and legends which might lead them to a plan to realise their plan.

Seventh Day, Second Ride, Autumn Twilight, 1262

(Silvermoon is waning, Bloodmoon is in low sanction, Darkmoon is waxing)

It was around 10th bell and well past curfew when the heroes found themselves still at the College of Bards. The ballroom was still filled with students and staff, all mingling, talking, debating, composing, performing, singing, dancing, and juggling.

The conversation with Le Papillon continued about the possibility of transferring a soul into an object.

Previously, Arkenward had explained to Quentin that all magical power, infernal, celestial, or demonic, was fuelled by souls; either your own, or that of others. He also warned Quentin that any ritual like the one used to create the Arms of the Senhadrim would require tremendous sacrifice. Quentin had refused to use innocent souls, and Dr. Arkenward had agreed that binding Epidemius to the mortal plane would make him killable, and that it might be their best chance, but that it would not leave the fiend powerless.

Chakuq was interested to hear from Andrew if he had gleaned any information about the horse hide book, and when he would start his research. He found Andrew among the people and stopped his revelry. Andrew asked Chakuq what he was hoping to find in the book, and he answered hat he was hoping to identify and trace any connections between what was written in the book and the songs of his people. Chakuq had seen some patterns and figures in the book that he recognised in some of the patterns woven into the clothing of the Tapika Runakuna. Andrew, in turn, said that he hoped that the book would teach a person on how to influence others through spoken word, though he did not provide any reason or evidence for saying so before he rejoined Emrys in song.

Quentin went to mingle and with the Beauclair troubadours in attendance to see if he could pick up some news and rumours. A young trobairitz named Aubrey, with brown hair, hazel eyes and a thin scar running the length of her jaw, came to Quentin ask him for some information on his adventures that she could use in a song she was composing. She was a Novice of Echoes, a first year’s student at the College of Bards, without a chosen path yet, and she wanted to perform the song at the feast planned at the Black Alder Farm in the honour of Lord Quentin and Lady Gwenaëlle. Quentin turned the tides on her and said that improvisation was the mark of genius, and she meekly admitted not to be a genius, just a hard worker. This convinced Quentin to allow her one question, which she went away to think about.

Luca and Chakuq felt no further need to stay at the soiree and convinced Neamhan to head back to the Careless Wanderer with them. Neamhan had lost track of Wynn and went to inform Emrys, who she felt was co-responsible for the decision to take the quickling along, and was surprised that Emrys was not at all concerned for Wynn’s safety.

On her way out, Neamhan felt an eerie unease coming from a woman standing near the exit. The woman had long, dark hair, big eyes, and a small mouth with stained lips. She was wearing a black corset over a white blouse, a short black, velvet jacket with poofy shoulders and silver stitching, and black knickerbockers with white stockings over black, lacquered shoes. She carried a lyre and a cup of wine and pretended not to notice Neamhan looking at her. Neamhan felt as if the woman was radiating a magic that was the antithesis of her own; not one of connection, but one of disconnection.

Chakuq had already left, but Luca was close by and Neamhan asked for some assistance as she went to confront the woman. With her usual abruptness she asked the woman “What are you?” She responded coyly and evasively, and betrayed a thick eastern accent; maybe Silesian, or Mazurian. She introduced herself as Rigoletta, and when Neamhan asked her what kind of magic she wielded, she said that she only used stories and song.

Neamhan tried to warn Quentin of the danger she saw in Rigoletta. She tried to do it surreptitiously by turning into a raven, but Quentin was distracted by the bards that had surrounded him and it took Neamhan a while before she finally got him to pay attention to Rigoletta.

Quentin was unwilling to engage Neamhan, and eventually Neamhan decided to leave it. Luca made his way back to the Careless Wanderer and realised that Rigoletta was likely one of the szygani. Neamhan also had a revelation; the eerie feeling she had felt with Rigoletta was the same feeling as when she had connected to the lands of Kingsport and felt the presence of death emanating from the palace.

Eighth Day, Second Ride, Autumn Twilight, 1262

(Silvermoon is waning, Bloodmoon is waxing, Darkmoon is in high sanction)

Just after twelfth bell, Aubrey returned to Quentin with her question; she asked what he could tell her about the Blood of Alban. Initially, Quentin gave her a short, somewhat dismissive, generic answer, but moved her away from the crowd to berate her for committing political suicide by seemingly choosing House Morvrayne over the much more powerful House Lys. Aubrey was too young and naïve to understand the mistake she had made, and broke down when Quentin urged her to leave the city before she found a Lys knife in her back. She had no coin, and was in no state to leave the city. She had spent all her coin on tuition and lodging and was leaving from meal to meal.

Emrys, eagle-eyed, noticed the conversation that Quentin and Aubrey were having and decided to create a distraction by duelling his lute against Lord Andrew’s. It worked, and it drew the attention of those remaining in the ballroom. This gave Quentin the opportunity to calm Aubrey down and tell her it would be okay. By way of Emrys, Quentin asked Lord Andrew to care for Aubrey and make sure she survived the night, which he did gracefully by leading her to his chambers and providing her a room and bed.

With Emrys and Lord Andrew no longer holding the spotlight, Rigoletta began to play her Lyre and sing a haunting song in archaic Lyrian, about a scarlet rain that was falling in the east which would soon bring back their ancestors. Hearing the song, Quentin realised that the talisman of raven feathers he had hidden under his shirt was humming discordantly.

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.

Previously, the heroes had just been visited by Epidemius in another dream after having recovered the Book of Woe from the Newport library. They wanted to investigate the possibility of binding Epidemius, either to this plane so they could vanquish him, or imprison him in an object, like the Book of Woe, in the same way that the Senhadrim had been transferred to their arms.

Seventh Day, Second Ride, Autumn Twilight, 1262

(Silvermoon is waning, Bloodmoon is in low sanction, Darkmoon is waxing)

While Neamhan is still soaring through the skies as a peregrine falcon, together with Frostfeather, Chakuq, Emrys, and Luca went to visit the Circle of Magi to see if they could get an audience with Réonan.

Neamhan learned several tactics from Frostfeather as they continued to harass the other griffons over Kingsport. She recognised that a lot of Frostfeather’s tactics revolved around generating turbulence, and so she transfigured into a giant eagle in the hope of trying it out. When she was satisfied, Neamhan decided she wanted to practice defending against an attack like that and she ended up goading Frostfeather into attacking her. Unfortunately, the attack came too fast and she was knocked into a death spiral, hurtling to the ground. The last thought that flashed through her mind as she saw the ground rushing towards her was “Do I have a baby?”, a thought which had planted itself firmly in her mind by Virulencia, right before Frostfeather snatched Neamhan up in her talons and saved her from death.

After their quick visit to the College of Bards, Chakuq, Emrys, and Luca made their way to that other academic institution; the Circle of Magi. As usual, Olafur, the great Miðgarðurian, greeted them at the entrance and arranged for an audience with the grand archmage. The ascent along the spiral staircase, decorated with the many historical mementos of the Circle, left Chakuq feeling a little dizzy, moving him to take off his boots so that his feet found more grounding. At the top of the staircase they walked out on the windowed jetty of the tower, seeing interesting and curious displays; arms, armour, statues, contraptions, and art. A doorway lead from the jetty into the tower’s interior where a museum of even more curiosas were on display. Olafur lead them to a stone alcove with the statue of a hunter cat with a woman’s face; “Prayanti the Sphinx, Guardian of the Scarab Temple of the Great Sand Sea of Noth, please grant us access,” he called, and the alcove spun around the heroes to reveal a doorway behind the statue.

Through the doorway lay Réonan’s inner sanctum. On two sides there were tall, latticed, glass windows with an incredible view over Kingsport. On the far side of the room there was a private library, and on the right hand side stood a magnificent desk, filled with books, stacks of paper, and a collection of scroll cases. On the left was a low table set atop a thick, blue, woven carpet, with three luxurious sofas standing around it. The domed ceiling was a black void serving as the canvas for stars, constellations, nebulae, and the familiar three moons. Réonan was seated on one of the sofas, a book in their lap, and an earthen mug in their hand from which they were sipping. When they looked up, the smiled thinly, and invited the heroes to sit.

During the conversation, the heroes attempted to question the grand archmage on Epidemius, but Réonan was not very forthcoming. Chakuq bluntly asked what was preventing them from helping, and Réonan claimed that with the rising tide of magic, their memories and abilities were slowly coming back, but that not everything was available and known yet.

The heroes did learn that part of the reason Blackstar cannot detect fiends or celestial creatures is because while they are made of pure soul-stuff, their soul is not on the mortal plane, but instead resides on the plane of their origin, with a tether linking them to their original soul. This is also the reason why defeating them on the mortal plane sends them back to their plane of origin. It was possible to bind a creature to the mortal plane, but it would require great sacrifice.

They also learned that Réonan knew Epidemius before his fall from divine grace, when he was known as Epidemiel. A soul’s tether can be changed to another plane through discord. Enough discord can dislodge a soul from its original plane, something that Réonan likened to “falling.” There was a question on whether it was possible to do the opposite, ascending rather than falling, and Réonan said they had yet to see it happen.

The conversation changed directions and focussed on the defeat of Epidemius through other means. Réonan suggested finding them Book of Woe and returning it to Epidemius, but the conclusion was that it would cost too many mortal lives, and would be a cost that the heroes were unwilling to bear.

Réonan offered a question on why Epidemius chose to appear at Steward’s Square. Was it to cause maximum terror? Would he not rather appear in the middle of the palace? Perhaps Epidemius’ power was at its height at Steward’s Square. Perhaps the square was necessary to execute the rat ogres in sacrifice to power the curse that fell over Kingsport. Luca offered that there are stories and superstitions about meeting devils on crossroads, and striking bargains with them at midnight. Perhaps Steward’s Square was the ultimate crossroad. Chakuq asked whether the veil was thinner at a crossroads, and Réonan offered that a crossroads represented a choice; good or evil, chaos or order.

Luca requested whether the heroes could be permitted to use the facilities of the Circle to do research. Réonan consented and said they would make a laboratory available and see about moving the portal that existed between the entrance to the Newport Vault and the Circle to this new laboratory. In return, they asked for their ring back, which Luca did without hesitation.

The conversation briefly turned to the heroes’ intent with the Newport vault, and they shared that they were looking to use it to store dangerous artefacts. Réonan shared that in the past, when “things got really bad, and we were unable to walk the surface”, the pillars inside the halls were used to travel between vaults.

Before their departure, the heroes briefly checked in with Olafur and were offered a stiff drink to help them brave the cold. While Luca and Emrys were considering what a spell that could bind a devil would look like, and would require, Chakuq brought up the oft-heard notion of sacrificing life to power rituals. His thought turned to Neamhan and how much she cared for life, and he doubted she would be willing to sacrifice a life. Chakuq confessed not being comfortable with sacrificing lives, either, since it seemed to be going beyond using prey as bait to catch a predator. This prompted Olafur to ask him how that worked when Chakuq was part of the Red Swords, to which Chakuq responded that while part of the mercenary company it was not his task to put lives at risk. It gave Chakuq the insight that either Olafur had checked up on him, or the Miðgarðurian was not the affable oaf he portrayed to be.

Just before sixth bell after noon, the heroes found themselves on the cold, snowy streets of Kingsport, heading back to the College of Bards to get an audience with Le Papillon. But first, they would make a stop at the Careless Wanderer, to reconvene with the others, and dress up appropriately.