[Notes for the run of July 1, 1999.] We move ourselves and the unconscious princess further from the burning building. Paris suggests that the medics check the princess for small puncture marks. Mia starts to cast Detect Magic, but is interrupted by Silverlock, showing up (now armored in something rather sturdier than terry-cloth) with a bunch of guards. He asks if Mia is a healer, then tells her to carry on. He mentions that technically it is a capital crime to touch royalty without permission, so in the prince's name he gives Mia permission to care to the princess. Mia again casts the spell, and she sees a silver cord leaving the princess; as she moves around the cord is always leaving in a direction opposite from Mia. She describes this to Silverlock, but isn't sure whether the cord is magical or spiritual. Anton wonders whether the beast could be the Warlord; it seems unlikely. Paris thinks perhaps it is the vampire lord and/or the spider lord. But we find no puncture marks. Calais asks if the silver cord reminds any of the mages of the feeling of the area that "felt wrong" when we first arrived in this area. Anton, who sensed that, casts Detect Magic and looks at the cord. He doesn't think the two are related. He and Mia agree that the cord, though it detects as magical, does not appear to be of Earth, Air, Fire, or Water. He wonders what clerical magic looks like, so Claire takes the opportunity to ask for some healing from Brillig. Anton watches, and thinks there is some similarity between that spell and the silver cord's effect. Mia thinks about which god to pray to to ask about the kind of magic and what it means. She decides to pray to the blue goddess. After a while a cart arrives, and Mia has not yet had any mystic relevation. Mia and Claire share the load of leaving Sense Magic running as they accompany the princess being carted back to the castle. Claire, whose spell is running as they approach the castle, sees some sort of earth magic built into the walls. The gateway does not appear to be magical; indeed, it seems impervious to magic sight. Her spell is cancelled as she crosses the ironbound entry walk, but she recasts it once inside and the silver cord is still present. The padre takes over the care of the princess. We are ushered into a side room where we wait to be debriefed. While we wait, Mia does more healing, bringing Paris back to full health with a rather colorful spell. Paris asks Rory about his travels. He says he traveled by horse to a city far away, near a sea, where there were lots of orcs and their captives. He says they met some elves, though they didn't call themselves elves. (Clan Kelli did call themselves elves.) The captain and someone else snuck into the orc city and found some papers that indicated the orcs were waiting to gather more strength before going somewhere, but they think the orcs left without having gathered all they had hoped for. As we wait, listening to Rory, we also hear some music in the distance. It sounds like a waltz. We discuss how the demon got into the castle. We conclude that though he may have had the Baron's face, the armor was an illusion, which would have dropped if he entered the gate. That's presumably why he suddenly decided to turn around at that point. We figure he might have flown over the walls using his physical wings, then recast his illusion. Eventually we get a page interrupt. The page takes us to the main throne room, not the "working room". The throne room is being decorated. The prince is there, in extremely well-polished armor. "I need to know quickly what happened here in town, and what happened on your trip and how you met the creature passing as the Baron." We stifle Anton before he can launch into the full story, and Paris answers, "We traced the creature through various abandoned buildings, never confronting it in battle, and eventually it got frustrated and tossed the princess, whom it had wrapped in a tapestry, at us, and left, setting the building on fire as it burst out." Mia adds, "The princess should not be unconscious physically. There is a magical, probably spiritual, thing, sort of like an umbilical cord. I don't know if it is keeping her alive, or keeping her incommunicado." Mia suggests asking more knowledgeable priests about it before risking dispelling it. He asks Paris about her shoulder. Paris explains she got whacked by the demon. Rory adds that the demon was using magic to cover its trail, hiding holes in walls and such. It was also quite fast once it unloaded the princess. Mia remarks that animals are afraid of it, citing the pigeons and horses. The prince interrupts and turns to get the seneschal to send some dogs to stay near the princess. He then asks how we met it, and Paris tells of how we came upon the armored figure fighting four orcs, and how we finished off the orcs and then found the figure to be, it seemed, our Baron, who explained that he had just spent what seemed to him to be only a long day fighting his way free of the creatures that had captured his family. We relate some of the story the creature told us, including bits such as his finding of the armor, and how he said the armor could find the path back. We mention that he asked various questions about the Duke's forces, and we relate what answers we gave. We conclude by explaining how we felt something odd was happening when Rory mentioned seeing the Baron inside, and that we rushed in at that point. Trumpets sound, and he says there's not much time, but he'll have more questions later. But one question he asks now, is how we came by the cup and the poison. Paris explains about the spiders, and Calais says he managed to contrive a way to carry the poison. Explaining how we came by the cup is a bit more muddied, with Calais hopefully suggesting that the High Priestess didn't ask for it back because she knew we'd need it, and others not so convinced. Mia adds that the High Priestess could perhaps help the princess if all else fails. But before that gets completely resolved, the trumpets sound even closer, and the prince tells us to stand off the side and say nothing. The Archpriest enters. He wears two keys. Amid much bowing, the prince and Archpriest do NOT bow to each other. The prince welcomes him to the city of Westmore, and expresses surprise at his being this far west of Pelier. "What brings you this far from your isle of Batica?" "I had heard tales of this wonderful city that had magically appeared, and difficulties, and thought I should come to see that the flock did not stray." (Mia, hiding in the corner, cringes.) "I understand you had some difficulties today. How fare the Duke and your sister?" The prince gives a brief reply and asks if a churchman could look at the princess. The Archpriest makes a diplomatically phrased but noncommittal response, saying he'll send someone well suited. He suggests that in troubled times it is important that the church and state work together, and adds that ceremonies enticing people away from the true way should be relegated to outside the city. No mention is made of rainbow robes. The prince, apparently no slouch at diplomacy himself, says he's only recently arrived, but he will take it under advisement. The Archpriest leaves, and the prince orders people to take down the decorations, and calls us over again. With more time now, we let Anton tell the story. He tells about the elves, the orc wolf-riders, the orc army, the High Priestess. Mia notes that the Priestess's magic was all colors, and white, and black. We tell about meeting the Empress, who warned us about the Warlord, and seeing the Emperor's chair. We tell about the wall that represents the tears between Tarot and Torat. Filling in other gaps, Anton brings up the magical spot we found when chasing the creature. Most of the rest was already told. Mia mentions elven waybread, and that she has the herbs for it (a gift of the Empress), and the prince says he knows someone who knows how to make it. Brillig says he got some special bean seeds from the Empress as well. Paris tells some of the word from the queen of the elves. The prince muses that he knows who should be the emissary to the elves, a "Baron Ruby". Paris returns to the topic of the fence. "There was a fence that separated us from the Empress. There was a double lock in the fence. The two keys can bring together the world, if we choose. We have choice -- when we understand." Anton asks about the keys on the Archpriest's robe. Are they the same keys as Paris's and Rory's? He thinks about the Tarot, and realises the Archpriest is the Hierophant, the fifth major arcana. Claire asks about the route that the Archpriest would have taken to get here. It doesn't involve crossing by any orc armies, so she lets it drop. Something else is clearly bothering Paris. The prince notices this. "Paris, you're lousy at hiding things." She replies, "My lord, when I left, I did not believe I would come back." Why not? "Because I had given my word to protect someone, and I thought I'd have to stay with her to keep my word." What call had she on you? "She was my friend." It seemed like the right thing to you to escort her back. "Yes." And it was, because she provided you with tools that saved the Duke's life. "To think to do a thing, is very close to doing that thing." Paris mumbles on for a while longer, then the prince says a few words about her Order. "You will have to know when the Order is demanding something of you, and when our Law demands something of you. You will have to use judgment. In this case your judgment was correct." Calais asks how the Duke is doing. He should recover. Rory asks the prince to explain the exchange with the Archpriest, and says he thinks he needs to go talk to him. "The church holds many mysteries," says the prince. "He will not likely answer your questions." Calais points out that the Magician said the Hierophant's mirror would be locked, which again suggests that the Archpriest will not be forthcoming with information. The prince says tomorrow is Sevenday, and the day after "You, Paris, will be in class." Mia asks the prince to think before outlawing the rainbow church, which she explains a bit about to the prince. "I don't know what it is we stand for, but I don't think it's ultimately wrong." Do you stand for or against the crown? (Mia picks this as a wonderful time to hesitate before replying. :-) "I do as I am bid." That's not particularly reassuring. "I must be loyal to the baron and duke and king." Yes, but does your church support the crown? "I think so. I don't... I've only met one other, and neither of US is disloyal to the crown." The discussion goes on in ever more muddled terms, as the prince learns how disorganised the religion is. At some point Mia mentions the gods, plural, and the prince asks about that. She goes back over the colors of the High Priestess's magic, pointing out the significance of the rainbow colors. Mia explains some of the difference in attitude between the churches, e.g., the white church hides the scriptures from the common man, but the rainbow church prints them on the floor where all can see. She concludes with a plea that the rainbow and white churches unite against the black. The prince asks that she and the rest of her church choose a representative who can come and swear allegiance to the crown. Anton asks if the Prince knows anything about the black church. The prince describes some of the practices typically ascribed to them, and we note the resemblance to what was done to Genelle's father. Mia asks if it would be inappropriate for her, as a healer who has administered to the princess, to look in on her again, and the prince says yes, it would be inappropriate, especially given the discussion about religions. The prince dismisses us, but asks us not to leave the city for a while. (Or at least, not to leave overnight. We can go outside to the fields, for instance.) As we're leaving the throne room, a messenger turns up and thrusts a bag at Calais. "For the cup." (The prince said he'd have his own emissary send the cup back.) Outside, we look in the bag and find 20 silver. Also outside, Rory chastises us on our behavior before royalty, saying we shouldn't interrupt so much, and so on. Anton, Claire, and Brillig go check out the library. They find some advanced Air and Water spells, but not much Earth for Claire. (And the advanced spells tend to require having spent significant points on other spells in the school.) Claire eventually finds Calais and asks for some of her earnings from her earlier week of teaching so she can buy some unsinged clothes. She goes far enough from the palace to find some reasonably priced ones, then goes to investigate a crowd at Argham Johnson's adventurers guild, including a few people in rainbow robes. She talks to one of those and finds he's just finished his training at the rainbow church. She tries to give him some advice about orcs riding wolves and such, but it's clear he doesn't believe her. Anton plants the seed he got from the Empress. Nothing immediate happens. Mia asks Rory to introduce her to the person who knows how to make waybread. He says he'll try to do so sometime. Brillig takes his beans to whoever in Jouet is best at dealing with such things, to see how best to plant them. He's directed to plant them outside the city walls. Claire goes to the Order of the Celestial Star (the other adventuring-type guild) and asks about earth magic. The proprietor there directs her to Pierre, who's set up shop on a newly-created hill just south of town. Nobody is killed in the night, nor is the beast caught. Sevenday, Anton and Claire ask to accompany Mia to the rainbow church. The rest of us go to the White church, where a carriage turns up and out steps Lorraine duGryphon. (Which is why Calais was tickled pink that Anton didn't come.) She greets Calais, asks about Anton, and is introduced to Rory. She links arms with Rory and Calais and chatters with us until it's time to quiet down for the service. Afterward, Paris accompanies Lorraine back in the carriage. Rory remarks on how large the carriage is. Later there's some conversation between Rory and Paris, but I didn't catch it and don't even know who was there in character. I also didn't catch any details about what happened at the rainbow church. We spend a week in town. Claire goes to check out Pierre. Calais goes to the adventurers guild and pays for a week of training (6 days at 15 copper per day) in avoiding the encumbrance of armor. Anton studies air magic even though it'll be a while before he'll be ready to learn any more spells. Paris does her usual training. Rory hangs out at the palace training grounds, too, but seems to have trouble finding someone of his order who's free to train with. He does get to see Paris training; the trainer is Lord duGryphon, Lorraine's father. At some point in the week the Duke will probably be well enough to see us, so the week isn't actually over yet. Also, we back-in-timed Mia's meeting up with her fellow priest, Henri, the day of the demon attack. She did her paladin imitation, telling Henri all our secrets, but in a sufficiently chaotic narration that he may not have caught everything. :-) She did get across the danger posed by the Archpriest's request, and Henri suggests they get the whole flock to go to the castle after the Sevenday service and swear loyalty (not fealty, which isn't appropriate) to the crown. This too may have an effect on the week's events.