[Notes for the run of August 19, 1999.] Once the monster (oh all right, call it a troll) is out of the way, Claire sees that the hole behind it goes back only about 10 meters (5"). There are claw marks at the end as though the troll was trying to dig in that direction. Rhori notes that its feet match the three-toed tracks he saw outside. By the time the troll is fully burning, the air is pretty foul, even though the smoke is gradually moving out toward the exit. The party is crouching down to avoid the worst of the effects. Rhori talks with Paris about making her more effective as a front line fighter. Various cards are gathered, including the lion's share of the hound cards, and a bundle of ten from Brillig, and Paris absorbs them. Claire goes into the passage, planning to tunnel past where the troll had gotten and see what it was headed for. At Calais's suggestion, she also turns on her magic sight. She starts through the wall at the far end, and to her surprise goes only half a foot before coming into open air again. In front of her is the bottom of a crevasse, with fresh air and some light coming from above. Directly before her is a skeleton with a staff, and a wraith moaning at her. She freezes in fear. Paris moves up to Claire. Rhori also moves up and pushes past Claire. He walks through the wraith, which raises its arms as he passes through. He feels cold, but is not harmed as when the other wraith attacked him. He tells Hobbes to grab Claire and drag her back from the wraith. Brillig asks if there's another body and what it looks like. Mia also moves forward, but bumps into the invisible Hobbes, who didn't notice her coming. Claire rattles off a quick description: skeleton with a staff, wraith above it, Rhori went through it. Then she shoots it. The wraith, which up till then had not attacked, immediately strikes Claire. She is badly drained. Then Hobbes knocks her down as he tries to comply with Rhori's instructions. Paris tells Mia that she thinks the description matches that of Etienne, founder of the town. She tries to step past Claire and Hobbes, hoping to examine the skeleton, but she trips over Claire and ends up face to face with the skeleton, whose head is separated from the rest. Rhori picks up the staff, but in doing so scatters the bony fingers that were holding it. Brillig says it's the body of Saint (or equivalent honorific) Etienne, and we need to lay him to rest and recover the staff. The wraith hits Claire again. The lion tells Rhori, and Rhori says to pull her away faster. Calais steps up and tells the wraith to leave her alone, hoping perhaps to distract it into attacking him instead. Claire lets loose with a barrage of magic missiles, but only one of them hits the wraith. The wall seals up again as Claire is no longer there to maintain her tunnel. Mia, Paris, and Rhori are on the other side. They hastily put the bones together, and Mia again races through the laying-to- rest ceremony. Brillig thrusts his holy symbol toward the wraith and says something in the language of scriptures. The wraith turns, bows to Brillig, and goes back through the wall. It settles over the skeleton. There is a bright play of colors, white as well as all the colors of the rainbow. The wall nearby shatters into a shower of silver cards. The lion continues to drag Claire out of the mine, both of them holding their breath in the smoke. Once outside, it sits panting. Rhori asks Hobbes if Claire is okay, but the lion can't understand Claire or vice versa. Still, Hobbes reports that she seems all right. Rhori tells Hobbes to wait there, so Hobbes promptly lays down to sleep. Claire fetches some water to dump on him, but he notices and moves away. Claire uses the water to wash off the lion slobber. She tells Kenneth's father a very edited version of what we found. Brillig pokes a hole in the wall with his spear, and at his suggestion Paris and Rhori use their pick and axe to finish breaking it open. Anton looks up the crevasse, but enough rocks have fallen in over the years that he doesn't think he can fly out that way. Someone suggests counting the cards, and finds that Calais has already gathered them up. Calais reports there were thirty-five. Brillig ends up with the staff, which the mages say have churchly magic. Brillig says he had a dream about Saint Etienne last night, in which Etienne said "the dark" was coming for him and we should stop them and recover the staff. Apparently we've done that now. Some of us mutter that it might've helped if Brillig had mentioned the dream earlier; he says he didn't realise how immediately the dream quest would arise. Mia thinks we should bring the bodies out for proper burial elsewhere. In bundling up the skeleton, Paris notices a finger bone is missing. Apparently Calais scooped it up with the cards. He gives it back. We exfiltrate and head back to town. Kenneth's father offers us two chickens in payment, but we thank him and decline. Mia gives him the dog. We tell the miners that we believe the mine is clear. Anton spins them a tale of what went on, cloaking all the magical bits in spiritual terms. Claire takes Rhori aside for some sharp words about not having Hobbes "help" her any more. The next day they bury Kenneth, and we all attend that ceremony. (Even Mia.) Then we set out again. After that day and two more we find ourselves coming down a slope by a stream, approaching the town of Dungeon. Somewhere during our travels, Calais gets someone to tend to two minor wounds from the mine battle. Others might be similarly inspired. :-) The town is at the end of the valley. Beyond it are two rock formations with a human-built wall many miles long sealing off the end of the valley. The town itself is also walled. There is a stockade that looks a bit odd, but we're not sure why until we get close. Then we see that the towers are on the outside, not the inside. There are some fields, and two camps visible outside. We're not sure who controls the town now, so we approach with caution. Paris says the librarian at Lions believed the barbarians had gone away, but even so, we decide to have Anton and Hobbes scout around invisibly. The town has a 20-foot stone wall in very good repair, with people patrolling along the top. There are well-organised guards at the gate. There seem to be two symbols worn by the guards: some have lions, others a green diamond that he assumes has to do with the Prince. Anton backs off a ways so he won't be overheard casting a spell, and comes back checking for magic. He spots an arcane spell he hasn't seen before, some sort of sensing spell, over the entrance. Anton returns with Hobbes and tells us what he saw. Paris says the green symbol is not Prince William's; it's the symbol of the Emerald Baron. (Silverlocke is the Ruby Baron.) Anton also suggests turning off magical spells before going in, in case that's what the spell at the entrance is checking for, but Brillig points out the staff is magical and can't be "turned off". There's also the question of Hobbes; if he's invisible and is spotted it'll be trouble, but visible he causes other trouble. We decide to have Hobbes wait outside. The rest of us ride up, with the women hiding their weapons, and Paris still posing as a boy. But that pose is blown pretty quickly as we are hailed and challenged, and Paris identifies us as "Paris of Jouet and her companions", riding under the orders of Prince William, and with a letter of introduction to the local librarian. They haven't heard of Jouet, but invite Paris closer so they can quiz her about Prince William and convince themselves of her bona fides. Eventually they decide to let us in, and they give her directions to find some inns. She waves us in. As Brillig's horse crosses the barrier, however, they call to us to wait. A clerkish type whom Anton had noticed while scouting comes up and casts a spell, which the mages recognise as a sense magic spell. He eventually takes Brillig's name and writes a description of the staff. Rhori asks the clerk if he needs to know about people who can cast magic. Rhori says he can speak to plants and animals, and that he has an invisible lion. The clerk looks around and says he can't see any invisible lion. Much confusion later, the clerk speaks to the commander, then asks Rhori to take him to see the lion. Rhori suggests waiting until later, since the lion is sleeping now. They agree to meet an hour before sunset and go see the lion. Rhori offers to demonstrate talking to animals, too. He tries for a while to talk to a horse, and the clerk sees that there's some effect, but nothing happens. Rhori asks for a horse that's not quite as smart as that one. Finally he gets the horse to come to him. The horse then insists on a sweet, which fortunately Mia is able to supply. We continue on in. Late in the day, as planned, Rhori and the clerk go out to meet Hobbes. Hobbes waits, invisible, and then appears just as he plants his forepaws on the man's shoulders. The poor guy faints. The clerk remarks that it's entirely unlike other magic he's seen, and that the rest of the Guild will be fascinated. (It seems unlikely that Rhori will think to mention this Guild to the rest of us, but we eventually hear of it by other means.) The clerk returns to town, but Rhori spends the night outside with Hobbes. Meanwhile, we observe that all of the grown men in town, and even some of the women, are carrying weapons. We talk to the innkeeper and learn this is traditional here, due to the barbarians. They are humans, tall, with long flowing black or red hair. They don't like living in cities; they travel about on horseback. The barbarians have been around for a long time, but the pig-faced things are more recent, and some of the barbarians have even asked to stay on this side of the big wall for protection; they're some of the irregulars who report to the Baron, and are one of the two camps we saw. The pig-faced things apparently attack regularly every Fourthday, coming from the north side of the wall. We remark that it's weird that they should attack on such a regular schedule. The innkeeper replies that the real weird stuff is the Old Dungeon. He asks if we found it odd that the Keep is built down in the valley, instead of on higher ground. Apparently the founders originally tried to build on the nearby hill, but found it honeycombed with passages. Under the hill was a dungeon, complete with skeletons in chains and other such accoutrements. Whether for reasons of structural integrity or just superstition, they decided not to build there but built in the valley instead. Recently, though, probably about the time Everything Changed, the skeletons there started walking around and such. They built the stockade around the place to keep the nasty things penned in. Emerald Baron went and got some books that teach -- drumroll -- Magic, and some folks are learning magic so they can go in and clean the place out. That's what's organised out of the other camp we saw, the one nearer the stockade. The pig-faces don't seem to be associated with the dungeon. The locals have captured some but couldn't understand them, so they don't know much about them. Mia asks if the locals have healers, given there's an attack expected tomorrow. She's told that some of the priests here have learned a bit of healing. The books the Baron brought back are under his control, except the Count controls the library. None of us knows enough about bureaucracy to know what this might mean. (Except maybe Paris, who says only that she doesn't think it'll be a problem, presumably since she has the letter of introduction to the librarian.) The way things are organised, anyone who reads the first magic stuff and survives an expedition into the dungeon gets access to the next, and so on. This piques our mages' interest. Eventually the innkeeper notices Claire's magic focus and feels a little sheepish for having talked about it so mysteriously to us. Mia asks if any of the pig-faced attackers did magic, and he mentions that some of the human mages have been attacked by bolts of magic. From his description these are like Claire's missiles, but she can't be sure which size of the spell. The innkeeper presses us for news, and Anton tells him lots of stuff that's been going on. In the course of his telling about the volcano near Pelier he mentions that there were lots of pig-faced armies turning up around it, which is news to most of us as well. Apparently Anton heard this while in Lions but hadn't mentioned it before. The next morning we pick up Rhori at the front gate and go to present ourselves to the Baron. We start out talking to a lackey, who asks our business. We offer to help fight the orcs -- which is to say, pig-faces -- in this week's attack. Mia mentions that some of us can use magic, including some healing. The lackey we're talking to is taken aback, since only priests do healing magic, and only men are priests. Mia is much embarrassed. The lackey fetches a captain, who remarks that Mia doesn't look like a priest. She says she follows a different creed. The captain hesitates, then fetches the Baron. The Baron invites us inside to talk. We learn that none of the local priests can do healing fast enough to do in battle, let alone at range. He also comments on her robes, and goes over to a chest, from which he pulls another set of rainbow robes, and a book with the multicolored partial writing. Mia pulls out her crystal and, moving over to the light, is able to read the book; in her quick glance she sees it has the rainbow scriptures and some low level spells. She notices there were other books in the chest. He asks if she has a crystal he can keep, but she has just the one; she suggests a glass-blower might be able to make a copy, as hers was made. Brillig says he could teach the priests faster forms of healing, but he doesn't know how long we'll be staying. The Baron asks what it would take to get us to stay, and Brillig defers to Paris, who explains we're on a quest for Prince William. We note, however, that in staying long enough to train others, we may ourselves learn new skills and spells that will aid us later. The topic is left open; for now there's the weekly orc attack to deal with. In further discussion about tactics and such, the Baron mentions that he and the Count formed a Guild for the mages, to let them organise training and such. In return for this autonomy the Guild pays "taxes" in the form of service. Calais recalls that the innkeeper said nobody here understood the Fell language, so he tells the Baron he is able to make out some of it. The Baron is surprised to learn it's actually a language, and tells Calais to accompany a particular lieutenant to do some interrogating. The Baron asks what other unusual abilities we have, and Rhori mentions some of his. Mia remarks that Rhori works for Baron Ruby. The Baron assigns the healers to a special company for the evening vigil, and the rest of us to another lieutenant who's in charge of the irregulars. The mages head for the Guild; the rest of us head for the training tent to learn about the dungeon expeditions and such. In the training tent we see various tables set up describing monsters and what works and doesn't work when fighting them. The last table describes how to fight trolls. Other sections teach useful skills such as mapping, and how to disassemble and reassemble a lantern in the dark. And one section describes traps and how to spot them, such as noticing when a flagstone looks surprisingly clean, and how to identify false walls. The last table teaches about silver cards, which people are allowed to keep. Other treasure is expected to be turned in, but some of it too is granted to the finders, to help motivate people to bring stuff out. Calais helps interrogate some orcs. They were ordered to break through the wall because of something on the other side, and they'd get further orders once they got through. They follow orders. That's all they know. The Guild displays a flag depicting the four elemental symbols. Our mages introduce themselves to the receptionist. Anton makes as if Jouet is famous for producing magic-users. They learn the rules for various levels of membership in the Guild, and in response they explain that we're only passing through on a quest for Prince William and probably won't be here long enough to be full members. The receptionist asks them to wait while he goes and collects some of the magisters to discuss the matter. While waiting, Anton, Mia, and Claire discuss how long we're likely to be in town, and whether we're likely to go into the dungeon, etc. The receptionist returns with two mages, Rune and Flame. Rune is rather polite, while Flame is rather rude, openly doubting their magical ability and even insulting Mia's fashion sense. Mia grows furious; Anton stays calm; Claire says she hadn't realised this was a nursery, and walks out. Rune tries to move things along, and asks Mia and Anton to show him the Sense Magic spell. Mia flubs hers, and Flame smiles. Rune and Anton each cast the spell, roughly the same spell despite their different foci. Anton also shows the light-a-fire spell, admitting in advance that it's likely to be insignificant compared to actual fire magic. Anton refers to it as arcane magic, which brings another insult from Flame about not knowing the difference between arcane magic and low magic. Anton and Rune continue to compare spells; Anton basically just ignores Flame. Rune is an earth mage and doesn't like to be outdoors much. Anton puts forth the idea of setting up a Guild in Westmore and sharing information between the two, though Rune wonders how the two Guilds would maintain communication over such a distance. Rune says he thinks the Water school has a communication spell of some sort, but he's not familiar with it. (Apparently neither is Mia, or else she's too busy fuming at Flame to say anything.) Anton learns of two new arcane spells, a static detect magic over an area, that doesn't cost endurance to leave running, and a magical lock. Presumably the former spell is the one he saw at the gate. Speaking of the gate, Claire heads over there, where she chats a bit with the apprentice water mage who's on duty today. She remarks that it's good to see that not everyone in his Guild is obnoxious (or something to that effect). He gets flustered and returns to his gate duty.