[Notes for the run of August 26, 1999.] Rhori is let down on the north side of the wall so he can scout. Hobbes accompanies him, invisibly (of course). Rhori is told a signal he can give when he wants to be let back up. He also makes sure the mages on our side have been instructed not to shoot at the invisible lion. And he gets some cards from Calais in case he decides he needs to run faster. Front-line fighters are under Lt. Suverna, accompanied by four barbarians: Dolf, Rolf, Adolph, and Gunther. The barbarians are accompanied by barbarian women who, we're told, are instructed to hang onto the horses and such. The women are looking forward to being there when their men win the battle. The more prudish among us don't get it. The healers (Brillig and Mia and Claire) go with a Captain named Sir Timescue. Under Timescue is a Sir Fortescythe who directs the PC healers. Since priests of the White Church don't normally show up at the actual battles, they are a bit surprised to see a young priest, Christophe. He's interested in seeing this healing magic that's not of "the" church. Mia timidly introduces herself. Brillig takes the opportunity to espouse his view that the established church hierarchy isn't taking an active enough role. Mia tells Fortescythe that she has a spell that will add defenses to a small number of people, and that it takes a minute to cast. She also mentions she has a spell that can slow the orcs down. A little past midnight, Hobbes picks up a scent. It's not "dark"; it's something new to Hobbes (who has never met Fell before). They're coming out of the hills and moving parallel to the wall. After a while he sees them turn toward the wall, and he heads back to give the signal. The human troops head for the indicated spot. Rhori reports that there's only one of the biggest size with them. This is viewed as a good sign, since they've usually had more. Maybe the orcs are running low on troops? Our forces ride up, asking where the orcs are. (They're not used to having this much advance warning.) About that time, someone on the tower spots the orcs as well. The fighters (including some PCs) get set up on the wall. Eventually we hear a sound approaching, a steady tramp. Anton, who has several Silence spells prepared and will lose one as soon as he casts anything else, asks whether it's okay for him to fire off a spell at the orcs. He's told that when the order to fire is given, he can fire anything he wants, but he's warned that they tend to target mages with a retaliatory spell once they notice. As the bad guys approach, we see there is indeed only one big one, but it's bigger than any we or the locals have ever seen before. He's over twenty feet tall, carrying a barn door masquerading as a shield. He's accompanied by several of what were previously thought of as "big", a mere fifteen feet tall, and of course lots of assorted smaller orcs. As most of us get ready to fire our bows (range about 50"), we suddenly notice a huge magic spell going off. Apparently Rhori is trying to do something; he's addressing the plants in some way. Three magical bolts shoot out from deep in the orc pack, two of them hitting Rhori. The mages recognise it as the version of the magic missile spell that has no modifier for range. Rhori is not seriously injured, but his spell is spoiled. Calais decides he's got a heavier bow than most, so he tries for the biggest guy, but his arrow hits the barn-door shield. Paris tries for a fifteen-footer, but likewise misses. Anton tries to silence the source of the magic missiles, but overshoots. About this time, the bad guys let out a yell and start to run forward. A runner gets to the reserves, where the healers are, and reports there's a bigger one than ever before. Fortescythe tells Mia to cast her Bless spell. Rhori tries his spell again, and this time succeeds in getting some undergrowth to try to entangle the giant, who breaks free without even noticing. Anton prepares to fire off his Blindness spell on the giant. (The giant is too tall to include both his head and any others nearby.) He gets the spell off, then gets hit by two magic missiles. He is stunned, and falls down (but not off the wall). The giant, blinded, runs into the wall at more of an angle than he likely intended. The wall cracks and part of it breaks open. Mia is told to try using her Slow spell on the breach. She moves forward to get in range, and casts it, with fair success. A fire mage hits the giant with some sort of blast, which may or may not have hurt it but at least slows it down. This rallies the other fighters into wading in against it. Most of the PCs are further along the wall, dealing with various other attackers including a fifteen-footer (call those ogres?). After a while, there's a lull in the battle, and we rest up and get some healing. Eventually, close to dawn, the orcs break off the attack. We got a bunch of them, but the giant survived and retreats with the others. Anton asks Rhori about his spell. Rhori doesn't understand what he's talking about until Anton mentions "talking to plants", then says yes, he can do that; it's part of his Order. But he says it didn't help this time; the plants weren't strong enough. Christophe talks to Brillig about being more active, and arranges to come with some other priests to talk to him about it next day at noon. He also asks Mia about the "gods" she refers to in her spell-casting, and she starts giving their names, colors, and domains. Christophe is amazed that she knows the names of her gods; that's the sort of thing known only at the highest levels of "the" church. She says the names are part of the scriptures on the floor of her church, which startles him even more. Brillig remembers some relevant scriptures that suggest that there's nothing incompatible with there being other gods, and Christophe is thoughtful. He might even have been swayed to the Rainbow Church, but Mia explains that her church has an uneasy truce with the White Church, and she doesn't want to ruffle feathers by stealing their priests. Christophe explains he was sort of forced into the priesthood, and thinks the White Church would like to know more about this other church, and so on. (Clearly he is predisposed to join.) They are joined by the Baron and Captain, who ask about the magic she did to seal the breach. She explains that it was Water magic, which they understand, except they're not used to people doing both that and priestly magic. About this time Paris finishes a healing spell and there's a bright white light and heavenly chorus. They're startled and ask if she's a priest too. Well no. Then what was that you just did? A healing spell. Paris explains that it's part of being a member of the Astraean Guard, that Prince William heads. When did he found this Order? He didn't found it; it's a bit of a story. Tomorrow afternoon, come around and explain it please. They ask where the scout is, and is told Rhori went back out to follow the orcs back a ways. (Calais tagged along this time too.) They say they knew Silverlocke was good, but didn't realise he had such good scouts working for him. Paris explains Rhori is in the same Order; no, Silverlocke didn't found that Order; she'll explain that in the afternoon too. They ask if there's a dungeon at Westmore too. We explain there's no dungeon, but there are orc-holes and such that people have been using to practice on. Nothing as big as that big guy though. "Oh yes," they say, "What was that, anyway? Where's the fellow who knows their language?" They turn to Paris, but she says no, my brother is the one. Where's he? He went out with Rhori. Is he a member of that Order too? No. Anyway, for now they agree to call it a "giant". The barbarians and their women have all disappeared. We can hear various interesting noises in the distance. Rhori and Calais follow the blancmange of orcs. They head north, then turn left, which is something of an operation for a blancmange. We notice that the giant does not appear to be the one issuing orders; the center of the army seems to be something closer to man-sized. We stop to rest a few hours. Calais tries to set some simple traps to warn us if something approaches, but Hobbes wonders what Calais is doing and in poking around sets them off. Sigh. Calais tries to explain to Hobbes, but finds that Hobbes can't understand him while Rhori is asleep. We also eat our waybread (Mia gave everyone one day's worth a while back), which helps a lot. Continuing on, we come to a huge orc-hole. Rhori asks Calais if he thinks we should go in. Calais asks, Are you kidding? We agree to take note of how to find it again, and head back to report what we've learned. Back at Dungeon, everyone sleeps half a day (well, except maybe the barbarians), then gets up and has a good meal. There are many tales (mostly tall) being told of the battle. Paris asks Anton to help her by looking into the books here. Apparently she's not permitted in the library because it's in the Keep, and she can't enter the Keep because she refuses to take off her sword. Besides, at least one of the books sounded like it probably had to do with magic. Anton says he'd be happy to help. In the afternoon, we (except Rhori and Calais, who aren't back yet) go to see the Baron. We go over what we did during the battle, and express surprise that these spells were new to the mages here. We're told that most of the mages here went into Fire, a few Earth, but not many Water or Air. Mia starts to say something about that explaining the attitude at the Guild, but trails off. The Baron prompts her, and she finishes by saying merely that Water and Fire don't get along. "But Earth and Air do?" Anton and Claire look at each other and shrug. Then they ask about the two Orders. Paris explains that the Orders are ancient and reappeared when magic re-entered the world, and explains about the specially marked cards that we found that first night. "So what is Prince William going to do with these Orders?" The major purposes of these Orders is to protect or use the means to give control over this influx of evil into the world. She goes on to explain Tarot and such. They go on to mention the books, and Mia's special crystal. Apparently the local glassblower thinks it has to be made as cut crystal. Mia is surprised; Henri told her he'd had a glassblower make the one he gave to her. She realises that maybe it was actually more trouble to make than he let on. They ask Mia if she would be willing to help some people get started on the rainbow books. The Baron chases out a few people, then turns to us and ask if we're willing to hold something in confidence. Getting assent, he brings out some more books. These are not rainbow; they look dark. The pages are black on black, and give Brillig a cold feeling. He describes the feeling as being like walking through the wraith. Mia asks if the books are from the black church, so we check for a churchly symbol on the cover. There's some sort of embossing, and the Baron says it matches something else they found. He pulls out a piece of black felt and unwraps a silver object, a three-armed device with some circular arcs at each end. Anton's magic sight tells him it is a focus-quality object. There is also a sacrificial knife. The Baron says that one of the things we need to keep in confidence is that these things were taken off of someone in town, who was standing over a body, and that's why they now guard the town gate with magic users. Mia prays for guidance, asking if these things are evil and if so what to do about them. She gets no response other than a wistful, sad feeling. We wonder how the fellow read the book. The Baron says that the person wasn't questioned; the implication is he wasn't taken alive. Mia mentions that there are black cards as well as silver cards. The Baron knew this too. Mia mentions the protection from evil spell and wonders if it would stop evil items from passing through. Brillig notes that they should try it with someone who doesn't know what they are. Some tests are arranged, and we find that the books themselves are not affected by the spell. ("Books don't kill people! Evil priests kill people!") The Baron says he hasn't shown any priests the black stuff. He explains that when stuff was first being taken out of the dungeon, someone found a black robe, and the priests had it burned. The ashes reformed, sending black cards downwind. Paris looks thoughtful. "I noticed in the training that you also have rules about the use of silver cards." Anton and Mia, who didn't go to the training tent yesterday, are surprised by this, and Paris explains what we saw there, about dungeon explorers being allowed to keep the silver cards they find. The Baron asks her what she knows about silver cards, and she explains that she knows that misuse of silver cards can produce black cards. Mia asks what constitutes misuse. Paris says the safest thing is to use a silver card only if you have earned it. Mia asks how the Prince can hand out silver cards then? Anton guesses that you can give away a silver card if you have the right to it. Paris says no, you can't. The rules, as she understands them, is that when you earn a card as part of a party, it's earned as a group and can be used within the group any way it sees fit. That's why she was concerned about Hobbes; it was important to know whether he had joined the group at the point when he gained some cards. But she doesn't really know what constitutes a "party". There are enough unknowns that she mostly just feels it pays to be careful. She says the Prince does know the rules about the cards, and if he gives you a card, it's safe to say you earned it. Apparently you can also trade gold for cards (five gold here, ten gold in Westmore), but Paris isn't sure why purchased cards are safe to use. We presume that it's about as hard to earn the requisite gold as it is to earn a card. Not that any of us have that much gold anyway. The Baron talks about having Mia train some people in her type of magic. Mia explains she doesn't want to train any existing White-Church priests, because it upsets the White Church hierarchy. He asks her to explain, and she fumbles around the subject for a bit; eventually Brillig explains that it's because the Church is set its ways, and Mia agrees with that. We mention the Archpriest, and the Baron says if the Archpriest would care to come here and help him man the wall, fine, but until then all he knows is he had far fewer losses last night than usual. We remark that the Archpriest was in Westmore. Mia thinks he was there to look into the rainbow church, but Brillig states the public story, which is that he was there to investigate the black church, since that's what got banned as a result of his visit. The Baron concludes that until he gets orders to the contrary from the King, Mia is welcome to teach here. Mia asks if she's also needed to teach Water magic, but the Baron says he believes Water books have been found, so he'll ask at the Guild as to why they only send Fire and Earth mages. Claire mutters that it's because the Guild members are nincompoops. Brillig and Mia have their joint seminar and see how many priests they can subvert. There seem to be several interested in one or the other's views. Anton asks Paris about Rhori and Calais. Paris is sure they're okay; she feels she'd know if something had happened to Calais. Anton thinks about it and realises the two have shown signs of this before. Paris takes her letter of introduction to a croissant shop, where she and Anton meet the librarian. He puzzles out the letter, muttering about the handwriting. Anton and the librarian get along splendidly. The librarian mentions that the books at the library also include information about the Catacombs, which is what is now called the dungeon. Eventually he consents to let Anton study the books, and Paris thanks them both and excuses herself. Anton accompanies the librarian to the Keep, where, as expected, he is required to remove his sword. Anton finds the usual assortment of tax records, battle histories, and so forth. There are several very old books, including what he takes to be the two so-called Books of Liberation. The first is a record of what was in the area of Lions when it was conquered several hundred years ago: what buildings were around, which belonged to men and which to know-men, etc. The other is a hodge-podge of magic from different schools. There are also a few other magic books in the library that look like they were taken from the dungeon. Anton forgets all about learning about the layout of the Catacombs. Eventually the librarian says it's time to close up for the day, and the two of them head off for dinner. That evening, Paris asks about geography further north; Anton remembers something about that in the first liberation book. Paris is a bit confused; she thought there were three books: one with the records, one with magic, and one with geography. Anton says he'll look more closely. The next morning, Rhori and Calais return. Their debriefing and such will wait until next week. Meanwhile we had a bit of discussion of what the party should do next (partly because Pat wanted to know what to prepare). Some of the items that got raised: - Why is Pelier under attack by orcs? Should we split the party and send the Ranger book back to Silverlocke so he can start training more Rangers? Paris isn't sure either way, but thinks we should discuss it. She re-iterates the possibility Anton raised that something we did in the library at Pelier triggered the volcano, and points out that it may represent a "tear", which could account for the Fell creatures. - How long are we going to stay, and what are we doing here? Most likely we'll stay a week, help vs the next attack, then leave. But what do we do for that week? - Some of us can help train folks, but in what? We might also try to get some training; again, in what? Paris in particular isn't sure there's anyone here good enough to train her fighting skills. Also, she just ate a whole bunch of cards, and is reluctant to take many more right away (though a single card is reasonable). We should try to think of things she might be able to learn in a week using the +1 from training. Even getting a point toward Conversation or Persuasion could make sense. - Can we learn more about the northern islands from the barbarians and/or the books? (Seems likely.) - What do the dungeon records say they were doing about a week before the dark creatures appeared in the mine at Etienne? (Note that the dungeon creatures are dark, not Fell.) - Are we going to go into the dungeon? Sets of four trolls are nasty!