Third Session: O to Be in Britannia Third Post: Nature Vs. Technology
The party collectively shakes their heads at Kynton and Llyr's behavior, and then goes back to try and catch a little sleep.
At dawn, Brythaena announces that the Iceni need an ally with the greatest strength, resources, and honor so she will test their commitment to this alliance by having a formal trial by combat. Cornelia, as putative leader, chooses who will fight - all of their group except Kynton versus Aeduana and her four escorts. Aeduana chooses the location - the former sacred grove of the Iceni. Suddenly, we realize why Aeduana chose to spend the previous night outside town, and gets very nervous. En route to the grove, all the humans utterly fail to notice the suddenly darkening skies - I notice, because I don't like getting my fur wet, but it's not like anyone pays attention to me anyhow. We are fighting without two of our best warriors, Heilyn and Llyr, and although the odds are theoretically even - Aeduana's escort includes three young warriors who look skilled in the ways of the woods and one enormous man, covered in woad-designs and carrying an enormous ax - we have no idea how great her abilities are. Meloch also notes that Aeduana is now carrying a long wooden staff with intricate runes carved on every inch of its surface.
Together, Cornelia and Meloch manage to nullify some of the pre-cast spells Aeduana has on the grove.We face off, with Brythaena, her consort, children, Kynton, and other Iceni sitting on thrones at one end of the grove to watch, and Queen Brythaena gives the signal to begin. The party is extremely slow in their reactions - I've noticed before that they aren't really morning people. Meloch, the swiftest of our group, decides to go for show over substance and changes himself briefly into a horse-headed eagle, proclaiming that their group stands as the champions of both the Romans and Epona, the horse goddess of the Iceni. Brythaena seems mildly impressed; the Druidic group are scornful.
Aeduana starts things off by summoning a lightning bolt down from her
previously summoned heavy thunderstorm; this crisps everyone except Metellus rather nicely, nearly killing Cornelia and Meloch. (I also realize at this point that without Heilyn we have very little ability to heal ourselves in case of wounds, and take cover in a tree for the rest of the fight.) The rangers and barbarian attack Marcus and Metellus, wounding Marcus but failing to penetrate the new armor Metellus had just commissioned from Heilyn.
At this point, Cornelia gets a sudden clear image from Cato the owl, whom she sent to warn her father of the imminent attack, and her eyes widen. While it is over a far distance, Cornelia sees through the owl's eyes flying high over Hadrian's Wall at the fort for Birnanum, on a day even more stormy than their current location. Beyond the Wall, the three legions of Britannia are drawn up in perfect formation, 18,000 Roman soldiers with shields gleaming and spears at the ready. Advancing towards them is a far greater force - it looks like most of the warriors of the Northern tribes are there, but it is difficult to tell, because they hold branches in front of them and seem to look as much like a forest as an army. As Cato flies higher, Cornelia can see not only Druids exhorting their tribes but large, strange animals and oddly glowing figures interspersed among the tribal forces.
Turning back to the immediate battle at hand, Wena skillfully mindblasts Aeduana and amanages to stun her for two crucial rounds, during which the party deals with some of her flunkies. In particular, Cornelia sends one of them running in terror out of the grove, and Meloch causes the barbarian to fall in sudden lust with Queen Brythaena and run towards her with arms open screaming his passion; Brythaena responds by spearing him neatly through the heart. Meanwhile, Marcus and Metellus deal with the other two rangers and start moving forward to confront Aeduana herself.
All this makes the party slightly happier, but still grievously wounded. Cornelia tosses one of the balls from her mother's necklace, which has three unknown baubles of power on it, at Aeduana, and a cylinder of icicles spring up around the Chief Druid. This hurts her rather a lot. Metellus is still unwounded, despite having had two of the remaining flunkies on him. Aeduana, now quite wounded but unstunned, suddenly transforms into a thirty-five foot long giant mountain cat. I climb gibbering farther up into my tree, and even Marcus blanches a little.
Cornelia, pulling back due to her grave wounds from melee combat, receives another vision from Cato. Bolts of lightning are shooting down from the sky and vaporizing entire centuries of Legionaries. The line is beginning to break, as hardened soldiers face previously unknown horrors and see their comrades mauled by giant wolves. Suddenly, she sees a large sortie of well-armed men pushing their way to the front of the line. She asks Cato to fly closer, and he reluctantly obliges, so that she can see that it is Cimbrus himself, accompanied by her father, G. Cornelius Crispus, now commanding the 6th Legion, the suspect Praetorians, and the first century of the 6th Legion. Cato sees what seems to be Crispus remonstrating with Cimbrus, begging him to go back to the Wall and safety, but Cimbrus points at the terrified soldiers and presses onwards. And as the soldiers see their Governor, the Emperor's own son, striding forward to fight among them, they do gain courage, and the line begins to hold again, as Crispus carefully watches Cimbrus's back.
Meanwhile, Marcus and Metellus start whaling on the giant cat, who in the meanwhile shreds Marcus with a casual swipe of its enormous claws. Llyr appears at one side of the grove, bloody and bruised, and starts forward to aid his allies, who yell at him not to help, because they don't want to break the terms of the sacred combat. Kynton, not understanding, starts galumphing around the grove, shouting, "Hey, Llyr, I've got your ballista!" Finally, Cornelia, in desperation, throws the second of the three baubles on her mother's necklace at the cat. She misses, hitting the rear rather than the middle, but a cloud of green, smoking mist emerges, which devastates not only the giant cat but about a third of the trees in the sacred grove and
begins drifting through the forest, killing plantlife as it goes and forcing me, Shast, to make a sudden leap for another, safer tree. Aeduana, knowing she is about to die,
begins chanting the following curse:
You have slain a sacred servant of the land with foul magics that kill not only me but the land and plants themselves. The very earth shall rise up in horror against you. No plant shall succour you, no grain will feed you, no berries will provide nourishment on a hot summer's day. Flax and linen will burn your skin for the outrage you have committed against their mistress. No roof of reeds or thatch will give you shelter, nor will the wood of the Gods' trees warm your hearths at night. All this shall last until the last piece of my body has passed through the earth and the water and the sky and the earth again seven times, or unless you bring my holy staff and lay it to rest in the sacred grove of the ancient Druids, on the lost Isle of Mona. Thus do I, last of the Druids trained on Mona, curse you with my dying breath. May you fear the land as it fears you.
While she gasps this out, the party hacks at her. While they fail to disrupt her concentration, they do succeed in killing her rather handily, with I believe Metellus delivering the final blow.
As she dies, the five party members, barely standing, see the grass wither around each of them, in a five-foot circle. The Spring
flowers die under their feet as they walk, and when they touch a tree, the
bark falls off.
Cornelia, at this point, receives another set of rapid images from Cato, colored by panic and distress. While the appearance of Cimbrus succeeded in holding the Roman line, the Druidic forces have also noticed it, and started concentrating their forces on that area. Crispus, Cornelia's father, seems to gesture again at Cimbrus back towards the Wall, but Cimbrus stubbornly refuses and begins to fight his way towards the front lines. Crispus then gives some sort of hand signal to his _primuspilus_ centurion, who is fighting with them, and the centurion promptly hits Cimbrus over the back of the head with the flat of his sword blade, knocking him unconscious. Crispus calmly takes the ornamented purple and red-crested helmet off of Cimbrus and puts it on himself, while the centurion puts Cimbrus's unconscious body on the back of a horse and begins riding at full speed towards the Wall. Meanwhile, Crispus leads the front lines attack, wearing Cimbrus's helmet, and they begin to drive the Druids solidly back. A victory seems clear, but just as the tribal forces begin to be routed Cato sees three bolts of lightning shooting down from the sky, aiming directly for the Imperial helmet, and after the flash there is no sign of her father.
Queen Brythaena announces that the Roman group have won, but asks
them firmly although politely not to enter the main village or go anywhere near their fields, given the effects of their curse. Cornelia collapses, knowing that her father
the Legate has died saving the Legions and the Governor. Llyr rejoins us, having managed to finally free himself from his bonds in Aeduana's nearby camp; he was unable to save his cousin Arnath from being sacrificed.
