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Aphonion Tales: The Archducal Council -- Unedited notes; later posts are edited transcripts (posts MWF, update 3/1/23)
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<blockquote data-quote="CPaladin" data-source="post: 8895820" data-attributes="member: 7030144"><p>[Session 144, cont'd]</p><p>Dame Brionna goes next. "I received an unexpected message today about some more visitors." [Attached.]</p><p></p><p>"Who are we getting this time?"</p><p></p><p>"I'm not totally sure. The message is from Captain Maladrus Longhammer of the Expeditionary Force of the Isles, and he says he is traveling to the People of the Feet. He says that he intends to present himself to your court, and is bringing with me not only regiments of bear-riders, but also a mighty healer accompanying a tragically ill young princess, whose name he is not permitted to reveal until he stands within the court."</p><p></p><p>"I guess we're getting a fairy tale to deal with..." comments Kit.</p><p></p><p>"The Empire of the Isles is another term for the Empire of the North," comments Alistair. "That also at least somewhat explains the bear-riders. I think the name of the captain is dwarven. Can't say I've ever heard of this Expeditionary Force, however."</p><p></p><p>Kit summons her secretary. "Do you know anything about the Expeditionary Force of the Isles?"</p><p></p><p>"Ah, yes, honored one. They were an old, well-established, mercenary group, famed for never leaving a charge and never refusing a quest on behalf of their employers once they are hired. Oh, and they're known for their bear-riders."</p><p></p><p>"They're on their way here now."</p><p></p><p>"Whatever for?" asks her secretary.</p><p></p><p>"They have a quest--a tragically ill princess whose name they are not allowed to speak until they are in our presence."</p><p></p><p>"Ah, that does sound like them. We've never been able to get a toe in there."</p><p></p><p>"Are we right that they are dwarves?"</p><p></p><p>"Yes. This mission is the type of thing they've been taking on ever since their particularly small mountain kingdom fell apart. They became mercenaries. They're not quite all from the ancient kingdom--here or there they'll take along a young warrior seeking to make their fortune in the world."</p><p></p><p>"How long ago did their kingdom fall apart?"</p><p></p><p>"Perhaps 500 years? They were never a large tribe. They had at most maybe 5,000 dwarves at one time, and then eventually there was a disagreement between two brothers as to who should inherit the kingdom. One brother remained on the throne for 40 or 50 years, and then they were absolutely crushed by orks and trolls. The other brother had taken his people abroad, and his people remain the Expeditionary Force of the Isles, who were their first employers."</p><p></p><p>"Impressive that they remain a going organization 500 years later."</p><p></p><p>"We do know that there are some dwarven women that are attached to them that have homes in the Empire of the North. The group is slowly shrinking, but it maintains its honor, and occasionally it attracts a new dwarf."</p><p></p><p>"Only dwarves?" asks Kit.</p><p></p><p>"I think they would take anyone but let's be honest, elves were not going to join them."</p><p></p><p>"Right, I'm thinking about if it's possible for us to get a person in there. The Body doesn't have many dwarves around, but if they'll take humans, we've got plenty of those who can fight."</p><p></p><p>"Indeed. They have had humans before--they have to be able to ride a bear, though; we'll see what we can do. No one but dwarves are allowed to be artillerists."</p><p></p><p>"What sort of artillery do they have?</p><p></p><p>"A contingent of powerbows. Only dwarfs are allowed the secret of using them and building them. They're very strict about that. Everybody now knows how to build and use powerbows, but that wasn't always true, and they have their rules, and they're not going to change their rules just because they don't make sense anymore."</p><p></p><p>"More importantly for all that they say they have a powerful healer coming with them, the healer has not, in fact, been able to heal their tragically ill princess."</p><p></p><p>"I was thinking that it was likely that they had skilled mundane and clerical healers, but that they did not have redactors," mentions Alistair. "Presumably they are traveling here in part because they're hoping for healing aid, and I'm wondering if we should send someone to help them along their way."</p><p></p><p>"We're not putting bears on a voller," says Dame Brionna sternly.</p><p></p><p>"I'm not saying that necessarily. Putting the princess and the healer, at least, on a voller might not be a bad thing if the commander was willing. I assume they're coming by sea, at least much of the way."</p><p></p><p>"Why? Dwarves and bears on the sea doesn't sound too likely."</p><p></p><p>"But they're coming to the People of the Feet. That's midway up the coast, so they're likely either sailing there from the Empire of the North, or from one of the other continents--it would be the first landfall if you were trying to get to Canberry from Khamista or Zest'qua."</p><p></p><p>"Maybe we could use this information to scry on the leader?" suggests Kit. "Grandmaster Farsensor is still in skin, so he can't do it, but I might be able to, now that I'm no longer pregnant."</p><p></p><p>"Alright, but we'll watch you carefully and make you stop if you start icing up."</p><p></p><p>Kit focuses on the details she knows about the leader--she knows his name, his origins, something of his personality, and some of the people around him. [She then rolls a natural 20.]</p><p></p><p>She sees three ships cleaving through gray waters, because it's winter and they are further north. All three of the ships have three masts and look like they are triremes that have shipped their oars. As her view zooms in, she sees what passes for a tall dwarf--he's easily four foot two, and leaning on a huge hammer near the captain of the ship, who is human, on the aftcastle of the ship. On the body of the main deck, she can see a group of human paladins, all of them dressed identically in pure white over their armor, around a bier. She can see nothing on the bier--only just a gray void. The princess is obviously shielded from her.</p><p></p><p>Kit focuses in closer, looking to see if there are holy symbols on the paladins. She can see that each of them has an upward pointing white arrow against the background of their whitened armor. They look like they're in parade stance and have been for a long time. She tries to sense how far away they are, and estimates between 330 and 1670 miles. She also notes that the dwarves have sunbursts all over them--but then, they live in a Glordiadelian realm.</p><p></p><p>Kit suddenly recognizes that behind the bier, standing just in front of the wall of the aftcastle, there is a tall, rigidly erect man standing. His white beard is blowing, and he is also dressed entirely in white and leaning on a staff. It looks like he's been repeatedly bloody, but he stands very calmly, occasionally moving the prayer beads in his left hand. She wonders if he is the powerful healer, taking injuries onto himself. As she watches, she sees new wounds suddenly open on him out of nowhere, slamming him back into the wall behind him. He takes a deep breath and continues to pray the beads.</p><p></p><p>Kit breaks the link, just us the sweat on her brow is starting to freeze. She describes what she saw.</p><p></p><p>Alistair says, "That's between 10 and 50 days out."</p><p></p><p>"They said they'd be here in a month, Your Majesty," notes Dame Brionna.</p><p></p><p>"Between ten and thirty days then, I suppose. We'll of course send someone to meet them at the nearest port."</p><p></p><p>Dame Brionna notes, "It does occur to me that a tragically ill princess is precisely the sort of of thing I would concoct if I were trying to get inside the wards of the Palace of Canberry at this point. We have somewhat of a reputation, I suspect, for taking in people in need, and I'm glad we do."</p><p></p><p>"Yes, but your point is well taken. So even more argument for someone meeting them when they land. Let's see if we can think of who a Sytryite princess might be. That could be from either southern Khamista or northern Zest'qua, if they were making for the People of the Feet. More likely southern Khamista, I would think--there are only a handful of major Sytryan realms."</p><p></p><p>Kit asks her secretary, who replies, "There are only a handful, my lady. We don't have toes per se in any of them. But what do you need to know about them?"</p><p></p><p>"Who has a princess who's recently been ill and injured, with the injuries getting worse."</p><p></p><p>"I wonder if you're speaking of the cursed princess..."</p><p></p><p>"Oh, probably, probably, tell me more."</p><p></p><p>"I'm unaware of exactly which of the few Sytryan kingdoms it was from, but I believe that it was during the period of occupation of Ko-Re-Pek. The Temple of Sytry has been making trouble in recent years. They've invaded several countries by force, and that short of thing makes enemies. In one particular case, they set up a young princess to rule over Ko-Re-Pek when they captured it and the fiction that they'd created to justify capturing it was in some way less of a fiction."</p><p></p><p>"What was going on there?"</p><p></p><p>"They believed or said they believed that there was a great evil dwelling in Ko-Re-Pek. They tried and executed many of the former nobility of Ko-Re-Pek that they had captured for heresy. The princesses had nothing to do with that. She was quite young, little more than a child, and a figurehead. But it turned out that one of the people they captured was a powerful witch of some sort, and cursed their ruler, which, in my opinion, begging your pardon, my lady, should have settled on the patriarch, but it didn't. It went direct to the child--probably proximity. The other Sytryites pledged that they would never permit her to die from the curse, and that they would find a way to see her healed, but of course, orthodox Sytryan doctrine is not my speciality, might be more of Dame Brionna's, but I do know enough to tell you that they're not permitted to resurrect. So they can't simply allow her to die and then bring her back. None of their people can be trained redactors. It's forbidden."</p><p></p><p>"Why would they forbid redaction if they permit other guilds?"</p><p></p><p>"I believe only power that they trace to Sytry is permitted to heal."</p><p></p><p>"So they let this girl suffer for... how long?"</p><p></p><p>"Oh, by now it's been close to two years."</p><p></p><p>"The other thing is that they started off with a fiction in terms of seizing power there. Any true Sytryites, for lack of a better term, would uphold the truth above all."</p><p></p><p>"I have a sneaking suspicion. It is known that the the child was ultimately taken by a bishop who has been declared anathema by the temple."</p><p></p><p>"Anathematized by the current patriarch, or the prior one?" interjects Alistair.</p><p></p><p>"The prior. Their doctrine is clear. He is supposed to be preserving her from death with the natural healing power. For Sytry will not cure by taking the damage on himself; that is anathema in the Temple of Sytry. They never have enough talent, and their Knights of Truth die due to things like this, in my opinion, my lady. So if they're coming our way, it could just be that they finally know that there is a place where they can go for redaction, and the place that has the reputation for sorting out trouble in the Sytryan Temple, which they may be fleeing from."</p><p></p><p>"The bishop uses a particular form of prayer in which he accepts wounds from the faithful. Since he's not young, he can't take this for much longer. So that may be why they've contacted us now."</p><p></p><p>"I firmly believe that Glordiadel is the far more reasonable, decent, caring Church of the Light than Sytry, and this is one of the things that convinced me of it," says Kit's secretary. "But I fear that's all I know."</p><p></p><p>"Thank you. May his light shine gently upon you and warm you in the times of darkness."</p><p></p><p>"Thank you, my lady."</p><p></p><p>After he departs, they discuss the problem. They have three human redactors, none higher than master level, one of whom is the Minister of the Mind.</p><p></p><p>"We're not sending the Minister of the Mind," says Alistair. "But we actually do have one Grandmaster Redactor, but with traits that might upset the Sytryans. That is Lady Filovana Arumgil, formerly in service to Lady Amerie Aufaulgautharim. She is probably still in mourning--almost certainly, in fact--but she is loyal to us, and a grandmaster redactor, and a shadow elf. So we can send one of the human redactors to meet them, and at least relieve the poor bishop..."</p><p></p><p>"Maybe 'the poor bishop,'" says Dame Brionna. "I'm not saying that this may not all be genuine, but I am saying that there's lots of reasons to wonder whether or not these are the corrupted Sytryans."</p><p></p><p>"No, you're not wrong, and I'd be willing to bet there's at least one corrupt person in there, but there's good reason to think the corrupted ones are their enemies. The reason I asked about which patriarch is that the current patriarch is both non-corrupted and kinder than the previous one who cast out this bishop."</p><p></p><p>"But this bishop is the one who invaded a kingdom and executed large numbers of people."</p><p></p><p>"But where there was apparently actually something wrong. I'm not defending Sytryites' methods or willingness to inflict random harm, but they may have done this because they knew that there was a reason to."</p><p></p><p>"It's true, but we also have seen their pattern repeatedly elsewhere."</p><p></p><p>"It also worries me significantly, that this curse meant to land on the ruler landed on the child."</p><p></p><p>"But the high religious officials would be protected by Sytry, and it may be as simple as that," says Kit.</p><p></p><p>"But it might also be that she has a piece of the Blue Star in her."</p><p></p><p>"Certainly that's another reason to ultimately want Lady Filovana to attend to it, because, in addition to being a Grandmaster Redactor, she is also a Master Coercer."</p><p></p><p>"And if there is, that's a reason to be a little worried about risking one of our human master redactors."</p><p></p><p>"I would normally agree, Kit, but I think it would be too perilous to the situation to send a shadow elf without our being there to manage that interaction."</p><p></p><p>"I agree. Lady Filovana cannot be our first contact with them."</p><p></p><p>"Another potential approach," suggests Dame Brionna. "If we can open up a direct line of communication to Longhammer, then we can get some more information about what's going on that he might have seen, something suspicious, without understanding what it was. Maybe then we could get a better handle on whether there are any corrupted people? He has eyes on her where we don't. Also, what's preventing him from saying the name of the princess in question? That now reads as substantially more suspicious to me. We must protect her identity, that's perhaps one thing. But why would they not want us to know everything we could about her, so that we could help her most accurately?"</p><p></p><p>"It's strange that the that Kit's secretary referred to her as the cursed princess and not as the cursed Princess So-and-So."</p><p></p><p>They call for the secretary and ask. "Her name, my lady, is Priscilla of Arsdale. It's a minor kingdom on Khamista. I don't honestly think they should have given her the title."</p><p></p><p>With the name, Alistair is finally able to remember more about her. She's quite young, certainly no more than 12 or 13 at this point, and younger when she was put in as a figurehead. Her family is a small principality that is in direct service to the Holy See of Sytry, the Twin Cities of Parton. They use very grandiose titles. Her family has been loyal to Sytry and to Gunnora together since they entered this plane. They are for Sytryites successful, though by no stretch of the imagination would anyone can accuse them of being wealthy.</p><p></p><p>They do produce a lot of Knights of Truth from among the humans. The hobbits of Arsdale almost universally worship Gunnora.</p><p></p><p>They develop a plan: they will contact Longhammer and ask if it would be acceptable to teleport some people out to assist until they can arrive. If he agrees, they'll send a priest of Glordiadel, from one of Dame Brionna's investigative squads, with the rest of that squad. They'll also send an assistant, who is in fact a human master redactor, but not advertising that, who will try to stabilize her and keep her alive while the rest of the squad investigates and sees if they can find anything out.</p><p></p><p>They ask Bishop Waters to make the sending, after explaining the situation. He sends: <<I'm Bishop Waters, Chaplain to the Emperor; do you need healing assistance before you arrive? Can you give current location? Wish to ensure safe arrival.>></p><p></p><p>After a moment, he receives back: <<Majesty, Bishop Percival failing. Help appreciated. Spirits pursue from Great Basin, Khamista. Three attacks. She worsens each. Six days northeast Feet People.>></p><p></p><p>Bishop Waters sends again: <<Will teleport in healer. Describe spirits more? Any wards we need to know about or dangers healers would face?>></p><p></p><p><<Spirits for curse from Ko-Re-Pek. Seek her name. Sought help Streams End/Great Basin, shared name, spirits came 3 Knights fell. Hired us, fled there...>></p><p></p><p>It seems like he was interrupted mid thought, so Bishop Waters sends simply, <<Say more?>></p><p></p><p><<coming you. Wounds open more each time. She dying. Bishop failing. Spirits consume. Bizarre. Must not find us again.>></p><p></p><p>They explain the plan to the Minister of the Mind. He does not recognize a curse of the form where her name summons spirits, but suggests that that sounds like the Eldritch, and that redaction would be able to close her wounds more cleanly and draw out taint if it is there. They also explain that while the Sytryites on the ship may be opposed to redaction, they may be more devoted to their oath to keep her alive than to ordinary temple doctrine, which he agrees can happen with the current split in their faith in particular.</p><p></p><p>A guard rushes in. "Captain! The wards were tested by something a few minutes ago. They flared, and the guards at the front gate said they heard hideous screams immediately after they flared."</p><p></p><p>By the time he finishes speaking, Dame Brionna is already out of the room, rushing to her steed to get an aerial view of what's going on. She suspects that their having mentioned the princess's name summoned some of the spirits.</p><p></p><p>She can find no signs of the spirits still present--the wards were apparently very effective--but there are outlines of blackened soot in basically human shape, but larger than a human, at the front gates. She talks to one of her people in the towers near the front gate.</p><p></p><p>"Dame." The guard braces to attention.</p><p></p><p>"What were the attackers?"</p><p></p><p>"These two voids suddenly appeared and rushed the gate. That's all I can describe them as. They looked like big people, but they were just an outline, and they were empty."</p><p></p><p>"Anything glowing or blue in them?"</p><p></p><p>"There was a blue glow, yes, but that was all. There was no body. They rushed the gate and made this horrific noise and there was a flash, and they were gone, except I mean gone like they hadn't really been there. I was hoping somebody would come along that I could report to."</p><p></p><p>Dame Brionna sends one of her squads to investigate, and they find mild taint on the cobblestones. She has them pry up the cobblestones and move them away for purification, replacing them with clean ones. A psion also performs an object reading, and senses "Hunger, incredible, unending hunger, hatred, hatred in hunger, anger, seeking her, must destroy the wards enough to enter, must enter, then nothing. That's all that is revealed to me, Dame."</p><p></p><p>They discuss possibly repeating the princess's name to distract the spirits and draw them away from her, but they don't want to weaken the palace's wards by repeatedly testing them, and saying her name in a place that's not heavily warded might endanger her further. They also discuss whether they could free her of the curse by renaming her, but the only clear way to do that that they think would have magical effect would be for her to enter holy orders, and that would create problems of its own.</p><p></p><p>A knock on the council chamber door is quickly followed by Dame Agatha entering. "The Coven believes that something powerful, and from none of the normal hierarchies, hit our walls, and then perished as far as we can tell."</p><p></p><p>"We were just going to consult you and your mentor." They explain the situation, and ask about the idea of repeatedly saying her name to draw spirits away and weaken the curse.</p><p></p><p>She thinks that should work--the Eldritch spirits of consumption must attack to weaken her. And eventually, the curse would run out of energy. "Actually, it was incredibly clumsy that they attach themselves to her name. Somebody must have been in a hurry when they cast the curse."</p><p></p><p>"We believe that it was someone who was in the process of being killed for their awfulness."</p><p></p><p>They also discuss the idea of changing her name--it could be done with a formal religious ceremony, but it would have to be done in truth and for all purposes--if it were merely faked, it would not work. And if it required changing her house name or title, she might need to give up all claims to inheritance--they don't know what parts of her name the curse is linked to.</p><p></p><p>"Generally, there will be a physical point on her that the curse is attached to as well. A lock of white hair, a freckle, a scar. If you change that, it will generally cause the spirits to be lost and return to their own plane. I do not know these particular spirits, but that would be the first step."</p><p></p><p>"Would the specific mark detect as having the Eldritch about it?"</p><p></p><p>"If it is of their ilk, then yes."</p><p></p><p>"We're fairly sure it is Eldritch. So one of our team's first priorities will be finding and removing it. Would it be useful, after removing it, to move it elsewhere or simply destroy it?"</p><p></p><p>"Were it me--I admit I have a certain streak--I would move it elsewhere to some place that it harmed them to go. For example, some holy place to the Lord of Light that is sanctified but no longer in use, orto the Holy See of Paranswarm, where the tremendous numbers of pit fiends and other servant devils would surely be able to take care of these spirits, particularly if you placed it in the central tower of the Society of the Hands of Hell."</p><p></p><p>"We could ask them if they could do us a favor."</p><p></p><p>"I feel certain that the heads of the Society would not object to practice for them."</p><p></p><p>They make arrangements with the Society, and they quickly get a report back from the team they sent: they have found a large blue birthmark. They confirm with the Knights of Truth that they had never seen that before, though they are not primarily focused on observing her, but on protecting her from outside threats and on serving the True Patriarch. The schism within the Temple of Sytry is clearly becoming more severe, to which the Council both thinks better them than us and unfortunately, that will make problems that they will need to sort out.</p><p></p><p>The team cuts out the birthmark, and one of Dame Agatha's imps dashes across the deck, grabs it, and turns invisible as it flees too fast for any of the Knights of Truth to react, though they are amazed and confused by its presence--surely part of the curse. It transports it to the tower of the Society, to try to trace the origin of the curse and whether its originator still lives. The imp will also repeat her name over and over again, drawing the spirits in to the Holy See of Paranswarm and their destruction.</p><p></p><p>* * *</p><p>Kit finally provides a brief summary of her message discussing potential problems in the Utolian city-states as refugees stream south from Hanal. [Attached] Since the Utolian city-states are Glordiadelian, they reach out through the Church to provide aid and attempt to stabilize the situation.</p><p>[End Session 144]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="CPaladin, post: 8895820, member: 7030144"] [Session 144, cont'd] Dame Brionna goes next. "I received an unexpected message today about some more visitors." [Attached.] "Who are we getting this time?" "I'm not totally sure. The message is from Captain Maladrus Longhammer of the Expeditionary Force of the Isles, and he says he is traveling to the People of the Feet. He says that he intends to present himself to your court, and is bringing with me not only regiments of bear-riders, but also a mighty healer accompanying a tragically ill young princess, whose name he is not permitted to reveal until he stands within the court." "I guess we're getting a fairy tale to deal with..." comments Kit. "The Empire of the Isles is another term for the Empire of the North," comments Alistair. "That also at least somewhat explains the bear-riders. I think the name of the captain is dwarven. Can't say I've ever heard of this Expeditionary Force, however." Kit summons her secretary. "Do you know anything about the Expeditionary Force of the Isles?" "Ah, yes, honored one. They were an old, well-established, mercenary group, famed for never leaving a charge and never refusing a quest on behalf of their employers once they are hired. Oh, and they're known for their bear-riders." "They're on their way here now." "Whatever for?" asks her secretary. "They have a quest--a tragically ill princess whose name they are not allowed to speak until they are in our presence." "Ah, that does sound like them. We've never been able to get a toe in there." "Are we right that they are dwarves?" "Yes. This mission is the type of thing they've been taking on ever since their particularly small mountain kingdom fell apart. They became mercenaries. They're not quite all from the ancient kingdom--here or there they'll take along a young warrior seeking to make their fortune in the world." "How long ago did their kingdom fall apart?" "Perhaps 500 years? They were never a large tribe. They had at most maybe 5,000 dwarves at one time, and then eventually there was a disagreement between two brothers as to who should inherit the kingdom. One brother remained on the throne for 40 or 50 years, and then they were absolutely crushed by orks and trolls. The other brother had taken his people abroad, and his people remain the Expeditionary Force of the Isles, who were their first employers." "Impressive that they remain a going organization 500 years later." "We do know that there are some dwarven women that are attached to them that have homes in the Empire of the North. The group is slowly shrinking, but it maintains its honor, and occasionally it attracts a new dwarf." "Only dwarves?" asks Kit. "I think they would take anyone but let's be honest, elves were not going to join them." "Right, I'm thinking about if it's possible for us to get a person in there. The Body doesn't have many dwarves around, but if they'll take humans, we've got plenty of those who can fight." "Indeed. They have had humans before--they have to be able to ride a bear, though; we'll see what we can do. No one but dwarves are allowed to be artillerists." "What sort of artillery do they have? "A contingent of powerbows. Only dwarfs are allowed the secret of using them and building them. They're very strict about that. Everybody now knows how to build and use powerbows, but that wasn't always true, and they have their rules, and they're not going to change their rules just because they don't make sense anymore." "More importantly for all that they say they have a powerful healer coming with them, the healer has not, in fact, been able to heal their tragically ill princess." "I was thinking that it was likely that they had skilled mundane and clerical healers, but that they did not have redactors," mentions Alistair. "Presumably they are traveling here in part because they're hoping for healing aid, and I'm wondering if we should send someone to help them along their way." "We're not putting bears on a voller," says Dame Brionna sternly. "I'm not saying that necessarily. Putting the princess and the healer, at least, on a voller might not be a bad thing if the commander was willing. I assume they're coming by sea, at least much of the way." "Why? Dwarves and bears on the sea doesn't sound too likely." "But they're coming to the People of the Feet. That's midway up the coast, so they're likely either sailing there from the Empire of the North, or from one of the other continents--it would be the first landfall if you were trying to get to Canberry from Khamista or Zest'qua." "Maybe we could use this information to scry on the leader?" suggests Kit. "Grandmaster Farsensor is still in skin, so he can't do it, but I might be able to, now that I'm no longer pregnant." "Alright, but we'll watch you carefully and make you stop if you start icing up." Kit focuses on the details she knows about the leader--she knows his name, his origins, something of his personality, and some of the people around him. [She then rolls a natural 20.] She sees three ships cleaving through gray waters, because it's winter and they are further north. All three of the ships have three masts and look like they are triremes that have shipped their oars. As her view zooms in, she sees what passes for a tall dwarf--he's easily four foot two, and leaning on a huge hammer near the captain of the ship, who is human, on the aftcastle of the ship. On the body of the main deck, she can see a group of human paladins, all of them dressed identically in pure white over their armor, around a bier. She can see nothing on the bier--only just a gray void. The princess is obviously shielded from her. Kit focuses in closer, looking to see if there are holy symbols on the paladins. She can see that each of them has an upward pointing white arrow against the background of their whitened armor. They look like they're in parade stance and have been for a long time. She tries to sense how far away they are, and estimates between 330 and 1670 miles. She also notes that the dwarves have sunbursts all over them--but then, they live in a Glordiadelian realm. Kit suddenly recognizes that behind the bier, standing just in front of the wall of the aftcastle, there is a tall, rigidly erect man standing. His white beard is blowing, and he is also dressed entirely in white and leaning on a staff. It looks like he's been repeatedly bloody, but he stands very calmly, occasionally moving the prayer beads in his left hand. She wonders if he is the powerful healer, taking injuries onto himself. As she watches, she sees new wounds suddenly open on him out of nowhere, slamming him back into the wall behind him. He takes a deep breath and continues to pray the beads. Kit breaks the link, just us the sweat on her brow is starting to freeze. She describes what she saw. Alistair says, "That's between 10 and 50 days out." "They said they'd be here in a month, Your Majesty," notes Dame Brionna. "Between ten and thirty days then, I suppose. We'll of course send someone to meet them at the nearest port." Dame Brionna notes, "It does occur to me that a tragically ill princess is precisely the sort of of thing I would concoct if I were trying to get inside the wards of the Palace of Canberry at this point. We have somewhat of a reputation, I suspect, for taking in people in need, and I'm glad we do." "Yes, but your point is well taken. So even more argument for someone meeting them when they land. Let's see if we can think of who a Sytryite princess might be. That could be from either southern Khamista or northern Zest'qua, if they were making for the People of the Feet. More likely southern Khamista, I would think--there are only a handful of major Sytryan realms." Kit asks her secretary, who replies, "There are only a handful, my lady. We don't have toes per se in any of them. But what do you need to know about them?" "Who has a princess who's recently been ill and injured, with the injuries getting worse." "I wonder if you're speaking of the cursed princess..." "Oh, probably, probably, tell me more." "I'm unaware of exactly which of the few Sytryan kingdoms it was from, but I believe that it was during the period of occupation of Ko-Re-Pek. The Temple of Sytry has been making trouble in recent years. They've invaded several countries by force, and that short of thing makes enemies. In one particular case, they set up a young princess to rule over Ko-Re-Pek when they captured it and the fiction that they'd created to justify capturing it was in some way less of a fiction." "What was going on there?" "They believed or said they believed that there was a great evil dwelling in Ko-Re-Pek. They tried and executed many of the former nobility of Ko-Re-Pek that they had captured for heresy. The princesses had nothing to do with that. She was quite young, little more than a child, and a figurehead. But it turned out that one of the people they captured was a powerful witch of some sort, and cursed their ruler, which, in my opinion, begging your pardon, my lady, should have settled on the patriarch, but it didn't. It went direct to the child--probably proximity. The other Sytryites pledged that they would never permit her to die from the curse, and that they would find a way to see her healed, but of course, orthodox Sytryan doctrine is not my speciality, might be more of Dame Brionna's, but I do know enough to tell you that they're not permitted to resurrect. So they can't simply allow her to die and then bring her back. None of their people can be trained redactors. It's forbidden." "Why would they forbid redaction if they permit other guilds?" "I believe only power that they trace to Sytry is permitted to heal." "So they let this girl suffer for... how long?" "Oh, by now it's been close to two years." "The other thing is that they started off with a fiction in terms of seizing power there. Any true Sytryites, for lack of a better term, would uphold the truth above all." "I have a sneaking suspicion. It is known that the the child was ultimately taken by a bishop who has been declared anathema by the temple." "Anathematized by the current patriarch, or the prior one?" interjects Alistair. "The prior. Their doctrine is clear. He is supposed to be preserving her from death with the natural healing power. For Sytry will not cure by taking the damage on himself; that is anathema in the Temple of Sytry. They never have enough talent, and their Knights of Truth die due to things like this, in my opinion, my lady. So if they're coming our way, it could just be that they finally know that there is a place where they can go for redaction, and the place that has the reputation for sorting out trouble in the Sytryan Temple, which they may be fleeing from." "The bishop uses a particular form of prayer in which he accepts wounds from the faithful. Since he's not young, he can't take this for much longer. So that may be why they've contacted us now." "I firmly believe that Glordiadel is the far more reasonable, decent, caring Church of the Light than Sytry, and this is one of the things that convinced me of it," says Kit's secretary. "But I fear that's all I know." "Thank you. May his light shine gently upon you and warm you in the times of darkness." "Thank you, my lady." After he departs, they discuss the problem. They have three human redactors, none higher than master level, one of whom is the Minister of the Mind. "We're not sending the Minister of the Mind," says Alistair. "But we actually do have one Grandmaster Redactor, but with traits that might upset the Sytryans. That is Lady Filovana Arumgil, formerly in service to Lady Amerie Aufaulgautharim. She is probably still in mourning--almost certainly, in fact--but she is loyal to us, and a grandmaster redactor, and a shadow elf. So we can send one of the human redactors to meet them, and at least relieve the poor bishop..." "Maybe 'the poor bishop,'" says Dame Brionna. "I'm not saying that this may not all be genuine, but I am saying that there's lots of reasons to wonder whether or not these are the corrupted Sytryans." "No, you're not wrong, and I'd be willing to bet there's at least one corrupt person in there, but there's good reason to think the corrupted ones are their enemies. The reason I asked about which patriarch is that the current patriarch is both non-corrupted and kinder than the previous one who cast out this bishop." "But this bishop is the one who invaded a kingdom and executed large numbers of people." "But where there was apparently actually something wrong. I'm not defending Sytryites' methods or willingness to inflict random harm, but they may have done this because they knew that there was a reason to." "It's true, but we also have seen their pattern repeatedly elsewhere." "It also worries me significantly, that this curse meant to land on the ruler landed on the child." "But the high religious officials would be protected by Sytry, and it may be as simple as that," says Kit. "But it might also be that she has a piece of the Blue Star in her." "Certainly that's another reason to ultimately want Lady Filovana to attend to it, because, in addition to being a Grandmaster Redactor, she is also a Master Coercer." "And if there is, that's a reason to be a little worried about risking one of our human master redactors." "I would normally agree, Kit, but I think it would be too perilous to the situation to send a shadow elf without our being there to manage that interaction." "I agree. Lady Filovana cannot be our first contact with them." "Another potential approach," suggests Dame Brionna. "If we can open up a direct line of communication to Longhammer, then we can get some more information about what's going on that he might have seen, something suspicious, without understanding what it was. Maybe then we could get a better handle on whether there are any corrupted people? He has eyes on her where we don't. Also, what's preventing him from saying the name of the princess in question? That now reads as substantially more suspicious to me. We must protect her identity, that's perhaps one thing. But why would they not want us to know everything we could about her, so that we could help her most accurately?" "It's strange that the that Kit's secretary referred to her as the cursed princess and not as the cursed Princess So-and-So." They call for the secretary and ask. "Her name, my lady, is Priscilla of Arsdale. It's a minor kingdom on Khamista. I don't honestly think they should have given her the title." With the name, Alistair is finally able to remember more about her. She's quite young, certainly no more than 12 or 13 at this point, and younger when she was put in as a figurehead. Her family is a small principality that is in direct service to the Holy See of Sytry, the Twin Cities of Parton. They use very grandiose titles. Her family has been loyal to Sytry and to Gunnora together since they entered this plane. They are for Sytryites successful, though by no stretch of the imagination would anyone can accuse them of being wealthy. They do produce a lot of Knights of Truth from among the humans. The hobbits of Arsdale almost universally worship Gunnora. They develop a plan: they will contact Longhammer and ask if it would be acceptable to teleport some people out to assist until they can arrive. If he agrees, they'll send a priest of Glordiadel, from one of Dame Brionna's investigative squads, with the rest of that squad. They'll also send an assistant, who is in fact a human master redactor, but not advertising that, who will try to stabilize her and keep her alive while the rest of the squad investigates and sees if they can find anything out. They ask Bishop Waters to make the sending, after explaining the situation. He sends: <<I'm Bishop Waters, Chaplain to the Emperor; do you need healing assistance before you arrive? Can you give current location? Wish to ensure safe arrival.>> After a moment, he receives back: <<Majesty, Bishop Percival failing. Help appreciated. Spirits pursue from Great Basin, Khamista. Three attacks. She worsens each. Six days northeast Feet People.>> Bishop Waters sends again: <<Will teleport in healer. Describe spirits more? Any wards we need to know about or dangers healers would face?>> <<Spirits for curse from Ko-Re-Pek. Seek her name. Sought help Streams End/Great Basin, shared name, spirits came 3 Knights fell. Hired us, fled there...>> It seems like he was interrupted mid thought, so Bishop Waters sends simply, <<Say more?>> <<coming you. Wounds open more each time. She dying. Bishop failing. Spirits consume. Bizarre. Must not find us again.>> They explain the plan to the Minister of the Mind. He does not recognize a curse of the form where her name summons spirits, but suggests that that sounds like the Eldritch, and that redaction would be able to close her wounds more cleanly and draw out taint if it is there. They also explain that while the Sytryites on the ship may be opposed to redaction, they may be more devoted to their oath to keep her alive than to ordinary temple doctrine, which he agrees can happen with the current split in their faith in particular. A guard rushes in. "Captain! The wards were tested by something a few minutes ago. They flared, and the guards at the front gate said they heard hideous screams immediately after they flared." By the time he finishes speaking, Dame Brionna is already out of the room, rushing to her steed to get an aerial view of what's going on. She suspects that their having mentioned the princess's name summoned some of the spirits. She can find no signs of the spirits still present--the wards were apparently very effective--but there are outlines of blackened soot in basically human shape, but larger than a human, at the front gates. She talks to one of her people in the towers near the front gate. "Dame." The guard braces to attention. "What were the attackers?" "These two voids suddenly appeared and rushed the gate. That's all I can describe them as. They looked like big people, but they were just an outline, and they were empty." "Anything glowing or blue in them?" "There was a blue glow, yes, but that was all. There was no body. They rushed the gate and made this horrific noise and there was a flash, and they were gone, except I mean gone like they hadn't really been there. I was hoping somebody would come along that I could report to." Dame Brionna sends one of her squads to investigate, and they find mild taint on the cobblestones. She has them pry up the cobblestones and move them away for purification, replacing them with clean ones. A psion also performs an object reading, and senses "Hunger, incredible, unending hunger, hatred, hatred in hunger, anger, seeking her, must destroy the wards enough to enter, must enter, then nothing. That's all that is revealed to me, Dame." They discuss possibly repeating the princess's name to distract the spirits and draw them away from her, but they don't want to weaken the palace's wards by repeatedly testing them, and saying her name in a place that's not heavily warded might endanger her further. They also discuss whether they could free her of the curse by renaming her, but the only clear way to do that that they think would have magical effect would be for her to enter holy orders, and that would create problems of its own. A knock on the council chamber door is quickly followed by Dame Agatha entering. "The Coven believes that something powerful, and from none of the normal hierarchies, hit our walls, and then perished as far as we can tell." "We were just going to consult you and your mentor." They explain the situation, and ask about the idea of repeatedly saying her name to draw spirits away and weaken the curse. She thinks that should work--the Eldritch spirits of consumption must attack to weaken her. And eventually, the curse would run out of energy. "Actually, it was incredibly clumsy that they attach themselves to her name. Somebody must have been in a hurry when they cast the curse." "We believe that it was someone who was in the process of being killed for their awfulness." They also discuss the idea of changing her name--it could be done with a formal religious ceremony, but it would have to be done in truth and for all purposes--if it were merely faked, it would not work. And if it required changing her house name or title, she might need to give up all claims to inheritance--they don't know what parts of her name the curse is linked to. "Generally, there will be a physical point on her that the curse is attached to as well. A lock of white hair, a freckle, a scar. If you change that, it will generally cause the spirits to be lost and return to their own plane. I do not know these particular spirits, but that would be the first step." "Would the specific mark detect as having the Eldritch about it?" "If it is of their ilk, then yes." "We're fairly sure it is Eldritch. So one of our team's first priorities will be finding and removing it. Would it be useful, after removing it, to move it elsewhere or simply destroy it?" "Were it me--I admit I have a certain streak--I would move it elsewhere to some place that it harmed them to go. For example, some holy place to the Lord of Light that is sanctified but no longer in use, orto the Holy See of Paranswarm, where the tremendous numbers of pit fiends and other servant devils would surely be able to take care of these spirits, particularly if you placed it in the central tower of the Society of the Hands of Hell." "We could ask them if they could do us a favor." "I feel certain that the heads of the Society would not object to practice for them." They make arrangements with the Society, and they quickly get a report back from the team they sent: they have found a large blue birthmark. They confirm with the Knights of Truth that they had never seen that before, though they are not primarily focused on observing her, but on protecting her from outside threats and on serving the True Patriarch. The schism within the Temple of Sytry is clearly becoming more severe, to which the Council both thinks better them than us and unfortunately, that will make problems that they will need to sort out. The team cuts out the birthmark, and one of Dame Agatha's imps dashes across the deck, grabs it, and turns invisible as it flees too fast for any of the Knights of Truth to react, though they are amazed and confused by its presence--surely part of the curse. It transports it to the tower of the Society, to try to trace the origin of the curse and whether its originator still lives. The imp will also repeat her name over and over again, drawing the spirits in to the Holy See of Paranswarm and their destruction. * * * Kit finally provides a brief summary of her message discussing potential problems in the Utolian city-states as refugees stream south from Hanal. [Attached] Since the Utolian city-states are Glordiadelian, they reach out through the Church to provide aid and attempt to stabilize the situation. [End Session 144] [/QUOTE]
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Aphonion Tales: The Archducal Council -- Unedited notes; later posts are edited transcripts (posts MWF, update 3/1/23)
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