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Message: <blockquote data-quote="CPaladin" data-source="post: 8926954" data-attributes="member: 7030144">[Session 148, cont'd]17 O-TarThey arrive at the small castle, a simple tower in a circular wall. They make an extremely dramatic entry. Alistair is wearing formal robes and a crown, with trumpeters and a procession of troops and the rest of it. He is also wearing a mithral shirt under his robes, partly to appease Dame Brionna.The local villagers and farmers will all gawk. They certainly have never seen an imperial arrival before, and they probably have never seen a voller before. The Count has seen vollers, and he comes out immediately.As they march down the gangplank, the Count bellows something. This is far enough from the capital that there's actually kind of a dialect. Alistair knows he said "down" but a normal citizen of the capital probably wouldn't. It's like watching a wave of grain fall over as they all promptly bow down."Welcome, Your Imperial Majesty." The Count addresses Alistair. Lord Brightmount is there as well, and he is also kneeling, like the Count, but the Count is speaking first."Thank you, Your Lordship, please rise. I understand that there is a need for imperial justice to be done.""Thank you, Your Majesty. I never dreamed that you would come yourself.""It was convenient for us to bring them a justice and various advocates in our own voller.""Yes, Your Majesty."Alistair can see a very slight smile from the field marshal, who is still kneeling and bowing, but knows Alistair well enough to know that he is putting on a show for effect. "Your Majesty, I'm honored that you have come here.""Of course. I received your message, and we thought it best to respond promptly.""I cannot tell you how thankful I am."<<There's more poor folks here than you would expect, Your Majesty, and they are more unhappy than impressed.>><<That's unsurprising. Hopefully there will be an opportunity to engage in largesse later, but now is not the time.>><<No, but a visit to local people in need would not be unwarranted.>>Alistair addresses the Count. "I wish to introduce you to Lord Maxim Sedgedge, who will take care of any prosecution that is warranted, and Advocate Dunstan, who will provide counsel and advocacy for anyone who is brought to trial. And I assume that you will be able to place both of them in contact with the people that they should begin speaking to as they prepare for any case that must be brought.""Absolutely. I have retained the proof in the dungeons of the keep, which I admit my lord are not very often used, but they are maintained, of course.""If I might, while they attend to those matters, I would view it as an opportunity if I could visit the local parish church.""Oh, of course, of course, I would be happy to personally escort you there."<<Because I can give the priest a sack of gold in a visible way, to provide for the poor without engaging in largesse at this time.>><<My lord, the Counts also not doing very well. He's surely wearing his best, but look at the hems. Those clothes are worn and have been repaired many times.>><<I'll take your word for it. I've never had much call to wear worn-out clothes, nor to see many people who do. Though now that you mention it, that outfit looks to be 40 years out of date, and he's not old enough to have worn it 40 years ago.>> The Count leads them into the village, which is really just a village. <<Then, too, if a county seat doesn't manage to be a proper town, they're doing particularly poorly.>>The Count leads them down into the town to a plain stone church, entirely made of cut local stone that's been fitted and mortared, but hasn't been finished to make it look smooth. A very elderly priest was performing the noon offices for a small group of congregants, when one of the acolytes touches his arm."His Imperial Majesty is present," says the acolyte, and the priest begins trying to get down and genuflect."Please, don't. I simply wanted to attend the noon time services and participate as one of the faithful."The handful of older folk who were there did not notice him come in, but now they are all standing and bowing or genuflecting as they are able."Please," the priest says, "give him the seat directly in front of the tabernacle. Oh, this is something to tell my great-grandchildren about."The acolyte leads Alistair over, and then Alistair pulls out a kneeler in front of the seat and kneels on that.The priest stumbles as he goes through the rest of the service, but he's done it for so many years he definitely can make it through. His voice is a little shriller than it was when Alistair first came in, but he gets through the entire order of service. He delivers the sacred meal, and then once he's no longer in any official role, he approaches and kisses Alistair's ring. "Oh, Your Majesty, I never dreamed in all my years of service that I would officiate a service for you. Even when Her Grace came through once while fighting off some of the orks, she did not attend the service.""There are frequently times when I can only make time for a quick private service in my personal chapel. But when I can, I like to pay my respects as any one of the faithful might."The old folk in the church now gather as near to Alistair as they can, and a couple of them reach out to touch his robes very timidly. Alistair engages in a small amount of condescending gladhanding, putting a hand on a shoulder and touching an elbow and the like. After a little of this, Alistair pulls out an obviously full sack of coins. "Father, for the poor of the parish."He weeps. "Your Majesty. Thank you. It has gotten worse recently. Thank you. This will go a long ways.""Come, Father. Let's take a cup of tea or a glass of wine-- whatever you might prefer.""I think I have tea. I have tesh...""Very good. That's fine." Alistair is fine being served anything, because he does not actually plan on drinking anything, because he assumes that it's terrible. He just wants to get away from the crowd.The priest takes them into the parish hall, where a nun promptly prostrates herself."We are all but servants of Glordiadel," responds Dame Brionna."He's going to take tesh with us."She gets up and starts making hot water kind of shakily."You said that matters were worsening.""Yes, it was already bad. In the fall, many of the crops failed, even after I blessed them. They were fully crowned, ready to harvest, and then overnight they rotted on the vine, and then the refugees... You know, quite a few of us died in the war. We were able to take in some, put them on the land that used to be fields, but there are so many of them, and it's spring. It will be months before harvest. I've been counseling patience, saying that the Lord of Light would provide, but then, a few days ago some of the young ones took it upon themselves, because they didn't see the provision... they killed...""A judge has come with us, and appropriate advocates, and justice will be done on that matter.""Will I be permitted to give them the rites?""Of course. We would never deny that. And let us not speak of what may happen until after judgment has been passed."Young Lord Brightspan steps over just in front of Dame Brionna, and she notices him trying to hand her very surreptitiously behind his back a very small folded piece of paper. She takes it from him without making any signs of it--all eyes are on Alistair anyway."I have been aware of some of the churches where there have been efforts to desanctify them with corrupted host. Have you seen any problems related to that?""Nothing like that. Just the failing crops. Oh, and there was a two-headed lamb born. One was dead."<<Two-headed animals... That sounds familiar. Does anyone remember where we encountered that before?>>Kit sends back, <<Yes, I definitely recall that, but not where or when.>>Dame Brionna responds, <<Perhaps we have exhausted this good priest long enough for right now, and we should return to the ship until the trial. Young Lord Brightspan says there has been a red cap on the loose here.>><<That was it! There were two-headed animals around when there was the red cap that Lord Silverleaves hunted. And the tor lord warned us that when fae holdings are destroyed, red caps often arise.>>"Do you know, father, were there, or are there, fair folk in these areas?""Oh, there were when I was a boy. They were not from these immediate lands, but they came here often. They were good to the town folks. We haven't seen them in years, now."<<We'll need to see if you can find it with your connection to land. You can detect fey influence, right?>><><<We can get you some backup from the Tor.>><<Not yet. Let me see if we can find out more first.>>Kit sends, <>They excuse themselves and head back into the main church.Young Lord Brightspan speaks urgently. "The old lady in the back. She didn't know I could see through her disguise, but she wasn't actually an old lady. She was a red cap...>>Dame Brionna, "Can you tell whether the church is, in fact, sanctified?""I should certainly be able to." She reaches out, sensing holiness and unholiness. "The area right up near the altar is sanctified. The building as a whole, is not.""Which also means that most gatherings and rituals might not be valid, unless they were right up next to the altar, which the most important would be, except for funerals."<<What about the font?>> asks Kit.<<It's at the back of the church. Not sanctified any more.>><<That means the Enlightenings won't have been valid. Those provide a great deal of the basic protection against demonic influence, corruption, or possession, and is essential as a prerequisite for most other church rituals. Likely not the funerals, either, which means the dead will be easier to enchant.>><<We should head back to the ship, my lord.>>Alistair heads over to where young Lord Brightspan indicated the old lady was in the church."I'm not sure that's a good idea, sir."He reaches down and touches the ground where she was standing, fairly clearly outside the sanctified area, though it seems that the sanctified area has been eroding over time in circles. He starts to reach out to his connection to the land, and for the first moment feels like he is moving through molasses or maybe oatmeal. [Alistair rolled a natural 1.] Then something jumps for him from the Ethereal Plane.Alistair is suddenly thrown by about 20 feet, and Dame Brionna can literally watch his imperial visage ripple as he is wracked with horrifying changes. He suffers 16 points of temporary Charisma damage--enough that he would have hit 0 if he were not wearing a Cloak of Charisma.Dame Brionna dashes over and throws her cloak over him, wanting to make sure none of his local subjects see him in this state. Alistair staggers over to the altar, under Dame Brionna’s cloak, lightly bruised but horribly afflicted. The area he reached out through was obviously corrupted somehow, but not in a way that felt like the Eldritch.<<Kit, can we get a redactor here as soon as possible?>><<Grandmaster Farsensor can't go anywhere, but I can get a redactor to you. The Minister of the Mind, maybe.>> She immediately sends a psionic message to the Minister of the Mind, showing him what she saw through the mindlink. <<Get here, bring skin, I'll call someone who can teleport you.>><<I'm on my way. He's not looking well.>><<No, he's not.>> She hurriedly gets a mage who can teleport as well.Dame Brionna sees someone in the back of the church, lifting something. They’re clearly evil, so Dame Brionna flings her spear, missing terribly and taking out a statue of a minor saint. The old lady fires a crossbow at Dame Brionna, and hits despite the full plate. She saves successfully, but takes 7 points of Intelligence damage."Lord Brightspan, is that the old lady you saw in the church?""Yes, Your Majesty."Dame Brionna charges at the figure, while Alistair circles around, spiked chain spinning, to strike from the other side. Alistair hits for 45 points of damage in three hits, one a critical, and Dame Brionna hits for 38 points. For a moment, they see a brownie with a blood-soaked hat, who then disappears and is replaced with an old lady. During and after the transition, they hear a cackling laughter.<<Great,>> thinks Dame Brionna. <<So that was like the Emperor and his people killed an old lady in the church. While somehow becoming ugly, presumably by having their true form revealed.>><<Yes, best if nobody has the chance to see this.>><<Was the red cap possessing the old woman?>><> replies Alistair. "I'm pretty sure that the redcap teleported out and interposed a prisoner that it was holding.>>Dame Brionna immediately heals the old woman, stabilizing her. <<Kit, how are we doing on getting that redactor over?>>They appear in the vestible of the church. Meanwhile, the door from the parish hall opens because, of course, there was the terrible crash when the statue was destroyed. The nun pops in, screams horribly, and rushes to the old gal."Oh, my God! What happened? She hasn't been herself for a while, but I didn't expect her to be collapsing in the church.""Your church is defiled," says Dame Brionna grimly. She tries to think of something better to say, but her mind isn't working like it should.Alistair sends, <<Dame Brionna. Say that she was kidnapped by a demon and tortured, and that you have been able to bring her back here. I can't say this right now, because no one will believe anything I say right now. Thank you for giving me the cloak to hide in. That's why i'm sending this over the mindlink.>>Dame Brionna repeats Alistair's words about a demon having kidnapped her and taken her place. "She is back now, but we'll need much help. I have only just helped her to live."<<Tell her the demon also smashed that statue.>>The Minister of the Mind rushes in, looking about wildly. "Here's the Emperor, sure enough."<<Told you we needed quick action.>><<Yes. I've never seen the like.>><<Can you fix him without skin?>><<I can temporarily give him the appearance that he had before, as long as I'm nearby and can keep a steady trickle of psionic energy, but he's going to need to be skinned to get any permanent healing, and I don't think anyone should see him like this.>><<No, absolutely not. Will it endanger him if there is delay in getting him into skin?>><<No, no, it won't endanger him --it's not a creeping plague. Never seen it this bad, though.>> He literally sniffs at Dame Brionna and recoils. <<She was poisoned with kiren. If she were psionic, this would have killed her. Since she's non-psionic, if it didn't throw her into death shock and spiral immediately, which it doesn't seem to have done, it will just rob her of some of her natural intelligence for a while. She will regain it over a week or so.>><<Can you speed that up? We need all of the Council at their full capabilities faster than that.>><<Can you get me more more redactors and a hand cask?>><<We will get that to you.>><><<Yes,>> confirms Alistair. <<Ask Lord Silverleaves if the elves would be willing to send a great Redactor to help. We need both of us fully functional within two days.>>Kit relays this to Lord Silverleaves, who almost immediately replies, <<Her Majesty is sending her personal Redactor. He will arrive on your voller, and is bringing a hand cask.>>Kit heads over to personally tell Kaitlyn what is happening and the situation.<<This is probably the point to ask the tor to hunt the red cap.>>An Eldar redactor meets them on the voller. "How on earth did you run into a greater red cap?""You see, we knew that there was a red cap that had been nearby, and I reached out through my connection to land to see if I could trace it personally...""And you tried to reach through its shield apparently. And so it attacked you. Ys, they do that, and I can tell by the amount of damage you took that it was a greater red cap. A normal red cap couldn't have done that. This is a tor lord that's been converted."<<Which tor was he from?>><<My guess is that he had to be from the western tor. They used to come this far from time to time, and we have heard nothing now since the war started. And this was their lord.>><<Why did he seek out this place?>><<It may have been a place that was a favorite of his when he was seelie.>><<They were apparently fond of this village a generation ago.>><<So now he's come back. He may not even realize how evil he's become. He will cause much mayhem, mischief, and death.>>"And how did you get poisoned with kiren?""She shot me. Well, she or it. The fey.""You are fortunate to be alive since you're not psionic. It could have thrown me into psychic shock.""Its good to be alive, although disappointed that I was not able to prevent the attack on the Emperor.""Is this your Redactor?" the Eldar asks, with an arrogant tone bordering on contempt."I beg your pardon.""This is the Minister of the Mind of the Archduchy of Canberry," says Alistair. "He is a human Redactor of great skill."At that, the elf's eyebrows fly up."I believe that he is at the high end of Master or low end of Grandmaster as these things are counted.""It's good enough for maintaining the trickle. Make free with my hand cask. We need to get them both covered in skin. We should be able to get her up and running in a day if you trickle an endless amount of energy in the pattern I'm about to give you." The Minister of the Mind staggers back as he gets the entire diagram all at once. "I will be dealing with His Majesty. Her Majesty the Queen said it was extremely important for him to be up in two days. I don't know what it is with humans, always in a hurry.""There is a funeral for a great ally of my kingdom. Can you make it?""I must. You cannot be looking like that. You must expect some discomfort. I must rearrange you at a molecular level. It will be painful, but I can do it. Would you like me to make any improvements I see as I do it?""Any reasonable improvements you can make, I can't see why I wouldn't want them.""Are there images of what you're supposed to look like?"They show him images from official portraits taken for use in coinage."That will do. Now, let's get the skin on you."Alistair immediately begins disrobing, in public on the deck of the voller, because he has no sense of modesty at all. Once the Eldar realizes what he is doing, he simply begins dissolving non-magical pieces of clothing away, and then slathers skin all over Alistair's body.Dame Brionna awakens the next day. Alistair is still in skin with the elven Redactor floating above him, feeding him energy. The Minister of the Mind looks exhausted."Sure, there you are, all fixed. I've never learned more in a shorter period of time in my life. I'm still processing it, but I was able to use it.""Thank you so much.""To repair this damage on a permanent basis in a day..." he shakes his head in disbelief."That's wonderful. I hope we never really need it again.""I'll have to see its taught to any future apprentices."<<Kit, we also need a circle of priests and a Bishop of Glordiadel to reconsecrate the full building.>><<Right. I'll talk to Father Waters about that.>><<Also have them send someone who's ready to soon step into the role of village priest. A well-trained priest, not from the seminaries we've had problems with.>>Father Waters and his team appear shortly later on the deck of the voller."Bishop Waters. I will take you to the church. It has been being slowly deconsecrated, and both the church itself needs consecration, but I also need you and the priests to determine the current status of babies and the deceased in the last few years.""Oh, dear! Very good, Dame.""Possibly marriages, but those are more likely to have been successful, since they'll be celebrated at the altar or near it.""Is that man prone on the deck, with an elf floating over top...""That's His Majesty. I suggest that when we all return to the palace, perhaps some sermons on humility and caution might be particularly suitable for this season.""Yes, Dame, I see that."They head down to the church. Bishop Waters greets the priest."Oh, such a week! And now now the Household Bishop of His Majesty. Thank you for coming. I'm afraid we had a minor incident with a demon. It broke this statue."Dame Brionna interrupts. "No, no, good father. I must confess. I was attempting to fight the demon--the red cap-- when my spear missed, and sadly I broke the statue here." She hands over a sack of money which she hasn't counted. "Please use this to restore the statue. Which saint was it?Alistair gripes, <<We had a perfectly good story! No one was going to blame us for the damage when the red cap was right there.>> Dame Brionna ignores him completely."Saint Parthiano, Dame.""I will say prayers to Saint Parthiano every day for a year, and give offerings in his name. And if there's a chapel to Saint Parthiano back in Canberry City, I will do my best to support it.""At least you were able to battle the demon and drive it out.""It's a red cap, not technically a demon.""Yes, the good folk used to warn us about those. I don't think they call them demons, but they have a different concept of the holy and unholy.""Yes, it's what they warned you about. Did they tell you what to watch for?""If one came here it would sour the milk, ruin the crops... oh, I see.""Yes, good father, and we want to determine whether or not it has done any harm to the church or the people.""By all means! Oh, they said they were terrible little things, capable of all sorts of magic tricks, and capable of even affecting innocent babies. But we've been very good. We've been sure that all the babies were sanctified after eight days.""Yes, good," says Father Waters. "I bless babies all the time in the imperial household, and I would love to meet the babies of your parish and give them a special blessing. Why don't you come along and help?"[The red cap is smart enough to not stay around, now that they know where it is. But they plan on sending people to hunt it down--possibly from the tor, since the red cap is clearly beyond most humans.]They resanctify the church, they put new blessings on many of the children, and they appoint a new assistant rector. Meanwhile, Alistair sits in skin the whole time.[cont'd]</blockquote>

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