Wanted, Again

Our room at The Elium, Finnsbury

3pm – After being healed by Elium clerics I’m feeling rather refreshed. Boredom sets in so Abby, Jon, Amy and myself grab a snack at the cafeteria before heading to the library to read up on vampires and their truce with The Monastery Of The Willows.

Vampires, as it turns out…

    • hate sunlight,
    • cast no shadows,
    • have no reflections in mirrors,
    • heal extremely quickly,
    • can be permanently destroyed by decapitation,
    • can be temporarily killed using a wooden stake through the heart, although they will come back to life if the stake is removed,
    • recoil from garlic, mirrors, and holy symbols,
    • can’t enter a premises unless invited,
    • can assume shapes of various animals
    • can control various animals of the forest,
    • can weaken you by drinking your blood,
    • can charm you with direct eye-to-eye contact,
    • cannot cross rivers or open bodies of water unless they are transported in their caskets.

We also find out more about the truce, which seems to have been in place for over 200 years, after it was signed in blood by both parties. Neither faction entered each other’s domain for fear of breaking said truce – until Linnfard.

We speak to some clerics and they tell us that Mother Jana is exhausted and sleeping. Linnfard is still in bad shape and still getting treatment. Neither is allowed visitors. We go back to our room to relax. I experiment with True Seeing for the first time even though there is really nothing to see in the room. I also experiment with Discern Location. I find out that Willard is at a manse, in the SW corner of The Great Continent. I confirm this by Sending him a quick message and I detect a hint of pride in his voice when he tells me to leave him alone. I then try to Discern the Location of Rouse which tells me nothing. I fear the worse for Rouse and I quickly confirm this by trying the same thing on John MacEachern – nothing for him either.

I tell everyone the news and we chat about what may have happened. Did his guild decide to tie up loose ends? We told him that going back might be a terrible idea. Seems we were right.

6pm – We hear a knock at the door. Analee, a young apostle we’ve never met before, offers us a tray of hot chocolate at Mother Jana’s bidding. At once I am suspicious. Analee leaves the tray and vacates the room. The drinks are Poisoned, and we run out of the room and follow Analee down the hall, wondering if she was just the messenger or the mastermind. We quickly find her and take her to the kitchen where she got the hot chocolate. We tell the chef that we are dissatisfied with the drinks and he swears that they were hot when he gave them to Analee. We leave the kitchen and start making our way to Mother Jana’s quarters with Analee in tow, who realizes that the jig is up and makes a run for it down the hall. I quickly encase her (along with the rest of the hallway) in a Resilient Sphere. Guards are summoned. We explain the situation and I drop the Sphere only to find Analee had taken her own life with a poisoned capsule. Strange turn of events. She was clearly an amateur sent to do work far above her pay scale. Maybe someone thought the simplest approach would be the most effective. In any case, we are being hunted once again.

7pm – Brother Yohan comes to our room and apologizes profusely for the security breach. He also tells us that Mother Jana and Linnfard will both be resting for two more days. We have dinner in the cafeteria and spend the night at The Elium. I had the first watch but fell asleep. Maybe the battle with the vampires earlier that day weakened me more than I thought.

November 12, 1135 – Willard’s Kitchen, Bastion

8amMabel makes us bacon, eggs, and toast. I have a quick chat with Vinnik. Seems that he’s not very happy with me lately. I think he wants more attention – I think he needs more exercise. We compromise and decide that he will be getting more attention.

9amAmy needs to get back to the Wolf Hill Academy right away. Nice of her to tell us in advance. She runs off to get ready and then comes back down to say her goodbyes. I will escort her to Wolf Hill, which, she tells me, is a two day ride from Bastion. We go to the stables and get her mount ready. We teleport to a familiar bridge North of Bastion – the same bridge where we got overtaken by MacEachern’s henchmen over a year ago. From here we doubled on Amy’s horse which took most of the day. Conversation was plentiful and Amy was clearly excited to be going back to Wolf Hill.

8pm – Very close to the Wolf Hill Academy now. Since visitors are not allowed at the school, we leave Amy’s horse and Polymorph into magpies. Amy flies me towards her school a handful of miles away. Once I have a good look at the location, we land in the nearby forest and I Teleport us back to the horse. Then, while Invisible, I Teleport all three of us back to the school, where I say a sad goodbye to Amy.

9pm – I pay a quick visit to Fredrick Vi Grunigen near Sweetwater and we exchange pleasantries. He asks how I’ve been doing and tells me that he’s heard some rumours about our antics over the past many months. His tone seemed less commanding than before, when he tasked us to retrieve some dragon’s eggs. I bid him farewell and go back to Bastion. I apologized to Abby and Jon for taking much longer than I anticipated. They actually seemed worried. We check on Lady Ogilvie who is regrettably dead. Maybe some questions are in order for Captain Timothy of The Jezebel, if he still happens to be alive. Maybe I’ll check on him tomorrow.

I then check on Lazelle and it turns out that she is in the Fairholm Building on Montague Street, right here in Bastion. Jon quickly points out that the Fairholm building is the rumoured headquarters of The Guild. Maybe Lazelle is The Whip after all.

11pm – I sneak out to the local pub and get paid – seems to be getting easier all the time.

November 13, 1135 – Willard’s, Bastion

8am – After breakfast I take Jon and Abby to Willard’s library where I show them some introductory books on The Arcane. Both are very keen and excited. Then I head to the market with Mabel to keep her company and to see if the attempted poisoning at The Elium was a freak occurrence or if we are again being actively hunted.

The answer came quickly. It was a typical day at the market until I noticed that a deceptively quick fellow tried to stab me with a dagger. I managed to catch him in my Sphere and quickly went back to Willard’s for reinforcements. I explained the predicament to Jon and Abby and we decided to Teleport inside the Sphere to deal with our quarry. We did so and managed to knock out the bandit and bring him back to Willard’s dungeon.

After we revived him, he told us his name is Ash and confirmed that a new contract has been put on our heads by The Guild only a few days ago. Nothing else that was useful came out of his mouth again. He managed to free his hands of the shackles so we knocked him out again. My plan is to make a messy example of him in the streets of Bastion. Probably not very practical but it seemed to work for Willard in the past.