Session 5 - Searching for Bearings in Brillig

General Summary

Narcissa turned the wagon around briefly to go get the dogs. The group then continued along the road, with Axel, the inkeeper's son, assisting with driving. The group drove past many horrible scenes of abandoned villages. A human body provided food for abandoned village dogs. Sigisar and Edmon considered stopping the wagon to scour the town and conduct burials. Axel, however, cautioned against tarrying too long on the road and arriving at the city gates after dark, because he did not relish spending the night outside the walls. The rest of the group concurred, and Manfred suggested that their focus should be on helping the living. Sigisar and Edmon conceded they could return at a later time. The wagon rolled on into heavily overgrown areas where the road dwindled and became overgrown, and Axel explained about banditry operations with fallen trees. As they came closer Brillig, fires were seen on bare hills in the distance, which Axel suggested were lit by witches. Winifred, feeling uneasy after glancing at them, thanked Edmon for saving her life, and offered condolences about his father. At long last, the group arrived at the town gates before sundown, and paid the toll to enter Brillig.
Brillig had seen better days and seemed depopulated. Sigisar went to find the local chapter of the Tungrisch Knights, in the hopes of finding an appropriate representative of his uncle Lothar von Kalmar, an officer in the order. At the chapter he met Brother Romuald, who explained that Lothar was at this estate three days ride north. He could send a secure message from Sigisar that would reach him quickly, but asked for a hefty 20 marks to deliver it. Sigisar said he would think on it. Finding the price too dear for the moment, he and the group inquired at an inn, found it too expensive also, and ultimately decided to seek refuge in the town citadel, as it was part of the House Horstkopf holdings.
After arriving and settling in, Narcissa sent for a seamstress. Kaleb and Manfred again found themselves retiring to the stables, in part due to Kaleb’s ornery behavior. Kaleb wandered off with an intent to leave the castle. While waiting for Kaleb to come back, Sigisar and Edmon discussed possible fey influences on Kaleb and Narcissa, and Winifred’s story about the old woman, but did not come to any conclusions about root causes of their problems. Kaleb eventually managed to talk his way out of the castle at night. Manfred successfully misty-stepped over the closing gate and followed him. Kaleb was convinced by an entertained innkeeper to use a sleeping Manfred as a path to Niflheim. Unable to return to the castle for the night, they found a religious dormitory. They were subjected to mandatory vespers and questionable food before being shown to the common sleeping room. Manfred tried to sleep, and Kaleb tried various ways to enter his mind: intense staring, forehead slamming, and finally, by summoning a tiny illusion of himself on Manfred’s forehead. This caused a ruckus in the dormitory as a bystander accused Kaleb of being a witch, but he was able to talk his way out. Eventually both Kaleb and Manfred fell asleep.
The next day, Manfred and Kaleb returned to the castle, and everyone went to Sonnentag Mass. Kaleb screamed during Sunday mass about going to Niflheim. After mass, three people made confessions. Winifred confessed about failing to report about the old woman sooner. Sigisar confessed about not being as brave as he should be. Kaleb went into the confession booth, but mostly annoyed the priest with strange ramblings. The priest discovered Kaleb had not been baptized, and arranged for that to happen. Manfred and this priest had a conversation about Kaleb’s strange mental ailments, and concluded with hope that the baptism might help him. Sigisar and Winifred had a heart-to-heart about what they confessed. Feeling cleansed and decisive, Sigisar decided to send the message to his uncle through the Tungrisch Knights chapter.
While waiting for his uncle’s response and arrival over the next week, the companions filled their time with a variety of tasks:

• Edmon trained with the castle garrison.
• Narcissa got new clothes for herself, Manfred and Kaleb, and did her best to keep an ear to the ground about local gossip. She had trouble as the lower-born than her were cautious of her due to her social status. Her white raven also came back with two icicles.
• Winifred confronted Narcissa during her session with the seamstress about her lack of grief and her lies about seeing the old woman, and left in a huff. She spent her other time praying for those in the castle.
• Sigisar studied what information he could find about his ancestral lands. The accounts spoke of great calamity - plague, famine, a decrease in tax income, and peasant communes begging for tax relief. He was primarily concerned, however, that the land was arable and suitable for development, which it generally seemed to be.
• Manfred studied a book of anatomy he found in the castle scriptorium, and studied the painstaking methods of the local apothecaries and barber-surgeons. He also tried some of the time to keep an eye on Kaleb.
• Kaleb went around town trying to find a way to Niflheim, and discovered a book in the scriptorium with a serpent around a tree in the illustrations. He also spoke to a local apothecary regarding the hilltops where Axel said witches gathered. The apothecary told him many of these hilltops are places of great power with rumored portals to other worlds, which can be accessed through terrible and degrading rituals. From others, he also learned about a place called *Fallsmar , an underground complex possibly associated with dwarfs, who were allegedly kidnapping children and taking them into their mines. He also heard stories about political struggles in Brillig. Most spoke of two factions: the black clad flagellants the group had seen going on about the end of the world, affiliated with a man named Jakob Böse; and servants of the witch Matilda, who apparently can change her skin.

Other companions also learned that there are groups of bandits led by ogres, and that there are mysterious Augurs who seem to travel around in dangerous wild places without being hurt, but are shunned by civilized society.

Report Date

23 Mar 2023

Primary Location

Brillig