3 - The Letters of Dibenesha Ilunga - Castille and Avalon

Guigno 26, 1671
Well things have gone well - Lady Donna negotiated with Avalon and cleverly brought them together through shared negotiations. Capitana Octavia has procured goods for the trip to Castille (our next port of call). Reiterin Katja and Fusilière Alice will be transporting the transcriptions of that strange facility, and Katja will also be arranging for her sister to return home. Her sister has . . . mixed feelings about that, and while Katja can send her, I'm not sure she will go.
Luglio 3, 1671
We have made our way to San Teodoro. It is a safe house for an organization I am pretending I do not know about. Apparently that organization is going through a political struggle, and Fusilière Alice has determined not to leave the documents for discussion there; but to travel on to Carleon and leave them with Ravenild Hibbot, a specialist in blood from what I can tell.
Luglio 11, 1671
We are in Carleon - last time we were in Avalon, it was a pirate port down on the coast. This time, however, we are in the capital city. It's very muggy, and the town is extremely smoky - smells terrible. Perhaps it is something I will get used to. We met with Knight Bors McAllister shortly after making port. Lady Donna made McAllister aware of what had happened in Jaguara, and McAllister seemed generally supportive. His aide-de-camp was a bit shocked though; she and Schwertfrauen Luna will be dueling at some point - although just for enjoyment. It appears that there may be an opportunity for Schwertfrauen Luna and Reiterin Katja to hunt for some sort of local monster related to Sidhe.
We were then escorted into the Queen's presence and she seemed pleased with our arrival, although I am not sure why.

- - -

This afternoon we went to the college, but Lady Hibbot was not available; apparently she chooses to dress as a man, which her servant finds wrong for some reason. Customs are different everywhere I suppose. We are attending a play tomorrow evening (Soliman and Perseda which is supposed to be a sort of gaudy revenge story) at his suggestion that we might encounter Lady Hibbot there.
Luglio 12, 1671
This morning started very early with a sparring session between the Lady Donerail and Schwertfrauen Luna which was very exciting. I am impressed every time I see Luna raise her huge blade, but Lady Donerail's was almost as large.
Lady Donerail gave us a brief update on the court. apparently this Magus Derwyddon is someone who will have to have a conversation with Lady Donna; but I do not know what that is about. Lady McLeod is the Queen's primary ally and friend. Danielle is a Sidhe - her nature is unknown to me and I have had no opportunity to greet her.

- - - - -

Capitan Octavia is shopping for good trading goods; it is important work, but a little dry. One troubling thing I have heard - the Sidhe can create what they call fairy gold out of air. It's not common - because it is so manifestly terrible. As you know, I believe that money is a form of power, which is why i favor it's use and regular trading between the nations. In that way the power is spread to as many people as possible - each with a little bit of power to do what they need. Creating fairy money that disappears is just a disaster - it drains that power taking money away from people who probably need it and giving the goods and services to people who do not. I am told that the practice is not common though.
We found a guide with the unfortunate name of Scabies - and he took us into town. Very beautiful; not quite so fine as Ajaka-Katunga, it still possesses an unearthly beauty. Lady Donna found the representative of the Sidhe to avalon, Daníele. She was very self possessed and dedicated to her people and to Avalon.
We finished out our day by attending the theatre - it was a revenge play. More brutal than I would have thought. Afterwords she escorted us below the theater to her private laboratory. She took the paperwork that Nezhev has provided, and while reviewing it asked us what we thought of Blood Magic. It is not so uncommon in my lands, but my people do not practice it. It is a bit unclean At any rate, the party seemed to believe it could be used for good but was troubling. She has a demonstration for us; I will write more after that.

- - - - -

Lady Hibbot was persuaded not to proceed with her demonstration. She then asked about the papers that Fusilière Alice had brought and discussed the matter with our crew. She feels, not without reason, that the crown was recovered on their expedition and that it should go to the Invisible College.
After departing from her with matters still unsettled, we returned to our chambers. I am staying with Lady Donna so was present when she was greeted in our chambers by Derwyddon, who is the mage of the court of Avalon. I am not sure what that means, but he is a very formidable presence at any rate. He told us that Lady Donna would be invited to hunt tomorrow. Unexpected that.
Luglio 13, 1671
We are hunting today - well I am going to stand in the back and watch but the others are going. First off we went to Glamourtown - it changed quite a bit since we were last here. The Queen of the Sea visited, which had an effect on the terrain and make up of the buildings- making the whole area have a much more nautical feel. I wonder if she - this Queen of the Sea - resents sailors like Capitan Octavia or if she sees them as worshipers. I don't know that I want to find out.
At any rate we visited Daníele who let us know that that the Queen of the Sky, which is her mother, supports the queen, and that the Queen of the Land will be pleased as well. The Queen of the Sea, less so. I wonder if that is Queen of the Sea or Queen of the Waters? Or what is the more accurate translation.
We rode with Lugh who is presumably well loved. I do not trust him, but the Queen spends time with him. A surprising amount of time for one who is known as a virgin queen. We rode up to Balig which is a fishing village - well fishing and herding - reminded me a lot of Città d'Argento except that town didn't as much fishing being further from the ocean.
Lady Donna sang a ballad about our impending victory - I hope she is correct but concerned. The beast sounds fearsome and there could be additional complications. We will see - they have a plan and, while I have confidence in this team, but I am holding my breath.

- - - - -

I needn't have worried. While it was a fierce battle, and a bit scary at points, it was handled well enough. The great beast, a Dormach, sent it's pack up first - to drag sheep and others back for it to eat. Alice, from her vantage point, was able to do significant damage to it, but it's hounds proved troublesome at first - still they were quickly shot and slashed. When the two larger hounds died they became ghosts, and much friendlier. The hounds did quite a lot of damage to Lugh, and wounds to several of our ladies - but ultimately the great hound, had to come to shore and there it died.
The Queen of the land of Avalon - I gather a powerful Loa of this land - came and spoke to us. She was grateful for her dogs freedom and pledged to support Lady Donna at court - the way she spoke, I believe this has something to do with why Dwyrden visited us the other night. She also apologized to Capitan Octavia for trouble that might come her way due to her support of Queen Elaine and the Queen of the Land of Avalon. Finally she had a word with Alice, as she had noted her deadly Musket - and cautioned her about bringing many of them to her lands. A very satisfying evening, although I did noticed Katja looking a bit troubled afterwords.
Luglio 14, 2020
An interesting day. Bertram is joining the crew; I theorize that Lady Hibbot is getting rid of a long time problem by giving it to Alice and by extention the Leonida. She presumably feels justified, due to Capitan Octavia's decision to keep the crown. I wonder if she has experimented with it as yet. I worry that these small issues might grow in time.
Lady Donna collected Scabies - I talked with him briefly while they were dealing with the next issue; I think he would be a good topsman - good balance and good eyes. I will have a word with Capitan Octavia although all decisions are hers of course.
Apparently there is some guild of carvers in in the Spirit Lands - at least here near Avalon. The Queen of the Land of Avalon gave her a charge to carve an embellishment to the Leonida. This is a bit confusing, so to clarify the Queen of the Land of Avalon is counter balanced by the Queen of the Air of Avalon and the Queen of the Sea around Avalon - but in the case of the land and the sea that addition is usually dropped. Also both the Queen of the Air and the Queen of the Air consider themselves in charge of all of the ocean or air respectively (I am aware of about 3 other sea gods and 2 other air gods, so cannot be sure this is accurate). At any rate, for clarity - they say the Queen of the Land of Avalon to refer to the Fairy Queen, and Queen Elaine of Avalon to refer to, well, Queen Elaine.

- - - - 

The dinner was amazing.   Lady Donna and Capitan Octavia were invited to the head table.  Lady Donna was given an opportunity to entrance us with her melodies, while Capitan Octavia discussed trade opportunities and praised her crew.  I need to convince her to come to my Mansa Kankan - the great Kurufabe - i think she would do very well; both her and Lady Donna.   Even Katja, Alice, and Luna might enjoy hunting in our kingdom.   
She was then taken into the garden, and made a Knight of Elaine; I am concerned about what that might mean - and how it might affect her.  I know stories of those afflicted by the Abonsam and their voices, offered power and becoming more and more monstrous as they give in to those dark urges.  Hard to imagine that happening to Lady Donna, but I will watch things carefully.   Still i imagine she is strong enough to resist them.

Type

Licence, Professional