It's always a bad sign when a church is quiet

General Summary

Since it’s all calmed down a bit now, I think it might be a good idea to wander over to the rest of the outbuildings and make sure nothing else is going on. I only got halfway to the barns when a white glow explodes out of the house and I hear Milli suddenly yell, and come back to Cap staring off into nowhere, and I hear him answering someone, “I will stand in the gap against what’s coming.” I don’t really know who he was talkin’ to. “So,” I said, “Milli, glad to have you back. What was going on?” “I don’t know,” she stammered looking at the ground. “I just remember eyes staring at me and this strange laughing sound that lived below a mountain to the North.” Then I turn around and Cap is huddled over the adults and they’re partially undressed. The kids came in behind me, and the girl yells, “Why is Mommy naked?” Ummmm, I don’t know kid, that’s a good question. We get clothes back on the people after Cap stripped them, and barricade the door for the night and finally get to sleep.

A FUN NEW FRIEND

The next morning Thor has a fever. That doesn’t bode well given what happened to the farmers. Milli tries lesser restoration, but it only seems to lower it a bit. “We have to burn the dead,” I state. “I’m worried what will happen to them otherwise.” “How we be doin’ that?” Cap asked. “We gather everything that will burn, I sit there and throw flaming spheres at them until they’re good and burned.” That was a less than pleasant morning. I sat watching the pyre burn, because it only felt right to give them a proper sendoff, and I felt a light tug on my sleeve. “I have a present for you,” the little girl, Sarah said. “What is that?” I ask as I walk her away from this grizzly sight. No need to further traumatize the girl. Poor thing had to see her parents half-naked and her neighbors turned into creatures, that can mess with a kid. “This is Papa Legba,” and she held up a small bell-like thing with symbols eerily similar to Menet-Ka, you know what got us into the current mess. “You pull it open and he can help you.” She pulled it open and a small shrunken head turned and looked at me light glowing from its eyes. It stared at me for a moment, “One of your eyes is darker than the other.” I hold the thing and as I turn its eyes fall onto Thor, “Whoa there man, you got weird crawlies things on you. You oughta get that taken care of!” and I can see all sorts of things crawling on him near his wound. I continued turning and there’s Cap with his shield, only it looks like there’s a giant angel behind or maybe in his shield, “Hey there big guy, you got an awful big shield.” I left him as I walked about because it felt weird to just close him upright after getting him out. Besides his commentary is proving to be quite funny. “Milli, meet Papa Legba. He’s going to be traveling with us,” I introduced him. “Hi Papa Legba,” Milli replied. You know, I would have thought she would have said something about the fact that it’s shrunken head, but no. “Baby girl, you got problems,” Papa Legba said, “Tell Papa your problems.” “Well Papa,” Milli said, “I’ve been having these bad dreams. This thing zapped my head, and now I just feel like these big eyes are watching me all the time. I don’t quite know what to do with that, but there it is.” “You know what you need?” Papa said, “You need rum. Let’s drink some rum together. It’ll help you feel better.” “Hey Sarah,” I ask as she walks by gathering supplies to go with us in a few minutes. “Do you have any rum around?” “Oh yeah,” Sarah answered. “We have a special supply that Mom and Dad keep for Papa Legba. He likes it a lot. Mom won’t let me drink any with him yet.” “That’s probably wise,” I told her. “Why don’t I walk with you, and you can show me where it is.” I held out my hand and she happily grabbed onto it. “Sarah, when did the bad men come here?” She squirmed a little and walked closer to me, “They came here three days ago and they took the other kids.” “They took other kids?” I asked, flashing back to that orc incident. “Do you know where they took them?” “They said they needed to take them to town.” Hmmm, probably Murkeep, I think that’s the closest town. “Thanks, Sarah,” I said. “We’ll have to see if we can find the other kids when we travel up to town.” She nodded happily and showed me the “rum.” “Bottoms up,” Milli said after she poured a couple of cups of rum. I watched and somehow that head drank it all. It was the strangest sight I’ve seen. Okay, I lied, it was the strangest sight I’d seen today because yesterday was pretty high on the weirdness scale. I glanced over at Milli and I swear it’s like her shoulders lifted and she suddenly felt much better. Thor saw it all and said, “Hey Papa, I want to drink with you too!” They shared a drink, but Thor’s wound didn’t suddenly get better. “Hey Papa, why didn’t my arm get better?” “You didn’t tell me you wanted it better, mon! I thought you liked it like that.” Papa Legba’s head bobbed up and down and grinned, “You want that better we need to smoke tobacco and drink more rum. You got tobacco for me?” Thor looked over at me. “Don’t look at me, I don’t have that bad habit. Ask Cap, maybe he does.” “What’s Cap do?” he said as he brought up the last of the farmers ready to leave. He listened and then shook his head, “Nah, that’s not my habit. Maybe up at Murkeep you’ll get some.” The fire slowly burned down, and our group set off. Every farm we passed was abandoned, and Milli leaned over to me, “There’s no wildlife.” I nodded and glanced around the quiet clearing. “Wait,” she said. She moved some leaves and uncovered bodies of a Legionairre scouts and their horses. “It looks like they were trying to get help.”

PAPA IS NOT A GOOD INFLUENCE

We rode as long as we dared into the night, but traveling with young kids and an entire farm meant we didn’t travel as fast as usual and had to camp sooner. Cap prayed to the Creator and was granted a spectral guardian to watch over us as we slept. “Hey mon!” Papa cried from his bell. “Let me out!” I pulled him out expecting another odd talk, but no, he calls over to Cap’s guardian and Papa asks for a drink for the two of them. I’m game to see what happens with this and pour out a couple of cups of rum for them. They chug it all down and start singing an impressively loud drinking song. I really didn’t expect a guardian angel to know drinking songs. It may have been a bit louder than I expected, but their drinking songs were amazingly easy to sleep to. The next morning, Papa was snoring loudly and the guardian angel was a bit tipsy but aware. “Just to let y’all know, last night a wolf came by and checked where I was going. It warned me the orcs were coming south and there were a large number of undead in the region, and they are growing in number.” “Lovely, just what we wanted to hear,” I muttered as I swung into my saddle.

TRADE TOWN

All of Trade Town is wood. A misplaced torch would be an unfortunate thing here. I glanced up at Murkeep, it was an impressive fort, and I wouldn’t want to be the invading army trying for it. We got to the city gates and once they saw our papers we were waved on through. We traveled up to the lower entry of the fort, and were met by a centurion wearing heavy armor but moving easily. I’d guess him to be in his late 30s. “Papers,” he said in a bored voice. “Here you go,” Cap said holding out our papers from the Duke. The man glanced over it, and I saw his spine straighten when he saw the Duke’s seal and read the letter. “Quite right. I’m Corporal Bell, follow me then,” and the gate was opened to stairs. Stairs as high as I could see. I glanced up the walls and this was an old fort, older than the empire. No one was taking this without a massive army, and they’d lose most of it. I thought I was in good shape, and then I climbed 30 flights of stairs, which Corporal Bell was doing with no trouble whatsoever. I managed to twist my knee halfway up, and that made it even more fun to climb up. We finished climbing the deadly stairs, and we follow the Corporal through the mostly abandoned keep. I counted maybe 25 or 30 men on the walls and training in the courtyard. I would expect a keep like this to have double or triple the numbers easily. “Sir,” Bell said straightening up and saluting, “They bear news from the Duke.” “Dismissed,” the Centurion turned to us, his eyes glancing briefly up and down us and categorizing us as adventurers, possibly useful, “Our scouts got through then?” He glanced over us again and switched to Alorian and repeated the question. “Unfortunately,” Cap answered, “They didn’t. We found their bodies in a shallow grave about a day’s journey from here. We come bearing other news.” “That is ill news. What news do you bring?” We briefly ran through the events going on over at Gopher and of the Cantor’s power play, and the Proctor paled as we talked. “Forgive me, I didn’t introduce myself, I’m Centurion Arlos, and this leaves us in a bad spot.” he glanced up at the mountains, “The Tribune took the legions out into the mountains to deal with the gathering orcs, and Lower Town is overrunning with refugees that I cannot help. My charge is to hold this pass, and I cannot jeopardize that by offering aid. The restless spirits over the lake have been more active recently, and there’ve been reports of banshees the last couple of nights. Now you tell me, I will have no help from the Twelfth and our request for help from the Duke has been waylaid? I have maybe 50 men, and if your reports are true I can expect a massive influx of more refugees and a possible undead horde on my doorstep.” “What idiot took your legion off?” Cap thundered at the poor Proctor. My eyes widened, and I stepped a bit closer to Cap. “Pardon?” Arlos asked. “I mean, what idiot would leave your garrison so poorly defended with the events going on?” Cap continued. I elbowed Cap hard and interrupted him.
“Here are the options I see right now sir,” I ticked them off on my finger. “You could send men off to three potential sources. Up to your Tribune and let him know of the coming troubles. It stands a small chance, but not much of one to get through. You could make another attempt to get news down to Brandenheim, but they’ve got that pretty well sewn up, and I don’t think much of your chances. Or you could send a small group through to Don Jon, the heir of Brandenheim, he’s over at their ancestral estate, and has the family’s legions there. That’s probably your best bet because with all that’s going on you need more men than just your legion.” “News of the heir is welcome indeed, but there’s little chance we could make it through.” he mused. “There is one more bit of bad news,” I said carefully. “There’s a good chance hidden among the refugees is a group trying to infect the people and turn them into other creatures. We can go down and deal with one of these problems, but there’s no way for us to do both.” “I don’t deal with Lower Town. They’re ruled by the Merchant Counsel, they meet at the Black Horse Inn. Prior to current events, they had met as needed, but with the refugee crisis, they’re meeting daily. It’s made up of five merchant families: Grover, Dale, Roost, Frey, and Donatelli. With your news, I’m going to be sealing up the fort and letting them fend for themselves. It’s what I have to do.” His eyes looked anguished as he looked down at the town. “I have to hold the pass. I cannot let it fall into orc's hands. If there is nothing else, I find I have much to do now.” “Is there a chapel up here we could visit?” Cap asked. “There’s a chapel, but we could never get it consecrated. No matter what the priests did, it just melted away.” “Thank you, sir, if we could talk to your supply sergeant, then we will get out of your hair,” I added. “We can’t spare any supplies, we’re about to be shut in,” “I understand, but supply sergeants always know who has entered and what is going on because they are dealing with people all the time. He may know something that wasn’t important enough to tell you, but could help us find the rat in your midst.” “Go talk to him, he’s over there.” I inclined my head and we left.

SCUTTLEBUT AND RUMORS

“Why are we talking to the sergeant?” Thor asked. “We were told, he’s a reliable source for information, and will be able to help us better than the Centurion who has to do everything officially.” “Proctor Simulus?” I held my hand out to a worn-out veteran of several campaigns. His armor was worn and a part of him. “Schmitty sends his greetings.” “Schmitty?” he laughed, “How is that old warhorse?” “Still drinking like a fish,” I answered. “We need to find out about refugees coming into Lower Town. Someone is using orphans as a cover for other plans, and if we can find him we can probably forestall some trouble for you.” He leaned back and glanced over the papers on his desk, “Corporal Bell, the man who seems to of gotten your escort duty has been manning the gates recently and could probably tell you where to go.” “Do you have any tobacco?” Thor asked. Simulus’ eyes narrowed sensing a deal, “What do you have to trade for it?” “I just need enough for a couple of pipe fulls. I owe a friend for a favor he did me, and thought you might have the inside line.” “Oh, if that’s all you need,” and he dug around in piles behind him and threw a pouch over to Thor, “Here, four silver.” “We’re looking for leaf mold oil,” Cap said, “Any clue where we might find some?” “Leaf mold oil?” Simulus asked in wonder, “What’s that good for? If anyone has it, you’ll find Donatelli down in Lower Town does, but no one stocks it because it’s worthless.” “That’s what everyone says,” Cap answered, “But we’ve got a wealthy man who wants as much as he can get. Looks like we’re headin’ up inta the mountains. Can we bring you anything back?” “The rest of the legions?” Simulus laughed. “We’ll try man,” Cap smiled. “Thanks for the tip.” “As a heads up,” I said, “The Centurion is about to seal you up. He doesn’t want a possible plague to spread up here.” “Noted,” and Simulus started pulling out papers and yelling to nearby soldiers.

A QUIET CATHEDRAL AND A GRUMPY MONK

Cap pounded on the cathedral door. After several moments we heard footsteps and grumbling. “Whadya want?” asked a stooped old man. “We seek shelter for the night,” Cap answered. “We’re closed, you can’t come in,” the man said as he tried to close the door. “What do you mean, the church is closed?” I asked. “The old priest died, and I’m waiting for the new one to get here until then, the church is closed,” the man grumbled. “We just need a few minutes inside,” I said, “We are traveling from the Holy Isles and wanted to pay our respects to the local cathedral before journeying on.” “You went to the Holy Isles,” he gasped eyes widening, “What was it like?” “The singing was amazing,” I gushed. “We bought these bells while we were there, perhaps you would like one?” I pulled out a bell and handed it to the old man and his hands closed around it. “Can we go up to the lectern and sing a song we heard at the Holy Isles?” “I don’t know about that,” the man said, “You aren’t a priest, and the Creator might not like that.” “Well, I’m a cleric to the Creator,” Cap responded, “I hope to someday be a priest, but I wish to honor the Creator by singing here in this church.” The man grumbled but looked back at an empty room where I could hear a pot boiling. “Oh well, fine.” Cap led us all in a song, and I started to hear the echoes of the music bouncing about, but it felt like it was empty. Cap frowned and looked around, “That’s odd. It feels like the song is draining away, and there’s something else here,” Cap looked over at the caretaker, “Are there storage rooms or a basement here?” “There’s a basement, but it’s just a few rooms,” his head turned to the more urgently bubbling sounds. “You go check it out.” “Enjoy your dinner sir, we’ll just check that out very quickly.” We headed down the stairs and I pulled out Papa to light the way and we joined Cap’s off-key singing. “Hey little lady, there’s a lot of ghosts here in this place. You sure you wanna go down there?” Papa called up at me. We got about halfway down the stairs and heard chanting from a half-open doorway. “He looks like the guy from the farm,” I whispered. “They’ve got barrels and it looks like there’s an altar in the back. I think there’s a person on it.” That hangs it, I can’t let that happen. I burst through the door and cast fairy fire before I shifted into wolf form. “Wait! Addie!” Cap cried, but it was a bit too late for that. Milli ran in after me and shot the robed figure. “Fluffy, your master calls you forth!” Robe guy called out. Thor ran in and slashed the cultist nearest to him. That was when we heard the big booming steps from the other room. “Something big is coming,” Cap yelled as he formed the floor into a giant doorstop. The door shuddered as something big hit him. That is when all hell broke loose. Tentacles popped up from the floor, the cultists were a bit manic and tried their best to kill us, but really only succeeded in dying. Thor finally won free and ran to Robe guy hitting him with his sword. BOOM! The door burst in, pinning Cap to the floor, and a giant tattered creature stepped through the door smashing Cap under the door. His hooded eyes scanned the room and locked onto the hooded guy. Cap reached around the door, and grabbed the foot of the creature, “Creator, take your servant back!” he screamed. And Cap vanished. Gone, poof. I summoned a tidal wave and knocked down the giant creature and the cultists gaining us a few seconds of breathing room. Milli turned and shot Hooded Guy knocking him down. The giant pulls his sword out and plunges it into the floor knocking us all back as fire washed over us. I look back up and it’s gone, just shadows and ash left. I hurry over to the circle, but we were too late. The poor woman is already dead. The least I can do is ensure she stays dead, “Creator, protect her soul and give her spirit rest. I wish we had been there sooner.” Then I cast flaming sphere and do my best to ensure no one will use her body for foul means. “So, how will we get Cap back?” Milli asks. “Let’s ring some bells,” I said. Between the three of us, we manage to ring all of the bells, and just as the caretaker is about to get really mad at us, a bright light appears and there’s Cap looking all glowy and shiny.

Report Date

21 Dec 2021