Prospectus Logs #19: Roots of Evil +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Detailing a trip to Carthage, and what exactly was found there. | | Christians, Coptics, Muslims, and Jews--literally a plethora of | | religions. Also, the deviousness of an angel and any number of | | burials. | +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Dramatis Personae: Albus of Tytalus Magus (Shannon Appel) Catorse of Quaesitor Magus (Kevin Wong) Frangere of Tremere Magus (Eric Fulton) Risus of Criamon Magus (Dave Woo) Viator of Jerbiton Magus (Dave Pickering) Xanti Ex. Misc. Magus (John Tomasetti) Amador Ship's Captain Andre Grog Archer Arnau Grog Trainee Federico Grog Lieutenant Hufar Grog Soldier Pancho Grog Soldier Roger-Tien Grog Sergeant Xavier Grog Soldier Dabir Valencian Merchant Fayez Egyptian Templar Geoffrey French Templar Jelel His Father Monyaa of Matmata Jewish Berber Narisian Ex. Misc. Hermetic Magus of Carthage Talon of Criamon Hermetic Magus of Carthage Usef Berber Chieftain Gamemaster: Bill Filios +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | A CHRONOLOGY: Albus, His Angel, and Judas' Coins | | | | * May 16, 1213 - Albus' angel manifests at Prospectus Locus for the | | first time, and attaches itself to the local abbot. (Prospectus | | Logs #1, "A Wolf in the Fold") | | | | * August 5, 1214 - Albus' angel comes to him in dreams and encourages | | him to rescue the Napkin of God. | | | | * September 3, 1214 - Upon successfully recovering the Napkin of God, | | Albus is beset by a new vision, this one showing the Templar Fayez | | and his unsuccessful attempt to recover the coins of Judas. | | | | * September 13, 1214 - The Napkin of God is returned to Oviedo. | | (Prospectus Logs #8, "The Napkin of God") | | | | * May 14, 1216 - After exchanging a pair of letters with Fayez's | | father, Jelil, Albus decides to head an expedition to Carthage. | | (Prospectus Logs #18, "Ex Miscellanea") | +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ - * - Albus' Dialogues May 14, 1216 Late Evening We ride the tides to Valencia. We are thirteen in all. Three more magi decided to accompany me: Risus, Frangere, and Xanti. Seven grogs complete our party, led by Federico and Roger-Tien. Oh, we have Viator's weasel with us too. +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | "Jesus might have been an Old One; I'll go." | | -Xanti, on reasons to bring people on expeditions | | | | "Ask your ferret not to wear the ringmail." | | "He can put a cloak on over it." | | -Albus and Lorum, on reasons not to | +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ - * - Albus' Dialogues May 15, 1216 Mid-Evening Valencia now lies behind us. Aubrin will be pleased when we return and bring him the newest report of that city. It was no longer under martial law. The soldiers were gone. The city seemed much more normative. Many people died during the occupation--no question about it. Things are back to normal now though. Even Dabir and his family are doing well; Amadar's trading in Valencia was good. We expect to be to Tunis within a week. - * - Albus' Dialogues May 21, 1216 Early Evening Today we arrived in Tunis--the large modern city just miles away from the ruins of old Carthage. I didn't expect a lot, but I didn't want to waste the visit here. I split us into two groups. I led a group to ask questions of the underside of Tunisian society; Hufar acted as my translator. Viator led a group to investigate the better half of the city. +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | "It's called the big squiggle." | | -on the problems of traveling in foreign lands | +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Naturally my group started its search in a bar. At least it was the closest thing we could find. We actually didn't come across anything alcoholic in the whole city--a grave disappointment to myself and Risus both. There was some strange stuff to smoke available; it was oddly intoxicating but insufficient. In any case, our group's search came largely to nothing. People didn't like us asking questions about Templars and we were thrown out of one eating establishment. +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | "One of us could dress up like a woman." | | -Risus, on detective techniques | +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Xanti showed a talent I had not been aware of. He decided to meditate while we sat in that first bar. Within a few minutes he revealed he had had a vision. He told of a pretty Moorish women surrounded by men. Around her neck was an amulet. It showed a hand with knotwork in it. When I mentioned the vision to the others--not revealing its source at Xanti's request--Frangere revealed that symbol was called the hand of Fatima. Apparently Fatima is the daughter of the Mulsim prophet. But, that was as much as we got out of the city. We could have learned that on the boat. Futher, the flora and fauna were quiet boring. +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | "Oh, you're a grog, you probably don't know." | | -Albus, on expectations | +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Fortunately when we reunited with our fellows we learned they had been more successful. Viator had spent his time talking with merchants. He had found one merchant who had bough a whole bundle of Templar stuff a little over a year and a half ago. The sellers had been a group of "weird scholars" who live up in Carthage--this is to say the Hermetic covenant of Sansaron. - * - Albus' Dialogues May 22, 1216 Late Evening A very busy day. We are on the right track. We set off for Carthage shortly after dawn. There is a little village there now--perhaps 300 people in all--where there was once a mighty metropolis. Risus and I both studied about Sansaron back at home--in Germany--thus we had no problem finding the covenant. We were greeted by a Criamon named Talon. Then we were brought in to speak with their leader, an Ex. Misc. named Narisian. I told them the honest truth concerning my expedition. They were friendly and truthful in return. Narisian remembered the Templars. They were here more than a year and a half ago. They went off west into the wilds searching for a ruined church--bringing with them a few local covenant folks and other helpers. They were killed by nomadic peoples--probably the Berbers--and afterward the covenant had gone out and looted their bodies. This explained the source of the Templar goods in Tunis. Of more interest, a few of the men had survived and were taken to a doctor in Tunis. Narisian and Talon still had a few items they had taken from the Templars. Among them were a map showing where the church was and the strange box that I had heard of before--the one Jelil said his son had protected so carefully when he visited home. We copied the map and I bought the box. As a side note, we have agreed to exchange information with Narisian in the future. He seems sharp and I am sure Aubrin will appreciate the contact in Africa. Once we were outside Sansaron I opened up a secret panel I had discovered in the box when examining it earlier. I found scrolls inside. Nothing of extreme interest, just explanation. They recorded the discovering of scrolls in Jerusalem and how the Templars had come to Africa. Here they were searching for a church dedicated to Saint Bartholomew--apparently the saint that cut down Judas, took his coins, and then preached across this continent. The Templars found the story dubious, it seems. After that we decided to head out for the church. It was several more hours' travel but we made it before dusk. The area was ruined and abandoned; it showed the signs of digging in several places. I sat down and meditated upon my vision of last year and when I returned my attention to the world I was confident I could identify the pit which the coins had been recovered from. I jumped into it and investigated, but there was no longer anything left. A sense of deja vu shook me to the core. It is a good thing we brought Xanti with us. He was able to sit down and search out spirits. The Templars and their men had not been given good Christian burials, and so they still hovered over the area. Xanti was able to summon Fayez--confirming that poor Jelil's son was dead. After I volunteered to bring his body back to Cairo for burial Fayez was very friendly. Fayez was afraid that the coins would be used to harm Christians; that was why he had led his ill-fated expedition almost two years ago. And, indeed, he had found those coins here before his unfortunate death. With Xanti as the intermediary we had a conversation about relics. It combined Sufi philosophy and Christian beliefs. We talked about the "baraka" which was in the coins--a type of grace it seems. It is not necessarily evil, but could be corrupted. As the Sufi would say, "It becomes what it becomes." Afterward I spent an unpleasant hour pulling skeletons out of Mediterranean. Our Sansaron friends had dumped the Templars' bodies over the cliffs after looting them. To appease their spirits I gave them all good Christian burials. Xanti reported the spirits gone. Fayez was the only one we did not bury--we bundled up his bones to be brought back to Cairo. - * - Albus' Dialogues May 23, 1216 Early Evening Back in Tunis today. Viator went on a flying expedition this morning looking for nearby Berber tribes but found nothing of interest. Xanti spent some more time talking to Fayez. He revealed several interesting things. FIRST, it seems the only thing the Berbers took from the Templars was the thirty pieces of silver. Very suspicious. SECOND, it is possible that other factions in the church might have been interested in the silver. I have started to concoct possibilities where the Berbers were paid by other churchmen to kill the Templars. THIRD, we have the names of the two people who survived the attack: a Templar named Geoffrey and a local man named Abraham. I will talk to the local doctor who treated them tomorrow. - * - Albus' Dialogues May 24, 1216 Early Evening Still in Tunis. Viator and Risus are gone--riding the winds in search of Berbers. I expect them back tomorrow, though their expedition now seems superfluous. I spoke with the local doctor who had treated the two survivors of the ambush. I learned that Abraham had died but the Templar Geoffrey was still in the area. He was badly wounded in the attack, and now is lame and blind. Nonetheless, he was still here. I got the grogs together to look for our maimed Templar. Hufar found him and came to get me at once. Walking into the market where Geoffrey was begging I had a weird experience--once of Her visions I suppose. I was approaching the market normally. Suddenly my vision became a tunnel and everything was focused on one man--a beggar sitting in the market. At his belt was the same pouch I had seen in my earlier visions. We treated him kindly and brought him back to our ship. Alas, he had only the pouch, not the coins. It had been left by his body by the Berbers when they took the coins. Nonetheless, it proved we were on the right track. Geoffrey revealed that his attackers were definitely Berbers--probably from very far to the South. He heard them mention Dahar--a local some 300 miles to our South. It seems that is where we shall have to go to try and recover the coins. One other interesting bit--Geoffrey remembered the Berbers shouting a foreign word, "Baal Shem". It sounded Jewish to me, so I went out to track down a Jew in Tunis. I found one with little problem--his hair gave him away--and I quizzed him about "Baal Sham". He was reluctant, but he finally revealed to me that it described a sort of Jewish hedge wizard. Berbers who practice Jewish magic? It seems very odd. Nonetheless we now have a goal and a warning. +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | "Who gives out goody-goody points?" | | "The church, usually." | | -Xanti and Albus, on reputations | +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ - * - Albus' Dialogues May 25, 1216 Early Evening Viator and Risus returned this morning. They reported a small Berber encampment maybe 150 miles south. We'll probably visit it on our way to Dahar--just to get info. But that will wait till tomorrow--Viator has flown enough for the day. - * - Albus' Dialogues May 26, 1216 Mid-day She set me up! Damn, damn, damn her! Set me up! Damn! The day started off well enough. Before dawn Viator flew us South. We alighted at the oasis were the nearby Berbers were staying as the sun rose. Viator granted Hufar rightful authority and we went to speak with the nomads. A few guards stopped us. They were suspicious, but they went to go get their leader, Usef. We noted at once that he bore around his neck an amulet just like the one Xanti saw in his vision--a hand of Fatima. We spoke honestly about our quest and Usef said we should go down to Matmata--a city in Dahar--and speak with a woman named Monya there. He said she might know something about the Berber raid a year and a half ago. +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | "Don't eat the yellow sand." | | -Risus, on desert etiquette | +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ We asked to spend the day at the oasis--we wanted to wait until morning to fly to Matmata. Usef alerted us that his group was just leaving the oasis, and so we were welcome. They packed up to leave. We made ourselves at home and spent the day lounging. Then, the two events that changed everything. FIRST, Federico and Risus brought us warning that some nomads were spying on us from just a short distance off--over a rise. They were some of the same guards we had confronted earlier. SECOND, as I lay half dozing, suddenly I was beset by a vision. I saw myself with one of the Fatima amulets before me. I cut my hand and blood flowed down onto the amulet. It was one of Her visions, of course--Xanti confirmed that she was back, hovering over me. I had so hoped she was gone when the Abbott left Iberia. But it is not to be. I came to full consciousness with a start. I realized that I had to speak with the nomads again. I think I hoped to purchase the amulet from them or something. I didn't want to scare the nomads spies so I brought just two men with me--Federico and Hufar. We were just cresting the hill when Hufar heard a shout of "Charge!" in Arabic. I had prepared Hufar well for this eventuality. His Aura of Rightful Authority still stood strong. He shouted "Stop!" then "Retreat!" at the dozen men who swarmed toward us. A full eight were turned back. The last four charged on--among them the leader, Usef. Usef moved like lightning. I have never seen anything so fast. He was jumping and leaping and was upon Federico before anything could be done. Usef killed our grog leader with a single blow before we could even breath. Hufar and I stared bleakly at the four men we now faced. Thank Tytalus they were not as fierce after they closed. Hufar and I fought desperately--only trying to hold them off until our fellows arrived. A scimitar raked across my arm and drew blood, but otherwise we were unharmed. In seconds our fellows were among us. Xavier, Roger-Tien, and Frangere all closed. From behind Andre fired arrows at our enemies. Xavier was magnificent; I am pleased again that I have chosen him for my personal grog. He struck down Usef--incapacitating the man. Our opponents turned to flee. Hufar struck down another. Viator lifted a second up into the air. A third crested the hill and disappeared from view. It was then that I reached down to Usef and pulled the silver amulet from his neck. I had Hufar demand answers of our floating opponent--asking what the amulet did. Hufar's Aura make our foe reveal the truth. He said the Fatima amulet was a defensive talisman. He said that by bleeding upon it one bound the amulet to himself and his family. He seemed desperate to recover the amulet--for he was a member of Usef's family. I smiled and dripped the blood from my wound down onto the amulet. And then--suddenly--I knew. It was a moment of epiphany. All was clear. The silver amulet--the Hand of Fatima--had been made from a handful of Judas' coins! I had just bound myself to an artifact of the church! I yelled out my anger at Her. She had manipulated me. No angel, she was a devil. I barely noticed when my floating foe threw his scimitar at me in rage. Rationality returned after that. Quickly. I asked Frangere to wipe the last few minutes from the floating Berber's mind. I did not want him to remember I had taken his family's amulet. As Frangere incanted, I considered the unconscious Usef. I would have killed him, but that would have enraged Viator. Still, he deserved it. For the death of Federico. For leading me into Her trap. I was angry. Viator had disappeared over the hill by then--going after the last Berber. He was beckoning him back. I called the other magi together together to go and help Viator. We left the unconscious Usef behind with the grogs. Xanti was there too. He was entering a trance though--looking for the spirits of the dead. We talked with that last Berber for a little bit. We confirmed that there were six talismans in all. They had been created by Monya of Matmata. Everything began to tie together: first, that she was a Jewish Berber magician; second that she had been in Xanti's vision with the five men she had given amulets to. I got the names of the four other chieftain we held Judas' amulets. By the time we returned to Xanti and the grogs we found that Usef was dead. Apparently his wounds were worse than I had thought. We buried Federico. At least he is reunited with his lost Juanita. If Xanti can be believed he was granted eternal reward because he died on this religious quest. As for the amulet--the relic She tricked me into binding myself to--as best I can tell right, now it creates a dominion aura whenever I wear it. It is a weak dominion aura, but there nonetheless. It interferes with my magic as badly as summer usually does. Fortunately it only seems to exist when I wear it--not when it is held by another. In a short time we shall leave for Matmata. We wish to be there at dusk. We know at least one more amulet is there--Monya's. I hope to find more. As they say, "In for a penny..." +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | "So you're buried neck-deep in a cesspool and figure you are going | | to prove how manly you are by diving in then clawing your way back | | to the surface?" | | "I take it back, you do understand Tytalus." | | -Viator and Albus, on philosophy | +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ - * - Albus' Dialogues May 27, 1216 Early Morning Well, I think we're done in Africa. We got to Matmata at dusk, as planned. Entry into the city was simple. We were able to work our way back to Monya's house without problem. Thankfully the divine aura of the city was not strong enough to knock Hufar's Aura of Rightful Authority down. +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | "Say something; let me see if I respect you." | | -Albus to Hufar | +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Upon arriving we knocked at the door to Monya's house. I was amazed and surprised to see her open the door. The amulet was clearly visible around her neck. I shouldn't have, but I acted quickly. The opportunity was too irresistible. I had Xavier grab the woman and drag her out of the house. Thankfully it was dark and the street was empty. I pulled the amulet off her neck and then Hufar was able to woo her with soft (and magical words). We learned two more amulets were inside Monya's house--and thus two chiefs of the local Berbers. I had Monya call those chiefs out. It was not as easy to take their amulets as it was to take Monya's. They were suspicious and resistant to Hufar's aura. Fortunately their men-at-arms were not. Monya escaped back into the house and a melee erupted between us and the two chiefs. They fought like demons. It was then that we realized that the amulets offered some physical protection as well. Worse, while the four amulets were in proximity to each other, the dominion aura they created was multiplied by that factor. None of the magi could affect them with spells. Our grogs were facing them with four-to-one odds and still they could not take them down. The battle lasted for long minutes, but in the end sheer numbers overcame their magical might. Xavier and Roger-Tien were the ones who finally took our adversaries down. I believe one was unconscious and the other dead, but I did not stay long enough to assure myself. I looped the last two amulets around my neck--bringing my total to four--then we fled. Hufar's aura was able to get us out of the city. I have decided I have tested my luck enough. This attack in Matmata was one of those chaotic and stupid things that I do not like to participate in--like that attack on Aquil's castle. I prefer careful planning. The attack in Matmata scared me. So much could have gone wrong. So, we are flying back to Tunis. One of the grogs will carry the amulets so I can be flown. When I am wearing them all a fourth rank dominion aura surrounds me and only the weakest spells can affect me. I will have to think about this--about what has occurred. I understand Her trap now and it is a subtle one. - * - Albus' Dialogues May 28, 1216 Early Morning We are back to the ship and will be departing shortly for Cairo. Viator and Frangere have decided to leave us to get back to the covenant more quickly; Viator is still tired from our whirlwind trip yesterday, but they plan to be off tomorrow. They should make it back to the covenant on the thirty-first. As for myself--I suppose I have decided to keep the four amulets. Her plan is clear. She offers to me objects that give my protection but also decrease my own spell-casting ability. She considers my magic unholy. I will accept this gift and then I will defeat her. Know thy enemy to strengthen thyself. An annoying side note: the amulets seem to have a weird effect on silver. The silver around me is becoming tarnished--some disappearing altogether. I shall have to watch this when I return home--perhaps trade labs with Fabricarious to get outside the covenant proper. - * - Albus' Dialogues June 3, 1216 Early Evening Our trip to Cairo is complete. Jelel was devestated--he had truly believed his son was alive due to my visions. At least he has the body; they will give Fayez a proper Christian burial in the Coptic church. I can not bear to stay and watch more of this melodrama. We are heading back to Iberia today. We should be home by the middle of the month. +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | "No one tried to take the thirty pieces of silver from Judas." | | "No, he committed suicide." | | "That's a sin!" | | -Albus, Xavier, and Viator, on irony | +------------------------------------------------------------------------+