Prospectus Logs #39: The Faerie Follies +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | The Rahne in Spain falls mainly on the plain. Conflicts between | | various faerie lords, and the effects they may have upon Prospectus | | Locus. How an island may be claimed and also a return to the realm of | | enlightenment and illumination, where old debts are finally repaid. | +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Dramatis Personae: Fraxima the Faerie Flambeau Maga of Flambeau (Donald Kubasak) Lorum Magus of Merinita (Bill Filios) Viator the Villainous Magus of Jerbiton (Dave Pickering) Andre Cathar Grog Arnau (Not a) Cathar Grog Jean-Claud Cathar Grog Jean-Patrice Cathar Grog Michelle Cathar Grog Leader Roger-Tien Cathar Grog Dux Aquil Faerie Lord of the Beach and Shores Lady Fraxima Faerie Lady of Flames on the Open Sea The May Queen Faerie Queen of Summer in Winter Princess Rahne Faerie Princess of Fjords and Islands Lord Thom Faerie Lord of the Dead and Dying Lord Tomas Faerie Lord of Enlightenment and Illumination The Vole Queen Faerie Queen of Fertility Durstos Unraveller Faerie Rurk Zombie Goblin leader Gary Gremlin Gremlin Happy Henry the Bard Bard Robert the Rumor-Monger Rumor-Monger Sammy (Samson) the Squid Kraken Sophia the Singer Singer The Sea Warlock Sea Warlock The Tea Witch Tea Witch Story Guide: Shannon Appel - * - The Memoirs of Aubrin the Evil April 28, 1220 It seems that our faerie problems at Prospectus Locus are escalating, as if anything could be worse than that faerie convocation five years gone now, but today new wheels were turning and new carts were coming in to sight. It all began when Lorum spotted a cloud heading straight up the river to us, which he then had Viator investigate. Viator reported back to me that Rahne, the faerie princess of fjords and islands, who Drake recently met, was approaching our covenant, and that she planned to claim our island for herself, despite the fact that it really isn't a proper island, having an occasional land bridge and all. Fraxima, Lorum, and I all considered the implications of this, as related to the faerie politics of the area, and decided it would probably disrupt them. Rahne belongs to the contigent of dark summer, and that would place her in the same fay ecological niche as the May Queen, something that Lorum did not like at all, he being the May Queen's fool. So, we went out to meet Rahne as she approached the covenant aboard an iceberg, storm cloud above her. I denied her permission to claim the island, so that I could be in the clear with the other faerie lords no matter what happened, but she started circling the island anyway, making an initial inspection before starting a ceremony properly. Fraxima began to consider claiming the island herself, for she declared herself a faerie lord two years past now. Too, it seemed that Lorum planned to claim the island for the May Queen, for he sat atop the covenant walls in his throne of bones. I, of course, forbid them both. Rahne completed her first trip around the island, then began a second, and it was obvious that this time she was actually practicing her ritual, for a walkway of ice appeared behind her. She made it a full quarter way around the island before my love decided that she must take action, and so Fraxima began to run about the island, in the opposite direction as Rahne, lighting things afire as she went. Halfway around the island, she met Rahne, and the faerie princess began to run herself, and then, I am quite pleased to see, Fraxima reached out her foot and tripped Rahne, knocking her to the ground. Fraxima completed her circuit of the island first, though just barely, and then she uttered the words, "Mine, Mine, Mine," and suddenly a wall of flames burst up, surrounding the island, though it subsided in seconds. Rahne swore. Lorum had been overly hesitant, and so his own claim was not quick enough. Thus Fraxima, the Lady of Flames on the Open Seas, is now the faerie lord of Prospectus Locus. Although we had prepared a feast, Rahne refused to stay, and though she said there were no hard feelings, she left with alacrity, rubbed her bruised knees as she did. So, my sweetie has very openly declared herself a faerie lord, while Rahne is attempting to move into our area and offset the delicate balance, and thus I suspect we will have interesting times ahead. - * - The Memoirs of Aubrin the Evil May 21, 1220 Well, it seems that my sweetie is off, and I will have to spend a week, perhaps more, without her, for a new mission has set her to traversing the faerie trods. I suppose there are worse ways to spend a vacation. In any case, it all began when Samson showed up, the squid that is, though he's really a kraken, not that I have the heart to tell the youngsters that, saying that he'd spent the last hundred or more years in faerie regios, regaining the size that he had lost while imprisoned by the Sea Witch. He did indeed seem much, much bigger. Now, he had decided to disobey Aquil's banishment, and so had returned to Prospectus Locus in order to request the help that Viator had promised two years ago, the help he needed to slay the Sea Witch. Viator kept his oath, and he took with him Lorum and Fraxima, plus the usual handful of French and other grogs, and they're now heading off to the trods, off to the realm of Lord Tomas, which has apparently been drifting through the regios since that goblin Rurk uprooted it last year. Samson has a more difficult path, for he is too big to be dragged across land now, and so he has decided to travel to Aquil's realm, to request usage of Aquil's trods, hoping that the promise that he is leaving will be enough to please Aquil. I may only hope that all goes well, and that my fellows meet with the squid (kraken) in Tomas' realm, as they plan. +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | "I don't try to get involved with that faerie stuff." | | "Says the talking squid." | | -Sammy and Viator, on perceptions | +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ - * - From The Book of Exile As Dictated by Michelle du Provencal May the Twenty-Third, Sixth year of Exile (1220 AD) Today we consorted with demons again. These lords of Prospectus Locus, I never can decide where they stand--if they could be righteous _cathari_ or if they are among the damned. It was in the realm of the demon Thom. We were here before, two years past now. We were welcomed into the realm by an old foe, the goblin-demon Rurk. The last year has gone ill for him, it seems. Now Rurk is dead, a zombie, as are his people. That appears to be how the demon Thom punishes those who betray him. These lesser undead-demon-goblins led us to Thom's court. There we were met by a grotesque vision that confirms everything my old friend Bernardo ever said. The demon's court was filled with the dead, all denied their final resting place. The lord Lorum happily greeted the demon Thom and offered him a dead vole in tribute. Thom seemed most pleased, saying that the Vole Queen's subjects did not usually come to him. I do not entirely understand this, but it has something to do with the politics of the demons in this area. As a result of our gift, Thom offered a gift in return, and so we were allowed to enter the demon roads, trods as the lords call them. And that was how we set upon the path to the realm of the demon lord Tomas, and how the _cathari_ of Prospectus Locus came to a great turning point. - * - From The Book of Exile As Dictated by Michelle du Provencal May the Twenty-Fourth through Thirtieth, Sixth year of Exile (1220 AD) "Even in this tainted realm there is sometimes hope." So spoke Bernardo. I have already spoken of how five of the _cathari_ came to the realm of the demon lord Tomas while serving the lords of Prospectus Locus. Myself, Andre, Jean-Claud, Jean-Patrice, and Roger-Tien. It was a great trial and also a time of great change. We spent a week in that infernal realm, though only a few nights passed while we were there. I can only reflect upon the seven days that the demiurge took to create the world. Perhaps in our own seven days--seven days that were not--we recreated the world in a small but important way. We were disappointed when we arrived, for we did not appear upon a tree in The Sea, as the kraken had promised us. Instead we found ourself in a forest upon the island that is the center of the realm of the demon lord Tomas. Fortunately, there was a path that led to The Sea, and so we took it. I had once before visited the realm of the demon-lord Tomas, and in that time I learned it was a world of coincidence, of synchronous meetings and other unlikely occurrences. So it was this time, and upon the path to the sea we met no less than three people, each of whom had a particular connection of some type to the magi. The first was a gremlin, a particularly loathsome type of stony demon. The lords seemed to vaguely know it, for they had fought its kind once more, four and a half years gone now. This gremlin was apparently much more intelligent than those they had fought before, a result of the temptation that the demon-lord Tomas offers--the temptation called enlightenment. The gremlin tried to proselytize for a bit, explaining why we should help his demon-lord, a fiend named Durstos. We refused, and Viator ordered us to kill the demon. An excellent choice. We did so, though the beast did not resist. +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | "You're a bigot you know." | | "Rock pile. Human being. Rock pile. Human being." | | -Fraxima and Viator, on perceptions | +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ The second person we met was a human, apparently. It is hard to tell in these demon realms. He called himself Robert the Rumor-Monger and offered us information in exchange for information of our own. We gleaned two bits of useful information from him, first that the demon lady Rahne was explicitly trying to drive another demon lady, the May Queen, from our area, second that the Sea Witch was now known as the Tea Witch. In exchange we told him about how the lady Fraxima had declared herself a demon lady too. I still don't understand that, I must profess. The final person that we met upon the trail to the sea was Tomas, the demon lord of that realm. We had assiduously avoided him during our last sojourn there. He tried to convince the lords of Prospectus Locus to consort, to help him to enter into our own realm by driving out another demon lord, Thom. Bernardo did always say that the politics of demon lords were Byzantine. Tomas also caused quite a bit of havoc when he met the lords. He in some way used his powers upon the lords when he shook their hands, and Viator believed that Tomas had affected their minds. Perhaps he did, I can not truly say. In any case, for the rest of our journeys through the demon realm, Viator refused to make decisions, believing that he was not in his right mind, and so the leadership of the expedition fell upon Fraxima. +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | "I distinctly remember that, so it could be true." | | -Viator, on preceptions | +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ The lords were fairly non-commital when they spoke with Thomas. They agreed that they might prefer his demonic presence to that of the other demons in our area and agreed to carry notes from him to the Queens of Vole and May. We shall see what becomes of this, if we truly do consort with Tomas or not. In the end Tomas disappeared in a flash of light, and we were finally able to make our way to the shore of the one sea in his realm. All that was left to do was to release a red fish into the water to summon Sammy. Fraxima choose a herring. We waited for hours and the demon-squid did not appear. Finally, the lords decided that they would try to divest themselves of their responsibility on their own. Fortunately there was a boat at the end of the road with space for exactly nine. We claimed it and began to row to the grotto of the Sea Witch. We landed upon a small island, an upwelling of coral really. At its center there was a stairway which led down. So, we nine began to descend, as if we were entering the bowels of Hell itself. The path was long; the air was moist. Finally we came to an ending. Beyond the stairwell was a passage way and beyond that three warnings, proclaiming the ferocity of the Sea Witch. Finally we came to a door. We knocked and waited patiently. Then we knocked again and waited more. Finally the door was opened. Much to our surprise, we saw beyond it no Sea Witch, but rather a man. He introduced himself as the Sea Warlock. The Sea Warlock was jovial enough. He told us that he had driven off the Sea Witch some time ago and taken her power. She was now called the Tea Witch he said and lived in the Jungle of Lost Dreams. The lords really wanted to kill the Sea Warlock, because of some magical power he possessed. However, their sense of honor required that they ask him to join their cult. Much to their dismay, the Sea Warlock agreed and so the lords welcomed him into their Hermetic League. After that, there was but one more matter to deal with, which was the demon-squid. He had begun a new rebellion against the Sea Warlock, and so the Sea Warlock had locked him away in a grotto. We made the Sea Warlock free our demon friend and then we were off to the Jungle of Lost Dreams. This is where we were confronted by the future, meeting it head-on without flinching. +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | "You know, not everyone gets the breaks you do." | | -Lorum, on perceptions | +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ The lords knew from the start that there was some magical curse upon the jungle. Lorum was one of the first to enter and he was struck down by the magic almost at once. He began to bemoan his cruel master and wonder what he might have become if only his master had been kind and just. After that the lords warned my men not to enter the jungle. So we waited, along with the demoralized Lorum and Sammy, who could not traverse the land to where his arch-nemesis dwelled. The rest of the lords entered the jungle, more stout than Lorum in their magical protection. I have not before spoken of Sophia to any great extent. I first met with her in the land of Tomas, on our previous journey there. I did not know then that she would become a single tiny sliver of hope in the dark and devilish world that we live in. Let me say now: she has become that to me. This becomes relevent, for when the lords returned they brought with him a scallywag named Happy Henry, who more unfortunately is the sister of my own Sophia. He proclaimed that he would travel with us back to our own home. Despite his obvious dislike for her, he wanted to bring his sister back home. I determined then and there that this would not happen, but for the minute there were other priorities, another near disaster waiting to happen, the one that would change our destiny, as I have alluded to before. +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | "I will volunteer." | | "You're not allowed to volunteer." | | "Then, he will..." | | -Michelle, Fraxima, and Michelle (pointing to Roger-Tien) | +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ The lords had met with the Sea Witch. She did indeed call herself the Tea Witch now and seemed to be mostly harmless. Nevertheless, Sammy demanded his vengeance, even if she had changed her ways. Demon-squids are like that. Thus, the lords determined that they needed warriors to help them slay the Tea Witch. However, they were afraid of how the Jungle might affect us. So, they asked for a volunteer. It was brave Roger-Tien who stepped forth and offered to brave the jungle's terrors. The lord Viator returned perhaps thirty minutes later and one-by-one he took all of my warriors into the jungle with him, until only I was left. Then, he motioned me away from Lorum, Henry, and the squid-demon, but not toward the jungle. Fraxima joined us. The fate of the Cathars in exile rested upon a fine point that day. Many paths could have led to ruin. There was one that did not. The words that Viator spoke, ever so quietly, should be recorded forever for posterity in our books, in this Book of Exile and in all the books that will follow when we reclaim our lost lands. They were thus: "So, you're Cathars, but we don't care." I was shocked at first, ready to deny it, but Viator continued on with an explanation. Roger-Tien had been effected by the jungle just as Lorum had. He had become sad and morose. Still, he would not have revealed our secrets. But, the lords decided that they wanted to know more about the influence of the strange jungle that they traversed, so they used their magical powers to make Roger-Tien speak more freely. Even one of the _cathari_ may only bear so much. So, Roger-Tien had been forced to reveal to the lords our story: how we had understand the true nature of the world; how we had been persecuted by the false church; how our friends and allies and families had been killed; and how we had fled to Iberia. +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | "You ever think this is the Cathar jungle, where everyone thinks | | they're a Cathar?" | | --Viator, on perceptions | +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Viator spoke very calmly as he finished his tale, again proclaiming that it was alright, and that the lords did not mind. He respected our fighting skills and said that our secret was safe with him. And the demon-lord Fraxima. I could only take their word for it. Since we have returned from the demon-realm of Tomas I have come to believe what Viator said. He and Fraxima should be considered as our first true friends here in Iberia. They are trustworthy allies and when the time comes to reclaim what is ours they can be counted on as friends and perhaps new allies as well. Remember then, for there will come a time when we _cathari_ sing their praises. And so our Exile has changed. Destiny has moved us. With our lords now privy to our secret, the entire face of our Exile has changed. Perhaps it can become a time of training and recuperation as I had once hoped. The world is no longer the same. It was remade in those seven days. I suppose I should finish up the story of what happened in Tomas' realm, though the discovery of the lords and the way they dealt with it was of much more importance. Quite simply, we confronted the Tea Witch and killed her. Roger-Tien was hurt by her magical powers but will recover. The lords recovered a few items of interest: a pile of books, a candle, and a medallion. Then we prepared to leave the demon realm. We made a final stop to speak with Tomas and the lords asked him about some throne reputed to be buried near the castle. It was fruitless, though. A week had gone by, and finally we left that demon-realm behind. We returned to our world and I swear that the sun itself looked brighter the first time I saw it again. +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | "Candles burn; I'll take the candle." | | -Fraxima, on fire-hehe-hehe | +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ - * - The Memoirs of Aubrin the Evil June 1, 1220 Fraxima and the others are back, and they bring tidings from the fay lord Tomas and a request that we help he join us in our realm. I have sent letters off to the Vole Queen and the May Queen to ask what they would think of us doing so. - * - Other Records as recorded by Lucindia the Seneschal June 1, 1220 A visitor, the Bard Happy Henry, tried to run off with a covenfolk, Sophia. He was chased off by the grogs, led by Michelle.