Novgorod Log #9: Vengeance in Malmo +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | A trip to Malmo, and the just vengeance meted out by a dead Flambeau. | | Of the strange matter of Adriana's return. How the Seeker named | | Andron first came to Nature's Teeth. | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ Adriana of Ex. Misc. Corpse (Matt Seidl) Andron of Bonisagus Magus (Eric Rowe) Auditor of Mercere Magus (Kevin Wong) Ballisto of Tytalus Magus (Bill Filios) Carmen of Bjornaer Maga (Donald Kubasak) Felix of Flambeau Magus (Dave Pickering) Ivarr of Tremere Magus (Sean Matheis) Pacifer of Tytalus Magus (Shannon Appel) Ingmar Ship Captain (Clayton Springer) Turpis Merchant (Dave Pickering) Jarl Nordic Grog (Kevin Wong) Lars Nordic Grog Little Claus Nordic Grog Skald Nordic Grog Coslen Magus Fridgthulf Odin Priest Merda of Flambeau Dead Magus (Donald Kubasak) +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | "Even dour and melancholy gods, we gotta approve." | | -Felix | +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ When the magi of Flambeau Marinus first came to Novgorod, it was with war in their hearts. They came to the unexplored lands of the North to bring death to the Order of Odin, following in the footsteps of Flambeau himself. Soon, though, the magi of Flambeau Marinus learned that the Order of Odin was not as weak as it seemed. Within a decade, three of the founders were dead, but the war continued. The final cataclysmic battle came in 1191. When the magi of Flambeau Marinus attacked a rich merchant vessel, they were surpised by a war party from the Order of Odin. The covenant was nearly destroyed. Only by sacrificing some of the younger members of Flambeau Marinus were the remaining founders able to survive. In the following years, as Flambeau Marinus rebuilt, its policies began to change. No longer were they the great enemies of the Order of Odin. Instead, they turned wholly to raids upon rich villages and ships, and lived indolently in the luxury that they stole. The story should have ended there. But, there was one final chapter in the story, a tale of vengeance. While many magi died during that last battle, not all of them passed on, beyond the world of the Mundane. As Merda of Flambeau's soul passed from his body, the winds of faraway Nature's Teeth blew. Merda's soul was trapped by the winds of the island. Ten years passed. Finally, Merda returned to the world of the living, ready to fight one final battle. At last, an old story could be completed. - * - From Merda of Flambeau's Secret Diary 3rd of August, 1201 I was quite impatient as we landed upon the island of Nature's Teeth today. I would have continued straight on to Malmo, but the magi insisted instead upon stopping to honor their dead. They do not understand that the dead do not care. Now, I must wait. Still, I shall have my vengeance soon enough. - * - The Book of Nature's Teeth as Chronicled by Pacifer of Tytalus August 3, 1201 It has been a most disruptive day. Shortly after we returned to the covenant today, a council meeting was called. Adriana had been laid in the center of our council table, and we had begun to speak of how we could further honor our dead. I remember Ballisto saying that we should set aside a hall when we gained access to the main fortress, and there preserve the chairs of those who had died, so that we could forever remember them. We had just finished agreeing that that was indeed a good idea, and started to talk about the disposition of Adriana's body, when suddenly we were all met with a most rude surprise. Adriana sat up, insisting that she did not want to be incinerated and scattered to the winds. The next moments were quite confusing, for none of were sure what to make of this odd event. I was certain that some demon or faerie had inhabited Adriana's corpse, and would have destroyed it at once. But, Felix would not let me. He carried the corpse back to his room, taking it away from all of us. I am quite certain that Adriana has not truly been returned to us, for while she spoke, she still seemed dead. She could not walk, and could barely move her arms about. Felix added to my suspicions by saying that Adriana seemed unable to cast any of her spells, even the simplest ones. Unfortunately, we are forced to leave the mystery of Adriana's apparent ressurection behind. It goes against my best judgement to leave a potential enemy behind us, but Felix was quite adamant that she should be unharmed. And, I am not willing to put off my vengeance to deal with this revenant. Now, we are off to Malmo. There, I hope to complete the quest that I came to Novgorod for. Afterwards, we can deal with these other petty matters. - * - From Merda of Flambeau's Secret Diary 7th of August, 1201 The idiot magi of Nature's Teeth nearly upset my carefully laid plans today. Most specifically, the idiot Pacifer. Shortly after we arrived in Malmo, we found ourself in a small alehouse. We planned to gather information, and I thought that all would be well. Little Claus was still talking with various natives, learning of Fridgthulf's current location, when Ballisto approached the rest of us with a fellow he had met in the town, one Andron of Bonisagus. At first I was pleased, for Ballisto spoke of how Andron, a specialist in Intellego was willing to help us to find our foe. But then, when Andron began to talk to Pacifer, he misspoke, insinuating that Pacifer was a lab magus. Seconds later, Pacifer and this Andron were brawling. Pacifer knocked the Seeker out with just two blows, but still, he was not done making a spectacle of himself. After Pacifer floored Andron, he was challenged by a huge bruiser to an arm wrestling contest. Speaking loudly of his great prowess, Pacifer set down across the table from the hulking man. Amazingly, Pacifer defeated his opponent. But, seconds later, the man was shouting loudly of how Pacifer had cheated. As he threw a table at Pacifer, we all leapt to our feet. The resulting combat was fortunately short. Skald shot the man with an arrow, Pacifer punched him a few times, and he thus joined the Bonisagus on the ground. Still, I can not even imagine how much damage our antics in the alehouse might have done. We have made thorough fools of ourselves, and all of our enemies in this town have been alerted of our presence. If this costs me my vengeance, I shall kill Pacifer myself. We are back on the boat now, where Pacifer can do no more harm. Despite our encounter in the bar, Little Claus managed to gain the information that we need. He found that Fridgthulf is in the local house of the Order of Odin, and has even managed to set up a meeting with him for the morrow. Tomorrow, I shall be freed. - * - The Book of Nature's Teeth as Chronicled by Pacifer of Tytalus August 7, 1201 It seems that this Andron fellow shall be returning with us to Nature's Teeth. He wishes a quiet place to study, and is willing to repay us by using his Intellego skills to our advantage. Despite our altercation today, I am quite happy that he will be joining us. His skills shall complement the skills of members of Nature's Teeth well, increasing the power of us all. If anything, our brawl this morning impressed me. It proved that he was more than just a weak Bonisagus. - * - The Book of Nature's Teeth as Chronicled by Pacifer of Tytalus August 8, 1201 Today, we were all betrayed. When dawn first broke, the day seemed full of hope. We had no word of Coslen, the man we had come to Malmo to slay, but we had learned the location of Fridgthulf. Since that letter in Baxholm had implied that the two were close associates, however, we were all sure that Coslen would be very near by. Thus, we set out for our meeting with Fridgthulf with high hopes. We were all cautious as we entered the house of the Order of Odin. Fortunately, our cover seemed to hold. Little Claus had posed as a merchant, seeking information for Fridgthulf, and miraculously, we were lead straight to him. It was only then that things started to fall apart. When Little Claus spoke to Fridgthulf, he seemed amiable enough, but he continued to insist that he had never heard of Coslen. I grew increasingly suspicious as he continued to act helpful, but produced no information. Finally, I grew frustrated. Slipping the letter Carmen had recovered from my tunic, I handed it to Little Claus. He confronted Fridgthulf with it, but still the man insisted that he knew nothing of Coslen. I knew that something was very wrong. Finally, out of utter frustration, I threw myself at Fridgthulf. Within seconds, I had Decanter to his throat. He was intelligent enough to not try and scream for help. Threatening to kill him, I again demanded the location of Coslen. He was nearly sobbing as he proclaimed that he did not know. I had thought nothing of Carmen heading over in my direction. When she suddenly pulled her own dagger, I was stunned. Before I could do anything, she had plunged it straight into his throat. Carmen suddenly collapsed to the ground, while I, meanwhile, was left holding a corpse. We realized that all was lost, so we turned to flee. Ballisto was the only one who showed truly good judgement during that flight, for he stopped to grab the papers that Fridgthulf had been studying. We faced no real opposition in our flight to the boat, and bits of Malmo were left burning brightly behind us. A few hours after we had left Malmo, Carmen awoke. She was hugely upset, and for a time we could not even get her to talk. Finally, though, when she grew hungry, she calmed down enough to tell us what had happened. She told us of the Flambeau that had possessed her nearly a month and a half ago, and his mad need for vengeance. She told us of his subtle manipulations, how he had drawn us to Malmo with lies and subterfuge. She told us how she had been freed from that possession only when Fridgthulf had been slain. Our whole trip to Malmo had all been for naught. Coslen had never been there. Afterwards, we worried about other possessions for a time. Andron proved his usefulness by using the magic of Intellego to check that we were all in control of ourselves. We felt more relieved, but still our disappointment was great. - * - The Book of Nature's Teeth as Chronicled by Pacifer of Tytalus August 12, 1201 Returning to Nature's Teeth today, we were again faced with our other problem, that of the thing which calls itself Adriana. It seems better now that it was before, almost able to walk again. However, Andron has confirmed that there is indeed no mind within Adriana's skull, and no magical gift within her body. Our guess is that perhaps a faerie inhabits her body, but we can not say for sure. I would destroy the thing now, but the others are willing to let it live since it does not seem dangerous. Now, I am off to my lab. I have promised that I shall not leave until my spell to extract vis is complete. - * - The Book of Nature's Teeth as Chronicled by Pacifer of Tytalus September 1, 1201 Today, Carmen slept upon the magical bed that we received from Marcus so many months ago. As promised, vis was generated from her dreams. I fear that Carmen's recent experiences still weigh heavily upon her soul however, for the vis that we collected was pure Ignem. - * - From the Writings of Jenna Autocrat of Nature's Teeth 10th of September, 1201 Our merchant, Turpis, has had a bit of trouble of late. Several days ago, he was run abruptly out of his home by members of the Order of Odin. We were afraid for a time that his connections with us might have been discovered. Now, however, it appears that everything is fine again. The Order of Odin has apologized to Turpis, and explained that it was all an awful understanding. Most odd and somewhat worrisome. - * - The Book of Nature's Teeth as Chronicled by Pacifer of Tytalus September 29, 1201 Today was a day of great rejoicing. Ballisto and I finally completed work upon the spell that will allow us to extract vis from magical things. I spent an hour working through our scant vis stores, and now everything is correctly divided. However, the rejoicing is not for me alone, but also for Adriana. Today, she was finally put properly to rest. Over the last month, she had been gaining more and more mobility, so that she was almost as a normal human again. But, we had all come to realize that it was not truly Adriana inhabiting that shell. So, with my spell complete, we decided to try and extract the vis from her, knowing that the spell would only work is Adriana was truly dead. The spell succeeded, and Adriana's corpse quietly crumpled to the floor. Clearly, whatever had been within her had been powered by her gift. When we stole it away, the thing was no longer able to stay. Very soon, now, we shall be heading off, to truly adventure. Vis must be collected, gems must be found, the man named Gorm must be located. There is so much to do. It is so good to be free of my lab! - * - Smoke no longer rose from the ruins of Flambeau Marinus. Three weeks had gone by since the final, brutal attack upon the Covenant. Just weeks before, it had seemed as if the final story of the battle between Flambeau Marinus and the Order of Odin had been written. However, the machinations of Nature's Teeth had once again opened that ancient tome. Merda's vengeance was complete, and finally, he rested. Now though, new vengeance would be demanded by the survivors of Flambeau Marinus. It was a brutal cycle, perhaps an unending one.