Novgorod Log #17: The Man Behind the Mask +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Being a joyful reunion between friends long seperated. Also, a time | | of decisions. Finally, a visit to Stockholm, and a first encounter | | with the powers of the Christian Church. | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ Agrippanilla of Jerbiton Maga (Chris Van Horn) 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) Gorm of Ex Misc Magus (Matt Seidl) Nihil of Criamon Magus (Chad Weetman) Nova of Criamon Maga (Dave Woo) Pacifer of Tytalus Magus (Shannon Appel) Franz Ship Captain (Shannon Appel) Hobble Blacksmith (Bill Filios) Jenna Autocrat (Kevin Wong) Little Claus Nordic Grog Leader Uniso German Grog Leader Adrean German Grog Astalonzo German Grog Big Claus Nordic Grog Jarl Nordic Grog Lars Nordic Grog Skald Nordic Grog Ruby Lady of the Night Vegan Stockholm Priest +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | "Kneel before me!" | | -Auditor | +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ From the Runes of Little Claus 19 June, 1202 I always knew that Felix was the kindest of the magi. In the last few days, he has proven that true beyond any doubt. Two days after we had returned to Nature's Teeth, a frantic boredom had set upon us all. We should have been pleased to be able to rest a bit, for our recent adventures had been quite stressful, but instead we were all worried, for Andron and the women were still away in Poland. Pacifer especially was on edge. I had my grogs steering well clear of him, lest an unfortunate accident occur. Then, Felix came up with the most wonderful idea. As a reward to my loyal grogs, he proclaimed that we would visit Visby, and there meet with a certain type of woman more enamored with silver than their modesty. I was very happy to see my grogs rewarded thus, for by thanking them for their good service now, the magi assure themselves that the grogs will perform well later. So, we were off the Visby, myself, my grogs, Felix, Gorm and Pacifer. Suddenly the mood of oppression had become one of joy. In Visby, everything was just as Felix had said it would be. For a day and a half we stayed there. It was quite a wondrous trip, for I was finally able to see that the magi were just as much men as we. Felix got wildly drunk, and ended up dancing upon the table of a certain tavern, while Gorm fell deeply in love with the woman that he lay with, a plain lass named Ruby. I believe she is returning with us, in fact. Only Pacifer stood aloof from the festivities, sullenly watching over us all. We are preparing to return home now, where we shall surely need several days to recuperate. I must remember to thank Felix when he returns to the ship, for the days of pleasure that he has given my warriors. I am quite sure that he has sealed their loyalty forever. - * - The Book of Nature's Teeth as Chronicled by Pacifer of Tytalus June 25, 1202 It is unfortunate that more time did not truly pass while we were hidden away in that strange faerie realm. Since we returned, the days have dragged on terribly. Waiting for Agrippanilla and the others, not knowing if they are safe or not is quite terrible. I should never have let her go off alone. Felix's trip to Visby was a minor diversion, but since our return, I have again become apprehensive. Hopefully, the whole group of them will be back soon. Seeing my boredom, Ballisto, as practical as ever, has set me to work. For the past day, I have been digging through our correspondences, looking for all of our notes on gems, trying to be sure that we have not missed anything. The work is dull, but at least it is something to occupy my time. I have found only two references to magical gems that we have not followed up on, both in the notes that the sage Marcus sent to us over a year ago. The first gem he described was an emerald, said to be held by the fay. It is surely one of our door gems, for quite directly in his letter, Marcus said that it was the size of a hen's egg. Unfortunately, Marcus could provide no more information, and Arcadia is a very big place. The other gem that Marcus commented upon was a purple amethyst, said to be in the possession of a magus named Teirdre. Again, there seems to be strong evidence that Teirdre's amethyst is one of the gems we seek, for Teirdre is the same magus from whom Resarcia gained fragments of the ritual needed to open our door. Once again, though, our information is too little. The Northern Lands are greatly vast, and this Teirdre could be anywhere. I must admit that since doing the research that Ballisto suggested, I have become somewhat discouraged. For over a year, we have traversed these Northern lands, seeking the keys to our door, and now we have but one of them, and clues to only two more. Even worse, understanding of the one gem that we hold is still far beyond our grasp. For a whole season, Auditor sat studying it, but in the end, he could tell us next to nothing of its powers. Scattered about the covenant are the residue of our quests: a piece of amber, stolen from the Order in Germany; a mottled gem, which can become hot and cold; and a diamond, quite similar to the jewels of our door, but not quite one of them. They almost seem to mock us, representing our failures. We have made so little progress in the last year that I begin to wonder if the doors of our covenant shall ever be opened. I will continue on, but the road seems long. - * - The Book of Nature's Teeth as Chronicled by Pacifer of Tytalus June 29, 1202 Finally! Agrippanilla and the others returned today. I was quite happy to see them; I had been about ready to gather an expedition and go journeying off after them. It seems that my worries were truly founded, for death visited the group which journeyed to Poland. From the story they tell, they were lucky to lose but one grog. After our pleasant reunions were complete, Ballisto finally called a Council Meeting, and we all sat down to report our successes. Ballisto was happy to show the two gems that we had recovered, pointing out that while they were not gems from our door, still their magical powers might be great. Nova in turn, proudly displayed the iron box that she had won from the ruins of the black tower. She stated that a mask of bronze lay within, and seconds later, with a bit of help from Nihil, we were all staring upon it. Nova declared it an artifact of the Old Ones. As we discussed the mask, a minor disagreement broke out. Nova had rightfully declared that she would study her treasure first, and Andron had grown quite irritated, for he had wanted that privilege. So, the two of them set to squabbling. I was irritated already at Andron, for he had been eyeing Agrippanilla all evening, so, in order to shut him up, I hit him. Hard. The two of us brawled for several moments, when suddenly, a startled yell came from the other side of the table. Auditor had fallen to the ground, the bronze mask firmly upon his face. As I leaped towards him, I was sure that the mask had attacked him. Only afterwards did I learn that he had put it on himself. Even after Nova took the mask away from Auditor, he still seemed oddly out of sorts. Only after he was taken back to his room, were we finally able to continue with our meeting. There was no end of bickering during today's meeting. Once, Andron became so obnoxious, that he caused the normally cool-tempered Carmen to hit him. Finally, though, we had made our decisions. Nova will study her mask, and Andron will research the diamond which we brought back from the North. After the tense issue of the mask was dealt with, we were finally able to deal with more pleasant tasks. From Poland, Agrippinalla brought back information on yet more gems, one located in Stockholm, another in Iceland. Clearly, these will be our next two destinations. We talked about it a bit, and finally decided that Stockholm should be our first goal, for it is so close. Tomorrow, we shall leave for that town. Perhaps the second gem for our door is closer that I had thought. My pessimism could very well have been premature. - * - The Book of Nature's Teeth as Chronicled by Pacifer of Tytalus June 29, 1202 The magi of Nature's Teeth seem to have quite an affinity for posession. First, there was Adriana and her damned sword, and then Carmen, and the ghost of that Flambeau. Now, I think the same thing has happened to poor Auditor. That infernal mask that Nova brought back from Poland is clearly the source. The troubles started in the middle of the night, when I was abruptly aroused by Auditor, banging upon my door, announcing a Council Meeting. Barely conscious, I stumbled out of my room, sure that we must be under attack for a meeting to be called at such an unheard of time. Sadly, the truth was very different. When I reached the Council Room, Auditor was pacing back and forth, screaming about how his quarters were inadequate, and that immediate change was necessary. I didn't even bother sitting down. I knew that something was very wrong, and it was clear to me what the cause was. Turning back, I headed to Nova's lab. After a few moments of searching, I had discovered the bronze mask, hidden under her pillow. I tucked it under my tunic, and left, quickly crossing through the Council Meeting and heading out of the covenant. Carmen was the only one who saw me pass, so engrossed were the others in the new living arrangements that Jenna was drawing up. Carmen knew that something was amiss, and tried to stop me as I trudged towards our dock. There was little that she could do, however, when I hit the cold waters of the Baltic, and continued going, walking out into the dark sea. Soon, I had buried the mask, nearly a mile out from our covenant. I would have preferred to leave the mask there, far away from us, where it would do no harm. Unfortunately, upon my return to Nature's Teeth, I ran into Felix and Nova. They were desperately searching for the mask, and when they asked if I knew its location, I did not lie. Before we recovered it, however, we had a long conversation. Nova swore up and down, upon the bones of Criamon himself, that she would not put the mask upon her face, while Felix reasoned that it would be as good to take Auditor from the mask as it would be to take it from him. So, when we leave for Stockholm tomorrow, in a few hours time truly, Auditor will be going with us. Hopefully, by removing him from the malignant influence of the mask, we shall return his normal, boring personality. If that is not the case, I may have to do worse to the mask upon my return. After recovering the mask, and giving it once more to Nova, we finally returned to covenant. I was relieved to find that my quarters had not been moved while I was gone. - * - From the Runes of Little Claus 1 July, 1202 When first we set foot at the docks of Stockholm this morning, I immediately set my grogs to work. In the past, I have made mistakes in leading my men, and I was determined not to let that happen again. So, as we slowly walked towards Stockholm, my grogs cleared a path through the crowds, keeping the women well away from the magi, especially Pacifer. Thanks to my precautions, our first day in Stockholm has been relatively pleasant. My grogs kept the mages out of trouble, and thus they were able to collect the information that they desired. All in all, today has been profitable. We have learned that the priest, St. Olan, is buried outside of the city, in a small church. It seems very likely that the gem that we seek is there, with him. Tonight, when the sun has set, we will leave this city, and descend upon the church. Stealing the gem from a tomb so far removed from the city should be simplicity itself. I am quite pleased with how well this mission has been going. - * - The Book of Nature's Teeth as Chronicled by Pacifer of Tytalus July 1, 1202 Once again, we have faced a set back. Silly me to think that, for once, everything might go right. Our problems began when we tried to leave Stockholm this evening. Much to our surprise, we found the gates to the town closed, and the guards refusing us passage. Irritated by their presumption, I considered killing them at once. I controlled myself, though, and thought instead of what Ballisto would do in such a situation. Searching through my money pouch, I extracted a handful of silver to give to the guards. And thus, we were allowed to scramble over the walls while the guards looked the other way. Approaching the church, we saw the dim light of a candle still flitting about, and so we sat, and we waited. Only after several hours had passed were we ready to make our assault. Our attack upon the church was quick and effective. Carmen cast one spell upon the door and it went away, and then our grogs were inside, moving the lid from the tomb of St. Olan. And that's when everything really fell apart. Though we did find a scroll case with several interesting treatises within, there was no gem in St. Olan's tomb. His relic was gone. Even worse, when the grogs moved Olan's body, in order to search better, a nearby bell began to ring. Felix lept into action at once, throwing flames at the building where the shrill bell was housed. As the structure began to burn, the ringing abruptly stopped, and we could all see a small figure fleeing. With a second burst of flames, Felix killed it as it ran. The Church's cherubic guardian had been slain, but still the damage was done. While I quickly collected the vis from the fallen creature, the grogs completed their search of the church. They tore apart the two tombs in the church, as well as the altar itself, but finally it was clear that the gem that we sought was not within the building. We were somewhat panicked by then, for we knew that the town had been alerted, and thus when we ran towards the hut of the priest who looked over the church that we had just assaulted, it was with much speed. Quickly, we surrounded his house, and then we burst in. Explaining clearly and succinctly why we needed St. Olan's gem, we were able to rapidly extract the information that we desired from the priest. He told us that the gem was hidden away in the Relic Room of Stockholm's bishop. We thanked him, and quickly took our leave. By then, we could see men gathering in the town, preparing to emerge out into the countryside, so once more we were forced into quick action. Within seconds, Carmen was flying into the city, planning to snatch the gem right out from under the nose of the bishop, while the rest of us were fleeing back to our ship. In heading towards the docks, we circled around the city, but still we were unable to avoid conflict. We were perhaps two thirds of the way to the ship when men upon the walls of Stockholm began to fire at us. At the same time, a contingent of warriors upon horses was approaching us from the rear. But, we were not unprepared. Carmen by that time had returned to us, her search through the bishop's rooms, complete, and thus we were at full strength. When the warriors of Stockholm came too near to us, Carmen and Gorm began to lash out, casting spells of great sound and fury. Behind us, horses dropped to the ground, limbs cracking beneath them, while men clutched their heads, ear drums nearly burst. Soon, all of our attackers were in full retreat. But, this retreat did not come before the bowmen upon the wall had fired one volley upon us. It would not have hurt most of us, but unfortunately Auditor was one of those who had been targetted. He fell to the ground, nearly dead, a quarrel protruding from his side. I was prepared to turn upon the wall, killing all of those who stood upon it. They had dared to attack a magus! But, my friends would not side with me. Gorm cast one last spell, shattering the leg of the one who had wounded Auditor, and then they were all off, once more retreating to the boat. I had no choice but to follow. When we arrived upon the boat, breathless, Carmen revealed sad news to us. She said that she had completely searched the bishop's house, but found nothing. St. Olan's relic, an item which might be one of our seven gems, was missing. Unfortunately, the others are now ready to flee to Nature's Teeth. They say that the town is in too much of an uproar for us to continue our search now. Reluctantly, I have agreed. I hate so much to go home, our mission incomplete. It has happened too much recently. It seems, however, that we have little choice.