Vardian Log #20: The Spirit Master --- "They don't have cow soaks listed" --DougL "They were troubled, saying it is a spirit; and they cried out for fear." --Matthew 14:26 --- Season: Spring, 1203 The Players: Cardinal Alfonso Cardinal Anabella Spirit Andrea Girl Antonio Village Elder Antony Grog Bolo Warrior (Dave) Christophono Grog Franco Lad Irena Grog Jenny Maiden Luigi Grog Captain Luigi Warrior Luke Magus Maria Maiden Medicus of Jerbiton Magus (DougL) Mendum of Ex. Misc. Magus (Donald) Old Abel Drunkard Pietro Grog Recanto Grog Samuel Spirit Sanzen Spirit Master Tiberius Spirit Yolanda Girl ** ** From Rupes' Book When Luigi began talking of his mirror being open again, at first I ignored him, and thus missed out on what seems to have been a second journey into the past. The magi I have talked with all seemed quite certain that they had indeed gone back in time to when the Order was founded. It is quite clear now that the earlier journey to the past was not a one time occurence. And, when next the mirror opens, I shall be ready. I find it inconceivable that the other magi of this Covenant do not see the possibilities that this mirror allows. ** ** From The Adventures of Pietro It was in 1203 that my many journeys took me once again to the beautiful city of Rome, and that I decided to finally settle down. The reason was a most beautiful woman by the name of Maria, that I am now fortunate enough to call my loving wife. Thankfully, it was in that city that my old friend, Fortunatus lived, and he was more than happy to take me on as a warrior and a guide, for his "Covenant," Vardian's Tomb. The tale of my marriage to Maria is a very interesting and exciting one, and thus I am writing it here. In the Spring of 1203, I had been in Rome for a few months, and during that time, I had been courting Maria. I had already accepted a position in Fortunatus' Covenant, and one night, early in the season, I was in Rome drinking with Christophono and Recanto, two other warriors of the Tomb. It was on that night that my first great adventure as a fellow of Vardian's Tomb began. I had just purchased Maria her wedding ring, spending most of my money, and it was that fact that we were celebrating. Christophono, it seems, was a bit less used to celebrating than Recanto and myself, for he was quite delirious when we left the tavern and began heading over to our Inn. As we entered the Inn courtyard, Christophono became quite wild, and I was afraid that he was going to bring guards down upon us. I knew that grabbing him and dragging him into the Inn would be the best way to avoid trouble, but I was worried that if I had to scuffle with him, I might lose my beautiful Maria's ring, and thus I set it on the finger of a statue in the court yard. Struggling, I managed to get Christophono into the inn, and into his bed, and I fell asleep, forgetting that Maria's ring was still on the hand of that statue out in the court yard. Some time during the night, I woke, and remembered what I had done, and rushed down to the court yard to retrieve Maria's ring. The ring was still there, but the hand of the statue was now clutched into a tight fist, and I could not remove the ring from that stone hand. Sensing that this was a magical thing, I at once returned to Vardian's Tomb, to ask a friendly magician named Medicus for aid. ** ** From the Diary of Luke of Jerbiton I was quite dismayed when my son-in-law, Luigi, came to me and told me that Jenny had disappeared. He said that she had simply not come home one night, and that he was quite worried about her. He said that he wished to find her himself, but could not because he had promised her that he would watch over their business. From what I have heard, there have been other strange happenings up in Rome lately, involving animate statues and missing rings. No doubt, if Jenny really is missing, and didn't just get held up while on some extended errand, then the two occurences are related. That seems to be the way that such things always work. So, I went to Bolo, a good fellow who helped to return Jenny to me in the first place, and asked him to go find out what's going on. If Jenny actually has been abducted, or something worse, he is a reliable enough person to deal with it. In return for his aid, I healed his leg, which had been wounded by Faeries to the South a few seasons ago. Bolo went off to collect a few grogs, and he, and the people looking for Pietro's ring are going to all go up to Rome to find out what is going on. With luck, all with be dealt with, and Jenny will be safe again within the week. ** ** From The Adventures of Pietro As I had thought, Medicus was happy to aid me, as was another magician named Mendem. A large number of the Warriors were all willing to go along as well. I suspect that they thought that it would be an easy mission involving little more than destroying a stone statue. In any case, Antony, Irena and Luigi went along. Finally, the warrior Bolo joined us as well, but he had a mission other than retrieving my wedding ring from the statue, for a magician had asked him to investigate where his daughter had gone. ** ** From the Epic of Luigi, as told to his beautiful wife, Becky At the start of 1203, I was quite busy making my plans on how to recover my Dukedom. However, when I heard of Pietro's troubles, I felt obliged to help out. Such is the responsibility when you hold a great position as I do. In some ways, I was quite pleased about the mission, for Antony, Bolo and Irena all came along. Each of them seems to have the potential to be the next Grog Captain, when I return to a position of even greater power, as Duke of my land. Thus, it was good to be able see how each of these people acted. I did learn some important facts in this adventure which shall influence my decision. ** ** From The Adventures of Pietro Thus, the large group of us went up to the inn, and there we discovered that the statue had utterly disappeared. Upon investigating the missing statue, we found that footprints seemed to lead from the statue's resting place, out to the street. While the magicians were getting ready to cast spells to determine exactly what had occured, a priest named Cardinal Alfonso came up, and started talking of the divine miracle. He seemed to think that it had been through divine intervention that the statue had walked away, and many other people seemed to agree with him, for Marco's Inn was already becoming known as the Inn of the Holy Statue. The magician, Mendem, finally got rid of him by creating a light far away in the city, and convincing the Cardinal that that too was a divine miracle. Before the Cardinal left, however, he invited the group of us to his early morning service, at dawn. While the rest of us tried to get rid of the Cardinal, Bolo was off talking with an old drunk. From what Bolo said later, at the Covenant, the man was called Old Abel, and he told of the statue walking out of the court yard. Abel also told Bolo of a vision that he had experienced. It was something about a shadow bear attacking us, and about me being a shadow too, and attacking them as well. I wish Bolo had told me about this at the time, for we might have been able to figure out what was happening earlier, but, instead he kept it to himself, and simply distrusted me. Finally, we warriors decided that we had done our work for the day, and we all went to the Hog's Breath Inn and got drunk. While we were doing this, Mendem and Medicus did some further exploring. First they stopped by the house of the missing girl, named Jenny, and saw that there were footprints by it that looked as if they had been made by a heavy statue. The same statue that had stolen my ring, they decided. Then, they stepped by the jeweler's where I bought Maria's ring, and determined that there was nothing magical about the place. While they did gain some interesting information, I certainly had a more enjoyable evening. It is a pity that the magicians do not understand the true priorities in life. The next morning, Bolo tried to get me to go to the morning service. Since my head felt awful, I declined. I could not believe that Bolo and the two magicians actually went. When the rest of us woke at a reasonable hour, we continued our search for the two missing objects. Bolo retrieved some of Jenny's hair from her husband, and Medicus began casting spells, using that hair, to find her. At this time, Bolo told us part of what the drunk had said. He told of a bear attacking us near a tree just outside the city. The tree had been struck twice by lightning. So, while Medicus, with his personal warrior, Irena, continued casting spells, the rest of went off to find that tree stump. When we finally located the tree, it became obvious that Bolo's strange logic had been correct, for deep footsteps were obvious, and we were all quite sure that they had been made by the statue that had stolen my ring and Luke's daughter. So, Bolo asked me to go retrieve Medicus and Irena. I was more than pleased to do it at the time, for this quest was mine. Unfortunately, I missed a grand fight while I was retrieving Medicus, but the others were able to deal with the beast, even without me there to boost their morale. ** ** From the Epic of Luigi, as told to his beautiful wife, Becky After Pietro took off to grab that silly magus, Medicus, who was wasting his time failing to cast spells, the rest of us lounged around, waiting for them to return. However, I am quiet happy to say that my grogs were all very alert, and we were not surprised when a bear attacked us. It turns out that it was another one of those pesky talking bears. I am glad that my grog, Acutus, wasn't there, or he would have insisted that we should not slay the beast. In any case, the bear was shouting that his name was Tiberius, and that we should all flee. So, I held him off for several minutes, before allowing Bolo to administer the killing blow. At least that shut the bear up. Medicus and Irena finally caught up with us, and Medicus wasted lots of time failing more spells, before finally allowing Bolo to track for us. Unlike in the city, the tracks were fairly easy to follow out there, mostly because they were so deep. We tracked them for over a day, and finally came to a village to the Northeast of Rome, a bit into the foot hills. There, the tracks led straight into some manner of meeting room. The statue was in the room, and Pietro ran straight to it, and then became quite upset when he found that his ring was not still on the statue's finger. I must teach him to act a bit more manly. We finally got the attention of a village elder named Antonio, but he was quite useless, giving us nothing but a bit of wine, which Pietro most definitely did not need. So, Medicus began casting his spell again, and finally got it right, and determined that Jenny was somewhere just to the Northeast of this village, deeper into the hills. So, we all started heading that way, determined to find Luke's daughter, and to figure out why this statue had been walking around. We found an obvious track in the direction that we were headed, and soon learned that the village seemed to herd their cattle to a secluded valley, hidden back in the hills. Irena spotted a cave beyond the cattle, and we prepared to head towards it. As we stepped out into the herd, the cows began to advance towards us menacingly. I was prepared to start carving up steak when Medicus insisted upon talking to them. So, he cast a spell, and learned that the cows had heard that there was some fine grass beyond us, and that was why they had advanced. So, Medicus assured them that the grass beyond us was quite bad, and we prepared to cross the valley again, but the cows once again advanced on us. I was about ready to start getting a camp fire ready for all this good meat when Medicus insisted upon talking to the cattle again. This time, they told him that they had heard that there was a wolf on the other side of the herd, and they had been moving away. Medicus finally showed some sense by threatening to kill them if they came at us again. Thus, we began advancing across the field, and, sure enough, the cows stampeded us. Medicus showed that he wasn't worthless after all by throwing a number of Pilums of Flames, and taking down three nearby cows. They provided a nice shield while the rest of the herd stampeded by. By the cave, two horses were tied, and when Bolo went near them, they attacked him. They both talked, and one claimed he was Tiberius, and the other said that his name Samuel. He was able to kill one, and badly wound the other. When the other became wounded, it started acting normal again, as horses should. Thus, we went into the cave, and were attacked once again, this time by a pair of dogs. Again, they insisted that their names were Tiberius and Samuel. I was becoming quite bored with the whole affair. Inside the cave, we found two people. The first was an old man named Sanzen, and the second was a young lad named Franco. I was prepared to slay them on the spot, for it was obvious that these were our enemies. However, they claimed innocence in the whole matter, and the magi were guillible enough to believe that. So, they chatted for a long time while Medicus continued to try and cast his spell to find Jenny. Finally, he determined that Jenny was indeed within this cave, in the back room that Sanzen had refused to let us into. But then, I could have told him that without a spell. So, Bolo began threatening the old man, and then my grogs all went wild. ** ** From the Adventures of Pietro As Bolo began to yell at old Sanzen, suddenly I felt as if I were submerged within my own mind. I was not in control of any of my facilities, for an evil spirit had possessed me, just as before he had possessed all manner of animals, on our way to this place. Unable to control myself, I began to attack Medicus, and took him down at once. It is unfortunate that this spirit had at once possessed one as skilled with my blade as I. Fortunately, Irena finally managed to overcome me in combat, and as I fell to the ground, the spirit named Tiberius left me. ** ** From the Epic of Luigi, as told to his beautiful wife, Becky As I watched, one by one my grogs were taken down. Antony, Pietro, Irena and Bolo were each possessed by the spirits that assaulted us, and then each knocked unconciousness. Quickly, I realized that the spirits would next descend upon me, and I knew that with a warrior such as me possessed, the magi would have no hope of surviving. So, I fled the cave, hoping that the magi's famed magical shields would protect them from the possessing demons. Fortunately, I was correct. After much befuddlement, Mendem finally figured out that the reason that my grogs had been acting so odd was due to possessing spirits. So, he finally destroyed the two spirits, Samuel and Tiberius, with magical spells. From what I have heard, at that time Sanzen finally revealed that he was indeed the evil person behind these events, and began to throw spells at the magi, powered by additional spirits under his control. Thankfully, Mendem stood against the spells. Unfortunately, the spirit master had a spell ready to carry him away to safety, and thus he escaped. Finally, when the sound of combat ended, I decided that, one way or another, I would not be a threat to the magi. And thus, I returned to the cave. And, when I did, Mendem told me what had passed. Bolo and Irena quickly recovered, for they had been knocked out by spells, and after we bandaged up Antony, Medicus and Pietro, we were ready to explore the rest of the cave. We took Franco, Sanzen's young helper, with us. In the back room, which we had not been allowed to explore, was Jenny, along with two other girls. We found that their names were Andrea and Yolanda, and that they had been taken from their homes just as Jenny had. Apparently, the old man had been collecting apprentices, and teaching them his craft. From what we gathered, Sanzen had taken Pietro's ring to use as some type of connection to my Covenant, to spy on us, because he was afraid that we might come after him. Unfortunate for him that he did not realize that the apprentice he was stealing was the daughter of one of the elder magi of the Tomb. We had to chase off a third spirit, Anabella, who had been possessing Jenny, but she actually seemed more than happy to leave. In any case, Jenny seemed none the worse for wear, and the magi seemed very happy to promise the other two girls that they would be provided for. While the two magi continued to search the caves for magical stuff, Bolo began questioning Franco about how much the villagers had known about the old mage. He soon learned that Sanzen had been providing the village with the good land that they needed for their crops and cattle through his magic. When Bolo learned this, he became furious, for he was very offended by the way that the three girls had been kept captive. And so, using his magical shoes, he ran straight at the kid, and squished him flat against the wall. Meanwhile, searching the caves, the magi found lots of magic stuff, and Pietro got his ring back. He seemed quite pleased. Thus, we bedded down for the night, planning to return home the next morning. That night, Bolo snuck off and made a single handed attack on the village, due to his fury at the way that the girls had been treated. Apparently, he put the whole village in flight, for there was much burned wreckage when we all woke the next morning. No doubt, the village had become soft and flabby due to the protection that Sanzen had been giving them. However, I am sure that several of the elder magi at the tomb will talk to Bolo about his behavior. Now, I can't even believe that I once considered the buffoon to replace me as the Grog Captain. Finally, we all returned to my Covenant. I was quite pleased to see my beautiful wife again. From what I heard, Jenny returned to her husband, Medicus took Andrea as his apprentice, and Mendem took Yolanda, after much deliberation. Apparently, Sanzen ended up dead, because the magi gave bits of his clothing to Flambeau up in Germany, who tracked him down and slew him. In any case, it is now back to my planning. I am determined that my Dukedom will be mine again very soon. ** ** From the Adventures of Pietro In the Summer of 1203, my beautiful Maria and I were married. It was one of the happiest days of my life.