[WFRP] The Bloody Crown XI

[RossN]

Adelbert

Elsa and Adelbert

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'I agree,' Adelbert replied. 'But don't discount the possibility that Tshula is simply squatting in Hanna's mind and the... host for want of a better word might be unaware they have a passenger. I can't say any of the daemons we have met have impressed me with their brains but it is possible.'

OOC:
Honestly if it wasn't a total loss of control I think playing host to a daemon might have been sort of fun from an RP point of view especially since Adelbert has been fairly sympathetic towards the djinn so far!

'Should we gather our strength and attack during the day?' Adelbert suggested to Sieghard. 'Our attacks and those daemons have to have weakened him by now.'

[-Sentinel-]

Elsa and Adelbert

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'But don't discount the possibility that Tshula is simply squatting in Hanna's mind and the... host for want of a better word might be unaware they have a passenger.'

"She wouldn't answer when I asked who ruled the Reaches," Elsa pointed out. "We can test her again when she's in a more agreeable mood... Maybe lay some kind of trap, like have Sieghard mention to her an event that never took place and see if she just nods along..."

'Should we gather our strength and attack during the day? Our attacks and those daemons have to have weakened him by now.'

Elsa snorted. "What strength, pray tell, do we have left to gather?" She knew for sure that none of the Thorns were going back in there. "And what are you planning to do about the army of ghosts?"

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"You're insane," Sieghard told Adelbert sharply. "I'm not ordering anyone back into that damn ruin." It sounded like an amazing way to get a bolt in the back and he'd deserve it if it happened.

To Ludo, it seemed odd that Sieghard was sitting as far away from Elsa as he could. He didn't have much time to ponder why before Sieghard turned to him and spoke again. "A bit after you left, the vampire attacked with a horde of dead raised from the earlier battle. We fought well, but they outnumbered by over two dead men for each of ours and we couldn't keep them out. And once they had the door open, the knights came." He glanced to the side to make sure Moltke and Jens were out of earshot before speaking ill of the dead. "Stupid bastards got themselves killed before they even swung their swords at Nahorek. Had to cut Kleinrabe down myself. We were just finishing dealing with them when Nahorek got involved himself. Walked through the door and..." he trailed off and went quiet. What had happened had seemed weird in the moment, but he hadn't really dwelled on it until now. "And his magic didn't work. He tried to kill me - buried me under a veil of flame and black blood - but it just washed over me without doing anything. I didn't just beat him, I hurt him, Ludo. It wasn't like in Savonne where I had to hack a piece off him before he fled, he ran as soon as I started stabbing."

[LeSwordfish]

"The spear really works then? It protected you and harmed him."

[-Sentinel-]

"But now he knows that we have it," said Elsa glumly. "While we still don't know why he abducted the people of Caerfort, and whether he intends to stay in Nath."

She turned to Sieghard, who was turning his back on her in a way that could only be deliberate, and spoke to him in Tilean: <Sieghard. I need to warn you about Hanna. Adelbert and I think we've got an Efe situation on our hands.>

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"I can't think of anything else that would explain it," Sieghard replied. "I know how this sounds, but it felt like the spear was moving on its own. An the thing was glowing. It was almost blindingly bright."

He didn't even turn his head to acknowledge Elsa.

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Again, he'd be a lot more willing to listen to Adelbert

[-Sentinel-]

<Sieghard,> said Elsa sharply. <I sense something strange on Hanna. I think she's possessed. That's why I wanted to know if she could name the ruler of the Reaches.>

I know you don't want to talk to me, but won't you at least care about your own soldier?

[RossN]

Adelbert

<'She's right Sieghard,'> Adelbert said in Tilean. The priest had obviously noticed them speaking (or rather Elsa speaking at Sieghard) and moved over. <'At the very least we'll have to keep an eye on her.'>

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

<Sieghard, I sense something strange on Hanna. I think she's possessed. That's why I wanted to know if she could name the ruler of the Reaches.>

Elsa's words gave Sieghard pause. He knew she wasn't the sort who would exaggerate about something so serious. Still, there was a small petty part of him that wanted to argue.

"<How do you know?>" he asked, finally acknowledging her. "<There's plenty of reason for the girl to not want anything to do with you. Doesn't mean she's possessed.>"

<'She's right Sieghard. 'At the very least we'll have to keep an eye on her.'>

"<You're sure?>" he asked. "<How did this happen? And what can we do to put a stop to it?>"

[-Sentinel-]

<I don't know how to exorcise someone,> admitted Elsa. It was the province of the Hierophants of the White Order. <Not sure how it happened either, but I suspect it has to do with her smashing the urn. You can test her by mentioning fake people or events to her... like her husband, or the 'Siege of Putbad'... If she just nods, you'll know she's not herself.>

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"<I'll keep an eye on her, but I'm not convinced>" Sieghard replied. "<If it is what you say, then it may be the only thing we can do is get her to the temple in Savonne.>"

[LCP]

Fighting the weariness in his bones, Sieghard organised the watches. Kleinrabe’s man, Jenssen, volunteered to take the first watch with Urgrim. Sieghard hadn’t spoken with him on the march to Nath, but the man was clearly the wrong side of forty, and Sieghard knew enough to afford a certain wary respect to old men in professions where others died young. He let Jens take the watch.

Moltke hardly seemed to notice what was going on around her. She hardly ate, hardly spoke; she only reluctantly tried to sleep. As he bedded down between the roots of a tree, however, Ludo could hear her trying very hard not to cry.

~

Relieving Urgrim and Jens, Sieghard stood the middle watch with Hanna and Gustaf. Still caked in the dust and soot of the battle, the three of them blended in the night better than usual. Gustaf had a poacher’s art for stillness and silence, and sat watching the ridge above them like a hawk. Hanna just sat with her back against the bole of a tree, giving the darkness a thousand-yard stare.

The night passed peacefully, broken only by the moons passing in and out from behind the clouds. As dawn drew nearer, the watch changed again. Woken from uneasy dreams of jackals and broken scales, Adelbert had just settled into Sieghard’s position when he heard the snap of a twig in the forest behind him. Looking round, he saw a dark shape creeping between the trees. Hanna hadn’t gone to sleep like the others - instead, she was trying to steal away from the camp...

[RossN]

Adelbert

Adelbert frowned and looking at the dark shape of Hanna ('Hanna'?) whispered a blessing, praying the goddess would answer him even in his disfavoured state.

OOC:

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Channeling: (1d100)[69] vs 68
Shackles of Verena (6): (2d10)[6][2](8)

[LCP]

New thread, all change