[WFRP] The Bloody Crown XII

[RossN]

Adelbert & Ludo

Adelbert only

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Adelbert laughed, even as the Tilean's goons dragged him away. 'Do you really think so little of yourself you'd call yourself a mere appendage? Do you really think so little of me that I'd jump when a slave too blind to realise she is even a slave offers me 'power'? Awaken Tshula! The greatest slave in the world has less power in their life than any beggar! I can offer you so much more. All you have to do turn away from your master and leave. I can help you.'

OOC

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Also ready to move on to the 25th.

[LCP]

Ludo & Adelbert, 24th Brauzeit

“That’s if Vico has his dates right,” said Moltke. “We can ask him more about it in the morning,” she added, with a yawn. “If he’s feeling better.”

Adelbert Only

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”Awaken, Tshula!”

Adelbert found himself crying those words as he woke, the dream dissolving around him. He hoped no-one had heard him - looking outside the flap of the tent, he could see it was still night. With luck, the others were still sleeping.

---

Backertag, 25th Brauzeit

The next day, Vico was more cogent, though still weak and thirsty. Riding along on the mule with the lightest load, he gave the impression of listening as Moltke filled him in on who “Keiner” really was, and why they’d come looking for him. Ludo wasn’t sure how much he understood of what she was saying - his Reikspiel seemed extremely poor. Still, he seemed to appreciate her trying.

<He told us there was gold out here,> said Vico, almost apologetically. <He said we could have it, that all he wanted was one piece of the treasure.> He looked downcast. <Maybe we were stupid… but you know, we heard about the battles, and the victories, and the coronation… we were soldiers!> He puffed up his chest with pride, causing an immediate coughing fit. Moltke passed him the waterskin and he took a few grateful gulps. <We wanted an adventure.>

The wind got up again during the day, and that night they pitched their tents close together to give them some mutual shelter. Though he still looked half-dead, Vico was eating and drinking more like a man who might see the next sunrise. If Shallya was with them, he would make it back to Last Water.

Adelbert Only

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Sleeping fitfully that night, Adelbert turned over on his bedroll and felt the heat of another body there. Eyes closed, Jocasta rolled over and draped her sleeping arm around him, nestling her face against his shoulder.

For a long moment, Adelbert lay there, feeling the touch of her skin against his own. He knew it was impossible, that she wasn’t here - but still he hoped against hope that he wouldn’t hear the familiar voice that slithered into his ear.

How long has it been since you felt someone else’s touch? Raising her head, Jocasta opened her eyes, revealing the orange fires that burned behind her eyelids. Since you did something for yourself? What’s the point of this fight you’re in, if there’s no joy in the life you’re saving?

She kissed him, the touch of her lips like fire brushing against his skin. With my help, you could have anyone you wanted, she said, her face flowing and changing as she spoke. Aisha, Oseye, Irene Sforza, even Elsa - their faces passed before him like reflections in a millpond, rippling out of one and into another. You only have to ask.

[LeSwordfish]

Ludo was as sympathetic as he could muster. <I bet, especially with the young men of the brotherhood arriving in town - you left after Valdez arrived, right?>

[LCP]

Ludo & Adelbert, 25th Brauzeit

<I... I think so, yes.> Vico looked a little shamefaced. <He had us meet at Alessio's house, with the supplies. He said... if we kept it to ourselves, it would be fewer people to share between.>

[LeSwordfish]

<What did he say would happen when you got back? Did he say what he wanted?>

[RossN]

Adelbert & Ludo

Adelbert shifted on his side and tried to get back to sleep, but never quite managed it.

25th Brauzeit

Adelbert was quiet and haggard looking during the day, saying very little though he continued to check on Vico's health. As night fell he sat alone watching the stars for a while before crawling into his bedroll.

Adelbert only

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Adelbert felt the flush on his cheeks... and blood heading elsewhere too. Would it really be so bad, this once in a lifetime experience?

With great effort of will he managed to stop himself returning the djinn's kiss. He brushed a strand away from her ever changing face. 'Gods I'm tempted, but you'd have been better off not changing... your normal human form is stunning enough.' He smiled sadly at Tshula. 'Do you truly have such little sense of self that you have to don so many masks? It must feel so lonely and empty being a daemon. Break free my friend, break your bonds. I saved your life once, let me save your soul.'

He leaned in closer, his grey blue eyes looking deep into her flame coloured orbits. 'Let me help you be more than a pawn and a slave. Become a human and know true freedom. Isn't it just a little tempting, just a little, to be alone in your mind to be a someone and not just a finger or a hand?'

[LCP]

Ludo & Adelbert, 25th Brauzeit

<He said it was a staff. Like a shepherd's crook. Something his patron wanted... he said he was a historian. Or something like that.> Vico coughed. <Orfeo didn't believe him, but he said, if he was playing us false, we could always take it for ourselves. Four Iron Company against one northern dandy. But you say... necromancer?>

He looked at Moltke. If Vico's Reikspiel was poor, her Tilean was non-existent; she looked to Ludo for some cue. When he nodded, she did.

<Myrmidia preserve them,> Vico muttered, before trailing off into hacking, dry coughs. Moltke passed him the water yet again.

Adelbert Only

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Tshula's face rippled and changed again, becoming the one he had seen in Nath.

Lonely? she said. I am part of something far greater. You could be too. She leaned in close, so close that her lips brushed against his ear as she whispered: You would need never be lonely again...

[RossN]

Adelbert Only

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'How so? Will you make me a daemon like you? Turn me into Irene Sforza?' Adelbert shivered at that whisper but tried to push on. 'I'm sure every sheep in a flock and every fish in a shoal thinks them self part of something greater.' He leaned over and took her left hand, gently raising it to touch palm to palm against his own, marvelling at the illusion of humanity.

'Look at this. I know this is not your true form and we both know I would not find that true form a half so alluring, but this body and that name... right now they belong to you Tshula. To you alone. That makes you unique. That makes you a person. Every moment you stay like this, every second you wear that face, respond to that name, every one of those is a tiny victory for self. For you as an individual. You told me that the gods as we know them are a lie but how much greater a lie are the beings that control you? Unless you are nothing more than an empty vessel for their desires and designs there has to be some spark within you, something at the back of your mind shouting: I am an individual. I exist. I am me.'

He lowered her hand and returned his gaze to her eyes. 'Abandon it all Tshula-Udiyya. Abandon slavery and the sham of power. Oh I may have been fallen from my goddess and she from me but mark this my friend; I only ever served willingly.'

[LCP]

Adelbert Only

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A mortal who prefers mortality, said Tshula with a smile. There are precious few of those.

He felt a slither against his skin where she held him - the feeling of human arms and hands changing into something far less familiar. Her body was changing too, but he couldn't look away to see the changes - his eyes remained fixed on the hypnotic pools of flame that were her eyes.

You think you can escape the gods by refusing them, she said, her mouth growing impossibly wide as she spoke. Behind her lips, rings of of lamprey teeth pulsed and flexed. You are wrong. Nothing can escape what is coming for this world. She kissed him again, those awful teeth battening onto his face so tight that he could not scream. Only the chosen will survive...

The boneless jaws enveloped his head entirely, leaving Adelbert staring down a bottomless, fang-lined gullet. A fiery glow kindled in its depths - the last thing he saw was a billowing cloud of flame, rushing up towards him.

He woke, sweating, into the cold desert night. He was alone in his tent.

[RossN]

Adelbert

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He lay exhausted and traumatised on the bedroll, but slowly a new feeling began to come over him. Triumph. He'd won. She couldn't answer his words so had retreated to the old illusion of power.

He whispered in the dark:

'You're a fool if you think you are chosen Tshula. You're a slave too frightened and blind to admit it to herself. I haven't given up on you. I'll save you yet.'

[LCP]

Bezahltag, 26th Brauzeit

Ludo & Adelbert

The next day, the westerly wind rose to a gale, whipping billowing clouds of sand across their path. The expedition soldiered on, heads down, faces shielded against the flying dust. In the back, the stolid, dependable Sermena mules plodded after them without complaint. The desert would have to try harder to distress them.

That night, they made camp in a dry gully, half choked with sand. Ludo noticed Adelbert was looking particularly pale and weary. The Waste was no place for the living; besides the hardship, its sheer emptiness left you too much alone with your thoughts.

Ludo Only

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Trying to scrape together a campfire out of the few bits of brushwood Sam had stuffed in her pack, Ludo patted his pockets, looking for flint and tinder. A helpful hand held out a lit match from his left - he took without looking round.

"You can't blame yourself for letting that Klammenberg slip through your fingers," said Ortwin. "They needed you, back east. And he was a tricky bastard even before he got the Jackal on his side." He looked over to where Vico had collapsed again into an exhausted sleep. "You got this one back alive, at least."

Adelbert Only

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Doing his best to blot out the wailing of the wind, Adelbert pulled his blanket around his ears and tried to get some sleep. No sooner had he drifted off than the dreams began again.

He stood upon the endless desert, its pale dunes stretching out to the horizon. Cold stars shone down from above, countless pin-pricks of light shining through the black velvet of the night sky. Facing him across the sands stood the looming figure of Nakht-Horeb, a silent silhouette against the starlight.

Looking down, Adelbert saw he was dressed in gorgeous robes, glittering in all the colours of the spectrum. In his hand was a staff of twisted metal - it felt strangely warm to the touch. As the Jackal stretched out a hand towards him, he felt words flow into his head unbidden - words in no language he had ever heard before.

He spoke them, and the bolts of darkness that shot towards him broke apart on a shield of shimmering light. Skeletons heaved themselves up from beneath the sands, reaching for him with bony fingers; he conjured whirling daemons to burn them to ash. The Jackal armoured himself in shadow; with a contemptuous flick of his fingers, Adelbert opened a tear in the air behind him, twisted hands and writhing tendrils reaching through to pull his enemy to destruction.

Isn't this what you want? said Tshula behind his shoulder, as the otherworldly light from the rift shone brighter and brighter. This time, she was making no attempt to conceal what she was. Shark-toothed mouths opened and closed in her shifting flesh, breathing out gouts of shimmering flame as they spoke with one voice. Knowledge. The knowledge to reshape reality. Your friend, the pyromancer, thinks herself a magician. The daemon laughed. You could be so much greater than her...

[RossN]

Ludo & Adelbert

Bezahltag, 26th Brauzeit


'Some anchorites believe mankind is closest to the divine in the empty places of the world,' Adelbert said to Ludo. The ex-priest smiled wanly. 'Supposedly there are fewer distractions.'

He sighed and retired to bed.

Adelbert only:

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'And yet I seem to recall you were afraid to face the vampire and nearly fell to his ghouls. Would you offer me power you yourself have never had? That the sorcerors of Nath never had? Much good your master's aid was there.' he opened his palm and let the staff drop with contempt not even bothering to throw it away, before turning to the daemon.

'I am no son of Tilea but when it comes to manipulation you daemons are little more than children. Does immortality dull the wits so?' He ran his eyes over her body. 'You speak of knowledge but all you have are secrets. Any duck pond has secrets floating beneath the surface weeds but that doesn't mean I'll find anything of worth there.'

[LCP]

Adelbert Only

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The secrets of creation, said Tshula. The rift was growing wider, shining like the sunrise as impossible colours shifted and swam across its surface. The secrets of gods and daemons. To see beneath the skin of the world.

The sand beneath the rift was fusing and fracturing into strange, fractal patterns.

All your life, you've had to believe. To take things on faith. Don't you want to know? Tshula drifted in a lazy circle around him. The Architect of Fate sees all. Knows all. Give yourself to the Changer, and his knowledge can be yours...

[RossN]

Adelbert Only

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Adelbert paused. Even had to concede it was a good argument. For a moment he simply watched the rift, his thoughts his own.

'So, you speak of-,' he almost said 'the Changer' but even here could not bring himself to do so, 'you speak of your master at last. You are beginning to doubt Tshula. That first pebble that foreshadows a landslide. Don't you see you could be so much more than a mindless proxy? Knowledge isn't a bauble to be presented along with a pat on the head. It is won by personal experience, research, trial, understanding and yes the hardships of faith. I think you know that, I think there is a hunger inside you for something more, for something won by yourself not bestowed y others.'

He reached over and tapped her on the forehead with his index finger. 'There is a person in there. A living, vital mind burning away, enchained by a weak and deceitful being that has convinced you there is power in slavery. Answer me this Tshula; in all your lifetimes as an immortal have you ever taken a single breath, uttered a single word, taken a single step that wasn't at the whim and for the design of your master? Abandon him. Free yourself.'

[LeSwordfish]

Ludo & Adelbert

Bezahltag, 26th Brauzeit


'Some anchorites believe mankind is closest to the divine in the empty places of the world,' Adelbert said to Ludo. The ex-priest smiled wanly. 'Supposedly there are fewer distractions.'

He sighed and retired to bed.

"Yeah... closest to the divine," Ludo said distractedly. "Goodnight."

Ludo Only

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Quietly, so none of the others heard, Ludo turned to Ortwin. The match smouldered in his hand.

"If I hadn't been there, even fewer of them would have made it out," he said, with a certain forced calm. "Ingwald would have fallen and died, for one. And then I went scouting and got caught... and I wasn't there when everyone else fought him. So... I failed, and because I failed, I got out safely when so many people didn't. Where you didn't."

"I... you weren't in Rike's squad, you didn't come with us. You weren't one of the ones who made it out of Nath. I... you're dead, Ortwin. You're not really here, are you? Are you... are you some kind of ghost? Like the ones in Nath?"

[LCP]

Urgrim, 20th Brauzeit

Cezar sighed. “I’d better see what this is about,” he said. “If I hear anything about the boy, I’ll let you know - and please do the same for us.”

Leaving the priest to follow the crowd, Urgrim headed back up to the hold. Just as Elmendrin had promised, Grunlok was assembling the Clan Dwimmulson muster at the minehead. Urgrim counted around forty warriors, all told, including many miners and craftsmen who’d downed tools to take up an axe. Many of the skarrenawi had armour and weapons that looked more human than dwarfish in design - but Urgrim supposed that was how it was, out here in the plains.

“Jotunnsson!” barked Grunlok, who was now looking every bit the warrior in a mail shirt and a peaked helmet. He had a miner’s pick-axe slung over his back - looking at the thickness of the grizzled foreman’s forearms, Urgrim had no doubt that in his hands it would be a formidable weapon. “You’re early. We’ve got your volunteers over there.”

Seven dwarfs were standing apart from the main throng, over by the entrance to the north shaft. Urgrim immediately picked out a familiar face among them - Berki, who gave him a cheery wave.

OOC:

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Not going to go through the introductions in prose, but here’s a list of the Dwimmulson volunteers:

• Berki - the Berkster, Berkerino, Berkazoid Prime
• Skargil - a great bear of a dwarf, Skargil used to be one of the clan’s smiths. Now pushing two hundred and fifty, arthritis in his hands has forced him to hand over his smithy, but he can still swing a hammer.
• Rollik and Lunn - Two Dwimmulsons who fought in the siege, Rollik and Lunn are both experienced warriors, well-armed and armoured.
• Throndin and Uthgar - beardlings, clearly quite excited by the prospect of adventure.
• Moragina - a miner, and the only woman among the seven. Moragina claims no combat experience, but seems quietly determined to join the volunteers. Urgrim thinks he notices a faint family resemblance to the late Thrunrik.

---

Urgrim, 21st Brauzeit

By the next morning, the Dwimmulsons had their arms and provisions in order. Grunlok led the march down from the gates of the Dwimmulhold, the column of heavily-armed dwarfs snaking down the steep path to the low town. Bringing up the rear was Skorgrund, leading a reluctant pony loaded with books. Elmendrin, it had been agreed, would remain behind - with Prince Sforza leading their combined force, the Rinn’s place was in the hold.

When they reached the square, however, the Prince’s army was not waiting for them. Instead, a rather tired-looking Al-Makir came to meet them.

“Prince Sforza offers his most sincere apologies,” said the Arabyan, “but the army will not be marching today.”

“What are you manlings playing at?” demanded Skorgrund, pushing his way forward from the back. “We had an agreement it would be this morning!”

“As I said, the Prince is extremely sorry,” said Abdul. “There’s been an… incident at the castle which requires his personal attention. The Iron Company will march as soon as it is resolved.”

“Incident? What incident?” blustered Skorgrund. “There’s no time to be dilly-dallying with incidents. For all we know, the Black Hound’s already on the move.”

“Aye,” said Grunlok. “If the Prince is delaying, then he can catch us up.” He looked around at a sea of approving Dwimmulson faces. “We said we’d march today, and I see no reason not to keep our word.”

"I'm sure the Prince will find that perfectly agreeable," said Abdul with a smile.

“Manann’s Keep, aye?” said the foreman. “We’ll meet him there. Tell him not to tarry too long.”

“I will tell him... words to that effect, I’m sure,” said Abdul, his fixed smile not wavering. “I wish you a safe journey.”

Urgrim had time to pop into the Duke of Aquitaine before they left, but there were no messages waiting for him. Rejoining the throng, he looked back towards the castle as they marched out through the river gate and over the bridge. He didn’t like the sound of ‘incidents’ - or the thin trail of black smoke that was rising from inside the keep’s curtain wall. But it was out of his hands now.

---

Sieghard, Urgrim & Elsa, 24th Brauzeit

The sun was getting low on Marktag when the Dwimmulsons arrived at Manann’s Keep. Forty dwarfs in a column four abreast, they made the wooden bridge over Evatt’s moat shake as they made a show of marching in time into the town.

“You call that an earthwork?” were Grunlok’s first words to the Thorns when they came out to meet him, pointing to the ditch they had dug across the south-east side of the town. “Typical umgak work. We can fix that for you,” He slung off his pack and looked around. “We’ll be needing somewhere to billet our warriors, though. How about that barn up there?” He pointed up to Evatt’s fort.

“Which one of you is Sieghard?” demanded Skorgrund. Travel had made the old greybeard even crabbier than usual. “I’ve come here to speak to a Sieghard.”

---

Ludo & Adelbert, 26th Brauzeit

Ludo Only

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Ortwin looked puzzled. “I don’t think so,” he said. “I don’t rightly know.”

The sand was blowing over the top of the gully in which they’d made camp, swirling in ghostly patterns against the darkening sky. Ortwin looked up at it, and seemed to shrink in on himself a little.

“I remember… wind, and dust. So much dust. And those things… so cold.” Ludo felt his own bones ache with the memory of the spectres’ freezing touch. “I don’t feel cold now.”

The wind blew the match out. “Oh, that’s what we were doing,” came Ortwin’s voice. “The fire. That tinderbox, it’s in your other pocket, sir.”

A noise behind Ludo made him jump. It was just Moltke, coming back with more fuel for the fire. “Were you talking to someone?” she asked. “I thought I heard a voice.”

Ortwin was gone. Feeling in his pocket, Ludo felt his fingers touch something solid. It wasn’t the tinderbox - it was Adelbert’s owl pendant.

Adelbert Only

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She hardly had anything that could be described as a human face, but Adelbert could swear he saw the daemon frown. The glorious light of the rift in the air flickered, faltered - then it snapped shut, with a boom like the slam of leaden doors.

Of all the stubborn… hissed Tshula. This was new - he had not heard her sound frustrated before. You are a fool. You forsake your god for what? For nothing? We offer you everything, and you ask us to join you?

Her voice was multiplying, becoming a snarling, singing chorus of voices. All of them sounded angry.

You are nothing. You are an ant, crawling on the surface of a world that cares nothing for your existence. A furious wind whipped up the sand around them, enveloping them in billowing clouds. All things must change or die. Those are the only sides of this struggle that can win. Change, or Death. The voices moved in closer, even as Tshula-Udiyya’s physical form disappeared from view. You have chosen your side.

The wind grew stronger, so strong that Adelbert staggered to keep his feet - then, as abruptly as it had appeared, it vanished. Tshula-Udiyya had vanished with it - he was alone on the endless sands.

He awoke in his tent, neither sweating nor afraid. He could hear the gentle rustle of the wind tugging at the canvas, and the low voices of the Thorns on watch talking by Ludo’s campfire. The daemon’s voice was nowhere to be heard.

---

Konigstag, 27th Brauzeit

Ludo & Adelbert

The next morning, the sandstorms had passed. The face of the desert had changed around them, dunes shifting overnight - but as they made their way south again, the hills of Last Water soon poked their rocky heads over the horizon. Some of the Thorns gave a little cheer when they saw them.

By nightfall, they had reached what was left of the road, and were making their way up through the foothills and back to Sermena. Valdes’ pickets met them on the path - a pack of halflings from the Gamecocks came tumbling out of the gathering darkness so suddenly that Ludo almost thought they were being ambushed.

“You’re back!” said one of them to Sam. “Did you get him? Is that the man?” He pointed to Vico in a state of considerable excitement. “Look, Crumwick! They got him!”

[RossN]

Ludo & Adelbert, 26th Brauzeit

Adelbert Only

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'If I am nothing why were you trying so hard to make me join you... and why were you so angry I did not?' Adelbert whispered in the dark after Tshula-Udiyya had gone.

He didn't wait for the reply that wasn't coming and instead settled back in his bedroll, awake and at peace until he drifted off again.

Konigstag, 27th Brauzeit

The return to civilisation - or at least Sermena - was like the first dropped of water on his parched soul and for a moment Adelbert forgot how exhausted he was and all the aches and burns from their expedition. Then the moment was ruined when the halflings asked if Vico was Klammenburg. Adelbert exchanged an awkward glance with Ludo. 'Uh, no this man is not the one we sought. We rescued him in the desert though and he needs shelter and proper treatment as soon as possible.'

[-Sentinel-]

Elsa, Sieghard and Urgrim, 24th Brauzeit

Elsa was surprised to see the dwarfs arrive before Sforza's reinforcements in spite of their shorter legs. Standing quietly by Sieghard's side to greet the newcomers, she gave Urgrim a curt nod. It was good to know that the Dwimmulsons took the matter of Nahorek very seriously.

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

Sieghard gave Elsa a look as she walked up beside him and then took a step forward.

"I'm Sieghard," he eyeing the ancient dwarf curiously. "You're here because you've heard that the enemy has taken hold of a ruin to the south, yes? We're grateful for any aid Clan Dwimmulson lends against the growing darkness."

[LCP]

Sieghard, Elsa & Urgrim

"Hrmph," grunted Skorgrund, eyeing Sieghard up and down. "Grunlok and the rest are here for that, aye. I'm here to see Zonbrynaz." He raised a bushy, impatient eyebrow as Sieghard looked blank. "The sun spear, manling. If that's what it proves to be. I'm told you have it."

---

Adelbert & Ludo, 27th Brauzeit

"Oh," said the halfling, a little disappointed. "Alright then."

The one he'd called Crumwick gave him a slap round the back of the head. "Haven't you got eyes in your face, Billy?" he said. "That's old Vico, from Vico's farm!"

Hearing his name, Vico gave a feeble wave.

"Oh! Oh gosh. You're looking like death warmed up, Herr Vico, sir. No offence." Ludo was pretty sure the only word Vico caught of that was 'Vico'. "We should get you back home right away."

It was still some distance up the road to Sermena; by the time they reached the outskirts of the village, it was getting very late. Mannslieb was a new moon tonight, and Morrslieb a waning crescent. The darkness forced them to go carefully along the stony road, but looking up at the clear sky, Adelbert could see the stars coming out more clearly than he'd seen them in a long time.

At the Rooster, Valdes met them in his nightshirt. "Good to see you back," he said, as Moltke helped Vico down from his mule in the back. "No luck, I take it."

[LeSwordfish]

26th Brauzeit
Ludo Only

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"Oh!" Ludo jumped. "Sorry, no... keeping myself company, you know."

He ran his thumb over the pendant and slid it back into his pocket.

27th Brauzeit
Before moving on from the Gamecocks by the entrance, Ludo showed them the picture of Klammenberg briefly, hoping it would jog their memory. He did the same, rather more apologetically, to Valdez - hopefully by now the man would be used to the measures they had to take.

"We found out a little more about him and what he wants." Ludo said. "He went to the ruined pillars and investigated to find some treasure in there. He was looking for a staff, which might have been a lie or might be what he was hoping to get for Nahorek. We think he left town on the fourteenth and arrived at the pillars around the twentieth, which means if he's coming back this way, it could be any day now."

[LCP]

Ludo & Adelbert, 27th Brauzeit

"The fourteenth?" said Valdes, with a frown. "How... that's after we got here." He shook his head. "I'll double the watches. You must be exhausted - come inside."

Helping Vico inside, Moltke stopped and looked away, seemingly embarrassed by the sight of the Lord-Lieutenant in his nightshirt. Vico either didn't notice or didn't care - he flopped down onto one of Gill's over-stuffed armchairs. Even with their help, the old Tilean had clearly been running on his last reserves of energy; now he could finally rest, he seemed ready to sleep for a week. Valdes wasn't about to let him, though.

"I see you've brought someone back with you," he said, stoking up the fire in the fireplace. <Alessio, Orfeo, Vincenzo and Vittore. Which are you?>

Vico coughed. <Vincenzo, sir,> he rasped, his voice still a hoarse whisper. <People call me Vico.>

<Vico.> Valdes took a seat himself. <The Battle of Hayyan Plain, right?>

<That's right!> Vico beamed through cracked lips. <You remember!>

Valdes nodded. <Your wife's been worrying about you. She says you told her you were going hunting.> He fixed the old veteran with a searching look. <What happened, Vico? Where is he?>

Vico looked ashamed. <I'll tell you everything I told them,> he said, motioning to Ludo and the others. <Could... could I have something to drink? My voice... it hurts to talk too long.>

Valdes got up and brought a bottle of brandy from behind the bar. Vico's eyes lit up; he clearly wasn't going to say no to that.

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Rather than launch into NPCs asking questions of each other, do you guys have any questions for Vico now that he's in a more comfortable setting?

[LeSwordfish]

Ludo had been holding off his questions until he was sure Vico was safe and at home: now he seemed to be, they just kept spilling out.

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Just an IC post to kickstart the OOC questions. I imagine neither the halflings nor Valdez had their memory jogged by the Klammenberg picture.

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

Sieghard's jaw clenched. He spotted Urgrim among the gathered dwarfs and had to fight the urge to glare daggers at him. "Come with me," he replied, "You've had a long journey, we can speak inside. I can have the servants fetch something to eat if you'd like." He turned towards the fort. As they walked, his mind raced for a way to undo what Urgrim had done, but he failed to find anything that wouldn't just make things worse.

"This is the first I've heard the word... What did you call it? a zongbritz?" he said, stumbling over the strange dwarfen word. "Could you describe this sun spear you're looking for?"

[LCP]

Sieghard & Elsa, 24th Brauzeit

"Zonbrynaz," repeated Skorgrund. "A golden spear with a rune of power on the blade. Jotunnsson says you found it in the umgi ruins in the marsh." The eyebrow raised further. "Doesn't seem like something you'd forget."

---

Ludo & Adelbert, 27th Brauzeit

At Ludo's prompting, Vico began his story at the beginning.

<First I heard of all this was about three weeks back, I think. Alessio said he had this fellow staying at his house, was going to make us all rich. The four of us, I mean.> He took a gulp of the brandy, coughing a little but drinking it down all the same. <This Keiner, he said he needed bold men to go with him into the desert. He came to Alessio first because Alessio spoke the good Reikspiel. He said... he knew where there was treasure buried out in the sand, and if we would keep him safe, we could each have an equal share.>

<I can't say I saw Keiner much outside Alessio's house in the time he was here. He seemed to keep himself to himself, mostly. I thought he was an odd man, though. Younger than us, but he moved like he was older than he looked. And he was always making jokes that nobody understood. He thought he was very funny.> Vico shrugged. <We didn't ask him where he was from. Empire name, Empire voice... seemed like Empire, you know?>

<We left town the day after the Brotherhood arrived, early in the morning. We had been getting our supplies and things ready for days - Keiner said it was important not to be, ah, conspicuous. He said if other people got wind of where we were going they would want a share. We all love Prince Sforza, but we know him too, you know? We know how he is about gold.> Vico looked ashamed. <It was going to be our own little adventure.>

<He drew us a picture of this rod he was looking for - hooked at the end, like a shepherd's crook. He said that was all he wanted, and we could have the rest - gold, jewels, all kinds of things. He was certain it was there. He had this map... it looked new, but Vittore couldn't read the writing on it. All little pictures, not like normal writing. Keiner said he had drawn it up himself, from his researches.>

He finished the brandy in his cup. <Wherever he got it, it was true. We found the place after... I think five, six days in the desert. Mostly it was covered in sand, but you could see pieces of wall and broken statues poking up. And pillars, like you say, tall pillars with more of the picture-writing that was on Keiner's map. In the middle there was this old ruin. Keiner said that was where we'd find the gold.>

<Inside there were steps that went down, and a corridor with more pictures painted on the walls. That's where it happened - I was walking in front, and I hear the floor under my foot go click. The next thing I know, this blade swings down out of the ceiling, like a what-do-they-call-it, a pendulum. Gets me right here.> He gingerly touched the wound in his side. <Keiner was walking in the back. Maybe he knew it was there. He certainly seemed to know his way around the inside of the ruins - he said he had it on his map.>

<I couldn't go on, so Alessio and the others left me my water and rations, and said they would come back for me. I waited... I don't know how long. I think I might have passed out at some point. But it didn't look like such a big place. They should have been back soon enough. I didn't see them again.> He gave a long pause, staring into his cup before filling it again. <Eventually I decided they weren't coming back for me. There wasn't much else to do - I got up and started walking south.>

<Keiner didn't say anything in particular about what he would do after we found the treasure, but all of us assumed we were coming back to Sermena. That's what we laid in our supplies for. I can't imagine he'd have gone a different way without us - otherwise why did he bring us in the first place?> He downed his brandy again and grimaced. <To set off his traps for him, maybe. You say none of the others have come back?>

Valdes shook his head. Vico looked dejected.

<Maybe they're still out there,> he said, quietly. <Maybe I should have looked. I didn't want to go any deeper on my own, I... I thought there might be more traps.> He put his face in his hands. <Orfeo's wife, Vittore's little boy... what am I going to tell them?>

OOC:

Spoiler

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I've tried to work the answers to all the listed OOC questions into a narrative rather than doing quote-block question and answer - if there's anything I've missed let me know.

Yes, nobody showed any unusual reaction the posters - sorry, I didn't make that clear.

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

Of course he told you that.

There was no way out. He could lie, but the old dwarf wouldn't believe him and it wouldn't be long before it was proven false. "No, it's not the sort of thing you'd forget. But I wanted to be sure it was the same spear you asking about," he sighed, "Wait here." When Sieghard returned, he placed the spear on the table between them.

[LCP]

Sieghard, Elsa & Urgrim, 24th Brauzeit

Reaching out, Skorgrund ran his stubby fingers over the spearhead, tracing the design of the double-arrowhead rune cut into the metal.

"So it's true," he said. His voice was hushed and reverential; Sieghard almost thought he saw a tear glisten at the corner of the old dwarf's eye. He blinked and wiped it away with his knuckle. "The haft - you had that made? Have you used it in anger?" He looked up at Sieghard. "Tell me everything."

[RossN]

Ludo & Adelbert, 27th Brauzeit

<'You did the right thing coming back,'> Adelbert reassured Vico. <'Without you we'd be entirely in the dark about your comrades Morr watch over them, and about this Keiner. Speaking of the man though... how did he look and act? Was he ill or tried?'>

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"The original haft was brittle," Sieghard confirmed, "It snapped the first time I tried to use it." He briefly recounted what had happened in Kheneb and how he had found it there. "I've wielded the spear four times," He said. "First was escaping the ruins against dead things that barred our path. That was when the old haft snapped. The second time was against daemons. And then there were two more when I used it in anger," he continued. "There was a village of cannibals not far from here. They worshiped the vampire as a god. I used against them. And I used it again against the vampire just before word would've reached Savonne. We fought the creature's minions in another ruin to the south. We killed most of the mortal ones though I know of a few that survived. The battle was going in our favor until the vampire called up a duststorm and sprung his trap. We tried to regroup, but the northerner knights who came with us... Fools rushed right in and got themselves killed by the shades of long dead men. Those of us who weren't lost to the storm took shelter in the buildings that survived the ages. Cursed places, but it was that or certain death. We couldn't fight the ghosts. The spear could destroy them, but normal blades passed right through. And they were many and there's only one spear. Something about the buildings kept them out though. And when the monster's shades and corpse puppets couldn't flush out, he came to deal with us himself."

"The spear started to glow," Sieghard said, his expression hardening. "We must've been outnumbered by three dead things to the man, but we held them back. His ghouls, dead villagers the monster had rounded up, our own fallen, ancient dead that littered the place, and the knights. He sent all of them after us, and all the while watched while the horde of shades protected him. But we held. Despite everything, we held and only then he stepped away from his ghosts."

"By the time I fought him, the light was blinding. The monster attacked sorcery that could've killed a dozen men, but it didn't do anything and the spear seemed to move on its own. The fight felt like it was over in a moment and the vampire fell back to the protection of his shades. We didn't have the means to go after him, so we fell back rather than lose more men trying to fight through ghosts we had no way to harm." He paused. "The spear never did anything like that any of the other times."

[LCP]

Sieghard, Elsa & Urgrim, 24th Brauzeit

Skorgrund sucked in a long breath between his teeth. "Aye, that'll be it. Zonbrynaz." He ran his fingers through his beard, his eyes still on the spear. "The book found its way out... I suppose the ancestors thought they should level the score."

He looked up into Sieghard's face. "Our ancestors made this weapon for the first umgi king to stand against the Black Hound," he said. "According to our histories, it was Zonbrynaz that struck him down in the first war, and put him in his grave. It was made to kill him, and only him." He narrowed his eyes. "It sounds like you've been in some scrapes with it. Who are you? Why didn't you bring it to us sooner?"

---

Adelbert & Ludo, 27th Brauzeit

<He seemed like a bookworm to me,> said Vico. <Too much time spent indoors. And he limped. Not all the time, but when he was tired, you could see it.> He paused. <Between Last Water and the ruins, he didn't talk that much. Seemed like his mind was wandering. But when we got there,> he snapped his fingers, <sharp again. Like someone had lit a fire under his behind, you know?>