She nods. "It is difficult for me to interact with mundanes. You are different, yes."
"This is twilight. For her to have been there for more than a season... it means she's powerful, yes. I think she will emerge from it... Whether in 6 months or a decade, I cannot tell."
"I am here to locate the other Diedne who fought by her side, as well as those who have fallen among the Order. I may need your help to identify them, although my magic will no doubt help."
"Twilight⊠That's only a whispered word for those of us without the Gift," says Hamish. "She is gonna be mighty pissed when she comes out of whatever that is." He gestures at her.
"But yeah, I'll help with what I can. Not sure the fallen here are from the turbs or soldiers I know, but I can look at what's left of them They been picked over good."
Cath'rinne nods "she may be annoyed, yes."
"I may also need assistance with the local language... I'm not sure they all speak Latin."
With this conversation out of the way, she will then start engaging with the corpses, starting from the vincinity of Diana and then going outwards. She alternates between two spells: The Whole from the Part and Whispers through the Black Gate. She's doing detective work which will take some time, and so the gamemaster may want to step in and narrate large parts of it, as the amount of interaction may be too much to be reasonably roleplayed (though feel free to bring up a scene and I may do so as well).
She asks questions to the corpses about who they were, who they accompanied, who they fought, whom they saw die, and who were closest to when they died. She's hoping that if one body doesn't cooperate, she can still figure out who they were because others talk, and the whole from the part description can be used to get "witnesses" as to which side the person fought on and whether they cast spells.
She wants to come out with a list of dead members of the Order partly so that she knows whose sanctum is legal to enter, and which covenants have fallen - the chief quaesitori is one body that she's looking for. And she's trying to locate and identify the fallen Diedne magi as well.
Thomas walks around the edge of the battlefield, seeing if there are any recognisable corpses.
As an apprentice and magus gauntleted not too long ago, he hadn't met many magi of the Tribunal before the war started. He talks to the grogs, asking "do you recognise any of the soldiers involved? How did this battle occur without it becoming the talk of the entire nation?"
It is relatively easy to call up the ghosts and images of a couple of grogs closest to Diana. The images do not say much; tell spell shows their essential nature, which is that of a healthy shield grog. The interviews are not particularly coherent; the ghosts seem to be confused and not fully aware of their own demise. One things come across, though, was their mission to which they were fully devoted. About as many grogs were devoted to one Pontius Arbiter as to Diana.
All the bodies in this group seem to be from shield grogs, and there is no trace of Pontius between his grogs.
Moving down the battle field, the soldiers seem to be largely rank and file, rather than personal shield grogs. Again, the ghosts are disorientated by death, but they tell of dreadful monsters, flying wolves and a dragon, and giants as tall as the church tower in York.
Please roll stress dice for at lesat two more spells. Do you still want to use Whole from the Part? Or would both be Whispers through the Black Gate?
Calling up all the ghosts would take more than one day, not only because of sunset, but also because it is tiring. I reckon you can sample a fourth or a third of the bodies, not counting those too burnt or destroyed for the spell.
You find one ghost who seems to be more than just a soldier.
My dragon, my dragon! I lost it. What a calamity. We lost it. Those damned Tremeres.
The far end of the battlefield is a lot gloomier, and you can feel the aura working against you. You call up the ghost of another grog.
Please, take me away and give me a proper burial. They took the others, why not me?
If (when) you inquire further, you understand that he was an archer from Blackthorn, who had spent a year on campaign when they entered this calamitious battle. He was firing against the dragon, but to no avail. He does not know what hit him.
That's fine. I anticipated it would take some time.
Does he say who he was? It does sound like a Diedne. I'll interrogate him on what happened to the dragon as well since I guess there's no remains? Was the dragon a familiar?
Why do you ask? Are you one of those followers of the Tremere, sent to hunt us down? Screw you!
"Surely you want your legacy to be remembered? No, I'm not a Tremere, and I did not raise a hand against your and your own."
"I might be able to help. Who was taken away and where were they taken?"
«Who are you then? You do not sound like one of ours.»
«The two knights, at least, and a few others. I don't know where. It does not matter, as long as it is a proper church.»
"I'm a pagan Bjornaer... I was in Crintera the past few years... but I decided I could hide no longer while your House disappeared. I don't want the Christian Tremere to write the only history books."
Bjornar, once a close friend, I have heard, but when times got tough you ran away to hide. Traitors, is what it is called.
"Perhaps my House deserves this epithet from your perspective. I don't know. I was too young to make that decision. Not that you're really in a position to judge me harshly either way for the decision of my forefather's. Your House will no fall in peace and take a few more enemies with them, surely. But your House is dying. The only question at this point is whether you're content to let the Christians erase all that you were and could have been, or whether you want something to survive. I will ask again - what was your name, dragon rider?"
What do you suppose that I would do about that? It is too late. We are doomed, doomed by a house who could not accept its not being the strongest one, and by those rallied to their cause or tacitly let it happen. I am what I am not, and I do not see myself coming back.
Cath'rinne ends her concentration. This conversation is going nowhere, and even if she wanted to continue it, she wouldn't continue it here. She has other corpses to talk to. She is keeping the head of this one - to talk to later.
Hamish continues to shadow Cath'rinne, standing watch over her and also watching the others in the party, gesturing corrections if he spots any positioning or activities that aren't wise.
He is also listening, if able, to Cath'rinne's conversations, dreading seeing anyone he knows... or who may know him.
The sun is setting, and hours upon hours of spell casting is fatiguing even if no individual spell is. Will Cath'rinne continue the next day to cover every corpse she can find? So far, she has covered between a third and a fourth, finding only one magus. None of the remaining corpses stand out from the crowd.
She will, yes. She doesn't believe such a large battlefield has only two dead magi.
In the evening, Cath'rinne will try to engage with Thomas.
"I've been wondering what your intentions are? You initially joined us to visit Lux Draconis... which is a ruined covenant. You claimed to work for a Tytalus whom we've never met. You've been with us since. Not that a merchant who seems to be fine with the gift wouldn't make a fine companion, but won't your Tytalus patron wonder why you're not coming back?"
"My patron is keen to find a covenant where he may settle safely away from the towns of Mercia, where there is considerable danger for those who followed advanced arts and wisdom. He entrusted me with a very small amount of knowledge about where such people may be found, and it seems that you are extremely motivated to find a sanctuary where you can study without persecution, and without being controlled by the...well whatever Janus and Edwin were. I think it is important I find somewhere where Nauvi ex Tytalus can study without fear."