Cath'rinne chimes in. "Or someone who knows the Diedne perhaps? They had druidic roots, I believe. Perhaps they've been buried like that because the person thought it matched their beliefs."
âI did not get the impression that Mordredâs people liked the Diedne any more than they liked the other side committing war against them in this land. Perhaps I am wrong but I feel Diedne would have treated us with greater vitriol and had more gifted among them.â
"Yes, obviously I did not imply the Druids and the Diedne are the same, nor that we can hope to interact peacefully with the forsaken house."
Betula thinks on this for a moment before responding with, âperhaps the diggers were of Diedne. There may be more reason to disturb some of the bodies than I thought. Shall we get to it?â
Cath'rinne thinks for a moment. "I had not considered this, but yes, it seems possible the burrying was done by the Diedne themselves. Which would mean some of them survived the attack. What do you suggest to get the bodies without harming the trees? Actually, a skull is sufficient for my purposes..."
"Digging down without damaging the roots should be possible with Rego or Perdo applications of Terram if you can manage that, you seem to have a great facility with Spontaneous magic or, perhaps, someone else can manage that and knows a spell of that sort. Otherwise, we dig, carefully... on the other hand I did tell Brother Pine that we would leave the body there figuring you would merely need to touch the body to use it as an arcane connection but, of course, I do not know much about summoning the dead, they were just all around us in The Cave and there was no reason to summon them except with a called name."
Being a mound, rather than a deep grave, it does not look particularly challenging to open the grave. The tree is unlikely to have grown roots up into the mound, which is only 1-1œ year old. Do you go ahead with it? Or something else?
"That seems handy, a cave filled with ghosts." she remarks to Betula.
Seeing the mound... "On second look, I think a shovel will do... and I can keep my energy for later." Cath'rinne will ask the able-bodied grogs to dig. "Try to avoid damaging the bodies.", she coaches them. She steps a bit away, turns into a vulture and flues about, trying to figure out how many mounds and possible tombs there are.
The grogs find their shovels and get started. Under the magae's direction they get into a steady and prudent pace, removing the mound layer by layer. Just as the magae have started to relax, trusting the grogs to continue with the same care, all the second sighters and magic sensers hear an ear shattering scream of pain.
The grogs have revealed the edge of a shield and human shoulder clad in chain mail. Hearing nothing, they calmly assert the fact, while they briefly pause to draw their breath. «This is a body, alright,» you hear, as the grogs prepare to resume their spade work.
Not really getting the meaning meant Betula says excited, âYes, there is much to learn from our Forebearers and the previous Primi of the House. In fact one of the books I brought with me is a disputation on Magic Theory with Cato ex Bonisagus a Primus of my house. I met him in The Cave, he was rather kind. I believe there is something special about The Cave I am told those who die there are more like the people they were in life than those who become ghosts elsewhere. Next time I travel back, if you would like to see it, you may return with me. Perhaps stay to learn for a time. We have no secrets that do not merely hide themselves.âq
âNoooooooo! Stoooop!â Betula screams on hearing the sound racing closer to the partially uncovered mound. Putting her body between the grogs and where they likely want to continue shoveling to get this over with. âCareful, you are harming it. Canât you hear the screams?â
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"What screams? Harming what?" Cath'rinne says, unsure if Betula is hearing the tree again.
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"The spirit of this corpse. It screams when the shovels hit," Betula says in exasperation.
Betula begins digging carefully with her hands making sure to barely touch the corpse as she removes the dirt where she thinks the head may be. [She immediately stops if this also causes screaming by the spirit.]
As Betula kneels to touch the soil, she can see a ghostly face surfacing about where one would expect a face relative to the shoulder. It looks as if it is drawn with pain, and before Betula has a chance to speak, it sinks back into the soil.
When she removes a handful of soil, it resurfaces and groans. The wind is whizzling in the trees. To Betula (and Turold) it sound like «s-s-stay-y, s-s-stay-y». And the ghost sinks back into the soil.
Tears falling down her face as she continues to dig, âIt is groaning. Something wants to keep it there. Perhaps the spirit of the forest.â Betula feels covered in grime, unclean, vile, not apt, and it has nothing to do with the dirt though there is that as well. She thinks of the sacrifices of those following the Path of Strife and tears flow even more freely. After brushing the last layer of dirt from its face Betula looks to Cathârinne, tears streaming down her face at the pain she has caused it, âIs this clear enough for your purposes?â
Cath'rinne will analyse the strength of the local magical aura (InVi base 2, +1 touch - forceless spontaneous casting). Assuming she detects a magical aura, she'll analyse whether there are also faerie & infernal auras, and their relative strength.
Assuming the aura is beneficial, she then asks whether she can "borrow the eyes" of one of the second sighters. If a magi volunteers, she'll clarify "This is an intellego mentem effect where I see what you see." - she is careful to make sure she has clear consent as she'd rather not be seen as scrying, and was expecting a companion to volunteer. If no one speaking latin volunteers, Turold will accept provided someone translates to him.
(I'll figure out the details of my casting when I know the strength of the aura, assuming nothing happens while we talk - if someone threatening happens, I'm likely to interupt my chain of small spells)
She also asks at the group: "Do we have anyone skilled to analyse whether there is an active magical effect on that body / ghost?"
âSee through my eyes? Hear through my ears? Watch out, you may learn something,â she says wryly. Still kneeling next to the head of the corpse she lowers her Parma and says matter-of-factly, âmy defenses are down and I give you permission to join my perceptions as a passenger.â
[Edit to add:] Betula remains kneeling, her mouth twisting into a smile and a look of bliss in her eyes as she feels the sense of separation her magic resistance provides is removed from her.
Cath'rinne detects a magic aura of 4. I do not think she can detect lesser auras shadowed by the dominant one; I asked the community a little time ago, and the general sentiment was no.
Betula removes enough soil to see that the shield bears the crest of Diedne. Did I mention the chain mail shirt? It is the heaviest armour of the day.
The ghost is suddenly lifted upwards, as if caught by the wind. It screams in panic. Head down, it stretches its arms out. All of a sudden, what looks like a ghostly root appears from the grave. The ghost grasps it and pulls himself, or is pulled, you cannot be sure, back into the ground.
«Together,» whizzles the wind in the branches around you.
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With a magical aura of 4, Cath'rinne will cast. We're looking at base 5, +1 touch, +2 sun for a total of 20. See A&A 33 for the guideline used - quote from the rulebook:
"The Level 5 guideline âSense a single emotion in a beingâ reads the targetâs estimation, as does the Level 10 âSense all of the emotions in a being.â This guideline can also read a single sensory input from the targetâs common sense."
What she's aiming to do is tap into the second sight of Betula.
Non-ceremonially, in a magic aura of 4, Cath'rinne is at +25 for InMe. She rolled 31 / 2 yields a 15. She spends one stamina for fatiguing spontaneous magic, and extra 5 for life-linked. Taking a lesson from her earlier experience, and seeing no urgency, she will sit down on a nearby rock to recover her stamina. This will take her 12m to be back to fresh.
Meanwhile, Turold having seen the ghost being pulled back by a magical root, will investigate using his Forest Lore (see HoH: MC 103). He's walking arround trying to understand the area, trying to locate the supernatural elements of the local forest - is there a magical spirit such as a genii loci or something else binding the ghost in the ground?
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When Cath'rinne has finished her spell and touched Betula's head and released, moving away to sit, Betula releases her suppression of Parma. She then focuses on her second sight and looking around to see what she might have missed.
[7 total on Second Sight roll +3 from spending confidence point.]
Cath'rinne taps into Betula's head and can see the ghost as it is drawn back into the ground. I take it that «a single sensory input» means that she does not also hear the ghostly voices.
When Betula takes a break from digging, it seems that the ghost relaxes. It wobbles in the surface of the soil; sometimes visible to the second sight and sometimes disappearing.
Turold can feel the presence, not only of a genius locus, but also a myriad of other spirits who have lived together in harmony. The harmony has been broken though, and you sense that the forest is uneasy.
Betula can also see that there are many spirits living between the trees. That's all she can see from the graveside. Does she go walk-about to see more?