Chapter 8: The Bone Merchant

Halvard:

Or is the goal to prevent the ritual. We may be able to rescue the girl but could they not find another child to sacrifice? I think we must stop the ritual by stopping the mages who wish to perform it or disrupt it.

Wirth
I concur, thus my comments.
I do not want us frightening the mundanes, which may cause problems to our sodales.

Great idea! Wirth would have supported you in this, if is wife and son hadn't softened him up :laughing:

We may have to, but only if this becomes our only choice. Solong as there's a chance to save her, we must try.
In the meantime, we should prepare sympathetic connections to our ennemies. We already have their name or nickname. Alieanus, could you craft a representation of leolinus?

So either we try the ship again or try ferrying people via my flying and Roberto's teleport. Which one are we trying?

I say the ship. Together, we are stronger than appart.

Of course I can craft visual representations of our foes but I have a little information to go on. We shall move on and hunt the diabolists. Hermes has shown us the path and Vulcan’s flames will smite our foes. I agree on that it is the magi we hunt but we must make preparations for a worst case scenario. Even if we don’t know why they chosen this particular girl, we know that they have made a great effort to move her from our home region to the far north. If any girl would do then they just could have taken a peasant girl from the village next to them. A dead mundane will force them to be delayed. Aelianus looks around for a bit of wood that could be used to carve representations and a good crafting knife from his belt at the same time he worries if his soldaes are not a bit too soft when it comes to this particular mundane.

Wirth

I'm thinking... Maybe you could use the AC to scry on their location. This would help you craft something. Who knows? You might hear something useful, too.

So we are agreed we are sailing up the coast then, in that case I will meet you all on the ship

The ship sails from Dover and begins to make it's way north. The Magi are able to produce favorable winds. Halvard is able to cast a spell that creates a wave that pushes the boat along as well. The only problems are from the occasional storm which delays the progress. As you move up the coast, Diodorus asks that you stop at small port towns on the way to check on where the girl is. By his account, she is still moving north at a good pace. At one of the towns, Halvard leaves the party to spare them contact with the Wild Hunt and says he will catch up later. With the information about their girl's location, it is decided to take the boat further north to Sunderland near Newcastle.

At this point the girl is in Northumberland (Northwest of Newcastle), close to the Scotland border. You made up a week of time in this travel. As you begin to travel to Northumberland , Halvard is found sitting by the side of the road in the shade of and ancient standing stone.

((More to follow as soon as I can check my notes at home :blush: ))

Everyone stops for a rest with Halvard and he tells everyone of a vision...

Often, while the Hunt is happening, I will get a vision. Most are not clear or disjointed but this one was very strong. I saw a man...a noble. Tall with a beard. Dressed like a knight with mail. He wore a necklace with many (pauses) charms on it. Much like our friend Sir Richard has. ( gestures to Sir Richard ). He or this necklace seems to glow with a golden light but all around him was a darkness that seemed to be blacker than night. Before him sat a small wizen man. He wore a strange hat or headdress that seemed like a long strip of cloth wrapped around his head.

Roberto: A turban.

Halvard continues:
They had a child bound on a stone alter. They were on a hill top that had 12 standing stones around it and one in the middle. The ground seemed to be soaked in blood. Something seemed to be waiting.

I also noticed that there was no moon in the sky and i realized what it meant. The Solstice. The new moon is on the Solstice this year and it is a time where barriers are weak.

((More to come but you can comment or ask questions))

When is the solstice? How long do we have? Can we make it in time?

Diodorus sits down at Aelianus feet looking at the magus in front of him. Aelianus speaks. Do you know anything more? Do we have a clue on what resistance that we can expect? Is this magus powerful? If so we might need magic that could bypass parma.

Wirth
Magic, or steel.

Sir Richard to Halvard
Describe the man you saw. The Noble.

Halvard closes his eyes and pauses while he concentrates on the memory.

He is tall. Taller than me. He has a full beard that is either gray or blond. It is hard to tell in the firelight. His face is narrow with a hawkish nose. He is dressed in black and wearing mail and carries a sword.

Sir Richard Is the sword on the right or left side?

Halvard: Right side.

Sir Richard: Any symbol you can see on him at all?

Halvard pauses for a moment. Three lines like this ( draws chevrons in the ground). some thing is behind them...like a small plant.

Richard leans over to his Servant Bane and talk for a short bit.

Richard : I think that is Rainard, Lord Soulis. His hereditary castle is called Soulistoun and is well north of here. At least a week or more travel. This is not good if your order dislikes mixing it up with powerful nobles. Lord Soulis is Chamberlain of Scotland. I will understand if you must back out.

Aelianus: Mercury has given us a task and thus we must obey. Demons are a foul thing indeed… We leave no traces and thus we will be hard to track. Any quesiatoris that will come sniffing will hear that we stopped a foul abomination from entering our world.

Diodorus: As a member of the white lineage I can see no other course of action than to slay these foul humans. If we have the time we can use cunning and guile to hunt our prey. Diodorus move his right paw in front of him in the air turns it upside down and flexes his claws. Humans of take us cats for lazy fops but I am a warrior and I will fight.

[color=green]Roberto: [color=red]Yes, a good yard of steel inserted between the ribs will seriously inhibit the opponent's magic. However, I have noticed wards against weapons are becoming more popular nowadays. I myself am capable of puting a lot of penetrating force behind spells, but something else that can give us an edge will be most helpful. We have names, we can use these as sympathetic connections. We could use an Arcane connection though. This would be most helpful. Hmmm....
(contemplates ideas)

[color=red]Well, Rainard Lord Soulis has his days numbered. It is only trouble for us if our activities become widely known. And if someone must take the fall, I will claim that I acted alone and take all blame upon myself. Do not worry. The cause of Righteousness far outweighs the law of man or magus.

The big question is how far away is the solstice.

Iolar
I can get there sooner and this is an area I can blend in to , it is good land for an Eagle so I may be able to look around the area without attracting attention. I don't know if you slower moving people have time to cover the distance, particualrly if we get any bad weather as we are moving into more mountainous country

Sir Richard and his servant speak together for a moment.

Sir Richard: It is hilly with deep valleys and gorges. Light forest around there. I've never been there but Bane has pasted through.

((As an eagle you would like more open terrain for hunting.))

Halvard:

Do you think this Leolinus would teach his new master Parma?

[color=green]Roberto: [color=red]Can he? It requires The Gift, and most diabolists get their powers from the demons they summon, not in and of themselves.
But Demons have magic resistance.