"Fire. It's always fire in the end, with bridges.
It's the bridges. The fords. The rivers. The travellers. The hospices. The wells. The crossroads. The places where you have to go, if you want to go somewhere else. They want them all. THey want people to hate merchants and pilgrims. I've infected over two hundred myself."
"They may have been using you, but you have come to know them, and maybe their weakness. Am I going to have to track down the 200, one by one, or is there another way?"
Theodora, perhaps we shall find a spirit of the dead that can guide us along these roads so that we can strike at the heart of this diabolical conspiracy. Titius looks around himself as in searching for any signs of trouble. We must join our soldae so that we can hear what he has found out. It would be a wise choice to not be here when the daemons return.
"They have not told me any other way, and I have not seen one. I am their tool, not their collaborator."
"The source, the corruptors, the bridge and you. I will remember. Farewell, Sir Knight."
Iohannes returns to the others.
[Just to be clear, I think I'm waiting for a plyer action. If I've missed a player action, then I apologise. Please point it out to me and I'll respond.]
Iohannes tell us what you have learned from your visit and we will tell you what we have learned. Titius pause for a moment and then tell them what we have learned. After everyone has told what they have learned Titius suggests; I think that we should search for a spirit that can aid us in the search for the “Devils roads†and the look at the ritual site and then get some aid to remove the devil worshippers or at least use a few of our own men armed with bows.
[Unless one of you disagrees with this within 24 hours, that's your plan.]
[OK, Mad Max, give me something to work with: which spirit are you looking for and how?]
If spirits of the dead can find the Devils roads then the magi does need to find one. As a cemetery is out of the question then they need to look at crossroads or the location of a old battlefield where spirits of the dead are to be found.
(Sorry for the delay I am jobhunting and busier than normal)
"If any spirit of the dead will do , it should not be difficult to find one. The ones found around crossroads tend to be malign but perhaps that is what we need. We can procede to a crossroads and then if we can find somewhere just out of sight I can perform a summoning . Once we have a spirit I should be able to ensure it's cooperation"
You find a crossroad with a private grove nearby. The grove is muddy from the road's runoff, but other than that it suits your purposes perfectly. You chant your words and after a time a thick, slimy worm-like thing crawls from the earth and winds itself into a tree. You see that it is a tattered and rotten rope, and once it has tied itself in a noose, a ghostly form with snapped neck and blue tongue appears within its circle, and sways gently in a non-existent breeze.
"Command me then, little summoner." it says in a voice that sounds distant and hollow. "Take the joints of my fingers and boil them in trhe blood of pigs and you shall have the devil's lanterns, which make his roads clear."
Titius grins in disgust of the foul abomination in front of his eyes. This spirit received it’s just reward but it doesn’t make it more pleasant to look at. After the instructions have been given he turns to Theodora. I’ll see no reason not to try and construct these “devils lanterns†do you?
If there are no objections Titus ask his servants to do the necessary deeds, find pig blood and dig up some finger bone. Titius hopes that Theodora or a servant does the unsavoury task of boiling the joints in the pig blood.
[I'd like to know if Theodora does this, but one way or another it gets done.]
As night falls you can see that the fingerbones give off a pale sickly light, and in that lkight you can see, as silvery shadows upon the ground, pathways that connect the weak infernal auras caused by human sins. While you stand on one of these roads holding a corpselight, your colleauges cannot see you unless they too hold a corpselight, or have Sense Unholiness.
How many fingerbones have been able to locate?
Eight, all from his right hand. No sign of the left...
I’ll suggest that we move along a path here and see where it goes. We thread carefully and tries to search the area for clues. We don’t get involved in a fight if we don’t need to and if the enemy is superior to us. We need information first and the we can use our strength to punish the devil worshipers for the crimes against the land and its people that they have committed. Anyone who has any other ideas?
Theodora will indeed do this it seems to her to be basic necromacny nothing odd or suspicous although she will let a servant actually find the pig.
We can indeed follow these paths to investigate , however there is some risk we may encounter hostile demons are we able to deal with them?
[Just to be clear, I am waiting for player action here. Was this to an NPC?]
No it was to my fellow magi . I'll try to come up with an action shortly as I have no response