The Diary of Skullweed Moonflower

Purple Elf and Selene Moonlord: part 19

In which we encounter the Fellowship of the Restoration… twice!

Clayday, Disorderweek, Fireseason, 613 TA – evening

Dinar and Charles ask, if we intend to set out for the ambush site tomorrow, whether we shouldn’t have a meeting first – By the Lady! These people do so love to meet! Our general concensus is ‘no, not really, what else is there to say?’ So we thrash a few more details out now. Monty asks whether we should take anyone else with us? Bernard Ingle reminds us that he’s deputy-chief of the Sunbury affairs desk – he warns us that the Heliots are ‘sensitive’ as well as arrogant, taking offence all too easily. He ‘suggests’ we drop in on Sunbury on the way back to apologise. Harlequin immediately counters that an apology will be seen as an admission of guilt and Ingle corrects himself to the word ‘explanation’.

Then Charles, obsequiously as ever in the presence of Lord Monty, offers to come with us. Monty also wants to take Dunblane and Envoy Raysun and I voice my agreement. We need Dunblane at the ambush site and the Envoy will witness any uncovered evidence, preventing those sensitive Heliots from accusing us Selenites of mendacity. Silas also wants to come with us. Monty says he would value Charles’ input and Charles immediately suggests retrieving the bodies buried at the ambush site and conveying them to Sunbury. As well as being a gesture of respect, it will also give us the chance to evaluate the bodies of the ‘Selenites’ and judge where they really came from.

Governor Boban announces he must return to Hilltown but he will leave Peter Thirlwood in Freetown as his personal liaison with authority to act on the Governor’s behalf. Governor Boban seems to put a lot of trust in Thirlwood. Charles suggests we all meet at Lord Monty’s town house tomorrow, two hours after dawn.

I’ve just noticed that while I use surnames for most of these firiath, for some reason I’ve used the first names for Silas and Charles. Psychology tells me my subconscious is treating these two differently to the others. Unfortunately I have no idea why because my subconscious is not on speaking terms with my waking mind – perhaps I need therapy?

I spend the night basking in the light of Cúron (the Crescent Moon).

Windsday, Disorderweek, Fireseason, 613 TA

We get to Monty’s town house for breakfast in the morning. He puts on a nice spread – plenty of bacon all round – but a very pleasant meal is interrupted by Charles, who apologises, advising a messenger for Monty has arrived overnight from Sartac, something to do with the ‘Stormies’, as Charles puts it. He says the messenger will come over from the Consulate two hours after dawn – or 8am, by Dan’s wonderful timepiece.

But an hour later it becomes clear that the messenger does not have such a timepiece. He’s still not arrived fifteen minutes later. Charles gushes apologies and goes to find him, leaving me wondering what’s going on.

Charles returns half an hour later to say the messenger has ‘overslept’ and will be with us shortly. He finally turns up at 9! He claims to be from Sartac, the Ducal affairs office, but Dan is certain he doesn’t recognise him. The messenger reports that ‘a rabble of Stormies’ from beyond Loonz are heading ‘south’ to warn everyone of the first ambush of a Salzberg caravan.

This all seems very odd to me – this mob originates beyond Loonz, so they have to pass Moonguard and Loonz, our two biggest cities, and march the length of the Moon River to reach Freetown and the powers that be can do nothing to stop them?

The messenger produces his official papers and Monty recognises the official seal of the office of Ducal affairs so it seems legitimate. I ask his name – Edgar Hulu. I get the impression that most of all this is true but he’s keeping something back and also some of what he says is exaggerated. He’s riding on to Hilltown today, though he could just tell Governor Boban before he rides off.

I voice my doubts regarding this message and Charles readily agrees that it all seems unlikely – he calls me ‘Lord Moonflower’! I find myself eyeing him intently – is it possible this is all some sort of a charade? But why? To delay our departure by an hour? Is this just paranoia?

No matter! We finally set out, Monty and Dan on Monty’s wagon, the rest of us on our various steeds. I give Elma a pep-talk as I mount up. It’s a lovely day, a little blustery with a lot of fluffy clouds, but still warm – perfect riding weather.

We pass a few travellers along the way but encounter nothing of note. Late that afternoon we pass the boundary stone that marks the limits of Freetown jurisdiction.

A couple of hours later we pull over to camp the night. There’s another caravan camping here also, heading toward Freetown. For some reason they seem very suspicious of us, though I don’t know why because Monty radiates Charisma. But their suspicion is catching, triggering our detects: but Harlequin detects no enemies, Monty no undead and I no illusions. We are all just being paranoid. We set guards overnight, as do they, but nothing happens during the night to disturb my basking in the light of the Half Moon (Perithil, as we say in Fae).

Fireday, Disorderweek, Fireseason, 613 TA

Sydney cooks a fortifying breakfast. With dawn all that paranoia seems to evaporate and the other caravan pack up and set off with cheerful waves. As they set off we see they have four guards, two Selenite and two Mithrates, and also a very handsome dog (or hû in Fae). You see a lot of Mercers with canine familiars but typically they’re some form of sheepdog, but this is much larger and hairier – to me it looks like a small bear.

We continue north, Dunblane says the ambush site is about three hours ahead. Soon I start noticing potential ambush points, where cover lies within bowshot of the road. I see Roxie noticing the same and we exchange glances but this road is moderately safe – Ducal forces patrol it regularly, as does Freetown the other side of the boundary marker. On the other hand, if there was no threat, there’d be no need for guards in the first place. That all these merchants pay for them suggests banditry is still a possibility.

As we pass another copse to our left, I spy a thin trickle of smoke from a campfire ahead and shortly we spy a tent and the campfire. It seems deserted but, as we approach, the fire vents a puff of smoke and abruptly goes out.

At that moment, out of the corner of my eye I see movement. Laying a hand to my discus I spy a large man emerge from the copse. He’s dressed in black with a heavy cloak over a surcoat with a pale symbol, just seen. He marches up to the road and turns to face us. As we approach we see the symbol on his surcoat is a white Gurth (Death rune) on black. He has no obvious weapons.

We also notice he’s huge – as big as Roxie, and they don’t come any bigger!

We halt twenty yards away as he announces he is Joshua Tombstone. He looks at Lord Monty and asks if he is the Ducal Nuncio. When Monty confirms he is, the stranger breaks into a spiel – almost a rant!

“I represent the Fellowship of the Restoration!” (As if this is significant.) “We intend to restore the rightful ruler of Singidun, King Ivan Karloff, descended directly from the last Priest-King!”

Singidun? The name rings a bell – wasn’t that the old name for Freetown in the Dawn Age, from before the crusade that created Moonguard and Sunbury? I’m no student of history but everyone knows Moonguard was founded after a momentous crusade against the vile Wraithe heresies of the Empire of… Singidun! Oh!

Oh dear!

Joshua goes on, “Moonguard is free to continue but Sartac south to Yavorbad,” (where?), “including Freetown, will be returned to the rightful rule of King Ivan Karloff.”

Someone mutters something about Yavorbad being the old name for Sophia. By the Lady! That’s a lot of territory.

Roxie pointedly asks how he will do this, “Do you have an army?” He comes back, “The struggle has already begun.” He asks Monty to pass this message on to his master in Moonguard. “Now I have given you this message I shall depart.” And he simply vanishes – Divine Intervention?

We investigate the campsite – the one-man tent has a bedroll, a backpack with a couple of torches and some rations – very basic. We find tracks for someone with very big feet all around it. Strangely, Joshua left no tracks at all from where we saw him to the road. I think he must have used a Selenite Image spell, which means he must have been observing us from within 160 yards. He may be still out there. If he’s using Selenite illusions he may very well be a Selenite blessed by the Lady…

Envoy Raysun seems stunned by Joshua’s claims but his bemusement turns to cold anger when Harlequin, somewhat tactlessly, suggests King Ivan might be “more tolerant of undead than the current regime”. I think he’s joking but no one laughs.

Sydney observes with a wry grin that, “Just when we’re looking to unearth a grand plot, along comes someone offering us one on a plate”. He has a point, we cannot take Joshua at face value – especially if he’s using Selenite runemagics.

We continue – Dunblane says the ambush site is about an hour away but we’ve been going only another 20-30 minutes when we emerge from yet another copse to see an obviously contrived scene. Up ahead, on the left, is a wagon parked on the grass, fifty yards from the road. There’s no sign of a draft animal nor of a driver or owner. The wagon looks capacious but it’s covered and we can’t see what it’s carrying.

The other side of the wagon, a tarpaulin has been spread over the ground – both that and the wagon are about fifty yards from the road. Dunblane says this is not the ambush site but something inside me is saying it’s an ambush site. Sydney wonders if the tarpaulin is hiding a hole.

Looking around, we can see something in the larger of two copses to our right, to my eye it looks like it’s been deliberately camouflaged. Obviously it’s a set up, but how do we deal with it? We don’t want to split our meagre manpower in two directions. Silas announces he’ll stay in the wagon. (And I was so hoping to see a garrotte in action.)

Charles and Harlequin load their crossbows while I send Ithiltê out with strict instructions to stay above range of battlemagic – it will limit her senses but I think a simple overflight is all we need for now, I can always send her over again at a lower altitude if she spots anything interesting.

As it happens, her sonar picks out at least four heads in the wood to our right. That we can’t see them must mean there’s some sort of screen hiding them from us. Ithiltê spots nothing remarkable with the wagon and the tarpaulin.

For some reason, Charles chooses this moment to ask Harlequin if he has special arts against undead and Harlequin trots his standard homily regarding being favoured by Humakt.

We leave the wagon and our mounts guarded by Charles, Silas and Envoy Raysun. We head for a spot pretty much between the two copses on the right, intending to turn left and furckle through the larger copse to take the ambushers by surprise. Dunblane comes with us; I suspect he’s eager to live down his running from the fight in the original ambush, despite that almost certainly being down to some sort of runemagic.

We’re almost at our turning point when a shout goes up from the wagon. Looking that way, we see the tarpaulin move as… things start crawling out from under it but, as we’re watching, the side of the wagon drops down to reveal four men with crossbows pointing our way. At the same time someone shouts that our ambushers in the woods have broken cover. I call to Ithiltê for Shimmer as I reach for a discus…

But before we can move, the crossbowmen shoot. Arbalest bolts rattle off Harlequin’s carapace. Roxie’s spun round as two bolts take her arm off. Then two more hit me in the left arm and abdomen and I’m knocked to the floor, in shock. (Later I learn Dan absorbed a battlemagic spell.)

Harlequin shoots back with his arbalest, killing one of the crossbowmen but Sydney is the real hero, while the others flee into the woods, he stays put and starts healing Roxie. While I’m lying there, unable to feel my arm (which is probably a blessing, seeing the state it’s in), Ithiltê casts Shimmer on me.

Sydney heals Roxie and then me, all the time watching the men in the wagon cranking their crossbows for another salvo. Ithiltê takes the opportunity to cast my new Fumble spell on an arbalester in the wagon.

Meanwhile the others meet the ambushers in the woods, finding them to be úcuin (undead), human and trollkin (or edain and pîntoroeg as we say in the woods) but by the time I follow Roxie and Sydney into the copse, the first wave is all but vanquished (Dan in particular proving deadly with his axe baned against úcuin).

We reform our line of battle to meet the úcuin from under the tarpaulin – seven tylycnaiv, two of them trollkin – but the fight is very one-sided, even though they outnumber us. In my case my single opponent pretty much self-destructs before I can hit it. One of Harlequin’s does the same while he smashes another’s chest. Up the line Dan, Monty and Dunblane drop their skeletons and it’s all over bar the mopping-up.

Ithiltê tells me the three surviving crossbowmen are running off – I send her to follow them while I collect my dropped discus. A few minutes later we’re following their tracks across the clearing and into a much larger copse, leaving Naran to guard the wagon.

As we enter the copse, Ithiltê tells me she’s not seen them leave – and she would have seen, from up there she can see all round this clump of trees. Not wishing to be surprised, Dan casts Detect Life and Harlequin Detect Undead, but Dan finds only typical wildlife and the only undead thing is Harlequin’s arm.

We follow the tracks through the wood, and they’re easy to follow, but on the far side they simply vanish. I look up but the only tree they could have climbed shows no sign of them. We search the ground, looking for holes or trap-doors, but find nothing.

Exasperated, I find an inquisitive squirrel watching nearby, on which I turn the more acceptable of my Chaos features. It’s not overly bright but it’s smart enough to demand a bribe, which it gets in the form of some nuts and an apple. I ask what it saw of the three men here a few minutes ago – they just vanished! Well I just hope the one Ithiltê cast my Fumble on suffers the consequences at some point.

Back at the wagon, we find the dead body is missing a head but this is from Harlequin’s crossbow, not a garrotte. In fact his head more or less disintegrated and I doubt he’d be of much interest to any Thani now. But we all note he’s wearing the same garb as Joshua Tombstone. We gather his body and search the wagon but the only thing of note is a sketch of Lord Monty.

Half an hour later we’re at the ambush site. Dunblane walks us through his account. I’ve been thinking what might have happened to him – it doesn’t sound like Delusion or Phantasm, or any Selenite magic. Unless it was some Chaos feature (always a possibility), to me it seems closest to Vampiric Harmonise or Hypnotic suggestion – I think Dunblane was geased to flee, come back and witness the ‘burial’ rites.

Speaking of which, Dunblane leads us to the mass grave. As suspected, the bodies were buried just a foot deep and are easily uncovered. We easily identify the bodies of Mercer Alan Greengrass and the five Mithrates. There’s also three Selenite bodies. Of these, two must undoubtedly be the last two kidnapped militia. From the state of their bodies, Sydney thinks they were held captive before being killed shortly before they were buried.

But the last body is different – its surcoat is very similar to that of the two militia but it’s clearly newer, nowhere near as worn with no patches or sign of mending. This must be one of the twenty surcoats made in Hoebottom by Hilda Sostrate’s girls, which means this body is a genuine renegade, who was not given a proper burial by his friends.

Interestingly, the Mercer and Mithrate bodies have been stripped of anything valuable, but the three Selenites are fully equipped with armour and weapons – and longswords are not cheap. Of course, it could be argued that the ‘Selenite’ renegades treated their own with respect, but to me it’s obvious that they were meant to be found, evidence of Selenite betrayal.

However, on that last body we find a note in Lunatic, “Rendezvous at …”. None of us recognise the address but we’re certain it’s not Freetown and Dan’s equally sure it’s not Sartac. But then Envoy Raysun, of all people, brow knitted in concentration, feels it’s a Sophia address.

Sydney, busy sketching the dead renegade’s face, reminds us all of Mortimer’s connection with Sophia. It looks like this is where we’re bound next. Mmm! I’m not sure I’m comfortable with that – there’s a lot of Wind-worshippers out that way and they can get quite intense about Chaos…

We camp the night under Amgrym (the Gibbous Moon). Despite the day’s fraught action (I’d have been dead without Sydney’s aid), the night proves entirely restful.

Moonday, Disorderweek, Fireseason, 613 TA

We visit Sunbury, gaining an immediate audience with Lord Lux. We hand over the bodies of Greengrass and the Mithrates, show the three other bodies from the ambush and the headless body from the wagon. We relate our view of the situation and Lord Lux seems quite won over by the evidence – I think Envoy Raysun’s testimony is very helpful. A diplomatic crisis is averted – no doubt this will go down as Lord Monty once again saving the day.

Godsday, Disorderweek, Fireseason, 613 TA

We get back to Freetown and hand over all the corpses. We get our wages for the last week. Monty asks about our bonuses and we’re told, now we have located all four missing militia, we are entitled to our bonuses – but they’ll be paid from Hilltown! I make my displeasure known to Thirlwood – we’ve been through a lot, facing úcuin and raughoth, we’ve earned our money!

And someone’s going to have to go to Sophia…