Sapphire:Sessions:20140524

In the 'gear room', Trace calls Malcolm's name twice. After the second time, the guardian of the manor phases in slowly. Trace explains, "We ran into a circle of mages who are opposing us. The leader is named Rinaldo Canana. We have encountered them in five different places. They may be a threat to the manor. I request to see the books in the secret rooms, or at least their titles." Malcolm looks briefly at the map Trace shows him, then moves nearer to the gear, which spins faster. A crystal ball appears. Malcolm announces, "I will speak to you within a week," then goes into an adjacent room. The door shuts, Trace hears indistinct words, and a glow appears around the doorframe.

Chalker, Rory, and Striker explore more gates. One of them leads to a bedroom in Derakor.

Trace tries again to get the control word for the magic knife.

Mid-afternoon, Rory determines that the two-bedroom suite they have entered through yet another gate is located underground on the "time island." The main room of the suite contains a control console, not as intricate as the one they'd seen before in the tower. The desk drawers have been pulled open and emptied except for a torn scrap of parchment. The bedrooms are disarrayed as though someone had packed up and left hurriedly. Rory copies down the runes on the control panel.

There are crystal slots arranged in different sections of the console. Those on the right side appear to have been more frequently used. Rory inserts a crystal which begins to glow, and the right-hand section lights up. "System operational. To whom do you wish to speak?" Chalker says, "Danilon." "Senior or Junior?" After a moment's thought, Chalker replies "Junior." The crystal's glow intensifies. "Danilon Junior is not responding." "Last known location?" "Residence is his manor at Ribotera Cliffs." "Do we have communication with the palace in Sapphire?" "That array appears to be down. Correction - there is a faint return from the artifact, but no being is operating it." "What is the time?" "Unable to determine." "What is the nearest transportation vehicle?" "I do not understand." At Rory's prompting, Chalker requests "nearest active communication nodes, limit ten." After about a minute, the console responds, "I find none within five hundred miles." "Nearest active one outside five hundred miles?" "There are over two thousand nodes in the comm array. Checking all of them will take about twenty-four hours." "Diagnostic of comm array?" "As expected." The console can, in an emergency, contact the owners of the suite, but it is not permitted to give that information to 'unidentified operators,' and Chalker doesn't agree to undergo a "deep scan verification."

Meanwhile, Rory has plugged a crystal into the upper left console section, and the walls begin to glow. He tries stepping through the gate, and the defensive glow intensifies.

Chalker asks one final question, "Is this comm node being scanned?" "No." He says politely, "Thank you for your help," but gets no response to this pleasantry. Peering inside the console, he notes a number of carved stones, crystals, and intricate magic items. Beneath the one panel that did not react when a crystal was plugged in, the workings are obviously burned out. Rory unplugs all the crystals.

From one of the bedrooms, Chalker takes a handful of stones and a picture frame. Returning to the manor, he gives these items to Trace. The frame has an activation phrase carved on its base, and when the phrase is spoken, an illusory picture appears of a man, woman, and three children. The stones, when held for more than five seconds, cause other pictures to appear.

That night, Chalker finds Mensep, Jax, and Roo standing sentinel over him. He asks Jax, "How's the plan going?" Jax: "I am walking the balance between Mother and Father. She is dilly-dallying with the Dark Lord's plan. Father is still neutral, however." "You seem down." "I am; the plan is not going well." "Is there such a thing as a Third Chosen?" Jax explains briefly that the First Chosen are the creators, the Second Chosen are their designates, the 'doers,' and the Third Chosen include the children of the First as well as certain elves who have been elevated to that level.

Chalker: "I want to talk to Envy. I hear she wants to do me harm." Jax: "Only as she is aligned with the Lord of Darkness." Chalker: He should just let it go. That was a long time ago."

In the morning Chalker tells the others, "I might get to talk to Envy before she eats me." He invites Trace to come gate-hopping with Rory and him, but Trace replies that someone needs to stay back in the manor. "You can poke your head through; I'll be around."

Mid-afternoon, Chalker places the final crystal in a new gate, and sand begins trickling through it. As he steps through, a woman's screams are heard. He is on a beach, and in the waters nearby is a ship that flies no flag. The gate is propped semi-upright on a sand dune, and there are several men with their backs to the gate.

Chalker draws a dagger and puts it at the first man's (M1) throat, and says softly, "Don't move." Rory and Striker step through the gate, and immediately M2 yells, "It's active!" Rory sics Striker on M2.

M1 responds, "Okay." M2 draws his sword and starts to run, but trips and falls. M3, at the shoreline, turns to see what the commotion is about. M4, an archer, aims at Rory; Chalker takes hold of the iron arrowhead. Rory drops to one knee and draws back his bowstring. Striker snaps at M2's throat.

M2 tries to roll over, but Striker scrambles atop him, pinning him. M4 fires, but his shot goes wide. M3 charges toward Chalker. M1, Chalker notices, is holding a glowing quartz cube and gesturing over it. "Drop the cube or you'll die." "Not today," and M1 twists away from Chalker. Other men's shouts can be heard.

As M1 starts to turn, Chalker steps around him and grabs the cube. M1 raises one hand, which begins to sparkle, while continuing to gesture with his other. Rory shoots M4, who screams in pain. Striker snarls and snaps at M2.

Glancing over his shoulder, Rory sees a young woman (W1), bleeding from various scratches, her clothes torn, running in his direction. Three men (G3), one of whom has a bloodied hand, are chasing her. Another group of men (G4) surrounds a struggling, prone woman (W2); Rory nocks an arrow and takes aim at G4. Chalker lays an arm bar across M1's throat. Striker looks up from M2 to see M3 running at Chalker. M1 tries to slap Chalker with a lightning bolt; Chalker parries, his knife scraping M1's forearm and peeling away a strip of skin. W1 runs lightly over the sand, in contrast to G3 slogging along behind her.

Rory shoots and hits one of G4, eliciting a cry of pain. Chalker shoves M1 into M3's path. Striker bites M2's neck and gives it a shake. M1 stumbles and M3 sidesteps him. M4 reaches up and with a sudden effort snaps off the shaft of Rory's arrow (fortunately not one of his magic ones). W2 scrambles to her feet, and W1 pulls further ahead of G3.

M1 falls to one knee. M3 swings his weapon at Chalker and misses. M2 tries again to turn over, but can't get leverage against Striker's weight. M4 nocks an arrow. W1 rushes straight at Rory, screaming for help; Rory grabs her arm, swings her around, and sends her through the gate. W2 retreats from G4, whose attention is now on Rory and Chalker. Striker plants a large forepaw on the back of M2's head, then uses it as a springboard to leap toward G3. Shaking his head at M3, Chalker puts his knife and the quartz cube away.

Chalker swiftly draws his sword, spins, and slashes M3. Rory runs around behind the gate, putting it between himself and M4. M4 has to move to get a better angle. W1 skids on the tiled floor, at first not seeing Trace crouched there. M2, spluttering and spitting sand, struggles to get to his feet. G3 pulls up short, confronted by a snarling war dog. W2 breaks toward the gate. Trace quickly evaluates W1: no weapons, torn clothing, not a threat.

Chalker again strikes M3, who collapses, bleeding heavily. Rory, keeping a wary eye on M4, nocks another arrow. Striker runs around G3, barking and snapping. Trace grabs his staff, shouting "Malcolm! FRIEND!".

Striker bites a man on the calf, drawing blood. M2 manages to get to one knee, still trying to get the sand out of his mouth and eyes. Chalker rushes toward G4. Rory shoots M2 in the chest. Trace steps through the gate and onto the beach.

Chalker swings wildly at G4 and hits one of them. Striker, nimbly darting in and out, keeps G3 busy; one of them swings his sword but misses. Trace swings his staff, sending M1 sprawling. M4 fires at Rory, but his arrow caroms off the gate's stonework frame. W2 closes to within ten yards of the gate.

Trace winds up to hit a G3. Rory, in one smoooth motion, draws an arrow, nocks it, fires, and hits a G3. Chalker pivots and swings his sword, hitting another G3. Eight more men (G8) start running toward the fracas. None of G4's weapons touch Chalker. A G3 swings at Striker and misses; Striker retaliates with a solid bite.

Chalker slashes a G4, who stumbles and falls down. Striker snaps at the G3 that has Rory's arrow sticking out of his back. Rory kneels briefly and draws his sword. M4 keeps moving to try to get line-of-sight on Rory. A G3 tries to swing at Striker but his sword slips out of his sweaty hand. M2 roughly yanks the arrow from his chest. G4, unable to get good footing in the sand, prevent each other from attacking Chalker, but Chalker hits one of them in the back, knocking him down.

One of the remaining G3s retreats. The G3 with the chest wound has much worse luck; he slips on the sand, Striker immediately pounces and knocks him down, and Trace finishes him off with a blow to the head.

Chalker grabs W2's arm and swings her through the gate. Trace, Rory, and Striker retreat through the gate, and Rory yanks out the crystal. Malcolm has the two women backed against a wall, but as Rory starts tending to their wounds, the guardian leaves the room.

The women are questioned. How many were there? At least forty. We didn't know what they wanted. They were digging something out of the sand, and saw us.

Chalker hands the quartz cube to Trace, who says he'll analyze it later.

The women start clamoring for the King's men to be fetched. Their King is Albert of Brasin (one of the Peninsular Kingdoms). The capital is at least three days' journey away.

Chalker: "I'm not sure what we can do." One of the women, dubiously: "Is this all of you?" Chalker: "We were just passing through." The women identify themselves as Sonya, the blacksmith's wife (the more outspoken one) and Katie, a seamstress. They say that the man with the cube had been walking through their village, looking for something. Sonya says that their village leader is dead; the attackers had slain at least a dozen village men. "The attackers dragged Katie out of her house. Roo or Yasseph must have touched me. None of our men were brave enough to help Katie. I thought to shame them."

Rory goes to make dinner. Katie trots along after him.

Trace activates the gate, sends a Wizard Eye through, and quickly yanks out the crystal. He can still see through the Eye. Somebody seems to notice it, but Trace quickly conceals the Eye. There are five men watching the gate. Trace goes to the gear room and draws patterns on the floor to power the Wizard Eye.

Launched from the ship, a boat comes ashore, bringing the ship's captain. The captain starts searching the bodies of the dead. His outfit, Trace notices, bears a Calventine Empire insignia, but it's hidden. The ship's name has a plank nailed over it.

Sonya, in reply to Chalker, says she doesn't know why the Calventine Empire would have attacked them by surprise. Yes, Brasin has a navy. When last she saw, her husband was unconscious, severely wounded.

Trace maneuvers the Wizard Eye into the captain's cabin. The name of the ship is Sea Witch, and her captain is Jack Stockbrand. On the bottom corner of the captain's log is a symbol of a dagger within a circle -- Pandemonium. There is a grimoire among the captain's papers, and other indications that he is a mage.

Several men are working to get the gate out of the sand to transport it to the ship. Trace suggests to Chalker, "We can let them take it and then send Greek fire to destroy their ship, but then we couldn't send the girls back." Sonya: "How far away are we?" "About 1500 miles." Chalker wants to get the captain tonight.

Sonya and Katie take a downstairs bedroom. Malcolm asks Trace how long the women will be staying in the manor. Trace: "We're dealing with another mage group." Malcolm: "I have no response to that. I may have to allow you into the secret rooms." Malcolm stands guard at the door of the womens' bedroom.

By 11:00pm (manor time), the captain has returned to his ship and consulted with some other mages. Chalker: "Malcolm, would it be okay if I threw people down here for you to kill?" Malcolm: "I would take care of them appropriately. But if you throw too many, that may be considered an attack on the manor." Chalker: "I only have two arms. Is that too many?" Malcolm: "That is a creative use of my orders."

Trace suggests that he bury the ten men in sand. Chalker says Trace should be first through the gate and bury as many as he can. Chalker wakes Sonya and Katie and tells them he will lead them into town. Sonya asks for a knife, which Chalker supplies, and something to help her husband (Trace gives her a poultice to treat her husband's wounds).

Trace watches through the Wizard Eye until the gate guards become inattentive. He signals Rory, who puts the crystal in and opens the gate. Trace touches the sand and begins magically excavating a trench, ten feet deep. Four of the gate guards fall into the trench, while a fifth man (G1) alertly leaps atop the gate's frame, screaming "It's active, it's active!" Chalker jumps up after G1 and draws a sword. G1 nimbly dodges Chalker's swing.

G1 jumps down and begins running toward the village. Chalker chases after G1 and runs him down. Two crossbow bolts flash past Chalker, one of which hits G1. Another man throws flash powder on one of the campfires to signal the ship.

Chalker charges another man, inflicting a mortal wound. Sonya and Katie make a break for the woods.

Chalker rushes a crossbowman (who is in the middle of reloading), swings his sword, but misses.

More campfires go out, smothered by sand. Chalker again attacks the crossbowman, who retreats a couple of steps.

Chalker uses his power to "pull" the bolt out of the crossbow; swearing, the man turns to run. Sonya and Katie reach the woods.

Trace writes a message in the sand: Do not mess with Rinaldo Canana and the Circle. He then digs a deep trench in front of the gate. The gate slides down into the trench and the sand covers it over.

A little later, Malcolm notes, "You didn't throw any through. You're wiser than I thought."

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