Sapphire:Sessions:20141011

Rory scribbles a note -- "We got company up here. Don't stick your head up" -- weights it using a small bag of coins, and drops it down the hole. He sends Striker to circle around behind the unknown intruder.

Chalker picks up the note, reads it aloud, and climbs up to where he can peer over the edge of the hole. Shawna follows.

Rory nocks an arrow and points it straight at the intruder, who quickly moves behind cover. Shawna vanishes and heads for the woods. Rory notes movement in the trees from both right and left.

Shawna heads right and catches sight of a man dressed in camouflage, scrambling along branches and leaping from tree to tree. Invisibly, she follows him on the ground. When he jumps down from the trees, she tackles and pins him face-down. Chalker soon arrives (he had checked the movement to the left and found only a sleeping bag). Gradually the young man responds to their questions. He gives his name as Evan Bernard and admits he's an advance scout for a gang of thieves (20 in all). Their headquarters is near a village called Ben's Barrow. "The rest are hunkered down to wait out the Days of the Spirits," after which they would join the celebrations in Dethome and "pick up some coin." Not being as superstitious, Evan was headed to Dethome (across Count Bastress's property) when he happened upon this place.

Shawna lets Evan up. Chalker searches him while examining his aura. Evan's greedy and not very nice. Chalker asks about the iron ring he wears, and Evan admits it's engraved with his gang's symbol.

Chalker tells Evan to go back whence he came, and not to go to Dethome for at least the next couple of weeks. Without a glance backward, Evan walks away.

Trace plants some of the magic vine and accelerates its growth. He finds that it reduces his personal high-mana zone (generated by his wizard's staff, to which are attached the black pebble and the silver cone) from three yards to two. He waits for the Count's party some 200 yards away from his excavation (which is covered over by an earthen plug). As they pass before him, he examines every living thing, including the horses, for signs of possession, and finds none. He returns and unplugs the hole.

Rory gathers the mounts and wagons and takes them down a small gully near a stream. A couple of Bastress's servants have been diligently covering their tracks since they left the keep. Chalker leads the Count down to the gate, then installs the last crystal to open it. Once everyone has gone through, Trace casts the spell he created to pull the crystals through and shut down the gate. The night passes uneventfully.

Early in the morning, Chalker, Rory, Trace, and Shawna decide to go to the keep to see if any attempts were made during the night. Approaching the keep from the north, they see a spirit on the roof near the kitchen chimney; it's one of the ghost guards. All seems quiet. Rory leads them through a secret entrance. They learn from Jason Branvold that during the night Bart Maven (Count Bastress's steward) and Thane Nicely (the family's physicker) tried to steal some personal items from the master suite. Trace and Shawna remark that those items were likely to be used to magically Seek the Bastress family. Learning that Branvold is otherwise tethered to the keep, Rory offers to let the guard's spirit 'ride' him. Delightedly accepting Rory's offer, Branvold leaves another guard, Andrew, in charge of the keep.

In the town of Dethome, traffic and business are light. Chalker notes that at least one-third of the town guards are possessed. Rory and Shawna head for Temple Row. Shawna speaks to a priestess of Damarot concerning Gwee Balin.

Chalker enters a tavern and notices an alert young wizard with great potential at a corner table. At another table near the bar sit two male goblins and a male and a female human. Entering through another door, Trace, who had seen two of the Count's horses tethered outside, sees two of the possessed people from the keep, seated at separate tables; their eyes dart about like they want to flee. Trace quite deliberately blocks the door.

Chalker approaches the barkeep and orders some food for his group, including apples (Shawna had mentioned craving an apple). He sets down a silver piece to pay the six-copper bill, then lays another silver piece beside that one because "I might ask you a question."

Chalker consults with Trace, who points out the two people he'd spotted. Chalker walks over and seats himself in front of one of them. "So, are you going to take me to where the rest of y'all are?" The man claims he doesn't know where the others are; around sundown they are supposed to gather in a certain grove south of town. Abruptly the spirit flees upward from its host body, which slumps over the table. Trace apports his staff and intercepts the spirit, then sends the staff curving toward the other man, who bolts out through the kitchen door. The young wizard grips his staff and sets it upright, staring at the proceedings.

Chalker chases the man down, catching him just outside the back door. He pins the man face down as Trace regains his staff and uses the silver cone to draw the possessing spirit out of the man's body.

Chalker carries the man back to his table, then walks over to the young wizard, who is standing in a defensive posture. The wizard, whose name is Santos Hanson, refers to Trace as an archmage. Chalker replies, "He's an archmage-in-training," and explains that Trace drove evil spirits out of the other two men. Hanson: "I never thought much of the Days of the Spirits before." Chalker: "One day we will meet when you are more skilled, and I hope we can be friends."

Chalker questions the man, but he doesn't remember anything useful. He doesn't even know where the coppers in his coin purse came from, but he will be more than happy to spend them eating and drinking in the tavern for the rest of the day.

The priestess tells Shawna of a defiled gravesite south of town, a place abhorrent to Dar. The necromancer is near that place. Shawna receives a blessing from Dar. At the Temple of Yasseph, Shawna borrows a trained falcon named Alovon.

Trace puts down a coin and orders a refill for Hanson.

Chalker makes the acquaintance of a goblin who calls himself Merchant Sten; his human guards are Nicole and Van. Later, Chalker mentions to the bartender that Sten is not really a merchant.

Out in the streets, Shawna and Rory meet back up with Chalker and Trace. Both groups have learned about the grove to the south of town. They all go to another tavern where they see four possessed people: two of them are waitresses, one of the others is a man who recognizes them. Chalker plops down at the man's table. "I'm the guy who can see you." Man: "What do I gain by talking?" Trace: "Tell us what we want to know, and you can stay here the rest of the day and drink." Man: "I was supposed to meet Ty at Tyler's blacksmith shop."

The other possessed man tries to run, but Shawna casually trips him and Rory pounces upon him. Responding to Rory's questioning, the spirit, Jacob Mansfield, says the Count's physicker had given the two necklaces to the Countess. The guard that the spirit is possessing is his grand-nephew. Shawna prays for the spirit's "removal from this world into either Dara's gardens or... whatever, to learn or not."