Amber of York: session 13, 10/18/2005
Role call:
- Dan: Laurens of Rocque
- Brad: Thomas Gray
- Brett: Gwynedd
- Alan: Sir Martin Neville
- Patrick: Gabriel of Brittany
- Makul: Donal Rourke
MikeHank: Vivienne Avondale- Shaun: Magnus Aquinas
Sir Martin's Demon
Date: Evening, Tuesday, May 1st to Early Morning, Wednesday, May 2nd, 1431
Abbey at Mount Grace
Gwynedd wakes up. She sees she is in the chapel, and it has been desecrated with strange symbols in blood on the walls. It’s dark outside. She has a chain around her neck which is connected to the altar 10 feet away. The chapel is lit with candles. There is no one else in the chapel. Gwynedd tries to break the chain and fails.
* Dan: “Gwynedd comes walking up dragging the whole church behind her.” *
Voice from behind: “That won’t work you know.”
The voice seems familiar to Gwynedd. She ignores the it. She feels a very nasty presence in the chapel. But, can sense nothing else. Her senses are dampened. She tries to pull the chain straight out of the altar, but it is to no avail. She tries to move the altar and gets it to move only a little. She starts pulling the altar towards the exit.
* Dan: “You guys are really going to freak when I start to choke people.” *
* Patrick: “You mean choke people at a distance.” *
Laurens leaves the dungeons to go to his room and get some sleep before Vivienne brings him the results of her studying. He is awakened by a knock at his door. He picks up the small crossbow in his room and asks who it is at the door.
Messenger: “Message from the Duke.”
Laurens opens the door, steps back with the crossbow ready. The young servant receives quite a fright.
Messenger with a quavery voice: “He wishes to speak with you, sir.”
Laurens: “Okay.”
The messengers leaves quickly. Laurens goes to have an audience with the Duke. He leaves the crossbow behind. He is admitted to see the Duke.
Duke: “I hear you have been resting.”
Laurens: “Yes.”
Duke: “Many things have happened. And, I have been hearing interesting tales. There are those that give other accounts of the events of Byland.”
Laurens: “Okay, Your Grace. I will refute them if they are different than mine.”
Duke: “Let us say that I value your presence here. I hate to think of you as a damage to my rule.”
Laurens: “I’ve done nothing to counter your rule here, Your Grace.”
Duke: “Those of your party that travelled to Mount Grace have been attacked.”
Laurens: “By whom?”
Duke: “The account was brief. But, apparently, there is something to do with the monks there. They’ve somehow fallen to dark forces. A troop is assembling. I wish you to lead them.”
Laurens: “Of course, Your Grace. Who brought this information?”
Duke: “This came by way of the artist’s devices.”
Laurens: “The paintings?”
Duke: “Donal and Vivienne have travelled there already.”
Laurens: “They were attacked. Were they captured? Were there losses on either side?”
Duke: “The report is that the artist and the bard were captured. And Gabriel was attacked and fled and survived.”
Laurens: “And how soon did Vivienne and Donal leave after that?”
Duke: “Vivienne and Donal left soon after that. I was meeting with Vivienne when she got the message from Gabriel who somehow had one of the artists drawings. I promised troops would follow. They are ready to ride.”
Laurens: “I will lead them, Your Grace.” Pause. “When time is not so of the essence, I would like to discuss the claims made against me.”
Duke: “I would also like to discuss them. Also, there has been no report of Sir Martin or Father Barnabas. They have not arrived in York. Or if they did, they have passed the town guards and those that I have placed.”
Laurens: “Nothing from the Archbishop?”
Duke: “No. He knows I wish to speak to them when they arrive.”
Laurens: “I will send word if I run into them on the road.”
Duke: “I have sent word to the Archbishop with what little we know of the events at Mount Grace. He is sending one of his agents to accompany you. He has some specialty in these matters.”
Laurens heads down to where the troops are assembling. It is 40-50 of the Marshal’s mounted cavalry. Laurens has drilled with the soldiers. He sees a stranger among them. He sees a seasoned rider with worn gear. The strangers seems to know what he is doing. He wears the colors of the church on top of a chain shirt. Laurens walks up to him.
Laurens: “I am Laurens of Rocque. I am leading this expedition.”
Stranger: “You go by many names, if I’m not mistaken.”
Laurens: “Mostly epithets. What can you bring to this party?”
Stranger: “I am the advisor to the Duke. Magnus Aquinas. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Laurens: “Good to meet you. Can you fight?”
Magnus: “If I must.”
Laurens: “We’ll fight.”
Magnus: “I have no doubt of it.”
Laurens: “Do you know of the events happening at the monastery?”
Magnus: “I know there appears to be an infestation of some sort.”
Laurens: “What is the Archbishop’s opinion of dealing with the infestation.”
Magnus: “I let the Archbishop make his own opinions.”
Laurens: “Is the Archbishop going to be there to help you decide?”
Magnus: “No. As I said I am an advisor to the Duke. Not the Archbishop.”
Laurens: “As long as we aren’t going to try to save any souls.”
Magnus: “I don’t know that there are any left to be saved at this point.”
Laurens smiles at that statement.
Laurens: “Very well. Mount up.”
The company rides.
At the edge of the woods near Mount Grace, Thomas, Vivienne, Gabriel and Donal make plans.
Donal: " All we have is your horse, your sword. My gear is back up in the stable. You’ve got Vivienne and myself and the Duke’s troops are on the way.”
Gabriel: “The Duke’s troops won’t get here until dawn.”
Donal: “What do you want to do until then?”
Gabriel: “We we should at least find out what is going on up there.”
Donal: “Okay.”
Gabriel: “And if we can, we should free Gwynedd.”
Donal: “Okay.”
Gabriel: “How long before you are done with that sketch?”
Thomas: “An hour.”
Gabriel: “This is what I propose. That you and I sneak up to the Abbey and figure out the lay of the land. At a prearranged time, Thomas contacts me, and we pull them through, or we arrange another time for when we will stage our attack. Or he pulls us back through, and we wait.”
Donal: “And you said these monks are difficult to kill?”
Gabriel: “It takes removing their heads.”
Donal: “I’m going to be of limited use.”
Gabriel: “If we brought Thomas and Vivienne with us, we would be spending our time defending them from the brothers, and we’d end up losing them as well.”
Donal: “He’s going to need time to finish up the sketch as well. You don’t have any idea where Gwynedd is?”
Gabriel: “In the chapel.”
Donal: “And you know where the chapel is?”
Gabriel: “Roughly.”
Donal: “Okay. So we’re going to sneak in and try to get into the chapel. Front door, back door, roof top?”
Gabriel: “I suppose we should try the back door because I came out the front door. But we won’t really know until we get there.”
Donal: “Okay. And Thomas is going to contact you in an hour?”
Gabriel: “Yeah.”
Donal: “Okay. Back door.”
Gabriel: “We can try to find you a weapon in there. Or you can use my sword, and I can try to find a weapon for me.”
Thomas: “I have a sword on my horse someplace.”
Donal: “Thanks, Thomas. If we get done with this, I might have you make me a sword.”
Donal and Gabriel leave to sneak up to Mount Grace.
Donal: “I have my knife, but it’s going to be up to you to decapitate them.”
Gabriel: “You can always stab them in the eye or throw the knife in an eye.”
Donal: “I’m just making an opening for you.”
Gabriel: “That’s all it will do.”
Donal: “This isn’t about ... We’re not attacking.”
Gabriel: “Right.”
Gwynedd has gotten the altar about five feet across the floor. She still can’t reach the wall. She grabs some rugs and tapestries she finds on the floor. She’s trying to gather combustible stuff. She sees the door open, and two brothers come in the back. They are out of reach. One is missing an eye.
Gwynedd: “It’s a terrible thing you’ve done here. Would you care to set me free and beg forgiveness?”
The brothers look at Gwynedd quizzically.
One eyed brother: “It’ll be over soon.”
Gwynedd: “Well don’t mind me. I have work to do.”
Gwynedd goes back to pulling the altar. The brothers watch for 20-30 seconds, then go back to putting symbols in blood on the walls. Gwynedd hopes it wasn’t Gabriel or Thomas.
Sir Martin is restless in an inn at North Allerton. He gets up and goes for a walk to talk to the troops in the tents on the edge of town. He sees the moon come up. It is blood red. Sir Martin begins to get a headache. He pulls his sword. He feels the cool of the early spring night. The soldiers are huddled around fires. They have noticed the moon as well.
Soldier: “Ill omen, Sirrah.”
Sir Martin: “Indeed.”
Sir Martin heads back to the inn and starts poking around looking for the source of his headache. There are people in the common room, but he doesn’t find anything unusual. His headache hasn’t changed. Sir Martin goes up to his brother Richard’s door. There is no answer after the first knock. He knocks again, louder this time. Sir Martin hears some movement in the room.
Richard: “What is it?!”
Sir Martin: “The moon.”
Richard: “I was barely a bed. What is with you?”
Sir Martin: “The moon is red.”
Richard: “Ah, all right.”
Sir Martin: “This is normal? To you?”
Richard: “No. But what can I do about it?”
Sir Martin: “I just wanted to let you know. This is an ill omen.”
Richard: “No more than waking me, Martin. I’ll have no more of your omens this evening.”
* Dan: “Shall we trade in our Raby for their Raby?” *
Sir Martin: “Fine, brother. I will leave you to your rest.”
Richard: “We’ll go visit this abbey of yours in the morning, so that Cecily can chide you more.”
Sir Martin turns and stomps off, cursing about his headache under his breathe. He heads back to the troops and walks among them.
Riding north on the road, Laurens and Magnus see the blood red moon rise.
Laurens: “Okay. A red moon man. A good night for killing.”
They are able to increase their pace in the extra light.
Donal and Gabriel head up to Mount Grace. They are keeping an eye out for anything coming down from Mount Grace. They are moving up as if they are doing it in broad daylight because the brothers can see in pitch black. Gabriel keeps reminding Donal of that information. They see something come over the wall. It looks kind of serpentine and eight feet long.
Donal: “Did you see it?”
Gabriel: “Yup.”
Donal: “Fuck!”
Gabriel: “May as well do something to warm up.”
Donal and Gabriel see it head down the hill. They move toward the thing to get a better look at it. It is a deeper black against the darkness. It seems to be following the path that Gabriel followed down from the abbey.
Gabriel: “Fuck!”
Donal and Gabriel start running after it. Gabriel tries to catch up with the beast. Donal heads for Vivienne and Thomas to warn them. Gabriel notices it is moving more like a lizard than a serpent. It gets to the woods and turns toward Vivienne and Thomas and picks up speed. Gabriel starts running as fast as he can. Donal reaches Vivienne and Thomas.
Donal: “Stop sketching. You have a black serpent type creature coming this way.”
Gabriel is gaining, but isn’t sure he is going to catch it before it gets to the others. Gabriel draws a knife and when he gets 50’ away from it, he’ll start throwing the knives.
Donal: “Find something in that book that’s useful.” To Vivienne, “Can you do anything?”
Vivienne: “What is it I’m supposed to be doing something against?”
Donal: “An eight foot like serpent-like creature heading this way.”
Vivienne: “Did it have a mane?”
Donal: “Not that I saw.”
Vivienne: “Maybe when it gets here.”
Donal to Thomas: “Climb up in a tree.”
Thomas’ book becomes a bird, and Thomas climbs up in a tree.
Gabriel throws the first knife, and it digs in. The creature seems unharmed.
Donal: “Will fire make a difference if it is what you think it is?”
Vivienne: “No.”
Donal: “Should you get up in the tree, too?”
Vivienne: “I don’t think it aims to kill any of us.”
Donal: “What do you think it is?”
The others see it coming. Gabriel’s second knife hits it. It slows. Gabriel draws his sword and attacks it. He gets to it 20 feet shy of the others. He dives onto it and stabs deep. It stops moving. They slide to a stop a just in front of Donal and Vivienne. Gabriel cuts off its head, legs and tail. He retrieves his knives.
Donal: “Try that again?”
Vivienne: “It’s a shadow lion. I made one once. It wasn’t that big.”
Gabriel: “How long does it take to make a shadow lion?”
Vivienne: “It took me about a week and a half. But, then it got loose. It wasn’t pretty.”
Gabriel: “Can we expect them to make another one before we get there?”
Vivienne: “It shouldn’t take long to make one.”
Donal: “Will they know that it has failed in its task?”
Vivienne: “It’s the blood that they hunt for. It’s difficult to ...”
Gabriel: “I’m a fool! I’ve been a fool the whole time. You guys go back to York. Your part in this plan doesn’t require you to stand in the woods.”
Thomas: “I was wondering when you would realize that.”
Vivienne: “Unless you need to escape.”
Gabriel: “The same escape is the same way we summon you.”
Donal: “We get pulled through the book?”
Vivienne: “Wait a half hour?”
Gabriel: “Do you have another answer?”
Vivienne: “No.”
Gwynedd is getting close to the wall. She is heading towards some candles in sconces on the wall.
* Brad/Thomas: “I’d rather not summon into the castle directly.” (foreshadowing) *
The group near the woods discuss the merits of staying near the woods or going to York. Having Gabriel and Donal take the book or Thomas keeping it. It’s decided to send Vivienne and Thomas back to York to prevent further attacks by shadow lions.
Gabriel: “Before you go, go to the armory and get a sword for Donal. Call me back when you get it. And get two axes, too.”
Thomas: “Anything else?”
Gabriel: “Eight knives.”
Donal: “Laurens.”
Thomas has the book keep the list.
Thomas and Vivienne travel back to near castle York. The two head to the castle then head to the armory. The guards watching the armory stop them.
Guard: “May I help you?”
Thomas: “Yes, I need some weaponry.”
Guard: “Did you plan some duel of honor, young sir?”
* Shaun: “Yes. Cause he(Da Vinci) invented a flying machine, but not a straight razor.” *
Thomas: “No. I need some equipment for Donal of Rourke.”
Guard: “Who?”
Thomas: “Donal Rourke.”
Guard: “One of the Duke’s money changers?”
Thomas: “Yes. He’s in on a mission for the Duke up in ...”
Guard: “What (garbled) have you been under?”
Thomas: “Donal and Gabriel are on a mission for the Duke to ... with Laurens the Butcher”
The other guard is smiling at the exchange.
Guard: “Laurens?”
Thomas: “Yes.”
Guard: “He left some time ago on his own mission ...”
Thomas: “Right. To Mount Grace on a mission, and they ....”
Vivienne: “Enough of this.”
Both guards fall unconscious.
Vivienne: “Take what you want.”
Thomas: “That will make this much easier.”
Thomas gathers the shopping list and contacts Gabriel.
Gabriel: “Yes?”
Thomas: “I have your shopping list.”
Gabriel: “Can you send it through to us or do I have to pull you through with it?”
Thomas: “You can just pull us through with the stuff.”
Thomas steps through and hands over the stuff. Gabriel and Donal waited where they were. Thomas heads back to near the cathedral in York. He has left Vivienne in the armory in the castle. Donal arms himself.
Gabriel: “There’s no point in being subtle now.”
Donal: “Front door?”
Gabriel: “Why not? They’re sending summoned creatures after us.”
Donal is skeptical.
Gabriel: “Fine. We can sneak. It’s going to take a long time.”
Donal: “From what you describe, it took you a long time just to get out.”
Gabriel: “I wasn’t quite ready. Fine, we’ll sneak.”
Father Stephen enters the chapel. “They must care little for you.”
Gwynedd: “Well, I don’t know what they are thinking, but what have you done to this place?”
Stephen: “Just preparing this place.”
Gwynedd: “For what?”
Stephen: “To bring out the demon.”
Gwynedd: “You’ve desecrated your chapel to try to do something with demons?”
Stephen: “Yes.”
Gwynedd: “Father, I fear you’ve lost your mind.”
Stephen: “And I think you’ve done a wonderful job. The trap’s almost ready.”
Gwynedd: “A trap?”
Stephen: “For the demon.”
Gwynedd: “Which demon?”
Stephen: “You’ll see. The time’s coming.”
Gwynedd: “Where did this blood come from?”
Stephen: “Oh, it’s monk blood.”
Gwynedd: “This is a lot of blood.”
Stephen: “There’s a lot of monks.”
A thoughtful pause.
Gwynedd: “There’ll be a reckoning.”
Stephen: “Obviously.”
Gwynedd: “You’ve violated the rules of hospitality. Desecrated a chapel.”
Stephen: “And many worse things.”
Gwynedd: “Yes, and many worse things.”
Stephen: “As long as we succeed this evening.”
Sir Martin’s headache is getting worse.
Thomas gets a room with a lock at an inn. There, he continues the sketch.
Donal and Gabriel sneak into the back of the Abbey. They head for the back doors of the chapel.
Thomas contacts Vivienne with the sketch. He decides to go through to Quillius’ room. Thomas feels a sharp pain and blacks out. The bird is sitting in the inn.
Donal and Gabriel hear voices inside the cathedral talking about demons. They see the altar has been moved about halfway to the wall. They see Gwynedd with a chain about her neck anchored in the altar. They also see 2 brothers and Father Stephen in the back of the chapel.
Gabriel: “I can only imagine he’ll act the same as the witch did.”
Donal: “Yeah. Give them a moment to see if they’ll clear out?”
Gabriel: “Yeah. But if we have to act, we need to impede his vision. At least a little before we cut off his head.”
Donal: “If they don’t already know that we’re here.”
Gabriel: “I’d be surprised if they didn’t know we’re already here. But I do wonder where Gwynedd’s stick ended up.”
Donal looks at Gabriel.
Gabriel: “It shattered a tree. I wonder what it would do against the altar.”
Donal and Gabriel head for the dining room to see if they can find Gwynedd’s stick. They see that food is still out, and the stick leaned up against the table right where it was.
Donal: “Go get it. Do you want me to go get it?”
Gabriel: “I’ll go get it. Be ready. You know they’re going to come in.”
Donal prepares to throw his axe. Gabriel walks over to the stick.
Gabriel: “I’m going to take you to Gwynedd.” He grabs the stick. It is difficult to lift.
Donal: “Do you want me to take one end?”
Gabriel: “Okay, so, the way from here to the chapel has at least two of those guys plus Stephen.”
Donal takes part of the weight, but it is to no avail. Gabriel decides to carry it. They head back to the back of the chapel the way they just came. They move as fast as they can. They see two more brothers enter the chapel. Donal and Gabriel increase their speed. They arrive at the chapel without incident.
Gabriel: “They’re very fast. We just have to get it in range of Gwynedd and make it so she can get there.”
Donal: “The only way to get it range is to carry it over there. You’re not throwing that.”
Gabriel: “I can do that. You need to use that axe on Stephen’s face, across his eyes if you can. The rest of them, I think the way to fight them is to take advantage of their lack of training. They’ve been trained a little. Their training doesn’t account for how strong they are or how fast they are. So they’ll overreact. So you should be able to take advantage of them pulling themselves off balance if you leave appropriate openings. That’s the only thing I can think of. The two of us against the four of them ... as long as Stephen’s out of the picture, we’re okay.”
Donal: “Throwing the axe at his face, racing in and following through.”
Gabriel: “That’s about all we’ve got.”
Donal: “Yup.”
Donal and Gabriel execute their plan. Donal throws the axe and races in. Stephen catches the axe without looking in the direction.
Donal: “Fuck.”
* Brad: “You guys like arming your foes. Do you realize that?” *
Donal still charges him.
Gabriel: “Gwynedd!”
Gwynedd turns to meet him.
Donal gets up to Stephen and tries a neck shot and when Stephen goes to block it, will dip underneath the block slicing under the arm then spinning and making another slice to the other side. Stephen leaps back about 10 feet.
Stephen: “Where’s the rest?”
Donal follows it through and steps forward toward Stephen.
* Brett: “We foiled their plan by being too uncoordinated.” *
Stephen: “This is all they sent?”
The brothers are watching what is happening. Donal gets to Stephen and makes his swing. Stephen steps into it and catches Donal’s arm. Stephen grabs Donal by the chest and flings him back across the chapel. Donal lands in a heap, hurt badly.
Donal: “He’s fast.” as he staggers to his feet and coughs out some blood.
Gwynedd has her stick and shatters the altar to free the chain. Stephen looks between Gwynedd and Gabriel.
Stephen: “Where are the others? This isn’t how it was supposed to go.”
Gwynedd: “You forgot to send an invitation.”
Stephen: “I tried my best.” and shrugs.
Gabriel is moving toward the brothers to end the fight with them. Gabriel is hoping that Thomas is about to contact them. Gwynedd rips off a section of the rug and starts it burning. She tries to burn the blood off the wall.
Stephen starts walking her direction. “That’s really not going to make much of a difference.”
Gwynedd: “No, this is just what happens before I bring everything down.”
Stephen: “Well, it isn’t going to get that far.”
Gabriel moves down the opposite side of the chapel. Stephen kicks one of the pews into Gabriel. Gabriel manages to turn it into a glancing blow. Gabriel turns and heads back to Gwynedd.
Gabriel: “Swing the chain around. That chain can hold you.”
Gabriel gets Donal out of the way. Donal just coughs. Stephen comes walking up. He measures the timing of the chain. He grabs it and swings Gwynedd into the stone on the far side of the chapel.
* Patrick: “Hey! Now we have him surrounded.” *
Gwynedd staggers back to her feet. She’s bloodied. Gabriel and Donal think the blow would have killed them.
Stephen: “If I have to stack all three of you up for this, I will. We’re waiting for the one who is supposed to be here.”
Gwynedd yanks on the chain as hard as she can. Stephen takes a few steps toward her. He was clearly surprised. Gabriel throws his axe at Stephen’s neck with all of his might. Donal throws a knife. Gwynedd says a word. It sounds like a roar from something huge, something Donal and Gabriel never heard before. The axe hits in the back of the neck. The dagger hits in the back on its way to the heart. Stephen staggers and turns back to Gabriel and Donal.
Stephen: “This isn’t ...”
Then he falls to the ground. Gabriel runs up and removes his head. Gwynedd walks up and uses her stick on him. The other two brothers go running out of the chapel. Gabriel follows after the brothers. Gwynedd walks up to Donal and puts her hand on his chest. Gwynedd then says another word. Donal feels better. He is no longer spitting up blood.
Donal: “What did you do?”
Gwynedd: “It’s a healing word.”
Donal: “My thanks. We should find Gabriel and give him help.”
Gabriel gets out of the front door of the chapel and sees more of them coming out of other buildings. He steps back into the chapel to stand with Gwynedd. He tells them what he sees. Gwynedd picks up a pew and aims it at the door. She prepares to drive out whatever comes in.
Donal: “A little upset?”
Gwynedd: “Yes.”
Donal: “Wasn’t Thomas suppose to be ...”
Gabriel: “He’s overdue.”
No one comes through the door. No one even knocks. Gabriel goes and opens the door to see what has happened. Donal is keeping an eye on the way he and Gabriel came in. Gabriel sees the brothers standing out in the courtyard, chanting. Gwynedd throws a pew into the brothers. Some are knocked down, but they stand back up. Gwynedd retrieves another pew.
Gabriel: “We’re going to take the battle to them.”
Donal: “Why don’t we just leave? We got what we came for.”
Gabriel: “What if they can finish what they started.”
Gwynedd: “This is a great big trap for some demon thing they had in mind. So, I say let’s not let them do anything they had in mind ...”
Donal: “But they needed one of us to do it. I’m just ... I’ll watch, I got your back, I’m just saying it’s ...”
Gwynedd: “That’s monk’s blood on the wall.”
Donal: “And, I’m really sorry for that. Why are we hanging around. We came here to rescue her. I thought we said we weren’t getting into a huge fight about this.”
Gwynedd: “You can go ahead and keep your eyes on things in here. I’m going out there.”
Gabriel collects his weapons.
Sir Martin’s headache has gotten worse. He feels the cause is definitely in the direction of Mount Grace. Sir Martin knocks on Cecily’s door.
Hand maiden: “Who is it?”
Sir Martin: “It’s Martin.”
Hand maiden: “Sir Martin? What can I do for you, milord?”
Sir Martin: “I need to talk to Cecily, momentarily. Wake her.”
Hand maiden: “Very well, milord.”
The hand maiden wakes Cecily. Sir Martin waits while she is made presentable.
* Brad: “It doesn’t take that long to put a bucket on her head.” *
Cecily comes out.
Cecily: “What is it, Martin?”
Sir Martin: “Something is happening in Mount Grace.”
Cecily: “I thought we determined that yesterday.”
Sir Martin: “Yeah. Something is happening now at Mount Grace. I’m leaving. Tell Richard.”
Cecily: “Alright, Lets rouse ...”
Sir Martin: “Follow as soon as you can.”
Cecily: “... the troops then.”
Sir Martin: “I don’t know what the nature of what is going on there. I prefer to explore further than rouse the troops.”
Cecily: “Alright. I’ll tell Richard.”
Sir Martin: “Uh, no. Just tell Richard as soon as possible that I’m heading to there. Follow as quickly as can be.”
Cecily: “Alright.”
Sir Martin under his breath: “My head is pounding.”
Cecily: “Alright, I’ll tell him.”
Sir Martin heads down to get on his horse. Cecily heads for Richard’s door. Sir Martin readies his horse and takes off for Mount Grace.
Gabriel sees a couple of serpentine figures come over the wall.
Gabriel: “Two shadow lions just came over the wall. They’re black against night. I think that’s why they’re chanting.” Long pause. “You should come back into the chapel.”
Gwynedd: “We’re going to need more light.”
Donal: “Vivienne didn’t think that fire or light would do much good against them.”
Gwynedd: “Yeah, but I need it to see.”
Donal: “Now can we go?”
Gabriel: “I think we have to take care of the lion’s first, don’t you?”
Donal: “But, take care of the lions out there without 20 monks to deal with as well.”
Gabriel: “No. In here.”
Donal: “Okay.”
Gabriel: “Right? We can control the ground here. If we go out there, it’s at their whim. That’s what you’re suggesting, right?”
Donal: “I was suggesting we get as much ground between here and where ever we take on the lions as quickly as possible in hope that Thomas calls. But, if we take on the lions here, it’s fine.”
Gabriel: “Okay. They ran really fast before.”
Gwynedd: “There’s plenty of wooden things to start a fire so that we can see. Look a broken pew.”
Gwynedd starts a fire inside the chapel. Gabriel and Donal set about setting up defenses in the chapel.
Laurens thinks his troop will get to Mount Grace 2 bells past midnight. Magnus thinks Laurens has set a demon’s pace.
Gwynedd: “Well if you can take care of the shadow lions, I’ll try to knock over as many as I can.”
Gabriel: “They fall to knives. We just have to slow them down for you to hit them. They’re very fast.”
Gwynedd: “Well, I’ll swing something very big, so I won’t miss.”
After preparing the grounds, the three see that the monks have not made any moves to come in.
Gabriel: “There are 4 horses in the stables. We could work our way through the buildings to get close to the stables, then make a break for it that way. Gwynedd can certainly open the gate.”
Donal: “Let’s go. The longer we sit around here, the longer they have to do whatever spell they are doing.”
Gwynedd loops the chain around her arm to make it easier to carry. The three head out through the back of the chapel to the stables, mount the horses bare back and head out through the gates. They head down the road to York. After about an hour they run into the forces from York. Laurens and Magnus ride hard up to meet them.
Gabriel: “Hello! To the soldiers of York!”
Gwynedd: “Hello, Laurens.”
Laurens rides out in front. “What’s the situation.”
Gabriel: “Twenty monks chanting to summon beasts of darkness. At least two beast that we know of and probably more. They are prepared to use at least one of us to summon a demon.”
Gwynedd: “No, they want to trap a demon is what they said. They’ve killed monks and done horrible things in pursuit of this. And, I have no idea what they were planning on doing with me. They were expecting us to come. It sort of surprised them that not all of us came. So, ...”
Laurens: “Who have they been in contact with?”
Gwynedd: “I don’t know who they have been talking to. Father Stephen seemed ...”
Laurens: “No. Who of our party have they been in contact with?”
Gwynedd: “They saw the three of us ...”
Gabriel: “Thomas, Donal, Gwynedd, myself.”
Gwynedd: “Thomas was there?”
Gabriel: “Thomas and you and I were captured.”
Laurens: “I just wanted to know who I could rule out of the party.”
Gwynedd: “Where is Thomas?”
Gabriel: “Thomas is in York. Well, Thomas was in York. He’s long overdue. Those we lack are Vivienne, you and Sir Martin”
Gwynedd: “Whatever they’re going to do is going to happen soon.”
Donal: “They also have dark beasts at their disposal.”
Gabriel: “The one that they seek is Sir Martin.”
Laurens and Magnus notice that Gwynedd has a ten foot length of chain around her neck. They decide to ask about it later. Gwynedd’s horse is worn under the strain.
Laurens: “Well, we know from our discussions with the afterlife that Sir Martin was mentioned as a gateway. And Sir Martin never showed up in York. Nor Barnabas.”
Donal: “We’re going back to the monastery, right?”
Laurens: “Yes.”
Gwynedd: “They, uh, the monks don’t seem to feel any pain.”
Donal: “That’s okay. We’ve got the army now.”
Laurens: “Did you try cutting off their heads?”
Gabriel: “That’s the only way to stop them.”
Laurens: “Alright.”
Gabriel: “You can slow them down by dismembering them, though.”
Laurens: “Their limbs don’t reattach?”
Gabriel: “I haven’t seen the results of my work. But, I don’t think so.”
Laurens: “Alright. We think it’s Sir Martin. We’ll continue the ride to the Abbey.”
Donal: “You picked this army?”
Laurens: “uh huh.”
Donal: “This is your ... army? These are your troops.”
Laurens: “They’re the Duke’s troops. But, ...”
Donal: “Then, who’s that?”
Laurens: “This is Magnus Aquinas, the Archbishop’s advisor to the Duke.”
Magnus: “Actually, I’m the Church’s advisor to the Duke.”
Laurens: “Very well.” After everyone is properly introduced, “How far are we from the Abbey?”
Gabriel: “One hour’s hard ride.”
Laurens: “Okay. Then, let’s continue the ride.”
Gabriel: “The monks can throw me 15 feet casually. And they are almost as fast as I am.”
Laurens: “Burn them.”
Gabriel: “They didn’t seem to be bothered by a torch.”
Laurens: “Did they catch on fire?”
Gabriel: “I didn’t have time to burn their clothes.”
Laurens: “I still think we need pitch.”
Laurens sets up details to get materials for burning the monks. He also sets up a detail to watch the road north of Mount Grace. Laurens is expecting Sir Martin to come down the road.
Magnus: “Did you find any of the monks?”
Gabriel: “We didn’t stop to find them. Their blood was being used to draw symbols on the wall.”
Sir Martin arrives in Mount Grace. He slows the horse to keep it from cramping. He sees smoke from the chapel. He heads through the main gate of the Abbey. He sees fire inside the chapel. He, also, sees a broken pew in the middle of the grounds. He dismounts at the gate and tells the horse to stay. He draws his sword and enters the Abbey heading for the chapel. His headache gets even worse. When he enters the chapel he sees the altar is a pile of rubble off to the side of where it should be. He sees blood and strange symbols on the walls. There is a stack of pews burning. He sees by the pile of rubble, Father Stephen. His head severed and his body crushed by something heavy hitting him over and over. Sir Martin heads for the back of the chapel looking for survivors. He hears the doors close. Sir Martin turns and sees the monks behind him. Some are missing eyes. Another is missing an arm.
Sir Martin: “What has happened here?”
The monks start chanting something that Sir Martin doesn’t understand. His headache gets even worse. He recognizes a few of the monks from when he was here last, the one missing his arm in particular. He notices all of the stained glass has been blown outward. Sir Martin decides to move out of the chapel through a window. A dark shadowy figure moves up to him and starts slithering around him. He sees another move up to him as well. Sir Martin takes a swing at one of the shapes. The other dives into his body.
The force arrives at the Abbey. They can see fire in the chapel.
Donal: “Do you know where the monks would have taken the saddle bags?”
Gabriel: “I don’t know enough about the layout.”
Laurens: “So, are we ready to fight?”
Gabriel: “Yup.
Donal: “That’s why we’ve got them.”
Laurens: “Well, I’ve already taken his advice that one of them threw him 20 feet. And based on what I can do and based on what he has done in reaction to me, the regular troops will be monitoring outside the Abbey with orders to kill anything dressed like a monk that comes out.”
Sir Martin staggers from the dive. He makes an off balance strike at the other. It dodges easily and dives into him as well. Sir Martin lets out a soul wrenching scream.
The troop outside hear the scream.
Magnus: “I think it is time to go in.”
Gwynedd: “Yeah, I think it is time to go in.”
Sir Martin feels a darkness, a coldness close in on him. He use all his will to fight it as best as he can. He feels himself begin to change. The monks’ chanting heightens.
Magnus recognizes the chanting as a corrupted form of ancient latin. He has heard from infernal sects he’s run into before.
Magnus: “We should get in there now.”
Laurens orders the soldiers to fire the Abbey even if the group is still inside. They see Sir Martin’s horse standing outside the Abbey. Laurens recalls the men on the road. The soldiers on the road yell back that there are troops approaching. The group also sees that something is coming from the west. The Donal makes a detour towards the stables. Laurens readies his battle axe. Gwynedd reflexively crosses herself and then “opens” the door of the chapel. Magnus gives a quick benediction. Gwynedd tears the door off the hinges. Gabriel cleaves the head of the monk standing near the door.
The group sees Sir Martin in the far side of the chapel. He is 15 and a half feet tall. He looks reptilian. He has horns out the top of his head. His eyes are glowing red. He has smoke coming out of his mouth. He has a big coiled whip in his right hand.
Laurens yells, “Duck!” Laurens throws his battle axe with all his strength and skill at the demon.
Stick Figure Theater
