Chapter 21 - Kapital

It was the afternoon of the festival of Zasev (sowing festival). We met to discuss how we could keep the Tome of Power for ourselves, but since we didn't know of a way to get rid of the curse of 30 days, we decided we couldn't do it. We decided to go see the Inquisitors' servants in the Temple of the Sun as planned..

As we all prepared ourselves, Recnam went to his chamber and casted Deathvision on himself. He got the vision of us walking inside the Sun Temple. Suddenly, somebody cut Rufus's throat from behind. Almost simultaneously, someone else hit Recnam from behind, and he fell dead, dropping the Tome of Power on the floor. Recnam went back to warn the others that we'll probably be attacked in or around the Sun Temple.

We decided to go to the Temple in our normal clothes, except for Vinz who would go a little sooner as the old prostitute Maryse to do some reconnaissance. We also decided to make a false book and have Recnam carried it openly, while the real one would be carried by Leif in a big wineskin.

When all was ready, Vinz left Necros' Temple to go to the Sun Temple. He put himself up near the other prostitutes outside the temple. He quickly noticed a group of three men who seemed to do nothing but in fact were definitely looking for something or someone. Five minutes later, the rest of the group arrived. As they got near the Temple entrance, some trouble erupted in the crowd; one or two fights, someone slapping women's ass, etc. Knowing they were probably diversions, Vinz immediately started walking toward the others.

A man in the crowd suddenly tried to stab Recnam. The priest saw him at the last moment and was able to parry the sword with his staff, voluntarily throwing the false book on the ground. He immediately riposted, hitting the guy on the head and knocking him out. Vinz, having a broad angle view, saw another guy behind Recnam, about to backstab him. He fast-drew his sword, lunged forward and all-out attacked the guy to the face. Two of the three stabs hit, delivering massive damage to the guy who fell down. At the same moment, a third guy put a garotte around Mushamee's throat and started to squeeze. Mushamee quickly grabbed his sword and swung almost blindingly at his attacker, managing to impale him once in the torso. The guy fell on the ground. Meanwhile, Rufus, not knowing Recnam's book was false, fell on the ground to get it, and Leif scurried away in the Temple with the real book.

On the second round, we saw a man on a horse galloping in Recnam's direction, with a weapon hidden in his hand. Vinz tried to get in front of the priest, but was not quick enough. The guy swung at Recnam, who parried. Then the horse's momentum carried the guy past Recnam, where Mushamee was waiting. He attacked the horseman and hit him so hard he fell down from the horse, knocked out. The riderless horse continued his gallop.

Letting Mushamee take care of the rider, Vinz looked around and noticed a bum who (he remembered suddenly) was sitting with the three suspicious men before the trouble started. The bum had a blowpipe aimed at Recnam and was about to use it, so Vinz tackled Recnam from behind and they both fell on the ground. The guy then changed his aim to Rufus, who was getting up on his knees, and hit him in one cheek with a dart. Luckily, Rufus was able to resist the poison.

Vinz got back on his knees and ran toward the bum, who tried to disappear in the crowd. Vinz started following, but two things made him stop and go back to the Temple. First, if the guy used a paralyzing poison *after* his accomplices had been eliminated, it means there were others near enough to grab the book before we had time to react. It meaned there was probably more enemies in or around the temple. Second, he noticed the bum was making it deliberately easy for someone to follow him, meaning there probably was another ambush waiting near and the bum was leading Vinz right into it.

We all went inside the Sun Temple, with Leif still staying a little apart from the others. Mushamee put the identification necklace around his neck. As we reached the end of the Temple, a beautiful Priestess came to meet us. She moved toward the back of the Temple, leaving a trail of petal flowers behind her. We followed. We reached a big sign of the Sun Temple on a wall, pushed it aside, and went inside. We followed the petal trail to a set of stairs. On its top step, we found the Priestess' tiara. We followed the trail. Midway down, we found the Priestess' robes. Finally, at the bottom of the stairs, we saw the Priestess' sandals. We entered a new room.

The Priestess was there, naked, in front of an altar. On the altar was what seems to be a book holder, with a skull on one side of it and some kind of internal organ on the other. There were up to 13 priests in robes alongside the walls. The Priestess asked us to give her the book, as she had to make sure it was the right one. Leif handed it. She put the book in its place on the altar and did some incantation. The skull turned around and pronounced the book as the one needed. We asked the Priestess if, as promised by the Inquisitors, we could get access to the tome. She said yes, but only after it had been carefully studied.

After the ceremony was over, she said the Inquisitors wanted to talk to us, and she went into a trance. The Inquisitors started speaking through her, so we had a chance to ask them some questions. Here's what transpired:

• There is a battle between Ruinas and Necros' Temple. Ruinas wants to become Emperor, and the Patriarch from Necros wants to establish a theocracy where magic is tightly controlled.
• Ruinas doesn't know anything about magic.
• No one is really aware of the Inquisitors (they don't seem to know Recnam told the Patriarch about them).
• The Inquisitors want to establish an immortal Empire and want us to help.
• We will have access to the Book's secrets when they have deciphered it.
• For now, we must continue to protect Necros Temple.

When they said Ruinas didn't know anything about magic, Leif asked them why, then, he tried to get the book for himself. They ignored him. He asked again later. They ignored him again. Just before they went away, Vinz asked them the same question. They ignored him too.

As an analysis, some of what they told us don't seem to fit with what we know. First, there is the matter of the Serpent Queen and the dead Priest of Necros who independently told us we had to stop something terrible from happening, and it is certainly not the use of magic itself (at least not for the Serpent Queen). Also, Necros' Temple doesn't look like an organization that wants to control the use of magic. Maybe it's simply too early for that, but we saw many signs of supernatural happenstance in the Church (the Dead Priest, the supernaturally aware Listener, etc). Finally, it was for us to believe Ruinas didn't knowing anything about magic. His people definitely referred to us as Demons, so he at least knows the fact that we're supposed to be some kind of supernatural creatures under the control of the Inquisitors.

After they terminated the spell, the Priestess came back to her senses. Mushamee asked for our reward. She led us down a set of stairs, into a small room filled with weapons and armor pieces. Vinz and Recnam immediately detected that all of them were magical. The Priestess handed a carefully choosed piece of equipment to each of us. Here's what we got:

Mushamee: the Silver Sword of the Sun - emits a lot of light. Really well-balanced. Probably lots of combat bonuses, especially against undead.

Vinz : Night Fang, a rune-incrusted sword hilt with no blade. When the rune is traced with a finger, a bronze blade materializes. Really well balanced too, and easilly concealable.

Recnam : Necros' Finger, a magical wand that gives bonus to the magical Path of Necros, especially Zombie manipulation.

Leif : Ward of the Wolf, a medium shield with the image of a wolf engraved on the outside surface. Leif was pissed off because he wanted a weapon, but the Priestess told him this is what was required for the Guardian demon.

Rufus : The Helm of the Rat, to help ferret out the truth. Or as Sean called it by email, "Nosy Guy's Helm of Getting Into Trouble" :)

Before we left, Mushamee asked the Priestess if she was interested in having sexual relations with him, but she refused, saying she had to stay a virgin. She lead us to the Temple's back door and bade us goodbye. We went back to the Temple of Necros.

Since the night was falling, Mushamee and Leif decided to spend it at one of the Temples of Bacchus, for gambling, music, and womanizing.

For one reason or another, Recnam noticed that the zombie bite on Rufus' leg was not healing; it fact, it was expanding. Knowing that there probably was no way to stop the "necrotization" naturally, we sacrificed the second of our four healing onguents and spread it on the wound. It disappeared.

After that, Recnam decided he would like to go back to the warehouse to try and interrogate some of the dead bodies in the water; maybe we could get some dirt on Ruinas this way. Vinz decided to accompany him. As they prepared themselves, Recnam casted another Death Vision on himself. He saw himself in the warehouse, as some people were trying to get in. He tried to jump in the little boat, but missed and plunged in the water. He tried to swim, but his heavy robes and the crabs pulled him down until he drowned.

Of course, he didn't mention that to Vinz, and they are about to leave by horse.

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Chapter 22 - Kapital

Before going to the warehouse, Recnam decided to told Vinz about his vision of death; they decided to go anyway. It was now dark, but the Zasev festival was still going on strong, and with all those people in the streets, they decided to go by foot instead of by horse. Nothing happened during the trip. As they got near the warehouse, they could see there was light inside. Recnam walked to the pier and sat down. He tried and succeeded in communicating with some of the dead people under the warehouse. They told him they wanted revenge. One of them added that Ruinas was meeting his mistress in an estate outside the city. Recnam did a small ceremony to release them from their place of death.

Meanwhile, Vinz got near the warehouse. He decided he wanted to see what was going on inside, so he climbed on the roof. There, a critical success on his vision roll allowed him to spot an opening used by cats to come in and out of the warehouse. He used it to look and listen to what was being said. He saw and heard three guys, one making a delivery and two aids. They were getting ham pieces out of a vehicle, and putting them in the same lot Leif had stolen from yesterday. By their conversation, Vinz learned they were made of human flesh, as a good way to get rid of bodies. Such a delivery is made once a month. Eventually, the three guys left. Vinz climbed down, and he and Recnam went back to the Temple.

When they got there, they met Mushamee and Leif who had just got back from partying. Vinz had a sadistic pleasure telling them about the human flesh they had eaten the day before. It quickly turned into a contest of who would empty his stomach the fastest :) Recnam, also having eaten some of the ham, spent the night in penitence.

During the night, Recnam was suddenly waken up by noises outside his door. He realized someone was bashing it with hatchets, so he yelled. Vinz, being a very light sleeper, heard him and got up. He took his weapon and ran down the corridor, banging on Mushamee's door in passing. At the end of the corridor, he saw Leif, naked but for his demon protecting helmet, bashing on Recnam's door with two hatchets. He was evidently not conscious, like that time in the desert when he attacked Vlad after imagining seeing his dead grandfather being butchered. Vinz stepped in and successfully disarmed his good hand. Then Mushamee, being the subtle individual that he his, tried to Roshambo him (i.e. kick him in the nuts as hard as he can). Leif parried with his other hatchet, slashing Mushamee's leg in the process (Bonnie used her Luck to get minimal damage). That woke Leif up, but Mushamee didn't stop there and bashed Leif with his shield, for six points of damage to the leg. Everybody took to their senses after that, and the fight ended. Some priests came in and patched Mushamee and Leif up. We all went back to sleep.

The following day, Mushamee decided to send a letter to Ruinas, asking for a meeting at the Legion HQ. Since he didn't know how to write, he asked Rufus to do it.

Recnam decided to spend the day studying some of the scrolls he had; he took the scroll of 17 afflictions he got from the undead priest in the Holy City and went to practice on poor Romulus. Luckily for Romulus, he wasn't successful. Vinz announced he had to take the day to meditate. Mushamee and Leif went to practice with their new items. Leif discovered that when using his shield offensively, the wolf's head would emerge from the shield and ferociously bite the defendent, and hang on. When the defendent would finally disentangle himself, the wolf head would simply go back in the shield.

During the evening, Mushamee was informed someone was waiting to talk to him. It was an envoy from the Legion who told him that, following the decision to start a new campaign against the southern country of Teclas, all the legions except one would move south the next day. The exception was the 1st Kapital Legion, charged with maintaining the order in Kapital, and Mushamee had been named its Primus Pilus. He had to present himself to the Legion headquarters as soon as possible to get his instructions.

A little later, Mushamee received another visit. This time, the visitor presented himself as Otto Vilanus, an envoy from Ruinas. He said his master would be delighted to meet him tomorrow, at the Legion HQ. When he left, we discussed how we could justify the presence of the rest of the group at the meeting.

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Chapter 23 - Kapital: Legion Headquarters

It was the morning after we had received an invitation from Ruinas to meet him at Legion HQ. After some discussion, we decided that we would all go right now, except for Recnam who would join us later. Mushamee decided to hire Rufus as his permanent aide, and Leif as his permanent bodyguard. Vinz would disguised himself as a servant of Mushamee. Recnam would go as himself.

While the rest of the group went to the Legion HQ, Recnam decided to try again one of the 17 Afflictions he got on Romulus. He went to the dungeons and had the prisoner brought to him. This time, wsing his luck, he successfully casted something on Romulus that made him really unhappy, but Recnam didn't know what (we discovered later it was Strike Blind. After Romulus was taken away, Recnam casted Death Vision on himself; he was in this same dungeon, the next day, trying to cast something on Romulus, but critically failling and then something hit him and he fell dead. He decided for now to join the others at the Legion HQ.

At the HQ, Mushamee and his three followers were led to their new quarters. A little later, they were joined by Recnam. Around noon, a soldier came in and announce there was a small group of people outside wanting to meet Mushamee. Pavlo Ruinas, Otto Vilanous and a couple other guys were introduced.

The conversation that followed was kinda odd, since we hadn't really think about what we wanted out of it. Also, Ruinas was waiting for us to make him a proposition, probably thinking we knew more about him than we actually did. We threw accusations at each other, but no one had any proof. Ruinas maintained he had never tried to kill us, and if anything bad was done to us, it was made without his knowledge. He in turn accused us of stealing from the Imperial Library, but we told him we didn't do it (we figured he had no witness because nobody saw us that night and walked free). The five of us eventually went in another room to discuss privately about our (lack of) strategy. Rufus wanted to propose an alliance to Ruinas, even work for him, but all the others voted him down (Vinz was especially opposed, because he already had a contract with the Temple of Necros and he was sure working for Ruinas would involved breaching it, something he never does). We finally decided to try to talk Ruinas out of trying to kill us for now, and in return, we would not interfere willingly with his activities. We got back in the meeting room and made our proposition. Ruinas accepted, on the condition we stopped acting like thieves. He also said that he would be interested in making deals with the Legion for the procurement of food and equipment, suggesting Mushamee could make some serious money out of this by putting the difference between what the Legion was paying now and what it would pay with Ruinas in his own pockets.

The discussion being at an end, Ruinas got up and left. Otto stayed behind just long enough to murmur something in Recnam's ear. When Vinz asked him later what he was told, Recnam answered Otto said he (Recnam) should kill Romulus.

Mushamee and Rufus used the afternoon to start looking into the administrative tasks of running the Legion. Recnam and Vinz left them to go back to Necros' Temple. There, Recnam went to study his scrolls, while Vinz meditated on Thaumatology. During the evening, Leif and Mushamee went to do some gambling in the legionnaires' barracks. In the temple, Vinz and Recnam went to sleep.

Before he could fall asleep, Recnam was disturbed by an acolyte who told him the Patriarch of the Temple wanted to talk to him. Recnam followed him to the high chambers.

The Patriarch asked him if he would be interested in joining Mushamee's 1st Kapital Legion as their official Necros Priest. The reasons were twofold:

#1. Keep an eye on what is going on there; i.e., report on major movements and activities, and procure a copy of anything the Legion staff commits to writing (especially accounts of provision).

2. Increase the strength of ties between the Temple and the Legion; typical "hearts and minds" stuff.

The importance of all this? The Patriarch indicated that Pavlo Ruinas also wanted to increase his influence with the Legion, possibly with the aim of overthrowing the Emperor. Someone has to counteract this influence, and Recnam was the perfect choice. He said that the Temple -- and indeed all the gods, not just Necros -- only supported an Emperor who rules by divine right. They believed that a secular military dictator such as Ruinas would be disastrous for the Empire and of course for *all* the cults, not just the Temple of Necros. As such, the Temple has a holy duty to oppose Ruinas... which means positioning its spies (Recnam, Vinz) to work against Ruinas' spies in 1st Kapital.

Remember: the only thing between the Emperor and any would-be deposers is the High Imperial Guard. The only force in the heartland with the smallest hope against the Guard is the 1st Kapital Legion. This makes 1st Kapital Legion important out of all proportion to its reputation as an army of cowards who stay at home when the *real* legions go off for conquest and glory. Anyone with designs on the throne will need to deal with 1st Kapital. It is already painfully obvious to Mushamee that he was chosen because he is Kotanese -- from the far, far East -- and about as far from a politically ambitious officer from a wealthy old family as you can get and still be in the Empire. Mushamee is an illiterate field commander, not a politician, and whoever appointed him knew this. (The Patriarch hinted at this; he mentioned Mushamee by name numerous times.)

There was a strong implication that the Patriarch felt Ruinas would try to poison the food supply of 1st Kapital. Needless to say, if the Temple were to expose such a ploy, it would greatly increase its prestige. And then its clerics could talk about how the Temple saved 5,000 men from a grim death unordained by Necros...

The Patriarch finally threatened Recnam indirectly into accepting the position, suggesting that there are two kinds of people, Speakers and Listeners, and that he preferred Recnam to be a Speaker. When asked how the Patriarch had such precise knowledge of what had just happened, he said that "a little bird had told him," leading Recnam to believe that the crow that is following Rufus (and had first appeared on the Temple ground) is in fact a spy for the Patriarch. Recnam accepted the job and went to sleep.

A little later, someone knocked on Vinz's door, waking him up. It was Katya, the leader of the Night Guard. She told Vinz Recnam has been designated as the new Necros Priest for the 1st Kapital Legion, and they wanted him to act as a bodyguard. She suspected professional assassins would be sent after him, and it would take another professional assassin who knew all the tricks of the trade to stop them. She also promised additional bonuses for any significant actions. Vinz took the contract.

Early on the following day, Vinz got up and decided he'd go as a female junior acolyte serving Recnam in his new functions. He did inquire if disguising himself as a acolyte was sacrilegious, but was told it was not. He took the apparence of a young Reina (since he stopped impersonating her well before coming to Kapital) and went to the Night Guard Tower to clothes himself. He joined Recnam for breakfast, after which they left for the Legion Headquarters. During their trip, they noticed the crow following them.

When they reached the Legion HQ, they were greeted by Mushamee, Leif and Rufus. Recnam told them about being the new Priest of Necros for the Legion and asked for a place to build a Necros chapel. Mushamee asked him the reason for this, but Recnam said he couldn't tell right now. Reina said the best place for the chapel would be in a closed space in a remote place. Mushamee decided to install them in an old unoccupied temple just beside the Crypt. He led us to it.

Protected from the eyes and ears of the crow, Recnam told Mushamee why he was here, including the spying part; he even directly asked for a copy of all the official documents he or Rufus would sign. Reina also talked about the possible Recnam assassination attempt.

They finally reached the old Temple. Reina selected a pair of contiguous rooms, one unaccessable except through the other. She put Recnam in the first one, and took the second. She asked Mushamee to send someone to clean the rooms, but he was surprisingly reticent. He left, after promising he would try to find someone. Around this time (I don't remember if it was before or after Mushamee left), a ghost in legionaire armor appeared to Recnam, asking him to bring honor to this place. He then disappeared through the wall.

Later, a man came to clean things up, but did such a sloppy job that Reina finally sent him away. During the evening, Recnam went to the Crypt (one of the Temple's doors led directly to it). It contained the bodies of many high-ranking legionnaires who had decided to be buried here instead of on their domains. Recnam contacted one of them, asking him if he would like to serve again. The answer was yes (although we only have Recnam's word for that). Recnam called Reina to assist to a new thing he could do. When she arrived, he casted the Create Zombie spell to create a skeleton (don't remember if he was armed and armored or not). Reina was skeptical of its intention and use, but Recnam convinced her by showing his control. He ordered the skeleton to obey Reina's orders as well as his.

Both knew the skeleton would make a great help to guard Recnam, but they also knew Mushamee's aversion to undead; who knows what he would do if he found it, considering the skeleton was the remains of a great general. We decided the skeleton would spend each night in Recnam's room, disguised as something else, and would spend the day inside the Crypt.

When we were all finished, it was time to go to sleep, so that's what we did (with the skeleton at its guarding place). The night went on peacefully. On the morning, the skeleton was sent to the crypt, with the order to close the door behind it. After breakfast, a group of legionnaires came to our rooms to clean then up for real.

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Chapter 24 - Kapital: Legion HQ - Eastern Road

It was a bright, sunny morning at the 1st Kapital Legion Headquarters. After their chambers was cleaned thoroughly by a couple of legionaires, Recnam and Reina started setting up the Necros Chapel. Mushamee started training his cohort in earnest. Rufus started his clerical work; his goal was to examine what was coming in and going out of the legion, to detect any anormalities. Unluckily for him, there was no formal inventory system in place, and all the important papers, if they even existed, were locked in the Legate's offices.

Midway through the training, Mushamee was interrupted by a gate guard who told him someone important was at the gate and wanted to meet him. Mushamee followed him back to his post, and recognized the person waiting; it was Vasili. He had some men from the High Imperial Guard with him.

Vasili said Mushamee could call him governor, consul, prefect, or legate, whichever he wanted. He said he had heard of troubles in the east, even possibly an insurrection, approximately one day march from Kapital. He ordered Mushamee to go check it out, otherwise 30 days of curse would fall on us. With not much of a choice in front of him, Mushamee accepted. Vasili told him to give his regards to Vinz and left.

Mushamee thought of which group of legionaires he could bring with him. He was the Primus Pilus of 1st Kapital, but as long as the Legate was in town, he could only directly command the 1st Cohort (which consisted of 500 to 600 legionaires, 40-50 auxiliary archers and 40-50 auxiliary horsemen). Vasili's order was to leave as soon as possible, which meant the following day; Mushamee figured he wouldn't have the time to ask permission to move more than his own cohort before he had to left.

Mushamee went back to his men and told them they would march tomorrow morning. He then went to inform the others. Leif decided to go. Reina wanted to go, but said it was up to Recnam. The Priest was not sure he should go, but two things decided him: 1) going out with the troops would show that he was willing to take the same risks as them, and 2) a Death Vision showed him he was about to be killed by spears just before entering his quarters in the old temple. Rufus, having many days of administrative work in front of him, decided to stay behind.

We spent the rest of the day gathering our stuff and preparing for the trip. Recnam went to the crypt and created another skeleton. Once done, he tried communicating with its spirit, but found out it had been replaced by some force he didn't know about.

The night went smoothly. Late the next morning, Mushamee, Leif, Recnam, Reina and the entire first cohort left Kapital.

Approximately one hour later, Rufus saw some angry people coming through the Legion gates. They wanted to talk to Mushamee and were furious he was not there. Rufus presented himself and, using Diplomacy, convinced them to talk to him. They said they were members of the High Imperial Guards and announced that Titus Pilatus, the Legate of the 1st Kapital Legion (and boss of Mushamee) had been assassinated less than an hour ago. Rufus told them Mushamee had taken the first cohort out for training (which is what Mushamee had told him).

Mid-afternoon, Rufus was asked to present himself in the meeting hall. All the centurions still at HQ were there. Someone came in and announced that given the death of the Legate, a new, temporary Legate had been nominated. His name was Pavlo Ruinas.

Stunned, Rufus saw Ruinas, Otto and some other people enter the room to present themselves. Ruinas then went directly to Rufus and told him indirecly that Mushamee was the prime suspect in the assassination of the Legate. He also annouced that Rufus had been re-enlisted in the Legion as a decurion for the 8th cohort (there is only nine of them, and their quality goes from best (1st cohort) to worse (9th)). This didn't go well with Rufus, because he had already been in the Legion and was excused after losing a hand, and because nobody had asked him if he wanted to do it. He also suspected something bad was at hand for him. Ruinas almost confirmed it by ordering him not to leave the barracks anymore.

Late afternoon or early evening, a lot of new legionaires entered the Legion barracks. Rufus counted between 1,000 and 1,200 men, plus on the order of 200 to 300 auxiliaries, mostly archers. More than twice the numbers in Mushamee's 1st Cohort, all of them very well armed, most of them looking old enough to be veterans (which they probably were, given Ruinas' background). Ruinas announced that these men would become the new 1st and 2nd Cohort of the 1st Kapital Legion. The other legions were relegated two levels lower.

At the same time, Mushamee and the 1st cohort reached a caravan under attack by a group of maybe 30 bandits. The cohort charged, easily dispatching the attackers. Leif spotted a chest that had been abandoned by the bandits, and started bashing on it. A man from the caravan saw that and ran toward him. He thanked everyone for their help, but asked Leif to stop his bashing, as it was one of his chest. Leif's answer was "finder, keeper", but when the man said the chest was not containing gold, only books, Leif lost any interest. The man presented himself as Kaeso.

As it was now early evening, Mushamee decided we would spend the night here and go back to Kapital the next morning.

When night fell in earnest, Rufus decided it was too dangerous to stay in the Legion barracks. Desertion was not appealing to him, but since he had not even swear allegiance, he realized it could not be considered as desertion. Remembering an out-of-sight sewer entrance in the stables, he decided to use it to escape.

He found the entrance without problems. Nobody was around, so he lifted the cover and climbed down the stairs. Given the lack of light, he slipped on one of the last steps and fell down, taking some damage. Having High Pain Treshold, it didn't stop him. He slowly walked in the dark for a long while, making a lot of DX roll. He missed one of them, hurting himself on the leg. Being in the sewers, he had to make a HT roll to avoid infection, and missed :).

He came out of the sewers near the river in the warehouse district. He considered trying to sneak out of the city but decided that that would be too risky, so he decided to return to the Temple of Necros. Since he already had made the trip from where he was to the Temple, he had no problem finding his way.

At the Temple, he asked to talk to Katya. He told her everything that had happened this day. She brought him in front of the Patriarch in no time. The Patriarch told him he already knew some of what happened, because the crow... sorry, a little bird had told him. He questionned Rufus quite thoroughly. When it was over, the Patriarch asked Katya and Rufus to bring Recnam back as soon as possible. Katya said she had a way to go outside the city by using the old section of the sewers.

Late during the night, Katya and Rufus reached the 1st Cohort camp. They met with Mushamee, Recnam, Reina and Leif. Hearing the news, we started making some wild speculations about why Vasili would work with Ruinas, since he seemed to hate him (see Vinz's second meeting with him in Tenosia). We also started talking about the caravan members possibly being agents of Ruinas.

That came to an end when Recnam decided to use his Conspiracy Theory skill with his Luck. What it helped us realize is that contrary to what we thought earlier, Vasili probably ordered the 1st Cohort out so that it wouldn't fall in the hands of Ruinas. With the two new cohorts, Ruinas' troops were already more numerous than the High Imperial Guards, but it was not enough for a direct confrontation because the HIG was an elite group of a higher quality than any other cohort. Having control of the 1st Cohort, the best of the lot, would have lessen this advantage quite a bit.

Concerning the two new cohorts, it was impossible to smuggle so many people into the city in one day, so Vinz concluded that these men had probably entered the city in small groups over a long period, staying at inns and houses under Ruinas' control, waiting for the signal to emerge in full legionaire regalia. It would also explained why there was legionaires with a blank insignia on their shields in the sewers the night we stole the Tome of Power from the Imperial Library.

Finally, not only this theory better matched the facts we had, it also absolved the caravan men from being Ruinas' lapdogs. As for the Legate being dead, we decided we had no way to know if it was true, or if he was in cahoots with Ruinas. After all, while the men who announced the news to Rufus said they were from the High Imperial Guards, nothing proved that they really were.

We decided we had to go to Kapital to warn the Imperial Guard about a possible coup attempt by Ruinas. Our plan is for Vinz to disguise everyone, then we will go back to the Temple of Necros using the same passages Katya and Rufus had used. We will bring the caravan guy with us as an independent witness to testify for Mushamee's actions. We will then ask the Patriarch if we can meet one of the Temple's contacts in the HIG to explain the situation. As for the 1st Cohort, it will stay outside the city for now.

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Chapter 25 - Eastern Road - Kapital

As we started this week, it was still the middle of the night and we were discussing our return to Kapital. We decided to follow the plan we had set up last week. Reina woke up one of the merchants and bought robes for those who didn't had them. Mushamee named one of his centurion the temporary leader of the 1st Cohort, and told him to move it to one or two miles from Kapital the next morning. When everyone was ready, we left for Kapital, the five of us, Katya, and Kaeso the book merchant.

We decided to give the road a wide berth, and sent Leif as a scout. As the sun was getting up, Leif came back and warned us he had seen many men hidden behind bushes about 150 paces up front (he didn't knew how many because he can't count). Reina decided to accompany him to where he had spotted the ambushers. When they reached the place, Reina couldn't see anything, but Leif insisted he could still see them. Reina decided to get closer by herself. After a couple minutes of moving carefully, she was finally able to see the ambushers (still wondering how Leif could have noticed them from that far). She counted eight men, all armed with bows and wearing Ruinas' particular brand of legionaire armor. She went back to Leif, and from there they joined the rest of the group.

After spending a couple of minutes discussing our options, we decided it would be quicker to just dispatch the ambushers. We quickly decided on a simple strategy.

Reina left the group to get as near to the ambushers as possible without being seen. She finally settled behind a bush twenty paces from them and loaded her crossbow.

Ten minutes after Reina had left, Kaeso loaded his repeating crossbow with a bolt to which was attached a bag filled with powder. He ignited the bag and fired his bolt in the general vicinity of the ambushers. When the bolt hit the ground, the bag exploded and the grass caught fire. From her point of view, Reina saw the ambushers have been surprised and were somewhat confused.

Just after the fire had caught, Rufus, Mushamee and Leif charged openly toward the would-be ambushers. Reina fired his crossbow, hitting one of them in the face and knocking him out. No one noticed her, so she reloaded.

The seven guys quickly noticed Mushamee, Rufus and Leif running toward them in the distance, and started to pepper them with arrows. Luckily the three all had their shields and were able to block all of the arrows. Reina shot another man in the right arm as he was able to fire his bow, crippling it. Again, no one saw her and she reloaded.

The charging trio had covered half the distance at this point. Leif, being less encumbered, started getting ahead of the two others. Two other volleys of arrows were fired at them; most missed and the others were blocked. One of the archers got a critical failure on his attack and seriously hurt his right arm.

Reina aimed and shot a third guy in the face, knocking him out. This time, one of the remaining archers noticed her and fired his bow at her. Reina wasn't able to dodge, but the arrow's damage was absorbed by her armor. The two men with only one good arm charged her with their swords in their left hands. Reina got up and readied Nightwraith (the name of her sword) and her shield. The next round, the two men got in melee range. Reina attacked both of them to the brain; one was hit and killed instantly. The other was hit in the chest and wounded. He attacked Reina, but she easily parried. On the next turn, she Feint-and-Attacked him to the brain and knocked him out. At this point, Mushamee was starting to wonder if he'd even had the opportunity to use his sword. :)

Reina looked around and saw Leif was at about the same distance from the remaining ambushers as her, so she decided to charge. Two of the archers fired point blank at her, and the other two at Leif. Reina blocked one arrow and dodged the other, while Leif blocked the first and his armor absorbed the damage of the second. The four men dropped their bows and readied their swords just as we reached them.

Reina Feint-and-Attacked one in the face, impaling him for serious damage. The other attacked, but she parried him. She counter-attacked to the brain, but did only minimum damage. This stunned the guy, however, who dropped on his knees. Reina went back to the first guy, feint-and-attacked him to the brain, and dropped him. Seeing Rufus running toward her, she decided to be generous and let Rufus deal with the kneeling guy. As she started walking away, Rufus all-out-attacked the guy to the brain; the archer parried. Hearing the clang!, Reina turned around to look. The kneeling guy slashed at Rufus in the torso for some damage. Reina couldn't help but start laughing. Rufus again all-out-attacked, and again the guy parried. Reina, who had used Body Language to notice that Rufus was again wide open, decided she didn't want to deal with a seriously hurt Rufus and slashed the man two times in the throat. He fell unconscious.

Meanwhile, Leif slammed one of his opponents solidly with his Wolf shield; the wolf emerged from the shield, grabbed the man with his paw, threw him down, bit him, and returned in the shield. After blocking the second guy's attack, he tried to slam him, but missed and went past him. He was attacked from behind by his two opponents, but his armor absorbed all the damage they inflicted. Mushamee finally got in melee range, attacked one archer two times, knocked him out, and attacked the other one time, causing serious damage. Leif turned around and finish the wounded men.

As we regrouped, we saw the fire was getting out of control. Leif quickly killed all the unconscious men and we threw their bodies in the fire (to the dismay of Kaeso). We resumed our trip.

We finally arrived in Kapital. Katya led us to the sewer entrance she and Rufus had used to get out of the city. After walking for a couple of minutes in the sewers, Vinz heard something ahead and went scouting. He heard a voice saying "braaaaaiiiiinnnnnssss". He signaled the undead presence to the others and retreated. Less than a minute later, twenty zombies appeared in front us. Mushamee and Leif ran ahead to hack at them. Recnam noticed, however, that the zombies were not attacking. He told them to sit, and they obeyed him. He then told Mushamee and Leif to stop their attacks; having met no resistance at all, they reluctantly agreed. Recnam told the zombies to leave us alone, and they did. He said they were probably his own zombies he had secretly created while in the Temple of Necros. We started forward again.

A couple minutes later, we stumbled upon another group of zombies, this time composed of thirty to fourty corpses. Once again, they obeyed Recnam. At his command, they moved away, but followed us the moment we started walking. Kaeso's sight was attracted to an opening in the floor; looking down, he saw many skeletons moving around. He did refuse to believe they really were undead, calling them very sick people (I just don't know how he justified the presence of skeletons, however).

As we got nearer to the Temple, the number of undead was rapidly rising. When we reached the Temple door, Katya knocked on it with the appropriate signal. The door was opened from inside, and we got in.

Waiting for us just behind the door was the Patriarch and at least a dozen of his Priests, in a ceremonial formation. He told us the following things:

• There is some prophecy about three sons, the son of Necros (Recnam), the son of the Emperor (Vasili), and the son of the South (Ruinas). He was very vague about any of its details.
• The Patriarch didn't tell us before today because he wanted to be sure Recnam was the son of Necros. Him raising undeads seems to be the proof he wanted.
• By raising undead, Recnam has opened the door for other undeads to be raised.
• The Emperor is probably dead by now, and the war to control the Empire has begun. There is three camps: Ruinas, who wants to rule the traditional way (i.e. without using magic); a group of Churches who wants to establish a theocracy, and would allow magic in a controlled way; and Vasili and the Inquisitors, who wants to use Magic everywhere and anywhere.
• He knows of our binding to the Inquisitors, and thinks he may have a solution. (He better have, otherwise I'm not sure we will be able to move against Vasili.)
• The Temple of Necros is not alone; there are other churches with it. But since it's the only one who can provide an army, it has taken center stage.
• The Patriarch said the dead outnumbered the living by a lot, and that now, they were filling the entire sewer system. He asked Mushamee to lead this army to defeat the other two groups. It would be up to us to decided how and when to proceed.
• Since Recnam is the one who opened the door for the creation of undeads, they will all be destroyed if he dies. This is why it is so important to keep him alive.

We asked for a private room to discuss all this.

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Chapter 26 - Kapital

As we started this week, we had just entered a small room to discuss the revelations of the Patriarch. The main problem we had was that although the undead were numerous, they were comprised of mostly peasants, merchants, thugs, children, etc, and not of soldiers. Mounting an assault on a guarded compound full of soldiers, like the Imperial palace or the 1st Kapital Legion HQ, would be suicidal (pun not intended). We tried to find other ways to take control of the city, but realized we were severely lacking in intelligence. We decided that Kaeso and a disguised Vinz would go into the city as merchants and visit the main places to see how the situation had evolved. Mushamee would use this time to elaborate different strategies depending on the situation.

As dusk was falling, Rufus had his wounds and leg infection treated by one of the temple priests. Leif went to see a really tired Katya at the Night Tower to get a better melee weapon than his shortsword. Katya gave him a broadsword called a spatha (photo to be found soon on the website). On his way down, Leif met Rufus who asked him to share guard duty in one of the towers with him. Leif accepted, but it was apparent it was only because it gave him time to practice with his new sword. He took the first guard.

Meanwhile, Recnam went to see the Patriarch to ask him more questions. Here are the main points discussed:

• When Recnam asked him why he was not told about the prophecy, the put Recnam's life in danger. They had to be sure he was the son of Necros and part of the prophecy's triangle of power. They already had big clues about his nature when, as a baby, he was found naked, near a column of the Temple during the celebration of the Smert festival (festival of the Dead), as was told in the prophecy. He added that the prophecy had now been fulfilled, and he doesn't what's gonna happen.
• The gods only give hints about what they want, and it is up to us to decide how to accomplish their bidding; that is why the Church of Necros needs Mushamee to lead the undead army.
• He had all this knowledge because, like Recnam, he had studied a lot of very old books dating from when Magic was still active. Contrary to Recnam, however, he cannot use this knowledge as he doesn't have the "gift." He also said that Necros was revealing things to him a little at a time.
• He would have liked to meet the ghost of the ancient priest of Necros that Mushamee and Rufus had met on our way to Kapital. It would have been a very spiritual and wonderful experience for him, and considered Mushamee and Rufus priviledged to have received such an honor.
• The zombies are a gift of Necros, and Recnam was the catalyst for their return. He sees himself as the head of Necros while Recnam is the hand.

The Patriarch then spent some times asking Recnam about zombies' strengths and Weaknesses, and helping him ready the undead troops.

Meanwhile, Kaeso and Vinz (disguised as a Tenosian Merchant named Yvan Portius Zalatsky) left the Temple and started a tour of the city. They were rapidly intercepted by a guard patrol. Vinz told them they were going downtown, but the leader said their was a curfew and we should get to our inn as soon as possible. If we had none, he recommended the Three Grapes Inn, as it was near. We thanked him and continued on our way. Ten minutes later, we met another patrol, and this time it was Kaeso who tried to bluff our way out. The patrol leader told us about the curfew and asked about the inn we were staying in. Kaeso said the Three Grapes inn. The patrol leader said he knew where it was, and he would escort us back. We had no choice but to follow.

At the inn, we ordered a room for the night. We then asked the innkeeper how were things. He told us the situation was really bad. With the gates closed, business was at a minimum, and worst, the new patrolmen were no better than thugs, and had to be "tipped" so they wouldn't cause any trouble.

When we got into the public room, it was empty except for a small group of foreign merchants sitting around a table, drinking wine. We asked if we could sit with them and they accepted. During the following conversation, they told us about the curfew, the closing of the city gates, and how it was all bad for business. Some merchants had even been asked to leave the city.

As the night was getting late, Vinz and Kaeso went back to their room. They both decided they had to get back to the Temple this same night (although, thinking about it now, I don't really know why :)). They waited until around one, then Vinz jumped from his window to the streets and helped Kaeso do the same. They started toward the Temple, keeping in the dark alleys.

During the trip, they met two other patrols, but evaded them. After a long walk, they reached the place where the last embush had taken place, i.e. between two houses right across the street from the main Temple entrance. Vinz looked around and noticed a couple of human forms hidden on each side of the doors. He peaked his head around the corner to check for snipers with crossbows. There was at least one, for sure, because Vinz immediately received a bolt through the chest (Sean said the guy rolled extremely well both on his vision roll, and on his attack roll). Vinz blew his HT roll to stay conscious and crumbled to the ground.

Leif, still on "guard duty" (i.e. weapon practice) in the tower, heard this taking place. He looked around and saw Vinz down on the ground, Kaeso trying to hide himself, two men armed with swords walking toward them coming from the Temple, and two crossbowmen hidden in two different places, one near, one far. He immediately ranged some kind of bell, got one of his throwing axes, and threw it at one of the swordsmen. He hit, but not hard enough to drop him. He took his second axe and threw it at the second swordsman, again hitting him but not hard enough. As the two men reach Kaeso and orders him to surrender, Leif threw his third axe. He missed his target, but hit Kaeso critically. The merchant was not hurt that badly, but acted as if he was and crumbled to the ground. Leif threw his fourth and last axe at his first target, hit, and dropped him.

Leif was suddenly hit by a bolt coming from one of the crossbowmen, but most of the damage was absorbed by his armor. At the same moment, Big Ren, Katya's second-in-command, joined him with a strange throwing weapon called a hunga munga. He aimed at the crossbowman who had just fired (the other was too far), threw and hit. The guy immediately fell down on the ground. Leif grabbed his longbow and aimed at the second crossbowman.

At this moment, the Temple doors flew aside and Mushamee and Rufus ran into the streets with shield and sword. Mushamee saw the second swordsman near Vinz and Kaeso and ran toward him. The man turned around to face him but he didn't lasted one second against Mushamee's brutal attacks. The legionaire then put himself and his shield between Vinz's body and the last crossbowman while Kaeso got to his feet.

Rufus, having noticed the second crossbowman, was running toward him. When he was almost in reach, he had to block a point-blank shot. Seeing this, the crossbowman dropped his weapon and grabbed a sword. Next turn, Rufus reached him and they started fighting. Rufus used a Feint and attack to draw first blood. He parried his adversary's own attack. Leif shot his arrow and hit the guy. Then Rufus feinted and attacked again, and the guy dropped to the ground.

Immediately, everyone rushed toward Vinz to carry him inside the Temple. Leif mysteriously found a rat, killed him, and attached its body to the bolt protuding from Vinz's chest. A couple of minutes later, Vinz woke up and saw the bolt sitting on his chest (not IN his chest) with the dead rat attached to it. He also noticed that his grievous wound was gone and he was in full health. He joined the others. We decided to get one of the assassins still alive outside to interrogate him (although Vinz made it very clear the guy was NOT leaving the Temple alive). Since Leif was very fatigued, Vinz and Mushamee were the ones who went outside and get the body.

As they grabbed one of the unconscious guys, they both heard the distinctive walking sound of a patrol coming in their direction. Knowing all the patrolmen were under Ruinas' control, they ran toward the Temple with the prisoner. They just had time to see many legionaires running in the street before someone slammed the Temple doors behind them and locked them. We then heard someone from the outside yelling he knew that the Emperor's assassins were inside, and the Temple would not be able to protect them for long. We then heard a boom on the door, probably the sound of a spear embedding itself in the wood. We ignored them for now.

We found an appropriate room and Rufus started interrogating the assassin. Vinz helped things by breaking the prisoner's fingers one by one when he was being reticent, indicating after the fingers came the toes, then the arms, then the legs, and finally the head. The prisoner quickly told everything he knew, which was not much. The only real important information he had was that it seemed the High Imperial Guard had suddenly disappeared from the Imperial Palace, and that Ruinas was now controlling it. He didn't know if the Guard had been destroyed (highly unlikely) or simply left the city (which would be incredibly hard given the short period of time given, unless of course magic was involved).

After having found out all that we could, Vinz proposed to kill the prisoner right now, but the Patriarch said he could still be useful. They put him in a dungeon cell for now. The Patriarch gave some orders to the Listener in a language Vinz didn't understand.

We all went to bed. The following morning, when Kaeso entered the dining room for breakfast, Leif was already there and threw a dead rat at him. Kaeso catched it and found himself much better.

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Chapter 27 - Kapital

When we started this week, it was early morning following Kaeso and Vinz's little escapade in the city. Still severely lacking in intelligence, we decided to all go individually on information gathering missions. Mushamee would go to the city's eastern gates to check how it was manned, and then go near the 1st Legion barracks to check troop movement. Rufus would try to contact his patron the Senator. Leif would go into the inns near the 1st Legion barracks to talk to the customers. Kaeso would go the market center to talk to the merchants there. Vinz would go to the Mercenary's Guild to learn what they knew about the situation in the city. Recnam would go to the Temple's library and try to find a way to get to the Imperial quarter's sewers from the normal city sewers. Vinz spent the rest of the morning disguising Mushamee, Leif, Kaeso and himself, and we all left discreetly using the Temple's side door.

Leif walked to the inn nearest the 1st Kapital Legion HQ. There, he spent a lot of time listening to and talking with other customers. He even engaged in some gambling, losing all the money Mushamee had given him. During his stay, he heard two rumors:

• A large body of troops sortied from the Imperial Palace and left Kapital -- possibly with the Emperor! -- the night the Patriarch raised the zombie army and claimed the Emperor was assassinated.
• The troops currently patrolling the city streets are someone's private army -- not legionaries, guardsmen, or city watch, and could be related to the assassination attempt on the Emperor.

When he reached the end of his funds, Leif left the inn and walked back to the Temple.

Vinz, having just acquired a better knowledge of the city, went directly to the local Mercenary's Guild chapter (who's interestingly under the control of Vasili, or so it is believed). He entered the hostel and, ignoring the offers of some of the already-present mercenaries for hire, seated himself and waited. An hour later, he finally saw someone he had already worked with in Tenosia; he stood up, walked to him and presented himself. He said he was on a job for which discreet outside activities were needed during the night, and asked if the guy knew why the streets were full of patrols, as they were causing him such problems. The man said he didn't know, but would like to. After a couple minutes of chatting, Vinz could see the man didn't know anything, so he let him go.

As soon as Vinz turned around, a big and grizzled man stepped in front of him and said he had something for him. Vinz followed him into a small private room. The man said he had a scroll for Vinz, and that anyone who read it would probably be in big danger. He handed the sealed scroll and left the room. Vinz broke the seal and started (slowly) reading.

(What follows is a paraphrasing of the message; I don't remember it by heart.)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

V,

I know there is bad air between me and your group, but I want to clear it
up. I have left Kapital for the city of Roma with the High Imperial Guard.
I want you and your friends to join me there.  Our mutual friends and
employers would like that.

                                     V.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Vinz put the scroll in his cloack and left the Guild to return to the Temple. He made doubly sure no one was following him on the way back.

As Mushamee was walking toward the city gates, he met a group of six legionaires with Ruinas' symbol on their shields. One of them got a critical success on his vision and recognized him through his disguise. They unsheated their swords and charged him. Mushamee looked around and retreated in a doorstep to limit the number of enemies that could attack him at the same time. He heard one of the legionaires said they were about to show he was not as good as he thinks he is (yeah, right :)).

Two of the legionaires reached Mushamee at the same time; let's name them L1 and L2. Mushamee attacked L1 with two attacks and L2 with one attack. L1 parried and blocked successfully, and L2 blocked. L1 and L2 both attacked Mushamee, but he parried them. L3 stepped in melee range. L4, L5 and L6 stayed one step behind, waiting for an occasion. Mushamee feinted and attacked L1 two times, killing him neatly and throwing him two yards away. L4 dodged the body and stepped in. L2, L3 and L4 attacked. Two were parried, but one got a critical success and wounded Mushamee seriously in the torso. Mushamee feinted and attacked L2 two times, knocking him out and back. L5 stepped in. L3, L4 and L5 attacked. Mushamee parried L4 and L5, and L3's damage was absorbed by his armor (he was wearing his concealable chain mail). The four attacker realized this and switched their attacks to Mushamee's unprotected legs.

Mushamee feinted and attacked L3 two times, knocking him out of the fight. L6 stepped in. L4, L5 and L6 attacked, and two of them hit Mushamee in the legs, sending him in negative HT territory. Mushamee feinted and attacked L4, sending him on his knees, stunned. He then attacked L6, with the exact same result. L5, the only one still standing, hesitated a brief moment, but still attacked. Not being surrounded anymore, Mushamee was now able to retreat, and he parried the attack. L4 and L6 got up and attacked, but were all parried. Mushamee feinted and attacked L5, sending him on his knees, stunned. He attacked L4, who blocked. L4 and L6 attacked, but Mushamee parried. Mushamee feinted and attacked L4, knocking him out. He then attacked L6, critically hitting him, and knocked him out too. L5 was unable to get out of stun. Mushamee all-out-attacked him, hitting four times. One of those was a critical success for double damage. The guy was literally cleaved in two.

At this point, Mushamee was still severely hurt and knew he would soon pass out. He saw two thugs stepping out of the shadows and kneeling beisde the bodies to loot them. Mushamee told them there would be a lot of money for them if they were to carry him back to the Temple of Necros. They accepted. Sometimes during the trip, Mushamee fell unconscious.

Kaeso went to a merchant's book in the trading area. He met the owner, an old man, and started talking about books. Soon the owner's daugther joined them. She was a beautiful woman, although Leif wouldn't have liked her cause she didn't had big boobs. Learning that the books surrounding them were only a sample of what the man was selling, Kaeso asked to see the real store. The daughter led him to it and they started talking about books. The girl's subject of predilection was herbary, a subject that also interested Kaeso (at least that's what he says; maybe he was more interested in the girl than her studies :)). When Kaeso left the store, he had some new books in his bag, including one or two on herbary.

He then went to see a fabric merchant. When asked how business was, the merchant went on a rant about how all the current troubles had been orchestrated by a rich merchant named Petrovius (who, if you remember, was the owner of the warehouse used by Ruinas to get rid of the bodies of those he had killed, the one with the bad ham). Kaeso left the merchant after buying a bolt of pretty fabric that would definitely look good as a dress on a certain young woman. He went back to the Temple.

Rufus stayed in bed to nurse his wounds, but sent a messenger to his patron's house, a Senator, in Kapital. When he came back, the messenger announced the Senator had left Kapital, but had left a message for Rufus. Rufus took the paper and dismissed the messenger. The message said he (the Senator) had to leave Kapital for Roma, the old capital, and wanted Rufus to do the same. He added that the old capital was about to become the Imperial capital again.

Recnam spent some time in the library but did not found anything interesting about the sewers. After a while, he decided to go to the Temple's main entrance to greet and talk to Necros followers. There, he first met an old man who asked him for a blessing. Recnam, feeling generous, casted Death Vision on the poor sod :). The man almost had a heart attack and left the Temple in a hurry.

Another man stepped in the Temple, and asked what had happened to the horrified old man he had just met outside the Temple. So Recnam casted Death Vision on him too. The man was taken by surprise, but calmed himself quickly. He said Recnam shouldn't this kind of things to his followers. He presented himself as a priest from the Temple of the Moon coming to pay his respect to Necros. He and Recnam had a little conversation where Recnam learned that, according to what the priest knew, Emperor Nicolai XIV was still in power, but was now calling himself a Dictator.

Leif and Vinz arrived first at the Temple. It was the end of the afternoon. They entered through the side entrance. A couple of minutes later, someone started banging on the front doors. The guards opened a small opening and saw two thugs carrying an unconscious man (they couldn't recognized Mushamee because of his disguise). The thugs asked to be let inside, but the guards refused. The thugs started banging on the door again. Recnam took a peek outside, and since he had already seen Mushamee in disguise in the morning, signaled to the guards to let the three men in.

The thugs explained the situation and asked for 200 copper pieces each, which was basically the double of what Mushamee had promised. Leif found a dead rat in his pocket and threw it at Mushamee. The Centurion instantly woke up, in much better health. He told Recnam the amount of money he had promised to the thugs, and the Priest asked an acolyte to fetch the sum from the Temple coffers. Mushamee then asked the two thugs (who at least seemed to be somewhat reliable) if they were interested in making extra money by acting as informants to the Temple. They accepted enthousiastically, having now more money in their pockets than they ever had at any one time. Mushamee told them that whenever they learn something interesting, they should present themselves to the Temple to inform Katya, and they would be paid. Katya, having joined us to see what the rucus was, approved Mushamee's suggestions. The two thugs left.

Kaeo arrived not long after the incident. Recnam sent a zombie to fetch Rufus. It went to Rufus' chamber and woke him up by banging on his door. Rufus opened it a bit and was horrified to find such a monster there. The zombie put one of his arms in the small opening, and Rufus hacked it with his sword. He then noticed the hand on the floor was holding a paper notice. He read the convocation, grabbed his stuff, and opened the door. The zombie immediately stumbled inside. Rufus hacked him to pieces (the zombie didn't defend itself), then put all the pieces in a bag. He decided to left the remains in the dungeon. He went down the stairs and left the bag in the corridor leading to the dungeon, but as soon as he started up again, the Listener picked the bag up and followed Rufus to the meeting room to drop the bag at his feet.

We all started discussing things we had found out, except for Vinz who kept Vasili's message a secret. When the occasion presented itself, he asked Mushamee to walk outside with him. When alone, he told the centurion about the message, asking him if we should reveil it to Katya and the Patriarch. After some discussion, they decided to keep the message secret for now, and try to convince the Patriarch that an alliance with Vasili was a good idea using the informations already revealed. Then, when we would be on our way to Roma, Vinz would tell the others about Vasili's message.

They went back to the others. We all decided an alliance with Vasili was probably a good thing at this point in time, to get rid of Ruinas. Even Katya agreed on this point. Recnam went to ask for the Patriarch's presence. A couple of minutes later, the two Priests joined the rest of us in the Night Guard's chamber for an impromptu dinner.

When we told him the information we had collected so far (except for Vasili's invitation), the Patriarch decided that to protect the Church in the incoming civil war, he would send ambassadors to the two opposing forces, here and in Roma. He immediately designated Recnam as the perfect representent for Roma. The priest whined a bit about having to leave the Temple, but the Patriarch told him it wasn't a suggestion.

We finally discussed a bit about the Temple's security, but concluded that the Temple Guards, the Night Watch, and the always-available army of undead were enough to push back any attack by Ruinas, at least for now. Also, with the presumed Emperor assassins gone, Ruinas would lost any legitimate reason for such an attack and would incur the fury of all Churches and many of the normal people if he ever ordered it.

We also decided that we would take the 1st Cohort with us to make sure it doesn't fall into Ruinas' hands, and to sweeten the alliance with Vasili. Since the trip would take approximately forty days, the problem of feeding 500 people for such a long time rose up. After some discussion, the Patriarch finally agreed to give us letters of introduction for each Temple of Necros we would meet on the way, allowing us to get the necessary food from them.

When the discussion ended, it was well into the evening. We all went to sleep.

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Chapter 28 - Kapital - Western Pass

After the Patriarch had left us, we decided it was a good idea to have a good night's sleep and leave the next morning. Most of us decided to go to sleep. Recnam decided to go kill Romulus, but halfway down, realized the Church would certainly not like one of his priests to kill a prisoner without permission, so he abandoned the idea. Kaeso decided he wanted to build a sewer machine to eventually make some clothes for Drusilla (the woman he had met at the book store) but since he didn't knew anything about sowing, it was not a glaring success.

As Rufus got near his chamber, he saw two zombies standing guard. Inside his room, he saw the pieces of the zombie he had cut to pieces in the afternoon lying on his bed. He didn't wanted the trouble of cleaning the place, so decided to go sleep with Mushamee. As he left his room, the two zombies outside started following him.

Mushamee, already asleep, was woken up by Rufus knocking on his door. He opened it, and Rufus rushed inside. But before he could close the door, the two zombies stepped in. At this moment, Leif's door flew open and the barbarian, naked except for his demon protection helmet, ran out with his broadsword and started hacking at one of the zombie. Since it didn't try to protect itself, it was rapidly destroyed. Leif started on the second zombie, but midway through, regained his senses. He did finish the job and apologized to the others before going back to his room.

Meanwhile, Katya, having heard all the rucus, decided to pay a visit to Mushamee. Thinking the visit was sexually motivated, the centurion threw Rufus outside. Rufus asked Katya about a new sleeping room, and she pointed him to an unoccupied one. She then pushed back Mushamee's advances and went back to work.

Morning the next day, we prepared all the stuff we wanted to bring (basically everything we own), got the letters from the Patriarch for the different temples we would meet, and got underway. We used the sewers, as always. Around noon, we reached the crypt outside the city. Reina scouted outside, but didn't see anybody. We walked east for the next two hours, until Leif, scouting ahead, came back to inform us he had spotted many people ahead in the bushes. Reina tried to sneak up, but was eventually spotted and asked who she was by a group of around 15 archers. She said she was with Mushamee. They recognized the name, but stayed suspicious, until the rest of the group finally showed up. They immediately recognized Mushamee and led us to the camp of the 1st Cohort. Mushamee asked Salvatore, the centurion he had given control of the cohort a couple days ago, to assemble the men. When that was done, he explained the situation in Kapital, and that we had to go to Roma. Some of his men wanted to go back to Kapital immediately to destroy the invaders, but the centurion was able to convince them (using Leadership) it was impossible without help.

While the legionaires were preparing to move, the leaders of the archers and mountain scouts came to see Mushamee. They explained that their sections were not really part of the Legion, so they had to ask for a retainer fee to follow Mushamee to Roma. They asked for 24 gold zolotos in all (which is a big sum, but quite normal for this many people). Mushamee asked Reina to pay with the party's gold, but she balked somewhat, guessing that Mushamee was hiding a good sum himself (which he doesn't share with the others). She finally said that Mushamee should put all his money on the table (and she WILL make sure it is all the money he has), and she will provide what is missing. Grumbling, Mushamee got his money bag out, counted $2400 from it, and handed them to the archers and scouts leaders. They told him that since he had paid them with his own money, from now on they will consider themselves to be working for him personally, not the Legion. After they left, Reina and the rest of the group berated Mushamee for trying to use the party's funds when he had enough personal money. Guess we won't ever be able to trust him with money from now on.

Near the end of the afternoon, we got underway. Since we had to move around the city (we were on the eastern side and Roma is to the west), Mushamee decided we would move during the night for the first couple of days. This made travel slower at first, but allowed us to move without being seen (at least, nobody attacked us). After three days of this regime, we reverted back to a normal schedule.

Since it was to be a long walk, Reina commissioned a repeating crossbow from Kaeso. During the trip, Rufus noticed some new stumps growing out of his left arm (the one with the hand missing). A couple of days later, he was able to confirm they were fingers! Seems like his left hand is growing back by itself.

After 17 days of walking, we reached the chain of mountains separating the east from the west. This mountain chain starts well into the barbarian territory in the north and went south all the way to Teclá, with only one or two natural passes to the other side. Each of these passes is blocked by a pair of big walls; between the wall is one or more camps capable of hosting a complete legion. To move to the other side of the mountains, someone has to announce himself to the people inside the walls. If passage is granted, the wall's door is opened and the people let through. They are then escorted all the way to the other wall.

We knew that the road we were following led to one of those passes. We decided to stop a couple miles away and wait for the scouts to come back. They did eventually, and announced the camp in front of us was definitely occupied, but they didn't knew by who, and how much people were inside. We decided we needed more information, so Mushamee asked Salvatore for the best scout in the cohort. He came back later with a man named Horgo, a man of the steppes wearing a necklace full of teeth (I think; not sure); one from each enemy he had killed. Reina decided to go with him, and painted her face black. Leif decided to go walk in the surrounding mountains.

As they got near the pass, Horgo and Reina heard a patrol walking near. They hid in the bushes. As the legionaires got closer, the two scouts were able to see their shields; they sported the three arrows emblem of Ruinas. Shit. Once the patrol had moved away, Reina decided to climb the mountain where it intersected the wall to get a look at what was on the other side. She said to Horgo to go back to Mushamee and inform him of what we had just learned. Horgo gave his necklace to Reina and left. Reina, always the nice persone, shoved the necklace in her pockets and started forward.

Unluckily for Reina, she rolled abominably on her Stealth roll (I think it was something like 16, 16, and 14) and was immediately spotted. Horn sounds blasted in the air, first from inside the wall, then from a small village a little farter. Reina started running away. The door in the wall opened and around 20 men on horses galloped through it. They spotted Reina (still a good way ahead; with such bad rolls, she didn't get far) and went in her direction. Reina decided she had a better chance of escaping by climbing the mountain on her side. She ran to it and started moving up. Spears landed near her. She climbed quickly enough to move out of spear range, so her persuers ordered for some archers. Some of the pursuers started climbing after her. She climbed and climbed and climbed. By the time the archers arrived, she was really far up. They blindly shot some fire arrows, but none landed near her. At this point she had also left the other climbers far behind and was out of sight. Instead of going to her camp, she decided to move laterally toward the wall and take a peek at the camp behind. By this time, there was around sixty people at the base of the cliff looking for her.

Meanwhile, Horgo arrived at the camp and told Mushamee about what had happened. Mushamee was torn between attacking right now or not. If he attacked, surprise was on his size, but if there really was a complete legion between the wall, there's no way the cohort could go through without at least serious losses in human life. Also there was the question of, if there really is a full legion there, where did it come from? There's no way Ruinas would have left Kapital without soldiers. This means this is probably one of the legions who was initially sent to the south and had received orders to come back.

For now, all we can do is hope they did not have time to speak directly with Ruinas, and that we will be able to bluff our way through.

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Chapter 29 - Western Pass - Roma

As we started, Reina was still perched high in the mountain cliff and the rest of the group was discussing how to get past Ruinas' legionaires. Reina, having lost her persuers, decided to go pass the first wall to take a good look at the forces present. She tried some stuff she had just remembered from her past life, but failed. After a couple of perilous climbing, she did get where she wanted to be. With a critical success on her vision roll, she instinctively knew that the legion underneath was reinforced. She wanted to come back to the others, but saw that her persuers were moving in the opposite direction from her, toward the camp. She decided to stay where she was and wait.

Meanwhile at the camp, they decided trying to bluff their way through was the only viable option. Kaeso created some painting materials so legionaires would be able to put Ruinas' three arrows symbol on their shields. Then he and Recnam worked on a big banner with Ruinas' symbol on it. When all was ready, the Cohort walked to the first wall.

When they arrived in plain sight of the wall, an officer with a group of guards came to meet them. Mushamee presented himself as a centurion from Kapital on a mission to capture a dangerous tenosian spy on his way to Roma to foment a revolt (succeeding in his default Fast Talk roll). The officer led him and Rufus to the Primus Pilus of this legion, a guy named Merovius. Mushamee elaborated on his story: the merchants of Tenosia were trying to make an alliance with the new Emperor in Roma, and had sent a female spy to make contact. His order was to capture or kill this spy at all costs; failing would mean death for him and his troops. To make his bluff seem more truthful, Mushamee mentioned that the orders were coming directly from Otto Vilanous.

Mushamee not being a great liar, Merovius was not 100% sure of him, so he asked him for the passwords. Rufus, knowing they couldn't be hard to remember because good communication was hard to achieve in this world, remembered that Ruinas' greatest feats were the taking of three cities during the old Teclan war. He murmured their names in Mushamee's ear, who repeated them to Merovius. Rufus had guessed right, and Merovius decided to let them pass.

He walked with Mushamee for a little while. He mentioned that the High Imperial Guard was passing through a week ago, but at this time he had no reason to stop them. Mushamee asked for some supplies (Roma was still a 20-days walk from here); Merovius accepted. As he walked away to talk to his people, his second in command, a man named Petr, came to talk to Mushamee and Rufus. Rufus immediately sensed something abnormal about the man; his "aura" seemed bizarre. Rufus also noted that although it was day, the man was casting no shadows.

When the cohort was ready to leave the pass with the new supplies, it was almost dusk. All this time, Reina was slowly making her way to the other end of the pass as well. When night fell, Reina left the mountains and ran to rejoin the rest of the group who had just stopped for the night out of sight of the wall. As we were discussing around the fire, a new form appeared out of the darkness. It was Petr. He told us he was in fact a vampire allied with the Inquisitors, and that we were lucky our bluff worked that well. He said he had already met the Serpent Queen a long time ago. He replaced the Inquisitors' amulet we had with a new one and left.

We continued our walk to Roma. Nothing of note happened for the rest of the trip. When we got near Roma, we saw troops outside the city standing guard. Mushamee went to present himself and was told we were expected in the Imperial Palace. We left the 1st Cohort under the care of the guards and went to the Palace (which was hard to miss). At the palace entry, there was a long lane of people waiting to get in. Mushamee presented himself to one of the clerks (who was, as we quickly found out, a pompous asshole). The clerk said Mushamee's name was not on the list of authorized people, so he couldn't go in. Mushamee protested, but the clerk was adamant. Finally, Vinz gave his name, who was on the list. We still had to follow the line, however. It took us a couple hours before we finally were introduced in the palace.

We were led to a living room with chairs. Not long after, Vasili entered the room. He announced that the old Emperor, Nicolai XIV, was dead and he was the one acting as the new Emperor, although he doesn't want the job. He said, as an ex-assassin, he was tired to live in a world of violence caused by people being envious of each other. The reason why he allied himself with the Inquisitors is that they want to open the door to a new Age where Magic would be common place and everything could be had for free; this meant no more poverty and war, since everybody would have what they want. Vinz was somewhat dismayed to hear one he had started to admire tell such crappy sentimental stuff :)

Finally, Vasili told us he has a new mission for us, coming directly from the Inquisitors. We have to go to Tecla by boat, go in one of their biggest temples in one of their biggest cities, steal their holiest artifact, and bring it here. It seems this artifact is necessary in "opening the door to Magic." He said he could give us all the support we needed, including the boat, but we had to find a proper crew.

We decided to wait for two weeks so that we could at least a little Teclan. Kayso also insisted he wanted to build the boat, as he was a ship builder by profession. We agreed. We also decided Recnam would try to contact the Serpent Queen at the first opportunity, since she had basically told us we should not let that door be opened.

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Chapter 30 - Roma

As we started this week, we had just received a mission from Vasili to go to Tecla to steal one of their most prized artifacts. We had decided to wait two weeks before leaving to build a boat and learn Teclan.

As the group left Vasili's presence, Rufus and Mushamee decided to go meet Rufus' senatorial patron. Leif went to Baccus' Temple for boozing and sex. Kayso went to his chamber to make the plans for a new boat. Recnam went to his chamber to study his scrolls. Vinz went to his room to practice his newly-remembered magical path.

Rufus and Mushamee presented themselves to the mansion of Rufus' Patron, Lucius Gordianus.Luckily, he was there. Rufus told him most of what happened to us in the last four months, omitting practically nothing. When told about our next mission, he said it was practically suicidal, because the object was in the best-guarded Temple in their biggest city. He even suggested creating a copy of the artifact, but Rufus and Mushamee told him the Inquisitors had a way of determining if an object was real (remember the ceremony done in the Sun temple to check if the Tome of Power we had stolen was the real one). The Senator finally said he would keep his eyes and ears open for any high- level activity that could relate to our cause.

Meanwhile, Kaeso successfully designed a "stealthy" boat capable of bringing us to Teclá, while Vinz successfully casted one of the spells of his path for the first time and was able to walk on walls like a spider.

When the meeting was over, Rufus decided to spend the night in the Senator's mansion while Mushamee decided to join Leif back at Bacchus' Temple. There, he started gambling with a man named Steve who seemed to be very well known around. Surprisingly (or maybe not so), Mushamee lost 35 coppers. Wanting to recuperate his money, he said to Steve he was ready to bet 50 coppers Leif could sexually satisfy three women in fifteen minutes. Steve thought about it and declined the bet... at first. A little later, he came back to Mushamee, saying he would agree to the bet if he was able to choose which prostitute Leif had to satisfy. He pointed at three prostitutes named Olga, Celia, and Loclá respectively. Olga was a massive but beautiful barbarian woman from the North, just like Leif. Celia was a pale and feeble Roman woman who couldn't stop coughing. Loclá was a beautiful and mysterious dark Teclan woman. Mushamee went to speak to Leif, who looked at the girls. He didn't have a problem with Olga and Loclá, but was very hesitant of Celia; his grandfather had told him to stay away of women who seemed sick. Mushamee asked Steve to replaced Celia by someone else, but he refused. Mushamee decide to decline the bet.

Later in the evening, Mushamee inquired about the price asked for the ladies around here. He was told it was 15 copper for the night, except for Loclá who charged 25 coppers. When asked why, he was told it was because getting with her was really "special." He decided to go with Loclá. She brought him to her room, made him strip and lay on the bed.

When he woke up the next morning, he was still in Loclá's bed. He couldn't really recalled what had happened during the night; all he remembered was Loclá playing with some big needles and both drinking some bizarre stuff, possibly drugs. As for the rest, his memory was all garbled. Sexual relations could have been part of the activities, but he wasn't sure. When he got up, he noticed he had been branded in the inside of his thighs. While he dressed up, Loclá woke up. She told him few had been strong enough to spend the entire night with her; the branding showed that she now owned his soul. When asked if he would come back the next night, Mushamee gave a non-commital answer.

He went down to the main room where Steve and his (slow and stupid) friend Mouse were sitting at a table. They asked if he appreciated his night; he said no, and was so frustrated that next time, he would choose a boringly normal girl. Mouse asked if he had been branded. Mushamee answered positively. Mouse said that it was too bad, because it means Loclá had stolen the legionnaire's soul. He knew because the same thing happened to him not long ago.

Thoroughly disgusted, Mushamee (followed by Leif) went back to the Imperial Palace and told the others about his experience. Vinz was instantly attracted to the idea of a "full-body experience" since an incident many years ago had left him an eunuch. The same night, he went to Loclá and spent the night with her (but keeping his Scarab of Health with him just in case). He told of his infirmity to the girl, but she replied that sexual relations were not really needed, and was only done if the client was adamant about them. She said she offered more than sexual experience to anyone who was ready.

Unlike Mushamee (i.e. much higher Will and Resistance to Poison), Vinz was able to keep his wits throughout the night and had an experience he would never forget. When he woke up, he saw the brand on his thighs. Loclá told her it was just a symbol she liked to put on his men; she also liked to tell her feebly minded companions that it meant she owned their souls to instill. Before leaving, Vinz told her he would come back as much as he could in the next two weeks.

For the next two weeks, everyone learned the basis of the Teclan language. Kaeso supervised the construction of his boat. Vinz bought all materials needed to disguise everyone as Teclan and visited Loclá every night; he used her to learn to pass as a Teclan. Mushamee went back to his men to put them under the guard's control while he was gone. Recnam tried to contact the Serpent Queen but failed, and continued studying the scrolls. Leif and Rufus didn't do anything of note.

Finally the boat was ready, and we're about to set sail.

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