Chapter 19: Home at Last!

Soro and Darianne remained in Reshall of course, no doubt reporting to their masters.
For the rest of us, it took a couple of months to make our way home.
Sir Zacharias went to his family and resumed the long courtship of his beloved Lady Mercedes. Because of his notable service to the Church, he was granted the right to add a discrete but important fleur de lis to his coat or arms. Like all of us he was debriefed by the Robbinian-Elousie. The wedding was set for the auspicious day 15/6/1070, 10 months after our return.
Adan resumed his real identity, and the miracle that had made him appear as Sir Jean-Marc faded. He was possibly hunted by Keruna, but rather than hide in Valon, he joined the Reshallian campaign against Cho Rak, returning to Valon a month or so before the wedding.
I spent many months writing down all that I knew for my order. Our agents are still keeping an eye on Reshall: Keruna (who enjoys the elimination of a major rival), the Queen, Undead, and of course the war (Reshall had already effectively won a year ago). There was, so far as I know, little overt meddling.
After that I devoted myself to becoming the foremost expert of Demons within the Robbinians, and indeed the Church.

A little while before the wedding preparations were under way, I noticed that Adan had left several bottles of Reshallian wine untouched, and for no good reason. I sampled one myself, and it tasted particularly fine (although I felt a little strange afterwards). Not thinking much of it, I put the other bottles aside, drinking several of them over a week or so.
As the wedding approached, I gradually realised what I had done: this was not ordinary wine, but Elven contraceptive, and I was feeling delicate and emotional.

I had better describe some of the local characters:

Sir Zacharias is a mighty knight with his own ideas about fashion, and especially hats. He is a superb horseman, jouster, and a dangerous man with a sword, which is as it should be. His faith is firm, his heart is true, and his musical talents are notorious. His intellect is not lacking, at least not in matters related to being a knight.
He has a younger brother; Robespierre, who is not a man of military prowess.
His father is, frankly, a miser, for Chateau de la Roche is a small holding beset by swamps.
Some of the de la Roche sheep have gone missing. I am not a herdsman, but I suspect that part of the holding's financial woes is due to trying to farm sheep in a mire. I would have thought oxen, or frogs, or water fowl would have been more promising.

Adan is a foreigner; a huge man, and on foot he is a most effective warrior. He is feareless, but also a heathen, though he seems a good man. Sometimes I feel that he does not understand all the subtleties of our speech, because he sometimes utterly misses the point.
Adan picked up a social disease. I cannot cure diseases, but the Bishop can, though preferred to grovel at the local priory instead; the caring hands of the Sisters of Mercy on his member seeming less threatening to his machismo than those of the good Bishop.


The neighbours to the West live in a slightly less swampy sort of a swamp. They are wealthier, have more men at arms, and their Chateau de la Grande Fond is larger, if less defensive.
Lady Mercedes de la Grande Fond is a strapping lass, greatly beloved of Sir Zacharias.

To the East, where the land is even danker, lurk the Méchant family. They are nasty and mean, oppress their peasants, cultivate long curly moustachios, and live in a squalid chateau in the midst of a small lake. There are even crocodiles.
Vaine Méchant, the daughter, is another strapping lass, having some sort of relationship with a commoner (of sorts).
Lady Méchant is pretty huge as well.

We call him the Birdman, but his real name is Bever FitzRichelieu, unacknowledged bastard of Comte Richelieu, who is the most powerful local landowner.
His ambiguous social status allows him to get away with a lot of dubious behaviour; supplying swans to the tables of the nobility and entertaining at least one daughter.
His farm is to the Northeast of la Roche.

Chateau Destrier is another small holding to the Northeast, North of the Méchants. The family do not breed destriers, only lesser horses.


Bishop Artoi de Bonneau is a flabby and effeminate young man from a very powerful family. He will perform the ceremony, if he can keep his pudgy hands off the altar boys.

The real Jean-Marc is a Knight in the Order of the Sun.
Jeanette is his sister, open to offers from Adan.

Chapter 18: A Gate to Hell and an Ancient Black Dragon

From the Chronicles of Brother Jacques.

6/6 on Black Water Rock. I took a large dose of Guarana and prepared Black Lotus (in it's purest form).
We assessed the terrain, which appearted distorted (I guess, by the Demons, particularly the Demon of Subtlety.
The Knights could not see an advantage to taking their horses, so they abandoned that idea and did not land them.

Some of the Imps went South, to escort our 6 targets inland.
We had to compromise between walking around the island (longer route but generally less broken terrain) and up the volcano (more direct, steep and unstable terrain, and the possibility to look down at the other group). We walked a way uphill towards the centre of the island, but when the cinders started slowing us, we deviated to the Eastern / forest side of Black Water Rock.

4 Imps came out of the forest, heading uphill towards us.
We decided that they might be able to sense a group, so Baroness Keruna, Sir J-M / E and Soro went downhill / East / towards the forest, whilst Sir Zacharias, Digoral and myself headed uphill.
I cannot work a STEALTHED WARDING, alas.

About then, Soro realised that the GATE was in the forest, not in the volcano.

Imps approached my group, and it became painfully obvious that they had seen us.
I BLESSED Sir Z, and he heroically and very successfully destroyed them.

Our sneaking about had served its purpose, and we rapidly moved towards the GATE.
Unfortunately I thought that it lay within the volcano, and started running in the wrong direction. I blame the drugs. Oh yes, I took the Black Lotus. Nice.

It looked like the Demons had double crossed the 6 targets, killed 1-2 of them, taken the rest to Hell with them, and closed the GATE.
The Gate Demon (Open Sesame) was the GATE. It could teach physical beings in Hell how to open a GATE / itself to another physical location, and the cycle would continue.

I obtained samples, recognised the Demon (and learned its name), and SUMMONED it (with the condition that it bring those captives that it could, at once, and nothing else, and that it appear within my prepared WARDING / CIRCLE).
It returned with 2 captives, one injured and one inverted with a lot of blood and guts everywhere. I should have constrained it not to have harmed the captives, but it could have allowed another Demon to have killed them. This Black Lotus really makes me think faster than I can think.
Apparently 4 captives had been taken to Hell, 2 returned, 1 was killed in Hell, and the last; Kassael had been taken by a more powerful / higher status Demon. Kassael, being part Demon and mostly Elf, could possibly survive for a while in Hell, and likely he could establish a GATE from that side as well. He had to be eliminated as well.
I lowered the WARDING (because it might interfere with Keruna's attack, as her Angel of Death might not be fully compatible with GOD), and Keruna's Patron crushed it utterly.

As Kassael is 1/8 Demon, it might be possible to SUMMON him.
He might cooperate. I know his use-name and lineage. I could gather samples (well Keruna could GATHER them).
This worked, and we interrogated him and learned where his father; Kiellevain had another base (Soro sent this information to ESP, and they took care of it immediately).
Kassael wanted to deal. He said that he only wanted to be with his family (probably true), however Demons had part of him, and part of him was Demon, so he would always be dangerous.
I offered him the opportunity to convert, but he could not find enough purity within himself.
As I lay unconscious (I had drawn too much upon my spiritual strength under the influence of drugs), Sir Z killed him with his re-BLESSED blade (which killed his Demonic part as well).
We agreed not to hunt down his child, as he would be innocent, though at risk.

The more avaricious members of our merry group comandeered the fishing boat and took possession of 50 kg of Silver (around 10 000 SP).
We departed for Black Dragon Rock to destroy the Dagger.

Sir Zacharias landed alone, unarmoured, and resembling a musician. He praised the Dragon, and it felt for his mind (this Dragon is reputedly ancient, male and flightless, due to an old injury; but enough Silver could potentially allow him to heal himself).
The Dragon arrived, and Sir Z entertained it with his lyre (it enhanced his abilities somehow).
It accepted 50 kg of silver.
It breathed fire (FIRE?) upon the Dagger and destroyed both it and the Demon.
It allowed Sir Z to depart, but expected further tribute in a year (Sir Z said that he might not come in person).

We returned to Reshall. Baroness Keruna and her people went their own way.
Kiellevain's plot was smashed, with ESP picking up the best intelligence.
Some Undead might have gained slightly, if Kiellevain was a rival.
Keruna eliminated a rival, and gained quite a lot from the whole enterprise. We never learned her motives.

Chapter 17: Will O' the Wisp and Arrival at the Island

Soro had been away, reporting to Qel and gathering resources (like more money to spend).

He let them know he had seen Darianne talk with Keruna when he had not expected it.

He discovered that Darianne, although an allied agent, isn't working for Qel / ESP, or Norman / Reshall Intelligence.
Also, Darianne has samples of Soro, but Soro's samples of Darianne had been negated. They think Darianne is on their side but are not 100% sure. Darianne has MESSAGE as a spell. He gets a "photo" of Darianne taken from his memory of her - and its fairly above board. The elf Celvinados who does it has made the PHOTOGRAPH spell himself and will not sell it.

Soro arrives back on 4/6 and follows the trail successfully.

Soro took a while to find us at Mortilo.

4/6 Soro circled around Mortilo, and approached cautiously. He DETECTED the 3 Imps (and as far as anyone could discover, they didn't notice him, nor did anyone else), Keruna (who was working some sort of magic), and myself.
5/6 The party were lounging around The Figurehead pub outside waiting for the ship or shopping. We talked and drank at length. Most of the others rested or went shopping, not that there is a lot to buy here. They had afternoon tea in the back of some friendly tailors place. Digoril is hanging close to whoever has the KNIFE.
Soro reported (I'm not sure how) to Calell (some sort of ESP department chief on Long Isle).

Keruna's rather fine ship arrived at dusk. Will of the Wisp is black, sleek, and something like a STEALTHED but MAGICALLY ENHANCED Xebec; big sails (and an unusual rig), sweeps, large crew, not a lot of luxury or cargo capacity (sod all, although there is some sort of blasphemous HOLD OF HOLDING, which took the horses). Not a lot of overt ship to ship weapons. The crew appeared more than competent. The ship has sails of grey silk with a spell on them. It can go about 12 knots, maybe more.
We boarded at once, and made ungodly speed to Mimono. Captain Jens sailed skillfully past (and around rather than through) the reefs, at top speed, by night (the moon is waxing, but still fairly dim).

Soro makes a CONTINGENCY dispel magic that stops the dispel magic spell with a word in dwarvish. He casts it on his bow in the captains cabin. Keruna does something with magic as well.

5/6 Morning. We lurked off Mimono whilst a mercenary and one of Keruna's men rowed to Mimono in one of the 2 ship's boats. I suspect that Soro did some SHAPESHIFTING as well.
We discovered that 2 of the fugitives had landed on the South coast of Long Isle, and were picked up by ESP.
2 more left at Mimono, and these were picked up as well.
We don't have much debriefing from them yet, but it looks like the remaining 6 continued Northwards by boat.
It looks like Kiellevain in any shape or form is dead (the GOD doesn't miss).
Kassael, or possibly one or several other apprentices / deputies (or rivals / allies) are taking over the enterprise. They are also taking over whatever evil project Kiellevain had spent several centuries developing (or possibly more, if he was bred for this purpose), and his resources / base / contacts.

We started following again, trying to overtake them whilst remaining over the horizon, as we are not at all sure that Kiellevain's successor is actually on board the boat, but we can at least find the base.

6/6 Morning. We lay off the North of Black Water Rock; a small island North of Long Isle, and close to the West of Black Wyrm Rock (which is where I'd like to dispose of the Dagger).
There appears to be a more or less central volcano, and some straggly woods to the East. Not a lot of wildlife. The boat was approaching the South of the island.

I did my SEE SPIRITS & SUCH thing, as it enhances my abilities to see things (so it's not easy to DETECT) within line of sight (and, because I can see things that aren't there, things that are there don't block the SIGHT).
There are 10 Imps patrolling the island, presumably as lookouts rather than guards. They can see our Spirits, and any active magic that is not concealed.
There are 4 larger Demons. One is a Demon of Subtlety (or Deception). One is responsible for some sort of GATEWAY, which appears to manifest itself as the throat of the volcano.
Because the Demon of Subtlety has had (one assumes) some time to set things up, things may not be as they seem. For example, I see the volcano in a slightly different position than Keruna and Soro.
Soro does not like the look of the woods.

We need to get as far as possible whilst retaining the element of surprise.
Demonic senses are keen when it comes to non-physical things.
Keruna's magic, and her Spirit (well, sort of 2 Spirits) are odd, and hard to see. In her hubris she assured us that the Demons cannot sense her easily.
Myself, Soro and Darianne will go without pre-cast (hung) mental magic. Actually Darianne chickened out when she heard this. I'll also meditate and pray, to make my Spirit appear small and harmless.
All magical and holy objects will be contained within lead-and-iron boxes (or equivalents) ENCHANTED to hide the contents from Demonic senses. I'm not sure what Keruna will do with her mace, and Erenion has some dodgy stuff, I believe. Keruna had yet more of these boxes (I think she sells them).
All of us with stronger than average Spirits will have to do something.

Obviously we need to stack the odds in our favour, and I suggested decoys:
Keruna will arrange for dolphins to cause some sort of distraction (important enough to warrant investigation, but not too suspicious) to lure Imps (and general attention) away from our landing.
We'll also take some doped sea birds, and antidotes, to distract any Imps that approach us.

We need to plan for responsibilities when we drop our stealth; who engages which Demon, what to do about the people whom we are following, etc.

Landing on the island at around midday, in 2 waves:
Keruna, Digoril (who is shadowing me as I bear the Truffles), Sir Z, Sir J-M / E, Soro and myself, followed by the knights' 2 horses.

Chapter 16: Misdirecting Imps and a Journey by Barge

From the Chronicles of Brother Jacques.

3/6 We employed local workmen to repair the sabotaged sailing barge.

4/6 Early. Sir Zacharias, Jean-Marc (Erenion) and Darianne bought fresh horses (not suitable warhorses, but 2 of them were at least large enough to carry the armoured knights), and rode Southwards to the small fishing town of Mortilo, at the mouth of the river.
They arrived in the morning.
The rest of us: Baroness Keruna, 7 of her men, 4 mercenaries, Marcello, Olivier and myself followed on the barge (which had it's own crew). We arrived in the afternoon.

Sir Z's group found Dave Nosey Bones, who seemed to know everything:

§ Strangers arrived; total number unknown, but including a short, slender man, apparently in charge (actually an Elf), 2 in armour, and 1 who was a woman dressed as a man.
§ They had at least 1 heavy chest with them (probably full of Han's silver ore).
§ They left by fishing boat (a fast, sound one, bought from an old, but unfortunately diligent fisherman).
§ They sailed Eastwards, with provisions for a few days (enough to get to the East end of Long Isle).
§ With the conditions today (easy seas, and light, but adequate wind from the West), could make 60 miles (more, if they had an Elf on board, as they could sail more safely at night).
§ The coast (Eastern part of Long Isle's Southern coast), is dangerous, with a rocky shore, hidden reefs, and several islands (and, no doubt, treacherous currents, ferocious sea monsters, and pirates as well).

The rest of us arrived later, and we thought about things:

§ Our quarry had used at least one bird to watch for pursuit. Therefore they had (at least) some sort of magician.
§ Probably they could raise and control small Imps, and bind these into... birds (or make them assume the forms of birds, but the Imps could remain longer as possessors). To those who can raise Imps, this is fairly cheap.
§ So they would have left watchers. Human informants would have difficulty reporting (or at least, the sort of expenable informant that we suspect that they would leave behind), so we expected Imps.
§ Imps can see Spirits... and Souls, like Keruna's, mine, Darianne's and J-M / E's, which are pretty obvious as we can work magic.
§ Cheap Imps are stupid; they would have simple instructions such as report at once and/or report after a few days.

I SAW SPIRITS, and informed Keruna, when I found 3.
Keruna (with the aid of 2 of her men to work it simultaneously), drew some death magic around the Imps, such that they would see nothing suspicious.

We face a problem; how to catch up with these people, and capture them. They lead us by a day.

§ Keruna could have taken us (or myself) through the Land of the Dead. Unfortunately I had the real Dagger with me at the time, and taking into the realm of her patron deity would have been utter folly.
§ We could travel by land, going back and taking the main road running Eastwards along the centre of the island.
§ We could take the river barge after them, risking waterspouts and all that (and still not catching them up, although Keruna could probably arrange for favourable winds).
§ We could wait, and follow later, arriving at their destination by surprise. Unfortunately, our quarry might spot Keruna's (and others') watchers (more birds and such), especially if they approach one of their bases, which would have all sorts of defences.
§ We could tip off ESP; Elven Intelligence, who have watchers keeping an eye on Kiellevain's abandoned island base (which is just to the East of us). Elves would then capture this part of Kiellevain's organisation, and keep the information to themselves.
§ Wait for the moment, as Keruna obtains some sort of light warship (or fast transport... maybe some sort of merchant galley).

I wanted to follow by barge, Keruna suggested going through the Country of the Dead, and the Knights wanted to ride.
We sort of combined these ideas, waiting at Mortilo whilst Keruna's ship came to us.
I prayed, and learned that the Elf is Kassael, Kiellevain's son.
Soro arrived, and will contact local ESP.

Chapter 15: An Altar, a Trail to Follow and Some Questions

From the Chronicles of Brother Jacques.

1/6 In Han. The large altar / ceremonial ground outside had been switched off / (de)secrated by my efforts. We turned out attention to the lesser altar within the building. The corpse of a bald, corpulent, affluent (?) man, with ink smudges on his right hand sprawled across it. His purse thongs had been cut and his purse missing. He had been killed in some sort of a struggle, apparently trying to escape, rather than as part of a ritual.
Keruna used some sort of SPEAK WITH DEAD spell (as my spiritual resources were depleted): The man was the Mayor of Han, who had been kept alive because he could open the magically sealed trapdoor leading down. He was killed by a Zombie (possibly as it had been instructed to do so under these circumstances).
There had been 2 protagonists, never seen together: an Old Elf who had brought the Undead, and a horrible Frog Thing that had brought the Imps. The GOD had killed the Frog Thing. Both could have been aspects of Kiellevain, or maybe not. Possibly we have to kill his Elven aspect (although I believe that the GOD would have done this).

Sir Jean-Marc / Erenion had found weird, mineralised turds outside (from the Imps?).

Sir Zacharias trashed the lesser altar. I sent various souls on their way.
Most of the population of Han had fled. Some might return, with officials, soldiers and such, fairly soon.

Keruna opened and entered the trapdoor, using the hand and soul of the Mayor.
I worked a minor BLESSING.
JM / E entered first, but the upshot was: natural caves that had been enlarged, with no other exits (at least not any large ones that we found). No one inside, but some stores. Chests containing unrefined silver (concentrated ore; the taxes in kind from the mine) had been stolen.
10 horsemen (or at least, horses) had left Han soon before we arrived.
We followed.

Their trail led to an old watch tower, some way to the North.

Unfortunately they used a small bird (RIDER WITHIN, FAMILIAR or SHAPESHIFT) to see us coming, and abandoned the tower before we reached it. There were inactivated Zombies inside (thanks to Keruna), but nothing else of interest. We pursued, slowed by having ridden our horses already, and having to deal with caltrops and potential traps and ambush.
The trail continued into the forest to the North, then East.
It split 10 ways.
Darianne found traces of a rope by the lakeside, so at least 1 (and likely all) of the horses had been taken onto some sort of barge.
We couldn't achieve any more, so we slept (after suitable ceremonies and WARDINGS).

2/6 Keruna had slept up a tree, but had possibly SHAPESHIFTED (or contacted her agents) during the night.
The lake had several exits, but the most logical was via the town of Apuco.
We made as good time as we were able, Eastwards, along the North shore of the lake. The beach was mostly good going.

3/6 We arrived at Apuco in the early afternoon.
Marcello visited a brothel.
I prayed at a little Buddha figure by the roadside, which is a sort of generic shrine.
Sir Zacharias, armed with suitable social skills and bribes, visited the local militia; a sailing barge with 10 horses had sailed through last night. A local sailing barge had been vandalised at the same time (so we could not hire it to follow).
We stayed at a good inn, but the coq au vin Sir Z ordered was sans vin.

Notes / Questions:

These are from my perspective, and to some extent Sir Zacharias'.
They are subject to revision.

§ What is our purpose?
Well, to investigate Keruna and the new Queen (we know more than we did, but need to do more; we have no idea of Keruna's agenda), to investigate / negate the Demonic threat (we are making progress, so much so that I can almost write mission accomplished), and to investigate / negate Necromancy (I still need to make connections here).
§ What to do now?
Follow these 10 people, capture them and interrogate them if possible, but at least identify them and find out where they are going.
Destroy the Dagger.
Discover the Necromantic connection, and investigate the Temple of Death, and it's relationships (including with Keruna).
Stay with Keruna, and find out more about her.
Survive long enough to report to my order.
§ Where is Soro, and what has he observed and inferred.
§ What did Darianne see?

Chapter 14: Ears, Truffles and Zombies

From the Chronicles of Brother Jacques.

1/6 Night / early morning. Resumé:
We are all deaf... at first, with burst eardrums. Keruna / Carmine may have regenerated as she SHAPESHIFTED. Sir Zacharias and I can lipread.
In addition, my broken arm was splinted and I took a HEALING potion.
We organised ourselves so that most could rest, whilst others kept watch.

I prayed, and held a brief ceremony of thanks within the spiral of debris, but received no vision or guidance.

What to do with the box containing the Dagger? When Sir Zacharias brought the Box of Truffles (the containment vessel supposedly containing the real Dagger) within the spiral, it started smoking. This was undesirable because; although the physical aspect of the Dagger permits the Demon to survive in our world, and at the same time the Demon within the Dagger makes the Dagger itself physically stronger, destruction of the physical Dagger (except according to a number of recipes) will not neccessarily destroy the physical nature of the Demon (although, it might). In other words, the Demon-Dagger being within the holy spiral risked some half-arsed effect that could free the Demon, or at least to destroy it's containment. Neither Keruna nor I could permit this, and after I whacked the box out of the spiral, Keruna (as Lady Carmine) poured wine over the box, to extinguish it. This seemed to succeed.
Sir Zacharias finally realised that she who appeared to be Carmine, was really Baroness Keruna.

The rest of the night passed uneasily.

We are still not sure what we want to do next. Obviously I want to destroy the Dagger (ideally by taking it back to a cathedral in Valon), or failing that to take it before an Ancient Dragon. Keruna also wants to destroy the Dagger (also, ideally on her terms). She can probably take it from us when she wants to, although she may not be certain of this herself.
Meanwhile we both want to be sure that Kiellevain was obliterated.
We also want to investigate and clean up his local powerbase.

1/6 Dawn. We rode to the Han, with Soro scouting ahead, having SHAPESHIFTED to the form of a small bird. I haven't attempted to show him the error of his ways as yet, partly because my order is not an evangelical one, but mostly because he was blessed with his own miracle; the GOD, or at least an Archangel seems to have aided him against the Earth Demon. Nevertheless, his Soul is in danger from all this magic, as I do not believe that it is sanctioned (as my own is).
Soro saw Han's town hall as a minor centre of evil, and the vast pentagram on the ground before it, as a major centre of great evil.
The pentagram was ringed and marked by crucified (dead or dying) victims, and lit candles. There were 8 Imps guarding it.
We had to:

§ Safely end the ritual (that had been used to raise 1 or many Demons); in other words to seal a temporary PORTAL to Hell.
§ Despatch any lingering agents (such as the Imps), ideally without allowing them to report.
§ Plunder the place for information and other resources (obviously Keruna and I, and possibly Soro are competitors).
§ Rescue victims, or more likely send their Souls in the right direction.

I worked out how to end the ritual (I suspect that Keruna could have done so as well); I clockwise spiral, snuffing each candle in turn with Holy Wine. I have just enough Holy Wine left to do this, leaving only a drop or so to spare. I cannot sanctify Holy Wine (at least, not away from a church).
I started the ritual, taking extreme care not to get any part of myself inside the pentagram.

Meanwhile, I'd cast reduced BLESS on Sir Z and J-M / E, sufficient that they could hit the Imps. Soro took care of himself, and Keruna took care of her own guards and mercenaries.
Arrows and bolts proved fairly ineffective (as the Imps' thick skin acted like armour), but lances worked. Horses' hooves could not interact with the Imps.
We lost at least one mercenary.
J-M / E hit himself on the head with a mace.
Keruna did something effective, but I missed quite what it was (paranoia!).

As I drew level with the front of Han town hall, a grey hand reached for me from a window. It was a Zombie, subject to a SPEED spell (so that it moved like a normal man).
I had no choice but to continue the ritual.
Fortunately Sir Z noticed and wheeled his horse about (and momentarily lost control) to destroy the Zombie.
Sir Z tossed me the box containing the (real) Dagger. Despite having a single working arm, and being caught up in a ritual that cannot be broken, I caught it and placed it within my robe.
I passed the front of the hall, and another Zombie emerged. Keruna and/or her guards destroyed it (there were 5 in all).
Eventually I completed the ritual and moved towards the hall.

These Zombies are very like the Undead that attacked the knights on the way to Igor. They had been dead for a while, so probably ANIMATED some time before the previous night. At the time I had assumed that they were something to do with Keruna, but I now think that they were from the Temple of Death / Sir Seulethan Demorte.
It is significant that this is the second Demon / Necromancy connection (the first being Nicodemus / Salagon - Kiellevain).
I am sure that Keruna finds this significant as well.
To my mind Kiellevain had used a suspiciously large quantity of resources to secure his retreat, whilst at the same time making an all out attack on the manor house last night. Possibly he is just very conservative / paranoid, but we may be missing something here (such as his using someone else's secure base, either by agreement or because he had taken it over).

Keruna entered the hall from the side as soon as she could. I followed through the same window. She used some sort of magical SENSE ENHANCEMENT / SEE MAGIC / SEE SPIRITS.
Soro entered the front after clearing the atrium with a CLOUD OF FIRE (he had sensed something, another Zombie, within).
Inside was another altar (the main one being the huge pentagram outside). Likely this had been used to gather sufficient power to establish the main one.

Chapter 13: Reality is Melting!

From the Chronicles of Brother Jacques.

30/5 - 1/6 Night.
Some speculation:
Kiellevain knew that something was up, but not that Keruna was awaiting him, but he still needed the Dagger, so he sent what he thought would be adequate strength to sieze it.
It was not sufficient, and he expended much of his local / readily available resources.
On the other hand, at least some of his Demons escaped in such a form that they could tell him how they had been defeated; so Kiellevain knows about Keruna. He does not know of Erenion, nor (I assume) does Keruna.
If he still needs the Dagger, he has to attack again.
He will gather intelligence, and gather strength, and not attack until he is confident that he can defeat Keruna (as he sees her), or at least at the best odds that he expects to get.
We can fight on our terms, by retreating to a stronghold (Igor), misleading him (by appearing weaker, maybe by appearing to fall out), or hurrying him into an attack before he is ready.
We could attack him before he has gathered sufficient strength.
We should not sail to destroy the Dagger, as we cannot protect ourselves and the Dagger at sea.
First of all, we should limit his intelligence gathering, and at the same time find out what we can about him.

Healing:
Keruna / Carmine had taken care of her own men.
I washed the Demon venom from Soro's slashes with Holy Wine (I'm running a little low), then HEALED him.
I persuaded Sir Jean-Marc / Erenion to warm his frostbite, slowly, in cold water. Soro HEALED him later.

Keruna / Carmine didn't seem to have any better ideas, so we relaxed and recuperated.

Soro SHAPESHIFTED and investigated the mining village of Han, about 10 miles away.
Reality there was distorted.
Kiellevain is probably gathering strength; probably Demons, likely a powerful ritual, and certainly using the lives of at least some of the villagers.

Keruna / Carmine assured me that there were no more living spies with Sir Artim's house.
Looking through the estate papers, it seems that the servant who had tried to poison me had been recruited 6 months before, but there was little else of use. The records had been censored.

Assuming Kiellevain had to expend real resources preventing the real Dagger leaving the estate, we sent out a series of decoys. Keruna had (at least) 4 containment boxes.

I) I sent the dead cook's Soul on it's way (to Hell, no doubt), whilst Keruna animated the corpse.
The Zombie rode out, but was intercepted by some sort of Fire Imp, that TELEPORTED it to be examined.
We cannot TELEPORT the Dagger, but apparently Kiellevain can (either because he has to take more chances, or because if the spell goes wrong the consequences are less dire from his perspective).
A moderately weak Imp, and a prepared TELEPORT of intermediate range is not a great loss of resources, so we tried again.

II) Darianne, knowing various (counter)TELEPORT magic, and armed with a fragile copy of BIND DEMON (that I had give her), rode out with the second fake.
She was intercepted by another Imp (we saw another fiery flash, but she resisted capture, and escaped, setting fire to the farmhouse and the fake box in the process, and (luckily) BINDING the Demon that tried to capture her. She then hid in the woods nearby trying to get her bearings and HEAL herself while she found out where she was and if there were more Demons about).
We also saw another fire on the horizon; a farmhouse. SEEING SPIRITS / DEMONS, I noticed 2 smallish figures nearby; 1 Fire Imp, and something more Humanoid, but twisted in the way of Demons. I could not see Darianne, as she was not a supernatural Spirit (this VISION, granted by the GOD, is fairly selective).
Soro and J-M / E rode out to assist. They prevailed, rescued Darianne (or possibly she helped rescue them by timely shooting a Demon which was sneaking up from behind) but lost a horse. They also left the fake box in the burning farmhouse.
4 more Demons (of similar size to the Ice Demons) went out to investigate. We did not engage, and after they had investigated the second decoy, they withdrew.
This was a slightly better exchange.

Possibly Kiellevain can detect the real Dagger, but with limited range and accuracy.

I rested (as did the Lady Carmine), however Soro felt something was amiss.
We prepared for combat.
I took a healthy infusion of Guarana (and considered Black Lotus, but never got around to it).
Something; some huge Earth Demon, was approaching from below (and, unbeknownst to us at the time, Air Demons were encircling us from above).
I prepared a WARDING around the hall, and we secured the heavy table from ropes up to the minstrels' gallery. Sir Zacharias, with the true Dagger (I think) stood on the table.
Keruna prepared another WARDING to contain samples that she intended to wrench from the Demon.

III) Another SPEEDED Zombie took the final fake outside.

Reality began to distort; the statues took on horrible aspects, and it began to stink.
I was not ready, and although Sir Zacharias and Soro were BLESSED, J-M / E was not (although Soro placed some vile ENCHANTMENT on his sword).
Glass began to melt, as tentacles wormed through the windows.
Meanwhile the flagstones of the floor twisted, buckled, and began to move apart and fade, revealing... a tentacled monstrosity of a mouth. The Earth Demon was not entirely within my partially constructed WARDING, so I rushed outside to enlarge it. My arm was shattered by a tentacle, but TEMPORARY HEALING kept me going.
Green Things came from above (Air Demons ?), but Keruna (using some sort of FIRE) and her men intercepted them.
Everyone hacked at tentacles.
Soro saved the day by throwing most of a flask of (Elven) Holy Spring Water into the maw.
The Demon screamed, driving men mad or deaf, but vanished.

Then, something, an even mightier Demon (but smaller; something like an Goblin Frog), grappled with Sir Zacharias from behind. It seemed impossibly heavy.
His spine creaking under the strain, the noble knight resisted with all his strength, and somehow (as the GOD was with him) threw the Demon down, through the heavy oak table and onto and into the floor, which it then seemed to merge with and become a part of. It could hide within objects (as the Earth Demon, and others could).
I completed my WARDING, trapping the Demon, although it had completely submerged into the floor (which appeared normal again).
The Demon appeared not wholly Demonic, but some unholy admixture of the real and infernal; implying that he was Kiellevain (i'm absolutely sure that it was not a pure Demon).
As Sir Zacharias backed out, still bearing the box that contained the cursed Dagger, I called upon the GOD by his secret and holy name.
HE came, and smote the Demon with a bolt of divine LIGHTENING.

We are deaf (possibly Keruna did not hear the secret name of the GOD). There is a large burned hole in the roof, and the table, and the centre of the stone floor is blasted to fragments which have settled in a spiral pattern.
My arm is shattered (Soro has offered to HEAL me, but perhaps I should purify myself instead).
If that was Kiellevain, Keruna does not need us any more.