Dawn of Magic

[dr_kromm]

Man . . . Mike ("Rufus") still has a cold! Bonnie ("Leif"), Marc ("Mushamee"), Martin ("Kaeso"), and Stéphane ("Vinz") were all there -- as was the laptop on which we watched the election results of our American friends. Congrats, Obama!

Time: Night, Odin 18, 1002 Imperial Reckoning.
Place: Tunnel to Starfish-Man realm, Tenosia.
Last Event: A battle with the Starfish-Man infiltrators attempting to expose Tenosia's location.

After defeating the enemy agents, everyone is nicked but Mushamee is badly hurt. The heroes fan out, taking care of business. Leif checks Mushamee's wounds. Kaeso determines that the seal across the end of the tunnel is still structurally intact, mumbles something about placing deadly traps here in the future, and then turns to salvage the enemy's dropped weapons. Vinz searches the bodies of the fallen for clues.

Suddenly, Vinz senses impending danger -- again. Leif feels footfalls vibrating through the tunnel floor, coming up from the city. In response to this, the entire group braces for more foes. Before long, the first figure rounds the bend in the passage . . .

. . . and proves to be a legionary, backed by several other soldiers. Rufus takes one look, however, and informs the others that the man is cursed and under some form of mental domination! Mushamee, despite his grave injuries, moves forward and orders his allies not to slay these new arrivals. He feels it would be terrible for morale if "cursed" meant "killed by your own side" instead of "rescued by your general and his talented wizard companions."

Thus, the heroes fight to disarm the legionaries, and turn their blades to deliver stunning blows, while Vinz backs off behind his companions and prepares a powerful, nonlethal spell. Kaeso hangs back with Vinz, recharging the wizard's magical energies with a few handy elixirs. Before joining the fray, Leif sends Granddad's spirit to warn Queen Hippolyte and request that she telepathically order her Amazons to flank the cursed troops.

These tactics work well, and before long the legionaries are walled off behind the bodies of their insensible comrades, beaten unconscious but not seriously harmed. Ilya, Josef, Oleg, and Vlad manhandle the corpses of the slain Starfish-Men forward, too, adding to the barrier's height. Soon the dominated legionaries simply can't get close enough to attack, and are shoving ineffectually against the wall of flesh, which is buttressed from behind by Leif's inhuman might. Mushamee keeps them trying, though, egging them on with insults for long enough for Vinz to finish his spell and render most of the legionaries unconscious with a sleeping charm!

With the tunnel now silent, the heroes push over the stack of unconscious legionaries and dead Starfish-Men to survey the situation. Leif and Rufus move forward, leading Mushamee's men. Mushamee himself rests, sorely wounded, while Vinz is gasping with fatigue after his mighty magic-working. As Leif rounds the bend, however, he sees that Hippolyte's Amazons have the situation well in hand, having captured the few cursed men not dropped by Vinz's spell. Rufus senses that the soldiers are still cursed, despite being unconscious, and orders that they be imprisoned.

With the situation now under control, the group staggers back to Hippolyte's palace while the Amazons round up the curse victims. At the palace, Kaeso whips up a big batch of healing elixirs, and between these, Leif's spirit-healing, and Vinz's magic, the group is soon fully restored. As they work, they discuss the curse sensed by Rufus, and conclude that it's the work of a Starfish-Man "curse engine" -- much like the ones seen in Ruinas' tower near Kapital, Petrovius' subterranean lair, the Starfish-Man fortress in occupied Mahash, and most recently down at the docks here in Tenosia. Thus, they resolve to find and destroy this infernal machine.

Knowing what they know of curse engines, the heroes agree that the most likely location of the engine -- given the presence of mind-control victims (including the prince) in Indu -- would be in Indu. Given the size of these devices and the conventional engineering they require, they theorize that a warehouse or other large structure owned by the traitor Samar would be the first place to look. Vinz tells his allies that if they return to Indu with the bodies of the two spirit-shamans slain by Mushamee, he can work magic to home in on the sorcerers' power source.

Without further delay, the newly refreshed team don their armor and get ready to return to Indu for a little vengeance. Realizing that the Shahim might take exception to armed heroes boiling into his city and slaughtering people -- even scum -- they petition Queen Hippolyte to accompany them. As much out of unhappiness for her husband Mushamee's recent near-death experience as out of political canniness, she agrees. Vinz also asks Loclá to come along, as she's a trained diplomat and less prone to beheading people than the Queen.

Armed and armored, the group of seven makes haste by chariot to the portal to Indu. On the far side, they are greeted by soldiers. Rufus confirms that these men aren't cursed. The soldiers instantly recognize the Queen and escort the group to the Shahim's palace. They find the place in turmoil even now -- the crown prince was recently killed and resurrected, after all, and someone tried to poison the Shahim -- but the ruler is willing to meet with Hippolyte and friends.

The heroes tell the Shahim everything they know. They confirm that they've slain the enemy spies and deduced that the prince was cursed by foul sorcery most likely powered by an evil engine hidden somewhere within his city. They then request permission to search Indu for the curse engine, doing whatever it takes to discover it. The Shahim is happy to grant this boon to the fair Hippolyte and her companions. Mushamee strategically takes this moment to get the Shahim to agree to commit troops to the effort to thwart Black Adolph's attempt at world domination, too.

Vinz then informs the Shahim that with his permission, he can work divinatory magic involving the bodies of the dead spirit-shamans. The Shahim is not in the least concerned with such grisly workings, and asks only that Vinz wait long enough for him to summon physicians to observe -- and perhaps learn where the vital spots are on the foul Starfish-Men. With everyone in place, Vinz uses his magic to "borrow" Hippolyte's knowledge of mundane divinatory methods to aid his efforts, and then ritually eviscerates the dead spies.

The gory ceremony reveals a mysterious map to Vinz. Upon showing this to the Shahim, he learns that it's a crude sketch of Indu's docks and warehouses. The Shahim's advisors point out that the specific point Vinz is indicating is a royal military storehouse, made of stone, with stout doors. Consultation with the royal engineers turns up an architectural drawing, on which Kaeso finds an exploitable weakness: a large disused chimney.

Mushamee informs the Shahim that he, his wife, and his companions plan to strike this target and neutralize the curse engine within. He suggests that the Shahim post troops nearby . . . but not too nearby, in case there are traitors among the soldiers, perhaps bought by Samar. The ruler agrees, and requests that once the supernatural threat is eliminated, the squad leave any merely natural enemies for his men to butcher, as a way of improving morale. Nobody has a problem with this plan.

To be continued . . .