A Council of War

 

For the second time in twenty four hours, the bells were frantically tolling at the Abbey of St Ursula. 

Dakhir groaned and sat up groggily. The morning sun streamed through the window of the spartan guest barracks, the locutory where the companions had returned to rest late last night, after the battle with the Sea Giant. His friends were starting to stir as well, groaning and complaining the lot of threm. Except for The Sturg and the Elves. The Sturg didn't sleep at all, and the elves didn't need it the same way the other races did.

"More giants?" asked Ricmo, rubbing sleep from his eyes. "Does this place need saving again? Already?"

"No, not giants". Tello replied, pointing over to his lantern. It burned it's normal yellow, not the bright green that signaled giants were near. 

"Then what's the point of all the racket?" asked Ricmo.

Suddenly the door slammed open and a novice stuck her head in the room. She was young and clearly excited, color rising prettily in her cheeks. "A pirate ship has been sighted in the river! Headed for the Abbey!" she announced. :"Father Paulus is summoning the militia! He asks that you join him!" 

"We'll be along directly" Ricmo replied.

The young nun lingered in the doorway. Her gaze shifted, becoming magnetically locked on Fantastic Freddy's naked chest as he sat up in his bed. A smile crept across her face. Freddy, waved languidly. 

"Run along now" Dakhir interrupted her sharply. The nun blushed, gave one final longing glance and exited. Freddy smiled.

"Freddy, no nuns" Dakhir reminded him. "Not one."

Freddy stretched, cat like and didn't reply. Dakhir frowned. 

"The river is in no way deep enough for a ship of any kind" Tello pointed out, changing the subject. "it was barely deep enough for the jollyboat."

"No doubt the reports of a pirate ship are somewhat exaggerated" agreed Whisperleaf. "Still they must have seen something that scared them."

The Arrival of the Thorns

What was coming up the river was not in fact a "pirate ship" but rather s smallish longboat, under sail and oar.. From the mast a flag flew.

"That flag looks familiar" Dakhir commented.

"The Wild Rose" said Freddy.

"Wait that's the ship that murders everyone isn't it?" asked Whisperleaf. "The one with bloody colored sails and a bloodier reputation."

"And an all female crew. But not everyone" said Freddy. "According to Ozraeline it's mostly just the men they murder".

"Well, let's get down there and make sure there isn't trouble" said Ricmo. "I imagine we can handle them if they cause any, only see about half a dozen."

As they heroes hurried down to the river, Father Paulous and several of his monks strode up to the party, joining them on their way, to where the all female crew was beaching the ship. The middle aged monk looked worried.

"They look a fierce lot" he stated.

"Relax" said Freddy. "They aren't holding themselves like they are looking for trouble." 

And indeed they weren't. Strangely enough, they were looking to help.

Council of War

The meeting was held in the refractory, the only building big enough to house them all. Half a dozen nuns and monks attended including the absolutely ancient Abbess Angelique. The heroes were there of course, as were the delegates from The Wild Rose.

"Four creatures were captured after they attempted to raid the Abbey of St Ursula on the 3rd day of HighSummer, IY902 at approximately eight bells in the evening. These creatures were imprisoned in separate rooms in the The Undercroft of the Abbey, where they were interrogated individually by the bard Fantastic Freddy, with myself assisting and taking notes." reported Cantor Magdalene.

The Cantor, a small, wispy, bookish nun seemed to be some kind of librarian and radiated methodical attention to detail. She also seemed very impressed by Freddy's ability to extract information from the "Goliaths" as she called the half men / half giants that had attacked the convent. 

Freddy certainly could work people, no doubt, his easy charm had a way of getting under your skin and more then one hard case had found themselves spilling their guts before they noticed it  Ricmo thought admiringly.  "Then again, the nuns seemed, as a group, generally impressed by Freddy. It wasn't really fair. They had no natural defenses, none at all. 'Wolf in a hen house' didn't begin to cover it." 

Magdalene continued to give a very concise, well spoken and informative report that, in Ricmo's opinion, basically summed up to "We are well, and truly, fucked". It had taken all of them everything they had to drive off ONE of these giants, Dakhir had almost died. And there were at least EIGHT giants out there, plus scores of the Golaith's and just to make matters fun, an assortment of normal human pirates along for the ride.  At least five ships full of trouble.

The big, tatted, tough looking monk by the name of "Brother Castaway" was talking now, adding to the general high-spirited, optimistic mood by detailing the abbey's defenses. Or lack thereof. Ricmo more or less tuned him out after it became clear that this was more of the "boy we are screwed" narrative, but occasionally words like "handful of fifty year old muskets", "weapons created from repurposed farming tools", and "only good for dying on a wall" broke through. Well, at least there was plenty of food and wine. Ricmo had to admit the wine was amazing.  The brother's final words left an impression though.

"We should not fight a battle here. We should not endure a siege. This place cannot be defended, at least not against a determined foe. These people have great hearts, but they lack weapons and experience and are not warriors". Then he sat down.

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

Whisperleaf's ears perked up when he heard the word "library".  Cellarist Hannah was speaking now, she was evidentially in charge of the convent's resources. Not surprisingly for a wealthy and old religious established, the abbey had considerable resources to drawn upon. In theory. Not only had they accumulated a fair amount of cash and treasure, and copious stores of food and, shocker, wine, during their two hundred years of existence, but there were also evidentially magical items, and magical books and tomes down under the Abbey squirreled away in a network of storage chambers and tunnels called "The Undercroft" 

Including the complete copy of the Books of the River which was one of the reasons the heroes had come here in the first place. Those books were somehow related to the quest for Black Alice and they'd been chasing them for awhile.

Par for the course, the Undercroft was inaccessible at the moment. Ghosts evidentially. Ghosts of former Abbesses no less, who were interred down there, and pretty pissed off about something. And of course, the only nun that knew her way around down there, and had actually successfully navigated the place had gone missing. On the way back from Skull Rive Bay with a galleon full of the treasure and weapons that the sisters had purchased with the fruits of their harvest. 

"This just keeps getting better and better" Whisperleaf heard Dakhir muttered to himself, and he had to agree with the sentiment. 

He wasn't the only one getting a little discouraged either. Big Martha, the leader of the delegation from the Wild Rose, drained her goblet and stood up.

"Good ladies of the Abbey, Rose is sympathetic to your plight, but she is not suicidal or foolish. While she is happy to participate in saving this, place (provided she is adequately paid of course) she would want to see a plan with some reasonable chance of success before committing herself and her ship to your cause. You understand, I am sure." She sat down.

 "What I don't understand is how you've survived this long?" asked Whisperleaf. "Given all the threats, what's kept them off you up until now?"

For the first time, the Abbess herself spoke. Incredibly old and incredibly frail, she had mostly stayed quiet during the briefing. Whisperleaf was pretty sure she'd slept through most of it honestly.

But now she spoke in a thin, reedy voice.

"Two things. One is that, when I was younger, Mithras wielded his might through me, and I was strong enough to protect this place. But now I am old, and weak, and while my spirit is still devoted to my god and my sisters, my body fails me. Our enemies know this. My sisters, while strong in their faith, have not yet risen to my power with our god. We are exposed."

"Secondly, the town of Puerto Lejos and it's rulers, the Vetrini House, for man years, maintained a strong fleet and kept these isles defended. Why they have ceased doing so, I have no idea. They still have many ships and men under their command, but they no longer police these seas as they once did"

"And so the wolves grow bold"

Whisperleaf nodded. "Thank you for your wisdom, ancient one. This makes sense. Let my companions and I confer and discuss all we have learned, and formulate a plan."

A plan is formed

The party left the refectory and wandered out into the central cloister. The gardens were fragrant in the evening sun. Above them, the bell tower tolled, calling the sisters to evening prayers.

"I don't suppose we could just sail away and forget about all this?" Ricmo asked.

Radiant Lightbringer gave him a thunderous look.

"Fine fine" he backpedaled. 

"If we knew where this Sister Clara was it would make things much simpler." Dakhir pointed out. "Not only does she have the supplies the sisters need to mount a resistance but she has knowledge of the Undercroft. 

"And a shit ton of gold evidentially" Ricmo pointed out helpfully.

"I can ask our Lord Mithra for guidance on that She is one of his children after all." Radiant Lightbringer offered.

"Would that work?" asked Whisperleaf

"If the god wills it. I am only his servant, I can but ask" replied Lightbringer.

"Well since we are saving his nuns, it does make sense he should start pulling his weight." Ricmo agreed. 

Lighrbringer frowned and then smiled.

"I shall pray".

He turned and walked purposefully toward the chapel, across the cloister from the refectory. 

Inside, the chapel was quiet and cool, smelling of incense and old wood. The dying sunlight filtered through the stained glass of the windows, casting muted colors across the flagstoned floor. A number of nuns were filing toward the main alter, where services were beginning.

Radiant walked across the cool flagstones toward a small alter in a corner of the chapel. He reached over and lighted a candle, then kneeled before the alter. His lips moved as he prayed silently, and then he paused, cocking his head as if listening. His face started to glow softly as if illuminated from some light source no one but him could see.

"Sometimes that guy seriously creeps me out" Ricmo offered. Dakhir nodded.

"A simple matter of optics" said Tello calmly. "Refraction. The setting sun."

After a moment Lightbringer got back to his feet and rejoined his companions. 

"She is a prisoner in Puerto Lejos" he said simply.

"That is also where these Vetrini dwell, the folk with ships and men"  remarked Tello. 

"Then I guess we set sail for Puerto Lejos" Ricmo replied.

"We can't leave these people undefended though." said Whisperleaf.

"Agree, some of us will have to stay behind." replied Dakhir.

"I volunteer" said Freddy blandly.

Ricmo started to laugh.