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October 3 - I asked Alyssa if it would be possible to visit my
co-religionists at Point A using the fey roads, and she kindly escorted
me.
I had a pleasant and informative chat with their leader, Father
Petronius,
who was a founding member of the colony 40 years ago. He is suspicious of
the Empire and the Orthodox church, but he mellowed noticeably during our
conversation. He wasn't aware there was any magic on the island, and will
take allowing Decimus to poke around with the nexus finder under
consideration. He told me some interesting things about local conditions
- that chull (a type of large and dangerous insect, somewhat larger than a
man) are common on the island in winter; that there are two hobgoblin
kings competing with each other and the pirates, and that the hobgoblins
have ships. They have tried to invade the island more than once, and been
beaten off - so far. The goblins at point B have a warren of three-foot
high tunnels full of traps and have beaten off all comers for centuries.
Fr. Petronius is not a worldly man, and most of our story merely caused
him concern, but he was intrigued by what I could tell him about
Theodosius. He remembered a graffitto of that name carved into the ruins
of a stone tower, and made no difficulty about taking me to see it.
Detecting magic in a corner of the tower, we moved a loose stone and
discovered an ivory scrollcase, arcanely locked. I gave it to Fr.
Petronius, since it was on his land, but he relinquished all claim on it.
I have put it in my scribe case. The message inside was written by
Theodosius to a companion named Marco, instructing him where to find a
cache of goods and saying that he was about to embark on an expedition to
convert the Archmagi. Apparently they had arranged to meet on the small
island, but Theodosius never came back, and Marco either never came, or
could not find the message. It's very sad.
I also took the opportunity to confess while I was there, and the world
has that fresh-washed post-confession look.
On the one hand, I want to find out more about Theodosius, and wonder if
there's any record of him in the archives in Brigantium or Tarantium. I
could get there on the fay roads, the guardians permitting. On the other
hand, I've been through the ancient archives before. It could easily take
me months, even if they have anything, and if they don't - !! This is the
sort of thing you want to hire done when you have anything else going on
in your life. I'll talk to Uncle about it, if he comes again. Meantime,
supper is ready, and Sol (the young man with the neckrubs) seems to have
something planned for my entertainment afterward. Plus I should get on
that penance Fr. Petronius game me. I'll think about it in the morning.
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