October 17 - I wish I could drill a hole in Decimus's head and pour sense
into him that way!
October 22 - The thatch caught fire on a storehouse last night. We put it
out quickly enough through old-fashioned bucket brigade, but we have not
been able to determine how it started. There is lingering evil in the
air, as if someone flew in and set the fire - but no one saw anything.
This is on a par with the nightmares, which are not the spell Nightmare,
for they do no real harm, but (if they are indeed sent by an intelligence)
are either warning or harrassment. Someone who can fly - presumably
invisibly or in disguise as a night bird - into our midst and set a small
fire could have done worse. Anyone who thinks we are to be scared off by
these tactics does not understand human nature well; or the nature of the
autumn ocean. The captain made it clear to me that it is too dangerous to
sail these waters in November. We are here till spring, whatever happens
- unless we appeal to Uncle to teleport us out, an option they shouldn't
know we have. Whoever they are.
Decimus and I have been busy making potions, but it has not improved his
state of mind any. He has distributed a round of invisibility potions,
and I have distributed some cure light wounds potions. Decimus is working
on my new wand presently.
The workmen are reinforcing the roofs and gathering stray stones. I'm
going to make roof tiles, using stone shape, to give every building we use
a fireproof roof. Possibly some we don't, as well, just to confuse the
opposition, but it will take some time.
October 24 - Decimus isn't the only fool in the settlement, a reflection
which does nothing to cheer me. I have just come from pacifying one of the
sailors whose family came out from Freeport. He had treed Gaius atop a
building and was threatening him with a piece of firewood, because Gaius
had spoken to his daughter after the sailor had a nightmare in which
(apparently!) someone took advantage of her innocence. I attempted to
persuade him that Gaius is not responsible for what he does in someone
else's dreams, but the sailor has convinced himself that the nightmares
are warnings, and seemed reluctant to admit that a warning from someone
you cannot trust is not to be relied on. Gaius is indignant at the idea
that he even knows how to flirt; and it bodes ill for discipline in the
ranks that anyone would think to use, to me, the sort of language the
sailor used, and in reference to one of my personal staff at that! I will
speak to the captain about it, and see if I can word my next sermon about
the nightmares more cleverly. Not that it will help if no one listens.
Well, there's spells for that.
I have adopted the habit of making the circuit of the settlement every
night, and again when I wake up (and I always wake up!) in the night,
detecting for evil. No results so far. We are hanging nets to tangle
anyone who flies too close, and I am studying the local fauna. It would
be as well to have bats, for instance, giving the warning; but animal spy
only works on one animal, and I can't think of anything we can offer a
group of bats which would make it worth their while to tell us when
someone enters our territory. Decimus has Primus prowling regularly, and
Robyn is taking his four hours of meditation in the afternoon and staying
up all night on watch.
Oct. 25 - I finally had one of the nightmares last night. I was walking
through the woods, and knew that something was after me. I hid, and saw a
hobgoblin army pass - at least a hundred of them - with a shadowy powerful
figure in the vanguard. It was bad enough while I was in it, but when I
woke I could see that it was vague enough. It is only because I know the
hobgoblin king has reason to be angry at us that such a dream seems
particularly appropriate. Certainly there was nothing personal about it,
as one would think that sailor's dream about his daughter would be. I am
virtually certain that these dreams are not natural, but are they made of
our own fear, or is the content directed?
Oct. 26 - Decimus dreamed last night. He reports a much more specific and
personal dream than mine, involving being chased and killed by an ogre
resembling the one that killed him last time. He tried to take control of
the dream while he was in it, but failed.
So far, we have strong suspicions of the halflings, but despite our best
efforts, no evidence. I spoke to the bats, asking if they had ever seen
something flying in our vicinity that ought not to fly, and they answered
that they had seen something like me, only different. It was not small
enough to be a halfling, but its skin was scarred and bumpy. I could not
get anything more definite out of them. So the halflings would seem to be
acquitted of the fire-setting.
Oct. 27 - After supper, but before dark, I was informed that a group of
four woodcutters had not returned. Tamara was helping Greta with a
project and has had a cold all day, so we left her, but the rest of us set
out to look for them. Robyn found their tracks easily enough, and led us
to a place where they have evidently been working for some time and had
cleared a good bit or else enlarged an existing clearing (I must discover
how the woodcutters are choosing their wood; if we are returning to the
same place day after day it is bad security, and will also tend to degrade
the forest; but I did not examine the area closely, so my impression may
be wrong), about half an hour from base camp. We found their bundles and
axes, and before Robyn could sort out the tracks we were instructed, by a
deep voice, to remain where we were.
A very large ogre (who Decimus informs me looked exactly like the one in
his dream) stepped out, as did about 20 humans and four other ogres. The
sergeant ogre carried a large and improbable sword of a sort I thought no
one carried outside the arena. Our woodcutters were under a guard of ten
spearmen, bound at their hands but not their feet and so far as I could
tell, unharmed. The ogre informed us that we were under arrest for the
murder of a patrol.
This was uncomfortably close to being a legal charge, though if I thought
we were murderers no one would have to come looking for me. They got our
description from the corpses of the patrol - they knew Tamara was missing,
but apparently did not count Gaius as a murderer, for which small favor we
may be thankful. They got our location from the halflings, who apparently
have been selling information about us all over the island. It's good
information, too, judging by the sample the ogre gave. I think they must
have animals as spies. (N.B. Two can play that game.) Alfredus suggested
weregild, but the ogre was not interested, very likely because he is not
authorized to make deals. He is not at all the stereotype of a stupid
ogre, and it would be as well not to underestimate him. His mission was
to arrest us and bring us back for trial, and he was not interested in any
alternatives; nor would he release our civilians until we surrendered.
I pointed out that we had no reason to believe that we would get a fair
trial or that the safety of our civilians would be guaranteed if we did
surrender, but proposed that I cast a spell to determine whether this
course would be wise. I cast detect evil, and found that the ogre
sergeant was indeed evil; this was no surprise, since his society is ruled
by a lich. I proceeded directly into Commanding Presence, and thence into
Enthrall. I wanted to cast Sanctuary first, but the odds of being able to
get through four spells without someone getting suspicious seemed too
great. I should have skipped commanding presence and gotten under
sanctuary, instead, as then their invisible spellcaster would have been
less likely to think to hit me with hold person before I had fairly begun
the reasoned argument to set up the enthrall spell.
When I stopped in mid-word, Decimus let loose with a lightning bolt at
the
suddenly-visible spellcaster. He killed two of the humans outright, and
the spellcaster‘s next spell was disrupted. Robyn shot at the spellcaster
as the archers shot at him, and Alfredus dove behind a pile of cut brush
and hurled his hand ax at the ogre sergeant - missing, alas.
No one attempted to hurt me while I was held, being fully occupied with
the others, for which I thank Orus, and of which I take note - it is
possible that they are unwilling to harm helpless targets, which speaks
well for their intentions; but it is also possible that they expected to
have sufficient time to deal with me after taking down the rest. Though I
had a good view of the course of the battle, it was complicated by the
number of invisibility potions on the field. The opposing spellcaster was
hurt sufficiently by arrows and the lightning bolt that he turned
invisible and fled. Decimus (he informed me afterward) enabled himself to
see invisible, drank his own invisibility potion, and set off in pursuit.
Alfredus charged the sergeant, but received such mighty blows from the
sergeant and two of his subordinate ogres that he decided it wisest to
quaff his invisibility potion and flee. This left Robyn standing alone
when I finally was able to move. I drank an invisibility potion, then ran
closer to the clump of humans surrounding our woodcutters. As ogres and
humans sought for me and for Alfredus, I summoned celestial dogs to harry
the guards on our people. Only two arrived; I trust this was not a
comment of Orus's on the legitimacy of our resisting arrest! The dogs
harried the guards and I struck one with my mace, crying for our people to
flee; an order they obeyed promptly and willingly.
The dogs were quickly dispatched, and I ran, having at that time no idea
where Robyn, Decimus, or Alfredus were. I ran in a different direction to
the woodcutters, but as soon as I perceived that we were not pursued
(Robyn informs me that our foes were re-grouping at that point; as soon as
I ran off, he drank an invisibility potion of his own, and took refuge in
a tree, whence he had an excellent vantage), I circled around, met up with
the woodcutters, cut their bonds, and told them to return home, assuring
them that we would follow later. While I still pondered what to do,
Decimus landed beside me. He had pursued the mage, felled him, bound his
wounds so that he would not die, and then began to drag him back through
the woods, with no definite plan in mind. Soon realizing that he could
not carry the man for long, he pinned a note to his shirt that read: "I
could have killed him, but I didn't. Think about it." He then flew up
and came looking for the rest of us. I concealed myself and sent him to
find Alfredus and Robyn and gather us into one place, which he did,
locating Alfredus first.
I had plenty of time to heal Alfredus before Decimus returned with Robyn.
Robyn reported that the ogres made an orderly retreat back to their camp
and found the mage. They have a professional healer with them, but no
magical healing. Nine of the ten human archers were killed; there were no
ogre casualties. Their numbers are supplemented by a number of muleteers
and servants. The sergeant's conclusion was that we were too tough a nut
to crack now that we were warned, and that the best course would be to
return, report, and get new orders. He made a remark that indicated that
the hobgoblin king was also on his way to express his annoyance with us.
By now it was dark, and we had a sticky problem in front of us. Though I
was able to heal all of our damage, my spells were exhausted. Nor was
their any obvious good result to be had from further direct contact with
the arresting party. Still, letting them go away in order to come back
later with more force did not seem viable, either. And what about the
hobgoblins? We cannot afford persistent hostile relationships with
existing power structures at this time. What we needed was a plan that
had some hope of making the threat of the ogres go away. Alfredus
correctly pointed out that, had we surrendered, undergone trial, and been
acquitted, the goal would be accomplished; but I could not see
surrendering to a group led by someone I knew to be evil, and he conceded
that this created a degree of unacceptable risk.
