SPQT -- Raiding

April 17 - The scrying the church did on behalf of the Tribune revealed primarily that the infection is not being carried out at V's villa, as suspected, but somewhere in the wilderness, apparently in conjunction with the Wolf tribe who have recently expanded in the area, driving more civilized tribes before them. I used Divination, but the answers were about as useful as divination answers usually are - that the rats could be found where an island of civilization was surrounded by baying wolves, and that the Galvani (the civilized tribe mentioned) might be helpful if we asked for the right aid. The island of civilization sounds rather like those two villages - civilized barbarians, and Tarantines - in the Cairn Wood, so we will follow up that lead while the Tribune works backward along the supply lines, and between us no doubt we'll put an end to the practice.

But after how many unfortunate slaves have been infected, I wonder? Robyn has finished his purchase of horses, so we are off tomorrow. Gaius is quite sure we're going to need him, so he will come with us, though I put it to him that it might be as well for Greta to have someone backing her up who knew who she was.

April 18 - A peaceful day; nothing more lively than a deer.

April 19 - Saw a hippogriff and various people shot at it till it veered off, looking for easier prey. Similarly, frightened off a black bear with mere noise. We arrived at the village of the Galvanii around noon, and found it a sad, raw, but valiantly struggling place. They have almost no men of military age, those who didn't die when the Wolves destroyed Caer Galvus having volunteered to fight the League. King Angus was as hospitable as his means allowed, and was genuinely pleased to see us. They are all recent converts to Orus, with excellent reason to bless His mercy and kindness, not to mention the wisdom of Tribune Celsus. The Wolves, it appears, deliberately infect themselves with a totem-appropriate form of lycanthropy, and prefer maiming to killing. After being driven from their home, many of them without their full complement of body parts, the Galvanii turned brigand. When the Tribune apprehended them, he took pity on them and summoned the priests to restore their missing parts, whereupon they converted en masse and swore to serve the Empire. (Reflections on conversion, the virtue of generosity, giving people a chance to be good, etc., snipped)

Angus and his priest, Fr. Marcus, were both very interested in our quest for Theodosius's cache; but King Angus was even more interested in the notion that the Wolves were involved in the lycanthrope trade. He has made a couple of suggestions for the meaning of the divinatory message, but they all involve a long slog into Wolf territory, eliminating targets, and I think I have just realized how to bypass all of that!

April 20 - Success! I summoned a hound archon, promised to put a stop to the demon-trafficking ways of a wizard who lives south of here (particulars to be provided), and was duly informed that the slaves are being held in a small fortification on the river just south of the ruins of Caer Galvus. In the long run, the addition of the errand of to the wizard to our duties will prolong this trip - at least for me, and for anyone who chooses to come with me, and I do not anticipate being left to fulfill this obligation alone. In the short run, however, it allows us to go straight to the more urgent of our goals. King Angus has loaned us a Tarantine-speaking guide and I think I hear them calling me that the packing is done and we are to be off.

April 21 - We encountered a Wolf hunting party. Our guide and certain of our party members were reflecting on how easy they would be to kill, but cooler heads prevailed. Robyn did the talking, identifying us merely as "Tarantine travelers." We were requested to stop in and visit the subchief who formed part of the hunting expedition. We did so, explaining that we are on an expedition looking for the effects of a holy man - which is true as far as it goes - and were given a safe passage baton.

We spotted some orcs lurking about, and let them run away from us. None of us feels any strong obligation to patrol the Wolves's territory for them, I'm afraid! A large viper startled the horses. Decimus and Alfredus killed it, and the Sunshine Boys are roasting it for supper. Robyn has been rendered invisible, capable of flight, and imbued with the ability to cast "Detect Magic," and is reconnoitering the slavers' compound, which is about half a mile from our vantage.

April 22 - Very neat, as military operations go. I have to think of it as a military operation, because as such it was a great success, though as it involved some slaughter of soldiers in their beds I can't feel as pleased about it as a general would feel entitled to.

Robyn's reconnaissance was admirably thorough and permitted us to distribute our resources wisely, to whit:
The guide and the Sunshine Boys left at the camp to keep the fire going and create the impression, should anyone be watching, that we were all in it. They also kept the safe passage baton, and were instructed to insist, if accosted, that we had not confided in them and they didn't even know what we were all here for.

Robyn and Tamara, invisible, to enter through the sally gate that Robyn had taken off the latch during his reconaissance; enter the home of the Tarantine chief slaver, open the chest that radiates magic in order to obtain control of whatever devices were within, and take him prisoner as quietly as possible.

Gaius, also invisible, to enter the slave barracks, wake each in turn, ascertain his status as infected or uninfected, and begin to free them.

Alfredus and I to wait outside the gate until a disturbance was raised, then to summon a giant owl to occupy the guards and gain entry ourselves if we can.

Decimus, flying, waiting outside the wall near the guard barracks, prepared to rake it with lightning bolts when the owl went up. All at three in the morning.

Robyn is muttering something about not being very efficient with the Tarantine's personal slave, but this is mere perfectionism. All of the slaves are alive and healthy. The Tarantine, apart from a headache and sore pride, is hale. In addition to a magic rod, which is the means of infection, we have all of his ledgers and some wonderfully incriminating correspondence, though it will not be as easy as I'd like to trace the operation back to its principle based solely on this paper trail. We managed to save a few of the guards from the wreckage that used to be a barracks, and will send them home, suitably denuded of equipment, to report to their master the fruits of assisting a Tarantine citizen to circumvent Tarantine law. I have not bothered to explain the exact nature of our jurisdiction, as the less they understand the situation, the less likely it is to occur to them that we are essentially acting as vigilantes.

It seems very strange to me that, having rescued these dozen young people from the Wolves, we are now taking them back to be sold. I think that Robyn is the only one who doesn't share my feeling that something is wrong somewhere. I mentioned to the others, privately, that I was inclined to keep a careless watch and let anyone who wanted to escape on our way through the wilderness. It seemed to me probable that we would still have plenty left at the end of the trail, since escaping in the Wolf territory would be an enterprise only for the hardiest. Robyn thought such carelessness might redound to our discredit should the incident ever be examined closely, under, for instance, Zone of Truth spells. Technically, it would be stealing from the crown to allow them to go free. I'm not sure why this bothers me so much. Perhaps it's just that I'm very tired.

Even Robyn had no objection to make to our turning over the Tarantine's money to our guide, agreeing it was clearly rent due on the use of the Galvanii lands. The guide will ride back to Vercorum with us, and spend a portion of it on sheep, cloth and other necessities, I believe.