SPQT -- Theodosius' Belongings

April 26 - We are safe back in Vircorum, having encountered no difficulties along the way. The Tribune has chosen to put the best possible light on our actions, and I have told him that if there are any difficulties with the Wolves, he should feel free to disavow all knowledge of our actions and blame us as freely as he needs to. Should the Wolves decide to resent our behavior in any practical sense, I believe that with the help of Orus we can deal with them, and if they choose to go a diplomatic route, between Uncle and the Church I believe we have sufficient backing. Certainly any minor inconvenience we undergo is well worth putting a stop to this foul trade.

We must stay in town for a few days in order to testify at the trial. The Tribune is pleased with all our evidence, but doesn't think the paper trail will take him close enough to the principal to even make him nervous. A pity, but you never know what a few truth spells correctly applied will reveal during the interrogation process.

April 27 - Alfredus and Gaius went off together this morning, acting rather secretive, and returned looking rather subdued, and Alfredus slightly mussed. Gaius is bursting to be asked about it, but Alfredus doesn't look very happy, so I will leave it be. No doubt if it's important I'll be informed, in time. I'm glad to see them getting along so well these days.

[Aelfred took it into his head to take up chariot racing, and took Gaius along to the hippodrome because the kid is heavily into sports and knew the names of the local Blues. By dropping the Senator's name and the Tribune's, he was given a chance to try out, and did reasonably but not spectacularly well until the fifth lap, when his axle broke. Neither he nor the horses were hurt, but it was a blow to Aelfred's ego.]

April 28 - In court all day. Tedious, and surprisingly tiring; but we have a conviction. If the Tribune gained any solid leads on the principal it didn't come out in court. We live in hope. Tomorrow, off to do what we came for at last, but I'm sure neither Blessed Theodosius nor the Archbishop will mind the delay in so good a cause. We leave at daybreak tomorrow, in the midst of a horde of sheep. I am informed that the correct collective noun is flock, but they look like a horde to me.

April 30 - The Galvanii were very pleased to see us, and the sheep, and declared another feast. We heard lots of tales about the barrows, but nothing that advanced our search particularly - they were mostly of the "he died of fright" variety, lacking in useful detail. We have a new guide, a hunter who is familiar with the area barrows, and we will start systematically working out way east tomorrow morning.

May 1 - Beltane service. Making rather specialized use of the "augury" spell, we visited four barrows today, asking at each whether we would have good fortune finding the relics of Theodosius here, and receiving a negative reply at each. I decided that, while we were at it, we should map the barrows that were actually haunted. The first barrow we encountered this morning contained three moderately powerful undead, but I could find no way for them to exit, and decided we would pass them by, for now. Robyn is not pleased with this decision, but he isn't rebellious about it, either.

May 2 - It's the middle of the night. We wakened to a commotion as Gaius, the dogs, and the horses all fled screaming into the trees. As soon as they woke up enough, the guide and all the Sunshine Boys fled screaming, too. The rest of us managed to stand our ground, though the appearance of the skeletal gentleman who walked into our camp and erected a sphere of force, or some such, around himself made us all distinctly nervous. I asked him, in the name of Orus, what he wanted, and he muttered something about Orus being an upstart, which I decided it would be prudent to ignore. He had observed us inspecting the barrows and suspected us of seeking for him, so he decided to save us a certain amount of trouble. I assured him that we had no desire to disturb anyone, and described the goal for which we seek. He suggested, rather pointedly, that we would have more luck on the north side of the river. Although none of us is convinced that he had our interests at heart, we decided to accommodate his wishes for now. After all, if we have to check every barrow in the forest it hardly matters which order we do them in. He vanished, and Robyn has whistled up his dogs and gone out to look for the rest. Orus grant they've come to no harm out there.

May 3 - Three barrows today. The first contained many faint and twelve moderate undead, the second came up blank, and the last contained 28 moderate and one overwhelmingly strong undead auras, and according to my augury would do well for us in the way of Theodosian relics. It was nearly dark when we found it, so we decided to examine it as best we could and then retreat as far as we could. I detected no secret doors, but Robyn found a large, sealed stone door. He also spotted a villa rustica about a mile away, so we went calling. The owner, Marcus Appius Cato, greeted us cordially and invited us to stay the night. After consulting with the others and finding a consensus that we all thought he was above-board, I confided to him the nature of the barrow on the property and told him we would hold off on opening it, if he wished, until he could take more precautions to protect his family. He has decided to trust us not to bring any vampires down on his head, and certainly we would all willingly die before letting such a thing happen; which is no guarantee that it will not. However, with the aid of Orus and the good will of the Saint, all will be well.

May 4 - We left Gaius, the guides, and the Sunshine Boys at the villa, with instructions to return straight to the Archbishop and my uncle if we did not return within 48 hours. No heroic rescues. Gaius, who is bitterly ashamed at running yesterday, though we've all assured him running from a lich is merely good sense, had trouble choosing between rebellion and relief at being left behind. I took care that he not hear my instructions to Cato and the Sunshine Boys that, if we returned after dark, we were to be cleared and positively identified by Cato's chaplain before being admitted to the grounds.

In the event, these precautions, though prudent, were not needed this time. Everywhere we went within the barrow, we found the signs of the Blessed Theodosius's handiwork, rubble and scorch marks in every chamber. Robyn, Alfredus, and Decimus were all invisible to undead, and I went ahead with the ever burning torch in one hand and my holy symbol held high in the other, singing hymns. When we came at last to a set of doors that wasn't broken down, Alfredus and Robyn opened it, and we were faced with a large number of strange zombies, which breathed a peculiar fog and glowed green. Some I managed to turn to dust while others I merely managed to drive back. Robyn stood back shooting them systematically, Decimus threw spells at them, and Alfredus hewed them with his ax. When we dispatched the last of them (alas, it did not occur to us to count them - there seemed to be about two dozen or so), we entered the room, which appeared to be some sort of library, full of scroll racks. Decimus searched the desk while Alfredus and Robyn searched for exits. They found a plastered-over door and Decimus found a note from Theodosius, asking that, if he did not return from the Island of the Archmagi, the finder ensure that the contents of the library be turned over to the church. In a postscript, he added that there was no catalog.

I healed everyone and made Alfredus and Robyn invisible to undead again. Alfredus and Robyn chipped off the plaster, checked the hidden door for traps, and opened it. A cage came down and very nearly caught the two of them and me, but we all managed to leap aside in time. Decimus, standing back with his wand of lightning ready, happily was never in danger. Alfredus did get slightly singed when jets of flame shot out of the walls, but on the whole it could have been much worse. In the room beyond we saw a large, plain stone sarcophagus and four statues of warriors. I felt like a vandal, but remembering all the rubble in the other rooms, which seemed to be smashed statues, I could not but give Decimus the go-ahead when he asked if he should lightning bolt the statues. Our deduction was correct; he blasted two of the statues to pieces and the other two promptly began to move on us as the sarcophagus opened and four dread knights such as we encountered at the Tomb of Theodosius. Decimus darted into the room, setting off a gas trap which had minimal immediate effect on him. I successfully cast Magic Circle against Evil. Alfredus ran behind the mummy as Robyn advanced with his magical sword to attack the dread knights menacing Decimus.

There was a hectic moment when I thought Decimus was in serious trouble, but I managed move up to far enough to place him within the magic circle before the worst happened. At first sight of the mummy, Robyn was momentarily paralyzed by fear; fortunately, foreseeing such a possibility, I had brought along a remove fear spell. I turned all the dread knights but one to dust - I fear I made no impression on the mummy whatsoever - and the others, with spells and weapons, took care of the rest, not without some difficulty, but also without incurring any mummy rot. Alas, once the foe was gone, Decimus took a delayed reaction to the gas which nearly killed him again! I poured half of our lesser restoration potions down his throat and cast neutralize poison on him from a scroll. Alfredus, who had also caught some of the gas, drank the neutralize poison potion before it could work its debilitating woe on him. We chopped the mummy into little bits and burned him, armor and all, then inspected the chests, which contained considerable cash and some jewelry and artwork.

Counting zombies, dread knights, and mummies, we now found that we had accounted for all of the undead my spell had revealed, and Decimus was still feeling poorly, so we called it a day and returned to the villa. So far as we can tell, the library was what attracted Theodosius to this place and was the entire cache referred to in the letter we found on the island. The mummy and dread knights must have been in place when he moved in, and he never had time to discover them. The zombies seem to post-date him by a considerable period, and it would be as well to make sure that there are no cursed or otherwise dangerous items in the library that might have created them, before we pack them for shipment! I will enlist Cato's chaplain in this task.

May 7 - No curses, no harm from packing and cataloging the scrolls, no indication of what made all the zombies. By the grace of Orus Decimus is recovered and directing the packing of the library. The total value in solidii of the treasure from the mummy room seems to be approximately 20,000. Dividing this five ways and giving one full share to Cato, who puts in no such claim but after all is the property owner and could have argued that he owned the lot, we each get 4,000 solidii worth. There are a couple of pieces of jewelry I have my eye on; as well as a couple of things so ugly, and yet so valuable, that I have to wonder what the ancients here were thinking!