SPQT -- Trail of Blood

April 25 - It's almost time to head out into the desert. All quiet all day. I had my little talk with Robyn. It went no better than expected. I very much fear he thinks evil is more efficacious than good, and also that he thinks this is a control issue rather than a moral one. Have we focused too much on the evil "out there" and not enough on the evil in our hearts, which is so much more dangerous? Drat, I should have said that to him instead of - oh, my head hurts. At this point I have to let it rest or I'll make it even worse. At any rate I've tried to make it clear to the others that anyone who hasn't got the courage to do good isn't brave enough for this job. I'm not sure how well I can pray on camel back, but nothing else will serve right now.

April 26 - We got on the barges about dawn and had a short rest, but we were all on edge and thinking of ways to pursue the demonologist and that flying person. Decimus had preserved some blood that fell on Robyn from the flyer as he escaped, and he used it to scry, successfully getting an image of a gray, nondescript person who looked like a doppelganger, meditating in a small room. By his accoutrements he seemed to be a devotee of some Leaguer ascetic cult, possibly related to demon worship. The thought that we had another doppelganger to deal with distressed us. I Communed, and learned that he was in fact a doppelganger, that he had the book, and that he is not an ally of the demonologist. We also learned that the demonologist escaped by magical means, that he believes we have the book, and that he will come after us looking for it.

Decimus suggested that we go and retrieve the book from the doppelganger. I was ambivalent about it, but Robyn agreed with him, and regardless of our difficulties he is our best tactician. If we could retrieve the book quickly, it would remove that wild card and perhaps provide unknown benefits. If nothing else we could destroy it so that no one else could use it! We threw together a plan - I teleport in with Alfredus, Decimus with Robyn; I cast "hold person" on the doppelganger, and if it works, the others search for the book while I stand over the doppelganger keeping him out of the equation. If it doesn't, we subdue him quickly and then search.

We cast a few spells in preparation, for which we were very glad afterward - Spell Resistance and Deathwatch were mine, and I am grateful to Orus that I had them.

The first thing that went wrong (as far as I can tell; I haven't had leisure to discuss this with him) was, that Decimus's first teleport went awry. He appeared momentarily later than we did, as I was realizing that my Hold Person spell had failed. Alfredus and I did our best, but our quarry was as fast as the first doppelganger we encountered - I think there may be an entire order of doppelganger monks, and I don't want to think any such thing! Before we could contain him he had dashed out the door yelling and alarm bells started ringing. Alfredus and Robyn dashed after him and Decimus went invisible. I took a moment to ascertain that there were no good hiding places in the room and stepped out of the door, where I saw that we were on the third floor of a large villa. The alarm bells were ringing and below us in the courtyard I saw a number of Leaguers, some of whom were in the first stages of casting spells. I cast "silence" down among them and called "Retreat."

Possibly they would have paid attention to me if they'd noticed the people in the courtyard. Robyn shot, and Decimus threw up a web in front of the doppelganger. Alfredus continued forward, scooped up the now unconscious doppleganger, and started running back, as the spells and arrows flew around him. If we could have gotten out with the doppelganger, as at that moment seemed barely possible, the risk would have paid off.

I can't remember how it all went. One of the leaguers had a lightning wand - I'm pretty sure I Dispelled that - there were flying mages - some guards - some nasty spells, most of which bounced off me. But a Prismatic Sphere and a Cone of Cold that went off at the same time dropped Robyn at the same moment that someone successfully Held Alfredus. If Decimus had still had a teleport, I would have grabbed Robyn and gone, but Alfredus was 50 feet away with no way out. Before I could decide whether to drag Robyn toward Alfredus or to use the rod to Raise him, Decimus dispelled the Hold on Alfredus and they ran to me, leaving the doppelganger and Decimus polymorphing into a canary so that we'd be under my weight limit. I was far too upset to try to return to the barge, but went straight home.

Uncle has heard my full report and opted to have Robyn Resurrected, instead of Raised off the rod, which would have been faster. I scryed to find out where the barge was, and took Alfredus back. Decimus will bring Robyn to Busiris tomorrow - if Robyn is willing to come. This will have hurt his pride damnably, and my uncle may well offer him a more urgent alternative - because, as bad as all this is personally, the implications are worse. That was a League installation, possibly military. If the League is experimenting with demonology, it's a serious matter for the Empire, and one that must be acted on quickly.

(Note: Apparently the first thing Robyn thought of when he was resurrected was the capacity of the League to scry him off of his arrows and get a teleport location in the Senator's house. This horrid possibility has not independently occurred to Sofia and will not be brought to her attention till the day after writing this entry.)