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February 20 (Friday)

Prolix wants to attack Garrett. Is he out of his mind?! Does he really think that just because he got lucky on a scry once, we can just teleport in and vanquish him? Prolix, who couldn't even teleport us from Beliaberith to Cardior, wants to take us to Garrett in some nondescript passage in an unknown location? And thinks we can easily beat him?! His arrogance truly astounds me. And with Liandra still wiped out from healing the pool, too! Sheesh! For someone who claims to be smart, he can be pretty stupid sometimes.

Delyan believes that any attack on Garrett is doomed. She rightly points out that even if we get the dagger, we cannot yet cure the land. Delyan seems to be rather cynical in general, but on this point I agree with her.

After that argument died down without resolution, we agreed that regardless, we need to gather information in fighting vampires. Eventually we will have to take on Garrett, after all. So we contacted Seamus and he was able to offer us some information.

Vampires drink blood and turn their victims into vampires, as we saw with some of the bodyguards. He says they can also crush a victim's will with a glance, turning friend against friend. They can polymorph and turn to gas, and like Dorl Tavyani, they can suck the very life-force out of someone with a touch. Urp.

Seamus says they're hard to kill -- either they're damaged only by silver or they recover from damage quickly, or perhaps both. There are stories of them being repelled by holy symbols by people of devout faith; I do not know if I qualify. Sometimes they are also repelled by mirrors, garlic, and fresh dragonsblood, according to legend, but he is unsure if any of these legends are actually true. (How would failures be reported back, after all?)

Seamus said they are also vulnerable to sunlight and running water, and that keeping them dead requires driving stakes through their hearts. Markorl might be especially good for this, he said.

An odd tidbit: Seamus said that vampiric attacks are most likely in the last week of the month, but he has no idea why. I must remember to ask Brennan whether there was a fixed time in the month for the healing ritual.

I spent some time talking with Charlos today. We seem to have something in common -- a sense of resolve or of inner strength, or something. (It is obviously stronger, and more established, in him than in me.) He said that his calling really became apparent to him when he came to this place and felt bound to serve something greater than himself. Serving this cause has given him strength and will, and he thinks that something similar might happen for me. I have seen some of this already, certainly.

He even volunteered to join us if we decide to attack Garrett, saying that he does not want it to be said that he feared death. Perhaps he could teach me to lose that fear, too. I said that if Garrett went through them like butter, what hope did we have? Charlos shares my outlook, but the difference is that he won't let it stop him from going if that's what we decide.

Charlos did hit Garrett once during their fight; he said that the blade itself didn't seem to be effective, but that Garrett felt the wrath of his holy sword. My sword seems to be the ideal weapon for this task, being both silver and holy, if I can just hit him. That's the hard part; I am new to the ways of the sword. Perhaps I can shape-shift into something stronger; that could help.

Charlos also suggested that tanglefoot bags might help hold him in place. I pointed out that he could turn to gas and escape, but that does at least slow him down -- if he's escaping the tanglefoot bag, he's not attacking us at the same time. We should do this for sure.

He also asked if I can cast the spell to ward myself from evil. I don't know that one, so he showed me a wand and said that if we attack Garrett, we could use it.

I asked him what he knows of Weeping Wounds, and shared my fear that it has a will and evilness of its own (and that it might control its wielder as Skullcreeper tried to control Turok). Charlos agreed that it is a vile, evil weapon that feels wrong to the depths of his soul, but he has not known it to express any will. He suggested that I ask Brennan, which I will do.

February 21 (Saturday)

Liandra seems to be mostly recovered, physically, from curing the pool, but I can see that she's not back to her old self yet emotionally. That took a lot out of her.

I asked her if she thought another treatment -- when she's ready! -- would do more good, but she thinks it wouldn't. We've done what we can do with this ritual right now; repeating it won't expedite the healing of the pool.

Prolix is continuing to agitate for attacking Garrett. He scried him again today, and observed him in some sort of throne room for a while. Garrett was just sitting there, fondling Weeping Wounds, with a manaical look in his brilliant violet eyes. He wears tattered, once-elegant black clothes, a corroded black pearl around his neck, and boots and bracers that are probably magical. Prolix said there were bizarre eldritch colors in the room (as viewed through darkvision); I wonder what that is.

Garrett is obsessed with Weeping Wounds, and Prolix is obsessed with Garrett. I don't like this. And Prolix continues to agitate for a fight now. Sometimes he even seems to make sense, which makes me wonder what charm magic he is applying to us.

Turok also thinks we should attack now, before Garrett finds out about us. We don't want to be surprised by Garrett the way Brennan and the others were. Turok is usually smart about tactics, so I will have to think about this more. But I am still skeptical.

I think we should go to the caverns of Laryn and try to waken Therion. He would be a powerful ally in the fight for the land, and he could have some valuable insights about Garrett. I haven't been very successful at getting the others to consider the idea, however.

Delyan has been somewhat morose, and I asked Charlos if this was something about Delyan or if it was more general. Charlos said that it is difficult to adjust to being a ghost, which I can certainly understand. He also told me that Delyan is particularly agrieved by the attack, and by our presence. She was the one who designed the defenses for the sanctum -- the scry guard, the geas trap (which is now inactive, since Tobin, Viggo, and the others triggered it), a wind trap to block gaseous form, and perhaps others. I had not realized that all of that was her work. I tried to console her, saying that it is clearly not her fault that a 500-year-old enemy, and a snake from within to boot, defeated her defenses. But I don't think it helped.

I asked her what would be needed to reset the geas trap, and she said that it required a senior priest, because it uses a rare combination of spells. We contacted Boniface by scry, but he does not currently know of anyone who can help us. He'll work on it.

I asked how one passes safely through the geas trap, and Charlos said that once you have passed it and sat the vigil you are immune. Vigil? Yes, he said, all of those in the sanctum have passed through it. Essentially, you serve the geas while those already in the sanctum observe you and challenge you, and then if you are worthy you make a pledge to serve the emperor and the sanctum and are brought inside. We did not do this and yet here we are, so I understand a little of why Delyan is so upset.

Charlos did not talk in detail about the pledge. While I already feel obligated to the empire (while having made no formal pledge), I do not think that my proper role is inside this sanctum, at least not now. I need to cure the land first. Once we have set things right there will be time to ask "what now?", but we are a long way from that point, or so it seems.

Comments

[indigodove.livejournal.com]

Liandra was all for going to the Caverns of Laryn also, just for the record. She thought attacking Garret was a horrible idea.

I really enjoy your journal entries!