Mortigny - Richemulot

It's a few days since the dramatic events in the abandoned house where the beautiful and chaotic spirit Domino was released, by Stanislav's skill and Adelinde's blood.

You have gathered in the inn, in the heat of the mid afternoon and all sit on the outside terrace, looking over the river views. It had been agreed the day before to come together and discuss your next move.

Looking over your companions, it's immediately obvious that it's been a hard few months for both body and spirit. Stanislav remains pallid and weak looking since his exertions, Adelinde still seems seriously underweight after her month or two of starvation in the wilds and only Abigail seems to be in rude health, albeit apparently pregnant with twins!

Adelinde turns the ongoing discussion about this and that in the direction of the map she bears.

'I know we have come together to work out our plans, I suppose someone ought to open up the discussion so maybe I'll blurt out a few of the things in my head to start us off. Honestly, I think we ought to think about not pushing our luck and should think about a break from our adventures. With Abigail carrying twins and Stanislav and I looking and feeling like we do pushing on south into the unknown.... I'm really not sure it's wise. We have safe places to go, for example in Darkon or Lanark, where we can winter and be ready again in the spring.'

She refers to the map, written in French but still legible to your eyes.

'I have asked around and it seems we can book passage on a boat from Mordentshire, which is only a few days ride away. These boats sometimes go to Mortica Bay in Darkon. Once there we would only be a week or so's ride from Lanark. Its quite a distance but done that way but should be an easy and safe journey.'

'We could be back in the north by the end of the summer, Abigail can see out this pregancy somewhere safe while we all regain our strength and move on again in the spring?'

Stanislav opens his mouth to speak, but instead out comes the hacking cough he's had ever since completing the ritual. It's fairly obvious that whatever powers may be at his command, there is a cost in their invocation and that this most recent efforts have severely depleted his reserves.

When he recovers his voice is a bit thin and wavering.

"Altogether it's been a very frustrating time. I have learned that Bessel was very foolish, his ideas were not his own and he did not even begin to understand with what he was meddling. In this I was misled and very much fear that we have further compounded his mistake with the actions we have subsquently taken and the choices that we made."

The young wizard pauses for a moment, furrowing his brow.

"One event collides into another, Verbrek into Bessel into the release of that creature. Like stones thrown into water, the ripples expand outwards and mesh one with another. We are the awakened, we see the things in the world that many do not. Our actions have consequences and we must take care to step lightly, be pebbles in a village pond, not boulders in a vast lake. We cannot undo what we have done."

For a moment he looks like he will speak further upon the subject, but instead, simply repeats in that tired and broken down voice. "We cannot undo what we have done."

The labrador at his feet breaks the awkward silence which follows with a sad whining whimper and she lays her head in Stanislav's lap, and he absently scratches his faithful companion behind the ears.

"If you recall, I wanted to come here based on some of the guidance left to me by my mother. Whatever she intended I find, it was certainly not related to the events we have witnessed here and nothing to do with the misguided Doctor Bessel, whom she could not have known."

With a heavy and somewhat dejected sigh, he summarises. "I have completely failed in my task here."

"I am content to return north, I cannot stay here forever with dwindling funds and no income. The question is where. Lanark is one option, perhaps the most comfortable, but is it the safest? My home in the woods of Darkon is not the most luxurious, but almost certainly safe. If anything is to be salvaged from this mess, it is Abigail's children. They may be of greater importance than we know."

Any further expansion on that cryptic statement is interrupted by another coughing fit, after which Stan says nothing more.

Abigail sits with her hands clasped and resting upon her stomach. She looks from Adelince to Stanislav and back again to Adelinde.

"Maybe returning to our places of comfort to rest and heal our wounds would be a good thing. I for one Would be interested in visiting my family and telling them the news."

She rubs her stomach gently and smiles.

"And I don't really fancy continuing while carrying as eventually I'll just be more of a burden than anything. Maybe once I've given birth, I could rejoin you. The children would be safe with my family. Probably much safer than if they were with me."

Abigail stands up and stretches out, yawning as she does so.

"I did say I would accompany you folks and I'm not one to go back on what I say."

Rivia walks back from the bar at the Stallion and Hare, before laying down the ordered drinks on the table and taking a seat. He then picks up his tankard and takes a sip, licking his top lip clean, before resting back in his chair.

"Well, friends, and I hope I can call you all that, I'm afraid this is not a time I feel I can rest nor stop, but do agree in principle that Abigail should be escorted somewhere safe." he says, before putting his tankard down, his yellow eyes burn bright for a moment something heavy obviously upon his mind.

"Right now, I must head to Forlorn to warn the monks of the events that took place in Verbrek and of their losses, before the consequences of those actions become dire. Likewise, I must return to Barovia to inform my people about the loss of Dominic. Whatever your feelings about him are, he was a loyal man and dedicated to battling evil and he must be sent off in our ways." he carries on in a soft voice.

"After I assess the situation, if there is one, and deal with any fallout, I will try to seek you all out, but obviously I cannot make any promises. What I saw in Verbrek... " he says, pausing for a moment, before picking up his tankard, ".. anyway, as I say, I will try to look for you all."

Adelinde chews on her lower lip for a little while before exhaling a little breath.

'It's so sad to see us split again but I accept these are things that cannot wait for you. We are equally obliged to being easily home with Abigail before the weather turns so we will have to hope that in the spring we will be able to come back together. Regardless of where we finish up, and I see the argument each way on that so I will leave a message or note in Lanark describing where we might be.'

'Seems likely we will head south again next year, unsure when but perhaps we might take a route in reverse of the one we propose this time. It is true we have had an influence on things in certain ways, I'm inclined to agree it has mostly been malign and that we have a duty to come back and see what might be done.'

'If it is decided and it sounds as if it is I will confirm our arrangements to leave in good time once everyone is set and up to it'

Rivia nods slowly, listening to Adelinde.

"I wish you all the best of luck where you go then. I agree that it is a shame, but we all must do what we must do."

"I'll try to head back to up towards New Lanark and Lowsofte when I can, but I suspect that all depends on what I learn from the monks. Either way if I can't make it, I will get message to you one way or another." he replies, mostly to Adelinde with a certain determination, before looking around the table briefly.

"Best of luck following your mother's path, Stanislav and remember that not all knowledge is meant to be known and understood, by man at least. I have no advice for what may have happened with Doctor Bessel and the spirit, but if there is any payback, understand that my people will aid you if they can... "

"... and to you Abigail, good luck with the trials ahead of yourself. I think you'll make a fine mother and I hope you will consider raising them away from the tyranny of Falkovnia, your birthplace or not and in the company of caring friends. Of which I believe you have."