Icon

 

Action starts in Perpignan. They are requested to recover an Icon that has gone missing.

Stefano the Bruise

When questioned, and convinced to help, Stefano provides access to Clete. Clete is the only thief he knows who would have both the “skills and the balls” to break into the church. He will not give Clete up unless he is sure that they will not turn him over to the law. Okay, maybe he will…

Clete

Clete is an unrepentant atheist. He first denies any knowledge or involvement, but he is not a brave man. Under threat of death or prison, he will reveal that he took the statue. “It was a beautiful piece of work. No, not the statue, the job!” He was hired by a man to get it and return it to him. He did and was paid. Handsomely (hint, hint). He says that the man was Catalan (he recognized the accent), and he was paid in Catalonian coin. He was curious, though, and followed the man. He met up with a “noble or someone”, and they and their retinue (5 or 10 guys on horses) left the city heading toward Catalonia. They were riding, and the noble was on a really pretty horse (palomino), another guy was riding a really big, black stallion. The guy who paid him was riding a roan mare.

The road to Catalonia

The road south has some inns (as Martain knows). Asking about the party described by Clete will indicate the group is heading pretty directly toward Girona. They realize they are being watched by someone ahead. There is no one there when they arrive, but tracks show that one person on a horse was off the road on a rise. This person turned and headed for Girona at a reasonably fast pace.

The Blue Dog

The Blue Dog is an inn/bar in Girona. Martain is friendly with the barkeep/owner. The sign for the inn is a big, blue dog. It is on the wharf. The owner (Adelina) has bought slaves from Martain in the past and they get on well.

While in the Blue Dog, after asking around about the party they are hunting, a man comes in, grabs a candle from a table. Martain realizes he smells of lamp oil and decay. Martain tackles the zombie and wrestles it to the ground, keeping the inn from being incinerated.

Adelina, after the fact, indicates that she does not understand how it could have happened. The man has been dead for a week. She knows his relatives and the funeral occurred several days ago. She was there.

She can give them directions to the man’s family home and to the grave. His name was Horace. Someone in town recognizes the Palomino. They have not seen them in town, but the horse belongs to one of the Counts men.

Horace’s Village

Horace’s village lies about a day north of Girona. It is small (maybe 5 families, 30 people or so in all). There are a few huts, some land for crops and animal husbandry. There is a graveyard where all the locals are buried. There is a small church. There is no priest in residence. They get a father to come from Girona about every couple of weeks.

Horace’s parents can be found. They are sad. One of the men (not a player, maybe Kevin’s man at arms) is approached by a young woman claiming to be Horace’s sister. She tells him Horace was to be married to a woman from another village. The other village is next to the County Seat (where the Count lives).

They bring this up with the parents and find that Horace had no sister. He used to, but she died many years ago. The villagers cross themselves when the other village is mentioned. They will, reluctantly, give directions. The village is supposedly filled with evil people. They feel the same way about the Count.

The County Seat

This is the Count of Girona. He holds the area in the hills where his estate is down to the coast where Girona is.

The Count refuses to see them. They do see the Palomino on the estate, and, in fact, the owner of it and a group of other mounted folks take off after they have asked to see the count. On a good awareness roll one of the men is identified as a Moor. The group of horsemen head northwest.

Village of the Damned

This village is on the outlying portion of the Count’s estate to the northwest. The group is treated with suspicion. They dislike the priest. They act oddly until the headman of the village arrives. He invites them to stay the night as it is getting late. He will happily put them up in his house. He apologizes for the villager’s reactions. They fear Basques, and all other strangers in this area he explains.

He is, of course, trying to set them up. The party sticks around and they are separated and attacked in the night by a bunch of undead and villagers.

A BIG fight

The players break and run, the undead chase them. Raymond prays for deliverance, they stumble upon a temple, a single candle in the dark.

Hidden Temple

Those who pray with the priest (and those who are prayed over) are fully healed by morning. In the morning, the temple can be seen to be nothing more than ruins long abandoned. The do find evidence that the experience was real, though.

A false Necromancer

In the aftermath of the fight, the group can follow the undead back to their origin. There is a small hut out in the wilderness of the hills above the village. The undead came from the ground around it. There is a single man living there. When confronted, he “summons up” a large batch of undead and have them attack.

This guy is not really a necromancer, as should be evident by how he does his “magic”.

The Prisoner

The false necromancer has a prisoner in his house. The prisoner indicates the guy was a nutjob, and wanted to use him in some unholy rite. But the rite never worked for him. There is, however, a guy who comes to visit him who is creepy as hell. The prisoner knows which way the creepy guy comes from and goes to. The creepy guy is a Moor. He rides a black stallion.

Skull Isle

The bad guy lives on an island in the middle of a small lake. There are some nasty bad undead in it that try to lure men (or drag them) to the depths to die.

The island has a largish rock outcropping that strongly resembles a human skull. The mouth is a cave (where the real bad guy lives).

They have a deadly fight with undead lead by a powerful undead lord of some sort (a Wraith). Raymond falls, and all seems to be lost, but a miracle occurs and Raymond is revived and banishes the Wraith. They enter the cave, but do not find the necromancer. They destroy his place and leave with the Icon.

Dramatis Personae

Bishop Levarre – bishop of Perpignan. Somewhat vain and self-important.
Stefano the Bruise – first encountered in “For a few coppers more”. A petty criminal in Perpignan.
Clete – an atheistic thief in Perpignan. Stole the Icon
Adelina – owner of the Blue Dog, friend of Martain.
Horace – A villager that died a week before he sets fire to an inn.
Salvador Mojarro – Horace’s father
Leonor Mojarro – Horace’s mother
Lucia Mojarro – Horace’s dead sister
Giraldo Hernandez – The headman of the evil village.
Father Innocent – a ghostly priest
Iago Santiago – a false necromancer
Helsing von Draeger – the prisoner
Clothar Baldman – the Count of Girona

During the summer, some of the men began noticing that animals in the forest acted oddly. When the men were out hunting or gathering food, animals seemed to watch them, and sometimes even follow them. At first, these rumors were put down to active imaginations. However, now enough people have reported this kind of activity that it is pretty clear something odd is going on. More recently, men have reported more aggressive behavior by the animals. Sometimes animals will steal food if the opportunity presents itself; there have also been a few cases where men have reported being “attacked for no reason” (though, when carefully questioned, a reason has often presented itself). The “attacks” have so far been minor (a large number of bee stings; a bird pecking a man’s head a couple of times), but the magi have taken the danger seriously (largely because the grogs were becoming restive about a more passive reaction). A couple of hunting parties have gone out with a magus in attendance. The magi noted no unusual animal behavior, although there is quite a lot of wildlife in the woods around the covenant.

As a precaution, when a group is sent out, it is now more or less pro-forma that a magus go with them, and group size has been enlarged a bit also (no more singles or pairs go out alone, always at least 3). Also, due to these concerns, when the time came to make a visit to Perpignan to gather supplies for the winter, a largish contingent, along with a magus, was sent. All the better to avoid any shenanigans (or the common bandit).

Raymond Lore

You were invited to go with Boniface when he decided to visit the Bishop in Perpignan. The day before you were scheduled to leave, a large contingent from the covenant, including your friend Terryn, showed up in Prades. The abbey of course offered them accommodations (away from the other patrons of the abbey). By coincidence, they are headed to Perpignan on a supply trip. Since there were a large number of armed men, you and Boniface decided to go with them, and took only a few other brothers. The trip to Perpignan was uneventful, and was a fine time to chum around with some soldiers.

The day after you arrived in Perpignan, Boniface sought you out to ask if you or any of your friends did anything “untoward” since you arrived. You, of course, did not. You could not believe Terryn had, and he controls his men well. You asked Boniface what it was about; he seemed quite shaken. He confided to you that an Icon has been stolen from the church. Bishop Levarre all but accused your party of having taken it. Boniface was quick to reassure him that was not the case, but thought he ought to make sure. “It is important”, he stressed, “that this not become common knowledge. It would not sit well if people thought the church was easy to rob. Not to mention the shame for the Bishop, as the relic was loaned to him and is due back to Rome in the spring. Would you look into it? Discretely?”

Once you had a private conversation with Terryn, you were sure that the item was not taken by him or his men, and you do not believe the magus would stoop to do that sort of work. With a little more investigation, and talking to some of Levarre’s men, you determined that the Icon was well guarded, with limited access. There was only one door (guarded), and a high window in the room. You concluded it would have taken a professional to acquire it. You also got a good description of the Icon; it is a statue of the Christ healing a woman kneeling before him. The statue is about a cubit (18 inches) tall, made of stone, and somewhat heavy, probably about 1 stone (15 pounds, give or take). The Icon is said to have the power to heal those that touch it.

You decide that starting with the “professionals” in this arena (professional thieves) is key. There cannot be that many that have both the skills necessary, and the disregard for the church. You remember Terryn talking about someone he met here who might be a good candidate.

Terryn Lore

You took a large contingent of grogs, and a magus on this trip to buy supplies at Perpignan. You, as usual, stayed the night at the abbey in Prades. The abbot, your friend Raymond, and a few other young, strong lay brothers asked to join you on your trip. You happily agreed. Men tend to behave a bit better when there is a priest about. Well, most men.

The trip to Perpignan went quickly enough, and you made arrangements to meet up with Raymond and the abbot for the return trip in a few days. At that point, you set about gathering the supplies needed by the covenant, and getting yourself and the men a little R&R in the bustling city of Perpignan. You kept your group together (no need for strays getting caught by some clever trap laid by a businessman in the city), and so were surprised when, the next day Raymond sought you out and asked if you or your men had stolen something from the church. Of course you had not, and you could account for everyone in your party. Raymond confessed he didn’t think you or yours had, but he had to check. “A relic has gone missing”, Raymond said. “We want to keep it quiet, but we need to see if we can find it. Will you help? I recall you telling me about a criminal you met here on a previous visit, and I think that a professional did this.” You know who he means: Stefano the Bruise.

Catalonia Lore

Barcelona is the biggest city in Catalonia. There are some other sizable towns on the way. South of the city of Girona, Catalonia is still held by the Moors. There are some safe places to stay on the way, but south of Girona, sticking to the wilderness is generally safer for Franks and Christians. The area belonged to the Visigoths prior to the Islamic invasion.

Girona is located at the confluence of the Ter and Onyar rivers. It is the last real outpost of the Frankish empire. Charlemagne conquered it in 785. There are various Counts that rule the region. Girona is on the coast. The areas of Catalonia in the Pyrenees are nominally Frankish holdings, but there are many Basques there. The Basques dislike the Franks and periodically raid Frankish holdings. The Count of the area is Clothar Baldman. He got his lands from Charlemagne for his help in conquering the area of Girona a few years ago. He lives in a fortified manor north of the city.