presents...
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Love and Madness
Game Date: 07/07/06
A loose end from last week Pietra Donati was tested by the Mondavi strega and found to be a full-blooded Fate Witch. For purely political reasons, her Church background and acolyte's vows were laid to rest with the polite lie that she never did learn to read; all her apparent skill in that area had been simple rote memorization or else cheating. Father Donati also made sure the prince heard of the Fate Knot tying Pietra to Donna Teodora Donati. And the last recap from the ball on Voltadi After Salvador's duel, Renato and Gianina stepped out for some air. Renato sent some mixed signals - he said that he found Gianina very brave, and a very special person, but concluded by saying that Don Antonio was "a very lucky man." Gianina returned some of the compliments, particularly the bravery, which Renato tried to downplay. As a man skilled in the sword, he didn't consider fighting brutish Eisen bandits especially brave. No, no: Gianina meant that he'd looked her in the unveiled eye when she was angry and considering cursing someone. He didn't seem quite sure how to respond to that. Okay, back to Father Donati and Marco getting kidnapped. Soldi, Sextus 1, afternoon The former drunk, feeling that Father Donati had helped to turn his life around, offered to go with the Donati to where he had followed the brigands. Francesca, Gianina, and Renato would go, with Pietra (barely) being convinced to stay behind. If they did not return by sunset, or if Father Donati returned before them, she should have help sent. The four traveled towards the edges of Chiarisa, into a poor, dangerous-looking neighborhood. There, at water level along one of the canals, was an old entrance to a pauper's section of the catacombs. Several boats bobbed there, tied up (and cursed, to prevent their removal). The drunk produced a torch; Renato poled the boat along as Francesca kept a knife ready, and Gianina led them on by keeping Francesca's strand to Marco in sight. The waterway branched; they followed the strand, passing by side chambers and shorter, dead-end tunnels dug out to increase the available space. Eventually, the canal reached a rotunda of sorts, in which several canals met. Long ago, some family of importance interred their dead here; the ceiling was even decorated with scenes depicting the final battle between the Fourth Prophet and the forces of Legion. The boat was about halfway across the rotunda when, from behind them, Francesca heard a soft splash. Turning, she saw ripples coming from a spot near one of the crypts. Renato, also having heard it, started poling faster. But before they could finish crossing, three pairs of pallid hands shot up from the water, gripping the side of the boat and pulling, capsizing it and sending all four into the water! Meanwhile, Angelo and Marco awoke to find themselves in a cell. Father Donati hypothesized that they'd angered a noble of high degree and were in a palace dungeon. Marco, peering out of the cell, reported that the single guard he could see was dressed in black, with a mask. "Bandits?" Angelo asked. It could be, Marco replied. They were known to make their lairs in the catacombs on the islands. The guard finally overheard their whispered conversation and called for someone to come. Soon, a darkly handsome face was at the door's grate. "Don Angelo?" the man asked. "Very sorry to meet you like this." Angelo was removed from the cell to talk with this new man, who eventually introduced himself as Mateo Bianco. Mateo was Unbound, too. The condition was more common among the Bianco - Mateo had met in his life three others, besides Don Angelo. He considered it a mark of high favor from Legion - an immunity from the powers of "Legion's handmaidens," the strega. This favor clearly meant that he was to rule over the strega, just as strega could rule over the hearts and minds of ordinary men. He was not apparently averse to sharing this authority with other Unbound, similarly favored... It could not, he argued, be a blessing from Theus. If Theus could bless his children and protect them from Legion's infernal Sorte, why weren't all men so blessed? He brought Angelo into their chapel, another rotunda fitted with a black marble altar (originally a funerary monument) and an inverted Prophet's Cross. Off to one side, in the shadows, was a small iron cage, no more than four feet high. Within the cage was an emaciated, pale-eyed young woman, a Glamour Isles native by her coloring and hair. This was Mateo's Oracle. The girl had fits and visions, he said. And she appeared to recognize Angelo when he entered the room. In exchange for a bowl of rice, she said that she had seen him on "the sinking island." Back at the boat... The pallid, hairless crypt ghouls tried to pull their dinner down into the water. But three of the four were quick to regain their feet; only the poor torch-bearer, flailing madly, fell prey to one of the beasts. Francesca stapled one attacker to the overturned hull of the boat with a knife and turned to fight off another one. Renato was busy with a pair of his own. Gianina, with surprising surgical precision, landed her little knife into a fifth. The pinned ghoul freed itself as Gianina's attacker splashed down into the water, lifeless. Seeing her sister beset by two monsters, she rushed to aid, but - hampered by the water and her skirts - could not land a blow. Afraid for Francesca, furious with the ghouls, as she drew back her knife - it caught in the Swords strand that connected the ghoul to Francesca. And the strand stretched out, thinning. That hadn't happened before. The battle was quickly over. The ladies were scratched and bitten, for which their bodyguard abjectly apologized. The poor torch-bearer was hastily laid to rest in one of the crypts, and a new torch was improvised from some poor soul's femur (Renato apologized again) and bits of burial shroud. The boat was righted, and exploration continued. As it happened, all of the canals leading out were either dead-ends or obscured with rubbish. Leaving the boat behind, the three climbed over one of the barriers and waded onward. In the unholy chapel... Mateo explained that the Oracle, despite being a Highlander from the most remote and most backward part of the Highlands, had been accurately describing a Vodacce island in her visions. The island she saw was sinking into the ocean. This must be, Mateo said, Lorenzo Island, thought to have been vanished by Mad Queen Marietta's sorcery. But now, Legion had revealed to him through this Oracle that the island was not vanished but sunken, and so surely could be made to rise again. Mateo had been busy interpreting signs from the Oracle's visions, finding tasks from Legion to his enclave (he would not give an exact size for it, but it was larger than five and smaller than a Vodacce-wide conspiracy. Perhaps twenty people had been arriving, eager to meet the new Unbound). He seemed to believe that when the tasks were done, they would have all the tools they needed to raise Lorenzo Island, which would herald a new era of Legion's power on Theah. Mateo was fairly impervious to rational argumentation. Angelo suggested that the Oracle might be having simple medical seizures; Mateo countered that he had heard enough in her visions to be himself convinced of their accuracy. Angelo wanted to know how this smallish band would take and hold Lorenzo Island. Mateo admitted that he wasn't certain, but felt that Legion would not be sending these messages if there wasn't a way to be had. He really seemed to believe in the possibility of an undead army, composed of the drowned corpses of the Lorenzos. Angelo wanted to know how it was he was supposed to have been on Lorenzo Island in 1088 AV; Mateo asked if his recent meeting with Beatrice Caligari might shed some light on that. Bringing up Caligari changed the direction of the conversation. Mateo had no way to meet her, although he admitted she would be a valuable addition to the enclave. Angelo seemed as if he would plead the group's case to her. He also told Mateo about the "hole to hell" in Agitazione, and the lead architect's disappearance. Mateo found that all very interesting indeed, wondering if Marietta Lorenzo had somehow pulled the man back into the past through the hole - maybe that would be how Angelo would be on the island in the Oracle's vision? It was all very interesting, Angelo agreed, but there was a wrinkle. His daughter was to marry the prince's son, and people would be looking for him since his untimely disappearance. Mateo demurred - surely, Angelo wouldn't be expected at the palace until his normal time at the hospital was over? No, Angelo insisted that they should be leaving now, or else they would be discovered. (The priest was not actually sypathetic to the Legion-worshippers, but was interested in keeping Mateo alive. His sister-in-law could use a constant source of Unbound blood.) When the shout of "Intruder!" came from beyond the cells, the enclave scattered, Mateo taking the Oracle with him. They left behind some fanatical guards to hold off the interlopers while they made their escape. Angelo asked to be put back into his cell, counting on Marco to make the most of the opportunity. Sure enough, when the door started to open, the younger man charged it. The guard, shoving Angelo aside, grabbed for Marco and the two began a struggle... And the arrival of the intruders... The water began to get shallower as they waded down the canal here. Rounding a turn, they could see light ahead. Francesca also saw a black-clad, masked guard skulking in the shadows - apparently convinced he was hidden and waiting for the three of them to pass, so he could attack from the rear. Francesca nonchalantly walked by, then turned and pegged him hard with a knife. He screamed "Intruder!" before she put another knife into his throat, silencing him. They hurried down the corridor after that, since surprise was lost and they were clearly almost to their goal. Bursting into the lit rotunda, they found themselves facing a seven men in black, holding the corridor opposite. Gianina threw back her veil. "Get back!" she commanded. After a moment's hesitation, the men did back up a step. Gianina walked forward, but the men held their ground. "We are sorry, Handmaiden," one of them said, "but the Prophet said to hold this ground." "Well, the Prophet told us to see to the prisoners," Francesca shot back gamely, but the guards weren't quite that stupid. Six of them boiled out of the corridor, and Renato stepped forward to meet them. The seventh - with a pair of pistols - stood back, aiming at the man with the swords. Gianina stayed near Renato, stabbing a man who got too close. Francesca broke to one side, sending knives spinning toward the gunman, trying to either knock the guns from his hand or just cut him - but the range and the shifting shadows foiled her attempts. The guns went off, and Renato took a bullet in the shoulder. Grimacing, he launched a flurry of blows that dropped the remaining assailants. The gunman was still trying to get his sword out as all three heroes advanced on him. There was the sound of a scuffle behind him, and Marco's voice could be heard. Francesca immediately darted past, leaving the gunman to the other two. The Rose and Cross knight dropped him without killing him. (Gianina had not been so gentle with the guards she had fought!) Francesca came running to an alarming scene. Father Donati stood off to one side, shouting exhortations to Marco, who was wrestling with a man half-again his size - and losing. The masked guard had a knife out and at Marco's throat. He heard her approach, though, and the sound of it distracted him from the business at hand. He looked up. He saw a woman, running, one arm outstretched, a second before the elegant, jeweled knife skewered his knife hand. He dropped his weapon with a curse; Marco took the opportunity to slam an elbow up and back, breaking out of the hold. Marco and then Francesca pressed the attack, and the man went down as Gianina and Renato came up. The knight kept going, determined to secure the other end of the hallway. Francesca had determined to content herself with smiling happily at Marco, letting her eyes say what she couldn't in front of her sister and co-wife (not to mention the priest). Marco, his Passionate nature kindled when he saw Francesca in possible danger in combat, was not so discrete, and embraced her tightly. "I am glad you are unhurt, my son," Gianina put in pointedly, which threw a rather damp blanket on it all. Letting go, Marco turned to stand beside Francesca, facing his other stepmother and Angelo with an unmistakably defiant posture...
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