Written by Ben Groenen (Raushan)
Rafi’s troop arrives. There is a troubadour here who is playing songs that bespeak of the illicit amour of young knights and their lords wives. He doesn’t understand that when we laugh, we laugh at him.
Next night most of us escort Rafi’s troops to attack Rafi’s lord’s caravan. What Rafi has been told is that this is an enemy’s caravan, and that he’s raiding for his lord. In the combat Rafi is killed quickly (don’t ask why he was chosen, Lillane sees more than we do … but she says less too). But before we can deal with caravan, we are attacked by a pack of werewolves. We kill two of them while Lillane has taken care of the rest before we even see them. She deals with Rafi, while we kill the rest of the caravan’s guards because Rafi’s troop fled when he went down. The caravan’s cargoes were 8 Moorish slaves (5 women and 3 boys). Gwyn scares them into a frenzy (I think its some Celtic thing) so I have to calm them down. We return after first aiding all the wounded before morning. We rest.
A boy of Saragossa named Miguel has come during the day to ask for help. Some Dominican Inquisitors and Templars are trying to seize the good Friar Bernardo of Saragossa. Friar Bernardo has been causing a sensation by miraculously healing people who drink from a holy cup. Lillane sends us to investigate … oh yes, and help. We travel to Saragossa, a journey that takes six nights. While Rafi takes time out dining on sheep on the way, the rest of us wait until we get to our destination before feeding.
We arrive at Saragossa and combine our gathering blood with information. On my dining tour, I come across a simple man who I can’t approach. I decide to follow him home, as I am curious of this Faithful man. When he enters his hovel, I overhear his wife mentioning he had been very ill but had been healed! I suspect from the story that it might be a vampire that is giving his blood (ghoul-like) but life-sensing him doesn’t show any … um, ghoul-ness and that he is perfectly healthy.
During the following day, Monaco finds an informer (useful little ghoul, isn’t he?). There is a large band of Templars in town who are looking for Friar Bernardo. They have taken over the town’s old Muslim palace. Their leader has a mighty sword and is rumoured to have a magician with them. The Dominican Inquisitors are also in town. They are also looking for Friar Bernardo and his cup, but they are also asking about the Templars and if they have done anything demonic or heretical.
The next night, Wolfstead dominates some peasant into giving him the Friar’s last sighting, which was at the riverfront. When he approaches the area, he can sense that there is someone with great and true faith, but he can’t narrow it down. Meanwhile, Gwyn had transformed into her owl-form to search for the Friar.
Us Vamps sleep away the daylight hours in the Mayor’s cellar (well … a walled-off section of it, at least). Meanwhile, Monaco is keeping a close watch on where we believe the good Friar to be. During the long, hot day he sees a slow, but steady flow of people who enter with injuries and leave after having lost them somehow. (Those lack-limbed, however, remained the same.)
In this seemingly idyllic little haven of holy healing in slightly-sybaritic, siesta-laden Spain comes the Frankish Templars smashing their way from wherever to wherever. Obviously still looking for the Friar, but unlike normal, they are actually quite close. Monaco is curious enough to overcome his instincts and approaches the sounds of imminent violence. He arrives in time to see the Templars have taken some prisoners, leaving many wounded peasants and one dead soul. Seeing an opportunity arise, Monaco takes one of the wounded to the presumed Friar’s hiding place. But his abilities near True Faith prevent him from entering, so he only catches a brief glimpse of what’s inside.
As dusk dies it’s terrible death and comforting arms of night have fallen to lift us up, we arise to the not-so-poetic face (although it is quite florid!) of the Mayor. He once again welcomes us into his home (something I thought he had already done the previous night) and kindly requests if we would be so kind as to pass on a gift of some kind (a bulky box of sorts) to the Lady Lillane. Our ghouls and some of the Mayor’s urchin informers brief us of the past day’s events and intelligence gathered. Of intelligence gathered, the most interesting is that a couple of the Templars’ many prisoners were moved out of the city to an area where they loaded long boxes into a wagon.
Gwyn leaps at this news, and she goes to investigate this. Converting to her owl-form, she flies off. Meanwhile, I decide that (since the others had tried to investigate the palace earlier but didn’t have much luck) I should investigate the Templar palace myself. Using my Shape-Changing ability, I alter my appearance and give myself claws. Stealthily I find an area of the wall where the guards are not, and then I easily steal past them. Reaching the central buildings, I decide to climb up to a balcony on the side of the mosque that is attached to the rear of the palace.
Entering the mosque, I render the three guards at the bottom of the stairs unconscious. They were guarding a set of double doors leading to the palace. I swept down and Sensed there was no living creatures on the other side of the doors. Filled with confidence, I opened the doors and entered a hallway, which led to a series of private rooms. Unfortunately, there before me was a guardian demon. As much as Father had been teaching me, I knew nothing of such a dog-like demon, but this confirmed that there was a mage here. I thought to try my Sense power against it but I could not. I’m ashamed to say that the last thought I had was an overwhelming urge to flee home.
I was next aware as dawn was approaching and I found myself on a hillside that I recognized was halfway back to Sadaba. I Sensed no human hovel nearby, so I make-do with a cave which is, thankfully, deep enough for me to be out of the sun. Later, I managed to work out what had happened. I had … allowed myself to … panic. I changed to my Falcon form, and flew away. However, the demon could still sense me and chased me. The demon had charged through the door on the balcony and (literally) ploughed through the grounds and the fountain, until it smashed resoundingly into the wall. The demon itself was not seen, but the debris was – leading to more rumours of Templar devilry.
Meanwhile, Gwyn had flown out to find that the boxes were full of dead bodies, which were then buried in shallow graves. On her return, she learns of the disturbance at the palace. While Monaco goes to the Inquisitor as a local peasant and tells of “… strange things happening at the Templar’s palace” and receives payment for it, Gwyn has gone to investigate the palace, again in her Owl-form. She sees the mage, who is a smallish, bearded man, assessing the damage. The Templar leader wants something else to guard them as “It” caused all this attention. But the “scholar” wants to know what “It” was chasing.
During the following day, Monaco again watches the Friar’s hiding-place. This time, however, the Templar’s have been informed of the Friar’s whereabouts and have come to take him. They take him, the boy that is with him and a box, which apparently contains the holy cup. Quickly thinking, Monaco races ahead warning everybody that the Friar is being taken. A mob rapidly forms and scuffles break out with the Templars. Monaco uses this opportunity to race in and grab the box. From the pain he feels in holding the box, he knows it contains the grail. He soon hires a boy to carry it for him in a bag. He then tells the mayor that the Friar has been taken, but he doesn’t say anything about the box.
All the vampires are woken early, as the grail has been stored in the stables and it’s hurtful to us. A plan is made to sleep at one of Wolfstead’s other homes, while the grail is stored in this cellar. Then plans are made to assault the palace, unfortunately without me as I am still flying back to Saragossa. Rafi and Monaco will wait outside the palace walls while the two Vampire knights break into it. Their entry was as easy as mine was. Where I only incapacitated the guards, Wolfstead slays them out of hand. When they face the demon, it is Wolfstead who bears the brunt of it’s assault and is laid low. Gwyn uses this preoccupation with Wolfstead to slay the demon.
She uses a quick wit to shape-change into the form of a winged, avenging angel and awes the newly awakened Templars into repentance. But as she is doing this, the Mage flees and gets away. The Templar leader’s magic sword is taken and all the surviving townsfolk prisoners are freed. And then I return to witness the aftermath.
We spent the following week in Saragossa while Gwyn and Wolfstead were recuperating. For some unknown reason, Wolfstead just would not let me near him. We return to Sadaba and make our report to Lillane. We have given the Templars a very bloody nose, politically speaking. As unfathomable and inscrutable as ever, Lillane merely examines the grail and says it is not “The Grail”, which upsets Gwyn for some reason. Lillane then picks it up gingerly, and takes it down to the Summoning Room.
Removing this Cup from the box (ouch!), she instructs us to stay back (which we are already doing). Giving some of her own blood into her circle, an archangel appears almost directly opposite her. At his appearance, all of us who are watching this are forced back by the Faith against the walls in pain. Mikhail takes the Cup, nods and disappears. This mission is finally over.