Creedance Clearwater Revival

In the month of June, in the first year of the reign of King Albanus Roster, the House of Surrexus fell.

For several years, Count Arius Surrexus and his brother-in-law, Ferinus Molossus, had been caught up in some secret investigation, some inquiry they never shared with their families.  For Ferinus, this began six years ago, when his little sister Summa, priestess of Dulcea, was killed by a thief who broke into the temple in Rostilla.  Arius joined him two years later, after he attended the marriage of Magnus Tillaford and Clarissa Benobles.  They shared notes and met frequently, but what they discussed, no one knows.

Things came to a head shortly after King Albanus ascended to the throne.  That May, Ferinus took his son Gaius aside and gave him a rough clay image of a man, with the words "DICETE" (speak) and "AUDITE" (listen) inscribed upon it.  "I'm going to Surrexus," he told his son.  "If anything happens to me, take this to Count Arius and tell him that I was able to confirm everything Cantorius said.  Take no one with you, and trust no one except the Count and his children."

Ferinus' concerns came to pass.  Three days after he left, an injured soldier road back to Molossus with word that Lord Ferinus' party had been slain by bandits in the Dearthwood.  Bandits, Gaius noted, who attacked a well-armed, powerful party with no obvious spoils...  Following his father's last command, he set out for Surrexus.  Count Arius' eldest son, Brennus, remained in Molossus, where he had been visiting his grandparents.

On the last day of May, Count Arius received a sending from Molossus, informing him of Ferinus' fate.  He immediately summoned the town's vicar, Father Dolorus, and had him send a message to his second son, Sir Titus.  Titus had joined the Order of St. Cavalius and become a paladin.  His father told him, "Return to Surrexus at once.  I have news that must reach the Order's ears."  Dutiful (as all paladins should be), Titus turned his steed east to Rostilla.  

Count Surrexus then threw together a hasty pack and summoned a dozen of his best guards and two knights.  He was riding to Rostilla at once, he announced.  He left his lands under the protection of his best knight, Sir Terrens, and bid him guard his niece Leyna Surrexus.  Leyna was the daughter of Arius' brother, General Martialis.  When she turned 16, her father suddenly realized that a life spent in army camps had not given Leyna a solid background in the womanly arts.  Here she was, of marriageable age, and she couldn't sew, or dance, or run a household.  Martialis sent his daughter south, to his brother's household, for a crash course in home economics.

That night, Titus' twin sister, Corvina, received a dream.  Five years ago, Corvina ran away from home after Count Arius banished the House's magus and refused to send his daughter to the Tower for training.  She fled to Noricus, a haunted outpost of Altanian pearl divers that clung to life on the edges of the Dead City of Hakarim.  In the summer, the Noricans dove for pearls and collected spices in the jungle.  In winter, when the sun's power waned and the undead grew bolder, they moved their camp across the sea to the city of Madreponas, in Altania Superior.  The Altanians couldn't teach Corvina wizardly magic, but their witches helped her gain some control over her powers.  On the last night of May, Corvina's mother, Cara Molossus, appeared to her.  "Go home," she said.  "They need you."

Count Arius left in the morning and rode hard, arriving in the capital, Rostilla, five days later.  When he arrived at the family's villa, he first went to the Abbey of Logos, where his youngest son (Marius) studied under abbot Micarius.  After a brief word with the abbot, the count took Marius away -- giving him almost no time to back.  They hurried to the family villa in the city, where Arius closeted himself with his brother, Counselor Larentius.  Arius did not include his third son, Severus, in the meeting.  Severus lived at the villa;  one day he would be counselor for his brother Brennus, and so he had been sent to Rostilla to be trained by his uncle.  When Arius and Larentius emerged, the count told Severus to take Marius back to Surrexus.  "Take Leyna and go to the hunting lodge," he told the young man.  "You'll be safe there.  And if anything happens to me, Cantorius can explain."  Puzzled but obedient, Severus and Marius headed south at once.

Gaius and the Surrexus children arrived about the same time.  Rounding out the reunion was Cassius, the count's ne'er-do-well son.  Cassius had run out of money and decided to head back home for (hopefully) more.

A rather sparse welcome awaited them.  Sir Terrens, the seneschal informed them, had left.  Wolves were pestering some of the northern villages and he had taken Father Dolorus and a handful of guards to deal with the vermin.  Suspicious, Severus slipped into the knight's room that evening.  He found a coffer with 400gp and copies of his father's correspondence.  Fearing treachery, the family set out for the hunting lodge at once -- over the objections of the seneschal, who insisted it was not proper for them to travel without servants.  They did, however, take a half dozen men-at-arms and Marcus, their old captain of the guard.

A hard day and a half of riding got them to the lodge, situated in the foothills of the Ered Helain mountains.  Its view down over the valley would give them a half day's warning if anyone approached.  Once they were settled in, Gaius showed the statue to Severus.  At the word "dicete" the statue began to emit sounds.  At first all they could hear was wind, shuffling feet, and an old man grumbling about some 'slattern' leaving the windows open.  Then there was silence -- followed by two voices.  One they recognized as their aunt Surilla.  The other, Gaius said, was Magnus Tillaford.  Surilla announced that "Martialis is ours."  Tillaford complimented her, but Surilla insisted, "It was easier than you'd expect."  She laughed dismissively when Tillaford suggested that the count's children might be a problem.  But when he added, "There's another problem.  Pelius says he saw Ferinus up by the Aldus Heights today," Surilla became worried.  "I'll take care of that at once," she assured the nobleman.  The party isn't sure when this exchange took place, but they believe it happened shortly before Ferinus was killed.

Cantorius, it turned out, was the caretaker of the hunting lodge, a grouchy old hermit.  He didn't know anything about any conspiracies or problems.  But when the party asked him what tales he'd told the count, he admitted -- puzzled -- that he'd shared a story his mother told him when he was a boy.  His mother was from Tillaford, and she'd been a priestess of Dulcea.  But one day the priestess of the temple (up on Aldus Heights...) initiated her into the "Mysteries" of Dulcea -- rites that would allow her to see the Hidden One's true face.  Dulcea's true name was "Lil", the priestess said (a name that Marius associated with a demon, though he didn't know much about it).  And she was best served with abominable rites, involving infant sacrifice and cannibalism.  Horrified, Cantorius' mother fled to Surrexus, where she married and lived out the rest of her life.  She never went back to Tillaford -- and she warned all her children about the evils of Dulcea.

The party decided that they needed to speak to their father and other, more skilled, people.  To do that, they needed a priest -- and Terrens had the only one they knew of who was capable of doing sendings.  Corvina sent a message by an animal to a town that they hoped Sir Terrens and Father Dolorus would visit.  The message asked Dolorus to contact them;  there was an emergency.

The next day Dolorus did indeed respond.  The game ended before the party made their reply.