Arrow of Heaven part I

by Dandelion

Dear Journal,

Set sail from Isle du Bete having decided leaving a cheeky note in my superior wine bottle might not be PC (politically correct) idea. It was an omen. We soon spied a sail on the horizon and veered to meet her. On board was our comrade Franz. He was welcomed back and we bid farewell to Hans. We will probably meet him again.

Franz had a message for us from the ES (Explorers Society). Reggie has vanished! He was sniffing around in Vodacce following up the Syrneth site. Two ES members who went to look for him turned up floating dead in a canal. The Caligari family appeared to know something and may be trying to gain control of artifact. The two compasses appear to be keys to artifact which can only be used at the full moon. The stars and the Erebus cross in particular give the location of Artifact. It will take a better astronomer/navigator than Berek to give the precise location. Berek mentions that Senor Miguel Olivares the noted astronomer is based in San Augustin which is not far away. Berek drops us over the side at night off San Augustin. This is a war Zone and Berek has risked the ship coming this far. The flotsam of war floats past; corpses, shattered wreckage and bloodstained barrels. The masts of sunk ships and difficult currents make our row more arduous than expected. The coast at dawn is forbidding the pall of smoke from burning towns covers our path. We head to town and can hear the boom of cannon. The front is at the town. Borstenn disguises me to look Castilian.

The sergeant on duty at the gate fights to hide a snigger but waves us through towards the university. The disguise is not foolproof but almost everyone else thinks I am a clown instead. "Secrets are meant to be kept but the dead always remember" is whispered from a dark alley. We investigate and find the skaeren Jarmeer Gutmansen and about a dozen crew including Wulf (of vilskap rune fame). Franz is introduced for the first time and filled in on the secret encounter. The vesten want to retrieve a set of rune stones. They knew that we would meet them again. The stones are in the possession of a castilian officer Jorge Micardo. We offer to undertake a more subtle approach for them (it beats having to fight a dozen vestenmannavanjar madmen.) We pass through the town square and reach a picket. The captain we seek is up at the wall. The corporal is willing to pass us if we are unarmed. We return to the vesten and leave our arms and Ambrose and Senor Pasquale.

We get to the front and meet the harried Captain Micardo. He wants supplies not traders. He refuses to sell his lucky stones. He has an idea. If we can knock out the mortar that is shelling the area he will give us the stones. Not able to see any alternative we accept. We go up to the wall and survey the terrain. It is a scene from purgatory. Shellholes and burnt scrub extend for 300 meters. Then there is the mortar emplacement with trenches coming up from either side. We arrange to come back at sunset.

We go back into town and investigate the university. It would have been idyllic. Open classrooms and quiet courtyards with flowers and citrus trees. Now it is almost deserted. We find one scholar with two students but he waves us away. We investigate the astronomy lab but it is deserted. The place seems haunted. It makes we weep. Just as we are about to give up a voice calls out in Montaigne "He is in San Cristobal". The voice belongs to the gardener who says to tell Senor Olivares that the roses are devastated.

Tonights password is "Rio Pueblo". Just after dark we are let down the wall. We head into the darkness. Eduarde changes into his uniform. He slips into the trench and proclaims a snap inspection. The troops hurry off to clean their kit. We then slip into the mortar emplacement. We use half a barrel of gunpowder in the barrel and then fill it up with shells. It is sealed with sandbags. The rest of the powder sets a fuse into the mortar and is also set to blow the mount. With the sound of returning boots we scarper. Borstenn sets off the powder with a lightning bolt.

The explosion silhouettes us nicely. Borstenn, Franz and I gain a little reputation for it. Eduarde was furthest from the bang and he sprints and changes in the dark. I am overtaken by the pursuing troops. My friends return and extricate me. We climb back up the wall. The captain reluctantly hands over the stones. I assure him that their luck was about to run out. We return to the vestennmannavanjar. They are grateful and give us a strange piece of bone with the "nod" rune on it. When invoked it creates fog in a several mile radius. It lasts as long as would be natural.

We quit the town and strike inland as sea travel is out of the question. Things improve as we go a days march. I survey a route across the front. We slip through at night past the castilian and Montaigne camps.

Now we have to cross the country in a few weeks included another front then cross the rest of Castille and into Vodacce.

I will only mention to Lucerne that I am in Castille somewhere.

Dandelion