The party set off back towards Thurmaster early the next day after a good night's rest at the keep. They did not see Lord Parlfray, Lytern, or Alexander before they left; only the guards and the servants were around.
Arachne quietly asked a serving-girl about Lord Parlfray's health and prayed perfunctorily that his totem god would look after him. She looked frequently for any indication that Azrun might not be remaining in custody. But seeing none, she saddled up on old Puddlejumper and departed with the rest.
Aloysius had appeared that morning with his hair freshly dyed in a scintillating shade of royal magenta. His brown roots were no longer visible. His robe and hat were still in his pack, and his hair was tied back in its usual ponytail.
Echo regarded Aloysius' new hair color with a weak smile. "Very nice," she told him quietly. "Did you have any time to study that other spellbook? The only thing I managed to find in the one I had was useless. I think it has spells of the next level of power in it though."
Once again, Aloysius looked at Echo cautiously. "You....think?" he asked hesitantly, stroking his hair. "Ah....nay, Stargazer still has not finished analyzing good Pug's book. There are a pair of spells in that book that may be of interest to thee, if thou art.....interested." Aloysius frowned at his words, apparently concerned over his the tautological implications of his statement.
"What are they?" Echo asked. She raised an eyebrow at Aloysius' frown. "What's wrong now?"
"Wr-wrong?" he stammered. "Uh....nothing is wrong, it is just that........Oh nevermind. The spells are 'armor' and 'spook'. There are approximately 3 or 4 more spells that I have not as yet read."
Echo nodded and said, "I already know the spell you call armor and have no interest in learning the other." She smiled weakly at the mage again.
"Oh? Uh, I meant, oh. Very well. Uh, if the tome should yield something else of interest, I shall let thee know........I suppose."
"I dunno, Echo," Jana said with a grin. "Something called 'spook' sounds like it could be a lot of fun."
Echo grinned back and said, "I've never had any problem spooking people when I tried. No need to waste time on a spell for that."
"You know the armor spell?" Arachne asked. "That's one you can cast on other people as well as yourself, isn't it? Pug cast it on me, once. I'm not sure what became of it. He said it can last a long time, unless it actually has to protect you from something. I've gotten burnt since then, so I guess it's worn off by now. But Echo, if you're not busy, I should think that Rumer, Aloysius and I -- as well as yourself -- might appreciate having the spell cast on us."
"Cast on you?" Echo asked. "I can, but I will need a day for each of you that needs it, though. I won't be able to read any more of the spellbook in the meantime." She sighed slightly. "I can cast it on one of you today. Maybe," she added.
"Uhm," Jana said, pulling a scrollcase out of her pack, "Lytern gave me this. He said his father told him it was okay." She took a map out of the case and unrolled it.
"It's a map to the keep," Jana explained. "He, uhm, asked that we not tell anyone about the keep or bring Lord Parlfray's name into it. It's the keep his family used a few generations ago. It's apparently a really sore spot with the Lord. I think it was pretty difficult for him to give this to us. Anyway, I promised we'd keep quiet about it. Ranchefus is supposedly in the keep."
"Uhm, anyone want to see it?" Jana asked, rather meekly, holding out the map.
"The dark priest has a keep?" asked Aloysius incredulously. "Mayhap Kaileer's hesitance to face him at this point is well-founded then." The mage walked over to Jana. "Whereabouts be this keep?" he asked, taking the map and looking it over.
"Well, it's not his keep. It's abandoned," Jana clarified. "Lytern just said he thought that's where Ranchefus would be hiding out. He doesn't know for sure he's there."
"Oh dear oh dear oh dear," said Aloysius shaking his head. "Perhaps we should return to Thurmaster and discuss our plan then. We should advise Mage Tauster of this as well. Such a place would well be ideal for holding captives. He could have captured Jelleneth and transported her to this keep by way of the Churnell and the river of swine. Attempting to assault such a place be not a task to delve into lightly."
"Who said anything about assaulting?" Arachne asked. She had begun a rapt contemplation of the place where Kaileer said canine tracks were, but the map matter and discussion of abandoned keeps had interrupted that. "A quiet, discreet reconnoitering of this keep _might_ be enough to inform us whether kidnapped persons are present. Or, if the environs of the place are patrolled, we might try collecting one of Ranchefus's people and questioning him..."
Rumer glanced at the map. "That must be what grandmother was talking about. She said the birds had spoken of some evil thing in the woods. A ruined keep. That sounds really interesting." Her eyes sparkled as she looked toward Kaileer and Blacky with a grin.
Echo smiled when Jana produced the map that Lytern had given her. She made no move to look at it. "So is this where we're going next? If so, I'd like to take a few days to see if there is anything helpful in these spellbooks. The better prepared we are, the better off we'll be."
Rumer pouted at Echo's words, but said nothing--instead she looked around on the ground for a few smooth, almost fist-sized rocks, and began to juggle them, whilst looking bored.
Jana nodded in agreement. "It'd be nice if we could knock some people on their asses with spells instead of spending time on our asses," she said with a grin. "Ever since that guy in the barn back in Thurmaster knocked me out with a freakin' wave of his hand, I've been really nervous about fighting mages."
"Perhaps it would help if we had a battle plan. Echo, Al, what can you two currently do in a combat situation with spells and what do you think you can learn from these books? Oh, and Al don't expect me to understand much, so just give me the net effects, OK." Blacky said after looking at the map.
Aloysius' ears turned red as he heard Blacky's words. He immediately strided over to the large man, obviously very angry. "Do NOT call me that EVER again!" he demanded, pointing a finger at Blacky. My name is 'Aloysius', that is 'Al-o-WISH-us', 'Stargazer'." He trembled slightly as he spoke.
The mage then stepped back a few feet and folded his arms. A small bit of spittle slid down to his chin. "As for your question, ERIC,..........I currently have a spell of sleep and a spell for adjusting the, er, attitudes of another towards me. Given time, I could also provide a defensive enchantment of those of us who wear no armor." He then flopped down on the ground, seated indian style, and put his face in his hands.
"As you wish Aloysius, I was merely attempting to save time by eliminating some syllables." Blacky said barely containing a smile at the mage's outburst. "So you can put someone to sleep and do what you did to that gnoll. How about you Echo?"
Echo rolled her eyes at Aloysius' newest odd behavior. "Me?" she questioned. "The only spells that I have that are useful in a fight are the common spell that creates a damaging missile of energy which you may have seen me use before and a spell that creates fire from my hands. It is probably much like the one that was described that the mage used that set the stable afire the other night. My other spells are the 'armor' spell, which is most useful for those of us without physical armor, and a couple of the more practical variety. I would like to try to learn that colorful spell that the half-elf used to knock several of us on our butts at Tauster's, if I can locate where it is written in her book." She pulled her cowl over her head, "I might have problems learning it though. I'm not very skilled at wizardry."
Upon overhearing this comment, Aloysius looked up and cocked a curious eyebrow at Echo. His mouth opened as if he was going to speak, but then his lips closed together and began to curl upwards into a very exaggerated, very uncomfortable looking grin. He held his knees to his chest as he did this and rapidly glanced back and forth at each of his companions.
"Not true," Arachne said firmly. "_I_ am not very skilled at wizardry. I am not at all skilled at wizardry. Neither is Kaileer, or Jana or Blacky. And as for Lasiar, his power is from a different source. You, on the other hand, are able to summon fire to your fingertips. That indicates significant skill. Yes, there may be other wizards more skilled than you. Some might even be in Ranchefus's employ. But don't let modesty distract you utterly. I think you are likely more skilled at wizardry than you credit yourself."
"Credit myself? I know some spells," Echo remarked quietly from behind her cowl. "That's about the extent of it. We'd probably be better off to leave the wizardry to the wizard and let me do other things." She did not sound very happy.
Aloysius had been folowing this conversation closely. "Wizard? There be no 'wizard' here, it be me to which thou hast referred. Stargazer's aspirations, and mayhap his ego e'en, often soar beyond his capabilities. There be naught but effort that we can offer, and mayhap fortune will smile 'pon us and grant us the skills that we sorely wish for now."
Aloysius turned towards Arachne. "Small one, I have managed to transfer the 'armor' spell from good Pug's book to mine own. I have the strips of leather necessary to complete the spell, but they must first be blessed by a priest. Once that has happened, gladly would I cast it 'pon whomever of our group might ask."
"I hope you don't still think that I can give effective blessings," Arachne said quietly. "But Lasiar's returned to us, fresh from his Stalk. Mayhap he could say the secret words. As for whomever might ask for the casting, I would certainly _ask_, but if you and Echo are going to be learning and using spells in combat, I'd say that armoring yourselves is the higher priority. Spellcasting in the middle of a fight makes you a target for folks who don't want to take a nap while fighting for their lives." She winked at Jana. "Me, when a fight breaks out, I run away rather than hurt people."
"Nay, small one," Aloysius replied with an odd smile. "I made that determination many moons ago."
Aloysius nodded his head in agreement. "Methinks, uh......'Echo' hath already placed this encantation 'pon herself. Given time, I can protect the both of us with the same magics."
"Lytern, uhm, showed me the best route to the keep," Jana went on, looking oddly flushed. She took the map back for a moment from Aloysius and ran her finger along then across the river and to the keep, as Lytern had shown her.
"I'm also still a little hurt," Jana mumbled. "Another day's rest would be welcome. But where are we going to hang out so you guys can read over those books? I mean, it's either impose more on Parlfray, or Thurmaster, and I'm not too keen on going back there right now, or camp out in the woods, right? If those are our only three options," Jana concluded, "I'm inclined toward the latter."
Aloysius scratched his chin thoughtfully as Jana spoke. "Hmmmmmmm......if we waited until day after next, Stargazer would have time to make further analysis of the spellbooks we have. Due to the manner in which I study my incantations, I could not conclude my study earlier than that. I could also employ some defensive magics for those of you who might be interested."
He stared off briefly at the moor. "Mayhap Kuiper would allow us to reside in his barn while we prepare. It be not that much further, and 'twould be much more accomodating than Thurmaster."
"I seem to have completely healed from our previous encounters with the help Arachne gave. Maybe she could speed your healing as well." Blacky said to Jana. "I would like to delay as little as possible once we have a battle plan and that all depends on what is in those books. As for where to stay, we could always hole up in that house in Thurmaster we vacated the other day, I doubt it would be reoccupied yet. Since it looks to take about a day to get to this keep from there, it seems the best place to stay."
"Huh? Healing?" Hearing her name called startled Arachne out of a contemplation of armoring and prowling. "Yes, of course," she said, studying Jana. "I can help you if you're still banged up -- you and Kaileer both," she added, looking at the elf and then giving Lasiar a curious glance. "The main problem with going to that house in Thurmaster (that I can see) is that it'll be perfectly obvious where we are if we go there and we already know that Ranchefus knows about us and doesn't like us. I expect that we won't be allowed to _rest_ exactly, if we go there. I don't know where we could go that's better, though. It's just that we'd have to stay alert there." She sighed.
A few odd howls came from the distance across the moor as they traveled back toward the little town. About an hour's travel from the keep, Kaileer found some canine tracks crossing the road and going off into the moor.
At the sound of the howling, Aloysius focused his attention towards the moor, listening intently. He frowned at the sound, and his eyebrow twitched as he listened.
After listening to the howling for a moment, Aloysius turned back to the group. "Odd," he began, a look of concern on his face, "Moonspawn and I didst dutifully study the ways of wolves, foxes, coyotes, and all manner of wild dogs. Ne'er afore hath Stargazer seen such tracks or heard the likes of yonder cries."
He placed a protective hand on Puddle Jumper's flank. "Did someone not tell tale of a blood-thirsty beast on these moors? Mayhap we should increase our pace towards Thurmaster."
Unless people were ready to move on immediately, Arachne went back to contemplating the canine tracks.
