Wednesday, October 27, 2004
Day 35
Well, nobody was too badly hurt, though two of the guards have gone off to Mistress Indigo for treatment. We found some cultist cash, but no real treasure, and were able to free the family from their suspension - they didn't remember anything after about midsummer, which shows that the whole plot was relatively recent. The real Ruby seemed a nice enough child, but without the extra edge that the possessed version had had. Coker is planning to buy that added "basement level" from them, and tunnel through from his existing system, so they shouldn't do badly out of the affair, in the end. There may well be other cultists who weren't at the conjuring ceremony, but, with Jasper dead, we expect them to quietly leave town, and good riddance!
I can't say that I'm entirely clear about how events went, and how the dagger and its theft figured, but presumably Jasper brought the dagger to Redwall, and made the mistake of not taking it straight to their underground hideout - maybe the demon was exerting its subtle mental influence, just to make things more interesting. Once it was stolen, Jasper couldn't stop Chance, Coker, and me investigating, though as the cultists were attuned to its emanations, they found it quickly enough. I suppose they thought that, if we discovered the thief's body for ourselves, that would draw a line under the whole thing, but they hadn't reckoned on the body being so obviously magically tainted, and they'd not felt that they could leave the dagger for us to "find" and return to Jasper, as we might well have realised that it was tarred with evil. Oh well, human actions aren't always entirely logical... as for the demon itself ( and I call it "it" despite screamingly obvious evidence of its masculinity!), well, I expect it was enjoying messing about with its own evil followers, but just wasn't interested in us ordinary people and our ordinary world, luckily enough. There must be much more important planes of reality than ours. Of course, the pentagram presumably kept it from leaping out and devouring us all there and then, but personally I don't have unlimited faith in a few white lines on the floor...
It was Memree, rather than Chalker, whose crossbow bolt had killed one of the cultists for me - that was a pretty fine shot, perhaps before she lost her past, she was good at that sort of thing? Not as a soldier or anything, but at least hunting for small game, on a farm perhaps.
We got home just before dawn, and I think both of us slept almost to nightfall. A note from Man Coker had been pushed under our door, thanking us both and saying that he'd passed a rather generous sum of gold over to Ashil for us. He referred to Memree as my "lady", which seems rather strange, but my brain is still a bit fuzzy after all the excitement, it's probably his way of being polite, he is rather old-fashioned in some ways.
Well I've only been up and around for three hours, but I'm tired again already - chatting with demons does that for a girl, I find. I'm looking forward to a good few lazy days with nothing at all interesting to write about. Not that that stops me! Writing in this little book is strangely addictive, I'm finding.
I can't say that I'm entirely clear about how events went, and how the dagger and its theft figured, but presumably Jasper brought the dagger to Redwall, and made the mistake of not taking it straight to their underground hideout - maybe the demon was exerting its subtle mental influence, just to make things more interesting. Once it was stolen, Jasper couldn't stop Chance, Coker, and me investigating, though as the cultists were attuned to its emanations, they found it quickly enough. I suppose they thought that, if we discovered the thief's body for ourselves, that would draw a line under the whole thing, but they hadn't reckoned on the body being so obviously magically tainted, and they'd not felt that they could leave the dagger for us to "find" and return to Jasper, as we might well have realised that it was tarred with evil. Oh well, human actions aren't always entirely logical... as for the demon itself ( and I call it "it" despite screamingly obvious evidence of its masculinity!), well, I expect it was enjoying messing about with its own evil followers, but just wasn't interested in us ordinary people and our ordinary world, luckily enough. There must be much more important planes of reality than ours. Of course, the pentagram presumably kept it from leaping out and devouring us all there and then, but personally I don't have unlimited faith in a few white lines on the floor...
It was Memree, rather than Chalker, whose crossbow bolt had killed one of the cultists for me - that was a pretty fine shot, perhaps before she lost her past, she was good at that sort of thing? Not as a soldier or anything, but at least hunting for small game, on a farm perhaps.
We got home just before dawn, and I think both of us slept almost to nightfall. A note from Man Coker had been pushed under our door, thanking us both and saying that he'd passed a rather generous sum of gold over to Ashil for us. He referred to Memree as my "lady", which seems rather strange, but my brain is still a bit fuzzy after all the excitement, it's probably his way of being polite, he is rather old-fashioned in some ways.
Well I've only been up and around for three hours, but I'm tired again already - chatting with demons does that for a girl, I find. I'm looking forward to a good few lazy days with nothing at all interesting to write about. Not that that stops me! Writing in this little book is strangely addictive, I'm finding.
