This is Thracia Update

Thracia has been rocked by Scandal!

Perhaps the best way to retell it is in the words of someone that was there. Ceri plays Mouse in This is Thracia and can be found on twitter as @cnhwilliams88.

So without further ado here is her write up of the session.

A writeup of last night's session from Mouse:
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Dear Ritchie,

I know in my last letter I said that things would have settled down here in Canacale by the time I next wrote and I would have had the chance to write up some of my research over the last few weeks, but I’m afraid that this letter might end up just as lengthy and farfetched as my previous. Partly this is my own fault for repeatedly being talked into evenings out with Diankus, who seems to have both a talent for persuasion and a knack for organising entertainment, although I do seem to end up several hundred gold pieces lighter whenever it happens; but in my defense I had planned to start my writeups today, on what I assumed would be a quiet and restful sunny morning.

Well, how wrong I was, for not only was I woken unhappily early by shouting, but the shouting itself turned out to be Iola and Xavian with dire, and somewhat confusing, news; and I learned in rapid succession that, firstly, the woman we have been teasing Magnicus about is none other than Diankus' own mother (a married woman, I was staggered to learn!); secondly, that woman was dead, that Diankus' own father had found them together and cut off her head; and thirdly, that now Diankus' father had run off with Diankus' mother's head, that Diankus himself had jumped out of a window to chase him, and that Magnicus was running around the town in naught but a loincloth, his boots and plastered in a hefty amount of blood. All this, and it was barely midday!

The temple was visited, the area scoured for Diankus' father, and I made various attempts at consoling Diankus (all of which were rejected) before a plan of action was made: Magnicus managed to persuade Diankus to attempt a resurrection, to bring back both Diankus' mother and Magnicus' true love (that being a whole other hurdle which I assume will be crossed at a later date). The problem was that Diankus' now missing father had escaped with the aforementioned severed head, a crucial component to the resurrection spell, to find which we would need a scrying spell, and even aside from that, we didn't have a resurrection spell either. Naturally I was the first one my companions turned to for a solution, as the reliable and level-headed mage my companions now perceive me as. I made several trips around town, to the only other mage available (who was unable to help) and to the nearby shop for components (a venture also in vain) before I finally came upon the answer. Now, with all the confusion and bizarre goings-on around me I can't quite even say how this idea occurred to me, for I cannot for my life recall how I learned about this: but I explained to my companions about the entity Ariadne (or Arachni, as Xavian knows her) who possesses a mirror through which you can see anything - effectively doubling as a scrying spell without need for scrolls, components or even ritual magic. We recalled a cave on the Table Map with many a warning of spiders, which seemed as good a place as any to search, and with that in mind we set off westward.

The cave turned out to be a near day's journey, which passed, for me at least, in relative ease and comfort: the drama had somewhat died down, the journey itself was fairly relaxing, and I was not bothered by the prospect of spiders. Iola assured me that the majority of them were huge, beastly creatures, mostly bigger than a horse - just the prospect of those seemed worth the journey. Well, the first spiders we found, upon scaling a small slope leading up to the cave entrance, were nothing of the sort: rather they were tiny, scuttling things cast at me by a robed Elf, scurrying and scratching and biting before bursting into nothingness - I am a little ashamed to admit that I almost fell from the cliffs in alarm at that. And besides that, there were Bugbears - and more Bugbears. Where these giant spiders Iola spoke of were hiding is a mystery to me, but admittedly we did not reach the end of the cave today, nor our end goal: perhaps there is hope.

The Bugbears guarded the entrance to the cave, and we were able to swiftly dispatch of them as well as the robed Elf who appeared to be leading them. We were able to press a little further in, passing a sinkhole, a 'bottomless' pit and a complex series of wooden drawbridges which I'm fairly sure Magnicus accidentally destroyed, but before we were forced to withdraw and turn back we found nothing of these giant spiders, no sign or word of Ariadne, and not even a glimpse of a mirror. The good news, however, is that I'm told that Diankus' mother is being held in a state of stasis, potentially unendingly, which means we have time to gather our resources and return to the cave to find the mirror. And who knows, maybe in that time Diankus' father will remember that he has little use of a severed head, even if it is that of his wife's, and that she could be resurrected if he brought it back, and also that Diankus would be much happier if he came back and they brought back his mother and they could be a family again, and maybe he won't kill Magnicus for falling in love with his wife after all. And maybe Magnicus won't mind so much that Diankus' father killed the love of his life and they'll all be able to work something out. Quite honestly I hope they do: I suspect Diankus' father will be able to best Magnicus in a fight, and Magnicus owes me quite a lot of money.

I'll be sure to write again as soon as we have found the mirror and saved Diankus' mother. I hope you are well and I can find a way of delivering this (and the other letters) before I return.

Love you, brother,

Mouse
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