Revenge of the Countess of Fire

Intro

So this was the campaign that started what I've come to think of as The Wanderer's Psalms: The Revenge of the Countess of Fire. I've grabbed it from my old blog, The Kitchen Sink, and posted it up. I have done only the tiniest bit of formatting, as well as removing a session that should not have been included,l but have otherwise left it intact. It's rough and not nearly as well written as I would like, but we all have to begin somewhere.

Session Zero

Here's the initial pitch that I made to my players for the Burning Wheel game I wanted to start.

"About 20 years before the start of the game the dwarves completely destroyed the Iron Forest, thus upsetting a young boy and his wolf pack. This little disparate group went on to collect other tribes of wolves as well as orcs, spiders, and trolls, and were determined to destroy the civilized lands for their condescension. The elves, humans, and dwarves did not fare well against the now-dubbed Vermin Lord, who was hailed as a military genius. The "civilized races" reformed their governments into a permanent republic, which allowed for the creation of a dictator, called the Eaten One, who was to lead the armies of the republic until the threat was abolished. The Eaten One would then be thrown to the One in the Deep and devoured (hence Eaten One, although the reference to Le Guin makes me chuckle). The Eaten One wasted in no time in setting out against the Vermin Lord, won by sheer numbers, and captured The Vermin Lord, hanging him in the public square. The orcs and trolls escaped, but the spiders and wolves were enslaved. All was restored to peace.

Until the son of the Vermin Lord was found orchestrating a new uprising by his three best friends, and sent to Mount Grayfire, where he met an untimely end falling into the heart of the volcano. It's now twenty years later, and things are beginning to stir back up in the city where the three friends came to dwell...

Basically The Count of Fire will try and take over the criminal under element first, so that way he can do the most damage to his rivals. It helps to have a good spy network."

I posted that up on the Burning Wheel forums, where they pitched the idea that everyone could play a game centered around The Vermin Lord and his second-in-commands! I thought it was an awesome idea, so I pitched it to my players. The group chose neither idea, but instead opted to play the Count (now Countess) of Fire and her friends who betrayed her. We have two guys and two girls playing: Eric, Julio, Maria, and Martha. We didn't actually get the Beliefs and Instincts written up because all the players are first-timers to Burning Wheel (although Maria has Mouse Guard experience). By the time we got to Beliefs and Instincts they were all glassy-eyed after four hours of talking and learning how to make characters. We'll make Beliefs and Instincts at the beginning of the next session. Here are the character concepts we've got so  far:

Eric opted to play a wolf that had originally been domesticated, but ate his captors and escaped. He's now horribly biased against all humanoids and wants to eat them all.

Julio decided to play a spider, who had become a decent burglar. He's married to the head of a spider-revolution movement.

Maria chose to play a noble woman who had run away and become a fence so she could avoid an arranged marriage, and is now the head of her house.

And Martha is our future Countess of Fire, who is a con artist (for now). She's currently in a romantic relationship with the head of a large crime ring. (EDITOR'S NOTE: Martha left shortly after session zero was complete, and Marian became an NPC)

The opening situation is that the criminals have been asked to break into Maria's house and steal an artifact of some sort from it. No one knows what the artifact is, and they've asked me not to tell them. We'll have character names for next time too.

Fifty years ago, a boy was raised by wolves in the far away Iron Forest. They lived there for many years until the dwarves harvested the metal trees for their smithing. The dwarves were not kind; they took the entirety of the forest and killed the wolves who opposed them. The boy fled with the survivors and gathered the surrounding packs together for a counterstrike. But it wasn't enough, the dwarves were too powerful for them. So the boy led his pack of wolves to conquer tribes of orcs and trolls, and even got the giant spiders who dealt in deeper and darker forests involved. With these resources the boy destroyed the dwarven kingdom that had destroyed his home.

This did not sit well with the human kingdom of Ardent, who were enthusiastic customers of the dwarves. They declared war on the boy.

They lost.

So did the elves.

All the civilized world was enraged. They called the boy The Demon, The Destroyer, and many other things. But the name that stuck was The Vermin Lord. He was a tactical genius, and perfectly in tune with his monstrous brethren. And he started to pillage and destroy the known world.

Desperate, the civilized races gathered together and formed The Alliance of Free Races. While autonomous the three races formed a single government, with a temporary dictator in place, called the Eaten One. The Eaten One was selected by the enigmatic entity only known as The One in the Deep, who he was to be sacrificed to at the end of his term. The Eaten One strode out with the Federated Armies and smashed the Vermin Lord and his army after a bloody fifteen year conflict. It was not a question of tactics, but of superior numbers, which The Eaten One used to great effect. Thirteen years into the conflict he captured and publicly executed The Vermin Lord.

The savage races were brought into line fairly quickly after that. The orcs were scattered throughout Alliance lands, with the wolves mostly sticking with them. The trolls fled back to the mountains, the vast majority of spiders were captured and forced into slavery. The Alliance strengthened its internal bonds, convinced they were untouchable. And for all intents and purposes, they are.

From anything that's mortal, anyway.

Initial Characters

Elenor Grinslow: Daughter of Baron Grinslow, she ran away from home at around the age of 15, and worked as a fence of stolen objects. While out in the world she came to the realization that the enslavement of the race of spiders was evil and must be stopped. With the reported death of her father, she returned to become Baronness Grinslow so that she can aid the slaves however she can.

Prince Kincaid: One of the few elven princes to disapprove of the election of the Eaten One, Kincaid became a wanderer after the War of the Vermin. He stumbled upon a growing revolution of slave spiders, and took their leader Honey under his wing as his protege. They both recently came into contact with Baronness Grinslow, and have made arrangements to take shelter under her banner along with 50 or so spiders they have freed from slavery in the surrounding baronies.

The Hungry One: The Hungry One is a great wolf, captured and caged by a well-meaning (but naive) family. The Hungry One finally broke out and killed all but the last child, who vanished. In looking for her, he bumped into Jarl Grinslow, Elenor's half-brother, who had the ability to manipulate his own bio-electricity forced upon him by Baron Grinslow. The two of them determined to help the spider resistance so that no one should suffer the way they did ever again.

Thieran Markov: Son of Baron Markov, Thieran ran away from home when he was turned into a were-tiger because of his father's human supremacist leanings. He has been made Kincaid's bodyguard, and helped rescue some spiders from his father's clutches.

Session One

Kincaid, Honey, The Hungry One, and Thieran are bringing the spiders they rescued from the surrounding baronies to Elenor's barony for protection. On the way they're intercepted by Baron Aldwyn Markov, Thieran's father. Aldwyn's brought a whole contingent of orcs with him. They're led by an enormous man in black who bears a black greatsword. Battle ensues.

•             The Hungry One runs from the Man in Black, refusing to help Thieran.

•             Thieran kills the Man in Black, but not before the stranger kills Honey, head of the spider-resistance movement and Kincaid's protege.

•             Thieran discovers that the Man in Black was Baron Grinslow, Elenor's father. He also discovers that, upon picking up Grinslow's sword, he is now under the mind-control of his father Aldwyn, and may not relinquish the sword. Thieran is ordered to spy on Elenor and Kincaid's operation.

•             The rest of the orcs are driven off by Kincaid's angry elven songs.

•             Kincaid attempts to name Elenor elf-friend for having Honey's body buried, but his heart is so broken he can't sing anymore. He decides to get revenge, and leaves to kill Aldwyn

•             Thieran gets in trouble with Elenor for having her former father's sword. She tries to drag the truth out of Thieran and, while unsuccessful, realizes that something's wrong with him.

•             Meanwhile, Jarl tells The Hungry One to get him a spider from Elenor so he can satisfy his dark urges on someone as pitiful as him. The Hungry One goes and intimidates a spider so that when they come to ask him if he wants to be Jarl's "servant" he'll say yes.

•             Right after that Thieran bumps into The Hungry One, and informs him that his act of cowardice was not unnoticed, and that Thieran's watching him...

Session Two

    Kincaid snuck into Aldwyn Markov's castle, and killed him while he was hunched over something bright. A stone fell into Kincaid's hands. The One in the Deep began speaking to him. Kincaid became his thrall... and is now connected to Thieran.

    The Hungry One asked Elenor for the spider mentioned in Chapter One, and Elenor refuses him. She feels that something's off.

    Jarl is not happy with this, and he tortures The Hungry One instead of the spider.

    Elenor notices that The Hungry One has burns from Jarl's electrocution torture, and asks him about it. A Duel of Wits ensues:

        Elenor's terms: Trust me over Jarl, and tell me where you got those burns.

        The Hungry One's stakes: Leave me alone. Drop it.

    Elenor wins  by a lot, and gets a clean win. The Hungry One tells her about everything Jarl is up to, included his plans to oust Elenor as Baroness and take over as Baron Grinslow.

    Jarl comes to attack The Hungry One later that night, but Elenor and Thieran drive him off. Jarl flees the barony in disgrace.

    Kincaid starts for Elenor's barony after setting fire to Castle Markov. Luke Markov, Aldwyn's nephew, becomes the new baron.

    Thieran and The Hungry One resolve to track the orcs and get captured. As they're being trussed up for the feast that's to occur in three days time in honor of The Void, Thieran realizes that a new moon will be coming soon...

Session Three

    Thieran contacts Kincaid mentally and informs him of their capture. Kincaid set out to rescue them, sneaking up to the camp.

    We now introduce Claire Romar, a militar seer of the Church, who's heading in the direction of the orcs, coincidentally enough! She sees the flames, and goes to check it out. But just as she steps on a stick and attracts attention...

    THE NEW BARON MARKOV COMES TO SAVE THE DAY!!!!

    Thieran and The Hungry One get free of their bons.

    The Hungry One defeats a troll! General kicking of butt ensues.

    Thieran and Luke bump into each other, and try to catch up. Kincaid commands Thieran to kill Luke, but Thieran is unsuccessful, killing Luke's horse instead.

    Kincaid tries to kill Luke himself, but is hindered by Claire and The Hungry One. He is disarmed by Thieran.

    Kincaid challenged Luke to a Duel of Wits

        Kincaid's terms: Your uncle deserved to die, let me go.

        Luke's terms: You killed my uncle, and will be treated as the murderer that you are.

    Kincaid won, but only narrowly. A major compromise was owed: Kincaid would not be brought in for murder, but must help Luke negotiate with Elenor. Turns out that the other baronies were getting ready to go to war over the theft of the spiders, and Luke wanted to avert that. Kincaid accepted the terms, thus earning his player a deed's point.

    On the way back to the castle The Hungry One was cornered by Jarl, who asked in his own backwards way for help. The Hungry One turned him down.

    Jarl runs away in a rage, and kidnaps Thieran in revenge for driving him away from the barony. The others come to the rescue, and Jarl runs, vanishing in a puff of smoke. Everyone continued on, confused as to what happened to Jarl.

    Jarl appears in a prison, face to face with Luke's wife, the Countess of Fire...

Session Four

Flashback: A girl stands weeping at a well set in a mountain. A chant begins from the crowd. A man steps forward, her father. She asks why, and he says that duty requires debts to be repaid, and this was a large debt to a powerful one to save the kingdom. She begs him not to go, and tries to hold on, but her uncle holds her back. Someone asks why she was brought and her father replies that he didn't have the heart to say no. He turns, comforts his little one, saying he is so sorry her mama and papa can't be there for her in the days to come. He goes to the well as the drums and chant increases to a fever pitch.

The girl's wailing continues past his descent.

As she's taken away she breaks away to kneel and whispers something inaudible to all but her uncle, who reprimands her. She turns to face him, face red from turns and coldly says: "I do. If a kingdom must protect itself by killing a man like my father, that world should burn."

Elenor Grinslow is seen walking the grounds early in the morning. A lady clothed in deep red rides up to her. She and her husband are now Count Luke and Countess Marion Markov and she wishes to to have their six year old son marry Elenor  to form an alliance.  Elenor refuses, knowing full well Marion (who went with her to school, oddly enough) is asking mockingly. She also notices that Marion's clothes aren't muddy, even though she rode all the way from the Markov barony.  The intrepid heroes of chapter three arrive.

Elenor greets them, seeing some she knows, some she does, and all cloaked in blood. She sees Luke, and assumes by his stance that he's a lord. The others look beaten, and Thieran is unconscious from Jarl's torturing. Elenor finds out that Thieran is still alive, but barely. He's taken away to the healers.

Luke Markov introduces himself. Elenor tells him that his wife has just gone inside and is upstairs, and the Baron goes upstairs. Kincaid notices that Luke isn't in black and is made aware that Luke had no regard for his thug of an uncle whatsoever. Kincaid fills Elenor in. The Hungry One tries to reveal his intentions with Luke and the spiders, but is laughed off.

Claire introduces herself to Elenor, informing Elenor that she's a seer of the Church. Claire had traveled a long distance because she had received a vision to find Elenor and help her. Their introduction is cut short by Baron Luke's return.

The Baron comes with his Baroness to discuss the spider issue with Elenor. He demands the slaves of the other baronies be returned to them, since they're about ready to go to war over this theft. A Duel of Wits ensues:

Luke's terms: Return the spiders to their rightful owners

Elenor: I will do no such thing.

Luke narrowly won, but a major compromise was owed. We'll get to that in a minute.

Saddened by Elenor's stubbornness, Luke says that he is on their side, and will do whatever he can to abolish slavery. But for today the spiders need to be returned. Kincaid remarks slyly that Luke is just like his uncle, but Elenor rebuffs him.

At that moment spider screams can be heard from the compound where the spiders were stored. Kincaid and Elenor recognize the cries of some of the spiders as spiders of the Undernest, who are there to kidnap the males and take them back to their nests for consumption! By the time they got to the back 20 of the spiders had already been killed.

Kincaid asks the Undernest spiders why they attacked, and they explain that they were coming for their males. They had made a pact with the barons that allowed them to come and get males whenever they wished. Upon seeing Claire the spider screeches and lunges at her, only to be soundly defeated by Claire. Kincaid then knocked the spider unconscious.

The other Undernest spiders ran off with some of the males successfully, although Kincaid made sure they didn't get'em all.

Luke and Elenor set to work, trying to help all the battered Grinslow soldiers. After a bit of pushing they convince Marion to help out as well. Kincaid helps out with songs and meditations. Luke realizes that none of the spiders who remain can actually do work, and that returning them is pointless. Elenor points out that if Luke genuinely cares for the spiders now is the time to show it. Luke calls one of his servants over, and commands that all his fine clothes and other fine goods and sell them so he can make recompense the other baronies three times over for their loss. He tells Elenor that he wants to help her end slavery. When Elenor asks about Marion, he whistfully says she will work with them, that she has a path she must walk.

Luke goes over to The Hungry One and praises him for the valor he showed in battle, that it helped him decide to overturn slavery because of his nobility. An arrow grazes Elenor, badly cutting her cheek. She sees rustling in the trees, and Luke attempts to shoot the assassin. Elenor sees him and sends The Hungry One after him. The assassin purposefully fell on his own dagger, however. Claire runs up and says a prayer for the man's health, and with Elenor they stabilize him however briefly. Elenor questions him. He'se a man from an assassin's guild in Gilden (about 5 weeks away). The plan dictated that he needed  to die so he wouldn't reveal what was going on. He was only supposed to graze Elenor, she wasn't supposed to die by his hand. He then dies.

Back at the estate Kincaid informs Luke that his wife is a liar, and after a short conversation with the angry Luke turns to go. The Hungry One intercepts him, however, and asks what his plan is. Kincaid wishes to talk to The One in the Deep to make a bargain with him. Claire and Elenor realize that Kincaid is up to no good, and try to stop him from leaving. Kincaid reveals the stone, and explains why he needs to go to them. A Duel of Wits ensued.

Kincaid: It is perfectly acceptable for an individual to leave as they choose.

Elenor: Not if they are a hazard and under the influence of evil!

Kincaid wins, but a regular compromise is owed. The Hungry One will come with him, and he will come back in a few months.

Down in the dungeon...

Jarl is cut, tortured, bleeding. Marion comes down to him. "Ah, they bled you enough, and now that I have the final piece (pulling out a small vial of Elenor's blood) your ability to control your own electricity will be mine. A servant enters, and informs her that they have found The Black Stone. She says preparations must be made to get the stone the next time Kincaid reappears.

Session Five

Four months pass. In this time:

    Kincaid has gone with The Hungry One out into the world. Kincaid has raised up revolutions all over the place over the slavery issue, causing trouble everywhere. He has tried to master The One in the Deep, and has failed.

    Elenor and Claire, along with Luke and Marion, have called a council of nobles to discuss the slavery issue. So far no actual progress has been made.

    Thieran vanished three months ago, and hasn't been heard from.

Four months later...

Kincaid and The Hungry One have finally returned to the Markov Barony. The very next day the Thomas Markov, the only child of Thomas and Marion Markov, is found murdered by Claire Romar. Claire examined the scene and ascertained that the cut was so clean it couldn't have been a human knife that made the cut.  The neck was held so that blood sprayed out all over the wall. Obviously someone did it with clear intent to cause as much carnage as possible, and wasn't human.

Luke said he was only a boy, talking about an empty bird's nest the other day... Claire vows to find the murderer. Marion comes in and, according to Elenor, is shocked, sad, happy, and excited, and quickly walks away. She tries reaching out to Elenor, but all of a sudden pulls away. Elenor, suspicious but wanting to help, follows Marion. Marion enters a glade in a forest and falls to her knees, asking why it was necessary for her son to die. She consoles herself, saying that it will all be alright when "He's" dead.

Claire, suspecting Kincaid, goes over to arrest him. She talks to The Hungry One and Kincaid, but she finds that there's no evidence linking Kincaid to the murder. She enlists Kincaid and The Hungry One in the investigation.

The Hungry One goes out to investigate, and finds Elenor and they start investigating together. They go back to the glade where Elenor had seen Marion, and find a man sitting there, weeping and covered in blood. The Hungry One questions the man, but realizes that the man is lying when he says that he didn't murder anyone.  They take him back to Markov, and find out that the man is normally a sleepwalker. Only this time he murdered his wife. When he went in and out of the town Claire had felt a terrible evil presence.

That's when everyone hears screams coming from the town outside. People come running outside, blood on their hands, screaming that they didn't do it, Asking for guidance from God, Claire hears "Under the city". There are catacombs in the city, and everyone heads for them. They brush past the guard to the catacombs since Claire is of sufficient rank in the Church hiearcy (the catacombs are guarded by the Church). Coming to one of the main burial sites, and they find a secret entrance. Elenor tossed a stone down the hall, and someone comes out in the fullplate of the Church. He recognizes Claire, although Claire does not recognize him. Elenor notices that the man doesn't know how to wear the armor he's wearing, and certainly isn't wielding the sword well. He asks to join them, but upon questioning he tries to run away. Kincaid pops out of nowhere, however, and stabs him in his sword arm. The man drops his arm and charges the group. The Hungry One blocks him, and knocks him over. Upon interrogation he admits he was hired to help with the string of murders, and asks to be let go. Kincaid knocks him out, and Elenor volunteers to take him to the surface.

The rest turn to face the dark hallway...

Session Six

There's plenty of blood on the dark walls of the dungeon, and the stench is horrifying. The Hungry One first hears soft cries and screams of many people in the cells that are in the next room. There are a ton of maimed prisoners The Hungry One finds in one of the cages Hope, the last member of the family who had imprisoned him. The Hungry One tries to kill her, but Claire intervenes and challenges him to a Duel of Wits.

Claire: You can't kill  Hope for something she did in the past

The Hungry One: Yes I can, and I will.

The Hungry One loses, but gets a compromise. The player pretty much reneged on this, however. The original compromise was that Hope would stand trial for her "crimes", but Kincaid took her aside and told her to get the hell out of town. He gives her some money and to find the Grinslow guards to help break the other prisoners out. She accepted, and ran away.

As Kincaid, The Hungry One, and Claire progress through the next room, they hear horrific screams and the pounding of an anvil. In the next room they find a large , spiked, and spinning metal wheel with Jarl on it. Jarl's pain makes electricity, which makes the wheel turn faster. Kincaid and The Hungry One both dart for Jarl, both wanting to kill him. They both set him on fire, not even bothering to get him off the wheel. Marion, The Countess of Fire, comes out and puts the fire out.  She asks why they're here, stating that she's here to complete her revenge. She tells Kincaid that he had killed her father, The Eaten One, fifty years ago. The Countess of Fire informs Kincaid she wants the stone that he has. Kincaid asks The One in the Deep for help in  keeping the stone from the Countess, and find The One in the Deep is silent.

The Countess reveals that she now has Jarl's lightning powers, and uses them to electrocute Kincaid and The Hungry One in an attempt to get the stone from her. Claire calls upon God and takes the lightning on herself and almost dies in the process. Kincaid tries to bargain for Claire's life, offering The Countess the Stone in exchange.

The One in the Deep agrees to this.

Kincaid tells The Countess that she owes him one for granting such a huge favor to her. She replies that she'll be at The Well, and she wants them to have front row seats. "Yes, I will destroy all the Evil in the world, and all it took-was the life of... my son..." Kincaid replies that it's her son that's the hero, not her. She glares at him.

Returning to the surface Kincaid commands the Grinslow guards to pick up the bodies and wishes the nobility would just get the hell out of time. He sings the Song of Soothing to Claire, narrowly reviving her. The guards who go down to get the bodies run into the Countess of Fire, and she slaughters them all.

Claire, after falling back asleep, receives a vision. A boy comes to her, telling her to get up and come with him. He takes her to a deep well in a mountain, telling her this is where the Countess of Fire's father was killed fifty years ago. The boy tells her he was present when the Countess wavered in her resolve for revenge. She loved him, but in her time of need he wasn't there for her. Because of his role in her damnation he is fated to throw himself into this well every day until she is killed. Claire asks if there is any other way. The boy informs her that he was sent from God to tell her this, and Claire acknowledges that her faith won't waver in the matter. The boy explains that The Countess's plan won't work, and will only release The One in the Deep.

The Countess of Fire needs to die.

Session Seven

Elenor starts talking to the guy she brought up with her at the end of Chapter Five. He shouts "Look! to the left!" at a familiar girl with one arm running by. Hope has a sword floating by her stump, screaming that she can't seem to let get the sword to go away. This gives the man the opportunity to bolt, and he takes it. Elenor gives chase, but the man is remarkably fast for his size, and easily outpaces her, even in the fullplate.  Elenor bumps into Kincade and The Hungry One, and they fill her in on Claire's condition. They bring Claire to a doctor to help Claire recover faster, but Kincade gets into an argument with the doctor about who's the better healer. Kincade eventually just takes over for the doctor.

Elenor tells them about the one-armed girl with the sword. The Hungry One immediately volunteers to go find her, and Elenor says she'll tag along. When asked why he cared so much about the girl, The Hungry One intentionally dodges the question, and eventually Elenor just drops it. As they go outside, a girl shouts "It's a wolf!" and the crowd gets whipped up into a frenzy. Kincade pops out of nowhere and calms the crowd down, enough for a little child to come up and hug The Hungry One's leg! The Hungry One, bashful and a bit irritated, growls at the child and tries to shake him off, scaring the kid. Elenor and Kincaid find The Hungry One's discomfort hilarious, particularly when the mother of the child comes to take him away and The Hungry One informs the mother that he won't eat the kid... this time. And with that all hopes for finding the girl vanish, as she has too much of a head start and they still have to look after Claire.

They go back to see Claire, and she informs them of the vision that she had. Luke overhears it and barges in, overwhelmed with grief at the accusations thrown at his wife. They try to find The Countess, only to find that she's gone. Claire suggests taking Luke to the dungeon, so he can see what his wife has been up to.

They take him down to the catacombs, and Kincade fills Luke in on what his wife was up to. Luke sits down on the ground, and with tears in his eyes informs them all that if they want to do something, now is the time to do it, before Luke does something he'll regret. Elenor tries to comfort him, but Luke gives her a dagger that the Countess had given him for an anniversary present and tells her to kill the Countess with it. As Elenor walks away Luke informs her that the two of them married could make for a strong alliances, and their baronies would be better off for it. When asked why he's talking about the future like this, Luke states that since the past and the present are currently destroyed for him all he has left is the future. Elenor agrees to the alliance, and leaves with Kincaid and The Hunry One.

Kincade explains to the group that he knows of the well that's shown in Claire's vision, and that he's had dealings with The One in the Deep before he got the Black Stone. When asked what The One in the Deep is, Kincade only says that he wished that he knew. No one knows, but he's been there for as long he can remember. But it's time to know what this thing is. It'll take about a month to get to the well.

They get a cart for Claire, who will be healed up by the time they get to the mountain. Luke sees them off, and Elenor tells Luke he better be there when she returns. He nods and wishes them luck.

Most of the way is uneventful, but during the trip The Hungry One smells human blood and wants to "go hunting". Elenor points out the nearby human tracks with bloody in them, and asks if he was going to hunt humans. The Hungry One tells her no, but that he'll allow her to come along. They leave Kincaid with Claire, who's just started walking again, and off they go. Following the tracks, they come to the edge of a forest and decide to go in and become surrounded by wolves. 

In the midst of this circle they find a whole bunch of children, who are being guarded by Hope, who still has the mysterious Black Sword. Only now the Black Sword is being held by a mysterious energy arm that's appearing to come out of the stump where her arm used to be. She shrieks when she sees the Hungry One. She tells everyone to get back, and fire begins shooting out of the sword at the wolves, Claire, and The Hungry One, which catches some of the trees on fire.

Meanwhile, back at the road, Claire is found by some members of her order, who are looking for a bunch of homocidal wolves. Kincaid laughs and informs them that all they need is to go into the forest and they'll find what they're looking for. Claire decides to join them, while Kincade derisively sits out.

Hope has gone ballistic in the meantime, shooting fire balls nilly-willy at anything not the children that moves. The Hungry One tries to tell her that he's only here to help protect the children, but Hope isn't buying that, and tells The Hungry One that she can't trust him because of he had killed her parents. Claire and the knights arrive. Claire tries to soothe Hope, and it seems to work for a second. But she snaps and goes even crazier than ever. Claire finally recognizes the sword. Elenor climbs a tree for a vantage point, and as The Hungry One runs up to Hope, she throws a knife past Hope and distracts her. Claire comes in at that point, and starts trading blows with her. Hope's strength has been greatly increased by the sword, so she's able to fight with Claire quite easily. But the magical arm detaches from Hope and stabs her with her own sword, before flying off!

Hope is now lying on the ground, dying. The Hungry One goes up to her, promising that he will make sure no one else has to suffer and be made that weak on his watch ever again. They go back to Kincaid, who leads them to the well. The Countess of Fire is already there, and she's already started the ritual. She electrifies some blood in a vial and dumps it on the sword (which has just flown up to her). They crack open. Up out of the well crawls the body of The Eaten One, the Countess of Fire's daughter!

Session Eight

The body that crawls out of the well looks like it's been mummified, and it freaks everyone out on a level that's hard to communicate. Everyone stands, absolutely shocked. The Countess of Fire gapes at the body of her father, who turns to her. "It's OK, daddy's home" he says. The Countess throws up, and the body chides him for not giving him a ready welcome. He turns to Elenor, and his nonverbals change to that of her father. He talks to her as if he is her father. All his mannerisms are so right they're wrong. The body thanks everyone for helping him, saying that he couldn't have gotten this far without any of them, with all their messed up desires. He looks at his body, and says that it isn't so bad, a bit weaker than his first, but still good enough for his purposes.

Kincaid finally snaps out of his fear, and says that this is definitely The One in the Deep. The One in the Deep says that he wants everyone to follow him down the well. And that he will show everyone what he's up to, and that they will understand that he's not all bad. After understanding what he's up to they can make up their minds.

Kincaid stands up to him, saying that the elves and wolves would never accept whatever it is The One in the Deep has planned, which only makes The One in the Deep chuckle. Kincaid swings his sword at him and it's caught in The One in the Deep's bare hand! He grins at Kincaid, and tells him that if his body dies, he'll just take over another body. The broken sword and stone gave him all the conscious and unconscious brain patterns he'll need to take over any body he wants.  He releases the sword, and dares Kincaid to kill the body.

Thieran Markov has been dead for awhile, killed by a horde of orcs led by the Countess of Fire. And ever since he's died his father (who's now 40 feet tall) has chased him, relentlessly. Finally Thieran turns and asks why his father is chasing him, to which his father replies "You ran! Of course I chased you!" Thieran turns round, and pulls out his sword. His father swings his sword, a forty foot long monstrosity, cutting Thieran in half. Thieran comes to in a forest, and he hears the rumbling of his father's footsteps in the distance...

Claire finally snaps out of her fear, and prays for a miracle from God. She asks, begs, God to intercede and save everyone from The One in the Deep. Blood gushes out of her hands, feet, and side, and she screeches in pain. She hears a voice telling her to touch Kincaid, and she does. Once her blood touches Kincaid he comes to a horrible realization: The One in the Deep was originally an elf! This is the final straw-Kincaid can take no more. He starts to wander off, full of the realization that his race created the ultimate evil. He turns and charges The One in the Deep with his sword, and once again he's blocked. The One in the Deep asks, once again, if they'll go into the well with him.

On the other side of the afterlife, Thieran faces his father once again and is once again struck down. He comes back to, and starts to put the pieces together. Maybe what he's facing isn't his father, but himself. Maybe, just maybe, he's what's in the way. And with that his father vanishes, as does the forest. The sky is bright, the grass is green but painful, and there's a road. He gets up and follows the road.

The One in the Deep extends his hand to The Hungry One, and offers, once again, to take him to see the plan. The Hungry One walks toward The One in the Deep, and finds that he can walk on air. Claire follows. But Kincaid doesn't. Elenor walks up to him and asks why he isn't moving. Kincaid  tells her that The One in the Deep was an elf once. How could any one creature become so horrible, do so many terrible things? Elenor responds that the only way anyone can get that horrible is if they choose to be that way. But Kincaid can choose to be different. Kincaid can choose to hope, and that means going with The One in the Deep until a weakness presents himself. Elenor tells Kincaid that he needs to hope until something presents itself. Kincaid nods, but says that he doesn't know why they bother: The One in the Deep will drag everyone down with him. But he does get up, and walk towards the well. The Countess gets up, and wearily stands next to Kincaid.

And down they go.

They all descend for 3 hours, losing light after fifteen minutes. There's a shrieking sound from below, and it gets progressively louder. When asked, The One in the Deep informs them that the orcs have build been building him a machine that'll let him get to the center of the planet. They ask what he's looking for, and he asks if they've ever heard of the myth of the flame. The flame is at the center of the planet, and it is the flame of life itself. All the goodness of everyone rests on this one flame, and if he can just merge with this flame he, who believes he is the collective evil of everyone. If it works the way he thinks it does, he'll become the good and evil of everyone, connecting them into a super-entity that will defy all individuality. No one will be able to hurt each other anymore, because they will be each other. So therefore no one will have to die, and no one will have to encounter God anymore: God will become worse than unknown: he'll be useless. Kincaid realizes that The One in the Deep doesn't even feel the grief inherent in each elf anymore, that he's denied everything so he doesn't have to merge with God when he should have passed on.

They all enter the ship, and descend into the magma that is the core. It's unbearably hot, and then all of a sudden they hear a crunching noise. The One in the Deep opens up the hull, and water spills in; it's breathable Everyone descends into the water, and Claire sees a young boy walking towards them. It's the same boy from the vision."All you have to do is hold him still" the boy says to him in her mind.

Thieran's been following the road for awhile, when he happens upon Honey, who's being attacked by Thieran's father as well. Thieran manages to kill his father, but he reappears and starts attacking Honey again.  Thieran tries to get Honey's attention, so he stabs her with his knife. She comes to for a second, and Thieran convinces her that she's torturing herself. He points to the road, and asks if she'll follow him down the road. She says that she will. They come to a lake, and there's a light in the lake. They go into the lake, and they see a large flame.

Back on the other side, The One in the Deep puts his hand in, and starts screaming. The flame is consuming him, he was wrong! Kincaid takes his sword and rams it into The One in the Deep's back, and he starts to fall in. Thieran sees a pair of hands coming through the flame. He also sees Elenor and Thieran, and he shouts out to Elenor. Elenor shouts out to Thieran to pull The One in the Deep in. Everyone, even The Countess and Honey, jumps in to help. The One in the Deep begins to shapeshift into a bunch of different forms, including that of a dragon, and finally returns to that of an elf. He pulls Kincaid in with him, who finds that the flames are soothing to his grief. He says to The One in the Deep: "You need to confront your grief". The One in the Deep replies "**** you", and his body is destroyed, and he is dissipated. Elenor, The Hungry One, Claire, and Marion find themselves back up at the top of the well.

Kincaid finds himself in Eternity now, facing Thieran and Honey. He hugs Honey tightly, and looks up. He finds this new world soothing. He informs Thieran that he's got an eternity of card games. Thieran groans, and they turn to the road and follow it into the light.

Back in the world, Marion starts to move aimlessly. Claire tries to reassure her that she lived for a reason and did help destroy all the evil in the world. Elenor and The Hungry One persuade her she has good in her, and that she shouldn't kill herself like she intends. Marion says that she won't kill herself, but that she won't go back with them. She'll go and do what good she can in the world awhile, and promises that they will all see her again.

Epilogues

Elenor goes back home, marries Luke, and convinces the country to give up slavery peaceably. She is regarded as a hero amongst the spiders, and lives on to a ripe old age with Luke.

The Hungry One becomes a vigilante in a neighboring barony, prowling the streets to devour evil. He is known as a doer of good and, while not everyone accepts him, the people he protects know he is good and protect and love him.

Claire tries to go back to the Church, but they don't accept her. Disillusioned, she runs into her old unit of knights, who accept her anyway. She continues to be a champion of justice, even if the Church doesn't accept her visions, which she never receives again.

A city is built over the well, so that no one can ever go into or come out of it ever again. A statue is put directly over the site, commemorating Kincaid and Honey.

The Last Scene

When Elenor gets back she finds Luke in the chapel, and tells him that she didn't kill Marion because Marion saw the good she could do, and she renounced the evil she had done. He accepts her decision, and tells her that she did what he wouldn't have been able to do, and that he admired that. He says that the marriage is schedule, and that he's getting the annulment well under way. After hearing about Kincaid, he smiles and says "Someone around should find rest around here, but not us." Elenor smiles at Luke.

"No, not yet." And they walk out of the chapel.

[Here, at the end of the notes, are two quotes from me. I include them because they thought it was worthwhile to note them:

"All you need to do is push..."

"Failure and success don't matter, try"]