The voices, aaauuuuugh the voices

Ahhh, guard duty in the winter wonderland that is Salzenmund. The Inquisitor General might have numerous enemies, but they are disappointingly timid or are taking the winter off. Thank Ulric it is so endlessly stimulating listening to people argue about stuff, or watch them read. Otherwise I might start a cult myself, just to have some heretics to "fix". I guess this is not a proper thought, and I am not really contemplating it. But by all the gods, old an new, I AM SO BORED. In prison there were at least fights. Speaking of fights, to fight the boredom, I have started training on some techniques I saw demonstrated in the regiment. The goal is to keep momentum to such an extent that you can ignore your opponents defense. Control the post contact swing so well that your next blow lands so quickly that you do not have to consider whatever your opponent is doing at all, as whatever he attempts will be nullified by the second hit. It is very hard, especially with the axe, but I am getting there.

Anyhoooo, I guess this is not all that interesting to anyone but me. So, the rest of the gang comes back with some intriguing news. They were not able to rescue Ostara from the rogue Witch Hunter. And the rogue Witch Hunter is Lady Hierkeit, a vampire they met quite a while ago, and have mentioned from time to time. It seems like this vampire is a BIG DEAL. Awesome, I will get to leave town. Unless I have to guard some dusty tomes or some other infinitely interesting task. At least Ostara's former aide is so afraid of me now, that I only hear him in the halls, I never see him.

Anyhows, this vampire, is an undead, it is of the type Lamia, which means it is very socially adept. However, still very difficult to kill, I am told. That must be a good thing, right? A proper fight? But no, there is investigating to be done. First, Johanna goes to the Astromancers. Ostara is in some town a bit north of here, called Stavern, and we will all go there. Phew. Anyway, something interesting happens with the Astromancer, he fucks up his spell, like we've seen Eldur do from time to time. He is flung to the roof and falls down again, and is very embarrased afterwards. This is definitely the high point of this winter for me, so far.

We gather supplies and head for Stavern. The town belongs to a barnoness called Annika Kalb. Sunniva and Torgil head out ahead of us, to scout, in case they are on the lookout for our specific party of six. They find out that the baroness is being visited by a niese, Hanna von Lobe. This can very well be the vampire. The rest of us follow a bit later.  It is a very nice ride through the snow and the woods.

We go to the inn, where Johan almost immediately gets in a fight with a guy that is eavesdropping. Johan, Johanna and  Torgils together have a hard time with him, the people of this town are hard as nails! Anyhow, he turns out to be a magister. Ach. The guards turn up, but of course, we can't fight the city guards. Johanna talks us out of it. The "advantage" of being an Inquisitor General. Everyone else leaves, and Johan winds up paying the innkeeper for his loss. Quite a memorable night. While this happens, Sunniva and I go to the keep, to see what happens. Shortly after a guard comes up, and seems to report. We head back to the inn.

Shortly after, the niese shows up. And introduces herself as Lady Hierkeit. OK, so much for investigating the shit outta this. I can investigate her though, she is probably the prettiest thing I have ever seen. Even Sunniva kinda pales in comparison. She has brought some guards as well, and they are someone else the gang has met before, the Death Jesters. 

Of course, much chattering and no fighting. Lady H proposes a deal, she will show us how to find the Dark Master, but she wants us to help us exact her revenge on the Morr priests first. Ok, kind of a pickle. But she is / was, dunno how this works, a witch hunter, and clearly wants to help fight chaos. If she is a capable as they say, I can't see how a few Morr priests against her skills (and charm) are a bad bargain. And we have to, as I understand it, get this Dark Master. To convince us she gives us a clue we can test to show that she knows what she is talking about. She also invites Johanna to come to the castle to see that Ostara is ok.

Anyhow, she leaves. And there is MORE TALKING. It fucking never ends. Fighting never gives me nightmares, but I have started dreaming about being tied to a chair while there are arguing voices everywhere. And it goes ON.

Sunniva manages to convince the magister in the middle of the night (to be fair, that might actually be the time when she would be the most convincing) to tell us what kind of forces the baroness and Hierkeit has; it is hopeless, we can't attack, unless we just want to die for nothing. I almost want to do it, to  make the voices stop. 

Johanna goes to the castle, she sees Ostara, and when she agrees to the first step of the Lady Hs plan, she is allowed to bring her with her. Ostara is very disoriented, and unsure of her place in the world. Lady H also tells her that there are 9 books in the library, and that these books can "kill the world". If they are destroyed, Salzenmund will be safe.

We go back to Salzenmund, and on to the Von Kessel estate where the first clue can be found. We find the estate, dig out a door. I rapell into the dark, and is immediately attacked. Finally. Unfortunately the ghost thing is ridiculously easy to kill. It has a blood curdling shout that hurts pretty bad, but I succeed in getting a follow-through hit and kill it in a couple seconds. Satisfying to make it work, but it wasn't really a fight. I've met more dangerous cows.

The thing releases a mirror shard when it dies, and we find more shards, that together show us a door somehwere. So now we know what we are looking for. The first part of Lady Hs story checks out. Our partnership is off to a great start! Now S and J have to figure out what to do next. I'm sure they will be able to decide in a jiffy.