Road to Kebnegard, Chapter Twenty-Three

The Mason Lodge
Saturday, April 21st, 988 AD

As soon as we see Gotland on the horizon, Vera and Shara fall over. They seem to have come down with some sea-borne virus. We dock in Vastergarn and see that Sigrid Storada, the ruler of Gotland, is waiting at there for some reason, but she leaves as soon as Grettor pays the fee.

We follow Grettor to the Mason Lodge to deliver the sword, leaving Iuli and Vladimir behind to protect the boat and the two sick girls. As we walk, he tells us about the old King Dag who's buried on the island after dying from a pitchfork wound to the head. Reynaldo and Wong make a mental note about a possible dungeon.

When we reach the lodge, Moishe reads 'Yachin Boaz' on the the pillars flanking the front door. It's written in Hebrew and Moishe translates it as "He establishes in Strength." This phrase was also written on the pillars of Solomon's Temple before it was destroyed. Hafnir, a lodge attending who wears a dagger around his neck to denote his rank as the second-in-command, meets us and takes Grettor and the sword. Hafnir promises that we will get paid as soon as Sumarliv, the lodge master, gets back. In the meantime, Hafnir said that there were two lodge members who dueled each other to a draw. He asks Wong if she would like to duel them. Since Wong needs to duel as well, she agrees to duel them both. The first member is Tukshin, a Moslem from the Volga Bulgars who is quick and wiry, and the second is Ring Dagson, a local man who is quite large. Moishe asks about the inscriptions on the pillars, but Hafnir says he should wait for a member named Keveldolf, who knows way more about this sort of thing.

We go back to the boat and let Iuli go to the lodge, we heal up a bit, and Wong goes back to the lodge to meet her opponents and talk to Hafnir. When she returns to the boat, she reports that it's possible to make a formal alliance with the Masons by petitioning the main lodge in Aachen, Germany. We rest and Reynaldo writes a long letter to Eorl the Confessor, telling him all about our travels since leaving Constantinople, I assume.

Fingered Again
Sunday, April 22nd, 988 AD

In the morning, we go back to the lodge so that Wong can duel. In this double-header, the Beast from the East first faces of against the Swedish Swashbuckler, Ring Dagson, and then the Muslim Muscleman, Tukshin. Wong parries and thrusts so well against the Swashbuckler, she nearly takes his head off! But luckily for Dagson, he falls unconscious before Wong delivers the coup de grace. After being healed by Sigrid, Wong destroys Tukshin, even though he jumps around like a grasshopper wielding two axes. For her help in these duels, Hafnir gives her a pendant with two linked triangles to show her rank, if she were allowed to be a Mason, that is.

Sumarliv is there and he congratulates Wong and Iuli, who also won his duel, and he asks us to go into the lodge to talk about our payment for helping Grettor. Once inside however, things take a sinister turn.

Sumarliv: It has come our attention that you have been accused of murdering a Mason, stealing his sword, and then disseminating Masonic secrets.
Wong: What!? That's crazy. We've been helping Masons since we first met them.
Reynaldo: Over protests, I might add.
Anna: Just who exactly were we supposed to have killed?
Sumarliv: A Brother by the name of Caleb?
Wong and Reynaldo: Caleb!?
Sumarliv: You do know him?
Wong: Yes, but we haven't seen him in months.
Reynaldo: And he wasn't carrying a sword, right Conrad?
Conrad: Nope. Last I saw him, he was heading towards Germany. I drove him in a cart so that he could duel Wong here. Then I dropped him off right before my girlfriend Zooey and I were attacked.
Reynaldo: Motherfucker! Who's accusing us? Does her name start with a V?
Sumarliv: Well, it's a 'he,' but his name is Vesunvosun.
Wong: It's Veronica.
Reynaldo: If that's her real name.
Anna: This woman has been harassing this party since they first left Constantinople under multiple names and guises.
Sumarliv: I'd like to reiterate that Vesunvosun is a man.
Reynaldo: Dude, she's a shape-shifter. She can be whatever she wants to be. We're honestly not sure if she is a woman, but that's what she usually appears as.
Sumarliv: Well, there will be a Masonic trial in which you can air these grievances and face your accuser.
Moishe: A Masonic trial? Why not a civil trial? We're not members of the Masons, so we should not be judged only by Masons.
Sumarliv: Because of the nature of your alleged transgressions, we cannot have a public trial as you have asked. Things may be said that are not for civilian ears.
Moishe: But we're civilians. Are you going to make with the covering of our ears?
Sumarliv: As the accused, we have no choice but to allow you to hear things that you may or may not already know, depending on how guilty or not guilty you are. As it stands, I will have to ask you to stay here under house arrest.
Reynaldo: Okay, but we have to ask you to post a guard here and at our boat at the dock, because I'm pretty certain this attack to discredit us will be two-pronged. I can almost guarantee that someone is going to try to kill us, or kill one of you and blame us, and then make it look like we escaped. I don't want any confusion as to where we will be all night.
Sumarliv: That sounds fine. (he waves his hand and an underling runs from the room) We've already posted guards on your boat in order to keep your companions on it from doing anything foolish. Keveldolf will keep you company during the night.

Keveldolf shows up and Sumarliv leaves. Moishe shuffles over to the gate that has come down to speak with Keveldolf about Jewish matters.

Moishe: I'm a Khazar scholar, and you seem to be knowledgeable about Jewish things, no?
Keveldolf: I know some things.
Moishe: Okay, let me tell you a story. In our history, we Jews had something that meant a lot to us. But we lent it out to somebody who had a very good reason for using. Unfortunately, she never gave it back. We don't think she stole it, we think she just didn't have a chance to get it back to us. But as a result of this, it's lost. We don't know where it is. We also cannot remember what it is.
Keveldolf: I'm not sure how you think I can help you.
Moishe: Well, you've got Solomon's words up there, I though maybe you knew something.
Keveldolf: Not without more information.
Moishe: What if I said this lost thing, that it was the Names of God. What would you say to that?

Keveldolf gave a start.

Moishe: Ah! So you do know something!
Keveldolf: No, I don't know anything about the Names of God.

Unfortunately for Moishe, their conversation was cut short by a doll walking towards Keveldolf and the gate. Moishe called it a golem, but it really looked like a doll. It attacked Keveldolf, but we quickly realized someone had cast a Silence spell as well. Reynaldo had to step back in order to shoot Magic Missiles. The doll, we quickly realized since it used it on Keveldolf, had a paralyzing attack that made one laugh uncontrollably. Once Keveldolf fell, Reynaldo slipped through the bars to keep the doll back. Anna un-paralyzed Keveldolf and told him to run and get help. He did so, but then the doll paralyzed Reynaldo. It slipped through the bars in time to get hit by a torch from Wong. The team were able to destroy the doll, and the Silence spell that was cast upon it. Reynaldo had to wait out his horrible laughing affliction and then went back into the room. Hafnir and other masons rushed in to see what had happened. They told us that the man in charge of opening and closing the gate was killed. They also told us that Sumarliv was missing and our boat Gafliaug had been sunk. Reynaldo was very angry to hear this. He and Wong were very happy to have had two boats.

Sigrid Storada also shows up and we go to her Hall while the Masons look for Sumarliv. Once there, Hafnir and Keveldolf take Moishe aside to talk to him. When they return, Moishe says that they think he's a spy for somebody. We don't have much time to talk about that, however, becuase Sumarliv enters Sigrid's Hall with a crazed look in his eye. He starts to throw knives at the party at a ridiculous rate. After some indecision on Sigrid's part, and after Sumarliv takes down almost the entire party, Sigird cast Hold Person on him. We tie him up and wait for him to come to. He says that he cannot remember what happened to him during the time he was missing, but Wong notices two bite marks on Sumarliv's neck. Conrad has a pain flashback. We explain to them that this is V's MO. We tell them about her murder of Udrez Kudrez in Kevel using the same method as she did that night; using a doll as her instrument. We also tell them all about the Octopuses, the Tailed People, Ikkulu, and our mission. They supply very little in return, except to say that they have seen Ikkulu's name inscribed in Hudic, a town on the Swedish coast with pyramidal buildings.

We go to rest.

End Chapter Twenty-Three