1235, Winter 2

We have arrived at the village of Aberfeldy, where there is some sort of faerie party going on. There are lots of people dressed in fancy clothes, the playing of music and dancing. I’m still hoping that Maedbh is able to handle the situation.

We are on the East side of the town, and most of the activity is to the North West. As we head into the town, we are spotted by a woman in a yellow dress and carrying a basket and wearing a straw hat. Which is probably useful given the bright, warm sun. Which wasn’t as bright and sunny as it was before we went into the town.

After she sees us, she nervously backs off, turns around and heads back quickly towards the party. 

Something I do notice is that some magical enchantment is hitting my Parma Magica. Currently it is bouncing off. Maedbh thinks there is about a magnitude six effect, which is quite powerful. We decide to send Knox back to the edge of the village where it is safe,  giving Maebdh back her full Parma since she will no longer need to be protecting him as well.

Maedbh points out that her faerie sight is able to see that there are illusions here as well, covering up damage done to the buildings. As we head further in, the sun gets brighter and warmer. There is a very fancy tent – with striped fabric and poles out front. There is a platform out front, positioned to be able to see the knightly jousting that is going on. There are a couple of seats on the platform, one of which is occupied. However, it’s difficult to see because of the bright sunlight which is glinting off gold coloured clothing or armour. The seat they are sitting on seems golden as well, and the seat next to them is darker.

Looking at the people wandering around, a lot of them seem to be wearing the same clothes. Almost as if there were only a few styles of clothing available.

There are lots of people feasting and dancing. Looking closer though, everyone looks to be in a poor state. They appear to be exhausted. Those that eat and drink are trembling, and don’t seem to be enjoying themselves. My guess is that they are under a faerie compulsion, which has been forcing them to be ‘enjoying themselves’ for way too long.

The knights are riding large noble looking horses, which Maedbh points out are really small horses who look knackered and lame. The music and dancing seems to be repetitive, and the musicians show signs of bleeding fingers.

Most of the food and drink that is being consumed seems to be fake – river water and twigs and grass. There are some jugs of what look like real wine though. This wine seems to be coming from some barrels where a woman is standing looking out over the party.

Maedbh goes to distract her, whilst Allistor seeks to destroy the source of the wine. The woman tells Maedbh that the party is in honour of Lord Aotrum, the shining figure on the chair.  Maedbh leads her away from the barrels, and Allistor moves in. He manages to cast a spell to destroy most of the wine in the barrels.

Talking to the woman, Maedbh finds out that Lord Aotrum, Lord Light, retires at night and Lady Night comes out at night. The Prince is taking part in the tournaments, and is continuously fighting the other nights. They all turned up some weeks ago, and have been forcing the party since then. There is also another noble lord at the tent, who is bodyguard to the Lord and Lady.

One of the knights is knocked to the ground by the Prince, and dragged back to a tent. I head over to it, where a couple are trying to get the wounded man out of his armour. I step up, and they mistake me for one of the fair folk. I tell them that I am not a fair folk, which shocks them. I tell them to take a step back and then I cast Bind Wounds on him. He gets better, though the two chirurgeons say that there is a magical potion that they have access to that will make the wounded men better.

Maedbh and myself start to use Call to Slumber on people, putting them to sleep. Expecting the Lord of Light to notice things, I mostly keep an eye on him whilst Maedbh puts more and more people to a much needed sleep.

Over time, there are fewer and fewer people dancing and fighting, as we put more of them to sleep.

Eventually there is the single knight ready to fight, but there is nobody else to fight him. He pretends to fight for a bit, to cheers from what is left of the crowd, but eventually gives up and goes back to get a drink.

The Prince and the Lord of Light continue to celebrate the party, seemingly oblivious to what we are doing.

The villagers still seem to be pouring wine out of the barrels, so the barrels seem to be refilling themselves. Allistor yeets the barrels out of the village, and there is a distant sound of something smashing somewhere. One of the townsfolk looks on in surprise as the last couple of barrels vanish up into the air. 

Sometime later, all the wine is gone and quite a few people are asleep, including all the serving people. Though there are still quite a few townsfolk awake, but there are definite gaps in the crowds.

Allistor then yeets the musical instruments. 

Maedbh gets out her sword, which shines brightly, and yells at everyone go to sleep. Most people do, though something bounces off my Parma Magica and Allistor falls over. Realising that she should have worded the instructions a bit more specifically, she quickly runs over to Allistor to wake him up.

The figure on the throne also falls over, as does his bodyguard. I go up to the thrones, which look exquisitely crafted. The sleeping lord is a thirtyish looking man, with lots of gold worked into his clothing. He is undoubtedly a fey. Looking inside the tent, it is pitch black and I am unable to see anything.

A hand grabs my face, burning it with cold. If I was not highly resistant to cold, it probably would have hurt a lot. I grab their wrist, and pull them sharply out of the tent. The figure comes up with me. I fall over backwards, and a woman dressed in black and silver courtly clothes falls out on top of me.

The light outside goes grey and twilight. There is a sudden draft of wind, and I realise what is happening and let go of her just as Allistor yeets her up into the air. Her fingers are still grabbing my face though, and part of my skin goes with her.

There is a scream, and she falls back, impaling herself on a tent pole. The day brightens again.

Maedbh strides forward up onto the pavilion, and beheads the Lord with her sword. The temperature drops again.

Maedbh and Allistor want to kill the bodyguard, but I ask them to stop. I don’t like killing, but I don’t know how to deal with these people. Except… they’re not people. They are fey, not part of the real world and they don’t have souls. So I tell Maedbh to do what she wills.

I guess I have learned something today about what I feel about the fey, and how I feel about those that hurt other people.

Maedbh begins to gather the bodily essence from the fey.

We check the elixir that is in the tent, which seems to be a mixture of fey blood and wine. It will heal, but it also enslaves the drinker to the fey. Now that the fey are dead, it’s power is probably fading.

Examining the people, they are all very close to death’s door. They were bad before hand, but they were possibly being kept alive by the faerie magic. Some are dead, but we try the faerie elixir on those that look the most healthy.

We’ve treated about 70 people, though found about 35 dead. 

During the night, we use the darker potion, which helps a bit more, though the enchantment is definitely failing. We do our best to help them keep warm and make sure they get something to eat and drink. Allistor is able to fly to the next town to try and get some aid.

We lose another 8 during the night, leaving us with 63 alive. These are slightly better than yesterday, since most of those that died are the old and weak. During he morning, a group of villagers from the nearby villages arrive with their arts, bringing food and aid.

They aren’t happy about us being magi, but they realise that we are here to help. Their main concern though is to help the sick of Aberfeldy, which is ultimately all that matters.