1238, Winter
In our previous Ars Magica session, we were investigating the village of Ardmair, where the seaweed seems to have come up out of the sea and taken the people.
One thing that needed to be done first though, before we continued that, was to work out what Maedbh had done with the magic mirror at the end of the previous session. It had been held off because the GM needed to figure out how it worked and what it did. So there was a bit of a flash back to the end of the previous season.
From out perspective, Maedbh vanished off to France towards the end of the year. This was as much a surprise to her, as it was to us. We only realised she was missing, when she turned up at the front door carrying the scrying mirror we had discovered a few years back. We assumed that she had just locked her self away in her lab doing study. Apparently the mirror has a habit of taking the user to the place being scried.
Jack – Winter, 1238
We are at Ardmair, looking at the sea view and wondering at the seaweed which has engulfed most of the village. I take the grogs to scout out the village, to make sure that there isn’t anything obviously dangerous or still alive in the place. There is no sign of living animals or people within the area covered by the kelp. Seagulls fly around the area, but are avoiding going above it.
Maedbh believes that faerie magic has been at work here.
Looking inside some of the buildings, food has been left on the tables. The food has partially decayed, but there are no signs of maggots. It seems that the kelp managed to force its way into the buildings by whatever gap it could find.
The grogs set up camp outside of the village and well away from the seaweed, keeping the village between the camp and the sea. I approve of their decision.
We spend the night inside a magic circle, which is inside a magical wall of stone. I sympathise with Maedbh over her trip to northern France, which is full of French since King John lost all his battles there.
The next morning, we awake without anything nasty happening to us overnight. We cook breakfast, and the magi do some more magi stuff. Allistair is standing on the shore chanting, when a great big ball of water suddenly forms around him. He then falls over, and bobs around on the waves.
We spend a couple of minutes trying to pull him out of the water, thought he bubble seems to follow him. Then the water collapses, and he wakes up looking dazed and confused. Apparently something went wrong with the magic.
One he has recovered, he walks into the water, sinking beneath the waves to go and explore the underwater caves.
The caves were filled with seaweed, with the glimmer of bones on the floor of the cave beneath the seaweed. At the back of the cave, there was a dark hole that almost looked like a mouth. There was a reddish glowing colour around the ‘mouth’, and even his magical sight didn’t penetrate it.
The light looked a bit like illuminated steam. It’s a little warmer here, but not uncomfortably so.
The barrier parted, and a head poked out, and started moving out. It sees Allistor, does a double take, and flees back. It looked like the head of a rotting horse, covered in seaweed.
Allistor quickly headed back to dry land, and filled us in on the details. It appears to be a Kelpie, but stuck somewhere between the state of being dead and alive.
Whilst we are discussing things, Allistair spot a couple of figures coming out of the cave. One is a horse, the other human. Both have rotting flesh, with areas of bone. They are walking along the bottom of the sea, up towards us. The human form is struggling, but the Kelpie is moving quite quickly towards us.
The seaweed on the land begins to move, coiling and writhing. Fortunately, we had already decided to move away from us. The kelpie sticks its head above the water, and Blane shoots an arrow at it. It strikes its head, sticking deep into its skull and taking out an eye. But it continues moving towards us.
Blane hits it with another arrow whilst it comes through the water, as myself and Malcolm ready to meet it on the beach. As it comes up onto the beach, a third arrow is placed into it.
It charges up on the beach, pauses to shake the water from the mane it no longer has, and then a large rock lands on it, partially shattering its skeleton.
Another arrow hits it as it charges forward, It then flies into the air, then smashes into the ground, finally shattering it to pieces. Allistor’s magic is as useful as always.
The human is still walking towards us under the water. The seaweed has stopped moving at this point, now that the Kelpie is dead.
A head appears above the water, and Blane tries to shoot it. However, his arrow goes wild. It is shambling, with dull red glow in its eyes. As it gets above the water, it looks around and the seaweed begins to move again. Blane tries another arrow, which hits it as its clothes begin to wrap around it, constricting its movements.
Then another rock lands on it, knocking it to the ground and pinning it under the water. I finish it off.
I notice that it is wearing a sturdy looking belt, with a rather good quality belt buckle. It probably belonged to one of the villager, implying that the villagers were taken down into the water, possibly into the dark hole, and turned into living dead creatures.
