4 Virgo
We had finally made it. The cardinal had accepted to speak with the princess, and with Mustadio as well, and we were given free roam of the castle. There was little in the way of entertainment, but I had the feeling we wouldn’t be long anyway.
And right I was. Just when I was about to have a nice meal – paid for with goblin coin – Ramza and Mustadio rejoined the group. Though Lavian and Alicia were still with us, Ramza informed us that Agrias would remain by princess Ovelia’s side. They would be here in the safety of the castle of Lionel until the High Confessor would send news that Duke Larg would be exposed. Lavian and Alicia could remain with us to hone their abilities. The princess would have plenty of protection with just Agrias by her side.
Mustadio, however, looked pale. An understanding glance from Ramza told me that Mustadio must have finally confided what had moved him to seek cardinal Delacroix’s aid.
He has an auracite too, Mustadio mumbled. I had heard rumours about auracite, zodiac stones as they were also known, being discussed in the tavern inside these castle walls but no one seemed to know what they were talking about. It was, of course, a thing of legend, something one would not expect to know much about, so I couldn’t offer much in the way of understanding.
I offered him a bite of my stew instead, but he kindly declined. The situation must have been grave indeed for anyone to reject such divine smelling food, so I asked him what the matter was. Ramza protested at first, but Mustadio stopped him. It was time he told everyone why he had sought the aid of the cardinal. After all, it was for his sake that we would all be making the journey towards Goug to free his father. He owed us at least the knowledge of why we were risking our lives.
Tchigolith Fernlands
Packed and ready, we all made for Goug. Mustadio had filled us in that in the mines deep underneath the clockwork city of Goug, his father and he had worked as mechanics on the ancients airships that lay dormant there. Relics from a time long passed. This is where he had found an auracite stone. It did not look like much, but its energy was so great that it was able to whir the ancient relics right back to life. He could not explain it, but it appeared that the cardinal has a stone like it. A zodiac stone, he called it, a stone belonging to one of the twelve warriors of lore who fought against the Lucavi thousands of years ago. He had only learned that in his meeting with the cardinal. Such powerful warriors they must have been if they bore such crystals…
The colour had returned to Mustadio’s face since Lionel, until we hit the fernlands. The rain pelted down and underneath was nothing but mud and dirty water to wade through. To top things off, the fen was haunted by ghouls and living skeletons. And… Pigs?
We had come across those skeletons before. They were not to mess with. But they were living dead, and Greg had let us all in on a secret ages ago. He, as an apothecary’s son, had seen this in effect before, and to be fair when he explained, it made sense.
Bring all the tufts of phoenix down you can get, he had told us one time, when we were passing through the Araguay Woods. Just throw one at those skulls. So we had tried it, somewhat apprehensively. And lo behold, the skeleton just dropped… Well, not dead, because it already was dead. Perhaps more dead.
This time we were all stocked up on phoenix down. We got as many tufts as we could from the castle’s apothecary, just in case, and it seemed that they would already prove their use. So armed with tufts of phoenix down, we charged at the living dead.
I am Bathsua, killer of the living dead, and these are my memoirs.
Memoirs of a squire 