Expedition into the Vale of Avalon 1102

By Kia AryllinWhen we arrived in the mists I saw very little. I gather that there were frozen figures in the circle, but to be honest, I did not really notice the difference in all the mist. Several seconds after we appeared, Marwood began to call me, much to my surprise, as I had not expected him to be there.

After introducing him to a few people (and being briefly enthralled by a will o wisp) he told me that there was a source of the Dark (the enemy) somewhere within the mists, and that we had to stop it escaping, as it would go into Albion.
That night we made our way through will o wisps and more violent creatures to Camlann, guided by those of us capable of mist-walking. We were briefly able to use incanting as we travelled, but unfortunately just as word spread down the line that it was safe, Percival was dropped to the floor in pain by its use. By the time we reached Camlann a great deal of spellcasting had been carried out in countering the lights of the will o wisps.

We were accompanied by at least one being who seemed to be attempting to imitate Percival – at least I assume it was Percival as he wore a crown. I think the being was a phantasm, however he walked ahead of us, made menacing gestures towards our enemies, and would possibly have been amusing in a kinder situation.

Eventually we were accosted by a figure in the mists who demanded our halt. It was discovered that he was another Knight of the Erebus Order (the order that Reyner Halfast is a part of). After being reunited with Reyner, and at least partially convinced we were not an immediate threat, we were allowed into Camlann.

Most if not all of the villagers seemed suspicious of us, but that is understandable as they had spent five years having to guard against creatures from the mists.

Kabal was stated as being in charge of our mission.
We rose on Saturday to see what and who remained of Camlann. Several of our people were annoyed at the beginning of the day that they did not know what was happening or what was to be done. I began to explain to various people that there was more to do than simply evacuate the people of Camlann, but could not really speak to that many. Our other aim was, of course, to try and rescue Ehlana.

In the morning the band of gypsies (mentioned by Sir Reyner at the gosan moot) arrived, but most were killed. Later in the day several people returned to camp with the Gypsy mage.

(who sensed of the Dark????!!!)
The Neanderthals with white markings appear to have been warped forms of Arthur’s knights, those with red markings warped forms of Mordreds knights.
Some chaos knights (not I think The chaos knights) entered camp, holding a shield which they had apparently taken in triumph from a Neanderthal camp. After offering to conquer the small chair he stood next to, their leader gave the shield to Amryel in the hope that she could discern its functions, and gave a piece of code to Tyto to decipher. Tyto promptly hid the code. The knight was ultimately told by Sagramor that we would not help them defeat the neanderthals because we stood for law and they for chaos. After a brief conference, the chaos knights began a speech regarding how they would kill us, but were interrupted by an attack from Sir Reyner. The ensuing fight gained us the shield.
During the afternoon my attention was drawn by the Lord Protector to a man who had entered the village and was talking about disagreeing with the tactics of the Strong Ones. I went over to him to attempt to discern the influences upon him and discovered that he too was most certainly what were called Strong Ones – definitely a creature of the Dark. The best description I can give of how it feels to me when I sense these things is for you to imagine plunging yourself into….rotting meat and finding yourself surrounded by maggots. It was much like that. His name is Gellan/Galesh. Inside his body is the original pattern, the rightful inhabitant of the body. It was found, according to the Strong One, when it was near death, and the two are now together in a sense. When ‘he’ was explaining his reasons for wanting to escape the mists, he likened wanting to save the mortal pattern as similar to trying to rescue your husband or your wife from death. He wanted to be allowed into Albion, but after consideration, the Lord Protector decided not to allow that. Gellan/Galesh gave his word to harm none in Albion, but I could not vouch for how much his word is worth. We did not see him past Saturday night, so we can assume that he escaped the mists. I believe we know where he is.
Getting various things:

Shield – obtained from knights of chaos who came into the camp. It must have gone out of the camp, as it struck me that there had been something in the camp earlier that was light-based but had now left. About twenty minutes afterwards, the thing re-entered the camp. I may have worried Sagramor briefly by following what I felt around Camlann, not able to explain exactly what I was doing as I was concentrating on where the thing went. Once I realised it was the shield, I obtained it from the Lion who was protecting it, and we realised that it: gave the person holding it the ability to use it! Also you could feel the presence of all the ancestors – and it enabled you to cast high level incantations. It had the side effect of getting all the incantors highly over-excited.
Staff – taken from some Neanderthals who, it appears were a warped version of Arthur’s knights. I wonder if we tried asking for the staff, rather than simply following the tactics proposed by the knights of chaos and taking it. However I don’t know if we knew they had once been Arthur’s knights before we attacked them. The only comment I would make is that on reflection, the one who was presumably their leader shouted at us, telling us to go away – this means they were sentient. However I suppose it is easy to realise these things in hindsight.
Sword – late night. Very little idea what happened, were in long line in mists, couldn’t see what was happening, very very nasty fights. Lady Rebecca fell into the mists and we pulled her out asleep. Went one way then after lengthy unnerving pause and people moving around, we seemed to go back on ourselves. Then ended up in a clearing which had we gone beyond the lights we would have gone into the void. Considering what is in the void this is bad. Utter chaos, saw very little of this, I gather we retrieved Excalibur? In pieces? Very very dangerous. According to Percival, he and myself were chased by the Enemy on the way back to camp, this is why the back of the line were screaming for the front to hurry up, as Percival was at the back and could feel it reaching for him. I knew nothing of this, probably definite proof that my senses were being extremely hampered by the mists (described succinctly as me wandering around going ‘ooh look, a tree’ in essence, it was that bad).
Later in the night, discussions were being had on what to do when myself and Marwood sensed a ritual beginning down at the nearby circle, a ritual to try and raise the enemy’s power in Camlann. In truth we probably didn’t explain ourselves well enough, but fortunately some people followed us. We encountered some of the villagers in that circle, reinforcing its power, and also Ehlana, who was still casting magebolts at us, and appeared to be the rituals focus. However together we all managed to disrupt the ritual. Myself and Marwood both discerned the presence of a Strong One inside Ehlana, but the sensing was knocking us directly to the floor. Had there not been a buffer in the form of a link to the enemy Through the strong one which was Inside Ehlana, it would have had the same effect upon us both that the Taranis sword had upon me at the Games. As it was, we stopped after two checks as we were…drawing unwanted attention. Instead Ehlana was brought back to the camp. Various attempts to remove the Strong One from her were made, including taking her beyond the point of death (with the sanctuary amulet upon her) but it remained where it was. Because of the link to the Enemy, it could not be dismissed (it was being reinforced through the link). I have doubts that it was actually trapped inside her whilst she was unconscious because the next day it left her whilst she was in the same state. I am not entirely sure however if this was the case, why it did not do something unpleasant to me after I tickled her nose for ten minutes in an attempt to provoke it against me, and more specifically to get it out of her (in hindsight I realise this probably counts as ‘Stupid’). Hulce decided that it might be worth trying a ritual to remove the Strong One from Ehlana if all other options were to fail (this was the best idea Marwood et al could come up with).
Saturday night also included Marwood attempting to persuade Reaver to let him see his baby (apparently Reaver is having a baby?) and discussions about who would bind the four items to themselves.
On the Sunday we gained the Chalice, but I cannot recount any details as I missed the expedition.
Marwood had removed the villagers back to Albion by then. The plan was thus:

The area within the mists was going to collapse, and the Strong Ones were going to try and make a run into Albion, which simply could not be allowed. Therefore we had to stay until the area inside the mists was subsumed completely. Those who came from the realm would be destroyed (hence the reason for Marwood removing the villagers). This would include the Strong Ones…
Four people: Alexander Hulce, Sagramor, Kabal and Hadrian Constantine bound themselves to the items we had recovered over the course of the past two days, thus making themselves able to fight and destroy the Strong Ones. Also binding themselves rather permanently to the Oath of Law they swore.
So we returned to the edge of the mists and awaited the Strong Ones. They came in many waves, and the mists were so thick it was hard to see clearly. The fight was long and despite our best efforts, several Strong Ones got through. Cooper was caught before he made it past, and the Strong One left him.

As Percival and I stood guarding Ehlana the Strong One left her and made a dash for the exit, however by some miracle we managed to kill it. I do not know how and I do not think we could do so again, but fortunately it happened.

Slowly the mists closed in on us, and as people were engulfed they vanished. I did not see the last few moments as I was healing Quicksilver and opened my eyes to find myself kneeling in the Finmere ritual circle. After a brief moment as people tried to remember to cease using incantations, the injured were healed and we left the circle.
I believe we lost a member of House Karlennon in the final fight. Ehlana regained consciousness but was very distressed because of the things ‘she’ had done over the past month or so. We gained several people from Camlann, including various of the Erebus Order.
Several of us: Valerin, myself, Torvell, those of the Erebus Order and Marcellus set out almost immediately to track the Strong Ones and find where they had gone.