Two Faces of Love
Date: Winter 1191
Godwyn and Thomas investigated reports of a ghost on the road to Glastonbury and ended up breaking into a nunnery.
Characters
Synopsis
Godwyn had heard tales of a ghost who had recently begun frightening travelers on the road to Glastonbury. Partly out of curiosity, and partly out of a hunch that where there are ghosts, there's raw vis, he and Thomas set out to investigate.
A spirit shaped like a woman was easy to find; all they had to do was travel the road at night and it came right up to them. The spirit resembled a young and beautiful woman. It didn't speak, but withdrew when approached and led Godwyn and Thomas at a rapid pace across the countryside. They came into a wood and a crossed paths with a large man who was obviously a fugitive on the run. Dogs could be heard baying in the distance.
There was a brief conversation, which went pretty well considering Godwyn's Gift. Thomas did most of the talking. The man was on the run from a Norman knight named Sir Guy; that was all Godwyn and Thomas needed to make them want to interfere. His name was Dwain and he said he had been a sergeant in Sir Guy's castle and had fallen in love with a young Norman woman who apparently was intended for Sir Guy; he had been forced to flee when the affair was uncovered. Thomas switched cloaks with the man and used his cloak to create a false scent trail. Gowdyn split off in another direction. They managed to delay the man's pursuit but Thomas was chased up a tree by a pack of bloodhounds. It took most of the night for the two to shake off pursuit and find one another again.
The next day they proceeded along the road to ask about the ghost and came to a convent. Under the pretext of resting while on pilgrimage, Godwyn and Thomas sought hospitality and tried to discreetly quiz the nuns about the ghost story. One of the nuns was rather chatty and happily recounted the story of the haunting. The ghostly shape of a young woman had appeared a couple of months ago on the road near the convent, beckoning travelers toward it. Mother Superior frowned upon the nuns repeating such stories and strictly confined them indoors at night.
Thomas noticed that one of the nuns was a young woman who bore a striking resemblance to the ghostly figure they had encountered earlier. Her name was Sister Joan.
Godwyn and Thomas naturally decided to sneak out and prowl the nunnery's grounds that night. They encountered a spirit, but this spirit bore a striking resemblance to the man they had saved from his pursuers the night before. The spirit beckoned them to the outer wall of the convent and disappeared. After negotiating the wall, Godwyn and Thomas found the spirit of the young woman on the other side. She led them out into the wood where they found the fugitive man again.
After a suspicious bit of spell-casting to verify that the man was indeed flesh and blood, they asked him the story of why he was on the run. He replied that he was a Welshman, employed as an officer at some nearby Norman castle. He'd fallen in love with a young Norman lady of noble birth higher than his station. Their affair had been discovered and the young lady was whisked away to the convent. The man had a price put on his head.
Godwyn decided that restoring these two young lovers to one another's embrace was not only the right thing to do, more importantly it would annoy at least one Norman lord. He and his trusty grog returned to the monastery, where they met the male spirit. It led them to the window of the cell where the young lady was quartered.
Unfortunately her door was guarded by a vigilant nun. Godwyn lacked the simple Mentem spells that could have put the nun to sleep so he and Thomas opted for an alternate plan. They raided the laundry and dressed Thomas in a habit. Then Godwyn cast Disguise of the New Visage to make him look like a woman. Thomas, disguised as a nun, went in to the building to confront the sister who was guarding the young lady's chamber. This is where the plan kind of fell apart. Thomas wasn't much of a talker and failed to come up with a ruse to distract the guardian. In fact, we don't remember that he even really tried. He was carrying a heavy purse loaded with silver coins, which he used to bonk the nun over the head, knocking her unconscious. (Unfortunately there were no witnesses to this incident, or Thomas could have acquired a noteworthy Reputation).
Meanwhile Godwyn had moved an empty cart into position against the nunnery's wall, so the three were able to climb on top of it to scramble over the wall and escape. There they met the female spirit, who led them straight to the young man in the forest. A joyous reunion ensued. The spirit changed a few times from male to female and back to male, eventually disappearing and leaving behind the cloak it had been wearing: the cloak on which the lovers had first consummated their affair, and which was now imbued with Mentem vis.
The wizard and the couple went their separate ways. As they parted, the young Welshman proclaimed that he was in Godwyn's and Thomas's debt.