We picked up this week with our 5th edition Dungons & Dragons campaign in the aftermath of the fight between the characters and a pair of Furies. It was looking like a TPK in the making when the monk character, Icio, called on his patron angel, Michael, to bail them out. What they got was a full throwdown between lesser gods that half wrecked the official residence of the Praetor of Aquileia. With two players down — one at a convention in England and one on route to GenCon, I decided to concentrate on the three players’ concerns.

The next morning found Carrus getting his staff of blacksmiths working on the armor and weapons they had taken from the furies. With 20 rolled, he was able to deduce that the weapons and armor aren’t metal, but perhaps some kind of porcelain — light, heat and cold-resistant, and tougher than the best iron. Yet Michael’s arrows went through them like butter, burning a clean hole through the material. The swords the Furies used went through Marcellus’ breastplate similarly cleanly. He hasn’t worked out all the secrets, but he is on the path to learning how to make the stuff.

Marcellus left his tent to find Icio waiting for him. This “Anathema” which had so rattled the Furies and Michael is of great concern to him. Could she really be a relation? What the hell was she? They gathered up Carrus and went to search the city for her. (We assumed Calvinus was busy trying to soothe his father’s concerns about powerful mystical creatures ripping up his town, while Augustinian was researching the information on her.)

They find her in a mariners’ inn by the wharf, sequestered on the third floor away from the other guests. The owner of the inn was terrified of her, but did not want to anger her. After having him clear out the inn (Marcellus is enjoying his imperium), they knocked on the door. The Anathema was waiting, and was open to their questions. Her attitude toward the entire affair was blasé, and she seemed entirely unconcerned to have armed men in the room with her. Marcellus noted she seemed to have a pretty good handle on the entire situation.

What they learned: she claims to be in the service of Hades (she tends to call the gods by their Greek names) and was sent to aid them in their quest. Icio asked her parentage — he calls her brother, but he doesn’t think she means in Christ. She tells him they have the same father. He is not the son of Zaccharius the carpenter; he is the son of Michael. She is the daughter of Michael and Soteria — the mother of angels. Soteria has a much older name: Hecate, the goddess of magic, possibility, and choice. The Anathema is what the various sides call her for she is not supposed to exist — just like the barukhim and nephalhim, the children of angels and demons with humans — she is a child of “good and evil.” Her given name is Chthonia. (No, you don’t actually pronounce the “ch” in a chth blend — it’s “Thonia”.)

If Sataniel manages to raise the Shadow, the various realms would once against be accessible, and the gods of old would be able to interfere in the affairs of Man. Satan could engage in his war against Heaven. When they ask her for her aid, she tells them that is her purpose.

On their way back to the camp, they were waylaid by one of the vigiles, the town guard. There is a problem on the north wall… they arrive to find a small force of satyrs and centaurs! Led by Calacites (King of the Satyrs of Dalmatia) they have been searching the countryside for his daughter: Carona. Instead of being an orphan who fled the destruction of her village, she was drawn out into the world by her curiosity. He has come to save her from the world of Men.

This led to an uncomfortable and amusing exchange where Carrus had to confirm she was here, and in the end — with a choice between having his pregnant girlfriend taken away to live with the satyrs or keeping her with him, he suggested marriage. The satyrs, knowing what a monumentally bad idea this is, managed to contain their mirth and Calacites accepted. We ended the night with his marriage to Carona.