Records: Ghosts of the Living

## **The Walls Were Breached**

Nearly 8,000 troops, in four regiments, were on the verge of storming Paris, a city of roughly 180,000.

Those numbers might've been unthinkable at one time, but not only were they at the walls, the walls were perforated and the streets prepared by ranging fire. Even the Parisian who'd never picked up a sword knew the maelstrom of death that was about to descend upon them: one of the English regiments was just outside the Porte Saint-Antoine, and the rubble pile that was once the Bastille.

More so, at night, they'd seen King Edward walking the lines himself. How did they know it was actually the English king? Because even a mile away, *Excalibur* glowed like a sliver of sun in his hand, lighting the area around him.

The call had been put forth for the House of Valois to surrender and spare the city. At dawn, Paris would fall.

### **Tears of Grief and Terror**

As the sun settled over the horizon one last time, Paris began to weep.

There were arguments, rumored fights between Charles and Philip. Despite epic leadership by the recent Marshal and newly-appointed Constable of France Louis de Sancerre, the French guard force had no desire to face what a few survivors had already barely escaped. Half the city got drunk, while others boarded themselves in their houses (and many did both).

By nightfall, there was a steady stream of Parisian refugees making an escape out of the two gates where the English weren't.

By ten that night, 40,000 had already made an exodus – when there was a sudden surge and a sudden stop.

## **The Ghosts of Paris**

As the Edwardian regiments got their last bit of sleep, for those who could, those inside the walls were beset upon by an army of ghosts.

Recently deceased and ancient departures alike came back to haunt the living, especially those who had died there or nearby in battle. Some counts put it to at least one ghost per five living; enough to scare the ghost from most mortals.

The dead were a mix of angry or sad, and some manifest with enough physical force to show their frustration.

### **The Ghosts of the Living**

Most shocking, about an hour into the biggest mass haunting since the *Scream of Spectres*, were that many Parisians started to see themselves as ghosts. For some, it was a simply a melancholy spirt. For others, they saw the soul with wounds and burns, having passed in a battle and still suffering the pain and agony of the moment.

Seeing the dead was horrifying, but seeing their own souls drift away was absolutely terrifying. Many took it as portent of what was about to happen, and there was nobody to say that it wouldn't.

Some people, those with extraordinary empathy, were striken by a cloud of ghosts. Priests and barkeeps alike had a special terror as these spirits passed through them. It wasn't a possession, per se, as it was extreme individual hauntings.

## **The Dauphin and the Dead**

Prince Charles, the Dauphin of France, was stricken particularly hard.

He'd seen his own soul, mortally wounded, as did his father. Only moments later – a cloud ghosts were pulled to him. Flying through and around him, he fell to his knees, feeling not only his own pain, but the agony of the dead.

The Royal Retainers fled the palace and there was little the priests could do.

Decision made, the weakened Charles V, already in his armor and prepared to die in battle, picked up his 11-year old son, half dressed in steel plate and carried him through the streets of Paris, through the gate – and out to the last place the night sun of Excalibur had been seen.

### **The Armistice**

Under a flag of truce, Charles V met the King and Prince Edwards outside the Port Saint-Antoine gate. If the English, and the Jesuits of divine magic or the Order of Merlin could heal his son of this calamity, he would surrender the Kingdom of France to England for all time.

Nobody present could provide instant relief, but those touched by magic – the Sergeants-at-Arms – could slow it down. Where Charles' retainers had fled the ghosts, the English SA formed a circle around the French prince, absorbing the blows of the dead and cutting the affliction in half.

That gesture alone was enough to garner an armistice from the King of France.

## **Putting Forth the Call**

Charles learned how the English communications were so fast: *Scrolls of Correspondence*. A message was sent to a retainer of Prince Rick, summoning him to Paris immediately. The message was acknowledged by the Prince himself, his magically-authenticated signature scrawling across the scroll.

The St. George Regiment entered Paris peacefully, bringing young Charles to the Hôtel-Dieu Hospital, on the Île de la Cité, in the middle of the city. Within the building, they were able to place wards that slowed and calmed the spirits just a little more. Members of the English Jesuit Contingent joined them within the hour, as did members of the Order of Merlin.

They cut most of the direct attacks on the Prince, but only by keeping the human shield of SA soldiers in place. It took two days for Rick, as the SA absorbed the blows, to sail from York to Paris. The entire time, the SA – *including Prince Edward* – took rotations of endurance, shielding Prince Charles from what they could.