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Gravleon slams his fist in the table " damn him why did he not contact me sooner or at all you should have known that I would have dropped everything and got here as fast as I possibly could then maybe this tragedy wouldn't have happened. oh you were great man but sometimes your pursuit of knowledge called you to do foolish things why didn't you contact us any of us. you were too old to go off adventuring when you're by yourself again you will be avenged old friend you will be avenged" he turns around and looks out the window" I will purify that area with fire if I need be, nun who harmed my friends will walk on this plane for long"
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Blackheath collapses heavily into a chair and is struck speechless for a few minutes --quite the anomaly. He sits lost in thought and then whispers: "So, we have the beginning of our answer and it raises more questions then before." He looks to his companions and asks, "What do we know of Harrowstone or this... Whispering Way?
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Gravleon remembers chatting with Petros about his lectures and research. He specifically recalls some disturbing facts:
Agents of the Whispering Way often seek alliances with undead creatures, or are themselves undead. The Whispering Way’s most notorious member was Tar-Baphon, the Whispering Tyrant, although the society itself has existed much longer than even that mighty necromancer.
Harrowstone was built in 4594. Ravengro was founded at the same time as a place where guards and their families could live and that would produce food and other supplies used by the prison. The fire that killed all of the prisoners and most of the guards destroyed a large portion of the prison's underground eastern wing, but left most of the stone structure above relatively intact. The prison's warden perished in the fire, along with his wife, although no one knows why she was in the prison when the fire occurred. A statue commemorating the warden and the guards who lost their lives was built in the months after the tragedy—that statue still stands on the riverbank just outside of town.
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Graveon truns around
"the whispering way...I remember now!Years ago the professor and i were taking of death worshiping cults and that was one of them...why did he not contact me...they are far to dangerous to inveterate alone..oh no."
he clutches the holy symbol of Sarenrae
"i pray someone blessed his body this cult wields dark necromantic powers they could, th..they could use his body if it was not protected...we will need to be vary careful with this..my new friends we are in for a hard time...and Harrowstone if their using that cursed place it could only be to revive the evil that was once imprisoned there. We will have to investigate ...its his last request it will be fulfilled and he will be honored in this"
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"That gives us a place to start. If you will heed the words of a clown, I think we must do a few things...
"First, if Kendra has anything she can add about this or --as unpleasant as it may be-- any signs of violence or injury upon Petros's body, then we must hear it. After that, with her help, let us see if there are any helpful books in the house, NOT the dangerous tomes, though. Those must be secured. I doubt we will find anything, for Petros's would likely have put it with the journal if there was, but it pays to be thorough.
"Then some of us must distract and pump the priests of Pharasma for information, while two of us shady-types (probably Vandel and me) follow Petros's footsteps and 'liberate' from the Restlands false-crypt whatever helpful article is hidden there that was alluded to in the journal. Does anyone have a connection to Pharasma?"
"Next, let us visit the memorial statue of the guards and see if it holds any clues.
"Finally, we must see what we can learn from the locals, but we need to do it carefully. They are a reticent and superstitious lot, and not likely to want to gossip with strangers, but I have a plan for that though it will require a few gold coins.
"I'm sure I don't need to say it, but we also need to make sure Kendra and these tomes stay safe. We cannot neglect our solemn charge, while beginning our quest. So, let us hear some ideas on protecting Kendra and the house while we begin to collect information.
"Of course, full disclosure here, I am a fool and most people say I'm cracked, so if you don't wish to participate in the schemes of this particular madman, I fully understand."
Blackheath waits to hear the party's verdict on his plan.
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"First, if Kendra has anything she can add about this or --as unpleasant as it may be-- any signs of violence or injury upon Petros's body, then we must hear it. After that, with her help, let us see if there are any helpful books in the house, NOT the dangerous tomes, though. Those must be secured. I doubt we will find anything, for Petros's would likely have put it with the journal if there was, but it pays to be thorough.
"My father's body was discovered laying on its back near one of Harrowstone's walls. The stone face from a leering gargoyle from the roof above fell, and the heavy block crushed his face and neck." At these words, she cannot help but weep.
____________________________________________________________"Finally, we must see what we can learn from the locals, but we need to do it carefully. They are a reticent and superstitious lot, and not likely to want to gossip with strangers, but I have a plan for that though it will require a few gold coins.
Ravengro at a glance:
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Blackheath comforts Kendra. "Thank you for being strong enough to do this. You are truly your father's daughter."
After a respectful period of time, the clown grabs a sheet of parchment, and in a legible, but eccentric hand, writes the following postbill:
WIN a PURSE of GOLD!
storytellers, raconteurs, liars, humbugs,
and fishers of "the one that got away"
WANTED
for
STORYTELLING CONTEST!
BLACKHEATH
clown to king and king of clowns
will pit his tall-tales against yours
in a grand, one-time-only
CHALLENGE for GOLD!
TONIGHT
at
THE LAUGHING DEMON
He runs out to The Laughing Demon to speak to Zokar Elkarid and make sure that there will be space for the contest and added custom at his tavern, before giving the bill to the postboy, tipping him a few copper to see that word gets around.
"Tonight we'll see if a chance for fame and gold will loosen some tongues. But, brethren, I'm a tad light for putting together the prize purse. I can contribute two gold -- can we pool our resources to bring it to five?"
My friend, a storytelling contest is an imaginative solution. And if we had more time, I would agree with your course of action. but look here
Monty points to the journal and reads.
It is imperative the Way does not finish. My caution has already cost me too much time. I am not sure what will happen if I am too late, but if my theory is right, the entire town could be at risk
Monty closes the book.
I agree that we must collect the tools mentioned in the journal, but we must make haste.
Kendra, love, may I ask who discovered the body?
Monty examines the "dangerous" tombs and the chest. Fingering the pages of the books carefully before opening them.
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"no, we cannot hold till night fal, some necromancers are stronger in the dark. Or they could be performing a dark ritual that needs to hide from Sarenreas light in order to be completed, no of we hold for too long it could be too late"
-Posted with Wayfinder
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Three of these have notes tucked into them indicating that they should be delivered to one Montagnie Crowl, a professor of antiquities at Lepidstadt University.
The fourth, the rich purple book with the lock on it, has a note indicating it should be delivered to Embreth Daramid, a judge at the Lepidstadt Courthouse (although the note asks for this delivery in particular to be handled discreetly, and includes the address of Embreth’s home so that the PCs can deliver it there).
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Kendra, love, may I ask who discovered the body?
"One of the locals. His name is McGuffin, I believe."
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How are you examining them?
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I suppose you pick up the first one. Let's say that it's the jet black book. You find the note sticking out of it as I described above.
The title is: On Verified Madness.
Monty flips it open and skims through a few pages. As he reads, his eyes widen with horror. He drops the book and covers his eyes and eyes and shakes his head. Thoughts of The Infinite run rampant through his mind for a moment. He has discovered that this black book is a treatise on aberrations and other entities found on Golarion that possess remote ties to the Dark Tapestry, the name given to the dark places between the stars in the night sky.
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Please let me know how you would like to examine the other two books.
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When he sees that Monty seems to actually want to read or skim the dangerous tomes (looking for indices and topic headings), Blackheath quietly takes his leave.
"I don't believe the professor intended for us to read them -- just protect them. If they had something helpful, they would have had a 'read me second' note. Vandel, I am going to head over to the Restlands to look for the false-crypt mentioned in the journal. Will you come with me? Dolgarth, do you want to see what you can get from the Church of Pharasma?
"Haste is great, but the professor directed us to those clues for a reason and we can't go into this blind... Unless, of course, anyone here knows how to kill a ghost using swords."
Monty uncovers his eyes.
Well...that was terrible. Yes, we should go, but before we do, let us consider. First, do we want to leave the terrible books here. These tomes would most assuredly be considered contraband in this land. Second, should Kendra stay here? I am worried about her safety.
Monty carefully puts the book back in the trunk and laughs.
It is like the good professor to have me bring his books back to the library. Reminds me of when I was his research research assistant. I will bring back a black coffee for you too, my friend.
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"Those are good questions and useful avenues to pursue, Monty. We might even see if the Church of Pharasma can protect her for the night.
"As for an estimated time frame: we can't get the 'tools' in the crypt until after nightfall (or we face the rightful anger of a mob at the Restlands) so we can gather information until that point. If we head to the prison after that, I expect we will either be dead or returned by morning."
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Blackheath nods in agreement with Monty.
"I'm torn about entrusting her to the care of the Church of Pharasma for the night, myself -- especially since it doesn't seem Petros shared everything with them. But, it might be our only alternative. We need to trust someone. If Kendra has no suggestions, maybe we can see how we feel about it after we visit the church. We might be able to get a better sense of the people and their motivations."
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"Kendra please let them know you are not such frail woman, I remember the few times you chased off those men...with just a big branch...anyhow just come with us it's the best move and that way we don't need to leave anyone alone. Also some locals might want to talk to her and by association us about what we have found..no"
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"Certainly, it would be a good idea to keep Kendra with us while we collect information in the town, though we might still need to leave Kiki to guard the tomes. However, I don't think Petros, when he asked us to protect his daughter, would have felt that risking her life in a haunted prison would be the best way of doing that. Petros Lorrimor was wiser and more powerful than any one of us. We only have a chance of defeating the evil and keeping Kendra safe if we use every tool at our disposal and combine our strength. I can't imagine taking Kendra into that danger when we don't even have a solid idea what we are up against.
"Let us keep Kendra with us now (if she will come) and set a guard over the tomes. After we have a better idea of the type of evil we are facing, we can discuss how best to keep her safe. Does that sound reasonable?"
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well things have changed since I have been gone, whatever happened to that rambunctious young girl that couldn't wait to see the world...
Gravleon thought to himself" well then good that seems to be settled Monte do you think you can leave your cat here with her I believe it'll be able to quickly ascertain any danger I give her some comfort while we're gone. well let's get back out into this weather find out all we can about this whispering way"
-Posted with Wayfinder
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"Now that we've settled that, let us try the Church of Pharasma first. Let's be careful about mentioning the Whispering Way directly as we look for clues today. We don't want them to know we are investigating -- that would put Kendra in danger. We need to be subtle, and to do this carefully. If anyone thinks they might blurt something out, or lose their temper then let them trade places with the lion"
Blackheath tries to hurry to the church before anyone changes their mind.
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This is a lion, my dear Gravleon, not a cat. Panthera leo is in a different family from Felis catus. Regardless, Yes, I think she will be fine. There is nothing in the will that indicates any threat to Kendra. Thus, Kiki should come with us. He is quite a help in a pickle.
Anyway, I have no issues splitting us these books. However, as a member of University of Lepidstadt's faculty, know that I am be ultimately responsible for these texts and will protect them with my life.
Monty hands Vandel a copy of the book "Human taxidermy, fun with the hole family."
Let us go friends.
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Zokar Elkarid, the tavern owner greets everyone with a sincere smile and a big "Welcome!" But, he's the only one to do so. The other tavern patrons, while neither rude nor hostile, don't seem to care one way or another about the party.
Kendra, however, is a beautiful young woman who has lived in Ravengro for the past 15 years--since she was about 10 years old. They all greet her warmly; she is one of their own. Most of them give her a few words of condolence about her father.
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Kendra makes introductions. "This is Zokar Elkarid, proprietor of the Laughing Demon. Zokar, these are my father's friends: Blackheath, Dolgarth, Gravleon, Monty, and this little one is Kiki!" She give Kiki a little, freindly rub between the ears.
Zokar responds, "Any friends of Kendra's are friends of mine! Can I get you folks anything to eat or drink? Our special of the day is wolf balls!!"
Kendra raises and eyebrow at this. Her expression tells you that she doesn't expect these "wolf balls" are actually made from wolf. "Oh? And how did you make them. Zokar?"
Zokar can't help himself. He runs to the kitchen and brings a small plate to Kendra. They're actually lamb meatballs crafted to look like the face of the full moon. Zokar clearly loves a good joke.
She tries one: "Delicious!"