So. Someone you know was turned? Surely there must be ways to reverse the process, the Lady of Graves has great power over the dead.
The tall priest gives Nalun a brief smile for his concern. "Reversed? I don't know. The Professor and I studied this question at length and found nothing. The undead cannot be risen and restored by any common means. The Pharaoh is the only one I've ever heard of who has the true power of resurrection. Perhaps he could do it. I petitioned to speak with him once, but the Great One did not deem to hear me."
Nalun frowns Perhaps the Library at the University might have some information. We should do research when we are finished with our investigation
Which isn't going all that well...
Simeon listens intently to Jaru and Nalun's conversation, adding "I seriously doubt restoration would be possible, after all the deceased will have passed into Pharasma's clutches. The shell is what has been corrupted... though, I remember now some talk of those that choose of their own voilition to acquire such a state. in that case, reversablility may be possible...Hmmm, some research into this might prove fruitful...." he trails off , muttering.
After a few minutes walking, he looks up, "Is anyone else, hungry? I am! There's a place just inside the city, excellent schnitzel!"
You head back to town and the eatery suggested by Simeon. He remembered it correctly - the food at 'Schmitts Beer Garden' is excellent, as is the Ale. While dining Kendra happens to pass by and joins you.
This certainly is much better than Ravengro - this town is strange still but growing on me. What are you up to now? Oh, I'll forget my head next - I have a letter for you back at the house. Lets head there afterwards and you can collect it.
Jaru gives his companions a weary smile for their concern, but still seems troubled. He makes due with a vegetable stew and beer for dinner. He looks up with interest at the mention of the letter. "Do you know who sent it?"
No - just addressed to 'The Heros of Ravengro' - I think that means you. So tell me, what are you up to of late?
Heroes... Nalun almost chokes on his delicious fried meat.
"Well, we were damn well heroic, I think!" Simeon says around a mouthful of shnitzel, crumbs flying through the air.
Suddenly realizing what he was doing in front of Kendra, he sputters and swallows suddenly, and begins apologizing profusely for his rudeness.
After his embarassment passes, he tidies himself with one of the fine linen napkins and says "Miss Kendra, let us hasten to your house. This letter intrigues me."
You head back to Kendra's noting the day is nearly over and night is beginning to creep in.
The letter is in a plain folded envelope with 'To the Heros of Ravengro' written on the front in practiced calligraphy, the style of the letter verbose and florid.
On opening you find:
To the heros of Ravengro,
If you are reading this, then I use this letter to offer my congratulations. The ghosts of Harrowstone have been banished, and you are in all likelihood the ones responsible.
I am impressed by your victory; enough so to nearly eclipse the fact that I would much have preferred your quest to fail. Please don’t be offended by this; I have nothing against you personally, but I was rather looking forward to observing the unleashing of Harrowstone’s spirits, and the resulting effects on Ravengro.
I suppose I should explain a few things. Firstly, as you may have already surmised, the previous visitors to Harrowstone, the ones whose actions precipitated the threat to Ravengro, were there at my behest. That being said, however, the endangerment of the town was in no way my, or their, intention. The mission they were there on was not of your concern; suffice it to say they accomplished their goals and departed, unaware of the potential consequences to the prison’s ghostly inhabitants. It was only while reviewing their actions that I realized the opportunity which they had accidentally unlocked — the chance to witness firsthand the spectral multitudes being freed of their shackles and, more than likely, claiming Ravengro as a literal ghost town.
I believe it unlikely that any of Ravengro’s inhabitants posessed the intellect to discern what was going on, or the skill to prevent it; yet knew that outside interference might have still prevented the release of the spirits, hence this letter.
I want you to know that, had this spectral emancipation been my primary intent, I would have been most angry with you, and felt obligated to destroy you for your interference. Fortunately for you, my lost opportunity was an unlooked - for one, and hence my only emotion at its loss is mild disappointment. Thus, I bear you no ill will, and indeed hope that, should our paths cross again, that our interests might be more aligned to each other. Your triumph in Harrowstone marks you as a cut above the verminous rabble who largely populate this world, and I would much prefer to know those of such potential as allies rather than foes. Still, who can say what the future holds?
The letter is sealed in black wax with a curious ‘W’ with a stoke across the letter itself.
As you are reading the letter there is a knock at the door which Kendra answers.
You can hear I... I... hope I have the right pl... pl... place.
Jaru raises an eyebrow at the strange letter.
Simeon reads the letter, his eyes moving methodically but growing bigger as he begins to understand the message.
His almost sputtering in rage by the time he finishes, "The gall! The temerity! W! W? Is this the Whipering Way's Whisperer? Balderdash!"
He flings the missive at the next in line to read it and begins to pace excitedly back and forth, muttering and occasionally exclaiming , so agitated is he.
At the knock on the door, he halts his pacing and asks "That sounds like our timid counsellor."
"Well, too bad there is no return address. The letter tells us that our enemy is still hard at work and that we are one step behind. I don't see where to take the next steps though... Miss Kendra, was this letter in an envelope, sent by mail?"
Delivered from a wagoneer who bought it from Ravengro - I ... Sort of told Jominda where I would be living. They sent it to me because they didn't know where else to send it.
The balding barrister stands in the room nervously.
Wh... What do you kn.. Kno... Know?
Simeon walks over, his humor much improved by his venting, "Ah, Gustav, Ms Zemiel has the right of it. Nothing conclusive from Herr Stenhoven, but interesting discoveries at the ruins of the Santuary. "
Seeing Kendra watching , Simeon warms to his storytelling , "It would seem the Santuary was a haven for all kinds of misshappen and malformed individuals. Was it a coincidence that there had been an increase in the number of cadavers delivered to the University displaying obvious physical malfomations? " he askes rhetorically, then continues, "Arriving at the ruins we discovered a locked box, " he pauses, "We must open the box!" he exclaims, then continues "We found a hole in the ground and descended only to find it filled with ghouls. After dispatching the foul beasts, all we found were deformed skulls...not to unexpected and a glass bottle bearing the monkier of the fine Vorkstag and Grine, purveyors of fine chemicals."
"That is our current avenue of research. Discovering the quanity and nature of the supplies provided by Vorkstag and Grine to the Santuary and Dr Brada."
Taking a deep breath, he says , "Now where is that box...and a crowbar ..or shovel..."
After some work with Kendra's butter knives (and a few broken knives) you are able to open it.
Unfortunately the heat of the fire was enough to char most of the papers beyond recognition. Perhaps a linguistics check? The papers are beyond any magic to restore.
I... I... came to y... you... to ask you to travel to m... m... Morast next - I wa... want them... interviewed be... before... the trial and they... will travel soon to Lepidstadt
Jaru squints at the charred papers, but cannot fails at tugging out the foreign words.
Nalun studies the papers but cannot make sense of them
Professor? Do you make sense of these?
Simeon picks up pieces of parchment, squinting at the letter written...
Then tossing them back into the box, "Fah! Nothing to be gained with these!"
If you g... g...get moving now you can be there early morning, oth... oth... otherwise if you leave before first light, you'll be there early afternoon... we would need you to t... ta... talk to them before they get moving.
"It's a pity we can't make what's written... Maybe we ask a specialist? Leave the sheets with him as we leave for Morast?" offers Emmett.
I c...can... do that. Wh... when are you l... leav... leaving?
Jaru sighs, his morose mood returning. "I'd rather not travel through the night, but a soul depends upon us being timely. I suppose we should make haste and rely on Fate to see us safely through the night to our destination."
I..It... may be... use...useful for you to have h... h... horses otherwise you may n... n... not make it that quickly. You can find a l... l... livery stable near here. Deposit may be a b... b... bit steep b... but better to have st... ste... steeds than not
The advise isn't bad - horses will make the journey less demanding on you. Typical fee for an older horse is around 50 gold with most of it (90%) returned when the horse is. Better horses may cost you 75 gold or even 100 gold but they may require a more experienced rider.
"Let's get horses. No point walking such a long distance. Especially at night. Horses could allow us to outrun danger... And you will give the documents to a specialist and let us know what he found when we come back, right?"
For a moment , Simeon is incredulous that Emmett would consider the counsellor more a specialist than he, glaring daggers into the older man's back.
Talk of overnight travel on horseback brings him free if his dark thoughts, "Ah no ! Horse bound travel, through the Ustalavian countryside...at night! " he cries rounding on the counsellor, "I hope that your office will be offering recompense for this serious imposition."
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Jaru ponders. "I once rode a camel. I imagine that a horse would be similar."
Talk of overnight travel on horseback brings him free if his dark thoughts, "Ah no ! Horse bound travel, through the Ustalavian countryside...at night! " he cries rounding on the counsellor, "I hope that your office will be offering recompense for this serious imposition."
I ne... nev... never considered t...th... that but get a rec... reciept and I see wh... what I can do. I take it... you wa... wan... want to leave before first light th... then?
"Yes, let's be on our way. We barely bother even trying to sleep any more."
Nalun seems almost giddy with excitement Do you think we will find anything in this Morast place? He asks no one in particular
He then busies himself scribbling notes about their current task in his journal.
"Let's try to avoid trouble by outrunning it..."
Simeon sighs, realizing that the plan to ride to Morast by horseback is a certainty.
"Yes, yes, let's be about it then." he says, echoing Jaru, "Hero's don't need sleep..."
The Livery stable is active early in the evening when you arrive. The stable master seems skeptical about a night time ride but is able to procure you five horses that don't look like they are about to die but are far from being the race horses they may have been 10 years ago. The fee was set to be higher for danger rates but given that you were renting 5 horses, a very considerable sum in one transaction, the base rate was agreed to.
You set off into the dark night, horses moving at a steady walk and occassional canter - you'd not want to gallop unless your lives depended on it.
In the distance you can hear the mournful bay of a lone wolf that makes the horses skittish but nothing more troubles your journey. The horses need some rest around two in the morning and you stop for a cautious rest, noting that the terrain is changing and becoming marshy.
Simeon and Nalun remember now that Morast is on the edge of a swamp and its people (along with others of similar residence) are called 'Swampers' - they are an insular and clannish lot, having their own customs and mannerisms being isolated from much of Ustalav.
The horses rested but its riders weary you see houses, shacks more than anything else, on the edge of a swamp rise out of the early morning mist - the sun is well up but still with considerable time until noon.
On reaching the town you can see Morast is a miserable collection of 20 or so wattle-and-daub hovels built on stilts above the swamp and connected by soggy wooden boardwalks.
A middle aged man sits on a creaking rocking chair chewing on something.
Y'all furriners? Wat y'all doin' ere? We be 'avin' nort t'do wit' taxes now, he says before spitting some sort of foul juice of the edge of his porch.
Jaru wearily dismounts and shakes his head to rouse himself. "Why would foreigners be interested in taxes? No, we are here to inquire about the alleged murders by the Beast some year ago. Do you know anyone that we can speak with?"
Yer spiken t' me arrn't ya? Th' Beast now is it? Godsdarn monster wus ere' 'bout year back, yessiree. So yer no' frim th' Govmint then? Yer still cityfolk an' furriners - what yer want t' know 'bout th' Beast fer? We be leavin fer the smoke in a day or two.
We are investigators, sent to ascertain the true nature of the Beast and if he had any foul influence on those he lived near. Once we have determined he had no sway here, we will move on and leave you in peace. We would like your full cooperation, as it will make the authorities in the "City" much more likely to leave you alone, and perhaps even reduce your taxes. Nalun lies, only a small one but still an untruth.
Perhaps if they believe we have some power they might help us more fully.