Janos looks over the books with Rhia, trying to remember his arcane lessons and looking for any magical symbols.
Knowledge, Arcana
For now Daniel is more interested in the Parchment, was it written in a hurried hand? or had the man been planning this for some time?
It appears we will be here awhile. I should be honored to help fullfill the wishes of a departed friend. But how do you feel about all this my dear? Considering the will, it seems the Professor had given his funeral ALOT of consideration to have the funds in place and a time frame set out. Forgive me if I press too soon, the man had far more insight than I and may have simply been prepared, but still...
He lets his voice trail off, probably not the best time, but this whole thing spoke of far too much planning. You knew you weren't coming back, didn't you, old man
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Matrim glances at the books the others are looking and looks around the room for a comfortable chair. He walks over and sits down, he nods in agreement with Daniel's observations. "I agree with Daniel. I know the professor was very meticulous with a great attention to detail, but something about this strikes me as odd. It's almost as if the professor feared something might happen to him. I know this is a hard subject right now Kendra, but know the circumstances of your father's death?" he says looking a bit uncomfortable bringing up the topic of the professor's death.
Janos looks up from the books. "You think the Professor died investigating something? If he was using these books to research..." He looks back down to the book in his hand. "You think something in here led to his death?"
Books
Manual of the Order of the Palatine Eye: The rich purple
cover contains a brass scarab set with a single eye in
its center. (this book has a lock on it)
On Verified Madness: This jet-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.
Serving Your Hunger: This text is a copy of one of
several unholy books sacred to the goddess Urgathoa.
Lorrimor’s notations liberally sprinkle the margins.
The Umbral Leaves: This lexicon is a translation into
Common of the unholy book of Zon-Kuthon.
Daniel notes the entries and is nearly knocked of his feet.
You were dealing with necromancers and ghosts and didn't take me with you? Why? Imodae keep you, old man, you should have asked for help
I cannot believe this. It was time to come clean with the others. I had just arrived in town a few days before the last entry. I had spoken to the proffessor, once, he seemed very pressed for time. He'd said he could use my assistance but needed more information before he could tell me what was happening. I don't understand why he wouldn't involve a friendly cleric for anything involving undead straight.away. Unless there was danger around revealing the secret. Or he did not feel I was up to the task....I...
Daniel sits down, trying not to be hurt by the implications of not being able to help.
Failures only stregthen our will, mistakes, like a failed wall can be repaired again and again until the error is corrected and the wall is strong
The look of intensity that crosses Rhia's beautiful features is surprising, the table upon which the books are placed shuddering as the spirits respond to her anger.
"This Whispering Way must have learned of the Professor's activity and acted directly to strike at him.They will learn that he was but one of many who stand against the darkness and death that plague this land." her words carry a prophetic ring, a tone far more ancient than the woman speaking the words.
Janos reads the entries with the others and has to take a step back. Ten Years?! He's been researching this Whispering Way for ten years? Why hasn't he mentioned it before? Or did he? Did Alisia know what he was doing?
The thought of his mentor puts a pit in his stomach. He knew exactly why the Professor hadn't spoken of his activities. "I bet he thought he was protecting us. Alisia, my mentor, does it sometimes, especially when she knows something dangerous. It's irritating, but understandable. It sounds like he was still searching for something important. I bet he thought he could bring us in afterward. But he found himself in over his head."
"Some of these are scary books."
"I can't tell much about the content, but the names of the books are scary"
Daniel considers the books and all that has happened so far.
Comrades, we have lost a dear friend and ally, but he has left us a trail to follow. I do not know your own feelings on the matter, but whilst I intend to carry out my friends last wishes, the Inheritor demands justice for the death of one who had dedicated himself to the greater good. This Whispering Way is a very real threat, guilty of at least this murder. For Those of you who are willing, I would journey to Harrowstone to check it out.
"What is this Harrowstone, Daniel? A prison? Where is it?" He points to the entries in the journal. "This says the Way was searching for someone in Harrowstone who died in a fire. Should we ask the Church if Petros found what he was looking for?"
Honestly, I have no idea where or what Harrowstone is, but itsoumds like a place. We could ask around though.
Kendra:
"I believe it's a reference to Harrowstone prison, and a great fire did happen there that put the prison into a unusable state."
"So Harrowstone was a prison."
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Wait a minute, ghosts, haunted ruins...Are you guys seriously considering going to this Harrowstone place. I mean I miss the professor too and I want to get to the bottom of his death but ghosts, really. Mat says in an alarmed voice as he quickly stands a paces about nervously. Ghosts, haunted ruins Desna help me.
After a few minutes of pacing Mat stops and turns to the group. "Well, I guess you can count me in but I want it on the record that I am not happy. I owe the professor to at least help bring his murderers to justice even if it means having to deal with the undead. Mat says in a grim voice and drops heavily back into the his chair.
"Don't worry Mat, we'll protect you." Janos smiles at the young man's alarm about facing undead. "Somehow, I think Rhia and I are well acquainted in dealing with spirits." He throws the woman a quick glance.
"Besides, I'm not certain we should rush off to this prison just yet. The professor was clearly overwhelmed by whatever he found. He even speaks of being ill-prepared. Let's see if he has any other notes here to see if we can figure out what was going on. Maybe we even speak to the Temple of Pharasma about this list of people at Harrowstone. Otherwise, we'll probably be even less prepared than he was to face whatever happened."
Rhia smiles at Janos' comment, a light chuckling of a few different voices seeming to wisp from around her.
"Janos is right, but thise who lived and died by violence, like the spirits one might find in a prison, may be especially malevolent. It would be good to prepare. But don't worry Mat, we'll protect you." She gins with the last comment, as she brushes back hair from her eyes.
A moment later anyone looking at her realizes that her hands didn't move towrds her hair at all.
Daniel listens to Rhia and Janos explain and comes up short on their confidence.
Forgive my lack of faith you two. But I have little understanding of your confidence. Clerics are common emough for you to have a good idea of the protections a man of true faith has. But I know rangers to be able combatants and fine scouts, not particularly focused towards spirits though amd as for you mistress Rhia, you are unlike any priest I've ever known. Does the lady of Graves bless you, perhaps?
He then looks over to Mat, And what of you my friend? You're concerns are very real. Perhaps this matter would be better solved by The church of Pharasma and myself? They certainly would provide aid if this 'Harrowstone' presents a supernatural threat.
If you want info, I'll need Know(Arcana, Religion, History and or Local)
Research: Harrowstone (History or Local)
Research: Whispering Way(Arcana or Religion)
Research: Prisoners(History or Local)
You can roll now to see if you know anything, but after that it'll require looking it up.
At Daniel's questions, Janos glances around at the group, strangers only the day before. Petros trusted these folks, maybe I can too. But the whispers? We'll have to see.
"I've encountered Undead before, Daniel. It's one of the things the Professor and I would talk about, in fact. Now I wonder if he needed information to use against this Whispering Way." He pauses.
" A couple of years after I began exploring the wilds on my own --self-study Alisia called it--, I stumbled on a old graveyard buried deep in a bog. The dead were restless there. I barely made it back home. The next day, Alisia returned with me and banished them. She made me study the bones and dead flesh afterward. I was able to use some of her scrolls to help see the lingering forces that had held it together. I can't claim to be able to rebuke them as she did, but I know may fair share and this axe works just fine to stop them."
Janos picks up one of the books from the chest. "I've also studied my share of magical writing too. Before I found my skills with the land, Alisia tried to school me as a hedge witch." He taps his head. "It didn't take well. Not quite bright enough to handle magic on my own. But, I still remember quite a bit and if there's arcane symbols, I might be able to recognize them."
Knowl Hist(Harrowstone)
Knowl Undead(Whispering Way)
Knowl Hist(Prisoners)
Rhia waits as Daniel takes in Janos' response then turns to her.
"Yes Daniel, I have been gifted by the Dark Lady.I am descended from a long line of champions against undeath in this land, and I carry the fallen with me. I am very familiar with the spirit world and can call upon my family and other gifts to oppose those that should not be."
Her level gaze is so focused as to be unnerving, no easy thing from such a delecate seeming woman addressing an armored knight.
Then, if the Inheritor and the Lady are with us in this, we should be able to meet the challenges ahead, though when youhave time I would like to know more about your relationship with your God. Never have I seen a....a...servant like you and I would broaden my knowledge if you will. Until then, where shall we look? There may be more in the books, but surely the Temple is our best bet after that.
Janos nods when Rhia discloses her familiarity with spirits. "Yes, perhaps we should talk as well. The spirit world...is something I'm... interested in."
"Kendra, is there any other place your father might have had notes? A desk perhaps?"
organization of necromancers that has been active in the
Inner Sea region for thousands of years.
DC 15: 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.
partially destroyed by a fire in 4661, the building has
stood vacant ever since. The locals suspect that it’s
haunted, and don’t enjoy speaking of the place.
DC 15: 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.
organization of necromancers that has been active in the
Inner Sea region for thousands of years.
local criminals, but as the prison’s fame spread, other
counties and distant lands began paying to have more
dangerous criminals housed within this prison’s walls.
At the time of the great Harrowstone Fire, the number of
particularly violent or dangerous criminals imprisoned
within the dungeons below was at an all-time high.
DC 20: The five most notorious prisoners
in Harrowstone at the time of the great fire were Father
Charlatan, the Lopper, the Mosswater Marauder, the
Piper of Illlmarsh, and the Splatter Man.
The Splatter Man (Hean Feramin): Professor
Feramin was a celebrated scholar of Anthroponomastics
(the study of personal names and their origins) at the
Quartrefaux Archives in Caliphas. Yet an accidental
association with a succubus twisted and warped his
study, turning it into an obsession. Feramin became
obsessed with the power of a name and how he could use
it to terrify and control. Soon enough, his reputation
was ruined, he’d lost his tenure, and he’d developed an
uncontrollable obsession with an imaginary link between
a person’s name and what happens to that name when the
person dies. Every few days, he would secretly arrange for
his victim to find a letter from her name written in blood,
perhaps smeared on a wall or spelled out with carefully
arranged entrails. Once he had spelled his victim’s name,
he would at last come for her, killing her in a gory mess
using a complex trap or series of rigged events meant to
look like an accident.
Kendra:
"The journal was the one spot, he kept most of his notes.
And I the only other places with information is Town Hall, the temple, and "The unfurled scroll" and my father's library."
"Hmm, the library is probably a good place to start..." Janos trails off, clearly in thought. It takes him a minute to begin speaking again as if he had put something together in his mind.
"The Whispering Way. The Whispering Tyrant....I do remember something from an old vellum scroll Alisia had. The Whispering Tyrant was the greatest member of an ancient secret group of necromancers who used alliances with undead to try to gain power. Some of them were undead themselves. I think it was also called the Whispering Way. If I'm right, they've been around for thousands of years and the Whispering Tyrant was the height of their power."
If this organisation is as old as you say, they likely have long reaching plans. The proffessor seems to have discovered no small thing and they would be on guard if he was discovered. Kendara, did the temple of Pharasma prepare his body? We should speak to them not only to ask about Harrowstone, but what, if they know, actually killed him. If we make no other plans this night, I suggest we get some rest and prayer. Tomorrow we can check the temple records.
Rhia nods as Janos speaks.
"Yes...I have heard of them as well.The Whispering Way has been active for thousands of years."
She closes her eyes, tilting er head as if listening to someone as whispers rustle around her.
"Harrowstone prison is the key here. It is as old as Ravengro itself, giving the town it's purpose, a home for the guards.The fire that destoyed it and the prisoners took the warden and his wife.....The monsters were there....Father
Charlatan, ......the Lopper, ......the Mosswater Marauder,.... the
Piper of Illlmarsh,...... the Splatter Man."
Her eyes fly open, unseeing as she speaks in a sonorous tone, her voice filling with an ominous echo.
"The Splatter Man......Professor Feramin, twisted by a succubus.....names were power to him........using names to terrorize...to control....letters of her name...written in blood....spelled out in entrails.....and then he strikes.....blood everywhere....so violent.....arranged like an accident.....savoring the gore"
The air around her howls as a swirling wind whips around her, cold and angry before it calms.
Her dazed expression regains its usual clarity as she stands disheveled. She seems in the moment very delicate, so young to have eyes that held such an ancient weight to their gaze.
She takes a breath as if it were her first in ages.
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Mat watches Rhia warily as she speaks, he shivers as the wind howls and swirls about her. When she finishes speaking he says with a nervous smile, "That was down right creepy there lass. Let's try to keep that to a minimum if you don't mind.
I have a feeling this is going to be a bad month for Ravengro and I'm stuck here in the middle of whatever is going on here.
"I'm not interested in looking through dusty tomes and books. So I guess I'll look around town or accompany whoever goes to the church.", Mat says as he stands up and paces about the room looking at some items it contains.
Janos is taken aback at Rhia speaks. "What. Was. That?"
He turns to Daniel. "I can spend the evening looking through the Professor's library. There might be something there."
I am not very good with book research, bit I'll give you a hand before retiring.
"Sometimes information comes to me through the spirit world, it can be.......an unusual thing to witness" Rhia smiles wanly.
Kendra:
"Well, for me it was a first time seeing it."
Janos looks at Daniel. "See? We have spirits on our side too." He turns back to the group. "So if Rhia's spirits are right, there were monsters at Harrowstone. And the professor's journal talks of the Whispering Way looking for someone who was killed there. Was it one of these people?"
The simplest answer.is usually the right one. Everything we have seen so far points to the Whispering Way.as the killers. Let's research what we can tonight and go to the church in the morning. We should use the day to find out what we can and.prepare to go to Harrowstone. Though we should probably head there, the next day during daylight. Undead are not phased by darkness, but it limits us, particularly our ability to hastily retreat if needed.
Kendra:
"Then odds are they'll attack during twilight hours or in the night."
"Some undead don't care whether it's day or night, but in general, you're right, daylight is a better time to encounter them."
Janos stands. "Let's take the chest into the Library. If the Professor was using these books to research the Whispering Way and Harrowstone, we might need to look through them too."
"Indeed, the more prepared we are before venturing to Harrowstone, the better."
"Lastly friends, I think, if possible, we should endeavor to find a mage in town to aid us in our mission. I am only speaking for my own experience here, but if this 'Whispering Way' is truly a cabal of Wizards and Necromancers, it would be wise to have amember of the group skilled in such matters. Our situation is not unlike the Worldwound. Plenty of Divine Casters and short on arcane. Such magic offers solutions and Knowledge beyondmy expertise, for I am no sage. I am not saying we should not continue, but to check would be prudent
@ Janos
You all talk for the rest of the even, and go to bed,
When morning comes, it's a bit chilly, but the sunrise is beautiful.
Janos rises early, knowing this might be a long day. After they left Kendra’s house last night, he sat down to write a note to Alisia informing her of the situation and telling her not to worry. Not like she would. She never does. After getting dressed, including retying his headband to cover his elven ears, he heads downstairs.
He calls for Sarianna. ”Maybe a couple eggs this morning. Hard boiled if you have them. And a cup of tea, please. Also, could you see this gets to my mentor, Alisia? She should be in Godinskip village just north of the North Lamand River in Lozeri. If she’s not there, they should know where she is.” He hands the envelope to her along with a gold piece and some silver. ”That should cover the messenger and any expenses you or he needs, especially if he has to go elsewhere to find her.”
Having risen not long after Janos, Daniel completes his morning prayers and calisthetic execises, then armors up and heads downstairs.
Good morning, Janos, I trust you slept well. Once the others awake we should get started.