Kendra gives a short nod and a grateful smile and retires, closing the door to the room behind her and leaving the four with as much privacy as they can hope for.
The key fits the lock perfectly, and within are several old tomes and one relatively new one. The newest tome sits on the top and bears the phrase “Read me now!” scratched into the leather cover.
The other tomes comprise the books of dangerous lore mentioned in the professor's will.
The first has a rich purple cover containing a brass scarab set with a single eye in its center. The book’s covers are rimmed in polished steel and clasped with a small but intricate lock, the keyhole of which appears to be for a key with a strange, triangular shaft. The key is nowhere to be found. There is a note tucked into it 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.)
The second, On Verified Madness, is a jet-black book and appears, after a quick flip through it, to be 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.
Third, Serving Your Hunger, is a copy of one of several unholy books sacred to the goddess Urgathoa. Lorrimor’s notations liberally sprinkle the margins.
Lastly is a copy of, The Umbral Leaves, a translation into Common of the unholy book of Zon-Kuthon.
All three of the latter tomes contain notes that they should be delivered to one Montagnie Crowl, a professor of antiquities at Lepidstadt University.
Dariyia lets her curiosity get the better of her and she comes over to peer at the tomes - and immediately wishes she hadn't. "All right. I'll admit I'd probably be a bit nervous about the Professor's life if I'd caught him reading this stuff. But...I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation." She glances at Tiberious hopefully on this point. "I don't know much about books, but these titles are...uhm..."
Face goes a bit paler as he reads each title. "If anyone were to be devoted to following these unholy books they would defiantly need to be prevented! his voice a bit shaky. Tiberious clears his throat and continues in a carefully controlled tone of voice "I suppose we should look into the one that says 'read me now' the others I would say should stay safely closed and delivered to the proper individuals." pauses with the 'read me' book in his hand as he looks around the room to the others.
Lilyana Motions for Tiberious to go ahead and read as she gently lifts the locked and titless book in her hands, looking it over curiously.
"Those are some pretty evil deities to follow but you should know what you are fighting, as long as you don't get comfortable around it! Well lets see what he has to say for himself." opens up the 'read me' book and starts to read out loud what is inside, unless on a quick glance he thinks it is a spell of some kind.
Upon opening the book, Tiberious quickly ascertains that it is in fact the professor's journal. The task of reading this seems daunting at first, but it also becomes quickly apparent that while most of it covers very mundane activities, there are several entries circled in red ink that contain facts far more sinister.
The Whispering Way is more than just a cabal of necromancers. I see that now. Undeath is their fountain of youth. Uncovering their motivation does not place me at ease as I thought it might. Their desire to be eternal simply makes them more dangerous.
It is as I had feared. The Way is interested in something here in Ravengro. But what could it be?
Whatever the Way seeks, I am now convinced their goal is connected to Harrowstone. In retrospect, I suppose it all makes sense—the stories they tell about the ruins in town are certainly chilling enough. It may be time to investigate the ruins, but with everyone in town already being so worked up about them, I’d rather not let the others know about my curiosity—there’s plenty of folks hereabouts who already think I’m a demonologist or a witch or something. Ignorant fools.
It is confirmed. The Way seems quite interested in something—no, strike that—someone who was held in Harrowstone. But who, specifically, is the Way after? I need a list of everyone who died the night of the fire. Everyone. The Temple of Pharasma must have such a list.
I see now just how ill prepared I was when I last set out for the Harrowstone. I am lucky to have returned at all. The ghosts, if indeed they were ghosts (for I did not find it prudent to investigate further) prevented me from transcribing the strange symbols I found etched along the foundation—hopefully on my next visit I will be more prepared. Thankfully, the necessary tools to defend against spirits are already here in Ravengro. I know that the church of Pharasma used to store them in a false crypt in the Restlands at the intersection between Eversleep and the Black Path. I am not certain if the current clergy even know of what their predecessors have hidden down below. If my luck holds, I should be able to slip in and out with a few borrowed items.
Tomorrow evening I return to the prison. 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. I don’t have time to update my will, so I’ll leave this in the chest where it’ll be sure to be found, should the worst come to pass.
Of note... The last entry is written the same day the professor's body was found.
Lets loose a long low whistle"How exactly did the professor die?" shakes his head as he places the journal down. "If there is a nest of necromancers interested in this 'Harrowstone' perhaps that is a place to start trying to find some answers" looks around the room again for the others response.
Lily nods. "As you asked... It may also be a good idea to discover just how the professor died. His own words at least cast suspicion on it having been natural."
Dariyia glances around, as if already afraid that someone might be listening in. "Plus...what did the Professor take? I mean, he stole something from the Temple, according to this. Whatever it is, it's important, so we need to find whatever he took."
"I doubt he stole them. I have heard that some churches or organizations leave repositories for their associates. If it was for the church of Pharasma, then much of it would be to facilitate the hunting of undead." He thinks for a moment, and says, "We may want to see if we can find it ourselves if they are not aware of it."
"He does say that he isn't sure the present clergy even know the items where there, and well..." she smiles, "He does say he was only 'barrowing'"
"I think we need to find out more about harrowstone, it seems to be some ruins here in town. Perhaps the ruins of a dungeon or prison that was destroyed in a fire?" pauses for a moment before continuing "Whatever this group 'The Way' is after the professor seemed to think that it was dangerous and of immediate concern. We should do our inquiries quickly and carfully. Grins glancing from tonacu to Lilyana "I agree we should stop by and barrow some items, if we need to go to this harrostone, for it appears to be quite dangerous."
"So then... A trip into town, as we discussed earlier, but a bit more to do than we thought."
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.
Most of the hardened criminals sent to Harrowstone spent only a few months imprisoned, for it was here that most of Ustalav’s executions during that era were carried out. The fire that caused the tragedy was, in fact, a blessing in disguise, for the prisoners had rioted and gained control of the prison’s dungeons immediately prior to the conf lagration. It was only through the self sacrifice of Warden Hawkran and 23 of his guards that the prisoners were prevented from escaping—the guards gave their lives to save the town of Ravengro.
The Whispering Way is a sinister organization of necromancers that has been active in the Inner Sea region for thousands of years.
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.
The Whispering Way itself is a series of philosophies that can only be transferred via whispers— the philosophies are never written or spoken of loudly, making the exact goals and nature of the secretive philosophy difficult for outsiders to learn much about.
Visibly shivers "The Whispering Way, I remember now what they are!" relates his entire spoiler "If they are active in this town we must find out what they want and keep it away from them. Preferably by eliminating both them and what they want!" As he says this his hand drifts the holy symbol hanging around his neck and his expression hardens in resolve.
Dariyia gets chills as the bits of semi-local trivia, no doubt filtered through the underworld of Caliphas.
"Harrowstone's a bad place," she fills in. "Everyone says it's haunted. But that's not all. It used to be where they sent all the people to be executed. Not like a repeat pickpocket or a guy who broke a window. The evil stuff. The guys who killed for fun, they say,"
Taking a deep, unsettled breath, she continues. [b]"The fire was the only thing that stopped all those madmen from getting out. The warden and his men held them back. I've never been popular with the law, and the feeling is mutual, but I can't say I don't think those men did the right thing."
Lily shivers as well. "As if things weren't bad enough... Still," she straightens, gathering her resolve, "If this cult is involved in things here, and they were somehow responsible for the professor's death, we have all the more reason to investigate. The question is, how much of this do we tell his daughter?"
"Kendra is grieving enough. I think we should not trouble her with this until it is resolved."
"We can try. But I don't know if we're going to be able to do a great job. We'd have to work mostly at night, and avoid the town guard. Otherwise rumors are going to get around."
Ionacu waves dismissivley. "Working in the dark unnoticed will not be an issue. I much prefer it in fact." He smiles slightly, revealing teeth a little too sharp.
"So how do we want to go about this? Stake out this Harrowstone and try to capture anyone poking around and ask them some questions? If so i suggest that we visit this possible stockpile of items first. Or we could spread across town for a day or so and see if we can pick up some information." pauses just for a second. "Seeing as this issue may be time critical I vote for staking out Harrowstone and if that doesn't work at night do a little snooping before and after sleep during the day.
"I agree. Shall we begin tonight?"
Lily shrugs slightly, "If there is something we need to stop from happening, I don't see that we have any choice. My only question is how we go about visiting the 'stockpile'. Shouldn't we at least ask the priests for permission before we go poking around the graveyard?"
Shakes his head "The church of Pharasma is specifically dedicated to the eradication of the undead, I am sure if any items are stored somewhere, as long as we use them for this purpose, all should be well. " flashes a big grin "Besides I have always found it easier to get forgiveness then permission from the higher ups in the church, they always have to talk everything to death, as long as what you have done is for good!" another pause as he turns towards Ionacu "I agree we should start tonight, if no one is to fatigued. Perhaps check out the graveyard just after dusk and then find a good hiding place among the ruins to watch what might happen."
Dariyia nods to that. "I don't want to stay too close to a haunted house at all, but if we have to we should have the right tools."
She doesn't seem overly thrilled about the idea (who would) but Lily nods, then glances out the window. "There's still some time before dark. If we're going to be staying here, I suppose I should retrieve my things and get settled in."
Y'all want to do anything before you head over to the graveyard?
"Agreed settle in and we all meet back here at dusk to head out to the graveyard."
"All right. Still not too sure about this, but what have we got to lose?"
Ionacu readies his gear, ensuring his weapons and armor are servicable.
You spend the rest of the evening getting settled in Kendra's home. Dinner is a rather quiet and somber affair, with each left to their own thoughts about what might be coming. Afterwards, Kendra apologizes for being a poor host but excuses herself into the study. She is sure to let you know that if you need anything during the night, you need only ask.
As a result, withdrawing out of the house is not difficult, and soon you find yourselves making your way back up the road towards the graveyard. The sun is just finishing it's set as you arrive on the outskirts, casting long and very deep shadows over the field of stones and mausoleums.
Dariyia looks around the graveyard and then says "All right, wait here. I'll check it out and make sure they don't have a night watch or anything." With that she slips into the quickly-growing night.
Dariyia looks about, but sees no sign of any guard per say. There is a groundskeeper wandering about, but he seems occupied in another part of the graveyard and should be fairly easy to avoid. Still... Caution should certainly be taken. The townsfolk are suspicious as it is without one catching sight of you grave robbing.
Eventually, well after dark, Dariyia reports back in. "Only one man on patrol, maybe an acolyte or something. We're going to need to be quiet about this, though. Unless someone has some way to make a man forget he ever saw us here."
"Sounds good lets locate those items and get out of here over to where the real action could be taking place." Starts moving forward carefully and looking for the tomb that the professors notes described.
Ionacu keeps a lookout for the tomb as well.
Lily heads out after her brother, keeping to the shadows as much as she can.
There aren't that many crypts of a size to serve as a repository in the graveyard. As a result, the mausoleum doesn't take long to spy out. Before long, everyone is huddled against its wall. The crypt itself is a freestanding granite structure, the roof of which is decorated with a pair of leering gargoyle statues. A single stone door with a rusty looking lock sits in the mausoleum’s south facade,
Dariyia quickly goes to work on the lock, although she can't help but peer over her shoulder nervously.
Dariyia's lockpick is pulled out of the opening after a few moments of messing around. "Someone ruined the mechanism. This is going to need the brute force approach, unless someone happens to have a vial of metal-eating acid handy to finish the job."
** spoiler omitted **
Dariyia slowly opens the lock, then shakes her head. "Someone got here before us and wrecked this lock. With good luck, it was the professor."
"With any luck, he left us something to use. Let's look, shall we?"
"Just be careful," Dariyia seems nervous. "My luck was never that good." She undoes the lock and slowly opens it, trying not to make too much noise.