"Oh, thank you! You do too much for us." Naught speaks with warm delight as Kendra returns with the cake. Cutting herself a slice she'll scoop-cut the end of it with her fork and bring it up to Aliseya's mouth.
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Zelda excepts a piece of cake.
"Can I help you clean this up. I think you work too hard for visiters you dont even know."
Zelda appears to truly enjoy her cakes as she slowly emplies she plate. She looks up just in time to see Naught attempt to feed Aliseay and just smiles.
After all of her cake is gone Zelda picks up her plate and several serving dishes and takes them to the sink. Humming to herself she begins washing the dishes.
"So good, thank you Kendra."
Between the flowers and... now she's feeding me? What's with this girl anyway?
"Uhm, oh, thmnk ymu..." Aliseya says as the sharky lady feeds her some cake. Her eyes express both confusion and thanks.
"If you ask me, I think some creeps went up to Harrowstone and marked it with those gods-awful bloody runes," she tells Kendra after swallowing her mouthful. "I mean, what kind of person paints dark stories all over the walls of a ruined prison? With BLOOD... I mean, like, I wonder... is it HUMAN blood?! So gross! And... I can't help but wonder if maybe your father was on to these creeps..."
She then adjusts her flowery crown, making sure it's still straight. Smiling at Naught, "I feel like a princess."
"Your welcome." Happily taking the fork she'll scoop-cut herself a piece of cake and go to chomp down on it before stopping herself, she's broken too much cutlery like that and didn't want to burden Kendra anymore than what's already troubling her. Taking a simple bite and allowing her lips rather than her teeth to pull the cake she'll happily chew on the treat before she hears Aliseya compliment herself while wearing the crown. "You look like a princess." Wearing a slightly fawning grin as she speaks her eyes widen as a thought immediately erupts into her head. She lightly flails her hands in front of her like child as she quickly speaks. "That makes the rest of us knights!" before turning to Zelda "You can be the spymaster."
After all are finished with dinner, and the dishes are washed, and the house is tended to, the wait for Councilman Hearthmount stretches itself in long minutes of silence.
Kendra stands up and moves towards the door after three long, formal knocks disperse your silence and drowns you back in reality. As he enters and dusts his coat with pats of his fat hand (which then reaches to his face so as to adjust the mustache), Kendra moves back to the center-table, dips her index finger in the lamp's oil chamber, and spins her right-hand along the trajectory of a wide circle, gently chanting a song with her soft, well-trained voice. At the end of the circular motion, her oiled index lights itself in a white rune ר, with the light being transmitted to the lamp glass as she touches it.
The room well-lit, the Councilman takes a seat at the head of the finely carved mahogany table, and waits for you to seat yourselves. Clearly, he is not satisfied with your presence.
The lieutenant lays out necessary papers, pen and ink with geometric movements. After a brief bookkeeping, he produces a scroll case branded with the professor's seal, showing to you that it is unbroken. He then breaks the wax and opens the case. As he does, a small iron key falls out of the tube, clattering noisily onto the table. Undaunted by the key, the councilman begins to read, eager to be done with the business and to get back home. Kendra seems more interested, on the other hand; she gazes at Zelda, calling her special attention to the key which dropped.
"I, Petros Lorrimor, being of sound mind, do hereby commit to this parchment my last will and testament. Let it be known that, with the exception of the specific details below, I leave my home and personal belongings entirely to my daughter Kendra. Use them or sell them as you see fit, my girl.
Yet beyond the bequeathing of my personal effects, this document must serve other needs. I have arranged for the reading of this document to be delayed until all principals can be in attendance, for I have more than mere inheritance to apportion. I have two final favors to ask.
To my old friends, I hate to impose upon you all, but there are few others who are capable of appreciating the true significance of what it is I have to ask. As some of you know, I have devoted many of my studies to all manner of evil practices, that I might know and inform those better positioned to stand against it. For knowledge of the occult, though a narrow path for the righteous to tread, will protect us from its machinations.
Therefore, over the course of my lifetime, I have seen fit to acquire a significant collection of valuable but dangerous tomes, any one of which in the wrong circumstances could have led to an awkward legal situation. While the majority of these tomes remain safe under lock and key at the Lepidstadt University, I fear that a few I have borrowed remain in a chest in my Ravengro home. Whereas I find the books invaluable for my work in life, in death, I would prefer not to burden my daughter with the darker side of my profession, or worse still, the danger of possessing these tomes herself. As such, I am posthumously entrusting my chest of tomes to you"
Councilman Hearthmount, without moving his head, scans you from over his glasses, then checks an accessory parchment laid on the table, listing "Aliseya Belododia, Cellawyn Cayentelva, Mirelinza Imola, Zelda Lamplighter, Naught... a Varisian."
"I ask that you please deliver the collection to the care of Embreth Daramid, one of my most trusted friends in Lepidstadt. She will ensure the volumes reach the hands of my colleagues at the University of Lepidstadt, who will put them to good use for the betterment of the cause.
Yet before you leave for Lepidstadt, there is the matter of another favor -- please delay your journey one month and spend that period of time here in Ravengro to ensure that my daughter is safe and sound. She has no one to count on now that I am gone, and if you would aid her in setting things in order for whatever she desires over the course of this month, you would have my eternal gratitude.
I, Petros Lorrimor, hereby sign this will in Ravengro on this Primacalistril, in the year 4708."
Kendra nods in agreement, while the indifferent councilman makes himself ready to depart -- business is concluded. She means to offer some tea or sweets, but he is immediate "Miss Lorrimor, I hope you will have a good night." With a head salutation he adds "Ladies." Then he throws his coat over his shoulders and leaves.
Presumably, the key abandoned on the table by Councilman Hearthmount would open the chest mentioned in Petros's will.
"That is the chest I mentioned; it is in the basement, along with some other of my father's belongings. Let us go there and see what he left there for you," Kendra says, grabbing the key and the lamp from the table, and waiting by the kitchen threshold for the guests to follow.
You descend the narrow stone stairwell and reach the poorly-lit basement.
Kendra sets the lamp on top of a high lamp shelf on the wall, and proceeds to open the chest. "It may be a bit too dark to read the tomes right now, but from what you said during dinner I guess you could not wait until tomorrow..."
The object of interest is a small one, standing amidst larger chests and suitcases: a relatively small box of oak, with iron plates on its corners. Kendra, seemingly a bit agitated, grabs the chest and sets it in the middle of the basement, between the two guests' beds. Kneeling down in front of it she inserts the key, which fits the lock perfectly.
Within are several old tomes and one relatively new, but very used, one. The newest tome is a large, thick volume sitting on the top and bears the phrase "Read me now!" scratched into the leather cover.
Two of the three books are wrapped in kraft paper and cross-bound by a string. On both of them, you can see the same careful calligraphy To the care of Montagnie Crowl, Department of Antiquities, University of Lepidstadt.
Another book bears the moth of Urgathoa in low-relief on its brown leather cover. Serving Your Hunger is its name, the sacred text of the goddess of excess, disease and undeath, and upon inspection you will see that it is to be delivered to Montagnie Crowl, and that its margins are full with notes and remarks by the late Professor Lorrimor.
The fourth book to be found is Petros's personal Tome of Wizardry, with all his notes and personal arcane studies written down on its pages.
Finally, the numerous sheets of the thick tome to be removed last from the chest are wavy with ink from illustrations and calligraphy. Its rich purple cover contains a brass scarab set with a single eye between the carapace's crevices. The book's covers are rimmed in polished steel and clasped with a small, delicate lock, the keyhole of which appears to be for a key with a strange, triangular shaft. An attached note asks that the delivery of this book be discrete and to the care of Judge Embreth Daramid, whose home address (in Lepidstadt) follows.
After passing around the tomes to the guests and emptying the chest, Kendra says "Well, this one says read me now, so... who wants to have the honor?"
As Kendra asks her questions, the light from the lamp starts to fade again, so she leaves the tome on the edge of the chest and once more stands up, dips her index finger in the lamp oil, and circles her hand in the air while gently chanting, which causes the rune ר to appear and the room to be lit. She then again transfers the light to the lamp on the lamp-stand at the corner, and the room is comfortably lit for reading.
"Oh, me! Me! Me! Me!" Happily and hastily Naught will take and open the book.
Mirelinza is happy to follow the group as they make their way downstairs. The Professor's requests seem quite sensible and she feels honoured to be asked to carry out his final wishes.
Niggling in the back of her mind is the fact that he asked so many of them to help. 'I can't help thinking there's more to this than meets the eye.'
So when Naught volunteers to read the book, she finds herself holding her breath in anticipation.
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Zelda looks at the key Kendra indicates to her, but waits for the councilmen to finish. As Kendra picks up the key Zelda eagerly follows her down the step to the basement.
"I am most eager to read his diary!"
As the other books are revield.
"It seems he sealed some of these books for a reason. I guess we should leave those unread. Naught what does that book say?
Zelda appears to be eager to learn what information the professor left for them.
Cellawyn nods to Kendra, "You're father was a dear friend to all of us. We're happy to anything to help him or yourself. We'll stay the month here at Ravengro and then we'll take the tomes back to Lepidstadt, as he instructed. You can count on us."
Cellawyn will join Naught and read the book with her.
A few silent tears trickle down Aliseya's cheeks as the last will of Petros Lorrimor is read.
Following her companions down, she remains rather silently pensive as the ladies read the "Read me now!" volume. She silently ponders what she might know about the other tomes as they read.
You open the large tome carved with a Read me now! to realize that its contents are older than the refurbished cover would suggest. The compactly written notes start immediately, with only the reader's own instruction (and no epigraph Journal of Petros Lorrimor) to help understand the nature of the tome.
The notes go as far back as late 4695, seemingly picking up where the notes from a previous volume left off. After Naught sifts through the pages of years of the densely packed text, some of you spot a few red underlines in notes made in the last year.
One, written about a month ago, reads 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!
Some of you tell Naught to go back to look for older underlined entries, but she keeps paging forward, and, nearly ignoring all that is not underlined in red ink as meaningless scratches, you run into this note (written nearly twenty days ago) It is confirmed. The Way seems quite interested in (you see a something crossed out) 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.
The last two entries in the journal, written four and three days before Lorrimor was found dead in Harrowstone, read 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. and 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.
Then all that is left is a long blank, filling the days of Lorrimor's eternal sleep.
Zelda, you have the impression that you caught a glimpse of a symbol very familiar to you, while Naught was going through the earlier years of the journal, and you are filled with a mix of dread and hope. It was the symbol of the hag coven that brought the plague down upon your village.
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Zelda looks around for something. If someone looked closely at her they would see a tear slowly falling down her cheek.
"Does anyone have some paper and a pen. I need to take some notes."{/b]
She carefully opens one of her pouches and delicately unwraps a piece of wood.
[b]'This is the sign left by the coven that attacked my village. That same sign is in this diary. Naught may I please look at that. I need to see what it says. I need to know!"
Zelda holds out a shaking hand hoping Naught will hand her the book.
Just like with the runes at Harrowstone Naught is completely immersed in the task, appearing to not even notice Zelda's request for a few moments before catching her palm extended out towards her in the corner of her eye. Without a word Naught will hand the book to the girl along with some spare parchment and a pen.
A few tears run down the young lady in red and green as well. Seeing Zelda becoming shaky, she returns a tearful smile and a consoling hand upon the locksmith's upper back.
Her hand then reaches Zelda's injured shoulder, and she speaks in her native tongue, "Desna amaari".
The smile quickly fades as what the late professor wrote returns returns to her focus. She then glances at Cellawyn, "It seems your hunch was right." Out loud to no one in particular, "Who or what is this 'Way' he wrote of?"
You skim the thick tome looking for the symbol, and after a few minutes she finds it, with the entry:
As I suspected, the plagues decimating whole villages throughout Ustalav and Varisia are not moving with the wind, travelers or migrating animals, but rather in a circle of hags. I have finally confirmed the existence of a coven, and I have managed to obtain the central glyph or their arcana, which I sketch here.
Unfortunately I have no clue indicating whence they come and where they go, albeit my suspicions that they are currently moving away from Varisia and into northen Ustalav. They seem less concerned with striking any orc settlements in Belkzen, which at first led me to believe they were orc shamans. Were they only so! Hag activity in this region has been a mystery to me from the beginning, and so far my ignorance had played very little practical role in my research. There are likely many hags and many covens; to have identified one was Desna's luck.
While Zelda is skimming through the pages in order to find the symbol she spotted before, your inquisitive eyes peruse the pages for more red ink, and you happen to see one. Naught and Cellawyn are quick to stick their fingers as bookmarks, and as soon as Zelda surrenders control over the journal, you open at it to see that ten years ago it was written:
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.
As soon you hear Naught read the name The Whispering Way with her childish, schooly tone, you realize that she has no idea of what she has just referred to, and you feel a chill in your spine as if you were about to suffer an accident, or be assaulted.
You two know all too well that 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 no one less than Tar-Baphon: the Whispering Tyrant. The society itself, however, has existed much longer than even that fearsome necromancer.
All else that you know are rumors of the atrocities committed to rich and poor alike by these necromancers, with whatever agenda, if not agendas, they had in mind, and that undeath has always been a common denominator to all their activities.
At the same time, you two have only read about this organization, and the stories always felt exaggerated, especially when you heard rumors about flustered grave-robbers who claimed to be affiliated with the Way.
Yet, to see that professor Petros Lorrimor so sharply attributed guilt to the Way begs a question about his sanity, or, worse, whether your lives are indeed in that serious danger...
While reading over the locksmith's shoulder, a chill goes up her spine. Aliseya's eyes widen as she reads along. Her jaw slowly drops open.
The gypsy then looks up at her new friends in stunned silence.
"Oh. My. Gods."
"It is as I feared, the Whispering Way is active in Ravengo. They may have played a part in the Professor's demise. We must investigate further."
Cellawyn will share what she knows about the Whispering Way with the group.
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Zelda looks at her new friend sensing an understanding of what she has lived through.
"That time was bad, very bad..but I am alive and intend to keep living. One day I will find them. I will"
she leaves the rest unsaid but you can see the anger in her eyes and she contemplates what will happen when that day comes.
Zelda will start at the beginning of the book and start looking for red items then she reads each one out loud.
Aliseya looks down as Cellawyn explains the Whispering Way. Her jaw remains slightly ajar.
After Zelda speaks, understanding eyes gaze back at her. Aliseya continues to read on along with the suffering locksmith.
"So these Whisperers were behind the Professors demise? Well at least now we a face we can put an axe too. So to speak." as she speaks there is both an odd cheerfulness as well as grim determination behind her scowling smile.
Mirelinza is in two minds. She's pleased that her previous concerns have been proven not to be simple paranoia - but now really concered that her previous concerns have proven to not be simple paranoia.
She's surprised she's never heard of the Whispering Way so listens intently when Cellawyn shares her knowledge.
And Naught summed up her own feelings perfectly. "I'm with you, our focus has been decided for us."
Her face is impassive but showing clear determination.
The gypsy woman closes her eyes, and takes in a deep breath. Exhaling slowly, she opens her eyes once more. A thought comes to her suddenly.
Pensively, she queries to no one in particular, "Like, what's a hag? I just call old crotchety ladies hags. But it sounds like the professor thinks they're some kind of witches?"
Coming partially out of her somber mood, Aliseya produces a deck of cards from her satchel. She looks to Zelda as she begins shuffling the cards, "Oh! I almost forgot. Who wants a reading? Maybe you should go first, Zelda? Sounds like you could use some guidance the most right about now."
All of you know that hags harbor an intense hatred for all beauty and purity; they delight in murdering innocents, unhinging noble minds, and debasing the pure of heart. That sounds exactly like a story to scare kids into good behavior, yet Zelda would vehemently testify to the existence of such creatures...
Noticing that Zelda was giving signs of curiosity, Kendra announces "Fell free to browse through my fathers' possessions. If he entrusted you with the key of his most personal chest, and with the request to read his personal journal, I do not see why you should be barred access from his other books."
On hearing Aliseya offer up her Harrowing skills Naught immediately jumps in attention. "Oh, me!... Err, Zelda first, then me."
Aliseya shudders and makes a funny face on hearing about hags, "Sounds creepy."
She turns to Naught with a smile, "We should have time for you too tonight."
Mirelinza scans the books when she can for anything that might help in finding out about the Whispering Way.
She is in two minds about the Harrow cards, not wishing to be the subject bout intrigued as to how it works for the others.
Realising that focussing on just religious references would be limiting, Mirelinza widened her study.
Cellawyn will use the library to research the strange effects that the group experienced at Harrowstone. Specifically, is Harrowstone truly haunted, or are the effects the result of some other phenomena. If it is haunted, what is the history of the ghosts whom haunt it?
Cellawyn will also aid Mirelinza in her research of the Whispering Way.
Having scanned the books for religious references and found none, Mirelinza considered widening her search but lacking knowledge in any other disciplines she soon became frustrated and an equal measure of bored and so lay on her bed, listening to the Harrow readings.
As some begin to engage in productive research, Aliseya excitedly grabs a table, a crate, or whatever else would function as a table in the basement. Her black shawl she places over it, as a table cloth. She then whips out a few candles, lighting them for added effect.
Shuffling her enigmatic deck of cards, "So do you know what a harrowing is?!" she enthusiastically asks Zelda. Before Zelda can say a word, Aliseya promptly fills her in, "So, like, the Harrow deck is a tool of divination. My people have used it for many many generations. It's, like, ancient."
Holding the deck out to Zelda, Aliseya waits for her to cut the deck. Satisfied, she then fans out the 54 thin, lacquered plaques of wood face down on the candle lit table, and motions for Zelda to "Choose a card!"
Zelda's card features a desert scene. A large and intelligent appearing lion looms in the forefront against a starry night sky. A crescent moon hangs above. The lion wears a scholarly hat and a backpack. In the lion's outstretched paw, a person covered in robes sits. At the top-right corner is an iconic shield.
The gypsy impatiently motions for Zelda to show her the card now. Aliseya gasps, "Ooooh! You picked the Desert. So like the sphinx on this card represents a mystical dude, or maybe a physician, who brings salvation in times of plague or sickness. See, the desert is a bleak place to be. It's hard to survive there. But you can find aid, and with it, crossing the desert can lead to, like, awesome things. So what it means then is you may find yourself in difficult times ahead, but you will receive the aid you need to get through it!"
Wearing a wide smile of pride, she looks for a positive reaction from Zelda.
Next, she turns to Naught, "Your turn!"
Yay!" filled with a quickening glee Naught will sweep a card up with the slightest touch, letting the momentum of her gesture flip the card over.