Very well. I suspected that would be your choice.
(Includes Guidance)
You know that you must rest your fingers lightly upon the planchette’s surface and then concentrate on the planchette while it attunes itself to the ambient spirits of the area. After this time, the planchette begins to slowly slide in random patterns across the board. At this point, questions may be asked of the spirits by any of the individuals involved in the séance.
To your knowledge, a séance is usually conducted by candlelight, but you are unsure of whether or not this is a requirement when using a spirit planchette.
Hrolf explains what he knows, apologising that his knowledge is all second hand, having never seen one before.
Who will be conducting the seance? I would be happy to try it but it might be safer for Rosanna to do it...
"I'm not sure that I know any more than Hrolf about how to use it." says Rosanna, "except that their use is not without risk. Those who have used such things must be strong-willed to resist the influence of spirits... If you think that I'd be best suited to lead the seance then, well I'd be happy to, however It would be best if we were to decide on what questions to ask before we begin. The more questions asked, the greater the risk of something,.. bad happening."
If the others agree Rosanna will open the case and set up the board before sitting back and waiting for suggestions of suitable questions to ask.
Well, if it's the Professor that we wish to contact, then we need to verify that it is him that we have contacted and not something pretending to be him. So maybe Kendra should ask the first question and have it be something that only her father would know the answer to? Iovanna looks over to Kendra to see if she is ok with this.
Kendra hesitates at your question, but stands a little taller as she responds. "I would be willing...I would like to speak with him, surely. But I do not know what to ask. I am loathe to admit it, but he shared very little with me, and I cannot think of anything that will give us doubtless confirmation that it is him. You all knew him well...perhaps you could come up with such a question. I will ask it."
You all knew him well...perhaps you could come up with such a question. I will ask it."
Ask him if falling masonry was truly the cause of his death.
Kendra breathes deeply. "I dread the answer, though I wish to know it." Kendra goes to each window, drawing the curtains shut. "Would one of you light a candle?"
"Very well, that's one question. What others do we need answers to: I think three at the most would be all we should risk"
Hmmmm... Perhaps where the key to that book could be found, as well as what this cult wanted in Ravengro in the first place. That would make three.
Iovanna will help to clear off a table and to set enough chairs around it for everyone. Do the rest of us need to do anything or shall we just sit quietly and wait for the answers? She looks slightly uncomfortable with this.
Just be wary. If something goes wrong Kendra, I won't let you hurt them. Do not fear.
Realising what he said might be implied as a threat, Hrolf hastily added with a look of horror-
Not that i'll hurt you either! Ancestors, bless this woman... he finishes, casting Guidance upon Kendra.
"I do not know what will happen, but if I must do this, then I would begin." Kendra steadies her hands on the spirit planchette, and closes her eyes in concentration as you light the candle. The flame glows brighter than is should, and you again feel eerie eyes gazing upon you. There is an extra shadow cast upon the wall, standing tall over Kendra's.
Kendra winces, but maintains her strength. She calls out, as if to counter an unseen force. "Was falling masonry truly the cause of your death?"
The planchette lurches under her hands and Kendra opens her eyes, watching as the planchette crosses the board to rest briefly upon various letters of the Varisian alphabet. After a moment, it is still, but the shadow still lingers.
"Maybe..." She utters the word under her breath, clearly disheartened.
At once the candle is extinguished and the curtains fly open. Kendra stands suddenly, gasping for breath. The shadow is gone. You can feel it's absence.
"As criptic an answer as they ever are...",Hayashi states glancing around the room for any further signs of spirits.
Jaxus steps aside and watches as the others try out the board. Not really my expertise, religion and the after life. he thinks as he watches Kendra with the board.
He smirks at the first answer, "That was helpful."
Kendra takes a moment to regain her bearing. After she does, she methodically closes all of the curtains again and relights the candle. She takes the spirit planchette in her hands and presses her eyes shut in concentration, but the shadow does not reappear. After a moment, Kendra opens her eyes and leans back.
"It's gone."
Maybe we should have asked if someone caused the masonary to fall upon him. Iovanna sighs. I wonder the rest of our answers will be as cryptic. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it was more than that. Of course I suppose I should be glad nothing evil was summoned up by it.
Kendra, how are you feeling?
Kendra doesn't answer you directly. She pushes the planchette back and forth, trying to concentrate.
"It will not respond." Her voice is heavy with frustration.
Iovanna manages to both frown and look concerned at the same time while she asks, Could something be keeping the Professor's spirit from talking to us? Should we perhaps take a break for now and try it again this evening after we meet back together after our research and tour of the town? I wish I understood more about the spirit realms. I fear that most of my experience is with sending my foes to it rather than with trying to communicate with it. *sighs*
Jaxus looks at the board, "Maybe it is a once a day thing."
"I would welcome a respite from this...device." Kendra stands. "I was planning to head to the market. Iovanna, Jaxus and Hayashi intend to accompany me, I understand?"
Jaxus stands up, "Lead the way Lady Kendra."
"Very well. We won't be out long. I just need to run a few errands." Kendra grabs a basket from the kitchen and is about to open the front door when she pauses. "We should make little mention of the shadow. There's no reason to give the people of Ravengro any reason to panic. Beyond that, those that sling wild accusations about my father need not hear such strange tales about what has chanced under his roof."
Iovanna will follow Kendra out. I'd just as soon not mention the shadows to anyone else yet.
You follow Kendra out into Ravengro. The sky is cloudy and small droplets of rain have begun to fall, but not so heavily as to make the stroll unpleasant. It is actually rather refreshing. The candle had burned more hotly than you'd realized at the time.
As was the case yesterday, few people stir out of doors this morning. Those that do seem hurried. A large man steps out from a building and trundles toward you, though he watches his feet rather than where he walks. He barrels into Jaxus and nearly seems to bounce off him, taking a step or two back before lifting his eyes in surprise.
The man is Vashian Hearthmount, the rotund and anxious councilman you were acquainted with at the funeral and the reading of the will. His face is white as a ghost, and he barely seems to see you.
"Vashian?" There is a note of concern in Kendra's voice. "Are you all right?"
He hesitates a moment before answering. "Fine, Kendra. I'm fine. Good day." With that, he is quickly on his way again. Kendra watches after him, frowning. He does not turn around.
She continues to walk through the town square. Two men sit upon barrels in front of a large building, watching the four of you. They have no compunctions about staring.
Kendra comes at last to the butcher's shop, and open faced building constructed of wood and stone and reeking of blood. The butcher does not bother to make eye contact. "Nothing fer ya this morning."
It is just the two of you in the house. You begin to scan the book shelves, hoping for an early lead in your research, but there seems to be no organizational system in place. You see nothing about Harrowstone.
Before, however, you had not plumbed the shelves upstairs. There are at least half again as many books on the upper level...maybe more. You are just beginning to become engrossed in your search when you hear an odd creaking from downstairs. It is strange noise, and one unfamiliar to you during your brief time in this house. It sounds like a rocking chair on tired floorboards. You do not recall the Lorrimor house having any rocking chairs.
Urgh. Do you want me to go check it out Rosanna? Hrolf said with a sigh, glancing up from the book he was studying.
"Nothing for who?", Hayashi ask through his straw traveling hat commos to monks from his part from his part of Golarion. "Am I understanding you wish not to do any business with this young lady? May inquire as to why this may be?"
Urgh. Do you want me to go check it out Rosanna? Hrolf said with a sigh, glancing up from the book he was studying.
"mmm,.. What? says Rosanna looking up from a leather-bound volume. Yes, I suppose the others must be back. I'll be down a moment, There's just a chance that this book might have something,..."
Iovanna bites her tongue and leaves the questions up to the others for now as she is not sure her response to the butcher would be as civil as Hayashi's is. I truly hope we have just misunderstood what that man said.
"It ain't that I don't want to." The wiry man stands and walks back into his shop, out of sight. After a moment, he calls out. "Come around the side!
You peer around the building and see a splintered wooden door barely hanging on its hinges. "Something came in the night. Did this. I had a sow ready to break down, clean and sell this mornin'. But it's gone, along with three chicken carcasses. What fool takes all that in the night. Won't keep in the wilderness."
As Hrolf walks down the steps, he notices that the sound has stopped. He steps into the front room. Nothing stirs in the room. Everything appears to be as it was when you went upstairs. You take a careful look around, just to be certain.
That's when the sound begins again. It's upstairs this time, and Rosanna hears it clearly. The creaking comes from down the hall. Kendra's bedroom. The door is closed, as it has been since you arrived yesterday.
Huh,..? Rosanna carefully closes the book she's looking through and glances at Aranca, raising her fingerr to her lips to indicate quiet. Slowely, carefully she moves to the hallway and waits for Hrolf, keeping a careful eye on Kendra's door. When the big man arrives from downstairs she whispers, without turning away from the door. "What do you think it is? Should we open the door to find out?"
Lock it and lets get on with our research would be my preference... The spirits are toying with us.
Glad I held my tongue. I wonder who would've done this? Iovanna looks at the ruined door. Wouldn't it have been easier to just break open a lock rather than break the whole door like that?
The wiry man snorts. "That's what I'd figure, but there seems little sense in any of it."
The noise appears to have stopped.
Kno: Religion
Jaxus give the man he bumped into a toothy smile and continues on.
When he looks around the corner and sees the door he scans the ground for tracks.
Jaxus kneels as he looks for any disturbances in the dirt. It is clear that the pig carcass was dragged. The trail leads out of town, in the direction of the Restlands.
"Sheriff Caeller's on it, friend." The butcher eyes you warily. "Best leave it to him, I say."
You come across a scant three allusions to the Whispering Way in your reading, and none of them says a great deal. The texts confirm that they are an ancient cult of necromancers spread throughout the Inner Sea region.
Very well then, good day to you sir. Places her hand upon Jaxus's shoulder. Let's continue on, I'm sure Kendra has more errands to run.
"I suppose it must have been the wind?"
Knowledge (religion)-untrained:
"Yes. I do." Kendra turns back to the butcher. "I'm sorry for your troubles, Hern."
He grunts in response.
She grimaces. "And you're sure you don't need any assistance?"
He grunts again.
Rosanna finds a book detailing Tar-Baphon, the Whispering Tyrant. He was a lich of immense power that ruled Ustalav in fear and darkness for centuries before his defeat and imprisonment in 3827 AR (nearly 900 years ago). The book discusses his membership in the Whispering Way. Although he was almost certainly the most powerful and infamous among their ranks, the cult is known to have existed long before he did.
Jaxus looks at the butcher and turns to Iovanna, "I wonder if this had anything to do with our missing grave digger last night. We might want to check to see if that guy showed up this morning."
'Indeed, Jaxus. Thank you for remembering that man's peculiar disappearance. We will need to check in on him and the other man."
Kendra looks between the three of you, seemingly unsure of what to say. "I am disturbed by this talk, but proceed as you see fit. I have only a single errand yet to run. I'm to buy some cabbage and wine from the grocer...unless something strange has befallen his business as well."
Then I suppose that we will meet up with you back at your house shortly. Do you happen to know where we might find the gravediggers at this hour?
"For my father's funeral arrangements, I dealt directly with the Pharsmin Church. They have contact with the gravediggers. I know a few of the men in town take up that work when needed...let's see." Kendra scrunches her face as she thinks. "...Menshen Finn, Alamar Bigber, Wall Darrells and...Timmy Tibbens. I don't know any of them well, but they live in and about the town. I could show you to their doors, but Father Grimburrow would have a better idea of their business."
Thank you, we shall go talk to Father Grimburrow then. Hopefully the gravedigger just fell asleep somewhere and is safe at home now, but we would feel better knowing for sure.
Assuming we find Father Grimburrow, Iovanna will explain why they wish to check up on the gravedigger.
You cross the rushing creek at the northern bridge and make your way towards the Temple of Pharasma. The townsfolk are more numerous today, but they dart about their business with urgency. More than once, you see a man or woman eagerly arriving home and shutting the door behind them in haste. You are unsure as to any specific reason for their hurry, but you cannot deny the ominous feeling that seems to pervade Ravengro.
You come again to the massive, oaken doors of the Pharsmin Church, and you note that this time, they are firmly closed. You knock lightly and wait a moment, but no response comes from within. You knock again. Still nothing.
The creaking noise begins again, louder. It seems to originate both from Kendra's room and from downstairs.
"The daily activities of this monestary a indeed foreign to what I ma used t,even for this country. I am not sensing we are dealing with a typical temple,my friends. Looking about the outside of the temple's frontage, Hayashi tries to ascertain if anything else is out of the ordinary.
Nothing appears to be out of place. All of the iconography on the building's facade is familiar to you. If there is anything amiss about about this temple, it is in the behavior of the clergy and not the upkeep of the church and its grounds.