"Weird. " and the duke will move over to investigate the wreckage.
Gabriel, noticing the wreckage, will fly over to it and make an aerial pass of the wreckage, looking for anything threatening.
The hag hobbles along toward the carriage as well, humming pleasantly.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
As you approach the ruined vehicle, a flash of psychic energy overwhelms your mind, as you suddenly find yourselves in another place, another time and another body.
The carriage hearse barrels along a hard dirt road, drawn by four frothing, maddened horses driven forward by your frantic whipping. A quick glance over your shoulder tells you that your mounted pursuers are gaining ground in the hazy moonlight. "Aroden save us!" shouts a beardless old man sitting beside you as he desperately clings to the wooden seat.
"We no longer serve fools, Parsimus," you growl with irritation. "Best get that through your thick skull."
You glance behind again, this time to the bed of the hearse, where the fine silver coffin lurches dangerously, despite the five straps of stout leather securing it in place.
"Forgive me, sister," you think. "It was I who was the true fool."
You hear a dull thud as an arrow strikes the seatback. Another arrow sinks into Parsimus’s shoulder, knocking him from his seat to the hard ground below with a cry of pain. As a third projectile thuds into the carriage, you cry out to the starlit sky. "Asmodeus! Have you abandoned me?"
With the cry still in your throat, a strange shimmer surrounds the hearse and the scene about you flickers and fades. The dirt road is suddenly replaced by a paved walkway, and the surrounding woodland by a graveyard. Startled by the sudden change, the horses shriek and careen to the left. As the carriage leaves the road, the shimmering bubble of energy that encompasses it crushes the tombstones in its path. Suddenly, the horses seem to smash into an invisible wall, and their cries of terror abruptly cease. You are propelled from your seat, hurtled through the air as you and the carriage crash to the ground. You feel bones break, and as your neck snaps with a nauseating crunch, you hear a sinister voice behind your ear, whispering with an intimacy that terrifies.
"No, my puppet. I never forget a bargain."
The vision ends as suddenly as it came, leaving you back in the necropolis. Yura falls to the ground retching as a wave of nausea washes over you, quickly fading. You recognize the wreckage of the hearse as the one you were driving in the vision, and can spot something lying beyond it, in the place where the driver hit the ground.
Vars will head over to see the body.
It takes Rasil a moment to collect himself, not because of the psychic acrobatics, but because this is the first time he's seen anything in 75 years.
After recovering, he sneaks, feeling his way to the wreckage feeling quite fitting as an invisible spectre in a mausoleum.
Mahb considers. "Assuming those were the last of the Adellas. That would put Lucretia in the coffin. And Cadimus was an Asmodean. Really puts a new slant on the family's Damnatio. If they were known to have a servant named Parsimus, that might be confirmation for our client."
The old woman inspects the carriage, hoping to find the gilded coffin and possibly some evidence to tie it to Lucretia.
"Certainly has potential as a theory" Gabriel says, shaking his head to clear it after the mind trip. You can hear sounds of him pulling out his flask and taking a drink. "A healthy drink after experiencing death isn't uncalled for I think..."
After stowing his flask again, he too will fly over to investigate the wreckage.
"I'm pretty sure he really wanted that sword though, and I want some loot for my trouble. "
"Oh, I wasn't suggesting we stop once we find his evidence. I reckon once we have what we need for him, the rest of this is our paycheck. I'd just like to tick his box off the list."
Stepping closer to the place where the driver fell, you feel a chilled wind blowing from everywhere and nowhere, and suddenly a ghastly, tormented figure dressed in the rich, old-fashioned clothes that the driver wore appears over the wreckage of the carriage, gazing over you with eyes carrying centuries-old torment. "I am Cadimus Adella. I suppose that, as the last full-blooded member of my family, I should greet you who come to this place. And yet, I shall postpone such formalities to after I've asked you a question: nominally, what brings you here, to the resting grounds of a family that never knew rest or peace? Do you seek to steal treasure, or are you just travelers, who stumbled here by accident?"
Yura almost fell over as the spectre appeared, but quickly recovered seeing that it was, or at least seemed, amicable enough.
Assuming--and correctly at that--that his master did not wish to reveal himself, the farm-boy stepped forward. "We've been recruited by a man who believes himself to be a descendant of your family by the name of Dellum." He continues with caution, "Though it should be mentioned that our relationship to him is only a financial one."
Gabriel will, like Rasil, attempt to stay hidden, trusting in his invisibility and stealth to hide him from this apparition. He will attempt to fly around it in a wide circle to get behind it.
"Yeah, we're sort of on a scouting mission as agents of a family member. "
"The fate of you and your sister is unknown to him. He asked us to find out what happened. He also thought that the Damnatio on your family was part of a plot and he hoped we could find evidence of it. Wanna fill in the details?"
"Lucretia, my dearest sister, my beloved little girl..." A centuries-old pain surfaces in the ghost's eyes.
"And you mentioned damnatio? I guess that the fool actually did make good on his threats. Who... no, it can wait. Bring me my sister. She is all alone here, in this forsaken place. Bring her to me, unharmed, and I shall tell you all that you need to know for that fool who makes a claim to the most cursed name in all of Taldor."
"Where in this place is she?" Yura asks, now earnestly concerned, "And how might we get to her?"
"Yeah, we just got here. We've not seen any females about, and I'm not sure what she would look like anyway. Anyway, I'm pretty sure she's dead. "
"Of course she's dead!" snaps Cadimus. "She was dead before me! That didn't stop her from walking away, though! And I'm bound to here, so I can't look for her, poor girl, she must be so scared. She may have gone to one of the crypts, but I wouldn't know how to access them... I only set foot here once."
"You saw her walk away or did someone or something take her body?"
Mahb shoots Duke a really? glare at the knock about Lucretia being dead. And an even more baleful look at the farmboy who seems to think he's part of the team. "Let's take a step back here... We've all lost people, so we'd be willing to help reunite you with your sister BUT we can't agree to your terms as they stand. This place has a fearsome reputation and you've been gone a long time. If Lucretia wondered off in the flesh, she may have been hurt by some horror here. So - through no fault of our own - we can't return her to you 'unharmed' as harm may have already been done. We can promise to return her as she is - no better. AND I'll want an assurance from you that in addition to whatever information you provide, you won't try to kill us or prevent us from leaving after you have your sister back. Is it a bargain?"
Cadimus'face twists in rage for a brief moment at Mahb's bargaining, then he composes himself.
"She was gone as I woke up, a long time ago. And I accept your terms, woman, I swear on my family's name that I will uphold them. But I shall only trust Lucretia's words that no harm came to her from your hand."
"Fair enough. Is her coffin still here or is that gone as well?" The hag begins looking around for the coffin or any evidence of it being dragged off.
You can easily see the coffin nearby, wide open and rotten. Red velvet, moldy and crumbling with age, is still showing an imprint of a frail, lithe body.
"It's here, all I have left of her. Oh, my sweet little sister, why couldn't I protect you..."
"Ok, that means we have to pick a building then. Let's just try the closest. "
Gabriel looks around to see if there are any additional clues.
Whatever tracks may have been there have been canceled by dust, rain and time.
The closest building is the domed one with a chimney.
The Duke will start heading for the domed building
The building's entrance is right in front of you, a large, bronzed, simple door. On its sides you see two stained windows, each depicting a human figure in a solemn pose.
Duke Vars will give the door a once over for traps before opening it.
"Caution, Duke, I hear a raging fire in the distance within." Rasil's disembodied voice warns.
Rasil will follow Duke into the mausoleum, ears perked for the source of the flame sound.
"Interesting. " and he will touch the door (if not trapped) to see if it is hot.
Gabriel will settle back down to the ground outside the new building, waiting for Vars to open the door. As he does so, he fades slowly back into view, leaning on his walking stick. He'll look at Mahb and say "Quite the specter, that one was. Shrewd handling of him." He gives her a curt nod.
As he waits, a thought will occur to him. "Getting senile in my old age, forgot my armor..." He'll pull a wand out of the quiver at his side and give it a flick.
"Anybody else need some extra defense?"
"Quite the specter, that one was. Shrewd handling of him."
The hag bobs her head in thanks. "Well, I figured he'd follow the letter of the agreement as an Asmodean, so setting the specific terms was important... And, as your typical ghost, his weakness was the one thing he desired most in life, the one thing that kept him trapped here - his sister. I gambled that gave me enough leverage to push him around a bit. Mind you, he could still try to kill us... and he's likely to have some real nasty talents up his sleeve"
Mahb is distracted by the stained glass on the building. "Oh, Aroden and Arazni. Hmm... this appears to be a depiction of her before she fell and became the Harlot Queen. Now there is a nasty undead creature - liches are bad business."
"Anybody else need some extra defense?"
"I wouldn't mind some, sir," the young farmer says, his voice still a bit shaky from interacting with an actual ghost; his hands are now firmly clenched over his dagger hilts.
The door does not have traps, and is cold to touch. Entering, you find yourself in a large oval chamber, its floor marked with the familiar medusa head. Letters around the emblem read "A Blade Answers Even the Most Vexing Question."
To the north is another antechamber, apparently empty, and two lateral doors.
"Sounds like your fire is to the right. Should we check it out?"
Gabriel glances at Yura in slight annoyance. "Why is this young pup here again?" Despite complaining, he will give a jab of his wand at Yura before stowing the wand back in the quiver at his side.
He walks into the building behind Vars, his cane making a light tap, tap, tap as he does. At Vars' suggestion, he tilts his head and listens.
"Agreed. Good as place as any to start. Lead the way, Duke."
Vars will head into the room to the north wary for anything that burns.
Mahb follows cautiously, about 15' behind Duke. As a matter of course, she scans the area ahead with both mundane and occult vision. She mulls the emblem's words.
Gabriel glances at Yura in slight annoyance. "Why is this young pup here again?" Despite complaining, he will give a jab of his wand at Yura before stowing the wand back in the quiver at his side.
"I'm still trying to determine that for myself." Rasil's voice answers, equally annoyed. The assassin stealthily follows Vars into the room whence he heard the flames.
The door that led to the room on the right has become rotten mold a long time ago, leaving you to see a domed and oval-shaped formal chamber with walls covered in complex geometric patterns of green and gold. It appears to be used for funerary rites, with marble tables to the north and south and two elaborate wheeled wooden biers at the center. To the east, the wall is made up of a huge iron oven with a closed door three feet square and two feet off the floor, with a shelf sticking out beneath it like the tongue of a huge, taunting beast.
As you step into the crematorium, the faint fire sounds swell to a raging inferno, and with a clangor of metal the oven doors burst open. Three torrents of fire burst forth, and with them a humanoid creature. They roar in unison, voices like a firestorm.
Yura draws a dagger, then waits for his betters to see what they'll do.
Gabriel frowns at the flaming opponents, snorting in derision. "Really? Alright, flameboys, let's get this over with." His cane drops to the floor, and he makes a quick gesture with his hands. As he does, little streaks of electricity appear briefly over the skin of all his companions, and they find themselves shuttering with energy. He then leaves his feet, and flies to a more defensive position.
Mahb cocks her head, raises a staying hand at the columns of fire, and replies in her own hisses and roars.
The three columns of fire sway lightly in hesitation, sending out pops and cracks in a strange, discoursive pattern. The other coils itself like a snake ready to strike.
"What was all that about?"