Cassiel busies himself with helping Kendra calm down, only paying half as much attention to what the others are discussing.
"I imagine that if we tell the town what happened, the Professor's memory will just get even more tarnished--we didn't exactly get a warm reception at the funeral."
"So we get to visit the Church of Pharasma? Wonderful. They're always so cheery and pleasant." Judah said sarcastically putting the chair he'd knocked over in his dive beneath the table back on it's feet.
"Kendra, you alright? Want to sit down?"
Cassiel busies himself with helping Kendra calm down, only paying half as much attention to what the others are discussing.
"I imagine that if we tell the town what happened, the Professor's memory will just get even more tarnished--we didn't exactly get a warm reception at the funeral."
Lorant frowns at Cassiel's suggestion.
"Petros died trying to save this town. I doubt he'd have cared what people thought of him for doing the right thing. Our path will take us to Harrowstone. Since we arrived we've been greeted by omen after omen. Live long enough, and the patterns repeat. Sometimes wearing different trappings and pointing different ways, but they're there. And when we go into that ruined prison, the town will suspect us of being complicit in whatever wickedness they believed Petros was conjuring there. Had our efforts the other night been noticed we'd have been accused of sacrilege already! We have to be honest with the townsfolk, or they may drive us away before we complete Petros' work and purge Harrowstone of whatever haunts it. And if that happens, we're the only ones who know what happened there, without us, Ravengro would be caught unaware by the rising evil in the prison. I've seen the fear and mistrust of outsiders trying to help doom a town many a time. I'd rather not add Ravengro to that list."
"So why not just cut to the chase and head up to Harrowstone?"
As soon as the words left his mouth Judah's eyes went a little wide.
What the hell did I just say? I don't want to go to the haunted prison. What am I doing?
Harrowstone? Are you mad man?! We've not done a tenth of our research!
"What else do we need to know?" Judah shrugged. "If there was more to learn it would be in the professor's notes. You think we're going to figure something out about the place that he didn't? Seems like the best way to get to the bottom of this is to go there."
"You're BOTH right!" Lorant says.
"So what do you propose, Lorant? That we tell the townsfolk where we're going and why, and head there immediately?" Ella asks dryly. "Not a bad idea, were it not for...well..." she hesitates, torn by not wanting to upset Kendra. "You know...the others...who might be...listening."
Look, lets see what we can track down tomorrow... we've gotten one of the five prisioners down, and its just a matter of a few more days to get the rest. Use tomorrow to figure out how much we are going to advise the ton if we advise them at all... superstitious folk that they are they may spook easily.
"A few days we may not have if "V's" name is spelled out completely. For all we know another letter's already been written while we've been dealing with this. We're running out of time!"
Judah nodded, thinking that maybe a little longer of not going to the haunted prison was exactly what he needed.
"Well, given that the Professor needs to be laid to rest again, and that his daughter just watched her father's corpse talk to her, maybe we should just stay here for a while. I don't think Kendra should probably be left by herself right now."
"Why don't we just start with some breakfast right here? I doubt another will be written in that name while we eat."
Judah offered his chair to Kendra, and went about finishing what she'd started in the kitchen. A few minutes later, food was served and they were all seated at the table.
Judah set his big gold pyramid on the table with a clank, sighing, happy that he didn't have to hide it and glad for the relief of not having the weight of it hanging from his belt for once.
"Oh, that's nice. This thing is such a pain in the ass."
"So how'd all of you get to be, uh, whatever it is that you all are. Ghost hunters? Hero types?"
Eleanora laughs slightly, taking her seat at the table. "I'm far from a hero or a ghost hunter, Mr. Locke. I'm just, well..." she hesitates. "I'm a girl--a young woman, who owes Professor Lorrimor a substantial debt." She smiles crookedly. "Aside from being moderately well-read, I really have very little to offer in the way of special skills or abilities--nothing like what Lorant displayed earlier, or the martial training that Mr. Hawke has undergone."
Me? Lost my family and nearly my life to the undead. I try to emulate the life of the man who saved my life.
As for the letters? All we have is a single "V" - we have time enough
.
"Unless the name is Vic, or something..."
"Or Ve. I met an Ulfen traveller by that name once. He and his brother Vili had been kicked out by their other brother...Something One-Eye, I think, it was a long time ago."
"As for how I got my start...I suppose you could say I was born to it. My mother died giving birth to me, and I'd have joined her had it not been for the four priestesses who tended to us and basically blasted my mother with holy energies to keep us alive. I suppose that's why I have more...vigor than others of my kind. Unlike them, the healing power of the gods doesn't hurt me. It doesn't heal as much, but I'm grateful for it nonetheless. They raised me afterwards and I just sort of followed in their footsteps. I suppose I take after Juliana of Lastwall the most, though. That's why I took Petros' suggestion to join the Knights of Ozem, even if my own beliefs haven't synced with theirs well."
"I've heard of the Knights of Ozem," Eleanora comments. "I'm curious: why do you say that their beliefs and your own don't 'sync?' They sound like quite good men and women."
"And I'm sorry for your loss," she murmurs to Mathus, though not making much of a fuss over it.
"I've heard of the Knights of Ozem," Eleanora comments. "I'm curious: why do you say that their beliefs and your own don't 'sync?' They sound like quite good men and women."
"And I'm sorry for your loss," she murmurs to Mathus, though not making much of a fuss over it.
Lorant steeples his hands and nods.
"That they are, Eleanor. They are among the best and most righteous on Golarion. But their passionate devotion to the Inheritor blinds them to the generous gifts that much older gods continue to offer. Tell me, have you heard of the village of Grayce?"
"Grayce?" Ella frowns...
"I know the name, but I've never been there. Is that your hometown?"
Lorant looks towards the window, a wistful look forming on his face.
"Yes. It's right on the border between Ustalav and Lastwall, so we saw the Knights of Ozem pass through frequently. The Chapel Bridge was my home after my mother died, a temple that also functioned as a bridge across the river separating two lands. Iomedae is worshiped within, but so is Pharasma and Grandmother Crow, the empyreal lord Andoletta. These three goddesses were part of my home for the longest time, from the very night I was born, they are as much my mothers as the priestesses of the Chapel. How could I give my devotion to just one? And after I left Grayce and began travelling, Desna granted me the luck and foresight to overcome many trials. The gods are great and powerful, but each has a sphere of influence where they are at their most powerful and wise. You do not call on Iomedae when delivering a baby any more than you call on Pharasma to bless a blade. Yet the Knights, they are almost monotheistic in their worship of Iomedae, though that does not surprise me, given her membership in their order while still a mortal..."
Ella smiles when she sees the wistful look on Lorant's face. "It's clear that you love Grayce very much....I take it you haven't been there in some time? I suppose serving the Knights of Ozem must leave the two of you quite busy," she includes Cassiel here, with a nod, "but it sounds like you've made a second home with them, even if your worship of other gods makes you feel like an outsider."
Her smile turns crooked. "My own home is...well, not such a good place, anymore. Anyone that tells you Ardeal is the heart of the Immortal Principality is fooling themselves...or selling tourist visas. We've a great deal of culture back east, to be sure, but it's all dried up on the pages of books or frozen in statues. And my own home, well. My father died several years ago, and it was...bad. The less said about the years after that, the better. But when your father found me, Kendra, I had been living in our locked and shuttered manor--alone," her voice stumbles on the word, "for quite some time. Fist living person I'd seen in nearly a year."
Lorant nods.
"Yes, I've visited Ardis several times a while back, before I met Petros...Every time the city seemed more tired and sad than the last. It was great once. It could be again, if it were willing to see itself as something other than Caliphas' shadow..."
Mathis focuses on drinking 'medicinal' quantities of brandy for the shock.
Judah wasn't in shock, but he was sure there was something wrong with him that required a little medicine. He poured himself a finger of brandy, and another as well, passing it to Kendra.
Ella snorts. "Not much chance of that, I fear. I'm not from Ardis proper--may family's farm was just outside--but that city is too obsessed with its former glory to conceive of itself as anything new." She sighs, and rubs a hand over her eyes. "I think perhaps that is what the Professor was most struck by when he found me in my home: that preoccupation with the past. With the dead. I'm glad I've come west." She glances toward the hall sorrowfully. "Though saddened that I arrived too late."
Alcohol seems to restore Mathus' wits.
What are going to do now? The locals will be badly spooked by a second burial! It will in their small minds convince them that Lorrimor was a necromancer - they may even lash out at Kendra! We've got to prevail on Father Goodburrow to cover this all up!
Lorant nods.
"Yes. And perhaps on others, like the sheriff, or the town council. Like I said, we've got to be open and honest about this should Ravengro need to defend itself in our absence while we go into Harrowstone. If we try to cover it up, we'll only look more suspicious than we already do."
I think subterfuge but you my have a point. Let me fetch Father Grimmorrow and see what he has to say, with that he puts on his coat and makes ready to depart.
Cassiel silently waves Mathus off.
I think subterfuge but you my have a point. Let me fetch Father Grimmorrow and see what he has to say, with that he puts on his coat and makes ready to depart.
Lorant does the same.
"I'll go with you. He may be more inclined to trust two of the faithful where one would fail."
"I've yet to make the Father's acquaintance, I'm afraid," Ella says. "Perhaps Mr. Locke, Mr. Hawke, and I shall stay here with Kendra..." she looks at the silent young woman, clearly still concerned for her.
|
Cassiel leans forward and silently offers Kendra his shoulder to cry on.
...I think I'm going to enjoy hunting down whoever reanimated her father's corpse a lot more than I should.
Should we fetch the others Father? Strength in numbers and all that - but after that, what do we do with his body? T'would be wise not to make a fuss.
Judah made sure her cup had a sufficient amount of brandy in it, but otherwise stayed quiet, looking concerned but not really knowing what to do about it.
"Easy there," Ella says, watching Kendra sip her coffee warily. "Is there anything that we can do?"
Judah wandered out of the kitchen and came back with a blanket. He handed it to Cassiel and then quietly went to start doing the dishes.
Lorant says very little, letting Mathus do the talking until they begin travelling back to the Lorrimor House.
Lets skip the niceities and get the professor to the church while it's dark then go with father timgallow to the graveyard .
Cassiel puts the blanket around Kendra and does his best to comfort her while she sips from her brandy-coffee.
"Anything I can help with, just ask."
Lets skip the niceities and get the professor to the church while it's dark then go with father timgallow to the graveyard .
"Mathus and Lorant have gone to speak with the Pharasman priest about that. They should be back soon." Judah said gently from the kitchen.
Lorant nods.
"I'll lead the way, Father Grimburrow."
He ushers the Father and Mathus out of the Temple.
Cassiel quietly nods. "I'll see if I can haul him back to his resting place. Are there any fresh blankets around that I could wrap him in?"
Cassiel quietly nods. "I'll see if I can haul him back to his resting place. Are there any fresh blankets around that I could wrap him in?"
"Perhaps we should all go?" Ella suggests, still gazing worriedly at Kendra. "If you can manage the Professor, Mr. Hawke, then we could meet Lorant and Mr. Kohlheim en route to the Restlands."