Resolving yourselves to brave the depths of Harrowstone in the morning, you resign yourselves to bed. Sleep comes easily this night, though it is far from restful. Even as you close your eyes, you feel something not quite right in the air, though you can't quite place your finger on what it might be.
You all wake the next morning a bit unnerved, starting up from some horrid dream. The exact details elude you, but such is the nature of dreams. You can faintly recall the color red, frantic scribblings, and a persistent dripping noise so relentless that for a moment you think there must have been a leak in your roof. All is dry, however, and you quickly shake of the notion and head downstairs, where you are greeted by another of Kendra's failed attempts at cooking.
After a disagreeable but filling breakfast of bland porridge and burnt eggs, you gather your things and begin your southward trek. When you step outside the Lorrimer home, the streets are surprisingly empty of activity. Two days ago there was a funeral, and even on that somber occasion their was more life in the town than this. As you near the prison, however, concerned-looking citizens begin rushing by you, heading towards the southern exit of town. None of them speak to you, but the looks on their faces indicate that something is amiss.
Reaching the edge of Ravengro, you witness a throng of citizens crowded around the Harrowstone monument. The air buzzes with their whispers, a hushed cacophony that you cannot make out, though you are sure you hear the word "murder" more than a few times, and the word "blood" more than that.
Before you are able to react to the sight, Sheriff Caeller arrives on the seen, accompanied by a deputy, a grim scowl dominating his face. "Clear out!" he declares with authority. The crowd parts quickly, afford you a view of the monument - on the base of the pedestal, near the left-most edge, the letter "V" has been rendered in a deep red medium.
The sheriff slowly steps forward and crouches at the base of the statue as he slips on a glove and runs one finger along the base of the "V." He runs the finger under his nose for a moment, and his mouth quickly turns down into a frown. "Blood," he confirms.
She leans in toward the rest of the group, and whispers "A 'V' in blood on the monument to those that died in the prison. It has to be a message, or a warning." she suggests, "Only two names from our research stood out that had a 'V', the first was the warden's wife, Vesorianna. The other was one of the prisoners due execution, Vance Saetressle, also known as 'The Lopper'. I wonder if we will have a chance to talk to the Sheriff, and investigate the mark." She looks to Zhan, certain that he had mentioned speaking to the Sheriff previously.
"Well, he's here right now..." Val inclines his head towards the sherrif. He seems hesitant to step forward himself to greet the man.
"A message, a warning, or perhaps common vandolism. As we have seen, there are many superstitious folk about. We should find out if this sort of thing has ever happened before, before we jump to conclusions."
Zhan walks towards the sheriff, appearing casual. When he reaches speaking distance he bows his head in deference.
"Good morning, your honour. When I visited the other night, it apeared you are in the habit of working late; and yet here you are, investigating the town's trouble at the crack of dawn. You must be a man of uncommon dedication, shire reeve."
Zhan's tone and manner convey genuine admiration towards the man.
"May I ask what passes here this morning?"
Zhan leans closer to the monument, not moving to touch it, and clearly meaning only to look.
To the sheriff, "Are such acts of vandalism common?"
The sheriff holds you in his gaze for a long moment, seeming to mull over whether or not he ought to fill you in. After a few moments, he gives the brim of his hat a flick and shakes his head slowly.
"We never find more than broken bottles after a night of hard drinking, or broken signposts if some pup gets really worked up over something. But this?" He trails off for a moment as he comes to his feet, taking in the moment. "I don't know what cur would show such disrespect," he scoffs.
He leans over to his deputies and whispers something to him, and they immediately begin dispersing the crowd. "Gotta find out where that blood came from..." the sheriff whispers, as much to himself as anyone present.
Valachi nods towards the dispersing crowd. "Some of them mentioned murder?" he asks, hesitantly.
As the townsfolk begin to clear away, Delia takes the opportunity to move closer to the monument and look for anything that might give her a clue to the nature or reason behind the letter 'V' specifically. She is certain the letter chosen is significant in some way. She just isn't sure how or why.
Waving Father over, she tells him softly, "Look over this with me, see if anything stands out that seems unusual... besides the bloody letter. Maybe something that ties them together."
Sadly, she isn't even really sure where to look, and decides maybe the man with the keen eye could have a look. She gently motions for Kirill to come closer.
As Delia tells him what she wants from him, he eyeballs the crowd warily and once he's sure they pose no threat to her, moves forward to look. with no more than a gentle, "Yes, my flower."
Agnar watches the crowd and the group he thinks to himself as he does this "There is something not right with all this." He than shakes his head.
Sagaar watches from from the back of the group, unsure of what he can do to help. He looks around in the crowd of people thinning to see if any of them seem suspicious, or look as if they know something about what is going on here, but fails to notice anything with any of the people.
None of you notice anything out of place on the monument, spatters of blood expecting. There is no trail of the stuff, as far as you can tell - one would certainly stand out against the dusty hues of the road. The sheriff turns to you as his deputies finish dispersing the crowd. "Murder is a bit rash. Like I told ye, the folk here are a might superstitious, and they're liable to let their minds wander to the most exciting conclusion." He fidgets with his hat for a moment in sudden silence, as if he's searching for the right words to deliver bad news. "Look, I'm not detaining you or nothin,' but seeing as how we've got ourselves an incident here, I'm going to have to ask that you don't leave town until we know more about this. I know it's an inconvenience, but it shouldn't be more than a day or two before we tighten our trail. If there's anything you need, let me know, and I'll see what I can do, but for now, finding the source of this blood, and who put it there, has got to be a priority. It would help, though, if you could tell me what you were up to last night." He gives a jerk of his head to the deputies, and they quickly begin moving towards the homes of Ravengro to begin questioning the natives.
"Murder? [Kirill scoffs when Valachi mentions it.] No-body-no-crime, eh sheriff? [When told not to leave town for a day or so, the Varisian turns and whispers to Zhan-] Do you think that means no Harrowstone today? [He speaks back up and answers the sheriff's inquiries.] We were at the chapel of Pharasma yesterday evening in the wake our friend's untimely death, but retired for the evening at the late professors home. Not to be contrary, but as a wanderer by nature I prefer the freedom to go where I please when it pleases me. So if there is someway I could get a pass on that, perhaps anyway I could lend a hand uncovering whose behind this graffiti? [He shrugs.] It's probably just some bloke's bad joke with pig's blood."
"A joke perhaps, but no one is laughing." Val turns to the sherrif, "We have no intention of leaving Ravengro anytime soon. Lorrimor asked us in his will to keep Kendra safe. We go to the prison now, looking into circumstances of Lorrimor's untimely death. Perhaps somebody left this mark to try and scare us off?"
The sheriff shrugs. "Look, all I'm saying is that the folk her like to talk. You're new in the town. We've just found blood on a monument. And now not an hour after the discovery you're talking about leaving town for some old ruins. You've got to understand how this is going to look to people. Like I said, though, won't be more than a day or two before we can strike you off the list. If you'd like to help, well, I sure won't stand in the way of that. Just make sure to come to me with anything you find."
Placing a piece of straw in his mouth, the sheriff tips his hat your way and then trundles after his deputies, leaving you on a barren street before a bloodied monument, with the broken crenelations of Harrowstone looming on a distant horizon.
"Well, we certainly won't be finding any meaningful tracks with him and his guard stomping about this morning. [Kirill comments quietly under his breath and rolling his eyes with a healthy disrespect for legitimate authority. Once the lawman and his men are out of sight he turns to the group.] So...you think he'd actually bother to stand in our way if we wanted to investigate the prison this morning? Or should we just do his job for him so we can go back to our mission?"
Zhan takes a look at the street and the monument, trying to decide if there is anyone nearby who might overhear the conversation. If there is, he suggests that the group return to Lorrimor manor to discuss the development, otherwise he will merely signal the others to gather close enough to speak in voices that will not carry.
Once we are sure we will not be overheard, Zhan starts off the discussion:
"Obviously, the good sheriff does consider going to Harrowstone to be leaving town, against his request. It is my opinion that we have lost enough time investigating the ruins already, due to the time it took us to get here in response to news of the Professor's death, and the time spent researching. The research was valuable, and I think necessary, but it was a delay nonetheless.
"The sheriff was right about perceptions though. The people here are simple folk, and unlikely to understand our role here. To people who do not see the signs as we do, our efforts to head off supernatural forces might be misinterpreted as provoking those forces, instead of opposing them. Never mind that these powers are already in motion; to the people here it will seem like all was normal until we arrived. I believe that whether we visit Harrowstone or not, things will get worse, but if we go and things do progress, it will seem to them to have been our doing, stirring up forces that have slept a long while. We might find ourselves in trouble then. I've even heard of a do gooder meeting his end burned a the stake in such circumstances, though I've never had time to find out if the tale is true, I could believe it happening.
"So, here is what I suggest, though it is by no means closed to discussion: the sheriff asked us to remain in town, for the sake of appearances at least. He may have meant it as a command based on his authority, but since he neglected to inform us that we were Bound by Law I believe it fair to assume that we are not. I am somewhat able to move unseen when I wish, and I suspect that Kirill is also. Valachi, how are you when it comes to movement both swift and silent?"
"I suggest that Kirill, Valachi, and I slip out of town and investigate the grounds of Harrowstone, as we discussed. This would be an examination of the grounds only, and not a mission into its depths. We need to see what sign we can find of the Professor, and of the Whispering Way; signs around the place where the professor was found, signs of recent activity, tracks that lead in but not out, or forced entry or the like.
"While we do this, I suggest Delia and Sagaar continue the research we began. The libraries suggested would be good resources, though that magic shop's price is usury, and now that we have the names of villains who died there, the populous might also be a good source of history, within their local legends. Agnar I suggest help keep our presence felt in the town, so that those of us who are absent might be more easily missed. Haunt the taverns, walk the green, talk to people, and be seen."
"Thoughts?"
Agnar thinks for a moment than says "I can do what you ask. How do you wish for me to go about it? I am sure that I would be hard to miss if I just walk around the town."
Delia listens intently, shaking her head slowly as Zhan continues, "So, if there are currently suspicions floating around us, what happens to them if you are SEEN scurrying out of town? Fate has played its hand, and has decided that there is something here in town for us. I seriously doubt the ghosts at the ruins are going anywhere, but if there are members of the Whispering Way around town, we have just been given incentive, by the sheriff himself, to look around town and question people. The best way to allay all the suspicions is to be the ones to find the trouble here in town. With the townsfolk on our side I do not doubt that we will be given an almost free reign of this quiet little town. Imagine if that could all be ruined, because the sheriff didn't say it was illegal to leave town." she lectures.
Kirill obnoxiously gives a bow with ostentatious flourishes in agreement with Zhan's assessment of his skill set.
"It'll just be a quick, quiet poke around. A quarter hour to run around the grounds and look for any signs, tops, and we'll be back and catching notice at the taverns before anyone even knows we're gone. Why let some yokel's vandalism prevent us from something as important as this? I mean, this was the professor's work, it needs to be seen through. Besides, we can always cover more ground when split up, if half of us start asking questions right away, the sheriff's job might be done for him before the rest of us return, though I doubt there will be a fair share of his pay in it for us. And if these events are connected, then we are merely doing exactly what the sheriff said was perfectly fine: looking into the matter, which he stated he wouldn't stand in the way of. I think Zhan's got the right idea- I'm not into letting some lawman exert authority over where I can and can't go, and the people of thse small towns are always distrustful of outsiders. If they want to connect us to recent, mysterious events just because where the newest around, they will, no matter how quickly we obtain any semblance of popularity."
"The ghosts may not be going anywhere, but we have no way of knowing what the Whispering Way are up to. They are not ghosts, but men and women of flesh and blood. Men who know the longer they are about their work, the more likely they are to be caught. They are not likely to be taking their time, and all indications we have received say that their interest lies in the Harrowstone; not in town. Two days is a long time, and that is even if the sheriff decides to relax his restrictions at that time. If this vandalism is supernatural in nature and tied to the Harrowstone, then other events will likely occur as well, and the sheriff will likely tighten his restrictions, not loosen them.
"Granted, it could also be that the Whispering Way is long gone, and that this event is mundane in nature and unrelated. In the case of the former, I'd rather know it sooner and pick up the trail of the Way as soon as possible.
"I agree that being seen leaving town could look bad, and is therefore a risk. We cannot guarantee we will not be seen. However, I think there is more to be gained than lost in the venture.
"This is my counsel, but as I believe working united will serve us best, I will accede to will of our coterie if there is a different consensus."
Sagaar stands by, waiting for the group to come to a concenses. He appears calm throughout the discussions. "I will be more than willing to go along with whatever the group agrees to."
Val smiles grimly. "I can stay out of sight when I need to," he replies.
"But as to the restriction to stay in town... well, we have no reason to trust or suspect the sherrif more than anyone else, but lets say, for the nonce, that he has ties to this Whispering Way. If they are plotting some dire event, what better way to keep anyone from interefering than to lock us in the town 'for a day or two'? That delay may be enough for them, and we'll be too late to do anything to stop it."
He laughs to himself. "Paranoid? Perhaps... but only if I'm wrong."
"I say we press on with our plan... the sherrif has no authority over us, especially outside the town. If the people are going to hate us anyway, who cares what they think? I grant you, we don't want to aggravate things - maybe wait to nightfall and sneak out then."
"Oh, and do not split up. Something doesn't smell right in this town... whereever we go, we go together, including Kendra. Live together, die alone, as they say."
Angar shakes his head "We best be off. Us just speaking will get nothing done. We have to figure out what is going on with this town because I agree with Valachi something does not feel right here."
Delia crosses her arms and scowls, "You men may all be eager to head towards the danger, but we are here now and have the ability to help these people. They will not 'hate us anyways', unless we are so foolish as to ensure that they will, by touting the authority just to hare off after shadows. Being here now we may help find a murderer and possibly find out if this murderer has connections to who or whatever killed the Professor." She lifts her chin, and turns her head to the side. "Scramble off and take your chances with angering an already fearful and untrusting people, I however, will go see if I can offer any aid to the sheriff. If I can help catch a possible murderer, I will, it's more than anyone did for me." She turns and storms off into town, you can see as she wipes her eyes while she goes. Father follows closely behind her.
Kirill's face visably falls as Delia marches off. He should feel happy that he got his way, but he felt hollow seeing his new aqquaintance leave upset. He sighs heavily, wrestling with his guilt. Stealing from the dead (and occasionally the living) he could handle; he never has to see anyone truly emotional over the matter, but this was a little bit different.
"Be back in a tick. [He says to the others after a few moments of hesitation, then scurrying after arcanist.]"
He struggles to catch up with her after waiting a bit before leaving, losing wind as he goes, but keeping stride once aside Delia, and turning to jog backwards so he can face her as he speaks. He opens his mouth, but nothing comes out, and then shuts it again, trying to think what to say. He was good at being blunt, and snarky, and could be damn convincing at times, but comforting and calming, while something the Varisian's had to dabble in at times, wasn't his most practiced pursuit.
"Okay, slow down a bit, you're going to make me trip chasing off after you like this. Look- you're probably right. These death loving cultists may have been hovering around since well before Lorrimor's demise, and as such will likely be there another few days for us to take our time. But you've got to understand that we are all upset by the professor's death, not that you're not, but our collective way of grieving and dealing with it seems to be to pursue his final cause as tenaciously as possible. And this...feels to be an unneccessary distraction from that cause that we are trying to work around. I'll admit there probably is more to the vandalism we saw earlier than I gave credit, though I'm not one to be paranoid; not above ground at any rate. This is obviously important to you. I propose a compromise. This is the sheriff's job- but we help the best we can for two days and offer him a good start. At the end of those two days, whether we've solved this mystery or not, we all go back to investigating Harrowstone. Regardless of what we are working on, we all seem to be eager and capable of doing good work here, and we will be most likely to succeed in our endevors, whatever they may be, if we stay together."
He pauses in his stride, extending his hand, while raising a brow good naturedly. He didn't have many friends, so he couldn't afford to have his generally sharp tongue turning away potential allies at times like this.
"Two days, we do all we can. Deal?"
Val turns to Zhan, a confused look on his face. "What is she talking about? The sheriff scoffed when I mentioned murder... and those same shadows we 'hare after' are the ones you two spent all yesterday reading about..." He throws his hands up, shaking his head in frustration.
"We are trying to find clues for Lorrimor's murderer in the damned prison!"
Val sighs, "Well, whatever we do, we need to stick together. Delia running off alone will just get herself killed."
"I am not sure, Valachi. I see little to be accomplished by staying in town right now. There is more research we could do, and this 'V' may be something, though it may not. You are right though, the sheriff scoffed at murder, so I think it is likely then to either pigs blood as suggested, or if human, to be related to the haunting we wish to investigate at the Harrowstone. Blood appearing out of nowhere, writing... these are such cliched manifestations of a haunt that it leaves little doubt as to whether such an explanation is possible. My hunch is that the cause will prove to be related, and either of supernatural origin or done by the Way."
Under his breath to Val"You'll notice what Kirill suggested is not actually a compromise; he's just suggested doing what Delia has demanded."
Delia stops, wipes her eyes with her kerchief before she regains her composure. "I apologize for my outburst, but I come from one of these small suspicious Ustalavan towns, and some of these suspicions have truth in them. The mention of murder struck me emotionally, and I got carried away. If those of you that can skulk in the shadows unseen want to go investigate the grounds, then go. I am just saying from experience that anything we do that looks more suspicious helps us here not at all. Let alone what Kendra may have to face in the town in which she lives by our association. I will go to Kendra's, and her and I will do some shopping, as I'm certain we are clearing out her larder. While in town I will maintain our good graces, as someone has to do it." Looking back at the group, she adds, "Besides, I doubt the others are willing to wait to clear our names of any suspicions, as that is what the sheriff asked of us in the first place. You offering to wait two days goes exactly against what plans Zhan had made, and I think he needs your skill set specifically for inspecting the grounds."
Agnar sighs at the whole sense he than thinks "These southerners really do act oddly." After thinking he was going to say something about death and murder but remembered that most people do not think of death the same way as his people.
"Zhan, Agnar, Sagaar... what's our next move? Keep on to the prison or go back with Delia and Kirill? I hate to waste more time in town, but I also don't want to walk into a viper's nest short-handed."
"The people will believe what the wish to believe no matter how we appear. It grants them some form of security, makes them feel safe that they 'know' whats going on. We have no need to convince them otherwise. We may as well go about out mission. Even if it does help them and prove to be a thankless task, they do not need to be involved. Ignorance is bliss. I saw we go, but be rather... quiet, about it." Sagaar tired of the arguments tries to consolidate, in annoyance.
Agnar nods as Sagaar speaks "I agree with Sagaar you saw how they acted during Lorrimor's funeral and he was one of them. I myself could care less what they think of me I came here to honor a debt not to get passed judgement by this village."
"I do not think outright defiance is the wisest course of action. A local of limited influence he might be, but the sheriff here could likely cause us a lot of trouble, particularly for as long as we are staying within his domain. I suggested stealth as we may go unnoticed, and if not, we can still plead ignorance. I think we should do an I suggested, or failing that, cooperate with the limitation and remain here the two days. I do not favour waiting.
"If you wish a true compromise, we could potentially approach the sheriff openly, and ask his cooperation. As I honestly believe that the vandalism is connected with our investigation, we could attempt to convince him that our course is necessary and prudent. We could offer to allow a deputy to accompany us as well, so they could see that we were not doing anything untoward. This would allow us to keep the party together, continue our investigation, and keep the sheriff's favour. The down side of course then becomes that if he denies the request, we have tipped our hand, and any trip to the Harrowstone becomes outright defiance, at the least."
"In either event, as Delia's concerns may be valid, it is probably prudent to survey the town, and make sure the sign on the monument was the only unusual occurence. If there was a murder, or other strangeness occurring, we will likely hear about it in short order. I suggest we spend the morning in town, searching for clues, and if we have found nothing new by noon, we can then make the decision to either appeal to the sheriff, slip off unseen, or make for Harrowstone openly."
"...If there was a murder, or other strangeness occurring, we will likely hear about it in short order. I suggest we spend the morning in town, searching for clues, and if we have found nothing new by noon, we can then make the decision to either appeal to the sheriff, slip off unseen, or make for Harrowstone openly."
"You speak wisdom, Zhan. We all wish to avenge Lorrimor and solve the mystery of his fate, but we need not be rash. A little patience, then." Val smiles and starts to follow Delia and Kirill back towards town. "To be honest, I dislike towns and cities, but I do know a little about the hidden paths they hold. Maybe a scouting of the back alleys and sewers is in order?"
"That seems fine with me but I do have to say that keep putting things off because it upsets others will only hinder us." Agnar answers to Zhan.
Agnar starts to look around the statue for clues or tracks.
Before Val gets too far from the monument, he remember something and jogs back. Once there, he gets up close to the blood and tries to identify it. Is it human blood, pigs blood, as Kirill suggested, or something else?
He will also check the grounds around the monument for clues (probably trampled by the crowd) and in the nearby surrounding field.
Val will carefully show the print to the others, in case they have any insight on it.
"That seems fine with me but I do have to say that keep putting things off because it upsets others will only hinder us."
"I agree with that Agnar, but in truth, we probably should wait to see if there is more to this than just the bloody 'V'. I am eager to get to the Harrowstone and do not favour delays either, but we should not let that eagerness blind us to our surroundings either. The child's feelings do not really enter into it in this case. I do not think we should wait the entire two days as she demands; her outburst has simply served to remind me that there may be things happening here as well. We cannot afford tunnel vision."
Zhan looks at the print, "So we are looking for a large man who likes to walk barefoot..."
Zhan will make a brief circuit of the village, looking around, and asking people about whether or not anything else unusual has happened, this morning, or in the previous days.
Delia will stop at Kendra's to see if she would like to join her in doing some shopping. She will head to Marta's store, and see if she could open a line of credit to pick up groceries (as she has no money until the books get turned in), and make small talk.
She will try to play unaware, asking what all the buzz seems to be about town, and why everyone seems so jittery.