Kearan looks around the smithy with an appreciative eye, his helmet off for the time being due to the heat, but he doesn't make to purchase anything. He only keeps a relatively small amount of coin in his purse, not enough to purchase anything meaningful here, and the equipment he has for being a knight is fine enough. Heavier armor could be useful, but it's also expensive--for now, his fine mail will do more than well enough.
With your transactions out of the way, you realize you have nothing left to do but to head east to the Carim border. This journey is not a short one, but a few weeks traveling with horse and cart.
The first four days and nights pass without issues. The presence of a fire keeper means your bonfire that night burns cleanly and brightly, giving you a sense of security and also keeping lesser threats from approaching. Wolves and such are of little concern at night because of her.
You come to a small town of Penshaw. Population of about 70. As you arrive, you see there's a large bonfire set in the center of town, in the center of which is a post and a charred, burnt corpse. Several of the village youths hide behind their mothers skirts as you ride into town. Two men in hardened leather armor and pikes will make their way toward you, their weapons leveled but not set to attack.
"State your intentions!" one of them shouts their voice hoarse and scratchy.
Kearan's gladness continues, the presence of a Fire Keeper quickly paying off as the group's journey begins. He spends the riding in silence unless anyone attempts to start a conversation, in which case... he still remains mostly silent, preferring nonverbal responses whenever possible. He also keeps his helmet on nearly the entire time, only removing it to eat or drink.
In the evening, the knight wordlessly takes the first watch: as soon as he's stripped the gear from his horse and fed and watered it, he finds a good vantage point and sits down, his lance planted into the earth beside him so it arcs up like some forgotten reminder of ancient days. Even with her flame, best to be wary.
At the village, Kearan draws up his horse. Upon seeing the town ahead he'd ridden to the front of their small entourage, and he's glad for it as he spies the armed men approaching. When they ask about intentions, he cocks his head turns to glance at the others. Intentions? Surely they should know a knight and lord by sight. What low curs have we here?
During the trip Ordric enjoys the scenery, since after he took the title he didn't have much free time to leave Astora.
He narrows his eyes at the man's question.
"My intentions?" in disbelief asks Ordric. Are they serious? "I'm Count Ethelred! Get out of my way and explain what is happening here!"
The man blanches, but his resolve remains firm. "You have my apologies." the man looks equal parts stubborn and tired. "Can't be too careful. What with witches and-and the like about." He clamps a gloved fist to his chest. "M'name's Teake, sir. My father's-father's-father was the knight who founded this place."
Seeing that you're all way too well armed and armored to be anything but what you claim to be, he calls off his comrade and raises his pike, putting the butt into the dirt and leaning on it tiredly. "Of course, you're free to enter, m'lord."
Looking at the oversized fire, he shrugs. "A witch came into town, raving. She flew into a rage when she saw our fire keeper and murdered her with some kind of dark magic. My father and several others died trying to apprehend her. By that point, the rest of the town managed to pin her down and set her to the flames." he sighs tiredly. "We've been watching her burn for three days now."
You hear a faint wailing coming from the burning bonfire.
In addition to above, you also catch a glimmer of a black flame burning within the breast of the witch's rib cage. It's elusive and difficult to really pin down. To her surprise, the black flame is potentially noticed even by the strange senses of the blind fire keeper.
"Fire Keeper... murdered with dark magic," Ordric whispers, dismounts and slowly walks up closer to the bonfire, no closer that a spear's reach though.
His eyes widen when he hears a faint wailing coming from the burning bonfire. He gestures his companions to come near him.
"She's alive! How is that even possible?"
Alder kept mostly to himself during the trip, answering any questions asked of him honestly but simply, saying no more than needs to be said.
Coming over to the fire, and hearing the wailing himself as well, Alder says "'Tis already been said, m'lord - dark magic".
Kearan frowns within his helmet as the news is given, and he rides forward behind Ordric, dismounting as they near the fire. His lord's discovery is disconcerting to say the least, and Kearan reaches for his sword, hand resting on the grip and ready to draw. Dark magic, indeed. How are we to assist in this?
Drystan didn’t pay much attention to the fire. He was looking at the village’s people until hearing the words “Dark magic” and that the woman is alive. This causes him to take a step closer to Alder. Gwyn! Alder can protect us from curses and dark magic. His fingers stop on his dagger’s hilt, not sure what the best defense against dark magic is. Swallowing, he leaves his dagger alone. After a moment he strings his bow. His eyes can’t help staring into the fire.
Those of you familiar with magic know that while sorcery is heard of and almost every head of house has magic worked into their finest equipment, dark magic is new to you.
The body on the pyre is withered and burnt, it could not possibly be alive, but even now a faint wail of pain comes from the blackened throat. and then it stops.
"Every couple of hours, she suddenly picks back up again." Teake says. "The fire's been burning solid, but we ran out of wood that's easy to come by yesterday. Damned unnatural, I tell you what."
One of the village kids will call from the safety of his mother's skirts. "Tell them about what she said!" he shouted.
Teake shakes his head. "I didn't hear anything but shrieking!" he shouts back. He turns back to the group. "Sorry, m'lords. Eric swears that he heard her screaming something about a 'dark sign' and 'the end', or some nonsense."
He scratches his nose. "Truth be told, no one was around exactly at the time of the murder. My father and a few others came in on her doing... something to the firekeeper's body. Sucked some kind of white and black mist out of her? Didn't make sense, and now most of the people who saw her do it are dead."
He sighs. "I can see you all are on a journey. Sorry t'bother you with our troubles. Our general store's intact, if you need to resupply."
It seems evident that this is all the man can tell you. Do you have anything you want to do here, or shall you buy supplies and move on?
"M'lord" whispers Annalise "This scene is...unwholesome. Surely some other punishment less perverse could be considered?"
Annalise works to piece together the buts of the story from the locals along the lines of what she knows of magic and firekeeper.
Humanity is currently your 'big secret'. Its what swells up inside you. It's what you feed to the bonfire every night to keep them safe. It crawls around inside you, strange and alien but also the most familiar thing you could ever imagine. To you, it's like air.
Normally, humanity is in relatively small amounts in normal humans, but something about becoming a fire keeper makes your humanity go wild.
If thats what you saw in the dead witch's breast, perhaps the soul of the fire keeper yet prevails and could be restored.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Ordric nods slowly at Annalise question and asks Teake.
"Did you try to behead her?"
Teake shakes his head. "It's not like this-" he gestures to the pyre. "Was planned. Angry mob and th'like."
"We should pull the woman out at least, and examine her."
"Yes. She has been burning for three days and still alive. It is clear that burning her is not an effective manner of execution."
"On the other hand, pulling her out of the fire may give her her strength and powers back, allowing her to do more harm to these people".
With the use of halberds and a few barrels of water, the village soon has a steaming, smoking corpse dragged from the flames. Now sprawled across a few smouldering logs, the fire has done well to destroy any equipment or sign of gender. Burnt blackened flesh clings to bones like charcoal, and embers flicker in empty eye sockets. What may have been metal jewelry is now melted to the body in some places.
Needless to say, she smells awful.
At first, you see a strange flickering light from within the rib cage, and think she might still be burning, but... It's a strange, pallid white flame with a core thats darker than the night. It almost fills the inside of the rib cage.
The fire is not one you can touch with pyromancy, but... You get the feeling that as a fire keeper, you could possibly take that into your body and hold onto it.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Annalise will attempt to grab the strange fire
Kearan stands by, and when the villagers pull the smoking corpse from the fire, he draws his sword. He can't help some curiosity as Annalise steps forward, but when she reaches out as though to take the strange flame within the rib cage, he grips his weapon in both hands, ready to step forward if anything happens.
This strange flame has only the warmth you'd expect from a living body, and it pulses slowly, like a relaxed heartbeat. You can feel your own humanity pulse quicken to match the one in your hands.
Everyone else can see this flame, though, ultimately, it's not entirely surprising that a Fire Keeper can handle this safely. As the fire leaves the body, the bones crumble into ashes and bone chips.
"By Gwyn!"Teake exclaims. "What is it?"
Annalise ignores the question, instead she asks "What was done with the body of the fire keeper?"
"Uhm... She's been kept at the temple of white here." Teake answers. "We've been busy so we haven't had a chance to bury her yet. She kept the fire in the temple anyways."
He indicates a low slung, white-painted wooden building that would be the village's only 'temple', and despite the poor materials, the villagers have been taking good care of the place.
”Please take me there" she says calmly, craddling the strange fire in her hands.
When led to the temple. There's really only a few rooms. The center hall can seat maybe fifty, with rows of pews and a large altar at the far end of the room. A large brazier is set in the altar center; that fire is currently out.
Two doors on either side would lead to the other rooms. The one on the left leads to a small chamber, where the only cleric of the way of white in town resided (now dead). The other was a store-room for basic materials and supplies. A wooden stairway leads to an underground chamber. Here, the fire-keeper has been laid to rest on her cot, her hands folded over her chest as if she was just resting. Her eyes are closed, and those who see with their eyes can see that her mouth, slightly open, has no tongue in it. Her robes are white and clean, with a hood pulled back. With all the white to contrast, you see that there is not a single speck of blood on her, other than faint bruises on her face in the shape of a hand, as if someone had gripped her there tightly right before she died.
You five are left in the temple to your own devices while the village starts breaking down the pyre, and Teake gets someone to sweep up the ashes of the witch.
"What do you plan to do with.. whatever this is?" Ordric quietly asks the fire keeper as he stares at the flame she took from the witch. "And what is this?"
Before leaving the ashes of the body of the witch, Alder pokes thru them first, looking for clues. What does he find?
"I'm sorry Count, as always I am your loyal retainer but my vows as a fire keeper forbid me from answering. If you and the others could, please, leave me for a moment."
She attempts to press the lingering flame into the breast of the deceased fire keeper.
Other than the bone chips, any semblance of jewelry or valuable clues are gone. The pyre took all of that away.
When you touch the humanity to the deceased Fire-Keeper's breast, the flame seems drawn to it. It seeps through her clothes into her flesh, and very quickly color floods back into her. Her body gasps, and her hands open as she awakens, confused and terrified.
"What... my tongue." she mutters, and is then surprised that she can speak again.
Annalise smiles and calls the others back in.
"The fire keeper is returned to life" she explains "I am Annalise of Astora, also a fire keeper. The townspeople said you had been slain by a witch."
With a respectful nod Ordric walks out of the temple, leaving Annalise to her fire keeper secrets.
When she calls for them to return inside he is startled by the revived fire keeper, unconsciously grabbing the grip of his sword.
"What..." he loses his usual bearing and stands in the entrance without moving.
Annalise cannot properly see the Counts reactions, though she can hear the trepidation in his voice. "Certain fires are not so easily snuffed out" she says.
The fire keeper sits up, touching her throat. "I'm sorry. I don't remember much." she whispers, still surprised she can speak at all. "Someone came to the temple, as I was resting. Said she needed me to stop her suffering." she sits on the bed, drawing her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them.
"I had no idea she wanted to kill me." she says after a few moments. "There was this weird red glow on her hand as she suddenly clutched my face. I think I screamed." she shrugs. "Then... darkness. And now I'm back." She shivers.
Kearan stands by as Annalise sets to work, respectfully leaving when she requests it. The news of the Fire Keeper returning to life is surprising, and he glances to the others, but cautiously enters all the same. The story of her attacker is strange, and worrying, but Kearan has no mind to ponder or solve such mysteries. There are many things beyond the knowledge of men like myself. Perhaps that is for the best.
"What else do you remember of her?"
"I don't... know much more." she winces. "I'm not used to talking, I hope I don't offend."
She looks down at her knees for several seconds, before looking back up again. "Ah!" she exclaims. "I remember now. She looked already dead, like she had been left in the sands of the deserts of Jugo to dry out."
Annalise nods along, but she can think of nothing else to say. "It is alright" she reassures the other fire keeper "when you are ready we should inform the villagers that you have returned."
Might it have something to do with those Carim pilgrims? Or with Carim itself? Ordirc ponders exiting the temple, letting Annalise handle her matter with the revived fire keeper, and walking back and forth near the exit.
Alder takes the few fragments of bone.
When he has a chance to be alone with her, Alder will say to Annalise "Considering the bond between The Way of the Light and Firekeepers, I was wondering if you could tell me how you brought the dead Firekeeper back to life? Did it have anything to do with that little flame you pulled out of the burned witch's chest? Do you know what it was?"
"I'm sorry, I cannot. That would be a violation of my vows."
Drystan is the last one back into the room when Annalise calls them. He doesn’t want to see what she’s discovered about the dead. A croak escapes his throat when he sees that the woman is alive. His legs tremble and he wants to leave, but he also doesn’t want the others to see him as cowardly. His mind races trying to recall any stories or legends of something like this, but in the end he shakes his head in frustration. Standing near the door, arms crossed, he says, ”Do you think the villagers will want her to stay?”
"That I do not know. The miracles given to us by the Lord of Sunlight are many, but they may yet be wary of this gift. I think we should be more concerned with the witch. Never in my travels have I heard of someone slain in such a way, let alone a fire keeper. What madness must have possessed her to do something so reckless?"
The fire keeper refuses to leave her room for now, so it is up to you to decide how to tell them she's alive. How do you go about doing that?
The village is actually quite relieved to hear that their fire keeper is NOT dead, but must have been put under some kind of spell by the invader. As thanks, they will provide you with a small reward.
Teake returns to thank you for doing so, being the one to deliver the silver pieces. In addition, he will tell you that he was asking around while you were in the temple and found out that some witnesses saw the woman enter the village from the side facing a forest to the northeast. The area is known for being the primary habitat of a pack of Fangboars, but Teak thinks that since it's not their mating season the only ones you'd have to worry about are the big males.
"But if you see one of those, just weave through the trees." he says. "They grow too big to maneuver easily, and you can lose the big ones that way."
"Thank you for the warning, Teake."
"I know we have our orders, but we should take a little detour into the forest," Ordric addressees his companions. "That witch is not something we can easily forget."
Kearan nods and gives his lord a slight bow. "Of course, my liege." His voice is soft and somewhat muffled by the helmet, but his words can be understood. The developments in this village are troubling, and if there's one witch about, who knows what other darkness could be prowling? It is the duty of an Astoran knight to protect the people and serve his lord; these now fit hand in hand.
Having done everything he can, Teake will leave you to your plans. He's got a lot of work to do, and a lot of families who lost someone.
”If that’s what you want, Count,” Drystan says with a bow of his head. His shoulders slump, and he swallows, his adam’s apple bobbing up and down. ”The light protect us! If we’re going to find that witch...” his voice fades and he shakes his head.
”Well, I’m really fast and should be able to run around the trees without problems if we come across any fangboars. They sound dangerous without a doubt. How big are they?” he asks Teake before he leaves raising and lowering his hand from his shoulder to his knee to guess the size of the beast.
Teake shrugs "Most of them only get to be around the size of a large dog." he replies. "The big males get to be about the size of your horse, though. You'll know it because their tusks grow huge, curve upwards like swords."