"Ok, we won't. So, can we move your bones to the crypt NOW and THEN get a cleric to say the proper words? As Jewel says, your, uh, body is hurting things here. Please? Pretty please?"
Jewel stares back at the ghost, "Really? But he seemed kind of nice. I won't say his name again around you, but why do you dislike him so much? Did you know him when you were alive? Fight much?"
The ghost swoops down to Tarjun, stopping just on inch before his nose. Staring the boy in the eyes he tells "Because that imbecile denied me my proper burial!"
Jewel waves to get the ghost's attention, and to get it out of Tarjun's face. "Well that doesn't make any sense to me. Everyone deserves a proper burial, after they're done living of course. We'll move you over to the crypt. But then we'll have to go and get the key. There were some problems with goblins so a strong door with a good lock was put over it. And of course we'll need to know your name for the marker...." She pauses, staring expectantly.
"Yeah, it may take a little bit of time but we'll bury you REAL good"
"I'm Dolan Breathnach." the ghost proclaims.
Jewel does her best to keep a professional stance and nods, "Excellent then Mister Dolan Breathnach. I'll ask once we get somewhere to write and verify the spelling. Wouldn't want to have your name spelt wrong on the marker. Now please point out if we've missed any of your bones and once we have them all we can move over to the crypt. By the way, you wouldn't know of any curse on your bones? We still need to understand the blight that was spreading here. When I tried to use stabilize on one of the creatures caught in it, dying but it didn't look dead.... it seemed like the magic killed it. I'm concerned that maybe it was dead but still moving and the healing magic hurt it. ??"
"Because I'm going to kill everything, til I get my proper burial!" the ghost rages.
Jewel is startled by the rage of the ghost, but realizes that he is acting like a baby screaming for attention. "Mr. Breathnach! You need to stop that and think this through. If you kill everything you won't get your proper burial. All you will get is a bunch of angry ghosts screaming at you for your actions! Now listen to what we are saying. WE already agreed to give you your proper burial. WE are the Guardians of Erastil so you can count on us to do what we said...."
"Now, I asked you if we had missed any of your bones. We've gathered up what we can see, but since you cursed the ground we really don't want to go digging through it with our bare hands. I think you should be able to understand that we are still kids and don't want your curse killing any of us. Besides, like I said, if we all die you won't get your proper burial! So can you tell us if there are any more pieces of your bones in that hole?"
If he cooperates we move the basket over to the door of the shrine. "Now I'll stay here with you, but the others need to go back to the homes. Tarjun will get the key to the lock here, and the Johnson's need to go and get a cleric to do the ritual, unless you could explain the ritual to us and we could do it? Would it be enough for the Guardians of Erastil to do the ritual for you?"
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Tarjun starts to doubt that obeying the ghost is the right thing to do. Perhaps they should stick to the original plan and exorcise it...
But he cannot warn Jewel of the danger while the ghost is within earshot.
"Jewie's right, if ye kill us all ye won't able to get what you want, innit?" Tarjun argues. "And we don't wanna see this blight spreadin', so we wanna work with ye here. We can do it faster if we can all leave now and get down to business."
"You're not staying here alone. I stay. And you leave and get the needed help." Mrs. Johnson tells.
She grabs the basket with all the bones and sends the kids away.
Jewel hesitates for just a moment when Mrs. Johnson takes the basket, then realizes her words weren't a suggestion. "Right. Tobar and Clara, go home and explain what's going on to your dad. Tarjun and I will go to our home and get the key and explain it to our folks. Then we can go to explain things to the rest of the townsfolk. We just need a cleric for the ritual once we have the key.... Let's go and get back here quick!"
Once out of earshot Clara says "We don't have a cleric, do we? And that ghost is a big meanie!"
Jewel nods as the others start asking or commenting. "We don't know what everyone may have been when they were younger, but I don't think there's a real cleric in miles of here. We'll have to figure out what to do and do it fast since Gertrud sent us away. Clara, Get the scepter. Maybe the fire from it will matter to the ghost if we have to fight it. I'm fairly sure our sticks and arrows won't. As to giving him the burial he wants? Of course he's evil, or he wouldn't have been buried in an unmarked hole. And he somehow figured out how to kill every living thing around him. So if putting him in the crypt for now will settle him down I say we do it and then try to learn how to handle him in the future, before he figures out how to reach from that crypt to hurt people. Then again, maybe burying him proper will end his anger and he'll really pass on. I don't know 'cause I'm not a cleric. None of us are!"
"Maybe someone in town will recognize the name...."
He whispers to the others
"I'm goin back and making sure the ghost doesn't hurt mom"
Tobar refuses to leave his mother alone to face the ghost so, once they are out of sight, he and Brina stealthily make their way back
+4 if undergrowth bonus applies
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Figuring his parents would perhaps have some answers that might help them, Tarjun asks them about Dolan Breathnach.
" We found an ol' grave in the woods with his name on it. Ye know who this guy was?"
As always with Tarjun, it's not technically incorrect, just rephrased to adapt the message to the audience.
"No, never heard of it." Shelly replies as she looks up from patching some pants with a threaded needle.
~~~~~~~
Tobar sneaks back up to his mother. As Gertrud is preoccupied she doesn't notice him. But even though he makes no noise the ghost casually looks in his direction as soon as he comes close.
Jewel glances at Tarjun. She had planned on just being direct. Gertrud's life could be in danger. "It looked pretty old. Does anyone keep records of who has lived here, say a really long time ago, like 50 years ago?"
Clara runs to their home. "Dad, dad, we need the key to the crypt and you need to come! Mom is alone with a mean ghost with red glowing eyes. And we need a cleric of Estaril to put the ghost to rest. You need to come quick!"
Shelly wonders "Why this sudden interest in someone who is dead for such a long time?"
Jewel pauses, unsure, then just decides to do what she had planned from the beginning. "Well, you remember the black, dead sticks and the caterpillar from last night? Well, we went back to that dead area again. And the dead area was growing. And Mrs. Johnson was with us, but even she seemed worried. And we tried to dig up the spot to see what was causing the dead stuff.... and we found a body. It didn't have a marker but we know his name because, well, he's an angry ghost and now Mrs. Johnson is still there with the angry ghost and we need a cleric to bury him right or he's just going to make the dead area bigger and bigger until everything is dead!" As she talks her words come faster and faster until the end, then she stops with a confused look on her face. "But we don't know of any cleric in town!?! And I don't know any family in town with his name. And why would he want to be buried in that shrine!?! And he hates the name of the last guardian for some reason...." Clearly deflated she goes silent.
Shelly gives Tarjun the 'we'll talk about this'-look. "We have no cleric at all. The closest to a cleric is Gertrud. She can heal people by calling on the powers of Desna." She looks a worried.
"Will, do you have an idea?" she calls for her husband.
Will comes down the stairs and gets a recap of the situation. "It's a burial. I can do that. But I don't believe it is in the interest of Erastil to give in to the demands of an evil spirit."
Randolph gets the key from the nightstand in the bedroom and grabs his coat. "Let's go over to the Bramstons. If it has to be Erastil, we should ask them."
Randolph and Clara arrive just in the silence after Will objects to the burial plan.
Seeing Clara and Mr. Johnson Jewel asks, "Where's Tobar and Brina?"
"He went back to look after mom." Clara answers. Which doesn't help with Randolph's confidence.
Jewel nods with Tarjun, "Right. We can see what the Bramstons say, but be ready to burn the bones. That'll take a hot fire. Is there any oil? And Clara, did you get the shelter? You used it for a jet of fire before. Can you do it again?"
"I can do the magic with the nice ghost's magic stick." Clara replies whipping out the nicely carved item. "Wanna see?"
"NO! Don't burn anything up here! And it might be limited on how much you can use it. Wait til we need it.
Clara looks a bit disappointed, but puts the stick away for now. "Are we telling the ghost that we burn him, or do we deceive him somehow?" Clara wants to know.
"I'd say, burn it first and tell later. But how do you want to go about the deceiving?" Shelly comments.
"I'll get some garb that looks at least somewhat like a cleric. Shouldn't be too hard as Erastil has no formal clerical robes." Will tells and leaves to change clothes.
Jewel thinks about it for a bit. "Wait for Dad. We should return in a group like it's a formal thing. Make it more like a real religious ceremony. And lets get some oil to pour on the bones before Clara hits it with the fire. We can say it's holy water to purify the body, part of the ritual."
Jewel runs to the barn for a flask of oil.
Will comes back in his 'costume'. Which looks just like his sunday garb, with a bow added for credability. He openly wears a wooden holy symbol of erastil and brought the copy of Erastil'*s teachings. "I hope this will do." the tells, before he leads the procession back into the woods.
"How do we tell mum and Tobar what the plan is?" Clara asks.
Jewel thinks for a moment about Clara's concern,then grins. "Mrs. Johnson would probably figure out what's going on as we approach. But just to be sure I'll send Chirp ahead. She's smart enough to relay a simple message." She calls her familiar, "Chirp. Go to the shrine and tell Gertrud these words. 'We are coming with Father Will.' Repeat the words back to me before you go."
As the procession arrives, Will addresses Gertrud. "Please follow me with the bones to the crypt."
Gertrud gets up and joins Father Will in the walk to the crypt. Will unlocks the door and steps in. "Bring the bones to that empty space there in the back please."
But just as Gertrud steps over the door sill an angry voice fills the crypt and the ghost of Tohrid Dawnbreeze appears out of his stone sarcophagus. "How dare you bringing this heretic into Erastil#s crypt!?!"
"They are giving my bones their rightful resting place!" the other ghost shouts back.
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If the ghosts hate each other that much, maybe Tarjun won't even need to distract Breathnach. If only he could add metaphorical fuel to the fire, while the rest of the group light up the bones...
It's not going to be easy, but some risks are worth taking.
"We're very sorry, Mr. Dawnbreeze," Tarjun says with a contrite air. Mr. Breathnach just mentioned in passin' that ye didn't get along very well, but we ain't got no idea what happened between you two. Hey, it can't be that bad. Maybe ye two can have a little conversation 'bout it."[/b]
Jewel calls out with Tarjun, "Please Guardian Dawnbreeze. Mr. Breathnach started a circle of death where his bones were buried. We are just trying to stop that by giving him a decent burial according to the traditions of Erastil. Doesn't everyone deserve at least that much?"
The ghosts ignore the kids and attack each other. Which is a pretty pointless endeaver as they can't harm each other. But in their rage they don't really notice.
Jewel moves to be between the fighting ghosts and the bones. She motions to set them down and pour the oil on them. "Clara, Get in position to 'bless' the bones with the rod!"
Will moves away, as if to get some distance to the ghosts in the far corner of the crypt. Gertrud follows and puts the bones in the basket on the ground. Will pours the 'blessing-oil' over it.
The ghosts in their rage are ignorant towards this.
Clara takes out the rod and without hesitation points it at the oiled bones. Instead of the fire cone, one strong ray shoots out of it and sets the bones aflame. This is much to Clara's delight. Fire!
At that point the ghost notices. "What have you done!" he screams.
What you have done is, to set fire to oil with a catalyst - the basket - in a crypt with no vent. Everything fills with smoke really quick.
"Get out of here" Will calls and starts moving, but the ghost moves in the way.