Venedictos spends some time checking out how the Whispering Way has shown up in and impacted the history of Ustalav.
Time:
Knowledge history untrained:
Aerys looks up and smiles at Viktor's comment. "I fear your warning may have come too late. I may have surpassed any sensible allotment of fun when I skimmed through Death Cults of Geb." He seems to pale visibly. "It was illustrated..."
After a couple more hours of research, Aerys takes a break to join the others and share what he has learned.
Torsten thanks Zokar for his friendship and takes his leave of the inn.
Torsten enters the estate, bearing an enormous greatsword. The sword is nearly as long as a man, and has a design of a wolf devouring a serpent on the hilt. He is carrying other items as well, packed inside a reasonably large backpack.
Greetings, Kendra. Greetings, new friends all. I have settled my affairs and am now entirely at your service. Have we yet determined how to proceed, or is there a need to look outside the professor's extensive collection?
We'll need to check out this hidden cache in the graveyard. Me and the big guy - points to Torsten - can take a quick look at it by daylight, so we know where it is and how to approach it by night.
While the two of them are off checking out crypts, Venedictos heads out looking for Hephenus, hoping to find out from the man why they were so adamant against the funeral.
Diplomacy to gather info on where to find Hephenus:
Kendra welcomes Torsten back into the house when he arrives and she is smiling. The air outside is crisp and fresh, and a great wind blows into the house. "Welcome back, Torsten."
She guides those of you interested in tea and fruit into the living room, where an assortment of fresh applies and pears are scattered across another platter. The green tea is warm and revitalising.
As you prepare to leave the house, Kendra is close by in the doorway. "Do be careful... the citizens are good people but after this morning I'm worried for your safety."
@Valerya & Torsten:
The walk to the Restlands is short. The air feels heavier as you approach. A pair of gravediggers are walking betwixt the tombstones.
@Venedictos:
Ravengro seems to welcome you as you approach the city - though every time you spot one of the people trying to prevent the burial of Professor Lorrimor, they scoot away, ashamed. You spot several children running around the town square, playing some game - and behind them is an old dog, leaping around and barking happily.
"You're not from around here."
Behind you, a man approaches, clad in a leather jacket and a big-rimmed hat. His chin is a small forest of stubble. "I heard what you did earlier today. Saved me some trouble. Name's Benjan Caeller. Town sheriff."
As you ask for directions for Hephenus's home, Benjan points back in direction of the Lorrimor mansion. "That's down the road, past the Lorrimor house. Over the bridge, take a right, when you get to the river bridge, you take a left. It's his shack by the river."
"Mobs are an ugly business. It was my pleasure to help disperse it without violence. Usually, the fools in a mob are doing something they'd never dream of doing on their own, and once somebody cuts through the rhetoric and reminds them they aren't savages, they come to their senses. Can you tell me why Hephenus would try to stop the funeral?"
Torsten wonders if he will ever escape this graveyard. First digging holes, then burying friends. Now, searching for long-forgotten stores of tools to defend against spirits. He shakes his head, wondering what he did wrong in life.
He hails one of the gravediggers.
This is the Black Path here, right? Which path is called Eversleep?
Aerys will remain at the Lorrimor mansion until the party regroups, conserving his energy for the evening's activities.
Venedictos
"You know a way with words. It's appreciated. Don't like violence myself, but it happens. In our natures, sadly." The man extends his hand in greeting with a husky smile. His eyes are lit up. "Father Grimburrow came to me after the funeral. Told me what happened. I checked some things out. Disturbing rumours in the air."
He leans forward. his breath smells of berries and a minor hint of mint. His voice is a whisper. "Unfathomable. Some of 'em say that Lorrimor dealt with the dead, that he was a necromancer. I don't believe that bull for one second. Disgraceful, s'what it is. He always was a good man, helpful if not a bit queer. My guess is Hephenus decided the rumour was true, no clue why."
Torsten and Valerya
As you approach the Restlands, you find that you've walked another path; the road here is coated in black gravel. The air is grey and sombre, and more importantly heavy. A thin layer of fog floats only inches from the ground. As you draw the attention of the gravediggers, they look up and stare at you.
"This is the Black Path, yes. The Eversleep is the stretch up there." They point to the large road that goes from one end of the cemetery to the other one - the path where you had been confronted earlier by Hephenus. "Why are you here?"
Viktor will stay behind with Aerys, conversing with him about their findings, and maybe a bit of magic.
"Well, Lorrimor wasn't studying necromancy to embrace the practice, he was learning it to help fight those forces."
"If I go to visit Hephenus, just to talk to him, will he be violent?"
Viktor and Aerys
The fruits are ripe and succulent, and full of flavour. Kendra is scuttling around the mansion, smiling whenever she tunes into your conversations. Eventually, you hear her footsteps going up the stairs to the second floor. Well over an hour passes when she returns, a soft flush on her cheek and a drop of sweat on her brow. "I prepared your rooms now."
Venedictos
Benjan widens his eyes, looking around before he leans in to whisper more. "Might wanna keep that a secret. The idea of necromancy's ill omens."
He seems a little distraught now, glancing in direction of a shop to your right. "Don't reckon he'd be violent. Judgemental, sure. He used to be a soldier - veteran, from what I know. But age's getting to him."
"Oh, good grief! He wasn't doing any necromancy himself, he was reading about what necromancers did to better prepare himself. Do you break into peoples' houses yourself to learn how to stop burglary?"
Diplomacy to get his point across without annoying the guy too much:
The man is slightly taken aback and he raises his hands in surrender. "Now now, I don't think Lorrimor dealt with the dead. But people around here are easily frightened. If they got confirmation he studied necromancy, the rumours would grow stronger. All I'm saying."
"Then I guess we'll just have to keep thatconfirmation to ourselves, won't we?" Venedictos says conspiratorially. He heads off to find Hephenus' house and knocks on the door.
Aerys bows. "You are too kind, Kendra. I will put some of my gear there now.
Venedictos
The man nods and looks around quickly. "Will do. Good luck with Hephenus."
Walking to where Hephenus' shack supposedly is, you find a ramshackle building with a poorly constructed fence behind - his garden, from what you can gather. Crops are grown alongside the river; potatoes and rice and onions. As you knock on the door, you are certain it's about to fall off of its hinges, though shortly after the door opens and the man who lead the thugs peers out. His grey whiskers are unkempt and his breath reeks of onions. "Who's there... You!"
He recognises you immediately.
Aerys and Viktor
Kendra guides you up to the second floor - as you take a right, you find a hallway decorated with one large stretch of carpet, and pictures on the walls. The fabric is soft underneath your feet, and it is lined with intricate patterns. Some of the pictures are recognisable; there is one of Shelyn's great bird aflutter in the sky; another depicts a Varisian lady and lord; some are not so familiar. A strange mushroom forest is depicted in one frame, and one is painted with a bizarre clash of colours that it seems impossible to decipher.
There are three open doors by each wall; each door swings into the room. Kendra leads you into the hallway. Every room has a bed with a similarly crafted nightstand. A lantern sits on top of the nightstand. There are commodes in each room as well. And as expected of Professor Lorrimor, each room has three bookshelves each, lined up against the idle wall, and stuffed to the brink with tomes and books. "Feel free to take whichever room you like ... except the one in the far right corner. That's Valerya's quarters. I think she would like her old room back."
"My room is in the other wing of the mansion. Closest door to the right." She points to the hallway going the other way when you came up to the second floor.
As the door is opening, Venedictos quietly casts a guidance spell.
Diplomacy:
Venedictos holds up his hands. "Good evening, sir. I come with malice or hostile intentions. I only wish to talk." He carefully lays his glaive against the side of the house. "I only wish, as an emissary of peace, to learn why there was so much anger earlier against the late Professor. I have seen with my own eyes that folks in this town have no ill feelings towards Kendra Lorrimor, so it could not have been to spite her. I have heard rumours about town that the Professor was dabbling in necromancy. Evil, nasty stuff that, but after having heard his will and having the oppoprtunity to speak at length with his daughter and examine his personal journals, I can assure you that those rumours, whatever their source, are completely baseless. Of course, you have only my word as a devout priest of Shelyn, a goddess I realize has very little renown in Ustalav, but I ask you to search my eyes closely, and I challenge you to find any deceit within their confines. I am as you see me, a poor, overweight, slightly intoxicated friar with a gift of wood working, and an occasional string of eloquent speech. Will you tell me why the late Professor bothered you so much this afternoon, so that I may put your fears to rest, and perhaps start a healing of sorts in this town?"
Aerys studies the artwork as they proceed down the hall. "This forest of mushrooms - does it depict an actual location? And the abstract - do you know what it represents?"
"Why do you care why we're here? I can't even come to pay my respects to my dead uncle without being accosted by some nosy, rotten-teethed idiot? Come on, Torsten, let us not keep uncle waiting anymore."
Torsten looks at the man sheepishly, almost apologetically, as if to say, "Women...what can you do?"
Venedictos
The man looks at you with half a frown as you make your speech, though your words seem to touch him somewhere from within. Hephenus tries to scowl but a tear appears in his eye and he hangs his head in shame. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry, it was a late night yesterday at the tavern when rumour of the Professor caught our ears, and... I was afraid. My wife is buried in the Restlands, and somehow I convinced myself and the others that his body would defile our loved ones and... and I stepped out of line."
Aerys and Viktor
Kendra shakes her head as she joins Aerys in eyeing the pictures. "I'm not certain. I think father made mention of a painter whose sanity was rapidly fading when he brought the pictures home."
Torsten and Valerya
The two gravediggers look at you suspiciously, scowling and unhappy with the rudeness, but they let you pass without saying a word. They seem to be making their way back to town in a hurry shortly afterwards.
Gravedigger sense motive:
We really don't want to be in here when they get back. Let's find the crypt, take a good look at it and head back home.
Agreed. It should be right up here.
"Did your father, by any chance, tell you the name of this painter? I might like to have one of these for my room back in Magnimar. I've never seen anything quite like it."
"Grief and drink and fear are a powerfully misleading combination, Hephenus," Venedictos says kindly. "Especially when coupled with the constant wearying oppression the folks of Ravengro seem to suffer daily. Something has this town in constant fear and low spirit, to have made its people so hard."
"Forgive me if I step out of line, but you seem like a decent guy who just let things go further than he meant. However, in doing so, you've hurt Kendra Lorrimor, one of your own, and I believe you've hurt yourself, too, because that man we saw at the Restlands this afternoon isn't really you. If I may be so bold, if you were to come back with me to the Lorrimor residence and give these words of repentance to Kendra, I suspect you would soon find yourself with a cup of tea in your hands, and all forgiven."
We take a quick look, trying to identify the crypt the professor was refering to, and Valerya makes some mental calculations on distances, looking for ways in and out, hiding spots, etc.
Aerys and Viktor
"I can't remember from the top of my head... my father used to keep a ledger of objects he would bring home, but I don't know where they are."
Valerya and Torsten
From what you can gather, the Restlands are relatively easy to navigate through, even to remain unseen. Going here in the dead of night, with all the calculations and measurements, it would be easy to remain hidden.
As you examine the crypt to the north-east, Torsten find that the lock of the door has been carefully mangled with acid. By the location noted in the professor's journal, this crypt fits the description.
Making your way back to the town, you see that some of the priests of Pharasma have arrived at the Restlands - but on a different path. You leave the graveyard unseen.
Venedictos
The man looks at you wearily, and then looks away. "I...I don't think I should, I'm not good at apologies. I think... I would like to be left alone for now. Give her my... my apologies."
Hephenus gives you little time to reply as he slips back into his shack, closing the door. You can hear soft sobbing and angry punches from within.
Risk roll:
Valerya Perception check:
Torsten Perception check:
Venedictos signs, but he has an entire month to work on the man, so he decides not to force the issue, and instead, returns to the Lorrimor mansion.
Once back at the house, he goes to find Kendra and tells her what he's learned about the townspeople's impressions of Lorrimor, the rumours, and Hephenus' 'apology'.
Aerys enters the door to the far left of the hallway, opposite the room that is Valerya's. He leaves his bedroll and blanket, but feels the rest of his equipment may prove useful for the evening. Nodding to Viktor, he says "Shall we wait downstairs for the others to return? Hopefully we can set out for the Restlands as soon as it grows dark."
"Sure. Hopefully they don't take too long."
Viktor will accompany Aerys back downstairs, to wait for the others to return.
Aerys, Viktor and Venedictos
Kendra guides you down to the first floor when you have left your possessions in the rooms you chose. There is a knock on the front door as you turn to enter the living room. Venedictos enters the mansion following, and Kendra smiles and greets him. "Welcome back - did your walk prove fruitful? I prepared your room on the second floor, if you wish to get settled."
As the man informs Kendra of his findings, her expressions shifts from faint joy to sadness. "They...there are truly rumours that my father was a necromancer? But... but he was devout in his fight against evil, how could they... why are they so... ignorant...?"
"If... you hadn't been here today, Venedictos... and for you to wrangle an apology out of Hephenus... thank you. Truly..."
She approaches Venedictos and kisses his cheek in gratitude, as she then takes it upon herself to hug him. Soft sniffles fill the air.
Torsten and Valerya return to the manse.
Greetings again, Kendra - you're crying? Is everything alright? We have scouted the Restlands in an effort to better understand the location of Petros' cache of materials, and we are now returned. We were able to find the gravesite he spoke of in his note. It is locked, but the lock has been subtly corroded, possibly with an acid of some sort. We did not attempt to open the door. How are things here? Have your efforts borne fruit?
Torsten collapses on a nearby davenport, clearly looking to be tired from the day's exertions and in need of refreshment.
Already tired after a small walk, big guy? We'll still need to break into the Restlands this night and procure the stash the Petros referred to. There probably will be guards and maybe even a trap or two! She smiles and goes to her bedroom, gathering clothes and preparing for a bath.
She thens proceeds downstairs, hoping to discover what the others found out on their research.
Aerys relates to the others what Viktor and he uncovered regarding Harrowstone and the Whispering Way. "I believe Nyx and I are as ready as we're going to be. All we need now is the cover of darkness..."
Kendra welcomes you all home as you arrive. She lets you relax however you prefer as she begins to prepare a feast for tonight. "Today may have been a sad day, but my father would be proud... and I'm happy too."
As the sun begins to set, you are all seated around a grand table in the mansion's dining room. Roasted lamb with potatoes and mushroom stew is on the menu for tonight, its succulent taste surprisingly good - it's clear Kendra knows how to prepare her meals. To accompany the meal she offers Varisian wine, fresh water or warm tea. The candles flicker in the cosy room as you all share stories, Kendra fondly reminiscing the tales her father told her of the world.
"I never did get to travel the world like my father did. 'I wish for you to stay home', he used to say every time he left Ravengro. 'The world is a dangerous place'... It's...unbelievable that he died here... I must be ruining the mood. Could I ask... where you all were before you came here?"
Venedictos takes only a small amount if wine for once.
"I was in some hamlet in northern Galt, well, in a tavern on some hamlet in northern Galt. I'm afraid that I had not been so renown as the local fool, the courier who happened to be passing through might never have found me. This meal really is quite excellent."
At the end of the meal, Venedictos will ask permission of Kendra to offe a Shelyn chant of thanksgiving for the food and company.
Perform sing:
It's not his best effort, butbeautifully done nonetheless.
I was here in Ustalav, working menial jobs and forgetting the faces of my ancestors. That will not happen again.
And I agree, the meal is very tasty. My compliments, Kendra.
As Venedictos concludes his chant, Torsten applauds uproariously.
More, skald, more! You have a silver tongue. It lightens my heart. More!
Aerys nods. "You are an excellent chef, Kendra. I came to Ustalav on a whim, seeking some hint as to my possible background, or the source of my talent with the Art. Also, it was an escape from the Shadow District of Magnimar." Aerys raises his glass to his companions. "While I initially thought myself foolish to travel this far on the strength of nothing more than a few vague intuitions and odd dreams, I begin to wonder if perhaps fate intended for us all to meet here?"
Indeed, Torsten rumbles with a glint in his eye. Fate, indeed.
Valerya shrugs. It is indeed delicious, Kendra, as always. She takes a sip of wine, cuts off a bloody piece of lamb and says:
I had been searching around Gallowspire for evidence to back up some rumours about a flesh-eating ghoul, but it turned out to be an insane elderly man with particularly bad eating habits. Then she presumes eating. The lamb's really good.
Kendra listens intently to all of you when she finally sighs, "I wonder if I should travel the world now..."
She is lost in deep thoughts as the feast carries on. After several hours, the candles have burnt down to their base. Ravengro succumbs to the dark of night, and silence is all that is in the air.
After the feast is over, Torsten assists Kendra with cleaning up. When he gets a moment to have a private word with her, he offers the following:
Kendra, thank you for the honor of allowing me into your home. I'm sure I speak for the others when I say that your hospitality in this difficult time is greatly appreciated by us all. I know when my father died, it was...difficult to say the least. It drove a wedge into my family which still has not healed - but it will heal, with time. If you wish to speak with someone, I will gladly listen. I do not always have the best way with words, but it does not take a silver tongue to have a golden ear. Rest peacefully in the knowledge that your home is safe with us in it, and don't worry for our safety. We will return shortly.
Returning to the parlor, Torsten polishes the blade of his enormous sword.
Well, it's dark. Let's be going, if everyone is ready?
He strides to the door and holds it open for the rest of the party, exiting last and guarding the rear on the way to the Restlands.
"If it's all right with everybody, I'l stick to the middle. That way, I can help everybody out with Shelyn's blessings and healing, and cover the front people with my glaive."
He hefts his weapon, looking like he can barey keep it aloft, let alone use it effectively.
"Perhaps I should stay behind Venedictos to likewise cover those in front with spells." Aerys eyes the cleric's erratically bobbing weapon. "And more easily dodge the business end of the glaive..." he adds with a grin.
Venedictos turns around to look at Aerys, his glaive blade narrowly missing his Aerys' head by what looks like luck more than skill. "Oh, sorry. I'm sure I'll figure out how to use this. Eventually."
He turns back around, almost taking Aerys' head off again.
"I don't know if back there is any safer for you, Aerys. Valerya, since you know which crypt it is, do you mind leading? I'll be right behind you, to back you up, with both spells and my blade."
Viktor will take a spot in front of Venedictos, as deadly as that decision may be.
Valerya nods to Viktor, replying "No problem, Viktor, but I would feel guilty not telling you good folk that the Restlands are probably closed up, and to get in and about we'll have to commit at least a misdemeanor or two, and possibly even a minor fellony." She looks at the others, trying to judge their reception of this news.
Viktor smirks slightly. "That shouldn't be a problem, miss. I think my record can take a hit."