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“Not just music,” Santino said, twitching and clutching his weapon as the sound of buzzing filled his ears. He peered into the room with the dangling rope and his eyes confirmed what he was hearing. “Well, if it isn’t the second most hated thing in the world. My archenemies return. They want more of me. ALVIN! Kill the stirges!”
“What exactly do you expect me to do?” Alvin asked.
Santino had no actual ideas, just a desire to see the creatures dead. “Kill them!”
“How?”
“I don’t know,” Santino whined. “Maybe if we destroy the flute, it’ll kill the ghost, like with the book?”
“Different rules may apply,” Stein cautioned. “What if destroying them is exactly the wrong thing to do?”
“Fine!” Santino barked. “I don’t want to do this. But if we’re going to do this, let’s do this!” He raised his axe and charged in.
“I’ve got your back!” Vrodish shouted, chasing after him.
Stein looked back over his shoulder at the others and rolled his eyes, then followed behind. Immediately upon entering the room, he flung a bomb, exploding an encroaching stirge.
Santino soon found himself unable to move, held by the magic of the song coming from the ghost visible at the top of the rope. Hundreds of pinprick wounds appeared on his arms before his very eyes. “It’s eating me!” he shouted in alarm.
Alvin pulled a scroll from his bag and rushed forward as he read it. “Let no harm touch this man!” he shouted as he finished the spell.
Two stirges tried to strike Santino, but one was repelled by the power of the magical sanctuary and was slain by Natalya, who ran into the room behind Alvin. The other latched on to Santino’s neck.
“Stay very still!” Vrodish said, carefully aiming at the stirge.
“I can’t move, so that’ll be really easy,” Santino said. “Please hurry!”
“Don’t rush me!” Vrodish said, skewering the stirge. “Unless you want an additional new hole in your neck.” He tossed aside the creature’s corpse, leaving only a single chitinous leg dangling from Santino’s mouth.
Natalya threw a vial of holy water at the ghost, but it struck the ceiling next to the hole ineffectually. “Vrodish, we need someone with a magic weapon. Go!”
“On it,” he said, beginning to climb the knotted rope.
Heimish rooted through his pack, finally retrieving something he thought could help. He raised the flute to his lips and began to play. As he did so, his eyes and fingernails began to bleed. But the music began having an effect, the Piper of Illmarsh began to distort and destabilize as Heimish played.
Vrodish reached the top and swung his blade and the ghost disappeared just as his blade touched it. “Wow! This sword is amazing! It didn’t even feel like I hit anything!” Vrodish said.
Santino, now able to move once more, bit the stirge’s leg hanging from his lips and grimaced. “Ugh. Bitter,” he said, spitting it out. “Good job, Brodish.” He turned and looked at Heimish. “You’ve looked better,” he said, gesturing at the preacher’s eyes.
“Speak for yourself,” Heimish said, indicating Santino’s arms with a wry laugh.
“Let’s get you both cleaned up,” Alvin said, pulling a cloth from his bag.
After a few minutes, they found themselves back in Vesorianna’s room. The ghostly woman greeted them. “You’ve done well so far. I can feel the presences weakening. With a little more, we can contain them forever.”
“That’s all well and good, milady,” Santino said. “But fighting ghosts is hard work and I need a nap. But first, I brought you something.” He reached into his coat and produced a small badge. “I think you wanted something like this?”
“My husband’s badge!” the ghost gasped. “Thank you,” she said, carefully taking it from his hand.
“Can you keep us safe while we rest?” Heimish asked.
“I can keep the ghosts from entering to assault you physically,” she said.
“Physically?” Stein muttered under his breath. “That she had to specify is pretty ominous,” he whispered to Natalya, who nodded her agreement.
The party eventually settled in and went to sleep. Aside from Stein, they all tossed and turned, and didn’t wake for ten hours, still feeling groggy. “I hate bad dreams,” Natalya complained.
“I dreamed about the town hall on fire,” Heimish said. “There were burning skulls flying around. People were fleeing and the good sheriff was desperately trying to get people out safely.”
Vrodish froze as he heard this. “I thought only I dreamt about that.” He looked at the others.
“I dreamed about it too,” Santino admitted.
“Me too,” Natalya agreed.
“So did I,” Alvin said.
Stein shrugged. “I dreamed about a talking flytrap. Cute little guy wanted me to feed it rats.”
“We have to go back,” Vrodish said, standing.
“Wait,” Heimish said. “The ghosts have tried to attack us with dreams before. This could be a trick.”
“Yeah,” Santino said. “They’re scared of us and want us to leave.”
“It does make sense,” Stein agreed. “Even if it’s real, we can do more good by stopping the source of the attack than by spending hours running back to help clean up something that has already happened, in all likelihood.”
The guardsman considered their words. “Fair enough,” he said, his jaw clenched. “But we finish this up today and head back.”
“I’d rather not spend another night sleeping here,” Natalya agreed.
The group headed back down the rope and considered which way to go. In the end, they decided to head into the Oubliette, decided at least in part because the portcullis was already open. “You should do the stealth thing,” Santino said to Heimish.
“Good idea, lad,” Heimish said, casting his spell. “Hang back and keep an eye on me.”
The room was another cell block with a pit in the center covered by a grate, but this one wasn’t filled with water like the other room had been. Inside the room was a maniacal looking wraith who held a massive axe in his strangely elongated arms.
It was apparent by the fixation of his wild eyes and the terrifying rictus upon his lips that the ghost, that of the wild murderer known as The Lopper, had spotted Heimish through the power of the spell. “I might need help!” Heimish called back to the others.
Stein quickly through a healing bomb, which went a little wide, but still struck the ghost with its wide burst. Vrodish charged in after the bomb, shouting a battle cry. “I have slain one of your kind before! I will make the sheriff proud!” And then he completely missed with his strike as he stumbled on an uneven tile on the floor.
The Lopper struck at Heimish, his ghostly axe passing through Heimish’s neck. Red mist trailed behind it and flowed into the wraith, healing the injury from the healing bomb. “Ow,” Heimish groaned.
Santino charged, swinging The Lopper’s axe at him. “Get away from my friend!” His swing connected completely, much to Santino’s surprise, since he had become used to feeling only partial resistance when striking ghosts.
Vrodish swung again, missing once more as the wraith recoiled from the strike of Stein’s second healing bomb, which washed over Heimish as well, healing his wounds as Natalya’s thrown holy water flew over his shoulder and splashed upon the ghost and Alvin’s channeled energy burned the ghost. The Lopper retaliated by striking Santino, with similar results to the swing on Heimish.
Heimish cast a healing spell and tried to touch the ghost, who dodged back to avoid the painful attack, as well as Santino’s second strike. Alvin unleashed another wave of energy, healing Santino’s wounds. The dodging also caused Stein to miss with a vial of holy water, scoring only a partial hit with the splashed water.
Vrodish swung again, finally connecting. “I hit him!” the guardsman shouted in triumph. The sound startled the ghost enough to get it to turn its head, so it didn’t notice Santino’s next strike in time to avoid the hit, which struck it squarely in the chest and causing the wraith to dissipate in a puff of mist.
The axe fell from Santino’s hand and fell through the grate before him as he dropped to his knees. In the torchlight, no one noticed as the man’s skin erupted in soft red glowing lines, nor did they notice his eyes glowing yellow or his teeth elongating into fangs.
Santino took a moment and got himself under control as Natalya peered down into the pit. “There’s more than that axe down there,” she said. “Give me a rope.”
Several minutes later, Natalya climbed back out with several valuable items. “I believe that mace is magical,” Heimish said, inspecting one of her prizes. “The magic isn’t as powerful as on that sword.”
Santino grabbed the mace and walked over to Vrodish. He yanked the sword from the guard’s hand and handed him the mace. “Hey! I was just getting used to that one,” Vrodish objected.
“Swords are for people who can hit things,” Santino said. “The mace will be easier to use. Besides, it suits you. It’s ordinary.”
Confident that they had grabbed everything of value, the group set out for the final wing. “I’m almost out of holy water,” Natalya said to Heimish. “Do you have any way for me to attack?”
“I have just the thing,” Heimish said, enchanting her rapier. “That should be good for a couple minutes.”
“Thanks,” the adventurer said as the group began making their way down the hallway to the Reaper’s Hold.
But they didn’t even reach the portcullis before events starting kicking off. “ARGH!” Stein shouted, grasping his head as a headache ripped through his skull.
Several ethereal skulls flew into the hallway through the walls and a hammer swung through, striking Stein. After the ghostly hammer connected, a translucent phantom of a skull fragment flew off from his head and a hand reached through the wall and snatched it.
“The axe was really good against the Lopper!” Santino said. “Use the hammer!” he told the deputy.
“But I just got the mace!” Vrodish complained as he drew the hammer. He swung and immediately found himself compelled to attack the closest living creature – Stein.
Stein narrowly avoided getting hit as he retreated back to Heimish. “The siphon,” he said with a grimace.
“Right,” Heimish said, rooting through the butler’s pack. “We’ll get a drink after this, okay?”
As that happened, Natalya tumbled through the hallway, cutting down one of the ghostly skulls as she past. Inside the room, she found a strange ghostly dwarf, desperately trying to fit the skull fragment taken from Stein into the ghostly skull floating next to him. As she entered the room, the ghost gave up and swung through the wall again, hitting Alvin and harvesting another ghostly fragment.
Alvin reacted by channeling energy, destroying a skull and freeing Santino to join Natalya in the room to face the dwarf. Heimish rushed in and Vrodish swung at him, stopping his charge as Heimish narrowly avoided the hit.
Vrodish got himself under control and gaped at Heimish, mortified. “Sorry,” he said.
“Not your fault,” Heimish said. “Just watch out for that last skull.”
“I’ve got that one,” Stein grunted, managing to get his headache under control through force of will and throwing another healing bomb, destroying the final skull.
As the last skull faded, so too did the dwarf, and with the end of the Mosswater Marauder, the final powerful ghost was gone and the mission complete.
Inspecting the room, the group found a hidden cache of weapons and armor, likely meant for the guards but unfound by the rioting prisoners. It was high quality, valuable stuff. So the group divvied it up to those who could use it, and decided to sell the rest and split the proceeds. Vrodish was sure that the sheriff would be interested in at least a couple of the suits of armor, if nothing else.
As the rest bagged up the loot, Stein and Santino took a look into the prison chamber. The room was like the others, lined with cells, but had a number of torture implements scattered throughout. Most notable was an iron maiden standing at the far side of the room.
“HELP ME!” came the cry of a woman from the vicinity of the iron maiden.
Santino and Stein both turned to look, and saw Kendra trapped within the slowly closing doors. “KENDRA!” they both shouted as they took off running to save her. But Santino was faster and reached the device more than ten feet ahead of the butler.
He reached out to grab Kendra, but grasped only air as the doors slammed shut on him. The spikes themselves had long rusted off, but ghostly replacements pierced into his flesh, causing Santino to cry out in pain.
Heimish, alerted by the shouting, hurried into the room and activated the haunt siphon he was still carrying, draining out the power of the haunt and allowing the doors of the iron maiden to open once more.
Santino stood there, a pitiful look on his face. “Ow,” he said. “They made me into cheese.”
“I’ve got you, lad,” Heimish said, healing the man’s wounds.
“We should get out of here,” Natalya said, unnerved by the constant supernatural activity. “Let’s go see Vesorianna so we can get out of here.”
The group headed back to the ghost’s chamber. “You’ve done it!” she exclaimed upon seeing them. “I just completed the ritual. They’ve been sealed forever. Thank you.”
Santino nodded. “You’re welcome, fair lady. Is there anything else we can do for you?”
“No, you have all done enough. I do wish I knew what happened to my husband’s spirit, though. Thank you, again. All of you.” And then she faded away, off to her eternal rest.
“We did good, lad,” Heimish said, patting Santino on the shoulder. “Come now, we should get back to town and see that everything is okay there.”
“Agreed,” Vrodish said. “I’m still worried about the dream.”
“I’m sure it was nothing,” Santino said reassuringly.
But he was wrong. Hours later, just before the town appeared over the horizon, they spotted smoke. Something was burning, or perhaps had already burned.
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“We have to get back quickly,” Natalya agreed. She looked at Heimish and Stein. “We may have to leave you behind.”
“Go,” Vrodish said. “I twisted my ankle and will stay with them.”
“Thanks. We’ll need the help to carry the lad,” Heimish said, indicating Alvin, who looked exhausted and dead on his feet.
“I’ll get him,” Santino said, picking up the cleric by the waist. “I’m sure everything is fine,” he tried to reassure Vrodish before turning to Natalya. “Let’s go.”
Natalya and Santino made good time and reached town in just over twenty minutes. “The smoke appears to be coming from direction of the town hall,” Natalya said, hurrying ahead.
When they reached the street where the town hall was located, they found a large crowd around the building. Several people were injured and most had signs of smoke exposure. Santino took one look and decided that he had just the thing.
He held up the barely conscious Alvin. “Good people! Fear not! We have returned! Behold, Alvin, the hero of Ravengro and slayer of ghosts!” Natalya was certain that Santino’s particular brand of, well, whatever it was he did, was not what the town needed right now. But she couldn’t think of what to do and could only watch in horror as Santino carried the cleric over to where Sheriff Caellar was trying to comfort a woman crying over what was clearly a body covered in a sheet.
“Now isn’t the time,” Benjan said to Santino.
“Why not?” Santino asked. “Thanks to my buddy here, and my party, but mostly me, the ghosts are defeated, Vesorianna has been laid to rest and the evil ghosts are gone forever. So everything is okay now.” The crying woman wailed in grief. “I SAID EVERYTHING IS FINE!” Santino shouted indignantly.
Benjan shot Santino an angry look. “You and your party can debrief with me later at the office. You should get that poor man back to the temple so he can rest.”
Santino turned Alvin so he could see the man’s face. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. But first, was my sister here when whatever happened here happened?”
“Yes. She’s assisting with tending to the children over at the inn.”
“Okay. Come on Alvin, let’s go check on Kendra.”
A few minutes later, Stein, Heimish and Vrodish finally reached the town, having caught a ride on a cart that came up shortly after the others left. “I’m going to help with the wounded,” Heimish said.
“I’ll assist you,” Stein agreed.
Vrodish thanked the cart driver. “I’m going to report to the sheriff and assess the situation,” he told the other two. Thanks to the help of another townsperson, he was able to find the sheriff quite quickly. “Sir, what happened?”
“We were having a council meeting when flaming skulls appeared and attacked. The other deputies and I were able to destroy them, but not before the building caught fire.”
“I’m sorry I wasn’t here, sir,” Vrodish apologized. “Were there any casualties?”
Benjan gave the deputy an incredulous look. “Are you blind?” he asked, pointing at the covered corpse.
“Oh! Sorry, sir. I’m more than a little tired.”
The sheriff put his hand on the other man’s shoulder. “We all are. Look, head back to the barracks and get some rest. The fire’s out and we have this in hand. There’s nothing for you to do right now.”
“Okay, thank you, sir.”
Vrodish stopped in at the office first to grab a bit of food. But what he found was a terrified looking Wesley, who was backed into the corner of his cell and staring wide eyed at the cell where Gibbs Hephenus was being held.
The deputy followed the man’s gaze and spotted the crumpled form of Gibbs, lying in a bloody heap on the ground. “What happened?!” he asked the drunk.
“He just started screaming and throwing himself against the bars. He kept doing it all night until he knocked himself out.” He suddenly calmed down. “Can I come out now?”
Vrodish ignored him and retrieved the keys from the box in the sheriff’s office. He opened Gibbs’ cell and checked the man’s wounds. They were bad, but consistent with having thrown himself against the bars. Thankfully, he had a potion still, and carefully poured it down the man’s throat.
Gibbs groaned as his wounds began to close. The wounds were still bad, but the man was no longer in immediate danger, so Vrodish got up and unlocked the other cell. “Wesley, I need you to go get the sheriff.”
“Is it safe to come out? I heard screaming from in the town.”
“Yes, it’s fine. Now go.” Wesley cautiously stepped out of the building and turned right, towards the tavern. “Wrong way, Wesley!”
“Oh, right!” the drunk said, turning and heading towards the town hall.
Wesley stumbled forward and quickly forgot what he was doing. It was probably a bad idea to rely on him, but it wasn’t like Vrodish had a choice. But while Wesley’s intentions were unreliable, his luck was a bit more dependable.
“Wesley?” Deputy Leromar asked upon spotting the drunk wandering through town. “How did you get out of your cell? Sheriff said you’d still be too drunk to get out ‘til tomorrow.”
The drunk scratched his head. “I don’t know,” Wesley said honestly.
“You should probably go back and lie down.”
Wesley’s face fell. “I don’t remember how to get back,” he admitted.
Leromar sighed. “Come on, Wesley. I’ll take you back.”
“Thanks, deputy.”
At the inn, Santino and Natalya finally located Kendra, who was working with Serianna to try to keep the scared kids entertained while the town’s adults dealt with the aftermath of the fire. At least, they were trying. The kids were definitely agitated and being quite a handful.
Natalya wasn’t worried about the kids. She immediately walked over and pulled Kendra to her feet. She then begin carefully poking and prodding Kendra, looking for any signs of wounds or damage to her clothing that might indicate injury. “What are you doing?” the young woman asked her temporary bodyguard.
“Inspecting you for wounds,” Natalya answered. “You seem to be fine,” she finally said, satisfied, completely oblivious to the other woman’s distress at the overly familiar treatment. “But you should get that cut looked at by Heimish when you see him next.”
“I will,” Kendra answered. “How did it go?”
“We were awesome,” Santino interjected. Then he remembered how much he wanted to get Alvin and Kendra together. “Though Alvin did most of the work. He destroyed SO many ghosts.” He pointed at the unconscious cleric he leaned up against a wall.
“Wow! He killed ghosts!” one of the kids exclaimed, causing all of the others to turn their attention to Santino.
Santino, not one to pass up an audience, began spinning the tale of Alvin, Hero of Ravengro, in which the cleric had almost single-handedly defeated the ghosts. Of course, at one point, Santino saved the cleric’s life, and the other members of the party had been instrumental in carrying their things. The kids hung on every word, enraptured as Santino continued speaking, embellishing each fight more than the last.
Kendra leaned in to Natalya and whispered, “How true is that?”
“Everyone did their part,” Natalya said. “I’m not sure we would have made it if any one of us hadn’t been there.”
“I thought as much. Did Alvin really defeat six skeletons with a single spell?”
“I don’t remember that, but in truth, I missed part of a fight due to a curse. I want to say we were fighting skeletons at the time. So maybe?”
“…and then Alvin and I made friends with the friendly ghost, Vesorianna, and Alvin helped her put the evil ghosts to rest so now everything’s okay and everyone’s safe.”
“Wow! Alvin’s amazing!” one of the kids said. Others agreed immediately.
“I know, he really is,” Santino said, giving a pointed look to his sister. Kendra waited until he turned away to laugh.
“So, the burning skulls won’t come back to hurt us?” a little girl asked.
“Nope,” Santino said jovially, tousling the girl’s hair.
“Then what about the stirges?”
“Those will never come back,” Santino said, suddenly serious. “NEVER.” At that moment, the door to the inn opened with a squeak, causing Santino to twitch involuntarily.
Back at the town hall, Heimish was carefully stitching a wound and applying medicinal herbs. “Excuse me,” a timid voice said behind him.
Heimish turned at the familiar voice. “Hello, Miss Loxie,” he greeted the buxom young woman in the conservative gray dress.
“I’m glad you made it back safely,” she said. “I was worried.”
“Thank you for your concern,” he answered. “It means a lot to me that you care.”
The young woman blushed. “You’re welcome. Is there any way I can help?” she asked, brushing a lock of chestnut hair from her face.
“I could indeed use a second set of hands,” the preacher said. “Here, grab those shears there and dip them in the alcohol.
“Of course,” the young woman said, kneeling down to help him with a small smile on her face.
The pair worked for a while, moving from one patient to another until they had tended to the remaining wounded. Heimish then looked at where the widow was crying over the body. “I wish I could do something for the poor fellow under the sheet.”
“You’ve done more than anyone could ask,” Loxie said, touching his hand. “It is unfortunate that Councilor Hearthmount died, but he saved a lot of lives. I think he’d consider his life for those of the others a fair trade.”
“Then the town has lost someone of great value,” Heimish said. “I am sure his soul has reached a better place.”
At the sheriff’s office, Vrodish had almost given up hope that Wesley would return when Leromar walked through the door. “Oh! Thank Pharasma!” Vrodish exclaimed.
“What happened here?” Leromar asked, frowning at the sight of the bloodied Gibbs.
“Wesley didn’t tell you? Gibbs hurt himself trying to break out of the cell. Sounds like he was possessed again.”
“Erastil’s ass!” Leromar cursed as he helped Vrodish carefully move the injured man to his cot. “Will this never end?”
“It’s over,” Vrodish said. “I think. But there are still questions unanswered. I’m supposed to make a full report to the sheriff later.”
“Good. I’ll go get someone to tend to his wounds.”
“Find that preacher, Heimish. He seemed good with injuries. And he already knows what’s going on, so it’ll take less explaining.”
“Alright. You keep an eye on Gibbs. And for Pharasma’s sake, don’t let Wesley out of his cell again, unless you want the sheriff to yell at all of us.”
Hours later, the party made their report to the sheriff. Being the official report, no one let Santino run away with the narrative. “Well,” Benjan said once they were finished. “It sounds like everything’s turned out as well as could be expected. We’ll need you to make a full report to what’s left of the council in the morning.”
“I’ll do it,” Santino volunteered.
“Vrodish will handle it,” the sheriff answered, putting his foot down.
“Aww,” Santino whined.
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Oh, and one thing I wanted to share. The players of Santino and Gregor(diff campaigns, I know) - henceforth I will refer to them as Barnaby and Steve, respectively - have created a website to upload all our old stuff in a better formatted way. The reason I'm sharing it is that I promised I'd eventually release edited/formatted versions of the Runelords write ups and they've taken over making that happen and are releasing them there.
So, feel free to check it out. This will also be the place where we release Terry's backstory exclusively(except for part 1, which I requested be written as it has some direct impact on Reign of Winter, so I'll share it on the RoW thread).
Anyway, without further ado, have a link.
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Haven't had a chance to look at it yet, but these legends definitely deserve a site.
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Heimish also decided to bow out of the meeting, stating that he had something he had to do. “Oh?” Kendra asked. “And that something involves what you have cooking in the kitchen?”
“Yes, lass. It’s an old tradition in my family to give a gift of corned beef wrapped in cabbage leaves to someone who you wish to thank.”
“I see. Have fun.” She turned to Natalya. “If you have something else you wish to do, there’s no reason you have to go. The guardsman is making the report and Stein will be there to correct any mistakes he makes.”
The tiefling shook her head. “The last time the council met, it was attacked by flaming skulls. I am still supposed to keep you safe for the remainder of the month, and so I will go with you to make sure you are safe.”
“I see,” Kendra said. She shrugged, then smiled. “If it makes you happy, you’re welcome to come along, then.”
Less than an hour later, at the meeting, Vrodish stood before the council. “…And then he takes the sword from me, just when I was getting used to it! So he handed me the axe, which for some reason NOW he could let go of. I think he had been pretending because he didn’t want to give up the best weapon, but since I found a better one, he just HAD to have it so NOW he could let the axe go…”
Once he was done with his normal morning, Santino left the manor to head for the meeting. As he walked through town, he kept his shiny new sword on his hip, ready to draw it at the first sound of a stirge.
As he walked, he passed the town hall, he spotted Heimish at the door of a home. He was about to call out when the door opened and the young woman from the records office appeared. Her face flushed as she smiled at the preacher. She daintily accepted the bundle he was carrying and invited him inside.
Santino chuckled to himself as the door shut behind Heimish. “You sly dog,” he said. He continued walking, but stopped several minutes later as the inn came into view. “I’ll be damned if Heimish is the only one getting some this morning,” he said, licking his lips. “The meeting will be fine without me.”
As he entered the inn, he spotted Serianna cleaning a table. She was alone in the room, which was perfect for Santino. He walked up to the bar. “What’s for breakfast?” he asked.
She looked up and finally acknowledged him. “Glad to see you’re in good health.”
“A hero like me – who almost singlehandedly saved the town, by the way – wouldn’t let a little thing like facing death to protect everyone get in the way of what’s really important. Like having breakfast in the company of a beautiful woman.”
“I thought Alvin did all the work,” she said, dubiously.
“Oh, that? I was embellishing his importance for my sister’s sake. I’m still trying to get the two of them together.”
“I see… and that part where you waxed poetically about his rippling muscles as he ‘stood over the bones of his fallen foes’?”
“…Kendra really needs to get laid.” This was not going how Santino imagined at all. And deep down, he knew he only had himself to blame. But he wasn’t going to let his own mouth get in the way. He looked up and began to speak, but stopped when he noticed Serianna deep in thought. “What?”
“I was just thinking that you weren’t wrong about Alvin’s muscles. I saw him once without his shirt working in the garden of the monastery and… well, anyway,” she trailed off with a blush.
Santino’s spirits fell. He had the feeling that not only had he messed up his approach, but that he had completely screwed himself. “But… I’ve got muscles too,” he said, unable to think of what else to say in his frustration.
Serianna looked at him, a bit of pity in her eyes. “Come here, you big goof,” she said, giving him a hug.
Santino tried to kiss her as she embraced him, but she deftly turned her cheek. He knew for sure it wasn’t happening at that moment, so he satisfied himself with copping a feel of her firm backside as a consolation prize. She didn’t say anything, though Santino did not know whether she enjoyed his touch or merely endured it.
“Can I give you something?” he asked when they finally released.
“Depends on what you want to give me.”
He reached into his bag and retrieved a goblet. It was made of silver and while not ornate, was definitely well made. “This is my very favorite cup. I want you to have it. Please think of me fondly when you drink from it?”
“Thank you,” she said graciously, taking the goblet from his hand. “It’s a fine gift.”
“Alright,” he said. “Well, I should get going.”
“Did you decide against breakfast?”
“Yeah, I guess I’m not as hungry as I thought,” he replied as he walked to the door, deciding to head out and go see what Jorfa was up to.
Back at the meeting, Vrodish finally wrapped up his report of what had happened at Harrowstone. Gharen Muricar, the now head of the council, cleared his throat. “An interesting report, but what of the rumors we’ve been hearing through town? Your story contradicts them.”
“Sorry,” Vrodish said. “What rumors?”
“The story common through the town is that the acolyte – Alvin, I believe his name was – single handedly defeated the evil lurking in the ruined prison.”
Seated in the mostly empty audience gallery, Natalya lowered her face into her hand. “What?” Stein whispered upon noticing the pained look on her face.
“Santino,” Natalya whispered back. Kendra just laughed, drawing the attention of the council.
“Something you wish to share, Miss Lorrimor?” Gharen asked.
“Sorry, Councilor,” she said. “It’s just, well, my brother is the source of the rumors. He was trying to entertain the kids who were understandably upset by the events of the previous night. I fear his tale appears to have gotten around more than he expected. I’ll do what I can to keep him on a shorter leash from now on.”
“I’ll pitch in for a muzzle,” Benjan said, annoyed. “So much for keeping this contained in order to prevent worrying the populace.”
Kendra decided to change the subject. “Something bothers me. What happened to the warden? From what it sounds like, he had been keeping the evil spirits contained, but suddenly disappeared?”
Stein cleared his throat. “About that. Based on my investigations, it appears that he was taken.”
“They kidnapped him? Did they use something like one of your haunt siphons?” Kendra asked.
Stein considered it. “It’s not impossible. I hadn’t considered it, but it is definitely a possibility, though I have no evidence suggesting the method they used.”
“And if some group did kidnap him, is it possible that they had something to do with my father’s death?”
“I do not believe so,” Stein answered too quickly.
The rest of the council continued the meeting, and Kendra whispered to Stein. “Do you really believe that?”
“This town is far too superstitious. If word that your father’s death is somehow tied to the events that happened after got out, do you think even the sheriff could stop the mob that would follow?”
“Good point,” Kendra agreed. “Thank you for looking out for him.”
After the meeting was over, the three left to make their way back to the manor, passing by the blacksmith on the way. Standing outside was Santino and a disheveled looking Jorfa. “What are you so mad about?” Jorfa asked.
“You called out Alvin’s name!” Santino growled.
Jorfa gave him an incredulous look. “You called out his name twice,” she said in an exasperated tone. “And that’s just this time! You always call out his name.”
“He’s just so dreamy,” Santino whined.
“Come back inside,” Jorfa purred. “I’ll warm up the irons.”
Santino forgot his anger. “Okay,” he said happily, following her back in.
Natalya pinched the bridge of her nose, feeling a headache coming on. Stein just raised an eyebrow at Kendra, who shrugged and continued on her way back to the manor.
Once they were safely back, Kendra turned to Stein. “Tell me everything you know about my father’s death.”
“My notes are down in the lab,” he said. “And we’re less likely to be overheard there.” He turned to Natalya. “You may need to know this too.”
They went downstairs into the disorganized basement laboratory of Petrus Lorrimor. Kendra looked around, this being the first time she had been down there since Petrus’ death. On the shelf, she spotted something odd. Grabbing the jar and placing it on the table next to the lamp Stein had lit, she examined the contents.
The creature within, a deformed humanoid fetus, snapped at the side of the jar, trying to bite at Kendra. “It’s almost kind of cute,” she said.
“Careful,” Stein said. “It’s more dangerous than it looks.” He set his notes on the table. “Now, you already know why I was in your father’s employ, right?”
“I know part of it.”
“Well, I have a particular skill set. I have a way of finding things. After all of this began, starting with the death of Petrus, I began investigating.”
“I knew you would. There was no way his death could be a mere accident. He was far too careful for that.”
Stein nodded. “Everything I’ve found suggests that The Whispering Way may have been involved.”
Kendra skimmed through the notes. “What is their goal? And why did no one notice them?”
“They are very good at keeping secrets. They cut out their own tongues to prevent themselves from talking, and are known to take efforts to prevent anyone from questioning the spirits of their departed victims.”
Kendra came to a realization. “Like crushing the heads of those they kill so that they cannot be questioned by magic that allows one to talk to the dead?”
“Exactly.”
“I see. But why not capture him and make him help them? Surely they would realize he was more useful alive than dead.”
Stein shrugged. “I suspect that they had what they wanted already.”
“The warden’s ghost?”
“Yes.”
“And he caught them in the act!”
“I suspect so. I can find out more when I have a chance to return to the city through my contacts.”
“When the month is up and you’re supposed to make that delivery, I’ll go with you all. I want to help as much as I can.”
“If you’re sure,” Stein said. “I just hope that I can find out what they want with the warden before it becomes a bigger problem.”
“I won’t rest until I help you find his killers.”
“I won’t stop you, but are you certain that is what your father would want? He went to a lot of trouble to shield you from his work.”
“He never took the time to get to know me,” Kendra said sadly. “It’s settled. It’ll be you, me and Santino.”
Natalya, who had been quietly contemplating the matter, spoke up. “I’ll help, as long as my expenses are covered.”
“Are you sure?” Kendra asked.
“Yes. There are people who would be disappointed in me if I turned my back on this. I owe them my life and do not want to let them down. But I also cannot do so in a way that would cause me to accrue any debt that might become a burden on them.”
Kendra reached out to hug Natalya, but the tiefling shied away, obviously uncomfortable. “Thank you,” Kendra said, finally.
Natalya nodded and headed upstairs, giving one last dubious look at the pickled punk on the table as she left. Once she was gone, Stein turned to Kendra. “Are you sure you want to involve your brother in this?”
“I know he’s eccentric, but he has a good heart.” Stein chuckled at that. “On that note, what of my personal request?”
Stein’s face became stone cold serious. “Are you sure you want to know?”
“Yes,” Kendra answered with determination. “Just what is my brother? I need to know. If he’s a monster, I need to be ready to protect others from him, and I need to protect him from himself.”
Stein nodded. “Very well,” he said, pulling out another notebook and handing it to her. “I don’t have the entire picture yet, but I warn you that you will not be able to unlearn what you discover today.”
“I understand,” Kendra said, beginning to read the notes.
“You don’t. Not yet. But you will. And I don’t think you’ll like it.”
Looking forward to finding out the deal about Santino.
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Looking forward to finding out the deal about Santino.
Personally I just want to know what happened to that box of babies. I mean, what kind of farm did they go to? Will they have puppies to play with?
^That's part of what I'm talking about . . . .
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^That's part of what I'm talking about . . . .
What I can tell you is that Santino kinda started out as a joke. Barnaby and I were at a nearby Mexican food restaurant discussing ideas for characters for CC, and I misunderstood his plan A. I thought he wanted a wolf with a blind hunter as a companion. What he wanted was a blind hunter with a wolf companion, which would have been a lot easier to do. So I said it might be doable, but it might take some finagling.
Then he threw out an idea I can't say, and I thought about it for a second, saying, "You know, I think that's doable."
"Wait, really? I was joking."
"Yeah, we can make that work, I think. We'll talk to Steve when we get back with the food."
"Holy crap! Yes! Let's do that! This is gonna be awesome."
More or less how the convo went.
Idea you can't say? What, some kind of pervert or something? :-)
Idea you can't say? What, some kind of pervert or something? :-)
Nah. I can't say because spoilers. The character idea is part of what Santino's hiding, though not all. :P
Looking forward to finding out the deal about Santino.Personally I just want to know what happened to that box of babies. I mean, what kind of farm did they go to? Will they have puppies to play with?
We figured out what happened to the babies during Saturday's session. It's pretty entertaining.
One of them was a catfolk. Beyond that. I can say no more at the moment.
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The two men actually came to blows, causing Natalya’s plate to fall on the floor. She picked it up and scooped the bacon off of the floor and continued eating it. She’d eaten her share of rotten food before back in the slums, and Zokar kept a clean enough establishment that she wasn’t too worried about a little dirt. Zokar did insist on replacing her eggs.
And, of course, it was still safer to eat than whatever Santino was making, since the strange man had decided it was his turn to cook. The tiefling was glad that her patrols had given her an excuse to leave before breakfast.
After an hour of searching, she decided to head towards the Temple of Pharasma. Once there, she spotted Alvin working in the gardens. She caught his eye and they shared a nod before he went back to work, training the temple’s several new young acolytes, who all looked at the man with admiration.
Natalya continued on, checking the cemetery for signs of the cult’s machinations. She didn't find anything, but she did spot Santino standing at Petrus’ grave. He had obviously survived breakfast, but it must have been terrible, because he was in an obviously bad mood.
He seemed to be talking to the grave, so Natalya decided not to approach. As she turned to leave, she thought she saw a flash of red light coming from the man as he raged against his deceased father, but decided not to press the matter.
What would she do, anyway?
Natalya left Santino and decided to head back into town. As she traveled, she passed by a house she had passed several times before. Only this time, Heimish was standing upon the doorstep, holding a single flower behind his back as he knocked on the door.
She decided that it was none of her business and continued on, deciding to stop by the town’s monument to look for signs of activity from the Whispering Way. After all, the ghosts had used the power of the significant site, so it made sense that others might as well.
She didn’t find anything at the monument itself, but she spotted movement in a nearby alley – the same alley where she and Heimish had encountered the zombie. Cautiously, she crept over to the alley and took a look.
She found Vrodish standing in the alley, practicing with his weapon. His motions were amateurish in the extreme, like a child playing at fighting. Annoyed, she drew her weapon. “You’ll never accomplish anything that way,” she said.
The deputy jumped at her voice. He spun around, holding the axe before him. “Oh,” he said upon spotting her. “It’s you.”
“Try to block my attack,” she said, indicating his shield. “See if you can counter.”
Vrodish tried to protest, but she was on him immediately, giving him just enough time to raise his shield. She was holding back, so he managed to deflect the blow, but not well enough to throw her off balance. She easily parried his counter and retaliated with her own, flinging his axe from his hand. In a flash, the point of her blade was at his throat.
“You hesitated,” she commented, pulling away the blade. “Your hands are shaking. You will be unable to hold onto your weapon that way. You have to get yourself under control or you will die.”
“That’s easy for you to say. You can’t possibly understand what I’ve been through. I wake up every night screaming, awoken by nightmares of the horrors we encountered. I’m in hell. Don’t you dare try to tell me to ‘get myself under control’.”
Natalya grabbed his collar and slammed him into the wall. “HELL? You think this is hell?” She let him go and sheathed her blade, then turned to leave. She stopped a few feet away and turned back to him. “You don’t know what hell truly is,” she said, her voice dangerously low and her eyes narrow, boring a hole into his very soul. “You have no idea what it’s like to live in a world of true horror.”
She didn’t wait for his response, stalking away angrily as he stared after her, unable to find a way to answer her.
It was almost lunch time, so Natalya decided to go find something to eat. Since getting to the Laughing Demon would require going back the way she came, and passing by Vrodish again, she instead opted to stop by Serianna’s inn.
After lunch, she continued her patrol. As she passed the alchemist’s place, she had to step to the side of the narrow street to allow Gibbs and his wife to pass. The man looked haggard, in even worse shape than Vrodish. She’d heard rumors that he had taken to drinking to try to drown out the pain of what he’d been through.
Natalya didn’t hear the door open next to her, and was startled by the voice coming from within. “Your friend Heimish has been trying to help him,” Jominda said. “But I fear he still has a long road before he comes to terms with what happened to him.”
Unlike Vrodish, who had only fought some monsters, Natalya felt pity for Gibbs. He had lost control of himself to an outside entity, and that was a fear she could understand. But she knew she could do nothing to help him, though she hoped Heimish could. So she answered the alchemist with only a nod.
Jominda spotted something out of the corner of her eye. “Dammit,” she cursed. “I’m going to lock the door and close the shop for the day,” she said, closing the door. Natalya turned to see what had prompted Jominda’s action and spotted Benjan nervously making his way over towards the shop.
She wasn’t sure what his problem with the place was, but she didn’t want to get caught up in it. So she turned the other way and made an escape.
Later in the afternoon, Natalya returned to the manor. As she approached the door, she was stopped by a voice. “Excuse me, miss?” the high pitched voice asked.
She turned and spotted a gnome standing there, holding a parcel. “Yes, what is it?”
“Are you Kendra Lorrimor?”
“No,” Natalya said, turning to go inside.
“This is her house, correct?”
“Yes.”
“Is she home?”
“I do not know. I believe she was going to call on one of her acquaintances today.”
“Oh. Then will you give her this package?”
“Fine,” the tiefling answered, taking the parcel from the gnome, whose name was Sqweek, though Natalya neither knew that nor cared. He held out his hand expectantly. “What?”
“Umm, my tip?”
“Were you not paid to deliver this already?” Natalya asked.
“Well, yes, but…” he never finished the sentence as she shut the door in his face.
“What a woman!” the gnome exclaimed, immediately infatuated, though Natalya did not hear him, having already gone further inside in search of Stein.
She found the butler in the kitchen, tending to a boiling pot. “What do you have there?” he asked upon seeing the package.
Natalya set the package, which was marked with the symbol of the Order of the Palatine Eye, which she recognized from the locked journal, on the counter. “Someone sent this to Kendra. Is there a way you can ensure that it is not booby trapped?”
“I can test it for residues from poison or explosives,” Stein agreed.
“Before she gets home?”
“Sure. It’ll only take about fifteen minutes. The roast will be fine on its own until then.” After his check, he determined that it at least contained no obvious presence of the mentioned substances.
When Kendra returned, Natalya told her of the package and warned of the danger of opening it. To humor her, Kendra agreed to allow the tiefling to open it for her. Natalya did so very carefully, holding her buckler between her and the package as she did so, hoping to block any spring loaded darts that might come out.
But there were no traps. Instead she found only a book. It was marked with the same symbol as the outside of the box, and had a note attached. Finally convinced it was safe, Natalya handed the contents over to Kendra.
“‘Dear Kendra, this belonged to your father. Do not judge him too harshly,’” Kendra read aloud. “‘He allowed monsters to make him into a monster. Just know that you are not his first daughter and that puts you in grave danger. Sincerely, Embreth Daramid.’”
“Embreth Daramid?” Natalya asked.
“That’s the one you’re supposed to deliver the journal to,” Stein noted. “In Lepidstadt.”
“Oh, right, the judge, I think it was?”
“Yes,” Kendra said, opening the journal. Inside was a bestiary and a number of religious symbols. She wasn’t sure what it all meant, but one part, a hastily scrawled note in her father’s handwriting stood out. “‘Dearest Embreth,’” she read aloud. “‘Our daughter is now of the flesh.’” She looked up at the others. “What could that possibly mean?” she asked, handing the journal to Stein.
“I do not know. Perhaps I will be able to discern the meaning from the rest of the journal. I will give it my utmost attention.”
“Good,” Kendra said. She turned to Natalya. “Please do not tell the others of this.”
Natalya nodded. She saw no reason to mention it, anyway.
The rest of the month passed uneventfully and finally the day came that they were to depart. As the group left the house to board the carriage, a woman’s voice called out. “Wait!”
They turned and Loxie ran up. She threw her arms around Heimish’s neck, planting a lingering kiss upon his lips. Santino watched, slack jawed, until Kendra dragged him into the carriage. Natalya followed them. Several minutes later, Heimish finally finished his goodbye and joined them.
Santino gave the preacher a sly look. “You dog!” he said. “Did you get some of that?”
Heimish sat down, pulling out a book. He did not turn to face Santino when he answered, but he had a small smile on the edges of his mouth as he spoke. “Only the Black Butterfly knows what happens in the dark of night,” he said.
Natalya just rolled her eyes.
After a long time traveling, the group reached the halfway point to Lepidstadt, stopping at a small inn they’d been recommended. The proprietor was none other than the younger cousin of Serianna from Ravengro. She was a voluptuous young woman with flaxen hair and dimples.
Santino unconsciously licked his lips upon seeing her, and left the group to finish unloading their things without him. “Greetings,” he said. “You must be Cecilia.”
“Oh! You know my name?” she asked innocently.
“Yes, I know your cousin. I’ve come from Ravengro and she recommended we stay here.”
“Oh! You’re from Ravengro? Do you know the hero, Alvin?”
Santino’s face twitched involuntarily, but he recovered immediately. “Know Alvin? I taught him everything he knows about being a hero!”
“Really?” the girl, who could have been no more than seventeen, asked.
“Yeah. Come on, why don’t we go somewhere private and I’ll tell you all about it?” he said, putting his arm around her shoulder and leading her inside.
The others, unsure at what they had just witnessed, just stood there. “How are we supposed to check in if my brother is bedding the innkeeper?” Kendra asked, finally breaking the silence.
“I do not know,” Stein said. “Let’s finish unloading and I’ll put away the carriage while we wait.”
“You will not have time enough to do that,” Natalya said, her voice completely even.
“Why’s that?”
“He’ll be back in a few minutes.”
“What do you mean?”
“He never took very long when running off with the dwarf,” Natalya said matter-of-factly.
Kendra blinked. “Was… was that a joke?”
Natalya shrugged. “It was not intended as such,” she said, with no indication of mirth in her voice. That only caused the others to laugh even harder than they might have otherwise.
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“Pretty,” Cecilia murmured sleepily. Santino glanced sideways at her. Serianna was the more attractive of the two cousins, yet for a girl so young Cecilia knew her way in the sheets and hadn’t minded when Santino had called out Alvin’s name instead of hers. She’d simply laughed.
“So close,” he grunted, clenching his hand into a fist.
“Close to what?” Cecilia asked. She placed a small hand over his heart. “And what are you? Some kind of mage? Wizard?”
“Neither,” Santino said. “I don’t know what I am. Not all of me anyway. I had assumed regaining my true heart would wash away my capability for empathy, destroy my hunger for…” He bared his teeth. “For people to think I’m a good boy.”
“Oh no, I don’t think so,” Cecilia chuckled. Her hand drifted across his stomach and beneath the bed sheets. “I think you’re a very bad boy.”
Santino grabbed her wrist, surprising both Cecilia and himself. He sat up and reached over to the nearby dresser. He took up his monocle, placing it back over his eye. It’d once been his father’s. No. Not his father. His maker’s.
“I’m on the edge of remembering,” he said, clenching and unclenching his fists. “It’s like I’m standing dead center in a storm. The hurricane whirls around me, destroying everything it touches. Yet whenever I try to reach out for it, the winds shrink back. The storm knows I’m not strong enough to handle it yet. I need to get stronger. Strong enough to eat the hurricane whole and become again the…thing I once was.” The corners of his lips twitched. “A god! That must be it. I was some sort of beautiful god that Petrus locked away in this almost nearly as beautiful body.”
Cecilia leaned over onto her elbow and stared at him. “Whatever you say, sweetie,” she yawned. A thought seemed to strike her. “Angel maybe?”
Santino snorted. “Please. Pussies.”
There was a soft knock on the door. “Santino?”
Santino recognized Kendra’s voice at once. He slid out of Cecilia’s bed and went to the door, not bothering to get dressed. He opened the door around halfway, giving his sister and anyone walking down the hallway an ample view of his nakedness. “Yes?” he asked casually. And then guessed, “More ghosts?”
Kendra forced her eyes to remain locked on her foster brother’s face, even as a slight blush ran up her neck. “No, no, just came to check up on you. We managed to get rooms and such and you were taking so long that Natalya ended up losing two gold to Heimish-” She glanced past Santino and spotted Cecilia, the innkeeper having dozed off again with a content smile on her lips. “Oh. Well. Never mind then. Good for you that your stamina’s improved, Cliffy.”
Santino looked between the two women and then crossed his arms over his chest. “Sis, forgive my bluntness, but have you actually ever lain with a man? Or perhaps a woman?” He leaned in, eyes suspicious. “Or a Stein?”
Kendra lightly bopped him on the nose. “That’s none of your business, Santino,” she said airily. “And Stein is ever the professional.”
“I know,” Santino said. “It’s so annoying.” He eyed her curiously. “But I’m fine, Kendra. Considerably emptier than I was when we arrived here, but fine. Thankful even to be out of that damned town. And so should you be. Is there anything else you wanted to tell me?”
Kendra hesitated and then shook her head. “Nope. Don’t let me keep you. Have fun. But not too much fun. Natalya says we should leave first thing in the morning.”
Santino frowned. “Have you put thought into what you’re going to do after we deliver the package?” He gently touched her cheek. “Either to go back to that mundane, bigoted town or come away with me? Be free?”
“I’m still weighing my options, Cliffy,” Kendra said quietly. She took his hand, kissed it, and made to walk away. “Goodnight.”
Santino watched her go, mildly annoyed. He then went back inside to make himself and Cecilia scream out Alvin’s name a few more times. And afterwards see if she had a spare cup lying around he could borrow.
That morning at breakfast, most of the group was having leftovers of the previous night’s roast in silence and listening to the chatting of other guests. One young man was talking excitedly about how he was going to go see The Crooked Kin in Lepidstadt.
Natalya listened in, disgusted at how they were looking forward to seeing the “freaks”. She had dealt with enough of that attitude in the ghettos as adventurous human youths had come to see the tieflings. But no one said anything. Natalya just tried to ignore it, chewing on her roast.
Which was not only cold, but seasoned with fennel. Natalya hated fennel.
Eventually, Santino and Cecilia finally came out of the young woman’s chambers. Much to the surprise of everyone, neither had come out of the room overnight and Cecilia’s assistant had been forced to take over for the entire evening.
The two had a sickeningly lovey-dovey look on their faces. “That was amazing,” the young woman was saying with a dopey grin as they approached the rest of Santino’s group.
“I am pretty good,” Santino agreed as he sat down to join the others for breakfast, which he ate ravenously.
After breakfast, while the others loaded the carriage, Kendra pulled Stein aside. “Any more developments in your investigation? Any more information from Embreth’s package? Anything more from my father’s personal journals?”
“She was often on his mind in his writings. But I do not know how much further I will get on my investigation until we’re back in Lepidstadt, where I’ll have access to more resources.”
“I understand. Please keep me informed about anything you find.”
He nodded. “Of course.” He turned to leave to go assist loading the carriage, then stopped. “Did your father ever say anything to you about a rabbit?”
“What? No, not that I remember. Why?”
“I’m not sure. He rambled quite a bit about a rabbit at some point. It might be nothing. But I have this feeling in my gut that it’s important.”
“I’ll trust your instincts. Let me know if you find more about that, as well.” He responded by nodding before leaving to help carry luggage.
About an hour later, the group had started boarding the carriage when Cecilia ran out from the inn. “Wait!” she shouted. Santino stepped out and she threw her arms around his neck, kissing him. “I have something for you.” She handed him small object wrapped in paper.
Santino tore open the paper, revealing a small clay tumbler. “A cup?” he asked.
She smiled shyly. “You mentioned that you needed a new one.”
“Thank you,” he said, genuinely touched. “That’s one of the sweetest things anyone has ever done for me. I’ll think of you whenever I use it.”
“Will you return?” she asked.
He began boarding the carriage. “I’ll come back for you,” he said. Then when the door to the carriage shut, he added softly, “If I remember.”
He sat down, gently examining the cup in his hand. It was smooth and uncracked, with flowers painted around the side by hand. It was amateur work, perhaps made by the innkeeper herself.
Santino carefully stored it in his bag, then looked up to see Natalya scowling at him. “You disapprove?”
“You’re lying to that young woman.”
“I really do plan to come back,” he said. “I just know I’m bad about forgetting things. Look, it’ll be your job to remind me, okay?”
Natalya rolled her eyes. “I’m going to go ride up top with Stein so I can keep an eye out for bandits.” She didn’t wait for a response, opening the door and bounding up the side onto the top of the carriage.
It was late morning, perhaps just about noon, when Natalya and Stein spotted a number of large tents as well as at least a dozen carriages just off the road about a mile ahead. There were two men standing next to the road.
They exchanged a glance. “I’ll slow down a bit,” Stein said. “Warn the others. I’m not sure I like those two standing there.”
Natalya nodded back and jumped down on to the runner next to the door of the carriage. She swung the door open and entered. Kendra was knitting, while Heimish read and Santino slept. “Something wrong?” Kendra asked.
Natalya described the scene ahead. “We might want to be ready for a fight. They don’t look like bandits, but they may mean to waylay us nonetheless,” the tiefling warned.
Kendra nodded her affirmation. “We’ll be ready. Try to avoid a fight if we can, but shout if we need to defend ourselves.”
Natalya hopped back up onto the carriage, her hand on Faith’s hilt as they slowed to a stop in front of the two men, who were now standing in the road and motioning for them to stop. She got a good look at the pair. One was a giant, savage looking man. The other was dressed in a red tailcoat and top hat, and was normal aside from being extremely pale – though perhaps not quite albino. There were two young women standing behind them. They were crying, but the most noticeable thing about them was that their heads were about half the size they should have been.
“Ho, there!” the pale man said. “Thank you for stopping. You see, we’ve been trying to get some help, and you look capable.”
“Tell us why you’ve stopped us before I’m forced to run you through,” Natalya said dangerously.
“Right, no time for idle chit chat,” the man said. “I am Kaleb Hess. My large associate is known as Trollblood. One of our own has gone missing, and we’re hoping you could help us look for her.”
Heimish, who had been listening from the doorway, stepped out of the carriage. “Can you tell us more about what has happened?”
The pale man bowed. “The girls’ sister went missing. We’ve begun to worry.”
“How long ago did she go missing?” Kendra asked, stepping out after the preacher.
“Dear Aleece went missing while we were camped for the night.”
“When did you see her last?”
The girls only cried louder, and the large man tried to calm them. “She,” one of the girls said with a sniff, “went out last night and never came back.”
Natalya turned towards the camp with a start as she heard the sound of something howling. But no one else seemed to notice, so she assumed it was something normal.
Kendra turned to Stein. “Are we on a strict schedule?”
Stein shrugged. “You’re in charge, so it depends on you.”
Kendra nodded and turned to the girls. “I recently lost my father. I wouldn’t want you to lose someone too. We’ll help.”
“Thank you,” Kaleb said. “We appreciate the help. The Crooked Kin will not forget your willingness to help.”
Natalya took note of what the man had called his group and looked around carefully. Sure enough, this was the freak show the people at the inn had been discussing. She couldn’t help but feel annoyed at having found herself among them.
“I’d like to ask around and see if anyone noticed anything important,” Kendra said. “Natalya, will you accompany me?” The tiefling nodded. “Stein, will you check around their tent for tracks, see if you can determine where the girl went?”
“Just let me park the carriage.”
“Good. Now, before I go asking around, um, I apologize for asking this, but does your sister share your condition?” she asked the young women.
They nodded. “Yes,” one of the girls answered, not seeming offended at all. “Lettie, Aleece and I are known as the Pinheads. You don’t have to worry about offending us. We’ve been like this since we were born, so we’re used to it.”
Kaleb nodded. “Poppy, we’re to take these two to ask around. Will you show the man on the carriage to your tent so he can try to find her trail?”
“I’ll go with Stein,” Heimish said. “So I don’t slow the rest of you down.”
As they followed the two men, Kendra turned to Natalya. “You told me once that you’ve tracked people before. Any insights you can add?”
Natalya considered it. “If foul play is involved, it’s usually the missing person’s lover at fault. Not always, but more often than any other person. So we should find out if she had a lover,” she suggested quietly.
“That’s not a bad point,” Kendra said. “Kaleb, did the missing girl have a lover?”
“Not that I’m aware of,” the man admitted. “We’ll check into it, though.”
Back at the carriage, Stein finally made his way down and looked into the carriage. He decided against waking Santino, since no good could come of him running around among these particular people.
As Stein and Heimish followed the young women off, a trio of men who had been watching them glanced at each other conspiratorially. One of them, a man with an extra arm on the left side of his body, turned to the man with three legs, Gerik. “Keep a lookout,” he said.
“Why me?”
“Because you’re the best at standing watch,” the third man, Tam, who had an additional arm on the right side of his body, answered.
“Why does it always have to be leg jokes?” Gerik complained.
“Because it’s easy material,” Josef answered. “Come on, Tam, give me a hand.” He then led the other man as they quietly crept towards the carriage.
Even in a troupe of carnival freaks, Natalya stood out. They may have been strange, but they were still humans. She became keenly aware of this when one man called out to Kaleb. “Hey, check out the freaky devil lady with the tail! Boss, we auditioning new members?”
Natalya turned to see who had said that, and spotted a man with no arms and no legs staring at her. He glare was withering, and he actually whimpered in fear at the fire in her eyes.
“Please forgive Prince Zar,” Trollblood said when she turned back. “He’s kind of a dick, but that’s the only appendage he has left, so it’s pretty understandable.”
The big guy – a massive Ulfen man who was shockingly ugly - was scary looking, but Natalya found she did not entirely hate him. At least he had manners. And while he was big, he was still significantly shorter than the fable leader of the Adventurer’s Guild, Lenn, who was also a shockingly gentle giant from what Natalya had heard of him.
Back at the carriage, Josef quietly peered into the carriage and, to his surprise, spotted a sleeping man inside. “Oh, Alvin!” Santino breathed in his sleep. “And Serianna! You look so much better without the dress, my dear.” He then growled. “Dad! Go away! This is my orgy!”
Josef and Tam exchanged a look. They then climbed into the carriage and checked Santino. “He’s definitely out,” Tam said. He then got an evil look on his face. “Hey, I have a great idea,” he said. “This is going to be hilarious.”
Stein and Heimish followed the girls to their tent and Stein immediately began working. First he measured the women’s feet and began comparing them to the various footprints in the dirt. As he worked, a young boy covered entirely in hair ran up to Lettie. He at Heimish warily.
Heimish looked back at the boy, then reached out and touched the top of the boy’s head, channeling energy through his finger. The weird sensation caused the boy’s hair to stand up and he shied away from the preacher.
“What are you doing?” Poppy asked defensively, shielding the boy.
“Sorry, I was checking for lycanthropy,” Heimish answered.
“He’s not like that.”
“I can see that now,” Heimish said. “My apologies.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of candy and held it out for the boy. The boy eyed it warily, so he pulled out another and popped it into his own mouth. “See? It’s just candy. It’s good.” He wasn’t sure where Santino was getting these candies, but he’d have to look into it. They really were pretty tasty.
The boy took the offered candy and ate it greedily. Stein walked over to them. “Excuse me, ladies, but did either of you head out that way?” he asked, indicating the swamp outside of camp.
“No, why?” Lettie asked.
“I found tracks that match those you two ladies make leading off that direction. I suspect that your sister may have gone out that way. Do you know any reason she might have done so?”
“I can’t think of any,” Poppy answered.
Stein nodded, adding it to his detailed notes. As he did so, Heimish spotted a composite sketch of the missing girl alongside a diagram of all the tracks, which had notations for the approximate times each of the tracks had been made. “We should tell Kaleb that we’ve found the trail then,” Stein said. “She will be harder to track out there, so we’re going to need more manpower.”
Back in the center of camp, Kendra was asking questions of Kaleb. A tall woman with a beard down to her waist had joined them. “How long have you been in business,” she asked.
“Many years,” Kaleb answered.
Kendra nodded. “And Aleece never mentioned any reason she wanted to leave?”
He shook his head. “We’re closer than family. But if she’d wanted to leave, we wouldn’t have stopped her. She could have chosen a better place to leave than this.”
“No friction with any of the others? No one wanted to do her harm?”
“Not that I’m aware of, and not much happens here that I don’t hear about.”
“Where did you perform last? Were there any incidents out there?”
“Korvosa, and no. Nothing too strange. I mean, we’re not exactly normal, but we don’t really make enemies. Not that we make many friends. When you’re different like we are, you learn to stick together with your family.”
Kendra laughed at that. “Sorry, I have a bit of a strange one in my family as well,” she explained. “He definitely needs us to keep an eye on him.”
As if on cue, at that moment, across camp, the door to the carriage opened and Santino stepped out. He looked up at the sun and stretched. A four-armed woman dressed in fine silks spotted him out of the corner of her eye and nearly fainted at the sight. But he took little notice, instead spotting Kendra and Natalya.
So he jogged over to them with a grin on his face. As they gaped at him, he hugged his shocked sister tightly. After a moment of the shock wearing off, Kendra finally regained her senses.
“Santino?” she asked.
“Yes, sis?”
“Why are you naked?”
Santino looked down at himself and the gears in his head began to turn. “Oh, because I just came from an orgy,” he answered. It was logical to him. “Who are they?” he asked.
Kendra sighed. “These are Kaleb, Trollblood and Lidia,” she said. She turned to the others. “And this is Santino. My brother.”
Kaleb, to his credit, recovered quickly and held out his hand to shake. “Oh, come on, that’s no way to greet someone,” Santino said, hugging the man.
“Santino,” Kendra said, her voice pained.
“Yes?” he asked.
“Put on some clothes.”
“If you insist.” He turned to Kaleb. “I seem to have misplaced my pants. Can I borrow yours?”
Instead of answering, Kaleb turned to Trollblood. “Go find those clowns. They’re behind this,” he said dangerously.
“Yes, boss,” Trollblood answered.
“You should come see me later,” Santino said, admiring the large man’s muscles.
“No,” Trollblood answered.
Stein and Heimish arrived with the two girls following. Lettie averted her eyes, but Poppy could not help staring at Santino in his fully erect glory. “A bit cold?” Stein asked him.
“No,” Santino said innocently.
“What have you found?” Kendra asked Stein.
“The girl went into the marsh sometime roughly ten to twelve hours ago.” He turned to Trollblood. “If you want to find her, you need to send someone sooner, rather than later. There’s no telling what sort of creatures live out there.” He continued by showing them his notes and walking them through his conclusion, which took several minutes.
The man nodded. “As soon as Trollblood gets back, we’ll send out a party.”
No sooner had he said it than the large man returned, Tam and Josef under each of his arms. He threw the two men unceremoniously at Santino’s feet. “Sorry we took your clothes,” Josef said, holding out Santino’s pants.
“If you wanted to see me naked,” Santino said as he began putting his clothes back on, “all you had to do was ask.” He turned to Kendra. “What’s this about a search party? I thought we needed to deliver Dad’s books.”
“I want to help these people first.”
Santino shrugged. “‘kay,” he said as he pulled on his boots.
“My brother and Stein can help you search,” Kendra said to Kaleb. “They’re great trackers. They helped solve a major mystery in our home town recently.”
“To be fair,” Heimish said, “it was mostly Alvin who did all the work.” Stein chuckled as Santino twitched involuntarily at that.
“Alvin?” Kaleb asked. “The Hero of Ravengro?” Stein laughed so hard at the face Santino made at that that he started coughing.
“So who are we looking for?” Santino asked. Stein gave him a quick recap of what had happened. “Ah.” He turned to the girls. “I promise we’ll find your sister,” he said. “You want to come, Natalya?” he asked the tiefling.
“I’ll stay with Kendra,” she answered. She still didn’t trust these strangers.
Santino shrugged. “That’s fine.” He reached into his pocket for a piece of candy, but it was empty. “Oh, I must have finished the last one,” he said with a disappointed look. “Shall we?” he said to Trollblood, Heimish and Stein.
“Let’s get this over with,” Stein agreed.
As they headed into the Marsh, the large man stopped. He had a question he just had to ask the three men. “So, you really know the Hero of Ravengro?” He sounded like he really admired the young acolyte.
Santino sighed internally, but kept a chipper face. “His hair smells like lavender,” he said knowingly.
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Next week: Due to request by Barnaby, I will probably be posting what he wrote about the fate of Santino's box babies. It has very little to do with any current campaigns, but he wants me to share it to help pad my buffer. :P
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Because Steve and Barnaby saw Aquaman and wanted to do an underwater campaign. Not sure how well that's gonna work with a catfolk and a changeling(sea hag variant), but we'll see what happens.
Also, one of the characters mentioned will be a character when we do Strange Aeons after we finish Carrion Crown. If we ever get that far. Damn work schedules. I just need to win the lottery already so we can all quit our jobs and game full time. In case you're wondering, I'll be playing a Leshy Druid in Strange Aeons. Look for it sometime in Smarch of 2025.
Fievel’s yellow eyes reflected back the full moon’s light. Of the fourteen children, he’d been the only catfolk. He hadn’t always been the oldest. He’d had an older sister, Pony, a goblin. But she was reckless, as her kind is apt to be, and gotten herself killed. Even a decade later her death still hung over Fievel. As did the ghosts of the other six siblings he’d been unable to save. Most of them had died to starvation or illness. And it was Fievel’s fault. He was the oldest. He was supposed to get his family the food and medicine they needed.
This obligation was why he was setting off at the crack of dawn.
And why he was terrified to leave.
None of the others were as good in a fight as he was. If they got into trouble and he wasn’t there…
“Up here trying to convince yourself to stay?” a sad but pretty voice chuckled beneath him. Fievel leaned over and spotted his brother, Bailey, climbing up to meet him. Bailey was too pretty to be completely human. His pale blonde hair stuck up at random angles, and sacrificing a few meals here and there so the others could eat instead had left his face gaunt. Yet when he put on the charm, his skin seemed to almost glow, and when he spoke his voice took on a dreamy hum. Bailey was the best beggar of the group, the de facto diplomat, and Fievel’s number two.
“Yo, Bailey.” Fievel scooted to the side to make room for him.
“Figured if you weren’t up here then you were already gone,” Bailey said.
“Not yet,” Fievel said. “Just thinkin’.”
Bailey nodded.
“You’re still not gonna say goodbye?” Bailey asked, his pale blue eyes scanning the surrounding city. “You know that’s gonna kill Seras.”
“She’ll survive,” Fievel grunted. “They all will. Saying goodbye’ll just make it harder for everybody. It’s better if they just wake up with you in charge.”
“Until you get back,” Bailey added, his tone hard. Despite being the diplomat, he wasn’t a slouch in a fight and could get dangerous if he wanted to. He’d never managed to beat Fievel but that didn’t matter. Fievel trusted his little brother unconditionally with his life and those of their family. If he didn’t then leaving wouldn’t have even been an option.
“You need to be hard,” Fievel said. “Especially with Lotso and Liam. Those orcish idiots are starting to forget about Pony. Taking stupid risks. They won’t listen to words, even yours. They talk back, you hit one of them. Hard. That’ll usually straighten out the other one out too. At least for a while.”
Bailey nodded.
“And Seras is still a little sick, so hold off on putting her on corner duty until it gets warmer,” Fievel went on. His cat lips curled up saying his baby sister’s name. The only gnome, she was a tiny thing. He’d miss her most. “I snuck an apple under her creepy doll. Make sure she gets to eat all of it. She’ll offer to share but knowing Lotso and Liam they’ll just end up taking it from her.”
Bailey nodded again. “What about Mamie?” he asked, his tone careful. Though they couldn’t be sure, based on their looks (same pale skin, blonde hair, blue eyes), she and Bailey were at least related, if not actual biological siblings. “She says she’s willing to take one for the team.”
“No,” Fievel snarled, His eyes became glowing slits. “No sister of ours is a whore. If she does stupid stuff ‘cause of love or crap like that, that’s one thing. But-”
Bailey raised his hands. “Got it. I’ll keep an eye on her.” He sighed. “And that just leaves Flint.”
Fievel released an identical sigh. Flint was a sweet, gentle guy who just so happened to be seven-feet tall. He had a big heart and a stomach to match. Usually Flint followed Fievel around whenever other gangs tried to push into their turf, but that was just for show. The half-giant didn’t have the temperament of a fighter, and he was too intimidating looking to be a beggar. But he still had to eat. “Keep up his training,” Fievel said. “Guy’s got it in him to be a beast. You bring that out, and there’s nobody who’ll be able to hurt the family.” Fievel shrugged. “Pair him up with Mamie. He’ll keep a+%*&+&s out of her pants and maybe she’ll finally wise up to the big lug being head over heels for her.”
Bailey snorted. “Yeah,” he said. “Hopefully.”
They sat in silence for a while after that. Two brothers simply enjoying each other’s company for what could, potentially, be the last time.
Finally Fievel said, as the first rays of sunrise began to peek across the horizon, “You’ve got this, Bailey.” He got to his feet and his tail stretched out behind him. “Soon enough it’ll be like you were the one in charge the whole time. Hell, you’ll probably do it better than I ever could.”
“And I’ll be all too happy to rub it in your face when you get back,” Bailey said with a sad smile. He held out his fist. Fievel bumped it with his own. “So just leave already so you can come back rich quicker.”
“Aye, aye, captain.” Fievel took in one last deep breath atop the clock tower, his home. By the time the sun broke through the horizon he was already well on his way, leaping across rooftops with catlike tread.
#
It took him most of a month before he finally reached port. The air was salty, the vendors were rude and loud, and Fievel nearly got into a skirmish or to within the first hour of arriving. All this brought a sly smile to his lips. It was early morning, meaning he’d attract too much attention by sticking to the rooftops. So he slinked through the alleyways, ducking out only to snatch a piece of fruit or a low hanging fish from an oblivious vendor. He munched contently on his latest steal, a fat sunfish, as he maneuvered closer to port, towards the ships.
Now or never, he thought, his heart quickening with nervousness and excitement. He needed to get on one of those ships. If not this whole trip was for naught. He tapped the toes of his boots against the ground as he walked, readying to kick them into high gear if need be. But which one?
As he was wondering this, he heard a sinister cackle from around the corner. Curiosity getting the better of him, Fievel slinked on over, just to see. Three large men, all big, all ugly, and all grinning ear to ear, were standing around a small girl. She was slinking back against the alley wall, clutching at the red coral necklace she wore around her thin neck. Now Seras was adorable, but this girl was giving Fievel’s sister a run for her (sadly metaphorical) money. Her giant eyes were different colors, one amber and the other violet, and her long hair was a beautiful midnight blue. She was dressed in a buttercup yellow coat with a matching top hat that was almost too big for her head. Her mismatched eyes darted back and forth, looking for a way to get past these three thugs.
One of the thugs leaned in, making her flinch, “Now we wouldn’t be in this mess, sweetheart, if you hadn’t gone and hurt my feelings by calling me an a@*@$**,” he said. He was still smiling but his tone was dangerous.
“B-but I didn’t!” the girl squeaked. “P-please! I don’t want any trouble-”
“Then why’d you have to go and break his heart by calling him names,” one of the other thugs chimed in.
“Yeah, yeah,” the first thug said. “Now, if you really feel bad about it, then don’t you think you should compensate me, huh?”
“C-compensate?” the girl asked. Fievel didn’t blame her. He was beyond surprised that the thug actually knew what “compensate” meant. “Please, m-mister, I don’t want to hurt you-”
That made all three thugs burst out laughing. The combined sound of their laughter made the girl shrink in on herself, eyes brimming with tears. She began whispering something to herself but Fievel couldn’t make it out through these idiots’ cackling.
The smart move would have been to just turn and get back to his own life. Yet Fievel hated bullies, especially those who got off on beating up those younger than them. Another factor was his homesickness, mostly missing Seras’ hugs and kisses. All this drove him to slink back and look around. He spotted a nearby window. He jumped, caught hold of the ledge, and climbed up. He then jumped again and pulled himself up onto the roof directly. The sun was high, making Fievel’s shadow splay out before him. He made sure it didn’t give him away as he hunkered across the rooftop, waiting and watching…
The first thug’s hand shot out and grabbed the girl’s hat off her head.
“Let’s start with this,” he laughed and then frowned down at the ground. A lone clam had fallen out of the hat. “What the hell’s this? Lunch?”
The girl quickly squatted down and snatched the clam back, holding it to her breast.
The third thug who’d mostly kept to giggling until now spoke up, “Check it out. Maybe it’s got a pearl or something inside.”
“No!” the girl cried.
Grinning, the first thug lunged for her and the clam.
Only for a furry shadow to fall in between him and uppercut him across the chin. The thug’s eyes rolled up into his head as he landed flat on his back.
The hat went flying out of his hand. Fievel quickly plucked it out of the air and forced it back down on the girl’s head. Then, while the two other thugs stared on in shock and bewilderment, Fievel grabbed her hand.
“RUN!”
Now on a normal day, Fievel wouldn’t have been averse to sticking around and teaching the two thugs a lesson, no matter how big they were. Knocking skulls together and dishing out black eyes was good exercise in the morning. Yet there was still the chance that the girl in yellow could get hurt, which would have defeated the point of Fievel intervening. So he yanked her forward, past the thugs, and out alleyway. She was heavier than she looked, and stumbled a few times as they ran, but when Fievel glanced back he saw that they’d managed to lose the trio of idiots.
They continued to run a ways more. The docks were actually in view by the time they slowed down. Fievel released the girl’s hand and leaned over, panting. It was a few more minutes of them catching their breath before Fievel finally looked sideways at her, said, “Hey. Hi. I’m, uh, Fievel.”
She didn’t respond right away. She reached up and readjusted her hair under her hat, shoving the clam back inside it as she did so. She then wiped sweat off her brow. “…Thank you.” She stepped away and began making her way across the docks.
Fievel frowned and followed after the girl, keeping a gap in between them so as to not spook her. “…So you got a name?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said, not looking back at him.
“Mind telling me what it is?” Fievel asked.
She hesitated but then shook her head. “Thank you, Mr. Fievel, but please stop following me.”
“Oh, I’m not following you,” Fievel said, glancing around. Grungy, sunburnt men were running off and onto the nearby ships. The nearest was a pearl white construct with pale blue flags. “Just thinking about hitching a ride. What about you? You definitely aren’t from around here, otherwise those idiots wouldn’t have seen you as easy pickings. You looking to set sail, too, Ms…?”
The girl sighed. Maybe it was Fievel’s imagination but he would’ve sworn he saw the hat twitch on its own. “Abalone,” she finally said.
“Abalone,” Fievel said, tasting the name in his mouth. “Abalone…Abby? You look more like an Abby to me.”
She didn’t reply.
“And what’s your pet clam’s name?”
Abalone stopped walking. She slowly turned and fixed Fievel with her mismatched eyes. “Mr. Fievel, please leave me alone. I really do appreciate your help, but you need to get away from me. It’s for your protection.” Unconsciously, she placed a hand over her coral pendant. “Bad things happen around me. Really bad things.”
“Uh-huh,” Fievel said skeptically. He gestured to himself. “Do I look like someone who’s been strutting through paradise lately? I’ve handled more than my fair share of bad since I crawled out of dad’s box.” He showed her his hands. “But hey, if you want me gone I’m as good as gone, Abby. Wish you and your clam the best.”
He walked around her and started scanning the ships more closely. He didn’t have a lot of coin on him, meaning bribing his way on board was a longshot. But if one of the crews could use an extra pair of hands…
“Your father kept you in a box?” This time it was Abalone who was following him.
Smiling inside, Fievel slowed down so as to let her catch up. “Yeah. Me and my brothers and sisters. We were all babies.”
“Were you all poor?” Abalone asked.
“Not sure if he was,” Fievel answered bitterly. “He managed to buy all of us after all. But then one day he just left. Didn’t look back even once.” His hands balled into fists. “What I wouldn’t give to ring that bastard’s thick neck…”
“Is that why you’re seeking passage?” Abalone asked, staring up at Fievel from beneath the brim of her hat. “You’re trying to find him?”
“Nah,” Fievel laughed. “Bastard can rot in the lowest levels of hell for all I care. I’m just trying to make money. Money to send back to my family.” He then added in a sad, soft breath, “Those who are still alive anyway.”
Abalone bit her lower lip, clearly deep in thought.
“What about you?” Fievel asked. “You got any family?”
“No,” she answered. “…I mean…I don’t know.”
“Ah. Make’s perfect sense.” Fievel scratched his chin. “So what do think? Any of these ships catch your eye?” No reply. Fievel turned and saw Abalone wandering over to the edge of the docks, staring off into the ocean. The sea air made her hair flutter. She breathed it in deeply, eyes fluttering closed. “Abby?”
“Oy!” a voice called from down the docks. Fievel turned. A young, tan boy was hurrying towards her. His arms were covered in crudely drawn tattoos and his nose looked like it’d been smashed in once or twice. And he was twitchy. His fingers constantly curling and uncurling, as if he was trying to grab something that wasn’t there. Fievel distrusted him immediately. “Oy, miss!”
Fievel immediately bounded forward, placing himself between Abalone and the approaching man, claws at the ready. The man slowed to a halt, his slanted eyes sizing the cat boy up.
“Thought cats didn’t like the water?” he said, his voice reedy.
“Goes to show how much you know,” Fievel said dryly. He gently reached out and touched Abalone’s shoulder. She started and turned, surprised. “You okay?” Fievel asked her.
She nodded hurriedly, looking from him to the man.
“Who’s this?”
“Don’t know,” Fievel confessed.
“Name’s Callaway,” the man said. He reached into the back pocket of his patchy trousers and produced a leaflet. He held it out towards Abalone and Fievel but neither moved to take it. “Captain sent me out to find customers seeking passage.” He pointed at Abalone. “Judging by how you were reacting, I bet you’re just itching to get out onto the open sea, huh, miss?”
“How much?” Fievel asked before she could answer.
Callaway shot him annoyed look. “Ten silver, mate.”
Fievel grimaced as much as his cat face would allow. By his standards that was steep. Not unreasonable, but he needed to try and haggle this guy down.
“Where is the ship sailing to?” Abalone asked hesitantly, seemingly unperturbed by the cost.
“?” Callaway answered.
Abalone and Fievel exchanged looks.
“Is that where you’re headed?” she asked him.
“Honestly I’m not too picky at the moment,” he confessed.
She nodded and then reached into her coat, producing a small bag. The intoxicating sound of coins shaking filled the air as she shifted through it. She then reached over and gestured for Fievel to hold out his hands. Confused and in mild disbelief, Fievel did so. She pressed fifteen silver pieces into his hands and then quickly tucked the bag back into her coat.
“Think of it as payment for…aiding me,” Abalone explained to a stunned Fievel. She shrugged. “And if it helps you feed your family than it’s a good investment, I think. And there should be enough extra for you to get a proper meal or two.” She smiled apologetically. “You look like you kind of really need it, Mr. Fievel.”
Fievel wanted to hug and kiss her. Instead he turned to Callaway and declared, “Guess I’ll take you up on that offer.” He then draped a hand across Abalone’s shoulders. “We both will. A bodyguard can’t go anywhere without his charge, eh?”
Callaway’s left eye twitched but he put on a yellowed grin and gestured for them to follow after him. “Come on then, come on. The Pearl Heart’ll be setting sail within the hour. Best you meet Captain Blueford before then.”
After carefully plucking Fievel’s arm off her shoulders, Abalone and the cat boy followed after the sailor, towards the white ship with blue sails.
** spoiler omitted **
All I know for sure is that Aven(my monk, or at least I think that was the name I gave him) is already on the boat when they meet him.
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Spoiler:Somebody should tell Santino they're getting into the kind of mission where you really can't afford to get caught with your pants down . . . .
So, um...
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The muck was hard to traverse on a normal day. But for the pair of men with issues walking, it was an absolute nightmare. And they weren’t the only ones having issues, as Santino was veritably twitching at the sound of the mosquitoes flying around his ears.
The only member of the group having minimal trouble, Trollblood spotted a patch of high ground, clear of the reed-choked swamp and covered in smaller flowers. “Hey,” he said. “Does it look to anyone like something got dragged through here?” He pointed at a patch of crushed flowers.
Before anyone could look, they were interrupted by the sound of a woman’s cry. “That doesn’t sound quite right,” Stein said.
“Yeah, it’s like when I’m faking a girl’s cry,” Santino said.
“What?” Stein asked, looking at the man.
“What?” Santino asked as if he hadn’t just said something weird.
Trollblood listened. “There it is again.”
“That came from a different direction,” Heimish noted.
“It sounds a bit like Aleece,” Trollblood noted, making a superstitious sign against evil.
“That was from somewhere else again!” Stein hissed at the third sound.
“It’s probably a trap,” Santino said. “Instead of going straight at it, let’s circle around…” As he talked, he had been moving in the direction he was suggesting. Then he stopped as the sound called out directly in front of his path. He stopped talking and drew his sword.
The other three followed behind him. Just as they got off of the mound, suddenly a massive spider with the eerie face of a human appeared and bit at Heimish, who just barely managed to dodge. “Shite!” the preacher shouted as he cast a spell.
A burst of light – known colloquially to those of the adventurer’s guild as a magical light grenade thanks to one particular wizard – exploded out from a point in front of the creature’s face, both blinding it and burning it.
The spider reacted by disappearing, shifting from the material plane into the ethereal. “You scared away my newest girlfriend,” Santino pouted. The face wasn’t half bad looking, after all.
“It’s a phase spider!” Heimish said. “We haven’t seen the last of it.”
The others readied their weapons, and as soon as it reappeared, they struck as best they could. Santino and Trollblood charged in – as difficult as that was in the muck – and Stein loosed a readied bomb, which missed as the spider lunged at him. It bit him and lifted him from the ground.
He felt poison surging into his veins, but he shrugged it off. He had dealt with worse back in his early days working with Lorrimor. “You’ll have to do better than that!” he shouted, swinging his cane. The blow glanced off the creature’s thick exoskeleton, doing no damage.
The irony of his words and his ineffectual attack were not lost on him. And, unfortunately, Heimish’s blast of magical iridescent light did little to the spider, as it shrugged off the magic.
Trollblood, however, was a bit more successful. He swung his massive crude hammer and struck a crushing blow. The hit destroyed one of the spider’s legs and cracked the chitin on its abdomen.
Santino, still not quite in range, did something else entirely. He was filled with rage and now seeing red. The water next to him was bubbling. It had been for some time, though it was gentle enough that only Stein had noticed, and only just barely. Now, however, it was a rolling boil.
“LET GO OF MY SISTER’S BUTLER!” Santino roared, pointing his sword. From the depths of the marsh, a spiked chain shot out and wrapped around Stein, wrenching the butler from the spider’s grasp.
Terrified and reeling from the damage, the spider fled back into the ethereal plane.
Santino helped Stein up as the chain disappeared. The butler was shaking in supernatural terror at the touch of the hellishly warm chains, but was unharmed by them. Of course, he had taken damage from the spider’s bite, which Heimish attended to immediately.
“There, there,” Santino said, inappropriately caressing the man’s cheek.
“Why didn’t you tell us you could cast spells, lad?” Heimish asked Santino.
“I didn’t know,” Santino answered. “This was my first time doing it.” He laughed. “I guess I popped my spell cherry.” He looked at Stein. “Was it good for you?”
Stein, regaining his composure, just rolled his eyes.
“The creature hasn’t returned,” Trollblood noted.
“We probably hurt it too much,” Santino said. It was mostly him who had done all the work, of course.
Santino started walking ahead of the others. “What are you doing?” Heimish asked.
“Shh… I’m bait.”
“Do you know any other spells?” the preacher asked.
“I don’t know. Didn’t know I could cast that one.”
“Well, I’m proud of you for coming into your power. Your magic will be a great force for good.”
“Okay,” Santino answered noncommittally.
Back at camp, the three men who had pranked Santino decided to put on a juggling act for Kendra and Natalya as way of apology. “This is rather good,” Kendra said to Kaleb.
“This is our trade,” Kaleb answered. “Once Aleece is found, we’ll be heading to Lepidstadt. There’s some kind of shindig going on there, with plenty of commotion. Commotion means people, and people means money.”
“Fair enough,” Kendra said, returning her attention to the show.
Then, all as one, the three men stopped and grabbed their stomachs. Natalya heard an audible, high pitched groan emanate from the bellies of the three men. What should have been three sounds came out as one singular noise as they dropped the balls and looks of horror crossed their faces.
As they ran off, Kendra looked at Kaleb questioningly. “Something they ate, I guess?” the ringmaster said.
Natalya looked around, and most of the camp’s occupants looked ill. Alarmed, she quietly motioned with her head. Kendra spotted the motion and looked, spotting what she had spotted.
“I don’t think they’re the only ones,” Kendra said, pointing out the others to Kaleb.
“I’ll look into it,” he said. “One moment.”
After he left, Kendra leaned in to Natalya. “I think I know what happened to my brother’s missing candy,” she whispered.
The group in the marsh continued on, and while they heard more noises, the spider didn’t dare approach them. They walked for a bit longer before Stein spotted something. “There!” he pointed. “Are those bodies?” he asked.
They moved to investigate, and Santino found something familiar. “Hey, big guy, is this her?” he asked, yanking the half-eaten corpse from the muck.
“Aleece,” Trollblood wailed, his voice cracking as he dropped to his knees and cradled the body.
“Take all the time you need,” Heimish said, putting a hand on the man’s shoulder. “We’ll look around and see if there’s anything else here of import.”
He had been hoping to find a still living victim, but all he managed to locate was a small box of brass weights like those used by merchants to measure the weight of goods on scales and a magnifying glass that appeared to be made of silver.
It was late afternoon – perhaps an hour before sunset – when the party returned to camp with the body of the young woman. The stomach ailment that had afflicted camp was mostly over, thankfully, so the Crooked Kin gathered around to mourn their fallen.
But Santino had something more important to do. “I need to find wood,” he told Kendra.
“What for?” she asked, following along. Natalya followed as well, uncomfortable around the grieving performers.
Santino picked up a large piece of scrap wood and handed it to Natalya. It was too heavy for her and she dropped it. He frowned and picked it up. “I need to make a sign.”
“What kind of sign?” Kendra asked, visions of rather inappropriate possibilities flashing through her mind.
“A warning. There’s a dangerous monster out in the swamp.”
“That’s surprisingly reasonable.”
“Yeah, I don’t want anyone to go out there and end up killing her before I can sleep with her.”
There he was. There was the Santino Kendra expected. “Oh, I see.”
When he was finished, Santino had made a rather decent sign. It even had a doodle of the monster. “Danger: Phase Spider. Don’t go into the swamp, stoopeed.”
“You spelled that wrong,” Natalya pointed out.
“Oh!” Santino said. “I always get those two mixed up.” He crossed out “Phase” and wrote “Faze”. “Much better. Thanks.”
“Um, anytime,” the tiefling answered as she noticed Kendra shaking her head.”
The trio returned just as the sun set and the Crooked Kin lit the funeral pyre for Aleece. They watched solemnly as the people mourned their fallen friend.
When it was over, Kaleb approached them. “Thank you for your help resolving this. Of course, we wish things had turned out different, but we’re grateful for your help.”
“Of course, Kaleb,” Kendra said.
The pale man sighed. “Well, I guess it’s back on the road in the morning. We can’t afford to delay any longer.”
“About that,” Kendra said. “We’re going the same way on a personal errand for my late father. Maybe we can travel with you?”
“You and your friends are a capable group. We’d be glad for the company. Good night, all of you.”
After he was out of earshot, Santino turned to Kendra. “He’s vulnerable. You should get a piece of that.”
Exasperated, Kendra rolled her eyes. “Santino…”
“What? You don’t want him? Can I have him?”
“Santino, get back in the carriage and go to sleep.”
“Fine,” he said. “Wasted trip, lost all my candy,” he grumbled as he walked off to do as he was told.
“About that,” Stein said, appearing from the shadows. “Was everyone in camp sick?”
“Yeah,” Kendra said. “We should probably not say anything about my brother’s missing candy.”
“Probably for the best,” Stein agreed.
They traveled through the next day, finally arriving at the town of Lepidstadt in early evening. There was a decided air of mirth and excitement as they arrived.
“Is there a festival going on?” Heimish asked. He regretted not finding out what Kaleb knew before parting with the troupe at the gate.
“I don’t think so,” Kendra said as they rounded a corner to the town’s main square. In the center, the people were erecting a massive wooden effigy and all around it was kindling.
Kendra had heard of this. This was something the people of Lepidstadt did to punish criminals. “I’m going to go find out what’s going on,” Santino said, jumping out of the slowed carriage before Kendra could stop him.
“I hope he doesn’t do anything reckless,” she said.
“Stay with the carriage,” Natalya said. “I’ll go keep an eye on him.” Kendra would be safe enough with the carriage and the two men. And after all, while protecting the young noblewoman had become a bit of a cause for the tiefling, it wasn’t like she needed to keep an eye on her all the time.
“Thanks,” Kendra said.
Natalya did her best to tail Santino as he pushed his way through the crowd. At one point, he grabbed a man. “What’s going on?” he asked.
“It’s the Punishing Man!” the gap-toothed man exclaimed. “We’re gonna burn the Beast of Lepidstadt!”
Santino let him go and the man ran off to go find more kindling. “Well, if you’re gonna make a big wooden statue, you have to make it right,” Santino said to himself, grabbing a log. He slung it over his shoulder and bounded up past the guards.
He then climbed up and tried to jam the log into the effigy’s crotch. “What are you doing? Get down from there!” a guard called out.
“You didn’t make it complete!” Santino shouted back. He thought he’d done it and let go so he could admire his handiwork. But the large, makeshift manhood fell off of the wooden man. “Damn,” Santino swore. That thing had been heavy.
He noticed that half of the people in the square were staring at him. Drunk on the attention, he climbed higher, all the way to the top of the sculpture.
Natalya looked around desperately, trying to find a way to get him down without killing him or further angering the agitated guards. But she couldn’t find anything. She spotted a few men wearing the crest of the Adventurer’s Guild and began heading their way in hopes that they might be able to help somehow.
But she stopped in her tracks as she heard Santino shout from his perch. “DOWN WITH THE BEAST!” he roared, raising both arms into the air in triumph.
Flames engulfed Santino and ignited the massive wooden sculpture. But they did not seem to harm him. Indeed, the flames didn’t touch Santino, instead, they seemed to do something else. They were revealing him.
On the top of the flame, Natalya could see Santino, completely different than he had been before. No more was his head that of a man. Now it had become more like that of a dog, though it retained some partial features of a human. And his torso still remained that of a man, though his legs had become more like those of a dog as well.
In all, he looked like a cross between a man and a giant mastiff.
He then looked at the horizon, where the moon was rising, and let out a bloodcurdling howl that silenced the entire crowd, who now stared, slack jawed and terrified.
“It’s a werewolf!” one of the guards exclaimed. He grabbed his horn and blew it. Natalya could hear the sounds of several other horns answering in the distance. The guards would be closing in soon. All of them.
What the hell was she going to do?
Flames engulfed Santino and ignited the massive wooden sculpture. But they did not seem to harm him. Indeed, the flames didn’t touch Santino, instead, they seemed to do something else. They were revealing him.
Now see, I said Santino needed to be told he couldn't afford to get caught with his pants down . . . I guess he didn't get the message.
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The spark wafted down towards him, then fluttered off away from the town square. Heimish felt like he had to follow, so he did, hobbling after the void-winged spark.
Kendra watched in disbelief as Santino began climbing the wooden construct. Well, not disbelief. She believed he would do something like that. She just couldn’t deal with it at that moment. “Stein, we should do something about Santino.” There was no response. “Stein!” she called out, poking her head out of the carriage.
They had parked on one side of the road, but Stein was nowhere to be seen. Annoyed and unsure what to do, she walked over to a nearby general goods store to watch the scene from a window.
In the crowd, as she heard the people begin shouting about the presence of a werewolf, Natalya knew she had to do something, or the crowd would tear Santino apart. She didn’t have time to consider what she would personally do regarding the man, only that she had to at least make sure it wouldn’t blow back on Kendra.
She remembered the adventurers she’d seen, and immediately flagged them down. She then displayed her guild crest. “We have to get the crowd out of here quickly, without inciting a panic. Even the guards will have trouble dealing with such a threat, but you know what will happen if a werewolf gets into the crowd!”
One of the men nodded. “Right. You heard her, lads, let’s get these people out of here.” The men began shouting, directing traffic and urging people to leave.
It worked too well, however, and people began fleeing in a panicked mass. Natalya quickly looked back, and saw that the carriage was out of the center of the street, so Kendra was likely in no danger. She turned back to the sight of her companion, up on the burning effigy. Getting him down safely was going to be difficult.
“I don’t want to be this!” the man roared, his voice reverberating through the square as he clawed at his chest, tearing away skin and revealing the raw muscle below. There was a slightly eerie red glow pulsing below the exposed muscle. “Set me free!”
Out of the corner of her eye, Natalya saw motion on a nearby rooftop. She turned and saw a dark cloaked figure looking up at Santino. The figure’s cloak fluttered in the breeze and Natalya saw a shiny obsidian mask with glowing blue eyes underneath. In her mind, Natalya began referring to the figure as Mask.
The figure tensed, and in that moment, Natalya saw Mask’s legs flex in a way that seemed unnatural for a human. It may have just been a trick of the light, but she had seen legs bend like that with some more tieflings who favored their fiendish heritage. It was also common for catfolk’s legs to do the same, though she couldn’t tell if the figure had a tail or fur due to the long cloak.
In an instant, Mask shot through the air with impossible speed, clearing a distance of over sixty feet in the leap – and that was only horizontal distance, as there was a ten foot height distance to cover as well – and kicked Santino dead in the chest. The dog-faced man shot off like an arrow from the impact, sailing over a building and most likely landing in the alley below, then Mask leapt after him.
Kendra, who had witnessed the blow, was sure that the impact would have killed a normal man. But her brother was tougher than most. He had to be okay. She even said it aloud to herself as she ran out of the shop.
The remaining crowd was cheering as she got outside. “The hero, Alvin, has come to save us from the werewolf!” a man shouted. Up ahead, Kendra saw Natalya look in the direction of the shout and run through the now-cheering crowd, heading towards a side street that led in the direction Santino had flown. Not knowing what else to do, Kendra followed.
Santino was barely coherent, but found himself in an alleyway, lying in a puddle. A short distance away was a strange figure, who stood on one leg as it watched him. He leapt to his feet with a snarl and charged, but he slipped on the wet ground and his snapping teeth missed their mark.
Mask swung the raised foot, sending Santino flying into a wall, though this time not as far as he’d been knocked from the Punishing Man. As he struck the wall, Mask saw his shadow in the light of the red glow. The shadow was inhuman, with a pointed tail and great forked antlers. The shadow appeared to be trying to tear itself free of the body.
“Creatures like you shouldn’t even exist!” Mask said with a voice that echoed unnaturally, as if altered by magic – perhaps in the obsidian mask itself.
Santino, blood and spittle dripping from his maw, roared in anger and crimson flames erupted from his body, exploding outward and singeing Mask, who did their best to use their cloak to block the brunt of the flame. The fire also struck the shadow, which rippled, and great black bat-like wings appeared within it, and the flame coalesced in the shadow’s face, appearing as two burning eyes.
The shadow growled incoherently in the language of the blackest pit. Mask understood only a few words, and it seemed to be cursing the body as it continued clawing at the connection between it and its corporeal anchor.
Mask’s foot began to glow with the same pale blue light that shown from its eyes and swept at Santino’s leg, right where the shadow was trying to claw its way free. The blow struck both the body and shadow, and Santino fell to the ground on top of the shadow.
In the distance, a figure entered the alley. “Get away from him!” Natalya shouted, brandishing Faith menacingly.
Mask ignored her and turned back to Santino, whose chest glowed bright red with the light of his exposed heart. The shadow’s wings unfurled beneath him and wrapped around the man, who cried out in pain. The shadow roared in anger. “If I have to be trapped, SO. DO. YOU!”
Inky blackness enveloped Santino, and when it faded, there was an unconscious white mastiff lying there. It looked brutalized and malnourished. Mask regarded the dog curiously, almost pitying it.
Then there was a strange laugh from above, and a second figure, wrapped in shadows, dropped down next to Mask. Due to the nearly shifting nature of the outline around him, Natalya mentally dubbed him Shade. “This would make an excellent specimen!” Shade said, his voice mirthful. “But, alas, time is of the essence. Come!” he said. Mask hesitated, then nodded and both Mask and Shade bounded into the air, jumping well over two stories in a single leap.
Natalya reached the pitiful and unconscious dog. It was breathing, if barely. She then heard footsteps behind her, and turned in time to see Kendra enter the alley. She could also hear the sound of voices somewhere in the distance. She wasn’t sure, but she thought she heard them saying something about following the werewolf, but she wasn’t sure.
Kendra reached her, and gaped at the sight of the dog. “I’m not sure what happened,” Natalya said. “But I think that Mask turned Santino into a dog.”
“It can’t be,” Kendra said, dropping to her knees and cradling the dog. “But it is him. Daddy said he had died. But here you are. Jiminy, the puppy I lost when I was little girl.” Tears streaked down her face as she spoke.
Several guards entered the alley. “What happened?” one asked Natalya.
She had to get them away from Kendra and Santino. So she spouted the first lie that came to mind that answered everything. “Alvin and the werewolf were fighting in here. Alvin kicked the werewolf into the wall. He knocked into this poor dog, who I think this woman was looking for. Then, the werewolf leapt up onto the roof, and Alvin leapt after him.”
The guard looked up. It was rather far up. But this was Alvin and a werewolf they were talking about. “The roof? Well, I guess it started up there. Understood. You ladies need to get off the street. It’s not safe with a werewolf about.”
“We will,” Natalya said. “But as a tiefling, I don’t have to worry about the werewolf’s curse.”
“True as that may be, his teeth and claws will kill you same as any human. You look competent with that blade. Can you get this woman and her dog to safety?”
“Yes,” Natalya agreed, and the guards left.
As they spoke, Kendra pulled out a vial of dark liquid. It looked like blood to Natalya, but it was, in truth, a magic oil – though blood had been one of the oil’s ingredients. She anointed the dog with it, and it whimpered softly as its wounds began to heal. Natalya thought the girl was chanting a spell, though in truth she was praying that Pharasma not take him.
Once the guards were gone and the dog’s wounds were healed, Kendra regained her focus. “Natalya, please gather my brother’s things.”
The tiefling nodded and grabbed his pack and sword as Kendra picked up the dog. It was surprisingly light, despite its massive size. The tiefling then followed the woman as they made their way out of the alley.
Elsewhere, in fact, not sure where he was, Heimish continued following the butterfly. As he did so, the world began to fade away, and everything became a great black void. The only thing he could see aside from himself and the butterfly was a pale green light in the distance. It appeared to be the butterfly’s destination, and it led him there unerringly.
As he reached it, he realized the light was coming from some kind of idol made of pale green stone. The idol depicted something unearthly, though Heimish was unsure what precisely it was. Identification was made more difficult as the idol undulated, blurring its form even more. Then it opened, revealing a writhing mass of tentacles, great webbed wings and arms reaching out.
Heimish could not make sense of it, so he turned to the butterfly and bowed. “What would you have me do?” he asked. But the butterfly did not answer. Instead, Heimish watched as four shadowy figures appeared, picking up the idol and taking it, disappearing from sight as they moved a few feet away.
The butterfly then landed on Heimish’s shoulder and he felt a cold but comforting sensation where it touched him. Then the blackness faded away, and Heimish found himself on a street, in front of a building, in a part of the city he was definitely unfamiliar with.
Across town, Kendra and Natalya made their way back to the main square. Up ahead, they spotted Stein and a woman they did not recognize conversing with a guard. Most of the crowd was dispersed and the guards had managed to get the fire under control. The woman said something to the guard and he nodded, then walked away.
Kendra, upset, walked up to Stein. “Where did you go?” she asked, her tone accusatory.
“I was taking care of business. This is Embreth Daramid, Justice of Lepidstadt.”
“Nice to meet you,” Kendra said curtly. “But I have business to attend to.” She then began walking towards the carriage, but was stopped as the woman held a hand in front of her.
“Pitiful creature,” she said, examining the dog. “Is this the vessel he chose for his experiment?”
Kendra’s eyes narrowed. “If we are going to discuss my father, we should find a more private place to talk.” Her voice was still filled with anger.
“Wise, child,” the woman said. “And there is much business to discuss. We can speak at my home.”
“We’ll take my carriage,” Kendra said. “If Stein can manage to remain with the carriage this time.”
Stein ignored the barb and ushered Kendra inside, Natalya following close behind. Stein then took his seat as the driver, with Embreth joining him.
“I am aware that you have another delivery to make,” the older woman said to the butler. “But they can wait until morning. We have much to discuss, after all, and so little time.”
“Indeed,” Stein agreed, cracking the whip to get the horses moving.
As they were setting off, the dumbfounded Heimish continued staring at the building, trying to decipher the Black Butterfly’s message, when a voice spoke to him. “You seem to be lost,” the man’s voice declared.
“That is not entirely accurate,” Heimish responded. “It is true that I don’t have any idea where I am, but I am certain that I am precisely where I am meant to be.” He turned to see the man standing next to him. The man was older, balding a bit, but dressed well in the style of scholars. “Can you perhaps tell me where we are?”
The man laughed. “I see! Most interesting! You, friend, are at the University of Lepidstadt.”
“Is that so? I am not sure what I am meant to do here, perhaps it was to meet you. I am Heimish Realta, who might you be?”
“I am Professor Montagnie Crowl, good Heimish. Does that illuminate your purpose here?”
Heimish considered. “Yes! I believe it does. I know your name, from a task I was given, by my dear departed friend Petrus Lorrimor. I am supposed to deliver some books to you, though I must admit that I left them at the carriage, and I must further admit that I do not know where the carriage is right now.”
“Ah, those books! I must say, they are quite tardy. Quite tardy indeed!” he said with a laugh. “But that is okay, considering Petrus’ untimely passing. I will not assess him late fees, in deference to the dead.” He laughed again at his own joke. “Come inside, Heimish Realta. After I attend to my business, we can perhaps decipher the mystery of your missing carriage.”
Crowl opened the door and Heimish noticed the mess within. “I had heard that scholars were often untidy, but I must admit that I was not expecting this,” Heimish admitted.
Crowl laughed. “Tidiness is the duty of students. But this mess is not the work of forgetfulness or neglect. There was quite the to do when an artifact was stolen recently, and with all the investigators about, we have not had time to deal with the fallout.”
“Something was stolen?” Heimish asked, but he spotted a sunken in area where the object likely sat.
“Yes, a strange artifact. Probably worthless, definitely strange, and really just taking up a lot of room. But nonetheless, most fascinating. Here, I think I have some drawings of it,” Crowl said as he rooted through a desk. “Ah yes, there it is.” He handed a book to Heimish. “It was called the Sea-Sage Effigy. Someone was caught, luckily, but we have not recovered it.”
Heimish thumbed through the book, then found the drawing. The image startled him so much he nearly dropped the tome. “That’s it!” he said.
“Friend, you’re white as a sheet,” Crowl said.
“I was granted a vision by the Black Butterfly. In my vision, I saw this object and witness a number of people stealing it. I think I’m supposed to look for it.”
“The Black Butterfly, you say? Most interesting! I’d suggest you interrogate the culprit, but the Beast of Lepidstadt will most likely be unable to answer your questions,” he said, laughing again at a joke Heimish did not quite understand. “Now, I have what I came to retrieve. About the matter of your missing carriage, let us go speak to a friend of mine. Judge Embreth Daramid will know who to talk to in order to find what you seek. I’m sure of it!”
Heimish blinked in surprise. “Embreth Daramid?” he asked.
“Yes. You know her?”
“I know the name,” Heimish answered. “She is the other person I’m supposed to see while here. That cannot be a coincidence.”
As he locked the door to his office, Crowl turned to Heimish. “Do you think the Black Butterfly has a connection to this artifact?”
“I do not know. But I’d be happy to tell you all about her and perhaps you will see a connection I cannot.”
“Splendid!” Crowl said. He then opened his mouth to speak again, but was interrupted by a knock on the door. “Please check that while I grab one more thing?”
Heimish nodded and went to the door. He opened it, but saw no one. “Strange,” Heimish said. “No one’s here.”
Then he heard the sound of someone clearing their throat. “Down here,” the voice said.
Heimish looked down and spotted a gnome. “I have a delivery for Montagnie Crowl,” the gnome said, holding out a parcel.
Heimish took it. “Thanks. I’ll give it to him,” he said, then shut the door, almost hitting the hand the gnome was holding out for a tip.
“Well, it’s a good thing I only brought the left ones,” the gnome said, annoyed. “Maybe I’ll get my tip when I bring the rest next time.”
Inside, Heimish gave the package to Crowl, who opened it and pulled out a jar of eyeballs floating in a sickly green liquid. “Splendid!”
“What are they?” Heimish asked.
“Ritual eyes, plucked from the skulls of witches,” Crowl answered as he put them on a shelf. Heimish noticed that the eyes seemed to follow him as he moved. “Come, let us get going. Embreth’s home is a good walk from here, and I suspect it will take you longer than most.”
“True enough,” Heimish said. “Though that will just give us more time to discuss the Black Butterfly.”
“Splendid!” Crowl said, clapping his hands once more.
Across town, Kendra was in the room she was given to freshen up, looking out of a window. The white mastiff was laying on a nest of blankets, whimpering. Stein stood at the doorway. “Embreth is ready for us. We can look for Heimish tomorrow.”
“I’ll be there in a minute,” Kendra answered curtly.
“As you wish.”
“Stein.”
“Yes?”
“Did you pack my armor?”
Stein cocked his head to the side, an eyebrow raised in surprise. “I did. But I thought you swore you’d never wear it again.”
“Things have changed,” Kendra said, gently patting the dog’s neck. “Make sure it is ready for me in the morning. And my shield as well.”
“I see…” Stein said. “Shall I procure you a weapon?”
Kendra walked over to the bed and picked up the sheathed sword laying there. Santino’s sword. “No. I already have one.”
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Kendra strapped Santino’s sword across her back. “That’s fine,” she said. “I’ll be down momentarily.” He nodded as he left. She reached down and scratched the dog resting on the ground behind the ear. “Just rest,” she said. “Until you’re better.”
Natalya was waiting for her at the top of the stairs. “How is he?” she asked.
“Still resting,” Kendra answered. “I’m sure he’ll have just as many questions as we do when he wakes up. Assuming he can still talk.” She laughed bitterly. “Even if he can’t, he’ll probably tell us when he’s awake.”
They headed down and greeted Embreth in her library. “Please, join me,” the older woman said, indicating the chairs around the small table in front of the fireplace.
“Thank you,” Kendra said.
No sooner had they sat than the door opened and Stein appeared, holding a tray. On it were cups of tea, each prepared perfectly to the liking of each person, with the right amount of sugar and cream. “Thank you,” Natalya said as she took her cup last, as well as a small cookie filled with jelly in the center.
“Of course,” Stein said, bowing slightly.
Embreth took a sip. “I’ll get to the point,” she said. “There is a situation here in town that could use a bit of a, shall we say, outside touch.”
“Does this have to do with the Punishing Man?” Kendra asked.
“Yes. It is related.”
“How long will it take to rebuild that?” Natalya asked.
“Not long,” Embreth said. “You’d be surprised what a mob can do when it sets its mind to something. Especially with ‘festivities’ of this kind.”
“So what’s the problem?” Kendra asked, refocusing the conversation.
“There have been a number of crimes, and a suspect has been accused.”
“The Beast of Lepidstadt?” Natalya asked.
“The very same. It’s a poor, pitiful creature, and was caught at the scene of a crime at the University. It was a break in. An artifact was taken. But that wasn’t the only thing it’s accused of. It’s also being accused of the Hergstag murders, swamper killings in the Morast and the burning of Doctor Brada’s hospice.”
“Have you spoken to the accused?” Kendra asked.
“I am one of the three judges presiding over the case,” Embreth responded, sipping her tea.
“I see.” She considered it. “It’s strange that this Beast has already been convicted in the opinion of the public. Have the other judges made their positions known?”
“Not exactly,” Embreth said. “However, Ambrose Khard, the second judge, is harsh, to be kind. He hangs people for crimes big and small, having on numerous occasions hung people for contempt of the court.”
“Yes, that seems like someone who will not give the accused a fair shake. What of the remaining judge?”
“Kasp Aldaar is merciless, even by the standards of Ambrose. Kasp was once a general, and is infamous for the times he impaled deserters, even without a trial.”
“I see,” Kendra said. “What of you?”
“I don’t care about mercy. I only wish to see that the accused is given a proper and fair trial. If the beast is guilty, then it shall get what is coming. But I wish to be sure of guilt before I pass judgment.”
Natalya listened mostly in silence as they continued talking, contemplating everything that had happened that night while sipping her tea. She still couldn’t wrap her mind around what had happened with Santino.
She had just thought his name for the first time in context of the events of the night when she heard a noise from upstairs. The tiefling looked at the other two women, but neither of them had heard the noise.
“So,” Kendra said, segueing into another topic, “what can you tell me about the people who attacked my brother?”
Embreth raised an eyebrow. “Your brother?” she asked.
“My brother. Santino. Or maybe it’s more appropriate to call him Jiminy now.” She gasped. “Wait, you were the one who sent my father those notes! Was my father experimenting on people?”
Embreth shook her head. “No, not people. Things, yes. Animals, most definitely. But never people.” She sipped her tea. “If you see one of those things as your brother, then you are most peculiar, child, and I feel bad for you.”
Kendra brushed off the woman’s pitying tone. “What was your relationship with my father?” she asked.
“We are colleagues. There was potential that it might have been something more, once, but nothing ever came of it.”
“Tell me. What is meant by ‘Our daughter is of the flesh’? Did that have something to do with me? Am I… am I like Santino?”
“No. Your father and mother created you in the traditional manner.”
“Then… does that mean I have a sister?”
Embreth drank the last of her tea and set the cup down. Stein was immediately on hand to take the cup to be refilled. She then turned back to Kendra, her eyebrow raised in thought. “If you consider ‘Santino’ your brother, then I guess that it wouldn’t be inaccurate to consider the other your sister.”
Natalya was having trouble wrapping her mind around the whole thing. But Stein appeared next to her with a plate filled with finger sandwiches that gave her something to take her mind off of everything. She picked up one and took a bite. It was soft, white bread with a creamy cheese of some kind and sliced fruit. She grabbed a couple more at Stein’s insistence.
As she chewed, she began to wonder about Heimish. Where had the preacher gone? Perhaps after she ate, she’d ask Kendra if it would be okay for her to go searching for him. He didn’t move quickly, so he couldn’t have gotten too far.
Heimish was closer than Natalya suspected. “And that’s when I paid the woman to relieve the horse of his pent up frustration,” the preacher said.
“Fascinating!” Professor Crowl said. “And did it work?”
“Of course,” Heimish said. “After that, he was the gentlest horse. Never kicked another farmhand again.” He then changed the subject. “Anyway, back to the Black Butterfly.”
“Ah, yes! It is an interesting coincidence that the Black Butterfly is associated with the Dark Tapestry. You see, the Sea Sage Effigy also seems to be tied to the Tapestry.”
Heimish frowned. “I worry that this artifact could be dangerous. Tell me, where did you find it?”
“I am unsure. It was at the university when I joined the faculty. It has always fascinated me, but I must admit that I have been unable to find much more about it in my years there.”
“You must be careful. Fascination with objects tied to the Tapestry can warp your mind. It is subtle, often manifesting as strange dreams long before you notice other changes.”
The professor nodded gravely. “I had heard of such things as well, so I have been taking herbs to avoid dreaming at all. I can get you some, if you want?” He produced a couple vials.
“Thank you,” Heimish said, thinking that they looked like what Stein had given him before.
At that moment, they had arrived at their destination. “Hello, good man,” Professor Crowl said to the doorman. “I have come to speak with the good Justice, and deliver this man who was supposed to meet with her as well, on behalf of a man named Lorrimor.”
The doorman nodded and opened the door. “While you were not expected, your arrival was not unprepared for. Please, come in.”
The door opened and Heimish saw a pitiful looking dog dragging itself down the stairs. It looked horribly malnourished. He hobbled over to the dog, whose head perked at his presence. “Poor thing,” Heimish said. “You look half starved. Here, let me help you down the stairs and I’ll see about getting you something to eat.”
The dog made strange sounds, as if it was trying to speak but couldn’t form the words. Heimish pitied the poor thing all the more, sure it couldn’t even bark.
Behind him, Crowl’s eyes lit up. He tented his fingers and couldn’t hide his excited grin. “Fascinating! Is this what I think it is? I did not believe I would see it. Come here, hound, and let me get a better look at you.”
The dog warily kept Heimish between himself and the professor, and barked weakly, mustering all the strength it had. In the next room, Kendra heard the sound and rushed from her seat. She spotted the dog and ran to him. “Santino!” she scolded. “What are you doing out of bed? You should be resting.”
The dog whined at the scolding.
“We have more guests,” Embreth said, with Natalya and Stein behind her.
Crowl smiled. “Fascinating! You must be my good friend Heimish’s companions! It must be fate that you happened to be where we were going already.”
Kendra ignored him and turned to Heimish. “Where were you?” she accused. Deep down, part of her wondered if Heimish could have prevented what happened to Santino.
“I had a vision,” Heimish said.
“From the Black Butterfly?” Kendra asked.
“Yes!” Heimish said, excited. “Does that mean that you’ve come to believe?! Shall I prepare a sermon?”
Stein barked a laugh. “You walked right into that one.”
Kendra ignored the butler. “I’m not in the mood for a sermon,” she said. “My brother got turned into a dog.”
Crowl regarded the dog. “Fascinating! But I don’t detect any signs of lycanthropy.”
“Focus, Montagnie,” Embreth said. “I’ve asked these people to help you look into what happened at the university.”
“I see! Fascinating! I think good Heimish was tasked to do so by his goddess, so we’re in luck! So, are you going to introduce them to the Beast?”
“If I can convince the other justices to agree to let me, and if there is time, I will arrange it.”
Suddenly, the dog, now standing by the front door, whined once more and began to urinate on the ground. Kendra frowned. “Oh, Santino. I’m sorry. You were trying to get outside to pee.” She opened the door. “Go ahead,” she said, in case he needed to do more than that.
“I will attend to the mess,” Stein said. “Please, everyone, do not wait here on my account. I will meet you all back in the library.” The others did as he suggested, but Kendra waited behind, watching Santino out in the yard.
“What do you make of all of this?” she asked the butler.
“I must admit, the notes make more sense now that I’ve seen him like that.”
“Did you ever know Jiminy?” she asked.
“No, he disappeared before my time.”
She sighed. “I don’t know if I trust Embreth and Crowl,” she said. “They’re hiding something.”
“Everyone associated with your father has something to hide.”
“Fair enough,” Kendra said. “I’ll see you back in the library.”
He nodded. When she was gone, he called over one of the guards. “Don’t let him out of the yard,” he instructed the man, who nodded his understanding.
It wasn’t too much of a worry, since Santino was too tired to do much more than walk around for a moment and flop down on the ground by the gate.
Inside, Embreth was continuing to explain the situation with the beast. “Unfortunately, the Beast has been given the representation of Barrister Gustav Kaple. He’s a good man, but… to put it bluntly, he’s inept. If the Beast is to have a chance at fairness in his trial, you all will need to determine the facts for us.”
“I’m more worried about the missing Sea Sage Effigy,” Heimish said. “The Black Butterfly wants me to look into it, so I suspect that this artifact cannot be good. If this Beast wasn’t the one who took it, then whoever has it may be up to no good.”
“Investigating the Beast and searching for this sausage thing he supposedly stole aren’t mutually exclusive goals,” Natalya said. “If we find it, we’ll know more about whether he took it or not. And if we look into the crime, it should yield clues about both the artifact and whether the Beast took it.”
“Just so,” Crowl said. “Though it is called the Sea Sage Effigy, not ‘sausage thing’.”
“You will want to begin first thing tomorrow,” Embreth said. “The actions of ‘Santino’ have likely enflamed the public’s ire. We will likely have to accelerate the pace of the trial.”
Natalya nodded. “I’m going to bed, then.”
“I have one more thing,” Kendra said. She pulled out the journal and showed it to Crowl. “Professor, what do you make of this?”
“Are these your father’s notes? They’re fascinating! This… could work. But it’s not quite right. It needs something. YES! A self sustaining energy core! But what would one use? And then you need a vessel, or no. Not a vessel. A host! Yes!”
“Um, what happens to the host?” Kendra asked.
“If the process were perfected, then the host would be overwritten entirely. But the process is imperfect. Parts of the host would remain, in conflict with the entity.”
“Entity? Like a ghost? Would my father have put a ghost into the body of my dog?”
“No. Not a ghost. You need something more powerful. Like a djinn, or maybe a psychopomp.”
“I see. Thank you, professor.”
After bidding the others goodnight, Kendra went outside to keep an eye on the creature she couldn’t decide whether to call Santino or Jiminy. She was sitting on a chair on the patio for almost an hour before Heimish came outside as well. He sat in another seat and looked the the wretched creature lying in the dirt.
“What have you gotten yourself into, lad?” he asked. Santino responded to his voice and slowly made his way over, nudging the preacher. Heimish patted the dog’s neck. “Alright, lad, let’s go get some food in you.”
“There’s no need,” Stein said from the door. He was holding a bowl of food and more tea. He set the bowl down in front of the dog.
As Santino ate, Heimish studied him for lingering traces of magic. “Did you find anything?” Kendra asked.
“No,” Heimish said.
“I could get my tools and we could do a more thorough examination,” Stein said.
“No,” Kendra said.
Stein shrugged. “If you say so,” he answered. “Heimish, would you join me for a drink? Embreth has offered us some of her fine whisky.”
“A nightcap before bed is just what is called for,” Heimish agreed.
“And you?” Stein asked Kendra.
“I’m gonna sit out here with him a bit longer. You two go ahead.”
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. . . and now it starts getting really weird . . . .
I feel your pain with the work load.
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She sat down and Stein appeared from the kitchen, holding a tray with both a plate and a cup of tea, which he set before Kendra. “I’d like to meet this ‘Beast’,” she said to Embreth before she put a piece of bacon in her mouth.
“If you agree to look into this matter for me, I can arrange it.”
Kendra sipped her tea. “And I want everything you have on the experiments on Santino.”
“It will take time to search my library, but anything I can find is yours.”
“Okay, then. Make the arrangements. We’ll start looking into this after breakfast.”
After she was finished eating, Kendra went back upstairs and changed into her armor. She wasn’t sure she’d need it, but after the way things had gone the previous night, she wasn’t taking chances. It also helped that it made her look more intimidating. She had a feeling she would need all the help she could get.
As they went outside, Santino heard them and started hobbling over from the shed where he had been busy digging. “Sorry,” Kendra said, “but you need to stay here and rest. I promise we’ll be back as soon as we can.” He looked annoyed at being left behind, but was in no shape to contest her decision, so he instead went to the porch to take a nap. When he got there, he was surprised to find waffles in his bowl, which he ate happily.
In the town square, the group found that the locals had been busily reconstructing the Punishing Man. It was as if they had been at it all night. That was, in fact, the truth. Their excitement at the sport of seeing a convicted man burned had whipped them into a near-religious frenzy. If this kept up, it would be done in less than a day, perhaps two at the latest.
Luckily, human beings can only work so long before exhaustion forces them to rest. In truth, they would only be able to work a few more hours before needing a break. Others would take their places, but these would be much less enthusiastic individuals, so their work speed would be slow by comparison.
Among the crowd, the party spotted the Crooked Kin plying their trade and helping with the clean up where they could. A large group gasped in amazement at the sight of Trollblood doing some firebreathing.
As they made their way through the crowd, they heard snippets of conversation. It was mostly rumors about the night’s events, but it also included quite a bit of talk of the hero, Alvin. The legend Santino had started had completely taken on a life of its own.
Natalya couldn’t help but laugh comparing the reality of the acolyte with statements like, “When the bogeyman goes to sleep, he checks his closet for Alvin” or “When Alvin does a push up, he isn’t lifting himself, he’s pushing the whole world down.” She wondered what the “hero” himself would say if he heard such things. He’d probably faint at the pressure.
They reached the large, squat building just past the clock tower where the beast was being held. A pair of guards at the door moved to bar their way. “Step aside,” Kendra said. “We’ve been sent to-”
She stopped as Stein held a hand in front of her. “Say only what is necessary.” He produced a letter and held it out to the closest guardsman.
The man took it, and his eyebrows arched as he read the letter. “Alright, this seems to be in order,” he said, showing it to his companion. “Be careful in there.”
Stein took the letter back and they headed downstairs to the holding cells, but as they departed, Natalya heard the guards talking. “I thought he already had someone to defend him.”
“That guy? Might as well burn him now.” That didn’t bode well. If the beast was truly innocent, they might be his only shot at making it out of this.
The cells were dimly lit by small, barred windows near the ceiling – up at ground level – and the entire floor was damp and a bit musty. In the center of the largest cell, they found the Beast, and he was not what any of them expected, except perhaps Stein, who had long ago learned to expect everything.
You see, the beast was no normal man. Not even a deformed man. No, he was an amalgamation of several men, stitched together into a single creature. “A flesh golem,” Stein mused, “I must say that isn’t the weirdest possibility, but it’s definitely up there.”
The creature rocked back and forth, moaning as his heavy chains rattled. Heimish carefully checked for signs of vile necromancy, and once he found none, he relaxed. “I think you’re right. He definitely appears to be a golem, and not a risen undead.”
Kendra opened the door to the large cell and the beast raged, trying to tear free from his chains. Natalya drew her sword and jumped in front of her. “Watch out!” the girl shouted.
Heimish stepped in front of them. “There’s no need for that.” He turned to the Beast. “Calm down, lad.” His soothing voice seemed to be having an effect. “There we are. We’re here to help, but to do so, we need to know anything you can tell us that might exonerate you. Can you help us to help you, lad?"
”I-I don’t remember,” the Beast answered, his voice thick but guileless. “But I didn’t do it!” he insisted.
“Okay,” Kendra said. “I believe you… I’m not sure what to call you. Do you have a name?”
“I don’t understand.”
“You know, something others called you. Perhaps your creator had something he called you?”
The beast shook his head. “Father… didn’t give me a name.”
“What of your father?” Natalya asked. “Did he have a name?”
The Beast shrunk back like a scolded child. “Can’t tell.”
“Why is that, lad?” Heimish asked. “What would happen if you told us?”
“No, can’t tell. Have to protect Father.”
“It’s okay,” Kendra said, stepping forward. The beast panicked, terrified that the armored woman would inflict more torture on it. That she would try to elicit a confession like the others in armor had done before.
Heimish stepped between them again. “It’s okay lad. There’s nothing in my hands. Please, let me help you.” The beast calmed as the preacher approached. “These are terrible wounds, but they show little sign of healing or bleeding. I think he really is a flesh golem.”
“We need to talk to his barrister,” Kendra said. “And see what evidence they have against him. Let’s go.”
“I’m going to stay with him,” Heimish said. “The lad needs someone to reassure him.”
“Okay, but be careful,” Kendra said. “Let’s go.”
“Alright, lad, while we’re waiting, let’s chat. I know you can’t tell me anything, so maybe I should talk?”
“Okay,” the Beast answered.
“Has anyone ever told you about the Black Butterfly?” the preacher asked as the door shut behind Natalya.
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“Calm yourself Gustav. You know that after what happened yesterday, the people are ready for a burning.”
“Bu-But we’ve only gone over the pre-preliminary evidence!”
“Well, he was going to burn anyway. So, do what you can, I guess.” Kendra, who had been listening at the door, stumbled as the door opened. “Who are you?” the surprised man on the other side asked. Natalya recognized the clothing as that of a clerk, while the standing before the desk at the far end of the room looked like a barrister, complete with his court robes and powdered wig.
Kendra recovered from her stumbling and stood up straight and proud. “I’ve been sent by Judge Embreth to look into Bastien’s case,” she said, using the name she had personally given to the Beast since he seemed to have none. One she had neglected to mention to anyone else.
“Who?” the clerk asked, annoyed.
Before Kendra could answer, Stein stepped between them, holding up his hand to stop her. “Only what is necessary, remember?” he said before holding out the letter to the clerk.
The clerk – a normally dour man known by the name of Rodd Dych - read it and laughed. “It looks like you’re getting some help, Gustav. I’d hate to be in your shoes,” he said, giving Kendra a sympathetic look.
“T-This is an outrage!” Gustav protested. “I-I-I was ass-assigned to represent the Beast!”
“I understand,” Kendra said. “But with the trial being moved up, it was felt that a lone man would not have time to properly investigate all the leads.”
Gustav’s eyes narrowed. “Th-That is a f-f-fair p-point. Fi-Fine. F-Follow me.”
They followed in a silence as thick as the fog on an autumn night in Ravengro as the barrister led them to his office. Natalya had taken a measure of the man as he’d spoken and she was certain he would behave like a spoiled child throwing a tantrum for the entirety of their time working with him. Getting anything out of him would be difficult, assuming he didn’t actively sabotage their efforts to help him.
The situation had to change. But how? She could threaten him of course. But such measures were delicate. Exert too little force and he would resist, possibly steeling himself against further attempts. Exert too much, and there could be repercussions.
There was an old saying: You catch more flies with honey than vinegar. In the adventurer’s guild, it was taught that the old adage was incorrect. You’d catch more humans with honey than vinegar. But a fly is a distinctly different creature, and they love vinegar. The point being, that if you wish to sway someone, you had to first know them.
She didn’t have time to truly size up this man, Gustav Kaple, but she had taken a measure of him, and while he seemed prideful and stubborn, he was still a citizen of Lepidstadt, and she judged him simpleminded enough to be caught up in local legends. And of all the legends swirling through town, there was only one greater than that surrounding the Beast right now. It would be a risk, but it was worth a shot.
When they reached the office, she shut the door behind her and stepped up before Kendra or Stein could speak. “Look, Gustav, I’m going to be frank with you. There isn’t much time and things aren’t what they appear. But first, I need to know if you can keep a secret. Can you?”
Kendra gave Stein a surprised look, but he responded with only a single raised eyebrow. “I-What?” Gustav answered.
“It’s a simple question. We don’t have a lot of time, and I need to know if you’re one of the good guys. Can you keep a secret?”
He furrowed his brow. “I-I can. If it’s a s-secret that’s w-worth k-keeping.”
She nodded. “That will have to be good enough. You see, while we were officially sent by Judge Embreth, the truth is that she’s only acting as a cover for the one who truly asked us to look into this matter.”
He looked intrigued, drawn in by her hushed, conspiratorial tones. Even Kendra was leaning in, curious where she was going with this. Stein smirked, having already guessed the game. “W-Who s-sent you?” Gustav asked.
Natalya leaned in closer, speaking barely above a whisper. “Have you heard of Alvin?”
Gustav’s eyes grew wide. “Alvin the Hero sent you?! Can you get me his autograph?” His stuttered had noticeably vanished suddenly, such was his amazement.
Kendra managed to avoid putting her hand to her face. “He doesn’t believe in fame,” she answered. “He’s very humble.”
“Just as I imagined him,” Gustav breathed in awe.
“Anyway, now you understand,” Natalya said. “We can’t say exactly what Alvin is looking into, but he thinks that this might be related to the werewolf he battled. He just wants to confirm whether it was the werewolf himself who committed the crimes the Beast is accused of, or if it was the people who set the werewolf loose. And that’s why we need to keep it quiet. Can you do that?”
Gustav nodded. “I understand c-completely. Let me get my f-files.”
He gathered his notes and set them on the table and began separating them into three distinct piles. As he did so, Kendra spoke up. “Do any of your notes mention anything about grave robbing or mad alchemists?” she asked.
Gustav scoffed. “Surely n-nothing so uncivilized w-would be happening in Lepidstadt.” He finished sorting the piles. “Okay, s-so here’s the b-breakdown of the t-trial. The B-Beast has been accused of t-three c-crimes. The t-trial will happen o-over t-three days. Each d-day will c-cover one of these acc-accusations. T-The first will c-cover his supposed attack on M-Morast.” He pointed to the leftmost pile as he spoke. “I d-don’t think he’ll even make it th-through that one before being found g-guilty and b-burned.”
Kendra found the man’s attitude offensive. “I have a question,” she said.
“Y-Yes?”
“You’ve had six other clients before, right? And they were all found guilty? If you’re that terrible, maybe you should quit practicing law and join a circus. I know a guy who might be able to give you a job.”
Gustav’s lips curled in anger. “I-It’s not m-my f-fault! Th-They j-just k-keep giving m-me p-people who are g-guilty!”
Stein restrained her and Natalya stepped forward. “Calm down, Kendra. I know you’re concerned about the Beast-”
“Bastien!” Kendra snarled, causing the barrister to nearly wet himself in terror.
“Right, Bastien. But it’s no reason to take it out on Mister Keple. Alvin wouldn’t want you to act like that.” She shook her head. “Tempers have flared,” she said to Gustav apologetically. “Perhaps it’s best if we take these files to show Alvin so we can see what he wants us to do next.”
Gustav took a deep breath and tried to regain his composure. “Y-Yes. Y-You’re right. P-Please t-tell Alvin that i-if he needs me, I will g-gladly ass-assist in an-any w-way I c-can.”
“Thank you,” Stein said, collecting the files. “We’ll be sure to tell Alvin how much you helped us.” Even he wasn’t sure how he managed to say all of that with a straight face.
After taking their leave, they headed back into the cells to retrieve Heimish. “What happened next?” they heard the voice of the beast, his tone like that of a child as he begged for the preacher to complete his story.
“The dust from the Butterfly’s wings choked the abomination to death,” Heimish answered.
“Wow!” the Beast breathed, his chains rattling as he clapped.
Heimish looked up at them as they approached. “You’re back,” he noted. He turned back to the Beast. “Sorry, lad, it looks like I need to go. But I’ll come back as soon as I can.”
They made their way outside to a waiting carriage, as Stein had sent ahead word that they would need transportation. “That went poorly,” Kendra said, finally breaking their silence once inside.
“I thought it went fine,” Heimish disagreed.
“You didn’t see it,” Stein chortled. “Kendra nearly made the man soil his pants.”
“It just frustrates me,” Kendra said, answering Heimish’s questioning look. “Why play the game if you’ve already defeated yourself in your mind?”
Stein looked at her out of the side of his eye. “You don’t suppose he was chosen because they wanted to ensure a burning, do you.” It wasn’t a question.
“They couldn’t have found a better moron to play the part,” Natalya answered.
Kendra sighed. “Heimish, did you find out anything about the Beast’s ‘father’?”
“No,” Heimish answered, seeming confused. “Was I supposed to?”
“That’s why we left you down there,” Kendra said, frustration in her voice again.
“Oh. Oops. I got to talking about the Butterfly and I lost track of time.”
Kendra looked like she was going to say something more, but Stein interrupted her. “We’ve not much time before we reach Morast. We should read the case files.”
“I’ve never been to Morast,” Natalya said. “What kind of place is it.”
Kendra huffed, annoyed at being forced to put away her annoyance. “The people of Morast are considered pretty strange. They’re renowned for their strong constitutions. In fact, I’ve never heard of one of them getting sick and it’s said that they live twice as long as a normal human. Rumor is that they got that way by breeding with swamp creatures.”
Stein nodded. “I’ve also heard that when they die, their corpses never rot. I’ve always wanted to look into that.”
“Why?” Heimish asked.
“Curiosity, mostly,” Stein answered with a shrug.
“So, what do the notes say about the case?” Natalya asked.
“Well, it seems that ten people were carried off by a large creature that fits the description of the Beast. When we get there, we’ll have to ask the village elder. Apparently he was the one who reported it to the authorities.”
As they traveled, the well-worn dirt road soon became replaced with a track made of misshapen wooden planks kept just above the waters of the swamp in places by wooden poles. The sound of frogs and other swamp dwelling creatures echoed around them, like a strange chorus, with the rhythmic sound of the carriage wheels on the planks playing the part of the drumbeat.
Soon, they came up to a village. The huts were fairly crude, and many of them were up on stilts above the swamp below. The people watched them as they passed, and it was apparent that the rumors of the strangeness of the swamp dwellers had been no mere rumor.
Even in the tiefling ghettos, Natalya had not seen people as misshapen as these. Their limbs were a bit too long. Their eyes were a little too big. Their teeth were crowded and discolored. And they had strange miscolored patched on their skin.
The driver stopped the carriage in what could only be called the village center, and the group disembarked. Kendra walked over to an older looking man who was sitting upon a porch, carving something with a knife. She passed a rack on which the skin of some kind of red-scaled reptile hung to dry – not that she suspected anything could dry in this humid swamp.
“Excuse me, sir?” she said. “We’re looking for Lazne. Would you know him?”
The man’s eyes narrowed as he evaluated her. She felt a little creeped out by his gaze as it looked her up and down. He then spit, the saliva a brown color as it struck the porch. “Paw!” he called out, turned towards the door. “They’s some furriners heres t’sees ya!”
A man with greased back white hair stepped out of the door. “Whachoo yellin’ yer fool head off ‘bout, boy?” he asked.
The man on the porch pointed with his knife at Kendra. “Ah said that there’s some furriners heres t’see ya.”
The man with greased back hair turned to Kendra. He stared at her with focusing his right eye – which was just a bit bigger than the left – on her as he did so. He didn’t say anything for several uncomfortable moments, then spit, with little regard to the fact that it splattered onto his bare feet.
“Well?” he asked.
Kendra, taken aback, couldn’t remember what she was going to say for a moment. “Um, we’re investigating the Beast and wanted to ask what you know?” Her voice was barely above a whisper as barely managed to get out the response, clearly out of her element.
“What?” the man asked, spitting again.
Heimish stepped forward. “I’m sorry, sir. What my companion means to ask is if you could help us. We’re looking into the matter with the beast, and it would be a great help if you could tell us what you know.”
“Oh! The Beast. Why didn’t you say so?” He walked over to Heimish. As he passed Kendra, she smelled something foul on his breath, and barely managed to avoid gagging. He appraised Heimish for a moment. “You look like some kind of holy man,” he said. It wasn’t accusatory, exactly.
“Yes,” Heimish admitted. “I follow the Black Butterfly.”
“Taint never heard of ‘im.”
“I’ll be happy to tell you sometime.”
Kendra regained her composure. “Heimish, priorities,” she chided.
The man – Lazne, presumably – spit out some chewed up plant from his mouth and reached into his pocket, getting what appeared to be a fresh dose, which he popped into his mouth. He then retrieved some more and offered to Heimish. “Care fer some swamp weed?” he asked.
Heimish took the offering and put it in his mouth. It struck him as hard as a swig of rotgut, but he managed not to gag. “Smooth,” he said, his lips tingling where he’d sequestered the plant.
Lazne laughed and clapped him on the shoulder. “You know what, holy man? Yer alright. You and yer friends come on inside and I’ll tell you all ‘bout t’Beast.”
The inside of the home was just as crude as the outside, with several holes in the floor where the woven sticks and reeds had either worn thin or were purposefully left open, though the purpose of the latter wasn’t apparent until Lazne spit through one such hole. Given a million years, Kendra would never truly be comfortable in a place like this.
In one corner of the room, in a pot over a fire built on the only stone section of the floor, boiled a strange grey gruel that filled the room with a decidedly strange odor. “Those were some pretty interesting skins hanging out there,” Heimish said, trying to distract himself from the odor. “What kind of creature do those come from?”
“Blood caimans,” the swamper answered. “Not very big ones, those.”
“Still, they have very beautiful coats.”
A thought came to Natalya unbidden, and she spoke it without thinking. “I wonder how they taste,” she said to no one in particular. They looked like lizards, and she’d eaten lizards before. She wondered if they were more like the smaller lizards she’d eaten, or if they were like the dragon that some of her fellows at the guild had sworn they’d eaten.
Lazne grinned and walked over to the cauldron. With his bare fingers, he fished out of a piece of pale white meat and offered it to her. “Here, give this’un here a try.”
Natalya took it from him and popped it into her mouth. Considering the things she’d eaten in her life to survive, taking a strange morsel of food from the hands a man of questionable personal hygiene didn’t even make her top ten list of sketchiest culinary experiences. She chewed it for a moment, then swallowed. “It’s not bad,” she said. “Actually, it’s rather good. Reminds me of something, though.”
Of course, it wouldn’t be for another hour before she recalled that it was reminiscent of a dried sausage she had eaten with some of the others in the guild once. The guild’s leader was a renowned sausage maker, after all, prone to experimenting with all sorts of strange ingredients.
“You’re alright too,” Lazne said, slapping her shoulder.
Seeing Natalya’s reaction, Kendra cautiously asked for a taste. Lazne retrieved her some as well, and she took it gingerly, taking a small bite. It had a texture that reminded her of overcooked chicken and it tasted like fish that was just on the edge of going sour. She did her best to swallow it without gagging and offered Stein what was left.
The butler surreptitiously took a swig of an alchemical concoction, coating his tongue in flavor-blocking wax, then ate the meat without ceremony.
Heimish produced a bottle of liquor. “If you have some cups, let’s poor ourselves a wee dram and you can tell us all about the Beast.”
The swamper cackled with glee and grabbed the cups, then got to his tale. “Well, you see, we started hearing stories of something in the swamp. ‘Bout right near sev’n, maybe et feet tall. He’d come right out of the swamp, covered in swamp stuff.”
As she listened, Natalya couldn’t help but think that his description sounded an awful lot like a swamp troll. But she didn’t say anything, deciding it was best to let him continue.
“Each time, he’d get a little bolder. He’d come a little closer. Started taking people. Then, one day, he came into the houses. So we set us a trap. Set upon him as he thought he was gonna et him a baby. Chased him into that there swamp. Then he done got et by a caiman. Biggest I ever did see. The ones outsider are babes by comparison. Call that one the Lockneth Monster. Grabbed him by the shoulder and dragged him under.”
“If the caiman got him, then why report it?” Kendra asked.
“Well, y’see, I never seen his body, though I was shore he was dun fur. So he must have gotten away, though whatever happened tainted the boneyard. So, when I done heard he got nabbed by the ‘thorities, I went up to town to let them high and mighty offishuls know what he done.”
“Would it be alright if we investigated the boneyard?” Heimish asked. “Maybe we can see if we can determine what happened.”
“I ain’t got nothin’ agin it. Long as you don’t do nothing fishy,” he punctuated with a laugh at a joke that no one seemed to get, then stopped suddenly and spit at the hole in the ground. “Just give me a bit to get some boats. Fishin’ is slow today anyway, so I’m pretty durn sure I can scrounge up enough for your needs.”
Back at Embreth’s house, Santino sat at the door, whining. He’d been trying for hours to turn the smooth knob with his mouth and was just about to give up, no matter how much he wanted to go inside and find something to eat. He had been so engrossed in his task that he never saw the mysterious figure watching him from the roof across the street, nor did he see when it leapt away an impossible distance.
But he did hear the creak above him. He padded off of the porch and looked up, spotting the gardener, who was stupidly leaning off the side of the house, attempting to cut a tree branch with some rusty shears.
He wasn’t sure whether he hoped the man would fall or not. On the one hand, it would probably be pretty funny. But on the other, if they were dealing with the injuries of the help, he was sure they’d definitely forget to feed him.
Though he could just eat the man, he guessed. It was truly a quandary and bore more consideration. Unsure what to do, he flopped down on the porch and chuffed, trying to decide what he should do.
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(And I've BEEN IN places like that, with visits to one in particular lasting several days at a time.)