Ghosts of Gauntcliff, Chapter 3

[Rock of the Fraternity]

Slowly, cautiously, Everline moves forward and around, so she can look into the hollow and survey the items hidden there a little more closely.

(OOC: So long as this does not land her in the pit or too close to Juergin's shadow...)Detect Magic is still up.

[ewancummins]

Slowly, cautiously, Everline moves forward and around, so she can look into the hollow and survey the items hidden there a little more closely.

(OOC: So long as this does not land her in the pit or too close to Juergin's shadow...)Detect Magic is still up.

Everline can't really get a close look without drawing near Juergin's shadow. The boy hasn't moved away from his discovery, only stood up and removed his hand from the hollow space in the stonework.

(The hollow is located under the stone table, inside the mouth of the pit, partially concealed by a broken lip of stonework)

[Rock of the Fraternity]

"Scuse me, lad," Everline says. "I'd try not ta be hurtful, seein' as 'e's yer chum an' all... But yer shadow is creepin' me out somethin' fierce. Would ye mind awfully givin' me some space so's I can 'ave a gander at what's down there wi'out... well... steppin' on yer shadow or yer shadow steppin' on me, belike?"

Everline grimaces a bit; it is clearly visible that she would rather not be asking such a thing, but the look she gives Norzak's/Juergin's shade is dubious at best.

[Ail]

Eustace is as surprised by Juergin's revelation as all the others. This, at least, is a novelty he never heard of before. But he doesn't talk much. He grows distant and dubious, and he twitches in an uncomfortable manner.

At length he says


"It will take me a while to get used to this, Juergin."


He sounds admonishing and not at all happy with that prospect.


"But I fear that may have loosened our guard. Now that explanations have been given, I'd rather look around for other shadows."


He, however, keeps looking at Juergin's shadow... Juergin's disturbingly familiar shadow.

[Adam]

Benn shakes his head, a rueful smile spreading on his face. "I suppose I should have expected nothing less from Herr Norzak. He had a knack for doing the least expected thing at any given moment. I am saddened to hear he died, but I suppose it isn't a huge surprise."

An idea occurs to him. "The creature doesn't know anything about the shadow that was down here yesterday, does it? Maybe it could help us find the thing?"

[steveflam]

Juergin is apprehensive. He understand in a way how everyone is afraid, but the Dark One, as he calls the shadow, has only helped him and guided him in a good way.

Mostly focused on watching for surprises from behind them, Primeiro stays several paces back as Juergin explores and as Eustace, Dorgio, Benn, and the ever-surprising Mme. Vaughn weigh in on matters supernatural and arcane.

In the blink of an eye, he pulls his rapier as the other men spot the eerie shadow near Juergin... and then, like Benn, his jaw drops in astonishment as the shadow is revealed to be not only a "friend" to the boy but apparently a former comrade of the others!

"Is it jus' me, or is that real disturbing?" Everline asks of no one in particular.

"Ohhh, it's very disturbing, mademoiselle," Primeiro says in a hushed but guarded voice.

"Excuse me, my friends, as I seem to be the only one who has NOT made the acquaintance of the devil-may-care sentient shadow...! Did it... he... just say that he has maintained an existence apart from the body of the person he's attached to? First this Norzak, and now Juergin?"

He looks at Juergin with a raised eyebrow. "Allow me an opportunity to understand this, lad." He lowers his rapier but does not sheathe it. "This... Norzak's shadow... found you, possessed or replaced your 'real' shadow, possibly saved your life, and has been your companion ever since? In exchange for what?" His voice is skeptical, though not antagonistic. He genuinely seems to want to understand something that sounds, to him, impossible.

____________________________
Wow, I'm away for a day and a half, and crazy stuff happens. That'll teach me.

He turns to Primeiro first. "He has asked me nothing in return, Herr Primeiro. He has only helped me. I know this is all shocking and strange to you all, but he is actually very nice to me."

Juergin bends down and with one hand pulls out the cloth and the other the gold piece he saw. "So, this is what was I found here."

Benn shakes his head, a rueful smile spreading on his face. "I suppose I should have expected nothing less from Herr Norzak. He had a knack for doing the least expected thing at any given moment. I am saddened to hear he died, but I suppose it isn't a huge surprise."

An idea occurs to him. "The creature doesn't know anything about the shadow that was down here yesterday, does it? Maybe it could help us find the thing?"

Juergin stands and looks at Benn, smiling shyly. "I think he can help us find it and I believe if you think about it, he is the best scout you will ever have. I do not think he can find traps like a talented Rogue can but he is useful. HE can go in places we can not, like perhaps he can go in the door below?"

[PathOfDreams]

Petrie freezes instinctively upon spotting the unknown beast; his hunter senses taking over. He moves the butt end of his spear to tap Thom on the leg. "Thom, hold steady and don't make a sound." He utters as quietly as possible while tracking the thing with the tip of his long spear, "There, we're not alone lad."

He moves to a crouch gradually to get closer to Thom's level. "I'll keep my eye on 'im. Check behind us; make sure there are no more. We need to watch it for a while." He scans the area in front of him with his eyes to discern if there are any other surprises accompanying it. Petrie also attempts to make a mental determination of the direction and strength of any breeze.

[Brock Marsh Runoff]

Dorgio shakes his head in disbelief as the shadow explains itself. "Yes...the shadow would be separate. I've heard legends of men besides Norzak, men whose shadows were like separate beings." He runs a hand through his hair, unsure of what to make of this newfound companion. The return of even some trace of his old friend was a comfort in some bizarre way; too many companions had been killed or cast to the wind. But this boy Jeurgin, he was not the supposed-innocent who'd harbored a grisly secret. Would this boy prove to be another monster in disguise?

But maybe it was a useful monster, for now. "So, he can--" Dorgio starts to say to Jeurgin, but then turns and forces himself to address the shadow, "You can find the spectre?"

[Adam]

"I'd be cautious about sending it through the door," He looks doubtfully at the iron obstacle. "The wards in place may trap him inside once he's through."

[ewancummins]

If Benn moves a little closer to Juergin, he may look down and see the iron-bound door twenty-odd feet down the shaft. The portal is set into a shallow alcove in the curved wall on the side opposite the hollow space and the stone table ( and well below both those features).


'Dark One' answers Dorgio with a soft whisper-

''Not here...the door...wards too strong for me."


Juergin, laying down on his belly and groping in the hollow space in the masonry, removes a gold plate and a leatherbound book. The book is in sorry shape; rotted and worn. The gold plate is round, about the size of an ordinary serving platter, and studded with ruddy gemstones. Small pictures etched into the face depict men, beasts, some sort of two wheeled cart drawn by horse-like creatures, and stranger things.

[steveflam]

"Well that is what we have," asserts Juergin. "It is a nice plate. Herr Benn, maybe de book is good for something?"

[ewancummins]

THE LOST SETTLEMENT

Petrie freezes instinctively upon spotting the unknown beast; his hunter senses taking over. He moves the butt end of his spear to tap Thom on the leg. "Thom, hold steady and don't make a sound." He utters as quietly as possible while tracking the thing with the tip of his long spear, "There, we're not alone lad."

He moves to a crouch gradually to get closer to Thom's level. "I'll keep my eye on 'im. Check behind us; make sure there are no more. We need to watch it for a while." He scans the area in front of him with his eyes to discern if there are any other surprises accompanying it. Petrie also attempts to make a mental determination of the direction and strength of any breeze.

Petrie feels a gentle, warm breeze at his back.


Looking about she sees...

[Rock of the Fraternity]

Everline moves closer to survey first the treasures Juergin has liberated, and then... the pit.

"No magic on the book," she reports. "Just a trace on the plate. Old abjuration magic a' some sort, too old ta tell now what it used ta be."

She gestures at the pit. "Can't see too much fra 'ere, but I en't stickin' me fool 'ead down there 'till we've dealt with tha resident. There's somethin' magical through that there" - she points at the rectangular opening - "an' that one's just blazin' wid abjuration magic." She points at the door set upright in the pit wall. "Wha'ever's behind it, the ones what set up that door prolly meant fer it ta stay behind it."

[steveflam]

Juergin hands the book to Benn.

[Adam]

Benn delicately lays the book down on the top of the altar, holding the pages lightly between forefinger and thumb as he delicately turns them.