Ghosts of Gauntcliff, Chapter Seven

[ewancummins]

Jürgen wonders where the rat came from and stands. "Okay everyone. The rat he ate came from somehwere. Let us all look around the cave and see what we find. Chief and Smezel, I think there maybe a passage or door somewhere."

Searching the back of the cave, Jürgen finds a rubble-choked neck or alcove. It could be a deeper passage....

Not a big hole, maybe large enough for you to crawl through if the rubble were cleared. Of course, until it's clear, you can't say how deep it goes.

"Okay. Guys. Come here. We need to remove all the debris and rocks here so we can see where this goes, ok? Help me clear away all if this." Jürgen expressedly shows them what he wants to move out of the way.

Doing most of the work himself (Gruz and Smezel help a bit), Jürgen finds that the tunnel runs out of sight and down. Jürgen's beard' tingles.

Jürgen looks in his belongings and removes a candle and lights it, before holding it out before him. His hand rests on his rapier as he unsheathes it.[/quote]


The smooth wallled tunnel curves down and out of sight.


Gruz climbs onto your back.

''Err...go deeps?"

[steveflam]

He moves up a bit more, with Gruz on his back, telling the gobbie "Look closely up ahead, I felt something with my whiskers, or beard as you call it. Tell me if you see something, ok? I am looking too." He turns back and says "If Dark One returns, tell him I am here Chief."

[ewancummins]

He moves up a bit more, with Gruz on his back, telling the gobbie "Look closely up ahead, I felt something with my whiskers, or beard as you call it. Tell me if you see something, ok? I am looking too." He turns back and says "If Dark One returns, tell him I am here Chief."

Chief answers, ''Okay."

Gruz crawls down your back like a monkey, and clings to your hips.

Pushing into the tunnel a little way, you feel the the floor is damp and slick. If you aren't careful , you might slide down.

[steveflam]

Jürgen in the cave

The boy frowns. "We must go back a minute, Gruz. This is not safe." He back up slowly and once out of the passage sighs with relief.

"Okay, I need to tie a nice sailor knot around something that will hold your weight and mine. What I was sensing was the rocks moving down the passage, Gruz. Here, let me tie the rope and secure it tightly."

Jürgen removes a rope from his pack and ties it securely around a large rock he gauges solid and heavy enough to hold his and Gruz' weight. Satisfied, he nods to himself. "Okay Gruz I am ready once more." Ripping up a shirt he uses that to wrap around his hands so as not to lose grip on the rope. He does wrap the rope around his forearm for better support and so not to lose the rope.

He gets down and when Gruz is on his back he goes back in, holding the rope securely in his hand and around his forearm. He advances slowly down the slick passage. He takes his time and is alert to any danger.

[ewancummins]

Jürgen in the cave

You lower yourself into the tunnel a few inches at a time, one hand firmly on the rope. The air in this hole is damp and cool. The bottom, over ten feet down, widens out like a bell jar. Your ‘beard’ tingles, twitching with slight shifts in the air current. Although there’s not enough light for even your sensitive eyes to see clearly, you somehow sense the presence of a large, boxy object near you on the curved floor.

[Brock Marsh Runoff]

Dorgio stares at the corpse and fights back a wave of unconscious revulsion. He'd used this ritual on others, but they had always been freshly dead, usually villains who'd been slain by Dorgio's own hand. But seeing the long-dead, tortured corpse stir to live, even Dorgio cannot help but wonder if he is crossing a line.

But if a line must be crossed, so be it.

He fixes his gaze on where the corpse's eyes should be and asks his first question. It's one he thinks he already knows the answer to, but one that must be asked.

"What is your name?"

[ewancummins]

''Fredrik Dodds."

[Ken of Ghastria]

The Private Bar

The candles in the bar-room gutter, almost dying, and then flare bright again as Dorgio finishes his incantation. The withered, maimed body inside the open chest stirs. A dry hiss sounds from the puckered lips as breath enters the dead thing.
A quavering voice leaks from the corpse-
‘’No! Let me go! I only wanted to paint her! Such purity, such innocence—how could I not paint her?”

Primeiro, standing several feet behind Dorgio, goes white at the horrid sight and sound. "Necromancy!" he gasps. The air around him smells foul, and it feels as though cold, dead spiders are crawling across every inch of his skin.... With great effort, he summons his resolve and resists the oh-so-attractive notion of fleeing like a frightened schoolchild.

He swallows and says in a hoarse whisper, "Dorgio--" He clears his voice. "Dorgio," he repeats in a more normal, yet still hesitant voice, "you can ask... this questions? Try to find out how it -- he -- died." He looks again at the corpse. "By Ezra..." His eyes widen. "Ezra! I'm an imbecile. I only now just realized the signficance of those letters in the cellar. Never mind... go on with your... ceremony, please."

________________________
See my suggestions for questions in the OOC thread.

[Rock of the Fraternity]

Everline stands next to Primeiro, and if he looks at her, he can see something disconcerting.

The young woman's eyes, already purple from the blood that has flooded them, darken until they seem almost... black. The face around those eyes is pale and drawn, teeth bared in a snarl, but Everline does not look afraid. She looks angry and somehow... hungry.

Everline's hand lies on Primeiro's shoulder, fingers clutching at him tightly, but not tight enough to cause pain.

[Brock Marsh Runoff]

Dorgio frowns as the corpse speaks of painting a girl. "I would know more of this girl, Dodds...what happened when you tried to paint her? And how did you come to be sealed in this box?"

[ewancummins]

Dorgio frowns as the corpse speaks of painting a girl. "I would know more of this girl, Dodds...what happened when you tried to paint her? And how did you come to be sealed in this box?"

''Sweet little Annabelle...I just wanted to paint her nude, in all her innocence..."

The voice curdles, thickens with lust and rage-

''No, more than that-- I wanted to possess it! I wanted to CONSUME her innocence! I wanted to feel it dissolve into my flesh, my spirit!"

The dead man stirs in the box, and a hint of black light plays in his puckered eye sockets.

"After the first time, in East Riding, I vowed I would control myself. But the urges were too strong..."


The voice drops to a paper-thin whisper-

''Exiled! This island, a new beginning. I keep your secrets and you keep mine. A gentleman’s word is his bond. But I never should have confessed. The priest betrayed me."

Now the voice rises-

''No! Don't burn me, please! Please, please no! I'm sorry. I won't touch one of them again, won't even look! Please, please! Don't shut me in that...Mercy! Write to him, write to him! I'm his man, I'm his man! No.....AIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEE!"

After a shriek like a gelded horse, the corpse falls silent.

[Rock of the Fraternity]

"What?" Everline whispers, eyes wide with disbelief. "That's it? Is this useful?" Her grip on Primeiro's shoulder is now edging towards the painful.

[Ail]

Eustace notes a shadow creeping over Benn as Charlotte blanches, but the quick reaction of the Lamordian eases his metaphorical finger. In the last hours, Eustace has been feeling the impact of their ordeal more strongly, and now harbours a hatred for Dodds in particular, and undead in general, more acute than usually.

He approaches Benn while the Shadow speaks, all the while scanning the room for more surprises. He sceptically looks at Benn, but says

"If the boy has the scepter, we must deal with him. It might be our only way to help Everline."

He turns to the shadow, hiding his contempt the best he can:
"I'd like to hear what Juergin has to say, and on which side he is. Does he want something to help us?"

OOC: Diplomacy 1d20 = 8
(Clean roll. Myth-weavers is down again. please add bonus later)

[ewancummins]

THE BALLROOM

‘Dark One’ speaks in a low whisper, which Eustace must strain to hear-
'' He is a good boy, friendly, helpful. You need friends now, don't you?"

Charlotte pushes close to Benn, clutching Jonas to her chest.
‘’Is… is...that is....Norzak?"
She faints into Benn's arms. Jonas nearly tumbles to the floor. The little boy clings to his father's clothes.

The shadow-dwarf turns away from Eustace and waggles its fingers at Jonas-

‘’Hey, kiddo!"
Jonas hides his face in the folds of Benn’s coat.
Dark One slides backwards, away from Benn.
’'I’ll be sein’ ya, Benn.”

And then it’s gone.

[Brock Marsh Runoff]

Dorgio takes an involuntary step back from the corpse. "So it is as we were fearing...East Riding, that is in Ghastria, yes? So this Dodds, his lust for the young consumed him, and he was exiled to this place? Annabelle must have been one of the settlers, and when they caught him with her, there was Strahd himself to pay."

"But who was this priest? Is it the Brother Jameson we found in the journal? And who was he begging them to write to? Whose man was he? Some noble in Ghastria?"

He turns to Primeiro then. "Those letters from the cellar, you said you were realizing something, what was it?"