Mists Over the Musarde, Chapter Three

[ewancummins]

in the vardo-

The raunie pays close attention to you all as you speak in turn. After a minute of silence, she speaks-


''I am satisfied that you speak the truth as you know it. ''


The old woman takes a small wooden box, the surface of which is covered in intricate arabesque cravings, and sets it flat on the small table which seperates herself from your party. She deftly undoes a tiny brass latch and opens the box. Inside the velvet lined box rests a stack of palm sized ivory plaques. The raunie deftly removes the plaques and sets them on the table before herself.

''You must each handle the cards. Shuffle them each in turn, but do not turn them over and look upon the faces. ''

[Adam]

Bennedict looks around at the others, before reaching forward and giving the cards a shuffle. He tries not to fidget with nervousness, thinking of all the stories of the Vistanna and their Tarokka cards he's heard in the literature. He sets the deck back on the table, pushing them towards the Raunie.

[steveflam]

Norzak proceeds next, givng the cards a good shuffling. He lays them back down for the next person. He clears his throat and says "We be missin' one person, though. The lad Jon."

[Brock Marsh Runoff]

When Norzak is done, Dorgio takes the cards into his long-fingered hands and begins to shuffle. Though he's never handled these cards, nor even seen them up close, there is something about the act that is disconcertingly familiar.

When he puts the cards down, he looks to the Raunie and elaborates on Norzak's statement. "We are having another friend, Jon. He was...attacked by Van Deicks, and though I have been finding no sign of infection within him, he has been behaving, ah, oddly."

[ewancummins]

The raunie replies-

''Jon? Hmmmm....I should like to take a look at this boy. Bring him to me after the reading. ''

[ewancummins]

One by one the raunie flips the cards, pausing to explain the meaning of each before proceeding to the next card.
The first to be overturned is the center of the cross. It depicts a skulking backstabber crouching over his victim. Seven coins lie scattered on the street near the fallen man.

''Beware, one of you possesses something of value which the enemy wishes to steal.''

The next card, positioned to the left of the center card, shows two men in clerical robes decaorated with looping sigils. One man pours a libation into a basin whilst the second figure lurks in the background, watching over his half-turned shoulder. The image is upside down to your point of view.

''''Ah, your efforts to find the enemy have been helped in the past by a traitor. ''


The raunie moves to the card closest to herself and flips it over. You see a soldier standing before a rack that holds three swords. He holds his hand halfway towards the rack, as if perhaps he has yet to choose which of the three swords he will carry.

''The success of your hunt hinges on the choices you make today. There are several paths open to you, but only one may lead to the downfall of your foes.''

Now the raunie smiles just slightly and says, as she reaches for the righthand card,

''This will let us glimpse the future...''
She turns the card. It is engraved with a peaceful pastoral scene, a shepherd watching over his sheep. Like the second card, this one has come up reversed.

''Someone whom you have trusted will turn against you.''

Finally, she holds her leathery right hand over the last card. She says-

''We have seen something of your quarry, the past efforts you have made to capture him, the situation as it stands, and even the future of your quest. Now the cards will tell us something of the end of your search. ''

Deftly, she flicks the final card face up on the cloth. The upside down image is that of a voluptuous harlot lounging in her boudoir.

''The Temptress in reverse! In the course of your hunt for the guilty, the temptation to use evil methods has been strong for some of you. By the end of your hunt, someone among your number will have given in to the worst temptations and blackened his soul, with perhaps so dark a stain as can never be lifted.''

[Adam]

Bennedict pauses in thought, mulling the Raunie's words over. He was a skeptical man, but he had read in enough places of the Vistani and the powers of their divinations to respect what was laid plain before him. Finally, he fumbled in his pocket and pulled out his journal, jotting down in detail the reading and the elderly woman's words.

"My thanks for the honor you've done us," he says. "I would like to see to it that we repay you, if nothing else by finding the thing that murdered your kind and repaying it. I have some knowledge of creatures of the night, and with your permission I would like to examine the bodies, to determine what killed them and perhaps have a guess at how best to combat it."

He looks around at the others. "What is keeping Jon? How could anyone have slept through those screams?"

[Le Noir Faineant]

''The Temptress in reverse! In the course of your hunt for the guilty, the temptation to use evil methods has been strong for some of you. By the end of your hunt, someone among your number will have given in to the worst temptations and blackened his soul, with perhaps so dark a stain as can never be lifted.''

Innocence.

If Cirdan in this very moment embodies anything, it is this.

[steveflam]

Norzak nods politely to the Raunie "Thanks fer yer readin' ma'am. I be bringing back the boy. He prolly still sleepin. To be young again!" The dwarf leaves the Vardo and returns to where Jon is sleeping. "Hey, laddie, rise an shine, boyo. Time ta git up. We jess met tha ole Raunie character. She wants to meet ye. Less not keep 'er waitin, hmmm?"

[JMaytr]

Jonathan looks at Norzak with shock and fear.

"I do not care if the gypsy wants to speak to me. I'll not go over to that camp! Where I come from those mist walkers are the worst of the night things. They are soulless monsters who use their trickery to con the fearful out of their coins for a fancy tale or to steal boys such as I and sell them to foul things that walk in shadows with dark, scandalous tastes."

A sudden look crosses Jonathan's face.

"You wish to sell me to them for running from the ghost lady!"

Jonathan bolts from the scene (1)


(1) Ewan I have PM'd you my actions.

[ewancummins]

After the reading, in the camp of the Vistani

The raunie, perhaps persuaded by Benn's fine words, has agreed to allow Benn [and any others of your party who are interested] to examine the bodies of the two murdered gypsies.

Miklos escorts Benn [and anyone else interested in the bodies] to a covered wagon with an open bed, the sort that would be used to haul cargo of various kinds. In the back of the wagon lays a dog and next to the dog is a tarp with what appear to be two human forms beneath it.

Miklos gestures towards the silent and still hound. Getting closer, one can see that someone or something has nearly decapitated the poor animal- it is stone dead.

''This killer you hunt, he is good at what he does. No one in the camp heard the dog. The one who did this must have been very quiet and very fast.''

Miklos pulls back the cloth to reveal two bodies: a young man and a young woman.

The young man, a handsome and athletic type, looks to have been no older than twenty summers or so, when he met his demise. Dark bloodstains discolor the front of his offwhite tunic. The only wound visible anywhere on his body is a deep cut to his throat. Whatever weapon was used to make the cut must have been sharp and have had a considerable amount of force behind it- the incision is both deep and clean edged. The dead youth's face bears a wide eyed, openmouthed expression.

The young woman is one of the dancing girls from the night before. In life she must have been very lovely. Indeed, her face, although contorted by her death agonies, still shows some of its original beauty. Below the neckline, she's partly covered by a tattered, bloody nightgown, but it can do only a little to disguise the greivous injuries her killer had inflicted upon her person. Anyone who had seen what was left of the prostitute murdered in the Lorelei, that night when your party had its first run-in with Gaston Van Diecks, could never forget the sight. This killing was done in the very same fashion. If Benn can force himself to look closely, he will see indications that many of the wounds were sustained while the girl was yet alive. She must have passed out from shock at some point- but it doesn't look like the end came before she suffered terribly. Her murderer didn't bother stealing her gold arm bangles or her earrings.

[steveflam]

"Bah! Ye durned dolt." Norzak sighs. He sends his shadow forward to follow the lad. Follow 'im an keep an eye on 'im so we kin fin' 'im later.

The dwarf finds the others. ""e runned away agin! Sayin them peoples are bad or somethin. I don feel no bad with 'em." He goes on to explain what happened.

"I did sent me shadow after him so we kin fin the lad later. Mebbe they need to show 'im they're no bad peoples after all.

[Adam]

Benn winces, pinching his eyes tightly shut as the wave of nausea hit him. How many bodies have I examined, and it is the same every time. he thinks. He quickly pulls a handkercheif from his pants pocket, holding it over his mouth and nose as he steps forward to examine the corpses.

"No bite marks," he mutters to himself, "like the ones we found on Buckman. And this," he gestures at the dead girl, "This I regret to say I have seen before. I now have no doubt. This is the work of Gaston Van Deicks." He turns towards Miklos. "My friends and I can provide your people with a description of this butcher. If you give it to the people of the Moot House, it may help to ensure that he does not come here again. He is alone in a wilderness, possibly without aid. He can not hide for long."

He turns to the girl, examining her more closely. "She was alive while the mad-man did this to her." He whispers beneath his breath. He arches an eyebrow in curiosity. He turns towards Miklos once again. "Were no screams heard?" he asks. Without waiting for a response, he runs a finger over the girls lips and holds it to his nose, smelling for a whiff of something that may have rendered her senseless and unable to cry for help.

[ewancummins]

Benn smells nothing unusual. He does notice some light bruising around the dead girl's nose and mouth, and a bit of string stuck in her teeth.


Miklos says-

''No one heard screaming. After some of the men found Grigori slain in the woods, we searched the encampment and the trees nearby. We found Esmeralda in her own vardo, laying in her bed. It was...'''

The gypsy headman shudders and his breath quickens for a minute. He turns away from the wagon so that he won't have to look at the girl's body.


''Why would any man do such a thing? A crime of greed I can understand well enough, even a crime of lust...but this?''

[Le Noir Faineant]

Cirdan, helmet under his arm, wanders restlessly on and off.

"What do you think, friends? - Will the killer return to take another victim tonight?"