The Journal of Father Solomon

Part 42

In which we raid another Wraithe complex, only to find The Mistress beat us to it…

Clayday, Harmonyweek, Stormseason, 614 TA – evening

We’re happy to see the Beaver, Rufus Roughcut, again, as well as George, who has successfully traded a dwarf-made ploughshare he purchased in Silverseam to a local unhappy with his old ploughshare.

The Borke’s Lament puts us up for free. Dinner is a mutton stew, just the thing for this time of year, and then we enjoy a convivial evening, relaxing in the lounge – I don’t think any of us have to buy our own drinks.

One of locals let’s slip that John Chard’s authority has been eroded due to some villagers grumbling that he should have been more proactive in learning the Broo were a threat. I think this is a little harsh and say as much, raising my voice to ensure I’m heard by as many as possible – the Broo followed us here from Fotheringay Hall and John could not have known they were here any earlier. Furthermore, he displayed true leadership skills in the battle, “In my opinion, this village is lucky to have him!” Hopefully this will stop the rot.

Several people mention Otto Witt – previously he was always an outsider, a Storm worshipper from Salzberg who settled here due to prophetic dreams, but his prowess in the battle has improved his standing and he’s developing a leadership roll alongside John, and the two have become friends.

Rufus has spent the last season helping build a well and John and Otto are considering taking him up on his offer to dam the stream.

George learns Fred Hitch, the only person who knows where Timmy lives, has not been around so much. Fred and Agena have been seen leaving the village at odd times. Putting two and two together, I think they’ve been arranging training for Timmy as a Luciferan Healer.

The landlord, William Stephenson, makes a point of getting each of our accounts of the battle, which he relates to others almost instantly – though I notice that there seem to be a lot more Broo in his version (when I recall there were more than enough as it was). There’s no Troll mentioned, either.

Windsday, Harmonyweek, Stormseason, 614 TA

John Chard comes in while we’re having breakfast to welcome us back to Borke’s Drift. George tells him we’re going back to the Broo lair because there was a door we couldn’t open before and now we can. John asks if this will be dangerous, George replies, “Probably!”

We leave our riding animals at the inn and go forth on foot, just as last time. I know Keziah is in good hands.

We reach the Broo lair just after noon. Some animals have been through the ravine and even entered the complex but it looks like they avoided the spiders – I don’t blame them. Lighting lanterns and torches, we make our way in…

Inside we find signs that tracks we knew were there have been brushed away – I find the edge of a human boot print which was there in full a season ago – someone else has been here!

We find the door. I can easily read the inscription over the door, in Sandscript and Necropolitan, “Blessed are those who come in the name of the Lord – at the last hour, the dead will rise!” We put the panels in place and the door slides inward…

Lydia sees a spirit leave the door to occupy the opened doorway. It looks at Lydia and the rest of us with disapproval but it’s not aggressive or insane. It is, however, in our way so I address the spirit. It’s tone is cynical, asking if we’ve come to loot the tombs. It doesn’t trust us, apparently because it can’t even trust ‘its own’.

It becomes clear that it’s a Wraithe spirit and claims to have volunteered to be doorwarden. It doesn’t like me. I ask how we can make its existence easier – it wants the place ‘rededicated’, but understands that we won’t do that. I ask for its name, “You can call me ‘Lanktuush’”.

The others want me to ask if the spirit will let us enter. Lydia casts Spiritscreen on herself as I inform Lanktuush we’re entering the door. If Lanktuush attacks she will intervene. Then I step forward…

Passing through a ghost can be unsettling if you’re not used to it but Lanktuush does not attack, nor does it cast a spell, though it does swear at me. Lydia keeps an eye on Lanktuush as the others enter, without mishap, though Warwick and Bitey seem rather jittery while we’re in the complex.

The chamber is a hemisphere of forty foot radius, centred on the door. There are three passages: one in the middle leads into darkness, two to either side open into side rooms. In the centre is a stone slab – an altar, by the look of things, unadorned except for the runes of the Wraithe cult. George finds two sets of booted feet have been in an out of all three passages within the last year. Bitey thinks one of them is a Troll, which makes sense. I ask Lanktuush who they were but he refuses to tell – however, I get the feeling he disapproves of them, too.

We enter the right hand chamber to find four wooden tables in a row – it reminds me of the torture chamber in the other complex. Bitey notices the tables have runnels for blood and Ariella thinks they’re for cutting up dead bodies – urgh! At the back of the room is a shelf with jars of embalming fluids (the labels are in Sandscript and Necropolitan, of course). Under the shelves are some empty hooks.

The other room is a mirror image of the first but with only two dissection tables to the left. However, the right side of the room has five rough pits, ten feet deep but looking as if they were gouged out of the stone floor. There’s a few scraps of cloth in the pits and someone spots some glass splinters in one. I have no idea what they were used for but I’m sure it was unsavoury.

So we form a column to explore the middle passage: George and Ariella leading Warwick and I, the Beavers bringing up the rear. We go about thirty feet when, suddenly, George and Ariella are hit by crossbow bolts! George is badly hurt in the leg but Ariella’s armour saves her.

George has to stop to heal his leg but Ariella advances with me moving out from behind her, casting Parry on my shield as Lydia casts Strength on me. Then more crossbow bolts – hitting Ariella in the arm and me in the head (though it’s just a scratch). I call Eleanor to enter Barney.

The passage goes another twenty feet – we pass empty niches for bones. Warwick says he spies movement in the dark but I can’t see anything. I cast Protection and Eleanor casts Bladesharp on my sword. George is behind me, Warwick behind Ariella. We hear the clatter of dropped weapons – people exchanging crossbows for hand-weapons, no doubt.

Then Warwick casts Moonwall and the darkness is lit up! Ariella and I stand at the entrance to a large, rectangular room. Three tombs are on the far side, the middle tomb larger and more impressive than the rest. Four skeletons form a line before the middle tomb but Ariella and I spy two figures to either side of us – on the right is a human with an eagle’s head while on my side is an enormous predatory bird, only with taloned arms instead of wings! Eleanor confirms both are zombies.

Ariella and I split left and right. George, Warwick and Bitey pass through to engage the skeletons while Rufus comes to help me with the zombie bird.

I parry the bird’s beak with my sword, thinking that if it misses I could damage the head, but its beak takes a large splinter from my blade and only my armour saves me from hurt. The thing is as big as a Great Troll and immensely strong!

George parries a skeleton but misses his own attack. Bitey parries one skeleton and then Warwick charitably spares a parry for him only for Warwick to miss his own parry and his skeleton spears his leg! Ariella parries Eagle-Head but misses her own thrust.

I hit the bird in a leg – it’s a heavy blow but the thing will take a lot of stopping. I parry its beak with my shield, which is badly chewed. Rufus’ hit rattles off a leg. Then Rufus parries for me but the bird’s talons destroy his axe completely and ravage my arm – I drop my sword!

George parries his skeleton and smashes its head with his quarterstaff! Bitey parries one skeleton, the other hits him but he’s saved by his new armour bought in Moonguard. George, having split his attacks, destroys another skeleton’s leg. Bitey’s axe is parried. The last skeleton misses Warwick but parries his return.

But then Ariella parries Eagle-head and puts her spear through its skull – it’s down!

Rufus, with no weapon to hand, backs away from the bird. Ariella hands him a shortsword on which he casts Bladesharp. I call to Lydia to possess the bird and scream for Healing. George casts Shillelagh and turns to help me after his ally spirit Disrupts a skeleton in the chest – another one down. Ariella also comes for the bird.

I parry its beak and then George parries its talons for me. He hits it in the chest but it’s still going. Bitey parries a skeleton and then gets his axe tangled up in his new armour. Warwick parries his skeleton before smashing its skull – another one down!

Lydia arrives but neither the bird nor the remaining skeleton embody spirits so she cannot possess them. With Ariella and George joining me, I remain in place to occupy the creature while I heal my arm. Warwick runs to the far side of the room. George Disrupts the bird in an arm. Ariella parries the bird twice and then George hits it in the head, but without putting it down.

The remaining skeleton drops its spear, despite Bitey’s confusion with his tangled axe. Then Rufus impales the skeleton in the pelvis and it goes down.

I Heal the scratch in my head. Although Healed, my arm is still numb but I raise my shield to parry the bird, only to see Warwick’s discus whir over my head, hitting the bird in the breast, which disintegrates! Then Bitey and Rufus destroy the last skeleton…

We’ve won!

At one point I really wasn’t sure I was going to survive that.

Aside from the tombs, the chamber has no furniture. All three tombs have closed lids. The two side tombs have no adornment but the middle tomb is larger, set on a plinth and covered by a tapestry. On the wall behind it is an inscription, “The best is yet to come”, which sounds like some sort of heraldic motto.

The tapestry depicts a man lying full length with a scimitar and small shield bearing an heraldic device. The shield is checky, argent and rouge with a hawk, rampant, sable – only the hawk is depicted as a mirror image of itself, with two heads looking left and right. I recognise these arms, I’ve seen them in a book of Karnaki heraldry, but I can’t recall the name. The tapestry also depicts a book lying on the recumbent knight’s lap.

We detect no magic or enemies and none of us see any traps so Ariella rolls back the tapestry to reveal a name on the tomb – Lucius Macchiavelli. The date is unclear but it’s very early Moon Age.

Now the name comes to me – Macchiavelli was one of the founding families of Karnak, along with its first King, Falco Ignatious Aquilae. But why is a Phoenician entombed here, in a Wraithe holy place?

Casting around, the others find two pairs of human footprints around the tombs – it looks like they removed the lid and replaced it. We open the lid ourselves. Inside is a body matching the tapestry – a big man, half a head taller than me – but Lucius is missing his scimitar and the book. Strangely, he’s still got an iron open helm and breastplate, which George relieves him of.

Thinking of all the books we burned at the last place, I examine the tapestry again – I think I can just about make out the title, but just when I think it’s about to become clear, it sort of blurs.

It’s almost as if it’s trying not to be read!

The other two tombs both contain skeletons – both have open jaws, which often happens once the tissues rot away. However, we find scratch marks on the inside of the lids – these two were buried alive! We close the lids on this chilling evidence.

Ariella and I go back to talk to Lanktuush. She proves much better at getting him to talk than me. He confirms that there was a man and a woman – no Troll was involved. Ariella tells him we know the woman is a Klutie! Lanktuush is aghast that a fellow Wraithe worshipper looted the tomb in the company of a Chaot. He heard the man call her ‘Mistress’ and it was clear she was in charge.

Lanktuush wants the book returned but cannot (or will not) give us any details to help us recognise it. Ariella offers to Freeghost Lanktuush and, evidently tired of his role as doorwarden, he accepts…

Lanktuush wishes the man and woman unhappy and unpleasant deaths. Then he wishes us luck in finding them but hopes that we will also then suffer painful and unhappy deaths. Then Ariella sends Lanktuush off to Typhon’s Hall of the Dead.

Windsday, Harmonyweek to Windsday, Deathweek, Stormseason, 614 TA

We return to Moonguard where George sells some minor items but we decide to keep the tapestry, iron helm and breastplate in case we find a reason to visit Karnak in the near future.

Thinking about what to do next, it occurs to me that Pierre said, “Find me!” before divinting himself and most of his men away. Since we have no idea where he might be, I think I will ask Fr Saul for a Divination…