[WFRP] The Bloody Crown IV

[LCP]

The books Heironymus had given them were titled The Life and Death of Gilbertus of Ravenskird, by Albrecht Larranscheld, and Witch Covens of the Black Karst, by one M. Thulmann. Heading back to the Harvester's Haven, the literate members of the party sat down to inspect them, while the others had the opportunity to wet their throats. Kaja peered over Adelbert's shoulder as he read, squinting at the letters.

The Life and Death of Gilbertus of Ravenskird

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The Life and Death told the story of a Bretonnian who had apparently settled in the area shortly after the first crusade against Araby. Gilbertus had apparently been a learned man and a priest of Morr, and became a respected figure in the town of Pierreverte where he made his home. A little cross-referencing showed this to be somewhere in the Hidden Vale - Ludo suspected it was a previous name for either Handrich's Cross or Manann's Keep.

Around a decade after he had settled there, the Reaches were struck by an unusually fierce autumn of storms. Following the rains, Pierreverte was plagued by ill omens. Livestock gave birth to unnaturally twisted young, and many of the people were afflicted with a strange madness. Gilbertus himself lost his wife and his unborn child to a difficult birth.

Conferring among themselves, the villagers decided that the source of their troubles were the nearby ruins of Nath - which at that time had not lain ruined for long. As Morr's representative among them, Gilbertus was implored to travel there and exorcise the spirits of the Arabyan sorcerers who were now bringing these curses upon them - a task to which he willingly agreed.

Travelling into the Dead Hills alone, Gilbertus returned almost a month later, when the villagers had long since given him up as dead. The plagues of autumn had trailed off seemingly of their own accord, although none dared gainsay Gilbertus when he said he had brought an end to them. The priest now seemed a changed man, gaunt and forbidding, and he carried a heavy bag with him that the people of Pierreverte had not seen him carrying before. Some over-curious villagers listened outside his home at night, and claimed they heard other voices speaking when only Gilbertus had entered.

Gilbertus quickly grew angry with his prying neighbours and their impertinent questions, and left for the west. From that point on, the chronicle of his life grew more uncertain, with only scattered sightings of a thin figure in the dark robes of the Morrite priesthood passing among the farmsteads of the Downlands. Eventually, however, he reached the Bracken Mere, and made his home in the village of Ravenskird.

By now the character of the kindly priest had changed completely, becoming cold and imperious. He quickly overawed the villagers, and set himself up as their ruler. With a village of serfs at his command, he built a manse on the outskirts of the marsh, and secluded himself from everyday life, becoming ever more deeply immersed in strange studies. Even in his self-made stronghold, however, he could not maintain his isolation, as the lords of the neighbouring lands began to make demands on him and the inhabitants of Ravenskird. Though at first he grudgingly complied, their commands became ever more intolerable to him, until the sight of their heralds would send him into a black rage.

At last, Gilbertus openly defied the lord of Savonne, setting himself up as a border prince in his own right. The lord sent men-at-arms to drag the old priest before him, and was shocked to hear that the entire patrol had been destroyed at the outskirts of the village, cut down by sorcery. Gilbertus' long study had not been in vain, and he now displayed a mastery of the black arts that made him for than a match for border princelings. Further attempts to depose him met with similar disaster.

From his seat in Ravenskird, Gilbertus proceeded to terrorise the Reaches. He annexed a vast swathe of the Downlands around the lower Azril, and extended feelers south towards Caerfort and Last Water. The mercenary armies of the local lords did not have the discipline or morale to stand against dark magic, and for a while Gilbertus seemed poised to threaten Savonne itself. Fragmented accounts of the running battles that took place through the Downlands spoke of the sorcerer's forces as no better than packs of vagabonds and scavengers following in Gilbertus' wake, but their presence was hardly required - stories spoke of troops of men being aged forty years in an eyeblink, and a freezing wind that snatched away men's souls. Even when Gilbertus himself was not present, his followers would sometimes carry some fragment of dark lore taken from the trove he had amassed in his manse. The darkest stories said that the dead fought for the sorcerer, rising up as soon as they were slain to drag their erstwhile comrades down into the mud. Soon enough he became known as Gilbertus the Black, or Gilbertus the Ghoul.

Becoming desperate, the lords of the Downlands sent out word of a great reward for any wizard or priest who could unravel Gilbertus' magic. A loose coalition of hedge wizards gathered in Savonne, drawn by the lure of riches and recognition. Though none of them were individually a match for him, by working together they were able to turn aside the worst of Gilbertus' magic. Without sorcerous support, Gilbertus' rag-tag army quickly dissolved before its better armed and trained opposition, and Gilbertus was driven back to Ravenskird. Besieged in his manse, he defended himself with every last dreg of dark magic in his repertoire, emptying his reserves of tricks. Many men died trying to navigate his invisible defences, but at last the manse was stormed and Gilbertus was slain. Of the original nine hedge wizards who had opposed him, only three survived to see the end of the war.

Gilbertus' manse was demolished, and Ravenskird brought back under the rulership of Savonne. Tearing down the sorcerer's stronghold revealed catacombs beneath it, which the men-at-arms sealed as best they could. The three surviving wizards took those items from the ruins that they deemed dangerous or tainted, and promised the lord of Savonne that they would keep them safe, departing the city for a remote location in the Black Karst. This was the seed of the circle of mages that would later become the Illuminated Order - unfortunately, the book made no further mention of the Order or its history, instead devoting its final chapters to dwelling on the moral lessons of Gilbertus' fall from grace. The book was written in almost-modern Reikspiel and took a rather distant perspective, showing that Larranscheld must have written it some centuries after the original events.

Witch Covens of the Black Karst

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Thulmann's book was both more recent and more tersely written than Larranscheld's, detailing the struggles between the people of the Shepherd's Valley and the Downlands and a group of Chaos-worshippers who made their home in the Karst, in the years leading up the Great War in the north. Rather than a potted history, it read almost like the field notes of a military commander, noting the names and hiding-places of the warlocks, and the occasions on which they had been run to ground.

The Illuminated Order was mentioned too - albeit grudgingly - as another opponent of the "witch covens", although that seemed to be Thulmann's term for them only. On one page he listed a variety of terms by which they called themselves - the Brethren of the Silver Tower being the most common. The list of sins he attributed to them was long and impressive, from the blighting of crops to daemon summoning and human sacrifice.

The Brethren had apparently first occupied a stronghold in the Karst named Harmugstahl. Around two-thirds of the way through his notes, Thulmann documented the destruction of Harmugstahl - supposedly by the Illuminated Order, although he recorded his own suspicion that the witches had destroyed themselves in some sorcerous ritual gone drastically wrong.

After that, some survivors had fled to a smaller bolt-hole, named Guldun. The Illuminated Order, Thulmann recorded with a vague sense of satisfaction, had by that time destroyed themselves also, although he did not record how, and so the rounding up of the last cultists fell to the honest people of the Shepherd's Valley. The Great War was over in the north, and Chaos had been thrown back - demoralised, the last remnants of the Brethren were cornered like rats in a hole, and butchered to the last man. Thulmann went into great and unnecessary detail about the final assault on Guldun, and the interrogation of the few prisoners they took before the captives were put to the sword. The common thread to their answers was apparently one of confusion and betrayal - they believed they had served "the Changer" faithfully, but that he had abandoned them at the hour of their promised reward.

[RossN]

Adelbert Schreiber

Adelbert read aloud some of what he read to the others (with suitable euphemisms for things like the fall of Guldun for Kaja's sake - he was beginning to get worried about the boy.) "It seems to me that we have two lines of investigation then; Ravenskird to examine these catacombs or heading into the Black Karst and trying to track down the lair of the Illuminated Order." The scribe scratched his goatee thoughtfully. "I wonder if they are really are all gone, or if they ran to earth and still out there somewhere."

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

Sieghard half-listened as Adelbert summarized bits from the book. He didn't put much faith in the written word and seemed far more interested in his ale as a result. Even so, once Adelbert's retelling was nearly finished and he had a better understanding of how it related to finding the book, he became far more attentive.

"Whether any of them are left or not, their lair could be anywhere in the Karst. Without a better idea of where to look, we'd never find it before the end of the month," Sieghard said, "Best chance we have is to search the catacombs. If we can't find it there, we can tell Sforza about the Illuminated Order and go from there."

[LeSwordfish]

"Anyone who saw the book would know it was what they were looking for." Ludo said. "There's no way they'd have left it."

He bit back his other comment.

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"If they saw it," Sieghard replied, "Can't imagine Gilbertus would've kept something like that out in the open, and the Order wouldn'tve known about it so they'd have no way of knowing if they missed it."

[LeSwordfish]

"They were wizards, they'd have seen it a mile off. I suppose we could go there just in case, but i'd rather ask around to see if we could find the illuminated order."

[RossN]

Adelbert Schreiber

"Perhaps they are taking recruits," Adelbert suggested, smile weary. "I've always wanted to learn magic and if Elsa can manage it. Well, I'm not confident of our chances of success but I suppose we have few other options. if the Karst plays such a big part in the history of the Order perhaps we should try Alvarann? it is nearly as big as Savonne and closer to what was apparently the heart of the war against the witches."

[-Sentinel-]

"If the Karst plays such a big part in the history of the Order perhaps we should try Alvarann? it is nearly as big as Savonne and closer to what was apparently the heart of the war against the witches."

Elsa pursed her lips unhappily. "That's a pretty long trip for something that's probably not even related to necromancy. There are many evils in these lands, and not all of them are related to one another... I think Nath remains, by far, our best bet."

She started to suspect her companions were only grasping at straws, hoping for leads or hints - no matter how dubious - that would point at anywhere but Nath.

[RossN]

Adelbert Schreiber

Adelbert looked at the others. Frankly he didn't want to go to Nath if he could help it but he had no choice but to go wherever Elsa went. At least if he ever wanted to return to Mirino, and he had to return to bring back Kaja. He sighed. "Well I guess Nath it is. We have to go south anyway, so let's leave as soon as possible."

As little as he looked forward to Nath he would not be sorry to leave Savonne, a town he had entered with high hopes that had left him humilated and disillusioned.

[-Sentinel-]

Elsa remained thoughtful. "How far's Alvarran, anyway? Not even that far, I think. We went a long way north." She counted something on her fingers. "We're not yet halfway through the month, right? And our employer will forgive us if we're a few days late, provided we're successful. We could make a quick dash to Alvarran, I suppose... but once there, where do we even start?"

OOC

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So I took the time to read LCP's stories, and I see the point about the Illuminated Order being a solid lead... but I'm not sure where we go from here.

[LeSwordfish]

"The illuminated order were originally hired here, weren't they?" Ludo asked. "There's probably some information in Savonne."

[RossN]

Adelbert Schreiber

Adelbert looked doubtful. "I'm not sure we can ask anyone we haven't already asked. Its true the priest of Morr here might know something but I doubt anyone is better informed than Heironymus and we've already spoken with him a lot."

[Northern Lad]

Viggo Hirtzel

Viggo has sat enraptured by the tale that seemed to spring from the scribbling and scratchings written in the books. He really did love a good story and despite Adelbert's and Ludo's best efforts, if that's what I can call these efforts, he still felt that there was something missing. He snapped his fingers and spoke out aloud. "An ending, it needs an ending." Realising, that that probably didn't make any sense, he grabbed at his ale and tried to say something that did.

"Didn't the Father tell us that he had a book on this Illuminated Order, but that somebody had already borrowed it?" He took a swig of ale. "Shouldn't we be trying to find out who else has an interest in finding these buggers?" His left eye rolled away aimlessly. "We should at least track them down and see if they'll let us look at this other book?"

"As for Alvarran, well, it may be the long way around back to Mirino, but I'd rather that than brave the Iron Claw Hills without an escort again." He didn't mention Nath, secretly he'd been hoping Elsa had forgotten that particular piece of wizardy madness.

[RossN]

Adelbert Schreiber

Adelbert grimaced. "We can't interrupt Heironymus because he's at the temple now but I'd bet anything that if that book was lent to anyone it was Herr Klammenberg, the travelling scholar."

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"A scholar researching them would make more sense than most," Sieghard admitted, "That said, we really don't know enough to be certain."

[Northern Lad]

Viggo Hirtzel

Viggo nodded in agreement with Sieghard, "He's right, we don't know. Only one way to find out though eh?" He scratched at the side of his nose, seemingly deep in thought. "Klammenberg is an Empire name eh Adelbert? The Reaches aren't so big that I'd expect to find two roaming Imperial scholars poking around. You two know each then other and do you know where this chap is staying?"

Viggo pushed his new scarlet cap to the back of his head and picked at a button on his bright red coat. Nobody has even mentioned my new togs, bloody gits. He disguised the sour twist to his mouth with another swig of ale. "Would he lend us this book do you think or would we need to..." Viggo's voice lowered to an almost whisper. "You know... Remember the Pie Shop?"

[LeSwordfish]

Ludo blushed. "I'm sure there's a way to talk ourselves in to seeing him."

[Northern Lad]

Viggo Hirtzel

Viggo's eyebrows lifted, "What, you know this fellow too? Seems that this Kappenburger is a popular chap, I can't wait to meet him." His cheeky grin was firmly in place as he stood up, "Let's see why he's so interested in the Illuminated One's shall we... and if he can shed any light on what ever happened to them." He snorted at his own wit.

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"We tried talking to him already," Sieghard replied. "He wouldn't see us."

[RossN]

Adelbert Schreiber

"Well... in that case we might have to find a way to see him some other way," Adelbert suggested meaningfully. "Anyway, let's go to the Moon to see if he is still there."

[LeSwordfish]

"What are you suggesting?" Ludo said, carefully packing Hieronymous's books into his bag, and making tracks to the Moon.

[Northern Lad]

Viggo Hirtzel

Slinging his lute across his back and sauntering out into the street with his friends Viggo looked down at Ludo, "If this fellow is so interested in The Illuminated Order that he's gone and borrowed a book about them, let's just tell him that we want to chat about them, that should do the trick!" Viggo winked at the Halfling and nodded in Adelbert's direction. "I've yet to meet a book person who doesn't like to ramble on about their favourite subject!"

[RossN]

Adelbert Schreiber

"Well we don't actually know if he has it or not," admitted Adelbert. "And I don't trust his motives but I suppose it is better than nothing. We can say we have just come from Heironymous about a book, which has the advantage of being true."

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"And if he doesn't actually have it?" Sieghard asked.

[RossN]

Adelbert Schreiber

"Then we are back at square one," Adelbert said, annoyed. "We don't currently have any other leads do we?"

Unless there were other objections Adelbert led the group to the Moon to try to get another audience with the elusive scholar.

[Northern Lad]

Viggo Hirtzel

Nodding in agreement with Adelbert, Viggo answered Sieghard, "Besides it's only a walk away, if he doesn't he doesn't and all we've done is stretched our legs a little. We'd just have to wait until the Father has finished at the Temple and ask him who he did give that book to?" He suggested.

[LCP]

Adelbert led the way back to the Red Moon. Nestled in the maze of alleyways and crooked streets that was the Old Town, the lodging-house was a crumbling clay-brick building with arched windows in the Arabyan style. From somewhere down a side-alley Ludo could smell the warm hay-and-dung stink of a stables.

Adelbert knocked on the door, and it was opened once again by the tall woman with the frosty expression who owned the establishment. She looked down at Adelbert from the raised doorstep as if he were a child begging for food.

"What do you want this time?" she sniffed. "I won't allow my guests to be harassed."

[RossN]

Adelbert Schreiber

"Is Herr Klammenberg still in residence?" Adelbert asked, struggling to keep his tongue under control. Why were all the dimwitted, illiterate peasants of this backwater so convinced they could talk down to him? "We have recently visited Father Heironymus and wish to discuss matter of scholarship with him."

[LCP]

"Herr Klammenberg didn't wish to speak to you before," said the woman, her tone cold and precise. "I don't see why he'd wish to speak to you now." Her eye lingered on Sieghard. "Particularly as you seem to have brought a gang of ruffians with you this time. Good day."

She began to close the door.

[RossN]

Adelbert Schreiber

Adelbert glared at her, but bit his tongue. After she had closed the door he turned to the others. "Well so much for that. I don't think we are going to get any further with Klammenberg." He rubbed his temples in obvious frustration. "Frankly I can't stand the thought of another audience with Heironymus, so you'll have to do that without me. I want to try the keep. Who knows, maybe the Elf would be willing to grant an audience.