[WFRP] The Bloody Crown XII

[LCP]

Ludo & Urgrim, 17th Kaldezeit

At the back of the crypt, a steep, narrow staircase led down into the dark. Following it down with one hand against the smooth stone, he came to what seemed like a dead end - but there was still just enough light from the lantern behind him to note the rectangular seam running through the stone in front of him, and the counterweight channel cut into the wall. This looked like the reverse side of a hidden door; Urgrim would not have been surprised if the Dwimmulsons' ancestors had had a hand in crafting it.

A little bit of heaving and shoving got the counterweight moving, and the slab of stone swung smoothly in towards him, revealing a shadowed chamber beyond. The light from the crypt was incredibly faint here - padding quietly through the door, Urgrim waited for a moment to let his eyes adjust.

He was standing in a large, square-sided room, bare of furnishings except for an open, empty chest against the near wall, and a pile of wood dust and fragments that might once have been a lectern. A heavy pair of double doors had been smashed inwards as if by force, and lay twisted off their hinges on the floor.

All four walls of the chamber were carved with intricate bas-reliefs, huge figures striding or riding over rows and rows of smaller human shapes. It was difficult to discern out the details through the shadows, but Urgrim could make out the largest of them - a huge, faceless figure on a throne, stretching out a pointing, skeletal hand. A jackal-headed figure driving a chariot over a legion of the dead. The jackal, pierced by a spear, sinking beneath the earth...

~

"He was living in the swamp for some time - what's different about a river? Is Neru... is it only holy rivers? Blessed water?"

<All rivers... flow from the Great River. The flowing river... is the giver of life...> said Meskhenet. <When the survivors of Nirmesh-Khul... fled to bring us warning... those who escaped swam the river. Nakht-Horeb... could not follow them through the waters.>

"Who was Setep? Who are his children?"

<Setep... ankh wedja seneb>, whispered the skull. It sounded like some kind of blessing. <The King of Khemri. First and last of the Fifth Dynasty... conqueror of the northern plain. His armies... founded our cities... in these lands...>

"Did you fight him before he had the book? What did he learn from it?"

<He took the book... from the fortress of his master...> hissed Meskhenet, and once more the hatred had returned to her melancholy voice. <He brought its evil... to our lands... the ka of the Usurper lives... within its pages...>

[-Sentinel-]

Elsa and Sieghard, 20th Kaldezeit


Standing next to Sieghard, Elsa watched the gathering clouds with a gloomy expression. "Nahorek's only stalling for time with those storms. He's preparing something. There's dark magic going on in his tower, and he wants to finish before the trebuchets have started shooting."

[LeSwordfish]

"After you took the book from him... did it... speak to you? Did people come looking for it? How did you protect it and stop people finding it?"

[LCP]

Ludo & Urgrim, 17th Kaldezeit

<Nakht-Horeb's treasures were... divided among us. The book was brought here... sealed in our sanctuary. It remained there... until in my weakness...> Meskhenet trailed off. <I will not excuse my actions by blaming it. It is what it was made to be. The fault was mine.>

<It was after our fall that it was taken. Sekhemkhare's soldiers did not see the thief. He came and went unseen.>

[LeSwordfish]

Ludo opened his mouth, and then thought carefully. Go on. What's she going to do, bite you?

<"We've found the book. We recovered it from a daemon. But Nahorek wants to steal it, and the daemon is looking for it. We don't know how to keep it hidden, or stop it from corrupting us.">

[RossN]

Jarla, 22nd Kaldezeit

"My name is Jarla Schreiber," Jarla told Sussman. She had to admit that after being in the saddle so long it was rather nice to be in a tavern again. The young woman smiled at the Steward. "And thank you, a glass of wine would be most appreciated. As for joining the army, well I know how to ride, handle a sabre and shoot a pistol but as much of it is that I'm looking to reunite with friends of my late brother who are fighting with your Prince - his court wizardess and one of his commanders, Sieghard I believe. Do you know where the army is now?"

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"I've no doubt that you're right," Sieghard said. "But short of walking into another trap, there's not much we can do to stop him until the dwarfs finish their work."

[-Sentinel-]

"Hmm." Elsa was silent for a moment. "I just feel... useless. Dealing with Nahorek's magic should be right up my alley, yet there's nothing I can do about these storms. They are not normal spells."

"Guess we now wait for the enemy's big move and hope we're as ready as we can be."

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"You're expecting too much of yourself," Sieghard replied. "The jackal isn't a normal foe. If he was something one person - even a wizard - could stop, he wouldn't be a problem."

He was silent for a moment, watching the dead men build up Nahorek's tower.

"Wouldn't be the best use of powder, but I bet I could hit it with the cannon. It won't stop them, but it might slow their work. If course, we'd have to convince Sforza it's worth taking a shot or two."

[LCP]

Urgrim & Ludo, 17th Kaldezeit

A long, hissing breath breathed out between Meskhenet's teeth.

<It was taken... by... what?> she said. <You say... daemon... the spirits of the air? How? Where?>

---

Jarla, 22nd Kaldezeit

"Ah," said Sussman. "So when you said 'join the army', you just meant join the army, not, you know..." - he did his best impression of a recruiting sergeant. "Join the Army. I was going to say, if you were looking for gold and glory, you should have come here for the last war. This one's a bit less fun."

Leaning back in his seat, he called over the boy who was taking orders. "I'm going to have something to eat. You must have had a long ride - do you want anything? They do a great roast chicken here." Once the boy had taken their order, he scurried off back to the kitchen. "As for those two individuals you mentioned, yes, I have had the... pleasure... of making their acquaintance. They're out there with his Highness. Though if you didn't fancy taking that fine horse of yours on a trek through twenty miles of rocks and rain, you might wait here for them to return. My understanding is they should be back before the end of the month."

Steffan Sussman could certainly talk. The words tripped easily off his tongue, as if he had them lined up and ready well in advance. "You're from the Empire, I'm guessing?" he said. "My great-uncle is from the Wissenland. A place called Meissen, so I'm told. And of course our previous ruler in these parts was a man from Marienburg." He paused for a moment. "Your family name, Schreiber... that'd make your brother Adelbert Schreiber? I take it you know what happened. An unfortunate business, there." His expression was all sympathy.

The roast chicken arrived, looking very appetising. Sussman set to the carving, sharing out almost as many pieces for Jarla as he did for himself. Taking a bite from one of the legs, he stopped and made a face.

"What in..." he muttered. Twisting round in his seat, he accosted the boy as he was passing by. "Hey! Jo! What's going on here?"

"Don't know what you mean, Herr Sussman, sir," said the boy.

"Don't know what I mean? What's the matter with this chicken, that's what I mean. Look for yourself!"

The meat on Jarla's plate looked perfectly normal. Cutting into one of the thicker parts with her knife, she peeled the edges of the cut apart. Underneath, fine veins of corruption threaded through the white meat, grey and dry. When she prodded one, parts fell away in flakes, more ash than flesh.

"I'm sorry, sir," said the boy, looking worried. "I'll tell the cook, sir."

"See that you do," said Sussman. He pushed the plate aside, then looked round as the boy hurried off again. "Tell him I don't expect to pay for this!"

[Thragka]

Urgrim and Ludo, Kheneb-Ptra-Urush, 17th Kaldezeit

Reasoning that Ludo wouldn't have sent him directly into danger, Urgrim took the time to light his lamp properly and investigate the walls of the chamber. He kept an ear out for any sound from the priestess's chamber other than the slow murmuring conversation between Ludo and the skull.

"Skorgrund should see this place," he muttered to himself. But the prospect of getting the ancient lorekeeper down here safely didn't seem too plausible. Urgrim tried to memorise as much of the reliefs as he could, mumbling mnemonics under his breath.

Spoiler: OOC

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I found the previous description of this chamber – I presume it's alright for Urgrim to see all that. I won't assume he memorises all of it, but might try to recall it later with an Int test.

[LeSwordfish]

"The thief had taken it... and it had come into posession of a wizard, a necromancer who ended up like you... he was protecting the book from a daemon and tried to kill us... we took it from him and the daemon and escaped them, but now both Nahorek and the daemon are trying to take it from us and we don't know how to get rid of it."

[LCP]

Ludo & Urgrim, 17th Kaldezeit

<Get rid of it.> echoed the skull. <And so you came... back... to us? We kept it hidden... for generations... because it was beyond our knowledge to destroy...>

[RossN]

Jarla, 22nd Kaldezeit

"Yes my brother is - was Adelbert Schreiber," Jarla admitted, her eyes dropping to the table, just in case they threatened to get damp again. She couldn't recall Sussman coming up in any of Adelbert's correspondence, but then again it had been many months old.

"Do you think there will be a battle? The priests in Savonne seemed to think this business very serious," she said, thoughtfully. Jarla was going to continue on about Irene's opinion when they made their disturbing discovery.

"Urg," she pushed her plate away, then looked up at Sussman, her grey-blue eyes widening. "I've known some poor cooks but to get the outside fine and the inside like ash?" she lowered her voice: "You don't think there is something to this vampire business do you? The priests seemed spooked."

[LCP]

Jarla, 22nd Kaldezeit

"I don't know," said Sussman. "Perhaps the bird was sick. The farmers have been complaining about some kind of blight on the livestock."

Sighing, he took his drink and leaned back in his seat. "As for whether there'll be a battle, that'd be a question for the military men. As far as I understand it it's not really an army they're facing... just a monster, and a handful of people deluded enough to follow it." He took a deep drink from his cup. "Of course, you hear some wild stories about things out in the hills, but that's nothing new. Prince Sforza outlasted five other princes, I'm sure he can handle a few madmen."

[LeSwordfish]

Ludo & Urgrim, 17th Kaldezeit

<Get rid of it.> echoed the skull. <And so you came... back... to us? We kept it hidden... for generations... because it was beyond our knowledge to destroy...>

<"How did you hide it for generations?"> Ludo asked. We've barely managed a year so far.

[LCP]

Ludo & Urgrim, 17th Kaldezeit

<We kept it here... under the earth... behind stone walls. We spoke prayers to Ptra and Asaph... to guard us from its influence. We thought... our kingdoms would endure... where the Great Kingdom had fallen...> Meskhenet trailed off. <Nakht-Horeb had culled the vermin of the plains for us... without him... they multiplied again. When the green tide... came from the south... we were not ready...>

~

Urgrim was running his fingers over the carvings on the walls when he heard an echoing boom from the hall outside the sanctuary chamber. Hurrying over to the broken door, he looked down into the darkness.

The faintest fingers of light were filtering through a great pair of gates that had been thrown open at the far end of the hall - on the other side, there must have been some opening to the outside world. Brighter than the attenuated moonlight were the ghostly glimmers in the eyes of the dead marching through it. They did not appear to have seen Urgrim, but were lining up on the inside of the gates as if they meant to close them and hold them closed...

[Thragka]

Urgrim extinguished his lamp hurriedly. Crouching down behind the buckled and broken doors to the chamber, he watched what was happening at the far end of the hall beyond.

Spoiler: OOC

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Think I've got the layout right: simplified, it goes Meskhenet's crypt -- this tomb chamber -- big hall -- gates where the noise and skellingtons are. Let me know if that's wrong.

[LCP]

Urgrim, 17th Kaldezeit

Through the shadows, Urgrim could only see dim shapes moving around in the great hall below, lit by the glitter of witchlights in empty sockets. The skeletons appeared to be barring the gate: he heard the heavy thoom of a bar being dropped into place.

Somewhere among the ranks of the dead, one of them spoke - a dry, dusty hissing in a language long dead. A detachment of around a dozen skeletons broke away from the door and began marching up the steps to the sanctuary. Urgrim didn't think they'd seen him, but they were still coming in his direction...

[Thragka]

Urgrim turned on his haunches and scampered back through the concealed door. He pushed the false wall back into place, or as close to as he could before the undead entered the chamber, and then darted up the stairs.

"Time to leave. Now," he said to the dwarfs and Ludo. "Berki, go check the way out is clear. Lunn, you and Rollik carry Moragina. Ludo, we've got to go."

[LeSwordfish]

Ludo turned to the skull of Meskhenet. <"Do you want to hear the wind again? To see the stars?">

OOC

Spoiler

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Ludo wants to take Meskhenet, but doesn't want to do it against her will, so here's a charm test, which I assume could be modified for brevity: (1d100)[64] vs 92

[RossN]

Jarla, 22nd Kaldezeit

Jarla raised a skeptical copper eyebrow. "You know this land better than I Herr Sussman but the priests seemed certain, and even if I'm no soldier I think I better see for myself."

She took a sip of her wine. "Have you met the Prince's wizardess or the soldier Siegard or their other companions. What do you make of them?"

Jarla knew what Irene made of them but a second opinion couldn't hurt.

[LCP]

Urgrim & Ludo, 17th Kaldezeit

There was a long pause. Ludo resisted the urge to tell Meskhenet to hurry up.

<It has been... so long...> breathed the skull. <I do not... remember...>

Another pause.

<My penance... is deserved. But if Nakht-Horeb... and the book... have both returned... perhaps it would be better served... outside these walls...>

---

Jarla, 22nd Kaldezeit

"Yes, I have had that... experience," said Sussman. He took a considered pause. "Very forceful individuals. Very sure of themselves. I understand they both served well in the war."

He took a small sip of his wine. "The wizard - Frau Holt - has had a bit of a fall from grace. There was a... magical accident, I guess you'd call it, involving her apprentice back in Savonne. Some question of whether it might have been intentional. You might have heard there was a trial." He shrugged. "In the end she was cleared, but if you're looking for an introduction to his Highness, you might want to make other friends."

[LeSwordfish]

Ludo resisted the urge to smile. <"Then come with us,">

Holding Meskhenet's skull in his hands like a treasure, Ludo turned to run after the dwarves.

[LCP]

Ludo & Urgrim, 17th Kaldezeit

The dwarfs wasted no time beating a quick retreat from the crypt. Lunn and Rollik no longer seemed inclined to question Urgrim's leadership: they bundled up Moragina's body between them and hurried back to the shaft where they had come down.

It took some effort for the dwarfs to push and pull one another up into the cramped shaft, particularly carrying Moragina's body and Meskhenet's fragile skull with them. Queuing up behind Uthgar, Ludo felt a cold breath of wind rustle through the ancient passageways. On it, he heard the faint sound of dry, rasping voices. The dwarfs started moving a little quicker.

At last, Berki reached down and heaved Ludo up, and they began their ascent back towards the surface. Meskhenet whispered something to herself - what it was, Ludo had no idea, as she spoke in her own dead tongue. They passed the opening to the temple room, where the broken statue loomed up out of the shadows: Urgrim muffled his light as he saw glints of witchlight moving about in the darkness at its feet. At last, they came back to the trailing end of the rope.

Two sharp tugs alerted Skargil and Throndin to their return. Climbing up hand over hand, they at last emerged back into the light, the two dwarfs ready to give them a helping hand. Throndin looked pale as he saw Moragina's body brought out. Skargil just muttered something under his breath.

"Gazul rest her," he said, glancing towards Ludo. "Did you find what you were looking for?"

[LeSwordfish]

Ludo nodded. "We should get moving. We weren't caught, but i'd rather be away from here before anyone's coming after us."

He nodded to Moragina. "I'll give you some time with her first."

Which was a reasonable excuse to turn away from the group, make some space... and turn Meskhenet, so she could see the hills and desert away to the south.

<"Here,"> he said. <"It's...">

He didn't know how to finish the sentence.

OOC

Spoiler

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Once everyone's had any moments of wonder/grief they need to, I suggest we move out towards Mirino and try and put some distance between ourselves and here.

[Thragka]

Urgrim stood wordlessly over Moragina's body as Ludo made his excellent excuse. He wished he could do the same. But though he was no Dwimmulson, it was he who had brought the dwarfs here. It was he who was answerable for her death.

It should have been finished a long time ago, she'd said, looking out over the Mere from Caerfort. There were many things she could have meant. Now, he would never be sure.

Urgrim clenched his jaw. He felt lost, and unsure of himself, but he'd be damned if he let the other dwarfs see that. This was his responsibility to shoulder. They could
blame him for Moragina's death, and they could hate him for it. His honour now depended on accepting that, from them, from himself, from the world. He still had to do what he believed to be right, every day the gods gave him.

He said nothing, for a long time. But he stayed with Moragina for as long as the others did, and helped them ensure she was given the correct farewell.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

I've no idea what dawi death and mourning customs are, in fact – bury her here, or return her to the Rock?

~

As they headed for Last Water in the early morning light, Urgrim took a detour to try to get a look over the marsh to the grand entrance to the cavern city. "Sounded as if someone was banging on their front door while we were getting out the back," he told the others. "I want to get a look, just in case there's something to see."

[LCP]

Ludo & Urgrim, 17th Kaldezeit

Meskhenet was silent for a long time before she spoke.

<So much has changed...> she said, her voice barely a whisper. <Where is the river? Where are the fields?> Another long silence followed. <I... do not recognise my home...>

Throndin was watching Ludo with a slightly incredulous expression, until Rollik drew him aside and muttered something in his ear. Skargil hadn't taken his eyes off Moragina.

"Long way back to the hold," said Lunn.

"Aye," said the old miner. "We'd best get a proper bier to carry her."

That seemed to settle the matter. Heading over to the edge of the escarpment, Urgrim peered down into the marsh. He could see nothing moving down there - only the glimmer of the waters between the reed-banks.

OOC:

Spoiler

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IIRC it was already morning when you guys went down into the shaft. I don't think you guys were down there more than a few hours - it should still be daytime.

~

It took all the daylight that was left for the dwarfs to reach the Winding Pass, Skargil carrying Moragina's cloak-wrapped body over his shoulder. Struggling up the steep approach to the gates of Mirino, Ludo paused to look back east. Dusk was gathering over the Iron Claw Hills; scanning the arid country below them, he could see no sign of skeletal pursuers.

The guards on the gates were Zollner's men, and let them through without trouble. As the gates closed behind them, Ludo felt a sense of security that had been sorely lacking over the last few days - hampered only very slightly by the weight of Meskhenet's skull in his pack...

[LeSwordfish]

Ludo didn't really feel safe until he had retreated to Il Calice with a drink, and his pack with its precious cargo tucked under his stool.

"I don't think we were followed, but if they want their priestess back, it's here they'll come to," he said to Urgi in a low voice. "How would you feel about an extra day here before setting off? I don't want to get caught on the road, and if the town is attacked, Zollner could use our help."

[Thragka]

Ludo and Urgrim

As they left the hills and made for Last Water, Urgrim tried to find a chance to fall into step with Skargil. "Did you know her well?" he asked, when they weren't in hearing range of anyone else.

~

In Il Calice, Urgrim raised his craggy brow. "Attacked? Didn't realise that was a possibility." He shrugged. "Aye, a day should make little difference."

Urgi leaned in and lowered his voice. "So, tell me ... what did we learn?" His stomach twisted. He hoped it had been worth the sacrifice.