[WFRP] The Bloody Crown XIII

[LeSwordfish]

Ludo read the letter with a pit in his stomach, and then reread it.

"She would... she would be able to read the signs," he said, keeping his voice very measured. "We should at least hear everything."

"Nothing about Mala or the wolves. Maybe she couldn't find them?"

[RossN]

Jarla, 10th Jahrdrung

Jarla looked at Irene, startled. She considered herself pretty cynical but she still did believe in the gods.

"You are not a believer milady?" Jarla whispered in shock, grey-blue eyes wide.

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"He's dead, Ludo" Sieghard replied, a bit surprised it was even in question. "I put a magic spear through his face. A magic spear made specifically to kill him. It doesn't get much deader than that."

"I don't doubt there's something going on... Elsa isn't the sort who would write that lightly. I think she's wrong about what it is, though."

[LeSwordfish]

"That's what they did last time," Ludo said. "And Klammenberg brought him back. It just took... some kind of huge ritual. So maybe Mala did it?"

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"Klammenberg was a wizard" Sieghard said, unconvinced. "If Mala knew any sorcery, she's had plenty of chance to use it. And even if she did, it took Klammenberg well over a year of running around and getting things ready before he could bring Nahorek back."

[-Sentinel-]

"In the meantime, I'm afraid you'll have to stay either in or out between about noon and sundown. That's when I'm wanted at the Temple." Turning over a sheet of paper, he pointed to a word. "Your writing there, is that a 'r' or an 'n'?".

"An 'r'," answered Elsa, "and I won't be getting out much anyway, what with all the people wanting me dead."

---

"Prince Sforza's price controls are hitting us hard, and our sellers upriver aren't charging any less. The guilders in Putbad certainly know how to put the squeeze on."

"I might be headed there in the near future," said Elsa. "I'll see if I can make friends. Or maybe twist a few arms."

Spoiler

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I believe I'm done until the next time-skip.

[LCP]

Jarla, 10th Jahrdrung

“What?” said Irene. “Don’t be absurd, Jarla dear, of course… I’m not some Norscan madwoman.” She turned her eyes back to the window, taking the smallest sip of her wine. “I just meant, a god of chance… he’s for people who need him. People who don’t have the power to make things certain for themselves.”

---

Angestag, 14th Jahrdrung - Savonne

Elsa’s courier returned late on Angestag, bringing news that Sieghard and the others were on their way. For Elsa, it was a welcome distraction from her Nehekharan studies - though Hieronymus’ learning was without question, he was not so practised in collaborative research. Sometimes - usually in the evenings when he had returned from the Temple - he displayed flashes of impatience with the holes in Elsa’s education, or with the remoteness of what they were learning from the subject of the Books of Nagash. They subsided as quickly as they appeared, but all the same Elsa thought them quite uncharacteristic of what she knew of him.

“Of course,” he said, “all of this is just an exercise if the Prince doesn’t mean to do anything about the book.” He set down Elsa’s notes with a sigh. “It’s been too long already. I must raise it with him at the ceremony tomorrow.”

The sun had gone down, and at the castle Jarla was laying out her clothes for tomorrow when Ida told her there were visitors below, asking for Elsa. Hurrying down before the news could reach Irene, Jarla found Olga and Tatiana waiting with the guards. Both were covered with road-dust, but it was Tatiana’s appearance that shocked Jarla more - the side of the young girl’s face was streaked with fresh, livid scars, and she was wearing a leather patch over her eye.

“Are you deaf, girl?” said Olga, sounding tired and exasperated as she addressed Ida. “I told you, we’re here for the wizard. Elsabeth Holt, you know her?” She wiggled her fingers in front of her cheeks. “Red tattoos, red hair… she’s hard to miss.”

---

Festag, 15th Jahrdrung - All

The ceremony at the Temple was set for noon, but the royal party set off some time before, making their way through the Old Town at the centre of an Iron Company honour guard. Norten’s guards stood at street-corners along the way, keeping a watchful eye out for any potential trouble-makers.

Outside the Temple itself, a crowd of people had gathered, many with their own humble offerings to Rhya. The soldiers moved them aside, some of them crying out for alms as they saw their rulers pass them by. Resplendent in their royal regalia, the Sforzas paid them no heed, but proceeded inside.

The atrium of the Temple was packed with the worthies of the town who had been invited to witness the ceremony. The smell of incense was thick on the air, the statues of the gods seeming to loom taller in the flickering light of the burners. At the feet of Taal and Rhya, Jocasta stood in her ritual garb - a loose-fitting linen gown, dyed the golden colour of ripe wheat. She wore a crown of ivy woven round her head, and a bronze sickle hung at her waist.

Once the Sforzas had taken their rightful place, and the select audience had settled again, Hieronymus stepped forward to begin the proceedings. “Your highnesses,” he began, “good men and women of Savonne. We stand here before the gods, to beseech them to bring about an end to the drought that afflicts our lands, and to let Rhya’s good earth grow green and fertile again with the spring.”

The speech had barely begun, but Jarla noticed Irene fidgeting discontentedly. Hieronymus carried on a little longer than was necessary, taking the opportunity to sermonise before such an influential audience. The warmth and the incense produced a soporific effect on Jarla, such that the high priest’s sermon only held her attention for a few words at a time.

“...and though we look to the future, we remember those we have lost…”
“...guard us against the powers of ruin and destruction…”
“...never forgetting our duty to be vigilant in the eyes of Verena…”

At last, he wound up his speech, and handed over to Jocasta to conduct the offering to Rhya. Offerings from the city’s great and good had been heaped up in a great brass bowl at the feet of the statues behind her. Singing slowly, she took a jug of clear oil from one of the initiates standing by, and poured it in a narrowing spiral over the pile. Another initiate came forwards with a lit taper, and the offerings went up in flames.

The smoke rose up, wreathing the statues of Taal and Rhya in its coils. The heat of the blaze was fierce - Jarla could feel it on her face, and could see that Jocasta was sweating even in her thin gown. The priestess continued to sing all the same, a long, slow song that spoke to Jarla of summer, and green places, and the sweet smell of the earth after rain. Behind the shimmering veil of smoke, the likeness of the goddess almost seemed to take on new colours, as if she were not made of stone, but flesh and blood.

The song came to its end, the fire burned low, and the statue was cold stone again. Hieronymus thanked the assembled worshippers for attending, and the ceremony began to break up. Irene seemed eager to be gone, but the line of people looking for ‘just a quick word’ with the Prince was already forming as they headed out into the Garden of Morr. Gerghel, the grain merchant Jarla had met at the ball, was among the first in line.

“...if I could impose on just a moment of your time, my prince, the situation with the guilds in Putbad has been going from bad to worse,” he was saying. “Your highness’s very charitable edict on the price of grain in the city - well, not to put too fine a point on it, they’ve been taking advantage. If you could see a way to help us straighten things out…”

Hieronymus had made his way through the crowd, and was now jockeying for Sforza’s attention too. “Very glad to see you here, your highness,” he said, having to raise his voice to be heard above the general murmur. “I was wondering if you might have time for a brief word about… matters best discussed in private.”

“Hm? Ah, revered father. Yes, yes, we must,” said Sforza, showing little sign of having actually heard the old priest. His attention returned immediately to Gerghel. “You were saying?”

~

Sieghard and the others had arrived in Savonne shortly after noon. Their first port of call was the castle, but the soldiers on sentry duty there told them that the Prince and everyone who was anyone were at the Temple that day. Proceeding through the streets of the Old Town, they arrived in time to see the royal party departing. Sieghard spotted Jarla through the line of Iron Company guards, and she spotted him - but even waiting for the last people to empty out from inside, he caught no sign of Elsa.

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"If she wasn't going to be anywhere obvious, she could've said something more specific than 'meet me in Savonne' "" Sieghard grumbled. "Still early for her to be drinking..."

With no better leads, he trailed behind Sforza's procession in the hopes of stumbling across her eventually.

Spoiler

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I'm assuming Sieghard hasn't seen the statue yet.

[-Sentinel-]

Spoiler: RossN

Show

RossN, I'm calling the two-day rule on you. You can timesplit a convo between Jarla, Olga and Tatiana if you like.

Elsa already told Jarla about Tatiana's injury, though its extent may still be a shock to Jarla.

Of course,” he said, “all of this is just an exercise if the Prince doesn’t mean to do anything about the book.” He set down Elsa’s notes with a sigh. “It’s been too long already. I must raise it with him at the ceremony tomorrow.”

"Hmm, best of lucks," grunted Elsa, who knew Sforza's stubbornness well. At this point she privately thought that perhaps it was best not to load the Book of Nagash onto a cart or ship and send it to Sigmar knew where under the care of some monks. Too many dangerous people were after it, and the Book had a mind of its own.

Elsa was still tiredly attempting to figure out whether the falcon hieroglyph was a noun or a verb when Olga and Tatiana turned up at the priest's door. She immediately dropped her work, hugged her apprentice and led her inside the house.

"I'm so very sorry, Tattie," she whispered. "I thought it was urgent to warn the Prince about what we saw in the hills, but the useless fool just shrugged it off. I would've stayed with you if I'd known." She had a close look at Tatiana's face under the candlelight, but did not touch the eyepatch. "We need to get you to the Shallyans."

She did not ask directly about the condition of Tatiana's eye. She dreaded the answer.

---

Festag, 15th Jahrdrung


While Father Hieronymus prepared to head to the ceremony, Elsa applied some makeup over her tattoos to go spend the rest of her day at the Shallyan hospital by Tatiana's bedside. She brought some of her scribbled notes with her, so that she would have something to study if Tatiana spent most of her time asleep.

[LeSwordfish]

"Is that her headed for the hospital?" Ludo asked. "No, she hasn't got the - oh no, yes it is!"

He waved Elsa down, proud of himself for not shouting one of her names at her in public.

"How did your expedition go? I assume you didn't find Mala?"

[RossN]

Jarla

Angestag, 14th Jahrdrung - Savonne

Even prepared to see Tatiana scarred Jarla could barely conceal her sheer shock and horror. As it was she managed to keep her calm and smiled at the two, though her voice threatened to crack when she spoke.

"I fear Elsa no longer stays here. I believe she resides with Father Hieronymous," Jarla said. For a mad moment she was tempted to offer them both a bath but it would be impossible to do that without attracting far more attention. Instead she swallowed and wished them on their way, though not before smiling sadly at Tatiana.

"I think Countess misses you Tattie. Come and see her soon will you?"

---

Festag, 15th Jahrdrung - All

The religious ceremony was strange and had touched upon Jarla's mind more than she might have expected. Certainly she had found it less boring than Irene had, though out of duty Jarla had managed to make a discrete eyeroll or two during the ceremony (purely for the princesses benefit.)

Jarla lingered a little as the royal party departed. Turning to Irene she said: "Forgive me your highness but I must do some shopping in the town. I shall be back soon."

She was actually looking for Elsa in her disguise but it was in fact Sieghard and Ludo she recognised first - and then Elsa through them.

"Hello," Jarla said, waving. The copper haired noblewoman felt self conscious about the fact she was rather overdressed for a clandestine meeting in her blue gown, Tilean shoes and feathered hat, but pressed on regardless.

[-Sentinel-]

"How did your expedition go? I assume you didn't find Mala?"

Elsa was alone, having given Olga a day off as thanks for bringing Tattie home safe and sound. She wore a glum expression.

"We found Mala, alright," she grunted. "She and her wolves. We killed the wolves but she escaped. Tattie was injured. I'm going to visit her now."

On the way to the hospital, she told Sieghard and Ludo about her trip to the Raven Hills.

Spoiler: Ground covered by Elsa's tale

Show

• Sanne's claim that Nahorek is back.
• The situation in Morr's Seat: refugees, illness, Tilean soldiers' thuggish behavior, etc.
• Georg accepting Nehekharan gold from a stranger to take away his sick wife.
• Dreams about Nahorek and the Red Pyramid. Dark magic in the wind.
• The confrontation with Mala and wolves, Tatiana's injury, and Mala's escape.
• Carraciolo and Sforza thinking they can solve the problem just by sending more men to kill Mala.

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"Not surprising the hag is up to something morbid," Sieghard said as they walked. "I almost regret not going after her her instead of her master back at Nath." He saw the look the others gave him "Almost," he assured them.

"Her causing trouble doesn't mean that Nahorek is still around though. It's a problem either way, but she's one that shouldn't be as hard to deal with."

[-Sentinel-]

"He invaded my dreams and Tatiana's," said Elsa, irritated that even Sieghard was skeptical of her claims. "Tattie's never even met him, so why would she dream of a jackal chasing her? Trust me, I have enough of the regular old nightmares to know the difference between a mundane dream and the other kind. I'm a seasoned adventurer and soldier, not some child who thinks there's a monster under her bed because she dreamed of one. And Mala herself certainly spoke of her master like he was still active."

She lowered her voice to avoid being overheard as they got near the front doors of the Shallyan hospital. "Is it that unbelievable that a dark sorcerer who's devoted his craft to making himself immortal happens to be hard to kill? We already know the spear alone isn't sufficient to destroy Nahorek for good; if it were, they'd have dealt with him the first time around."

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"She's heard enough about all that's happened," Sieghard replied. "Running off into the hills hunting Mala and her wolves, the poor girl was probably terrified." It wasn't so much that he didn't believe that is was possible, but rather that there was a stubborn part of him that needed to believe the worst was over and that everyone who had died did so stopping a terrible evil.

He softened his tone a bit. "I've had my share of nightmares too. Not just normal ones, but weird ones too. The jackal dressed in fine robes, talking about things that never happened and saying a strange name I've never heard." He intentionally left out the part about Sforza stabbing him with the spear.

"Look, whatever's happening, we'll put a stop to it. There'd be plenty of reason to hunt Mala down even if she wasn't gathering up the dead and dying."

[RossN]

Jarla

Jarla had been hanging back a little, looking from Elsa to Sieghard. "I admit I know nothing of magic but is it possible there is some other dark force here, using Naoherk's guise as a mask? What about that daemon you encountered?"

She sighed, obviously not believing in her own theory. "I suppose even if I agree he might come back I never thought it would be so soon. Did we even weaken him at all?"

[-Sentinel-]

Elsa turned to Jarla in surprise, having failed to notice until now that she had joined their group. The woman was dressed as if she had just been at the ceremony.

Hmm. I hope for your sake that Irene doesn't keep a close eye on you, Jarla.

"We destroyed Nahorek's body, I'm fairly sure of that," she answered. "So now he exists in spirit, as he likely did during all these millennia. His influence is still felt in the west. In my dreams, I felt as if his dusty winds blew straight from the breach in the Red Pyramid. Could our task be just a matter of sealing up the pyramid again? I don't know. Good thing we didn't destroy Meskhenet after all... She might have some answers or advice."

Sieghard's mention of his own dream got Elsa's attention. "What do you mean, 'a strange name you've never heard'? In what context exactly did he mention that name? Did it sound Nehekharan?"

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"It was just a dream," Sieghard said, surprised by Elsa's interest. "He called me Akhash-kheb-nezzar or something like that..." he continued, stumbling over the pronunciation of the foreign name. "And talked to me like he knew me. I mean beyond being one of the people trying to kill him for the better part of a year."

OOC: Full dream in the Sieghard only spoilers here. If questioned further, he explains everything except the bit about Sforza.

[-Sentinel-]

"Could be a title borne by the wielder of the spear," Elsa surmised. "If Meskhenet tells us that this is indeed a word or a name in the Nehekharan language, wouldn't it prove that this wasn't just an ordinary dream?"

She had Sieghard describe her the rest of his dream.

"Yes, this is consistent with what Nahorek told me in my own dreams," she noted. "He said he wanted to restore Khemri. He seems to believe that the people of the Broken Reaches are Nehekharans who've forgotten who they really are."

[LeSwordfish]

"That was the name of the... prince? who killed him already." Ludo said. "His old rival. That was who he believed you were in Nath, right, when he saw the spear."

A dull horror was setting in for him. "How many people had the coins? They were-" he looked sideways at Urgi, survivor of the expedition to the Red Pyramid, and softened his tone. "They were cursed, weren't they?"

[LCP]

Elsa, 14th Jahrdrung

"I'm so very sorry, Tattie," she whispered. "I thought it was urgent to warn the Prince about what we saw in the hills, but the useless fool just shrugged it off. I would've stayed with you if I'd known." She had a close look at Tatiana's face under the candlelight, but did not touch the eyepatch. "We need to get you to the Shallyans."

“It’s been two weeks, miss,” said Olga, not sounding the most touched by Elsa’s compassion. “If they can do anything, I think we needed them to do it two weeks ago.”

Tattie said nothing, looking around at the unfamiliar surroundings of Hieronymus’ lodgings. The settee where Elsa had been sleeping was clearly visible from the door.

“Are we living here now?” she asked, sounding tremendously tired. “There… isn’t much space.”

---

15th Jahrdrung

At the Great Hospital, they found Tattie sitting on the side of a worn-out old bed, while one of the Shallyan initiates rubbed some pungent unguent into the angry scars around her ankle.

When they tracked down Sister Ioana, she confirmed Olga’s prognosis of the night before. “The ointment will help the healing,” she said, “but we can’t bring back a lost eye.” She looked hard at Elsa. “She says this was done by wolves? We don’t get many wolf bites here.”

OOC:

Spoiler

Show

I'm assuming Sieghard hasn't seen the statue yet.

It’s in the North Market - use the Savonne map + the locations you’ve visited already and have Sieghard see it whenever you think would be fun.

[-Sentinel-]

"It's been two weeks, miss. If they can do anything, I think we needed them to do it two weeks ago."

"I still want to get it looked at. They might have something for the pain. And they'll have beds and clean water."

"Are we living here now?" asked Tatiana, sounding tremendously tired. "There… isn't much space."

"I'm living here," said Elsa, showing the papers she had been working on. "You spend the night at the hospital, and then we'll find some room for you at the castle for a few days." No matter what the fvck Irene has to say about it. "Afterwards I'm thinking we'll go spend some time in Putbad."

---

"How many people had the coins? They were- They were cursed, weren't they?"

"I... don't know," admitted Elsa. That was a disturbing thought; one that had not even occurred to her. "I don't think I felt any magic on them, aside from the dust of many centuries spent in a tomb."

---

"She says this was done by wolves? We don't get many wolf bites here."

"You'll get even fewer from now on," said Elsa, not caring for Ioana's accusing look. "The pack's been dealt with."

[LeSwordfish]

"You said that Giovanni was ill... might he have claimed some of the coins?"

[-Sentinel-]

Spoiler

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Giuliano, not Giovanni.

Elsa looked skeptical. "Georg and Darja took the coins and didn't fall ill. I had the coins for a couple of weeks and didn't fall ill. Sometimes a bribe is just a bribe."

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"It's not the coins. From the sound of it, he's suffering from the same "plague" that hit Savonne and Alvarran," Sieghard was forced to admit. "If they get him away from there, he'll recover. If they leave him, he's as good as dead."

---

At the hospital

"Sister," Sieghard interjected, mainly to break up the tension between Ioana and Elsa, "Sister, I was remembering something you mentioned about half a year ago, during the plague. You said there was a similar sickness in a village in the Raven Hills in 2520. From the news they brought back, it sounds like it may be spreading there again. Is there anything unusual that you've heard happened leading up to what happened in that village?"

[LCP]

Iona furrowed her brow. "Hm? Oh... yes, that. Shallya's mercy, it seems so long ago now." She shook her head. "I haven't heard anything since we last spoke about it - the only information I have was the report of one of our travelling sisters who passed through nearer the time. We try to keep a record, you know, of unfamiliar afflictions. I don't remember too much else about it, except that the place had a peculiar name... something like... Slippery Slope?"

[-Sentinel-]

"It's not the coins. From the sound of it, he's suffering from the same "plague" that hit Savonne and Alvarran," Sieghard was forced to admit. "If they get him away from there, he'll recover. If they leave him, he's as good as dead."

"...Oh." Elsa realized she should have been more insistent to take Giuliano back east. "Well, he must be dead by now."

"I guess the question now is where that leaves us. Sforza has forbidden me from pursuing this matter further. That means I have to be more subtle about it, and not lead any more of his men to their deaths."

---

"I don't remember too much else about it, except that the place had a peculiar name... something like... Slippery Slope?"

"Greasy Drop?" supplied Elsa. "In the Raven Hills?"

She vaguely remembered a mention of a disease having swept the place.

[LeSwordfish]

"He's forbidden you, but isn't watching the rest of us nearly as closely," Ludo said. "He believed us before, why wouldn't he again?"

[LCP]

"Greasy Drop?" supplied Elsa. "In the Raven Hills?"

Ioana nodded. "Greasy Drop," she said. "I think that's it."

OOC:

Spoiler

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To give Elsa her amnesia pills: you saw the burial ground for the plague victims in Greasy Drop the first time you went through there, and the people told you it happened before Armin arrived.

[-Sentinel-]

"He's forbidden you, but isn't watching the rest of us nearly as closely. He believed us before, why wouldn't he again?"

"Because he's already crowned himself the conquering hero who destroyed Nahorek," Elsa grunted, her tone heavy with contempt. "Haven't you seen his fancy new statue in the North Market? Now he can't declare war on the Jackal again without losing face. And so here we are, having to finish the work on our own and without his knowledge or permission. Having to save both the people of the Reaches and His Lordship's pride."

"So what do you think we should do next?"

---

Spoiler

Show

To give Elsa her amnesia pills: you saw the burial ground for the plague victims in Greasy Drop the first time you went through there, and the people told you it happened before Armin arrived.

Oof, it's been a while. Thanks for the reminder. I edited my post accordingly.

"Greasy Drop. I think that's it."

If it's the same disease, Elsa realized, that means Nahorek had a lot of power over the Reaches even before Klammenberg performed his ritual.

That was a dispiriting thought. What if this land really was cursed irreversibly? What if the Jackal could not be shoved back into his prison, for the very simple reason that he had never truly been imprisoned in the first place?

Then I guess we'll still have to fight him any way we can. The Reaches have seen many generations, and we will ensure they see more. It's worth it.