DM
|
Most noticible among the fallen timbers are the twisted remains of
two blackened, fire scorched bodies. A mother clings in death to a
young child, bits of blonde hair are plastered to blistered and
scorched flesh. Huddled over the child's body in death, her last act
of protection for the doomed infant in her arms. The child itself is
remarkably untouched by the flames, its pale blue face makes it look
like a painted doll in her mother's arms.
In another part of the house a man lies pinned beneath a fallen
timber, his flesh has melted like way away from his bones, leaving a
skeletal hand that reaches vainly for door knob to safety that lies
just beyond his reach.
(Celestia)
Super imposed on the bodies is the ghostly images of the deceased. The
mother weeps for a child she will never again hold, while the spirit
of the man still vainly reaches for the door. In the distance there is
the sounds of a baby's cry.
(Alexi)
Fear courses through her, the scent of the flesh, the charred remains,
so many memories come rushing through her...
(Lit)
This reminds you too of memories, of your village burned by your foe
your master's corpse, and your failure to stop your nemisis.
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Alex
|
Alex moved slowly through the rubble, remembering her time with the priests
in Costa Bella. She'd seen children die there. Seen mothers die to protect
them. But this was, beyond anything she'd ever seen. The monster who had
done this chilled her to the bone. The complete lack of humanity, of
compassion.
Alex began to mumble in her native tongue as she moved through the reckage.
"Madre del dios! Qué tipo de criatura podría hacer tal cosa. Una cara tan
pequeña, así que poco, a los jóvenes a morir."
(Mother of God! What type of creature could do such a thing. Such a small
face, so little, to young to die.)
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Lit
|
Lit winces as the stench finally hits him. As he
surveys the scene, imagining the fiery final moments
these people must have suffered, tears well up in his
eyes, the blue contrasting greatly with the fiery red
of his irises. He suddenly falls to his knees,
stiffly, as the strain becomes too much to bear.
"This is too much..." his voice rings with an
otherworldliness, as if he was not speaking to anyone
in particular, "...this is too much!"
He suddenly leaps to his feet and screams at the ruin,
"NO! I will not be blamed for this! THIS is not my
fault!"
He turns to his companions, "you know! YOU know it
wasn't my fault, don't you? DON'T YOU?"
Anyone that catches his eyes see that aside from their
supernatural hue, there glows something else, they
seem to pulse with energy. He looks to the sky, to
the street surrounding them, anything that might
conceal anyone or thing,
"I KNOW YOU'RE LISTENING! I KNOW IT! AND..." his
voice drops to a menacing whisper, "I will kill you.
I promise you this..."
He catches Celestia's eye for what seems like a moment
too long as he says this, turning aroundand looking to
every nook and cranny, anywhere someone may be hiding,
"I will kill you slowly and painfully...I'll torture
you for what you did to me! I will..."
He sees Alex freeze suddenly, and stops...his white
hot anger quelling just enough to realize that no one
is there, and if there is, they won't show themselves
just now. He rushes to within a few steps of her, and
stops.
"Alex? Alex? Are you ok?"
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Alex
|
Alex stared at Lit blankly for a moment, her face a ghastly shade of white,
before the young man's voice brought her back to the present. She shook her
head slightly, as if coming out of a trance.
Though her slightly shaky voice made him doubt her answer, she responded "I
am fine, Lit. I do not deal well with this particular smell. It conjures
many bad memories for me. I did not realize this scene would still be so . .
.. fresh."
Alex swallowed the bile pushing its way up her throat and moved over to
examine the bodies, one by one. Does it look like they were killed by the
enternal fire? Is there any indication of where the fire originated? or
what started it?
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Celestia
|
Celestia gasps as she views the destruction. "They should have never
died like this. And to still leave them exposed. Isn't that against
their traditions?"
Celestia makes a quick gesture that some would recognize as a warding
symbol verses evil.
Looking into Lit's Eyes and Alex's face, Celestia could tell that
both have had trouble with fire in the past. Then something caught
her eye. Almost subconsciously, Celestia responded to Lit's
outburst, "No Lit, this isn't your fault. But we will find out whose
it is."
Carefully, Celestia walked through the destruction. She glances down
at the image of the man she sees, but something is drawing her
towards the woman holding the child. Slowly reaching out her hand,
Celestia tries to make contact with the image that she sees. Softly,
she says, "Can you hear me?"
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DM
|
The woman makes no move to recognize the fact she is speaking.
The bodies had ben covered in ash and debris that the rain has since
washed away.
|
Celestia
|
Celestia hovered over the body, checking it carefully and trying to
touch something. Her brow wrinkled with confusion and frustration.
Standing, she turned to the others. "I see 'shadows' or 'spirits' of
the dead. They hover right over the bodies but don't appear to
acknowledge my presence. I have tried to touch them, but I can't.
Does anyone have any suggestions on what to do?"
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Alex
|
Alex stared at the young child, then nodded at Celestia’s comment. “I don’t
know. If the dead can’t tell us anything, maybe the rubble can.” The young
woman moved over to the burned remains of the bar. “If this place was an
inn, maybe there’s a guest book or a safe or something that survived the fire
to give us an idea of why this place was a target for our arsonist? Or what
connection it had with the other fires?”
|
DM
|
Alex sees what might be a safe.
Lit smells a faint smell that he almost recognizes from his child hood
days.
|
Alex
|
Alex moves to carefully investigate the safe.
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Celestia
|
Seeing that she has no way to interact with the dead, Celestia starts
to follow Alex.
|
DM
|
The safe is a blackened metal box about waiste high and the same
width. A single dial and lever are the only means of access to it. The
paint of the dial has been burned off, and It will be difficult to
open with out it.
|
Lit
|
Lit sniffs the air again...
"I knew it..." he says out loud, "Celestia, Alex, I
think we may have found something...or perhaps our
arsonist has returned to the scene..."
He starts to walk toward where he smells the scent.
As he does so, he casts a "Cantrip" on his dagger so
that it gives off a very faint glow, not enough to
light his way, but enough to be magical.
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Alex
|
Alex draws her rapiers, leaving the safe and heading to follow Lit. She
certainly hoped their arsonist hadn't returned. Alex wasn't sure this was a
person she really wanted to meet.
|
Celestia
|
Celestia also draws her weapon and follows Alex.
Softly she says, "I may have a way of finding the numbers on the dial
and perhaps some other things, but it might be risky."
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Alex
|
Alex smiles, "That would be helpful. How close is this person you sense,
Lit?"
|
Lit
|
"I'm not quite sure how close it may be..."
Lit sniffs the air again, trying to get a sense of
direction.
|
DM
|
The scent leads him to a corner of the now crumbled manor. You see a
sheen on the stone, like...
"Incindiary oil," you say to yourself as you recognize it. People
where you came frm used oil like this to interogate prisoners. The
flames from it were cool burning, and the oil itself causes a mild
paralysis.
|
|
Dea stumbled along the river side.
Her heart was beating and she was running out of breath.
Dazed, she pauzed at a stable near the side.
She nodded at teh merchant, trying to catch her breath.
Somehow, the new fire sounded wrong.
It had started in the wrong place. At the wrong time.
At least if her conjectures were right.
Something was dawning at the back of her mind.
She looked at the man behind the stall. Swallowing away her tirednmess,
she spoke "Excuse... me. I am looking for... the place that burned down
this afternoon. Must be close near here. Can you tell me where it is and
most importantly, who owned it?"
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DM
|
"That was the manor of Lysander Svenson," said the man as he piled
fresh hay down for a pony to eat. the rain seemed to bother neither of
them as they stoicly went about their nightly routine. "The watch said
that the fire started in the son's room. Poor boy, today was his
eleventh birthday."
|
Dea
|
"How... coincidental." She shook her head, finding it hard to comprehend
how a girl, even on vengence, could harm a young boy.
"The boy died in the flames? That's horrible.
Did they find his body? Tell me they didn't... maybe he is safe and
well somewhere..."
|
DM
|
"No one escaped the flames, though they never found his body. The
rubble and smoke were too thick for them to finish their search."
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Dea
|
Dea closes her eyes and nods.
"I will visit there and sent a prayer to the departed", she says.
"It is unfortunate I do not know the Svensons... they sound foreign to
the area... are they related to any local family? The SteRonges or the
DuMonjietes or the Millers?"
|
Dea
|
"I'm a stranger here myself, as no doubt you have noticed.
I know only a few people.
In particular the last families, who have also lost a son or daughter..."
|
DM
|
"There have been a lot of death recently in the more affluent
families. Plagues you know. Even the Reinier's aren't immune." he
says.
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Dea
|
She nods at him again, thanking him for his patience.
"May no mist trouble your path", she smiles, and goes on to explain "a
blessing in my country."
Then she turns to speed into the direction of the burned house.
|
DM
|
"Good journey!" he calls behind you as you leave.
|
Dea
|
Dea pondered the words of the man as she hurried forward.
There was more behind all this than a mere haunting.
No wonder the Renier woman was interested.
Maybe she should have asked more...
She turned a corner, then slowed as she saw the ruins of the building, her companions searching through the debris.
|
Alex
|
The pounding of footsteps made Alex look up. She smiled and waved as she saw Dea round the corner down the block.
|
|
Dea held up a hand in acknowledgment, as she slowed to a walk, trying to
regain her breath.
"I know.. who the Child of Ember is.." she manages.
She then sees the bodies in the ashes.
"Easan's Fury! A child. How could they?"
|
Alex
|
Alex hands her some fresh, cool water in a flask. "That was our question. We were hoping to find out by searching this
place, but we've found nothing yet. So share with us, who is the Child of Ember?"
|
Dea
|
Dea gratefully takes a swig of the water.
"Her name is Louisa Miller.
She was the daughter of a miller this side of the river.
She was violated and murdered, and cast on a bonfire.
She died horribly. But there is more to it..."
And she tells them what the priest told her.
|
Alex
|
Alex looks confused a moment.
"Then why this place? If the others fit the
pattern and this one doesn't, why this inn? Was there someone staying here?"
|
Dea
|
"This is not an inn.
It's the Svenson manor. I do not know who these are, hopefully Dolph can
tell us... as he can undoubtly explain a few more matters..."
She moves forward, taking in the ruins, them kneels near the woman and
child. "I can make a guess at what is going on, but I have to check
something first..."
She carefully brushes the child's hair aside.
|
DM
|
The child is a new born, there is no sign of the 11 year old. All of
them were burned alive from the outside. there is a faint smell in the
air, something akin to Kerosine though the origin eludes you. It is
possible that it was merely lamp oil however.
|
Lit
|
"How? Why here and now?"
Lit leans against some rubble for support.
"Are any of you from this land?" He point to the oil,
"And know where some sort of incendiary oil such as
this can be found?"
|
Dea
|
"An apothecary?" Dea says. as she rises.
"Not that it will matter, I am sure that the person who caused the fire
tried to cover his tracks. However, there may be a witness. An eleven
year old, a boy. He must have escaped, as his body is not here.
If we find him, we may be able to track the killer."
She scans the ruins, looking for a clue.
"I am sure that Lousia did not cause this fire. She wouldn't do it this
way. And not these people, either. But someone may have found her
appearance useful.... or too much of a threat."
She spots the safe, and struggles towards it.
"Can someone open this?"
|
Alex
|
Alex climbed over the rubble and examined the burnt and melted
combination lock. Alex looked up at Celestia. "Before I make you
waste a spell, let me see if I can pry it or something."
The young Spaniard knelt next to the safe, listening intently for the
tumblers as she tried to turn the mutilated combination knob.
|
DM
|
The door swung only partly open, the heat has damaged the hinges, but
the insides of the box remain secure.
Inside are 3 small bags, 3 bars of silver, and several small ledger
sized books.
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Dea
|
"Oh... not what I... but then again, it would have been too much to hope
for... what is in the bags?"
|
DM
|
Opening the bags you discover a small fortune in gemstones, small
rubies fill one pouch, an egg sized opal another, and 4 heart shaped
emeralds fill the last one.
|
Dea
|
Dea shakes her head.
"This is worthless!"
|
Lit
|
Lit walks over to where the safe is and sees the
gemstones.
"Worthless?" he chides, "Seems to me more like more
money than I've ever had in my possession. But it
doesn't exactly lead us anywhere worthwhile..."
He looks around at the burnt husks in the rubble
again.
"If what you're saying is right, then was this place
burnt down so that the actual perpetrators would be
overshadowed by the recent proceedings? Or is it the
Child of Ember striking again?"
|
Alex
|
Alex looks up from the safe, as she draws out the books carefully in case
they've been damaged in any way. She hands one to Dea, since she asked for
them, and slowly flips through one herself. "All we know is there is nothing
on this floor. There could be a basement or an upstairs we haven't checked
yet. It is possible this eleven year old victim may be there and we have not
found him yet."
|
DM
|
The book Alex holds is a spellbook of sorts, though the writing is
indecipherable to her, the one Dea holds is the financial ledger of
the family that lived here. There are two others in the safe, they are
about notebook sized.
Also, the manor has collapsed, (no upper floors) there may well be a
lower floor.
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