Ghosts of Gauntcliff Chapter Four

[ewancummins]

Juergin remains silent at the sight of the men with cut throats. Very bizarre, he thinks to himself. This is a strange place indeed. We need to find Benn then get out of here ASAP.

The three men start towards Juergin's hiding place, cutlasses raised over their heads.

[Adam]

Benn continues along the forest path.

[ewancummins]

Benn

Benn continues along the forest path.

Benn notices that the overhanging boughs grow denser as he walks on, and soon he walks in deep shadow. Toadstools litter the path, and pallid shelf fungi cling to the decaying bark of the trees on either side. He hears a rhythmic tapping sound, sharp and incessant. The damp smell of moldering leaves hangs heavy in the still air.

The trails end in a broad patch of dead leaves and fallen trees. Leafless branches intertwine overhead as thick as a woven basket, blocking all but a little gray light. Mushrooms and puffballs of many pastel colors, some as large as tree stumps, sprout all over the ground.
The tapping sound intensifies, and then stops.

Benn sees a dog—no, a gray wolf—moving at the far end of the treeless zone. Something else moves there, half hidden in deep shadows, a humanoid figure seated on a white chair. As Benn’s eyes adjust to the shadows, he sees that the chair is made of mushrooms and other fungi, all glommed together. The figure seated on it is a handsome young man clad in a white toga, with a wreath of russet fungal growths set on his head.

“Welcome traveler." The strange youth speaks in a clear, melodious tone.

[steveflam]

Juergin remains silent at the sight of the men with cut throats. Very bizarre, he thinks to himself. This is a strange place indeed. We need to find Benn then get out of here ASAP.

The three men start towards Juergin's hiding place, cutlasses raised over their heads.

Juergin reaches into his pocket and removes the fish hook, swallowing hard. "Dark One," he whispers, "Can you distract these men with cut throats?"

Juergin moves a little, in the sense that he crouches down so he can dive out and get behind the odd men.

[Adam]

"Hello," Benn says as he walks towards the seated humanoid. "It is good to see someone friendly. I am Bennedict Gehrman, a traveler from...some place far from here. Perhaps you could be so kind as to let me know where I am?"

[Ken of Ghastria]

The side parlor--

Primeiro raises an eyebrow. To him, it seems that little on Gauntcliff has been what it appears. He strides quickly but fairly softly to the door. He quietly turns the handle and peeks into the hallway.

If satisfied that no threat is present, he turns to the others and says, "Very well, then. Back to the abbey. Perhaps we'll get lucky and find this scepter. If not, then I suggest we use the scroll. It may bind these creatures in some way."

[Ail]

Eustace follows Primeiro with his gaze, and nods approvingly at his spying of the hall. But then he says, taking a look at the light outside the window


"The abbey seems to be the best viable option right now. But as for using the scroll, I'm not so sure. Also... if we want to go, we should go as soon as possible. I fear we'll be caught there during the night already, and that can't be good!"

[Rock of the Fraternity]

"We should bring torches," Everline says. "Lots of them. Or sunrods, if they're available. And..." She hesitates for a moment, but then plunges on: "I am uncomfortable with leaving Charlotte in that physician's care. Not that he seems a bad man, but if she sleeps..." She lets the sentence trail off.

[Brock Marsh Runoff]

"I am not liking it either, Everline, but I'm thinking our best bet of saving Charlotte is to find Benn and the others. If we do that, I think we'll be finding whatever has been attacking our dreams. But you're right, we must be making it clear to Denys' churgeon that Charlotte must be kept awake. I'll speak to him, one healer to another. If the rest of you can be helping Everline get the torches and sunrods, we should be leaving as soon as we can."

[Rock of the Fraternity]

"Some pitch might be good, too," Everline notes. "Witch pitch, we can make rings of fire."

[Ail]

"Curse my lack of foresight, I could have provided some of that if I had time. But I usually don't like to carry those materials around. I'll help you Everline."

Eustace tries to look for Denys or his servants in search for the materials needed.

[ewancummins]

BENN

"Hello," Benn says as he walks towards the seated humanoid. "It is good to see someone friendly. I am Bennedict Gehrman, a traveler from...some place far from here. Perhaps you could be so kind as to let me know where I am?"

The youth watches Benn in silence for a moment, and then declares--
"Your speech is gracious and your demeanor pleases me, mortal man. “
He leans to scratch behind the ears of the large gray wolf at the right side of his fungal chair.
“You have leapt into a nightmare not your own. Though these woods seem fair, they hide terrible things. If you wish to leave, you must find and awaken the sleeper. She lies as one dead, buried deep in the black pits below the earth. Go and seek the door to the underworld, by the shores of the poisoned lake. I warn you; if you die in this realm you may never be able to return to the waking world.''

The stranger rises from his throne amidst a cloud of multihued spores. He speaks in a foreign tongue,
“Facilis descensus Averni:
noctes atque dies patet atri ianua Ditis;
sed revocare gradium superasque evadere ad auras.
hoc opus, hic labor est.”

He smiles a sad smile as he slowly fades from sight along with the wolf and the chair of mushrooms.

[ewancummins]

JUERGIN


Dark One flits in front of the shambling figures.

The three shambling men swing their cutlasses in clumsy arcs, striking only empty air.

Juergin rolls behind the three swordsmen, bumping against something in the deep shadows. The thing the boy just bumped now groans and stirs. It rears upright. Even through the gloom, Juergin recognizes the bloodless face: the first man he killed.

[ewancummins]

AT THE CHATEAU
If some evil spirit was behind Dorgio and Thom’s little naptime, it isn’t attacking now. Eustace has no sure way of knowing if his magic circle of protection has worked, of course.

The party makes hurried preparations for an expedition to the ruined abbey. They check on Charlotte, gather pitch and other flammables from the cellar, and confer briefly with their guide, Melmoth.

While the others are busy, Primeiro slips away...




END OF CHAPTER FOUR