Ghosts of Gauntcliff, Chapter Seven

[ewancummins]

The chateau

It takes well over an hour to break up the lynch mob, collect strays, and get everyone gathered together in the ballroom.
Fifty-odd souls—men, women, and a few children—mill about uneasily in the ballroom. The sailors and male servants have formed a ring around the women and children, like wild cattle protecting the weaker members of the herd. At every shifting shadow or unexpected noise, the whole mass of flesh starts, fingers reaching for weapons or balling into fists and eyes wide open searching for danger.

The deformed boy, Jürgen, hasn’t been found.

The party of investigators has reconvened its meeting in the private bar.
Charlotte and Jonas are also present. The black-haired woman sits at the bar with her toddler seated on her lap. Her pretty face now looks like a washed out portrait, with tear tracks and a bleary expression. Jonas whimpers, clinging to his mother’s slumped body. Drool runs from the little boy’s mouth, dribbling onto Charlotte’s nicely-tailored brown dress—but the ordinarily fastidious woman doesn’t seem to notice this.
Melmoth is gone, on an errand for Denys with the half-man, Penda, as backup.
Denys addresses the party-

‘’Well, that was a messy business! Now that things have returned to some semblance of order and sanity, what do you propose we do? Is your party still going to the Old Abbey to confront the shadow demon? ”

[Adam]

Bennedict reaches behind the bar, picking up a wine bottle and two glasses. He pours one for himself and for Charlotte, sliding it to her with a whispered "Give the boy a swallow or two. It will help with his nerves. And I think you and I could use a sip as well."

He then turns and faces the group.

"I'm making progress with the scroll, but it will be some time before I can complete the ritual. I will need to continue working on it if we are to utilize the spell. Of course, assuming Juergin was telling the truth, perhaps we can deal with this shadow monster right now and be rid of it? That would free me to aid you in any other endeavors."

"This, of course, all hinges on the boy's story, which I have reason to be suspicious of. I don't have time to go into the details now, but Dorgio and I have had...experiences in the past with individuals who have experienced sudden...changes to their physical form in the manner of Juergin's teeth. Some of you will recall the changes that came over Alain when he turned on us? Others will recall the way our old foe Jonathon Maytr seemed to age rapidly before our eyes and the way his features took on a weasel like appearance? I have investigated this sort of phenomena in my spare time, and have found many other examples of this warping of the form in the literature, and it almost always occurs to physically reflect some manner of malignancy in their souls. I fear that the boy may have done something quite terrible, and is reaping the rewards of it with his new found ghastly maw. I do know that he was consorting with a pair of wretched cyclopean creatures dressed as clowns that went by the name Gruz and Smezel, who Jonas has informed me were responsible for his original abduction. They also captured me and left me with this..." he gestures to his ruined ear, "...to remember them by. That being said, the boy helped me recover Jonas, and I owe him a debt for that. So should you encounter him, I would urge you to be cautious but at least give him a chance. It may be that he doesn't understand what is occurring to him as well. However, if you should happen across Gruz and Smezel...well, I shall shed no tears if they should meet a messy end."

Having said his piece, he sits down and resumes his work.

[ewancummins]

Charlotte silently follows her husband's advice about the wine.


Denys listens to Benn's words, and makes no reply apart from a little cough and slight nod.

[Brock Marsh Runoff]

Dorgio lights yet another cigarillo and cocks an eyebrow when Benn mentions his ear. "It was Gruz and Smezel who did that? I'd been suspecting them of having taken Jonas," he says. Of course that's not the whole truth, Dorgio had heard their confession point blank, but the shipwreck had come before he could process what he'd learned.

"Whatever is going on with Juergin, he is in dire straits indeed. There are spells that can force the truth from a man--if we are capturing him, we should be holding him long enough to prepare and perform those rituals. I agree he must be lying, but about what, and how much, I am not sure."

"What are we to make of him saying the Shadow had gone to the shipwreck? Maybe there really is no place for it at the abbey, not after we were destroying everything we could find. Perhaps the Shadow is lurking at the shipwreck, looking for unwary victims? If so, we should be going there."

"And there's still the matter of the creature who attacked Juergin. From the sound of it, it is sounding very much like a creature I came upon when gathering flowers for Elianna..."

[ewancummins]

Denys adds-
''Penda is convinced that someone has been stealing fruit from the garden, for whatever that is worth."

[Rock of the Fraternity]

Everline sits down next to Charlotte and Jonas, takes out a kerchief and cleans the child's face before she says anything. When she does, her voice is calm:

"I recommend scouring the abbey first, whatever else we do. If the beast has fled that place, that is fine - but let's make sure it can't go back there. The Peryton isn't going anywhere, so hopefully neither is the beast, provided that is where the filth is hiding."

[ewancummins]

The door to the dining hall swings open and Captain Griffith enters with a plate of cooked fish, bread, and cheese. His long brown hair has been dried and pulled back in a queue with a lace ribbon. The wet clothes he had worn until a short time ago have been exchanged for a natty blue jacket and cream trousers. Lantern light glints on the brass hilt of the cutlass that hangs at his belt. The handsome mariner sets his food down on the countertop and turns to face the party with a smirk on his freshly shaven face.

''Well, I feel all right an' proper again. Now-- what's going' on here?"


He winks at Everline.

[Rock of the Fraternity]

"A council of war," Everline replies. "Have your salty sailors dried up enough to be useful, captain? We might ask them to keep the people from storming off again when who knows how many monsters are about. They're safest in the ballroom."

[ewancummins]

"A council of war," Everline replies. "Have your salty sailors dried up enough to be useful, captain? We might ask them to keep the people from storming off again when who knows how many monsters are about. They're safest in the ballroom."

''Aye, lassie. I've set them to watching over the womenfolk and kiddies in the dancin' hall. Still edgy, but maybe they should be a little nervous, hey? My First Mate, Mister Driscoll, he'll keep 'em all together."

[Rock of the Fraternity]

"Hysteria is not reserved to women and children, captain," Everline says. "Even if they say they're strong and well, I would ask that you have your men keep an eye on the menfolk as well. Sailors know harsher discipline than servants, after all -- discipline that includes the chance of immanent death and mutilation. Barring some exceptions, of course."

[Ail]

Eustace nods in a corroborating tone as Benn and Dorgio speak about Juergin's deformity.

"Yes, you're right. I've heard tales of the sins becoming visible on the body. But I've also heard tales" and here he makes a pause, and takes his index finger before his lips, "of rarer tales where those curses were called back due to the repentance and virtue of the afflicted. Based on this, I think Juergin may deserve a chance... although with care."

He paces a bit restlessly and smiles when Captain Griffith arrives. His eyes widen at the plate.

"We could well use a fortifier indeed, something to make us bold and then we could go to the Abbey as our original plan. I hate to go there at night, but let us make sure at least that shadow is there... and finish once and for all times!"

Then he sits, once again thinking. He looks up with enquiring eyes

"But there are things we have to answer first. Dorgio and Petrie have seen strange shapes on the first day. So has Juergin, but with this excitement, we kind of forgot about those sightings that were never explained. Could it be this beast that attacked Juergin? What was it? Why was it in the house?! Or could it be those Gruz and Smezel?

You know, we should enquire more about those. How did they come to be on this land? Juergin was sucked into the hole and you Benn, you were too. How did you come back? Is there a way we can take to the other side as well?"

He stops to give Benn some time to think.

"And then there's this Dodds... Frederik Dodds... I still think we should check the library in search for information on him, but perhaps that can wait until morning and daylight."

[ewancummins]

''I see you're puttin' on ladylike airs again, girl. Hmmmph. I think I like your honest self better, pesky little otter."

He runs his eyes up and down Everline's lithe figure.

" As for my men, they're a bit spooked, like I said. Maybe if you hadn't scared them on the beach with all your tales of evil spirits..."

Griffith shakes his head.

''No matter. What's said is said. Can't be unsaid now."

[ewancummins]

Jürgen, underground



The boy walks over cold stone, hands feeling along the damp walls to guide his way in the dark.
The shadow whispers to him. “I told you that they would reject you. You see how it is. They have never trusted your judgment. They barely have patience for your questions. Even though you are so clever, so brave, they have treated you like a half-witted child. Now they treat you like a freak. I don’t think you should take it, especially not from the rich man, Sancerre. He thinks he’s better than you, but your father was a captain. You'll be a great captain yourself, as soon as you get a ship and a crew. You are at least as good as any of that lot up there.”

[Ken of Ghastria]

Primeiro pours himself a glass of whiskey. "I agree with Mademoiselle Vaughn - the abbey ruins served as this monster's lair for a good long time. It wouldn't so easily abandon its place of power, although I sense that it means for us to think so.... In any event, I say we return to its 'workshop,' pull whatever knowledge we can from it, and then put the flame to the whole place -- cauterize it like the bleeding sore that it is!" He downs the whiskey.

"The next day, we'll do the same to the shipwreck if necessary."

He turns to Dorgio. "You mentioned Elianna and the instance when you saw the creature. Have you seen her among those gathered here?"

[steveflam]

Jürgen, underground

The boy has had time to calm down by the time he arrives where he, Dark One, Gruz and Smezel are. And one thing is clear.
"Yes Dark One. And Denys Sancerre doesn't care about what happened to Benn and Jonas. He doesn't care about what happened at the
Abbey ruins. He doesn't care about what happened to Everline. I think he needs to be taught a lesson. He made me so mad, I could have exploded. And now there is a mob after me."

He is pacing somewhat, thinking. "I know I will make a good captain, better than any of them. And have a great crew. I am very smart, too. I have Gruz and Smezel to prove it. Dodds didn't kill me and trusts me to do it too. I survived the pirate attacks on my fathers ship.
Those thirteen pirates are all dead. And who killed them? ME."

He looks at both Gruz and Smezel and smiles and then continues. "We will eventually leave the island. Sooner than the later. Denys doesn't know the fear he is responsible for on those men and Everline. He will learn, however. I need a nap before we teach him a lesson. Dark One, can you wake us at the witching hour[2 a.m]? We will go and make him regret his noble attitude towards us all."