Mists Over the Musarde, Chapter Three

[steveflam]

OOC: I pasted what ewan told me the shadow saw.

Norzak's shadow slinks back, reattaching itself to the dwarf. He appears to be in thought for a few moments, then turns to the others.

"Tha ground floor has storage rooms and closets, lots of old junk. On the
2nd floor there's a big room with wooden tables, braziers, alembics, a massive iron cauldron racks of bottles in cabinets, etc. The 3rd floor has a library filled with scrolls on wooden racks fills almost the entire floor. Lastly on the 4th floor is a grand bedchamber, with fine furnishings, windows facing all four directions, with shutters only half -open [nice and gloomy]

All floors are linked by a central partially enclosed spiral staircase. The staircase has a door letting out onto each level, and all doors were closed but unlocked.

Thass what me shadow saw. Nothin living or even was inside. I say we look around, especially tha library. I bet Benn would love ta see them books!"

[Brock Marsh Runoff]

"My thanks, Norzak. But before we go inside, let us see what is making the cries."

He slowly approaches the pile from which the weeping emanates. "Hello child, are you hearing me?" His words are soft, but the spear is still readied. He keeps his eye on the rocks as he continues his approach.

[ewancummins]

Dorgio speaks as he approaches the rock pile, and a wavering, small voice from within answers him-

''Help me...I'm frightened...it's cold down here....I want my mama.''

Dorgio and Alain [as well as anyone else who has approached very near to the pile] can peek through the several small gaps in the haphazardly stacked cairn of shattered building stones and dry-rotted wooden beams.

Anyone looking in through these gaps will see a gloomy hollow space beneath the surface, although it's hard to say what are its exact size and dimensions. A careful look into the pit or cavity reveals the dim outline of a child-sized figure, but precise details are elusive, given the partially-obstructed view and poor lighting.

[Adam]

"I suppose we'll need to open that up and see who's in there," Benn says, looking around for a loose piece of wood to use as a lever to clear some of the stones away. "If it's a trick, we'll find out soon enough. Another one of my readings pointed to a ritual wherein children were closed up in tunnels and left to appease Incabulos. They were never found. It's not beyond reason that, wherever we are, some of those ritual areas may connect to here."

It sounded flimsy even to Benn as he was saying it, but something needed to be done to break the tension. If it was a child in there, they might not have a lot of time to get them free.

"Buckaman and Cirdan, you have strong backs. Grab a timber and pitch in. The rest of you keep your eyes open for any sort of mischief."

[ewancummins]

"I suppose we'll need to open that up and see who's in there," Benn says, looking around for a loose piece of wood to use as a lever to clear some of the stones away. "If it's a trick, we'll find out soon enough. Another one of my readings pointed to a ritual wherein children were closed up in tunnels and left to appease Incabulos. They were never found. It's not beyond reason that, wherever we are, some of those ritual areas may connect to here."

It sounded flimsy even to Benn as he was saying it, but something needed to be done to break the tension. If it was a child in there, they might not have a lot of time to get them free.

"Buckaman and Cirdan, you have strong backs. Grab a timber and pitch in. The rest of you keep your eyes open for any sort of mischief."

Buckman begins clearing away stones and wood, grunting with effort as he moves the bigger pieces.

[ewancummins]

After a few minutes of effort, the stones and timbers have been cleared away enough that there is now a man-sized opening into the space below. The hollow space is a circular pit of rough-hewn stone, about six feet deep, resembling a dry well. The bottom of the pit is layered with small bones, pebbles, and some scraps of wood and cloth. Rusted iron links attach to the walls at several points, the remains of what may once have been manacles. No child is to be seen, but there are some scratches or what is possibly writing along the walls. It's hard to tell from up here.

[Adam]

Benn drops his piece of wood to the side, wiping the perspiration from his brow.

"Well," he says, looking down at the now empty pit. "That is unexpected." He rubs his eyes, clearing them, but still sees no living being in the pit. "I have a bad feeling about this."

Despite the full daylight shining on him, he shivers. "Give me a moment, and I'll go in and have a look." He begins to climb down into the pit, being especially careful not to disturb the bones on the bottom. He looks at the scratching and writing on the walls, a sort of dreaded reluctance making him wince as he looks them over.

[ewancummins]

Benn drops his piece of wood to the side, wiping the perspiration from his brow.

"Well," he says, looking down at the now empty pit. "That is unexpected." He rubs his eyes, clearing them, but still sees no living being in the pit. "I have a bad feeling about this."

Despite the full daylight shining on him, he shivers. "Give me a moment, and I'll go in and have a look." He begins to climb down into the pit, being especially careful not to disturb the bones on the bottom. He looks at the scratching and writing on the walls, a sort of dreaded reluctance making him wince as he looks them over.

Down at the bottom of the pit , the air is much colder than the summer warmth on the surface. It's actually close to freezing, or at least it feels that way. That is odd, as there is no draught. The air is very close and stale, and Benn smells a faint odor of decay.

Examining the marks along the walls, Benn can see that some appear to be scratches made by small fingers or claws. Other marks are definitely writing. The script is archaic, but Benn can puzzle some of it out:

Flesh-Witherer.....Father-of-Curses....accept our children.....let thy dreadful gaze be turned away from us...in dreams you speak to us...we obey your priests... Poisoner-of-Sleep...the cries of the innocent are pleasing unto you...

[Brock Marsh Runoff]

Dorgio stays at the edge of the pit, but does not venture down. If this is some trick, the last thing he'd want is the lot of them crammed into that hole. But he sees the iron chains. And the bones.

"Those." he says to Benn, gesturing at the bones. "Children?" He shakes his head, and mutters a prayer for the dead below. "If so, let us bring them up, so we can lay whatever spirit dwells here to rest. "


But then thinks back to the voice he'd heard, and squints at the pit. "This is wrong. The man at the cabin, he spoke to us in some tongue of Darkon, I think even Norzak, he had a hard time understanding. But this voice, it was speaking just now in common Mordentish. Why would the child not have spoken the old tongue as well?"

[ewancummins]

Buckman nods in agreement with Dorgio's words.

''Yeah, that does seem mighty strange. If what we heard was some kind of haint or spook from the old days- why'd it speak like modern folks do?''

[OOC Anyone looking closely at the bones- certainly Benn , who is down in the pit- can see that some are definitely those of children while others are just bones of rats and other small animals. Most are brittle and very old-looking, but a few might be of more recent origin]

[Adam]

Bennedict winces and turns away from the wall writings. "Yes, this is one of the sacrifice pits. The cowards would leave their children here, unbelievable..."

He shakes his head, and squats down, reverently picking up the remains that appear human. "Here, I'll lift them out to you."

He pauses, however, in response to their question. "You're right, I hadn't thought of that, Dorgio. It's possible that we were right with our first suspicion, that some one is bewitching us. Or it's possible that there is some spirit here, and they are able to communicate with us in our language through some form of limited telepathy."

[ewancummins]

It takes Benn at least half an hour of scrabbling through the rubble of the pit, but he is able to scour it clean of human remains, and hand the delicate bones up to his companions. Clearing one layer, he finds more bones beneath. Indeed, it turns out the pit is actually somewhat deeper than it had appeared at first, because the lower portion is filled with small stones, loose fragments of bone, and other detritus.

Buckman remarks-

''It's downright disgusting that anyone would do that to kids, 'specially their own kith and kin.''

The work of retrieval finished, the skeletal remains of the children lie gathered together on an woolen blanket[provided by Buckman]. It's hard to say how many innocent souls are represented by the pathetic heap of bones, because decay and inevitable mixing have scrambled and confused the order of the remains. The pile before the party must account for something like a couple of dozen children, many of these quite young to judge by the relative lengths of the long bones and the small sizes of the remaining skulls and pieces of skulls.

[Adam]

Bennedict spends the majority of the half hour of work turning and twisting, as if he hears someone or something trying to get his attention. As he finally hands the last of the bones out to the others he lifts his hand towards them, shaking it in agitation.

"Get me out of here," he says, turning around with a half-panicked look on his face.

[ewancummins]

Buckman reaches down and grabs Benn's hands, pulling him up and out of the pit with a mighty jerk that leaves both of them sprawled in the dust of the courtyard.

[Brock Marsh Runoff]

Dorgio plants his spear point-first in the ground and stoops to help Benn and Buckman to their feet.

"Perhaps you are right, perhaps some spirit is wanting to speak with us. Or perhaps in the keep there is lurking some fell mage who was wanting us to find these little ones. Maybe we are meant to be distracted, to buy whatever lurks in the keep more time."

He then grabs a plank, and begins to gouge a shallow trench into the ground. "But spirit or no, these children must have some rest. We should still be pressing the keep, though. Will some of you be following up on Norzak's scouting?" He continues digging furiously, trying to dig just deep enough to bury them for now; he'd see to a more proper job when they were done with van Deicks.