Entry 47
Continuing from my entry 46...
After the secular
visit, we return to the inn to plan our next steps. Three issues most
important are one, rumors about people disappearing and the details are
posted on the town sign, two, the tortured servants in Broderick's
house, and three, this council member Lady Caldwell. We think they are
all related. Soon, two gnome men enter the inn and are looking for
Boomtuck, since he has been seen with us. They state that Boomtuck has
fathered many children with many women and want to "personally" give him
a message. Later that day, we meet Boomtuck and I inquire whether
these stories are true, which he confirms. This does not surprise me,
for his behavior does not show any responsibility. He becomes a new
issue, as I disapprove of this, and others do too, but we will deal with
him later.
When we leave to find this post sign, we happen
chance see an ornate carriage pass right in front of us. A vision from
my youth gives me memories of my uncle's visits because he has a
carriage like this. Every year during the summer, he would travel in
style with his carriage to our home, always bringing me presents of
exotic candies from far away places. I enjoyed the rides through the
country air. My brothers teased me about my romantic ideas of being
carried away. Those dreamy days are long ago.
As the carriage
passes, my vision shows me in the carriage, long hair and in fancy
clothes, but it is not me as a child, but as an adult. No, the vision
is not me at all. It is Lady Caldwell, and the boy next to her is young
Broderick. I tell the others that Broderick is in he carriage and we
should follow. We easily see that it will outpace us, but Ohm Uri runs
after it. We loose site of the carriage and Ohm Uri at the festival
grounds - the same grounds where we attended the summer festival and
where Trevor ran into Rovert. It seems that this town has a festival
every few months. We also discover the sign with the posting of the
missing people. I peruse the postings and many state the last place
where they were: "Inspiration Point".
Ohm Uri finds us and he
leads us through the city to areas I have not yet been. Houses are
better kept and some have gardens. A few houses have second floors,
too. One person recognizes Trevor from one of his
performances. Eventually, Ohm Uri leads us to a house with a locked
iron gate and a thick stone wall about a few feet taller than me, or
about as tall as Kull. The house is located on the river, and the wall
goes to the waters edge. There are metal points at this spot to
discourage people going round it. Under the water is unknown, but I'm
sure there is something to discourage people from wading in and swimming
around, too.
A servant greets us, and states a thank you to
Ohm Uri for returning with his friends. Unknown to us, but we find out
then, that Ohm Uri walked right in and talked to the Lady Caldwell, and
now he thinks she is the nicest person in the town. I suspect mind
control at work, for on the road back from the north, Bob reacted
exactly like this when I used the same trick. I get a very bad feeling
about this lady, but no proof yet. The servant tells us to follow him
to the back yard garden, complete with table and chairs for the
meeting. Other servants bring drinks, but I refuse.
During the
meeting she asked about Kevin, apparently to appear ignorant of his
fate. I can tell she is lying. I try to convince Brute and Kull later
when we walk away from the house. Since she is the owner of the mansion
now, she permits us to enter it at our leisure. She continues to
explain that some items were moved from the mansion to this house. My
mind wanders back to Kevin - if she is guilty of his torture and death,
why did she just grant us free access? I inquire about whether she
visited the mansion, but she does not admit to it. I follow up stating
that an unknown servant was found dead, and of a maid, found
alive. Lady Caldwell persists to know the location of the maid, but we
kept it to ourselves. Late in the meeting, we see a very suspicious man
emerge from a doorway briefly, only to vanish back the same way. We
leave her house, and I am convinced she is hiding something and lying.
From
the house, we head towards inspiration point. We notice the same
suspicious man we saw earlier at her house. He has a scarf covering a
burn on his face. And he enters into an ordinary house, only to come
back out with more men of brutish appearance. We follow the men and
they go to the same point. The sun is beginning to set and the moon is
starting to rise. This could be an excellent night that Trevor would
want to be alone with me. I glance at him, but his expressions I cannot
make out. If anything, I can image his disappointing thoughts that a
nice night is spent not alone with me, but also with Ohm Uri, Kull and
especially Brute. We settle in for we must wait for the men to make
their move.
Others are out here enjoying the twilight,
too. They, however, are acting on their desires. They drink, talk of
their work days, and some couples get close on blankets, I'll stop
there. I have never witnessed a place like this, before. The people
wear shirts with bright piccadilly colors and the young women have
flowers in their hair. A pungent odor fills the air and I try not to
breath the smoke, as it awful. Ohm Uri leaves. An hour passes and the
sun light is just a glow, and the moon assumes its dominant role in the
night sky. Trevor and I notice Ohm Uri's return, and with a rather
"weird" look towards Trevor, one that I saw too many times when my
father brought home the less respectable women.
Trevor and I
look at each other, roll our eyes and we both say at the same time,
"There is something wrong with Ohm Uri." Could this be a sign? In this
rare moment, we thought alike, at the same time, and acted.
I
ponder our findings. We do not have enough proof to hold the Lady
Caldwell directly responsible, we can state that she has some
involvement, for the men coming here links her to the
disappearances. Brute and Kull are waiting for those men to do
something. And to catch them in the act - this will get more proof.
Kull's
intense focus on the brutes makes a local man a bit more vocal and he
thinks that we are too close to his space. Again, Brute says its my
turn to "reason" with him. I start an explanation, and I shorten it in
my journal, on why the Light provides me with more enjoyment and
fulfillment than any thing else, including their passing bodily
encounters, and that they should give any extra money to the poor, and
volunteer their time to help those that cannot tend to themselves, and
finally, attend regular services at the temple of the Light to start
their path to self enrichment. Near the end of my mini sermon, the man
simply fell to sleep, collapsing to the ground in a surprisingly quick
move. Sighting the half full bottle that he took with him to the
ground, I make to grab it, with my intentions to empty the filth on the
ground. Equally surprising, Ohm Uri grabs the bottle from my hands,
before I could tighten my grip on it.
He downs a mouthful of
the rot gut, then looks at me and mutters a not so nice word that I will
not write here. Trevor immediately intervenes. Before I get an
apology, a local man interrupts, stating his friend Jill is lost and has
not returned. Kull asks for where she was last seen. The man points,
and Kull and Brute run towards the spot. They find signs of the girl's
tracks, and we proceed to follow, hoping to rescue her. We follow the
signs to a road, where the tracks show a cart, but is gone now. Again,
Ohm Uri runs after to try to catch up to the cart.
My suspicion
is on the Lady Caldwell, and we join Ohm Uri at the front gates of
Caldwell's house. Before long, a carriage arrives and we look on from a
hidden spot and see Lord Kayden step out and the lady of the house
greets him and they go inside. Is Lord Kayden involved in this too? We
must get more proof. In a bold move, I ask Trevor if he still has the
ring. "I allow you to use it," I state, "to see what is happening
inside." Kull picks Trevor up, awkwardly, since grabbing an invisible
man is tough, and Trevor is over the wall.
A feeling of dread
fills me as all I can do is wait outside the wall - Trevor is alone and
might be in more danger than he knows. The ring is Miranda's and if
Caldwell is related to this Miranda in any way, she might be aware of
its magic and consequently aware of us. Oh, this ring might truly be
cursed. Why did I suggest him to go? I look to the others and mention
we should get inside somehow. Then Ohm Uri disappears over the wall. I
remember cursing, and I will not write it here. With him being so
charmed, he will probably tell them we are out here, that Trevor is
using the witch's ring, and the location of the maid. I cannot wait
much longer. I state to Kull that we can get in the house, for we can
tell her about the death of Kevin. Kull is confused and says, "first
you don't want to tell about Kevin, and now you do." I turn to Brute
who thinks it is a good idea.
Brute suddenly pulls me to the
dark so I am not seen by a cart moving closer. A few men are on the
cart, and one looks like it is the same masked man as before, but I am
not totally sure in the darkness. It stops at the gate and men from the
house unload large sacks. The masked man goes into the house with the
others carrying the sacks, and the cart goes back the same road it came
from. This is the proof! We can act and get the town guards. Kull
runs after the cart for some reason. I follow after Kull. I am not
sure why. When Kull catches the driver, he stops listening to me and
becomes berserk. It still pains me to write about it here.
Kull
simply runs right up beside the cart, grabs the driver and throws him
onto the ground. Kull is upon him and his foot is pressing hard against
his chest, pinning him to the ground. We ask what were in the
sacks. The man replies he is just a driver, delivering goods and life
commodities. I look for rope so we can tie him, leave him in the cart,
and get him later. I return and the man is babbling incoherent words
and cannot breath. I try to tell Kull to stop, but he does not hear
me. My eyes swell with tears. I plead, but I cannot get to
Kull. Something else controls him now. This happened before, and then,
I got him to stop. This time, I failed for Kull, for me, and
especially for this man. It takes great courage for me to move, as this
issue weighs heavy on me. There must be more I can do. Rubbing the
tears from my eyes, I find myself alone standing over the driver's
bloody corpse, his chest and throat crushed. Blurred vision reveals a
hulking form bounding back to the gate.
I run back and see
another man, his bloodied fractured skull embedded in the space between
the iron bars of the gate. His limp body dangles as the gate rotates
back closed, towards me. I squeeze past this grizzly scene. Is this
the body of the servant who hours before ushered us to the back yard for
the meeting? This is spiraling out of control. We are waging battle
to a member of the council! A sickening feeling overwhelms me. I force
myself to follow the others to the house. I call upon the Light to aid
us, but to also refrain from farther unnecessary killing, just as Kull
bashes the door in, sending splinters to fly as the hinges are ripped
out.
When I enter the kitchen, I narrowly miss a blow from a
massive club. My hours of melee practice at the priory prepare me for
this. I do not remember my mace in my hand, but there it is, and I
think of the people in the park, of the maid we found, of the unknown
body also found, and of the mute servant Kevin that we knew. I return
the swing to block his follow up and my mace, willing itself and with
the aid of the Light's Blessing, finds a weak spot and connects hard
with his side. I hear the sounds of bones breaking. The man brushes
off the pain and presses the attack.
Kull, Brute and Ohm Uri are
also in here, each fighting their own battle. However, I see only this
one man turned monster. We are locked in a dance, his face determined
to make me die under his club, and me, I defend the abducted helpless
ones and Trevor - my mind wonders - where is he and is he alright? My
opponent seizes upon my mistake and his club smashes into my side,
followed by sly laughter, and a remark that I do not write here. The
massive force knocks the air from me and must surely leave a wound, but
as I discover later, my new armor absorbed the bone crushing
injury. With no air in my lungs to feed my arms, I turn and swing to
block his next move, but the mace has different plans. Like it has a
mind of its own, the magic combined with the Light's Blessing find their
mark and crushes more bones in that monstrous body. I catch my breath
with a gasp and see not a monster now, but a man. Surprise and terror
take over him, he drops his club, then slumps to the floor, blood flows
from a deep stab wound in the back. Yet I see no one there. I must
stop the bleeding, but I must know who stabbed from behind.
I look to the emptiness and with apprehension ask, "Trevor, it is you."
Again, I am being called and must finish later.
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