Chapter Six

A Change of Scenery

Upon returning to Hope-Under-Dinmoor, Jack met with his contacts to inform them of the discoveries regarding the Orcs. Whilst they made their decisions on what to do, there were reports of a frightening event happening in the northern town of Suenta… Undead were apparently walking the streets. Jack asked you to investigate, so without delay you departed.

Suenta is a Cliffside town, and as you approached at late evening you decided to make your first stop at a large building that turned out to be an Abbey. Father Nicolai and his acolyte Yickrack expanded the tale. A female ghost had risen from below the cliff line each night over the past three days. It had floated through the town and stopped near the Mayor’s house, only to wait a short while before returning to the cliff and dropping out of site.

No one had dared get close to the ghost following the effects of an adventuring duo that did just that. Their bodies were discovered the next morning, mutilated and deformed. They had been quickly buried.

Heading to the more reputable tavern The Last Beer –the other, The Spread Eagled Bugbear being less welcoming – you all booked rooms and enjoyed supper and the entertainment of a group of Gypsy musicians. That was until Yickrack ran into the tavern and exclaimed that the ghost had returned! Prepared for the worst, you raced outside to confront the apparition at a crossroads in the town.

Without getting in the way of its movement toward what you later discover to be the Mayor’s house, you closely examined her form - a semi-transparent naked female with all too obvious wounds.

Sad eyes... her face full of longing and sorrow… Standing to one side of her, you notice her eyes briefly flicker towards you acknowledging your presence, but never holding your gaze.

After waiting at the Mayor’s house for a short while, it turned back and headed to the crossroads, before turning down another road away from the cliff edge, eventually arriving at another house. Ivan knocked loudly on the door, and an old woman opened it. Unfortunately the woman saw the ghost over Ivan’s shoulder, screamed loudly, and slammed the door shut. The signs of recognition were clear…

Almost immediately afterwards, the ghost turned and headed back to the cliff edge. It floated right off the edge and dropped downwards through the fog. With no other leads you headed to bed to wait for the morning.

As the morning sun brought welcome warmth to the cold memories of the previous night, you had several options. Father Nicolai was able to explain a little more. The old woman was called Annie, although she preferred being called Sweetie. She was caretaker of the graveyard on the eastern edge of the town. Deciding to pursue multiple avenues of action, you split up.

Erica and El-Shad opted to visit Sweetie to query her reaction last night. Using expert questioning they managed to get Sweetie to admit she had recognised the ghost, and to let slip the name of Jaana. She clammed up pretty quickly after that.

Ivan headed to see Matthius the Mayor and was received with respect and anticipation. They spoke at length investigating possible reasons for the ghost’s appearance, but none was forthcoming, although Matthius admitted that neither he nor his son Timothy had dared get close to the ghost despite its interest in his house. Ivan detected a certain guarded manner in which they answered some questions.

Herman visited the town Doctor, a fair man called Doran, to inquire about the cause of death of the earlier adventurers. Doctor Doran explained that it appeared they had lost much muscle mass, and their skin had stretched tightly over their bones. He even feared they had been turned into undead creatures, and had treated their bodies accordingly. Interestingly enough, Doctor Doran had also another patient whom he had dubbed Abnus. He had found Abnus on his doorstep early one morning banging to be let in. He claimed he had massive headaches, and that his skin was starting to burn in the sunlight. Doctor Doran kept him inside, and sedated until his skin repaired itself.

Herman then decided to dig around the library to see if he could find historical clues. Meeting Whitesmith the Librarian and copyist he spent his time perusing a variety of manuscripts and tomes. Whilst many of them seemed quite fictional, others seemed to be somewhat helpful in a variety of trades or crafts.

El-Shad was suspicious of the Lighthouse, wondering if there was a passage down to the bottom of the cliff. You all met up there. An old retired sailor warmly greeted you. His name was Barnabus Mallory, and he had been drinking since early in the morning. After palming off a simple game, laughing that the loser would die a horrible death, he allowed the winner, Ivan, into a secret. They briefly disappeared inside the Lighthouse, only to reappear in a short while with a bemused look on Ivan’s face. Ivan did not expand on what had happened.