Oscar
The St Yggians held their Feast of the Virgins, a festival centered around finding the most pure and unsullied young womewn and putting them on display in a kind of beauty pageant. It seems like a contradictory idea to me, but I have minions who man the concession stands, so I’m all for it… but this time, the pageant winner was abducted by a vampire. At least, that’s what Nottanis told me when he decided vampires were above his pay grade and called me in.
I invoked Denara’s blessing on my holy shopping list:
- Mallet and stakes
- Garlic and wolvesbane
- A mirror
- Torches, oil, rations, holy symbols for the hirelings
We asked around for more men at arms and got several:
- Hyrion - Elf
- Norman - Torch Bearer
- Wermox - Man At Arms
- Bulus - Man At Arms
- Colgash - Torchbearer (edited)
We retrieved our canoe from long term storage and set forth without the three brothers who were supposed to accompany us. They never showed. Curious.
At the tower, a set of large double doors faced outwards, surrounded by strange figure murmuring about something “taking their shame away”. Some made wrapped offerings and were allowed inside. Ygnas mimicked their words and actions, which opened the doors for her, and the rest of us followed in her footsteps.
Inside, we found a long, wide hallway running north to south with smaller rooms off to either side. Niches in the walls held skulls, and many also held candles. The men-at-arms were visibly nervous. Ygnas wanted to try lighting one of the candles to see what would happen, and she got what she wanted: the candle seemed to place her in a daze as she walked steadily forwards further into the room, without saying a word and ignoring our inquiries.
The room at the far end was a surprise, mostly because it held Minerva herself, looking quite serene and very much not a captive, plus three werewolves. The werewolves seemed quite furious but somehow restrained from attacking us. The room also contained a large pool which appeared to reflect moonlight – an odd fact considering we left at dawn. It’s hard to say for sure, but I don’t believe in coincidences; three brothers and Minerva, three werewolves and Minerva.
Ygnis walked forward and sipped from the moonlit pool, then put on a white robe Minerva handed her. She still seemed quite out of it, but no one was ready to step in and start a fight with the werewolves. Ygnis backed out of the room and went into one of the side chambers. We followed, cautiously bnut unwilling to leave her unsupervised.
The side chamber had a central pit with a disgusting smell. Ygnas ignored it, preferring to climb into one of the four niches in the corners of the room. The others were already occupied by humanoid forms wrapped in white robes similar to the one Ygnas was now wearing. Two of them were dead, but the third was alive, albeit uncaring for anything beyond sitting in his niche. He gave us two 100gp gemstones without much prompting. There was some sort of rune in the air above his head while he was curled up in his niche, and one had appeared for Ygnas, too.
Around this time we noticed our guards and torchbearers were getting nervous and trying to slip away unnoticed. I offered to double their wages, and they agreed to stay – at least for now. The conversation gave us the chance to peak into a difference room, where two strange humanoids were fishing in the central pit of that room, drawing up bodies, and forming what appeared to be undead servants from their skulls and the ubiquitous black sand.
Our plan from here is simple. First, we try putting out the candle that YUgnas lit, in the hopes that will free her from the enchantment. If it does, we put out the rest. If not, we get Ygnas to try Hold Person on Minerva and the Werewolves Three, then drag Minerva out – fighting the werewolves if necessary, and I expect it will be. We have wolvesbane and silver weapons among us, so such a fight will not be hopeless. Then we take Minerva and Ygnas out of the tower and see if they can be cured of their strange compulsions. The goal, after all, is to rescue Minerva; slaying the creature that abducted her is a bonus. It’s probably too late for the werewolves.
Ygnas
Following what was apparently a way more exciting festival of virgins than usual, Selaena bolted for the woods and I joined the party to help rescue the winning virgin from what appeared to be a vampire with magic. How did the entire city miss this guy living in the scary black tower floating above the creepy lake? And do nothing? So now it’s our job. One of the henchmen we hired saw people confessing their sins at the door, ok one was holding a dead body, and said he’d guard the boat. He’s bailing with the boat as soon as we’re gone. Should try to get Oscar to bet on it.
Since I knew I would beat out anyone in our squeaky clean group on greatest shame, I went to the door and offered up mine. I’m a murderer. Twice over, but only the first one was intentional. Zuul told me through the fire to burn the tower down, so I did. With that cruel old bastard Sage still inside. The door approved, and opened to let us in. Since I got yelled at in Winter’s Daughter barrow for lighting stray candles, I asked if I could light the candles sitting in skulls along the hallway. Everyone said yes. It’s not my fault this time. Everything got weird once I lit a white candle. I had an uncontrollable urge to drink from a moon pool. Didn’t even know there was a moon pool in there, we never got that far last time we came in. There was a lovely glowing pool in the big room at the end of the hallway, with the virgin and her three brothers, now werewolves in it. The water in the pool was so clean and pure. I felt clean and pure when I drank it, relieved of the burden of my shame. The lady gave me a white robe to wear.
After that, all I wanted to do was curl up in one of the niches in one of the side rooms off the hallway and contemplate how free I was of my sins. On being pure and clean and unburdened by anything. I didn’t need anything. None of my possessions, except my frog lighter, they didn’t mean anything and I didn’t need them. It was really important that I meditate. I don’t know why, but it was. The group kept bothering me and pulling me away to do things. Couldn’t they see I was busy doing something important?
