Into the Tower
On their initial look around the tower, Cam again saw the woman on the walkway of the manor. This time, he managed to approach and talk to her.
No one else saw her, but Cam saw a middle-aged woman in fine clothes, bearing a bloody dagger. "Be careful!" she said, over and over. "There was nothing for it, but what was done. Nothing for it! Otherwise, all would have been lost." Nothing for it!"
"Nothing for what?" asked Cam, approaching carefully. "What's wrong?"
"You can't believe him! Don't trust Shiparon! Don't trust him!" Shaking her head, she started, as if seeing something nearby.
"Who's Shiparon? What did he do?" Cam had never heard that name before. No matter what he asked, the woman just kept repeating "Don't trust Shiparon!"
After this strange interlude, Cam went to find his brothers and sister, and Croly. When he returned to the courtyard, the woman was gone. So they began to examine the outside of the tower.
Though Croly clearly feared the tower, when Senech casually walked into its courtyard, nothing attacked him.
With grimy well-wishers chanting behind them, the Rass brothers and sister pulled away the hastily stacked rocks that blocked the door. The door it self had been propped back into place after some huge blow had craked it and broken it off its hinges.
The dust of ages streamed out into the midday light. Beyond the dark entryway, Cam thought he saw a flash of movement. The reek from the darkness overpowered the smell of stale wine coming off Gilli.
Entering a filthy, dark chamber, everyone saw a two-man long shaft of flint floating in mid-air. But Cam--Cam saw more. And more horrible.
Facing Cam, an armored warrior bearing the clan mark stared at the intruders. He seemed horribly pained by the huge shaft of flint that pierced him completely, yet he stood and faced them. "By the Stones and the Keeper, I command you-give forth your House and your rights to be here, or face my blade!" None of the others seemed to hear anything, and Barlo was dangerously close to the impaled man's weapon.
"G-guardian, please don't harm us." Cam's voice shook. Everyone else looked around to see who he was talking to. "I am a Rass, and these are my kin and guard."
"Show me the Mark, then! I await, as I have." The impaled guard turned toward Cam, making several of his companions jump back to avoid the turning shaft of flint.
Cam moved his head lower, toward a lantern. "Here, on my head, is the Mark, you see? I am a Rass, Cambesus is my name."
"Ah, blessed is this day, then. Am I to be relieved? Spirit's Kin, I have guarded here long nights."
Cam consulted with his kin, after explaining what he saw. "Stand your guard a bit longer, if you will."
"Such is my duty. So I was told before. So I await." The guardian spirit seemed dissappointed.
The entrance hall showed signs of violent struggle, with broken interior walls and bloodstains, Few bones littered the place, save a single, intact skeleton in broken armor bits, wearing a remarkably undamaged purple-red sash. Cam saw the sash matched the one the spirit guardian bore.
Nothing left to discover in the entry hall, they looked to the spiral stairs. Heading up, Cam felt a cold, dead wind at his back. Everyone felt the darkness gather closer, and a feeling of dread settled into their souls. The lanterns flickered and grew dim.
At the landing to the second floor, half a dozen dessicated corpses lay collapsed. Armored or dressed in ceremonial gear, they seemed untouched by weapons. But to Cam, and now to Barlo, the dark wind now howled about them, seeming to pull them into the room. Flickering lamp light revealed a room decorated in mosaics, with a central altarpiece also covered in mosaics. Surrounding the altar, everyone saw the bodies of a dozen men, trolls and trollkin. And atop the altar,, a small chunck of rock that seemed to drag all the light into it.
Lifting the stone
mosaics lose their dust
placing the stone elsewhere
Looting the corpses
identifying the magic
freeing the guardian
to the 3rd floor
discussion with the ghost
The Green Spirit Net
