[IC] Graveyard Shift: Session 2

"Foolish goat-man." Nera mutters as she has delegated herself to overwatch.

Dribbage looks at Nekurr, the glowing yellow eyes unsettling but still conveying his shock. "No! No, I would never harm my niece..." But then he looks to Hildar with a look of abject terror. "But no, please no. If you take me away from here, the portal will fall dormant. My niece must never come near, or it will open again... But you can turn me over to the clerics... Maybe the Clerics of Saint Almar's? As a neutral party? I have history with St. Durvin's, surely you know that... All will be well, no? No need for more drastic measures..."

The man's pleas don't much move Hildar, even if sincere.

"Well we just have to knock this sod out and take em to St. Durvin. This place will go dormant and they can clean up their former employees mess since it was with their materials he's gotten this far. Besides you probably don't want your niece here not for fear of her safety but for the power you want possibly going to her instead." Tronus pieces together slapping the man's check ending on a dark thought he thought to be valid.

Nera finds a nice sturdy tree and attempts to climb up with great success. She crouches low on the end of a thick branch, concealing herself amongst wood and leaves.

Nekurr looks expectantly at Hildar "Do you think this is true? If we move him away, these creatures will stop coming?". The cleric then turns to the Mansion as if trying to make out some detail in the distance "We will have to check Miss Olarie is safe and doesn't wonder into this place. Maybe we can can ask the nice grave keeper to get the Durvin's clerics on this?"

"Only one way ta foind out... Oi say we 'aul 'im ta da Law. Openin' an ynfernal gate must be a capital offense?

Coupl'a us stay 'ere, and go down dere ta make sure it's closed, after 'e's gone?"

"I can keep watch, but only for a little bit! Someone better come back and make sure I'm okay if I take too long." Nera says, volunteering herself for the mission from her watchtower. "Send the smelly goatman to the clerics, don't let them exorcise him just yet, we need to get paid."

"Oi'll check da portal, too. Boind 'im up, an Oi don't tink Dribbage should give ya much trouble...

Maybe 'ildar stays back too, incase we need magickin'?"

"Sure, you guys stay I'll... take him to the clerics" Nekurr says, jumping at the opportunity to leave the cemetery where a portal to Ynfernal it!

"If time was not pressing I’d say let’s investigate further but we need to act sooner than later I fear. Throwing him through may work but it also may not and who knows what he would be able to do from the other side. The Durvin clerics may have the best experience with these matters to enact a speedy resolution". Hildar nods at Bruv "At the very least I can keep my serpentine friends around if I stay here to ensure anything else that pops into the crypt gets dealt with"

Tronus finally grunts as he stands hoisting the man by his breeches and shirt collar... "We'll be back with some more clergyman hopefully."

The creature who was once Vizeron Dribbage squirms and flails as Tronus throws it over his shoulder. "No! Not Saint Durvin! Turn me over if you must, but Saint Almar's is no further away!" The creature who may still be Vizeron Dribbage starts to weep openly as the Dwarf and Half-Catfolk move toward the horse cart, where Barvek and the grave-digger are waiting. With a promise to explain on the way, Tronus, Barvek, and Nekurr hop onto the wagon and head into Nornholt.

Bruv, Nera, and Hildar take up positions near the two known bolt holes for the Ynfernael creatures. As Vizeron Dribbage moves away, his agitation seems to be mirrored by the unseen portal under the earth, which emits a loud vibrating sound from below. Indeed, as soon as the half-Human creature is hoisted onto the horse cart, the high-pitched titters of more creatures announce that the portal has spat out more fiends. Several of these seem to take the path to the closed crypt, where Hildar's "friends" take care of them. Four more pop out from the hole adjacent to the Dribbage headstone; there, Nera manages to pick off two with arrows launched from her tree perch, while Bruv rips the other two limb from limb.

As Vizeron Dribbage is led to town, the vibrations from the portal subside until finally the sound seems to go away completely. Perhaps if you really put your ear to the ground, you might still hear it. But it's noticeably quieter with the strange creature out of the immediate vicinity.

That evening...

The cool of night has finally fallen, but the small fire in the hearth of Argus Inquiries headquarter building is there more for light than warmth. You are gathered once more in the main room, around the long, wooden table where this inquiry began. Lady Calypso Argus sits at one end of the table, red tones and shadows from the firelight dancing across her mahogany features.

"Thank you for coming back so late, especially after such a harrowing day at the cemetery," she says, looking to each of you in turn. "The clerics of Saint Durvin's Cathedral have taken Vizeron Dribbage into custody. The abbot tells me they aren't really prepared to keep a magic-user contained, but from what you've told them, it seems like Dribbage is powerless without the runestone you recovered."

She sighs and look down at the floor for a moment before continuing. "One of the clerics ran to fetch Lady Olarie Dribbage, so I was able to speak to her at the cathedral. She's... upset. My guess is she's overwhelmed. It can't be easy to hear that your uncle has been dabbling in the dark arts." She shrugs. "She says her uncle tells her he was attacked unprovoked, and she's upset about that. But I assured her that no matter what happened, it's best for everyone that he was brought in and stopped."

She reaches to her side and pulls out a canvas bag that jangles with coins inside. "At any rate, you'll be happy to learn that the lady still paid our fees, so here's everyone's share. The clerics, too, are thankful. They've thrown in a bit more as a token of gratitude." You pass the bag around, each taking your share.

"We're still trying to work out how Dribbage managed to summon dark creatures from a cemetery that was well-warded against dark magics. Their best guess at this point is that the wards there only extended down to the level of the coffins, but not further below. With the tunnels, Dribbage was able to create a gate to the Ynfernael realm outside the reach of the wards. The abbot suspects that Dribbage then went up into the coffins from below to desecrate the remains. With enough desecration, the wards disappeared completely, and the fiends were able to come up to the surface. It may take weeks or even months to see the extent of the damage he caused, but it's possible his tunnels extend throughout the graveyard, and that he desecrated every single grave in a way that would neutralize Saint Durvin's blessings."

She takes a deep breath and looks to you all. "That's quite a mouthful. Is there anything else that doesn't make sense to you? I can do my best to explain what was going on..."

"I think his cloven hoof which was self induced had a play also in why he could summon without magic using himself as a medium with his blood from what he's stated. It's a bit disappointing he's told his niece he was attacked unprovoked, the bloody buggers he summoned tried to kill him and his notes show just how many dogs the neighbors lost to his experiments, which I think they should be reimbursed for, either by the Dribbages and/or the Church for negligence... I told him to stop he tried to magic me so I socked him..." Tronus states.

"Thank you for bringing up those points, Tronus," Lady Argus says. "Dribbage's hybridization took us all by surprise. No one's seen such a thing since the last War. The clerics suspect that Dribbage was trying to compensate somehow for a lack of magical aptitude in other ways. It seems the first grave he desecrated was his own great-great-grandfather's. And sacrificing parts of his own body--making himself a demon hybrid--was another sacrifice he made to get his rune to accept his use of it. He tried sacrificing the dogs before he realized that he had to sacrifice his own blood to have any effect. I'll be sure to put in a word with Lady Dribbage about compensating the Thistlerocks for their lost income. Thank you for bringing that up."

She pauses. "One piece of the puzzle that the clerics haven't figured out yet is why Dribbage wasn't able to control what he summoned. He claims he needed a spell in some book in his study, but they couldn't find any trace of that book when they checked the place." She regards Hildar. "Maybe it's not that important for them to find out. But if you know something and think they should know, please speak to them."

"It is strange that such an unskilled mage could have so much information and managed to summon so much magic on his own. Do you think he may have had some help? Maybe we can have a word with him as well and have the clerics extend some of the new wards to the Thistlerocks' farm and Lady Dribbage's mansion." Nekurr suggests, wondering if he acted on his own. "Maybe we can pay Lady Olarie a visit just to make sure she is dealing well with the situation? It was lucky she was here to witness her uncle's break in!". He then turns to Lady Calypso "Tronus is right about the compensation. The Thistlerocks are in difficulties and this is going to set them back badly. But I noticed some of them showed some... potential, if you'd be interested in new trainees"