Darius, with Ihrin accompanying, will lead the team to another cottage where they will be introduced to a very elderly, frail woman, bundled under a thick layer of blankets. She is almost blind, but when Darius explains that he has brought some visitors who wish to hear her stories her wrinkled face becomes animated, and she begins to talk in rapid Romanian. Ihrin will translate the story for the team.
THE FALL OF CASTEL PIATRA ALBASTRA
Three Hundred years ago this area was prosperous and happy. The people tended their flocks and mined silver from the ground. The local lords were just and fair. The old Baron died, and his son became the new ruler. People say that he was a sorcerer who used magical stones to make himself powerful and that he had killed his father to claim a treasure that was found beneath the castle. The new Baron hired workers to dig a new mine directly below the castle itself. The people continued to tend their flocks, to mine their silver and life went on as normal, but as the years passed, the Baron became cruel and selfish. The miners would speak of how he was always pushing them to dig deeper and deeper below the castle, but they found no silver, no gold and they begged the Baron to allow them to return to their own mines where there was wealth to be found. The Baron refused.
Then one day a miner came staggering into the nearest village clutching a handful of sapphires to his chest and muttering "he killed them, he killed them all." Half mad with fear and exhaustion the miner collapsed and was cared for by the villagers. That night the Baron came. Some say that the miners must have dug too deep, that they had pierced the walls of hell itself, for the Baron came with an army of demons at his back. Crazed he was, thirsting for vengeance against those he called thieves and traitors. His demons laid waste to the village and when the sun rose the following morning, nothing remained but a few smouldering ruins.
The other villages heard of the Baron’s assault from those few poor souls who managed to flee his wrath. The men gathered, arming themselves with whatever weapons they could find. Together they marched on the castle to hold the Baron to account. As the men approached, they cried out in terror at the sight, for from the walls were hung the bodies of those miners who had toiled so long in the Baron’s mines. The Baron himself stood atop the gatehouse and called down to the assembled villagers. He said it was not he who had brought the demons to their lands; that he was seeking the weapons he needed to defeat them. The men below did not believe the Baron and they began to attack the castle gate, hammering at it with axe and pick whilst the Baron pleaded with them to leave for their own good.
As the villagers continued their assault black clouds began to swirl in the sky, forming a dark spiral centred on the castle. The Baron retreated from the walls, disappearing within the castle. The villagers became afraid, fearing dark magic at work. A susurration began, a chittering from the stones themselves. The villagers clutched their heads in pain as the voices of a thousand demons sought to claim their souls. Some fled, others were driven into an animalistic rage and fell upon their friends in a wild frenzy. Still the clouds circled, and the sky turned black. An echoing scream reverberated across the valley, a bolt of lightning erupted from the castle and into the blackened sky. The azure light could be seen for miles and time seemed to stop. Then a silent explosion tore the castle apart, sending a shockwave across the valley, flattening everything in its path. The remaining villagers were torn limb from limb and even those who had already fled to higher ground were deafened by the blast and pelted with debris.
In the days after the event men from the villages returned to the site of the castle to recover the remains of the dead and attempt to find some reason for the disaster. The castle was almost completely collapsed in upon itself as if swallowed by some great beast from beneath. The stories say that those who tried to explore the flame-scarred ruins went mad, some of the men took their own lives, others attacked their families, following the orders of the dead Baron, who commanded them from beyond the grave. From that time until now we have avoided the whole of the valley, it is a cursed place and no good will ever come of unearthing the secrets of the past
Her story told, Mother Miroui becomes tired and ask everyone to leave her. Darius invites you to stay in the home of his son for the night if they wish. His son, Codrin, and wife, Helena, both joined the working party, and their house is currently empty.
