"Alekalargo is a Combledorn, and that is most important. The Combledorns specialize in all manner of disgusting, foul goods and practices, all the things that bring disgrace and failure to good society. The family motto is We have what you want. You want what we have. Addiction, greed, sex, dark magic, you name it, the Combledorns deal with it.
Alekalargo was the worst of the bunch. His parents vanished a few years back, and he took over the mantle of family patriarch. His sister Breechalgandigroot always preferred working behind the scenes, and little Templeton was too young yet, but oh no, Alekalargo craved the spotlight. He opened up a few clubs catering to twisted pleasures, and made sure that he always had what people wanted, for a price. That price, of course, usually ended up in some form of slavery."
Pigglemorth locked eyes with Ru, his old flinty determination returning, nourished with rage. "You can understand just how mortified I became when I discovered that sweet, innocent Adalavas, my daughter, my love, my life, was infatuated with Templeton. Oh, my loving daughter..."
He sniffs in sadness, but continues. "I had worked with clocks all my life. I loved my profession. It takes a real skill, a true dedication to precision, in order to make such a beautifully complex mechanism come to life. Certainly, you believe in the law. Father, you believe in fate and the importance of a carefully lived life. A clockmaker's passion is no different. In understanding the simple motions of each part, the individual actions combine into a complex whole, and a careful life leads to success. I had become interested in expanding this concept into a fully automatous being, someone capable of going through the motions of life, breaking down each decision into precisely defined rules and laws. I dreamed of a clockwork being."
Pigglemorth grows oblivious as he continues his tangent: "Still, the secret of life was not something easily attained. I could create toys that obeyed simple rules, but nothing on the scale of a gnome. So, I enlisted the help of my good friend Edditomas. His forays in alchemy gave him great knowledge, and he was the one who came up with the concept of alchemical vampirism. Blood holds the key to life, and thus by boiling the blood under the right conditions could the life be extracted and used to power a clockwork being. However, there remained obstacles that, at the time, I considered insurmountable--the alchemical reagents needed a heart to provide the proper environment for the blood, and a head to manage the rules of life."
The gnome snarls. "Now, I wasn't the only special customer for Edditomas. Not to be outdone, Alekalargo had been working on another pet project of his own. He required of him the secrets of love. Not merely satisfied with using our baser instincts and proclivities against us, Alekalargo wanted to tap the source of our most sublime joys, and sell that. When I first heard reports of this thing called "Love" on the streets, there was no doubt that it was just the latest of Combledorn's loathsome products. Furthermore, the more I forbade Adalavas to see Templeton, the more she defied me, and the more she would return with lurid details of how Templeton's brother was designing some new product, adding to the family's wealth.
Oh, how this behavior destroyed me inside! My daughter could scarcely stay away from that... that Combledorn! I am convinced, she was a victim of this Love, this alchemical monstrosity that Alekalargo and his kin were determined to use to tear apart the last vestiges of my family! I had to ask Edditomas about it. If anyone would know how this singularly destructive mockery of spirituality came to be, he would know. I went to ask him about it, and that's where I saw one of Alekalargo's trollops making a delivery."
Pigglemorth's eyes grow wide, fueled by rage. "At that moment, I knew what I had to do. I knew what the purpose of my clockwork vampire would have to be--the death of all Combledorns. And I knew that, in Edditomas' betrayal to all of gnomekind, he had to die.
The death was planned to the second. His head would be removed five seconds before midnight, and his murder would be left in the old year. The vampire would be his new face in the new year."
The gnome's voice grows in volume, reverberating off the small walls of his cell. "The instructions were simple. Arrive at Combledorn Manor at the 18th hour. Slaughter all Combledorns at the manor. Defend himself as necessary. Alekalargo was supposed to be there! He is supposed to be dead! Adalavas should still be alive!"
Pigglemorth falls off the edge of the bed, crumpled in a tiny pile. "Evidence... Yes, evidence... Combledorn Manor should have evidence. Edditomas' store should have evidence. Alekalargo's hideouts should have evidence. Find that Love... and destroy it."
Rhiannon listened quietly, somewhat horrified at the lengths the clockmaker went to, and confused as to why he resorted to vigilantism. She waited quietly a moment after he'd finished, curious.
"Mr. Pigglemorth, why did you not report Alek's activities to the Constables? Surely this could have been dealt with through legal channels..."
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Skyler finally speak, his voice cool and calm. "Do you know where these hideouts of Alek's are?"
__________________ -Rhun
"I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge - myth is more potent than history - dreams are more powerful than facts - hope always triumphs over experience - laughter is the cure for grief - love is stronger than death." -Robert Fulghum
Calahan, suprised that the prisoner is so talkative, puts away the brass knuckles and lights his pipe, quietly watching as the conversation continues...
Father Berman allows the others to take the lead in the questioning, if only to prove that he is not leading the witness. He looks on with some satisfaction, pleased that his speculations match up so well with Pigglemorth's statement. With no real need to "tighten up" this testimony against Alek by adding any lies of his own, he decides to verify it.
"Pigglemorth, you should also know that when Alek is put to trial, magic will be employed that will prevent you from lying. If you are unable to repeat your specific charges against him under those conditions, Alek may walk free. Does that fact in any way alter what you have to say regarding his crimes?"
Pigglemorth turns to the priest. "Everything I've said is the truth. I'll stake my life on that, and I want to see him burn at least as much as all of you. I don't know where that fiend frequents--I don't keep a schedule anything like his."
Pigglemorth then sighs. "And as to why I didn't go to the police... I had."
Cliff rubs his beard, and contemplates the story set before him. The whole affair is becoming more and more clear as it goes on. He looks around at the faces of his new comrades to see how they are taking it.
He is still deadly curious. Um!? If I be understanding this correctly, you said you went to the constables? What was their response? He runs his fingers through his beard again.
As Pigglemorth recounts the details of his crime, and of his inadvertant murder of his own daughter, Ru finds himself unable to speak. He can feel the rage within the gnome; it nearly sings to his own, buried under layers of ritual and control, and it takes all of that to keep it from bubbling up.
Quote:
Originally Posted by InVinoVeritas
Pigglemorth turns to the priest. "Everything I've said is the truth. I'll stake my life on that, and I want to see him burn at least as much as all of you. I don't know where that fiend frequents--I don't keep a schedule anything like his."
Pigglemorth then sighs. "And as to why I didn't go to the police... I had."
Now Ru does lose his composure, if only for a moment. He shakes the gnome by the shoulders as he insists, "Who? I want the names of those who heard your complaint and did nothing."
Father Berman looks on with concern. Just when the case seemed to be lining up nicely, things had taken an ugly turn; accusations about the police had been no part of his agenda, and could hurt the perceived credibility of the witness.
Skyler leans back against the wall, watching the events unfold before him.
__________________ -Rhun
"I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge - myth is more potent than history - dreams are more powerful than facts - hope always triumphs over experience - laughter is the cure for grief - love is stronger than death." -Robert Fulghum
Pigglemorth tenses. "I'm not sure! I spoke with some enforcer, just making his rounds, he said he was taking a full report back to here, back to the Investigators! Some human, had a beard!"
Skyler waves off Calahan's offer of tobacco. He turns his attention back to Pigglemorth. "Fair enough. We shall check on this report. In the meantime, I asked you a question about Alec's hideaways...would you know where we could find any of these?"
__________________ -Rhun
"I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge - myth is more potent than history - dreams are more powerful than facts - hope always triumphs over experience - laughter is the cure for grief - love is stronger than death." -Robert Fulghum
Rhiannon did not add anything further to the discussion at this time, simply watching and observing quietly as she pondered how he possibly made the jump from one possibly unfiled report to such extreme vigilantism... it wasn't exactly a case like her own. He needed investigators... Rhia had only needed an enforcer to be around...
Accessible at almost any time: http://www.d20srd.org/index.htm
Complete Arcane
Complete Scoundrel
Complete Mage
Complete Divine
Libre Mortis
Heroes of Horror
Drow of the Underdark
Monster Manual 3.5E
Monster Manual 2
DMG/PHB
Psionics Handbook
Expanded Psionics Handbook
Spell Compendium
Tome of Magic
These I can access rarely:
Complete Adventurer
Complete Warrior
Complete Psionic
Races of Stone
Draconomicon
Complete Champion
A few assorted Monstrous Manuals... I can't recall which ones.
I MAY be able to access the Forgotten Realms and Eberron Campaign settings.
Ru starts at Berman's admonishment, looking at his hands on the gnome's shoulders as if they belong to someone else. Slowly, he releases the small prisoner, and his voice softens again.
"I ... understand," he says tentatively, then begins regaining his presence of mind. "Do you recall the date? We may better be able to find this constable by checking the rolls for the day."
Eugene observes and listens from the hall taking care to remain unseen by the prisoner. He evaluates his new colegues in his mind, putting them into initial slots of volatile, dependant, meek, brute and unknown. Subject to additional information ofcourse.
Cliff runs his hands through his beard, and contemplates all that has been said. He mumbles to himself... Bearded human?! He tries to run the roster of street police that he knows through his head, trying to think on who that could possibly be.
Cliff runs through the names of bearded humans on the force, and comes up with a bunch. He notes the goatees and stubble on his fellow policemen...
"What time? Six days, seventeen hours, twenty-three minutes, and 12 seconds ago," Pigglemorth rattles off. "I'm a clockmaker, that was the time. As for where, I have no idea. Check out some dive bars, the more twisted, the better. He's probably involved somehow."
Cliff realizes that if he saw the rolls for the day, he could determine which of the people were, in fact, bearded men.
Skyler sighs. "Great, dive bars." He glances at Calahan, a slight smile on his face. "Its a good thing I'm part of the constabularly. Otherwise my presence in such a place might cause quite the scandal."
__________________ -Rhun
"I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge - myth is more potent than history - dreams are more powerful than facts - hope always triumphs over experience - laughter is the cure for grief - love is stronger than death." -Robert Fulghum
"What time? Six days, seventeen hours, twenty-three minutes, and 12 seconds ago," Pigglemorth rattles off. "I'm a clockmaker, that was the time. As for where, I have no idea. Check out some dive bars, the more twisted, the better. He's probably involved somehow."
Ru gives Pigglemorth the slightest smile. "I appreciate your precision, and I swear to you I will do my best to find this man who failed in his duty."
Still at Pigglemorth's level, Ru looks up to the other constables. "I think I'm done here. Does anyone else have any questions, or can we let our little clockmaker try to get some rest?"
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