Yoh-01
Explorer
Swords of the Serpentine:
Finally, my duet game player and I managed to resume the adventures of Brother Giuseppe, the non-violent Inquisitor, who isn't an Inquisitor yet at the time this adventure takes place (8 years before Adventure 01).
Carrying on his self-appointed mission to discover the reason some statues are disappearing, he spends some time at the Priory of the Illuminated Swamps to do some research on Eversink's funerary rites* (more about that below). Some eerie whispers echo in the scriptarium, which worry him. Brother Giuseppe still doesn't know he's gifted with Denari's Eye.
He then goes on a stroll to count statues, and two are missing, the ones he nicknamed Irmina and Zelinda, which can be found between the orphanage and the hospital. So he goes to the hospital to administer some last rites and check into the archives, as the statues, and the last rites (check notes at the end), are contracts, meaning there are records of them here. Using Laws and Traditions, he discovers that the missing statues do represent two sisters actually named Irmina and Zelinda (Brother Giuseppe is creeping out, but is excited at the same time). he can also understand that although the statues aren't richly carved, the craft used parallels the importance they two ladies might have had in the neighbourhood.
Whispers: "LOOK AT US!!!". This is being repeated a few times. Brother Giuseppe is lost. "Rip the veil!", but there's no veil in the record room! So, Brother Giuseppe convinces himself there's somebody here, spends 1 point of Spirit Sight, and in the far corner of each eye, a glimpse of each sister. They say he's imbued with Denari's Eye, this is why he can see them, and that they're disappearing because their statues have disappeared. The issue is that they haven't fulfilled their soul's mission yet, so they're scared and keep forgetting important things, such as said mission.
While questioning is own beliefs in death and a bit wary that it's not some kind of test or evil kind of corrupted temptation, he goes to the wharf where the statues of Giorgio and Sandrina had disappeared two days ago, and where he almost drowned trying to drag them up. He asks a fisherman how to fish a statue, and is replied that the canals need to be dredged in order to do that.
So, he goes to the Guild of Architects and Canal Watchers and meets a clerk, Nunzio, a pious man who is also highly committed to his job. He says that files need to be submitted, that all the workers are busy with the upcoming festival, and Sway battle ensues. This is tough, and even though Brother Giuseppe's Morale is badly Hurt, he manages to get what he wants when clerk Nunzio eventually agrees to dispatch a team to help with this highly sacrilegious case. Brother Giuseppe also writes in his Book of Debts that he's indebted to this clerk who will have, 8 years later, become a friend.
In the afternoon, the statues are hauled out from the waters, covered with writhing eels. The workers are happy as they'll keep them for their eel bisque, and the Eel Bisque cooking championship next week. However, the statues have changed: their faces are contorted with pain and next to our pious hero, the ghosts of Giorgio and Sandrina -which are also their real names, are crying.
To be continued...
* In the book Exemption of the Body and Trickling Down of the Soul, it is explained that for the last rites, the dying must hold its most valuable possession. The priest in charge becomes Denari's broker for a moment then drafts down the dying's final contract. There's a transaction occurring between this object against its owner's soul, as payment for their passing. Then both are to be burnt together. However, if that object doesn't burn along with the body, it's considered a bad omen, meaning the soul is too heavy for the Otherworld. It's even said that such a soul turns into a crawling wraith roaming Eversink's sunken ruins.
In this book, there's also a chapter on statues. During its carving, some of the ashes are mixed with the statue, and the rest is religiously cast in the water. The part remaining with the statue represents all the worldly sins of the dead that must remain grounded in this world, while the rest flowing away represents the part deemed pure enough to enter the Otherworld.
Finally, my duet game player and I managed to resume the adventures of Brother Giuseppe, the non-violent Inquisitor, who isn't an Inquisitor yet at the time this adventure takes place (8 years before Adventure 01).
Carrying on his self-appointed mission to discover the reason some statues are disappearing, he spends some time at the Priory of the Illuminated Swamps to do some research on Eversink's funerary rites* (more about that below). Some eerie whispers echo in the scriptarium, which worry him. Brother Giuseppe still doesn't know he's gifted with Denari's Eye.
He then goes on a stroll to count statues, and two are missing, the ones he nicknamed Irmina and Zelinda, which can be found between the orphanage and the hospital. So he goes to the hospital to administer some last rites and check into the archives, as the statues, and the last rites (check notes at the end), are contracts, meaning there are records of them here. Using Laws and Traditions, he discovers that the missing statues do represent two sisters actually named Irmina and Zelinda (Brother Giuseppe is creeping out, but is excited at the same time). he can also understand that although the statues aren't richly carved, the craft used parallels the importance they two ladies might have had in the neighbourhood.
Whispers: "LOOK AT US!!!". This is being repeated a few times. Brother Giuseppe is lost. "Rip the veil!", but there's no veil in the record room! So, Brother Giuseppe convinces himself there's somebody here, spends 1 point of Spirit Sight, and in the far corner of each eye, a glimpse of each sister. They say he's imbued with Denari's Eye, this is why he can see them, and that they're disappearing because their statues have disappeared. The issue is that they haven't fulfilled their soul's mission yet, so they're scared and keep forgetting important things, such as said mission.
While questioning is own beliefs in death and a bit wary that it's not some kind of test or evil kind of corrupted temptation, he goes to the wharf where the statues of Giorgio and Sandrina had disappeared two days ago, and where he almost drowned trying to drag them up. He asks a fisherman how to fish a statue, and is replied that the canals need to be dredged in order to do that.
So, he goes to the Guild of Architects and Canal Watchers and meets a clerk, Nunzio, a pious man who is also highly committed to his job. He says that files need to be submitted, that all the workers are busy with the upcoming festival, and Sway battle ensues. This is tough, and even though Brother Giuseppe's Morale is badly Hurt, he manages to get what he wants when clerk Nunzio eventually agrees to dispatch a team to help with this highly sacrilegious case. Brother Giuseppe also writes in his Book of Debts that he's indebted to this clerk who will have, 8 years later, become a friend.
In the afternoon, the statues are hauled out from the waters, covered with writhing eels. The workers are happy as they'll keep them for their eel bisque, and the Eel Bisque cooking championship next week. However, the statues have changed: their faces are contorted with pain and next to our pious hero, the ghosts of Giorgio and Sandrina -which are also their real names, are crying.
To be continued...
* In the book Exemption of the Body and Trickling Down of the Soul, it is explained that for the last rites, the dying must hold its most valuable possession. The priest in charge becomes Denari's broker for a moment then drafts down the dying's final contract. There's a transaction occurring between this object against its owner's soul, as payment for their passing. Then both are to be burnt together. However, if that object doesn't burn along with the body, it's considered a bad omen, meaning the soul is too heavy for the Otherworld. It's even said that such a soul turns into a crawling wraith roaming Eversink's sunken ruins.
In this book, there's also a chapter on statues. During its carving, some of the ashes are mixed with the statue, and the rest is religiously cast in the water. The part remaining with the statue represents all the worldly sins of the dead that must remain grounded in this world, while the rest flowing away represents the part deemed pure enough to enter the Otherworld.
