Endur's Expedition to Castle Ravenloft

[Le Noir Faineant]

"Dareios!" Alessandra exclaims. "Mind your tongue. These people have seen loved ones slain and risen again, and had their homes besieged and destroyed. If you cannot show sympathy, stay quiet."

"Yet, they behave like miserable cowards!" Dareios is slittering into a real rage, perhaps airing all the discontent that he has carefully preserved during the last few days.

"What happened to Danovich was not his fault - it was yours! When will you learn that it is up to you to act against your opressors!? Why does noone of you even dare to speak up? - How can you be so miserable?"

Almost completely loosing his temper, Dareios kicks against - whatever may lie there on the ground -, and trots over to Skorl, already pulling out his bottle of whiskey...

 

[Rhun]

Skorl smiles his toothsome smile at Dareios as the man approaches, and motions for his companion to join him on the nice soft grass. "We should hunt wolves. Or witches. Kill many to serve in afterlife."

 

[Legildur]

"Let it be!" Ismark growls at Dareios. "Let's fix the problems now rather than laying blame," he adds, knowing that perhaps his father, or even himself, could have done more to have prevented the tragedy.

With the evidence of the room, the knowledge of the girl's oppression, the nameless woman's response to Dareios' probing question, and the lack of ghoul sign, Ismark draws the same unspoken conclusion as Jack. Still, he wonders whether she is alright given the recent events.

He waits patiently for anything else to be uncovered.

 

[Kafkonia]

Alessandra stares at Dareios in disbelief.

"These people," she says, her voice barely more than a whisper, "are miserable. They are miserable because their lives have been destroyed and they are miserable because they have lost loved ones. They are not trained soldiers, or paladins, or mercenaries" -- the last word is said with obvious disdain. "They are farmers, bakers, shopkeepers, and housewives. Their lot in life is not improved by having an ill-mannered drunkard berate them for things beyond their control, and while this manner of speech may have been tolerated amongst whatever rabble raised you, it is not tolerated here."

 

[Kafkonia]

"You are right, Ismark," Alessandra says. "I should not have let his words provoke me so." She regards the scene intently, then turns to the ersatz burgomeister. "May I have a word with you?" she asks. "In private?"

 

[Le Noir Faineant]

"These people," she says, her voice barely more than a whisper, "are miserable. They are miserable because their lives have been destroyed and they are miserable because they have lost loved ones. They are not trained soldiers, or paladins, or mercenaries" -- the last word is said with obvious disdain. "They are farmers, bakers, shopkeepers, and housewives. Their lot in life is not improved by having an ill-mannered drunkard berate them for things beyond their control, and while this manner of speech may have been tolerated amongst whatever rabble raised you, it is not tolerated here."

Dareios just spits into the crowd's direction, then takes a deep draught from his bottle and laughs bitterly. "My people suffered from similar plagues until they overthrew them. All it takes is a good man's will to fight. I am sorry, but except for us 'heroes of Barovia', I see no good men here." - But the young mercenary says it in a lower voice that earlier... Alexandra can be quite fear-inspiring when she's angry...

 

[industrygothica]

Willow stands back, watching the goings on with only mild interest. It was only a matter of time, she thinks to herself.

She accompanies Jack and the others to search the scene and see for herself if there is anything to see (Search +9).

 

[Endur]

Jack, Lia, and Willow find one set of marks that could perhaps indicate that someone climbed down from the window. Yet the indentations are so wide that you doubt that the hand of a girl of fourteen could have made those marks.

 

[Legildur]

Alessandra regards the scene intently, then turns to the ersatz burgomeister. "May I have a word with you?" she asks. "In private?"

Ismark frowns at Alessandra but for a couple of moments, before nodding his head. Gesturing to move inside the house to a private spot, he follows her in. "What's this about?"

 

[Kafkonia]

Ismark frowns at Alessandra but for a couple of moments, before nodding his head. Gesturing to move inside the house to a private spot, he follows her in. "What's this about?"

"Perhaps it is just what we have seen these last few days, but I have heard stories..." Alessandra looks around to make sure the missing girl's family is not within earshot. "I have heard stories of the deaths of children driving parents to madness. What we have learned -- this child locked in a room to protect her from the outside world, her disappearance coinciding with the rising of the dead...

"I wonder if Gertrude was not left in her room as a corpse, and arose when this unnatural plague visited the town." Even as the last words leave her mouth, she looks self-conscious. "Perhaps I have let my thoughts dwell too long on macabre visions," she says.