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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lars Frehse" data-source="post: 216898" data-attributes="member: 1674">Fatherfigure (part 3 of 3)Niklas ushered the Petorns out of bed, and Ben enchanted the monk’s fists, so that they took on a green glow. The ghost was still angry, and with his next gesture, he toppled over the large cupboard, which crashed on Niklas.Niklas now turned around, and tried to punch the ghost, but his fists, even though they were enchanted, pushed through him. Ben used his divine magic to cure Niklas’s wound, as the boy turned around, and left through a wall.They ran outside, but the ghost was nowwhere to be found.The Petorns were up and about now and cooked a big pot of tea for them and the young men. After he had eaten some bread, Vasili said: “One thing is for sure. That was little Sasou.”Now, if the ghost was really little Sasou, what had happened to the boy? They debated what to do next, and came to a conclusion: They would not tell the priest about what they had found out just yet. Instead, they would ask him to come over next night in order to attempt to use his powers against the undead. Then, they would see how Sasou would react when he saw who was supposedly his father.That seemed like a logical reason for the boy to attach to fat men: He wanted to be with his father. And from what they had seen, they gathered, that the boy wasn’t even acting in order to take revenge. It much more looked like he needed a father to cuddle with and forget his loneliness… Only that this unnatural sadness and desperation was enough to kill a mortal man who was in contact with it for too long.The next morning, Ben and Niklas went to the church and told the priest that they would like to have him in the inn at night. Krofek agreed and so they went back to the inn, leaving Torn behind in order to keep an eye on the church.Around noon, some of them were just having lunch, a farmer walked into the inn and said to the Innkeeper:” Vasili, do you have any idea where the priest is? He sure ain’t in his church!”.Right away they jumped up and ran to Torn, who sat in front of the church, eating bread with sausage and drinking wine. He told them he saw a farmer going in and out of the church, but no priest.They went into the church and looked for a secret passage, but found none. But a quick search revealed, that there was an empty wallsafe- Krofak seemed to have taken the church’s money. Next, they walked around the church to his house, which they found locked. After Torn had opened the door they searched the house. It looked as if noone had been in there for at least a week. And really, now they remembered that for some unknown reason, the priest had always slept in the church itself.In the basement, Trepat noticed that some of the pressed earth that the floor was made of seemed a little bit disturbed, as if someone had dug a hole and then tried to made the evidence disappear without quite succeeding. Fearing the worst, Torn grabbed the coal shovel and started digging. Soon, his shovel hit resistance, and he unearthed the body of a woman with six hands and a little boy with unruly hair.Now, they ran back to the church, where Ben gave the priest’s robes to his dog who was supposed to pick up the scent. For a short wile, the dog was unable to pick up a trail. Just as it looked as if they would have to rely on other means to find the murderer, Trepat and Torn noticed how the statue of Belsameth, the slayer goddess, turned her head towards the dog. She gazed at the dog for a moment and then returned to her original position.The beast’s eyes flared up and he picked up the trail. Now, fueled with the instincts of Belsameth, he had the senses of a bloodhound. He was heading down the road back south and Trepat and Niklas ran ahead in order to get horses from the lord’s mansion. Once on horse, they rode south, down the road, the dog running ahead with his nose close to the ground.Then, as they had a part that led through a wood, they caught up with the killer. He was still half a mile ahead, as he seemingly completely disappeared. They galloped ahead, and as they reached the part of the road where they had last seen him, the dog turned right into the wood.After a while, they reached a small stream, and now, at last, the dog lost the trail. After just a few words, two groups were made. Trepat and Jan went upstream and the others downstream.He had just walked a few hundred yards, as Trepat saw a shape in a tree, about a hundred feet in the woods. He walked on, silently signaling Jan that he had seen the priest, and sent his speaking raven to the others.The raven told them to catch up with it’s master, and soon the group was back together, but at the same time, Tore Krofak had understood that he was discovered. He cast a spell, and all of a sudden, all around the men, the air was filled with glitter dust. Jan and Torn were able to close their eyes in time, but the others were blinded by the sparkling dust.Now, the fat killer jumped down the tree, as Torn and Jan charged into the woods. Here, the half orc was much faster, since his armor was lighter, and so he soon caught up with the priest, who turned around and shot balls of energy at Torn. The half orc was hit hard, but he was too tough to stop now, he ran after the man, hitting him with his mace.Now, the fake priest ean further into the woods, but Torn kept close behind and Jan was closing in.By now, the effect of the glitter dust had worn of, and Ben cast an entangle spell into the area from which he heard the noise. All, Paladin, Rogue and killer were caught by the grasping plants, and Torn finished him with his mace.With him, they found a ring, which, as they later found out, made the true alignment of it’s bearer undetectable, a book of arcane spells and the church’s treasure. Not even Torn wanted to keep that one, though. Bringing down the wrath of the gods upon yourself wasn’t a wise decision in a world, in which the gods took such active interest in the lives of mortals.They went back to Weddafurt with the body and explained everything to the lord. After giving them yet another paper that was worth goods at the local trader place, he thanked them thoroughly, and asked Ben and Jan, whether they could bury the dead and take care of the church for as long as the village waited for replacement.They agreed and stayed in the village for two wonderfully uneventful weeks, until one crisp morning, Ilena Lohberg, a dwarven priestess of Madriel, arrived, and they were free to go. Among good cheer and waving they sat of to brave the Kelder mountains, which towered majestically in front of them.But now, that our heroes are off to new adventures, let me remain here in Weddafurt for a short while. I would like to shed some light on the mysterious events that led to the appearance of the ghost in the first place.Tore Krofak, priest of Hedrada, had been dead for six years already. He had been killed by an illusionist who wanted to take the comfy position of a village priest, since he had considered it wise to diappear for a while. He himself had gotten into trouble with an organization called “the scaled ones”. So he got rid of the priest and assumed his role. He used his arcane tricks to make a good impression, and occasionaly, he used potions and salves to perform “miracle healings”. Apart from that, he did his duties as well as he could, in order to keep the gods of his back, as he put it.Then, two years later, he started an affair with Sara, who by the way, had never been a real witch. Sasou was born and they maintained their relationship for three more years. Then, one night, Sara made an ultimatum: Either he would marry her, or she would show the villagers that he was a sham.“Tore” was in a fix- if he said yes, then the villagers would probably not support him and he would have to leave. But by now, he had gotten to feel rather comfortable in his position. If he said no, then his only option would have been to get the inquisition, who would surely have found out that he was not what he claimed to be.So, he killed both of them. He smashed the head of his lover and suffocated his son, showing that men can be as cruel as titans.But it wasn’t over then. One week later, the spirit of his son appeared, and the father fled to the church, knowing that undead can not enter sacred ground. So, the ghost searched, desperately, and went to the place where he sensed a lot of man. There, he found Hayworth the merchant, who resembled his father, and embraced him two nights in a row, killing him in the process.And the rest you know already. At the end, he made himself invisible as he feared confronting the ghost of his son.And now, you ask me, who I am? Well, I wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise, really. But let me say this much: I, like you are doing as well, am having an eye on the young heroes. And like some of you surely do, I too believe that they will play an important role in the fate of Ghelspad in the future. But for now, I prefer to stay in the shadow, and just watch…</blockquote>

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