Santino panted, trying to catch his breath. He steadied himself by leaning on the sarcophagus. “I think he hit his head,” Alvin whispered to Heimish.
Santino turned to him. “I’m fine. At last, I’m complete.”
“Just what in the hells was that, lad?” Heimish asked.
“How much did you know of my father?” Santino asked in return.
“We were drinking buddies.”
“Then this will take a bit of explaining. I was born into this world with a power I could not control, hellish in origin. My body was constantly coming apart the seams trying to contain it. I was a danger to all who came near me. My father locked me down in his lab after I nearly killed Kendra. For years he studied the source of my power, how to contain it, make it useful. He did things to me… things I swore never speak aloud. I became a guinea pig to him.
“When it proved too much to properly weaponized, he resorted to stripping the majority of the power away and for a time I felt relief, even gratitude, to the bastard.” He gestured to Natalya. “As I’m sure you’d find comfort if you were relieved of your tiefling condition for a time, Natalya. To be able to walk down the street, normal, with no one giving you a second look. Yet your mutation is a big, defining part of you. Eventually you’d start to feel hollow without it. And for me growing up, this empty hole spread across my being. I tried to fill it by playing the hero. Helping our sheriff against his will, returning pet rats, pushing old ladies across the street.
“I was so desperate to not be the monster my father thought of me, that I overcompensated and earned the ire of all those I sought validation from.” Santino gripped the side of crypt. Red light ran across the veins of his hands. “Yet I’m complete now and I see how narrow-minded I’d become. I am neither a hero nor a monster. I’m what I want to be, with no soul’s opinion mattering but my own… and Kendra’s.”
The others exchanged glances, unsure what to think of that. “And what of Petrus’ task?” Natalya asked. She had a job to do, and she needed to know if he would be reliable.
He stood up and brushed bits of corpse and centipede intestines off his shoulders before turning to face Natalya and Heimish fully. “I will remain in town to the contract’s completion. More to see to Kendra’s safety than for the reward. Her kindness was the only beacon of hope I had throughout Petrus’ dominion of my mind, body, and soul. If after our assignment is complete, she chooses to follow me out of this husk of a town? Good. If not, well humans have free will for a reason. Yet for the time being it seems we’re dealing with a particularly nasty haunting. I’ve yet to truly test out this power, yet until I master it I see no point in going it alone. So for Kendra’s sake and the very few souls in this town worth saving, will you two walk with me awhile longer?”
Natalya shrugged. “I’m here to complete a job. If you’re in, then we have no problem.”
“I think I can agree to that,” Heimish said. “Something bad is happening, and we may be in a position to help. As long as our goals align, then I don’t see why we can’t continue to work together.”
Alvin looked bewildered. “I still have no real idea what’s going on. But we’ve all had a bit of a day.” He patted Santino’s shoulder. “Come on, we should go rest.”
“Not before we put my father back in his hole,” Santino said.
“The others as well,” Heimish said.
“If we can figure out where those particular bodies came from,” Natalya added.
It took some time, but they found the other two disturbed graves and, using a wheelbarrow procured by Alvin, managed to put all of the corpses back in their graves. While doing so, they inspected the sites and determined that the corpses had clawed their own way out, and hadn’t been aided by outside forces.
After they were done, they went and spoke first with Father Grimburrow, who was obviously concerned about the zombies. It was to the point that he agreed to send for assistance from other clerics he knew, but it would take at least a week before any help could arrive. “And by that time, we don’t know how bad things will have gotten,” Heimish said, finishing the thought.
“Exactly.”
“It has something to do with the prison,” Heimish said. “We should return and see what we can find out.”
“First thing in the morning,” Natalya agreed. “And we should convince Stein to come with us.”
“I guess we also have to tell Benjan about the zombies,” Santino said.
“We’ll go there next,” Natalya agreed.
“I hope you find something,” Grimburrow said. “We cannot allow the dead to continue to rise. People will panic, and that’s before we consider the blasphemy of such a thing.”
“We can buy some time if no one who knows of it spreads the word,” Natalya said. “Can you keep Alvin from spreading the word?”
“I’ll speak with him. Now, off with you. You have a lot of work ahead of you.”
They bid their farewells and headed to the sheriff’s office. Benjan listened intently as they told him about the zombies. “There will be talk in the streets,” he said.
“We’re trying to buy a little time there,” Natalya said. “But it won’t take long before it gets out.”
“I’m going to call for a meeting of the town’s council. I need you all to testify before them and let them know what you know.”
“We’ll be there,” Heimish said. “Just let us know when they need us there.”
“We’re going to the prison tomorrow,” Natalya added. “There seems to be a link. But is there a way we can keep the council meeting private? We should keep from spreading the word as best we can.”
“The town has open council meetings that anyone can attend.”
“Then we’ll tell them in private, and they can decide what they want to share.”
“I’m not sure I can get them to agree to it.”
Natalya shrugged. “You’re the one who will have to deal with the panic. Do what you will.”
They returned to the manor and found Stein making dinner. “It’ll be about another half hour. Oh, what’s that you’ve got there?” the butler asked, looking at one of the strange green vials Heimish was holding up, a prize from Petrus’ hidden cache.
“We were hoping you could tell us,” Heimish said.
“Let me take a look.” He inspected it. “Well, I’ll be. That’s a haunt siphon. They can be used to draw in the necromantic energy keeping haunts or ghosts going. Just be careful with them after they’ve been used. If the glass breaks, the energy is released and harms living creatures.”
“Just the thing for rats,” Santino noted.
“Indeed. Clear out the ghosts, then use the leftover energy to destroy a swarm of rats.”
For dinner, they had a pot roast with varied root vegetables. Everyone was well focused on their day, and only Kendra seemed to notice that Santino no longer seemed to care about the food itself. While watching him, she also noticed a strange pulse of red through the veins in his face. It startled her so much she almost dropped her fork. The others noticed that, but she played it off as biting into a peppercorn.
After dinner, Natalya sought out Kendra to ask for clarification on some of the things Santino had said in the crypt. She didn’t remember nearly dying, but admitted that she was very young when she met him, so it was possible she simply didn’t recall. Natalya left with perhaps more questions than she’d had before, but she corroborated what she could and was satisfied enough to continue working with him.
After meeting with Natalya, Kendra sought out Santino. She knocked lightly on his door and entered. He was sitting on the edge of the bed, with only the light of a single dim candle holding the room’s darkness at bay. In the dim light, Kendra could see the faint, pulsing glow in Santino’s chest where his heart was.
“So,” Kendra said, trying to break the ice, “I understand you’re going through some changes right now. It’s a natural part of life. Soon you’ll start growing hair in strange places.”
Santino snorted a laugh. “No one else wanted to tell you, but one of the zombies we fought was father.”
“Oh.”
“It was for the best. His zombie led us straight to my missing piece.”
“So, you’ve gotten what you came for. What now?”
“I’m staying until the contract is complete so I can make sure you’re safe. After that? I don’t know. I’m definitely leaving, but not sure where I’m going after that. You should come with me. You deserve more than being trapped in this place.”
“It’s a nice sentiment. I’ll consider it, truly. But you should get some sleep. It has been a long day.”
“That it has, and I’m sure the night will be just as long.”
“Good night,” Kendra said, shutting the door behind her as she left.
“Good night,” Santino replied softly, his eyes glowing in the darkness as a dark smile spread across his lips.
Santino tossed and turned all night, as did Heimish. But Natalya used the herbs she’d gotten and managed to sleep pretty well. So she was the only one of the three who looked rested when the group prepared to set out just after sunrise, Stein in tow.
They opened the door to find a surprised Deputy Vrodish standing at the door, hand raised in mid-knock. “Oh. You’re awake. Sheriff sent me to tell you that the council will be meeting tomorrow evening, and your attendance is expected.”
“We’ll be there,” Heimish said.
“Good.” Then Vrodish left before giving Santino a chance to annoy him, allowing the party to set out for the prison.
The first place the group went was back to the locked safe. With a little work, Stein and Natalya managed to get the safe open and the party was happy to find a number of usable magic potions, as well as a pile of coins marked as being for payroll.
They then continued searching, breaking into a locked office. While inside, Natalya spotted a hidden door, which led to a vault that seemed to be an evidence room. Within, they took numerous objects, many of which seemed to be tied to the often mentioned five notorious criminals.
Natalya snatched up the chain of holy symbols that seemed to belong to Father Charlatan and stuck it in her bag along with his journal. Santino grabbed the bloodstained hand axe that had belonged to the Lopper as well as the hammer that had belonged to the Mosswater Marauder, tucking them both into his belt.
Stein picked up a moldy book and gasped when he opened it. Inside, his own name was written in blood along a margin. “That probably belonged to the Splatterman,” Heimish said after being shown the book. “And this must have belonged to the Piper of Illmarsh,” he added, holding up a flute. “I wonder if the wee thing still works.”
As Heimish put the flute to his lips, a glazed look came over his eyes and he began playing a haunting though beautiful tune. Santino recognized the tune immediately and slapped the flute out of his hands. “Don’t play that song!” Santino snapped.
“Sorry, lad. I don’t know what came over me. It was like I wasn’t in control of my own body there,” Heimish said, blood dripping from one of his eyes. “I don’t think I’ll be doing that again.”
Natalya wasn’t sure whether the blood had come from Santino striking him while knocking away the flute or from the effects of the flute itself. But it wasn’t the time to take chances. “You should put that in your bag and leave it there,” she said.
Heimish wiped the blood from his eye. “You’re probably right. I’ll do just that.”
The party moved forward with their search, finding themselves next in an auditorium of some sort. As they searched the room, Santino suddenly felt an extreme and sudden chill and quickly grabbed out a flask of holy water, splashing the contents on the haunt that was attacking him.
In doing so, he spilled a bit on himself, and there was a slight sizzle as the liquid burned him like acid. Natalya and Heimish missed that part, but Stein raised an eyebrow at seeing it. His curiosity got the better of him, and he flung another flask at the still active haunt, carefully getting a bit more on Santino.
The man winced in pain as the holy water singed his skin. “Very interesting,” Stein said under his breath. But the haunt was gone and Heimish easily mended the wound that remained after Santino gulped down a healing potion.
“Being whole again has its downsides, it seems,” Santino noted wryly.
“Maybe you should drink a bottle,” Heimish suggested. “It might purge the hell out of you.”
“Pick your poison,” Stein said with a dark laugh.
“No, I’m okay. I don’t think the diarrhea would be worth it,” Santino replied.
The group then made their way into a training room of sorts. Several moldy training dummies sat next to a hole in the ground. Santino started eyeing one. “What is it?” Natalya asked.
“I want to try out this axe, check its balance.”
“Now’s as good a time as any, I guess.” It was important to know one’s weapon, in Natalya’s estimation, so she approved of the slight diversion.
Santino took a good swing with the axe, and it bit through the dummy easily, as if it had been magically sharpened. It certainly seemed better than what it appeared. As it struck, Santino yelped in pain.
“What’s wrong?” Natalya asked.
“My neck hurts…” Santino muttered. He then proceeded to try to put the axe back into his belt, but suddenly realized he couldn’t let it go. “Huh.” He put the end on the ground and tried stepping on it to pull it free.
“What’s that?” Heimish asked, pointing at the strange orange light coming from the hole in the floor.
Santino gave up on pulling the axe from his hand, figuring he might need it at the moment. And he was right, as several skulls wreathed in flame floated up from the hole.
Everyone but Santino quickly reacted by pulling out and tossing vials of holy water, but hitting the gyrating skulls was harder than it seemed, and they barely managed to incidentally splash the foes, though at least no one hit Santino this time. Santino, for his part, swung instinctively, trying to cut the non-existent neck of one of the skulls.
Realizing that holy water wasn’t working, Natalya, Heimish and Stein drew out their weapons and struck down several of the skulls, then Santino swung again, this time in a downward angle. He struck true, knocking the skull in half. Its momentum caused a large chunk to keep flying at Santino’s head, so he opened his mouth and bit it out of the air.
After chewing on it for a moment, Santino spit the piece of skull onto the floor. “So, I can’t put down the axe,” he said. “It might be cursed.”
“What if we pour holy water on it?” Natalya said.
Santino shivered at thinking about his recent burns. “I’d rather not unless we know it’ll work for sure.”
“Why don’t we test it on the flute, then?” the adventurer suggested. “It took over Heimish, right? So it’s probably cursed too. So if we can break the curse on that, then it means we can break the curse on the axe, right?”
Heimish considered it. “The logic is sound. I’m willing to try if you all are.”
They agreed to try, and a few moments later, they were forced to yank the flute from Heimish again. “Well, that’s a bust,” Santino said. “I’ll just carry the axe until we get back to town and can get a pry bar from Jorfa.”
They continued on, facing a haunted furnace next. It fell to the power of a haunt siphon deployed by Stein and a vial of holy water tossed into its snapping mouth by Heimish. After that, they encountered a poltergeist in the prison’s infirmary.
Natalya and Santino found themselves filled with a powerful supernatural fear from the ghost. “WE’RE GONNA GO GET MORE HOLY WATER!” Santino screeched as the pair fled from the room.
Stein and Heimish exchanged a glance, then hit the phantom with a haunt siphon and a blast of healing magic, destroying it quickly before the ghost could use the multiple objects it had floating through the room to injure anyone.
While they waited for the others to return, Stein and Heimish looted what they could, mostly old bandages and herbs, but at least some seemed to still be salvageable.
A few moments later, Natalya and Santino returned, looking sheepish. “Sorry,” Natalya mumbled in apology.
“It happens,” Heimish said, and they spoke of it no more.
As they continued searching, they heard the sound of crying coming from a room. Santino motioned for quiet and listened at the door for a moment. “It’s a woman,” he said.
“It could be a trap,” Natalya said.
“True. Keep more holy water ready.”
Santino opened the door and entered first. Within the room, he saw the ghostly and very blue figure of a beautiful woman. “Miss, what troubles you?” he asked.
The ghost turned, spotting the group standing in the doorway. “At last! New guards have come to replace those cowards. And it looks like you’re already prepared to face the five.”
“Face what now?”
“The ghosts of the five famous criminals?” Heimish asked.
“Yes!” the woman said. “The tools of the five can be used against them. I’m so glad you’ve come. I can’t hold them back much longer.”
“Holding them back?” Natalya asked dubiously. She hadn’t intended it as a question, and was surprised when the ghost answered.
“Yes, my husband and I have been holding them back, but then men in black cloaks came a couple weeks back and now he’s gone. Now, every two to four days, I can feel my power waning sharply. It will be no more than a month before my power is gone entirely and those evil spirits are free to escape.”
“Milady,” Santino said. “Are you Vesorianna Hawkren?”
“Yes! It has been so long since anyone has spoken to me, much less said my name. Please, you have to help me, or there’s no telling what those fiends will do when they get free.”
As they were talking, the other three talked amongst themselves. “You don’t think that the men in black cloaks were here when Petrus died, do you?” Heimish asked.
“It’s possible,” Stein said. “And what do you think about the timing on her power weakening? Think it has something to do with vandals spelling out her name?”
“Speaking of which,” Natalya said. “What if it wasn’t Gibbs doing it? Or, I mean, maybe he was, but maybe he wasn’t himself, if you know what I mean?”
“He was possessed?” Heimish said. “That would explain why the sheriff was so sure he couldn’t have done it!”
They turned back to find Santino kneeling, kissing the ghostly image of Vesorianna’s hand. “Don’t worry, fair lady. We will slay these haunts. Is there any of them we should fear above all others? Perhaps we can make him our priority.”
“Fear the Splatterman. He seems to be the most powerful spirit. Now, we’ll go right now and-”
“Get more holy water,” Natalya interrupted.
“What?”
“We don’t have nearly enough holy water to deal with that many ghosts, and that’s assuming there are only the five. We need more. Going in now would be suicide.”
Santino looked to Heimish and Stein, who nodded. “Right, that’s exactly what I was going to say,” Santino said. “Dear lady, can you hold them for one day more? We need to make proper preparations so we can succeed.”
Vesorianna frowned. “I believe I can hold them that long. But please do not tarry, for I fear I do not know how much longer beyond that I can keep them back.”
“We will hurry back, first thing in the morning, armed to the teeth for destroying evil spirits.”
“Thank you,” Vesorianna said, tears welling in her eyes.
The group made their way out quickly. “I may have another idea beyond holy water that can help,” Stein said. “When we return, I will head straight to the manner to look into it.”
“Right,” Natalya said. “I’ll head to the Sheriff’s office and tell him what we’ve learned. Maybe I can convince him to loan us a deputy. If nothing else, that’ll be another arm to throw holy water.”
“I’ll go to the temple and get as much holy water as I can,” Heimish said. “And maybe Father Grimburrow can offer us the aid of an acolyte. They should be trained to channel holy energy against undead, being Pharasmites.”
“I’ll go see if Jorfa can help me pry this axe out of my hand,” Santino said. “And I’ll sell off some of this other stuff we’ve picked up.”
“Now don’t go trying to give her that hammer,” Stein said.
“Why not? It’s a fine smithing hammer.”
“We might need it. And if it gets stuck to her hand, that means we’ll have to drag her into danger with us.”
“Good point. Thanks, Stein.”
“Don’t mention it.”
“Good. Now we know what we have to do,” Natalya said, spotting the town in the distance. “Here’s hoping tomorrow goes well.”
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