Umbertiel, part 2 (Inquisition)

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Alberich
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Re: Umbertiel, part 2 (Inquisition)

Post by Alberich »

Nyle, the farmer's spindly son, peered cautiously in at the broken door. Seeing no enemy around, but the barn torn up and a small group at the far end, he crept at first, then ran up as he recognized them. He stopped, surprised, "Ronnie? What're you doing here?"

Brother Tim, who'd been concentrating mostly on his own injuries, made his voice far more cheerful than he felt. "I think he's in the middle of telling us that. Did the noise wake up your father?"

"No," replied Nyle.

"Good," he said. "We'll have to do some explaining, and I'll give you some help fixing things up here. I've got to leave tomorrow so that'll have to be tonight." Good night's sleep, indeed. I'll be lucky to catch a wink. "Some of that looks like simple hammer-and-nails work. Could you go get the tools?" Nyle went off to do that. Timothy didn't want him hearing any more of this "demon" talk 'til they knew just what Ronnie was talking about.

He left it to Brad to ask the next question though, and kept a slight distance. Ronnie was in a hard enough place without three adults looming right over him and barking out questions. He hadn't entirely registered Lillith's successful efforts to sooth the boy (but would've been very glad of them if he had). So it was Brad who asked the boy to tell about these "other demons," and what was going on, and how he got that thing he was holding.
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Re: Umbertiel, part 2 (Inquisition)

Post by Graybeard »

"'Different' demons?" Brad repeated, not quite sure how to take what he'd just heard.

"Aye, Your Eminence," the boy said. "Not like the demon that be settin' the fire, differ'nt demons. That be what my Uncle Shemmy be sayin'." All this was said with a straight face, as though having two different sets of demons roaming Umbertiel was -- well, not exactly a routine thing, but at least entirely comprehensible. He seemed to be getting over the shock of the death of his uncle, at least for the moment. That wouldn't last, Brad realized, so he'd better get more information from the youth while he was still holding himself together.

"Did your poor uncle say anything about the -- other demons?" Brad persisted.

"Aye, sir, he did," the boy affirmed. "Factly, he be sayin' they be what be bringin' him to town. See, he be wantin' to kill the demons that be killin' my other uncle a long time ago, 'bout two weeks, I be thinkin'."

Well, two weeks would be a long time in the eyes of a child this age, Brad thought. The boy also didn't seem to be as upset at the death of the "other" uncle as about Uncle Shemmy. "Who be -- ah, who was your other uncle, then?" he asked. "What was his name? Where did the -- demons kill him?"

The boy shook his head. "It be my Uncle Tommy, sir, and I don't be knowin' what happen to him. I never did be seein' much of 'im in these parts, he be livin' far away, we wasn't real friendly-like. Uncle Shemmy just be sayin' the demons killed him -- and he be thinkin' the demons be in this town now." He was starting to cloud up again. "Can Your Em'nences be protectin' me from all those demons, do ye think?..."

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[OOC: Gonna borrow Argus for a moment here, but D, we're going to need you for the flashback that this will produce ...]

Sister Rose caught the negation in Argus' eye. He obviously couldn't place the look-alike for this man, either. "Well ... at least he doesn't look like Wilbur Hamael," he finally said slowly. "Under the circumstances, that is probably a good thing."

Rose nodded, suppressing a shudder at the thought of more Hamaels out there. Could the others kill with a word too? Best not to find out. "Yes, that is a good thing," she agreed. "But if not him, then who? He certainly doesn't look like the man Hamael killed." It seemed unnecessary to point out that this body was not that of a half elf; Argus got the point. "I don't remember anyone in Nautkia who looked like this, and although I'm not sure we ever really saw that weird Porpington Bree in his real appearance, he certainly wasn't anything like this man. So who was it? What am I forgetting?"

... And then she remembered, with a snap of her fingers.

"The battle on the way to Stone Man Pass," Rose said. "Remember that?"
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Drannin
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Re: Umbertiel, part 2 (Inquisition)

Post by Drannin »

Argus closed his eyes, thinking back. "The one in the rain? It was a while back, and pretty dark..."

(OOC: Had to do an archive crawl. Was that last March?)
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Graybeard
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Re: Umbertiel, part 2 (Inquisition)

Post by Graybeard »

[OOC:
Drannin wrote:(OOC: Had to do an archive crawl. Was that last March?)
If you mean March of a year ago, yeah, that was it. Not as long ago for the characters as for us, of course ... /OOC:]

"The one in the rain? It was a while back, and pretty dark..."

"Right," Sister Rose said, shaking her head at a memory that was none too pleasant. "There's a difference, though. The man that Maduin -- buried was a member of t-- a cult. This one doesn't seem to be."

<"'Cult' being 'Ensigerum' in this case, possibly,"> she thought at Argus; that was nothing she'd want Father Arpad to hear.
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Sareth
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Re: Umbertiel, part 2 (Inquisition)

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Graybeard wrote:The boy shook his head. "It be my Uncle Tommy, sir, and I don't be knowin' what happen to him. I never did be seein' much of 'im in these parts, he be livin' far away, we wasn't real friendly-like. Uncle Shemmy just be sayin' the demons killed him -- and he be thinkin' the demons be in this town now." He was starting to cloud up again. "Can Your Em'nences be protectin' me from all those demons, do ye think?..."
"He'll do the best he can, and we'll be sure to let the temple in town know what happened so they can help you too," Lillith comforted. Then she turned to something that was bothering her, though she couldn't say why. "Ronnie, what was your uncle Tommy's last name?"
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Re: Umbertiel, part 2 (Inquisition)

Post by Graybeard »

Puzzlement crossed the boy's face. "Sigriel, ma'am," he said. "That be Uncle Tommy's name, and Uncle Shemmy's, and mine. Be there -- somethin' wrong wi' that?"
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Jack Rothwell
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Re: Umbertiel, part 2 (Inquisition)

Post by Jack Rothwell »

OOC I could post something up right now but given what Eli and Desiree are doing it would definately be breaking the 'fade to black' rule. Besides, most of the dialogue would be muffled anyway. :oops: /OOC
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Re: Umbertiel, part 2 (Inquisition)

Post by Sareth »

Graybeard wrote:Puzzlement crossed the boy's face. "Sigriel, ma'am," he said. "That be Uncle Tommy's name, and Uncle Shemmy's, and mine. Be there -- somethin' wrong wi' that?"
"Not a thing. It's a perfectly good name that will help us know who to tell the Temple to keep an eye out for." And it's not Hamael, she left unsaid. That is a name that seems to always bring trouble wherever it's heard.

The girl carefully and slowly reached over and pulled the boy to her lap, giving him a comforting hug. This may be hard for him, but I have to ask it before Nyle returns... "Ronnie, what can you tell me about the demons? Both the one that set the fire and the ones that have been here for a bit?"
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Re: Umbertiel, part 2 (Inquisition)

Post by Graybeard »

"Ronnie, what can you tell me about the demons? Both the one that set the fire and the ones that have been here for a bit?"

"I -- I not be knowin', ma'am," the boy answered, a little bit of fear returning to his eyes. "Uncle Shemmy, he --" he started to tear up again, then made an admirable effort to control himself -- "he just be sayin' the big bad be lookin' like a Tsoo-rakyan devil. I be figurin' that be makin' him a demon, right? And I not be seein' the demons that be settin' the fire, but all the other altar boys and novices be sayin' they be just terrible to be lookin' on, wi' glowin' eyes an' horns an' such-like. I just be knowin' they be droppin' a burnin' beam on Uncle Shemmy ... right when he be there to be savin' me ..." The tears started again.

------------

"So he's not from town?" Sister Rose said, happy to pull the sheet back over the disturbing corpse.

"Not as far as anyone knows," Brother Arpad replied. "He's already been given the ritual of Luminosita's Peace, so I don't think there is much to be learned from him." He shuddered. "Probably just as well. One thing: if you look carefully, the burns all happened after he was already dead. There are no signs of burn or smoke damage to his lungs. It was a broken neck that killed him, from the looks of it. He must have got to the stable after it was already on fire, as though he was rescuing a horse, and then the roof collapsed on him -- there was what was left of a beam on his neck when he was found. The poor man."

But what was a man with no connection to the temple doing rescuing a horse from the temple's stables? Rose wondered. Well, on some level, it didn't matter. If Arpad's analysis was right, this man was an unfortunate bystander to the fire, not its perpetrator (or, for that matter, its target). That happened, all too frequently, in fact. For once, maybe he's not our problem. "Would you like our -- my help in preparing the body for a funeral and burial?" she said.

Arpad smiled; that made two Orthodox priests in a row whom Rose had seen do that in her presence. That didn't happen often. "No," he answered. "We'll do our jobs here. We just thought you might know something that would help our fact finding. No, go in peace." He smiled again. "I think you're entitled to some."

Rose and Argus took their leave of the priest and the body, and Rose breathed a large sigh of relief as they walked off. "I'm still puzzled that that guy looked like one of the dead men on the way up that pass," she said, "but I don't think there's much for us to do here. Let's go back to that diary. But first, want to check on Eli and Desiree and Bryce and Maduin, as long as we're here?" She smiled wryly. "As long as they're not ... occupied, of course." Then she got serious for a moment. "Speaking of which, have you seen Harker lately?" A glimmer of horror began to rise in her eyes ...
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Drannin
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Re: Umbertiel, part 2 (Inquisition)

Post by Drannin »

Argus froze. "Oh, weave, no..." he breathed in pure horror.

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Elsewhere, carefully concealed, and with a broad smile, Harker soundlessly sketched what he was certain would be marvelous inspiration for future projects.

He'd have to do something nice for Eli and Desiree.

(OOC: Well, where else?)
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