It is still early morning when Valamir wakes Wilhem who is slumbering in a chair. The knight is given a start when he sees the pale young man standing over him. He stands up and pain shoots through his muscles. When he is able to collect his wits, Wilhem asks, "how do you feel?"
"The same as you, I would guess," Valamir replies. "Like I've been run over by a turnip cart, but alive." He slowly walks over to the endtable and drinks from a cup of water Kendra had placed there for him. "What happened... after..." His voice trails off awkwardly.
Wilhem does his best to stretch out his aching limbs. "You fell -- we know not why -- and then we brought you back here. You rested through the night, but we did not know how to help you. Tatyanza's healing, it... she..." Wilhem stumbles now, not knowing how to adequately express himself.
"I know..."
"You know?" Wilhem repeats. "Can you please help me understand, because there are lots of people in this house -- including the woman we have vowed to protect -- who need some answers."
Valamir slowly sits on the side of his bed. Without looking up, he begins to speak. Wilhem stands nearby, listening intently.
"I was born sixteen years ago at a monastery of Iomedae. I am told my mother died shortly after my birth, and I never knew my father. The paladins at the monastery raised me, cared for me, kept me fed and clothed. But I always thought they treated me... strangely. Though I was but a child, it seemed as though they feared me. As I grew older, I began to notice that I was different from them, though I did not understand why. I could see in the dark and divine healing caused me pain. A few years ago, I became so frustrated with not having any answers, I fled the monastery. I learned how to survive on my own and found I could sometimes get people to do what I wanted. Eventually, I happened to meet a man who noticed my gifts -- that's what he called them -- but he did not seem to fear me because of them. I spent some time with him and we got to know each other."
"The Professor?" asks Wilhem.
"Yes. He told me one day that I was a dhampir... a half-breed born of a human mother and a... a..."
"Something else?" Wilhem offered, trying to ease Valamir's discomfort.
"Yes... something else not alive."
Wilhem's eyes grow wide, though he tries not to react. Valamir tries to continue, his normally pale face growing red.
"When the Professor told me, I... I went mad. At first I wanted to end my life. It's what Iomedae herself would have done. But the Professor taught me that while my father made me, he was not me. I no longer wanted to die, but instead I vowed to root out and destroy the undead wherever I could find them! I left the university where the Professor had been instructing me, and have been hunting the walking dead ever since."
Valamir stands and seems to want to run from the room. But he simply looks the knight in the eyes (with great difficulty), and says, "I am not a monster."
Wilhem breathes deeply and replies, "your birth was not of your making. Who -- or what -- you are will be determined by what you do with your life, not how it came to be."
Valamir manages a smile. The first Wilhem has seen from him.
"What is it?" asks the knight.
"That's just what the Professor told me."
"He was a good man, and he had a profound affect on everyone in this house. We all owe it to him to find out what happened and continue his good work, if we are able. To do that we'll all need to learn to accept each other. Blemishes and all."
"You may be right. But Wilhem... please, don't tell the goblin."
"He needs to know. He cannot hide what he is, and he does not try. I admit, I find it hard to trust him, too. But the Professor found a way. Perhaps we need to, as well."
Suddenly, there is a knock upon the door. Wilhem opens it and Tatyanza is standing there. She seems about to speak, but then she notices Valamir across the room.
"Are you alright?" she asks with genuine concern.
"Yes. Thank you." Valamir walks up to her and says, "I am different than most people, Tatyanza. I have learned how to treat my own wounds, but you cannot use your healing powers on me. I know you only wish to help, but... do this one small thing for me."
She seems confused, but says, "of course."
Wilhem asks her, "is there something you needed, or have you just come to check on our patient?"
She turns to the knight with a very serious look and says, "Kendra's opening the chest."
Valamir nearly knocks her down and races down the steps shouting, "no! We don't know what might be in there!" But he is much too late. When he reaches the base of the stairs, he sees Kendra pulling old, dusty tomes out of the chest and placing them on a table in the parlor.
Zooglub says casually, "well, we do now. And the house is still standing."
Kendra says, "Valamir, I know your concerns, but we need to know more about what my father has been researching. This is the only avenue of investigation left to us."
"And look at this!" says Zooglub while holding up a leather-bound journal. Scrawled on the cover are the words, READ ME NOW!
Kendra takes the journal and says, "this is my father's writing. We're doing the right thing, Valamir."
The pale young man sighs uncomfortably, but stands by as Kendra, Zooglub, and Yala examine the contents of the chest. Kendra begins to flip through the journal, but then finds she cannot.
"Could one of you, please?" she asks.
By this time Wilhem and Tatyanza have made their way down to the parlor. Tatyanza comforts Kendra and Wilhem takes the journal. After a few moments of glancing at it, he says, "there are some entries circled in here. Including the one from the day before he died."
He begins to read while the other tomes are appraised: Manual of the Order of the Palatine Eye, On Verified Madness, Serving Your Hunger, and The Umbral Leaves are among them. Each has been well read and annotated in the margins. Despite their apparent age, they are in good condition.
Kendra becomes emotional, "he devoted his life to using this knowledge for good and protecting the same people who now condemn him!"
"Nobody here condemns him, Kendra," Tatyanza says gently. "We know he was a good man."
"It will take quite some time to go through all of this," says Yala.
"We may not need to go through all of it," Wilhem says from across the room where he has been skimming the circled passages in the journal. "Listen to these entries that the Professor marked in here... the first one is from about ten years ago..."
Zooglub says solemnly, "well, the worst has come to pass, it seems."
Kendra has tears running down her face. "So... my father was murdered."
"We don't know that for sure, Kendra," says Wilhem, "but he certainly felt as though he had something to fear from this Whispering Way."
"Do they have anything to do with The Whispering Tyrant?" asks Valamir, referring to Tar-Baphon, an arch-lich of frightening power who ruled Ustalav long ago.
"Absolutely," replies Zooglub. "They are a cabal of necromancers who have existed for thousands of years. Their organization is older than Tar-Baphon himself."
"Their primary goal is to awaken him, however," offers Tatyanza.
"Yes," continues the goblin, "since The Tyrant's fall they have been occupied with little else."
"My order is dedicated to guarding against his return," says Wilhem. "I must notify my superiors of all we have discovered. They will be very interested in the activities of a cult who seeks pave the way for the return of the lich."
"But what could they have wanted in Harrowstone?" asks Kendra. "My father is dead because of them, and I want to know why they came here!"
"We will find that out, Kendra," replies the knight. "The first step is to access those lists at the Temple of Pharasma. Then we need to try finding the cache in the false crypt the Professor referred to. We'll need all the help we can get."
"Nobody would permit us to look at the records at the temple," says Tatyanza.
"Then we must try again," says Wilhem. "We have an idea of what we're up against now, but we still need more information. We cannot let anything deter us."
DM Notes:
400 xp for researching The Whispering Way. Knowledge (arcana) checks = Zooglub 27, Yala 23, Knowledge (religion) checks = Tatyanza 25, Valamir 19.
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