PART 7 – SILVER'S TALE
Kara awoke to the smell of fresh baked bread wafting in the air. She could feel her stomach growl in hunger. She stretched in her comfortable bed hugging her long fluffy pillow. The sunlight shone through the stained glass window shedding its kaleidoscope of color on the floor. It had been a long night, not knowing what time it was, she stretched, yawned, and began brushing her long red hair. She quickly donned her robes and shoes and decided she would see who had bread. As she stepped out her door, she could her Father Shober in his office praying.
"Oh Goddess of Light, guide these souls and free them from darkness giving them ever lasting life..." Kara smiled and always admired Father Shober's pious attitude.
She wanted to be like him but knew she still had a ways to go as he had years of wisdom that she still had yet to experience. Not wanting to distract Father Shober, because he probably had someone from the town seeking guidance, she went into the chapel to say her morning prayers pushing aside her hunger. To her surprise Mason was already in prayer knelt down by the altar.
Kara knelt down on the opposite side and began to pray. Julien was still sleeping sound wrapped in his bedroll on the floor. After ten minutes Father Shober emerged from his office with an older couple. "Thank you Father, we appreciate your generosity" the older woman thanked. "You're welcome, just continue following the Goddess and your blessings will multiply" he said benevolently. Almost in unison, Mason and Kara stood finishing their daily prayers.
"Ah, Mason, Kara, I have lunch for you in my office" Father Shober acknowledged them.
"Lunch? Is it already lunch?!" Kara freaked out a bit.
"It's ok…you three had a late night" Father Shober dismissed her sudden panic.
"Thanks again Father" an older bald man said thankfully then winking at Mason and Kara.
"Bless you too John" Father Shober replied as they opened the chapel doors and exited.
"You two feel rested now? It's now in the afternoon, but luckily two of our chapels regulars brought some extra lunch for us. We have a couple loaves of bread, some cheese, and a few apples" he finished.
"Thank you Father, I'm very hungry" Mason admitted. They both followed Father Shober back into his office. He had two fresh loaves of bread and had a half of a cheddar cheese wheel. Father Shober cut them each a generous portion which they took and gave thanks to the Goddess for their gifts.
"So, what's really going on around here?" Mason asked taking a bite of cheese. "Wouldn't you rather wait until all of your party members are present?" Father Shober smiled.
Kara rolled her eyes, "We can debrief him later, we really don't expect a whole lot from him"
"Now he was useful when we were attacked on the way here" Mason interjected. "Come on, we would have been fine on our own" Kara dismissed the idea.
"I don't know…" Mason trailed off.
"What happened?" Father Shober asked with mild concern.
"We were attacked by snails…" Kara replied sarcastically downplaying the incident.
"Those weren't the ordinary snails that inhabit this area, there was something different about them, much different" Mason emphasized.
"How were they different?" Father Shober said making himself a sandwich.
"Fine, they were a LOT stronger" Kara admitted.
"That's what I was afraid of…" Shober replied putting his sandwich down taking a book from his shelf.
"What do you mean?" Kara said with a puzzled look.
"The dark energy has increased almost tenfold now" Shober replied.
"What does all of this mean?" Mason pressed.
"The balance has been offset, and it's not in our favor" Shober concluded.
"This is the fourth time in the past few weeks I have heard of travelers being assailed by weaker creatures that generally aren't aggressive, and they're MUCH stronger" Father Shober emphasized mimicking Kara.
Mason and Kara were quiet taking it all in, but Kara nodded getting the message Shober was trying to get across to her.
"Are the end times here?" Mason asked bluntly.
"In the Holy texts, it mentions this when there is an imbalance of power" Shober said scanning an old leather bound book.
"The Goddess won't let this happen" Kara smiled in confidence.
"Our Goddess' power is not unlimited, yes, it's true she possesses more power than almost any immortal being, but alas, she depends on her followers for her power too. People haven't been exactly breaking down the doors to listen to the sermons. People have lost faith or have grown too attached to the material world and their possessions. Why do you think she hasn't been able to leave her tower in so long? Our numbers have dwindled over the years, not many folks care to live a life devoted to her teachings" Kara and Mason could only sit nodding and listening.
"Yes, the world has an unprecedented problem on their hands; but, our immediate problem I believe is a vampire, which I thought didn't exist" Shober paused.
"So how do we defeat it?" Mason asked immediately.
"I'm not quite sure, there are ways, but we are talking about a mythical being that could possibly be real. I do know it is a very unholy creation, so we have the advantage—in THAT aspect" Shober emphasized.
"To sum it all up about a vampire, that is my suspicion, but I could be wrong" Father Shober shrugged leaving the two clerics confused.
"Do you have any leads?" Kara was quick to jump in.
"I've spoken to four of the town guards. Two claimed to see a huge dark wolf like creature with red glowing eyes. From the reports they made, three of the victims had their throats ripped out. Two victims were completely drained of their blood leaving them looking ghostly; but, when they were being buried on the north side of town, the caretakers had noticed their graves had been dug up" Shober said closing the book gently lying it down.
Father Shober took his sandwich and took a big bite slowly chewing his food.
"My question is, why must they come to the church for help? We're not warriors? I'm assuming that the town guardsmen are competent warriors" Mason said rubbing his head a bit overwhelmed.
"These attacks are supernatural in nature Mason, this town doesn't really have any residential magicians and I'm the last Priest that resides here. I just let the last three Clerics studying under me take leave to go to El Nath to finish their studies to become Priests as well" Mason nodded.
"Who's in charge of protecting the town, it's not like Lith Harbor has an established mayor like Henesey" Kara pointed out.
"Our Viking friend Olaf takes care of that. The town council members are the ones who make all the important decisions in this town. A young man named Jason, a sailor name Teo, and some of the shop owners, I can't remember them all" paused then resumed eating. Kara and Mason sat there contemplating for a moment.
"I think we should go and pay Olaf a visit first" Kara suggested. Mason nodded in agreement.
"Maybe you kids will learn something that I missed, but I repeat, do not go to the cemetery during the night—as a matter of fact return back here by sunset" Shober sounded serious, but they were interrupted by a knock at the door. Mason reached for the door handle and pulled open the door. Julien stood there still yawning and when he finally opened his eyes acknowledging everyone he finally spoke.
"So, what's the plan today?"
"Here, you should eat and get your energy up" Father Shober said evenly handing Julien a small sack. Kara and Mason gave each other blank stares.
Everything seemed ok on the surface in Lith Harbor but one could tell that people in town were whispering rumors of an unknown fear. Everyone seemed on edge. As the afternoon went by, the clouds began rolling across the sky blocking out the sun. Mason began discussing what was going on in an abridged version while Kara waited impatiently.
"So let me get this straight, we're going to find some guy named Olaf, maybe talk to a couple guards, and maybe a couple of townsfolk?" Julien replied almost flabbergasted, but Mason smiled and nodded.
"Are you sure you guys need me for this?" Julien whined.
"You know, you can just stay here!" Kara's voice shouted from outside the door. Mason buried his face in his hands.
"Well, then I guess it's settled" Julien replied opening the door so he could face Kara directly. Kara's green eyes bore into him like daggers.
"You got something to say red?" Julien smiled. Kara's face was indeed turning as red as her hair, "Actually, um yea, there IS" she gritted through her teeth.
"Is there a problem?" Father Shober walked out of his office with a couple of parchments and several empty flasks in a knap sack.
"Oh, uh, no, not at all" Kara immediately changed her demeanor not wanting Father Shober to see her angry.
"Good, I'm going up into the loft to look over some old parchments and to make some holy water. Remember, be back by sunset, I don't want you kids out and about after dark without me" he instructed as he disappeared in the chapel.
"I didn't know there was a loft here" Julien looked around.
"Yes, it's where the reed organ is and there is a small study room up there, you have to climb the ladder in the far left corner of the chapel to get to it" Mason informed.
"So what are you going to do?" Mason said grabbing his cloak to join Kara.
"Well, this seems like we need someone stealthy for this kind of mission" Julien shook his head.
"What do you mean?" Mason asked watching Kara storm off back in the chapel.
"Don't worry, I'll meet you guys back here later this evening" Mason threw his hands up and ran to meet up with Kara in the chapel.
Julien closed the door and sat in the room for a few moments pondering the information he just heard. He took out his spell book and decided to study for a short while, but was eying the Kerning City scroll he had in his back pack. He took it out for a moment and placed it back in his bag. He opened his book and began looking over some of the fire and poison spells. The runes and symbols were those that an intermediate magician could understand fairly easily. He was trying to figure out how to make his magic more powerful by substituting other symbols of power. He could see the end results were about the same, except one arrangement seemed like it might be a bit stronger. He began thinking about the scroll again and a wicked smile curled up on his lips.
Kara noticed the light coming into the chapel was rather dim somehow.
"He's staying?" Kara smiled. Mason nodded his head.
"Good, he's almost worthless anyway" she said as they stepped outside.
Kara pulled her white robe jacket tighter as a cooler breeze began blowing into the harbor. The sky was gray and fog was beginning to set in. "It's a little chilly" she remarked.
"So where is Mr. Olaf?" Kara thought for a moment remembering him. "He's probably somewhere out by the docks working with the harbor men, or he's in the pub drinking according to Father Shober" Mason replied as she sighed.
"Well lead on, you know this town much better than I do sister" Mason prompted her as she paused for a moment then began leading Mason in the western part of the town.
People seemed to be rushing around as they were drawing little attention. Lith Harbor was a fairly busy town with trade, but not of late as of rumors of bad storms and sea monsters started scaring merchant ships away leaving only the hardiest of sailors and merchants from the skies who were lucky enough not to encounter a balrog's ship. Kara picked up the attitude of the town. It wasn't how she remembered it. Studying beginner magician skills and learning the Holy Texts in Ellinia was a lot of her teenage years. She remembered just this week three new magicians were officially ranked clerics. It reminded her of her younger days training with other magicians in Ellinia's forests and spending two weeks out of the month with Father Shober at the chapel with her other sisters preparing for their life change.
Mason grew up in Perion where most people in that remote area were almost expected to become great warriors. Mason had only been to Lith Harbor a few of times; first, as a child with his brother to trade goods at the market. Then the last couple times for preparation for his rite of passage before he became a cleric due to the lack of space at the Chapel.
The money was good as they sold animal hides and tribal beads to many superstitious sailors. His brother ended up getting hired by an adventuring party traveling to El Nath but that was over a year ago. Mason became more pious after nearly being killed by a fire boar that his brother slew.
Kara was deep in thought until they finally made it to the port. It was the biggest port in Victoria Island.
"So, what does this Mr. Olaf look like?" Mason asked looking around.
"He looks like a cross between a sailor and a Viking" she answered scanning the men on the docks. Mason turned to his right and spotted a man that fit that description. "You mean that guy wearing that ridiculous helmet?" Mason smiled.
Kara glanced back his way. "I think so" she smiled.
As they approached some of the men were eyeing Kara and some whistled. Kara rolled her eyes until they finally were able to approach the man Mason spotted.
"Mr. Olaf?" Kara asked quizzically. The tall broad shouldered man with the Viking helmet turned to them.
"That be me! Who's askin'?" he asked regarding the two of them suspiciously.
"We're from the church of the Goddess" Mason stated proudly.
"Aye, Father Shober sent ye eh?" he smirked.
"Yous kids are a bit out o' yer league don't ya think?" Olaf said sizing them up.
"Don't know" Mason retorted.
"That's what we need to speak to you about" Kara tried to be polite. Olaf was well over six feet tall and very stocky. He had his blond hair braided and had a long mustache that hung in front of his chin. His ice blue eyes were cold looking. He wore a pair of ripped up denim pants and an old leather vest, and his boots looked old and worn out.
"We wanted to ask you about the murders in town, and if anyone had seen anything" Kara explained.
"I've done told Father Shober everything I know" he paused and looked around then got closer to Kara and Mason and began whispering.
"I slew several undead a couple nights ago but don't ya go getting da towns people upset, I'm having enough problems already. Go to the Drinking Fish and speak with Silver there, he may be able ta tell ya more" Olaf whispered archaically.
Mason and Kara looked at each other with dreadful stares.
"I have ta finish up here, I'd stay away from da graveyard without a bodyguard" Olaf said seriously then rejoined his men moving crates of merchandise off a ship.
"That went well…" Mason sighed.
"I don't know want to go in no pub" Kara shook her head.
"Why? It's not that late, probably just a bunch of old timers drinking a few" Mason explained.
"That's part of the reason I don't want to go" she laughed.
"Just ignore them, we're doing the Holy Goddess' work" Mason reminded.
"I know, I know…" she sighed looking across from the docks to the pub.
"Let's get this over with" she started walking away.
The pub, like most buildings in Lith Harbor, was like a villa style white stoned building with a blue roof. When they entered, the pub had a steady flow of customers. A number of patrons were there enjoying mugs of beer and shots of fine spirits. A few of them began to sneak glances at the robed couple that just entered. Six of them were older men, one was an older woman with her husband, and in the corner with a group of young sailors sat and even older man.
"So, how do we know which one is silver?" Kara whispered as they were getting unwanted attention.
Mason looked around and confidently walked to the bar. A man with a red beard strode up to them wearing a leather vest and a black full sleeved shirt underneath.
"May I help you?" he regarded them.
"We're looking for a man named Silver, do you know where I could find him?" Mason asked casually.
The bartender looked around the bar for a moment, "Ah ha, he's over in the corner with that group of sailors, the man with the peg leg" he smiled.
Kara didn't recognize any of the faces in the pub then spotted Silver. He looked shabby wearing a cook's apron. He was a stocky man with grayish white hair and bright blue eyes. He was a tanned man with a big anchor tattooed on his shoulder. He looked like he seen several adventures in his day. He sat at a table with five men of different ages. He looked rather animated as he spoke. They started to walk towards the table but didn't want to interrupt him.
"What's he doing?" Kara whispered. Mason listened for a moment and smiled, "He seems to be reliving his past…"
"We're going to be here awhile" Kara sighed.
Some of the guys at the table began peeping at Kara. Silver noticed he was losing his audience's attention and he finally turned around.
"Oh, we have a young lass in the building" he smiled.
Kara smiled sheepishly, "Have ye come to listen to my tales too?" he asked with a hint of excitement in his voice. Mason smiled, "Uh yea, actually…"
Silver put his hand up, "Let the young lass speak sir" he said cutting Mason off abruptly.
"Ask about the recent tales…" Mason whispered to Kara.
"Yea, we did as a matter of fact" she smiled reading Mason.
"We would like to hear a particular tales of the ghastly things that is rumored you saw a few days ago" Kara laughed.
One man at the table whistled at her, but Silver did not seem so amused anymore. His face became serious, "Why do you ask?" he said suspiciously.
"We're from the Church of the Holy Goddess" she explained.
"I really don't want to talk about it…" he shook his head.
"What is she talking about?" one sailor demanded.
"Yea, tell us Silver!" another said.
"She's a very pretty lass, tell her what she wants" one middle aged sailor winked at her. Silver thought for a moment and changed his demeanor, "Ok, if you have night terrors don't say I didn't warn you!" Silver warned shifting uncomfortably in his seat.
"Who do you think you're talking to?!" One sailor laughed.
"It started a couple weeks ago actually. Late one night after I shut my weapons shop down, I went out with Vikin and a couple other mates of mine to help them meet their quota of fish for the week for some extra mesos" he paused for a moment.
"We went out on a small boat with about eight of us. The night sky was fairly clear. We went a couple nautical miles off shore and we found us a spot and the fish came a rollin' in. As the night went on, a strange mist began rolling in. At first we thought maybe it was just rain clouds coming. It began drizzling and then that was when we saw a ship several yards starboard. The ship looked like an antique almost as it was sailing and it had a strange glow about it. Not wanting to alarm the masters of the ship because we didn't know if they were friendly or hostile. We decided to make our way back to shore even though our catch was only half of what we were looking for. The water was unnaturally still, almost as if we were in the eye of a hurricane. That wasn't the case; however, when we arrived back on shore we heard a woman scream. So my mates ran ahead of me to help the lass who screamed. I was trying to get there as quickly as I could but before I could get there I heard multiple gun shots ring out. I heard more screams, some of them belonged to my mates!" he stopped for a moment and took a long drink of ale followed by a deep sigh. Everyone at the table listened intently.
"Well, what did you see?" one of the younger sailors pressed. Silver took another deep breath and continued.
"It was a bloody mess, four of my mates were lying dead clawed and bitten. The woman was fading in and out of consciousness as blood was dripping from her neck. Another young man, who must have been her boyfriend, was lying dead with similar wounds. Two of the four who were still standing looked very badly wounded. I only saw the back of the creature as it began leaping towards the edge of town attacking random citizens. By the time it was all over with, eight people had died. We tried to save the woman and two other guys who had rushed into danger, but the wounds were fatal and by morning they were all dead" he stopped and rubbed his face.
"What did the creature look like?" Mason asked with great interest.
"It wasn't anything that inhabited this island. It had fur black as night, razor sharp claws, and teeth like daggers. Its eyes glow red as if it was a demon from the Netherworld. When it stood on its back legs it stood almost eight feet tall!" Silver opened his icy eyes wide making a grimacing expression pounding the table getting a startled reaction from just about everyone.
Kara closed her eyes for a minute.
"It must have been a big dog!" one sailor laughed that was completely unfazed.
"It was no dog, it would have ripped you apart" Silver said seriously.
"Is that so?" the sailor replied almost taking it as a challenge.
"It definitely sounds like it was otherworldly" Mason commented.
"That's only half of the story, over the next couple of weeks, familiar faces began to resurface. Family and friends of the dead were claiming to have seen them. Within a few more days more bodies began being found. No one knew what was going on. A night or two ago, Vikin, Olaf, and Teo had Father Shober accompany them to the cemetery north of here to purify the undead that were coming to feed off of us and lay them to rest" He paused again to take long gulp of ale.
Kara went into a trance and remained silent.
"How do you know so much?" Mason asked scratching his head.
"I was there…Father Shober wanted to hallow the ground" Silver sighed.
The sailors cheery mood changed to somewhere between fearful and skeptical.
"We had to burn the bodies to keep them from coming back from the dead. It was nothing but pure evil, even Father Shober was shaken up and he's been this town's priest for many years" he stopped finishing his mug of ale.
"Sounds like some Sleepywood shit" one sailor added.
"What happened next?" another sailor curiousity peaked.
"The thing tried to ambush Father Shober just two nights ago, but luckily for him, Vikin, Olaf, myself, and Teo were on our way at a late hour bringing someone who had been possessed for an exorcism. We saw Father Shober get knocked several feet back by one swipe of its paws. Luckily he was quick on his feet and disappered in a flash of light stunning the creature for just enough time for him to summon a bright shining ray that looked like an angel at the beast making it roar out in pain. As it was going to charge Father Shober, Vikin, Teo, and Olaf attacked it from behind. I shot at it several times with my Burning Hell pistol. The creature turned to attack us but Olaf took out his huge axe he calls 'The Rising' and hacked a deep gash in the beat's hide with a powerful strike. Father Shober blasted his holy arrows into the beast continuing to weaken it. The creature still fought relentlessly knocking tough Olaf aside clawing him twice then pouncing him. Teo and Vikin continued shooting the creature as it leaped at the two of them barely missing Teo with a vicious bite, but it used its hind legs to knock Vikin to the ground. Father Shober immediately came to all of their aid as he began calling out to the Goddess to heal their wounds. Then I stood face to face with the creature myself" Silver stopped shivering reliving the evil moment.
Silver went to take another gulp but the mug was empty and immediately Mason took his empty mug up to the barkeep.
"Another for him please" Mason smiled. "Aye, that will be a two-fifty mesos please" he laughed filling it up.
"You got him telling those crazy stories again have you?" the barkeep continued snickering.
"Um, yea…" Mason replied coolly handing him a three hundred meso bills.
"Keep the change" Mason said nonchalantly rushing Silver's full mug of ale back to him.
"Please continue" Mason urged totally intrigued. Silver took a long drink emptying have the mug down his throat.
"Yes, I fired a strong shot that I had been saving for just a desperate moment. I focused my will to live and my Burning Hell fired a critical shot to its paw, luckily for me this was a skill I learned as an adventuring Gunslinger long ago. The shot was able to allow me the force to push me back out of its way, but I dropped my crutch leaving myself totally wide open. Luckily by this time all of the town guardsmen had their pistols drawn firing on the beast. It had no choice but to retreat. That was one of the few times I believe I have ever come that close to the jaws of death. So, that was what happened until this point, I don't know what you kids think you're going to do against such a foe. We have had enough dead to bury for many lifetimes" Silver stopped again and finished the half mug of ale he had just gotten.
"That's insane, sounds like some of your old sea adventures but not as… um, what's the word?" one sailor stopped.
"Evil" Kara muttered as she opened her eyes. "Pure evil" she repeated. Mason glanced at Kara noticing she sounded very concerned.
"Is something wrong lass? I can buy you a drink?" one sailor winked.
"No thanks, Mason, we need to get back to the chapel.
"Thanks Mr. Silver" Mason smiled. "This is for your trouble" he said putting down a hundred meso note on the table. Mason and Kara quickly left the pub making their way back to the chapel.
"What's wrong Kara?" Mason asked as they walked swiftly. "I had a vision…" she sighed.
"A vision?! Of what?" he asked confused.
"I saw the beast… I only hope our companions are safe, may the Goddess watch over them" she said in a serious tone.
"You actually saw it?" Mason asked in disbelief. "Yes, the Goddess granted me a vision, it was horribly frightening, I hope Julien isn't trying to be a hero" she shook her head picking up her pace as Mason followed suit.
Once they made it to the entrance of the chapel they were greeted with Father Shober locking the door behind him.
"Father Shober!" Mason shouted. The sky had already begun to darken as the sun had already set.
"Mason, Kara, thank the Goddess! Where is Julien?" he asked. "We thought he was with you" Mason stated.
"It's hard to tell, he's probably taking a nap" Kara rolled her eyes. Father Shober opened the chapel door as they rushed back to the room. Father Shober knocked loudly.
"Master Julien?" He knocked again. Mason just opened the door but there was no sign of Julien.
"Where did he go?" Father Shober looked concerned.
"Well all of his stuff is here, so he couldn't have left the town" Kara pointed out.
"Wait, he wasn't at the pub, and that was a place that Jaster mentioned Julien liked spending his free time" Mason mentioned.
"We're supposed to be on a mission… sometimes I really have to question the Elder's choices" Kara said grudgingly.
"You don't think he would try going to the cemetery against what I advised do you?" Father Shober demanded. Kara closed her eyes and grabbed her head as if she just got a massive headache. "I really don't know, I truly doubt it but it's a small possibility"
