Candlemass 29 (afternoon), 6107 RTR (25 March 2004) Olivia and Amelia pay a visit to Isolde the witch to ask about broken-into crypt they found earlier.
(Amelia) (Blood From A Stone) (Olivia) (Stonebarrow) (Sylvania)
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The Gnarly Tree
Climbing halfway to the top of Witches' Rock, the Gnarly Tree dwarfs even the oversized trees used by Kadies. The tree trunk-thick roots are twisted and knotted, and the multiple trunks bulge out oddly in places – some of the bulges even sporting windows. Beneath the shade of its canopy, an oddly shaped log cabin sits, its angles skewed to conform to the wandering roots it hugs. A clearing surrounds the tree and Rock, with several fenced off herb and vegetable gardens filling most of the open space. To the east, the bulk of the Gnarly Woods looms darkly, contrasting with the calm tinkling of the numerous wind-chimes hanging from the twisted limbs of the tree.

As Olivia and Amelia arrive, a tall, thin Kadie woman with graying hair, who is drawing a bucket of water from the well, greets them. While she isn't wearing the official pointy hat, her dress and posture are still those of a witch.

Olivia spies the older witch at the well. She removes her rose-covered hat in a gesture of respect before approaching her. "Mistress Isolde? It's Olivia Weaver. I hope I find you well today?"

The older Kadie sets her bucket aside, and smiles to the Skeek. "Ah, good day Olivia," Isolde says in a confident voice. "And to you too, Amelia. I'm as well as anyone my age. Now, what can I do for you girls?"

Olivia exchanges a knowing glance with Amy before replying. "I find myself in need of advice, especially from one who knows much about our history. I know it it's an odd request, but… well, I would be glad of any information you could give me," the Skeek says, turning her hat around in her hands nervously.

The witch's eyebrows rise up, and she asks, "Is this something you'd rather talk about in private?"

"Yes please, ma'am. I think that would be a good idea," Olivia responds quietly.

"Amelia, get the bucket please," Isolde says, then turns and leads the pair into the structure at the base of the tree. Inside, the witch brings the girls to a sort of sitting room. "I'll make some tea and be right back," she says.

The walls of the room are oddly shaped, and don't look like they should join together as well as the they do. Shelves covered with odd knick-knacks and trinkets line the walls, except for one with an oval window looking out over the yard. The table is small, but still large enough for three chairs.

"Thank you very much," the Skeek says to her retreating back. Then to Amelia, she whispers, "I hope this goes well. I've never really talked privately with one of the witches before."

Amy twitches a bit as she takes a seat, then smiles to Olivia. "Oh, it's not bad. Isolde is nice, like… like a favorite Aunt or something," she tells Olivia.

Olivia takes the chair next to her and says, "That's good to know. I hope her attitude doesn't change when she hears the, um, weird questions I have to ask her."

Isolde returns a moment later, carrying a tray with a fine porcelain tea set on it. "Water will take a bit. Oh, I've got something for you from Morgan, Amelia," she says as she sets the tray down, then pulls a small bag from a pocket and tosses it to Amy, who nearly drops it in surprise.

"Oh, thanks," Amelia manages, after quickly stashing away the bag.

The witch takes her seat, and sets her hands in her lap. "Now, what it is you need advice on, dear?" she says to Olivia.

Olivia quirks an eyebrow at the bag, but doesn't comment. Instead, she hangs her cap on the back of her chair and says to Isolde, "I know this is not what folk from the village usually ask about, but I'd like to know about the old Sylvanian burial rituals. More specifically, how sarcophagi and crypts were prepared back then. Do you know anything of this? Was magic involved in any way?"

Isolde does look briefly surprised by the question, but recovers. "Well, there are quite a few burial rituals, depending on the race of the deceased. Are you asking about Skeek rituals?"

"Actually, the rituals in question may be for Eeee, although I'm not completely sure about that," Olivia replies. "I say that because Amy, Zahnrad and I came across some crypts that looked like they were made for Eeee families. We found two and one of them looked… well, like a mess. That's why I'm not completely sure about who the rituals would have been for."

"Over in the old Manor cemetery," Amy adds. "We didn't break in or anything though! We aren't grave robbers. But, like, something else dug a hole into the crypt and stole all the bodies, and the door was rotted and fell apart."

Olivia nods in agreement with Amy. "I'm afraid it was my idea to look at them. I wanted to see the stone artwork that usually decorates them up close," she says with some embarrassment.

"Hmmm," Isolde murmurs, just as the kettle starts whistling in the other room. She gets up silently and brings the kettle to fill the teapot, then nods to Amelia to begin making the tea. "So, you want to know about burial rituals for missing bodies?" the witch asks, one eyebrow quirked up.

Amy pours the tea, and mentions, "The family crest and all other markings had been chipped off of the tomb, too."

"The bodies are missing now, but I don't think they were missing at the time they were entombed," Olivia counters. "Whatever was done looked like it had occurred a while ago. The door was rotted all the way through and there was dust all inside the ruined crypt, so that speaks of age. And as Amelia says, some of the stonework had been chiseled off the lintel and the largest sarcophagus cap. That's what caught my attention the most. It made me think that perhaps the stone emblems had contained some sort of magical power that was supposed to keep the crypt intact."

"Which is what leads me to ask about the old burial rituals," the Skeek adds. "What do you think, Mistress Isolde?"

"Ah," Isolde says, and leans back in her chair to cogitate for a few moments. "Defacing the grave markers is an ancient custom. It supposedly is done to prevent the spirits of the dead from seeking revenge upon those who killed them. Although in the case of the Manor, it may have been done when a new family came to power, to hide the fact that they had not always been the ones in power."

"However, if what was removed were protective symbols or wards, it could be that someone wanted something bad to happen to the dead," Isolde adds. "If the bodies were taken away, that might count as 'something bad'."

Olivia thinks about this. Finally she says, "Would the Snapfish family have done such a thing to the crypt? I'm sorry to speak such an accursed name, but the crypt next to the ruined one we found had that family's emblem on it, still intact on the lintel. It didn't look like it had been touched at all. I don't know through what hands the Manor passed, though, and if they would have ever possessed it."

"Well, it is something I wouldn't put past the last Lord Snapfish," Isolde says, nodding. "He did kill his entire family to ensure that nobody would challenge him after he became undead. Desecrating a few graves would not be out of character for such a creature."

"Did he have any monster minions?" Amy asks, clutching her cup of tea.

Olivia hmms. "Although if that is the case, then might he not have desecrated his own family's graves, too? The Snapfish crypt we saw was untouched. Unless, of course, there was a second one for the family members he killed and that was the ruined one we saw."

"There was only the old retainer, Igor, and a few of the village girls he held under his power," Isolde says. "If the Snapfish tomb hadn't been touched, then perhaps the vampire did have some respect for his family. Or then, perhaps there isn't anyone buried in that tomb in the first place."

Olivia starts a little at this last idea. "Well now, that's something I hadn't thought of," she muses. "As for the bodies that had been in the ruined crypt, it looked like they might have been taken by some sort of creature. We saw deep gouges in the stone of one of the sarcophagi that looked like they were made by very strong, spade-like claws. Or perhaps the bodies were even – dare I say it – eaten. We saw maybe one bone in the whole crypt. Everything else was just dust." She shudders a bit at the memory.

"A ghoul, or demon of some sort probably," Isolde says casually. "Such things are rare, since burial has fallen out of fashion in these parts, and from your description this would have happened at least a few generations ago."

Olivia looks somewhat uncomfortable. "I didn't know ghouls could have claws," she says in surprise. "Aren't they supposed to be all transparent and misty-figured?"

Isolde laughs briefly, and explains, "My dear, anything can be a ghoul. They are just another type of undead, which feed on corpses instead of the living. It may be that one of Snapfish's girls turned out that way. They don't always become vampires."

"Just out of curiosity, who were the village girls that came under Lord Snapfish's power?" Olivia asks.

The witch sits silently for a moment before answering. "We don't speak of their names, out of respect. When Snapfish was… retired… the girls' families dealt with them. It isn't the sort of thing anyone would really want to remember, I'm sure you understand?"

Olivia nods and says quietly, "Yes, I do. I apologize for asking such an insensitive question." She pauses to take a sip from her teacup – and to wait for her embarrassed blush to fade – before speaking again. "To get back to my question about protective wards on crypts, may I ask what was involved in the making of them? And how they could be broken? If wards were on the ruined crypt, I don't see how just chipping off a stone emblem would have broken them. Wouldn't the person have to do more than that to erase the ward?"

"Oh yes, just removing the icons isn't enough," Isolde says, nodding. "They would first need to be, well, desecrated. I don't think you want to hear about how that is done though, but I'm sure you can imagine the obvious ways."

Olivia holds her cup and saucer very still as she asks, "Would something coming in from underneath the crypt and destroying the bodies count as desecration? Or would the ground beneath be protected by the ward, too?"

"That… is a good question," Isolde says, and sips at her tea. "I've generally felt that a ward works best when it can be clearly seen. But I've never heard of anyone putting a ward on a floor. Certainly not on a stone floor."

"And destroying the bodies would count as desecration of the tomb itself," she adds.

"So now I wonder if I haven't been getting these events backwards," Olivia says. "I thought that someone had chipped the icons off the crypt and that allowed it to be broken into – if wards were placed on those icons, the crypt's protection would be gone. But perhaps our creature burrowed in first and desecrated the crypt, which allowed for the icons to be taken off later. No ward on the floor, as you say, Mistress Isolde."

"That sounds plausible," Isolde notes. "If someone found the tomb had been broken into as you described, they may have removed the wards to make sure it wasn't used again, or to lay a curse upon it."

Olivia ers… "Lay a curse on a tomb? You don't think we could have picked up a curse just by walking in there, do you?"

Amy makes a small choking sound at the thought.

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that," Isolde says. "Most curses don't work like that, not on living people," she explains. "They work best when the target knows they're being cursed, you see. That's a very important part of it. When you put a curse on a place, it's the place itself that knows, and only spirits are affected by that."

"So only the spirits of the dead inside the crypt would be cursed?" Olivia asks. "Interesting. What would that be like – the spirits of the bodies laid in there must roam the earth until some wrong is avenged, or something like that?"

"Well, they wouldn't be allowed to stay there," Isolde says. "A curse is the opposite of a ward, you see. You ward a tomb to protect the spirits of the dead from evil influences, so that they don't turn bad. A cursed tomb would keep good spirits away, lest they be corrupted by the evil of the place."

Olivia thinks suddenly of the black room found in the depths of the castle she just came from, but pushes that thought to the back of her mind for now. Instead, she murmurs, "I see. That makes things more clear, thank you. I just wish I knew who had been buried in that crypt originally. That might make things even more clear – especially as to why someone would want to break in there in the first place."

"After the Necromancer Wars, it was common in some areas for graves to be dug up and the bodies burned," Isolde says. "It didn't make any difference really, as far as the spirits were concerned. They'd still show up anyway."

"And if the place had been cursed, the spirits could then be lured away to other places by evil actions?" Olivia asks, just to settle her mind on that point.

"I hadn't thought of that possibility before," Isolde admits, looking thoughtful. "The spirits of the dead are very unpredictable. I suppose evil could attract evil though."

"Unpredictable, eh? Where have I heard that before?" Olivia mutters under her breath to herself. As she finishes her tea, she says in a louder voice to Isolde, "Zahnrad and Amy and I were thinking of going back to that crypt to replace the rotted door with a new one. Considering what we found in there, we thought it might be a, ah, very good idea. Just wish we could put the wards back, if there had truly been any, but I suppose you can't have everything." She smiles weakly.

"If it will put you at ease, I'll take Morgan out there tonight and perform a cleansing ritual," Isolde says. "I've been meaning to teach it to him anyway. Then it will be safe for you to go and seal up the tomb again."

Olivia smiles at the older witch gratefully. "Would you? That would be very kind. It would do much towards re-establishing our peace of mind - and maybe it will help a few spirits, in the bargain."

"Is there anything else you need while you're here?" Isolde asks. "Love potions, medicines, or the like?"

Olivia thinks briefly of Igor and asks with a grin, "Do you have anything to keep someone from falling in love with you?"

"Oh yes," Isolde says, getting up. "But I imagine you'll want something smaller than Amelia's staff? How about a nice mace?"

Amused, the Skeek girl laughs as she also gets to her feet and picks up her cap. "That might do, as long as it has plenty of sharp, pointy spikes on it… "

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GMed by BoingDragon

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