Captain Ahappi faced off against the two guards at the gates of the Court of Silence: ancient armoured knights/“men of all” of the Rokari faith, seemingly without bodies inside their ornate suits. With the help of his comrades that ran to help (Maugis?), he quickly had them knocked down, disarmed and surrendering– but then an oily cloud of blackness issued forth from around the gates, enveloping you all in a senseless void, helpless and freezing. When it withdrew, the wheelbarrow with the Baronet's body had gone! Inyana was inconsolate.
As you entered the Court, you noticed that the sign over the gates had changed- it now read “Silence is evidence of penitence”- what had happened? Was that Rokari magic that had stolen the Captain's tongue, or something else? An evil feeling had overcome you outside the gates back then, but now was gone, replaced merely by the foreboding of being in the core of the Rokari afterlife… All of you steeled yourself in the presence of that ominous power, which threatened to send you screaming out of the Court.
A laugh sounded, then a squeaky voice echoed around the court entryway: “Whose hall is this, so merry in the silence? Why, tis Malkion's Court of Silence, and tis the laughter of despair, the daily drink here. It would sound joyous only to those most unwelcome-[hiss] the living! The dead drip their last drops of blood to plead their cases for Solace, and so forfeit their final vestiges of life, but what do the living have to forfeit if it is life they want to bring back from the Land of the Dead?”
Inyana fidgeted in contemplation. Ahappi's eyes fixed on a furtive figure that slinked through the crowd, up into the amphitheatre seats surrounding the courtyard. It was the dark-skinned, bat-eared demonic creature that had tried to steal the body from Boamund/Inyana before, at Ethilrist's fort. He soon lost it in the crowd, but had a good look at it- and it at him...
Far at the end of the courtyard, the Judge of the Dead sat on its rickety throne (See attached image), attended by two flying eye-things (Rokari servitor essences) and thronged with supplicant, skeletal or defleshed bodies of the dead. Magical runic powers danced around him in dazzling glory. You silently approached, and saw a pile of slates and needles before you, which turned out to be writing implements: the needles to be used to write in your own blood! Rokari suffering continued well into the afterlife.
The Judge, proclaiming himself to be the Prophet Malkion (a very withered version thereof, you were surprised to see), addressed you and bade you speak his case, while his floating Perspicacious Eyes watched you, hovering around and inspecting you. You scrawled quick but passionate pleas on the slates:
Sir Karshkritar - We come seeking the life of our friend and the head of our household, cut down in the prime of his life. Give us back Baronette Sharven who's fate is still unfinished!
The Wizard - Froalar is a man of Faith. He will spread as well as keep the word of Invisible God, and bring his glory and light upon all.
The Veteran- This man is destined to be the leader of nations and people will follow him in he name of the Invisible God.
The Wise Woman- He needs to complete his destiny of bringing the peoples of the land together.
The Queen- My King was taken in useless battle when he should have led a long, heroic and friutful life. If love counts for anything, please return him.
The Sailor- Frolar is a naive fool, and must be returned to life to learn wisdom, suffering and his proper place… Oh and overthrow the Rokari church as is just. (If Ahappi's needle could drip venom rather than blood, it did then. And the blood was taken from his genitals, in heretical spite!)
The Judge/Malkion quickly proclaimed, “Seen it all mine eyes have. The dead one you seek has been unjustly removed from my court. Evil thieves of life and flesh, not welcome in my court, have absconded with it! Recover this body for judgement, you are charged. Without it, or without proper burial, lost the soul shall be and judged may it never be. Seek the Shrieking Cells in the Canyon of Pendulous Repentance… Return the body and its fate I, the Prophet Malkion, will decide, be it final judgement or reprieve, for only the Judge of the Dead may do so.”
You pondered how the Baronet's body was never buried, as is proper for Rokari dead, so you did have to bring it here to re-unite it with his soul, and the Judge would want that body, too. It must be properly prepared for a proper afterlife.
The Judge then continued, saying that your bodies had suffered and were too close to death for the living whose time had not yet come, so you could drink from the Font of Life (restoring most of you to full health and mana)– except for the Sailor, who received an icy reprimand for blasphemy. You then left the Court, followed by the two Perspicacious Eyes who continued to watch you from a safe distance.
You entered the lonely, desolate lands around the court, quickly leaving the crowded penitent dead behind and entering another land where the lost, tormented or non-penitent roamed. You came into an oily, warm cloud of stinking mist, and soon met two familiar figures: that of Sir Menekeyil, as jolly as ever and quite intact of body again, and of his slayer, the clanking, steam-powerered black armoured body of the vampire-like mechanical Venator, who the Knight proclaimed was now his servant, together hunting demons. He offered his help in return for your life-blood, which he thirsted for, but the Sailor/Captain declined, doubting that this truly was Sir Menekeyil, whose spirit still was bound within his sword and who would be unlikely to work with his murderer. You left them wandering through the mists; they departed with a jolly blessing.
Then you came upon a sight of an emaciated man in a cage of bones, with ghoulish figures tormenting him from the outside. Scraggly dark hair hung over his face, concealing his pallid visage. Ahappi scared them off, and freed the man, who was near death and hopelessly weak. The man whispered something to Ahappi, and this Sailor suddenly changed his demeanor, becoming reverent and excited. He insisted to bury the body, which died as he carried it along, and so he did find a suitable place to inter it. Hmmm… what was all this about? The Sailor was tight-lipped but showed new determination.
So you continued to travel the wastelands, searching for this Canyon of Pendulous Repentance and its cells where the King/Baronet was held. The badlands had taken on a rougher topography, so you must be drawing near.
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