Animals & Mannequins
Sigisfarne - April 9
Cai's accounts
Razzy, Matheus, Yewtree, Rush’d
We go straight to Hacket, the reaper. We reach the stony room. The reaper is there. We told him that we brought what he asked for.
Cai goes first and offers him the 3 items. He turns around and goes to one of the stone tables in the room. He picks up from the floor, a stone mortar, and starts grinding them. “Now, for the binding of the poultice, some of your blood - it’s for protection”. Cai hesitates but cuts her hand and drops some blood on top of it.
Now remove your clothes and get on here, choose a beast. (from the ones around the room) - a big cat head (the daggertoothed cat), the elk (beautiful silent elegant and strange), the cavebear whose power cannot be withstood, the sloth - ragged,,,, the sage owl whose eyes sees all secrets and lies, the mammoth, full of understanding.
Yewtree asks him if he is a gravekeeper. And extends his hand (after spitting on it) to greet him and show respect.
What is the ritual going to be? This is part of the blessing. She undresses and goes under the sage owl creature. Hacket approaches her and spreads the mixture on her, drawing symbols. He takes the owl head off the wall and puts it over her head.
R’ushd goes next. He undresses and his body is evidently very damaged - it looks like he suffered. He chose the elk.
Yewtree goes for the sloth and he keeps asking him “what are you doing now? - what is happening now?”.
Razzy goes next and she is very scared. She chooses the cave bear.
Rushed, under his elk hear speaks to Yewtree “I thought this was related to the weeping mother”. Hacket says “even gods must grow and learn”. He turns to Matheus. Metheus refuses to give the blood.
Razzy signals some symbols from the weeping mother towards the Hacket - and she cries a little.
In the next room, which is a bit domed, there’s a monolith brought into this place. There’s stones all around, arranged towards the walls. They are very sturdy - they reach all the way up to the ceiling. Matheus feels like he is being watched, a strange feeling - a sense of something being wrong. The form of this big sabertooth cat, a prehistoric feline with sharp teeth - phasing in and out of reality - it jumps out of the wall towards Matheus. He hurts him and then an elk does the same! He resists the attack of the giant elk.
“Take your blessings all”, Matheus’ last words, while he gives away his letter to Cai.
We go back and bury him.
Cai says “Another weight I’ll carry. Add it to the list.” while holding the letter.
“A tongue can wound just by lying still.” Cai tells the reaper while staring him down.
We go back, with Arlo this time, and we keep going straight.
We find copper stuff around. There’s many objects with different stages of quality. Some of them we recognise (cups, cutlery, etc.) - no weapons or tools. Just chunks of copper or decorations. Cai grabs a decorative piece of copper, like a coin, square - with a profile of someone - in good quality. She thinks it could be worth something. She also finds other bits of copper in good condition.
We continue to explore.
Yewtree finds a wide passageway in the copper room. We all follow.
We go down and the tunnel levels, opens up to a new space. The temperature drops and the air becomes clammy and damp. We hear a muffled distant sound, like white noise.
Humanoid figures are around the room, static. They are pale and their surface is damp. They are not statues. They hold mining tools, they look frozen still. There’s carts as well. Yewtree checks if they are alive, but they feel very cold. He thinks they are dead. But their parts move easily around. They are not that pale. They look normal. Yewtree cuts the finger of one and no blood coming out. They are more like mannequins.
They are clearly frozen in time (Cai pushes the skin of one and the blood flows away, but never comes back). They have blood in them, but it’s not flowing.
The mine carts are in a bad condition, but repairable. In a sorting bin, there are copper ingots and chunks of polished copper as well.
Cai convinces Yewtree that they might not yet be dead.
Rhusd tries to find something from the weeping mother around, but there’s nothing there!
We continue further towards a bridge, with planks. There’s a massive chasm.
Yewtree grabs a pebble, while Arlo grabs a big rock, and they both throw them down. We hear them splosh.
Rushd's accounts
People
Factions
Locations
Folklore
Prologue
The group asks Sigisfarne’s priest about Hackett. She does not know who he is and advises treading lightly. She also seems to think it prudent to send a missive to the priestess of a larger church to send a group to cleanse the ruins under the church as they start to sound possibly cursed.
The animals
RushdIbnUbada, Cai, Razvan, Mateus and Yewtree return to the RuinedChurch in Sigisfarne Hackett receives the requested items and performs a ritual where the adventurers must be naked and wear the heads of different animals.
” Dagger-toothed cat: swift and lithe.
Elk: beautiful, silent, elegant, and strange.
Cave bear: whose power cannot be withstood.
Sloth: rugged, dogged, and stalwart.
Sage owl: whose eyes see all secrets and lies.
Mammoth: with eyes full of understanding. “
Hackett disregards the Weeping Mother.
Mateus refuses to wear an animal head. For that, he is claimed by spectral figures of the same animals. The group returns to the village, and Yewtree prepares a funeral for him.
A pile of copper
The group decides to go back to the church. They meet Arlo, who goes with them.
Beyond the large circular room lies six rooms - one for each animal. A final room holds a pile of copper regalia. The group spends time experimenting with the rooms. Finally, Yewtree finds a tunnel buried under the pile of copper.
Yewtree and Arlo are picking on each other.
The miner-mannequins
Following a corridor, the group finds four people paused in time. They are not dead, but not alive either. They look like mannequins. Yewtree prepares them to be taken from here for appropriate burial rituals.
The room also contains a few mining carts and a large sort bin. Some copper chunks are scattered, but no veins are found on the cave walls. Beyond the room, the white noise of a river fills the air. The group finds a wooden rope bridge that crosses the chasm towards a tunnel on the other wall’s face.
Yewtree and Rushd briefly explore the tunnel beyond the bridge. But as they get tired, they spend their remaining strength returning the mannequin bodies. Hackett allows them to pass with them.
Epilogue
The priest does not allow the group to bring the mannequins to the Church. They will stay at Yewtree’s house for now.