December 31st, 973
The Story So Far (Well, the immediately relevant parts of it, at least)
With three weeks having passed since the previous session, today’s session began with a review of everything the party believed it had learned about the mysteries surrounding Hollowmere, Mira’Thar, Colonel Varnes, and the Bound Chorus.
Although many questions remained unanswered—and some of their conclusions might yet prove incorrect—the heroes had assembled the following chronology.
Approximately six centuries ago, the King of Archea and his Grand Vizier discovered a means of achieving practical immortality. Rather than allowing themselves to die of old age, they periodically transferred their minds into the bodies of their own children, sacrificing each heir so that the ruler might continue governing in a youthful body. According to Colonel Varnes, the current King Harold III and Grand Vizier Ergon are not descendants of those ancient rulers but are, in fact, the very same men.
Prior to the Righteous War, Goghnol Mogh and Archea co-existed peacefully. Trade flowed between the kingdoms, treaties governed water rights and mining, and both civilizations benefited from shared resources despite the occasional dispute.
During this era, Mira’Thar stood as one of the Orcish kingdom’s foremost centers of research and learning. Built deep beneath the mountains where stable geology, abundant quartz, and rich metal deposits favored both magical and mundane experimentation, it originally served entirely peaceful purposes.
About five hundred years ago, the Righteous War began with a surprise Archean invasion. The swift victory the Crown expected never materialized. Instead, the conflict settled first into a bloody stalemate before gradually escalating into a war of mutual extermination.
As the war worsened, Mira’Thar transformed from a center of scholarship into a military research and production facility before finally becoming a fortified redoubt and refugee center—one of the last great strongholds of Goghnol Mogh.
Its fall came through the deployment of the demons the humans called the Bound Chorus and who called themselves the Sereth. Although magically summoned and bound into service, they proved impossible to control on open battlefields, slaughtering human and Orc alike. Thereafter, they were employed only against isolated underground strongholds such as the ancient waterworks previously explored by the party and, ultimately, Mira’Thar itself. Frequently, once a redoubt had been cleared, the Sereth responsible would simply be sealed inside rather than risk allowing them back into the world.
Victory, it seemed, had developed a distressing tendency to become a problem for the future.
After the war, eight Sereth still required imprisonment and Mira’Thar itself was selected as their tomb. Each demon was sealed behind a massive black door within an individual prison chamber, while an additional containment system of basalt, lead, and powerful runic wards surrounded the entire complex. The existence of both Mira’Thar and the Bound Chorus was then erased from the historical record, with knowledge of them preserved only through a quiet succession of trusted Crown officials.
Approximately ten years ago, Soulreaper and her followers began secretly excavating beneath Hollowmere. Their objective was not the Bound Chorus—for they did not yet know it existed—but rather the lost knowledge, technology, and cultural history of Mira’Thar, which they hoped would aid both an eventual rebellion against the Crown and the construction of whatever civilization followed. Over the years they established an extensive underground organization capable not only of excavation but of training soldiers, manufacturing equipment, gathering intelligence, and preparing for the conflict they believed inevitable.
About eight years ago, Crown officials noticed evidence that someone else was digging beneath Hollowmere. Fearing that the long-buried Bound Chorus might be rediscovered, they established the public fiction of a copper mine while secretly conducting a search of their own. Ironically, the exact location of the prison had itself been forgotten over the centuries, forcing even the Crown to excavate blindly.
Three years ago, Colonel Varnes assumed command of the project. As one of the very few officials entrusted with the truth, he alone understood the excavation’s real purpose.
Two years ago, Varnes encountered Soulreaper herself. After hearing her account of the Righteous War and witnessing the consequences of six centuries of Crown rule, he secretly changed sides. Although he retained command of the Crown excavation, his true loyalty shifted to Soulreaper’s coalition. During this period he carried out numerous covert operations on her behalf, including the establishment of the Cambrian Compact and the capture or destruction of ancient Crown records at Nareen’s Hill.
Roughly six months ago, Soulreaper’s followers finally located Mira’Thar itself and began systematically removing artifacts, records, and technology from the ancient complex. Although the strange whispering voices unsettled many of the workers, they continued after being reassured by their leaders that there was nothing to fear—provided no one, under any circumstances whatsoever, opened one of the large black doors helpfully covered with ominous warnings in several ancient languages. This confidence was not born of ignorance. Colonel Varnes had already informed Soulreaper of the Sereth sealed within the complex and that the black doors must never be opened. Soulreaper, however, appears to have shared only what her followers needed to know. Rather than alarming miners and laborers with stories of ancient imprisoned bloodthirsty demons, she simply ordered that the doors remain sealed and trusted her commanders to enforce that rule. For nearly six months, that confidence proved entirely justified.
Six weeks before the party’s arrival, Crown surveyor Corvin Hale independently discovered an entrance into Mira’Thar and became trapped within. Unable to leave because of the influence the voices held over him, he survived by scavenging rats and water while the imprisoned Sereth spoke with him daily. They repeatedly demanded release but, unable to break his resolve, gradually changed tactics. Instead of coercing him, they began cultivating him—helping him find food, avoid danger, and apparently hoped to slowly earn his trust… or break him down.
About two weeks before the heroes reached Hollowmere, Corvin’s friend Lysa Harrow disappeared while searching the surrounding caves for him. The party has since learned that she instead stumbled upon the Zeppies’ hideout and was murdered to preserve its secrecy.
Around the same time, Crown miners digging ever deeper beneath Hollowmere began reporting faint whispering voices that grew louder with each passing day. Colonel Varnes knew that this meant they were close to the Bound Chorus but kept that knowledge to himself and his trusted aides.
On December 20th, Crown excavators unexpectedly broke into an ancient engineered corridor—the first untouched entrance into Mira’Thar in five centuries. As was standard procedure, a reconnaissance party consisting of ten soldiers, a scholar, an engineer, and a surveyor entered the newly discovered passage.
Only Engineer Howell returned.
Physically battered and mentally shattered, he could offer only fragments.
- “The voices knew my name.”
- “The dead were talking.”
- “Don’t open the black doors.”
- “We shouldn’t have dug.”
The party now believes that members of this first expedition succumbed to the Sereth’s whispers and opened two of the prison chambers. The newly freed entities immediately resumed the purpose for which they had been created, killing indiscriminately throughout the complex before eventually recovering enough self-control to pursue escape more deliberately. Numerous members of Soulreaper’s expedition were also slain during this outbreak, prompting Throk to order a withdrawal. He himself turned back in an effort to rescue additional survivors and became trapped inside alongside them.
On the twenty-second, the Crown dispatched a second, much larger expedition consisting of thirty soldiers and an engineer.
None returned.
The party has since discovered fifteen of those soldiers still alive. Based upon the evidence found within Mira’Thar, they concluded that the expedition fractured after encountering the Sereth. Those unwilling to free the remaining Sereth appear to have been murdered by their comrades, while the survivors resolved to release the rest of the Bound Chorus in exchange for whatever promises the Sereth had offered them.
That very evening, the party itself first arrived in Hollowmere.
The following day, Colonel Varnes entered Mira’Thar accompanied only by Lieutenant Colonel Halifax and Captain Billings after ordering all excavation work suspended. None of the three officers returned.
Left in command, Major Elric Thorne found himself facing an impossible situation. He feared whatever awaited beneath the mountain, feared what Varnes might now be attempting, and feared the consequences once the Crown learned that three successive expeditions—including the commanding officer—had vanished under his watch. Although he had already dispatched a report requesting instructions, no reply had yet arrived, leaving him desperately hoping that somehow the crisis might resolve itself before his superiors demanded answers.
On the twenty-ninth, the party itself was effectively compelled to enter Mira’Thar and tasked with making the complex safe for the Crown by assessing structural stability, eliminating hostile forces, recovering abandoned equipment, and rescuing Colonel Varnes and his companions. The proposed compensation was meager at best, consisting primarily of promises that they might retain whatever treasures the Crown found uninteresting.
Since entering the ruins, the party has found itself drawn into an increasingly tangled web of competing factions and ancient horrors. They have been trapped within the complex by the Sereth, formed a tentative alliance with Throk, Kesh, and Soulreaper’s trapped expedition, rescued the long-missing Corvin Hale, fought a hostile faction of goblins and hobgoblins, encountered the surviving members of the second Crown expedition, discovered the prison of the Bound Chorus, and, perhaps most surprisingly of all, found Colonel Varnes and his companions alive—not only willing to talk but eager to recruit the party to their cause.
Unfortunately, Colonel Varnes confirmed what Throk had hinted at earlier. Soulreaper—the last queen of Goghnol Mogh—was quietly preparing to launch a war to overthrow the Kingdom of Archea. Her coalition of orcs, goblins, hobgoblins, and undead intended to overthrow the Crown, punish those presently responsible for oppression and slavery, and establish a new government. They did not intend to punish innocent descendants for the crimes of their ancestors. They did intend for the new government to remain permanently under Orcish leadership in order to ensure that the events of the past five centuries could never be repeated.
Perhaps even more troubling, Varnes had developed a second plan.
Rather than wage a long conventional war, he hoped to recapture the Sereth, bend them to Soulreaper’s service, and use them to end the conflict quickly before it consumed hundreds of thousands of lives.
The party found itself in the uncomfortable position of agreeing with much of his diagnosis while recoiling from his proposed cure.
They had little affection for the current Crown. They found much to admire in Soulreaper’s stated goals. They were uneasy about the prospect of permanent Orcish rule.
They were absolutely horrified by the idea of anyone attempting to command the Sereth again.
In summary, then, the Kingdom of Archea appeared to be hurtling toward catastrophe from several different directions simultaneously.
And while the Dungeon Master was careful not to assign responsibility…
…he felt strongly that someone really ought to do something about it.
Choosing A Course
The review complete, the story resumed with the party seated in Colonel Varnes’ restored laboratory, trying to decide whether the man before them represented the Kingdom’s best hope… or its next catastrophe.
The discussion quickly returned to the question that had dominated the previous session.
Could the Sereth be controlled?
Varnes remained unwavering. He acknowledged that his proposal carried considerable risk but argued that every available alternative carried far greater costs. If the imprisoned Sereth could be magically bound to Soulreaper’s service, the coming war might last weeks instead of years. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians who would otherwise perish could instead survive.
The party remained unconvinced.
Their concern was no longer whether Varnes sought good ends; by now, most of them accepted that he genuinely did. Their concern was whether anyone—including Varnes—could safely wield a weapon capable of destroying an entire civilization.
Varnes then explained why he believed time was working against them and why, in his view, his plan was the only practical solution.
The situation within Mira’Thar had changed dramatically since the arrival of the Second Crown Expedition and its decision to ally itself with the escaped Sereth. At present, two Sereth already roamed the complex while six more remained imprisoned behind the black doors. Their coalition would therefore have to defend both known entrances into Mira’Thar to prevent the escaped Sereth from being released through breaches in the secondary containment, guard the prison itself to keep the remaining six from being freed, and somehow hunt down the rogue soldiers—all while facing the likelihood that the two free Sereth would come to their aid.
He simply did not believe they possessed enough manpower.
His proposed solution remained unchanged.
Capture the six imprisoned Sereth first.
Then use them to destroy the two already at large before turning their attention to the Second Crown Expedition.
Importantly, Varnes clarified something he had not previously revealed. He had never been certain he could control one of the Sereth already roaming free. Those creatures had enjoyed weeks to recover their strength and were free to resist him. His confidence instead rested with the six still imprisoned behind the black doors. While confined within their magically warded cells, he believed they could be bound before they had the opportunity to fight back.
The party found that distinction less reassuring than Varnes did.
Recognizing that events were likely to force a confrontation sooner rather than later, Varnes quietly offered what protection he could. One by one, he cast an enchantment upon each member of the party. The spell was no guarantee of safety.
Rather, it was intended to blunt the Sereth’s greatest advantages. So long as the enchantment endured, the demons would be unable to simply extinguish a victim’s life or overwhelm their mind with a single whispered command. The voices would still tempt, cajole, and erode their resolve, but resisting them would become possible.
The party accepted the protection, even if they remained less certain than Varnes that it would prove sufficient.
Rather than embrace his proposal outright, however, they suggested a less… demonic solution.
If manpower was truly the problem, perhaps they simply needed more allies.
What if they recruited Throk and his people instead?
Varnes considered the suggestion for only a moment before nodding.
“I think that would be a good idea.”
RAPTOR Revealed
Having postponed—though certainly not resolved—the debate over enslaving demons, the party divided its forces.
Varnes, Merrythought, Wolfgang, Cassyndra, Ant, and Gareth set out to recruit Throk and his people, while Lieutenant Colonel McAllister, Captain Billings, Hunkle, Calder, and Zborch remained behind to guard the prison. Their orders were straightforward – prevent the Second Crown Expedition from reaching the black doors and, while matters remained quiet, see what they could learn from Varnes’ two closest companions.
Varnes led his group to Throk’s camp.
The journey through Mira’Thar passed without incident, and they soon found the goblins and hobgoblins continuing to fortify the abandoned laboratories they had adopted as a temporary refuge. Although initially surprised to see three senior Crown officers walking calmly alongside the heroes, Throk listened patiently as the party explained everything they had learned.
Then Varnes quietly revealed his identity.
For years, Soulreaper’s organization had benefited from intelligence supplied by a mysterious source known only by the codename RAPTOR. Time and again, RAPTOR’s warnings had allowed Soulreaper’s followers to avoid Crown patrols, conceal their activities, and stay one step ahead of the Kingdom despite being badly outnumbered.
Colonel Varnes calmly admitted that he was RAPTOR and the revelation transformed the conversation. Without another question, Throk accepted him as an ally.
Much of the ensuing discussion took place in Orcish, leaving the rest of the party to infer its contents from tone and expression alone. Surprise quickly gave way to recognition, then respect, and finally to the practical planning of soldiers who had unexpectedly discovered they had been serving the same cause for years.
Varnes outlined the deteriorating tactical situation within Mira’Thar, explaining that the escaped Sereth and the rogue Second Crown Expedition now threatened everyone trapped inside the complex, regardless of allegiance. Whatever disagreements remained concerning the future, they would matter little if the remaining six Sereth were released.
Throk readily agreed. His people had already witnessed firsthand what even a single free Sereth could accomplish. He had no desire to see six more join them.
Although many of his followers were laborers rather than soldiers, Throk nevertheless committed the survivors to the coalition. Before departing, Varnes extended his protective enchantment to each member of Throk’s band, shielding them—at least partially—from the Sereth’s psychic influence.
For the first time since entering Mira’Thar, the party found itself participating in a genuine coalition.
Humans.
Orcs.
Goblins.
Hobgoblins.
Former enemies who, only weeks earlier, would almost certainly have tried to kill one another now found themselves united by a common purpose: preventing an even greater catastrophe.
Corvin’s Verdict
With Throk and his followers now committed to the coalition, the enlarged group next made its way to the archives to collect one final ally.
Corvin Hale.
The emaciated Crown surveyor emerged cautiously from his hiding place among the empty shelves, still looking every bit like a man who had spent seven weeks surviving on little more than rats, stolen food, and stubbornness. Although visibly relieved to see familiar faces again, his expression darkened considerably when he realized Colonel Varnes was among them.
After hearing Varnes explain his proposal, Corvin rejected it almost immediately.
In his view, attempting to enslave one of the Sereth was not bold.
It was madness.
Having spent weeks listening to the whispers of the Bound Chorus, Corvin believed he understood them better than anyone else still alive. They were not misunderstood prisoners, nor victims deserving sympathy. They were ancient predators whose every conversation, every promise, and every apparent act of restraint ultimately served a single purpose – convincing warm-blooded creatures to free them so that they could murder.
He simply could not imagine anyone successfully controlling such beings for long.
Corvin also took the opportunity to voice a more personal grievance.
For months before disappearing, he had repeatedly warned Colonel Varnes that the Crown’s excavation maps contained inconsistencies suggesting the existence of additional buried structures. Time and again, those concerns had been dismissed.
Now, standing within the very complex he had predicted existed, Corvin could not resist observing that perhaps someone should have listened.
Varnes accepted the criticism without argument.
The exchange left the party with an uncomfortable realization.
Corvin, filthy, exhausted, and half-starved though he was, might nevertheless be the person within Mira’Thar who best understood what they were facing.
Merrythought said as much.
“Maybe Corvin is the only one down here who actually knows what’s going on.”
No one immediately disagreed.
Unfortunately, recognizing Corvin’s insight did not produce a better plan.
After weighing every alternative they could imagine, the party reluctantly concluded that, however dangerous Varnes’ proposal might be, they still lacked a more practical solution. Corvin remained deeply skeptical, but with no safer path presenting itself, he nevertheless agreed to accompany the growing coalition.
Together, the enlarged company turned toward the entrance that Throk and his companions had used to enter Mira’Thar.
Visiting the Sereth
The newly enlarged coalition soon encountered exactly what they had expected: one of the escaped Sereth waiting in the corridor, its skeletal servants silently waiting behind it.
The ensuing battle quickly demonstrated both the strengths and the limitations of Varnes’ preparations.
The enchantments worked exactly as promised. The Sereth could no longer simply extinguish life with a thought, nor could it effortlessly bend minds to its will. Nevertheless, every few seconds the demon reached into the minds and bodies of its opponents, inflicting fresh waves of pain that no armor could stop.
Worse still, it seemed to enjoy experimenting.
Each assault felt different from the last, prompting the Sereth to comment almost conversationally upon the results.
“Which is worse? Number one… or number two?”
Moments later it offered another observation.
“Now we understand what you Warm-Bloods mean when you say it is better slow.”
A pause.
“We find your slow death much more pleasurable.”
At the same time, every member of the coalition found themselves forced to resist the Sereth’s continual whispers urging them toward betrayal and release. Only Ant briefly faltered before Cassyndra, drawing upon her gift as a Divination Wizard, twisted fate itself and transformed failure into success before the whispers could take hold.
Meanwhile, Cassyndra’s Cloud of Daggers provided one encouraging discovery; the spell wounded the Sereth normally, confirming that magic could indeed harm it. Unfortunately, the party also concluded that they lacked the resources necessary to inflict enough damage to destroy such a creature through brute force alone.
During the fighting, Varnes attempted the experiment upon which his entire strategy depended and tried to dominate the free Sereth.
The attempt failed.
The resulting psychic backlash overwhelmed him, hurling him unconscious to the stone floor. The party concluded that, while Varnes might yet be capable of controlling one of the imprisoned Sereth, attempting the same feat against a free and fully aware opponent was another matter entirely.
With Varnes lying helpless, Wolfgang seized upon a desperate gamble. Standing over the unconscious Colonel with his scimitar poised above his chest, he offered the Sereth a bargain.
Allow the coalition to withdraw… or Varnes dies.
The response was immediate.
“Do it.”
The Sereth made no attempt to protect him. Quite the opposite. It appeared that Varnes’ death would serve its purposes every bit as well.
For several long moments Wolfgang seriously considered taking the demon at its word. He looked to the rest of the party for guidance.
The replies proved… less than decisive. No one could confidently argue that sparing Varnes was the correct decision. Nor could anyone bring themselves to recommend his execution.
The moment passed and Wolfgang lowered his weapon.
Moments later, the party found itself hurriedly pouring a healing potion down Varnes’ throat. The psychic backlash had left him barely alive, and without immediate aid the Sereth’s continuing assaults would almost certainly have finished what the failed domination had begun.
The encounter ultimately ended not with victory but with negotiation.
The Sereth admitted that, despite its overwhelming power, it remained imprisoned until warm-blooded creatures widened the breaches in the basalt, lead, and runic shielding surrounding Mira’Thar. The black doors themselves remained inaccessible, their runes preventing even the free Sereth from approaching the cells of their imprisoned brethren.
Having repeated its offer – to release them in exchange for whatever the heroes wanted – one final time, the Sereth permitted the battered coalition to withdraw.
Throughout, the skeletons continued their silent advance but never closed to striking distance before the coalition retreated.
The cost, however, had been severe. Five of Throk’s followers were lost. Some succumbed to the relentless psychic torment. Others yielded to the Sereth’s seductive whispers and had to be killed by their own companions before they could endanger everyone else.
As the survivors fell back toward safer ground, Wolfgang glanced once more at the recovering Varnes and quietly wondered whether lowering his sword had been a mistake.
Cat Company, Again
The coalition withdrew to a defensible chamber to tend to its wounded and reconsider its options.
Varnes eventually regained consciousness, though he looked distinctly worse for wear. His failed psychic struggle with the Sereth had left him badly shaken, and he admitted that he was in no condition to attempt another domination—whether against a free Sereth or one still imprisoned—until he had recovered.
The party, meanwhile, reflected upon everything they had just witnessed. Varnes had survived. His protective enchantments had worked almost exactly as promised. His attempt to dominate a free Sereth had not.
Perhaps most importantly, Wolfgang quietly observed, “I really should have killed Varnes.” It would far from the last time he said so that evening.
Their opportunity to recover proved brief. Before long, footsteps echoed through one of the adjoining corridors as the surviving members of the Second Crown Expedition approached.
Merrythought had previously christened them “Cat Company,” a designation that somehow managed to survive despite possessing absolutely no official—or even, frankly, rational—basis whatsoever.
Rather than immediately resorting to violence, both groups attempted one final negotiation. Cat Company’s leader, Sergeant Broadmoor—previously described by Varnes as a poor soldier, a poor leader, and a man who ruled through fear and brutality—urged the party to join him in freeing the Sereth, promising that those who aided them would share in the rewards the Bound Chorus had offered.
Varnes and the party answered with a very different proposal. Any soldier willing to abandon the Sereth and surrender would receive amnesty for insubordination. Even those who had participated in murdering their fellow soldiers would likely be shown leniency, as a military tribunal would almost certainly conclude that they had acted while under the Sereth’s supernatural influence rather than entirely of their own free will.
To everyone’s surprise, the offer appeared to have genuine effect. Several soldiers exchanged uncertain glances. Others asked hesitant questions. For a few hopeful moments, it seemed entirely possible that Cat Company might fracture without a single sword being drawn.
Sergeant Broadmoor had other ideas.
Stepping forward, he forcefully reasserted his authority and reminded his soldiers why they had chosen their present course. Whatever uncertainty had begun to spread quickly evaporated and negotiation gave way to combat.
The battle itself proved remarkably brief.
Cassyndra opened with Sleep, immediately removing several opponents from the fight but catching a crossbow bolt in the shoulder for her troubles (she later said it didn’t hurt quite as much as the time that Warg Squad shot her right through the heart). Almost simultaneously, Varnes unleashed a powerful Fear spell that shattered the resolve of much of the remaining company.
Within moments, what had begun as an organized military formation had dissolved into chaos.
Sergeant Broadmoor and one other soldier were captured alive.
The remainder fled deeper into Mira’Thar, and the coalition, itself badly depleted and in no condition to pursue, allowed them to escape. Whether they intended to regroup and renew their efforts to free the Sereth, abandon their mission altogether, or simply hide until events ran their course remained unclear.
In the aftermath, Sergeant Broadmoor was sentenced to death for orchestrating the murder of those members of the Second Expedition who had opposed releasing the Sereth. His execution was carried out publicly and brutally. As he screamed, Wolfgang called down the corridor that the same fate awaited every member of Cat Company.
Merrythought immediately corrected him.
Shouting after the fleeing soldiers, she insisted that Broadmoor’s execution was not an act of vengeance but an exercise of military justice. Broadmoor was being punished for murdering his own soldiers and conspiring to unleash the Sereth upon the world. Anyone who abandoned that course, accepted amnesty, and surrendered peacefully would instead be treated with mercy.
The distinction, she felt, was an important one.
Whether the fleeing soldiers would agree remained to be seen.
Conversations While Standing Watch
With Cat Company driven off, the coalition returned once more to Varnes’ laboratory and the prison beyond.
There they reunited with Hunkle, Calder, and Zborch, who reported that the quiet hours spent guarding the black doors had proven far from unproductive.
Rather than standing watch in silence, they had passed the time questioning Lieutenant Colonel McAllister and Captain Billings about Varnes, Soulreaper, and the events that had brought them all to Mira’Thar.
The conversations filled in several important gaps.
Speaking with McAllister and Billings at length convinced the three that they followed Varnes out of conviction rather than magical compulsion. Neither officer displayed any hint of enchantment or coercion. Both spoke openly about their reasons for abandoning the Crown, describing Varnes not as a charismatic revolutionary but as an honest man who had reluctantly accepted uncomfortable truths.
One revelation, however, immediately caught the party’s attention.
Captain Nelson.
The heroes explained that they had become involved in the affairs of Hollowmere only after discovering a series of increasingly troubled letters written by Captain Nelson. Those letters had ultimately brought them to Cambria in search of the missing officer, only for them to arrive too late to prevent his apparent suicide.
McAllister and Billings exchanged a brief glance.
Eventually, they admitted that Varnes had indeed approached Nelson.
Like many promising officers, Nelson had begun asking difficult questions about the Kingdom’s history and had become increasingly troubled by what he found. Believing him to be a fundamentally decent man, Varnes had attempted to persuade him to join Soulreaper’s cause.
The attempt failed.
Neither officer elaborated beyond, “It simply… didn’t work out.”
The understated answer only deepened the party’s suspicions. Earlier that day they had witnessed Varnes attempt to seize control of a Sereth’s mind through direct psychic domination. They now knew that only Varnes possessed such an ability.
Now they knew that Varnes had attempted to “recruit” Nelson and at some point, perhaps even during the recruitment itself, the Captain slit his own throat.
No one voiced the conclusion immediately. No one needed to. The implication hung silently over the laboratory. Perhaps Nelson had not taken his own life out of despair but, rather, faced with the prospect of surrendering his mind, he had chosen death instead.
The possibility cast everything the party had learned about Varnes in a new light.
He remained sincere and principled. He might even be right. But he might also willing to violate another person’s mind in pursuit of what he believed to be the greater good.
For several long moments, no one spoke.
Finally, Wolfgang broke the silence. “I really should have killed Varnes.”
No one seemed especially eager to argue with him.
An Unwelcome Arrival
The coalition had scarcely finished comparing notes when events once again overtook them.
Without warning, disciplined footsteps echoed through the laboratory corridors.
Major Thorne entered first, followed by several squads of Crown soldiers. Without a word, he surveyed the room, silently pointed toward each passage leading out of the laboratory, and watched as his troops moved with practiced precision to seal every avenue of escape.
Only then did he step aside.
A single man entered.
He wore neither heavy armor nor ostentatious weapons. His clothing was almost understated, his movements calm and entirely unhurried. Set into the inside of his left forearm was a polished jewel that caught the laboratory light with an almost unnatural brilliance.
Every member of the party recognized what that jewel meant.
The newcomer surveyed the room with quiet curiosity.
There was no anger, no raised voice, and no visible threat. His confidence was far more unsettling than any display of force would have been.
Finally, he smiled politely.
“My name is Inquisitor Lucien,” he said. “And if you have a few minutes… I have some questions that I would like to ask you.”
… to be continued