Previously, the heroes had made their way down into the mausoleum at the Blackheath graveyard after defeating the Gravekeeper and several necrophages. On their way down they met three crownsguard that appeared caught between the present and the past. At the bottom of the mausoleum they found a partially flooded crypt that held the sarcophagus of the Gravekeeper, whose skeletal remains was bound in a chain made of black iron.
Ninth Day, Second Ride, Autumn Twilight, 1262
(Silvermoon is waning, Bloodmoon is waxing, Darkmoon is waning)The heroes still found themselves down in the mausoleum at Blackheath, surrounded by submerged sarcophagi. They had removed the lid of the largest and only sarcophagus that emerged from the flood water, which revealed the bones of the enormous Gravekeeper, wrapped in heavy chains of black iron. Listening closely a soft murmur could be heard coming off the chains, like syllables of incomplete words being carried on the wind. Hearing these murmurs left each hero that observed them temporarily forgetting an important name from their past.
Chakuq had attempted to attune to the resonance of the chains, but found it hard, but Neamhan managed to channel a plant growth spell which she connected to the chains, redirected through the water and connected to one of the walls; the plants that sprouted there grew to resemble the head of a corvid, which to all appeared to be a sign of the Raven Queen.
An ominous voice had been echoing cryptic messages through the mausoleum. Quentin, unsure on how to proceed, decided to try and close the sarcophagus. Before doing so, he performed a step from the Farewell to the Dead ritual he had been studying under the tutelage of Cardinal Roark; running to fingers across the sockets of the skull to indicating the closing of eyes. A symbol etched on one of the links in the chain briefly lit up, and the heroes discovered symbols on each of the links.
It was at that point that the Gravekeeper rose from the water like a thought the mausoleum had tried, and failed, to forget. Quentin stepped forward, putting himself between his companions and the danger of the monstrosity, and appealed the Gravekeeper to depart. His words, though powerful, did not seem to have any effect on the Gravekeeper.
When the fight ensued, Neamhan wisely warned everyone that defeating the Gravekeeper would just make it come back. After that warning, water rose up all around her until it seemed to swallow her whole, and Neamhan transfigured into a being of pure liquid. Those that saw it happening and had lived through the horrors of Old Llygad were reminded of the elemental by the name of Lady Lyn, guarding the Crimson Tower.
Calling upon his patron, Luca pleaded for aid and it was answered with the appearance of a celestial warrior in the likeness of Aurion who stood sentinel. It was the first time Luca had received such help and he reckoned that the celestial warrior was but an aspect of Aurion’s full divinity.
Chakuq, Emrys, and eventually Luca all made their way onto a balcony overlooking the flooded crypt, trying to circumnavigate the fight with the Gravekeeper. Chakuq, who was at the front of the manoeuvre, spotted Virulencia in the doorway leading down to the flooded crypt, holding her child, who was spitting on the two statues of celestial figures standing on either side of the door. Soon, the others had defeated the Gravekeeper again.
Virulencia shared that the chain wrapped around the bones of the Gravekeeper was called the Chain of Forgotten Names. “During a great plague, entire villages were erased, names lost, rites skipped, histories burned. The Gravekeeper carried bodies, but never their stories,” she explained. It touched a nerve with Quentin, who claimed Virulencia was in no position to judge what he considered a divine act. Virulencia and Quentin continued to argue about why she was there and she claimed, like she had before, that she was there to prevent her brother from acquiring the Book of Woe, which she wanted for herself.
The argument was dissatisfying to both Quentin and Virulencia, and she decided to depart as she realised that the heroes were still not willing to negotiate with her. “Count the links on the chain, grave knight,” she said to Quentin before departure, “you might get somewhere.”
Taking Virulencia’s advice, the heroes counted twenty-seven links in the heavy chain, each etched with a symbol. Luca quickly realised that there were nine unique symbols, repeating three times along the length of the chain. He was reminded of the ritual of farewell for his friend Hamish, which had nine distinct steps. He recalled the nine steps, and what they represented;
The Breath, the soul leaving the body.
The Name, the soul’s identity.
The Body, the physical remains.
The Grave, the earth claiming the remains.
The Vigil, the watching over the dead.
The Rite, the farewell.
The Memory, the dead’s place among the living.
The Passage, the crossing of the soul to the afterlife.
The Silence, the soul’s final rest.
Before the heroes could form a plan, a treachery of ravens came flying down the staircase and spread out around the flooded crypt, cawing nervously. There were twenty-seven ravens in total.
