The Spirit of Music

The Spirit of Music

         The mournful sobbing echoed through the woods. Kargon's steel grey eyes rolled shyward. He knew full well that, even though they were within an hour of the city, Jamien would drag him through the trees to find out what was wrong.

         Sure enough, off the path they went. Nearby, they found a young looking Eldrin woman. She was more slender than Jamien, and looked to be perhaps a head shorter as well. Her hair was a mass of black strands flying out every direction. By her side were a set of elaborate Eldrin Tripipes. Her slender frame was wracked with sobs.

         Jamien looked down at the girl, tears forming in her eyes. Kargon shook his head at the scene. You'd never see a Kurakin, no matter how young, wailing like that. He had to admit though, it did make him feel bad.

         Finally, the girl looked up, a final sob choking off in surpirse. "Wh..wh..who are you?" she managed to sputter out.

         Jamien, eyes downcast, said, "Just two travelers who heard you tears. Were you trying to flood the city, or is there something you'd like to talk about?"

         The girl looked about ready to start again. However, she managed to bring herself under control, and speak. "I'm a minstral. I compose, I play, I sing, and I found a patron. He wanted me to play in his grand orchestra hall in a months time. It was to be my introduction to the world. Everyone in the city here, Cadarba, would know me after. And now it's all ruined." At that, she lost what composure she had and began crying again.

         Kargon's eyes rolled skyward again. "Oh come on now! Nothing could be that bad. Just tell us what's wrong and maybe we can fix it. Anything to get you quite and get us to a tavern!"

         After a minute or two, the girl calmed again and managed to get out, "I don't think anyone can fix this. There's a ghost in the hall. It's a horrible apparition. I've been here for a week practicing in the hall, and it never bothered me until yesterday, just after the ground shook. Why would a ghost want to ruin my dream of being an acclaimed musician?"

         Jamien's eyes showed that gleam again. "Maybe it's not you. There must be more to it than that. Ghosts don't just haunt places for fun, you know. There must be a reason. If Kargon and I can find the reason..."

         With a soft sniff the girl finished, "The ghost might go away and I could play after all?"

         "Maybe. There's only one way to find out isn't there? You come with us while we arrange for an inn, and we'ㅣㅣ go see the owner of this hall. All right?"

         The girl nodded her acceptance. The three entered the city gates. The guards seemed to recognize the young Eldrin girl, one calling out to her, "I'm looking forward to that concert Melisin. The tunes I heard you play in the woods have haunted me ever since. The wife'll never forget it when she hears you." That seemed to cheer the poor girl up a bit.

         Melesin lead Jamien and Kargon to The Dancing Boar. It was a reasonable inn, and accepted peoples of all different races. There were a few small Wentarin sitting at a table, and two huge Ocremoch were drinking ale at the bar. The two arranged rooms and got directions to the mansion of Syldavian, owner of the Ochestra Hall.

         The mansion was high atop a hill overlooking the city. It was also huge. Kargon figured he could keep his whole clan within it's walls without ever feeling crowded. It was all on a single level, but streching across the land. A servant at the gate took the visitors names, and went to get approval from the Lord of the manor before allowing them entry. Finally the servant came back, and showed them in. The servant seemed surprised that they should be so graced by the lord. He seemed to take great pains not to touch either one, as if he feared he might be contaminated by them.

         Vandel Syldavian was an older man. His hair, what remained of it, was as white like bleached bones. He still seemed strong, though, and he moved with the grace of a shark. His voice was strong and imposing as well. "Why have two wandering mercenaries sought me out? What use would I have for such as you?"

         Jamien responded simply and to the point. "Your concert hall's haunted. I think we can get rid of the ghost. Just give us the run of the place, and we'll get to the bottom of it, and send the spirit back where it belongs."

         "Word travels fast it seems. Yes, something stalks the chambers of my Hall, and I do need cleansed of this quickly. There was a concert scheduled that remains very important to me. Very well, clear the hall of it's occupant without damaging the hall, and I will reward you well. I will have my butler give you the keys, and accompany you to the hall. Ranek. Take these two to the hall. They think they can drive off the spirit that haunts it."

         The butler was one of the huge Ochremoch. It was strange to see one in such a servile role. It was even stranger to see a creature that towered over even Jamien and built more like a gorilla than a man wearing a fine suit, as if it were going to the Hall to attend a concert. It did as it was told, however. On the trip to the Hall, which was near the central market, it talked to Jamien about the city. It's speech was coherent and it was obviously fluent in the Tongue of Nations. At last they arrived at the Hall.

         After Ranek opned the massive double doors, Jamien looked inside. The place was immense, rising to a great dome in the center of the garganuan chamber. Judging by the shape and construction of the walls, the slightest sound would be amplified and echoed throughout the chamber. Whoever designed it must have been a masterful architecht. It was decorated in Human style, but the construction called Kurakin.

         Kargon looked around admiringly and whistled, a sound that echoed for a long time. Thinking that was quite the thing, he turned to say something Jamien, and then shouted in near panic.

         Before him was a ghastly apparition. It stood as tall as the Ocremoch, but was slender and gaunt. It's arms were long, longer than the boar spears Kargon had seen once. Each ended in a slender hand with seven fingers and two thumbs each. The fingers seemed to be jointed strangly. Each of the nine digits on each hand were tipped in long claws that were stained in a dark color. It's elongated fangs were equally discolored.

         When Ranek saw the spectral form, he stood paralyzed, just stammering, "Her...her...her...NOOOOOO!" He fled from the building."

         Jamien approached to see what was wrong. Kargon intercepted her. "Jamien, my ax is not going to help here. Call on chaos and blast it!"

         Jamien looked at the strange ghostly being. "I don't think that would help, Kargon. Whatever I did to it, it would just come back again. It wants something."

         "Of course it wants something. It wants to steal out souls." The apparition's catlike eyes widened when it heard this.

         "I don't think so, Kargon. What has it done since you saw it, besides look at us?"

         "Well it...well, nothing now that you mention it. Okay, I admit it, it spooked me. Fine, big deal. Just ask it what it wants and let's get out of here, okay? This whole place is starting to make me jittery. I don't like being in an unstable building."

         "Kargon, even if I asked it, it couldn't answer. It's a Star Haunt. And what do you mean about unstable? It looks all right to me."

         "I thought so too when we first walked in. Looked like good Kurakin construction, but it's not. Look at this wall!" He thudded his fist against the solid looking wall. Nothing happened.

         "What about the wall, Kargon? It looks solid enough to me."

         "Oh sure, to you it looks fine. You're used to living in log cabins for crying out loud! Can't you see the...no, you can't can you. Well, there are cracks running all through this wall. If it were a mine, it might collapse if there were two or three more shakes like the one yesterday. And what does that thing being a starwhatever have to do with it not telling us anything?"

         "You've never heard of the Star Haunts have you Kargon?"

         "I'm begining to wish I'd never heard of Eldrin, Jamien. What about them?"

         "They can't talk. I could ask it anything you wanted and it couldn't tell me anything, could you?" Jamien directed the last to the ghost, who had been standing there quite patiently. It shook it's head slowly, it's spectral mane flowing in ethereal winds that didn't exist in the real world."

         "Can't talk? That's the stupidest thing I ever heard. All civilized races can talk."

         "They just aren't built the same way we are, Kargon. They communicate with those claws, clicking them together. With that many fingers, their language is pretty complicated. To ease communication with foreigners, they also developed the Speech of Notes. That means they can talk trough..."

         "Music, I know, I know. I'm not that dumb. As one of the Bloodheirs of my clan I had to learn some different languages. That was one of them. It was a lot easier than Ocremoch, let me tell you."

         "Kargon, you can play an instrument? Why didn't you tell me? I'd love to hear you sometime..."

         "Now I'm reminded why I never told you before. Stop fussing about it, it's just like learning Eldrin, but with louder noises. Say, do you think that thing is trying to tell us something. It keeps pointing. Looks like it wants us to look at that pillar. You Jamien, it occurs to me, we must be the only two people in the world that would find a linguistics lesson interesting enough to distract us from a huge ghost at our backs."

         Sure enough, the Star Haunt ghost seemed to be pointing in the direction of one of the pillars. The chamber had four of them, about equal distance from the stage forming the corners of a huge diamond. Kargon walked up and looked at the pillar.

         "Just like the wall. There are cracks running all through it. Say, Jamien, looks like there's a pattern to some of these. Come and take a look here, would you?"

         Jamien looked at the pillar and saw several places where it was cracked. The ghost seemed more agitated as they examined the pillar. Jamien began to run her hands along the pillar, and eventually found a catch, carefully hidden, and a door in the pillar itself swung open.

         Kargon looked for a second and then commented, "Okay, I'm not much for concerts and concert halls, but even I can see that isn't right."

         Jamien stepped into the pillar. It had to be about twenty feet around, and the middle was perfectly hollow. The wall was about a hand length thick. The pillars were not there for support. Withing the hollow was a macabre sight. There was the dried, preserved corpse of a Star Haunt. In it's hands was one of their wierd stringed instruments. It was designed such that only their multijointed fingers could play it properly. Jamien walked out of the pillar with tears in her eyes.

         "What's wrong with you? What's in there?"

         Jamien pointed to the ghost. "She is. Her corpse. Everyone looks at them as monsters. They have claws and fangs that look to be soaked with blood, but it's just a poison they produce naturally. It paralyzes their prey. These people are the most peaceful and kind beings you could ever hope to meet. But people fear their strange appearances. One of them leaves her pack to share their music with the world, and some one kills her and entombs her in a pillar."

         "Why would someone do that Jamien? Why would they want a dead Star Haunt?"

         "They didn't want the corpse. They wanted the spirit. The ghost was trapped in there, Kargon. The inside of the pillar was painted with runes. The shake must have cracked the pillar enough that it broke the containment. She is still tied here, though. What a horrible torment you must be going through. Kargon we have to stop it."

         "First, I think we'd better check out these other pillars, Jamien. If one of them's hollow, what about the others?"

         Kargon was right. All the pillars were hollow. Inside the next, they found a human corpse with it's fingers wrapped around a fine brass horn. The spirit within cringed at the site of visitors. The third had a Kurakin corpse with a large drum. The last was devoid of a body, but the set of intricate tripipes told enough of a story.

         "Kargon, this fiend has been collecting musicians. He has strings, brass, drums and wood pipes represented here. They say that music has a magic all it's own. Apparently Mr. Syldavian was trying to prove it."

         "Wait a second, Jamien. Why do you think Syldavian had anything to do with this?"

         "What did his butler say before he ran, Kargon? 'Her'. He recognized the ghost. At the least, he probably saw her killed, or knew what was going to happen to her. You, at least had just a general dread of the dead. He was terriffied of her specifically. Syldavian's behind this allright. But I don't know how."

         A stong voice sounded behind them, to the click of a key in a lock. "Perhaps I can enlighten you. Now that we are all together, maybe we can clear this all up."

         They turned and saw Syldavian, with Melisin and Ranek. She was looking at the ghost wide eyed, but Ranek seemed to have lost his fear.

         "It's very simple really. For years I have been studying the arts of Demonology. One ritual I found that could increase my power a hundred fold required a specral orchesta. I spent decades searching out the best musicians of their fields. Each one had the skill to charm their audiences that I needed. This girl was the last member. In a few weeks she would have played the best performance of her lifetime. Well, her after lifetime anyway. With the crowds here, drawn by the promise of her talent, I could have done what many only dream of doing. By sacrificing the wittless masses in here, and forcing the spiritual quartet to play the correct piece, I could have torn open the viel and drawn the power of the netherdark into myself, become a vessel of the darkest power in the universe. Thankfully all is not lost. Once I dispatch of you, I can reseal the other three and trap the girl, with no one the wiser.

         With that Ranek begian to writhe. "Now that my butler has overcome his fear of the vengful spirit, he can likely deal with you two." Ranek's hands split at the knuckles revealing razor sharp claws. His suit tore open at the back releasing dripping reptillian wings. Form his mouth, a muscular black tongue emerged, dripping with a foul venom. Syldavian casually said, "Good help is so hard to find these days, so I find it useful to create my own."

         Ranek bellowed an inhuman roar and charged at Kargon. He swept his clawed hands at the short Kurakin, and found his blades caught by the blades of the huge axe. Kargon grinned. "Strong's fine, but smart's better," he said as he drove the beast's hands up into its face.

         With a roar of pain, the beast pulled its hands free of the axe. Kargon took the opportunity to swing at Ranek's chest. He struck a powerful blow, but it just bounced off. "What in the Forge are you made off?"

         The Ranek-beast replied in a voice of frost, "My skin is tough as steel, my bones are the cores of mountains! Your pathetic weapons cannot hurt me. Lay down and die!" Its clawed fists lashed out again, taking Kargon in the chest. The force of the blow sent him flying back. He crashed into the pillar that held the Kurakin corpse.

         The beast roared and lumbered forward. Its raised claws showed its murderous intent. Before it could claim Kargon's shaking head, Jamein leaped forward and grabbed it around its neck. She tried to cut its breath off, but couldn't even dent the trunk think throat. With a shrug of Ranek's shoulders she was thrown, crashing to the stone floor.

         A fiendish grin lit Ranek's face, practically splitting it in two. "Bah. If the Kurakin's axe could not cleave me, what hope did you have Eldrin? I'll claim you essence first, and drink of the Kurakin after. The flavors will mix well." So saying, it's tongue slid out of its mouth. It formed a black tube that seemed serrated at the end. It streched out an impossible length towards Jamien's throat.

         Seeing a gruesome end, Jamien leapt to her feet. She drew her twinned sabres in a barly visible blur and slashed across the hideous tongue, severing it cleanly from the gaping maw. Ranek howled with pain, but quickly recovered, and fixed a hateful glare on her. "It will take a week for me to regrow that! Now, I'll have to cut you apart and suck the remains from my fists." He raised both clawed hands into the air, the suddenly howled again and fell to his back. Kargon stood behind him, holding his axe near the blades.

         The beast tried to rise, but as it came to its feet, Kargon swept the long haft out and took its footing again, then began hacking at the thick neck. In a rage, it swatted Kargon like a pesky spider, hurling him back.

         Too late, it saw its mistake. Kargon's axe had never been intended to take it's head. It was just meant to distract Ranek. Jamien slipped over to him, and drove one razor pointed saber into his chest. With a single ominous note sounding in her throat, Jamien called on the Primal forces of creation to give her and her blade the needed strength. It seemed Chaos answered yes, as the blade sunk into Ranek's chest to the hilt, opening his heart.

         Even such a mortal wound could not stop the beast Ranek had become, though. It grabbed Jamien and began to shake her, as if trying to separate all her extemities with his violence. Kargon took his legs from under him again, and Ranek dropped Jamien as he fell. Her head struck the polished floor, and she lay still.

         Kargon moved between Ranek and Jamien, practially dragging one leg as he went. His face was soaked in blood, as were his boots. Ranek rose and faced Kargon. "Get out of the way and die little one. You are already finished."

         Kargon said nothing. He just stood barring the fiend's way. It looked that, though badly injured, nothing short of another earthquake would shift him. Ranek barrelled forward, and tried to get by him, but was forced back by the ferrocious blows of the small man. "You ain't getting her monster. If you think a pathetic show like that'll move me, you've never dealt with a mad Kurakin before."

         Ranek tried to side step Kargon, but Kargon was easily able to guess his foes moves. Ranek was too big to move swiftly, and he found himself blocked at every turn. Finally, the cut through his heart matched his pace, and he fell to the floor, and spilled the last of his ichor. Jamien's sword hilt still protruded from his chest.

         Kargon cursed as Syldavian ran for the doors. The curse caught in his throat when Melisin bolted across the hall and tackled the older man. She started hammering at him with her tiny fists screaming, "You just wanted to use me! You didn't care about my music! You were going to kill me! I hate you! I hate you!" Kargon considered aiding Syldavian. Still, his leg was hurting, and he was bleeding pretty bad. And he wasn't too sure he wanted to get between them anyway.

         Eventually the girl's fury exhausted her. Syldavian looked almost as bad as Ranek by the time she was through with him. Jamien had partially recovered by then. She could stand and speak, but was still dizzy and unsteady on her feet. Then the question of what to do with Syldavian rose.

         "I say we cut him in half and be done with it!" Kargon's torn face was split with a frown as he said this. "Man's nothing but a murderer. Killed one of my people too."

         Jamien suggested, "Maybe we should let Melisin decide. It was her that he really hurt."

         "Well, I guess she handled fair enough when he tried to bolt. Fine then, what do you want to do with him girl?"

         The small Eldrin hesitated, and then spoke up. "Well, we could turn him over to the watch, but he hasn't done anything in town yet. The people he hurt didn't live here and they weren't even humans. I think we should let the Temple of Arkavian have him."

         Kargon's frown turned into an ugly smile. "Yeah. They're always on the watch for breaks in the Wall of the Worlds. They'd love to hear about all this. And they've got justice on the brain too, so you know he'll suffer for what he's done. They even have members from all the civilized races. And the Ocremoch too. Good thinking, Melisin."

         Jamien looked around the room. Three pale forms, barely visible even to Jamien's sharp eyes seemed to nod their heads. "Well, I guess it's settled then."

         Melisin let out a long sigh. "I guess my chance for fame is gone, though. I'll never play here, that's for certain."

         Jamien smiled. "I don't know about that. I seem to recall at least one watch man that didn't want to miss the production. Maybe you won't be playing here, but I think we can help you arrange something that will suit you. First, though, we need to knock those doors off the hinges."

         "What for Jamien? That's a lot of work for spite, ya know."

         "It isn't spite Kargon. There are three musicians still locked in the hall. We need to let them out so they can play again."