Heart of the Raven
Autumn has come to Calantor. The gnomish tinkerer Adjon Tocktinkstuggle have long been working for Wolfram Vailhinger at the Vailhinger Detective Agency . Quite recently they have been joined by the mysterious Morielle - a woman with a shrouded past that Vailhinger found floating in the Galatine river.
The Case
The agency is visited by Calor, a former Inquisitor for the Midnight Ministry. Calor has come to Calantor from the countryside with a dual purpose; to apply for a job at the Vailhinger Agency and to learn more about his mothers kin, the vesperine wizard house Carsival. The Carsival sisters are all belived to have died or gone missing in the late forties and early fifties. Their ancient family estate, the Raven Tower is barred by decree from the Ministry, but a tavern in Mirkside called Ravenheart were once managed by Calors aunt Orevia de Carsival and is now a famously haunted place.
The Medium
Vailhinger suggest Adjon, Moriella and Calor seek out a contact of his, the fairy medium Dahlia in Bitterbridge, to have her assist with her skills in dealing with the haunted tavern. They find her in quite a bind when ruffians led by Rutger the Tanner are trying to abduct her. Calor chases them off.
Researching the Tavern
The investigators visit the current owner of the tavern, the dwarven solictor Hulkrum Thengarekk, Hulkrum bought tavern in order to start a beer hall as a side business. He did not fear the haunting until the house almost made him commit suicide from being struck with sudden despair.
At the Black Street Police Precinct they learn more of the taverns grim history from from inspector Tristan Kargash. Orevia and her husband Nestor de Morodua were running the tavern in peace, staying clear of their rival families until Orevia throws herself of the top of the roof to her death and Nestor is found barthing in his own blood in the bathrrom.
Almost 20 years later, the aeronaut Wyllam Montressor and his brewer wife Madelynne Montressor refurbishes the tavern. After Wyllam is called to the front of the war, Madelyn goes insane and murder her children and staff with a shotgun. When wyllam return he burns himself to death at the taproom hearth
Rival Ghost Hunters
When the Investigators start snifing around the tavern itself, the run into Caspian Mélanchar and his detectivesfrom the Black Cat Arcane Investigations: Cai , Jophiel and Madame Semelie. They have been sent by nestor no aged brother Agaton de Morodua to clear the haunting by burning down the tavern.
The Haunting of the Ravenheart
The Investigators decide to try to enter the tavern to learn more. They subdue the ghosts of the Montressors and their tavern staff and in the attic they find a strange symbol under the floorboards, made by the contractors Madelyn had hired to renovate the tavern.
But before they can investigate further a horrific creature from the Nightlands - a Sorrowsworn that drives the living to the utmost despair. The investigators are forced to flee the premises
The sorrowsworn at Ravenheart Tavern
Unwinding the Mystery
By researching the Sorrowsworn the Investigators come to the conclusion that creature were summoned forty years ago to by Agaton de Morodua as vengeance on his brother Nestor for abondoning the family feud with Carsival.
The symbol is a seal created by the ancient necromancer Sodosma and and causes the barriers between the Nightlands and the mortal world to weaken, making hauntings more likely, in this case allowing for the Sorrowsworn to return to where it was once summoned and feasting of the Montresssors. One of the few ways one can undo the seal is to place the heart of the one who drew it in its center.
Asphodel & Sons
The Investigators learn that it was the company Asphodel & Sons that were hired to refurbish the attic by Madelynne and where the like likely cuplrit to have created Sodosmas seal at the location. The Asphodel familily was once a vavasseur family to influentialn Malagant House . The company is still running and have a warehouse in Mirkside.
In order to gather evidence the Investgators sneak into the warehouse. Here they find clues that the current owner Admar Asphodel is still creating more of Sodosmas seal in order to accelerate the number of haunting that has been caused by the Mists, and does that on the behalf of the mysterious Society.
During the confrontation Morielle shoots Admar and the investtigators take his body back to the Ravenheart
Conclusion and Further Mysteries
The Sorrowsworn has whipped all the ghost in the house to a rage but the Investigators manage to place Admars heart in the seal and undo the haunting.For a brief moment the spirit of Orevia appear and leave a strange black feather
In the acttic there were some of Orevias paintings, one depicted Dahlia's foster mother Morgantha, another were of an unknown woman with white-and-black hair with a strange poem written on the backside:
One for sorrow
Two for cheer
Three for daybreak
Four for drear
Five for silver
Six for gold
Seven for a debt, never to be told
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