Saturday 16th April 1204 ctd…..
The Devils’ Arses
We depart the Pestice and return to the quayside. As we alight from the boat we hear an inhuman screeching. Rushing to the nearby gate, we peer inside the city walls to witness an abominable scene. Here, there are three obscene creatures composed of sinew, bone and viscera; skin devils with leathery wings at their backs and lower portions of hoofed, goat-like legs. The most repulsive feature is their trailing bowels that hang behind them, excreting acidic ooze. They emit a terrifying screech and bound towards us with awkward inhuman movements; their bowels trail behind. “Saints protect us!”, exclaimed Brother David.
The fight is prolong and sickening. The creatures lash at us with their flailing entrails and bite deep into our flesh, but we survive the encounter.
Retiring to Blachernae
Our armour is ruined and our shields rendered useless from our battle with the devils. We return to Blachernae to re-equip and avail ourselves of the services of Baldwin’s healers. We rest only a short while. Time is of the essence. We head out into the city again in search of the Red Tower.
Between Blachernae and the Red Tower lies the Venetian headquarters at the Church of Christ Pantocrater. To avoid possible entanglements we circumvent the portion of the city that has fallen under Venetian control.
The Red Tower
The tower is a tall octagonal structure of red-hued brick. At dusk we encounter Franks loyal to Boniface, who’ve laid a watch upon the tower. Their commander, Jean, informs us that crusaders have been going missing and the source of the disappearances has been traced to whatever evil resides within the tower. Crusaders earlier found a dog eating discarded human skin. This was enough to discourage them from entering and searching the tower. Jean is waiting for orders from Boniface himself. We, however, waste no time in waiting and approach the tower ourselves.
Sir Gautmaris
Closer to the tower, barring our passage, a Frankish knight, Sir Gautmaris, with a retinue of retainers stops us. He’s in no mood for niceties. First he accuses us of treachery and then orders his men to arrest us. Martinus knows Gautmaris and is convinced the knight is acting entirely out of character. We all think the same thing – has Sedefkar used the evil properties of the Devil’s Similare to assume the guise of Gautmaris?
We are forced to fight and defeat the men-at-arms that set about us, but Guatmaris escapes into the tower and bars the entrance from within.
Up the Bloody Tower
We smash through the door and ascend the stairs of the tower through floors of ever-increasing horror*. Floors of blood, flies, nauseating smells with heaped corpses and body parts. Floors of sickening torture, depravity and carnage; skinned bodies and stitched-together abominations - effronteries to humanity. Floors of patterns and writings in human blood and entrails, and parcels of butchered flesh, so fresh they still writhe, and human groaning is still audible. A skin devil is eating the legs of one screaming victim waiting his turn for the butchery.
*Multiple SAN rolls and multiple failures during our ascent, result in psychotic episodes for Andre, Reynaud and Martinus.
The Alter-Wheel
At the uppermost floor, we find an open space with a sickening alter for its centrepiece. The alter is an upright circle of skin, with stitched-together human faces ringed around its centre – the faces stare outward and scream. Behind the stretched skin of the alter-wheel is a blue-green light of indeterminable origin and purpose.
Sedefkar
Our adversary wields a stone dagger edged with a purple glow. He is unafraid. In the glow of the blue-green light, it is Martinus who first notices a join in Sedefkar’s armour. He strikes true and the left arm of the armour comes loose. A ferocious melee ensues, an unrelenting assault trying to penetrate the wondrous armour or break it apart at the joints. All the while, Sedefakar chants unintelligible words beneath his breath. Martinus, valiant brother to us all, is cut down by the wicked blade of Sedefkar. He cannot survive his wounds. Crying out to his loved ones, Martinus dies.
Finally, under a crushing blow from the mace of Brother David, Sedefkar reels back. His armour breaks apart and the pieces scatter. Sedefkar withers before our eyes, deteriorating into a heap of oozing flesh – we hear his last defiant utterance – a curse upon us all.
We burn the tower to put its victims to rest and return to our Liege with the stone dagger and the pieces of Sedefkar’s armour. Baldwin expresses his pleasure and rewards us handsomely with gold marks.
Sunday 17th April 1204
In the morning, the violence in the city has notably abated. The influence of Sedefakr no longer holds the city in evil’s grip. Under instruction from Baldwin, Brother David takes the recovered pieces of armour to the leper ship for Merovic to examine. The pieces are left with Merovic.
Monday 18th April 1204
Baldwin is furious. The leper ship, Pestice, has slipped anchor and sailed away before first light. Merovic has taken the Simulacrum. Our lord urges us to follow. Merovic will no doubt head eastward and it is in this direction we must hasten. We depart with all urgency to take up the chase. Should our quarry disappear Baldwin provides us with one important clue to remain on his trail – in the east Merovic is known by another name - Fenalik.
Epilogue
The surviving members of Baldwin’s mission founded the Order of the Noble Shield. A secret order dedicated to knightly ideals and to thwarting the cults of supernatural evil. History does not record whether they ever found Merovic the Absconder.
The stone dagger of Sedefkar was sent by Baldwin to a contact he met in Zara. In this, Baldwin’s motives remain a mystery.