Tentatio tenebrarum

From the journal of Johanna Schwarz, Witch Hunter General

27. Pflugzeit, 2500

I sometimes wonder whether those who have succumbed to the corrupting influences of the forces of chaos at one time imagined themselves heroes, fighting for what is true and right. Lady Hierkeit, for one. Was she a stalwart witch hunter before she was turned into a blood-sucking monstrosity? Did she imagine that gaining the power of the undead would enable her to better fight the enemies of the empire? Did she enter the dark pact willingly, thinking she could do more good than harm? And at what point does the end goal – to save humanity from the dark forces, fade into the background, and the thirst for ever more power take over? Was it a gradual process, or is it a sudden epiphany?

I hope never to find out, but the more I learn about the malevolent forces gnawing at the structure of our world, the more I can see how insidious the promise of power can be. For do we not all yearn for power, when confronted with enemies and troubles beyond our scope? I suspect the dark path seems ever inviting, maybe especially for those wishing to do good. It always promises shortcuts to the goals you have set.

We have returned to the inn in Oderlitz, after our sojourn to the ruin, where we found the mirrorglass pieces, just as Hierkeit promised we would. It would seem she has upheld her end of the bargain…so far. But I suspect we have not seen the end of what she desires.

I proposed to the group that we should try to outsmart her. We would pretend to play along with her plan to help her gain access to the temple of Morr, but secretly collude with the priests to stage an ambush, finally ridding the world of Hierkeit’s corruption. I naïvely assumed her end would be a goal shared by the group unanimously. Such was not the case.

Viktor and Torgil had a different opinion: Hierkeit is the “lesser evil”, while the Dark Master, and the foul library are the main concerns. They of course have a point that the greater threat is posed by the knowledge held in the library, should it fall into the wrong hands. But they went so far as to suggest we ACTUALLY should help Hierkeit, and let her slaughter the priests of Morr!

The others thankfully did not harbor such extreme ideas. But Sunniva too, while agreeing that Hierkeit must be destroyed, felt strongly that we sorely needed the knowledge she has, and that we should do what we can to glean it from her.

I agreed to try to gain more information from her, but I have little hope. I suspect she will exacxt a heavy price for any crumbs she gives us. We finally agreed to try to recruit the priests to our cause.

 

30. Pflugzeit, 2500

The journey from Oderlitz was uneventful. I have dispatched a letter to Stavern, asking Hierkeit to meet us in a glade outside the city two weeks hence. Tomorrow, Sunniva and Eldur will visit the temple, and try to persuade them of our plan.

 

31. Pflugzeit, 2500

Disaster! The high priest turned out to be, let us say, not very enlightened. Instead of seeing the merits of our plan, he harangued us for “consorting with the undead”. In his opinion, we would have been better off just storming the castle at Stavern, and dying in the process. This is, by the by, his main plan, or would be, if we had told him exactly where she is, as he demanded. Such an attack is doomed to fail, and will only lead to Hierkeit escaping, whereupon she will no doubt forever be seeking revenge against us, and more specifically, against me. Gone will be any chance of killing her, and any chance of gaining any more information about the forbidden library.

We must seek help. I will seek the counsel of my former master, Zeuss.

 

31. Pflugzeit, 2500

My head is spinning. Everywhere I look, it is as if a darkness is creeping in at the edges. Will we drown in it?

My meeting with Zeuss was unsettling. On the one hand, he approves of our plan to lure Hierkeit to her doom. But he berated me for not seeking his counsel earlier, since I was unaware of the character of the high priest of Morr. He has a history of being obstinate, unyielding and dogmatic. Moreover, Zeuss predicted that the priest’s next move would be to summon the council of temples, to denounce us as heretics! I beseeched Zeuss to interced, have a meeting with the priest and try to talk sense.

He was willing to do so, but offered little in the way of hope that the priest would see reason. Instead, he proposed other…alternatives. The first shocked me to my core: He said the simplest solution was to have the priest assassinated. His reasoning was that he now posed a direct threat to the witch hunters, which are “the foremost shield against chaos”. Again, the promise of the greater good demanding the lesser evil acts. I refused this option, of course. He did not press the matter, but I fear for his future, if this is how his mind turns.

His second option was more palatable, though. He said we had damnable evidence of the Morr-temple’s failings in allowing corrupt servants access to vital assets for the Empire. We could use this to, in essence, blackmail the priest into silence, stymieing any plots he may harbour against us. This is the kind of power play I’m not comfortable with, but it beats the alternatives.

 

32. Pflugzeit, 2500

Even in these troubled times, there are lighter moments. Saving Ostara from the clutches of Hierkeit was one such moment, though it came at great peril. However, I believe she is still in peril, and I most vividly recall Hierkeit’s promise to “see her again”. Ostara took her ensorcellment by the vampire badly, and feels that she has failed. She has sought refuge in Sigmar’s church, and I fear she is turning to zealotry. However, I still think she must be secured away from the vampire, so I bid her go to Altdorf on a pilgrimage, to cleanse her soul.

Our parting was bittersweet. Once, she was my mentor. Now she is all but broken, but I hope she can find the way back to the light, and return stronger.

The meeting with the priest and Zeuss went well, under the circumstances. Hearing our veiled threats, he backed down, and I do not think he will take malicious action against us. But neither will he help.

Still, our plan remains the same, to lure Hierkeit into the city, to the temple, and there to destroy her.

Johan has agreed to provide the necessary diversions to lure the city guards away from her path to the temple. How he will do so, I prefer not to delve too deeply into, but I have asked him not to cause undue harm.

33. Pflugzeit, 2500

As if we do not have enough trouble, it seems Eldur’s dark dreams have returned. I fear there is still some of Malice’s corruption lingering. Can her magic really survive even her complete destruction? Maybe.

At our behest, Mia, his apprentice, takes it upon her to watch over Eldur as he sleeps, to see if she can see what ails him.

1. Sigmarzeit, 2500

It is as we feared, there is some corruption eating at Eldur. Mia saw, as he slept, a dark mist rising from his chest, to hover above him, while he tossed and turned. The dark mist had the foul stench of Dhar, the darkest magic.

I fear what this will lead to, but we do not know how to deal with it at the moment.

I am burying myself in books, trying to find useful information.

10. Sigmarzeit, 2500

If we harboured any illusions about the true nature of Hierkeit, I hope they are all crushed, for all of us. Tonight, we met her outside the city. She arrived in the company of three of her horrible kin, and twenty heavily armed loathsome Death Jesters.

We tried to act as planned. We told her we could help her get into the city, but that we would, naturally, not aid her in attacking the temple. She was satisfied with this. But when I pressed her for more information on the library, she grew restless and her bestial side manifested. She claimed she was tired of the bargaining, and that we must accede to her demands. Furthermore, she now demanded Sunniva join her as hostage! To “assuage her fear of being doublecrossed”, as she put it. I have little doubt that she will turn Sunniva the moment she gets a chance, and that is something I cannot allow to happen.

Naturally, we stalled for time. We said we needed to think, and she grudgingly gave us one day to decide, saying we should meet next night.

We returned to the city. Sunniva, to my shock, said she was willing to be Hierkeit’s hostage, so we could secure the information we need about the library. But that idea was dismissed. How could we secure her, and make sure Hierkeit was destroyed? There was no possible way to make that work.

In effect, we are back to the less agreeable plan: To simply attack her next time we meet.

In desperation, we sought out the Morr-priest once more. I begged him to join us in destroying Hierkeit, since we now knew where she would be at a certain point in time. Thankfully, he agreed! Though I fear what will come, maybe we will be able to rid the world of Hierkeit’s corruption?

2. Sigmarzeit, 2500

I am drowning in darkness. My soul may be forfeit. I do not see what I can do to erase what has been done. My only hope is that we may at least be able to save the world from the dark library’s corruption. If we succeed in this, at least my fall will have been for something.

The plan was simple enough: The Morr-priests and knights would, with the aid of Torgil, place themselves ready to ambush Hierkeit, when we came to meet her. The high priest promised they had magics which would hinder her escape when the trap was sprung. I should have known what would happen, yet I was a fool…

I did not see the catastrophe with my own eyes. But Torgil’s panicked recounting left little to the imagination. As they were waiting for the arrival of Hierkeit, they saw the Death Jesters come, along with their dark mistress. It seemed the stealthy approach was working. Then suddenly, a dark and foul mist sprang up in the forest, and chaos erupted. He heard men and horses cry out in pain and panic. The next he saw was a huge, glowing purple orb, tearing through the woods, destroying anything and anyone in its path – Morr-priest, knight or foul mercenary alike. As he ran for cover, he saw a huge, necrotic dragonlike beast, with a dark, malevolent rider come swooping down upon the high priest of Morr. After a very short fight, the priest was dead, and the Dark Master – for this must be who this was? – bent down and triumphantly ripped the HOLY CHALICE from the corpse. One should perhaps not speak ill of the dead, but how could the utter buffoon of a priest be so stupid as to take the city’s – and province’s! – most important defense against the undead out with him? Now it is lost to the dark powers.

Lady Hierkeit stormed upon the scene, howling frustration, as the Dark Master climbed atop his foul steed and flew away.

After helping Torgil collect himself, we approached the scene of the slaughter. I will never forget the gruesome scene before us. Standing in the wasteland that was formerly a forest glade was Hierkeit, with a contingent of Death Jesters, and two score zombies – formerly proud priests and knights of Morr! The sacriledge! The unholy heresy! My heart breaks to think of it.

Hierkeit was furious, and the beast within only barely shackled. Had she attacked, we would have been dead, and joined her ranks, I am sure. But before she spoke, I tried one final, desperate ploy. Appealing to her frightful delusion of being a “witch hunter”, I implored her to help us destroy the library, since the whole of Nordland now was in peril from the undead horde. Somehow, this struck a nerve in her. But she had a price. She must be reinstated as witch hunter.

I feel bile rising in my throat as I think of writing that foul letter of approval. Yet what was I to do? The entire province, maybe the entire Empire is in the balance, we were outmatched, outgunned and at the mercy of an insane vampire. So I signed the document, sealing my soul in the same moment.

It is small solace that it worked. In her delusional state, she agreed to “work together” against the Dark Master. She even provided us with the information we need to find the library: In Dunkelkeifer, there is an ancient fountain from the time of Pallidus. If we bring elven moonwater to it, it can reveal to us a puzzle, which could grant us knowledge of the passcode needed to access the library.

Next, in Altdorf, there apparently is, in the former cell of a lunatic patient who helped design the library, a stone which can reveal the location of the doorway to the library. The patitent’s name is said to be Gus Terhege.

Where once we may have been beacons of light against encroaching darkness, I now feel like a shade, flitting through the world on our way to damnation. All for underestimating our own folly. I only pray we can at least die doing something useful.