This document for Ezrites contains a summary of contents to broaden a knowledge of medicine in the reader.
It is to be noted that due to the demonistic mutations present in many living Servants of the Legions of the Night, a contrast of different anatomies is necessary for the serious student.
Creatures such as trolls, caliban, or the Beasts that Rend, are equally comparable for their "near human" physiology.The Anchorites of the Last Redoubt have battled and overcome all sorts of terrible incarnations of evil. See next a skeletal comparison of a human with a horrific servant of a legion.*A sketch depicting some training material possibly used in Nevuchar Springs, Darkon.*
(http://img849.imageshack.us/img849/3504/humanvslegiondrawing.jpg) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/849/humanvslegiondrawing.jpg/)
These skeletal comparisons are a necessary foundation to understanding that, the bodies of all beings in the Hollow follow certain laws of composition, as you see here, the exclusion existing in the unliving Legions of the Night, a topic to which this document is not relevant. To the conclusion I present the points of critical anatomical importance; those ones usually targeted on the field of battle.*The document seems to exclude the reproductive organs completely*
(http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/6107/organanatomy.jpg) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/36/organanatomy.jpg/)
The document is left unsigned.
« on: October 15, 766 »
...serafim, seems to have some sort of demonic shadow entity around her. -- described it as darkness and black tenticles around her. I am not sure, I do remember that Inquistor Meisser spoke out against Serafirm when I last saw him. It is possible this is her own fault then, nevertheless, it is probaly good to look into the whole picture and what exactly this darkness around her might be. I suspect this might be some form of the Legion of the Night, it does after all sound similar to the shadows in the sullen woods.
...a new policy regarding sermons given by visiting clergy. The senior presiding anchorite must approve all sermons given by those outside of our parish before they can be delivered. I cannot give specific guidelines on this, just use your better judgment. Any sermon that may appear to incite or inflame local authorities or citizenry, or be offensive to our laity, should be scrutinized.
4/27/767
*The letter is written in a diligent, fierce hand*
To his holiness, Inquisitor Meisser,
On 4/22/767, the Vallaki congregation became aware of a credible threat upon Warden di Morello's
life, a threat made in person, by none other than the hedonist defiler Serafim Ianescu.
Warden di Morello had entered the Refuge of Fifth Light distraught and frustrated that, in spite
of the threat posed by the League of Nine and the need for templars to protect the clergy closely, Templar Sinovia instead has chosen to keep company with Ianescu, neglecting his duties.
I voiced my own objections at the Templar taking counsel with heretics or apostates, saying that such efforts are exclusively the duty of the Anchorites.
The Vallaki congregation seems to possess such a great sympathy to this sensualist monster, Ianescu, and her pagan cabal, that her verbal threat to take the life of Warden di Morello fell upon deaf ears. Warden di Morello herself spoke of ending the threat of this blight upon the faith, in a permanent manner, which others of the home faith criticized, then ignored.
The crimes of Ianescu, and her orgiastic, flesh obsessed predilections are well known by all. Her livelihood earned running the house of ill repute in the Vallaki slums, has surely enabled her to spend even more time destroying faith and unraveling Ezra's will in the Rationi Magna.
As Serafim has placated, and poisoned the faith of so many, sympathizers, my mounting fear was that she would be able to pursue her threat upon Warden di Morello unchecked, and continue on to destroy any who she could not poison. Warden di Morello has shown resilient faith and purity of mind regarding the defiler, and I suspect this is why Ianescu would escalate to a threat upon her life.
Among the criticisms defending Ianescu, was Toret Milea's remark that Ianescu carries the child of none other than the excommunicated pagan-witch, Krow. Such a damned, caliban offspring would only bring further turmoil to the faith, and if carrying such an infernal minion in her womb insulates her from rightful justice, surely all dangerous enemies of the church could simply copulate to render themselves immune to the repercussions of their vile, disgusting conduct.
I, Warden Ovidiu Lacusta of the Fourth Revelation, ordained by Toret Francesca Boyce of Nevuchar Springs, will not abide this while there is breath in my body!
I immediately set aside the necessary tools for Ezra's holy work. The defiler was easy to find. I had prepared to use the Inquisitive Purging verses, among other prayers, but I knew that prayers alone would not be enough to purge this monster. I devised a collection of Darkonese Ezrite symbols, Sigilum, canonical to the Fourth Revelation, representing five moral virtues.
Of these symbols, I succeeded in branding her with, Devotion, Repentence, and Chastity. I was interrupted by, and had to flee the witch Krow before I could complete the other two Sigilum.
Since the faithless political climate of Vallaki certainly prohibited simply ending the life of this wretched woman and her ill-begotten spawn, these Sigilum were deemed by me to be an appropriate level of force to dissuade any attack against Warden di Morello. In carrying out this work I have made a great sacrifice of my progress, made by tiptoeing around the supposed sensibilities of the faithful, which are still detrimentally saturated by the fickle attitudes of the Pure Hearts.
Additionally, the appropriate placement of my Sigilum would have, in theory, inhibited the flow of blasphemous, pagan or arcane energies. By marking Ianescu with holy runes of Our Guardian, I was intending to free her from the skeletal grip of the Mists of Death. Her child, unharmed by my work, would have had a chance to develop rightly in that tainted womb, protected by the symbols from the forces that would twist it's likeness into the Legion-serving, flesh eating caliban that it's unholy parentage would otherwise ensure.
I knew I could trust none in the Vallaki congregation with the merciful piety I bestowed upon that horrible fiend. Within a single day, the wardens silently ostracized me from meetings on ecclesiastical matters, placing all accusation immediately upon me without the slightest proof, only their speculation. I offered them nothing in return for their lack of faith.
During the next mass, on the twenty fifth day of the fourth month, just passed, Sentire Costinus publicly interrupted worship to hand me over to the Garda. It was truly blasphemous and a blow to our veneration of Ezra on Her Holy day. I was summarily tortured for false charges of murder, the demonization of my holy work made complete, the garda refused to honor the sentence for assault, which I calculated, would have led to release after a few days. They instead pandered to the, then present, deranged hedonist Ianescu, who because of the Vallaki church's actions, had the full support of the garda. The Ezrites I had protected from Ianescu had now subjected me fully to her sadistic whims, now empowered by the cruelty of the Garda.
Instead of a conventional punishment, the Vallaki garda dared to emulate the symbology of Ezra as they imitated my Sigilum, upon myself. They poured alcohol on my wounds, set me on fire, bludgeoning my head with gauntlets while shackled and naked, all in their effort to please the flesh daemon.
Her wretched influence far exceeds even what I originally thought.
Ianescu has surely set the Garda against the Church, such that they would dare to accuse Inquisitor Rowley of bribery and threaten him with a year in confinement. The Sentire's sympathies for her, at best, may be because of his previous failures and feelings of vengeance toward the Fourth Revelation, and at worst may be evidence of an even more base involvement with the sacrilegious, corruptive, half-Vistani desecrator called Serafim Ianescu!
In Ezra's holy name, your humble servant writes.
Warden Ovidiu Lacusta
DOSSIER # 3
Name: Unknown
Legion Archetype: Necromancer
Pre-Legion Species: Human, Barovian.
Region: Barovia
Status: At large
Known Affilitations: None
Appearance Assessment:This indivual is can be easily identified by the fact he is missing an arm. During the Writer's brief encounter, he appeared wearing furs. White hair, with a poorly trimmed beard.
Personality assessment:
Narcissistic. Legion believes himself to be of some sort of "repute" and subseqeuently arrogant in all mannerisms. Aggressive and quick to anger. Practices the necormantic arts and can raise formidable undead.
Lair Assessment:
Unknown, although he was sighted within the Sun Cultist church crypt and grounds. He has made mention of being a resident of the Village of Barovia.
Threat Assessment:
High Risk, given his obscurity and quick-to-violent nature and penchant for raising the corpses of the living to undeath. Ezra cannot tolerate such defilement of the peaceful dead. Thorough investigation and quick dispatch is recommended before this madman engages in more sacrilege.
(http://www.exclassics.com/foxe/foxe108.gif)
Propagandist leaflets with vivid images of a Warden standing upright, lacerations on his body are sprawled in front of the large Temple sparing no expense in their appeal and printed typography - telling the tale of the exploits of a young Martyr Warden of the fourth revelation that hails from the wicked Lands of Barovia - dubbed as the greatest battlefield second to Darkon and the biggest threat of them all come the end of times.
The apocalyptic text recites in a romantic way, the struggles of a young Warden that stood up to the political corruption of greed and sensualist influence in those lands, betrayed to local law for standing up to what he believed to be right, sacrificing himself in body to torture with unwavering resolve in Faith. It follows with fervor about the need of aid in those corrupted, heathen-ridden lands - that it is every young anchorites' mission then to make pilgrimage to Barovia sooner than later to help a congregation 'in dire need of help and guidance' in what will be a raging battlefield of the Times of Unparalleled Darkness...
Three outlanders were accompanied by the fair-haired lightcarrier, down into the dusty crypts below the Morninglord sanctuary. They were in melee with the undead there. I had followed them to sate my curiosity on what the mindless undead had evidently done to rebuild some of the lower levels of the complex - at the direction of their unseen masters, no doubt.
I followed after their party, not too close, but close enough to remain in earshot. I had all but lost interest in following their group - unremarkable warriors that they were - until I found the passage behind me blocked by some trick of the Legions of the Night... I would have to proceed through.
Catching up to the party of four, I noted they had closed with a group of undead warriors that fought with a closeness and cohesion that suggested they fought together in life. They were cutting the outlanders down with measured strikes and methodical, predictable tactics... and were proving quite effective at the task.
Having no obligation to intervene, I may have resolved, at the very least, to extricate their corpses to the surface for burial, but I cannot remark on that, for what I saw next was truly horrific.
One of their women, she wore her armor poorly, was unceremoniously felled by the skeletal fighters... And it seemed that the very moment her dark blood hit the dusty floors of that place, as soon as the sanguine humor mingled with the sting of battle filling the nostrils... The Lightcarrier changed.
This was the sudden cascade of bone, of rippling flesh and an odious, avian cry! This was the shapechange of a Beast that Rends... but not like any other I'd seen. This creature was half again as tall as man... Bedecked with a plume of feathers, shining as black as night, and a jagged beak protruding from where the face of a man once resided.
No sooner did the man change into this abomination, than it lept upon the body of the felled woman. As if any further show of its nature was required, it began to gorge upon the carrion flesh! Snapping at its former companions, the outlanders did not seem to understand their imminent danger, instead thinking of this monster as their friend!
I could stand by no longer. I surged from the shadows, Ezra's blessings upon my lips, but I was only able to harm it superficially... Enough to make it flee, at the least.
I encountered a woman known as Rada, who is also known by the alias Adeline. She was doting all about her upcoming wedding in the Morninglord church. The woman was quite decisively a pest as I worked some supplies I'd received from Frenar Goldenhammer, who was not yet a layman - at first I had thought to simply be rid of the woman. I had expected her to leave instead of answer my line of questioning which I promptly turned on her.
I accused her of harboring a Legion of the Night, a creature of vile darkness, and her demeanor was as defensive as could be expected.
I began to describe my experience watching the thing change down in the crypt, though I was careful not to mention that I'd seen Warn's human appearance in good detail, or that I knew it was a Lightcarrier specifically.
Sensing my intentional vagueness and falling prey to it, the vile woman quickly suggested that the Morninglord Vicar was the shapeshifting monstrosity. It became instantly clear that this woman wanted to dispose of her high priest, even though she spoke carefully enough, she repeated her suspicion that the Vicar was the creature.
I asked, for her to describe the Vicar, to which she obliged. I pressed the question, and she confirmed, that the Vicar does indeed have dark hair.
Goldenhammer spoke with me in murmurs, and sensing his propensity for this kind of work, I told him about the target having light colored hair. He was immediately a benefit to the investigation when he asked her if her husband to be, Warn, had light hair to match her own.
She said yes.
A new interest in this wedding forming, I resolved to attend and see for myself if her husband Warn was the shapeshifter I'd witnessed. The time was not convenient though... I could not make the ceremony. Goldenhammer showed initiative and told me he'd go to the wedding... I had not even asked him to.
I offered a pleasantry to Rada, I told her that I wished her husband Warg and she a fine ceremony.
She made no effort to correct my intentional misuse of Warn's name. That someone else corrected me was unnecessary... I hadn't mistaken it.
She'd tried to deflect us into making a serious mistake accusing the Vicar. She tried to protect Warn... but she'd revealed him every bit as much as herself.
My Retainer, whom I later appointed after troubles of my own, reported back on the matter of Warn and Rada's wedding. Indeed the fair-haired lightcarrier was just as I described. I went to the Vallaki Garda and informed them of my ongoing investigation. At the time, Sergeant Petkovich had agreed to make a typical arrest of the creature, then summon me to the jail to see to the important task of proving the nature of it, assessing any weakness, and finally disposing of it.
The Garda never did their part. Weeks passed without any new leads, the case was growing cold. We still had nothing as far as a weakness and, Warn hadn't been seen in the Morninglord temple, either.
Just when I it seemed the creature had slipped our grasp, my Retainer and I witnessed it lingering out in the open - in the western outskirts of vallaki, no less. Some simple trade had outlasted the daylight. This was it; we followed the creature and an elven woman into the southern wood.
We were summarily attacked by a fell Druid, a Bear-shifter, no doubt an ally of Warn's, as I confronted him and held him fast. My Retainer succeeded in defeating the bear-woman. I managed to cut Warn's hand off, but only after a second attempt. Varja-using-Caliban huddled in the shadows watching while Warn struggled against the compulsion to change. Let the Caliban see the proof.
His mastery over his uncanny forms should be stated. It took stabbing Warn full of Belladonna extract, a dose lethal to a normal person, to finally prompt the physical manifestation of his taint. Cries from the caliban sympathizers distracted from my task - but all were captured in silence as the horrid thing shifted forms below my very boot. I was nearly thrown by it thrashing so powerfully, but Ezra kept me steady, kept the fiend pinned entirely under my weight.
Finally, despite the struggle I managed to get some of the stronger alchemical varnish onto my blade. It was orders of magnitude stronger than the allergic properties of even the rarest metals, and I wasn't going to take any more risks in letting this fiend escape. Severing a vital tendon that deprived it deliberate movement made dispatching it easier than expected. I was not pursued as I made my escape with the thing in tow.
Addendum:
Warn:
-divorced Rada, he called her wicked and unworthy of the Morninglord.
-deserted the Morninglord Faith, breaking his vows as a Lightcarrier.
-was transformed into a Raven monster in the wolf cave near the Fishing Lodge.
-was thoroughly convinced he was an ally to good creatures everywhere.
-denied any knowledge of others of his kind.
-had no noteworthy possessions.
-condition was known to many, including the caliban witnesses.