(Scribed while journeying to Magnimar)
Reflections on the Skinsaw Man Murders[]
I am forced to admit that this motley group I have come to call my companions have acquitted themselves surprisingly well in recent events. No doubt my own contributions have helped matters, each has proven to possess an inner strength and skill that has surprised me. Perhaps they are the ones who can help me find my precious Zatanna and deal with the curse on my family once and for all.
I hypothesised at the beginning of our investigations into the murders that we might have encountered a cult. Our discoveries at the Foxglove Manor have proven me to be correct, though not in the manner I suspected. While the so called ‘Skinsaw Man’ was solely responsible killer here is Sandpoint, he was connected to a wider group of evildoers, The Brotherhood and their mysterious master.
We had previously theorised that each killing was connected to one of the so called ‘Seven Deadly Sins’ (Twitch even suggested the killings would culminate in the decapitation of someone named Gwynath?) however the note from this ‘Brotherhood’ specifies the sin of Greed being used to fuel some ritual.
The Rune Well, the 7-pointed Star symbol, Nualia, the creature beneath Thistletop, it is all somehow connected...connected to the so called Rune Lords and their long ago empire.
I must find out more about these people.
Who were they?
What were they capable of?
Were they mortal? Gods? Demons?
What happened to them?
A thought strikes me while re reading the letter we found, one line leaps out: if the correct ritual is not performed, the greed will be lost and of no use to the Master.
What if...what if there were a total of SEVEN such Rune Lords, each of them a manifestation of or drawing on the power of, one of the seven deadly sins.
If the Rune Lords were not killed (and even then, to a person sufficiently versed in the arcane arts, even death might be a minor inconvenience), could one (or dread to think, more than one) have been revived some how and become active again?
And when did they become active?
We have learned upon our first week in Sandpoint of the so called ‘Recent Troubles’ five years earlier.
What if, as their empire collapsed, a Rune Lord somehow escaped into...hibernation let us say...and woke up, or was awakened somehow, five years ago. Their waking may have caused the Rune Well to become active, the sin-energy it emanated serving to fuel the ‘Troubles’ Sandpoint experienced as they caused people to succumb to their more base urges.
It is just a theory.
Perhaps I should journey back to Thistletop and talk to the creature myself. Unlike Twitch, I have no problem providing it with live prey so long as the greater good is served.
The more a bend my thoughts to this, the more I am convinced. Everything we have experienced is linked. If my theory is sound, then I know who the Master of this Brotherhood: A Rune Lord...specifically, one attuned to Greed.
Addendum[]
(Added on arriving in Magnimar)
The city guard recognised the star symbol!
They also informed us of several ritual killings, identical to those in Sandpoint.
I think it was wise to give false names, for I fear that this conspiracy could reach farther then we realise. I wish all of our company had done so...
I gave the story of staying at the Foxglove house as cover for our investigations, an excuse if we are found there.
But the killings...I wounder...could there be a Rune Well beneath Magnamar as well? How many more Wells might be out there?