Interview log between Exorcist Wern and Gen Mahler as recorded by Apprentice Havd

 

The room the interview will take place in is about 6x7 meters. It was bisected width-wise by a long heavy table that extended from the east to the west wall, a foot above the table was a thick glass divider. It has two doors on the east wall. Both the south and north side had two wooden chairs. There was a clock on the south wall. Exorcist Wern was the first into the room, and in the north half of it, having interviewed Davin Tundwa 5 minutes earlier. Gen Mahler was escorted into the south half of the room by two police officers at 12:30.

 

In this interview, Exorcist Wern will be addressed as EW and Gen Mahler as GM, other participants will be noted by name, title, or job. If a participant makes a significant gesture or movement it will be recorded in between these symbols **.

Exorcist Wern: Gen Mahler is it?

 

Gen Mahler: Yes who are you, and can you tell me why I am here?

 

EW: I am Exorcist Wern. Why do you think you are here?

 

*Gen Mahler tapped his fingers on the table for a few seconds.*

 

GM: The only thing I can think of is to do with that stolen painting. Do you think I am a suspect?

 

EW: I can not say if I do or do not know if you are a suspect, but do you remember sending a letter last week?

 

GM: Are you an exorcist then?

 

EW: I can not say.

 

GM: Why? And why are we here?

 

EW: It is protocol, and you are here because of that letter. Anyways let us get to the point. You mentioned a John Ben, who was he?

 

GM: I don’t really know. I met him at the Wooden Shoe bar. We talked for a bit and became aquintencess. The reason I mentioned him was because he told a lie during a local ceremony? Tradition? Ritual? I don’t really know which, and then died in the same week.

 

EW: What is the tradition? How does it work?

 

GM: My memory is a bit faint since I have avoided bars since John Ben’s death, but, from what I remember, someone starts the ceremony, I forget how, and the doors are then locked and blinds lowered. After that someone is chosen, that person is to go to the front stage and is told to tell a story related to a topic. According to rumor and legend, if you lie you will soon die.

 

EW: What happened after John Ben died then? You mentioned seeing an omen of some sort, right?

 

GM: I was invited to his funeral. I was the last to leave the cemetery, mostly because I had spaced out. Then I saw it, from an armless bust grew numerous thin black root like branches that enveloped the sky. In the next second however it was gone. I believe I saw the Thread Tree.

 

EW: Why?

 

GM: What happened mimicked the legends I had read of the omen. Not to mention it was said that Hem the Vile Sorcerer was the last person to be known to summon the omen.

 

EW: Why is that sorcerer important?

 

GM: I realized that the bust the omen came from was a part of the monument to Hem the Vile Sorcerer’s victims.

 

EW: And who were the victims?

 

GM: Those infected by the unraveling.

 

EW: The unraveling, what is that?

 

GM: It was the disease that Hem had created i-

 

EW: Did the disease have to do with boils that created a sticky powder?

 

GM: No… it caused the flesh and muscles of its victims to deglove in ribbon like strips, about the thickness of a finger. But now that you mentioned it, the glue that was used to treat it leaves a powdery residue.

 

EW: What glue?

 

GM: All I remember is that the glue was made from the roots of a traih plant, and was powdery before meeting with the blood of the patients, if the stories are to be believed.

 

EW: Were there any other symptoms? Like chronic fevers?

 

GM: All I can remember was that with the unraveling of the body, so too came the unraveling of the mind. People were forgotten, personalities reduced, and memories crumpled. Truly frightening.

 

EW: You mentioned you had an painting elated to the unraveling.

 

GM: Before John Ben passed we went to an auction together. I bought a painting from there, the tag when I bought it read Unraveling by Unknown. The painting was of a silhouette of what I believe to be a victim of the unraveling.

 

EW: Why was it mentioned in the letter?

 

GM: Well this may sound crazy, but about the same time it went missing a rumor throughout town of a witch cult that recently received an artifact related to the unraveling. Instinct pulls at my soul telling me that artifact is the painting.

 

EW: Can you tell me more about the witch cult?

 

GM: From what I have heard, there is a group that reveres Hem the Vile Sorcerer and is trying to uncover the bastard’s legacy.

 

EW: Where did you hear said rumors.

 

GM: From the workers cafeteria, it is one of the few things, outside of local gossip, people talk about there.

 

EW: Does your boss ever go there?

 

GM: Yes, every lunch.

 

EW: Thank you for your time Mr. Mahler, you are free to leave.