Chamrousse, that city of spires and bridges, is distinct among its neighbors for a peaceful and orderly sense in even its slums and back alleys. It was the only heathen city in my travels which approached the sense of safety I felt among brethren.
This great orderliness, I was told by the proud citizens, could be traced to the zealous and efficacious application of the law by the local guard. I stood aghast that this alone could induce such orderliness, and drawing upon some rumors I had heard when planning out my journey, inquired further into the more exotic methods of the Chamrousse law enforcement. I was thrown out from multiple noble homes for these questions, and nearly fled the city in panic; but while hiding out in a drinking den of lowlives I encountered a man who had undergone these extreme practices, and learned the whole story from him.
A common superstition among the Chamrousse underclass tells of ‘Skinny Gustav’, seemingly a local boogeyman used to keep children in line: but widespread rumors and the criminal underclass insist he is real.
The superstition dates back some hundred and fifty years, and originates with Gustav Malevol, one of the ancient noble house which politically rules Chamrousse and the Xantillon region, and has a historically poor relationship with the heathen Church, on account of that fearsome tendency I have already detailed; their consistent inability to accept death. Gustav Malevol held the same office and power as his current descendant, Count Jean-Giscard, and was possessed of a special zeal in punishing criminals for even minor and petty violations of the law. So desirous of punishment was he that he often conducted interrogations himself, under shadowy and unsavory conditions, to extract confessions. This, according to my source, did not end with his death.
Some time after the old Count was supposedly laid to rest, rumors spread of his spirit haunting the streets at night. These rumors were summarily quashed. But the city has long known that which only a few are willing to speak openly: Gustav Malevol yet conducts interrogations.
In the account of my source, a repeat burglar and cutpurse, after continued refusal to confess to a charge of assassination (which he yet claims innocence of) he was thrown into a cell at the bottom of the Count’s dungeon, totally dark. Initially planning to stick it out, he soon became aware he was not alone in the room. His cellmate did neither move nor breathe, but seemed to slowly wake after several hours. Though it was too dark to make out details, he recalls a sense of a creature scrabbling towards him, the straining of a chain like a dog on a collar, and a powerful odor of rot. The creature’s arms reached out towards him, he felt, but were some distance away.
After some minutes, the guards returned, and continued their interrogation. This time, with each unsatisfactory answer, they turned a mechanical device, and the chain on which the creature was restrained slackened, and he soon had to pin himself against the far wall to avoid its grasp. After some minutes, he could feel the shifting air from its swipes, and, utterly panicked, laid all the blame for the assassination on a peer of his who was then hiding in a friend’s basement. He was summarily let out of the cell, and in a split moment of good sight recalls a ghastly vision: a desiccated body, crouched and straining with all its might to reach him, its dead eyes shining with a hateful intelligence.
He was released, and some days later the man he accused of the crime (whom he also claims was innocent) was found floating in the river, his body desiccated, decapitated and scorched by magefire.
- The Journeys of al-Ufizi, popular travelogue
Gustav Malevol: HD 3; AC 5[14]; Atk claw 1d4+level drain; Sav 14; Spec only hit by magic or silver, 1hp/round in sunlight; ML 10; AL C.
Hp 11
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