(Sorry, I think I lost this in the shuffle.)
"I would imagine that the Church would frown strongly on anyone disturbing anyone who'd been given a decent Christian burial," Muriel says. "And I've heard some of Runa's stories about what happens to people who disturb the pagan graves.
"I suppose it depends on what you're willing to risk to get this skeleton for the magi."
"I've no doubt you know what you are doing sir, but just to check the obvious, it is a human skeleton you need? We can't go down to the butcher and fetch a sheep skeleton or something?" Aodh asks Cory.
((Who's speaking, and who are they addressing?))
"Well I'm not willing to risk life and limb," Cory answers. And I'm pretty sure that Master Gavin would agree with that. He's put some effort into getting me trained the way he likes things. I doubt he'd want to start all over with someone else."
"Isn't there some kind of potter's field somewhere that people go who don't deserve Christian burials? And I'm not talking about the hard-core pagans. Like you say, I don't want to cross them either."
Aodh interjects "What about Angus? I mean his parens, he's dead, and I assume he isn't in some churchyard somewhere."
"Isn't Angus English?" Muriel replies to Aodh.
She turns back to Cory and thinks for a minute. "Well...our people don't always return from the raids. Maybe the people that try to raid us don't either. As far as I know, we've never carted their bodies to the graveyards for proper burial. We could ask some of the men-at-arms about it."
"Well yeah, but what does that have to do with... oh wait, does that mean his paren's body is in England? Yeah, I suppose that isn't such a great idea."
"Now that sounds promising," Cory replies. "If we could find where enemy raiders buried their bodies, we could go looking there." He looks a bit nervous. "I suppose I'd better go ask Seamus the Red what he can tell me. Better to face him than an angry mob of locals with pitchforks and torches, angry over their graveyard being dug up."
Prime raiding season is (roughly) late autumn, through winter and into early spring. I'm thinking that, for a good part of this time, the ground is too frozen to easily dig. So, if an enemy falls, until their compatriots come back for him, I could imagine that we would leave them where they fell, or maybe dragged the bodies to where they might be less likely to be found by casual passers-by any time soon.
The above is just my non-binding thinking. But it's up to Ironboundtome.
Seamus pauses when Cory asks, looking sternly back at him and then responds. "So no particular corpse type, and only one or two? That is far easier. If you wanted ten or more we'd likely have a long journey ahead. Does the wizard want them fresher or mostly bone?" He may have done this before...
"My condition for helping is that you ask a minimum of questions. Fair?"
"We use the bogs, muddy areas, and lochs in winter, or stones when the ground is hard. Our men do our best to take any dead away, especially ours. "
"There are one or two places we've buried the dead within a several days journey. "
Cory pales a bit when Seamus gives him his stern looks, but he gathers his courage and responds.
"Master Gavin said the corpse should be adult-sized - no children or dwarves. It should be complete - no missing limbs. And he only wanted one or two. One would be acceptable, though two would be better. He also said that a skeleton would be acceptable, though I'd best make sure I got it all, so I think the quality of the corpse isn't important."
"As for questions, I'm happy to answer any questions you like, so long as they don't involve any of Master Gavin's private matters. But you might be better off asking Master Gavin himself. I'm afraid I may not know very much about what you want to know, depending on the questions, that is."
"I have a few people ready to help," he adds. "I know this will involve some work. We can leave whenever you like. I've also borrowed a cart so we won't have to haul the body ourselves, though if you think it might be better to just use horses, given the terrain we'll be on, we can do that too."
Conarchar Mor speaks up in a deep voice. If you are going to be stealin' the bodies of fallen clansman I suggest that you do not be seen by anyone as you will have a blood feud called on you and the Covenant.
[hr][/hr]
Conarchar is a large, hairy man who is obviously a member of the local Clan. He is the journeyman Blacksmith for the Covenant.
I could see what Master Gavin might be able to provide to help. He's a whiz and whipping up charms and potions. Maybe he can give us something to help hide the body.
[hr][/hr]
This sounds like a perfect use for a one-shot item or two. Give the grogs something they can use and see what they make of it.
Who's the "party leader", and do we have a plan?
Not the leader, but it looks like our options are either go raid a churchyard or start poking around out of the way spots someone might have hidden a body so it wouldn't be found. On that note if we can check the loch it might yield results, or a bog of some sort... also we will probably want to conceal the body, magic items were mentioned, though I suspect a blanket might suffice...
Seamus would know where a body or two is located (confirmation how?), and will show a small group where they are. Generally speaking he would have hidden any bodies left over from raids. A large sack or three will be enough to move the body. It is a lot less conspicuous than a wheelbarrow.
I thought the plan was to follow Seamus to where he knows a body or two is buried. I think a few bags would be a good idea to hold bodies. And maybe a horse or a donkey to carry them.
Seamus, please make an Area Lore: Scotland roll.
Ironboundtome, please make a Stress roll. (this is basically going to be like a "random encounter roll".)
It takes about three days to get to the area where Seamus seems to recall the bodies of the enemy raiders were hidden. It takes the better part of a day to track down just where he put them. By this time, the body has been reduced to pretty much skin, hair, and bones, and probably not a sight for the weak of heart.
The bodies are still intact, with whatever gear Seamus's men left them...although he's not really sure if there were two or three raiders that were killed at the time; he seems to think there were three, but there are two bodies here.