Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 1779 - 1778: Cemetery Legends
The Green Lake City public cemetery is located lakeside outside the city, built by the water and adjacent to the Lower Griol Village, known as the "Gravekeeper Village." There is no fog on the lakeside outside the city, so when arriving here on a spring morning, the scenery is indeed quite nice. According to the conversation Shard had with the coachman on the carriage just now, there is also a dock at the back of the cemetery for holding "water burial ceremonies." Upon hearing that Shard was from out of town, the coachman even recommended that Shard go and have a look.
However, this made Shard somewhat understand where so many water ghosts and corpse materials in Green Lake came from.
The carriage stopped at the cemetery gate. The black iron gate and the fences extending to both sides marked the boundary of the cemetery. Walking through the gate led into the cemetery, where it was very quiet, with only a few citizens paying respects to the deceased or tending to the weeds beside the graves.
Following the small paths within the cemetery, Shard quickly found the grave of Nicholas Green, the father of the Green siblings. Due to a broken marriage, this gentleman was not buried with his wife. He was buried under a large banyan tree, and because the Green siblings often came to visit, the tombstone was very clean, and the grave was not overgrown with weeds.
[Nicholas Kelvin Green]
[1761-1843, died at home]
[May you rest in peace, father]
"Passed away at 82? Quite a long life indeed."
Shard murmured softly in admiration, bending down to touch the tombstone briefly. Then he moved around to the back of the tombstone, visually inspecting the grave’s covering. Satisfied that there was nothing unusual visible to the eye, he lightly stomped his foot. Chains snaked out from his pant leg and pierced into the ground.
The Great Sin Chains are non-aggressive; even if they now can appear in pairs, they remain non-aggressive. But by manipulating them through the Animated Rope Trick, breaking through the rain-softened earth was no problem at all, not to mention Shard could attack by attaching moonlight to them.
Soon, the tip of the chain touched the coffin. Having been buried for over a decade, the coffin had naturally decayed, so the chain easily penetrated it. And, just as Shard expected, there was no sign of any remains in the coffin at all.
"Interesting."
Chains couldn’t serve as Shard’s eyes; he could only probe the underground situation through vague sensations. After a more thorough search, he astonishingly discovered an opening large enough for an adult to crawl through on the sidewall near where the corpse’s head would be.
Although Shard’s Great Sin Chains could still extend further, the longer the chain, the weaker his control. So Shard didn’t explore further and temporarily retracted the chains:
"Originally, I thought the Edwards Ancestor on the island had someone reclaim the bones, but it seems not so simple now."
He patted the tombstone, turned around, and walked toward the small pointed church standing in the cemetery. At this time, a stranger’s funeral was taking place there, so Shard didn’t want to interrupt. After waiting outside the church for half an hour, once the crowd carried the coffin out, he entered the now empty church.
This church worships the God of Nature and Malice. Though its decoration is simple, the main hall features the True God Lord of All Things’ Holy Emblem, two overlapping leaves.
The priest had already gone out with the funeral procession, leaving only a young priest and a slightly older tomb guardian cleaning up the church after the funeral and chatting.
Seeing Shard approach, the tomb guardian glanced at his attire and remarked:
"Sir, the funeral is over; you’re late."
"I’m not here for the funeral."
Shard pointed to the church door:
"Can we talk outside? I have some matters, but I won’t take much of your time."
The elderly tomb guardian, hair half-gray, hesitantly nodded and followed Shard outside the church to hear him say:
"I’m a writer from out of town. When passing through the nearby village, I heard local tales about ghouls and such, so I wanted to ask you about it. Of course, I’ll pay for the information."
In fact, every cemetery has its ghoul rumors, mostly shadows left by careless tomb robbers.
"An outsider? Oh, yes, with the recent diplomatic talks between the two countries, there sure are many outsiders."
Understandingly, the tomb guardian nodded, examining Shard once more:
"You’re not the first writer to come to me for material. People always think being a tomb guardian is such an unusual profession, filled with many stories, as if it naturally leads to encountering various terrifying stories and bizarre incidents... but that’s not wrong. I have many stories about ghouls, ghosts, midnight screams from the earth, yet I usually don’t take money."
"Then what do you want?"
The demands from someone saying such things are often more exacting.
The old gravedigger chuckled and asked:
"You seem quite young. Have you played Roder Card at your age?"
Shard raised an eyebrow:
"Of course, so..."
"Want to play a game of Roder Card? If you win, I’ll tell you the story you want to hear. But if you lose... how about we play another game?"
He pointed to the long bench at the back of the church, where they could play cards.
Shard naturally didn’t refuse, but as he took out his own regular deck, he curiously asked:
"Do you often play cards with people who come to the cemetery?"
Shard noticed that the old gravedigger’s deck was also well-preserved, showing he really cared for his cards.
"No, I only extend an invitation in very rare cases."
The two sat down on the bench and began to check their decks. Shard used a deck without any special cards, while the old gravedigger astonishingly had two special cards in his deck. Given the average salary in the tomb guardian profession, it’s clear these two cards weren’t something he bought.
The two special cards were Sun 9’s [Human Organ: Kidney] and Moon 4’s [Urban Legend: Nonexistent Street]. Shard had seen [Human Organ: Heart] from the "Human Organ" series in Miss Pawo of the Truth Society’s possession. As for the "Urban Legend" series, it’s one of the most widely published series to date, with new special rule cards added with each release to incorporate different urban legends.
The rule for [Human Organ: Kidney] is that if it is drawn by the player, and the hand has four cards at standstill, they roll a 20-sided dice. If the points are greater than 10, they can choose to add one point. The rule for [Urban Legend: Nonexistent Street] is relatively simple: when drawn, toss a die, if the number is a multiple of three, the card’s suit is considered as Sun; a multiple of four is considered as Stars; a multiple of five is considered as Flowers.
Seeing Shard’s face light up with interest, the old man laughed and said:
"Although I enjoy playing cards with strangers, I can’t possibly say to those attending a funeral: Oh, buddy, don’t cry, want to play a game of Roder Card with me? And then they actually forget their grief and agree to play... At my age, I don’t want to get beaten up for no reason."
He and Shard placed their decks on the bench, and Shard asked again:
"Did you win these two special cards? That urban legend series rule is fascinating, though it’s a pity it needs to be paired with special cards related to suit rules to be useful."
The old man nodded:
"I won them both, it’s just a shame you don’t have any special cards, otherwise I’d be very willing to bet with you."
The match was simple: a best of three wins, if there’s a blowout or a tie with the same points, an additional match is played.
Although the old gravedigger said Shard must win to hear the story, as the two cheerfully drew their cards, he began anyway:
"Ghouls are probably a rumor in cemeteries everywhere, but you should know that it’s mostly foolish, unfortunate robbers causing noises at night, being passed on as false legends by ignorant citizens. Of course, there are also young people who are too reckless, gathering to play courage-testing games, which in my youth would have gotten you whipped."
They both drew their second card, Shard glanced at his points, indicated he’d continue drawing, and asked:
"So the ghoul rumors in the local cemetery, are they false too?"
"Certainly not, at least I don’t think so."
The old gravedigger shook his head, then drew his third card like Shard:
"It started on a rainy night over ten years ago, when, during my nightly patrol of the cemetery, I occasionally heard sounds coming from underground, mournful wails, sobs, and shuffling footsteps, as if echoing from the depths of hell. It wasn’t my illusion, even if inspections revealed nothing, I still believe it wasn’t my illusion."
Shard tapped the bench to signal he’d stand, the old gravedigger hesitated, and surprisingly drew a fourth card:
"Indeed, bodies have gone missing in the cemetery, but all were proven unrelated to urban legends like ghouls. But I’m not the only one who believes something strange is buried underground here, the nearby villagers also have similar rumors."
They both revealed their hands, Shard smiled and said:
"Stars 7, Flowers 10, Sun 3, I’m 20 points."
"The young have good luck, but I’m not bad either. Look, Flowers 4, Flowers 6, Sun 9 [Human Organ: Kidney], Moon 1. I also have 20 points; fortunately, I have four cards, so I can use the special rule and take another gamble."
He carried dice with him, and after rolling them with a clatter, they spun on the bench. Both watched the dice intently, and probably because the old gravedigger threw with too much force, it spun for a whole minute before stopping.
"11 points! Luck is with me today!"
The old man clapped his hands sharply, and Shard applauded too with a laugh:
"Such rules can trigger, so you’re at 21 points, I lost the first game. You must remember this game, go to the village tavern and tell the villagers, they surely won’t believe it."
"Let’s start the second game, such fine weather, playing Roder Card in the church, makes my retirement far better than those young ones struggling for a living."
