"I doubt that the room beneath Castle Helgard is related to the bodysnatchers," Thane said, frowning.
Tarmid, ever the teacher, nodded approvingly. "Why?" he asked.
"The grave robberies seem to be done on impulse," she answered, thinking quickly. "Whoever turned Vladamir into a puppet clearly didn't have much of a plan for what they'd do afterwards. What's more, the stolen bodies have been showing up again more often than not. Burned and maimed, sure, but they're not that hard to find. There was no trace of the dungeon until you actually found the place itself, and even then there's no evidence of what it's being used for."
"Perhaps the corpses are the evidence of the room being constructed, and we simply didn't join the dots?" Tarmid countered.
"I suppose there's no way to prove that they're not, but it seems awfully careless for someone who leaves as little trace as the person who made that room. Plus, there's far too many bodies. Three or four dwarves could have made a room that small inside a month, even counting the breaks. A zombie would have had more than twice the working hours of a live person, but there's more than twenty empty coffins, and most of the missing bodies are accounted for. So, why would such a secretive person simply discard tools after such a short amount of time, particularly when they could potentially last forever? Plus, there was no corpse rot there."
"No..." Tarmid trailed off.
"No smell of death," Thane nodded. "There was no ventilation in that room, any smells would have lingered for months, and most of the bodies have gone missing and turned up again in the last year. It's circumstantial, I know, but it's true."
"So, we have two madmen running around doing Armok knows what?" Brenzen rumbled.
"At least two," Tarmid said apologetically. "There seems to be at least one other unknown force in Demongate, though that may just be our regular insanity being mistaken for something more sinister."
Brenzen closed his eyes for a moment. He seemed to be praying. "Fine," he eventually growled. "So, essentially, we have an unknown number of enemies, each with unknown objectives, and each with an unknown number of followers?"
"That's about it," smiled Tarmid. "Though I think we can safely attribute at least some of the cadaver theft to Dan. She's very eager to tell people about her, eh, 'science'. I think the best thing to do for now may be to operate alone and find out what we can about our opponents. Action before we're better prepared would only alert them that we know about them."
Thane and Brenzen nodded, and Thane turned to leave. As the door closed behind her, Brenzen quietly asked
"What do we do about the reading from her hammer?"
"I'm not sure yet," Tarmid answered. "We can't afford to give her enough time to utilize its power if she's an enemy, but on the other hand, she's had the thing for years now and barely murdered anyone important. At the very least, there's no point in turning her into an enemy when we need all the friends we can get."
"That is the beginning of a very dark path, scribe," Brenzen warned. "Be careful where you follow it."
"I'm sure I haven't completely compromised my morals yet," Tarmid smiled. "Besides, I'm sure if that day comes you'll be there, pick ready and waiting."
Brenzen nodded. "Until we meet again, then."