Inspiring Illustrations - The Tomb of Isabella

14). The Tomb of Isabella

Isabella of Khromarium is a princess of sorts of that eternal city. Her family was as old as the stones of the Great Council Hall where the rulers of Khromarium sat and extolled laws unto their more savage brethren. But Isabella is gone from the city, dead some say, murdered so that her wealth might pass to her relations, as she is the only child of her parents. Other suspect her lover who they also say Isabella rejected in favor of an older suitor more in keeping with her class and station, Or did her pale beauty attract the attentions of a powerful noble or the reclusive Malygris the greatest and most wicked mage in all Khromarium who is said to have an eye for such young maidens as Isabella. But what has truly happened to Isabella remains a mystery.

Demosthenes, Isabella's one-time suitor is the scion of a wealthy family. He is a duelist and not an adventurer so he has sought out the services of such to find his darling Isabella. Through bribery and torture he has managed to find a clue to his Love's where-abouts.

On the outskirts of the Ruling Quarter where all the Councilor families have their mansions are the crypts and tombs of Khromarium's oldest families; Isabella's chief among them. It is here that Demosthenes has been told that his Love was taken. He himself is above breaking into her families crypt and delving into the darkened passageways to search for her, but he will provide servants to move stones and carry torches. He warns that the crypts are no simple affair but are instead passages going back to the earliest reaches of the city and perhaps older even than man's occupation. He wishes them luck and urges them to haste since every hour he is parted from Isabella is a torment.

At least the fop's gold is good and burial crypts of the wealthy promise decent pickings in burial loot if nothing else.