Folk Art Painting of the Martyrdom of St Peter with a border of written extracts from scripture in Latin. Italian circa 1330.

Punishments for convicted heretics in Medieval Italy were usually unpleasant in the extreme, with mutilation and torture of the condemned victim providing a salutary moral lesson for the onlookers, before the main event of the public burning.

To ensure that the heretic obtained every last penitential lesson from their punishment themselves, and provide an example of Christian fortitude in suffering, the heretic had to be distracted from the painful and unpleasant business of having finger and toe nails pulled out, large chunks of flesh being removed with red hot pincers and, at the end of the pre burning ritual of public torture, castration.
This distraction was achieved (at least so the Holy Fathers of the Inquisition believed) by holding before the eyes of the condemned man images of Christian saints and martyrs undergoing equally distressing sufferings. The theory was that by concentrating on a picture of, say, the martyrdom of Saint Sebastian, the heretic would not feel the irons tear away portions of living flesh, and would prepare himself mentally for the afterlife, in an appropriately penitential state of mind.
These images were painted on simple wooden boards called Tavoletta.

In 1332 a renowned sorcerer and heretic, Roberto di Sant’ Castrenze was condemned by the Inquisition and sentenced to public execution in the main square of Florence.

Contemporary eyewitness accounts record that the execution proceeded normally at first, with Sant’Castrenze paraded around the square, before being handed over to the executioners.
The pads of his fingertips were seared away with hot irons, and his finger nails and toenails yanked out. The executioners then busied themselves with the fearsome “spiders” or clawed tongs, heated to white heat, and then used to rip chunks of flesh away from the body –breast, buttocks and calves being the favoured the areas to use these implements.

All the time Sant’ Castrenze kept his eyes focused on the Tavoletta the priest held before his eyes, “uttering neither a scream nor a cry, his lips moving always in silent prayer”.

It was just after the castration that witnesses reported that Roberto di Sant’ Castrenze simply disappeared. One moment his ruined mutilated body was being dragged on a hurdle to the pyre in the centre of the square –the next he was gone. Vanished into thin air before a baying crowd of thousands and right under the noses of the priests, executioners and the halbardiers of the City Guard.
An investigation by the Inquisition revealed that the Tavoletta had been painted by one Bernardo d’Albano –a known confidante of Sant’ Castrenze, who had visited the condemned man in prison whilst he awaited his fate and who had fled Florence on the morning of the execution.

Examination of the Tavoletta by the city magistrates revealed nothing other than a painting of the martyrdom of Saint Peter with a border of holy texts on the theme of repentance and divine forgiveness.

The Tavoletta was retained by the Church authorities, kept securely under lock and key in a countryside monastery- never again was its use to be risked at an execution – one Devil worshipping Sorcerer escaping justice was more than enough for the inquisition.

The monastery where the Tavoletta was secured was looted during the Austro-Italian war in 1866. The Tavoletta itself disappeared, but from that time onwards could possibly be found in any Antique Shop, Art Gallery, Museum, Private Collection or even junk shop anywhere in Europe.


STUDY TIME- Anyone examining the Tavoletta closely, perhaps during cleaning or restoration, will notice that the painting is slightly curious. St. Peter was crucified upside down – if the painting is inverted it becomes apparent that the apostle has a rather disturbing, knowing smile on his face, quite out of place given the subject and context.

In the background of the painting, what appears to be a sunset, is in the wrong part of the sky. It looks on closer examination to be an opening of some kind...

The apparently random texts selected for the border of the painting are not entirely random – use of a magnifying glass indicates that certain letters in certain parts of the text are slightly larger, or underlined, or highlighted in some way, that differentiates them subtly from the rest of the writing.
To realise the above will take three succesive INT rolls. (modified as the keeper sees fit)
Three more will be required to re-arrange the highlighted letters into the chant that Roberto di Castrenze used to escape justice.

SAN LOSS –See below

SPELL – Create Gate
The caster can chant from sunrise to sundown and will remain firmly in the place he started. It will take a final INT roll and the loss of 1/1D4 SAN to realise that to power that spell requires not only the chant, but also to be gazing on the Tavoletta –whilst undergoing the same hideous tortures that Roberto di Castrenze suffered at the time of his execution – these can be summed up as the loss of a given weight or SIZ of flesh and blood whilst chanting, along with 5 POW and the SAN loss suffered by the caster as the required amount is removed as slowly and painfully as possible – Say a minimum of 1/1D8. (At the keepers discretion a volunteer, willing or otherwise, may take the place of the caster as far as the nastier parts of the ritual go.)Once the spell is powered the gate will form, allowing the bleeding and shocked caster to pass through, to wherever, or whenever, the Keeper deems appropriate.

Alternatively should the keeper so desire Roberto di Castrenze may return through the gate –looking as horrific bloody and mutilated as he did when he escaped his execution.

And of course –the keepers favourite option is always available –opening the gate may let something extremely unpleasant and dangerous back into this world.