The stern-faced girl falls back like a felled tree. The thump is heard, and Mince looks up reflexively. She eyes Ta'de-win, Errol, and Rojeune as they prepare to drop down the broken stair. Mince moves aside to allow them to pass, and orders with a loud commanding voice. "Stow your weapons girls. Time to parley."
She then smiles to Norton... maybe a little too much of an Errol-like smirk.
Rojeune whispers "Mince's guard. If he feels she is threatened, he would most likely leave them to be by her side. Be warned... you will not see him until he attacks."
In the attic, the dagger girls turn their blades, but keep them hovering tip to sheath warily.
The bedding drops, and Green sees the two young pre-teen girls visibly react to now seeing clearly the foe they had been trying to bowl over. They back away, and glance up to the broken slats in the shuttered cupola. The beams of light shining through provide the majority of the dusty attic's dim illumination.
Seeing a chance to rest, The Green Man drops his rage, but makes sure to hide as much of his fatigue as he can.
He then grabs the stern-faced girl and lifts her over his shoulder.
"She will live; I did not strike to kill."
Giving the rest of the girls a hard stare he then tapes the floor with the earthbreaker.
"I think it is time to talk, go on, get down there.
...
And just in case you think I am soft, remember what happened to your former leader.
I am merciful, but NOT weak, nor am I a fool."
"Sal'dor is a decent man. He is a difficult man to read at first, but once you understand his motivations, you can understand his actions. The Festering Lilies showed him what is to come, and he agreed to command whomever they recruited. He did not expect the dark forces which gathered behind him, and did not stand a chance to maintain leadership when those dark forces saw the limits of his moralities. He is a puppet to Dovan for the safety of his people."
"After some rift between this undead-cursed land's protectors, Rovanna Haasan began using arcane power from the First World to contain the insurmountable evil. The Festering Lilies were her pupils... tasked with procuring whatever she needed - no matter the cost. Now that she is gone, the Lilies continue their quest for power, but without Rovanna's guidance. I have only ever been able to take them at their word that the fight is the same."
"Miro was the only Festering Lily I knew. She was the one controlling the Magpies. If you want to know the other Festering Lilies, you should visit your friend Grundy. From what i've been told, he was Rovanna Haasan's witchguard, husband, and murderer. He knew her pupils, and he would know the other Lilies' identities."
"This Dovan of Nisroch, and the Festering Lilies all follow the commands of someone unknown to me. I have only heard the name The Dark Lady."
The girls go down the attic steps obediently. When they reach the broken stair they drop down and lightly land without a sound. After helping get the knocked out girl down, a lanky awkward-looking Magpie rushes over and inspects her injuries. She tilts the unconscious girls head and feeds her a potion.
Rojeune looks to Mince and nods "I am glad to hear you are coming around."
To one of the older teens she says, "Fetch the others."
With a glance from her, the young girls all sit behind her. As she speaks, a dozen more ranging roughly ten to twenty years old file in and sit.
"Mince and I have discussed this at length. A discussion deemed treasonous by Miro. The Magpies arose when all others had given up the fight against ultimate evil. It is against our inherent reason for existence to pit ourselves against those who have taken up the fight."
"We have ten times this number already trained. Whatever role you need us to fill, we will do so... we would prefer to specialize our training to be effective. Whether you require forces for ground war, spymaster's agents, or arcane crafters..." Rojeune looks over to Mince and gets the groan she seemed to expect from the last (less exciting) suggestion.
"We will need some assistance from you in order to adequately protect ourselves, and to repair this estate. Also, our allegiance is not as unconditional as Errol's. You must have a standing army by the end of winter, and from that point on... you can never be without one. We need you to be strong."
"Don't worry about our army--we will have one. Without any spies an army is a blinded warrior. We need you to be our eyes and ears. Your talents would be wasted otherwise!"
Furiel adds: "This is why we sent Error to talk. We didn't know that event would start such 'extreme' responses."
"We do indeed need eyes and ears, and I think you already have much information we need."
"To fight against an ultimate evil, we need an army? Yes, this much I readily understand.
But we also need to unite the land, and having felt the spirits in these lands I know we need to LITERALLY unite the land, not just the people."
"That means we also need to remove those that cannot be trusted or convinced to join us.
You have this estate; tell me, beyond the obvious reason of it being an estate, why does the old slaver want this place so badly?"
Seeing as things have gone to negotiations, and said negotiations are going well, The Green Man releases a burst of positive energy to heal wounds.
The Green Man looks for a certain young girl, hoping to reassure her with a smile.
Mince looks to Rojeune - confused by the question.
Rojeune responds... "Kinsilvi said he wanted this estate? He abandoned it... how strange."
She looks around to the assembled young Magpies. "Kinsilvi." A few girls raise their hands immediately. She then adds. "You have been listening. Pertinent to Master Kinsilvi desiring this estate." Rojeune points to one who was starting to lower her hand with the added criteria.
The girl stands.
"Master Kinsilvi was the son of the Lurleton's head servant. The matriarch, Guinetiel Lurleton was impressed with the boy... her own children were thugs... After Kinsilvi's father died, she sent the young man away to school... somewhere... to make something of himself. Just before he left, however he saw... ohh the Lurleton's names are so stupid and hard to remember... Luwinni Lurleton? Love at first sight, but he had to have schooling to be worthy of her."
"Well he came back from school just as Luwinni and her fiance mysteriously vanished. The matriarch died a year or two later, and left the estate to Kinsilvi. He got the estate, but not enough money to maintain it... his servants left him, got hit by bandits a few times... so he left."
"Why he wants it now?" She shrugs. "No idea."
"None of that really answers the question. It will be our first job for you. Give us a week. We will find out what Master Kinsilvi is up to."
Mince adds... "His deepest darkest dirty secrets."
"You can wait until then to give your decision on our relationship if you wish."
The Green Man claps his hands together happily.
"I believe I speak for us all when I say that we look forward to this alliance.
It is a shame your former leader was not interested in even listening to us, but she underestimated us as well.
I have already tasted the spirits of this land, I am bound to it now in ways most people will not understand, and I intend to protect both the land and its people.
Now you belong to them as well, so that means my hammer will guard you too."
The Green Man gives a toothy grin and looks at the rest of his friends, confident that this time he really DID speak for them all.
"OK, that should be that. Saved the prisoners, killed the bad leader and now have new friends. Not how it was originally planned, but it ended well thanks to our quick-thinking druidess."
Upon returning and hear of the dwarves request. "The council will have to approve of it, but I see no reason why we shouldn't build a shrine next."
"I remember my father once telling me about a famous general, said general is often quoted as saying "No plan survives first contact with the foe".
Sometimes planning is less important than being able to think on your feet.
Not that a good plan can't come in handy of course.
A week should give us enough time to finish scouting the area surrounding Stagfall, perform the militia drill with our Kobold ally and deal with a few things that will probably come up with the building of our capital city.
After that, we can use the information the magpies will provide to figure out how to finally deal with Kinsilvi.
All in all, I say this has been a productive day indeed."
The Green Man then leans down and whispers to Furiel.
"Didn't we already ok the temple a few days ago? I think they may already have started clearing a site for it?"
Norton's inner bard kicks in and he proposes to share a little food before the groups part, so they can get to know each other better. There is always an opportunity for a great ballad waiting around the corner of your next encounter.
"What about we breaking a little bread together before we resume our exploring, besides I have yet a couple of question for you miss Rojeune."
Rojeune accepts with a nod after delegating the assigned task.
"Very well. What is on your mind?"
Norton sets himself comfortable and produces some of the daily rations the party has brought. He takes some and then offers to the others.
"In the last few days we incurred in some cryptic clues on which you might be able to shed some light"
"Under the Stag Lord fort we had a very unpleasant encounter with a necromancer that spoke about this Dark Lady. He must have been down there for a long time."
Norton then details more on the encounter.
"The second strange creature we run into was some kind of elemental in the Shrike river talking about some curse."
"Last thing it seems there is something strange with the Skunk river, something that may pollute the waters upstream. I don't know if these two last facts are related somewhat."
"From what I understand, the Festering Lilies commune with their Dark Lady through a sort of dream state. Perhaps this necromancer... wait... necromancer? Hmm. I will look into that myself. If the supposed reason for the activity out here is prepare for an undead army, it seems counter-intuitive that a necromancer would be involved in that fight."
She nods.
"Chalk that up as another sign we have been manipulated by the Festering Lilies."
"That was no elemental. That was the spirit of Davik Nettles. He went up against Nugrah... I think the argument was simply over bridge tolls. Nugrah hit him and his family so devastatingly, Old Man Nettles' spirit wasn't ready to rest when his body was thrown in the river. He'd been haunting the Shrike for decades. His bridge and the burned-out remains of his home are about thirty miles upriver."
"I believe the foul odor and taste is some mineral. I don't think it is terribly harmful, but something we could look into later... see if there is a way to mine and remove it." She shrugs, then cocks her head semi-apologetically "We have always avoided that area. I know there are lizardfolk and boggards, but there is something else... a blind-spot when scryed... scouts don't return..." She shakes her head.
"Something magic, vigilant, territorial, and apparently prefers privacy. I can point out the exact center of the non-detection, however..."
"Well, one of those things can be scratched of the list at least.
The spirit of...old man Nettles was it? He has been put to rest and the water has calmed.
Perhaps we will visit his home later to see if there are any further clues there."
"This area that cannot be scried, is it close to where this old man used to live?
Perhaps there is more than one angry spirit haunting this area, needing to be put to rest.
As a spirit walker, I take these things seriously."
Furiel smiles after the exchange:
"I do not know what we would have done without you. Thank you for the information. Is there anything besides helping you restore the manor house we can do for you?"
To Green.. "No... Nettles is to the northeast. This mysterious unknown is west of Tuskwater Lake. Without checking the map, I'd guess 12 miles southwest of your fort."
She then responds to Furiel...
"Thank you, but no. Should we find ourselves - in the future, repeatedly thwarted by our targets, we may ask for assistance to fund improvements to our own efficacy. I do not expect that to be necessary any time soon."
"Self-sufficiency is admirable, especially in a frontier such as this one, but do not let your pride blind you.
If you need our help, calls on us sooner rather than later, do not wait until it is too late."
"We will let you know if there are any problems the moment they arise. Good luck with your exploration. I will see you soon."
You travel northwest. The terrain south of the river is firm, and short on worthy of being deemed lush, but appears arable. You see little wildlife beyond birds and rodents.
You reach the Shrike river east of the crossing marked on your map. You stand on the southern edge cliff looking down on it... nearly twenty feet below. The current is strong, there is virtually no bank, and you can see rocky rapids both to the east and further west downriver.
This goes along with what you have been told about the Shrike river. It is currently unsuitable for shipping or transportation.
As you travel west you see that the river has eroded the far bank quite a bit in some places. You see a few areas which appear to have been sizable landslides into the river along the west rapids.
You should be able to reach the bridge an hour or so before the sun starts to set.
Furiel begins to look around, and, seeing the druidess actually notice things, he gives up in frustration. Instead he chats with Green: "I like the Magpies. They seem very results oriented and professional. I think we can learn from them."
"It is beautiful here, one day I hope to see children playing along he banks of this rive, while their parents watch without worry or fear.
At the same time, I want to keep the land beautiful and free too."
The Green Man gets a wistful look on his face as he gazes around for a moment, then he shrugs and smiles.
"Small steps, one at the time yes?"
You eventually come to where the Thorn River empties into the Shrike. The bridge is here... it doesn't look treacherous, but it does not look like it was built to bear the weight of several mounted riders at once.
You see hoofprints showing recent and fairly common use by mounted traffic here.... leading from and onto the bridge.
Below the bridge, just downstream from the Thorn River and bridge, you see a partially submerged body. You cannot see enough to identify what... but you see clothing, hair... shoulders maybe? It is not immediately clear if what you are looking at is alive or dead.
"This bridge is well traveled it seems, and recent. Horse tracks lead onto and from the bridge." Ta'de-win searches with her eyes for other signs and see the body below. "Down there is a body. It's too far to tell much, partially under the water. Might be alive, not certain. Shall we have a look?"
"Yes, let us do that, but just in case it is dead but not still, let me go and you cover me.
I am strong enough to handle a dead body by myself, and if it is not a still dead body I prefer if we don't all get caught in the trap."
The Green Man grins at the others.
"I'm not worried, you'll see me ok if it is a trap."
Saying so, The Green Man dismounts and begins to try and get down under the bridge, taking his time to give the others a chance to make ready.
With Green's height... and the supports under the bridge which serve as a handhold for part of the descent, Green is able to make it down to the bank without too much trouble.
You find the half-submerged body wedged in the rocks on the bank.
It is a long-haired halfling male. He is unconscious and bone-thin but breathing. As you begin to look him over, you notice the manacle around his ankle attached to a broken length of chain.
The Green Man gently frees the Halfling from the rocks, surreptitiously casting a cure light wounds spell as well.
"There we go little fellow, a meal or two in you and you'll be fit for a king, and ready to tell us a story no doubt."
Furiel mentions he can summon a water elemental if needed.
The halfling wakes, and reflexively struggles at first... though with very little strength. "Where am I?.."
He touches his gaunt face with bony fingers. He appears extremely disoriented and weak as Green lifts him onto high ground.
He strains to peer at each of you, and shakes his head. "Nothing is familiar..."
There are no other signs of sentient life about as the sun makes its way to the horizon. You have a little less than an hour before it will begin to get dark.
"Not to spoil the fun guys, but we might want to take our debilitated new friend to Stagfall before it gets dark."
"Yes, if is body is to make a recovery, he needs food and rest more than anything else."
The Green Man hefts the emaciated Halfling and begins to climb back up so he can join the others.
"I'll find us the quickest path back to the fort." Ta'de-win leads everyone back towards Stagfall.
It is an uneventful ride. The halfling sleeps most of the way. You return to the fort after nightfall.
Kesten - who had been sitting with a few of the volunteer guard in the cook Spitch Fowler's pavilion tent, comes out to greet you.
The halfling narrows his eyes looking at the fort.
"No... nothing.. not familiar at all..."
We're taking him into our home, and it is possible he is not a kind soul. I'll be watching you little man...
"Ah, Kesten. Good.
We've found a person in need of aid, I would like you to find someone willing to nurse him for awhile, until he gets stronger."
The Green Man then draws Kesten aside a little and speaks additional commands in a low tone.
"I also want you to station two men to guard him, just in case, but they have to be discreet."
Kesten raises an eyebrow at first. After Green pulls him aside, he nods ... seeming to appreciate the clear orders - the opposite of which just so happens to be his pet peeve with non-military interaction...
Furiel checks on the building and decides to rest.
Kesten meets Norton by the cells - one of the finished portions of your castle...
"The curious halfing is in good hands, sir. If you are ready, the prisoner Nihtscada's cell is this way."
"Good" replies Norton to the man, "Lead the way."
When they areat the cell's door Norton discharges Kesten. "I can handle this alone, just leave somebody outside the door." And before entering he adds "This is for you, from me and the others, I am sorry I couldn't find a better envelope."
He extends Kesten something wrapped in a piece of fabbric.
"Maaag-nificent. Thank you Ser Ambrosi.. I have not held many weapons as fine as this. Please let the others of the council know.. I only hope opportunity allows me to provide its equivalence.. in service to the kingdom." He bows. "Sir." then unlocks the cell.
The dark tiefling sits on a bench at the back wall of the cell. Her wrists are manacled, and she does not react to her visitor at all. She just stares blankly at the center of the floor with her head cocked and turned downward.
"And now? How do I approach this?" Norton asks himself entering the cell.
He looks at the silent prisoner wondering what to do, then he sits down on the ground, his back leaning on one of the side walks.
"It seems you are a woman of few words. Well… on my side they say I tend to speak a lot: so, if you don't want to share your thoughts, I'll share mines."
"I was born, not too long ago despite what my little sister says, in a rich villa in the outskirts of Egorian. You might have heard of the city, the capital of Cheliax. It isn't a bad place, I guess, if you are human, rich, and not too picky about devil company."
"I was lucky on two out of three and for the better part of my life I thought the world was a great place. The problem with that part of the world is that they live to abide sick rules, instead of having rules to avoid a sick life."
"Well… too soon I found out that people were measured along different weights, depending on who they were, and I made a scene of it. I was pissed off. But not the half my father was."
Norton's lips lift in a bitter smile remembering the fact.
"He… well, let's say he was quite stern and didn't mind teaching me by example."
"Fact is, I didn't fit, no matter how much my old man tried to squeeze that square peg in a round hole. So in the end I left."
Norton stands up, cleans the dirt form his clothes.
"Enough with the memories, this seems a good place to forget about the past mistakes and start anew. I guess it's only a matter of show good will."
He then approaches the cell door.
"See you soon then. Was fun talking to you, Nihtscada"
She sits still the entire time Norton speaks. Her last delivered meal is on the bench beside her... no cutlery.
When Norton reaches the door to leave she speaks.
"You should return to Egorian, pup. Where you hang your hat and lay your head at night is in the palm of the Dark Lady. You have been warned... warned by others... but you poke and prod and claim... Turn us against one another... with words. Your aura is palpable, young lord. Even now... I hear you speak of your tortured past... and a lack of a father's doting, and feel no bile rise in my throat." She nods impressed... even makes eye contact for a moment.
"There is no need to return. You cannot win my heart with talk of a bright future."
She turns and touches the food beside her and it turns to ash. She scoops up a handful, inhales it and swallows. "I will wait here for it all to burn."
"So, I was wrong." thought Norton "I assumed she was like the other strays, just needing a direction, something to look at, instead she is already committed."
On the split second he had Norton was torn between the option of walking away, saying nothing, and showing no weakness, or replay, risking to look as he felt like loosing.
He chose the latter: he had too many questions in need of an answer.
"I told you" he smirks back "I talk a lot. But it hasn't been by voice that we have swayed many. When I look back I see more deeds than words. We put ourselves right were our words are. On the other hand, a lot talk about this Dark Lady, the Necromancer that lived under this fort, Mince from the Magpies, you, but beside coming up with her name, there is no other sign of her. Does she even exist?"
Nihtscada smirks "That is an excellent query, my lord. She may only exist in dreams... but her influence is very real. As you, she appeals to those she deems worthy... those capable and willing to serve... those aligned or anticipate boons of great power."
"It was in a dream that I saw her, my lord. I looked out on the old woods... wisps of rising dark smoke began to form into.. gaps in reality.. tears with darkness behind - like a shredded landscape painting on a wall of the blackest black."
"A vaguely humanoid form was distinguishable - a dark silhouette which swallowed light. It showed me a cave .. a ruined shrine. My feet found my way there when I woke. A mountain of brown flesh rumbled in slumber.. part bear, part monstrous devil of nature. It is there I discovered and left with the sickle your lady has claimed as her own."