Ma'Huuk: Though it's a common superstition among the poorly-educated that leprosy is extremely contagious-- as evinced by the non-leprous townspeople backing away from the door-- you know enough of medicine to know that merely being in the same location with the sick people won't pose any threat. Direct physical contact, or exposure to bodily fluids, would be needed for the sickness to be passed.
The young man in the doorway gives a resigned, cynical smile at Kaye's ham-handed attempt to 'sneeze,' making the nodules on his face crinkle unpleasantly. He shrugs, and steps back from the doorway after your combined requests for entrance.
"Any who wish to pay their respects are welcome. The goodly man who lived here has left us his home, out of his desire that we who are accursed and outcast should have a place to live, but I would deny nobody entrance, just as he did not. Forgive my manners, I am Daoud. Father Ben-Garri--" he turns, calling over his shoulder as he moves back from the door, "--Father, there are some here who would see the body..."
The room beyond has five of the lepers in it. Though there are low couches and cushions around the walls, making a room for sitting and relaxing in, though the lepers are seated on the swept, sandstone floor instead. They shuffle back a little to let you pass without contact, few of them raising their eyes to yours. Daoud leads to a black curtain even as a man's voice, muffled, says, "Tell them to return later, we are in the most delicate final stage of the embalmi--"
Daoud has opened the curtain, and the voice breaks off with an aggrieved grunt.
On the other side of the doorway are several more lepers. When the curtain is drawn back, a chemical smell hits you-- the scent of strong preserving chemicals. A number of needles, jars, linens, and other embalming materials are spread out over a table in this room.
A fourth figure has just drawn a sheet over what is, presumably, a corpse laid out on the bed. This man is wearing a simple robe of black; by the bandages and deformities of his hands, he is also likely leprous, but a mask covers his head entirely so that you cannot see if the lesions and bumps are on his face as well. The mask is made of polished black wood, and is in the shape of a stylized jackal's skull. He straightens up and gazes towards you.
"I beg pardon, visitors," he says, his words thick and hard to follow-- perhaps the mask itself, or perhaps his mouth bears some deformity. "I am Ben-Garri, and I pass for a priest among the outcasts of Lopul. You are Pathfinders? You are here to collect the body of Master Min-Katheer, to take to his home? It is known to us that was his wish, but you have arrived before we expected. His body must be embalmed, to travel through the desert's heat without becoming, how shall we say... unpleasant? My assistants and I have labored over this task since his passing-- removal of the organs, packing the cavities with the natron salt process known to us from Osirion... it is at a delicate stage, however. It would be best if you were to collect him in the morning, once we have finished."
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Ma’Huuk stomps through the room, eyes sweeping over all the plagued men before snapping suspiciously to the room beyond, the covered body, its attendants, and finally the black-shrouded man.
”Yes, we are Pathfinders.” He indicates the covered body with his spear, ”We will see this man’s body and face.” He steps past the interposing leper, brushing the man aside with his spear to loom over the black-shrouded man. ”You will show it to us.”
As Ma'Huuk goes to push the leper aside with his spear, the man with the mask snaps out, "Stop these desecraters!"
The three people in the room with him tense up as if to act, while the ones out in the front room, including Daoud, look confused.
Hush, in this place where the rituals after death are practiced, is the first to respond.
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Smells like death in here. Hush is familiar with the smell of decay, but not that of disease. Still, he's heard enough about leprosy to know that mere proximity isn't enough to catch it, so he's careful about not touching any of the afflicted but is otherwise unconcerned. He is, however, grateful to be wearing his mask-- just because he can recognize the stench of a corpse doesn't mean he likes it any more than anyone else. He gets suspicious at the priest they meet, whom Hush can tell is hiding something. When the man yells out, Hush draws his twin shortswords-- the preferred weapon of his god-- and points one at the priest's throat, a clear threat not to do anything foolish.
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At the man's outburst, Hush draws his twin shortswords and calls on the intimidating presence of his god. His body radiates fear like a goodly priest radiates healing energy.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Hush draws his blades, an aura of sheer menace radiating out from him and over the mourning lepers.
The lepers in the front room look like they needed no further encouragement to get out of the way of the brewing conflict, but the power radiating from Hush encourages them to do so faster: they scramble to their feet, eyes wide, and rush for the door that leads back outside, past Erevan and a startled Moto.
Only Daoud remains in the front room-- backing into a corner, his hands raised. He cries, "What is the meaning of this? Father Ben-Garri-- visitors-- Lord Min-Katheer would wish no violence in his house--"
"Oh, shut up," rasps the masked man, taking a step back further. He draws a small, curved blade with one hand, and gesture with the other, the sound of chanting coming from behind his mask.
"Give them our gifts!" he snarls to the three lepers in the room with him, who waited for his instruction to do so-- now they swarm forward, fighting in a most disconcerting fashion-- they draw no blades, nor do they take up the pose of martial artists-- instead, they almost claw at you, with their stubby fingers and their bound stumps, flailing the dirty linen against your bodies.
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Vargo moves into position behind his friend and produces his glaive, pushing forward around Ma'Huuk to hit the (blue) Leper.
Well this isn't how I planned to use my polearm, but what the the hell.
Vargo's practice with the long blade shows as he tears into the leper with relative ease, despite Ma'Huuk being in the way
Vargo steps forward and stabs with his glaive, Ma'Huuk's large body not interfering with his aim at all-- the disfigured man's eyes go wide as the glaive plunges into his heart, dead-center, then withdraws. The man falls like a sack of grain.
Ma'Huuk's spear cracks powerfully into the skull of the next leprous man, knocking him to the side and to one sandstone wall of the home. The figure slides to the floor and shows no signs of getting back up.
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"Stay back, Daoud! These men are up to no go- ow. Not the face!" Kaye receives a fist to the face as he warns the man to safety.
Regrettably, Kaye must drop his handkerchief.
"I don't want to damage this home...I'll provide a distraction, yes."
Kaye draws his longspear, then moves to threaten the masked leader.
"Desecrating this man's home is quite the offense."
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As the lepers rush out of the doorway past Erevan, the startled half-elf hears the sounds of conflict.
"What the...!?" he blurts.
The swordsman draws his blade with a shing! and rushes into the room.
"The lepers won't let the corpse go, then?" he asks as he enters the room. "Shouldn't be too hard to convince them...they're not half the men they used to be!" he adds as he studies the man and prepares to attack.
"Follow my lead and this will be a cakewalk," the cocky half-elf says.
Hush darts into the room and stabs at the only leper who's still on his feet other than Ben-Garri himself. The man gasps as he is stuck, but doesn't fall.
Outside, the remaining lepers run, and you can hear the crowd yelling and starting to move as well...
Ben-Garri's masked head turns left to right, registering he will soon be surrounded. "For the Mother!" he screams, and steps to the wall, slashing at Jararaca with his curved blade.
The remaining leper desperately hurls himself on Hush, who had attacked him... ...but the effort of the attack drops him to the ground, twitching feebly.
In the front room, Daoud watches with horror at the fighting, but doesn't try to come closer.
Wounded by Vargo's powerful blow, the masked priest snarls a curse-- a curse that is cut off by Jararaca's unusual weapon hacking across his robed body, and out again. The priest topples to the ground, gurgling wetly.
Daoud looks aghast at the scene before him-- blood from the quick and somewhat lopsided fight is spattered liberally over the sandstone walls and the furniture, and on the shroud that covers the corpse on the bed. "Saranrae wept!" the young leper cries, still staying back in his corner. "What even-- you've killed them all, will you strike me down as well?"
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Ma’Huuk’s chest heaves and his thick nostrils flare as he tries to catch his breath. His dark eyes take in the fallen bodies as he restows his shield.
”We did not come to strike anyone down,” he responds in his strange jungle-man cadence as he stoops to see if the masked man still lives. Then he moves over to the first man he attacked, ”At least this man lives,” His gaze shifts around his teammates, holding no little bit of frustration, ”And more would if we had used our brains and thought of the information these men may have for us.”
Standing back, he gives Daoud a hard look as he begins to search and smell his own injuries for the earliest signs of leprosy invading his skin. ”What do you know of these men?”
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By the time Kaye ponders his next move, the other combatants have defeated the opposition. Daoud weeps in the corner. Kaye stows his longspear away.
"I will make no excuses. Even the act of defending ourselves brought out the worst in us. I won't claim to be a non-violent man, but I learned long ago to use my words before I used my arms. Forgive us."
For once, Kaye is at a loss for words. Well, lost his business.
"Shall we confirm this is...was...Targos?" Kaye approaches the body and peeks under the shroud.
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Hush calmly walks to the leper he'd attacked, who had succumbed to his wounds and the effort of trying to strike back. A gift from the Four-Faced God. He pushes the tip of his shortsword into the leper's throat. Blood gurgles from the wound, which Hush is careful to avoid. Good idea, he thinks as he sees Ma'Huuk stabilize the masked man. We may need him.
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Erevan snorts in derision at Kaye's sentiments.
"Worst in us? Since when is defending yourself from death by bloody flux a bad thing? We have a mission to accomplish, and by my blade I swear we will accomplish it!"
"While that may be true, to outsiders it looks like we barged into a fallen man's home, killed the intruders inside, and made off with his corpse. Not good for Pathfinder Public Relations, at the very least. I wonder if Daoud thinks we are murderers."
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Vargo shrugs heartlessly at Daoud They broke the sacred peace of this funeral gathering and for that they deserved death. If you wish to join them, that is a wish I can fulfill but you are no oathbreaker and I do not wish to do so.
Vargo listens carefully to Kaye That may be so... we will just need to be up front about our actions. People understand reason.
Ma'Huuk is able to stabilize the masked man, and, investigating his own target, he sees the other leper is rather badly hurt despite Ma'Huuk pulling of his blows, but still breathes. Ma'huuk inspects his own body where the leper's hand hit, but doesn't think that the leper's nails broke skin, and he should be alright.
Daoud looks torn between fear and anger. At Vargo's words, he gives the man a disbelieving look. "I saw something different. I saw strangers and interlopers come to the funerary rites of a dead man-- the officiating priest asked you to come back later-- and your people refused to do so, trying to push them aside with a spear." He nods with his chin towards Ma'Huuk. "The priest then ordered his assistants to stop you from desecrating the body... and you cut down unarmed and unarmored sick men. And you claim the right of law?"
(That would seem to answer the Kaye's question of whether Daoud thinks you murderers.)
Daoud sits down in his corner, crossing his arms. "Lord Min-Katheer wished his body to be taken by Pathfinders. I will respect the wishes of the man I knew as good, even if 'Pathfinders' seem to be bloody-minded men now that I meet them. Take what you will; it is not as though I could stop any of you, is it?"
He answers Ma'Huuk's question bitterly: "If I refuse to tell you these things, is my life forfeit? Ben-Garri has been among us a few months. Not many priests will willingly touch an Accursed, but he treated us without fear. We were grateful. Amir, Fairuz, and Gafar-- should you care about their names-- were especially grateful to him, and he agreed to take them as students in his faith. I do not know what else you would know."
Kaye: You pull back the shroud. The body lying there is that of an old man who could easily be Targos Min-Katheer-- human, probably in his seventies, grey-haired, and with some echoes still of the powerful musculature of a warrior. However, the incisions and stitches of embalming are not the only marks on his corpse: a rune has been carved into his chest.
Jararaca: Ben-Garri is still holding a rather nice blade . Anything else on his person is likely buried within the folds of his robes, which are... kinda crusty, matted with various secretions, as well as now wet with his blood. There's also the mask, of course, which looks to be polished black ebony. Are you searching further in his robes, or taking his mask?
Erevan: On a bookshelf by the bed, a glass vial catches your eye.
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Vargo will pipe up his voice the same uncaring monotone that it was before. That man did not want us here. That much was obvious. He was up to something and refused to let us see the body to confirm its identity. I am certain when Kaye examines the body she will find proof of his scheme but for now I have no regrets - the laws are with us.
Jaracara shows everyone the kukri and the mask.
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Kaye looks under the shroud. "Haha, an understandable conclusion, Daoud. This is indeed Targos Min-Katheer. What is this rune, inscribed on his chest? I wonder if he was up to something sinister. I think it's religious, but I'm not...well-versed."
"I wish I could convince you otherwise, Daoud." He watches blood pour from the Green Leper as Hush executes him, and sighs. "Something tells me it's better we leave before we make more of a mess here."
Kaye rubs the bruise on his face.
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Death is a blessing. I would think this man, of all people, would realize that. Nevertheless, Hush sheaths his swords after wiping the bloodied one on the dead man's clothing. He then pulls out a wand of his own before Jararaca can offer one and goes to the slumped figure of the other accomplice. Hush mutters a command word from behind his mask in a voice so seldom used, and the wand expends a portion of its healing energy into the unconscious figure. Here's hoping we get all the information we need quickly. These men so desperately need death, and I intend to grant it to them.
Jararaca removes the mask carefully; beneath it, the face of the unconscious Ben-Garri is truly grotesque. Leprosy has eaten away at many of his facial features, but it seems like he has added to nature's depredations with self-inflicted ones- his face is a mottled patchwork of old burns, and knife-scars, and pus-white lesions, split by the gash of his mouth, two nostril slits, and sunken eyes-- a face barely recognizable as human.
Hush's first use of the healing wand is not enough to bring conscious the man that Ma'Huuk had cracked upside the skull.
Daoud frowns, coming from his corner to hang in the doorway, still clearly wary of all of you but squinting at Targos's bared corpse.
"...Lord Min-Katheer had no such symbol on his flesh when alive," he observes, unhappily. "As far as I knew, they were only embalming him for travel..."
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"Hmm. Ben-Garri has clearly mutilated himself. I have little doubt he was going to do the same to the Venture-Captain's body. Most despicable." Kaye shakes his head.
"This is one of the many reasons we were dispatched here- to make sure this great man's final wishes are fulfilled. I doubt he wanted anyone to...mark him...like this. Powerful men attract powerful enemies." Kaye shrugs.
"I suppose intuition brought out our violent sides, but perhaps we rushed to judgement. Daoud, I wish we had met under better circumstances, but I hope you will at least not look down on the Pathfinders as a whole."
Oh. That's better! A silver tongue for a conspiracy.
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While Kaye tries to patch things up with Daoud and Hush moves over to Lord Min-Katheer's body, Jaracara stands over the man that Hush has just awoken fingering the sharp blade of his weapon. "What were you all doing here? Its clear that you weren't embalming Lord Min-Katheer. Who are you and what was really going on?"
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Ma’Huuk ignores the leprous man’s bitter response. He looks at the once-masked man’s horrid features, answering Jararaca idly . ”When we entered, this man,” he points to Ben-Garri, ”was unhappy and was forced to rush whatever he was doing. And he tried to hide it from us. And when I stepped in, he attacked. What man who cares for the downcast throws their lives away so willingly when he feels threatened?” Finally, he looks back at Daoud, ”This man Targos, a good friend of his from our Society, a Venture-Captain, asked us to bring this body safely back home. He is also suspicious of something deeper happening. Something bad. Something is going on here. We will find out. In the end, you will see we did not act badly.”
He then moves to loom over Ben-Garri, ”And you. You will answer with truth, skin-carver. Now.”