|
Sidhe stands, paralyzed at the scene of the crime, mortified that someone could- no, is capable of such horror, such atrocities. She snaps out of it when Dac cries.
"No, no! You can't have him! Not today!"
She rushes the fly, swatting at it with a dagger.
Unfortunately, she misses, the fly just evading her reach.
Cabo directs his minions to again grab for the Mage, attempting to subdue him.
Onnello and Dac try and preempt the fly with strikes of their own but can't connect. Cabo's toys fail to grapple Gellion. Then a swarm of smaller hook flies bursts out from the egg sac. They swarm over to Sidhe's position, buzzing about, biting and stinging. The larger hook fly, miraculously still alive, tries to run away. Gellion attempts to strike at Onnello, believing Dac to be not a threat anymore.
Gellion scores a good hit with his heavy mace. The hook attempts to run away, cowering in the corner at the damage done to it by its own young. The hook fly swarm pours over Sidhe, causing thousands of bleeding cuts.
Bold may act.
Active party buffs: moon aura (1 temp hp, +1 fort)
Environmental effects:
Round 3 / 4
Yuld
Cabo
Dac (-14, 2 CON damage)
===========================
Gellion (-8, 3 NL)
Hook Fly (-15)
Hook Fly Swarm
===========================
Onnello (-1)
Sidhe (-3 plus 1 bleed)
With the hook fly out of reach, Dac, in his befuddled state, swings his morningstar at the nearest threat, Gellion.
Yuld moves and reloads his crossbow, ready to take aim on the fly.
Dac falls unconscious, finally succumbing to his wounds.
Yuld moves and reloads. Onnello moves toward the fly.
Bold may act.
Active party buffs: moon aura (1 temp hp, +1 fort)
Environmental effects:
Round 3 / 4
Yuld
Cabo
Dac (-15, 2 CON damage, dying) (Need stabilize check)
===========================
Gellion (-19, 3 NL, unconscious)
Hook Fly (-15)
Hook Fly Swarm
===========================
Onnello (-1)
Sidhe (-3 plus 1 bleed)
Cabo sighs as he releases the toy soldiers, and they dissipate into nothingness. He then raises his cane once more, blasting at the fly.
Cabo blasts the fly with his strange powers and it falls to the ground dead. The only enemy left alive in the room is the ravenous hook fly swarm! The hungry flies move toward Cabo to feast next!
Bold may act.
Active party buffs: moon aura (1 temp hp, +1 fort)
Environmental effects:
Round 4 / 5
Yuld
Cabo (-5 plus 1 bleed)
Dac (-15, 2 CON damage, dying) (Need stabilize check)
===========================
Gellion (-19, 3 NL, unconscious)
Hook Fly Swarm
===========================
Onnello (-1)
Sidhe (-3 plus 1 bleed)
Cabo shrieks in pain, rushing out if the swarm and sending a blast of baubles at it.
Yuld tries to evade the swarm, moving away from it.
"Let us try to move outside. Perhaps the swarm will disperse if it has more room."
Cabo blasts the swarm with his toys and does enough damage to disperse the collection. You work together to pull the apprentices out of the purple goo, all of which are unconscious. It looks like they have been fed on recently by the hook fly. None are in danger of bleeding out, all are stable.
Gellion, however, lay bleeding. What do you do with him?
Dac collapses next to his friend.
"Save..Gellion...Get him...to the temple"
Yuld nods. "I may lack the energy to do the healing arts, but by the power of the moon it should be easy enough."
Yuld tries to lift the fallen Dac, but finds him much too heavy for his tastes. "Onnello, grab Dac. Cabo, see if you can give me a hand with Gellion. We should take them both to the church."
You quickly gather Gellion and Dac up and find a cart nearby that they used to transport boxes and load the two with the other apprentices in and wheel them out into the open road again, the air free from the smell of rot and pestilence. You hurry to the church of Erastil. Ildris Ruvarra looks over the scene with concern and once he sees his apprentice and adopted daughter among those unconscious he covers his mouth in shock. "Not yet dead?! Erastil, aid me!"
A light blooms out from Ildris's holy symbol, enveloping the apprentices and Dac and Gellion, healing them to full in two bursts.
"There, that should do it." He takes a careful look at the unconscious. "It seems Gellion has been infected with the Demon's Bile. I know a few remedies that will alleviate the symptoms. I will also treat the apprentices preemptively, just in case they were infected. Come back in about a day and they should be on their feet."
As you speak with Ildris, Mayor Sandra Trinelli strides into the temple.
"You found them. What happened?"
Dac rises from the wagon unsteadily at first. Rubbings his still aching joints, the young warrior looks down at the forms for his unconscious friends. "Lucky me", Dac murmurs under his breath.
Walking over to join Mayor Trinelli, Dac stands next to Sir Onnello, meeting glazes, and grimly gives his account of what happened in the warehouse.
"Any word on Gellion's parents? How are they doing?"
"Welcome back to the land of the living young ones. I do not have much to add, other than that the bile seems toxic, possibly controlling the poor lad."
Yuld sighs, cracking his now aching neck. "I could use a nap." He grumbles.
"We can do a bit more investigating tomorrow, once Gellion is awake. I think we all have plenty of things to say to the boy."
"Will Gellion stay at the temple..or the jail?" Dac said with a downward cast.
The mayor says, "He will stay at the jail for now, but it will do some good for you to speak on his behalf. The townspeople will want someone to blame for this, for the vermin attacks that've plagued the area recently, and I can imagine all too well the mob that will get riled up when they find Gellion to blame. Otherwise, he may be hanged in the gallows for what he's done. But, if what you say is true, and Cabo and Ildris here have confirmed this of sorts, that the Demon's Bile was controlling his actions, or influencing his mind at least. That will go a long way, with your testimony, in his defense. In the meantime, I will have two of my guards fetch him shortly."
She moves to leave and looks back over her shoulder. "Good job today. It seems my faith in outsiders, and you Dac, wasn't misplaced after all."
____
After waiting some time, one of the apprentices, Nolaria starts to stir. Then she wakes in a dizzy haze. "No, Gellion! Wait, where...the temple? How..."
She looks around in confusion.
"A knight! Oh thank Old Deadeye that you were sent! Is Gellion..." She looks at you meekly for a moment. "Is he dead? He wasn't in control of himself. That stuff had its way with him. We fought in the graveyard. He was yelling about the demon worms and their home. The chittering in his head."
"Gellion is alright." Yuld says comfortingly. "He is currently being fetched from the jail now. There will be a trial, and we are hoping to be able to speak on his behalf. I expect people such as yourself will be extremely helpful for defending him."
Onnello thinks that Nolaria is telling the truth. "Yes absolutely I will testify on his behalf! I'm sure the others will once they're awake as well. I think it was that purple goo. It was on the gravestones where we met. I think he was trying to spread it."
She thinks for a moment, then her eyes flash wide. "I almost forgot. My cousin Nixa was among the captives, but they took her away. Gellion tied her up and left outside of town, bound with rope where the goblins roam! She might be in danger!"
Dac looks at Nolaria in surprise. "She might be in danger?"
Sighing, Dac secures his gear. "I am not gonna get much rest tonight. Nolaria, please point the way."
"I will come with you sir, today has been nothing but walking before I joined you, and a little more won't do me any harm."
Dac nods to the toymaker. "Thanks, Mr. Kreush."
"Can't exactly leave someone to be killed. Let's get a move on, before it's too late."
Gellion wakes a few minutes later and is somewhat changed, but no longer aggressive.
Ildris says, "I've healed the disease inside him, but the trauma done because of it may linger."
Gellion comes up to you and Nolaria.
Nolaria says, "Oh Gellion! You're awake."
Gellion says with a downturned head, "I'm so sorry everyone. I don't remember what happened. All I remember was a buzzing sound, insects or something, and the urge to help someone, or something in its goal. I could feel it, scraping out my head. I heard something about a trial? What did I do?"
With a sympathetic look on his face, Dachus sits down next to Gellion.
"Well, Gell..this is what we know. You laid a giant spider trap for your parents in your room. Don't worry!" The young warrior said loudly as Geliion looked to him with concern. "They are both fine. Just worried about you."
"Then you kidnapped all our mates and put them into eggs of Demon Bile. When we found you in the warehouse, you attacked us..and..I nearly met Pharasma today when you..bashed my head in with a club.."
Dac just stared at the floor and became silent.
"Thank you," Gellion says, [b]"I know I've caused a lot of trouble, and, well, our town's past experiences with this sort of thing doesn't bode well for me, but anything you could do would be appreciated."
Nolaria says, "I think they mentioned bringing her to the North gate."
Over the hours, the townspeople start to get wind of what's happened and start to crowd around the temple, shouting out for a trial. You move outside and manage to quell the crowd's anxiousness, explaining what actually happened and how. The mayor also lends her voice to the calls to allow Gellion a fair trial, and so the procession moves to the square next to the gallows. The trial proceeds with evidence and accusations, and eventually, Gellion is acquitted on account of being controlled against his will by otherworldly forces.
Gellion being spared angers some members, but the majority see its wisdom when the mayor pronounces it, and the crowd disperses soon enough.
Then, turning your attention to the matter at hand, the mayor addresses you again. “Our town is dealing with its share of troubles right now, and this unknown menace beyond our walls has me the most worried.”
She takes a deep breath as if composing herself assuming a self-assured posture that seems to come to her much more naturally. “Specifically, we may have a goblin problem,” the mayor continues. “I’ve recently received reports of goblins lurking in the woods outside of town. There have been no attacks yet—only minor damage to fences and some stolen sheep, I’m told—but we can’t afford to let our guard down. Given how we suffered during the Goblinblood Wars, we can’t assume that these scattered sightings are meaningless when they might very well mean that a major warband is about to descend on our heads.
“Even worse, it seems that these goblins are covered in some unholy manner of filth—even more so than normal! If word about that gets out, well, folks might start to panic. We are a superstitious lot here in Saringallow, as I’m sure you know.
“In short, we need to move quickly and deal with these goblins before they become a larger threat. Sending members of the town guard out into the woods, though, could leave us open to attack. I’m sure you see my dilemma.
“This is where I’d like you to intercede, my friends. Find out where the goblins are coming from and who—if anyone—is leading them, then take out the threat. I can offer you a bounty of 5 gold pieces for each goblin you kill, 10 gold pieces for each goblin dog, and an additional bonus of 100 gold pieces if you bring me proof that you’ve destroyed their camp or otherwise dealt with whatever additional threat they pose.
“Most of the sightings have originated from the area northwest of town, particularly near the homesteaders out by Clover Stream. That’s probably a good place to start your investigation. Aside from that, I’m afraid I don’t have much else to tell you. Unless you have any specific questions?”
Dachus shrugs, "I just might have to run to keep up with you, Sir Onnello. Horses are expensive."
Yuld nods in acceptance. "I suppose I must say the same. I also have no practice on a mount - my casting may be inhibited by the motions of the horse."