Well thought Arasmes Any meeting you walk away from...
Sighing, he set his mind to pondering what he had learned, and the elusive Elowain
Elowain is powerful enough to have and hide a minotaur bodyguard.
She knows, or knows of, Nikolai
She is afraid of Nikolai or "what he stands for"
She knows where we are and how to contact us. I'm assuming the "drunk" we ran into was one of her agents. Odds are she has been surveilling the temple - that makes sense.
.
After all the adventure of the day, you settle down in your beds in the temple. As you drift off to sleep you feel a stinging in your hand and suddenly another vision appears before your eyes...
The grass is damp and wind blows softly through the trees. The moon is shining brightly overhead and a man in a long black cloak drifts silently across the field toward a treeline. As he approaches he speaks in a soft voice that seems as if it is carried on the wind.
"Come out my friend, the time has come. You needn't hide any more."
He smiles and his fangs gleam in the moonlight. The trees rustle and a human sized beast steps out of the forest. Hair sprouts from all over though ripped and torn clothing, saliva drips from a long canine muzzle. He kneels before the cloaked figure.The man lays a gloved hand n the beast's head and speaks again,"Arise Markus...We must collect the others.I trust you have prepared everything?"The creature nods."Good...sound the call." The wolfman stands and throws his head back letting loose a bloodcurtling howl.
You sit upright in bed and see sunlight coming in the windows. Night is over, a new day has dawned...
The hooded sage composed himself before venturing forth to join the others in breaking his fast.
I do not think that dream was just a dream. Lingering magics from our encounter from the tome in Sandpoint, perhaps?
Adriel awakens with a start, Man, I gotta cut back on the leaf. These dreams are becoming far too vivid. He feels a pang, a sense of dread. Whatever relaxation the quick wife bought him was gone, feeling dark and alone...again.
Arasmes sits bolt upright, his eyes red and raw from insufficient sleep as the harsh sunlight stabs them.
Gryfford rubs his eyes.
No doubt that was Nikolaï I just dreamt of. Bloody long-toothed Nikolaï and his pal, Markus the wolfman. Good gods !
He goes out of his bed, dons his pants, grabs Sharpest and goes out of his room barefoot and bare-chested while holding the large sword in its scabbard.
Wandering a little while in the quiet temple in the morning, he finally finds a door leading in a big interior courtyard with a dirt soil and a well built backing on a large natural-looking rock.
Gryfford puts Sharpest down leaning against the base of the rock and then brings up a bucket of water from the well, which he proceeds to splash on him.
"Haaaa !" Gryfford grunts as the cold water shocks him into full awareness.
After that, the swordsman salutes the morning sun, with the appropriate stance, words and ritual gestures.
"I greet you, Sarenrae's steward ! And I salute Thee, O great Godess, shining Dawnflower. May you smile on me today while I stand in Erastil's glade and inspire me to greatness ! Aman !"
Then it's time for his customary physical exercises, just like he did each morning at the gladiatoral gym back in Tymon: stretching, push-ups, shadow fencing with his hands, elbows and knees, with his feet and with his sword - with his whole body.
Equilibrium, deadly stillness and explosive speed: it's all the same thing, done in the same breath.
When he's done, Gryfford washes himself in a corner of the courtyard, cold water dripping on the dirt soil. It feels good !
Then he goes back to his room, greeting the priests of Erastil he meets along the way.
He dresses in full, exits the room and goes down the stairs to finally join his companions for breakfast in the common room.
"Good morning everyone ! Sweet dreams, anyone ?" he says in a genuinely cheerful manner.
Sorry guys
You make your way to the familiar common room for breakfast, and you notice right away tha something is odd. Angus is nowhere to be found, and there seems to be only one servant in the room.
The hooded sage entered the common room, unsettled from the vision that awoke him so abruptly.
He immediately took a plate and piled on an impressive amount of the simple fare provided.
After breaking his fast, Taltōsh noticed that Angus had not arrived. He directed his inquiry to the only servant present, "My apologies, but do you know where Master McDarrow is?"
The servant looks nevous at the question,"Master McDarrow isn't feeling, uh, well. He has sent many of the clerics out on errands for him.Uh can I help you with anything?" he stammers out an answer.
"No thank you, good sir. I shall wait until the others arrive before deciding our course of action."
The sage sat back to eat his meal while pondering what might have befallen the paladin.
Adriel enters for breakfast. Chatterbeak perched onhis shoulder.
Gods, Taltosh, you look just like I feel. Bad night?
He sits down and tucks in, setting some fruits aside for his bird.
Gryfford enters, back from the kitchen where he just went to grab some special food.
"Hello Adriel. Hello Chatterbeak. Taltōsh, I just overheard what the servant said. Is Mac Darrow ill ? Perhaps we should check on him ?" he says between mouthfuls of some kind of venison.
"You know what ? I'll go see if he's okay. I'll be right back."
Gryfford exits the room and goes straight to Mac Darrow's bedroom (or asks for it if he doesn't know where it is).
You approach the paladin's chambers and knock on he wooden door. A servant pokes his head through the door,"Yes, can I help you?" He seems somewhat frazzled.
Adriel follows Gryff.
Perception check:
"We just wanted to talk to Mac Darrow. Is he well ?" Gryfford asks the servant.
Taltōsh stood and said to Gryfford, "I shall accompany you." The sage allowed the warrior to take the lead, standing slightly behind and to the side as Gryfford knocked on Angus' door.
Arasmes, rubbing grit out of his eyes, walks in and starts to sit down just in time to see everyone else leaving. Not sure what's happening he follows along.
"I'm afraid Master McDarrow is in no state to recieve visitors. Please come back later tonight or tomorrow."
The servant shuts the door and you are left standing in the empty corridor.
"There seems to be something wrong with Master McDarrow," Taltōsh said to the others.
"This does not feel right. These strange visions--I believe that they are tied to Master McDarrow's current condition."
Arasmes catches up, and turns to Taltosh
"You had a vision too?"
"Yes, Arasmes," the sage replied. "Of Nikolai and a werewolf."
"So - do you think Angus might be turning into a werewolf?" a bleary eyed Arasmes asks
Startled, Taltōsh said, "The werewolf in the vision was named Markus. Also, while I can claim only a small amount of knowledge of the curse, I do believe that the full moon is a requisite of the initial transformation.
"It is clearly morning, so that seems unlikely. I would not venture to guess at Master McDarrow's malady, beyond that I believe it may--and I stress the word 'may'--have something to do with his connection to the tome used to grant the initial visions to us."
Gesturing to the dwarf's room, the sage added, "The clerics of his faith are attending to him, and I feel they are more competent than I in that regard.
"However, it does leave us with a dilemma about how to proceed. We clearly cannot return to Sandpoint without the good dwarf, but how shall we proceed? I have not trained as an investigator, so this is new to me."
"Sorry Taltosh - It's early. I think we could probably proceed without him - would he want us to wait if that meant Nikolai got the Amulet?"
[b]I would like to see him. I have some skill with illness. Please let me in.[/ooc]
"I would like to see him too" Gryfford says.
"And I agree with Arasmes: we should then go back to Sandpoint, to check the location you pinned down on the map."
The servant's voice can be heard through the closed doors. "Thank you for your assistance, but it is at Master McDarrow's request. He will speak to you again tomorrow."
"Well," Taltōsh said. "It sounds as if returning to Sandpoint is not in the cards for today."
Looking to the others, he added, "We have already exhausted the information in the Great Library. Is there anything else we can do to occupy our time?"
"Well... there's a martial tournament scheduled for today."
Gryfford shows the flyer distributed to him yesterday.
"I thought I could participate in it to make some money."
Gryfford has a large smile.
"Does anyone care to join me ?"
"Interesting. I wonder what their requirements are?" Taltōsh wondered.
"After all, I'm a fair hand with a spear."
Another moment's contemplation and the sage said, "Yes, I will join you Gryfford--and perhaps participate as well."
"I am running low on travel funds."
Well I have nothing else to do. I will come and watch and perhaps wipe the blood off you if you ask nicely.
"Blood wiping is often handy" Gryfford chortles.
"Come on, let us go to the arena !"
Having said that, Gryfford leaves the temple and leads the way to the tournament.
"Do you mind if I look at that flyer?" asks Arasmes, following along.
"Not at all" Gryfford says, handing the flyer to Arasmes.
"Everybody's satisfied ?" Gryfford says, grinning.
"Good. Let's go now."
THe adventurers make their way through the city to the Coliseum.
"Lead on!"
"Indeed," replied Taltōsh.
You make your way through the city and as you get farther north the crowd gets larger and larger. You see they are all moving in the direction of a large stone coliseum. As you press forward, you see how massive the structure really is. Off to one side of the main gate is a small wooden door with metal bars forming a window at about head height.
Gryfford resolutely approaches the small wooden door, and knocks several times on it.
"Is there anyone in there ? Some of us would like to participate in today's tournament" he says through the bars.
You see a face appear in the window and a gruff voice all but shouts through,"Yea? C'mon in."
A few seconds later the door swings inward allowing you to enter a small dark room. Several burly looking men wearing vrious types of armor sit around a small table. The gruff man who opened the door closes it and the yells out down a nearby corridor. "Cap'n! Fresh meat for the tourney!"
Taltōsh stood quietly, awaiting the captain.
Arasmes nudges Taltosh
"You ever done anything like this before?" he asks, quietly enough to stop Gryfford from overhearing.
"No," Taltōsh replied sotto voce. Continuing in the same quiet tone, he went on to say, "That is why I want to--because it is a new experience."