"I say give them the food, we can hunt if needed" Enev whispers to Essa, he has his shield and sword ready if the wolves move in to attack..
Tane sleeps, soundly.
Nodding to Enev.
Essa gives them as much meat from her rations as needed to feed them. She can always hunt and meat is hardly necessary anyhow for survival for people.
The wolves take the food, and run away before you change your mind.
You soon lose sight of them, and hear no more howlings during the night.Everyone can get some well needed rest, and enjoy a fresh morning.
According to the map, you have one more full day of travel through the Fangwood, and will arrive to the Crypt the next morning.
The next stop, in the late afternoon, should be the Gray Lake.
The walk through the Fangwood is uneventful, the day being a little colder maybe.
Essa manages to collect some mushrooms and to kill a good sized deer, making sure you won't need to use more of your rations for the next two days.
In the second half of the afternoon, you see, through the thinning trees, the shores of the Gray Lake, where you'll be able to fill your waterskins if needed.There's a field of short grass leading to a wide, calm lake reflecting the overscast sky above. A dense fog hangs over the center of the lake, obscuring the far side, but it's a beautiful view nevertheless.
The only oddity seems to be a dark form, lying near the shore.
Takeshi's arm never left his back, the bow ready for any inconveniences.
After the wolves leave, he smiled half-heartedly, and kicked the foot of Tane
"Wolves!" he shouted, and pointed in the direction of the undergrowth rustling.
Then he sat down, and started to nibble on some left-over rations. A small smile got back onto his face, something that had been gone for days.
Waking after the night of excitement over the wolves, Essa is happy to be moving forward again on the path to the Crypt. Hunting and gathering the next day she comes back to the group with a deer slung over her shoulders. Hanging it from a tree and preparing to skin it, she teases Tane, "Hmm look at what I caught. I don't even use a bow. Har har.." snorting and laughing somewhat unlady like. Tane had seemed cranky and testy since leaving town, unlike his usual self. She tossed a mushroom at him, bouncing it off his head, trying to get him to respond. Something she might have done in the 'old days' before they had a falling out. Maybe it had something to do with Selene. Or perhaps Takeshi, he did seem somewhat confrontational with him. Maybe she should mind her own business she thought.
She went about her tasks quietly.
As they approached the lake, she felt the cool grass brush against her legs. She knew the water would be cold, but she felt like splashing in it. As they noticed the dark form on the shore, she took a breath, "Hmm, what do you suppose that is?" Always wary, she kept her club at the ready and made sure that Roguk wasn't going to just run up and start sniffing at whatever it was. She also learned to trust his instincts and watched him to see is he smelled or heard anything.
"Let's check it out.." Enev Walks closer to the dark form and stops midway,
"Erastil, protect us from evil" Enev prays to his god and concentrates on the figure to feel some evil in it...
Rogurk seems uneasy with the thing on the shore, and when you come a little closer, it becomes clear its a man, lying more or less on his side, his back turned to you.
The man doesn't seem to move when you approach.
Tane startles awake, rustling about trying to get his blade ready. He jumps up only half awake and trips as his pants fall around his ankles. He smashes into the ground and hurries up only to find everyone staring at him laughing. Tane glares at Takeshi and says, "You, you have heard the story about the boy who cried wolf, right Takeshi?
Tane grumbles and pulls his pants up and attempts to return to sleep, even more irritated with the bard now.
The next morning he sees Essa return with a fine deer. He approaches to congratulate her.
"Hmm look at what I caught. I don't even use a bow. Har har."
The comment first frustrated Tane, already on edge from Takeshi's alarm last night. But when she starts laughing and snorting he can't help but let it slide away and join the laughter, but laughing AT her. When the mushroom bounces off his head he says, "Alright, alright. You win this round. This doesn't make you a superior hunter though!" Tane assisted in the cleaning and preparation of the deer, making small talk to avoid his earlier frustrations.
Tane is not reknown for ability at being perceptive. He squints at looks the body over and appraoches it. Tane announces, "He's clearly sleeping, can't you see his chest rising?"
He nears the prone body as he raises his voice and shouts,
Tane is not reknown for ability at being perceptive. He squints at looks the body over and appraoches it. Tane announces, "He's clearly sleeping, can't you see his chest rising?"
He nears the prone body as he raises his voice and shouts,
Essa calmly takes Tanes elbow and whispers "That is a log, the body is over there...." turning him to the body.
She approaches it cautiously. Does it look waterlogged like it washed up on the shore? Is the lake large enough for tides such that the water may have been as high as the body is?
Tane scratches his head and changes direction. "Erm, right, I was justttt making sure you were all tracking this. Ha, ha, erm."
Tane clears his throat and heads towards the body.
Enev runs towards the man lying there and checks if he is alive,
Selene remains at distance as the others rush to investigate the prone man along the shores of the lake. Her eyes keep to her surroundings in case anything else is lurking nearby with wrongful intent.
Mayla at the beginning of the day would ask Selene if she was willing to teach that language she spoke in times of stress.
Once they come up on the body she would move forward carefully looking around to see if there were any others.
The man is obviously dead, and has been for some time now. But Enev can't discern what caused his death
Selene wisely stays back, but she sees no immediate threat, and there's no other corpse in sight on the shore.
Takeshi silently looks as Enev examines the body, taking over as soon as the little one stops. He feels he is close to knowing, but cannot quite put his finger on it.
"Can anyone hold his hand like this, while I feel under him?" he says to nobody in particular, while lost in thought.
Takeshi's opinion about the dead man is that he's dead since a few months. He finds some huge bites on the man's arm and chest, when he turns him
Artist and music lovers called him "Sixfingers" because he was so talented with instruments the only explanation could be that he had more fingers than anyone else.
The rumor that no purse or small jewellery was safe when he was around must have been spread by jealous and careless people, but it would be another viable explanation for this nickname..
There's something else under the man: an exquisite violin, in precious woods, wrapped in an old cloth.
It seems that the violin was even more precious for the man than his own life, because even in the pains of agony, the man managed to curl himself around the instrument to protect it from exposure to the elements
Takeshi turns the body around, and takes what appears to be a very well-built violin.
He plays a couple of tunes on them, completely distracted by the instrument and forgetting the man lieing dead at his feet.
If anyone asks, he simply says "Been dead a few months, by something that likes to bite chunks out of people." before continueing the song.
Perceptive Tane walks over to the body and inspects it for himself.
Of course Takeshi inspects him and comes away with an instrument. What is he leaving out?
Tane inspects the man and wounds and comes to a different conclusion. "I think he was out here with a friend and his friend asked him to take care of something and then his friend abandoned him when something took a bite out of him."
Tane nods as if his assessment is perfectly reasonable.
When Takeshi takes the violin, and starts to play, something eerie happens...
A ghostly form rises from the body, and soon Takeshi is face to face with
an unhappy soul
From beyond the grave, a voice speaks
You want my violin, young one? Show me if you're worth it... Three tunes i'll play, and you'll try to imitate my music to best of your abilities. If you're good enough, the violin shall be yours. If you're not good enough.... your life is mine.
the ghost starts to play a tune on his spectral instrument, an haunting tune
waiting for Takeshi to mimic his music before playing another. The ghost seems to have difficulties to concentrate, however
and finally a third, a peace of sad, beautiful music, where musician and instrument seem to mourn each other
Mayla would approach about to say something to Takeshi before the ghost rose up and spoke.
Listening to the tunes her face was a mix of color and she was a woman that definitely enjoyed music.
As it started she would listen raptly and would even tear up at the last peace sniffling slightly wiping her eyes. Tucking her hair back she would look at the ghost.
"That was beautiful. Thank you...it was very beautiful." Sniffs lightly and would look at him and curtsies slightly. "It was a beautiful performance."
The ghost bows to Malya. It even seems her he's smiling, but perhaps more from pride and arrogance than from gratitude
Tane observes the performance from the ghost and is more guarded about it then Malya. He draws his weapon and whispers, "Uhm, guys. Should we be thanking the haunting spirit of a dead man? Shouldn't we be a little bit more guarded? I mean he did say Takeshi's life was HIS."
Turning to Takeshi Tane reaches for the instrument, "Takeshi. Put the instrument down, you don't need to involve us in this. Obviously this isn't yours."
Essa's eyes widen as she sees the ghost and understands now why Roguk was so on edge about the body. She stands transfixed and as the music plays she is a mix of appreciation and dread for the challenge to Takeshi.
When Tane objects to the contest, Essa says "Tane it is for Takeshi to decide. What if it was a well forged weapon or a master carved bow, would you not want to put your skills to the test for such a prize?"
If things get physical she will try to grab Tane and toss him in the lake.
Tane manage to wrestle the violin out of Takeshi's hands without to much trouble, and Essa tries to argue with the warrior
Takeshi was surprised by Tane's actions, as he was ready to play.
Such a beautiful instrument...
The young bard already miss it, he wants to touch it, to feel it.
It's even better than any girl he had in his arms.
The music he could play with such a wonderful violin...
Tane dislodges the instrument and looks to Essa and shakes his head. "If a ghost rose up from a corpse and told me that I need to use the item, I would like to think my friends would stop me from such an illogical action. But hey, I'm not the scholar here. I'm just a big guy with a sword, what do I know?"
Tane says the last senteance as a joke but when no one springs to his defense he looks around to see if anyone agrees with him. "Wait. You all don't possibly think this is a GOOD idea, right? You DO see that's a dead person with a ghost right?"
Tane glares at Takeshi, "For some reason I was awaken abruptly last night and may not have slept well. Perhaps I'm seeing things here?"
"Not all dead things are malicious or evil. Maybe this one is, maybe not. I think your heart was in the right place, but my intuition tells me you are holding something else against Takeshi. In your recent past perhaps you can remember a similar situation in which two friends did not talk out a problem. Please don't let that happen again..."
Essa folds her arms meaningfully in front of Tane and blows a tuft of stray hair from her eyes.
"Tane, give it back. This tale hasn't run its course yet. We must have an ending to this, one way or another... We are ready and able bodied, so should we fail we have a very high rate of survival.
If another should come this way and play badly, many could die."
Takeshi will hold out his arm, and look at the violin.
"I will play against this ghost, to put its spirit to rest. I can use my own violin..."
Takeshi uses a magical symbol and whispers "Ik roep jou op, vioolvriend." after which a magical violin made of pure force appears in his hand.
"...but chances are better with a magnificent piece like that. You wouldn't want me to face him with worse odds, would you?" he says with his most charming smile, a sparkle returning to his eyes now that he is holding his summoned violin.
Takeshi whispers to whoever is closest.
"Just be ready, in case things go badly."
The issue between Essa and Tane may have started healing, but definately was not whole again. His posture is firm and stiff and he stands erect and on guard. When she brings up the history between them Tane relents. He lets his head sag so that he is looking at the ground. With a heavy sigh he takes a step back and mutters, "Alright. I'm sorry Takeshi. You may play your songs if you wish, it's your right, I will stay out of it. I'm..."
Tane looks up at Essa, not Takeshi, and says. "I, I was just trying. I'm sorry for what I did."
Head still hanging low, Tane turns around slowly and begins to walk down to the lake. "I'm going to see if there are any fish around. I'll be back in a bit."
With that he trudges to the lake.
I can't win. It doesn't matter what I try to do. Selene won't give me the time of day. I keep doing the wrong things in front of Essa. Takeshi can be selfish and no one notices. At least Enev and Malya haven't shunned me yet.
"Thank you, Tane..." Takeshi bows his head as he receives the violin from him.
"Don't go too far. Even I can be mistaken, and I don't want you too far if these things go south. You are the strongest of us, after all."
Mayla watched the exchange quietly her eyes on Takeshi and the ghost. Thinking on it she would cast detect magic looking at the violin. Mostly to see if it had any magics about it. It did look beautifully made. She only got to the part where she could see if it had magic before her eyes moved to Tane.
"Tane, please stay here. Seperating does us no good." She didn't believe he should have handed the violin back to him. The ghost's reaction to her thanks was enough for her to know a bit about the man.
Selene agreed earlier in the morning to teach anyone interested in learning her celestial tongue.
"Causa agitur de mortuis facere stulta cupiditas, sed ad multum Takashi sui."
"Tane is right," Selene injects as she joins the party after the appearance of the ghost. "It should be considered with caution. However, we must trust in each other's abilities. If Takashi thinks he can beat the ghost at his own game, we must trust in his abilities just as we must trust Takashi has weighed the risk accordingly."
Tane stops and turns around, staying close to the party. He keeps his thoughts to himself, for now.
I hope I was wrong about this.
The ghost waits patiently for Takeshi to play.
It has, after all, all the time he could ever need.
Takeshi must beat DC 18, DC 13 and DC 22 with his three rolls
Takeshi held his breath, eyeing the beautiful instrument for a minute and plucking the strings.
He begins really fast and strong, giving it everything he has, but near the end he feels the weariness of the day catch up to him.
When he ends, he feels amazing, but he is unsure whether he has beaten the ghost. He had been away from this world for the entire time he played, and was now opening his eyes again for the first time, a look full of questions on his face regarding the people around him.
The ghost voice rises again
It's not enough.And you know it. Please put my violin back where it was, under my protection. You're not worth it.
Each word is full of scorn, and purposely hurtful
Tane eyes Takeshi as he grows concerned. It appears his initial suspciouns may have been entirely accurate. In a low warning tone he says, "Takeshi..."
"Hold spirit! Your third performance was quite a fantastic experience, but your second song was nothing I havent heard from the musical hobbyist at any tavern and Takashi clearly performed better on his second. Both of you were splendid sounding out the door on your first songs. So I do say a tie breaker is in order."
The ghost seems hesitant, then angrily answers to Selene
Even dead, I am a better musician than him. I got nothing to prove.
He seems to fade away,becomes nearly totally translucent, and then seems more "solid" again. He looks at Takeshi, then at Selene
If he loses, not only will I curse him for trying to steal my instrument, but I will curse you too, woman, for your unfair words.
He looks at the violin in Takeshi's hands, and to the ghost of his violin in his own hands. Ghostly tears roll on his ghostly cheeks
Oh, to hear you weep, cry and laugh again... To express my emotions, to speak through your voice the words I kept forever silent in my heart...Lets play again, shall we? One last jig...Follow me, young man, if you can.
The troubled ghost plays, and if it's good music, it's nothing exceptional. Takeshi, however, delivers a solid performance, improvising and improving on the original music
The ghost gives a sad smile, and seems to fade away
The violin is yours. But I have a last request to make. Next time you play it in a tavern, buy a round of drinks for everyone with the money buried near my corpse, and tell the crowd you'll be playing on the late Valfrian Hanburrer's violin, and that he freely gave you his instrument after his death. Take care of my one and only true love. Cherish it. Now I can truly die, and my violin will have my soul in it.
The ghost disappears slowly, sucked into the violin and looking peaceful.
After the heebie jeebies pass, Essa states nervously, "There that wasn't so bad was it?"
"We can see to it Hanburrer's last wish is fulfilled, but I don't think I'll be using the word 'freely' when under wager of curses and threats Takashi bravely won. Takashi, you really played your heart out, well done!" Selene will fetch the money the spirit mentioned and stow it away after Malya accounts for it if she wishes and alaso take the time to refill her canteen with clean water.
"Shall we me on our way then?"
Tane watches the performances with interest. He knows that this is probably really good music, but the finer artistic moments are lost on him. When it's done he looks at Takeshi and says, "I'm glad you won."
He nods to Selene and saying, "Let's go."
Mayla would watch and takes the money once found. "Maybe what killed him is nearby. Maybe we can find it if we look around. I would rather not have something like that at our backs." She said quietly.
Moving to Takeshi she would touch his shoulder gently. "You played well but don't let your greed get the better of you. I don't want you hurt and you almost were." She would look at the Violin deciding it is best not to touch it. "Valfrian Hanburrer, I will remember that name."
Takeshi puff himself up
Well, I knew I could play well. And with my life at stake, I'd better play REALLY well. Besides, I didn't want Selene to get cursed by my fault.
The poor girl got enough trouble on her own..I wonder if she still see us as children?
He looks at the violin with some suspicion
Malya... do you think he's really... in there? I mean, his spirit, or his ghost, call it as you like. Never heard of an haunted violin, that would do a great story, of course but... Do you think it can harm me?
Takashi shivers a little at the thought
Enev claps to Takeshi's performance,
"Risking your life for something beautiful like that, you should make a song about that.." He suggests.
"It is very possible it can. If you don't fulfill his wishes. Spirits can be interesting people. He loved that violin and even in death would not leave it. That should tell you some things."
Looking at the others. "We should bury him properly when we get the chance."