Wilds
Leralt scowls and reiterates his belief that a powerful fiend was imprisoned here and probably released by the colonists. That would explain the fact that the natural world seemingly rejects this small circle of itself...
Fort
Another chuckle from the darkness and a gruffly response..
From the tunnel behind you, the one guarded by Lena that leads back to the Mayor's hall, a series of low growls come. It is a universally recognized warning sound of a predator when encountered by another predator, a territorial sound.
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Songan's ears swivel forward a bit, his eyes wide, pupils dilating even further at the creature's use of the plural in that particular statement. He does his best to ignore the hair on the back of his neck standing up at the growl heard behind him, knowing his companions will likely be able to handle whatever it is, himself wanting to stay focused on the animal in front of him.
WILDS
In response to Leralt's theory,
'So that's that then. Do we return to the fort to inform our fellows, or shall we poke about a bit more while we still have the light?"
Fort
There is a long silence from the darkness, then a series of huffing noises. The growls from the darkness behind the party cease, then an answering barking and huffing noise comes. Slight scuffling noises can be heard as the noises retreat away from the party.
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"I would also like to know about these Pale Guardians of whom you spoke earlier. I believe I may have encountered one of them, myself. On the surface." he replies, describing in as much detail as he can the previous day's encounter with the bleachling.
Catila stands and brushes the dirt off her hands onto her leggings, completely unconcerned with the mess she makes. Tilting her head slightly, she gives the mage a slightly strange look, but still has a smile on her face as she says "Yes Leralt, I did understand that, and I apologise if I was unclear. My meaning was that there is still much that we do not know about what went on here. What being or type of being exactly was released? How exactly was it released? Where did it go? What is it capable of? Are there more such locations in the area? Why was it trapped here in the first place? And most importantly, what danger does it pose to the colony? Just to name a few questions off the top of my head. Those tablets there may provide some answers to these or other questions, but at the moment, it doesn't seem we have the means to retrieve them safely. Do you indeed know of the spell of which I speak? If not, perhaps one of the others might." she finishes, thinking particularly of Songan
Then looking at the sky for a moment, and then all around, she answers Orin "By all means, let's continue to explore while we still can!"
The spritely little Gnome then runs and hops up on the 'throne' uses it's vantage to try and determine the next, most logical direction to explore.
With a snuffling noise and the sound of claws upon packed earth and stone, a badger the size of a large house waddles into view. He looks much like a normal badger, only larger and with a glint of intelligence to his eyes. He snuffles loudly, then sits upon his hindquarters.
"The Pale Guardians are the folk. They are like you, but normal sized. They speak our tongue and made the Old Agreements. They guard the tombs of the Unspeakable Ones. They are not of the People, but they keep the Old Agreements and we treat them as the People."
Wilds
From atop the Throne, Catila can see the ground rising up to the mountains beyond. This is the edge of the fields, and from here on out, there are forests that have been felled, but they begin to get thicker and thicker. In the distance some great bird wheels in the sky, and some large stones can be seen emerging from the tree line.
Perception:
Somewhat distracted by the beautiful natural vista around her, Catila points towards the distant formation and says "There seems to be another rock formation of some kind over that way, or we could explore the tree line a little up to where the colonists stopped felling trees..." as she speaks she tries to get a better look at the bird
Perception (my detect magic should still be in effect)
Krupt flicks glances from the other animal noises and back to the overlarge wolverine. His extract of comprehension having run out, the ongoing conversation is beyond him, and he's loathe to consume another when it might behoove him to save it for something better suited to combat.
"Friend Songan, how are we faring in this discussion? Enlighten the ignorant."
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His ears twitching at Dr. Krupt's whispers, he begs the badger's forgiveness (in Sylvan) before whispering to the rest of the group in Common.
"Well...he first complained that we make too much noise and mentioned another 'large one' who came through these tunnels before us, which I assume to be the Mayor. The badger has mentioned the Pale Guardians, which sounds like our bleachling friend to me. They apparently watch over the tombs of some entity he described as the 'Unspeakable Ones.' It concerns me, though, that he used the plural, and I worry we may have more than one bleachling to concern ourselves with on the island. He also asked if we are here for the other large folk, or the despoilers, as he called them. The badger refers to himself and those like them as 'the People' and 'those who crawl, walk, and swim'. They have been here since 'before the star fell', which I take to mean Earthfall. I made overtures of peaceful resolution and he now speaks of a formal 'Agreement' with the People, which it seems the Pale Guardians have made before us, and he has spoken of bringing our words before the Council, whatever that may be. He speaks of this Agreement with great reverence...it is not something we should agree to lightly."
"Truthfully, this entire scenario concerns me greatly. The bleachlings have apparently made some pact with these animals, which I sincerely doubt are animals at all, given their intelligence and the fae tongue with which they speak. Not to mention they've been here for over 5,000 years. I desire a peaceful resolution, but in describing the previous colonists as the despoilers, I do not know how much of a peace there could be."
Realizing he never even asked about the previous colonists, Songan looks back to the badger, clearing his throat.
"Humph. The Pale Guardians took them. Well, some of them. The ones that the sickness didn't take."
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The reaction of fear on his face is noticeable, even though his fur hides the sudden draining of color from his face. It takes him a few moments to collect himself enough to continue speaking with the enormous badger.
"Did they mention anything else about the previous colonists Songan? Did they kill them?"
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Songan breaths a sigh of relief at the badger's words before speaking one last time.
He then gestures to each of his companions, introducing them in turn.
"Could you, perhaps, direct us to the tall one who came before us? He is a leader of our people and the others are deeply worried for his fate. If we could return him to them, I am sure it would ease their fears a great deal."
During the conversation, the others distinctly hear Songan say his name while gesturing to himself, then follows by gesturing to each of the others with him, each hearing their own name in turn.
Wilds
Wilds
Catila and Orin stare off at the stones emerging from the forest and are slightly shocked when one of them moves. Or did it? It's hard to be sure. Meanwhile Leralt sees a particularly interesting herb growing out of the ground and is momentarily distracted by it, until he realizes that it's actually a variation of stinkweed and would coat his hand with a stinky ichor if he were to harvest it. He thinks better of it and returns his attention to the surroundings.
Fort
With a final speech, the badger turns and waddles back into the darkness, leaving you alone.
"It's... leaving"
Orin turns to Catila,
"Did you see that, or am I getting soft in the head?"
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Songan sighs again, tension bleeding from him. "Well...that was nerve-wracking. But it isn't over yet. We need to return to the surface. The others need to hear this. As soon as possible. The People...this is what they call themselves...will not further trouble us for the moment, but we may have bigger problems than that. Mevakh, will you lead us back up, please?"
Taking a double take herself, Catila turns to answer Orin "You mean the rocks? Yes, I saw them move too, or at least I think I did. I'd like to check them out, but I doubt we could make it there and back to the colony before nightfall. Let's head back and let the others know what we've discovered so far."
WILDS
@Catila: "Sounds good to me. We could probably fight the giant rock on our own, but we might need some backup if it brings it's friends."
Laughing gaily at Orin's jest, Catila only lingers long enough to carefully detail everything they've seen and discovered on her map. She then walks back to the colony with the others, chatting about inconsequntial things.
If he allows her to, she occasionaly rests her hand on Grimfang, taking almost as much delight in scratching him between the shoulders and ears as he does in receiving it.
Mevakh looks at Songan as he relays the message from the talking badger. "All right. I'll take your word for it, though we should return later and complete the exploration of this tunnel. Afterwards, I recommend that we destroy it. We do not want a passageway directly in our midst to be used at any time. Until such, we shall guard its exit."
Feeling her heart rate return to normal, Lena falls in behind the rest, keeping guard behind her with her crossbow.
We may have narrowly avoided that confrontation with words but there's nothing to say they won't try something as we leave she thinks to herself
Fort
Taking appropriate precautions, the band heads back toward the Mayor's office to reemerge into the aboveground world. Despite their caution, there is no attack and they emerge unscathed.
Wilds
Still pondering the possibility of moving rocks, the band heads back to the fort, in possession of a fragment of the broken thing in the field. The walk back is untroubled, but a sense of being watched pervades the air.
Fort - Both
The band from the tunnels and the band from the wilds meet as the gates are opened. In the settlement, noises of construction can be heard as new houses and buildings are built and the craftsmen get to work in their new workshops. The mood among the colonists seems to be determined, but upbeat. The mood among the livestock, penned inside the walls since outside was not yet determined to be safe, is less than pleased. Moos, bleats and neighs mix together into a barnyard chorus of displeasure. The chickens, on the other hand, are free to enjoy the run of the settlement and are happily scratching and pecking at the ground.
Krupt tucks the poisoned dart back into its holder and stows his blowgun.
"I applaud your skills of diplomacy, Songan. A fight in such close quarters with that beast would have been...messy. I concur with Mevakh's appraisal. We'll need to fill in that tunnel, or at least barricade all entrance to it."
He then stands by to hear what information Songan and the other group have to share, pulling his thin blade from its apron pocket and stropping it on a leather strap, testing the edge for sharpness.
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Songan thanks Dr. Krupt for the compliment, following the group back up to the surface where the tunnel exits. It isn't long before the second half of their party returns from the wilds and Songan gathers them all together with the message of urgent news from their exploration of the tunnels; he insists on Sister Mara being there, as well. After everyone is gathered, he sits down on one side of their gathered circle, rubbing the back of his neck and staring at the ground for a few moments as he tries to figure out where to begin. After taking the time to ponder it, he looks up at the group.
"Well...I suppose to begin, I should say that in the tunnels I recalled a mention of a being called 'Tezcatlipoca' and I have sincere doubts that there would be two of these beings in the lore of our realm. It comes from a song which mentions him as the 'Lord of the Burning Mirror' and describes him as a...guardian of some sorts, a watchman between worlds. What gate he guards and where that gate leads, however, are unknown to me. I do feel it important to note, though, that the song gives no indication that Tezcatlipoca, whatever it is, is not necessarily good, but not necessarily evil, either."
"Now on to the real news...we met two locals in the tunnels. Two badgers...and by no means ordinary. The first was nearly as large as our friend Mevakh, here. A second came when I made offer of friendship, this one quite literally the size of a house. He gave his name as Tarquin. Both spoke the fae tongue. He was willing to speak to me, though, and did not make any overtures of immediate aggression. I learned a great deal from him...it is hard to know where to begin."
"First, he came as a representative of a group he referred to as the People. He referred to them as 'those who crawl, walk, and swim' and said that they were here 'in the beginning, when the great star fell.' To my knowledge, he can only be speaking of Earthfall, which means they have been inhabiting this island for at least the last 5,000 years."
"Second, the bleachlings and the Mayor. There is apparently more than one bleachling here. When I inquired of the Mayor, Tarquin told me that he had been taken by the Pale Guardians, distinctly using the plural. The People have an accord with the Pale Guardians called the Old Agreements, which allows them to move freely in the territory of the People and seek their assistance when needed. It was the People who dug the tunnels beneath the colony at the Pale Guardians' behest. He does not know where they took him, but he did tell me that the Pale Guardians' den is beyond the great rocks and that the People do not go there. Additionally, the Pale Guardians' were given this name as they are guardians for the People...they guard the 'Tombs of the Unspeakable Ones'; who they are I cannot say, as no detail was given on them."
"Third, Tarquin agreed that the People may wish to make an Agreement with us and the colonists as well, though from the way he spoke of it this is not an accord to make lightly. This Agreement is likely a sacred bond to the People, and if we agree to enter into it, breaking it will certainly not be well-received. Tarquin will take our request to the Council, clearly some kind of governing body for the People. Until such time as the Council as heard our request for an Agreement and accepted or rejected it, Tarquin said there will be peace between us as long as we abide the following term: hunt no animals save the ones we brought with us, with the exception of snuffling root-eaters or flying feathered ones, as they are not of the People. As long as we follow that directive, the People will make no more moves of aggression toward us.
"Fourth...not all of the previous colonists were taken by the Pale Guardians. There was a sickness here that caused any colonists who fell to it to rise in undeath and kill still more of their brethren. The Pale Guardians' drove the undead away, then took the remaining living colonists. To what fate, Tarquin did not know. Think about the colony as we have seen it. What is the one thing we have not yet found remains of?"
He pauses for a moment before answering his own question. "A graveyard."
He sighs and hangs his head for a moment, then lifts it to speak again. "There is one more thing, my friends. The sickness is still here. We..." he pauses, gesturing to those who were in the tunnels before continuing, "...are infected already. Tarquin smelled it upon us. It is likely that if we are infected, most or all of the remaining colonists are, as well. We must find a cure for it, now, or the same horror that fell upon those who came before us will fall upon us as well."
Her expression in turns facinated, curious and grave, Catila allows a few moments of silence after Songan's last, deadly serious words before she speaks. Glancing at Orin and Leralt, she takes it upon herself to speak for their group "We found perhaps a couple pieces of the puzzle ourselves, but found more questions than answers. First, I believe we may have seen where these 'great rocks' Tarquin mentioned may be. Here, I've marked them on my map" which she proceeds to unroll and show to everyone.
Continuing, she lays down the fragment "We also found this. It is a fragment of some sort of stone tablet, the purpose of which we have yet to determine. The tablet was, and still is, within a circle in one of the fields, here, you can see, I've marked it as well. The circle was in a cultivated field, but nothing whatsoever grew within this circle, despite abundant life all around it. Leralt was able to determine that a powerful fiend was once imprisoned within the circle and was but recently released, likely by the previous colonists. We have no proof as yet that they were the ones who released though, nor, if it was indeed them, whether it was accidental or on purpose. We also do not yet know exactly what kind of demon it is, what it is capable of, or, perhaps most distressingly, where it is now. It is my hope that the remainder of the fragments of the tablet may give some answers to these questions, but we were not able to devise a way to retrieve them without entering the circle. Which reminds me, Songan, have you heard of or do you have any access to any magics which enable one to manipulate objects at a distance?"
"Yes! That is exactly the one I had in mind! From what I could see of the fragments, that should suffice for most if not all of them. Excellent let's go...oh, yes, well, first thing in the morning then! In the meantime, does any one have any thoughts on what we've discussed, and moreover, any skill at curing diseases?"
Once they get back he listens to everything that went on while they were gone. Leralt thinks for a moment.
To think of any outsider involved in undeath, an undeath illness, or anything concerning what he has heard.
Arcana
History
Nature
Planes
"My knowledge of anatomy should allow me to note any physical changes in the colonists, or us, and provide us with a list of symptoms and an idea of how the disease progresses. However, mundane diseases sicken, incapacitate, and sometimes kill. They do not reanimate the dead. It may be beyond my capacity to treat, unless I can research an alchemical solution. If we are indeed infected, I should do examinations of our group now, and at intervals, to discover how the disease works. I would say the colonists as well, but that may likely restart the panic we were able to avert..."
Finding his blade sufficiently sharp, he takes a moment to admire the polish before putting it away, his conversation taking an abrupt turn from the danger at hand.
"Pigs and birds are fine to hunt then? Excellent. I can always go for a nice piece of ham or a roast capon."
"Hmmm...Perhaps we had best investigate the source of this disease. If it is magical in nature it might be easiest to stop it at the source."
@Gellius:"That's not a bad idea. Mevakh would serve a good point of comparison, due to the renowned ability of Paladins to resist diseases."
There is a small library in the Mayor's office, mostly practical tomes on farming, wildlife, religion, but with a few esoteric tomes. It makes Leralt feel a little more at home.
"I think we may be dealing with a daemon. One or more belonging to Apollyon's, the horseman of pestilence, camp I would guess. It could be a powerful servent that was bound at one time due to this very ability, a disease that turns its victims into undead sounds dangerous enough. All daemon desire death, only their methods differ. Many are also a product of death, their existance linked to a personification of death, such as murder."
He did not like that at all. Demons and devils had their reasons so to speak, you could predict them to a point. Devils collected souls, demons spread evil and chaos, but daemons only desired distruction of everything. Their was no reason or understanding, existance itself was their enemy. When they destroyed everything they would destroy themselves, what could drive that. He would take etheir devils or demons over daemons any day.
6 KNOWLEDGE [arcana] On anything that's been said or discovered so far?
6 KNOWLEDGE [dungeoneering] On demons and daemons?
6 KNOWLEDGE [engineering] on the rock chair or rock formations?
6 KNOWLEDGE [geography] on, ah, the geography of the region?
6 KNOWLEDGE [history] on the history of anything that's been said or discovered?
7 KNOWLEDGE (local) on anything she may have picked up here or in Absalom?
Mevakh approaches Doctor Krupt and presents his green, muscular arm. "You may withdraw my blood. The Master has granted me immunity to all manner of diseases, mundane and supernatural alike. If my blood is tainted, then it is a curse or other magical malady. If my blood is pure, it is truky a disease. What information you may glean from this is up to you, but I wish to offer whatever assistance that I can."
Krupt nods. "Yes, it's quite fortuitous to have you along. You'll make an excellent control for the testing. I'll want to do a physical examination of everyone in our group as well, and hear reports if anything ill should befall anyone. I may need the sister's help with this, and you too, Leralt. Your expertise will help. Let's go back to the lab and I'll take samples and observations. Perhaps I can find a way to identify the infection alchemically as well. That would be the first step to finding a cure."
Leralt shakes his head at the so called Doctor.
"I have no problem helping you Krupt. But I will not be subjected to any test, samples, or observations. If we find a cure then I will take with everyone else, if not then it is of no issue."
He was not about to let anyone, much less a Chelaxian, find out about his nature if he could help it. Anyways he was not completely sure if he was in any danger, granted tieflings could become undead like any other race. But if this was tied to a outsider, a fiend at that, then he may not be effected by it. His so called cursed nature could very well be protecting him, he was not going to chance that. At best his blood would be a source for a cure, at worse he could be accused of being in league with the daemon. Even if he was effected, fickle people would blame the tainted tiefling in a heartbeat give half the chance.