Durnik follows the others through the hidden door.
It's the smell that hits him first; it's like a punch to the face.
The smell of congealed blood washes over him.
Durnik scans the room, then looks again with wide eyes at the scene before him...
...and then promptly turns and empties the contents of his stomach into one corner of the room, before turning and rushing back out of the workshop altogether.
"I warned you..."
Her anger making her eager, Brinda also pushes forward to the opened bookcase.
Sköllji scans the room while the others enter the hidden door. After assuring the bonesmith isn't hiding, he turns to join the others. He stops as Durnik rushes out looking ill.
"Eh? What is it, lad? Ye alrigh?"
The dwarf waddles over to the door, curious what could have made such a tough looking man turn pale.
Sköllji looks back at the sick human, "Oh, bruther. I'm sorry ye had te see tha... We'll get the sick bastard for wut he's done."
Jexen strides in, unafraid.
Jexen stops in his tracks. His key still moves, but he twitches in place.
Crashing Waves sets to undoing the restraints and inspecting the body. Mortal lives are already tragically short for this to happen to one so young, the elf goes about his joyless business his angry simmering beneath the surface.
Everyone who failed their will check (which is everyone except TAS and Crashing Waves) gains one point of Insanity.
Durnik rushes outside after voiding his stomach into the room. Everyone else just stands and stares, shocked at the intensity of the gore.
All except Crashing Waves, who professionally goes about his business trying to clean up. He is clearly bothered by what happened, but he has a job to do and it will get done.
What happens next?
Even as Brinda's mind reels from the horrific scene before her, she feels the tug of the implements of forbidden magic. The darkness within the items, perhaps sensing a weakened and hungry soul, reaches out to her, soft and tempting. Brinda squeezes her eyes shut, concentrating on the tug of war within her. After a long moment she shakes her head, opening her eyes but keeping them lowered. She backs away from the secret door, trying to breathe deeply and calmly, without much success.
Brinda turns to the elf, eyes a little wild. "Why did you not kill your father earlier? Why bind him, only to give him the chance to escape? How do we know you didn't just help him escape, and now you're here to clean up his mess after him?" It is unclear whether she is on the brink of rage, tears, or both.
T.A.S. followed the others the whole time without saying a word. His head felt empty. He was not sure anymore if his actions were wrong or right. We killed so many of them and now Slugoth and Kandl are dead. Were we wrong to go after them like it was an adventure? Mary..
The sight of the secret chamber finally gets him out of his thoughts. But he does not feel to talk about it. He does not feel anything at all. Sickened but curious he takes a closer look at the magic tools. He picks a few up and inspects - trying to understand their magic - before placing them back on the table.
Crashing Waves had freed the boy from his bindings and placed him on a work bench because the floor was far to messy. While looking for a sheet or blanket he hears Brinda's words and sighs, "Way bother staging it then? If he and I were working together why not just help him clean up and move on and not bother making contact with your group. My instructions were to capture him and destroy the Gorebladed."
Jexen resumes motion and turns to face the others, pointedly ignoring the carnage.
"If Crashing Waves wished to, he could have deceived or ignored us, as he points out. I believe he is not in league with his father. But that does not solve the problem of hunting down the murderous fiend. Capture will be difficult, given the circumstances. Crashing Waves, prepare yourself to be without a father very soon."
Brinda turns away, retreating to a corner. She hides her eyes from the gruesome sight and her face from the others while she weeps silently, for the boy in the secret room and for all the others whose lives the Bonesmith has destroyed with his evil. She waits for the others, ready to leave this place.
Durnik empties his stomach, then deals with dry heaves. Once he is done, he uses his waterskin to rinse out his mouth and wash his face, without talking to anyone.
When the group exits the room, Durnik is waiting for them, face clean and waterskin emptied.
"I...excuse me. That was not very heroic of me, was it?"
The majority of the group stays inside the Bonesmith arguing over whether Crashing Waves has helped his father commit such an atrocious act. But it seems as if most believe he was not.
Brinda goes outside to meet with Durnik, leaving the rest standing near a mutilated childs corpse.
What happens next? What do you do?
Do you leave the boy there? Clean him him and take him to his father? Take him to be buried? Dump his remains in town square? Murder the entire village? What do you do? Where do you go?
Jexen turns to the young man.
We need him fighting.
"What you do around the dead matters far less than what you do to the enemy. We know you can and will fight, so do that when the time comes again."
To all:
"We must hunt for the Bonesmith. Now. The dead can wait."
While waiting for the others to respond, Jexen tries to work out a search pattern.
Cynerik's eyes take in that awful display and everything stands out in detail to him. The way the boy's head slumps ever so forward while the buzzing of the first opportunistic insects finding the meal that has been waiting for them. The tools on display added to the horror and the only thing that the priest could think of was that he hoped the child was dead before the monster began to cut into him with such coldness. The assorted bones, so carefully removed, made his spine shiver as he gripped the haft of his sword.
"Are these the horrors you have laid upon my path, dear Martyr? Is this the way I redeem myself to God?" Cynerik thought to himself, finally taking a shuddering breath at the atrocity before him. It seemed like he was not the only one that was as shocked by the evil before them. Their newest recruit, the young man from Fletcher's Rest, would leave and the sound of his vomiting coupled with the awful buzzing that seemed to grow louder in Cynerik's ears. "Evil must be stopped. It must be destroyed. By any means necessary." Steeling himself, he took another slow breath and rebuilt his composure once more. Now was not a time to be still and frozen, there was a monster for them to hunt.
"I agree with Jexen. It does not make sense that Waves is in league with his father. While the elf is...strange...I do not believe him to be capable of the same wickedness." Cynerik murmured, hoping inside that his assessment of the elf would not lead to a terrible ending. Looking towards the others, he would swallow hard and give a shrug. "Well...you all know I wandered for quite some time. Hunting game along the roads where it wasn't illegal...and I wouldn't be caught. I could see what I could do."
[ooc]It is a bit stretching to use the Refugee as source of being able to get a boon but here I am reaching for it nonetheless.
Looking for any sort of cover or cloth, Cynerik would cover the boy's body with it before looking at the others. "I agree with Jexen. If we wish to do our best, we hunt the Bonesmith down and end his life. We also make him tell us where the other boy is..." There was still one more to find, one more chance at redemption...or another awful evil to witness.
The elf finished wrapping the body in the blanket and begins to carry ghe child out, "If there is no risk to other buildings or tge forest I would advise burning this whole shop to the ground, what shall we do with the boy?"
This building is not attached to any other building. It stands alone. Here's no risk in a fire spreading if you choose to burn it down.
Sköllji stands at the other side of the shop, lit torch pressed to the wooden wall. "Sorry, wut's goin' on? After the prick, Eh?" As the flame takes, Sköllji will take a quick look around any desks for coin, then usher everyone out.
Having lived in the woods for a year, tracking food became a necessity. The dwarf rarely tracked men, but put his skills to use anyway.
"Bah, no use. Damn elves weight less than me damn cock. Barely leave tracks." Sköllji glances around and catches Brinda's eyes. Realizing what he just said, his face turns beet red. "Err, apologies, ma'am."
"Sorry to hear about your manhood barely leaving a trace, but yeah he is a pain to track," placing the boy on the ground outside the building and begins to look for signs of his father's escape.
Durnik blushes at Jexen's admonishments, but at his question he nods but doesn't say anything.
After a moment, Durnik asks "Do we have any idea where this Bonesmith went from here?"
The crew decides that tracking the elf is more important than bringing the child's remains to his father or burying their friends. So they set off, tracing search patterns and looking for clues. After several hours, none are found. It's often difficult to find steps in paths that are well worn and roads that are well travelled. It seems as if the Bonesmith stuck to these trails and did not venture into softer ground where his steps would leave a trace.
During your time spend searching, you are noticed around town.
Whisoers spread and find their way to ears, one such set is attached to Clyde, who is walking up to you. Well? Where is that rat bastard of an elf? Did you get him to tell me where my boys are? he says in a voice that is clearly agitated.
Others are standing by, watching the scene unfold, though clearly giving plenty of space.
Jexen turns to the Clyde, the blood of fomor still sticky on his form.
"We found a nest of fomor, who kidnapped a girl. They claimed to have taken a blade from a boy in the graveyard. We found one boy in the Bonesmith's place...dead. I am sorry. We hunt for the Bonesmith."
I *think* I am sorry. Why do I feel it so weakly?
Sköllji bows his head low, "I'm sorry, ser... Yer boy dinae make it. An ye dun want te see the body. Trust me. We're 'untin' down the bastard what did it. The formor beat up yer other boy and left 'im outside the graveyard. The men from town we sent out should 'ave found 'im by now. I wish we had time te check ourselves,. but the bastard who did this'll get away if we chat for much longer."
With that, the dwarf begins searching again.
Clyde's face becomes a visage if rage just before the blood drains from his face and he falls to his knees. ...what? he whispers.
Salted water drips off his face in rapid succession.
He cralws forward on his knees reaching for his boy, and he pulls the corpse close into him. He rocks back and forth holding the mutilated corpse wrapped in cloth.
He stays like that for a long time.
Leaving Cylde to his grief, Jexen will eventually ask their elf companion:
"Crashing Waves, where might the Bonesmith have fled to?"
Durnik watched Clyde's reaction with a sort of numb detachment. You didn't live near the cursed woods without being used to family and friends dying.
At Jexen's question, Durnik looks towards the Elf as well, hoping to hear his answers.
"He moves from small town to small town, easier to go unnoticed. I wonder if any of the townsfolk saw which way he left?"
Story Recap:
You've uncovered something sinister with the Bonesmith. He makes blades that drive people insane and cause them to kill everyone around them. He also kidnapped at least one child and torture-murdered him in some sort of Forbidden ritual.
You've brought the boy's body back to his father.
You've lost two friends who are on their way to the graveyard.
You've returned one little girl who you didn't know was missing. Rumor has it that she's Jex's daughter. Strange that Jex never mentioned her daughter was missing. Also strange that Jex, a supposedly expert tracker, was never able to track the Fomor when they attacked the caravans a month or so back, yet you were able to do so without much issue.
There is still one missing boy. The Fomor have said they left him at the graveyard. The dwarf in your group has repeated that multiple times, even as everyone ignored him. No one ever listens to a dwarf.
The Bonesmith has vanished seemingly without a trace, but there's a possibility someone noticed. No one has yet asked anyone in town.
There are multiple options in front of you. Which would you like to choose? Where do you want to go?
"Let us ask around. Someone has surely seen this rogue elf's passing.", Jexen says, more out of stubbornness than certainty.
To every person or group he sees, he will say something along the lines of:
"Did you see the Bonesmith pass by recently? And in what direction?"
Sköllji addresses the group, though his eyes never meet Cynerik's. "I think we should pay the inn anotha visit. If the one armed woman ne'er mentioned 'er own daughter was missin', I sense sumpn's goin' on 'round 'ere. I dunno if she's in league with the elf, seein' as how she sent us te look fer the wee ones, but sumpin' ain't right..."
"A fine point, Skolji. Let us question Jex."
"I'll go and check out the graveyard and see if I can find the other boy." offers Durnik.
The bodies of Slugoth and Kandl lay here, wrapped in cloth. They look like they were dropped right where they lay and have been abandoned.
From one of the Graves, a visage materializes out of the air. A faint green glow surrounding the image of a man with ragged clothes that look as if they were once well tailored. His face is calm, but as he lays his eye upon you, it turns to pure anger and hatred. The visage screams at you in primal fury.
He looks up at you. Hey there boys. Rumor has it you're the ones who brought back Jex's daughter. Mighty fine of you to do that.
As you know, there's only one road out of town, and it's the same road you came in on. A few miles down it comes upon a cross roads.
@Sköllji "I would be surprised if the were working together, his plan was to give the blade to her, unless she has a way to counteract the madness?"
At the inn Crashing waves hangs back he had only spoken with Jex briefly when he arrived and she directed him to his father's workshop.
Durnik had decided that he would not shame himself further by reacting with disgust or fear when presented with something horrible, and it is this fresh resolve that helps him to shake off the malevolence of the creature and stand firm.
"I will join you," says Brinda to Durnik, and she follows him to the graveyard.
They're insubstantial and cananifest themselves in an out of reality. Or at least invisible.
"So, long gone then. But not free, not from us."
Jexen makes for the inn, to see how the others are faring.
You are most welcome but we are extremely vexed, as to why when describing the issues in town why you left out that your own daughter was missing, when there were two children already missing?
"I have not seen the like, although there are stories about this forest that are told when the nights are long and people are gathered around the hearth. It is truly an evil place, but it is also my home."
Durnik watched the creature, then tried something else...talking to it:
"Sir, please calm down and talk to us. Perhaps we can right the wrong that keeps you from passing on."