Aidan sighs heavily.
Most certainly madness.
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Tea, tea! Levi pips at Elinors request. She soon finds a cup of the warm stuff in her hand.
Levi seems quite content now that the food is about. He fusses at each detail, and truly, this is man with no small skill.
Dead from the dead or dead from something else? Why do you care Taedric? Pass the salt. When you are dead will you be happier with one sort of dead over another? I don't know who would move the stones, but I know if they do... Well you should start running now for your best chance. Haha! No chance. Better than none, but still none in the end. Ha! When the stones move well, what else is there? You are right of course, but then you people provided the hero that stopped this last time. Are you the Hero of Umok? Now his eyes grow wide, and obsequiously he bows. I did not recognize you. My manners! My manners...
Seneca joins Aidan. We save no one by staying here. by staying here he says.
The bears move away from the party members, moving back into the ring, but staying well away from them and seem relatively disinterested in you all.
Taedric takes a pull of tea but then begins to cough, choking in surprise at Levi's references. The gnome beats his chest with his fist a moment to clear the liquid and then says, "I'm not, though I am from Umok... and I know the gnome you speak of. He was a paladin, and he saved my life when the goblins attacked us decades ago...."
The gnome trails off for a moment as his mind tries its best to combine two mental images, one of a dying old gnome, and one of a shining knight... It couldn't be.... He was hale when he saved me and likely had more than a century left to live....
The gnome's expression shifts from shock and disbelief to confusion and back again, until he finds his voice a few seconds later, "...I am not the Hero of Umok, though I was given the mantle of Hero.... though of a different town... and I accepted it."
He reaches down to the saddle and unties his helm, showing it to the hermit, "Is this why you ask?"
Do I have a clue what he's talking about? Bardic Knowledge:
Guess not. Nice tea though.
Narnel continues to lean up against the door with his arms crossed - listening to the conversation.
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Mantle? Does he wear the crown? Must be the king. You are what you are, and I am sorry for such a humble welcome. If only I had known... Some rabbits would have been good! The man seems to loose himself again and then is back. Maybe we can win. The hero stopped the goblins last time. Why not again. The man leaps from his seat, and into the air. His fist raised high. On landing he starts gathering food into a bag, Whatever I can do to help! You did it once, you can do it again.
I will watch these stones. You better watch the others. The tree is dead, so that is no worry. Sad, but don't waste your time. The old fort? Who knows? The cemetery? I wish I could say. Of course Minnie's watch is over and nothing to watch after all is my guess, right? And then there is Haugins Ear, and the Chuck. Still some wins ahead. Is it in steps? Does it matter? I just don't know. But this is a start right? I mean a few of them at least. He is talking so fast now that you may be missing some words but this is what you think you have heard.
Taedric says, "Levi, wait. Can you tell me of the others? Can you draw where they may be on a map? Every little bit helps, if I am to take on this role."
Elinor will quietly sing a lullabyish song using a couple rounds of bardic performance to try to get Levi to focus. (Gives him +2 on his "not be an obtuse psycho mentalist" roll).
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Yes, yes... The old man gets up abruptly and goes outdoors. Looking around for a minute he finds a staff. He moves to a place were the dirt is bare and starts to draw, See this? Simple, right? Like a circle. Here is where you are. Haugins Ear is this beside it. Next is Minnies place. And then the Chuck. The old fort. The tree. Well he is dead, I said that right? The cemetery and then here we are back again.
What about knowledge 'local'?
Knowledge Geography
Knowledge Nature
Knowledge Local
Aidan suddenly piques as Levi walks outside, and he watches the crazed man intently.
A compass. That village is to the south, so the rest must be on a compass.
Taedric smiles at Aidan's observation, Excellent, it does mean somethhing..... He then looks up at Aidan and says, "Can you get a sense of all of these points, where they are, so we can find them later? Perhaps mark them on a local map?"
Narnel puts his hand on his chin as he listens to the details and watches the drawing.
It is no problem mapping the compass.
Well, north is that way, Aidan points.
Assuming these are in fact laid out in this fashion, rather than this being an aesthetic approximation, I could accurately map them. I think.
Taedric nods, "This is important. I can't guarantee that we'll win, but as you said, we've got to start somewhere."
Information is power, and Levi does seem to have that. If only we knew... wait...
Taedric smiles again and then asks quietly, "What can you tell me about how the Hero of Umok defeated this last time?"
Taedric asks, "Do the stones hold back the dead?"
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Levi, looks sharply at the gnome. Awareness dawning in his eyes... Maybe, maybe. Hah! That would match. But the dead, they are not the evil we should fear... suddenly the old man has the thousand yard stare Taedric saw mere moments before. Emotionlessly, he says, The moon is dark, and the old ones dance in the night; there is terror in the sky, for upon the moon hath sunk an eclipse foretold in no books of men or of this world's gods... and just as suddenly his eyes are bright and chirps, Tea is getting cold now!
Elinor pokes around inside the hut with detect magic running, she's getting bored now and a bored Ulfen is a definite hazard.
Madness. Aidan states with finality and a slight nod.
Taedric looks at the others and says, in Sylvan, "Maybe so, but there's much locked in that man's mind. Least we can do is take a cup of tea before we go in case something else useful falls out."
He then falls back into place behind Levi, trying to prime the pump with more questions about the Hero of Umok, the guardians of the stones, and what happened last time... while also being polite and making light conversation about the refreshments and showing proper gratitude.
I will wait out here with the others. Enjoy your tea.
Narnel stays near the porch.
As he finishes his tea and snacks, Taedric smiles, "Thank you very much for your hospitality, Levi. We'll return later when we have more, and hopefully better news."
He makes his goodbyes and bows once again, then rides back to the others. "Well, I didn't get anything else -- but I can't help but think we need to go to the sites of the other stones. We already know that one is lost, thanks to the Goblins -- but these two things do seem to be related."
So, we wish to investigate these rocks, or face hordes of surging undeath whilst combing a dead city? Aidan asks, a hint of irony in his voice.
Yeah, I hear you well, Aidan. I am not a fan of either course. However, it would seem like a better option to try and verify the source of the issue, than to bumble around the city of the dead in hopes that further clues surface. Do we know enough from the ramblings of this old man to find the source?
Taedric chuckles and looks up at Aidan and Narnel, "Exactly... I was thinking that obviously magical and important stones were less likely to swarm around us than the rambling dead we barely escaped from..." He then shrugs in answer to Narnel's question, "I'm not sure about whether or not it's the source, but we did get a map of things worth looking at.."
The gnome's cheerful disposition fades slightly as he adds, "Though I do admit to being troubled, since Levi indicated that one of these places of powers is the town itself... and, by extension, that the Lady is the guardian of that one... which explains why she sent us first to the herbalist's and now here... but it also makes me wonder how much we haven't been told."
We are not told what we do not need to know, Aidan says simply.
It would not do for our corpses to divulge secrets our souls once knew.
frustrated that the group doesn't wish to go into the stone circle that once was a focus, and that she worked hard on securing safe passage, Harlynn will go join the rest of the group.
"You're at it again, tree hugger. Make sense or keep silent. Maybe we should go back to the Ear and tell the Lady we don't go another step unless she tells us what in One Eye's name is going on. She knows more than she's saying, therefore, she doesn't want us to know. Therefore, I want to know."
Taedric says, "I see the point you're making, Aidan, that we can't spill the secrets we don't know...even in death... But at the same time, I can't help but worry that it'll be our ignorance that kills us... After all, an uninformed strategy can only succeed through luck."
Taedric then chuckles and produces his dice cup, shaking them in his hand, "...and while I admit that does appeal to me on some level...I love the notion of throwing caution to the wind and risking it all on Desna's smile...." He throws the dice up into the air and traces his finger in an arcane pattern, cauing the dice to stop falling and begin spinning in place as his smile fades, "But there is far more at stake here than just the life of one gnome and his wolf...." He motions his hand and uses the magic of his prestidigitation to draw the dice back into his hand, and puts them away.
facepalm
We could investigate the inside of the stone circle before we leave.
Ok, let's do so, then.
Narnel begins to examine the stones and the area within the circle.
What exactly are we looking for, Harlynn? The old man really seems to be against the destruction of the stones, or its guardians, for that matter.
Aidan looks around a little while listening to Taedric.
Well we need to do something, and I'd rather get as much done as possible before we go get ourselves killed in Gillamoor.
Taedric nods, "Studying the stones we know about is a good idea... Who knows, maybe we can even convince Levi to answer some questions about them."
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The stones seem so unremarkable until you start to consider thier size, and difficulty in placing them. And the carving on them... they are absolutely covered. In fact, when Trumps digs at the ground at the base of one (and Levi yells in alarm!) it is clear the marking goes underground too. But the marks are very unfamiliar. They are not quite pictures. Not quite symbols. And each bears markings. None of the rocks stands out as being different than the others.
It is ok, Levi, we mean no harm. It is clear that you are here to protect the stones, but why do you fear their destruction or lack of vigilence? What will occur if they are somehow destroyed, or not protected?
Linguistics check to make any sense of the markings:
knowledge arcana
and detect magic on the stones
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Levi looks at Narnel, and bites his (Levis) pointer finger while it is curved into a fist. I don't know. I don't know. It will be awful... These are the events that change the world. And look at the old man they ask to stop it. Look at me. Hah! I just know that if these stones fall much more than stones will fall. Goblins and dead men will seem like flowers in Spring.
Harlynn, looks at the stones, and concentrates for a moment... She raises her hand to shield her eyes.