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"The brooding one seems to be doing better. What a great turn of events! I'm sure Vorel will find his place in the great tapestry of life."
Swift ponders this for a moment, then rejoins the rest of the party in their discussions. Swift listens intently to Garekk's tales about his clans. He is fascinated by their pragmatism. He then contemplates their road ahead.
"Are we certain about our heading? It would seem that beyond a general direction, we do not know where exactly we are going."
"No. In fact I doubt there's even a slight chance of us ever finding those ruins with such vague directions. It would be a fool's errand to try. Maybe we could have the carver draw us a map or something... Ask him what the ruins are near..."
The party arrives back at the town at mid-day. Everything seems to have returned to its normal routine.
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Okay. Hailey was heading to the ruins, just running there, the same way Ellen ran out to get the boat to chase and kill Jaws on her own at the climax of Jaws the Revenge, after Jaws attacked her granddaughter, Thea. Hailey was behaving the exact same way. Not talking to anyone, not telling anyone, just up and leaving directly for her target, for in her mind (as with Ellen) the time had come.
She stopped a bit later to talk to the rest of the party, only because part of the reality that they were behind her broke through to her (which is about the same thing when the men found out what Ellen had done and followed her on the airplane, then caught up with her.)
Here, Hailey broke free of her mood to tell the others firstly that they did not have to come, and secondly, her attempt to tell them the differences between magicians, as a means of warning them exactly to the best of her ability what she means to become, and what they would be dealing with. Strength and sword are not enough.
But when Calistria said she smiled and walked with Hailey all the way back to town, the way I saw it is that Calistria had taken Hailey by the hand and redirected her back to town instead of to the ruins as, Hailey being a gnome who has a strength score of 6, would be easy to forcibly redirect. Hailey allowed her to do this because she was busy 'preaching,' and since nobody stopped her, she just kept on until everyone knew everything they never wanted to know about arcane magic and didn't know they were afraid to ask . . .
So in short, Hailey was going to the ruins, but got redirected back to town and relaxed enough after exhausting herself by preaching everything there was to know from the Magic Domain that she just went along with the trip to town.
"I'm liking you and your tribe more and more, Garrek," Hailey declares. "It is rather like trying to argue if a stain is lavender or lilac. Either way it's still purple plus white and must still be cleaned up. Or else the whole dress dyed to match the stain.
"And I accept your advice on the wolf cub. So it's a compliment, Mr. Swift-Palm. And I take it as one."
She listens to Vorelloex, trying to learn all she can from him and about him. His attempt to unite with Sir Rois impresses her, and she offers him her hand. Then she turns to the others again.
"It isn't that much of a surprise to me that a great warrior like you would be welcome among champions of the blade. Still, I personally honor you for the attempt. And yes, you're quite right, let the river run red with the blood, physical and ethereal, of those who dare bring ruin without just cause! In this, I agree with you completely.
"But I had no idea, not in any true sense, that people would be willing to accept me, even permit my companionship, for the long term. I'd expected that once they discovered I'd rather hex than heal, they'd discard me in fear, especially here. Oh, you don't know . . ."
She could not prevent herself and cried right then and there.
"You don't know what it's like in the church of Nethys. Nobody's on your side. It's all about power. The wise among the weaker cultivate favor among the stronger. The only way to be approved is to show yourself worthy through constant study and mastery. Did you know we're one of the few churches who battle each other? Oh yes, it's true. Good and evil battle each other, both believing that they know the will of Nethys. You've no idea what wonders, and horrors, come from magicians' duels between the bishops of two temples, especially if one of them is also an arcanist.
"You don't know. I love my faith, and I love my archbishop, mainly because he has declared that we are to be a strictly True Neutral temple, balanced in all things, some good, some evil, some law, some chaos. He treats us as if we were a druidic order, requiring all expressions of dispassion to be kept in check and strictly controlled. I see the wisdom in this.
"But you've no idea how competitive it is. Everyone is striving to be the best, in magic, in knowledge . . . For an academic training ground, for world-class scholarship, you couldn't ask for a better environment.
"But rare are the people, such as the nun who took me in and saw to my education and training there, who truly care. You people . . . care. What have you done to me?"
She breaks down again.
"I'm here to do Nethys' will, as defined by the Archbishop. But you people. It's as if I belong with you. What's happening to me?"
She says nothing more, trying to fight her tears but failing, while she listens to the group, increasingly wanting to be part of them, even Vorelloex.
By the time they get back to town, her mood has faded.
"This town needs someone who can guide it, for the undead here will always be a problem. Maybe this town could use a priestess of Nethys, huh? There's no doubt I can do a better job than this little adept of Pharasma has. Just a thought. I'm sure this too will pass. First things first. All right boys, we'll do it your way. The carver first, and then the ruins. But remember, whatever we do, we must do fast. I'm sure we're running out of time. Sister Callie, you really ought to consider preparing those protection spells like I'm planning to do. If that which you consider evil is lurking, temporary shelter against their weapons and their powers can hardly go amiss."
By now, gone is the gnome who was having an emotional breakdown. Back is the hard rational researcher who insists upon the strictest standards, as if she had never said a word.
"I think the spells that have been blessed to me by the Winged Lady will do just fine, sister. Thank you for the advice, though." Calistria one-arm hugs Hailey.
"I have four silver." Calistria says. "I am happy to add these to a group fund to purchase supplies. Voryn, you have more experience in the wild than I do and the rest of you have more experience, I am sure, undertaking dangerous explorations. I'll let you decide what we need to buy with whatever coins we can pool together."
Calistria hands over her coins and then continues.
"I'll go and see if I can find out more information about the ruins or, at the very least, a map that will lead us to them."
"Very well, lady Calistria. Firstly, how much coin can we muster? I do no think we will require much more than we already have. I have about 30 gold pieces to offer."
Swift looks around at the party while the gold is being tallied. Once his gaze locks onto the little gnome, the monk pauses and scrutinizes her.
"She's been having a hard time lately. I'd best keep an eye on her."
Swift instinctively edges toward the Hailey, in an effort to show her his support, even if she was no longer visibly in any emotional distress.
"An emotional distraction can be as dangerous as any blade."
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"I'll be happy to go with you, Sister Callie. If there's one thing you become a master at in the church of Nethys, it's research."
She smiles at Swift-Palm.
"Sir, I have heard that the martial arts have the power to discipline the mind and still unwelcome thoughts. Is this true? If it is, I . . . I'd like to speak with you alone tonight."
Hailey will use the aid another ability, as gather information falls under the diplomacy skill. I had to look it up. So, here goes. Since Hailey can't take 10 to aid her, she's going to have to roll.
She also gives Sister Callie 20 gold to contribute to the fund.
"In order to master the martial arts, one must first hone his mind before honing his body. There must always be a balance. If one is mastered without the other, it will simply go to waste. And you may certainly speak with me, I'd be most happy to share my wisdom, or whatever else it is you need me to accomplish."
Swift gives her a big smile, happy for the opportunity to be of use.
He looks over at Rois.
"And don't think for a second I will let you off without a morning meditation session. Tomorrow we start anew, I want you doing the springing crane stance by next fortnight!"
"while you three investigate in the library, I will check in with the baron. Perhaps I can learn more about his cousin."
With that, Rois heads off to talk with Josep to gain an audience with the Baron's cousin.
Josep indicates to Sir Rois that the Baron's cousin is expected on the morrow, in the afternoon.
Vorelloex feels the gnome's furor and pain, and gives her a pat on the head. It's what he thought was the right thing to do at the time, and is moved by her story.
Afterwards, he follows Rois, and in passing to and fro the Baron's, he strikes up ponderous conversation:
"So, what is life like on your wall? Is there any hunting trade to be had there?"
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Time spent in the library, with Hailey's undeniably essential assistance, nets the two priestesses what is needed.
"Castle Rurik!" Calistria says, holding up the copy of the map she made. "East of the Shudderwoods and along the Moutray river. A two hundred mile journey from here, near the northern border."
Her eyes sparkle with the excitement of a new journey. A new place to explore. The chance to travel.
She is a cleric of Desna, after all.
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Garekk nods at the suggestion of a quartermaster. "that's not a bad idea.. and i can contribute 5 gp to the fund. If we need more for a big purchase or something, let me know. I also have a rope, caltrops, and a grappling hook that we can put to use"
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Rois tries to continue good conversation with the butler, "What is your opinion of the Baron's cousin, Josep? As you know, we have a great responsibility to Selvin. What will he think of your master's decisions concerning our mission here?"
"I don't know him well. It has been over 5 years since he last visited, a learned and travelled man even then. He is older than the Baron. Said to be good with a sword, but I have never seen it; though one would have to be to survive some of the places he has allegedly been. He will have wonderful and interesting tales, some of which may even be true."
"Is he a ruler in his right? Does he have a title or moniker that he goes by?"
"I believe he is a Count, of where I have no idea, certainly not anywhere near here. It comes from his father's side, which is unrelated to the baron."
"One final question Josep, what is the count's name?"
"I believe his title is Count Micael Tepes."
Rois thanks Josep and joins his companions at the library. He begins searching through the manuscripts for information on Count Michael Tapes.
He conducts his research till late in the evening.
You find a single reference to a Micael Tepes, but it is from almost 100 years ago. Apparently a Count Micael Tepes joined the forces of lastwall and become a captain of cavalry. It does not say what he was count of. The last line mentions him leading a patrol against orc raiders and never been heard from after leaving the wall.
Does Rois know of this man from his time in boot camp? Was this one of the many famous last stands told by recruits?
Calistria will, once her research is done, see if she can't borrow the manor's kitchen to make food for her friends while they research.
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Well... everyone else is busy doing research.. why don't I go shopping.. ?
"Sir Rois? While everyone else is researching everything, would you like Vorell, Swift, and I to go to the market and pick up the supplies? I think we agreed on a cart, and we will need food, but is there anything else on the list that we might need?"
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Voryn will offer his help with the cooking to Calistria.
Does Rois know of this man from his time in boot camp? Was this one of the many famous last stands told by recruits?
Not really he just rode out one day and was never heard from again.
Hailey will also be searching the library, also taking 20, in an attempt to find out everything she can involving magic in the area, including and especially around Castle Rurik, the Shudderwoods and along the Moutray River.
The last records of Castle Rurik date back to the fall of the whispering tyrant. Records indicate it was seized from one of his lieutenants in the clean-up after the tyrant's defeat.
The area is very sparsely inhabited.
There is much on the shudderwood and little of it good. read Here for a bit more
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The results of her research leave Hailey cackling with delight, as if she were one of the Weird Sisters from MacBeth.
"Rois, this is werewolf country," she declares. "With next to no real population. The few people around are sparse, making it a perfect place for a covey to hang around."
She informs him of everything.
"For someone like me, this place sounds like paradise. For someone like you, I suggest you pray to Nethys. A lot . . ."
With the studious busy as bees, Vorelloex takes his day of rest behind the tavern the motley crew met up in, far and deep into the surrounding wood, thinking about the events which have passed, contemplating the future, blending with nature.
Just as he achieves a state of full silence, full tranquility, he loses its grasp, and the sound of cracking trees is only the background of the cacophony of his thoughts and spirit breaking, growing, and stretching.
He begins to mutter words in the tongue of his mother, uttering things he does not know. Words of rage, words of glory. Words of power.
One would think they saw a ghost of burning gold in the forest that day, if they were there. If they saw the blood manifest.
Vorelloex didn't understand many things in this life, but today he felt as though he began to learn... To know. ...but what he knew not was that he would never be the same.
Swift joins Garekk for a day of shopping.
"I'm not sure what Sir Rois would suggest we bring, but in my experience, you can never be too prepared. We will need rations to fuel us on this journey. Some camping necessities, of course. Rope, and lot's of it! And you can never go without some pitons and a hammer!..."
Swift rambles on and on, in a way the party has never seen before. The monk is so engrossed in his duty that he fails to notice whether or not Garekk was even listening. Or maybe he simply did not mind, and enjoyed the opportunity to share his knowledge.
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Listening to the words of the older.. and wiser man, Garekk follows along allowing Swift to tell him all he wished. Hours later, Garekk finally speaks up. "Well, we have rations for a month, pitons, chalk, extra oil flasks, a large tent, and a wagon to put it all in. Should we look at any extra weapons or tools? Maybe acids or alchemical fire?"
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The night is long as the more scholarly members of the party conduct research. The others acquire many of the goods required for the journey, securing a cart and enough food to last for several weeks. They also find extra rope, a tent, pitons, chalk, a pair of lamps, lamp oil, a bundle of torches, a small hammer and pair of chiseled. There are no alchemical items available, but the blacksmith has a few weapons if you wish to purchase any.
The morning comes cold and raining. A few degrees colder and it will be snow instead of rain.
Rois shares what he learned through his research as he loads up the cart and mule
"The cousin is a one count Micael Tapis. The only record of someone with that name was a knight from Lastwall who lived one hundred years ago. His claim of minor fame was that he led a doomed patrol in orc infested territory. Now this story is not unique. Many have never returned from a patrol. This knight could be the cousin's grandfather, or, something else entirely...
"What does that mean for our venture? Is this Tapis one of knightly code? Do you think he will get in our way?"
Vorelloex' eyes seem a shade brighter today. Maybe not brighter per se, but perhaps with more luster. More edge.
His demeanor also seems calmer than usual, at least to the scrupulous.
With his white-gray woolen cloak hood covering his head, he paces around the cart making sure everything is in check, his boots squishing the damp muddy ground. This rain country... It's nothing like the Tusks. Vorelloex misses the hard crunched alabaster snow-littered gravel of his home, but is looking forward to hunting again.
And in his experience, wretched men are wholly more fulfilling prey than the humble mastodon.
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"Something seems a bit different about you today, Vorelloex," Hailey says. "Would you care to talk about it? A shame we didn't get the chance to discuss the control of the mind, and I'd still love to do so, Mr. Swift-Palm. Perhaps tonight. But a night in a library has done me a world of good."
She grins, relishing the future and hoping she is up to the task at hand. But she does not let anyone in on her feelings or intentions.
She has prepared Create Water, Light, and Read Magic, as well as Command, Doom, and her other possibility for a domain spell, Comprehend Languages.
She did not purchase anything while the rest of the party was buying supplies, nor did she ask for anything. Instead, she has had the most wonderful emotional charge from her time in the library.
"We're going to the most exciting place in the world, boys," she coos gladly.
She then describes to the party everything she's learned about the Shudderwood.
As they travel along the road north Voryn listens to the purple-clad gnome Nethys-priest's description of the Shudderwood with a gloomy expression.
"Demonic fey. Werewoles. Sounds like the forest has been corrupted into an unnatural and unwelcome place and needs to be cleansed in the name of Erastil. That would probably be too much for our little group to accomplish, but Castle Rurik's a start. A forest should be a haven of nature. Not an extension of Hell."
Calistria seems in good spirits as she walks along. Often, she outpaces the others by a good twenty feet or so, only to run back and rejoin the group. Her energy on the road seems boundless. More than once, at a crossroads, she signals a halt and offers a brief prayer to Desna and then she marks the goddess' sigil on a stone nearby.
"Every crossroads is a shrine to the butterfly lady!" Desna will say with cheer.
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Garekk listens attentively to everything that Hailey has to say about the the upcoming challenges. Lyncanthropes, undead, and the gods only know what else. Well, I am certainly learning all about Evil. Hopefully, I can learn about Good at some point... he thinks; not even realizing that True Good is not only found extrinsically, but it is most commonly found intrinsically.. in the every day little things that most people take for granted. During the march and in between lectures, he Scouts to either side and in front of the group keeping an eye out for anything that could threaten his friends.
"Worry not little priestess. My knowledge is here for you when you are ready, although when it comes to knowledge, yours is much greater than mine."
Swift offers a generous smile.
"She seems to be in better spirits. And so does Vorel. Everything is coming together, being sown together by the threads of fate. Perhaps we were meant to find each other, in that tavern on that fateful night..."
Once Hailey finishes teaching everybody about the dangers of Shudderwood, Swift brings up his thoughts to the others.
"For those who are not skeptic, what say you?", he adds at the end, probing his companions minds, seeking for them to think and stretch their minds beyond their physical limitations.
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Hailey listens to Voryn speaking.
Yet forests are widely feared in legends and lore, Hailey thinks to herself. As for forests being a haven of nature as opposed to an extension of Hell, this one is wide enough there is room for both, perhaps in separate sections. Yes. There is room to share, but split with defined, unbreachable borders. Except that evil won't be satisfied with that.
She sighs, resigned to the idea that good must win for balance is wrecked, though she doesn't like it.
She also doesn't like Sister Callie stopping at every crossroad, but she deliberately deflects her dislike of this into continued telling of the story, so that she will take no action or make no word to express her disapproval of the worship of false gods (in Hailey's mind.)
"My knowledge may be better than yours, but your wisdom is certainly better than mine," she counters to Swift-Palm.
At this point, she will keep a sharp eye out for any and all possible dangers the party may face.
As the group travels to the haunted cattle, Rois shares what he knows of fighting the undead. The stories of knights and strategies soon remind him of those he lost and he cannot hold his history secret any longer.
He talks of how he fell in love with a Lastwallian tavern girl and how she bore him a son. He tells how an orc scavenging party broke through the wall and how his son rode off to avenge his mother. How Rois was too much of a coward and refused to join his son in revenge. And how the son could have lived if Rois had joined him over the wall.
Eventually, Rois takes control over his emotions and shares his concerns about the matter at hand.
"If the count mearly shares the name of the ancient knight, then we have nothing to fear. But if it is the same man then i do not know how he still lives. There are stories about fallen knights but those stories are rare. If he is the same man and our true foe then he is a king away from his castle and the keep will be easier to take. If this turns out to be true then I fear for the citizens of Selvin while we are away."
After traveling about 20 miles you reach the village of Kotla. Kotla has a population about 50 that live in the village, which is centered around the local lord's fortified home. Kotla even boasts a wooden palisade around it, that has gates on the north and south sides of the village. It is said that the famed paladin Stephanos the righteous made his stand against the hordes of the whispering tyrant on a hill just north of the village. Legend says that he held the hill for a night and day before being overrun. You can stop and visit his tomb if you wish.
You can either spend the night here or push on and gain a few more miles this day.
Who is the Lord that governs Kolta? Is he or his line known for anything?
Know local
Vorelloex scans the little settlement with the eyes of a wolf in a pasture. He seems disheartened as he finds no sheep to play with...
"This one looks quaint. I don't think our demons, lycans OR wizards might be around here though... too silent."
He then mutters to himself in draconic as he so often does... As if he were talking to someone invisible that understood him.
Who is the Lord that governs Kolta? Is he or his line known for anything?
Know local 1d20+3
You no nothing about him.
"I think, at the very least, we should pay our respects to Stephanos the Righteous." Calistria says to the others. "Maybe he'll help watch out for us on our adventure."
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Seeing the villiage nestled among the hills, Garekk thinks of his own home very far away. Its seems peaceful out here. I like it.. He then nods his head at Calistrias suggestion. "Honoring the ancestors, especially those that fell in battle is a good thing. He sounds as if he were a great man to give his life in a delaying action like that with no hope of survival. "
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