"They weren't there when we cleared the room, so all they have is our word for it," Heshan mused, taking in some of the food for himself.
"I bet they would have changed their minds if they saw what we went through."
He looked back towards the hallway. "I'm a simple man, so I only need a room with a bed."
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Manuun enjoys his meal, when the Mercenaries come by shooting him dark looks. "I am pretty sure they have all been toiling retty hard all day while we had to deal with this mess, so its only fair that they are doing the cleanup work now."
With some mutton still stuck between his teeth, he turns to Ohrmizd:"Yes that sounds like a nice room. We should go there after dinner."
"Oh never mind looks like its taken by somebidy else. Lets try to get one for ourselves too, although I assume the best ones are taken by now."
Later Manuun goes back to the religious part of the monastery to check out the rooms there. He looks at the overgrown secret room, but must admit that it would be at least an hour work to clean it out. Also its right next to the large octagonal room with its rooten stench.
"Looks like we have three options, Clean up this room (A10), clean up the church from the pugwampi poop or sleep in the of the nishes. The one where Gara was waiting in (A1a) looks rather intact, maybe we could use that one."
Ohrmizd helps to clean up and prepare for the night whatever room is still available from those already suggested.
Afterwards, he visits the goat Rombard as promised. The Keleshite soothes the goat and checks her actual state, creating some fresh water for him and making sure it has food and a good place to lay down for the night and recover. To that end he clears up some of the bushes and makes an improvised bed for it "Ok cuteness, rest calm. I understand, I also have gone through some of those pugis shit. I understand why you were so altered"
Depending on how much light is remaining, Ohrmizd will look to talk with Soraya afterwards about the reconstruction of the monastery, or he will call the day and go to rest with the others.
Once the library is cleaned, Princess Almah moves into the room. She orders where to put up her furniture and carpets to make it a comfortable home. Then she takes a walk around the manastery with two of her guards to get an impression of the building.
Garavel comes to the kitchen to talk to his special ops team. "Why don't you set up camp over there ? It's one of the few rooms left with an intact roof."
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"Well I do hope there are no more spiders in there. But yes lets get in there to stay next to the others. That way we can protect them when the Pugwampis come back. And Ohrmizd don't even think about bringing that goat with you."
Manuun starts moving into the dormitory and cleaning up the cobwebs and broken furniture as good as its possible. Then he tries to find a quiet corner and puts his pack down.
Afterwards he decides to have annother look at The secret room, trying to understand what purpose it held.
"I don't mind. It would be a great opportunity to get to know each other a bit more," he smiled.
"Of course, I do not know if the others are willing to sleep together under the same roof at the moment."
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Manuun tries to make a few sketches of the various depictions of the templar for future reference.
Since the Princess seems to have returned to her room, Manuun tries to talk to Garavel instead. When he finds the man he asks: "Now that we are near Kelmarane, what are your plans. I saw the city from up the church tower and it looks in pretty bad shape."
Ohrmizd joins the ops team at the former spider lair. He helps clear the place up and smiles Heshan "Yep. We will get to meet each of us better. I hope I do not end preferring to sleep with the goat" the Keleshite smiles at Manuuns quip.
Later on, Ohrmizd will visit Soraya and talk with her about her plans to fix up the Monastery "I can help you clean up the altar and arranging the pews. I do not know when Garavel will call us for more missions, but I guess I will have some time to devote to the Dawnflower and help you"
"We'll settle in, and make sure to make the best of this defendable place. Once it is properly secured against unwanted intruders, it will become your next task to scout Kelmarane." Garavel explains.
"It is rumored to be occupied by a tribe of gnolls. But I have no reliable informaiton. But that's for you to to find out."
Once that sort of business was done, Heshan decided it was time to check out who else is on that mission... starting with Dashki. He made his presence known with a small wave before slightly moving towards the man.
"You wouldn't believe what we had to go through to clear this place," he started, eying the building. "But I believe it will be worth it.
Dashki is sitting in his room, the Shrine to Vardishal, and is busy scraping the gold off the wall. He looks at teh man with that 'what do you want?' look, but he replies with an affirmative "Hmm Hmm."
Ohrmizd helps Soraya to clean up Sarenrae's altar. They make plans on how the monastery might be restored to its former glory. It is going to need a lot of time and resources "That is going to take most of your time Soraya. I am not sure you will be able to travel to Kalmerane with us"
Later on, before going to sleep, Ohrmizd will do a round through the monastery exterior, checking all possible entry points and making a mental list of what places need to be secured. The Keleshite makes sure there are guards on duty taking watch, he greets them as he walks by.
After this round, the Sarenrite looks for Garavel and delivers a report on the state of the monastery defenses, giving note of all the possible entry spots, for small they might be "And that is all of note. I suggest we fix the holes in the walls and set up barricades in the entrances as soon as possible"
"If there is nothing else you need from us, I would like to have a nap boss. It has been a tough day" Ohrmizd tries to deliver the report succinctly but without leaving anything of relevance and remains quite waiting for Garavel's orders.
"I'm set for now. Most of the others are still busy one way or another. I'm fine with you calling it a day." Garavel replies. Tehn he retreats into the ex-library.
Ohrmizd nods to Garavel and retreats too to his quarters.
Back at the room, the Keleshite sorts out a space and lays down his backpack to sleep. He greets Heshan and Manuun whenever they join for the night "Hi there. How are you doing? Me and Soraya we cleaned and fixed the altar, and I made an inspection for Garavel about what elements of the defense need to be reinforced. How was your evening?"
Used to the lack of comfort of the road, Ohrmizd does not mind at all not having a proper bed to sleep. The man asks Manuun if they can read together the "Courts of Stone and Flame" book. He casts light on his ring of feather falling for them to have enough light "These sections in Ignan are very interesting. The language is coming natural to me for some reason. Mmm... why do you think these Wind Templars were fighting for? It seems like they will oppose this Jhavhul of the City of Brass. I wonder what was his intentions in this plane... because it really seems related to the monastery"
Shortly after, the tiredness of the day beats Ohrmizd. He removes his scale mail, and leaving his scimitar close by, the man performs a last day prayer "Sarenrae, thanks for your healing and guidance. Let us see the rays of the Sun once again enlightening this monastery, and let your soothing hand bring mercy to our souls. Let us know why this place was important to your followers time ago and fill our hearts with your passionate fire" he then let's himself fall into the dreams world.
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Manuun leaves Garavel after there short discussion and visits Father Zastoran.
"Good Evening Father, I hope your quarters are fine."
After a few minutes of small talk he then asks: "I have been hurt while fighting some of the old inhabitants and tomorrow will probably be similar. Could you provide me with some healing for my injuries?"
Afterwards Manuun retreats to their quarters and discusses the Book with Ohrmizd and Heshan.
"Ah, there it comes! Always the same! I only get visits, for business or when someone is hurt. Do you know how valuable all that bottled healing is? I'm not handing that out like candy! And you barely have a scratch!" Zastoran bickers.
Ruffling through his pockets, he fetches the silver mask he carries - half silver, polished and shiny, half blackened and holds it up. The golden-white energy washes over Manuun as Zastoran says a short prayer. "Here you go. But don't think you can come to me with every stubbed toe you got!"
Assuming the night passes uneventfully, Ohrmizd wakes up and stretches. Donning his scale armor and sheathing his scimitar to his belt, the man walks by Hadrod and Hadrah's place greeting the day and asking whether if there is some goat milk available offering himself for an early feeding of the animals.
With a bowl of milk Ohrmizd walks back to his quarters and wakes up any straggler dreamers "Good morning! How was your night?"
After a small talk he encourages both Heshan and Manuun to ready themselves "C'mon we have a lot of work ahead. Let's start by having a cursory inspection to check nothing happened during the night. Then we can start to work on securing the defenses"
After a rather uneventful night's rest, Heshan was roaring and ready to go. He waved to Ohrimizd as he passes by.
"Well, I can safely say that I saw no such suspicious activities so far. I did run into Dashki, but sadly he wasn't the talkative type. In fact, I can say a lot of people are light that," he frowned a bit.
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With a bowl of milk Ohrmizd walks back to his quarters and wakes up any straggler dreamers "Good morning! How was your night?"
"Much too short. Let me sleep a bit more. Shoring up the monastery is something for the Giuards to do."
When the Sarenraen does not relent in hiis effort Manuun picks himself up after a few minutes and follows the enthusiastic man to wherever he leads them, preferably breakfast.
"Good morning." garavel greets the special ops team.
"Change of plans. The monastery is a far better place to be safre from attacks than I expected. The open walls are not really an issue. The quarters are easily defendable against small groups that would dare to attack us."
"The greater threat would be if there were a large scale siege. The most important thing is to get to know what we are actually facing."
"The guards and the mercenaries are easily up to the task of defending and improving the place. You go and find out what is going on in Kelmarane. I expect you to be back this evening with a first report."
"If I were to be honest, I would take that over dealing with the monsters of the night," he shrugged.
When Dashki was mentioned, he clapped his hands in excitement. "Excellent! I met the man yesterday, so it would only be a simple task of reconnecting with him."
Dashki is still sitting in the shrine to Vardishal - that he claimed as his room - and is busy scraping the gold off the mural.
Tahlumilali comes to the kitchen too. "I'm sorry, but I think I can't come along. Lofnaiali isn't feeling well and I start to feel sick too. We'd only be dead wight if we came along."
And indeed, the elf has an unhealthy pale look on his face. "Maybe I should see Father Zastoran about it."
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"You should definitely do that. That colour of yours doesn't look Healthy at all. or even better let me get hi, whole you lay down next to Lofna."
Manuun jumps up and race to find the priest.
"Hello Father! Could you please come with me? The two elves seem to have fallen sick and are in need of some medical care.
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He leads the Father to their quarters which are luckily just up the stairs and waits to see how the elves are. When Ohrmizd later comes by to collect him for their mission start hewalks over to Thalu for a whispered conversation before following Ohrmizd.
"Don't worry Tahl. With all that pugwampi shit all over the strange thing is we all have not become sick" Ohrmizd provides a reassuring tap on the elf's shoulders.
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To Garavel the man nods "Ok boss. We will let us hang around. Any particular thing you are interested beyond us checking for gnoll activity?"
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"That's a good idea Heshan, let's check with Dashki. He guided us to rombard and the monastery in the first place, so we are well acquainted by now" Ohrmizd follows the sorcerer to talk with the odd man. When he sees him defiling the monastery he frowns "Good morning Dashki. Don't do that man please, the Dawnflower will not be happy of her monastery being further destroyed. And you certainly do not want to bring Soraya's fury on you" the Keleshite attempts a broken smile.
Father Zastoran ogles Manuun with suspicion as he comes again to fetch him for aid. After checking on those two he tells. "That's just a fever. That will go away in a day or two. In a week they are as good as new."
Dashki frowns at Ohrmizd, but puts his knife away.
Ohrmizd tries to ease things off with a smile "We are heading to Kelmarane by orders of Garavel. You have been a boon to us so far and we appreciate it largely. Do you know anything about the local tribes in the area?"
"Yes. Tribe in Kelmarane is Kulldis tribe. There is other tribe in mountains. Need not care about. But Kullids tribe is bad. And many." Dashki tells.
"Mmm... Kulldis... ok. Why do you say they are bad? Are they particularly despicable for any reason?" thinking a bit more on the topic Ohrmizd asks "Do you know if they have some scouting patrols or other defenses?"
"They in Kelmarane. Kelmarane is fo rprincess. Kullids tribe not nice. Killing humans for fun."
"You go find defenses."
Ohrmizd nods "Do you know whom is the chieftain of the Kulldis or any of their bosses?"
"And before we depart... I was curious about that mountain gnolls, why did you say we need not care about them? Aren't all gnolls evil?"
"They far away."
Ohrmizd listens Dashki and assents "While I was enslaved by the gnolls most of them were very fierce and not caring for any other thing than greed. Was my experience biased? Are gnolls moved for more than gold and violence? We should probably try to learn more about what are gnolls and their way of living before venturing in Kelmarane..."
"In other words, are there any gnoll we can talk to that won't immediately likened to enslave us?"
"Gnolls not see humans as person. Humans be slaves or food or things to play with. Like cat with mouse. Gnoll always in group. Never alone. Gnoll bring hyena." Dashki explains.
"Hummm... not that I like to move into human eater lands... but..." Ohrmizd listens attentively to Dashki "Do they have hierarchies? Or are just purely anarchic in society? And What about hyenas? What do they do of them?"
"Hyena be pets. Dangerous pets. And tribe has chief. And strong warriors." Dashki replies. Hierarchy seems not to be a word either gnolls or Dashki use.
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While the others are talking to Dashki, Manuun is once more talking to Father Zarostan.
"Nethys be praised, dear Father! I hope you had plesant night without any surprises." he greets the man.
"We have found this brooch in the monastery as you probably know already from Ohrmizd. It is probaby of little use fighting gnolls in the hills and so we wonder If you would like to trade it in for something more useful to our endeavour today. Some items of healing would be nice or something to help with scouting out the enemy."
"An interesting item, but I won't give up my invalueable potions for it. This is my carefully selected assortment, to serve the needs of Princess Almah. If the need arises and I can't help someone of her entourage with my spells and prayers I might use that also to cure one of you. But I'm definitely not trading them away so you have something 'just in case'" Father Zastoran declines.
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"I understand that. But it never hurts to ask. Especially since I am quite sure, once we meet the gnolls healing isnt something we need 'just in case'."
Manuun waves farewell to the old man: "Well I am off to sy on some ugly Dogs. Have a peaceful day father."
Back upstairs he joins the others ready to hit the road.
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Addendum from last Evenning
Late in the evening, before he goes to bed, Manuun once more draws out his harrow deck to look for clues how the next day will be.
He shuffles the cards and firstly draws The Peacock to represent himself. "It looks like I will have some biug change coming towards me. Maybe ist all that connectednees with the air I have been feeling lately."
After considering for some time, he continue dealing the spread.
The Past:
The Wanderer
The Eclipse
The Publican (oop)
"We must beware, something told to us is not like it seems. Maybe I sould be on the lookout for Heshan. "
The Present:
The Betrayal
The Marriage
The Juggler
"A union of people? But what will it bring? Renewed power or mutual distraction? Maybe it means we can find a fpeaceful solution with the gnolls-"
The Future:
The Courtesan
The Mountain Man
The Cyclone
"A Man of great Power? Could be the gnolls.
And the cyclone? Some great disaster is going to happen here. Lets make sure we are off by then."
As the group readies to leave the manastery Garavel joins them. "This first scouting mission is just that: for scouting. It would be best if the gnolls wouldn't even notice you. This is to gather information and build a strategy based on that."
"If you encounter something you can take on, but can't avoid, deal with it. But Kelmarene won't be freed of gnolls in one day and not by three people, no matter how heroic they feel."
He looks around to see if his message was understood.
"We have your advice deep within our hearts boss," he nodded.
"Those slobbering idiots won't even know we went through."
Once they were on their way, he turned towards the others. "I believe it would be best if one of us who can stealth well should look ahead and see their number.
Ohrmizd observes the harrowing interested "Mmm... a marriage? betrayal? Is that some kind of Red Wedding ahead? The Princess? Garavel?"
"The mountain might be some tribes of the mountains... shall ask to Dashki tomorrow... But I think the cyclone means we should be more direct in our assault to the gnoll lands, isn't it? I am not sure about staying defending the monastery, I really hope Garavel sends us to Kelmarane soon enough. Action man told me" Ohrmizd gets slept with the image of the Peacock coming once and again to his mind.
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"Hyena pets. Ok, I hope they don't come mounted on those. Chieftain and strong warriors, ok" Ohrmizd nods and thanks Dashki before leaving him to his stuff "Thanks Dashki. Any last piece of advice before we leave? If there is anything we can do for you, just let me know."
Ohrmizd seems a bit deceived they are not to strike directly at the evil gnolls he so much despises but he understands the reasoning "You are right boss. Ok, just some careful scouting. Only fight if no other way out"
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"Those slobbering idiots won't even know we went through. And now the boss is gone, you are looking at me?"
"Well I am good enough with hiding that I might try to sneak past some guards. but I am not going out in that desert alone to be attacked by some hyenas while you are half a mile back. So lets stick together for now until we get a bit nearer."
"In order to keep the distance... would you have a spyglass to look from far away boss?"
"Stealth is good, but can I suggest we try to disguise as gnolls? It is difficult enough that it will not work in the close up, but if we are being stealthy and survey the area from far away, having a cloak and some furs might help to confuse the casual onlooker"