"Then perhaps it is time to make preparations. The hour is late, mighty warrior, and there is much to do." With that, Martoss turns to walk back to his commanders, making it clear that the conversation is over.
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After replying to Ruul, Martoss looks over to you. "May I see one of those crossbows?" The clanliege inspects the heavy weapon for full on a minute before handing it back. "I do believe that we can make excellent use of these weapons, mounted in some way to the top castle wall, if you were able to find enough working models for our use, of course."
"It will take a day or so to make you adequate copies of the maps that we have available. Beyond that, how soon will it be before you can depart?" Martoss looks genuinely pleased that there might be some hope of cleaning up the surrounding areas of corruption.
The clanliege looks at Lavinia steadily, measuring his words with care. "No, I typically do not give a fig to people who think they can simply amass fame and fortune up in the Desolation. Many just assume that Tsar is laid wide open for their amusement. Some actually do a little research, but think that their path lies in the Desolation. Almost all of them never come back, at least, not as they were. Do you know about Maulf, the owner of that tavern in town?" Martoss pauses for a moment; "You probably do. But ask how he came back here." "For some reason that I cannot fathom, dear lady, I believe you when you say that you can go where others have failed. Yet...it is hard for me to believe." Martoss looks to his men for a moment, before turning back to you. "Should you survive the Desolation, come back here and I will pledge my full support as clanliege to your cause. That is all that I ask in order to assuage my concerns."
"And the rest of you? Do you share in your burglar's confidence?" The clanliege looks at all of you, with the look of a lord expecting to hear from his subjects quickly.
"You really think so? Many have tried, so many in just the few decades that I have been here that I have long since lost count. And do you plan to just walk in and make yourself at home? Take its riches? Defeat the horrendous creatures still living there? Do you think it will be that easy?" Martoss is red with near rage at this point. He keeps his hand, but everyone notices the tension in the room.
Calendir had been silent up until now, following silently in toe with his companions but then his voice is heard - Surely you do not mean to say that these gargoyles are good and honorable..? I do not understand... He throws a suggestive gaze towards Digory - They are SURELY simply acting out of fear of a stronger foe. There is a HUGE difference between doing the right thing because it is so, or doing it as leverage... "I'm not saying that they are good, just honorable. My point was that these creatures have a way of throwing you off." Looking over at Macavity, Martoss says, "Now you, dark warrior, why do you think that you can do the near impossible? I can hear what the...azata, is it? is saying about destinies and so forth. But why do you follow these people's path? You look like someone that has some common sense about him."
"We would like to try and attack the beasts that raided our town. However, I am familiar with the creature that still drapes your shoulder, mighty minotaur. It comes from a tribe of gargoyles that calls itself 'Metalstench.' We managed to capture one a couple of years ago. It is in league with Maelrix, some kind of scout or a ranger, that one is. They are foul creatures, but nonetheless honorable. It actually called for a truce about three winters ago." Martoss gestures towards the creature still passed out over Ruul's shoulder. "That one, or it's 'wingmate' came to our trenches, carrying a white flag and wished to parley with us. It called itself Gbudn , and said that it had found some children near its encampment. Apparently, this group has some feelings towards killing innocent children, although we didn't believe it at the time. It wanted to exchange some foodstuffs for the children. To my admittance, I thought about calling its bluff, but I had a feeling they would just kill the children and call it a day." "In the end, we traded some wheat, and a few other items to their tribe, and sure enough, they brought the children back with them." Martoss smiles at the recollection. "They weren't any of our children, thank the gods. It turns out that a group of mercenaries brought their children along and began settling in the Camp. One day, they simply never came back from wherever they went. The children just wandered off at some point, I guess trying to find their parents, and fortunately for them, the gargoyles found them first." He shakes his head, not quite believing himself. "I never thought I would say something like that in all my days." Martoss shakes his head one more time and then goes on. "My point was that, this tribe has its base only a couple of miles from Malerix, form what we have seen and heard. Attacking them would almost certainly bring an attack from that foul demon. We do not have the men to deal with both groups. If the gargoyles perched closer to us, I would feel easier about sending my men forth into battle. As it is, I must keep them here."
Martoss looks around at the people who swear allegiance to him, their fealty. He knows theses people. Some have been with him since the beginning. Too many have died since that point. But he knows that they will stay with him until the end, no matter what. "Malerix wants only destruction and death. He considers us too close to his 'territory,' and wants nothing more to see us dead. He has already claimed Tsar as his home, so to speak. Since no living ever comes out of there, he doesn't have much competition." Martoss pauses again, looking all of you over. "Do you really think that you can pierce the walls of Tsar, where no one else has been before?"
"That would be easy enough to accomplish, as no one has ever been inside the front gates of Tsar, let alone in the city itself. But the dragon singled out your group in particular, when so many have come and gone over the last decade or so. That is the wonder that I seek an answer to."
Martoss sighs. He is not distracted by such pretty little things, although he does give you a wary look. "It is not an easy thing to kill, particularly since it is undead. It's that...gunk that stops us more often than not. With the trenches that we have built, we can attack it from range, where it clumsily wafts about. On the rare occasion that it actually lands, we have managed to chain it down. It worked once, almost a decade ago, its ego got the better of it and it landed, almost exactly where we wanted him to land. We were able to kill it off quickly, before it had a chance to rally. That was the second year in which it tried to pillage our town." He motions for one of his men to bring him a mug of short beer and he drinks from it. "It's that damned phylactery of his. If only we knew where to find it, and could destroy it, we could be finally rid of that scourge." He pauses a moment, and then looks at your party, as if for inspection. "Perhaps that's where you and your party come in. Again, why is Malerix so interested in you?"
You walk into the castle, and after several minutes of cutting through rooms and various halls, you find yourself in the main chamber. You don't realize how extensive this place is, and how well it looks, considering the exterior of the place looks as if it's been around for centuries. You don't realize it at first, but much of the castle is actually built underground. You don't realize it because the initial halls gently sloped downward, and the inside of the castle is built with thick stone and granite. Although there is a bit of chill outside, the inside is very inviting. Thick rugs cover most of the floors and you notice that many of the servants walk around in bare feet. The room itself is almost oval in shape, although most of the activity is in the middle of the room. There are several men standing around a wooden table to your right, all looking over something. One man, the clanliege, stands slightly back from the rest and, although the men are talking to him, he seems to have an air of ease about him, as if he is no longer concerned about things. The top half of his armor has been taken off and set aside. He is wearing a loose fur robe over a plain cotton shirt, and his legs are still armored, with leather straps coming up and around his shoulders like a harness. Despite the appearance made by his armor, Clanliege Martoss is not overly heavy, with a slight paunch around the mid-section. He is older though, with hair that is so sandy blonde it is almost white, but with an almost completely white beard, cut short. He notices your arrival and walks away from the table, towards you. "So I take it you are the ones that helped rebuff the raid?" With nods of approval out of the way, he continues. "I noticed that our dragon has a particular interest in your party. Is there any reason that this might be so?"
You see and hear what is going on before anyone else in the party. When the warning bell starts to ring, it is from a sentry standing up on a parapet along the castle walls. A moment later, you see him pointing to the North. You look and can make out nearly two dozen creatures, slowly heading towards the village. You look to your right and can see that some of the guards are running towards the trench line that extends across the village. As this happens, you can hear guard captains bellowing orders to man the ballistas and ready the pitch. Then you hear a lower pitched voice cry out You look up and see a much older man standing atop the castle wall. He is decked in full plate armor, with a few rust spots but still quite serviceable. You see a crest on his armor and shield, although you are not in a position to make out what it stands for. He pulls his sword out of its sheath at his side and point it towards the creatures. You look in that direction and notice more details now as the flying creatures are a little closer. Most of them are gargoyles, of that you have no doubt, although one or two seems to stand out in some way that you can't make out from this distance. The last creature, far larger than the others, is clearly NOT a gargoyle. The way it flies tells you one thing for certain. The dragon, and your new adversary, has been named. It is also quite early to the party. |