Search Posts
The count shouts out his frustration, as he has no key on him for this door. He angrily stomps off in another direction.
"AHA!" Grumpy Mc Grumpface calls out when throwing the door open and entering. "Little kids my ass. Put them to the rack!"
"I don't believe you." the man states. "You are spies! Throw them into the dungeon!" From the other room, behind the man, come two 'servants'. They are almost seven foot tall and three foot wide. Each grabs two of the intruders and leads them - or drags them screaming and kicking - through the other room, a hallway, down the stairs and into a prison cell in the basement. There are three cells on one side of the basement and different workbenches on the other. If they are for crafting or torturing is hard to tell. The cell door is closed and the man locks the door with a key. "There you can consider if you'll tell the truth, or keep wasting my time with those fairy tales." "If you told the truth, I suppose I find the cell empty tomorrow. As you will have teleported away. If not, you'd better cooperate. Good night." The man orders one servant to guard the room and leaves with the other.
"Stop that gibberisch. Explain why you are here, how you got in, and who sent you. If not, I'll have you thrown into the dungeon until you talk."
The steps next door stop, turn direction and approach. The door opens. When the light from the other room falls on the dwarf and the kids, the man inquires in a commanding tone "What are you doing in my house! Answer!"
"I'm not sure we were successful. Maybe it was too late for the body?" Caromarc asks Spugnoir.
Caromarcs face changes to sheer excitement. "Now that is a challenge worth taking on. A living brain you say? How is that accomplished? You have to show me. Shall we go to my laboratory directly?"
"Welcome my friends. What brings you back to me?" Count Caromarc greets them with open arms.
I'll wait for you to either do the teleport, or at least finish the conversation with the couple before I answer as Count Caromarc.
Caromarc nods in agreement.
"Again, I like to thank you for saving my life. And that you take on the task to stop the Whispering Way from spreading their evil." Count Caraomarc tells.
He takes some more money for himself and tells "I have to hire some workers to do repairs and buy some stuff to replace what was destroyed.
"Indeed." Caromarc sighs and downs the extract he was creating.
"You've been there?" the count asks puzzled. But after a moment, he recognizes his error. "Oh, you mean my 'trophy' room. No, I'm no hunter, I'm a collector. But the resulting collection is indeed similar. Only that I put the curious up front, where in the lodge you'd find the most dangerous in the prominent place."
"You can hunt whatever you want. Some game lives in the woods, even very special ones. And if you have the money, you can even have more special game brought there." Caromarc tells. "You'll see. There is a room, where the most interesting trophies are on display."
"It is a posh hunting lodge. An exclusive one. It is by invitation or reservation only. But being a Count is still worth something around here. So as a member of Ustalav’s hereditary nobility, I can write you a letter of introduction to the lodge’s warden, Estovion Lozarov." Caromarc explains.
"Of cause I can. And I'd write you an invitation as my guests for the Lodge." Caromarc replies. "The path there is the one running past the Schloss. But preparing in Lepidstadt first would be advisable."
"They mentioned going into the Shudderwood. I'd guess they are visiting Ascanor Lodge, as it is the only thing in the whole area." Caromarc replies. "About Vrood I know nothing specific."
The count accepts it with a nod. He downs his drink and pours the content of the envelope into the glass. Adding some water, he stirs it for a while and works his magic on the solution.
"Thanks a lot - " the Count tells Herm "but I believe I suffered some more severe effects I need restoration from. It's no big deal, with a few ingredients I can fix that in an hour or so." he adds turning to the two obvious alchemists at the table.
"I'll show you around later, what rooms there are. Maybe I need to reconfigure something, to fit your size." the Count tells and changes the topic. "Would you mind to borrow me some alchemical ingredients? Mine got all destroyed, and I'd like to create some extracts to get me back to full health."
For the Count this is a disconcerting act. But he tries not to show it.
"I guess the best choice would be to give him a room here. Caromarc replies, unsure what room that should be.
Caromarc takes something from the offered food and drink. "I'd like to thank you again. For saving my life and also for taking care of the... Thomas. I'd like to show my gratitude by compensating you for your efforts and the pain the work of the Whispering way - and my creations that should originally protect me - have caused you in my castle." "If you'd come with me to Lepidstadt tomorrow I'd get you the money at the temple of Abadar. Of course you can't weigh a life in coins, but I offer you 250 platinum each. And if you go after this Vrood to end this evil man once and for all I'll double that."
The Count is visibly uncomfortable. He is used to see the Beast as a tool. Something to steer around when needed and abandoned when not. To have it sit here with a name and being treated like an individual shatters his world view in which he deemed himself the good guy. And he is not willing to give that up yet.
"They talked about going to the Shudderwood next. I guess they will visit Ascanar Lodge. It's the only place in that wood." Caromarc speculates.
"Yes." the Count answers. It's easy to see that he doesn't agree fully, but wants to see where Kendra is going with that before deciding on correcting minor details.
The Count looks down. "You're right. That wasn't one of my better decisions. I shouldn't have created him. And after that I should have taken better care of him."
"You mean the beast of Lepidstadt, right?" the Count sighs. "Yes I recognized it from your description. We couldn't have kids for a long time and it should have been the son we never had. My wife didn't like the idea once she saw it. Called him a beast and told me to get rid of it." "How did you meet the beast? And why do you call it Thomas?"
"I haven't given up on getting her back yet." Caromarc replies looking at Kendra blankly.
Herm:
The count doesn't detect as evil. "Only from the encounter when he invaded my castle." Caromarc answers.
"She died many years ago in childbirth." Caromarc replies.
"Well, I have a large collection of curiosities and have some crafted guardians as well as an experiment on how to create them or two." the count explains. "The woman in the room where you found me though is my deceased wife." Caromarc admits with a sad face.
"Thomas?" the count inquires. "Where did you meet that golem?" the Count asks half curious, half suspicious.
"Yes, that sounds like them." Caromarc agrees. "What brought you here? Are you pursuing them?" he asks.
"Thank you." the Count tells, looking much better already. "Some agents of the Whispering Way, a mage named Vrood came here. He invaded my castle with his entourage put me in that idol and set the monster free."
"Do you know the whispering way?" Count Caromarc asks.
The count nods.
"That would be better." Caromarc replies with a weak voice to the first question and to the second "I'm afraid not."
A coarse voice answers Kendra. "No traps." followed by weak coughing.
"There is all kind of scary wildlife there. It is mostly untouched nature. And there are diehard rumors about werewolfs. But who knows? I've never met much of it on my few travels to the Ascanor Lodge." Caromarc replies. On departure he hands you a letter. "This is an invitation into the Lodge signed and sealed by me. It is not the formal procedure but it should be accepted there."
"Thank you for your empathy." Caromarc replies to Grergof. He refuses to take the extract but samples from Spugnoir's Alchemist's Kit the materials needed to make his own extracts. He fetches his thick and well used formula book and some vials for that. Working his alchemy he comes up with several extracts of lesser restoration and cure potions that bring him back to his former self. "Is one of you still hurt?" he asks offering extracts to fix that if neccessary. He prepares then a meal and tells of his problem, that his magical servants are not able to do so. After a delicious meal all go to bed to get the much needed rest. On the next morning after breakfast he leads to Lepidstadt and pays everyone the promised 200pp plus some more for Grergof as compensation for the lost chain mail. Then he suggests to meet in two hours again in front of the bank so everyone can run some errands. As you meet again Caromarc as bought a coach and two horses as well as hired a coachman. The way leads back past the Schloss and to the start of the Silent path at the border of the Shudderwood. "Thank you very much for saving my life again. And thank you that you're taking on the hunt of these evil guys." Caromarc tells as it's time for good bye.
"We could go to Lepidstadt together tomorrow. I would give you the money at the bank and you could get a replacement for the armor you lost." Caromarc suggests directed at Grergof. "And I could commission some repair work to get at least the gate house restored. And hire some new guards." "May I borrow some of your alchemical ingredients? I would like to create a few extracts to get myself back into shape again." he asks Spugnoir.
"So you accept my offer and go after them?" Caromarc asks.
"I don't want to think about that now. It will take forever to fix all the damage." Caromarc sighs resting his forehead on his hand.
The Count starts speaking but the small pause igves away that he changed his mind. "No, no. You're welcome." "Under normal circumstances you would have been greeted by the guards deployed at the gate house and they would have led you to the manse. But I guess the poor fellows were slaughtered by the whispering way or fled." "Did you find anyone still alive in all of this? There were three engineers to rebuild the lab building and the bridge at the time."
"Yes. Sorry about that. Under normal circumstances you'd be guided to the entrance and the door would be opened for you. It is in place to repel intruders who circumvent the gate house."
"No. There is only the lodge." Caromarc replies.
"I know nothing about trolls. They must have come after the Whispering Way left." Caromarc replies. "Shall we move to the Manse? It is much more comfortable there."
|
