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"Do not fear little one." Delan said in draconic as he pulled his horse next to Vetra, his eyes locked on the overfed creatures lolling in the field. "We are not here to exterminate anything." As he said that though he unslung his repaired crossbow and settled a bolt into the launching groove in the weapon. "But they may not understand that. Placate them if you can."
After not finding any tattoos on his own body Delan would shrug and return to the campsite to finish making dinner. Everyone would find the hearty stew quite tasty with subtle flavors from the herbs and spices the bard was always on the lookout for. With his own bowl in hand he would sit and hum to himself as he listened to the group chat. "I've heard of something like this happening before though not with such a diverse group. You'll know of it Lyra, we were just bonded to a druid's glade. As long as we remain within this area our natural healing abilities are increased. It's possible there are some other effects that we might be empowered with but only time will tell what those are." The next morning the bard would meet the sun with a song that he finishes by taking a knee while holding his holy symbol to his lips and whispering. Once his prayers were finished he would join Moira at the cooking fire and cook a tasty porridge. "Sorry for such bland fare in the morning but I've got nothing else to cook. As for what just happened, you got a good night of sleep in a druid's glade. You should be feeling refreshed and energized!" he said with a chuckle.
Delan had been setting up a pot for one of his stews when everything went crazy. He had moved to a few feet away and was trying to think of how to ease Lyra's pain when everyone suddenly became connected by the same energy. He hesitated as Mehaila and Rosa's commands, seeing the obvious pain they were in. "Songbird, please don't let this be as stupid as I think it's going to be." he prays to Shelyn before kneeling next to Mehaila and grabbing her other hand. He gasps as the energy flows into him and begins to smile as the world comes alive around him. He looks over at Moira and holds out his other hand. "It doesn't hurt anymore. It's connecting us to this glade."
Delan stopped his horse and took a deep breath. What came out of his mouth was a serenade of passion and beauty, power flowing into the PCs as his song carried into the heavens.
"Involved with some peasant girl?" Delan asks with an acidic tone of voice. "Is your soul so empty that you diminish love to something so devoid?" The cleric of Shelyn moves his horse to stand near Mehaila, genuine anger on his face. "In any kingdom your insult would have been answered with a challenge to combat. Yet he stayed his temper and his tongue and treated you with nothing short of cautious respect. You have taken down a group of merciless thieves and murderers much larger than your own without a single injury and yet you are suspicious of 4 tired soldiers. Suspicion is a form of fear." His eyes narrowed and the bard delivered the next words flatly. "Are you afraid Sir Domitian?" The cleric raised his wrist and the silver holy symbol of Shelyn was brought up to eye level. "A man willing to throw away prestige, money and respect in a corrupt kingdom to build a new life in another land for the one he loves is a man with more honor than you have ever known."
Delan had gotten a hold of a journal from among the bandit's belongings and, after having read everything that written, had ripped out the used sections and begun his own recordings. He would often ask small questions to the individual members of the group, curious as to where they had come from and how they had found each other. "I'm sorry to say I don't know anymore about this Stag Lord then you do. All I know is that Kressle reported to him directly but ran the camp without direction from him."
Delan, who had been keeping his head down and staying quiet with the appearance of the guards from Restov, came over to where Moira and Oleg were standing. "I'm sorry Mr. Leveton I looked for her ring but it appears to have been stolen. I have a good idea who took it and where but we haven't had a chance to go after it yet. I swear that I will recover it for you."
Delan looks over at the water barrels that were stacked on the wagon and a huge smile grew on his face. "In fact I think I have a perfect way for us to get in and get both the high mookity mook AND his cronies shol-faced smashed."
After the cleansing ritual Delan would help by breaking down the bandit's tents and moving them to the new location further up river. There were more tents then party members so he staked one out for each person. Once the tents were constructed he gathered some of the firewood stacked on the wagon and started a fire with a piece of flint and steel he pulled from a small pouch on his belt. "Sorry I forgot to mention it, that was one of the primary products we always had to be on the look out for. If they raided any merchant caravan that had strong liquor we were supposed to load it on a wagon and send it to the fort." Delan responded to Rosa while scavenging cooking pots and spices from the bandit's gear. He set water to boil and took the processed deer meat from Lyra once she was done processing it. Throwing the meat into the pot with some flour for thickening and the spices he salvaged he began to cook a tasty smelling stew. As he was cooking a thoughtful expression began to grow on his face. "You know I have a crazy plan that might work. I'm not sure how sane it is to try to deal with the Stag Lord's fort right now from the stories I've heard about him but we have everything we need to infiltrate the fort. Those silver medallions you found are symbols of allegiance as one of the bandits who pays 'rent' to the Stag Lord and is given permission to pilfer in the area. We scuff ourselves up to look like bandits, wear the amulets and take the booze with us with some fast talking I recon we could bullshol our way right into the fort."
Delan cleaned the blade of his rapier with a cloth he dug from his pocket. Once the metal was scoured clean he walked over and dropped the bloody rag into the campfire where it was swiftly consumed. He would not help with the burial as the memories of this wretched place played through his mind, instead moving over to the river and filling a waterskin with clean river water. Once full he would cast a spell over the waterskin with a prayer song, causing the water inside to take on a gentle white glow. Once the holy water was ready the bard moved over to the burial and added his own song to Lyra's, his vibrant tenor adding complexity and beauty to her own untrained voice. When she cast the spell to rain on the grave he added his own contribution, pouring the holy water so that it mixed with the pure water the druid was creating while adding his own prayer to Shelyn.
Delan nodded at Moira and turned back to the bandit with resolution. The tip of his rapier hissed as he swung it up in a fencing position. "I'm truly sorry about this but I believe that your life is one of suffering and confusion. It has been twisted into something ugly and base and the power of Shelyn will cleanse this land of your hate." The bard positioned the point of the sword over the bandit's chest just slightly left of the center. Before the bandit could twist out of the way Delan lunged, impaling the human through the heart.
The bard turned to listen to Domitian's suggestions. When the paladin was done speaking Delan would shake his head. "Whatever this coin is we can't touch it. From his descriptions he literally could not keep the coin away from him. That sounds like a cursed item to me and something we should be very careful with. I don't know if we can do anything EXCEPT hide it." |
