I will be leaving for vacation in Mexico this weekend and will be gone through the beginning of May. It says I have Wifi there so I should be able to still post once a day at night.
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"Why would Andrew come here?" Gaarm looks over the daunting building. "Two hounds tearing a literal corpse apart at the front gate and a troll guarding the ramparts." Gaarm kneels down and draws a picture of the castle in the dirt with his finger. "That mob is going to get shredded if they come near here and here. We need to get this under control and fast. Do we speak with the troll? Maybe he is friends with Andrew as well."
Sorry to hear that. Hope you get better soon. :)
Lady Eleanor:
"I am not to speak of her." Gaarm's face turns red. "Think of her more as a sort of guardian angel that had pulled my ass out of the fire on more than one occasion. It all started around the time I was trapped in that iron maiden." "I did some time as a town guard in a smaller town. That is where I met Professor Lorrimor as well. Once my time was served I got out as it wasn't for me. Decided to meet back up with the Professor to see if he had room for another pair of lifting hands, only to find he had passed. Gaarm plops through another soft spot as he sinks up to his knee. Grabbing a branch he pulls himself out. "One thing led to another and here we are."
Gaarm listens the entire way as Zakon seems infatuated with the mud. "You seem to enjoy it? Was there a lot of mud where you came from?" Gaarm stops for a moment as his boot gets stuck ankle deep in a shallow bog. "Where did you come from exactly? We have been so busy we haven't had a minute to really get to know you I guess." Gaarm's boot unsticks as he flings mud in all directions, covering his cloak in speckles of brown, wet goop.
Andrew ran off towards his Master who is Schloss Caromarc. Basically at the beginning of this adventure Gaarm was cursed by an iron Maiden. Some of the spikes were taken and I have slowly been tracking them down, which is now pointing to the Shudderwood. We have been to neither place before and they are two separate and completely different locations from what I understand.
Gaarm's eyes grow wide as he quickly places a hand over Lady Eleanor's mouth to quiet her. "No one and no gift....Don't speak of her again." Gaarm backs away and smiles as he smacks his hands together. "So... Let's go save us a giant shall we."
Looking at the vicious and dim-witted mob forming up to slay Andrew causes Gaarm to make up his mind. "We should head to Schloss Caromarc first and check on Andrew. It seems the most immediate. Though once that is done I will be heading into the Shudderwood." Gaarm grabs his bag. "Ready when you all are."
"Lycanthropes you say? Guess I don't have much of a choice as that sounds like what I am looking for." Gaarm sighs as he has never dealt with a lycanthrope before. "Thanks for the information. Appreciate it." he tosses the man a silver piece for his troubles before turning back to join the others. *********************************************************** Back with the rest Gaarm keeps an eye on the forming mob. "We should probably do something about that before they hurt themselves." He shrugs either way as he doesn't much care for these townsfolk. "Well I have a new lead on this damnable curse. There is a cursed man wandering around in the Shudderwoods. The shield bears a boar on it. Though the merchant said the woods are held by a pack of werewolves...."
"Aye. I'm headed out today. Need to restock from home. What do you need?" "I have been tracking down a strange artifact for sometime. You see someone took off with a set of mithral spikes about yay big." Gaarm holds his hands out to show approximate size. "They were from an old iron maiden torture device that turned out to be very cursed." Gaarm holds his shirt open to show the indents and open wounds from the spikes. "I have tracked them to this town and it seems that someone has decided to make a Klar out of them. Think you can help me out a bit?"
Gaarm claps Lady Eleanor on the shoulder. "'Fraid I have to stick this one out. Have some Klavs I need to take a look at. I will have to catch up to you guys. Can't let these things leave the town." Gaarm says as he seems to have other things on his mind. On one hand he doesn't want to leave the group and on the other he knows that he will never be whole inside without this last reminder from his mother. Gaarm takes off down the alley to meet with the arms dealer.
"I am a bit curious who this Master Caromarc is myself. Why would the beast call out to him all of a sudden?" Gaarm pats the dust from his clothes and brings his shirt up over his nose. His voice muffles. "This alley smells like a bum just dies in it. I have an errand to do here still either way before we go. Was cursed a ways back and tracked the rest of the spikes I need to break it to this town. Need to find them in the market."
"Might be a good idea. Before these folks think we had something to do with this." Gaarm tries to push his way through the thick crowd of onlookers as gently as he can. He grabs ahold of Nizvit's clawed hand like a child and drags him along.
Congrats! That is awesome. :)
Gaarm just stands gape-mouthed at the entire situation and spectacle. "Well I'll be damned. He did it all himself...." He looks to the others to determine what to do as he shrugs his shoulders. "Well. He is free now. Who the hell is Caromac?"
"Sure, let's give Andrew a meager sense of comfort as he passes, though we owe this town nothing more." He gathers his items and heads to the execution.
Gaarm rubs his eyes and slowly moves out of bed as the trumpets and celebration blares out all around him outside of the inn and his windows. "Ugh.... Ain't nothing to be celebrating a person's death.....Fools." Stretched he gathers his stuff and meets the others down for breakfast. "Let's be outta this place as soon as we can. I have a few leads with an arms dealer on those spikes and Klars in the area that may have cursed me. Anyone care to join to see if it is them so I can cure this curse that seems to be draining my body?" With or without volunteers Gaarm returns to the local Arms Dealer and looks over each of the items in an attempt to match up the spikes with his wounds.
Gaarm smiles at the Ulfen merchant. "It is a special one I am looking for. I will see you tomorrow." Gaarm returns and begins to ponder. How will I know for sure if it is the right one I need to destroy?
Gaarm slowly begins to make his way back to the Inn where the others await as he spends his evening eating in somber silence and a very unrestful sleep as he lies awake most of the night wondering if he is doing what is right in his heart.
Gaarm slowly trods back to the Inn. His head swimming with the many possibilities as his thoughts go back and forth. His mind knows what is right but a voice in the back of his mind tingles with wanting to free the giant. "A nights good rest will do. Don't need to get burned at the stake myself. "Any interest in following my lead on Vork and Grine? Or do you all have other plans. I feel like we should stick together for the near future." Huh! What? Sorry... I was just thinking. Volstag and Grimes are probably long gone. No way they would show back up here without the whole town coming down on top of them." Gaarm heads out for a walk to clear his head. Gaarm has so little time but travels around the market asking a few of the arms merchants if anyone has had recent interest in Klars or acquired some sort of mithral spikes.
Gaarm looks to Zakon and places a comforting hand on Naxx's shoulder. "Going against the verdict of the court here is serious. If you choose to do so it will be at the risk of your life. The whole town will turn on you and we will more than likely have a bounty out for us. I don't think it would be a good idea." Gaarm seems conflicted. "It is a difficult choice but one we have to go with. We know he is innocent but we can't possibly fight off the entire town and country coming after us. Word will spread and quickly. We did what we could." He says defeated. "May the gods have mercy on their souls."
Yea, We didn't stand a chance against Morast since we were kicked out, due to Gaarm's anger at the people. :) Poor Giant. Oh well, one less one to kill in Giantslayer as he would have surely been recruited.
Gaarm slumps in his chair as he clenches his fists. He is in shock and complete disbelief. "After all of that....All of it these fools still found him guilty." He stands up hands on the railing. Did I condemn the Beast to death when I angered the town? Could we have done anything different?
Gaarm looks to be worried about the court's threats and a public whipping as it didn't sound pleasant. His mind wanders to such brutality as Zakon begins to speak during the trial once again and his eyes go wide. He smiles at Zakon as he brings a finger to his lips and taps his blade while nodding at Andrew, hoping the Tiefling understood his meaning on protecting the Giant if the town came after him on their own. Hopefully Lady Eleanor's words would ring true in the space between their ears as he awaits her speech while uncomfortably shifting in his chair.
Gaarm continues to spend the entirety of his morning with Lady Eleanor. He wants to make sure that their testimony is solid as only a single one from their group is able to speak. Maybe that is for the best. An man with anger issues, a tiefling that scares the townfolk almost as much as Andrew. A simple minded kobold too afraid to make friends, and another man too focused on entertainment and free drinks than anything else. As Lady Eleanor branches off to help a few sick he claps her on the shoulder. "I'll go get the skins and bring them to the 'lawyer'. Let him know to add them into evidence." Gaarm runs off to get it all done in time for the trial this morning.
Gaarm spends the remainder of the morning giving Lady Eleanor counsel and guidance towards the trial as he tries to recall everything that he can remember back at the Inn while Zakon goes shopping. "Just remember that the fire was started by a vial with Vorstag and Grine's label on it. Plus when we searched Vorstag and Grines place we found a cabinet full of deformed and grotesque skins hanging up. One of them was an 8 foot tall Mongrelman that could easily have been confused with Andrew." As the trial nears Gaarm stands and clears his plate, ready to head over to the trial.
Gaarm watches as Lady Eleanor eats while they wait for the trial to begin for the day. "You know. If you aren't all the way comfortable with the um....situation you have going on." he waves his knife around in a circle before slicing his sausage down the length. "I hear some of the more adventurous priests might be able to remedy all of this."
Gaarm leaves in a good mood for once. He rises from his chair and smiles at Andrew to give the giant a small amount of reassurance. Once outside he quickly explains his actions to Zakon. "Sorry it seems the Court is very strict in their ways in there. They made it very clear that noone is to speak unless we are appointed to the stand. And speaking or form of magic will be met with severe punishment. Or so they said. i would rather not find out." Gaarm heartily eats his fresh and hot leg of meat as it still sizzles in his hand. Seems he hasn't quite got all of his feeling back from it turning to stone and all. As the group eats Gaarm begins to go over the next days notes. "You did great today lady Eleanor!"
"As for the Karb Isle Sanctuary Arson: We found out that Andrew couldn't have caused the fire as we found Brada's body along with a vial that cause the death and fire from Vorstag and Grine themselves. Which caused us to begin investigating their business. I think the town saw what happened at that point."
Gaarm's eyes go wide as Zakon begins to talk. He nudges the Tiefling in the arm with his elbow and whispers low. "We are not allowed to speak" He nods his head as he will explain more later, fully regretting that he hadn't done so earlier.
Gaarm looks to Lady Eleanor. "It should probably be you dear. You saw it all first hand as the rest of us. If we send Zakon up they may grill him on stuff he doesn't quite know. Even though we caught him up to speed. Tell them of the undead and have them question the dead children that we found." His wooden chair creaks under the weight of his armor as he clenches his fist in anger. "Make this closed minded fools see the truth for what it is."
Gaarm spends most of the evening resting in the local chapel as nearby wizards on call are ushered in at all manner of the night to look over his arm. He sleeps peacefully from the massive stress his body endured as he doesn't even remember the trip to the Clerics in the first place The local clerics care and monitor his condition throughout the night as his arm is restored to normal flesh and his hearing slowly returns. In the morning he thanks them for everything and tosses them nearly 1000 gp from his pack. He slowly wobbles back to the inn as his equilibrium is still a bit off and arrives just in time to see the others leaving for the trial. He grabs Lady Eleanor by the arm. "You know what to say today?" He takes several minutes going over all he can remember.
Gaarm continues to stare blankly at Naxx. "JESHT GONNA STAY SILENT? ARE WE GOING OR NOT?" Gaarm sits up out of bed and heads to the door and out of the inn. Not quite sure where Naxx is leading him at all hours of the night.
It will take more than a soft and fluffy pillow to awaken Gaarm from this pain induced slumber. As the fluffy pillow lightly smacks Gaarm in the back he rolls over and grabs it, pulling it in close to him as he whimpers in pain. Eventually, assuming, Naxx does not quit or retreat from trying to awaken the large man. he jerks up in the bed. His eyes red and his face full of anger from a cloudy mind. "WHAT!" Squinting he leers at the note. "MEOW? WHAT TIME IS IT?" He swats the note from his face as he tries to lay back down.
Gaarm continues to snore ever loudly through the night. He only shifts in pain and discomfort as he rolls over and his heavy stone arm smashes a good size hole through the wall. A terrified and wide eyed woman clutches sheets tightly to herself and screams from the other side of the wall but yet Gaarm continues to sleep like a newborn baby.
Gaarm does indeed care about his friends and companions, though the toll that his body took in that building of nightmares has left him all but wanting to seek death as he snores loudly in the crooked bed while the chaos outside continues to envelop. Perhaps it is best Gaarm is not there as his past actions with dealing with crowds has had ill effects.
Gaarm's entire body hurts. The warmth from the heart fire does little to soother his sore muscles and ringing ears. Grabbing his key Gaarm stumbles his way up to his room like some sort of drunken beggar. His feet stomp heavily up the stairs that easily sounds over the din and rush of the patrons below. Reaching his room he barely undresses as he crashes into the straw-filled mattress and passes out. It is difficult to tell if he passed out from either exhaustion or from the pain induced stress that wracked his body throughout the day.
Gaarm looks at all of the gawkers and onlookers. "WHAT? WHAT IS GOING ON?" He screams at all of the milling people as he is unaware what they are looking at let alone saying. He makes his way through them as he pushes them left and right to get through the mass to make his way to the inn.
Gaarm fails to hear anything the group is saying and continues to shamble off back to the inn where he is able to rest this horrible horrible day off.
Gaarm looks to the rest as he yells. "LET'S GET OUT OF HERE! MY HEAD HURTS!" He rubs his head with his only good remaining hand. This damn place has nearly killed me. He turns to leave back to the inn. "DO WHAT YOU WANT BUT I NEED TO SLEEP THIS OFF...." He shambles, severely injured back to the inn as his head feels ready to explode.
Ok, so for this trial since only Lady Thomas is able to speak let's compile our information. As for Hergstag: We found out that a wraith named Brother Swarm killed the children. Link As for the Karb Isle Sanctuary Arson: We found out that Andrew couldn't have caused the fire as we found Brada's body along with a vial that cause the death and fire from Vorstag and Grine themselves. Link
Gaarm's hands quickly rise to his ears but it is too late. Looking down his hands are covered in fresh blood and he can't hear a thing.
He looks around in the dust to see if the rest are also effected or if this is just a new affliction to his curse.
Raising his hand Gaarm runs it along the mammoth tusk scroll. Clack....clack, clack, clack....clack, clack. His stone hand rattles loudly along the crevices as he forgot for a moment that it was turned to stone. Cradling it once again he runs his real hand along the smooth ivory. "You want to stay in this town?" Gaarm thinks back for a moment on the skin suits and many books and dead found. "We have got to be missing something. Something important that ties this all together and is a bit more concrete. What we need is a smoking cannon. Something that is directly tied to Andrew's crimes." He grunts in pain as a twing runs along his nerve.
Gaarm follows close behind. "Flying Numerian things? Can't say I remember much of what happened here at that time." Gaarm shakes his head as he tries to remember but only recalls the memories of the woman in his dreams. "Just make sure you check it for any traps...."
Gaarm makes a feeble attempt at a smile through his pain as his arm hands painfully in the makeshift sling. "Sounds good Eleanor." He looks at the skin suits and the book collected earlier. "These should help with the trial. Between these and the dead speaking their stories Andrew should have his innocence." He gasps out as he watches Zakon work the trap from the corner of the room in the sitting position. While Zakon continues to work he closes his eyes to rest for a moment and not think about the pain. Someone had to have been using the skins to pretend to be Andrew or stage the murders.
Gaarm lets out a blood curdling scream as he drops to the ground. Tears begin to stain his face as he sobs in pain, not able to make out any words. His arm and hand quickly turn to solid stone. The immense weight drops his hand, unmoving to the floor below where he can't even lift it without tearing his arm from his body. "AAAARRRRG!" Zakon and the rest pay little mind to the new horror that has befallen Gaarm. With the pain rushing through his body be begins to go into shock as his mind races to the last couple of weeks. First Nizvit washed his body in flames over and over again. Then he was trapped in a spiked iron maiden where he saw his mother once again, splintering his mind and cursing him nonetheless. He has dies twice now. Once to a nest of spiders within the swamp, though his self sacrifice allowed the others to escape with their lives. And second to Grine himself. All throughout this the Toilet Monster still seems to haunt his waken dreams as it speaks to him. Now he is going to lose his arm. "TAKE MY BLADE! CUT IT OFF! CUT IT OFF NOW!" He screams desperately as he nearly passes out.
Gaarm puts his shoulder more into the door to push it open further. "Probably more body parts looking at this lot and what they had below..." The door grinds against the floor a small bit as it gives a squeak. Gaarm reaches up to the cabinet door, his hand shaking from electrical pulses still and opens the door. "Time to find out."
Though Zakon takes the time and effort to explain each and every piece of alchemical equipment and book it simply causes Gaarm's eyes to glaze over. "I'll leave the smart stuff to you and Nizvit there. It makes my head hurt. I haven't found much out there that a sword can't fix." He looks around at all of the beakers and vials. "Maybe they are both hiding out in Griner's lab over there. Only place we haven't looked yet." Gaarm suggests as he begins making his way over muttering to himself. Who has time to remember all of that information.... He seems bewildered. |