Juco draws his scimitar and begins to test its sharpness for the upcoming fight.
"Yan ohw drame hilcrend llehs..."
"Camlyth teldas migruen, Juco."
"Let us retain our judgment for when we have a more complete rendering of the story thus far."
"Camlyth teldas migruen, Juco."
** spoiler omitted **
"Let us retain our judgment for when we have a more complete rendering of the story thus far."
"Corian klac ti ropof ptos ou morf vasing hilcrend?"
"Y t'won tle therrona edi..."
"Ishar deyan. Metarth calum ne sidyan calornith es triamlith caelentar. Shiran e lymnarel."
Bergen takes in a breathe, "If you all are interested in going to the manor, then I will see that your horse and wagon are gotten prepared. Helmut, I would suggest that you keep your visor on your helm down until you leave the village. As these folks mentioned, there is a belief amoung the population that your family is responsible for their woes. It would be best if they did not recognize you at this point. Hopefully they will think you are just another Warder. When you get to the manor, do not be surprised if you find your parents changed. Trust in your brother Erich, he has always had a good head on his shoulders."
With that Bergen heads out the door and down the road.
"Ishar deyan. Metarth calum ne sidyan calornith es triamlith caelentar. Shiran e lymnarel."
** spoiler omitted **
Gary tilts his head as he tries to understand the elven speech.
Helmut quickly dresses in his armor, stowing the rest of his gear in his pack in an apparently well practiced, quick and efficient manner.
A few minutes later Bergen returns. "You mounts are waiting for you in the road. Good luck." He motions to Helmut to put his helm on and lower the guard. Then he stops the group after Helmut steps outside. "Tonight the villagers are planning to attack the manor. Whatever you plan to do, you must do it quickly if you want to save as many lives as possible.", he whispers out of Helmut's earshot.
When you exit the building you find Helmut standing next to his horse, staring at the town center. The bodies of the "traitors" still hanging, the crows starting to feast. Helmut's hand can be seen to be pressed into tight fists. Obviously he is overcome with anger at the sight he is witnessing. Then his shoulders rise and slowly fall as a he breathes out forcefully. His hands gradually relax. He mounts his horse and turns to the others. "Let's go from this place.", his voice thick and throaty.
Ilantes bows to Bergen, then takes the reins as she climbs atop the wagon.
"Unless anyone else thinks they can handle this thing, I suppose I'd better take the reins."
Ilantes bows to Bergen, then takes the reins as she climbs atop the wagon.
"Unless anyone else thinks they can handle this thing, I suppose I'd better take the reins."
"I could try it! I've never driven a cart before!" Gary exclaims, excited.
Ulm salutes Bergen, then gets into the back of the cart.
"Let's be off then."
Ilantes bows to Bergen, then takes the reins as she climbs atop the wagon.
"Unless anyone else thinks they can handle this thing, I suppose I'd better take the reins."
"I could try it! I've never driven a cart before!" Gary exclaims, excited. [/QUOTE
Ilantes looks over the odd little person and decides he did seem rather personable, so she hands the reins over.
Ilantes looks over the odd little person and decides he did seem rather personable, so she hands the reins over."I could try it! I've never driven a cart before!" Gary exclaims, excited.Ilantes bows to Bergen, then takes the reins as she climbs atop the wagon.
"Unless anyone else thinks they can handle this thing, I suppose I'd better take the reins."
Gary grins. "Thanks! This shouldn't be too hard..."
"Keep the cart to a slow pace (20) so I can keep up."
Through the white pines, you see a massive house, more castle than mansion, rising from the hill's peak. The bulk of its grounds consists of a fortified courtyard, but the most dramatic architecture is the attached three story house. Old carvings of dragons, angels, and demons decorate the walls.
When you reach the top of the hill, you find the gates are closed. Helmut dismounts and goes up to the gate, pounding on it with his fist. After a moment, a pale face peers through a window, nods, and you all hear he sound of a heavy bar being lifted on the other side. Helmut leads you through the gate and into the walled courtyard beyond.
A squat tower stands at each southern corner and between them rises a domed chapel. On the east wall is a stable, from which emerges two pale boys to take Helmut's steed. To the north is a large wall and staircase leading to the inner courtyard and the house beyond.
The doors a the top of the stairs open. A stern man in a grey doublet, black breeches, and a red cloak descends the stairs. The resemblance to Helmut is clear, the men are brothers. For a moment, the older man simly stares at your group, but then his features soften and he smiles faintly.
Juco stares at the mansion/castle, shocked by it's size and angrily wondering how many trees where destroyed to make it, how many dryads dead.
Spot, Sense Motive (1d20+2=20, 1d20+4=9)
Only that there was a seriousness to the homecoming of Helmut. You might have expected more joyfulness for a member of the family who had been gone for a long time. The guards and the stable boys seem more interested in keeping their heads down and doing their jobs than welcoming back a member of the ruling family.
"Helmut, it is good to see you. We were all worried about you when you did not arrive yesterday. It seems as if you made some friends. Magnimar Warders by the looks of it", says the older brother motioning towards your badges. "You must tell me all about your journey and what kept you."
Helmut quickly recounts the battle in the woods and the cloaked rider to his brother Erich. "... and so these folks took care of me until I was well enough to finish the trip. They are here at the request of the Lord-Mayor to see why father hasn't responded. Is something going on, there appeared to be problems in the village."
Erich motions for the stable boys to take the horses and for the guards to shut and bar the gate and then asks the party and Helmut to follow him into the inner court. "Problems in the village you say. Well there has been some unrest lately. I believe it has to do with bandits or some such. Times have been rough for everyone recently and we no longer have the resources to maintain order like we once could. You probably noticed that most of the priests have deserted the village, looking for greener pastures I assume. That just makes it all the harder on the lower classes."
Erich leads you through a side hallway and into a sitting room. Three other doors lead from this room. Turning to the party, Erich says, "Here are the guest quarters, there are three bedrooms with enough beds to satisfy your needs. Please rest here and make yourself comfortable. I will inform my father, Lord Valdric, that you are here and he will I am sure see you as soon as he has time. Likely sometime after lunch. If there are no questions, then I'll help Helmut settle in."
Juco accepts the quarters offered and sits on one of the beds, his staff never far from his grasp. He waits.
Ilantes thinks for a moment, then turns to Ulm.
"Send your familiar after him. Let us make certain Helmut comes to no harm at the hands of his family."
“It seems strange that priests of any god would desert their congregation at a time of their greatest need."
"I suspect something nefarious has happened to them.”
“It seems strange that priests of any god would desert their congregation at a time of their greatest need."
"I suspect something nefarious has happened to them.”
"I suspect the same thing. I also found it odd that Helmut's brother went to some pains to tell us that they deserted without indicating that he had made a further investigation."
*occurs after the two brothers depart*
Galstak who had been quietly staying in the background steps forward. "Well I don't think I am going to wait until the Lord gets around to seeing us. I am going to take a look around, starting with the stables. You can tell a lot about people by how they treat their animals. Then I might investigate that chapel we passed on the way in. Maybe the rest of you should take a look around as well." Galstak will then begin to move to quietly leave the guest quarters.
Ulm whispers "Se den unge ettall behage, Rusilka," to his toad before leaving her with Helmut.
When everyone is settled into the room Ulm turns to the others.
Having a look around is a good idea. Sergeant and I will wait here and wait for your reports. Find out if they have any other visitors staying in the manor if you can.
Ilantes looks around at the others.
"If we do go exploring, we should probably stick together. I know Galstak went ahead alone, but I hope he knows what he is doing. I do not trust the people here and do not want to leave anyone alone."
"Let's start with the manors chapel, it should give us an idea of what these people actually believe in."
Ok, we'll stick together then. The chapel sounds like an excellent place to start. Good thinking Sergeant.
Here is the floor plan with as much as you have come into contact.
1: Courtyard
2: Stable
3: Watchtowers
4: Chapel
5: Inner Courtyard
9: Hall
11: Guest Quarters
As you head down the hallway(9) back towards the chapel, you can see two guards patroling the inner courtyard(5) through open windows. One of them moves to intercept you as you pass through on your way.
"Where are you folks off to? Going to check on your horses like your Shoanti boy?" The guard obviously being disrespectful of Galstak's heritage.
My men and I have had a long journey and wish to pray at the chapel.
The guard expecting perhaps a different type of response, shrugs his shoulders and then moves back to his patrol position.
As you past through the outer courtyard you can see a couple of guards in position on the watch towers.
As you enter the chapel, it quickly becomes apparent that no one has used it in quite awhile. There is dirt obscurring tile mosaics on the floor. Dust covers the pews. There is an altar in the front with a single tome open on it.
Ilantes rubs a finger over a pew, looking at the dust on her finger then rubbing it off in disgust.
"No one has used this building in a while."
She looks around the chapel, keeping a wary eye out for anything strange or unusual in the quiet building.
"Either they do not belive in gods or they are hiding their true temple."
Ilantes looks around at the walls.
"Who do humans worship these days anyway? Besides Abadar I mean. Erastil I can recall. Calistria, Cayden Caillean. And if I'm not mistaken a large part of the world is now worshipping Asmodeus."
Ilantes searches for any signs of those deities.
Juco can remember the name of on;y one deity, and he speaks it aloud as Ilantes searches.
"Gozreh."
Ilantes looks around at the walls.
"Who do humans worship these days anyway? Besides Abadar I mean. Erastil I can recall. Calistria, Cayden Caillean. And if I'm not mistaken a large part of the world is now worshipping Asmodeus."
Ilantes searches for any signs of those deities.
Ilantes looks around at the walls.
"Who do humans worship these days anyway? Besides Abadar I mean. Erastil I can recall. Calistria, Cayden Caillean. And if I'm not mistaken a large part of the world is now worshipping Asmodeus."
Ilantes searches for any signs of those deities.
Ilantes lets her gaze run over the walls and windows of the chapel, moving first to the left side of the room and then to the right to look more closely at certain features on the walls and windows (if there are any).
While the symbols and decorations clearly make this out as a chapel dedicated primarily to Irori, there are alcoves with symbols to Erastil, Iomedae, and Abadar. You also notice that much of the dirt on the floors appears to have been caused by dirty water being spilled and not cleaned but let to dry, or so it appears from the patterns on the ground.
As you study the altar you see that the book appears to be a holy text of Irori, but when you turn the page you find the other pages of the text have been cut up and desecrated.
"Hmmm, I'm afraid I know nothing of this Irori. But look! The pages of this book have been torn out."
Ilantes holds the book up for the others to see.
Ulm shakes his head.
"There is little to be gained here, should we try to make our way to the upper areas?"
You feel a strong sense of disgust coming from outside of yourself and then suddenly a sense of terror. It quickly passes but the sense of tension still exists.
Juco can remember the name of on;y one deity, and he speaks it aloud as Ilantes searches.
"Gozreh."
"Gozreh? That god of nature? How do you know?"
Ulm shakes his head.
"There is little to be gained here, should we try to make our way to the upper areas?"
Juco ignoring the halfling (you know he would ;D ), turns to the dwarf and says in elven:
Ulm shakes his head.
"There is little to be gained here, should we try to make our way to the upper areas?"
Juco ignoring the halfling (you know he would ;D ), turns to the dwarf and says in elven:
** spoiler omitted **
Juco looks around the chapel one last time.
He then moves out the door and heading back across the court yard.