The looks at the man with pity in her eyes, especially if he was charmed into doing terrible things. Take courage. Courage of the heart is rare but is the one thing that the demons can take away, though they be indeed frightening. You are protected. The gods are with you.
The looks at the man with pity in her eyes, especially if he was charmed into doing terrible things. Take courage. Courage of the heart is rare but is the one thing that the demons can take away, though they be indeed frightening. You are protected. The gods are with you.
"You've had a rough night, Merrin...why don't you get yourself home and sleep this off? No hard feelings, nobody got hurt. Take care!" Arloric says, bidding farewell.
Alexa nods before turning to the others.
"I think Merrin's memory has been tampered with." She tells the others once he's sent on his way.
The evening winds down, Alexa’s revelations on the late Prelate Hulrun and current events with Merrin weighing heavily on you. With less than 36 hours left in Kenabres, you each make your way back to what you’re calling home. For some, that’s a walk across town in the cool night air, and for others, it’s just down the hall. For all of you, every pair of eyes in the inn’s common room watches you go.
Your last day in Kenabres is one of tying off loose ends and saying your good-byes. With the army set to march at dawn—just before 5:00 in the morning—your last night in the city will be spent at the camp just outside of it.
The training school founded by Darya is left in capable hands and will continue after she’s gone. The Kenabres guard will have to adjust to Uriel’s absence—the easy solution of sending him places to just be no longer an option—but they will make do, and the relief provided by Galfrey’s army will likely be up to the task. The community will miss Kelly’s and Arloric’s contributions, but both have spawned a wave of volunteerism that will ensure these things continue until they are no longer needed. Alexa gets to spend precious time with family, for the first time in years without the cloud of an ultimatum hanging over her. Yes, there is still a job to do, and it will take her away, but it’s her choice now, not someone else’s.
Telerin says goodbye at the Riftwarden library, which was already short-staffed even with her help, but the one bright note is that she is there when Aravashniel regains his eyesight. A cleric of Iomedae from Galfrey’s army arrives late morning, flanked by two personal guards and carrying a scroll. Though it only takes a few seconds, the effect of the regenerative magic is dramatic. You’ve gotten used to the elf being curt, frustrated, angry, and a host of other outbursts that all stem from the same root: a loss of control. The change in his personality is stark. With almost teary eyes, he takes you aside and gives you his personal thanks.
6:00 pm
You join your company as they are making their final preparations before breaking camp in the morning. Irabeth sees you approach, and comes over to greet you when you arrive.
“Welcome, commanders. Captain Tirabade, reporting,” she says, with a salute. “There is a situation you should be aware of before we move out. Our quartermaster, warrant officer Rudeanu, needs to speak with you.”
She leads you to the logistics tent, where you find Yoska Rudeanu reviewing a checklist with two of his staff. All three stop to salute as you enter. He says “Carry on” to the man and woman he was directing, and waits for them to leave.
“Officer Rudeanu, your quartermaster, sirs! I, uh, first want to say it is an honor to be serving under you.
“We, um, have a problem. Or rather, we had a problem, and now we don’t, but we may still have a bigger problem that caused the other one..” He hesitates for a moment, aware of how perplexing this sounds. “Let me, um, start at the beginning.
“That man you sent to, uh, lend his expertise to our logistics staff? I’ll admit I was ready to resign after just 10 minutes with him. He started critiquing everything, barking orders, making changes… I swear, he can get under your skin like no one…” He was clearly working himself up just talking about who can only be Horgus Gwerm, but then catches himself quickly. “Sorry, sirs. I, uh... Don’t mean to imply…” He trails off, and then gives this a fresh go.
“Anyway. So he’s, um, difficult to work with, but...I’m a professional, and I’m not afraid to admit when I am wrong. And my first impressions about him were wrong. The man knows what he’s doing. And he has access to supplies that we don’t normally get in an army. Food and stores, equipment for preparation and cooking, and on and on...it’s really something. The way I figure it, we can travel farther with less. Not quite double, but close. We’re in good shape for this march.” He grins wide and adds, “Assuming no one strangles the twit before we get there, of course.” He catches himself, again, the smile disappearing as quickly as it appeared. “Sorry sirs, that, uh, that wasn’t funny.
“Anyway, we were unloading our old stores and replacing them with what Mr. Gwerm had provided, and, um, we found something...unusual.” He points over to a stack of four crates.
“We pulled these off one of the supply wagons and, um, realized they were too light. And also, they had something moving inside of them. So we opened them up and discovered...rats. Lots of them. They had gotten in somehow and were eating their way through the food. These crates held cured meats. Bacon, jerky, and the like. Losing these would have been significant. They are what we call ‘energy dense’. Lots of energy, for very little weight. Very portable.”
He starts pacing back and forth, getting worked up again as he talks. “And here’s what concerns me most: it’s not like we’ve never heard of rats before, you know? We deal with this all the time, and we know how to protect food from all manner of pests and vermin, rats included. And we checked these crates when they were loaded, and they were fine. And, these were in the middle of a wagon. You know what I mean? We’d not have discovered this until we were most of the way to Drezen. Which would have been the worst time to learn that we had lost two days’ worth of food.”
He stops and looks right at you. “Do you get what I am saying here? Whoever did this? They know how we work. They know how an army works, how they feed their soldiers. And they went for the food in the right way. I mean, this is an army of holy warriors. They didn’t contaminate the food, they destroyed it. Do you understand? Most of these soldiers can purify diseased meat. They probably check it for poison before eating just as a matter of course! Hell, they could filter their own piss and drink…” He catches himself again. “The point is, if you were going to hurt us? This would be how I’d do it.
“And not only that, they did it right underneath our own noses! We may be mostly friends around here, but we don’t assume that we all are, right? That would be begging for trouble. So we post guards to watch for this. And if it wasn’t for that irritating little man you...I mean, if it wasn’t for the last-minute changes you made, we’d not have found out about this until it was too late.”
He lowers his voice and says, “I’ve kept this just between me, my staff, Captain Tirabade, and now you. Because I don’t want word getting out that...well...it’s possible that someone in our own unit may be sabotaging us.”
Darya frowns as word of saboteurs in their midst comes to light, silently giving a prayer of thanks that Arloric had convinced Gwerm to join them.
"I'm glad you managed to catch it early enough to fix the current problem, but yes, there's a very strong implication that we have traitors in our midst. The saying 'an army marches on its stomach' is very true, and someone wants to cripple us before we get to our objective."
"We can question everyone handling the storage of supplies, but that's not likely to be very good for morale, though rotating duties might decrease the opportunity to do anything....and maybe using magic to repel them? Is that something that's possible?" she asks turning to Arloric and Telerin.
"You're not wrong about our...friend, by the way. But recall that we all have strengths and weaknesses. All men serve the cause in their own way, and if we are to drive these filth back into their hole, we must put aside our petty differences and work together. He serves just as you do, and others may find your foibles as abrasive as you find his."
Irabeth says, "Assuming they will try again, next time it may not be the food. Using magic to help protect our key assets is a good idea."
"That's more than a bit concerning, Dorne...the spells that can do that aren't easy...hopefully they'll leave Merrin alone now that his verse of this song's over, but I imagine that we've not heard the last of this person."
Arloric spends the rest of the night at Truestone Park, and makes ready to leave on the morrow, leaving the community gardens under Crocris' much more experienced supervision.
As he listens to the discussion about the sabotaged stores, he smirks a bit at Quartermaster Rudeanu's assessment of Horgus.
"Aye, Horgus is prickly when you first meet him, but he greatly respects competence and efficiency. Show that and he'll warm to you pretty quickly. You've done well in finding this out."
Then his brow furrows as he thinks on the sabotage.
"I may know a thing or two about magic and about nature, but I'm nowhere near powerful enough to speak the tongues of beasts yet, so I wouldn't be able to just ask the ratties who put 'em there...between this and the little stunt we saw back at Defender's Heart the other night, I'd suspect our saboteur's probably a spellcaster of some sort...that narrows the number of suspects considerably."
Telerin is pleased that Aravashniel regains his eyesight. You will do your best to protect the people of Kenbres from the evil that encroaches. Perhaps more will come to join the Riftwardens. and then gives him a traditional elven fairwell.
Irabeth agrees to establish a rotating schedule for guarding the company’s stores and other equipment as requested, and she also orders an immediate inspection of the horses’ feed. Rudeanu understands that it’s a necessary and wise precaution, but still grumbles at the additional work this creates for both him and his staff. After he departs and is well out of earshot, Irabeth grins widely and remarks, “I can see why he and Horgus have clashed. Neither one has much of a filter.”
The evening is one of nerves and jitters. Though the men and women that make up your fighting force try to hide it, the energy in the camp has shifted from when you first met them. Conversations are quieter and more muted, some turn to sharpening blades and polishing armor as a form of busywork, and others seem to retreat into themselves. The contrast to the soldiers camped around you is sharp, and a reminder that your company’s future is very different from theirs.
4:00 am
The night passes without incident, and you awaken in the predawn light of a cold, Arodus morning beneath clear skies. The staff in the mess tent has already been hard at work preparing a quick breakfast of biscuits with sausage gravy, and you join the officers under their tent to eat.
Irabeth is in conversation with Soseil and Nurah as you step in. Next to them are Aron and Anevia, who have a map unfolded on the table as they discuss scouting strategies. As you sit down, Irabeth interrupts her conversation to say, casually, “Final inspection is complete and we are on schedule.” Her response sounds casual, suggesting she’s not planning on expanding the previous evening’s conversation to a wider audience.
Camp breaks quickly, and the company moves out to just before sunrise. The Sellen River bends to the northwest just north of Kenabres, so this first leg of the march takes you across fertile farmlands until you meet up with it again at Valas’s Gift. Most of Kenabres’ food comes from this area, and unsurprisingly the farms closest to the city did not escape unscathed: some were laid waste by demonic assaults, others were simply trampled by the steady flow of refugees. The scenes of devastation become less frequent as you leave Kenabres behind you, and by late morning there’s no sign of the demonic invasion at all, but neither are there many people who have chosen to make this region their home.
Late in the afternoon, the farmlands become more common as you approach Valas’s Gift, and when you are an hour away the telltale signs of demonic forces have returned. Once the small town is in sight in the distance, it’s clear that there is something wrong. The surrounding farms are absent of people, many of their homes and structures destroyed and animals killed.
3:30 pm
Anevia and Aron return with a report that virtually nothing seems to be left of the settlement: very few buildings remain standing and those that are seem heavily damaged. There does not appear to be a soul in sight.
"What are the odds of absolutely no survivors?" Darya muses aloud, gazing in the direction of the settlement.
"...it sounds like it could be a trap. We'll need to investigate, but extreme caution must be exercised."
"Backed by overwhelming force if needed."
Aron clears his throat and says, "From what I could see, if there were survivors there's not much reason for them to return. Even the farms and homes closest to the town are burned out."
Anevia nods her head in agreement. "I agree with Aron's assessment. There's not really any shelter left there."
"We'll know more once we get closer. But whatever happened here, it's long been over."
Irabeth looks out towards the apparent remains of Valas's Gift. "I guess we have two approaches here. We can simply march through. We pull our scouts in close, and attach a small squad to each in case of an ambush. If there's no reason to stop, we don't stop.
"Or, we can spread out a bit and do a zone search, looking for survivors and evidence of what may have happened to them, if any. Say four squads of ten, keeping the core of our fighting force here. Rotating soldiers as they return.
"We might find survivors, but even with little to search it would take the rest of the day."
"How much help could we provide to those we did find? If we see anyone, we'll do what we can, but every hour we delay is more time for demons to detect us and prepare defenses."
Horgus dismounts from his dapple-grey horse and walks over to you. Unsurprisingly, the man insisted on bringing his own mount, and it was not an argument worth having so Irabeth demurred. The horse is absolutely striking in appearance, but Horgus assured you that he is practical, as well, possessing enough combat training to not panic in a fight.
"My friends, if I may?" he asks, though he does not wait for an answer. "While it may be too late to help these people, Valas's Gift was a farming community, and exported most of its production to Kenabres. We may find stores here that we can use. Those fleeing their homes would not take grains and other hard foods with them. It would not be practical." He smiles, "Though I have seen to it that we are well stocked for our march, once we take Drezen we will need to build a stockpile of stores, and every bit helps."
"So we're basically looking at a salvage/recovery method with the potential for rescue. That is worth the delay. With caution." Darya voices her thoughts.
Are there any demonic presences hiding among the ruins of this settlement? she asks, looking at the paladins.
Irabeth answers, "We'd have to get a lot closer to know for sure, as in 'practically on top of them'. Which takes us back to the original question: shall we perform a thorough search, or simply pass through?"
If there is even one survivor we can help, we should the elf states.
"Aye," Arloric adds. "Anything we can do to make our job of extending and securing Mendev's border easier in the long run is a good thing. While they're scouting, we can also work to see if we can ferret out that saboteur, too."
Uriel hesitantly nods his assent. "Horgus makes a good point. We could use the supplies. But let's be quick about our search." he says, his eyes already beginning to glow with holy light.
Irabeth forms squads of ten to fan out and start the search, one led by Aron, one by Anevia, one by Nurah, and the fourth by Sosiel . A fifth squad under Uriel’s command is kept close, but mobile, so that it can keep an eye on the other four. Soldiers rotate in and out as each one reports back.
The first hour is spent along the farms approaching the city, and the search parties discover three graves that have been recently dug, two with makeshift headstones. Nurah interprets this to mean that there were survivors, and specifically ones who had time enough to bury their dead before leaving, and Sosiel agrees with her assessment.
The search then converges on the town itself, and takes the bulk of the time. As Aron and Anevia had suspected, the only structures still standing are badly damaged or burnt out, but it still takes time to search the rubble, always wary for demons. Here, Aron and Anevia find evidence that the rubble of three large buildings has been sifted through. Each must have been used to store crops before transport to Kenabres or other destinations, and it appears the walls or the ceiling collapsed before the fire could claim them all. In total, you find a significant number of non-perishable grains, legumes, and the like, just as Horgus had predicted.
The remaining farms outside the city to the north are a familiar scene, and you discover a half dozen more graves plus signs that survivors fled east into Mendev’s interior, possibly seeking the small settlements that are a day or two away on foot. Aron estimates these tracks are several days old.
6:00pm
Finding no people, and no demons, Irabeth suggests setting up camp just outside the ruins.
The elf agrees with Irabeth.
Arloric volunteers to take the fourth party and sighs as they search the ruins. This scene was all too familiar...the last time he'd been in a place like this, he'd been lying in the remains of his house, broken and bleeding before a demon about to kill him...he'd hoped this time he could be the hero Hulrun and Crocris were when they saved him, but it looked like that was not this day. When he reports back and Irabeth suggests making camp, he nods his assent.
She will go with Uriel if he will have her.
9:00pm
You make camp on the northside of what used to be Valas’s Gift. It’s a relatively somber evening of muted conversation; most people in the company are not in the mood for talking, though there is some relief that the afternoon’s work was not one of recovering bodies. Better to uncover graves than dig them, it seems.
Irabeth looks somber and Anevia spends much of the evening turned inward—the two share occasional looks towards one another, but otherwise are keeping things professional. Aron and Sosiel sit next to one another, but like Irabeth and Anevia they, too, are in the roles of soldiers on duty. Nurah looks uncharacteristically glum, but perhaps part of understanding morale is being able to read the room.
After dinner, while you are still together in the officer’s tent, the small talk gives way to a long, uncomfortable silence with no one really sure what to say next. It’s Aron that finally breaks it.
“You saved my life. The six of you,” he says, looking to you, then fixing his stare back to a spot on the ground in front of him. “I was stationed at Clydwell Keep. It’s not far from Kenabres.” Clydwell is one of the keeps along the border with the Worldwound that houses a now-inert Wardstone. “I was part of a team of engineers sent to overhaul the defensive systems there. Mostly the traps.” He gives you a sheepish smile. “I, uh, have a somewhat...colorful past.” You catch Sosiel grinning out of the corner of your eye. “The day Kenabres fell, we were attacked by demons. The garrison there held them off. And then the next attack came. And then the next. We held out for a few days, but the last assault...it was bad. There weren’t many of us left.
“And then there was this golden flash, so bright it was like a second sun. And when we could see again, the air was filled with black ash, coming down like snow. And all the demons were just...gone.” Sosiel puts his hand on Aron’s shoulder at this point.
“Anyway. I just wanted you to know.”
Telerin listens to the story being told.
Alexa glances over at Nurah for a brief moment.
Well, that's one hell of a guilty look. Or is that one of bad memories being brought up?
Whoops. Posted under my "regular" account by accident. :P
In the silence after Aron finishes talking, Nurah looks up, her eyes darting around the group, and says, "Aron, I...I'm sorry. Queen Galfrey's war council received a request to reinforce the garrison at Clydwell. I advised that we wait a couple of weeks. I wasn't the only one, but I was one nonetheless. We didn't have the troops to spare at the time. We were still building up for the next Crusade..."
He looks over to her and they lock eyes for a long time. "It's fine," he says, sighing and waving dismissively with his hand. "You didn't know. How could anyone have known?"
Alexa shifts over to Nurah. "Is everything alright?" She asks.
Obviously not, but I may as well ask nonetheless.
While Arloric initially doesn't see too much amiss with Nurah, her words and Alexa asking if she's alright make him give a sympathetic frown.
"You can trust us, Nurah. You're among friends."
The elf gives Nurah a friendly smile Unburdening your grief and toils among friends can lighten what ever it is that burdens your soul