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[howandwhy99]

Darius and Kayla agreed to tell, but Ormand the Redd and Rogg were sent out of the batcave, so they would not hear what they had no business knowing. The others were asked to take oaths not to tell anyone ever what they were about to learn. Brother Ben had to be torn away from his divine work, but then Darius stood up and began speaking about the war County Margrave was fighting. The Lord had taken men from all over the County and chased after his foes when he won the great battle. Now the front lines were in the mountains to the east and north of Margrave. This was fairly general knowledge. The war was a great distance away, but Darius said the battle continued in other ways at home or so Elion the Elf was claiming.

Kayla stood up too. She said that most of their learning had come from Elion, but some she was still discovering in Zelligar’s books. Their main foes at the front lines were called Chaos Lords. These were fearsome beings with powers they used to control the elements. Things like fire, water, air, earth and possibly more. “Worst of all”, said Kayla “Elion believes that an elder Elemental God is leading the forces of the enemy.” There was a hushed silence after she said this. Kayla went on to explain how Quesquaton’s own founder and wizard Zelligar was in a cult of devoted to chaos. She believed he was working on finding a way at extending his own life indefinitely when all records of him ceased. Also important was he had been living inside the caves they were headed to now; a place he had entitled “The Caves of Chaos”. She believed the orcs within might still be the remnants of a cult Zelligar had begun long ago.

Darius spoke up again. “We believe the Giant is leading the caves’ forces and using them to hurt the Greenwillow forest. We also know that he is only attacking our Outpost Xavier and none of the other twenty-five. I believe he is certain now this is the location of Quesquaton and wants to capture whatever great treasure lies within. What this might be we don’t know, but if Elion’s suspicions are correct it would help the enemy forces at the front lines, which is something no one wants. If we can stop the Giant, or manage to find something in the caves about Zelligar’s treasure we will be helping Lord Margrave to win the war.”

The others looked around at each other for a moment. It was a lot to take in. “Can we go kill some gnolls now?” asked Dram. The others stood and agreed with Darius and Kayla that they were doing the right thing. It seemed they were a smaller piece in a much larger puzzle. Brother Ben was bothered though. “I do not necessarily trust this Elf-man. What you say is fantastical, but he could be lying. What do any of us know of Elves? I’ve studied religion all my life and never once heard of these elemental gods!” The other didn’t speak up. Kayla mentioned that Mirel could be assigned to spy on Elion just to ensure their safety. Ben looked away sheepishly. “Well, I have something else to tell too”, he said. “I have already had little Mirel here spying on Elion for a long time now. Though we haven’t learned much we do know he does not sleep like normal people do. And he deals in diablerie; the wizarding way we thought had ended with Zelligar. I ask that we be cautious with these tales and think for ourselves on what they might mean.”

The hush settled over the group again. Kayla explained that Elion was not evil or untrustworthy. She mentioned that Elion has a power to “message” others far away, but it is part of his Elfen heritage, not something of chaos. The others agreed, but felt Ben was wise to take his precautions. Brother Ben decided to keep quiet about having Mirel spying on Kayla too. Igor spoke up next. He said he had heard a rumor from one of the new soldiers at Xavier about Lord and Lady Margrave actually being long dead and the current people on the throne were actually imposters made up to look like them. “And”, he went on “Lady Devereaux‘s actin’ very diff’rent. She‘s the leader of the milisha, but no livin’ soul‘s seen ‘er in months!” The rest of the members looked doubtfully at each other about the veracity this new information. Dalin slapped Igor on the back again and agreed they should be careful who they talked to and what secrets they shared.

The group finished their discussion by devising ways to explore the Caves of Chaos without being seen. “Elion believes Pendra and Certa may have been captured by the Giant and be trapped inside”, said Darius. “If we are seen, they might try and kill their prisoners.” Dalin brought up the fact that gnolls had a mercenary background and might be bought off, but the others still believed they were still too tough to deal with directly.