(Casual D&D II) The Fellowship of the White Dove

[dpdx]

Fendric takes a moment to register the blank looks at him in the room.

. o 0 O(So this is what it's like to be a babbling fool. And I thought You helped me to be wiser. You are mysterious, sometimes; I'll give You that.)

"Yes, my mistake, upriver. Not even a day's ride, East? of here, is a floating community, on a river?

Upstream from that, perhaps a day's paddle?

a halfling warren where we stayed? And were given gifts? For disposing of the undead?

and set an ambush for the death cultists holding Premule? but they never came? and we left the Heironeans there to wait? all except Shavah? who we favor? and are keeping with us?"

Fendric looks over at Shavah, half-searching, half-smiling. "I mean, you're real, right? Shavah, half-elf like me, Cleric of Heironeous? If you were a balor, or a succubus, you'd tell me, wouldn't you? No, I guess you wouldn't."

Fendric re-engages the Ravast: "The burgher of the town, name of Ozzy Osbourne, was very particular about roads. He did not want a road built that reached his warren, for he feared it would lead to the Realm's taxmen paying a visit. And indeed, we traveled overland to reach it, originally. I can't believe, no, I refuse to believe we have hallucinated this!"

As the Orcish starts up again in earnest, Fendric's expression turns sour.

"Nurthk, could you be a dear and let me know what in the Nine Hells these learned men are saying? It seems Kyrr, here, has given up the job of interpreter, and I rather trust you to give it straight."

 

[Festy_Dog]

Nurthk appears a little relieved when Fendric comes back in, but is still slearly fuming about Raven's remark.

"What are these? How did you get them?"

"It's a poison which I believe the halfling's call 'poppy-silver'. They gave it to me as a gift for aiding in the removal of the undead creature cornered in one of their burrows," he replies calmly.

"Nurthk, could you be a dear and let me know what in the Nine Hells these learned men are saying? It seems Kyrr, here, has given up the job of interpreter, and I rather trust you to give it straight."

Nurthk nods and explains, "Kentaro is convinced that we are not the actual threat, but if we are being followed we could be leading the threat here. He is also curious as to the nature of the poppy-silver the halflings gave me, I told him about it.

 

[Guilt Puppy]

Raven: His story sounds like no place familiar to you. To the east, the road is open for quite a ways.

Fendric: Shavah confirms your story... Yattro attempts to be helpful, but quickly finds that none of the sites he describes can fit your description -- too far away, in the wrong direction, and so forth. Finally, he gets a map, to settle the matter once and for all... With Shavah's help you can roughly locate the halfling settlement -- which this map indicates as Gwenshire -- and Yattro points out the location of his station... (See attachment, which now includes more precisely-placed significant locations. For reference, you can move about 25 miles per day on foot, 50 on horseback, assuming you have a decent road.)

I'll let you do the math, but Shavah becomes clearly uncomfortable, looking for you to figure this one out.

Nurthk: Kentaro looks ready to respond, but Kyrr leans over to have a word with them: "We are finding out about the halflings now. They may or may not be trustworthy."

Kentaro respons, and Kyrr returns to translation duty.

"Did these halflings leave anything else with you?"

(Oh, and...)

...name of Ozzy Osbourne...

(That was a joke, right? You don't really think I named an NPC Ozzy Osbourne, right? )

 

[DrZombie]

Raven: His story sounds like no place familiar to you. To the east, the road is open for quite a ways.


I'll let you do the math, but Shavah becomes clearly uncomfortable, looking for you to figure this one out.

"Strange.... Do you guys think you can backtrack? Sounds like something fishy is going on here..."

 

[Uriel]

Trying to clear his head, Niccolo hums a tune learned long ago, and then his ace takes on a glazed expression as he recites

Horned is the Hunter
Alone he sits,
A Vanquished Lord upon an Oaken Throne,
Presiding O'er this conflict,
That chills him to the bone,
For each tarnished blade that festers,
Is a thorn thrust in his side,
And His pain alone bears witness,
To the folly of Mankind.
His name is Eternal,
His Poem Unknown,
The Ruler Paternal,
He watches alone,
As great cities tumble and empires fall,
Amidst this confusion the Hunter stands tall...

Closing his eyes and attempting to shake off the feeling that he had heard that before, Niccolo yawns and then curls up with a bemused smile and promptly begins to snore...

 

[dpdx]

[Well, Fendric's memory isn't perfect... Why? Something else you'd rather I call him? ]

Fendric's jaw drops once he looks at the map.

"May Pelor grab me by the throat and shake the Sun out of me; there's not a chance we traveled that whole distance under our own power. You don't think..."

Fendric looks up from the map and around the room, at each of his traveling companions. "That fortuneteller seemed to know where we were wanting to go; perhaps he helped us? I think I would have remembered crossing the same road we took to Bethel from Hedrogura."

Fendric hears Kyrr translate again, and comes back into the here-and-now: "Er, yes. The town gifted each of us for slaying that undead. I received this chain shirt, and the mantle to go over it, and a ring. Each of us got items of worth - the halflings were extremely generous."

 

[Festy_Dog]

Nurthk is a little confused, but remains calm, given that he's still eager to have a stern talk with Raven.

Was the village never there? Err...

Nurthk tries to help point out where the halfling village would most likely be.

 

[Guilt Puppy]

Despite Kyrr's curiosity, Kentaro seems unconcerned with your confusion over the path you travel, and his translator eventually comes back to him...

"The halflings did not know the death cultists, did they? Do you trust the things they gave you?"

 

[dpdx]

Fendric pauses to ponder the Ravast's question.

"The halflings seemed not to know the cultists beforehand, no. And I suppose that's odd, may Pelor forgive my foolishness, given the proximity between the forest and their warren.

But then again, I suppose we all trusted them, without thinking. After all, they opened their hearts and homes to us - they even gave me incense for my scrolls and augury!

Why? Ravast, do you think, perhaps, the smell of undead is coming off of this armor?"

 

[DrZombie]

Was the village never there? Err...

Nurthk tries to help point out where the halfling village would most likely be.

Looking at the map, Raven tries to see where they come from... Halfling village? There? Strange... I'll have to check it out later.