Final Resting Place

[DarkMaster]

Nym has been walking for so long, going from village to village, surviving on the gold he made has an adventurer in his previous life. He remember about 5 years ago, with his four compagnion, what he went through all the the excitement he felt when he saved that small village he can't even remember the name from their evil wizard.

The joy of coming back and be seen as a hero. Never in his life he had been so much recognises. He always was a shy children mentally and physically gifted but unable to affirm himself and his idea. Always staying behind in the shadow letting the other get the rewards of his effort. But when he started adventuring things changed a little some people started to recognises his good work. It's true that Brandor the holy warrior was getting most of the it, but he was still getting some recognition and that was enough for him. Especially when that recognission came from that beautiful human lady. Unused to getting attention from women he gratefully accepted to mary her a few days after meeting her.

What a mistake. His adventuring life was put to an halt. He started working for his father in law, in a boring vegetable business. He was carrying boxes of vegetable around. With each day passing he was slowly dying. But at least one good thing came out of this mistake, actually two. His two sons.

He accepted this life to be with them. With two young children you can't go outhere and adventure without missing something. He resigned, but there was still that fire burning inside, looking for adventure and glory. He decided to take the time that his fast and dangerous life never allowed him to complete, his magical study.

Everynight he studied arcane magic with a local mage learning to master what he always called the "art".

But his lack of enthusiasm quickly reflected on his personal life, which lead to the end of his already shaky marriage. The only thing that was holding it togheter was his two son. But the human decided to abandon him, taking his two sons to a mysterious location. As a human she didn't have the patience he had and couldn't continue to "waste" her time like she was saying. She said that she already lost 3 years of her life, but what is 3 years for an elf.

Anyhow he came back home one night last month after finishing his magical lesson and she was gone with the two boys. (Matred 4 and Lucas 2) He crashed on the ground for a day completly demoralised. Nobody in his in-law was telling him anything about where they left.

Edit: The only one left was his cat, is faithfull cat. Togheter seeing that there was no hope to get anything from his in law and that he wasn't welcome anymore in this place he decided to do like he usually do when face by strong opposition he left without saying a word. Completly dissapearing in the night.

The idea of not being with his son is now hurting him. Like if someone struck his heart with a dagger. He has now been wandering from the suburb of Waterdeep to this place. He doesn't even know where he his, he doesn't care either all he wants is to escape his reality.

Like he has been doing for the last month, he enters another village as incognito as possible using techniques he learned as an adventurer. He will continue to spend his loot on food and lodging. Again he will come and go without anybody really noticing him. An art he develop throught the year, ligthning usually hit the tallest tree first so I might as well stay as low as possible.

He enters the village walking along the walls using his cloack to be as less visible as possible, he heads towards the Inn with the smiles of his boys in his head not caring about anything else.

As the shaved head elf enters the room nobody really pays attention to him, He just looks like your other elven traveller. His four dagger hidden in the back of his belt he looks unarmed and really not dangerous. He heads towards the counter, not looking directly at anybody and trying to be noticed as little as possible.

 

[Verbatim]

Rodel's fingers ceased their trembling as her mind once more established control over them. While the reading had given her more uncertainties than hope, she knew that Savras would not have shown her anything false, and she would have to trust in her god's message. However, before she could dwell on it further, a familiar tentative knock sounded through the small house.

~He has come Savras, just as you said he would...grant me the strength to share your sight to him…~

His knock had not changed after all this time. A tentative knocking, quickly repeated, as if he was afraid that someone wouldn't answer, or worse that someone would.

Rising from the table, Rodel quickly ran her fingers through her thick blonde hair, a nervous gesture she had developed over these past few months, and walked slowly over to the door. With a confidence she truly didn't feel, Rodel pulled the door open and smiled at Sebak, hoping his nervousness would mask the uneasiness she still felt.

"No hello for little 'ol me? Then again, you probably know what I'm going to say already. It's... nice to see you Rodel. I was in the neighborhood, and thought it would just be polite to just stop by an all."

His voice betrayed his nervousness and in her mind's eye, Rodel could picture him shifting his weight uneasily from one foot to the next without ever moving them to fully betray his emotions. It was how he always was around her, even though she had told him countless times that there was to be no pretensions between them, she still felt as if Sebak was uncomfortable around her.

~There is little room for that between us now, especially with so much riding on what she had to ask of him...~

"You know you are always welcome here Sebak, there is no need for formal hellos. Please come in and rest yourself. How was your travels?"

Stepping out of the entrance of the door, Rodel waited until Sebak had passed before closing it. As she heard his weight settle in the chair that both he and Uncle Kai favored so much, she walked across from him and sat on the simple stool in front of the fireplace.

Before the silence could grow awkward, Rodel looked across the room to where Sebak was and spoke simply and bluntly, as was befitting a seer of Savras.

"Sebak, do you remember how Uncle Kai began to act shortly after my aunt passed away? I know that you were traveling quite a bit, and to be honest he tried his best to mask it from you those scant times you were here, but it was as if he ceased to desire to live any longer. He began taking extended outings into the Moor, and more than once, he returned with injuries that would have killed a lesser man. I begged him to think of his ramifications of his actions, but he would not listen to me, nor to the priestess of Eldath who seemed to be here more and more as the months went by."

Sighing, Rodel turned away from Sebak as she heard her uncle's harsh words echoing in her head.

~I don't need any cripple telling me how to live my life…~

She knew her uncle had snapped merely out of frustration, and he had apologized immediately after speaking the words to her, but in that moment, Rodel realized that whatever was eating at him, was a greater force than anything she could deal with.

Turning her sightless eyes back to where Sebak sat, she resumed talking, but her voice was softer and tinged with great sadness.

"Before he left, I placed a lifestone in a ring I had made for him, and while he wore it mainly to appease a nervous daughter, it allowed me to track him from afar. As long as the ring was warm, I would know he was alive, but a week ago the ring grew
cold to the touch and while I pray that he has merely lost it, I fear that he has gone to be judged in Kelemvor's court."

While Rodel struggled to keep her voice steady, her hands began trembling once again as she prepared to ask her favor of Sebak.

"I called upon Savras to grant me a vision of whom to seek out to discover the fate of my Uncle, and he granted my request, but the vision was vague to say the very least. I know that one of the Helmitic knights will journey into the Moor, as will a newly found companion of his possessing great strength, but sadly Savras did not show me their
faces. A skilled hunter will go as well, and I can only think of one who matched the description Savras granted me. An albino elf who lives only for the hunt, who goes by the name of Shadowleaf. However, I wonder if I have misunderstood Savras' vision as this hunter is as deadly as the prey he tracks in the Moor. A Magus was revealed also, one who carries much grief, but has a true talent with the Weave."

Rodel paused for a moment and for a heartbeat's length considered dropping the matter all together and searching for a different means of finding her Uncle. It was only a fleeting thought, but she felt her feelings betray her as she finished.

"Also, one of noble blood will lead them, one who's ancestry is filled with darkness."

Rodel waited for her words to register in Sebak's mind.

"The cards showed you Sebak. Will you help me?

 

[Dhes]

On entering Secomber, Barronar and Dog head for the closest smith.
“Ye stay out here Dog and guard my shield and hammer, whilst I have me armor dinged out. I don’t want me stuff being stolen by some stinking elf. Me saw one on the street back there, riding some black pony, that would steal the bloody gold out of your bloody teeth.”

Barronar enters the smithy, just in time to hear the boasting of a human donned in shining armor. “Soo, ...ye bagged ye self a dragon, now did ye. Don’t know a lot of hummies with the bloody balls to face one of them. Ye should see the one me father killed this one time; it would eat ye and that shiny armor of ye in one gulp.”

Turning to the smithy, “Are ye any good at dwarven armor?” showing his back to the smithy, “Some bloody goblin went and bent me spikes when I fell on it.”

 

[hippocrachus]

"Our plights are similar then, noble dwarf!" Idomeneus responds to the dwarf's tale, graciously allowing the rough warrior to take his turn with the smith before him.

 

[DarkMaster]

Nym almost invisible his head covered with his magical cloack, cloak he got from the evil wizard five years ago but never had the chance to use, carefully observes the people in the Inn. Using the shadow of the cloack to make sure that nobody notices his curiosity.

 

[Isida Kep'Tukari]

"I called upon Savras to grant me a vision of whom to seek out to discover the fate of my Uncle, and he granted my request, but the vision was vague to say the very least. I know that one of the Helmitic knights will journey into the Moor, as will a newly found companion of his possessing great strength, but sadly Savras did not show me their faces.

A skilled hunter will go as well, and I can only think of one who matched the description Savras granted me. An albino elf who lives only for the hunt, who goes by the name of Shadowleaf. However, I wonder if I have misunderstood Savras' vision as this hunter is as deadly as the prey he tracks in the Moor. A Magus was revealed also, one who carries much grief, but has a true talent with the Weave."

Rodel paused for a moment and for a heartbeat's length considered dropping the matter all together and searching for a different means of finding her Uncle. It was only a fleeting thought, but she felt her feelings betray her as she finished.

"Also, one of noble blood will lead them, one who's ancestry is filled with darkness."

Rodel waited for her words to register in Sebak's mind.

"The cards showed you Sebak. Will you help me?

"Kai was kind to me, like you were," Sebak says softly, in a quiet tone of voice that would surprise those that have known him in his darker moods. "And Savras showed you me as a noble? Your Savras either has a wicked sense of humor... or is truly all-seeing," the tiefling says with a sigh, running his six-fingered hands through his dark hair. "Knight, strongman, this Shadowleaf hunter, and a grief-ridden Magus. Interesting mix."

Sebak went silent for a moment, considering his options. A journey to the moor to find an old man who probably went there to die, leading a group of people who would probably kill him if they discovered his ancestry, or at least fail to cover his back at a crucial moment. And for what? The memory of Kai's hospitality? Rodel's understanding? The expression on her face when he returned her uncle to her? Pointless sentiment, and it's going to get you killed. So why are you considering it, demon-blood? Because she was kind to you? It's only because she was blind, and doesn't have the sense to be afraid when she found out what you were. Damnit, she was kind to me when she didn't have to, she protected me with her own reputation, and she never asked anything in return. The least you could do is spare a ride to look after her uncle. Pointless as it may be, and you have power enough to charm or cow these supposed companions. You're an idiot Sebak, and you know it.

"Fine, fine, I'll help. Where are these delightful companions of mine? Did Savras at least mention a direction?" he says with ill-grace. "And I hope there's some way to fill my purse at the end of this, because Savras has not chosen to reveal the whereabouts of a chest full of gold to me."

 

[Verbatim]

"Kai was kind to me, like you were," Sebak says softly, in a quiet tone of voice that would surprise those that have known him in his darker moods. "And Savras showed you me as a noble? Your Savras either has a wicked sense of humor... or is truly all-seeing," the tiefling says with a sigh, running his six-fingered hands through his dark hair. "Knight, strongman, this Shadowleaf hunter, and a grief-ridden Magus. Interesting mix."

Sebak went silent for a moment, considering his options. A journey to the moor to find an old man who probably went there to die, leading a group of people who would probably kill him if they discovered his ancestry, or at least fail to cover his back at a crucial moment. And for what? The memory of Kai's hospitality? Rodel's understanding? The expression on her face when he returned her uncle to her? Pointless sentiment, and it's going to get you killed. So why are you considering it, demon-blood? Because she was kind to you? It's only because she was blind, and doesn't have the sense to be afraid when she found out what you were. Damnit, she was kind to me when she didn't have to, she protected me with her own reputation, and she never asked anything in return. The least you could do is spare a ride to look after her uncle. Pointless as it may be, and you have power enough to charm or cow these supposed companions. You're an idiot Sebak, and you know it.

"Fine, fine, I'll help. Where are these delightful companions of mine? Did Savras at least mention a direction?" he says with ill-grace. "And I hope there's some way to fill my purse at the end of this, because Savras has not chosen to reveal the whereabouts of a chest full of gold to me."

A smile surfaced on Rodel's features as Sebak agreed to help her, as she felt a weight lifted from her soul.

"Thank you Sebak, I know that while Savras said you would go, the choice was truly yours to make."

Her smile faded as she focused on the reality of Sebak's words. While he might go out of friendship, the others would need convincing, and some would need gold in their purse to sway their decision.

"I know those that you seek will be in Secomber, but where in town I do not know. I think it will be easy enough to find those that ride under the Watchful One's banner, and where you find the knight, you will also find his companion. The one called Shadowleaf should not be too hard to find either, as his services have been requested many times by those in town when a trip into the Moor is needed. Why he chooses to keep his counsel in that dark place I do not know, but there are few who know it as well as he does. As you have been guided into town, so too I believe the Magus will be brought also, Savras would not have spoken of him to me if you could not find him. Who knows, perhaps he will come to you, as there are those who have came here looking for you in the past."

Standing up, Rodel ran her fingers once more through her hair as she thought of what she could offer Sebak and the others as a means of payment. While Uncle Kai had returned with enough coin for them to live comfortably, Rodel did not keep much coinage in the cottage. While Savras had given her a great gift through her magic, she was only one woman and while the small city itself protected their own, strangers did often live by those same rules.

"I can not offer hard coins Sebak, but I will call upon my teacher in Waterdeep for assistance in this matter. He is a guilde mage there, and has known Uncle Kai from their first days on the road together. I have avoided calling upon him thus far, but perhaps it is time that I did. Promise the others the price you see fit, and I will see to it that you get the coin, even if it means selling the house and returning to Waterdeep. All I wish is to learn my father's fate Sebak, nothing else matters to me. If he is no more, you are the only family I have left…"

Stopping as her throat began to tighten with emotion, Rodel wiped absently at a rogue tear that had managed to escape her control.

"However, I can tell you that the last divination I cast upon Uncle Kai showed him to be near the ruins that the Broken Tusk orcs had claimed as their own. There is a standing ten silver per orc ear returned to town, as well as ten gold per standard returned. Whatever you find amongst the orcs you all may keep, and I can give you three scrolls which can identify any encantment placed upon an item. I had saved these for a rainy day, as the pearls used to make the scribing ink are rare to come by this far inland, but perhaps they can be used to persuade the weave shaper to come with you. I can also give you my wand of levitation to use, as there is little sense in holding anything from you. I have used it to move things when you and Uncle Kai were not here, so its charges are limited, but if it can be of use to you, please take it."

Rodel had started pacing absently as she talked, her mind racing in several different directions and as she realized this, she stopped and turned to face the sound of Sebak's light breathing.

"Uncle Kai also carried several minor enchanted items with him on his travels, and while I know you are no grave robber, you are a practical man. If he is truly no longer with us, use them as you see fit, but I do ask for the ring and necklace that he wore once you return. Call it the wish of a foolish daughter, but I would like to have something to remember him by besides my memories. Do you think those terms could be acceptable to you and the others?"

 

[Dhes]

“When the smithy is done with me bloody armor, ye can buy me some ale and ye can tell me how ye concord the worm. Maybe I can give ye some pointers if ye ever meet up with one of them bloody beast again.”

 

[Isida Kep'Tukari]

Sebak considers carefully, throttling back a surge of pity when Rodel called him family. Gold, bounty for dead orcs, scrolls, a wand, whatever items Kai has on him, assuming he's dead, and whatever else we can scrounge from the Moor. Well, orcs do raid quite a lot, and it stands to reason that at least some of them have booty worth taking. Damnit, I'm going to regret this, I know it.

"I think that will do. The scrolls will tempt the Magus, the bounty and loot will tempt Shadowleaf. And duty, as always, will tempt the Knight and his lackey. The wand will come in very useful, no doubt. Hard to find high ground on the moor, easier to make it. I'll find them, and do what I can to find Kai," Sebak says finally. As he looks at Rodel, one of the only people who ever showed him genuine kindness, a strange feeling fills him. Almost before he knows what he's doing, he steps forward and takes Rodel's face in his hands, and plants a brotherly kiss on her forehead. What the hell am I doing? Kissing the nice lady, nimwit! This is ridiculous, stupid, and somehow this is going to come back to haunt you, you know it. Why can't things be simple any more? It's easier not to feel anything, not to love... Love?! I didn't say anything about love! But you felt it, isn't that why you kissed her? Shut. up!

Sebak steps back, his hands trembling slightly. "Ah... so... need two other things. Which direction did Kai go, and what inn is the knight likely at?"

 

[hippocrachus]

Idomeneus raises his eyebrows and tries to smile; only accomplishing a sad grin.
"Yes, I suppose..." he says mournfully. He listens intently to the dwarf's small talk while waiting for his armor to be repaired.
Perhaps a friendship with this one will strengthen Our political ties with the dwarven clans...